In The Return, two orphaned sisters return to their childhood home, thirty years after their parents murder hoping to find out what really happened. The perpetrator is dead, but will those who were with them talk? Lydia, a yoga teacher, feels her mother's spirit asking "Why?" Margie, a recent divorcee, abhors such notions, but as they both get involved in the community, surprising things happen.Upper Fandria is a land of scattered kingdoms, strange beasts and timeless magic.The unearthing of an ancient rattle in the deserts of Zanthia creates a stir amongst the nomadic peoples. A treasure-hunter and his band must fight their way to freedom amidst perils of long dead brooding wizards, ghoulmen, murderous isks and stone giants while they struggle to comprehend the mystical significance of the rattle.

Big Mouth No I did not. I did not, I did not. I did not say those things, and I did not plan those things. Won't It anyone believe me? Ugly Girl All right, Ugly Girl made a mistake. I'd told my mom what I'd heard in the cafeteria, and she'd told Dad. Evidently. I'd thought for sure they would want me to speak up for the truth.

Luke, and his friend the Moon, take a journey to a strange and troubling land to compete against the 'Princess' in a terrifying game of chess. A journey of discovery.abel orion has spent his entire life defining the difference between madness and genius, the fine line between inspiration and hallucination.from an early age he showed an unparalleled aptitude for mechanical engineering, computer sciences and other trades. he learned by doing, spending his childhood in junkyards, pulling things apart and putting them back together. he learned their functions as he went, familiarized himself with several languages by reading labels and searching through abandoned computer data. he overcame hunger, thirst, and the harsh environments of his home using only his intelligence, and the teamwork offered him by his family. under his leadership, the orions accomplished extraordinary feats, but abel wasn't without his shortcomings.he would wake up in the dead of night screaming, driven to terror by some vivid dream. as the years passed, the nightmares began spilling into abel's waking world. emotions, thoughts and memories sometimes overcame him, so much so they would manifest themselves into powerful hallucinations. sometimes abel saw objects or figures he knew didn't exist. sometimes he saw monsters, and sometimes he saw people he use to know.abel's condition helps and hinders him as he struggles to overcome unimaginable odds, to save his family, himself, and reach a promised land so far beyond his grasp. through his many trials, abel is confronted by inexplicable things, and for the first time in his life, he's forced to take his hallucinations seriously. some of them, he realized, could be his only hope.abel is a story about a young man struggling with his own playful mind, as well as the impossible situations he finds himself in. it's a story about confronting the past, and facing one's demons as if they were standing fully formed in front of you. it's also about the triumph of family, and embracing the extraordinary. it's a mystery novel with environmental themes and science fiction undertones.

This is a political satire about what happens when America elects a President with little knowledge of foreign affairs but is a very successful businessman who constructs infrastructure and has made billions over his career. He runs on a whim, and upsets the front runner in the election. Now he has to be the President, and deals with the economy, Congress, foreigners, and nukes.This is a political satire that is a short story and a work of fiction about what happens when America elects a President in 2032 with little knowledge of foreign affairs but is a very successful businessman who constructs infrastructure and has made billions over his career. He runs on a whim, and upsets the front runner in the election. Now he has to be the President, and deals with the economy, Congress, foreigners, and nukes.Thayer Andrew Powers is the unexpected winner of the 2032 presidential election. He relies on his close advisors to help him lead the country. William (Billy) Mitchell is his Vice President, a veteran Congressman, and leads the Cabinet. Steve Edward is the smartest man in the room, and Powers makes him the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, and Secretary of Homeland Security. Stephen Schmidt is Powers' closest confident, but he has a deep secret, long-term roots to the Alt-Right and white nationalists. Powers also brings his two children and their spouses into the Cabinet - he has trained each to think like businessmen and women.Powers approaches every situation like he was contracting to build a factory, road, or airport. Will his approach work with foreign countries like China, Russia, Israel, Pakistan, Iran, Korea, and how does he deal with ISIS successor terrorist organization, the SJMC which rules a large portion of the Middle East and portions of 30 countries. And what will Powers do if he has to open the nuclear football?

She wrote to me again last night. It was a simple post onto my wall. She, who I have never touched, is more real to me than any of my other friends. A story of obsession. It may unravel you.Reviewing his professional life, a career wrapped in theories seeking to explain greater purpose in human good, frustrated at depth Professor Chris Shuman plays out his lecture halls role in the counselor’s office. Sticking to scientific integrity, what cannot be proven must be discarded, what has yet to be proven must be investigated, Chris repeals all theories of compassion. In spite of the eu-social, he argues final conclusions that humanity has evolved for no other purpose than animal survival. And with no proof of love, realizing he cannot truly care for even his own children, the professor falls back on a favourite medieval fairy tale allowing his meaningful escape from it all.

At the end of 2003, as the first issue of The Believer was rising from the primordial ooze, Nick Hornby turned in the inaugural installment of a monthly column that immediately became a reader favorite. For the next ten years, Hornby’s incandescently funny "Stuff I’ve Been Reading” chronicled a singular reading life — one that is measured not just in "books bought” and "books read,” as each column begins, but in the way our feelings toward Celine Dion say a lot about who we are, the way Body Shop Vanilla Shower Gel can add excitement to our days, and the way John Updike might ruin our sex lives. Hornby’s column is both an impeccable, wide-ranging reading list and an indispensable reminder of why we read.

Nancy Mitford meets Nora Ephron in the pages of The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, Helene Hanff's delightful travelogue about her "bucket list" trip to LondonWhen devoted Anglophile Helene Hanff is invited to London for the English publication of 84, Charing Cross Road—in which she shares two decades of correspondence with Frank Doel, a British bookseller who became a dear friend—she can hardly believe her luck. Frank is no longer alive, but his widow and daughter, along with enthusiastic British fans from all walks of life, embrace Helene as an honored guest. Eager hosts, including a famous actress and a retired colonel, sweep her up in a whirlwind of plays and dinners, trips to Harrod's, and wild jaunts to their favorite corners of the countryside. A New Yorker who isn't afraid to speak her mind, Helene Hanff delivers an outsider's funny yet fabulous portrait of idiosyncratic Britain at its best. And whether she is walking across the Oxford University...

A profound, moving and important collection of letters, diaries and memories of the First World War, edited by Sebastian Faulks - author of Birdsong - and Dr Hope Wolf. A Broken World presents a cacophony of voices from and about the Great War in a way never before collected together, telling the story of the conflict and its aftermath through memories and stories assembled by place and landscape. ** Sebastian Faulks and Hope Wolf have explored archives and autobiographical records to select true-life stories and experiences from diaries, letters, postcards, memoirs and other remembrances of this terrible conflict and its aftermath. When thinking about the First World War, images of trenches, no man's land, ruined towns, and fields of white crosses have endured. This collection will include memories from and about these places, but will also feature writing from less familiar environments: voices from deserts, air space and seascapes will jostle alongside war stories from hospitals, railways, monumnets, churches, theatres, factories, prison camps and the home. As Sebastian Faulks says: 'Much of the most exciting and illuminating writing on the First World War is found in private, unpublished documents. Some little-known or out-of-print published works also have important things to say. The centenary is the right time to shake up our received ideas of those four years. This anthology hopes to give a hearing to a Babel of urgent but little-known voices and to guide the reader through them to a deeper understanding.'

In his first new fiction since winning the National Book Award for The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, best-selling author Sherman Alexie delivers a virtuoso collection of tender, witty, and soulful stories that expertly capture modern relationships from the most diverse angles. War Dances brims with Alexie’s poetic and revolutionary prose, and reminds us once again why he ranks as one of our country’s finest writers. With bright insight into the minds of artists, entrepreneurs, fathers, husbands, and sons, Alexie populates his stories with average men on the brink of exceptional change: In the title story, a son recalls his father’s “natural Indian death” from alcohol and diabetes, just as he learns that he himself may have a brain tumor; “The Ballad of Paul Nonetheless,” dissects a vintage clothing store owner’s failing marriage and courtship of a Puma-clad stranger in airports across the country; and “Breaking and Entering” recounts a film editor’s fateful confrontation with an thieving adolescent. Brazen and wise War Dances takes us to the heart of what it means to be human. The new beginnings, successes, mistakes, and regrets that make up our daily lives are laid bare in this wide-ranging new work that is quintessential

A story of survival, subterfuge, espionage, and identity. Emilia and Teo's lives changed in a fiery, terrifying instant when a bird strike brought down the plane their stunt pilot mothers were flying. Teo's mother died immediately, but Em's survived, determined to raise Teo according to his late mother's wishes—in a place where he won't be discriminated against because of the color of his skin. But in 1930s America, a white woman raising a black adoptive son alongside a white daughter is too often seen as a threat. Seeking a home where her children won't be held back by ethnicity or gender, Rhoda brings Em and Teo to Ethiopia, and all three fall in love with the beautiful, peaceful country. But that peace is shattered by the threat of war with Italy, and teenage Em and Teo are drawn into the conflict. Will their devotion to their country, its culture and people, and each other be their downfall or their salvation? In the tradition of her award-winning and bestselling Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein brings us another thrilling and deeply affecting novel that explores the bonds of friendship, the resilience of young pilots, and the strength of the human spirit.

Desperate to regain custody of her child, Bethany Lewis sought out the only man who could help. A man with his own desire to destroy her ex-husband. Landon Gage had a score to settle, and she knew he'd be eager to join forces. Marriage seemed the perfect method to make war on their mutual enemy. And though Landon knew their union was meant to be in name only, he was soon impatient to make love to his new "wife." But when they both got what they wanted...would they still want more?

Two friends, two sons, two shocking and intense love affairs . . . Roz and Lil have been best friends since childhood. But their bond stretches beyond familiar bounds when these middle-aged mothers fall in love with each other's teenage sons—taboo-shattering passions that last for years, until the women end them, vowing to have a respectable old age. With Adore, Doris Lessing, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, once again proves her unrivaled ability to capture the truth of the human condition.

"These are the rules I've picked up along the way to help me remain invisible when I'm writing a book, to help me show rather than tell what's taking place in the story."—Elmore Leonard For aspiring writers and lovers of the written word, this concise guide breaks down the writing process with simplicity and clarity. From adjectives and exclamation points to dialect and hoopetedoodle, Elmore Leonard explains what to avoid, what to aspire to, and what to do when it sounds like "writing" (rewrite). Beautifully designed, filled with free-flowing, elegant illustrations and specially priced, Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing is the perfect writer's—and reader's—gift.