This funky, rude, unpretentious first novel traces the short, funny, and furious career of a group of working-class Irish kids who form a band, The Commitments. Their mission: to bring soul to Dublin!

Janet Evanovich teams up with Phoef Sutton for a brand-new series of mysteries featuring Emerson Knight and Riley Moon, a dynamic duo with instant and undeniable chemistry. Emerson Knight is introverted, eccentric, and has little to no sense of social etiquette. Good thing he's also brilliant, rich, and (some people might say) handsome, or he'd probably be homeless. Riley Moon has just graduated from Harvard Business and Harvard Law. Her aggressive Texas spitfire attitude has helped her land her dream job as a junior analyst with mega-bank Blane-Grunwald. At least Riley Moon thought it was her dream job, until she is given her first assignment: babysitting Emerson Knight. What starts off as an inquiry about missing bank funds in the Knight account leads to inquiries about a missing man, missing gold, and a life-and-death race across the country. Through the streets of Washington, D.C., and down into the underground vault of the Federal Reserve in New York City, an evil plan is exposed. A plan so sinister that only a megalomaniac could think it up, and only the unlikely duo of the irrepressibly charming Emerson Knight and the tenacious Riley Moon can stop it.

If you think the wildest, wackiest stories that Carl Hiaasen can tell have all made it into his hilarious, bestselling novels, think again. Dance of the Reptiles collects the best of Hiaasen’s Miami Herald columns, which lay bare the stories--large and small--that demonstrate anew that truth is far stranger than fiction. Hiaasen offers his commentary—indignant, disbelieving, sometimes righteously angry, and frequently hilarious—on burning issues like animal welfare, polluted rivers, and the broken criminal justice system as well as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Bernie Madoff's trial, and the shenanigans of the recent presidential elections. Whether or not you have read Carl Hiaasen before, you are in for a wild ride.

In South Florida, everyone wants to get a head. But not just any head. A very famous human head--severed and snugged away in a cryonic container. A head that could spark a revolution and change the course of history. Everybody wants a piece of the noggin: rotund gangster Big Joey G., a 102-year-old environmentalist, hard-boiled Miami reporter Britt Montero, lawyer Jake Lassiter, and a would-be dictator in exile--with ex-president Jimmy Carter and a lovable manatee named Booger thrown in for good measure. With bodies piling up it's anybody's guess what will happen from one chapter to the next, as an all-star line-up of Florida's finest writers take turns at taking this outrageously original novel to the limit--and beyond.

Porterhouse College is world renowned for its gastronomic excellence, the arrogance of its Fellows, its academic mediocrity and the social cache it confers on the athletic sons of country families. Sir Godber Evans, ex-Cabinet Minister and the new Master, is determined to change all this. Spurred on by his politically angular wife, Lady Mary, he challenges the established order and provokes the wrath of the Dean, the Senior Tutor, the Bursar and, most intransigent of all, Skullion the Head Porter - with hilarious and catastrophic results.

The author and his favorite reader fall in love in this short story,.... or should I say at least one of them is. The two plan on meeting but it turns into a deadly plot for one of them. Find out in this short story.Exchange student Paprika is living her new life happily in Japan with her best friend Juicy, when one day her cousin Chibiham asks to come visit for a month in the summer. Not having seen her in some time, Paprika heartily agrees. What she is dealt with is far worse than she could have imagined - her entitled, ill-mannered, boorish relative takes Japan by storm, ready to plow down anything that stands in the way of her seeing the country exactly the way she imagined it. Can Paprika and Juicy tame the wild American before the month is up? And what happens when the rotund terror meets up with an immovable force - the immortal Mama?A funny, true story about an overbearing tourist in Japan, complete with tour guiding, cultural explanations, and Japanese recipes. Born of the Reddit storytellers, a success story of a different flavor. Experience it for yourself.

What links the Investment Bank of Torabundo, www.myhotswaitress.com (yes, with an s, don't ask), an art heist, a novel called For the Love of a Clown, a six-year-old boy with the unfortunate name of Remington Steele, a lonely French banker, a tiny Pacific island, and a pest control business run by an ex-KGB agent? The Mark and the Void is Paul Murray's madcap new novel of institutional folly, following the success of his wildly original breakout hit, Skippy Dies. While marooned at his banking job in the bewilderingly damp and insular realm known as Ireland, Claude Martingale is approached by a down-on-his-luck author, Paul, looking for his next great subject. Claude finds that his life gets steadily more exciting under Paul's fictionalizing influence; he even falls in love with a beautiful waitress. But Paul's plan is not what it seems--and neither is Claude's employer, the Investment Bank of Torabundo, which swells through dodgy takeovers and derivatives trading until--well, you can probably guess how that shakes out. The Mark and the Void is the funniest novel ever written about the recent financial crisis, and a stirring examination of the deceptions carried out in the names of art and commerce.

It's bad enough being new on the job, but Teppic hasn't a clue as to what a pharaoh is supposed to do. After all, he's been trained at Ankh-Morpork's famed assassins' school, across the sea from the Kingdom of the Sun. First, there's the monumental task of building a suitable resting place for Dad -- a pyramid to end all pyramids. Then there are the myriad administrative duties, such as dealing with mad priests, sacred crocodiles, and marching mummies. And to top it all off, the adolescent pharaoh discovers deceit, betrayal - not to mention a headstrong handmaiden - at the heart of his realm.

Life as a galactic minion can be tough - you have to be cunning, wise, patient, conniving; and above all, willing to kiss a lot of backside. That's where Grench comes in. Not only is he the ultimate suck-up, but he has a foolproof plan to move up in the kingdom...I'm not who they think I am. A docile girl who meekly obeys her stepmother and stepsisters. Some kind of sick angel who cheerfully bears their mistreatment. That's what I WANT them to think. Because then they won't suspect what I'm really up to.The ball, the prince - it's all part of my plan to come out on top. Stepmother and her demented daughters will pay for every floor I have scoured, every sneer I have borne. They don't know about the white magic, how I use it to enhance myself. They can't see that my heart is black as midnight, rotten as a poisoned apple.They're about to find out.Book Description•Length: Novella (about 100 pages)•Genre: Fractured Fairy Tale•Mood: Dark / Humorous•Content: Moderate violence. A few mild sexual references. No sex scenes or erotica.•Audience: Teens and Adults

Gerald Durrell helped establish a model zoo on the Isle of Jersey, an experience that caused him to reconsider the whole question of wild animals in human hands. "On one level, the book is about zoos. More profoundly, however, THE STATIONARY ARK is about the misuse of wild animals in captivity. Durrell's material reveals a fascinating blind spot in modern zoological thought, namely that we are almost completely ignorant about the important facts of many wild animals' lives." (Saturday Review)

The official novelization for a new generation of Ghostbusters, based on the new movie starring Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, and Chris Hemsworth and directed by Paul Feig! After Dr. Erin Gilbert is disgraced at a job interview for her belief in ghosts, she is roped into investigating a haunting by her former colleague, Abby Yates and Abby’s new co-worker, Jillian Holtzmann. The three scientists soon discover that some specters do far more than go bump in the night. MTA employee, Patty Tolan, finds that New York City’s subway tunnels are becoming a hive of ghostly apparitions. She calls on Erin, Abbey, and Jillian to investigate, revealing that paranormal activity across New York City is swiftly becoming a disaster of near-biblical proportions Together, these four would-be paranormal investigators are determined to find out what’s going on, save their city, and maybe make a profit while they’re at it. The team must stop a mysterious evil known only as Rowan from destroying the barrier between this life and the next and turning Manhattan into a literal hellscape.

avant-garde than if Lenin was an Irish policeman, Blue Blue City is a text produced by mangling Pride and Prejudice beyond all comprehensibility. I've never read it, and I wrote the thing. Daryl Jones is placed in several bizarre situations, and there's also a pregnant senator running around. Basically, a crap Finnegan's Wake.What do words mean these days?This is the question posed by Blue Blue City, the bodacious anti-novel that dares go where no prose fiction has gone before. New meanings are forced out of Shanghai'd words organised in sentences unfound in nature. Punctuation is thrown between words like confetti.Characters, you say? Comparing characters to the repeated names found in this book is offensive to the very concept of characterization. Settings? This is a book that destroys the very notion.Plot? This book has no plot.The author is dead. Long live the author!If you do not understand this book, it is you who is wrong.This book was once Pride and Prejudice.

MBA is a rollicking comic novel of business treachery featuring duct tape, classic rock, golf, cars, nudity, business principles and family values. It is a fun read with a message (sort of). MBA is offered in both original and mild versions (PG - profanity lite). This is the original version.MBA is a rollicking comic novel of business treachery featuring duct tape, classic rock, golf, cars, nudity, business principles and family values. It is a fun read with a message (sort of). MBA is offered in original and mild versions (PG – profanity lite). This is the original version.MBA is the story of a young Ohio lad that follows his dreams (e.g. girlfriend) to a start up facility in North Carolina where he encounters a host of colorful characters both good and not so good that test his character and guide him into manhood. The life lessons his dad teaches him through golf and assorted twisted stories cement a foundation that allows Mick to overcome a series of struggles and challenges created by a series of MBAs with questionable agendas. If you are looking for deep wisdom and dense prose, look elsewhere. If you want a fun read that might make you think a little bit and (hopefully) laugh a lot, you are in the right place.

The guide of choice for anyone who plans to die someday--are YOU ready for the AFTERLIFE? To find out, take this simple quiz: 1.  Like Earth, the Afterlife has celebrities, outcasts, deadheads, losers, and busybodies.   True False 2.  Is there an Afterlife after the Afterlife? Yes No 3.  When you first arrive on "the Other Side," you will be given: a) a set of wings b) a toaster c) a copy of A Newcomer's Guide to the Afterlife Don't worry if you're not sure how to respond. A Newcomer's Guide to the Afterlife has answers to these questions and more--and if you're lucky, some of them may turn out to be right! An irreverent, one-of-a-kind compendium from the award-winning author of Ishmael, A Newcomer's Guide to the Afterlife can be read as a parable, an allegory, a work of fiction--or exactly what it claims to be: a helpful handbook for the recently deceased.  It is filled with uncommon wisdom, bizarre imaginings, uncanny perceptions, and unexpected humor.  Is it fantastic escapism or a seminal event in human history? Read it and find out.... Face it.  The Afterlife is the ultimate test.  You might as well study. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Cuervo is a pampered Nicaraguan moneyman, funding a guerrilla war from his cushy Miami penthouse. Sixto is his hulking, pistol-packing attendant, whose job satisfaction is on the wane. When an aging mobster enters their lives with a promise to help the rebel cause-with a planeload of chickens originally intended for voodoo sacrifice-a tense situation turns combustible. From the wickedly funny mind of Carl Hiaasen comes "The Edible Exile," a raucous story of sleazeball nihilists, lovable thugs, and jungle-weary freedom fighters who collide in a battle of wills, ego, and the almighty dollar. This cheeky tale, written twenty-five years ago, set aside, and recently rediscovered, is a time-capsule glimpse of Miami during the over-the-top 1980s, when everyone was on the make and gross excess was the order of the day. In an intriguing twist, Hiaasen had lost his original ending to the story. "So I decided to write a new ending," he says. "As a friend said, 'How often does a writer get the opportunity to collaborate with a younger version of himself?'" "The Edible Exile" is a wild romp through Hiaasen Country, sure to appeal to the outlaw in all of us. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Carl Hiaasen was born and raised in Florida, where he still lives with his incredibly tolerant family. He is the author of several bestselling novels, including "Strip Tease," "Stormy Weather," "Lucky You," "Sick Puppy," "Basket Case," "Skinny Dip," "Nature Girl," "Star Island," and, most recently, "Bad Monkey." He has also written a number of novels for young readers: "Hoot," "Flush," "Scat," and "Chomp." At age twenty-three, he joined the "Miami Herald" as a general assignment reporter and went on to work for the paper's weekly magazine and later its prizewinning investigations team. Since 1985, Hiaasen has been writing a regular column, which still appears most Sundays in the Herald's opinion-and-editorial section. "Dance of the Reptiles," a new collection of his columns, will be published in January 2014 by Vintage. PRAISE FOR CARL HIAASEN "A relentlessly sane voice in a hurricane of hypocrisy, hokum and hype." -Dave Barry "Does anyone remember what we did for fun before Hiaasen began turning out his satirical comedies?" -The San Francisco Chronicle "Carl Hiaasen isn't just Florida's sharpest satirist-he's one of the few funny writers left in the whole country . . . I think of him as a national treasure." -Newsweek "Hiaasen [is] a superb national satirist . . . A great American writer about the great American subjects of ambition, greed, vanity and disappointment." -Entertainment Weekly "No one writes about Florida with a more wicked sense of humor than Hiaasen." -USA Today "Hiaasen's wasteland is as retributive as Cormac McCarthy's, but funnier. . . . [His] pacing is impeccable, and the scenes follow one another like Lay's potato chips." -The New York Times Book Review "Recalls Twain and Chandler in its mingling of the cultured and the coarse ... The funniest writer around." -Sunday Times of London