Among sentient animals and humans, the hardheaded and hard-shelled wizard Clothahump searches across dimensions for a wizard to defeat looming armies of Plated Folk. Jonathan-Thomas Meriweather, a part-time wannabe rock guitarist and janitor, makes magic with his well-worn rock repertoire on his duar instrument. While the lyrics may be righteous, the magic is too often something else.

Snatched through a portal into a land of magic, Jonathan must use a mysterious, multi-string duar to rescue the world he has fallen into before he can return to his own.

Reluctantly, he finds himself teaming up with a semi-senile turtle wizard, a thieving, backstabbing otter, and a bewildered Marxist dragon to rally an army for the war about to come.

The Conquest of Gaul is a captivating account of Julius Caesar's military campaigns between 58 and 50 BC. During this period, Caesar conquered most of the regions now known as France, Belgium, and Switzerland, and ventured twice into Britain.

This narrative provides deep insights into Caesar's military strategy and paints a vivid picture of his encounters with the inhabitants of Gaul and Britain. It offers lively portraits of key characters, such as the rebel leaders and Gallic chieftains.

Moreover, this work can be read as a piece of political propaganda, as Caesar presents his version of events to the Roman public, aware of the impending civil war he would face upon his return to Rome.

Robert Graves begins anew the tumultuous life of the Roman who became emperor in spite of himself. This novel captures the vitality, splendor, and decadence of the Roman world at the point of its decline.

Edgar Allan Poe remains the unsurpassed master of works of mystery and madness in this outstanding collection. Included are sixteen of his finest tales, such as The Tell-Tale Heart, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, William Wilson, The Black Cat, The Cask of Amontillado, and Eleonora.

This collection also features a major selection of what Poe characterized as the passion of his life, his poems - including The Raven, Annabel Lee, Ulalume, Lenore, The Bells, and more, plus his glorious prose poem Silence - A Fable and his only full-length novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym.

Legs, the inaugural book in William Kennedy’s acclaimed Albany cycle of novels, brilliantly evokes the flamboyant career of gangster Jack “Legs” Diamond. Through the equivocal eyes of Diamond’s attorney, Marcus Gorman (who scraps a promising political career for the more elemental excitement of the criminal underworld), we watch as Legs and his showgirl mistress, Kiki Roberts, blaze their gaudy trail across the tabloid pages of the 1920s and 1930s.

William Kennedy’s Albany Cycle of novels reflect what he once described as the fusion of his imagination with a single place. A native and longtime resident of Albany, New York, his work moves from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, chronicling family life, the city’s netherworld, and its spheres of power—financial, ethnic, political—often among the Irish-Americans who dominated the city in this period.

Something Wicked This Way Comes, now featuring a new introduction and material about its longstanding influence on culture and genre. For those who still dream and remember, for those yet to experience the hypnotic power of its dark poetry, step inside. The show is about to begin. Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. The carnival rolls in sometime after midnight, ushering in Halloween a week early. A calliope’s shrill siren song beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained.

Two boys will discover the secret of its smoke, mazes, and mirrors; two friends who will soon know all too well the heavy cost of wishes… and the stuff of nightmares. Few novels have endured in the heart and memory as has Ray Bradbury’s unparalleled literary masterpiece Something Wicked This Way Comes. Scary and suspenseful, it is a timeless classic in the American canon.

When an army of invading Martians lands in England, panic and terror seize the population. As the aliens traverse the country in huge three-legged machines, incinerating all in their path with a heat ray and spreading noxious toxic gases, the people of the Earth must come to terms with the prospect of the end of human civilization and the beginning of Martian rule.

Inspiring films, radio dramas, comic-book adaptations, television series and sequels, The War of the Worlds is a prototypical work of science fiction which has influenced every alien story that has come since, and is unsurpassed in its ability to thrill, well over a century since it was first published.

8 unabridged cassettes, narrated by Davina Porter.Book Three of the Mists of Avalon series inolves the imaginative retelling of the Arthurian legend, centering around the pagan priestesses of Avalon, who compete for the soul of Great Britain against the rising tide of Christianity."The King Stag" takes the listener deeper into the political/religious rivalry in the years following Arthurs coronation. Gwenhwyfar, in possession of a terrible secret, manipulates her husband to secure his loyalty to the Christian church, while Vivians decision to confront Arthur over his betrayal of Avalon results in tragedy.Behind the scenes, Morgaine arranges the marriage of Lancelet, who has become desperate over the hopeless triangle at Camelot. When Gwenhwyfar hears of his marriage, she vows revenge. Through her own marriage to Uriens of North Wales, Morgaine works to strengthen the cause of Avalon. She returns briefly to the Isle of Mists, only to discover that the time is not yet ripe for her to reign. Book Three concludes with the arrival of young Gwydion (Mordred) on the scene.

The Varieties of Religious Experience is a profound exploration into the psychology of religion by renowned philosopher William James. This work delves into the heart of religious life, not through the lens of organized religion, but through the individual experiences that shape our understanding of the divine.

James presents a pluralistic view, suggesting that religious experiences are the essence of spiritual life. He examines concepts such as conversion, repentance, mysticism, and the human hopes and fears regarding the afterlife. Through a series of engaging lectures, he analyzes the religious experiences of notable figures such as Voltaire, Emerson, Luther, and Tolstoy.

With his characteristic humor and insightful analysis, James challenges readers to question established norms and explore the depths of their own spiritual beliefs. This book remains a cornerstone in the study of the psychology of religion and continues to inspire thoughtful reflection on faith and spirituality.

A Tale of Passion, as its subtitle declares, The Good Soldier relates the complex social and sexual relationships between two couples, one English, one American, and the growing awareness by the American narrator John Dowell of the intrigues and passions behind their orderly Edwardian facade. It is the attitude of Dowell, his puzzlement, his uncertainty, and the seemingly haphazard manner of his narration that make the book so powerful and mysterious.

Despite its catalogue of death, insanity, and despair, the novel has many comic moments, and has inspired the work of several distinguished writers, including Graham Greene. This is the only annotated edition available.

'Nicholas Nickleby' is a vibrant and heart-wrenching tale of young Nicholas left penniless after his father's death. He seeks assistance from his wealthy uncle, only to find him unscrupulous and uncaring. Forced to fend for himself and protect his mother and sister, Nicholas embarks on a journey that introduces him to a cast of extraordinary characters, from the tyrannical headmaster Wackford Squeers of Dotheboys Hall to the eccentric Crummles theatre family.

Charles Dickens, with his signature flair for the dramatic and the absurd, crafts a story that not only entertains but also delivers a fierce critique of social injustice and cruelty. The adventures of Nicholas and the friends and foes he meets along the way showcase Dickens's comic genius and his deep empathy for the underdog.

This edition, published by Penguin, includes original illustrations by 'Phiz', enriching the narrative with visual storytelling that complements Dickens's richly detailed world. An introduction by Mark Ford offers insights into the novel's historical context and its place within Dickens's body of work, making it an essential read for both new and returning readers of Dickens.

With the Old Breed presents a stirring, personal account of the vitality and bravery of the Marines in the battles at Peleliu and Okinawa. Eugene B. Sledge, born in Mobile, Alabama, in 1923, captures his journey from innocence to experience during World War II.

Sledge enlisted out of patriotism, idealism, and youthful courage. However, once he landed on the beach at Peleliu, it became purely a struggle for survival. Based on the notes he kept on slips of paper tucked secretly away in his New Testament, he recalls those long months with brutal honesty, sparing no detail of the unbearable heat, deafening gunfire, unimaginable brutality, and constant fear.

Despite the horrors, Sledge reveals the bonds of friendship formed in battle that will never be severed. His compassion for his fellow Marines, even complete strangers, sets him apart as a memoirist of war. Whether read as sobering history or high adventure, With the Old Breed is a moving chronicle of action and courage.

A stranger walks out of a bar and is later found dead at the wheel of his car. The narrator creates the story of this man — or, rather, two stories, based on the two personae that he has imagined. One of these is named Enderlin; the other, Gantenbein.

Originally published as A Wilderness of Mirrors.

Do you think Cinderella married the prince and lived happily ever after, and that the three little pigs outsmarted the wolf? Think again!

Premier storyteller Roald Dahl twists the fate of six favorite fairy tales in this picture book edition. Fairy tales have never been more revolting!

Illustrated by Quentin Blake.

The High Queen is an imaginative return to the Arthurian legend as told from its pagan priestesses. This journey continues with Book Two: The High Queen.

Morgaine, finally reconciled to the birth of her son, must relinquish him to her aunt Morgause in exchange for the kept secret regarding his parentage. Arthur marries the timid but dutiful Gwenhwyfar, while ongoing wars with the Saxon invaders continue to rage across the land.

Morgaine, tired of worldly concerns, attempts to return to Avalon, but disappears without a trace somewhere near the end of her journey. In a last bid for peace, Arthur compromises his loyalty to Avalon by carrying the Christian banner into battle.

Gwenhwyfar's inability to conceive has the kingdom despairing of an heir to the throne, while behind the scenes, her love for Lancelet grows more impassioned and desperate.

Book Four finds Morgaine moving closer to the fate that will set her intractably against Arthur—her lover, brother, and now, enemy. Returning to Camelot during the Feast of Pentecost, Morgaine accuses Arthur of compromising the crown and demands that he return Excalibur to her. When he refuses, Morgaine arranges a confrontation between her lover, Accolon, and Arthur in the kingdom of Fairy, resulting in Accolon's death.

Grieving and still without Excalibur, Morgaine makes a hasty retreat to Avalon. When she finally returns to Camelot, it is to retrieve Avalon's Holy Regalia, now being used in a Christian mass. Enraged at this betrayal, Morgaine calls upon the Lady's magic, which results in the mysterious disappearance of the holy chalice, prompting the companions of the Round Table to embark on a 12-month quest to find it.

Events spiral out of control when Lancelet returns, resumes his adulterous relationship with Gwenhwyfar, and is finally exposed. The novel closes with the King Stag's death and Morgaine's long-anticipated return to Avalon.

Laurie was at home, but her boyfriend swears he saw her on the beach with another guy. Her family insists they see her coming and going when she's been out of the house for hours.

Who—or what—is taking over Laurie's life?

Raymond E. Feist's classic fantasy epic, Magician, has enchanted readers for over twenty years. The revised edition was prepared to celebrate the tenth anniversary of its publication, and incorporates over 15,000 words of text omitted from previous editions.At Crydee, a frontier outpost in the tranquil Kingdom of the Isles, an orphan boy, Pug, is apprenticed to a master magician – and the destinies of two worlds are changed forever.Suddenly the peace of the Kingdom is destroyed as mysterious alien invaders swarm the land. Pug is swept up into the conflict but for him and his warrior friend, Tomas, an odyssey into the unknown has only just begun.Tomas will inherit a legacy of savage power from an ancient civilization. Pug’s destiny is to lead him through a rift in the fabric of space and time to the mastery of the unimaginable powers of a strange new magic. Reviews'Epic scope… fast moving action…vivid imagination'WASHINGTON POST'tons of intrigue and action'PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

H.P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the twentieth century’s greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale. The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.

This is the collection that true fans of horror fiction must have: sixteen of H.P. Lovecraft’s most horrifying visions, including:

• The Call of Cthulu: The first story in the infamous Cthulhu mythos—a creature spawned in the stars brings a menace of unimaginable evil to threaten all mankind.
• The Dunwich Horror: An evil man’s desire to perform an unspeakable ritual leads him in search of the fabled text of The Necronomicon.
• The Colour Out of Space: A horror from the skies—far worse than any nuclear fallout—transforms a man into a monster.
• The Shadow Over Innsmouth: Rising from the depths of the sea, an unspeakable horror engulfs a quiet New England town.
• Plus twelve more terrifying tales!

Mrs. Mike is a classic and wholesome romantic tale that has enchanted millions of readers worldwide. It brings the fierce, stunning landscape of the Great North to life—and masterfully evokes the tender, touching moments that bring a man and a woman together forever.

Recently arrived in Calgary, Alberta after a long, hard journey from Boston, sixteen-year-old Katherine Mary O’Fallon never imagined that she could lose her heart so easily—or so completely. Standing over six feet tall, with “eyes so blue you could swim in them,” Mike Flannigan is a well-respected sergeant in the Canadian Mounted Police—and a man of great courage, kindness, and humor. Together, he and his beloved Kathy manage to live a good, honest life in this harsh, unforgiving land—and find strength in a love as beautiful and compelling as the wilderness around them.

Anne Rice brings to life the exquisite and otherworldly society of the eighteenth-century castrati, the delicate and alluring male sopranos whose graceful bodies and glorious voices brought them the adulation of the royal courts and grand opera houses of Europe.

These men lived as idols, concealing their pain as they were adored as angels, yet shunned as half-men.

As we are drawn into their dark and luminous story, the crowds of Venetians, Neapolitans, and Romans—noblemen and peasants, musicians, prelates, princes, saints, and intriguers—swirl around them.

Anne Rice brings us into the sweep of eighteenth-century Italian life, into the decadence beneath the shimmering surface of Venice, the wild frivolity of Naples, and the magnetic terror of its shadow, Vesuvius.

When struggling riverboat captain Abner Marsh receives an offer of partnership from a wealthy aristocrat, he suspects something’s amiss. But when he meets the hauntingly pale, steely-eyed Joshua York, he is certain. For York doesn’t care that the icy winter of 1857 has wiped out all but one of Marsh’s dilapidated fleet. Nor does he care that he won’t earn back his investment in a decade. York has his own reasons for wanting to traverse the powerful Mississippi. And they are to be none of Marsh’s concern—no matter how bizarre, arbitrary, or capricious his actions may prove.

Marsh meant to turn down York’s offer. It was too full of secrets that spelled danger. But the promise of both gold and a grand new boat that could make history crushed his resolve—coupled with the terrible force of York’s mesmerizing gaze.

Not until the maiden voyage of his new sidewheeler Fevre Dream would Marsh realize he had joined a mission both more sinister, and perhaps more noble, than his most fantastic nightmare...and mankind’s most impossible dream.

Here is the spellbinding tale of a vampire’s quest to unite his race with humanity, of a garrulous riverman’s dream of immortality, and of the undying legends of the steamboat era and a majestic, ancient river.

Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of those young rebels who are compelled, in spite of extreme danger, to venture illegally into the Zone to collect the mysterious artifacts that the alien visitors left scattered around. His life is dominated by the place and the thriving black market in the alien products. But when he and his friend Kirill go into the Zone together to pick up a &“full empty,&” something goes wrong. And the news he gets from his girlfriend upon his return makes it inevitable that he'll keep going back to the Zone, again and again, until he finds the answer to all his problems. First published in 1972, Roadside Picnic is still widely regarded as one of the greatest science fiction novels, despite the fact that it has been out of print in the United States for almost thirty years. This authoritative new translation corrects many errors and omissions and has been supplemented with a foreword by Ursula K. Le Guin and a new afterword by Boris Strugatsky explaining the strange history of the novel's publication in Russia.

T. S. Eliot's playful cat poems have delighted readers and cat lovers around the world ever since they were first published in 1939. They were originally composed for his godchildren, with Eliot posing as Old Possum himself, and later inspired the legendary musical Cats.

These lovable cat poems continue to delight children and grown-ups alike. Eliot's beloved cat poems are a curious and artful homage to felines young and old, merry and fierce, small and unmistakably round.

One of Sidney Sheldon's most popular and bestselling titles, repackaged and reissued for a new generation of fans. Kate Blackwell is one of the richest and most powerful women in the world. She is an enigma, a woman surrounded by a thousand unanswered questions. Her father was a diamond prospector who struck it rich beyond his wildest dreams. Her mother was the daughter of a crooked Afrikaaner merchant. Her conception was itself an act of hate-filled vengeance.

At the extravagant celebrations of her ninetieth birthday, there are toasts from a Supreme Court Judge and a telegram from the White House. And for Kate there are ghosts, ghosts of absent friends and of enemies. Ghosts from a life of blackmail and murder. Ghosts from an empire spawned by naked ambition!

Sidney Sheldon is one of the most popular storytellers in the world. This is one of his best-loved novels, a compulsively readable thriller, packed with suspense, intrigue and passion. It will recruit a new generation of fans to his writing.

Remembrance of Things Past: Volume II delves into the intricate tapestry of Belle Epoque France, unfolding through the profound reflections of its narrator. This volume encompasses The Guermantes Way and Cities of the Plain, capturing the essence of art, time, and memory.

As the narrator grows up, falls in love, and experiences the tumultuous events of the First World War, the narrative mesmerizes readers with its intricate portrayal of human emotions and societal norms. The translation by C. K. Scott Moncrieff, later revised by Terence Kilmartin, has been celebrated for capturing the essence of Proust's monumental work.

This literary masterpiece invites readers into a world where personal experiences are intertwined with historical events, offering a unique perspective on the passage of time and the power of memory.

Cujo is a 1981 psychological horror novel by American writer Stephen King about a rabid Saint Bernard. The novel won the British Fantasy Award in 1982 and was made into a film in 1983.

Set in the Ardennes Forest on Christmas Eve 1944, Sergeant Will Knott and five other GIs are ordered close to the German lines to establish an observation post in an abandoned chateau. Here, they play at being soldiers in what seems to be complete isolation.

That is, until the Germans begin revealing their whereabouts and leaving signs of their presence: a scarecrow, equipment the squad had dropped on a retreat from a reconnaissance mission and, strangest of all, a small fir tree hung with fruit, candles, and cardboard stars.

Suddenly, Knott and the others must unravel these mysteries, learning as they do about themselves, about one another, and about the "enemy," until A Midnight Clear reaches its unexpected climax, one of the most shattering in the literature of war.

Her name was Killashandra Ree. After ten grueling years of musical training, she was still without prospects. Then she heard of the mysterious Heptite Guild on the planet Ballybran, home of the fabled Black Crystal. For those qualified, the Guild was said to provide careers, security, and the chance for wealth beyond imagining.

The problem was, few people who landed on Ballybran ever left. But to Killashandra, the risks were acceptable...

Ancient, ultimate evil threatened the Elves and the Races of Man. For the Ellcrys, the tree created by long-lost elven magic, was dying, losing the spell of Forbidding that locked the hordes of ravening Demons away from Earth. Already the Reaper, most fearsome of demons, was free. Only one source of protection was powerful enough to stop it: The Elfstones of Shannara.

The stones and the right to use them belonged to Wil Olmsford, given him by his grandfather Shea. Allanon, legendary Druid guardian, summoned him from his studies in Storlock to protect Amberle, the elven girl who must carry a seed of the tree to the mysterious Bloodfire, life-source of earth, there to be quickened and to create a new Ellcrys.

While Allanon and the Elves fight a hopeless war against the emerging demons, Wil and Amberle plunge forward in a seemingly impossible quest to find the Bloodfire.

Tout m’avale (…) Je suis avalée par le fleuve trop grand, par le ciel trop haut, par les fleurs trop fragiles, par les papillons trop craintifs, par le visage trop beau de ma mère.

L’Avalée des avalés, premier roman de Réjean Ducharme, s’ouvre sur ces mots crus, douloureux, vibrants, ces paroles d’écorchée vive qui immédiatement nous happent. Tout m’avale, scande la narratrice, et nous voilà, nous aussi, immédiatement “avalés”, pris à la gorge par la douleur vive de cette héroïne qui s’agrippe de toutes ses griffes à l’enfance, alors même que son corps est en train de la trahir.

Elle s’appelle Bérénice, elle a une famille – un père juif, une mère catholique – qu’elle hait, elle a un arbre, un “navire” où elle aime se réfugier. Quand je ne sais plus quoi faire, je m’embarque (…) Larguez les continents. Hissez les horizons. Ici, on part. Et nous partons. Loin sur les ailes de son imagination. Le plus loin possible de sa douleur, de la vie, de la petitesse des humains.

At last, the costly and bitter war between the two Foundations had come to an end. The scientists of the First Foundation had proved victorious; and now they return to Hari Seldon's long-established plan to build a new Empire on the ruins of the old. But rumors persist that the Second Foundation is not destroyed after all—and that its still-defiant survivors are preparing their revenge.

Now two exiled citizens of the Foundation—a renegade Councilman and a doddering historian—set out in search of the mythical planet Earth. . .and proof that the Second Foundation still exists. Meanwhile, someone—or something—outside of both Foundations seems to be orchestrating events to suit its own ominous purpose. Soon representatives of both the First and Second Foundations will find themselves racing toward a mysterious world called Gaia and a final shocking destiny at the very end of the universe!

Ian Fleming’s fifth James Bond novel takes readers on a thrilling ride through the world of espionage. James Bond is marked for death by the Soviet counterintelligence agency SMERSH in this masterful spy thriller.

SMERSH stands for ‘Death to Spies’, and there’s no secret agent they’d like to disgrace and destroy more than 007, James Bond. But ensnaring the British Secret Service’s most lethal operative will require a lure so tempting even he can’t resist. Enter Tatiana Romanova, a ravishing Russian spy whose ‘defection’ springs a trap designed with clockwork precision.

Her mission: seduce Bond, then flee to the West on the Orient Express. Waiting in the shadows are two of Ian Fleming’s most vividly drawn villains: Red Grant, SMERSH’s deadliest assassin, and the sinister operations chief Rosa Klebb — five feet four inches of pure killing power.

Bursting with action and intrigue, From Russia with Love is one of the best-loved books in the Bond canon — an instant classic that set the standard for sophisticated literary spycraft for decades to come.

Look Homeward, Angel: A Story of the Buried Life is a 1929 novel by Thomas Wolfe. It is Wolfe's first novel and is considered a highly autobiographical American Bildungsroman. The character of Eugene Gant is generally believed to be a depiction of Wolfe himself. The novel covers the span of time from Gant's birth to the age of 19. The setting is the fictional town and state of Altamont, Catawba, a fictionalization of his home town, Asheville, North Carolina.

Playwright Ketti Frings wrote a theatrical adaptation of Wolfe's work in a 1957 play of the same title.

QB VII is a riveting courtroom drama by Leon Uris, exploring the depths of human nature under the most dire of circumstances. In Queen’s Bench Courtroom Number Seven, famous author Abraham Cady stands trial. In his book The Holocaust—born of the terrible revelation that the Jadwiga Concentration Camp was the site of his family’s extermination—Cady shook the consciousness of the human race. He also named eminent surgeon Sir Adam Kelno as one of Jadwiga's most sadistic inmate/doctors. Kelno has denied this and brought furious charges against Cady.

Sir Adam Kelno has spent his whole life covering up his past. After his political beliefs land him in Jadwiga, Poland’s worst concentration camp, Kelno earns privileges with the Nazis by performing inhumane operations on Jewish prisoners. Now, after rebuilding his name in a British colony and being knighted by the British monarchy, Kelno finally feels safe returning to London. But his past catches up with him when Cady's book names him one of the most sadistic doctors at Jadwiga. Anxious to quell the rumors, Kelno charges Cady with slandering his name. As the court proceedings draw out, Cady must fight to avenge his past while Kelno fights to save his future.

This novel not only delves into the horrors of the Holocaust but also presents a gripping legal battle, making it one of the great fictional trials of the century.

The Lottery and Other Stories collects short stories by Shirley Jackson, including "Like Mother Used to Make," "Afternoon in Linen," "A Fine Old Firm," as well as "The Lottery."

This collection demonstrates Jackson's remarkable range--from the hilarious to the truly horrible--and power as a storyteller. The creeping unease of lives squandered and the bloody glee of lives lost are chillingly captured in these tales of wasted potential and casual cruelty.

Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling is a cherished collection that has entertained young and old alike for over a century. These classic tales, rooted in the oral storytelling traditions of India and Africa, feature mischievously clever animals and people. Through these stories, Kipling offers little pearls of wisdom about the pitfalls of arrogance and pride, along with the importance of curiosity, imagination, and inventiveness.

The prose is rhythmic, making these tales perfect for sharing aloud with the whole family. This edition not only includes all of Kipling's unforgettable stories but also features ten stunning watercolors and numerous black-and-white drawings by award-winning artist Barry Moser, bringing this timeless masterpiece brilliantly to life for a new generation of readers.

Since its first publication in 1965, this edition has been widely hailed as the best available text of Blake's poetry and prose. Now revised, it includes up-to-date work on variants, chronology of the poems, and critical commentary by Harold Bloom. An Approved Edition of the Center for Scholarly Editions of the Modern Language Association.

The beloved, bestselling tale of edible weather is brought to life!

If food dropped like rain from the sky, wouldn't it be marvelous! Or would it? It could, after all, be messy. And you'd have no choice. What if you didn't like what fell? Or what if too much came? Have you ever thought of what it might be like to be squashed flat by a pancake?

In his second collection of stories, as in his first, Carver's characters are peripheral people--people without education, insight or prospects, people too unimaginative to even give up. Carver celebrates these men and women.

The most celebrated story collection from “one of the true American masters” (The New York Review of Books)—a haunting meditation on love, loss, and companionship, and finding one’s way through the dark that includes the iconic and much-referenced title story featured in the Academy Award-winning film Birdman. "Raymond Carver's America is ... clouded by pain and the loss of dreams, but it is not as fragile as it looks. It is a place of survivors and a place of stories.... [Carver] has done what many of the most gifted writers fail to do: He has invented a country of his own, like no other except that very world, as Wordsworth said, which is the world to all of us." —The New York Times Book Review

The magnificent second novel from the legendary author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey, wrote what Charles Bowden calls one of the few essential books written by an American in the last half century. This wild-spirited tale tells of a bitter strike that rages through a small lumber town along the Oregon coast. Bucking that strike out of sheer cussedness are the Stampers.

Out of the Stamper family's rivalries and betrayals Ken Kesey has crafted a novel with the mythic impact of Greek tragedy.

A triple murder in a Moscow amusement center: three corpses found frozen in the snow, faces and fingers missing. Chief homicide investigator Arkady Renko is brilliant, sensitive, honest, and cynical about everything except his profession. To identify the victims and uncover the truth, he must battle the KGB, FBI, and New York police as he performs the impossible--and tries to stay alive doing it.

The gigantic comet had slammed into Earth, forging earthquakes a thousand times too powerful to measure on the Richter scale, tidal waves thousands of feet high. Cities were turned into oceans; oceans turned into steam. It was the beginning of a new Ice Age and the end of civilization.

But for the terrified men and women chance had saved, it was also the dawn of a new struggle for survival—a struggle more dangerous and challenging than any they had ever known.

The Awakening, first published in 1899, remains a significant work of literature for its bold treatment of female marital infidelity and its exploration of a woman's social and personal turmoil. Kate Chopin's novel takes readers back to the late Victorian period, challenging the conventional romantic fiction of the time with its candid portrayal of Edna Pontellier, a woman confined within a repressive marriage, who seeks and discovers an intense emotional and physical connection beyond the realm of her matrimonial life.

The narrative is not only remarkable for addressing then-taboo subjects but also for its literary finesse. Edmund Wilson praised the work for being "quite uninhibited and beautifully written," drawing parallels with D. H. Lawrence's approach to infidelity. Today, while the shock factor of its central theme has diminished, the novel's psychological depth and stark honesty in the portrayal of an extramarital affair continue to garner admiration and critical acclaim.

Down-and-out drunk Terry Lennox has a problem: his millionaire wife is dead and he needs to get out of LA fast. So he turns to the only friend he can trust: private investigator Philip Marlowe. Marlowe is willing to help a man down on his luck, but later Lennox commits suicide in Mexico and things start to turn nasty. Marlowe is drawn into a sordid crowd of adulterers and alcoholics in LA's Idle Valley, where the rich are suffering one big suntanned hangover. Marlowe is sure Lennox didn't kill his wife, but how many stiffs will turn up before he gets to the truth?

Such wonderful children. Such a beautiful mother. Such a lovely house. Such endless terror!

It wasn't that she didn't love her children. She did. But there was a fortune at stake—a fortune that would assure their later happiness if she could keep the children a secret from her dying father.

So she and her mother hid her darlings away in an unused attic. Just for a little while. But the brutal days swelled into agonizing years. Now Cathy, Chris, and the twins wait in their cramped and helpless world, stirred by adult dreams, adult desires, served a meager sustenance by an angry, superstitious grandmother who knows that the Devil works in dark and devious ways. Sometimes he sends children to do his work—children who—one by one—must be destroyed....

Way upstairs there are four secrets hidden. Blond, beautiful, innocent struggling to stay alive....

Zami: A Carriacou name for women who work together as friends and lovers.

Zami is a fast-moving chronicle. From the author’s vivid childhood memories in Harlem to her coming of age in the late 1950s, the nature of Audre Lorde’s work is cyclical. It especially relates the linkage of women who have shaped her life.

Lorde brings into play her craft of lush description and characterization. It keeps unfolding page after page, revealing the evolution of a strong and remarkable character.

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, a novel by Tom Robbins, is a classic tale of eccentric adventure that explores the themes of freedom, its prizes, and its prices. It introduces us to the legendary Sissy Hankshaw, a white-trash goddess literally born to hitchhike, and the freest female of them all. The story unfolds with the whooping crane rustlers - girls, young girls, cowgirls, in fact, all "bursting with dimples and hormones" - and the FBI has never seen anything quite like them.

Yet, their rebellion at the Rubber Rose Ranch is almost overshadowed by Sissy's arrival. As Robbins's robust characters attempt to turn the tables on fate, the reader is drawn along on a tragicomic joyride across the badlands of sexuality, wild rivers of language, and the frontiers of the mind. Thomas Pynchon himself has called it "one of those special novels—a piece of working magic, warm, funny, and sane."