Welcome to New York City’s Upper East Side, where my friends and I live, go to school, play, and sleep—sometimes with each other.

S is back from boarding school, and if we aren’t careful, she’s going to win over our teachers, wear that dress we couldn’t fit into, steal our boyfriends’ hearts, and basically ruin our lives in a major way. I’ll be watching closely...

You know you love me,
gossip girl

It's 18 years after the nuclear holocaust and the end of civilization, as we know it. Survivors are being relocated to a new society known as the Alliance. It seems like a dream come true for many of the new citizens.

Crime, as well as harmful emotions, such as anger and prejudice, have been eliminated, because the Alliance has computerized control over its citizens from a computer chip that has been implanted in everyone.

Eric Lloyd discovers the Alliance's corrupt power structure and vows to destroy it. But can one person change the world?

The Egyptian, a novel by Mika Waltari, emerged as a sensational hit after its translation into English from Swedish, securing a spot atop the bestseller charts in 1949 and the subsequent years. This historic novel, deeply cherished by readers, unfolds through the eyes of its protagonist, Sinuhe, the royal physician. Narrating his story in exile following Akhenaten's downfall and demise, Sinuhe's journey is not confined to Egypt alone but extends to then Egyptian-dominated territories such as Syria, Mitanni, Babylon, Minoan Crete, and among the Hittites.

The narrative, inspired by an ancient Egyptian text known as The Story of Sinuhe, delves into events that took place over 3,300 years ago. Waltari's dedication to historical accuracy in his vivid depiction of ancient Egyptian life garnered acclaim not only from readers but also from Egyptologists. This commitment to authenticity stemmed from extensive research into the subject, a testament to Waltari's long-standing fascination with Akhenaten—a figure he had previously explored in a play staged in Helsinki in 1938.

The Egyptian stands as the only Finnish novel to be adapted into a Hollywood film, a DeLuxe Color epic by 20th Century Fox in 1954, which was later nominated for an academy award. It remains a historic novel all-time favorite, reflecting the timeless appeal of its story and the masterful storytelling of Mika Waltari.

Witch Child is the spellbinding diary of a teenage girl who escapes persecution as a witch, only to face new intolerance in a Puritan settlement. Enter the world of young Mary Newbury, a world where simply being different can cost a person her life.

Hidden until now in the pages of her diary, Mary's startling story begins in 1659, the year her beloved grandmother is hanged in the public square as a witch. Mary narrowly escapes a similar fate, only to face intolerance and new danger among the Puritans in the New World. How long can she hide her true identity? Will she ever find a place where her healing powers will not be feared?

O Clube dos Imortais é uma horda formada por seres lendários coagidos pelo vampiro Luar para servi-lo em sua busca particular. Luciano, o personagem-chave, é seduzido pelo vampiro, e seus amigos se unem para resgatá-lo, percorrendo cenários sombrios da capital paulista.

Luar crê que está perto de atingir seu objetivo - reencontrar Álvares de Azevedo, sua paixão outrora perdida num baile da corte. Ao mesmo tempo, a Sibila Rubra, uma bruxa presa ao vampiro por uma promessa ancestral, passa a questionar suas ações enquanto os lobisomens tramam em segredo uma rebelião para destruí-lo.

Este é um clube formado por vampiros, bruxas, lobisomens, anjos, e outros seres, todos em uma complexa teia de alianças e traições.

Hours after Holmes and Russell return from solving the murky riddle of The Moor, a bloodied but oddly familiar stranger pounds desperately on their front door, pleading for their help. When he recovers, he lays before them the story of the enigmatic Marsh Hughenfort, younger brother of the Duke of Beauville. Marsh has returned to England upon his brother's death, determined to learn the truth about the untimely death of the hall's expected heir—a puzzle he is convinced only Holmes and Russell can solve.

It's a mystery that begins during the Great War of 1918, when young Gabriel Hughenfort, the late Duke's only son, died amidst scandalous rumors that have haunted the family ever since. While Holmes heads to London to uncover the truth of Gabriel's war record, Russell joins an ill-fated shooting party. A missing diary, a purloined bundle of letters, and a trail of ominous clues comprise a mystery that will call for Holmes's cleverest disguises and Russell's most daring journeys into the unknown—from an English hamlet to the city of Paris to the wild prairie of the New World.

The trap is set, the game is afoot, but can they catch an elusive villain in the act of murder before they become his next victims?

In 1915, Sherlock Holmes is retired and quietly engaged in the study of honeybees in Sussex when a young woman literally stumbles onto him on the Sussex Downs. Fifteen years old, gawky, egotistical, and recently orphaned, the young Mary Russell displays an intellect to impress even Sherlock Holmes. Under his reluctant tutelage, this very modern, twentieth-century woman proves a deft protégée and a fitting partner for the Victorian detective.

They are soon called to Wales to help Scotland Yard find the kidnapped daughter of an American senator, a case of international significance with clues that dip deep into Holmes's past. Full of brilliant deduction, disguises, and danger, The Beekeeper's Apprentice, the first book of the Mary Russell–Sherlock Holmes mysteries, is remarkably beguiling.

Life, the Universe and Everything is the third book in the five-volume Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy science fiction series by British writer Douglas Adams. The title refers to the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything.

The unhappy inhabitants of planet Krikkit are sick of looking at the night sky above their heads—so they plan to destroy it. The universe, that is. Now only five individuals stand between the killer robots of Krikkit and their goal of total annihilation.

They are Arthur Dent, a mild-mannered space and time traveler who tries to learn how to fly by throwing himself at the ground and missing; Ford Prefect, his best friend, who decides to go insane to see if he likes it; Slartibartfast, the indomitable vice president of the Campaign for Real Time, who travels in a ship powered by irrational behavior; Zaphod Beeblebrox, the two-headed, three-armed ex-president of the galaxy; and Trillian, the sexy space cadet who is torn between a persistent Thunder God and a very depressed Beeblebrox.

How will it all end? Will it end? Only this stalwart crew knows as they try to avert “universal” Armageddon and save life as we know it—and don’t know it!

“Adams is one of those rare treasures: an author who, one senses, has as much fun writing as one has reading.”—Arizona Daily Star

Briar Rose is a powerful retelling of the classic Sleeping Beauty tale, woven with elements of history and mystery.

Rebecca has always been captivated by her grandmother Gemma's enchanting stories of Briar Rose. However, upon making a promise to her dying grandmother, Rebecca embarks on a remarkable journey to uncover the truth behind Gemma's astonishing claim: I am Briar Rose.

This journey leads Rebecca through a tapestry of unspeakable brutality and horror, but also guides her towards redemption and hope. The story beautifully intertwines the magical fairy tale with the harsh realities of history, creating a narrative that is both heartbreaking and heartwarming.

The land of Terre d'Ange is a place of unsurpassing beauty and grace. It is said that angels found the land and saw it was good... and the ensuing race that rose from the seed of angels and men live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt.

Phèdre nó Delaunay is a young woman who was born with a scarlet mote in her left eye. Sold into indentured servitude as a child, her bond is purchased by Anafiel Delaunay, a nobleman with very a special mission... and the first one to recognize who and what she is: one pricked by Kushiel's Dart, chosen to forever experience pain and pleasure as one.

Phèdre is trained equally in the courtly arts and the talents of the bedchamber, but, above all, the ability to observe, remember, and analyze. Almost as talented a spy as she is courtesan, Phèdre stumbles upon a plot that threatens the very foundations of her homeland. Treachery sets her on her path; love and honor goad her further. And in the doing, it will take her to the edge of despair... and beyond. Hateful friend, loving enemy, beloved assassin; they can all wear the same glittering mask in this world, and Phèdre will get but one chance to save all that she holds dear.

Set in a world of cunning poets, deadly courtiers, heroic traitors, and a truly Machiavellian villainess, this is a novel of grandeur, luxuriance, sacrifice, betrayal, and deeply laid conspiracies. Not since Dune has there been an epic on the scale of Kushiel's Dart-a massive tale about the violent death of an old age, and the birth of a new.

Harley Quin is an enigma. Even his friend, Mr. Satterthwaite, is unable to understand how the man seems to appear and disappear almost like a trick of the light. When he does appear, it's usually in the sparkle of sunshine, or surrounded by a spectrum of coloured light pouring through a stained glass window.

In fact, the only consistent thing about the Mysterious Mr. Quin is that his presence is always a harbinger of love... or death.

United by a perfect chilling atmosphere and a graceful literary style, these ghostly stories range from the horror of vampires, homicidal ghosts, and monstrous spectral worms and slugs. These creatures make their appearance in the classic tales "Negotium Perambulans" and "And No Bird Sings".

On the lighter side, the collection includes humorous tales that poke fun at charlatan mediums and fake seances, such as "Spinach" and "Mr Tilly's Seance".

This edition brings together E.F. Benson's greatest stories, making it a must-read for any fan of Benson or of spectral stories.

A Room of One's Own is an extended essay by Virginia Woolf. First published on the 24th of October, 1929, the essay was based on a series of lectures she delivered at Newnham College and Girton College, two women's colleges at Cambridge University in October 1928. While this extended essay in fact employs a fictional narrator and narrative to explore women both as writers and characters in fiction, the manuscript for the delivery of the series of lectures, titled Women and Fiction, and hence the essay, are considered nonfiction. The essay is seen as a feminist text, and is noted in its argument for both a literal and figural space for women writers within a literary tradition dominated by patriarchy.

At Swim, Two Boys is a tender, tragic love story set during the year preceding the Easter Uprising of 1916—Ireland’s brave but fractured revolt against British rule. This masterwork by Jamie O'Neill is both powerful and artful, capturing the essence of people caught in the tide of history.

Jim Mack is a naïve young scholar, the son of a foolish, aspiring shopkeeper. Doyler Doyle is the rough-diamond son—revolutionary and blasphemous—of Mr. Mack’s old army pal. Out at the Forty Foot, a great jut of rock where gentlemen bathe in the nude, the two boys make a pact: Doyler will teach Jim to swim, and in a year, on Easter of 1916, they will swim to the distant beacon of Muglins Rock and claim that island for themselves.

Meanwhile, Mr. Mack, who has grand plans for a corner shop empire, remains unaware of the depth of the boys’ burgeoning friendship and the changing landscape of a nation.

Born to be His Bride?

It is said that Braden MacAllister, an English baron and proud Highlander warrior, can fell an enemy with a single blow—and a woman with a single kiss. But not Maggie, it seems. For the fire-haired beauty, determined to end the long-running feud that rages between their clan and its common foe, is immune to Braden's attempts to stop her foolishness.

But stop her he will, once he gets the meddling minx alone and favors her with a passionate caress and an irresistible kiss.

No matter how she trembles beneath Braden's sensuous touch... he has given his heart to none. But dare she dream that by assuring peace for her clan she may also be claiming the most magnificent Highlander for herself?

The year is 1357. The Inquisition rages throughout medieval France, searching ruthlessly for heretics. In an epic tale of passion, mystery, and unspeakable danger, one woman faces the flames...and triumphs.

Mother Marie Francoise, born Sybille, is a midwife with a precocious gift for magic—a gift that makes her a prime target for persecution at the hands of the Church. She flees her village and takes refuge in a Franciscan sisterhood. Before long, Sybille's unusual powers bring her under the scrutiny of the Inquisition. Michel, a pious and compassionate monk sent to hear her confession, finds himself drawn more intimately into Sybille's life and destiny than either of them could have imagined.

Like a magician herself, Jeanne Kalogridis weaves a tale of star-crossed love, of faith and heresy, of mysticism and witchcraft, against a fascinating historical backdrop—the Black Death, the Hundred Years' War, and the catastrophic defeat of France at the hands of the English. The result is a page-turning novel about one of the most intriguing periods in history.

Since Sai's disappearance, Hikaru has given up go! Meanwhile, undefeated by his failure to pass the pro test, Isumi plays his heart out in China. His foreign training teaches him unique ways to handle the stress of mental challenges and competition. Upon his return, he asks Hikaru for a rematch! But how good will Hikaru's game be after such a long break--and without Sai...?

-- VIZ Media

Clare Fergusson, St. Alban's new priest, fits like a square peg in the conservative Episcopal parish at Millers Kill, New York. She is not just a lady, she's a tough ex-Army chopper pilot and nobody's fool. Then a newborn infant left at the church door brings her together with the town's Police Chief, Russ Van Alstyne, who's also ex-Army and a cynical good shepherd for the stray sheep of his hometown.

Their search for the baby's mother quickly leads them into the secrets that shadow Millers Kill like the ever-present Adirondacks. What they discover is a world of trouble, an attraction to each other—and murder...

It's a cold, snowy December in the upstate New York town of Millers Kill, and newly ordained Clare Fergusson is on thin ice as the first female priest of its small Episcopal church. The ancient regime running the parish covertly demands that she prove herself as a leader. However, her blunt manner, honed by years as an Army pilot, is meeting with a chilly reception from some members of her congregation, and Chief of Police Russ Van Alystyne, in particular, doesn't know what to make of her or how to address "a lady priest", for that matter.

The last thing she needs is trouble, but that is exactly what she finds. As the days dwindle down and the attraction between the avowed priest and the married police chief grows, Clare will need all her faith, tenacity, and courage to stand fast against a killer's icy heart.

The English Assassin by Daniel Silva is a gripping tale that combines the worlds of art restoration and international espionage. Gabriel Allon, an Israeli spy turned art restorer, is drawn back into the dangerous world he thought he had left behind.

When Allon arrives in Zurich to restore a painting for a reclusive millionaire banker, he finds himself amidst a murder scene, with the millionaire lying dead at the foot of a priceless Raphael. As Allon tries to clear his name, he is plunged into a spiraling chain of events involving Nazi art theft, a decades-old suicide, and a series of brutal killings.

The stakes are high as Gabriel battles wits with an assassin he once trained, in a game of cat and mouse that spans the globe. With the Swiss authorities on his tail and a powerful cabal intent on keeping wartime secrets buried, Allon must use all his spy skills to uncover the truth.

This novel is tense, taut, and expertly crafted, brimming with unexpected reversals and thrilling action. Daniel Silva delivers a masterful story, keeping readers on the edge of their seats from start to finish.

Considered by critics to be Barth's most distinguished masterpiece, The Sot-Weed Factor has acquired the status of a modern classic. Set in the late 1600s, it recounts the wildly chaotic odyssey of hapless, ungainly Ebenezer Cooke, sent to the New World to look after his father's tobacco business and to record the struggles of the Maryland colony in an epic poem.

On his mission, Cooke experiences capture by pirates and Indians; the loss of his father's estate to roguish impostors; love for a farmer prostitute; stealthy efforts to rob him of his virginity, which he is (almost) determined to protect; and an extraordinary gallery of treacherous characters who continually switch identities. A hilarious, bawdy tribute to all the most insidious human vices, The Sot-Weed Factor has a lasting relevance for readers of all times.

In When Christ and His Saints Slept, acclaimed historical novelist Sharon Kay Penman portrayed all the deceit, danger, and drama of Henry II's ascension to the throne. Now, in Time and Chance, she continues the ever-more-captivating tale.

It was medieval England's immortal marriage—Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II, bound by passion and ambition, certain to leave a legacy of greatness. But while lust would divide them, it was friendship—and ultimately faith—that brought bloodshed into their midst. It began with Thomas Becket, Henry's closest confidant, and his elevation to be Archbishop of Canterbury. It ended with a perceived betrayal that made a royal murder seem inevitable. Along the way were enough scheming, seductions, and scandals to topple any kingdom but their own.

Only Sharon Kay Penman can re-create this truly tumultuous time—and capture the couple who loved power as much as each other, and a man who loved God most of all.

Eugene O'Neill's autobiographical play Long Day's Journey into Night is regarded as his finest work. First published by Yale University Press in 1956, it has since sold more than one million copies. This edition includes a new foreword by Harold Bloom.

The action covers a fateful, heart-rending day from around 8:30 am to midnight, in August 1912 at the seaside Connecticut home of the Tyrones - the semi-autobiographical representations of O'Neill himself, his older brother, and their parents at their home, Monte Cristo Cottage.

One theme of the play is addiction and the resulting dysfunction of the family. All three males are alcoholics and Mary is addicted to morphine. They all constantly conceal, blame, resent, regret, accuse and deny in an escalating cycle of conflict with occasional desperate and half-sincere attempts at affection, encouragement and consolation.

Set in contemporary Ireland, filled with warmth, wit, and drama, Scarlet Feather is the story of Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather, their spouses, families, and friends, and the struggling new catering business that transforms their lives in ways big and small.

The Last Book in the Universe is a fast-paced action novel set in a future where the world has been almost destroyed. It's the story of an epileptic teenager nicknamed Spaz, who begins the heroic fight to bring human intelligence back to the planet.

In a world where most people are plugged into brain-drain entertainment systems, Spaz is the rare human being who can see life as it really is. When he meets an old man called Ryter, he begins to learn about Earth and its past. With Ryter as his companion, Spaz sets off on an unlikely quest to save his dying sister—and in the process, perhaps the world.

The Third Policeman is Flann O'Brien's brilliantly dark comic novel about the nature of time, death, and existence. Told by a narrator who has committed a botched robbery and brutal murder, the novel follows him and his adventures in a two-dimensional police station where, through the theories of the scientist/philosopher de Selby, he is introduced to Atomic Theory and its relation to bicycles, the existence of eternity (which turns out to be just down the road), and de Selby's view that the earth is not round but "sausage-shaped." With the help of his newly found soul named "Joe," he grapples with the riddles and contradictions that three eccentric policeman present to him.

The last of O'Brien's novels to be published, The Third Policeman joins O'Brien's other fiction (At Swim-Two-Birds, The Poor Mouth, The Hard Life, The Best of Myles, The Dalkey Archive) to ensure his place, along with James Joyce and Samuel Beckett, as one of Ireland's great comic geniuses.

Mankind would not have made the new age, encountering the crisis at the end of the last century, that almost wiped them out... if it weren't for "them".

In 1969, "they" who were still in their youth, created a symbol. In 1997, as the footsteps of the disaster slowly start to show out, the symbol revives.

This is the story about several boys, that save the world.

Four hundred years from now mankind is strung out across a region of interstellar space inherited from an ancient civilization discovered on Mars. The colonies are linked together by the occasional sublight colony ship voyages and hyperspatial data-casting. Human consciousness is digitally freighted between the stars and downloaded into bodies as a matter of course.

But some things never change. So when ex-envoy, now-convict Takeshi Kovacs has his consciousness and skills downloaded into the body of a nicotine-addicted ex-thug and presented with a catch-22 offer, he really shouldn't be surprised. Contracted by a billionaire to discover who murdered his last body, Kovacs is drawn into a terrifying conspiracy that stretches across known space and to the very top of society.

چراغ‌ها را من خاموش می‌کنم is a fascinating exploration of life and human relationships. Dive into a world where emotions and daily experiences intertwine, creating a tapestry of rich cultural insights and profound personal connections.

This book offers a vivid portrayal of the characters' lives, inviting readers to reflect on their own journeys and the complexities of human interaction.

Sara Crewe, an exceptionally intelligent and imaginative student at Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies, is devastated when her adored, indulgent father dies. Now penniless and banished to a room in the attic, Sara is demeaned, abused, and forced to work as a servant.

How this resourceful girl's fortunes change again is at the center of A Little Princess, one of the best-loved stories in all of children's literature. This unique and fully annotated edition appends excerpts from Frances Hodgson Burnett's original 1888 novella Sara Crewe and the stage play that preceded the novel, as well as an early story, allowing readers to see how A Little Princess evolved.

In his delightful introduction, U. C. Knoepflmacher considers the fairy-tale allusions and literary touchstones that place the book among the major works of Victorian literature, and shows it to be an exceptionally rich and resonant novel.

Crow Lake is that rare find, a first novel so quietly assured, so emotionally pitch perfect, you know from the opening page that this is the real thing—a literary experience in which to lose yourself, by an author of immense talent.

Here is a gorgeous, slow-burning story set in the rural “badlands” of northern Ontario, where heartbreak and hardship are mirrored in the landscape. For the farming Pye family, life is a Greek tragedy where the sins of the fathers are visited on the sons, and terrible events occur—offstage. Centerstage are the Morrisons, whose tragedy looks more immediate if less brutal, but is, in reality, insidious and divisive.

Orphaned young, Kate Morrison was her older brother Matt’s protegee, her fascination for pond life fed by his passionate interest in the natural world. Now a zoologist, she can identify organisms under a microscope but seems blind to the state of her own emotional life. And she thinks she’s outgrown her siblings—Luke, Matt, and Bo—who were once her entire world.

In this universal drama of family love and misunderstandings, of resentments harbored and driven underground, Lawson ratchets up the tension with heartbreaking humor and consummate control, continually overturning one’s expectations right to the very end.

Tragic, funny, unforgettable, this deceptively simple masterpiece about the perils of hero worship is a quiet tour de force that will catapult Mary Lawson to the forefront of fiction writers today.

Eight hundred years have passed since King Connavar of the Rigante and his bastard son, Bane, defeated the invading army of Stone. Now, the Rigante have lost the freedom and culture so many gave their lives to preserve.

Only one woman remains who follows the ancient ways—the Wyrd of Wishing Tree Wood—and she alone knows the nature of the evil soon to be unleashed. But the Wyrd pins her hope on two men: a giant Rigante fighter, a man haunted by his failure to save his best friend from betrayal; and a youth whose deadly talents will earn him the rancor of the brutal Varlish.

One will become the Ravenheart, an outlaw leader whose daring exploits will inspire the Rigante. The other will forge a legend—and light the fires of revolution.

For Dr. David Beck, the loss was shattering. And every day for the past eight years, he has relived the horror of what happened. The gleaming lake. The pale moonlight. The piercing screams. The night his wife was taken. The last night he saw her alive.

Everyone tells him it's time to move on, to forget the past once and for all. But for David Beck, there can be no closure. A message has appeared on his computer, a phrase only he and his dead wife know. Suddenly Beck is taunted with the impossible— that somewhere, somehow, Elizabeth is alive.

Beck has been warned to tell no one. And he doesn't. Instead, he runs from the people he trusts the most, plunging headlong into a search for the shadowy figure whose messages hold out a desperate hope.

But already Beck is being hunted down. He's headed straight into the heart of a dark and deadly secret— and someone intends to stop him before he gets there.

Volume III of The Dragonriders of Pern®, the influential series by sci-fi/fantasy titan Anne McCaffrey. Never in the history of Pern has there been a dragon like Ruth. Mocked by other dragons for his small size and pure white color, Ruth is smart, brave, and loyal—qualities that he shares with his rider, the young Lord Jaxom. Unfortunately, Jaxom is also looked down upon by his fellow lords, and by other riders as well. His dreams of joining the dragonriders in defending Pern are dismissed.

What else can Jaxom and Ruth do but strike out on their own, pursuing in secret all they are denied? But in doing so, the two friends will find themselves facing a desperate choice—one that will push their bond to the breaking point . . . and threaten the future of Pern itself.

It is the fourteenth century, and one of the most apocalyptic events in human history is set to occur—the coming of the Black Death. History teaches us that a third of Europe's population was destroyed. But what if? What if the plague killed 99 percent of the population instead? How would the world have changed?

This is a look at the history that could have been—a history that stretches across centuries, sees dynasties and nations rise and crumble, and spans horrible famine and magnificent innovation. These are the years of rice and salt.

Through the eyes of soldiers and kings, explorers and philosophers, slaves and scholars, Robinson navigates a world where Buddhism and Islam are the most influential and practiced religions, while Christianity is merely a historical footnote. Probing the most profound questions, Robinson shines his extraordinary light on the place of religion, culture, power—and even love—in this bold New World.

Davy lives alone with his father. But the truth is, it isn't much of a home. When things get so bad that Davy decides to run away, his big question is, Where? And how will he live?

The magical answer: anywhere Davy wants!

Davy discovers he has the power to "jump" from one place to another. Not just a few feet. But hundreds, even thousands of miles! And as Davy explores his new power he learns that the world is literally his for the taking. But there are consequences too, as Davy will learn.

Four centuries ago, a precious idol was hidden in the jungles of Peru. To the Incan people, it is still the ultimate symbol of their spirit. To William Race, an American linguist enlisted by the U.S. Army to decipher the clues to its location, it's the ultimate symbol of the apocalypse.

Carved from a rare stone not found on Earth, the idol possesses elements more destructive than any nuclear bomb—a virtual planet killer. In the wrong hands, it could mean the end of mankind. And whoever possesses the idol, possesses the unfathomable—and cataclysmic—power of the gods.

Now, in the foothills of the Andes, Race's team has arrived—but they're not alone. And soon they'll discover that to penetrate the temple of the idol is to break the first rule of survival. Because some treasures are meant to stay buried and forces are ready to kill to keep it that way...

Was it a misstep that sent a handsome stranger plummeting to his death from a cliff? Or something more sinister?

Fun-loving adventurers Bobby Jones and Frances Derwent's suspicions are certainly roused—especially since the man's dying words were so peculiar: Why didn't they ask Evans?

Bobby and Frances would love to know. Unfortunately, asking the wrong people has sent the amateur sleuths running for their lives—on a wild and deadly pursuit to discover who Evans is, what it was he wasn't asked, and why the mysterious inquiry has put their own lives in mortal danger...

Cursed into an eternity of slavery by his own brother, Julian of Macedon has spent centuries in hell, where the only respite he knows is measured in a handful of weeks whenever he’s summoned through an arcane spell. With the modern age, those summonings are becoming fewer and fewer, and he lives in fear of the day when they’ll stop for good.

Grace Alexander doesn’t believe in much of anything. But when her “psychic” girlfriend talks her into performing the spell as a joke on her birthday, the last thing she ever imagines is it working. But work it does. Now, she finds an ancient Greek general in her living room and trapped in her life for the next month. Worse, they learn too late that part of the spell means Grace will lose her sanity should he return to his captivity.

Now it’s a race against time to free him. Something much easier said than done, since it was the ancient gods who cursed him to his fate. And the last thing they want is to see him go free of the punishment the gods believe he deserves. It’s man against the gods, and a race against time.

Between the seemingly impossible tasks of living up to his warrior-father's legend and surmounting his own physical limitations, Miles Vorkosigan faces some truly daunting challenges. Shortly after his arrival on Beta Colony, Miles unexpectedly finds himself the owner of an obsolete freighter and in more debt than he ever thought possible. Propelled by his manic "forward momentum," the ever-inventive Miles creates a new identity for himself as the commander of his own mercenary fleet to obtain a lucrative cargo; a shipment of weapons destined for a dangerous warzone.

Cannery Row is a book without much of a plot. Rather, it is an attempt to capture the feeling and people of a place, the cannery district of Monterey, California, which is populated by a mix of those down on their luck and those who choose for other reasons not to live "up the hill" in the more respectable area of town. The flow of the main plot is frequently interrupted by short vignettes that introduce us to various denizens of the Row, most of whom are not directly connected with the central story. These vignettes are often characterized by direct or indirect reference to extreme violence: suicides, corpses, and the cruelty of the natural world.

The "story" of Cannery Row follows the adventures of Mack and the boys, a group of unemployed yet resourceful men who inhabit a converted fish-meal shack on the edge of a vacant lot down on the Row. Sweet Thursday is the sequel to Cannery Row.

Dirty Havana Trilogy is a gritty, powerful, and atmospheric novel-in-stories set against the backdrop of 1993 Cuba, during a time of confused, low-rent capitalism. The book is written from the semi-autobiographical point of view of Pedro Juan, a 40-year-old ex-radio journalist, who navigates the harsh realities of life in Havana.

Pedro Juan's existence is a struggle for survival, where "everything's worth something here." The stories unfold in a crumbling apartment building, depicting the stark realities of poverty, racism, violence, and prostitution. Yet, amidst the chaos, there is an unyielding quest for pleasure, for a sliver of happiness, no matter how warped the path may seem.

Written by Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, a well-known member of the Latin American visual poetry movement, this book provides a raw portrayal of life in Havana. It offers a window into the lives of its colorful characters, who constantly strive to avoid defeat, embodying a manifesto against literary persecution. Dirty Havana Trilogy is a book that resonates with intellectual and emotional depth, lifting its characters from the muck and celebrating the indomitable human spirit.

Discworld's only demonology hacker, Eric, is about to make life very difficult for the rest of Ankh-Morpork's denizens.

This would-be Faust is very bad... at his work, that is. All he wants is to fulfill three little wishes: to live forever, to be master of the universe, and to have a stylin' hot babe.

But Eric isn't even good at getting his own way. Instead of a powerful demon, he conjures, well, Rincewind, a wizard whose incompetence is matched only by Eric's.

And as if that wasn't bad enough, that lovable travel accessory the Luggage has arrived, too. Accompanied by his best friends, there's only one thing Eric wishes now — that he'd never been born!

Holy wood is a different sort of place. People act differently here. Everywhere else the most important things are gods or money or cattle. Here, the most important thing is to be important.

People might say that reality is a quality that things possess in the same way that they possess weight. Sadly, alchemists never really held with such a quaint notion. They think that they can change reality, shape it to their own purpose. Imagine then the damage that could be wrought if they get their hands on the ultimate alchemy: the invention of motion pictures, the greatest making of illusions. It may be a triumph of universe-shaking proportions. It's either that or they're about to unlock the dark terrible secret of the Holy Wood hills - by mistake...

Like no other masterpiece of historical fiction, Herman Wouk's sweeping epic of World War II is the great novel of America's Greatest Generation. Wouk's spellbinding narrative captures the tide of global events, as well as all the drama, romance, heroism, and tragedy of World War II, as it immerses us in the lives of a single American family drawn into the very center of the war's maelstrom.

The Winds of War and its sequel War and Remembrance stand as the crowning achievement of one of America's most celebrated storytellers.

A quest across America, from the northernmost tip of Maine to California’s Monterey Peninsula. To hear the speech of the real America, to smell the grass and the trees, to see the colors and the light—these were John Steinbeck's goals as he set out, at the age of fifty-eight, to rediscover the country he had been writing about for so many years.

With Charley, his French poodle, Steinbeck drives the interstates and the country roads, dines with truckers, encounters bears at Yellowstone and old friends in San Francisco. Along the way, he reflects on the American character, racial hostility, the particular form of American loneliness he finds almost everywhere, and the unexpected kindness of strangers.

Vlad Taltos is a sorcerer and freelance assassin, living as an Easterner (a human) among the Dragaerans. He has a reptilian familiar with a biting sense of humor. Vlad finds himself in trouble when he must prevent a war that could lead to the destruction of his best friends and the great families of Dragaera.

The first published book, Jhereg is actually the fourth novel in the VLAD TALTOS series timeline. The books recount the adventures of the wisecracking hired killer Vlad, a human on a planet mainly inhabited by the long-lived, extremely tall sorcerers known as the Dragaerans.

One of the most powerful bosses in the Jhereg—Dragaera's premier criminal organization—hires Vlad, one of their guild members, to assassinate Mellar, who stole millions from the Jhereg leadership and fled. Unfortunately, this thief turns out to be protected in a way that makes it difficult for Vlad to do his job without gaining the permanent enmity of a friend.

The reader also learns more about Vlad's past in this, and in other, lives.

Drawing on his own incarceration and exile, as well as on evidence from more than 200 fellow prisoners and Soviet archives, Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn reveals the entire apparatus of Soviet repression—the state within the state that ruled all-powerfully. Through truly Shakespearean portraits of its victims—men, women, and children—we encounter secret police operations, labor camps and prisons; the uprooting or extermination of whole populations, the welcome that awaited Russian soldiers who had been German prisoners of war. Yet we also witness the astounding moral courage of the incorruptible, who, defenseless, endured great brutality and degradation.

The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956—a grisly indictment of a regime, fashioned here into a veritable literary miracle—has now been updated with a new introduction that includes the fall of the Soviet Union and Solzhenitsyn's move back to Russia.

Branded a traitor, betrayed by a friend, and hunted by the vampire clan — Darren Shan, the Vampire's Assistant, faces certain death. Can Darren reverse the odds and outwit a Vampire Prince? Darren's initiation on Vampire Mountain draws to a stunning, bloody conclusion — but the Saga continues...