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The Martian Viking
by Tim SullivanHallucination . . . or time travel? One man alone against the cosmos, creating his own reality! Exiled on Mars! Johnsmith Biberkopf escapes from a penal colony on the Red Planet and learns that his hallucinations are real—space and time can be manipulated. Kidnapped by Vikings who have sailed through the continua since ancient times, Johnsmith embarks on an epic adventure, an infinite journey through the multiverse. Facing alien menaces, he learns the terrifying truth about the power of illusion.
Castle Murders (Castle Perilous #5)
by John DeChancieAt Castle Perilous, a magical party ends in murder and the hunt begins for whodunit in this &“fast-moving and funny&” fantasy novel (Barbara Paul, author of Kill Fee). Partying to death? A parlous party at the Castle Perilous comes to a dead halt when the body of viscount Oren is discovered and foul play is suspected. But who is the killer? And where is the murder weapon? The rambunctious revelers at Castle P. join in a treacherous treasure hunt for party favors of a decidedly deadly nature...the murder weapon must be hidden behind one of the 144,000 doors, or will it be buried in the back of the next victim?
Boats on the Marne: Jean Renoir's Critique of Modernity
by Prakash YoungerBoats on the Marne offers an original interpretation of Jean Renoir's celebrated films of the 1930s, treating them as a coherent narrative of philosophical response to the social and political crises of the times. Grounded in a reinterpretation of the foundational film-philosopher André Bazin, and drawing on work from a range of disciplines (film studies, art history, comparative literature, political and cultural history), the book's coordinated consideration of Renoir's films, writings, and interviews demonstrates his obsession with the concept of romanticism. Renoir saw romanticism to be a defining feature of modernity, a hydra-headed malady which intimately shapes our personal lives, culture, and politics, blinding us and locking us into agonistic relationships and conflict. While mapping the popular manifestations of romanticism that Renoir engaged with at the time, this study restores the philosophic weight of his critique by tracing the phenomenon back to its roots in the work and influence of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who first articulated conceptions of human desire, identity, community, and history that remain pervasive today. Prakash Younger argues that Renoir's films of the 1930s articulate a multi-stranded narrative through which the director thinks about various aspects of romanticism and explores the liberating possibilities of an alternative paradigm illuminated by the thought of Plato, Montaigne, and the early Enlightenment. When placed in the context of the long and complex dialogue Renoir had with his audience over the course of the decade, masterpieces such as La Grande Illusion and La Règle du Jeu reveal his profound engagement with issues of political philosophy that are still very much with us today.
Stage Door Canteen
by Maggie DavisLives and loves are intertwined in a novel that follows three women from the theaters and dance halls of New York City during World War II. New York City, the capital of the free world, is dark, its lights turned off as enemy submarines lurk offshore, as close as Coney Island. Three men—a gunner from a B‑17 bomber who is a national hero, a magazine editor uprooted from civilian life and attached to the Allied High Command, and the violence‑stalked captain of a Royal Merchant Navy freighter—find their destinies linked with three volunteer hostesses from New York&’s famous Stage Door Canteen. Genevieve Rose is a beautiful Broadway star in an experimental Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that seems headed for disaster. Elise Ginsberg is an indomitable young refugee from Hitler&’s terror. And Bernadine Flaherty is an ambitious, talented teenage dancer from Brooklyn hoping for her big show-business break. Against Manhattan&’s wartime glamour, GIs fresh from combat in North Africa and the Pacific find themselves dancing with the likes of the Stage Door Canteen&’s Katharine Hepburn and Ava Gardner. Food, whiskey, and clothes are rationed, and spies are where one least expects to find them. Life is lived for the moment, love is passionate and often random, and those with a chance at happiness make a grab for it. For beyond the frenetic blackout, the entire world is fighting and dying.
Power Trip: The Story of America's Love Affair with Energy
by Amanda LittlePower Trip is an adventurous, wonk-free, big-picture, solutions-oriented narrative by leading young journalist Amanda Little that maps out the history and future of America’s energy addiction. Infused with next-generation candor and optimism, Power Trip examines the ways in which oil and coal have shaped America as an international superpower—even as they posed political and environmental dangers to the nation and the world. Hard-hitting yet optimistic, Power Trip is a manifesto for the younger generations who are inheriting the earth.
The Alien Upstairs
by Pamela SargentWhen a mysterious stranger appears in Sarah and Gerard's rural town, the two young lovers fighting a fervent battle to overcome America's depression and despair, are suddenly faced with a new realm of possibilities. But they find themselves questioning whether this handsome being was an angel sent to rescue them or a dark being bearing terrible dangers.
Corgi Juniors & Husky Models: A Complete Identification and Price Guide
by Bill ManzkeCorgi Juniors and Husky Models brings together the story of these small-scale model cars and other toys into one book for the first time. Once the #3 brand in many markets, they competed head-to-head with Mattel's Hot Wheels cars and Lesney's Matchbox Series. This widely collected line of diecast toy cars and trucks are examined in every detail. Over 500 full color photos and well-researched text presents the entire history of these cars, from the introduction of Husky Models in 1964, to the Corgi Classics of today. Here are Corgi Juniors, Corgi Rockets, Husky Toys, Whizzwheels Conversions and many more. The text includes never before published information on prototype, pre-production, and promotional models. An extensive section of variation listings, and details on every known model. The alphabetical cross-reference section provides readers with easy access to model numbers and current values.
Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians (Tracing Your Ancestors Ser.)
by Chris PatonAn indispensable genealogy guide to the Northern Irish capital’s rich history and ancestral records.The city of Belfast has seen its fair share of history across the centuries. From its humble beginnings as a medieval settlement on the River Lagan, it grew into a corporation town in the seventeenth century and expanded dramatically when it became a city in 1888. Along the way it has experienced the darkest of times, including the Belfast Blitz and the recent Troubles, as well as some of the most enlightened developments across Ireland and the UK. In Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, genealogist and author Chris Paton returns to the city of his own birth, delving into its history and genealogical resources. Paton covers the city's most extensive archives, libraries and museums, and offers a detailed overview of the records generated by those who came before. He expertly steers the reader towards centuries of ancestral exploration, both through online resources and within the city of Belfast itself – and with a wee bit of craic along the way!
Raising the Dad: A Novel
by Tom Matthews"A fearless, angry, brutally funny poke in the eye of the American music machine and pop culture industry. Tom Matthews' memorable, highly readable first novel is that rare literary artifact - a satire with teeth." —Tom Perrotta on Like We CareRaising the Dad is a small masterpiece that charts the all-too-familiar forces hastening the decline of the average American family, and in it Tom Matthews has produced a classic novel of modern life.In Raising the Dad, the dysfunction in John Husted’s family is vexing enough: His marriage has slipped into a state of passionless functionality. His teenage daughter is growing distant and mean. His older brother—a washed-up heavy-metal singer—is fresh out of jail, and their mother may be slipping away to dementia. Things just seemed to veer off course since the death of the family patriarch many years earlier.But then John is stunned to learn that his father’s fate was not what he had long believed it to be. It falls upon John to decide if he should break the news to his family, knowing that the truth could make the family whole – or smash it to pieces.“Raising the Dad mines family dysfunction for all of its complex truths and wild emotions. Tom Matthews strikes the damnedest balance—aching loss, brutal humor—as his befuddled protagonist deals with mind-blowing circumstances.”—Darin Strauss, author of Chang and Eng and Half-A-Life“The sensitivity and unexpected humor that Tom Matthews brings to this emotionally complex book extends to the protagonist’s rock singer brother.” —Producer Butch Vig (Nirvana, Foo Fighters)
Blood: A Novel
by Patricia TraxlerFrom talented newcomer Patricia Traxler comes a brilliant literary suspense novel about how desire can become jealousy, obsession, and finally murderous rage. Blood is equal parts auspicious literary debut, pageturner, and erotic novel about four people whose lives become irrevocably intertwined during one year at Radcliffe College. The narrator, Norrie Blume, is a painter who has accepted a prestigious fellowship at the college; she's excited to leave her job as a commercial graphic designer and take up the artist's life. But she's also in the middle of an intense love affair with a married colleague, an affair that is threatening to consume both their lives. At Radcliffe, Norrie develops friendships with two other fellows, a journalist and a poet. One is deep, comforting; the other ruled by need and guilt. These three intense relationships quickly begin to infringe upon each other, and soon the four of them seem to be hurtling toward some shocking-and perhaps tragic-end. Blood is a triumph of suspense writing, a true psychological thriller about the nature of desire and the danger of love.
Death of a Hired Man: A Mystery (The Mel Pickett Mysteries)
by Eric WrightEric Wright, author of the highly acclaimed Charlie Salter novels, introduced readers to Mel Pickett in Buried in Stone when Pickett helped the police solve a bake-shop murder. In his newest adventure, Mel Pickett, a retired police officer from Toronto, once again becomes involved in police work when a body is discovered in the cabin that he owns. The day shift at the Ontario Provincial Police Station had just come on duty when they received a disturbing phone call--a homicide in a log cabin on Larch River. Sergeant Wilkie fears it's Mel Pickett who has been killed and is almost relieved when he sees that the victim is Norbert Thompson, a local "hired man" who had been renting Pickett's cabin. Just as Wilkie starts looking for a motive, Pickett arrives in town and learns of the murder. His immediate though is, was he the intended victim? Sergeant Wilkie and ex-Sergeant Pickett pursue their investigations separately, but each keeps a watchful eye on the other. Wilkie's lead brings him to rural Ontario, where Thompson used to work as a "hired man" on his brother's farm. Pickett looks for the killer among all the violent men who have threatened to get him as they were led off to jail. Will they be able to catch the killer before he or she strikes again?
Hotel Living: A Novel
by Ioannis PapposRecalling both the excess of The Wolf of Wall Street, and the drifting narrator of A Single Man, Ioannis Pappos’s debut novel is a portrait of privilege, aspiration, and international finance during the wayward course of the American economy between 9/11 and the 2008 Financial collapse, and is filled with surprisingly tender observations about identity, loneliness, and human connection.“I’m homeless, but in First Class.”Stathis Rakis abandoned his small Greek village for a more worldly life, first in San Francisco, where the Dot Com Bubble had already burst, and then in Paris, France, where he is pursuing an MBA at an elite business school. After falling helplessly in love with a liberal New England journalist with a good conscience, who comes to campus with some scores to settle, Stathis moves to the United States to begin as a consultant for a company called Command. He spends the very few hours of the day that aren’t consumed by work draining the minibar, battling insomnia, and binging on more than room service. Luxury is a given, happiness is not.As the economy recovers and a new bubble expands in a post-9/11 world, Stathis drifts upward, baring witness to the criminal decadence that will become the 2008 financial crisis, as well as his new habits of indulgence—drugs, sex, and insider trading. In a world of insiders--from corporate suits to Hollywood celebutantes—Stathis remains the outsider: too foreign to be one of them, too cynical to turn back.
Chinese Folklore Studies Today: Discourse and Practice
by Edited by Lijun Zhang and Ziying YouChinese folklorists are well acquainted with the work of their English-language colleagues, but until recently the same could not be said about American scholars' knowledge of Chinese folkloristics. Chinese Folklore Studies Today aims to address this knowledge gap by illustrating the dynamics of contemporary folklore studies in China as seen through the eyes of the up-and-coming generation of scholars. Contributors to this volume focuses on topics that have long been the dominant areas of folklore studies in China, including myth, folk song, and cultural heritage, as well as topics that are new to the field, such as urban folklore and women's folklore. The ethnographic case studies presented here represent a broad range of geographic areas within mainland China and also introduce English-language readers to relevant Chinese literature on each topic, creating the foundation for further cross-cultural collaborations between English-language and Chinese folkloristics.
City of Hustle: A Sioux Falls Anthology (Belt City Anthologies)
by Belt PublishingAn anthology of essays and poetry offering a unique take on the South Dakota town residents call &“the Best Little City in America&”. In 1992, Money magazine named Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the best place to live in America. This rich anthology offers an inside look at the city through the eyes of both longtime residents and recent transplants. In over forty-five essays, you&’ll hear stories about the city&’s past, including the region&’s legacy of violence against Native Americans and Sioux Falls&’s status as a &“divorce destination&” in the late 1800s. But you&’ll also discover the ways the city&’s savvy planning and entrepreneurial gumption have helped it navigate twenty-first-century challenges. You&’ll read about: · the end of George McGovern&’s presidential run at a Sioux Falls Holiday Inn · the vibrant Jewish and Syrian-Muslim communities that helped form the city · the first sit-down strike in American labor history · firsthand accounts of how South Sudanese refugees are shaping the city today · And more Edited by Patrick Hicks and Jon K. Lauck, City of Hustle: A Sioux Falls Anthology gives an insider&’s perspective on what&’s really going on in so-called &“flyover country,&” and it shows why that name misses so much of the true richness that makes up life there every day.
Our Life in Gardens
by Joe Eck Wayne WinterrowdThis is the third book we have written together, though separately we have written others . . . But to say ‘written separately' makes no sense, for when two lives have been bent for so many years on one central enterprise—in this case, gardening—there really is no such thing as separately." With these words, the renowned garden designers Joe Eck and Wayne Winterrowd begin their entertaining, fascinating, and unexpectedly moving book about the life and garden they share. The book contains much sound information about the cultivation of plants and their value in the landscape, and invaluable advice about Eck and Winterrowd's area of expertise: garden design. There are chapters about the various parts of their garden, and sections about particular plants—roses and lilacs, snowdrops and cyclamen—and vegetables. The authors also discuss the development of their garden over time, and the dark issue that weighs more and more on their minds: its eventual decline and demise. Our Life in Gardens is a deeply satisfying perspective on gardening, and on life.
Bird Eating Bird: Poems (National Poetry Series)
by Kristin NacaBird Eating Bird is a new collection of poems from Kristin Naca, winner of the 2008 National Poetry Series mtvU prize as chosen by Pulitzer Prize winner Yusef Komunyakaa. Playful and serious all at once, Kristin’s work explores the richness of her cultural and linguistic heritage and perpetuates NPS’s tradition of promoting exceptional poetry from lesser-known poets.
Cora Fry's Pillow Book
by Rosellen BrownThrough the persona of Cora Fry, a wife and mother living in a small New Hampshire town, Rosellen Brown explores the ambivalent ties of love, loyalty, marriage, and family in a series of related poems. This volume includes the entire text of Cora Fry (1977), a kind of dramatic monologue, written in spare, simple lines, which describes the young woman's daily life and troubled marriage. A sequel of newer poems, Cora Fry's Pillow Book (1994), confronts the challenges that come with a woman's growth toward middle age, reflecting an older Cora's place in her family, community, and the larger world.
True Believers: The Tragic Inner Life of Sports Fans
by Joe QueenanBestselling author Joe Queenan's True Believers explores the world of sports fans in an attempt to understand the inexplicable: What does anyone get out of it?For Yankee, Cowboy, and Laker fans the answer is fairly clear: the return on investment is relatively high. But why do people root so passionately for formerly inept teams like the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago Cubs, and the Philadelphia Phillies? Why do people organize their emotional lives around lackluster franchises such as the Cleveland Cavaliers, the San Diego Padres, and the Phoenix Suns, of whom decades passed with only winning a single championship in their entire history? Is it pure tribalism? An attempt to maintain contact with one's vanished childhood? In True Believers, humorist and lifelong Philly fan Joe Queenan answers these and many other questions, shedding light on—and reveling in—the culture and psychology of his countless fellow fans. Making pilgrimages to such cradles of competition as Notre Dame Stadium, Fenway, and Wrigley Field, Queenan delves into every aspect of fandom in such illuminating chapters as Fans Who Love Too Much (men, like the author, who actually resort to psychotherapy to deal with their unhealthy addiction), Fans Who Run in Front (which meticulously delineates the differences between Retroactive, Municipal, and Vicarious Frontrunners), and Fans Who Misbehave (those who spill beer on women, moon other fans, or throw half-eaten sandwiches at innocent bystanders simply because they look like the current coach of the New York Jets). True Believers is a hilarious but also heartfelt look into the world of those fans who realize that it is, in fact, more than just a game.
An Encounter with Venus
by Elizabeth MansfieldA Scottish spinster reignites a long-simmering passion in this unforgettable Regency romance from the author &“renowned for delighting readers&” (Affaire de Coeur). As perfect as a marble statue, George Frobisher, the future Earl of Chadleigh, was thunderstruck when, at the age of seventeen, he accidentally glimpsed Miss Olivia Henshaw emerging naked from her bath the day of his sister&’s wedding. That vision of a Venus, his Venus, would fuel his fantasies for years to come. Ten years after the wedding, Olivia Henshaw has resigned herself to spinsterhood caring for her ailing uncle in a cold and dark castle in the Scottish Highlands. She has no expectation of anything but a cozy visit with her best friend, Felicia Leyton, when she accepts her invitation to an intimate house party in the countryside. No one at the Leytons&’ Yorkshire abbey can guess what will transpire when fantasy finally meets reality.
Antipodes: Stories
by Ignacio PadillaFrom the author of the award-winning novel Shadow Without a Name, comes Antipodes, the first collection of his short fiction to be translated into English. This lively, eclectic, and highly imaginative volume spans time, place, and culture as the narratives move from the scorching heat of the Gobi desert to the glacial heights of Mount Everest. Here, among others, are the stories of a great Scottish engineer, left to die in the middle of the desert, who is rescued by a tribe of nomads and inspires them to build an exact replica of the city of Edinburgh in the dunes; of a dying, cross-dressing pilot who allegedly climbs Mount Everest and then mysteriously disappears; of an English colonel who swears on his life to make the trains in Zambezi run on time, only to be forced to honor his word when they are always ten minutes late; of a monk who conjures the devil to prove the devil's existence; and of a young administrator of a psychiatric hospital who is appalled by the treatment of the patients, and devises his own bizarre solution. Based on history, legend and an awe-inspiring power of invention, Antipodes delights, terrifies, and entrances.
The Heart of the Leopard Children (Global African Voices)
by Wilfried N'SondéA nameless young man lives in the housing projects outside of Paris. When he was a child, his parents moved with him from the Congo to France, hoping in vain to escape poverty and violence. His best friend, Drissa, is in a psychiatric hospital and now Mireille, his girlfriend, the woman with whom he has shared his childhood and hopes, has left him to reconnect with her Jewish roots in Israel. During a night out to drown the pain of his heartache, there is a fight with a policeman, the policeman dies, and the young man is arrested and taken to jail. Between police beatings and abrupt interrogations, his memory becomes his sole ally to escape from the exiguous space in which he is confined. Half-conscious and delirious, he reflects on his journey from the land of his ancestors to his life in the projects with Drissa and Mireille. In The Heart of the Leopard Children, N'Sondé explores the themes of love and pain, belonging and uprooting, desire and fear—all with an implacable and irresistible accuracy. Wilfried N'Sondé's first novel awakens the reader with an urban symphony of desire and lost love, attuned to the violence that accompanies the struggle for social ascension and a sense of belonging, and the paralyzing sentiment of betrayal that inhabits a young man caught between traditions and cultures. Awarded the Prix des Cinq Continents de la Francophonie and the Prix Senghor for the originality of his work, the author captures the sounds, rhythms and pleas of a young man who pulls on the alarm from his prison cell to warn against the multiple barriers of confinement that risk the future of certain sectors of French youth today.
Cave of Stars (Macrolife #2)
by George ZebrowskiOld Earth is gone. Humanity has been scattered to the stars. Some left their dying planet in spaceship arks, in search of new worlds to inhabit. Others, nanoengineered for near-immortality, explore the far reaches of interstellar space in gargantuan macrolife mobiles. An earth-like human society endures on the environmentally volatile planet of Tau Ceti IV—a rigid community of the faithful that has declared evil the science that caused the homeworld&’s destruction. The Church is the absolute power here; obedience and belief the rule. But His Holiness Peter III, the New Vatican&’s most powerful figure, himself harbors doubts, engendered by his love for his unacknowledged and illegitimate rebel daughter Josepha. And suddenly there is another assault on his tottering faith—and on the sacred traditions he has devoted his life to uphold. For an emissary, Voss Rhazes, has arrived from one of old Earth&’s journeying mobiles—the first off-planet human visitor ever to Tau Ceti—bearing remarkable hated technology that could shred the fragile emotional fabric of a family . . . and bring devastating chaos to their world.
Alice Invents a Little Game and Alice Always Wins: A Play
by Nick FlynnIn this first play from the award-winning memoirist and poet Nick Flynn, four strangers meet during a blackout on a New York City sidewalk. Gideon finds himself locked out of his apartment, stranded on the street with nothing but a television and the company of three individuals, each mysterious in their own way: the specter-like Alice, ringleader of the neighborhood; Esra, a fifteen-year-old girl whose mother is MIA—again; and Ivan, a stranded businessman trying to make his way home. As Gideon makes futile attempts to break into an apartment that may or may not be his, an unsettling connection between Ivan and Esra develops while Alice and Gideon look on helplessly. Unable to make sense of their predicament, let alone alter it, the four float aimlessly in and out of seeming reality only to find themselves more lost when the electricity finally comes back on. Once again exploring the tenuous membrane that separates comfortable, everyday existence from the desperate margins of society, Flynn portrays an urban dystopia disturbingly similar to our own world while poignantly tapping into the loneliness and peril of city life.
Africa United: Soccer, Passion, Politics, and the First World Cup in Africa
by Steve BloomfieldAfrica United is the story of modern day Africa told through its soccer. Travelling across thirteen countries, from Cairo to the Cape, Steve Bloomfield, the former Africa Correspondent for The Independent, meets players and fans, politicians and rebel leaders, discovering the role that soccer has played in shaping the continent. This wide-ranging and incisive book investigates Africa’s love of soccer, its increasing global influence, the build-up to the 2010 World Cup itself and the social and political backdrop to the greatest show on earth.
Eternity's Mind (The Saga of Shadows)
by Kevin J. AndersonEternity's Mind, the climactic final volume in Kevin J. Anderson's Hugo-nominated Saga of Shadows trilogy. The desperate war with the Shana Rei seems lost. All across the transportal network, space is tearing apart, the links between the gateways are breaking down, the fabric of space unraveling, and entire sections of the Spiral Arm are becoming galactic dead zones. The Shana Rei have infiltrated the transportal network, and desperate populations have to cut themselves off, shutting down their portals, often their only connection with the rest of the Spiral Arm. In desperation, humans and Ildirans turn to the most unlikely allies, the unpredictable faeros