Title: The Magic Kingdom
Author: Stanley Elkin
File Type: Mobi
Subject:Fiction:Humor
Description:Review“A splendid work of fiction.” —_Newsday_“Hysterical and profound . . . Earns its place among the dark voyages that fiction must chronicle.” —_The New York Times_strong“Among Mr. Elkin’s best works of fiction . . . A comedy that cuts so many ways that it leaves us bleeding with laughter.” —_The New York Times_strongEddy Bale’s twelve-year-old son died after a terrible, drawn-out illness. Now, determined to help alleviate the suffering of other sick children, Eddy plans to take a group of seven terminally ill youths on a dream vacation to Disney World. Accompanied by four eccentric chaperones, Eddy and the kids embark on what is meant to be a magical retreat that quickly devolves into a series of disasters when the kids turn out to be more full of life than anyone expected.Written with deadpan humor and poignancy, The Magic Kingdom is a striking and honest portrayal of life and death—and the trouble that ensues when one attempts to master either.This ebook features rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s estate and from the Stanley Elkin archives at Washington University in St. Louis.
Title: The Road to Dune
Author: Frank Herbert
File Type: Mobi
Subject:Science-Fiction
Description:From Publishers WeeklyThis companion volume to Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction classic collects manuscript material, correspondence and cut chapters related to Dune as well as previously published Dune-related short stories coauthored by his son Brian and Kevin J. Anderson. Particularly interesting are texts related to Dune's publication, including letters, reviews and press releases that acknowledge the dizzying scope of the ambitious novel. Its length meant that Herbert had a hard time placing it, and he ended up selling it to automotive-guide publisher Chilton, but its publication-and the awards it won-ushered in a new era for science fiction publishing. The sheer novelty of Dune stands in contrast to B. Herbert and Anderson's Spice Planet, an alternate Dune novelette constructed from Herbert's original notes and a by-the-numbers action-adventure of interest only in contrast to the book Herbert ultimately wrote. Three of B. Herbert and Anderson's short stories bridge some of the events in their coauthored novel prequels; the fourth takes place during one of the battles in Dune and provides an interesting point-of-view switch. Although this miscellany of material fails to cohere, the glimpse it provides into Herbert's thoughts and the difficulty of writing and publishing illuminate one of the most important SF novels ever published. Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. FromThis collection of essays, stories, and selections from Herbert's papers will certainly be high-priority reading for Dune fans. It includes two versions of Spice Planet, an unpublished novel containing many elements that later appeared in Dune, but that is a separate story. Of particular interest are the communications between Herbert, John Campbell, and others during and after the release of Dune and unpublished sequences from Dune and Dune Messiah. The collection also includes four short stories laid in the Butlerian Jihad era. Dune was a social and publishing phenomenon; it moved sf into general publishing (and marketing) awareness and spurred a wide public awareness of ecological balance. This account of its genesis should interest fans and students of popular culture. Frieda Murray American Library Association. lt;
Title: Relentless
Author: Dean Koontz
File Type: Mobi
Subject:Fiction:Suspense
Description:
#1New York Timesbestselling master of suspense Dean Koontz delivers a mesmerizing new thriller that explores the razor-thin line between the best and worst of human natureand the anarchy simmering just beneath society's surfaceas a likeable, successful family man is drawn into a confrontation with a foe of unimaginable malice.... Bestselling novelist Cullen Cubby Greenwich is a lucky man and he knows it. He makes a handsome living doing what he enjoys. His wife, Penny, a children's book author and illustrator, is the love of his life. Together they have a brilliant six-year-old, Milo, affectionately dubbed Spooky, and a non-collie named Lassie, who's all but part of the family. So Cubby knows he shouldn't let one bad review of his otherwise triumphant new book get to himeven if it does appear in the nation's premier newspaper and is penned by the much-feared, seldom-seen critic, Shearman Waxx. Cubby knows the best thing to do is ignore the gratuitously vicious, insulting, and inaccurate comments. Penny knows it, even little Milo knows it. If Lassie could talk, she'd tell Cubby to ignore them, too. Ignore Shearman Waxx and his poison pen is just what Cubby intends to do. Until he happens to learn where the great man is taking his lunch. Cubby just wants to get a look at the mysterious recluse whose mere opinion can make or break a careeror a life. But Shearman Waxx isn't what Cubby expects; and neither is the escalating terror that follows what seemed to be an innocent encounter. For Waxx gives criticism; he doesn't take it. He has ways of dealing with those who cross him that Cubby is only beginning to fathom. Soon Cubby finds himself in a desperate struggle with a relentless sociopath, facing an inexorable assault on far more than his life. Fearless, funny, utterly compelling,Relentlessis Dean Koontz at his riveting best, an unforgettable tale of the fragile bonds that hold together all that we most cherishand of those who would tear those bonds asunder. From the Hardcover edition.
Title: New Year's Eve Murder
Author: Leslie Meier
File Type: Mobi
Subject:Mystery
Description:
After finally arriving at the offices of Jolie, meeting their fellow makeover candidates, and being treated to a fashion show, Elizabeth is enamored of the extreme outfits and stick-thin models-while Lucy's having some misgivings. The pampering is nice (never underestimate the transformative powers of a $500 haircut) and the glitz and glamour of haute couture is bizarrely fascinating, but bitterness and aggression lurk behind the Jolie's hipper-than-thou façade. And things turn downright ugly when self-absorbed fashion editor Nadine Nelson falls mysteriously ill and then dies. Lucy saw first-hand some of the backstabbing going on at Jolie. And the red-hot rumor mill soon reveals that the cliquish connection among the magazine's cabal of high-style executives-fierce tempered fashionistas Camilla Keith, Elise Frazier, and Nadine herself-has stirred up plenty of bad blood over the years. Numerous staffers, from workaholic assistant Phyllis Finch to oft-maligned photo editor Pablo Prinz, have found themselves at the other end of the trio's sharp claws. To say suspects abound would be an understatement. But this Manhattan murder mystery hits too close to home when Elizabeth gets rushed to the hospital with symptoms that are disturbingly similar to Nadine's. Now, it's up to Lucy to dress down a killer before the ball drops in Times Square...
Title: Sukkwan Island_ A Novella From Legend of a Suicide
Author: David Vann
File Type: Mobi
Subject:Fiction
Description:
In semiautobiographical stories set largely in David Vann's native Alaska, Legend of a Suicide follows Roy Fenn from his birth on an island at the edge of the Bering Sea to his return thirty years later to confront the turbulent emotions and complex legacy of his father's suicide.
Title: A Series of Unfortunate Events #10_ The
Author: Lemony Snicket
File Type: Mobi
Subject:Children's Books
Description:
Like handshakes, house pets or raw carrots, many things are preferable when not slippery. Unfortunately the Baudelaires run into more than their fair share of slipperiness during their harrowing journey up and down a range of strange and distressing mountains. In order to spare you repulsion it is best not to mention any more regarding a secret message, a toboggan, a deceitful trap, a swarm of snow gnats and a scheming villain.
Title: Salvation in Death
Author: Nora Roberts
File Type: Mobi
Subject:Fiction:Detective
Description:
**Ancient church rituals meet cutting- edge crime solving in the latest novel in the #1 *New York Times*–bestselling series that’s “*Law & Order: SVU*—in the future” (*Entertainment Weekly*)**.
*In the year 2060, sophisticated investigative tools can help catch a killer. But there are some questions even the most advanced technologies cannot answer.*
Ridley Pearson has praised J. D. Robb’s suspense as “taut” and “nerve-jangling.” Her latest thriller sets a new standard for suspense, as the priest at a Catholic funeral mass brings the chalice to his lips—and falls over dead.
When Detective Lieutenant Eve Dallas confirms that the consecrated wine contained potassium cyanide, she’s determined to solve the murder of Father Miguel Flores, despite her discomfort with her surroundings. It’s not the bodegas and pawnshops of East Harlem that bother her, though the neighborhood is a long way from the stone mansion she shares with her billionaire husband, Roarke. It’s all that holiness flying around at St. Christobal’s that makes her uneasy.
A search of the victim’s sparsely furnished room reveals little— except for a carefully hidden religious medal with a mysterious inscription, and a couple of underlined Bible passages. The autopsy reveals more: faint scars of knife wounds, a removed tattoo—and evidence of plastic surgery, suggesting that “Father Flores” may not have been the man his parishioners had thought. Now, as Eve pieces together clues that hint at gang connections and a deeply personal act of revenge, she believes she’s making progress on the case. Until a second murder—in front of an even larger crowd of worshippers—knocks the whole investigation sideways. And Eve is left to figure out who committed these unholy acts—and why.