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An intriguing, fabulously bizarre debut collection of short stories by prize-winning German writer Ingo Schulze, author of Simple Stories. These thirty-three macabre, often comical short pieces revolve around moments of odd bliss–moments seized by characters who have found ways to conquer the bleakness of everyday life in the chaotic world of post-communist Russia. Peopled by Mafia gunmen, desperate young prostitutes, bewildered foreign businessmen, and even a trio of hungry devils, the storie... more info>>

In his first book of stories since The Bridegroom was published in 2000 ("Finely wrought . . . Every story here is cut like a stone."–Chicago Sun-Times), National Book Award-winning Ha Jin gives us a collection that delves into the experience of Chinese immigrants in America. With the same profound attention to detail that is a hallmark of his previous acclaimed works of fiction, Ha Jin depicts here the full spectrum of immigrant life and the daily struggles–some minute, some grand–faced b... more info>>

#1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz delivers a thrilling novel of suspense and adventure, as the lives of strangers converge around a mystery unfolding high in the Colorado mountains -- and the balance of the world begins to tilt...  In the stillness of a golden September afternoon, deep in the wilderness of the Rockies, a solitary craftsman, Grady Adams, and his magnificent Irish wolfhound Merlin step from shadow into light -- and into an encounter with enchantment. That night, thr... more info>>

Nobody can dish morning TV like Al Roker, who's seen every side of a business that looks good on camera--even when sharks are circling inside the gleaming glass Manhattan media headquarters. Treachery abounds in Roker's riotously thrilling debut novel--at once an ingenious murder mystery and a delicious behind-the-scenes look at network TV. As fact and fiction collide and the backbiting ignites, The Morning Show Murders will make you wonder: How much of this stuff is real? Network TV can be murd... more info>>

“I remember the first time I began to understand that things might not be the same again.” What's a girl to do when her world is invaded by warriors from the ancient world? That's the problem faced by sixteen-year-old Macy, who sees her quiet, normal life in suburban Minnesota turned upside down when things that should never be possible begin to transform the landscape all around her. The cable stops working, the phone lines die–and then the horsemen come to town. It's not the... more info>>

Bestselling author Tina McElroy Ansa is back with another tale from Mulberry, Georgia, the richly drawn fictional town and home of the extraordinary Lena McPherson.��Lena, now forty-five and tired of being "the hand everyone fans with," has grown weary of shouldering the town's problems and wants to find a little love and companionship for herself.��So she and a friend perform a supernatural ritual to conjure up a man for Lena.��She gets one all right: a ghost named Herman who, thoug... more info>>

Andrew Waters, son of an American diplomat and a Chinese mother, already has two strikes against him when he joins the crew of the USS Pilgrim not long after Pearl Harbor--his mixed heritage and his pacifism. He never expects he will fall in love with his handsome commanding officer. The crew of the Pilgrim is captured and sent to the notorious Changi POW camp. The man Andrew loves will die without proper medical treatment. To save his life, Andrew makes a choice that could cost him not ju... more info>>

Can a cursed warrior and a Druidess defeat deadly enemies and find true love?

When private detective Donatello Sunrise is coerced into finding a Mob boss's daughter, he stumbles onto a much bigger case. Dozens of women, all young, all petite, have disappeared in recent weeks. Mysterious and conflicting clues seem to point to a government conspiracy, a mad scientist bent on global domination, or perhaps abduction by bloodthirsty alien vampires. Nothing makes any sense. Before he knows it, Sunrise and his hooker friend Lola find themselves in a life-or-death struggle. The M... more info>>

Jackson Hale is through with rescuing Casey Marshall. Her crazy stunts and complete disregard for her own safety goes against everything he believes in. But when she witnesses a murder, he's duty bound to help. As he scrambles to keep her alive, he discovers the true woman beneath the crazy antics, and is left to question everything. If he can't trust his eyes, how can he trust his heart? Casey has spent her entire life trying to get Jackson's attention. She discovers all it takes a dead body an... more info>>

With her land torn apart by shuddering earthquakes and unseasonable storms, Iya Neveah finds she is more than just 'one of the guards' as her brother Aryis, King of Arudor, barters her for an alliance with the Silvermane brothers. More than just the ruling family of Londeshardeen, they are also elves, creatures long thought to be extinct. Not only do the elves still exist, but darker minions of the earth as well, suddenly free to terrorize the world amidst the chaos already wreaking havoc in the... more info>>

The hilarious sequel to the cult favorite Youth in Revolt, now a major motion picture starring Michael Cera and Justin Long. In the wry and subversive further journals of Nick Twisp, we reunite with America's most literate teen diarist as he accidentally ignites criminal mayhem; seeks union with his love, Sheeni Saunders; and still has to live as a girl to avoid the police--an absolute must-read for all fans of the oddball humor of Youth in Revolt. Praise for Youth in Revolt "The funniest b... more info>>

From Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, the best-selling, award-winning translators of War and Peace and Anna Karenina, comes a new, beautifully crafted, and eminently readable translation of Tolstoy's most important short fiction. Here are eleven incandescent stories from the mature author, some autobiographical, others moral parables, and all imaginative, transcendent, and evocatively drawn. They include The Prisoner of the Caucasus, inspired by Tolstoy's experiences as a soldier in the C... more info>>

Ten superb new stories by one of our most beloved and admired writers--the winner of the 2009 Man Booker International Prize. In the first story a young wife and mother receives release from the unbearable pain of losing her three children from a most surprising source. In another, a young woman, in the aftermath of an unusual and humiliating seduction, reacts in a clever if less-than-admirable fashion. Other stories uncover the “deep-holes” in a marriage, the unsuspected cruelty of ... more info>>

Ben Sherwood is senior producer of the NBC Nightly News.  His nonfiction writing has appeared in many national publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times.  Educated at Harvard and Oxford, he now lives in New York, where he is at work on his next novel.

In the pulse-pounding tradition of W.E.B. Griffin and Richard Marcinko, here is a pure adrenaline skydive into enemy territory â€" a top-notch military adventure written by an Air Force Combat Crewmember who knows firsthand what awaits in the Drop Zone. Among the U.S. Special Forces†most valued troops are the Air Force†s Pararescue Teams â€" “PJsâ€? who drop out of C-130s or HH-60G Blackhawks into places no one else can reach, to retrieve the wounded, the dying ... and the secrets their go... more info>>

The introduction, discussion questions, suggestions for further reading, and author biography that follow are designed to enhance your group’s discussion of Dave Eggers’s You Shall Know Our Velocity!. We hope they will offer you interesting ways to talk about a novel that is by turns hilarious, grief-stricken, furious, compassionate, and always surprising.

Twenty years ago, Vivian Silver abandoned her dreams of travel to marry the mysterious Jeb Wheeler, seduced both by his unnerving charm and his acres of untamed New Hampshire land. The hand-built house and swimming pond become the center of the universe for their entire family. Lila, their youngest, is consumed with love for her two older brothers, Aaron and Jack, and remains blind to the simmering tension between them. For beneath the surface of their idyllic setting lies a depth of explosive f... more info>>

Based on historical characters and events, Love to Water My Soul recounts the dramatic story of an abandoned white child rescued by Indians. Among Oregon's Paiute people, Shell Flower seeks love and a place of belonging...only to be cast away from her home. A remakable story of God's constancy and provision for all lovers of history, romance and faith... Based on historical characters and events, Love to Water My Soul recounts the dramatic story of an abandoned white child rescued by Indians. Am... more info>>

Cal and Laura sat on a bench in the hospital court yard enjoying the sunny day. Suddenly Cal put his face in his hands. "Ma, after the plane crashed and I lost my memory I would have this dream. There was a beautiful face smiling at me just beyond my reach. This perfect creature had no body. It was just a face and it drove me wild I couldn't place who she was or how I knew her."

'Tis the season for mistletoe and holly, Santa ... and suspense. And the gift that keeps on giving is Ice: premier thriller author Linda Howard's breathless tale of a man, a woman, and a battle for survival against an unforgiving winter--and an unrelenting killer. Oh what fun it is to read. Gabriel McQueen has only just arrived home on holiday leave from the service when his county-sheriff father sends him back out again with new marching orders. A brewing ice storm, and a distant neighbor who's... more info>>

In Tu-Shonda L. Whitaker's steamiest novel yet, we meet the four deliciously dramatic, designer-clad divas from prime time's new hit reality show, The Millionaire Wives Club. Evan: Married to a pro-football star who isn't in love with her anymore, Evan is digging her freshly manicured nails in ever deeper as she fights to keep the husband who loves someone else. Milan: Half Dominican, half black, and beautifully exotic-looking, Milan is watching her has-been husband's fortune fade fast–whi... more info>>

Sweeping us into glittering, intrigue-riddled Elizabethan England, bringing to vivid life an actual heroine in the queen's court, New York Times bestselling author Virginia Henley blends rich historical detail with sumptuous romance in her latest novel--a dazzling feast of romantic fiction.... Young Bess Hardwick knew that the only way to escape a commoner's life was to serve in a noble family and marry well. So the headstrong beauty set out for London and the Tudor court, the arena for the rich... more info>>

While investigating what appears to be a series of tit for tat racial attacks in the back streets of Norwich, Theo Stern is asked to help in the search for gangster, Benny Lyle, said to have been kidnapped from his London home. But there is something cynically methodical about the Norwich attacks and Lyle is recently reported to have been seen in Norfolk's tiny Georgian town of Holt. So are the Norwich attacks simply retaliatory and has Lyle really been abducted? Stern has his doubts about both ... more info>>

A wise and humorous tale of living large after 40, targeted at women 35-90 as they re-mold and reconsider their lives, and finally, finally make peace with themselves- wrinkles, blubber, neuroses, exes, and all