Historical fantasy. At the behest of his patron, a medieval scribe narrates his journey as an inquisitive, puzzled six-year-old on tour with his family troupe of players. Performing their farces across a landscape of war, plague, religious strife and feral cats, they transport a hamper of curse-bearing masks that intrude themselves into the boy's dreams and the troupe's reality, culminating in a Nordic Armageddon.Though set in Late Antiquity, it's based on the authors' own experienc...

The Promise, the Promise, the Promise . . .A casual bar-stool conversation with a mystery man—perhaps a Las Vegas bigwig, perhaps a sociopath—hooks chronic loser Vern McGurren on the chance of a lifetime, requiring a road trip from Chico CA across Yosemite and Death Valley to the monumental stone outcrop of New Mexico's Shiprock. It's a chance to bridge the gap between a desperate father, a suicidal son, and an exiled firstborn who know each other too well, while leaving the gritty ...

A house of haunted ghosts: it's horror in a sense, but not so much of the "horror genre" as of the small daily torments to which our choices lead us.Based on the enticing legend of the Winchester "Mystery" House—a labyrinthine edifice built by a guilt-ridden armaments heiress—the story is seen through a blind man's eyes. Raymond Smolett, a veteran tour guide on the verge of retirement, leads his final hour's gaggle of gawkers through the monstrous maze. For the first time in thirty...

A year after the death of his co-creator and soul mate Lainie, a grizzled puppeteer struggles to build a solo show. But what Albert Fisher intends as a lightweight spoof turns sharply personal, and he labors to birth a raw myth of love and loss.His aging, pot-bellied Sir Galahad launches a second mad quest for the Holy Grail. To follow him, his lady secretly changes guises with their frail, androgynous Fool. As his play evolves, Albert finds kinship with Galahad's despair and dogged...

A cross-genre comic tale with a fantasy tinge in the Vonnegut vein: as a third of America goes clinically insane, hot-tempered Eddie sparks up an edgy romance with Pepper, a tough single mom from Oklahoma. His complaint about a phone bill targets the duo as terrorists, and a motley group of losers, loners, and seekers are tangled with their fate. Can love survive the gnashing teeth of Armageddon?The War on Drugs has morphed into a War on Dreams (escapist! pornographic! traumatic to...

**NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the suburban Midwest to New York City to the 1968 riots that rocked Chicago and beyond, a novel that explores—with sharp humor and a fierce tenderness—the resilience of love and home, even in times of radical change."Hugely entertaining and unfailingly smart.... [A] supersize and audacious novel of American misadventure.” *—*The New York Times Book Review“Nathan Hill is a maestro.” —John Irving**It’s 2011, and Sam...

When marketing strategist Tate Newell first meets wine executive Christina Clay, he has one goal in mind: tell Christina he won't design the new brand for Clay Wines. Tell her thanks, but no thanks. So long, good night.But Tate is a sucker for a damsel in distress and when a diary mix–up leaves Christina in his debt, Tate gets more than he bargained for.What does a resourceful girl do when the best marketing brain in the business won't play ball? She bluffs. She cheats. And...

A masterful blend of politics, history and suspense,” -Publishers Weekly"Libby Fischer Hellmann has written a wonderful thriller. Jeremiah Healy author of the John Francis Cuddy mysteries ""Complicated, fascinating. Hellmann has a beautifully tuned ear," -Dick Adler, Chicago TribuneThe first novel in crime writer Libby Fischer Hellmann’s popular Ellie Foreman mystery series, An Eye for Murder, introduces the documen...

This sequel to Beverly Cleary's beloved Newbery Medal-winning classic, Dear Mr. Henshaw, stars Strider, a dog who loves to run.Can a stray dog change the life of a teenage boy? It looks as if Strider can.He's a dog that loves to run; because of Strider, Leigh Botts finds himself running—well enough to join the school track team. Strider changes Leigh on the inside, too, as he finally begins to accept his parents' divorce and gets to know a redheaded girl he's been admiring....

The Upside-Down Magic kids are back in another topsy-turvy adventure in the next installment of this New York Times bestselling series, now a Disney Channel Original Movie!Some people in school are afraid of the kids in the Upside-Down Magic class. Others just call them flops. But Nory and her friends in Upside-down Magic won't let that stop them. Not with a school-wide talent show coming up!Except... Nory's afraid her fluxing magic will go wonky and upset her father. Pepper is wor...

13-year-old David discovers that his grandmother's inn is a portal for aliens from all over the universe—a secret that, until now, she has been able to keep from her small town.Scrub isn't happy about having to spend the summer with his hippie grandmother in "Middle of Nowhere," Washington. When he arrives at her Intergalactic Bed & Breakfast, he's not surprised by its 1960s-meets-Star Wars decor, but he is surprised by the weird looking guests.It turns out...

"Told with brains and heart" —Michelle Gable, New York Times bestselling author of A Paris Apartment"Bristles with charm and curiosity" —Winston Groom, New York Times bestselling author of Forrest Gump"A wholly original and superbly crafted work of art, Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance is a masterpiece of the imagination." —Lori Nelson Spielman, New York Times bestselling author of The Life List and Swee...