The Origin of Rivers is a sequel to the author's novel, Fiery Rivers. It is a miscellany of short stories, poems, teleplays, and a screenplay that he wrote prior to writing Fiery Rivers. In essence, he says in a short preface, the materials are "the springs from which Fiery Rivers flowed." The short stories are quirky tales that deal with murder, accidental death, a miraculous ascension, and suicide. The poems deal with nature, mysticism, and love. The two teleplays are Twilight Zone-like ...

Fiery Rivers is the coming-of-age story of Devon, a ten-year-old boy who lives with his Pentecostal parents in Ohio in the sixties. As he matures, he becomes increasingly aware of what is being said in the church services he attends. A sermon about one particular sin sticks in his mind. He is undisturbed by it, however, until one fateful day when he commits the sin, engendering a lifelong struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder. While he attempts to disentangle himself from the disorde...

“Wild, mesmerizing, perversely witty….A Valentine from hell.”—Janet Maslin, New York TimesThe publication of Joe Hill’s beautifully textured, deliciously scary debut novel Heart-Shaped Box was greeted with the sort of overwhelming critical acclaim that is rare for a work of skin-crawling supernatural terror. It was cited as a Best Book of the Year by Atlanta magazine, the Tampa Tribune, the St. Louis Post Dispatch...

In the segregated South, a young girl’s life is changed forever: “A beautifully written literary novel [and] a real page-turner.” —Lee Smith, New York Times-bestselling author of Blue MarlinOn a scorching day in August 1954, thirteen-year-old Jubie Watts leaves Charlotte, North Carolina, with her family for a Florida vacation. Crammed into the Packard along with Jubie are her three siblings, her mother, and the family’s black maid, Mary Luther. Fo...

“An extraordinary achievement . . . a vision of hell so stern it cannot be chuckled or raged aside.”—The New York Times Book ReviewA classic of postwar American literature, Last Exit to Brooklyn created shockwaves upon its release in 1964 with its raw, vibrant language and startling revelations of New York City's underbelly.The prostitutes, drunks, addicts, and johns of Selby’s Brooklyn are fierce and lonely creatures, desperately searchin...

Join Father Tim on a profoundly personal journey back to his childhood home in this charming novel in #1 New York Times bestselling author Jan Karon's Mitford series.Thirty-eight years have passed since Father Tim Kavanagh left his Mississippi hometown, determined not to return. Then he receives a handwritten note postmarked Holly Springs. Cryptic and unsigned, it says only Come home. These two words compel him to make the most challenging journey...

From New York Times bestselling author Mary Monroe comes a powerful novel about the hopes, dreams, laughter--and limits--of six unique women surviving on the streets of San Francisco. . .They're about as different as six women can be--haughty and humble, beautiful and plain, young and not-so-young, black, white, Latina, and origins unknown. But aside from a gift for laughing hardship in the face, they have one very important thing in common--Clyde Brooks. You might say tha...

“Without question, this is McMillan’s best. A glorious novel....A moving tapestry of familial love and redemption.”—The Washington PostWith her hallmark exuberance and a cast of characters so sassy, resilient, and full of life that they breathe, dream, and shout right off the page, Terry McMillan has given us a tour-de-force novel of family, healing, and redemption. A Day Late and a Dollar Short takes us deep into the hearts, minds, and souls of A...

Following her best-selling, award-winning novel Glorious , McFadden produces a fantastical historical novel featuring the spirit of Emmett Till.—One of *Essence'*s "Best Books of the Decade"—A New York Times Notable Book of 2012— Gathering of Waters was a finalist for a Phillis Wheatley Fiction Book Award."McFadden works a kind of miracle—not only do [her characters] retain their appealing humanity; their sto...

WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATUREA beautiful, comprehensive volume of Dylan’s lyrics, from the beginning of his career through the present day—with the songwriter’s edits to dozens of songs, appearing here for the first time.Bob Dylan is one of the most important songwriters of our time, responsible for modern classics such as “Like a Rolling Stone,” “Mr. Tambourine Man,” and “The Times They Are a-Changin’.” The Lyrics is a c...

Facing the Music, Larry Brown's first book, was originally published in 1988 to wide critical acclaim. As the St. Petersburg Times review pointed out, the central theme of these ten stories "is the ageless collision of man with woman, woman with man--with the frequent introduction of that other familiar couple, drinking and violence. Most often ugly, love is nevertheless graceful, however desperate the situation."There's some glare from the brutally bright light La...

Pee Wee Gaskins killed without hesitation and apparently without remorse over and over again. He did so as he meandered in and out of maximum security prisons where he spent more than half of his life. Sentenced to reform school at age thirteen he honed his skills in the use of extreme violence. The horror of his crimes is played out against the backdrop of one of the most rural areas of South Carolina during the tumultuous change from absolute segregation to forced integration. In a lifes...