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...

A harrowing and inspiring true story of a young boy's abusive childhood, from international bestseller Dave Pelzer.'A story where love, kindness, patience and endurance triumph' Daily Mail*****Brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable and alcoholic mother, Dave became a slave; he was no longer a boy, but an 'it'. His bed was an old army cot in the basement, his clothes torn and unwa...

**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...

In 1985, a time capsule was buried in the front lawn of a small town courthouse, to be reopened in 2085. But just twenty years later, in the middle of the night, the capsule is dug up and its contents stolen. And that same night, one of the contributors to the capsule is brutally slain in his home - with no sign of forced entry or indication of a struggle. One by one, the other time capsule contributors are also being targeted.Other than the sudden, mysterious appearance of the int...

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...

Set in the previously sleepy hinterlands straddling Washington state and British Columbia, Border Songs is the story of Brandon Vanderkool, six foot eight, frequently tongue-tied, severely dyslexic, and romantically inept. Passionate about bird-watching, Brandon has a hard time mustering enthusiasm for his new job as a Border Patrol agent guarding thirty miles of largely invisible boundary. But to everyone’s surprise, he excels at catching illegal immigrants, and as drug runners, ...

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....