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The golden age of murder: the mystery of the writers who invented the modern detective story
By Martin Edwards. 2015
Study of an elite, mysterious social network of crime writers called the Detection Club, which began in 1930, and the…
group's continuing influence on print and film storytelling. Founding members Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, and Julian Symons presided over the club for nearly forty years. 2015Improbable fiction: the life of Mary Roberts Rinehart
By Jan Cohn. 2006
Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876-1958) was born in Allegheny (now part of Pittsburgh). She trained as a nurse, married a physician,…
and by 1902 had three sons. To supplement the family income, she began to write. Her work included mysteries, serious fiction, plays, and regular contributions to "The Saturday Evening Post". 1980The red hot typewriter: the life and times of John D. MacDonald
By Hugh Merrill. 2000
Biography of prolific author John D. MacDonald (1916-1986), creator of the character Travis McGee. Following trends in the publishing industry,…
MacDonald's work first appeared in pulp magazines, then as original paperbacks, and finally as bestsellers. Traces his development as a writer as well as his private life. 2000Flip
By David Lubar. 2003
Eighth-grader Taylor and her twin brother, Ryan, are complete opposites. So when trouble-making Ryan discovers mysterious alien disks that enable…
him to become legends from the past--Babe Ruth, Albert Einstein, and others--Taylor tries to keep him out of trouble. For grades 5-8. 2003Frozen tundra (Sam Skarda mysteries #03)
By Rick Shefchik. 2010
Ex-Minneapolis police detective Sam Skarda is hired by the president of the Green Bay Packers to investigate an insider plot…
designed to sell the publicly-owned Packers to a private buyer. Adult. Some descriptions of sex. Strong language. ViolenceThe Suicide Squad
By Richard Curtis. 1975
Dave Bolt doesn't know what the Racers' star quarterback has to do with the game no gambler would touch, but…
it smells like a mighty fishy fix. When Jimmy Quinn doesn't show for a meeting and has disappeared, Bolt suspects more than a thrown game. Quinn's books show a few shady deals, but nothing too suspicious. Now Bolt has a dead gambler on his hands, and what he wants to know is...is Quinn next on the list or a cold-blooded killer? No one ever said the sports business was a cup of tea and Dave Bolt takes his coffee strong, bitter and black.Mountain Rampage
By Scott Graham. 2015
"Graham's clever tale is tailor-made for those who prefer their mysteries under blue skies..."-KIRKUS"Description and dialogue balance to bring both…
the rounded characters and the Rocky Mountain setting alive in this tale of danger, death, and intrigue...Scott Graham has created a satisfying and suspenseful adventure."-FOREWORD REVIEWS"Filled with murder and mayhem, jealousy and good detective work-set against a stunning Colorado backdrop-Mountain Rampage is an exciting, non-stop read. I look forward to more good tales from this talented author."-ANNE HILLERMAN, New York Times bestselling author of Spider Woman's Daughter"In Mountain Rampage, Scott Graham delivers taut writing, solid plot twists, a cast of interesting characters, and an appealing protagonist both men and women will love. Get ready for a leave-you-breathless high country southwestern adventure."-MICHAEL MCGARRITY, New York Times bestselling author of Hard Country and Backlands"Move over Nevada Barr-clean prose and confident storytelling combine to make Scott Graham's second Chuck Bender/National Park Mystery Series novel a must-read for fans of Western outdoor fiction and for mystery lovers everywhere."-CHUCK GREAVES, author of Hush Money, Green-Eyed Lady, and The Last Heir"In archaeologist Chuck Bender, Scott Graham has created a flawed, all-too-human, and memorable investigator who had me rooting for him to the end."-MARGARET COEL, author of Night of the White BuffaloIn the riveting second installment of the National Park Mystery Series, archaeologist Chuck Bender finds himself and his young wife and stepdaughters in the crosshairs of an unknown killer when he defends his brother-in-law from false accusations of murder in the brutal slaying of a resort worker in Rocky Mountain National Park.Scott Graham is author of Canyon Sacrifice: A National Park Mystery and Extreme Kids, winner of the National Outdoor Book Award. He is an avid outdoorsman and amateur archaeologist who enjoys hunting, rock climbing, skiing, backpacking, mountaineering, river rafting, and whitewater kayaking with his wife, an emergency physician, and their two sons. Graham lives in Durango, Colorado.I. Asimov: A Memoir ("robots En El Tiempo" De I. Asimov Ser.)
By Isaac Asimov. 1994
Arguably the greatest science fiction writer who ever lived, Isaac Asimov also possessed one of the most brilliant and original…
minds of our time. His accessible style and far-reaching interests in subjects ranging from science to humor to history earned him the nickname "the Great Explainer. "I. Asimovis his personal story--vivid, open, and honest--as only Asimov himself could tell it. Here is the story of the paradoxical genius who wrote of travel to the stars yet refused to fly in airplanes; who imagined alien universes and vast galactic civilizations while staying home to write; who compulsively authored more than 470 books yet still found the time to share his ideas with some of the great minds of our century. Here are his wide-ranging thoughts and sharp-eyed observations on everything from religion to politics, love and divorce, friendship and Hollywood, fame and mortality. Here, too, is a riveting behind-the-scenes look at the varied personalities--Campbell, Ellison, Heinlein, Clarke, del Rey, Silverberg, and others--who along with Asimov helped shape science fiction. As unique and irrepressible as the man himself,I. Asimov is the candid memoir of an incomparable talent who entertained readers for nearly half a century and whose work will surely endure into the future he so vividly envisioned.John Brunner
By Jad Smith. 2012
Under his own name and numerous pseudonyms, John Brunner (1934-1995) was one of the most prolific and influential science fiction…
authors of the late twentieth century. During his exemplary career, the British author wrote with a stamina matched by only a few other great science fiction writers and with a literary quality of even fewer, importing modernist techniques into his novels and stories and probing every major theme of his generation: robotics, racism, drugs, space exploration, technological warfare, and ecology. In this first intensive review of Brunner's life and works, Jad Smith carefully demonstrates how Brunner's much-neglected early fiction laid the foundation for his classic Stand on Zanzibar and other major works such as The Jagged Orbit, The Sheep Look Up, and The Shockwave Rider. Making extensive use of Brunner's letters, columns, speeches, and interviews published in fanzines, Smith approaches Brunner in the context of markets and trends that affected many writers of the time, including Brunner's uneasy association with the "New Wave" of science fiction in the 1960s and '70s. This landmark study shows how Brunner's attempts to cross-fertilize the American pulp tradition with British scientific romance complicated the distinctions between genre and mainstream fiction and between hard and soft science fiction and helped carve out space for emerging modes such as cyberpunk, slipstream, and biopunk.Hook, Line & Sinister: Mysteries to Reel You In (Playaway Adult Fiction Ser.)
By T. Jefferson Parker. 2010
Original short stories by best-selling mystery writers about their favorite pastime—?shing. Sixteen of America's favorite author-anglers spin tales of mystery…
and fishing in this collection. From the tragic to the comic with many stops in between, these stories reflect the authors' passions for both making stories and catching fish. Michael Connelly, Ridley Pearson, John Lescroart, Don Winslow, Melodie Johnson Howe, Victoria Houston, and others all share a mysterious affection for things piscatorial when not busy writing best-selling books. This collection of all-original short stories will entertain even the most discriminating mystery reader. Proceeds from this book will help support two charitable groups, Casting For Recovery, which helps women cancer survivors to heal body and soul through fly-fishing, and Project Healing Waters, which does the same for our returning veterans. Contributing authors include • Ridley Pearson • Mark T. Sullivan • Michael Connelly • John Lescoart • Andrew Winer • Dana Stabenow • Don Winslow • Melodie Johnson Howe • James W. Hall • C.J. Box • Victoria Houston • William Beall • Spring Warren • Brian M. Wiprud • William Tapply • T. Jefferson ParkerUrsula K. Le Guin: and Other Conversations (The Last Interview Series)
By Ursula K. Le Guin, David Streitfeld. 2019
“Resistance and change often begin in art. Very often in our art, the art of words.” —Ursula K. Le Guin…
When she began writing in the 1960s, Ursula K. Le Guin was as much of a literary outsider as one can be: a woman writing in a landscape dominated by men, a science fiction and fantasy author in an era that dismissed “genre” literature as unserious, and a westerner living far from fashionable East Coast publishing circles. The interviews collected here—spanning a remarkable forty years of productivity, and covering everything from her Berkeley childhood to Le Guin envisioning the end of capitalism—highlight that unique perspective, which conjured some of the most prescient and lasting books in modern literature.Today the names of H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, and Clark Ashton Smith, all regular contributors to…
the pulp magazine Weird Tales during the first half of the twentieth century, are recognizable even to casual readers of the bizarre and fantastic. And yet despite being more popular than them all during the golden era of genre pulp fiction, there is another author whose name and work have fallen into obscurity: Seabury Quinn.Quinn’s short stories were featured in well more than half of Weird Tales’s original publication run. His most famous character, the supernatural French detective Dr. Jules de Grandin, investigated cases involving monsters, devil worshippers, serial killers, and spirits from beyond the grave, often set in the small town of Harrisonville, New Jersey. In de Grandin there are familiar shades of both Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, and alongside his assistant, Dr. Samuel Trowbridge, de Grandin’s knack for solving mysteries-and his outbursts of peculiar French-isms (grand Dieu!)-captivated readers for nearly three decades.Collected for the first time in trade editions, The Complete Tales of Jules de Grandin, edited by George Vanderburgh, presents all ninety-three published works featuring the supernatural detective. Presented in chronological order over five volumes, this is the definitive collection of an iconic pulp hero. The first volume, The Horror on the Links, includes all of the Jules de Grandin stories from "The Horror on the Links” (1925) to "The Chapel of Mystic Horror” (1928), as well as an introduction by George Vanderburgh and Robert Weinberg.Riverwatcher: A Fly-Fishing Mystery
By Ronald Weber. 2013
Lottery winner and ex-journalist Donal Fitzgerald joins forces with his girlfriend, DNR conservation officer Mercy Virdon, to solve the mysterious…
death of a beloved angler, Charlie, who was murdered in his tent in a state campground and who was known by all—and who may have known too much. Set in the engaging small town of Ossning on the Borchard River in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula—an angler’s dream, filled with eccentric, believable, sympathetic, and unforgettable characters—Riverwatcher is a classic whodunit. Fitzgerald and Mercy’s investigation to discover the deadly secret among the locals leads to dead ends until a surprisingly bookish theory surfaces. Weber expertly weaves this character-driven novel with a strong sense of place, creating a great yarn for anglers and mystery lovers and, as it turns out, a literally literary mystery.Over a century since his first appearance in print, Sherlock Holmes remains an iconic figure today. This unique companion is…
a collector's dream, allowing fans to delve into the criminal environment of foggy, gas-lit Victorian London-the world of the all-time greatest detective. The book brings to life the elements of Holmes's success, the crime scene of his day, his history in film and television, and the present-day Holmes legacy. Featured throughout are famous figures such as Holmes's faithful sidekick, Dr. Watson; his nemesis, Professor Moriarity; and Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Filled with more than 150 images-many of the works by the great original illustrators of Conan Doyle's stories-this volume presents an excellent mix of information to satisfy legions of Holmes collectors, mystery fans, and historians fascinated by a bygone era.As you ride down the intergalactic bike path, you come to a crossroads. Which path will you take? Your choice…
could determine your future, or the future of all humanity, forever. These twelve stories explore a variety of intersections set in distant, outlandish, or disturbingly realistic futures and dimensions—all involving bicycles and the breaking of gender stereotypes. A bicycle race spans a rift between worlds. A teenager learns a valuable lesson from her prepper mom. A young fruit seller gets closer to her dream of becoming an astronaut. An overwhelmed mom finds unexpected solace at a bicycle collective. And much more! Contributors include Tuere T.S. Ganges, Gretchin Lair, Ayame Whitfield, Julia K. Patt, Elly Bangs, Osahon Ize-Iyamu, Monique Cuillerier, Kat Lerner, Hella Grichi, and Summer Jewel Keown, with illustrations by Elly Bangs and Paul Abbamondi.Lost Empress
By Sergio De La Pava. 2018
"Ambitious, affecting, intelligent, plangent, comic, kooky and impassioned. I've read a lot of novels this year, between judging the Man…
Booker prize and the Granta Best of Young British Novelists, and I've yearned for this kind of exuberant, precise fiction" Stuart Kelly, Guardian on A Naked SingularityIt would take something huge to put Paterson, New Jersey on the map.But Nina Gill is determined to do just that. She is the daughter of the ageing owner of the Dallas Cowboys and the well-kept secret to their success. Shocked when her brother inherits the team, leaving her with the Paterson Pork, New Jersey's only Indoor Football League franchise, she vows to take on the N.F.L. and make her new team the pigskin kings of America.Meanwhile, Nuno DeAngeles - a brilliant criminal mastermind - contrives to be thrown into Rikers Island prison to commit one of the most audacious crimes of all time. Now he's on the inside, he has two good reasons to get out. But how does a person of culture go about breaking out of the penal system when the whole of the land of the free is addicted to keeping him in it?Without knowing it, or ever having met, Nina and Nuno have already had a profound effect on each other's lives. As his bid for freedom and her bid for sporting immortality reach crisis point, their stories converge in the countdown to an epic conclusion. Thrilling, touching, insightful and shockingly hilarious, De La Pava's extraordinary novel gets under the skin and into the minds of a vast cast of characters from the fringes of society - immigrants, exiles and outsiders.Genus Homo
By L. Sprague DeCamp, P. Schuyler Miller. 1950
Twenty-five men and women against a world of evolution gone mad!Here is the vivid story of their adventures and terrors…
- the monster in the forest - the city of giant beavers - and the secret of the incredible race that had supplanted mankind.This is Me, Jack Vance
By Jack Vance. 2009
Jack Vance has long been one of the most influential, admired and imitated writers in science fiction and fantasy literature,…
the award-winning author of such widely acclaimed works as The Dying Earth, the Lyonesse trilogy, the adventures of Cugel the Clever, the Demon Princes series, and many other masterful tales set among the stars, in exotic fantasy realms or on our own Earth.For much of his career, Vance has also been one of the field's most private writers, an author who preferred to let his work speak for him. Now, at last, to coincide with the release of the tribute anthology Songs of the Dying Earth, Jack gives us this intimate and fascinating glimpse into his rich and eventful life, and a valuable insight into how he went about practicing his craft.For fans of the Grand Master's work, these memoirs are something to be treasured.Time and Chance: An Autobiography
By L. Sprague DeCamp. 1992
Time and Chance is the autobiography of Hugo, World Fantasy and SFWA Grand Master Award-winning author, L. Sprague de Camp.…
It is a fascinating insight into a man who began writing in the late 1930's and remained an active voice in the genre up until his death in the last year of the twentieth century, and who was a prime mover in the formation of the fields of Science Fiction and Fantasy as we know them today.The Exegesis of Philip K Dick
By Philip K. Dick. 2011
Based on thousands of pages of typed and handwritten notes, journal entries, letters, and story sketches, The Exegesis of Philip…
K. Dick is the magnificent and imaginative final work of an author who dedicated his life to questioning the nature of reality and perception, the malleability of space and time, and the relationship between the human and the divine. Edited and introduced by Pamela Jackson and Jonathan Lethem, this will be the definitive presentation of Dick's brilliant, and epic, final work. In The Exegesis, Dick documents his eight-year attempt to fathom what he called "2-3-74", a postmodern visionary experience of the entire universe "transformed into information". In entries that sometimes ran to hundreds of pages, Dick tried to write his way into the heart of a cosmic mystery that tested his powers of imagination and invention to the limit, adding to, revising, and discarding theory after theory, mixing in dreams and visionary experiences as they occurred, and pulling it all together in three late novels known as the VALIS trilogy. In this abridgment, Jackson and Lethem serve as guides, taking the reader through the Exegesis and establishing connections with moments in Dick's life and work.