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SOAR: A Black Ops Mission
By John Weisman. 2003
BLACK OPS: The shadow wars; the down-and-dirty work of CIA/Special Operations ...On the eve of a groundbreaking U.S.–China summit, a…
covert CIA black ops team assigned to bug a Chinese nuclear test site is captured by Islamic terrorists. An explosive situation goes from bad to catastrophic when the terrorists ambush a Chinese army convoy, highjack a highly unstable nuclear device ... and arm it. On orders from the President, Major Michael Ritzik, the young CO of a top secret element of the Army's elite Delta Force, must lead his men on an impossible rescue/disarmament mission -- even as Beijing dispatches its own special forces to deal with the impending threat. Ritzik and his shadow warriors will need to employ speed, surprise, and violence of action to beat the Chinese to the target, free the captives, disarm the nuke, and escape without leaving any fingerprints. Failure is not an option -- because the unthinkable has suddenly become a very real possibility.Grandmother's Tale and Selected Stories
By R. K. Narayan. 1994
"It is not too much to compare Mr. Narayan to Chekhov." -The New York TimesThere is no better introduction to…
R.K. Narayan than this remarkable collection of stories celebrating work that spans five decades. Characters include a storyteller whose magical source of tales dries up, a love-stricken husband who is told by astrologers he must sleep with a prostitute to save his dying wife, a pampered child who discovers that his beloved uncle may be an impostor or even a murderer. Standing supreme amid this rich assortment of stories is the title novella. Told by the narrator's grandmother, the tale recounts the adventures of her mother, married at seven and then abandoned, who crosses the subcontinent to extract her husband from the hands of his new wife. Her courage is immense and her will implacable -- but once her mission is completed, her independence vanishes. Gentle irony, wryly drawn characters, and themes at once Indian and universal mark these humane stories, which firmly establish Narayan as one of the world's preeminant storytellers.Adverbs: A Novel
By Daniel Handler. 2006
Hello.I am Daniel Handler, the author of this book. Did you know that authors often write the summaries that appear…
on their book's dust jacket? You might want to think about that the next time you read something like, "A dazzling page-turner, this novel shows an internationally acclaimed storyteller at the height of his astonishing powers."Adverbs is a novel about love -- a bunch of different people, in and out of different kinds of love. At the start of the novel, Andrea is in love with David -- or maybe it's Joe -- who instead falls in love with Peter in a taxi. At the end of the novel, it's Joe who's in the taxi, falling in love with Andrea, although it might not be Andrea, or in any case it might not be the same Andrea, as Andrea is a very common name. So is Allison, who is married to Adrian in the middle of the novel, although in the middle of the ocean she considers a fling with Keith and also with Steve, whom she meets in an automobile, unless it's not the same Allison who meets the Snow Queen in a casino, or the same Steve who meets Eddie in the middle of the forest. . . . It might sound confusing, but that's love, and as the author -- me -- says, "It is not the nouns. The miracle is the adverbs, the way things are done." This novel is about people trying to find love in the ways it is done before the volcano erupts and the miracle ends. Yes, there's a volcano in the novel. In my opinion a volcano automatically makes a story more interesting.KBL: A Novel Based on True Events
By John Weisman. 2011
“Weisman is perhaps wired more tightly into the reclusive special operations community than any other writer, and his knowledge of…
weaponry and field techniques is staggering.”—Washington Times“A pro who knows his stuff.”—Oliver NorthJohn Weisman, whose expertise in the field of covert military operations is unsurpassed, delivers a stunning fictional account of the most extraordinary mission of the century: the hunting down and assassination of Osama Bin Laden, the most reviled killer of the twenty-first century, by US Navy SEALs. With KBL: Kill Bin Laden the critically acclaimed author of SOAR and Jack in the Box goes behind the headlines, carrying readers along on a breakneck, breathtakingly realistic chase—from planning to training to execution—as the evil mastermind behind the horror of 9/11 is finally brought to justice.A Fierce Radiance: A Novel
By Lauren Belfer. 2010
“An engrossing and ambitious novel that vividly portrays a critical time in American history.” — Booklist (starred review) “Enthralling. A…
Fierce Radiance shines with fascinating detail.... Belfer’s powerful portrayal of how people are changed in pursuit of a miracle makes this book an especially compelling read.” — Nancy Horan, author of Loving FrankSet during the uncertain early days of World War II, this suspenseful story from the New York Times bestselling author of City of Light follows the work of photojournalist Claire Shipley as she captures America’s race to develop life-saving antibiotics—an assignment that will involve blackmail, espionage, and murder.Direct Action: A Covert War Thriller
By John Weisman. 2005
In this compulsive page-turner, six-time New York Times bestselling author John Weisman blows the lid off one of Washington's deepest…
real-world secrets. The CIA, currently incapable of performing its core mission of supplying critical and time-sensitive human-based intelligence for the global war on terror, must now outsource the work to private contractors. Drawing on real-world crises and actual CIA operations, Direct Action takes readers deep inside this new and unreported covert warfare that is being fought on a daily basis by anonymous shadow warriors all across the globe.Racing against the clock and shuttling between Washington, Paris, and the Middle East, one of those shadow warriors, former CIA case officer Tom Stafford, must slip below the radar to uncover, target, and neutralize a deadly al-Qa'ida bombmaker before the assassin can launch simultaneous multiple attacks against America and the West. And as if that weren't enough, Stafford must simultaneously open a second front and mount a clandestine war against the CIA itself, because for mysterious and seemingly inexplicable reasons the people at the very top of the Central Intelligence Agency want him to fail.The characters and operations in Direct Action are drawn from true-life CIA personnel and their real-world missions. With Direct Action, John Weisman confirms once again Joseph Wambaugh's claim that "nobody writes better about the dark and dirty world of the CIA and black ops."Cruisin': A Short Story
By Sarah Mlynowski. 2009
From the critically acclaimed author of Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) and the Magic in Manhattan series…
comes a fun short story about taking the plunge on the high seas, where not everything is what it seems.Kristin is ready to take the next step. . . . The only problem is she hasn't found the right guy to take it with her. That's why she agreed to go on the ominously named Cruise to Nowhere with her best friend, Liz. There are plenty of cute guys on the ship to choose from if only Kristin can work up the nerve—and stop worrying about the reports in the tabloids that passengers on cruises have been mysteriously disappearing and that someone suspects it has to do with . . . vampires.Epic Reads Impulse is a digital imprint with new releases each month.Limbo, and Other Places I Have Lived: Short Stories
By Lily Tuck. 2002
In an elegant and penetrating first short-story collection, Limbo, and Other Places I Have Lived, Lily Tuck's characters travel to…
unknown, exotic places and, while there, find themselves deeply immersed in observation -- of the natives, the local customs, the foreign landscape -- in an effort to discern some elemental truth about who they themselves are. Instead, these women meet with disorientation, confusion; they are disappointed by the people closest to them -- lovers, husbands, family members. Finally, they arrive at the sometimes heartbreaking but ultimately optimistic realization that the answers they seek lie not in other people or places but within themselves. Limbo, and Other Places I Have Lived is a brilliant collection from a writer of exceptional poise and insight.The Da Vinci Deception (The Inspector Jack Oxby Novels)
By Thomas Swan. 1998
Celebrated thriller writer Thomas Swan introduces Scotland Yard Inspector Jack Oxby in The Da Vinci Deception—an exhilarating thriller set in…
the art world. Racing from London to New York to Lake Como, Inspector Oxby is on the hunt for an art forger whose daring attempts to counterfeit the great Leonardo da Vinci have the art world astounded. For fans of the UK television series Lovejoy, the art history mysteries of Iain Pears, as well as books like The Thomas Crowne Affair, this is a novel of suspense not to be missed!The Artist of Disappearance: Three Novellas
By Anita Desai. 2011
Finalist for the Pen/Faulkner Award for Fiction&“The excellent strength [the novellas] share is a gracefulness and dreamlike sonority, reminiscent of…
writers like Jhumpa Lahiri and W.G. Sebald, wherein strange evolutions of solitary lives are the rule, and readers are held by the stately, hypnotic dignity of the voice that tells them.&” – San Francisco ChronicleSet in modern India, these three novellas move beyond the cities to places still haunted by the past, and to characters who are, each in their own way, masters of self-effacement. An unnamed government official is called upon to inspect a faded mansion of forgotten treasures where he discovers a surprise "relic." A translator blurs the line between writer and translator, and in so doing risks unraveling her desires and achievements. In the title novella, a hermit hidden away in the woods with a secret is discovered by a film crew, which compels him to withdraw even further until he magically disappears . . . Rich and evocative, remarkable in their clarity and sensuous in their telling, these novellas remind us of the extraordinary yet delicate power of this pre-eminent writer. &“Desai, at her best, offers enchanting, subtle, and deeply observed portraits of layered characters trapped between worlds.&” – Daily Beast&“Lingers in the memory the same way these landscapes and people of India prove impossible to forget.&” – Boston GlobeTranslator Translated: A Novella
By Anita Desai. 2011
Distraught by her own lack of accomplishment -- especially in comparison to that of a childhood rival who has become…
a famous and successful publisher -- a middle-aged woman has the opportunity of a lifetime: to translate the work of an unknown literary star and, in the process, impress the woman she most admires.The Museum of Final Journeys: A Novella
By Anita Desai. 2011
Disappointed by his professional and social position, an entitled and officious junior civil servant imagines that his life will change…
when a mysterious old man promises to lead him to a museum filled with priceless treasures.In this very special anthology of beautifully poetic short stories, thirty distinguished authors and illustrators explore the unique and varied…
meanings of home. Their touching words and magnificent art affirm the importance—and joy—of having a place to call one’s own.Culturally diverse, multi-representative, and socially inclusive, this book is nourishment for the young soul.At a time when displacement and homelessness remain painfully present in our society, this classic anthology is indispensable. The distinguished contributors to this collection include:Franz BrandenbergMimi BrodskyLucille CliftonVirginia HamiltonJamake HighwaterKarla KuskinMyra Cohn LivingstonLiz RosenbergCynthia RylantJon ScieszkaLaurence YepJane YolenArthur YorinksAlikiKaren BarbourPat CummingsLisa DesiminiLeo and Diane DillonRichard EgielskiSheila HamanakaJames MarshallJerry PinkneyVladimir RadunskyJames RansomeAminah RobinsonMarc SimontLane SmithMary SzilagyiVera B. WilliamsHome can be. . .playing on the stoop of your building,sitting in your grandmother’s kitchen,or hiding under your back porch stairs.Screen Tests: Stories and Other Writing
By Kate Zambreno. 2019
Best Book of 2019: Nylon, Domino, Bustle, Book Riot, Buzzfeed, Vol. 1 BrooklynA new work equal parts observational micro-fiction and…
cultural criticism reflecting on the dailiness of life as a woman and writer, on fame and failure, aging and art, from the acclaimed author of Heroines, Green Girl, and O Fallen Angel.In the first half of Kate Zambreno’s astoundingly original collection Screen Tests, the narrator regales us with incisive and witty swatches from a life lived inside a brilliant mind, meditating on aging and vanity, fame and failure, writing and writers, along with portraits of everyone from Susan Sontag to Amal Clooney, Maurice Blanchot to Louise Brooks. The series of essays that follow, on figures central to Zambreno’s thinking, including Kathy Acker, David Wojnarowicz, and Barbara Loden, are manifestoes about art, that ingeniously intersect and chime with the stories that came before them."If Thomas Bernhard's and Fleur Jaeggy's work had a charming, slightly misanthropic baby—with Diane Arbus as nanny—it would be Screen Tests. Kate Zambreno turns her precise and meditative pen toward a series of short fictions that are anything but small. The result is a very funny, utterly original look at cultural figures and tropes and what it means to be a human looking at humans.”—Amber Sparks“In Screen Tests, a voice who both is and is not the author picks up a thread and follows it wherever it leads, leaping from one thread to another without quite letting go, creating a delicate and ephemeral and wonderful portrait of how a particular mind functions. Call them stories (after Lydia Davis), reports (after Gerald Murnane), or screen tests (inventing a new genre altogether like Antoine Volodine). These are marvelously fugitive pieces, carefully composed while giving the impression of being effortless, with a quite lovely Calvino-esque lightness, that are a joy to try to keep up with.”—Brian EvensonThe Topiary Garden
By Janni Howker. 1993
One of the most remarkable short stories in Janni Howker's BADGER ON THE BARGE is THE TOPIARY GARDEN, currently under…
option for filming It is the evocative, timeless story of Sally Beck, and the circumstances which led her to become Jack, the gardener's boy, working amongst the topiary bushes of a great country house garden. This powerful story has such impact for readers of any age that we are publishing it in a separate edition, with specially commissioned full colour paintings by Anthony BrowneToo Hot to Handle: True Stories as Told to Madame B
By Ann Summers. 2007
Ten women reveal all to our mysterious hostess, Madame B. Nothing is out of bounds and passion is pushed to…
its very limit. Under Offer - Sally just can't keep her eyes off the hot estate agent. By the third apartment, Sally can't control her lust any longer and makes him an offer he can't refuse...Backstage Pass - Everyone knows him, the rock star who regularly tops the charts. Ali just has to have him, and blags a backstage pass...Executive Decision - It's the career chance of a lifetime. PA to a gorgeous, jet-setting executive. Amanda wants the job - and him - so badly. Then he asks if she has any 'extra services' to offer. Shopaholic - Zoe's bored with her look. So when a friend recommends personal shopper and stylist Maria, she books in for a session. Maria knows just how to make Zoe feel fabulous - and it all kicks off in the changing room.Coming Up Roses - Kara can't face a day in the office and calls in sick. That's when she notices two attractive gardeners working outside her apartment window. It's hot, they're sweating. So Kara invites them both in for a shower...Filthy Rich - At a salsa club, Jen and Mike meet an older, wealthy couple, who invite them back to their mansion. The place is a millionaire's paradise - acres of land, and a sexy outdoor jacuzzi...Double Fantasy - Identical twins and flatmates Gilly and Annie secretly share their men. So when fit delivery guy Rob turns up with a washing machine, Gilly has her fun on top of it - and then lets Annie take over. Curtain Raiser - Cathy's boyfriend confesses he's always wanted to try a seedy peep show. She's not so sure. But once they're inside the cubicle, Cathy can't get enough.Tunnel Vision - She spots him at check-in, and he's sitting opposite her in first class. He passes her a mobile number. She texts. He texts. And things get steamy...Father Figure - Jane's always fancied her ex-boyfriend's dad. Then she bumps into him at a taxi rank. They share a cab, but they don't even make it indoors...With private indulgences stripped bare for all to see, Too Hot to Handle ensures that nothing remains a secret any more.Three Tales from the Arabian Nights
By Malcolm Lyons. 2008
Once upon a time, the name Baghdad conjured up visions of the most magical, romantic city on earth, where flying…
carpets carried noble thieves off on wonderful adventures, and vicious viziers and beautiful princesses mingled with wily peasants and powerful genies. This is the world of the Arabian Nights, a magnificent collection of ancient tales from Arabia, India, and Persia. The tales—often stories within stories—are told by the sultana Scheherazade, who relates them as entertainments for her jealous and murderous husband, hoping to keep him amused and herself alive. Three fantastic tales have been chosen from our new translation to introduce readers to the delights of Arabian Nights: 'Ali Baba and the forty thieves killed by the slave girl' is a well-known and well-loved classic, placed alongside the equally enchanting 'Judar and his brothers' and 'Ma'rus the cobbler'.Three Japanese Short Stories (Penguin Modern)
By Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Kafu Nagai, Chiyo Uno. 2018
'Oh the cruelty of time, that destroys all things!'Beguiling, strange and hair-raising tales from early 20th century Japan: Nagai's Behind…
the Prison, Uno's Closet LLB and Akutagawa's deeply macabre General Kim. Penguin Modern: fifty new books celebrating the pioneering spirit of the iconic Penguin Modern Classics series, with each one offering a concentrated hit of its contemporary, international flavour. Here are authors ranging from Kathy Acker to James Baldwin, Truman Capote to Stanislaw Lem and George Orwell to Shirley Jackson; essays radical and inspiring; poems moving and disturbing; stories surreal and fabulous; taking us from the deep South to modern Japan, New York's underground scene to the farthest reaches of outer space.The Thirty-Nine Steps (Penguin Modern Classics)
By John Buchan. 2004
Richard Hannay has just returned to England after years in South Africa and is thoroughly bored with his life in…
London. But then a murder is committed in his flat, just days after a chance encounter with an American who had told him about an assassination plot which could have dire international consequences. An obvious suspect for the police and an easy target for the killers, Hannay goes on the run in his native Scotland where he will need all his courage and ingenuity to stay one step ahead of his pursuers.The Thirty-Nine Steps
By John Buchan. 2011
Discover the original and best adventure story ever told. ‘The father of the modern espionage’ Sunday TimesMay 1914. Britain is…
on the eve of war with Germany. Richard Hannay is living a quiet life in London, but after a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger he stumbles into a hair-raising adventure - a desperate hunt across the country and against the clock, pursued by the police and a cunning, ruthless enemy. Hannay's life and the security of Britain are in grave peril, and everything rests on the solution to a baffling enigma: what are the thirty-nine steps? WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY STELLA RIMINGTON