In 1866, tragedy strikes at the exclusive Windfield School. A young student drowns in a mysterious accident involving a small circle of boys. The drowning and its aftermath initiates a spiraling circle of treachery that will span three decades and entwine many loves… From the exclusive men's club and brothels that cater to every dark desire of London's upper classes to the dazzling ballrooms and mahogany-paneled suites of the manipulators of the world's wealth, Ken Follett conjures up a stunning array of contrasts. This breathtaking novel portrays a family splintered by lust, bound by a shared legacy… men and women swept toward a perilous climax where greed, fed by the shocking truth of a boy's death, must be stopped, or not just one man's dreams, but those of a nation, will die…

“Among the new voices in twenty-first-century crime fiction, Charlie Huston . . . is where it's at.”

- The Washington Post

“Huston writes dialogue so combustible it could fuel a bus and characters crazy enough to take it on the road.”

- The New York Times Book Review

Reluctant hitman Henry Thompson has fallen on hard times. His grip on life is disintegrating, his pistol hand shaking, his body pinned to his living room couch by painkillers - and his boss, Russian mobster David Dolokhov, isn't happy about any of it. So Henry is surprised when he's handed a new assignment: keep tabs on a minor league baseball star named Miguel Arenas.

Henry has no pity for the slugger and the wicked gambling problem that got him in trouble, but he can't help liking the guy. After all, Henry used to be just like him: a natural-born ball player with a bright future. But hell, that was long ago. Before Henry did some guy a favor and ended up running for his life. Before his girlfriend and buddies got gunned down by someone on his tail. Before he agreed to buy his parents' safety with a life of violence.

And when Miguel gets drafted by the Mets and is sent to the Brooklyn Cyclones, Henry must head back to New York, back to the place where all his problems began - and where Henry might find a real reason to keep living, a reason that may just cost him his life.

“Huston reminds me of all my favorite writers - Pete Dexter, Robert Stone, Crumley. If there is such a thing as compassionate noir, Charlie has found it. He's a true marvel.”

- Ken Bruen, author of The Guards

“Charlie Huston is the real deal.”

- Peter Straub

2006

No breath of scandal has ever touched the aristocratic Moidore family, but then Sir Basil Moidore's beautiful widowed daughter is stabbed to death in her own bed. Inspector Monk is ordered to find the killer, and as he gropes through the shadows, he approaches an astonishing solution.

From a magnificent ballroom ablaze with lights to an imposing country house steeped in shadows comes a breathtaking tale of an impetuous miss — and a passion that leads to peril...

At five and twenty, Prudence Merryweather knew very well the risks a woman took by visiting a gentleman in the dead of night. But bearding the notorious Earl of Angelstone in his den was the only way to stop him from engaging her hot-headed brother in a duel. And that was why she found herself ushered into Sebastian's forbidding presence at three in the morning — and thoroughly kissed before dawn.

She was a country-bred innocent and an intriguing experience for a man who dwelt more in the shadows than in sunshine. Yet as her boldness drew Prue into one dangerous episode after another, Sebastain found himself torn between a raging hunger to possess her and a driving need to protect her. And the reckless beauty would soon need all the protection she could get....

The greatest superpower of all isn't to be part spider, part man, or to cast magic spells – the greatest power is the power to create.

Daniel has that power.

Daniel's secret abilities – like being able to manipulate objects and animals with his mind or to recreate himself in any shape he chooses – have helped him survive. But Daniel doesn't have a normal life. He is the protector of the earth, the Alien Hunter, with a mission beyond what anyone could imagine.

From the day that his parents were brutally murdered in front of his very eyes, Daniel has used his unique gifts to hunt down their assassin. Finally, with the help of The List bequeathed to him in his parents' dying breath, he has located the killer.

Now, on his own, he vows to take on his father's mission-and to have vengeance in the process.

An anthology of stories

Extreme sports. Extreme future. Extreme collection.

Science fiction's most expert dreamers envision the computerized, high-risk games of the future in this winning collection. Features Robert Sheckley, Cory Doctorow, Kate Wilhelm, Alastair Reynolds, Vernor Vinge, Jonathan Letham, Gwyneth Jones, William Browning Spencer, Allen Steele, Terry Dowling, and Jason Stoddard.

The Olympics promise to be a rare relaxation in the tensions between the States and Russia, until a racial purist decides to punish America's multi-racial track-and-field team. The Americans, Russians, and Germans are confident that they can stop this racial terrorism until a bomb explodes in the super-secure Olympic village, killing two Russian security guards just before the torch is lit. As the threats come racing in, CURE's agents Remo and Chiun put on their running shoes.and join the U.S.'s Olympic team. Enlisting the aid of a beautiful and flexible Indian gymnast, Remo and Chiun race to track down the terrorists who vow to permanently disqualify America's track-and-field squad. But when the terrorists turn on Remo and Chiun, it's a sprint to the finish for CURE's agents to keep the Olympic torch aflame.

In Melbourne's urban underworld, there's a nightclub for every fantasy and desire. But for Riley Jenson, one such club has become an obsession. Riley, a rare hybrid of vampire and werewolf, hasn't come in pursuit of pleasure but of an unknown killer who's been using the steamy nightspot as his hunting grounds.

Leave it to Riley to find the only ticket into the heavily guarded club: Jin, a deliciously hot-bodied bartender who might just provide the key to unmasking a killer unlike any other in the Directorate's experience. Taunted by a former colleague turned rogue, distracted by an ex-lover's attentions, Riley follows Jin into a realm of pleasure she could never have imagined. And as danger and passion ignite, a shocking mystery begins to unravel—one where Riley herself becomes the ultimate object of desire...

The third of the castle novels will take the reader ever deeper into a world of beauty and terror. A world led by an immortal emperor and the circle; his 50 immortal helpers. It is a world with an absentee god, a world that has been fighting a war against giant insects. A world like no other. There will be more insights into Jant, the emperors vain winged messenger, and the shift, the surreal other life Jant enters when he overdoses on his drug of choice and where he meets the dead in a land that defies logic. This is a fantasy series like no other – a literary fantasy with the verve and originality to stand alongside the best of Mervyn Peake, M. John Harrison and China Mieville.

When it was first published in 1985, Ursula K. Le Guin’s ambitious and experimental novel Always Coming Home, a tapestry of interwoven stories, poems, histories, myths, and anthropological reports from the fictional Kesh society, included one chapter from a novel called Dangerous People by Arravna, or Wordriver, which Le Guin had “translated” from the Kesh, the invented language of an invented people who “might be going to have lived a long, long time from now” in a post-apocalyptic Napa Valley, California.

Now Library of America presents, for the first time, the full text of the short, innovative, and perceptive novella Dangerous People, which Le Guin completed shortly before her death, making this Le Guin’s final new work.

The story of one missing woman and the people around her who may or may not be implicated in her death or disappearance, Dangerous People explores larger questions about what—in relationships, in relationships, in society—make a person “dangerous”; and in giving us the Kesh perspective, Le Guin ultimately shines a light on our own society’s perceptions of truth, gender, and relationships.

Abram Mustafa faces the test of his life and his heart when his terrorist father kidnaps Paige Galbraithe, the one woman who has always been able to touch Abram’s soul. With Paige’s life now in danger, Abram knows that his plans for escape from the only home he has ever known have suddenly become more imperative than ever.

Paige has always wondered if the dark, cool and mysterious Abram el Hamid Mustafa is hiding a wicked side. . . . a wicked side that will allow her to explore the kind of pleasure she has dreamed of. But when she is kidnapped by his father, she finds that she must trust Abram with more than her fantasies. Paige must trust him with her life…and her heart.

Secret, dangerous desires will bind Abram and Paige together as the forces surrounding them try to tear them apart.

Alexander’s new historical mystery takes place in the late-nineteenth century and takes up at the point Tears of Pearl (2009) left off. In Tears, Lady Emily’s honeymoon with second husband Colin ended with her being shot and losing her unborn baby. Now she and Colin are staying in Normandy with his autocratic mother, Mrs. Hargreaves, who takes it amiss when Emily comes upon the body of a murdered young woman while horseback riding. Lady Emily can’t help but investigate the murder, especially when she learns the dead girl came from an aristocratic family in Rouens and was confined to an insane asylum. She also has to deal with her hostile mother-in-law, her worries about her own mental and emotional health, the reappearance of the flirtatious and clever thief Sebastian, and the murdered girl’s decidedly strange family. Readers who enjoy historical mysteries with strong female characters will find much to enjoy here and will want to seek out Lady Emily’s earlier adventures.

All her life Sidney Morrow had tried to repress her disturbing psychic visions. Until a vision of murder shattered her fragile serenity. She had to go to the authorities – make them listen. But Lt. Marc Cruz didn't trust her one bit. In fact, the sensual homicide cop treated her like a suspect. And sent her senses haywire…

The dark-haired beauty knew something about the serial killer Marc was after. But he was certain "visions" had nothing to do with it. Determined to be her constant shadow, Marc wasn't prepared when desire blindsided him – and put them both in the path of a relentless killer.

DESCRIPTION: From some of the greatest literary minds of our time comes a collection of stories about dangerous women.

With an unprecedented lineup of authors, Mysterious Press proudly presents an extraordinary collection of short stories. Lorenzo Carcaterra, Michael Connelly, John Connolly, Jeffery Deaver, Nelson DeMille, J.A. Jance, Andrew Klavan, Elmore Leonard, Laura Lippman, Ed McBain, Jay McInerney, Walter Mosley, Joyce Carol Oates, Anne Perry, Ian Rankin, S.J. Rozan, and Thomas H. Cook combine their talents in a collection which is certain to find a large audience eager to read stories by some of the most distinguished names in the genre.

Undercover agent Callie Carpenter is closing in on her elusive target, but she needs one man: Jammer, aka Shane McMasters – her target's right-hand guy and (coincidentally) an über-hottie Callie can't resist. And she won't!

Callie's playing a dangerous game. She can be as irresistible and ruthless as her persona demands.

But inevitably, even the most sensual games – involving good wine, good food and great sex – must come to an end. Her mission, should she choose to accept it, is an undercover seduction.with a delicious side of danger!

"What do we gain if an operative manages to break through the defenses in a US airport?" Al-Aran asked. "A few hundred dead and perhaps one aircraft. What if we could clip the wings of seven thousand passenger planes indefinitely? If multiple planes mysteriously exploded in-flight? The Americans will have to close their skies."

While millions of Americans go about their daily lives, halfway around the world an al-Qaeda cell hatches a deadly new terror plot. It's unthinkable in its devastation. It's brilliantly easy in its execution. And it's capable of bypassing all the security measures the United States implemented in the decade since 9/11.

First, a Delta flight crashes on departure into Lake Michigan. Eight hours later, a United aircraft comes down over western Iowa. For the second time since flying was invented in 1903, the US airline industry is forced to a standstill.

The message is clear. Stop flying — ruin the economy. Keep flying — more people will die.

Now Homeland Security Director of Counter-Intelligence Jack Riley must lead an FBI task force in a frantic search to discover and eliminate the plot before more people are killed or the economy crashes permanently. The clock is ticking…

A Sharon McCone mystery, in which the detective is hired by a reclusive photographer to find his missing roommate, and when she is found dead, McCone has to confront numerous suspects.

Play by Play - 6.5

A Riley wedding is in the works, a Riley Christmas means a house full of family, and baby making is on Liz Riley's mind. Chasing Gavin around and meeting in dark closets can be fun, but Liz is more than a little determined. Even with family in every corner of the house, Gavin is more than ready to do whatever Liz wants—especially when sex is involved. It's a Riley family Christmas.

Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits marks the debut of an exciting new voice in fiction. Laila Lalami evokes the grit and enduring grace that is modern Morocco. The book begins as four Moroccans illegally cross the Strait of Gibraltar in an inflatable boat headed for Spain.What has driven them to risk their lives? And will the rewards prove to be worth the danger?

There’s Murad, a gentle, unemployed man who’s been reduced to hustling tourists around Tangier; Halima, who’s fleeing her drunken husband and the slums of Casablanca; Aziz, who must leave behind his devoted wife in hope of securing work in Spain; and Faten, a student and religious fanatic whose faith is at odds with an influential man determined to destroy her future.

Sensitively written with beauty and boldness, this is a gripping book about what propels people to risk their lives in search of a better future.

Who is the predator, and who is the prey?

Adrian Hell, the legendary assassin, has been commissioned to take out a government official who’s found himself on the wrong side of the wrong people. The job goes as planned, but before Adrian can leave the scene, he’s taken into custody by the FBI.

Enter Grace Chambers, a no-nonsense FBI agent who asks Adrian for his help in bringing down a terrorist calling themselves The Shark, who's responsible for several recent attacks on the city.

But things aren't what they seem, and as the truth behind Adrian's involvement is revealed, so too is the full extent of The Shark's horrifying plans.

In this non-stop, blockbuster thriller, Adrian is forced into a deadly game of cat and mouse, going bullet for bullet with an unseen enemy while the fate of thousands of innocent people hangs in the balance. The result is a fast paced adventure, filled with relentless action, laugh-out-loud humor, and some of the most iconic set-pieces ever written, that will leave you slack-jawed and short of breath, gasping for more!

Book 2 in the bestselling series from the UK's premier thriller writer, James P. Sumner.

Murder. Kidnapping. Torture.

Jenna Zan Arbor will stop at nothing in her quest to discover the secrets of the Force — and use them for her own power and greed. One Jedi remains in her dangerous grasp. And a whole planet is being held hostage by her sinister plans.

Only a single team of Jedi stands in her way…

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.

Master and apprentice.

Chosen by fate. Destined for conflict.

When Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker are sent to the Galactic Games, they are meant to be keepers of the peace. Then they discover an illegal event that Anakin knows all too well: Podracing. Even though Obi-Wan forbids it, Anakin cannot resist the thrill of the race — and the chance to face off against his childhood rival, the loathsome Sebulba.

As a Jedi, Anakin is supposed to let go of his past. But his past will not let go of him.

Holt Kincaid was this close to finally reuniting a long-lost family. Complications arose when retired poker player Brenna Fallon foiled his plans for her joyous return. Undeterred, the P.I. refused to give up on this scrappy beauty whose inner anguish mirrored his own.

Surviving on the streets had taught Brenna to call anyone's bluff. And Holt Kincaid was clearly using his smoldering sex appeal to gain the upper hand. But all bets were off when a dangerous opponent took extreme measures to get her back in the game. Now Brenna had to entrust her heart to Holt – or she might never find her way home again…

Mad, Bad Dangerous is a stand-alone sequel to Almost Human.Baelvar is gorgeous, charming, insane, childish and mildly psychotic. He-s also mated to Kett, who-s brilliant, bitchy, violent and more than a little psychotic herself. It-s a match made in heaven, except for one tiny detail-Kett doesn-t want to be mated to anyone.The Curse of Kett has befallen everyone she-s ever cared about, but impressing this fact upon Bael is a little difficult, what with all the terrifically explosive sex getting in the way. Oh, and the repeated attempts on Kett-s life from persons unknown are a bit distracting too.Still, if they can just stop shagging and fighting for their lives for two seconds, surely she can convince Bael they-re actually a match made in hell. Can-t she?

Updated and Revised 2015 Edition of the Best-Selling Creative Non-Fiction Crime Story “Cat and Mouse – Mind Games with a Serial Killer”.

As seen recently on British TV Show “Born to Kill”

In this startling, twisting, turning story of murder, mayhem, and self-discovery, convicted mass murderer and baby killer Bill Suff “The Riverside Prostitute Killer” is your guide to exploring your personal demons.

This is a unique book containing everything that was heretofore known and suspected but meticulously kept “off the record”, as well as details that that only the killer knew until now. There are interviews with principals; transcripts of the illegal police interrogation of Bill; excerpts from the cookbook, poetry, and writings of Bill; a step-by-step reconstruction of the mental chess game between Bill and Brian; and appreciation for how “friendship” with this serial killer led to death for some but salvation for others.

For seven years—1985 to 1992—Bill hid in plain sight while terrorizing three Southern California counties, murdering two dozen prostitutes, mutilating and then posing them in elaborate artistic scenarios in public places—he’d placed a lightbulb in the womb of one, dressed others in men’s clothes, left one woman naked with her head bent forward and buried in the ground like an ostrich; he’d surgically removed the right breasts of some victims, and cut peepholes in the navels of others.

When the newspapers said that the killer only slayed whites and hispanics, Bill ran right out and raped, torutred and killed a pregnant black woman. When a film company came to town to make a fictional movie about the then-uncaught killer, Bill left a corpse on their set. And, as the massive multi-jurisdictional police task force fruitlessly hunted the unknown killer, Bill personally served them bowls of his “special” chili at the annual Riverside County Employees’ Picnic and Cook-off.

William Lester “Bill” Suff. He says he’s innocent, says he’s been framed, says he’s the most wronged man in America, maybe the world. He’s easygoing, genial, soft-spoken, loves to read, write, draw, play music and chat endlessly. He describes himself as a lovable nerd and a hope-less romantic, and he fancies himself a novelist and poet.

Brian first connected with Bill on the basis of writer to writer, and that’s when the mind games began. Even in jail, Bill was the master manipulator, the seducer who somehow always got way. But Brian was determined to lose himself in Bill’s mind, in Bill’s fantasies, to get at the truth of who and what Bill Suff is. Only then would he know the truth of how close we are all to being just like Bill.

Some readers wrote that the book was “personally important and life-changing”, others that it was “the only serial killer book with a sense of humor”, and others that they wished the author dead or worse. The son of one of Suff’s victims held on to the book as life-preserving testimony to the goodness of his fatally flawed mother and the possibility that his own redemption would eventually be in his own hands.

Meanwhile, TV series and movies continuously derive episodes and plots from the unique details of the murders and the spiraling psyches of the characters as laid out in the book.

When it was first released, Brian Alan Lane’s genre-bending bestseller “Mind Games With a Serial Killer” was simultaneously hailed and reviled.

“Highly recommended: the creepiest book of the year… A surreal portrait of a murderous mind.” (Details Magazine)

“This book is an amazing piece of work—it’s like Truman Capote on LSD.” (Geraldo Rivera on The Geraldo Rivera Show)

“A masterpiece… that needs to be sought out and savored by all those with a truly macabre sensibility… A post-modernistic objet trouvé… that could have been concocted by Vladimir Nabokov.” (The Boston Book Review)

“A new approach to crime… absolutely riveting, utterly terrifying.” (Forensic Science Bookstore)

NEMESIS GAMES is the fifth novel in James S.A. Corey’s New York Times bestselling Expanse series—now a major television series from Syfy!

A thousand worlds have opened, and the greatest land rush in human history has begun. As wave after wave of colonists leave, the power structures of the old solar system begin to buckle.

Ships are disappearing without a trace. Private armies are being secretly formed. The sole remaining protomolecule sample is stolen. Terrorist attacks previously considered impossible bring the inner planets to their knees. The sins of the past are returning to exact a terrible price.

And as a new human order is struggling to be born in blood and fire, James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante must struggle to survive and get back to the only home they have left.

Imagine a world where parasites control the minds of their hosts, sending them to their destruction.

Imagine a world where parasites are masters of chemical warfare and camouflage, able to cloak themselves with their hosts’ own molecules.

Imagine a world where parasites steer the course of evolution, where the majority of species are parasites.

WELCOME TO EARTH.

For centuries, parasites have lived in nightmares, horror stories, and in the darkest shadows of science. Yet these creatures are among the world’s most successful and sophisticated organisms. In Parasite Rex, Carl Zimmer deftly balances the scientific and the disgusting as he takes readers on a fantastic voyage. Traveling from the steamy jungles of Costa Rica to the fetid parasite haven of southern Sudan, Zimmer graphically brings to life how parasites can change DNA, rewire the brain, make men more distrustful and women more outgoing, and turn hosts into the living dead.

This thorough, gracefully written book brings parasites out into the open and uncovers what they can teach us about the most fundamental survival tactics in the universe.

The author of "The Hunt for Red October" has produced another adventure thriller centred upon a scheme by the Ulster Liberation Army to kidnap the Prince of Wales. Jack Ryan with his Marine training foils this attempt but in the process becomes a target of Northern Ireland's most dangerous men.

Welcome to the future of America. Land of chaos and home of the ambitious…

A botched assassination on the eve of Election Day throws the routine transfer of presidential authority on its head and the American government into chaos.

With Congress and the Supreme Court locked in a constitutional standoff, rabble-rousing state governors fueling the fire and shadowy opportunists pulling strings, the nation teeters on the verge of a Second Civil War.

While the politicos play their chess games, the pawns refuse to sit idly by. Sometimes the tail doesn’t just wag the dog, but strangles it.

Sergeant Major John Brown, a hard charging paratrooper, is about as political as a potato. He’s the last man anyone imagined inciting a revolution…

Young Sophie Kampbell, a social justice crusader, despises violence in every form. On the other hand, when tragedy shoves her into the arms of the mysterious “Freedom Brigade” militias, she finds that a rifle delivers a lot more permanent social justice than any picket sign…

From the rhetoric-stained halls of power to the reluctant warriors on the ultramodern battlefield, get ready to take an extreme tour of the next major chapter in US history.

Keep low, stay alert, and just maybe you'll survive a tour of duty in Operation: Enduring Unity.

Seven years in the making, Sacred Games is an epic of exceptional richness and power. Vikram Chandra's novel draws the reader deep into the life of Inspector Sartaj Singh — and into the criminal underworld of Ganesh Gaitonde, the most wanted gangster in India.

Sartaj, one of the very few Sikhs on the Mumbai police force, is used to being identified by his turban, beard and the sharp cut of his trousers. But "the silky Sikh" is now past forty, his marriage is over and his career prospects are on the slide. When Sartaj gets an anonymous tip-off as to the secret hide-out of the legendary boss of G-Company, he's determined that he'll be the one to collect the prize.

Vikram Chandra's keenly anticipated new novel is a magnificent story of friendship and betrayal, of terrible violence, of an astonishing modern city and its dark side. Drawing inspiration from the classics of nineteenth-century fiction, mystery novels, Bollywood movies and Chandra's own life and research on the streets of Mumbai, Sacred Games evokes with devastating realism the way we live now but resonates with the intelligence and emotional depth of the best of literature.

Half of winning a battle is showmanship.

The pink point grew up fast and shed light on the river. There must have been forty boats sneaking towards us. They had extended their croc hide protection in hopes of shedding fire bombs.

I was glowing and breathing fire. Bet I made a hell of a sight from over there.

The nearest boats were ten feet away. I saw the ladder boxes and grinned behind my croc teeth. I had guessed right.

I threw my hands up, then down. A single bomb arced out to shatter the nearest boat.

The trap was almost too good. Fire sucked most of the air away and heated what was left till it was almost unbearable. The survivors had no stomach left for combat. That was the first wave, a distant rattle announced the second wave. I was laying for these guys, too.

Short Stories From Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies: Pottermore Presents is a collection of J.K. Rowling’s writing from the Pottermore archives: short reads originally featured on pottermore.com with some exclusive new additions. These eBooks, with writing curated by Pottermore, will take you beyond the Harry Potter stories as J.K. Rowling reveals her inspiration, intricate details of characters’ lives and surprises from the wizarding world.

These stories of heroism, hardship and dangerous hobbies profile two of the Harry Potter stories’ most courageous and iconic characters: Minerva McGonagall and Remus Lupin. J.K. Rowling also gives us a peek behind the closed curtains of Sybill Trelawney’s life, and you’ll encounter the reckless, magical-beast-loving Silvanus Kettleburn along the way.

The Agency had turned Paul Kavanagh down for a job — because he thought too much. As Agent Dattner put it at the final interview, “we need a man with a short circuit in his brain so that the process of independent thought is bypassed.”

Then, surprisingly, and under decidedly chilling circumstances, Kavanagh interviews Dattner on a wild and lonely island. The two men form an unholy alliance pull off an incredible feat. The idea is to highjack $2,000,000 worth of U.S. government-issue firepower — enough ammunition to level a small country.

The latest thriller from 'one of Scandinavia's best crime writers' 'Times'. When Jenny is spotted by a high-profile modelling agency, she goes from ordinary schoolgirl to celebrity overnight. Suddenly her life is a whirlwind of parties and glamour. Agnes used to be a model too – but now she lies in a hospital bed, slowly being destroyed by an eating disorder. Her father sits by her day after day, praying that his only remaining daughter survives. An attempted murder during a lavish photoshoot means that Jenny's and Agnes' lives will soon intersect in the most terrifying of ways.

Murder. Kidnapping. Torture.

Jenna Zan Arbor will stop at nothing in her quest to discover the secrets of the Force—and use them for her own power and greed. One Jedi remains in her dangerous grasp. And a whole planet is being held hostage by her sinister plans.

Only a single team of Jedi stands in her way…

This stunning first novel from Nebula Award and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award finalist Ted Kosmatka is a riveting tale of science cut loose from ethics. Set in an amoral future where genetically engineered monstrosities fight each other to the death in an Olympic event, The Games envisions a harrowing world that may arrive sooner than you think.

Silas Williams is the brilliant geneticist in charge of preparing the U.S. entry into the Olympic Gladiator competition, an internationally sanctioned bloodsport with only one rule: no human DNA is permitted in the design of the entrants. Silas lives and breathes genetics; his designs have led the United States to the gold in every previous event. But the other countries are catching up. Now, desperate for an edge in the upcoming Games, Silas's boss engages an experimental supercomputer to design the genetic code for a gladiator that cannot be beaten.

The result is a highly specialized killing machine, its genome never before seen on earth. Not even Silas, with all his genius and experience, can understand the horror he had a hand in making. And no one, he fears, can anticipate the consequences of entrusting the act of creation to a computer's cold logic.

Now Silas races to understand what the computer has wrought, aided by a beautiful xenobiologist, Vidonia João. Yet as the fast-growing gladiator demonstrates preternatural strength, speed, and - most disquietingly - intelligence, Silas and Vidonia find their scientific curiosity giving way to a most unexpected emotion: sheer terror.

In a future world, North America as we know it has been destroyed and the continent is now divided into 12 regions. The capital of this new nation, Panem, is in the Rocky Mountains and the remaining districts (1-12) are spread in descending order throughout the continent. Katniss lives in District 12, the last district, in what we call as the Appalachian Mountains. The closer you are to the Capital, the better off your district is. District 12 is in charge of mining coal and as the last district they are exceedingly poor. Starvation is a way of life and ever since Katniss’ father died in a mining accident, she has been in charge of caring for her mother and 12 year old sister, Prim.

The capital is bent on reminding the districts who is boss and does this by withholding food, supplies, and other necessities. Their trump card is the annual Hunger Games, which are held to ensure that no district makes an attempt at a rebellion or uprising. The Hunger Games are a like a combination of American Idol and Survivor, with Roman gladiator games tossed into the mix. Each district is required to supply one male and one female child between the ages of 12 and 18 for the annual event. The competitors are chosen via a lottery system. Families can buy more food and supplies for the year if they purchase additional entries into the games. Thus, the poorer you are the more likely it is that you have dozens of entries in the mix. The entries compound each year, so there are children with dozens of entries in the mix. Those who are well-to-do have fewer entries, with some only responsible for one entry. (In other districts, wealthier ones, children are raised for the opportunity to participate in the Games. These “Careers” see the games as an honor).

Ever since her father’s death, Katniss has been forced to purchase extra entries to ensure the survival of her mother and Prim. This, coupled with her talent for illegal poaching/hunting, has allowed them to live as comfortably as possible. Each year she hopes and prays that she is not picked, as the entire nation watches the drawing live, either in person or on their television. This year is different, however, as Prim is old enough to be entered. Katniss has not allowed her to gain extra entries, so she has only her required entry into the games. When Prim’s name is drawn, Katniss immediately volunteers to take her place, an old custom that has not been called into action in District 12 in many years.

Katniss and Peeta, the two competitors chosen from District 12, are immediately swept into a whirlwind of events that eerily resemble our culture’s obsession with reality TV. They are whisked to the Capital, where they receive stylists, makeovers, interview coaching, and gourmet food and living accomodations. While Peeta and Katniss slowly become friends and come to terms with their fate, they also realize that in order for one of them to survive, they must kill the other. You see, the Hunger Games leave the 24 competitors in a secret location (desert, tundra, etc) and the competitors must fight to the death. While the entire nation watches live on TV. The sole survivor wins food and supplies for their district for the next year, and set themselves up for life.

I read this novel in less than a day. The action is non-stop and heartpounding at many points in the story. Katniss is a likable character: she isn’t perfect, she isn’t a moral compass, and sometimes you even want to hate her. However, the situation she is thrust into is eerily similar to the modern-day obsession with reality TV and you can’t help but wonder if this the frightening direction into which we are headed. Collins never mentions a year in the novel, so it could be tomorrow or a thousand years from today. That in itself will keep you engrossed in the novel. The story is violent and writhe with betrayals, but there is also kindness, love, and drama. This is one novel you will not be able to put down. This is the perfect start to what should amount to a fantastic trilogy.

Blade Runner meets Bogart in this blend of science fiction and film noir grit that continues the adventures of Mick Trubble: the hard-drinking, chain-smoking, wry-witted private eye of the future.

Mick has little time to digest the revelations of the New Haven Blues Case. After a chance meeting with an old flame, he is sucker-punched by being framed for her murder. In no time his mission to clear his name gets him tangled with the Mafia on one side and the police on the other. Even worse is the growing realization that the mysterious killer is someone that Mick has ties with, a vengeful ghost with an agenda that includes making Mick the most miserable man in the world.

Caught up in a deadly game of cat and mouse, Mick is forced to change the rules in order to come out ahead. His desperation will bring him ever closer to truths about his past that he never wanted to unearth, and face to face with someone he never expected to see again. With time running out, his chances for survival grow ever slimmer. One way or another, everything will come down to a deadly encounter with the most dangerous dame.

One of the most acclaimed novelists in America today, Laura Lippman has greatly expanded the boundaries of mystery fiction and psychological suspense with her Tess Monaghan p.i. series and her New York Times bestselling standalone novels (What the Dead Know, Life Sentences, I'd Know You Anywhere, etc.). With The Most Dangerous Thing, the multiple award winning author – recipient of the Anthony, Edgar®, Shamus, and Agatha Awards, to name but a few – once again demonstrates how storytelling is done to perfection. Set once again in the well-wrought environs of Lippman's beloved Baltimore, it is the shadowy tale of a group of onetime friends forced to confront a dark past they've each tried to bury following the death of one of their number. Rich in the compassion and insight into flawed human nature that has become a Lippman trademark while telling an absolutely gripping story, The Most Dangerous Thing will not be confined by genre restrictions, reaching out instead to captive a wide, diverse audience, from Harlan Coben and Kate Atkinson fans to readers of Jodi Picoult and Kathryn Stockett.

The Culture — a human/machine symbiotic society — has thrown up many great Game Players, and one of the greatest is Gurgeh. Jernau Morat Gurgeh. The Player of Games. Master of every board, computer and strategy.

Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel and incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game … a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh accepts the game, and with it the challenge of his life — and very possibly his death.

True love’s path never did run smooth.

Granite Lake Wolves, Book 3

After seven years of total denial, Maggie Raynor’s body—and her inner wolf—are in full revolt. Weak and shaky, she literally falls into the very large and capable arms of the Granite Lake Beta, Erik Costanov. The last thing she wants is a mate, particularly when just looking at another wolf scares her to death. And one as big and sexy as Erik? Really bad idea, no matter what her libido says.

Erik expected to meet Maggie in Whitehorse to escort her to the home of her sister, his pack’s Omega. Sheer chance puts him in the right place at the right time to catch her, but the realization that hits him with the force of a full body shot is no accident. She’s his mate. An even bigger shock? She wants no part of him—not until she resolves her issues.

She’ll have to work fast, because they’re both selected to represent the pack during the premier sporting event for wolves in the north. Not only will she have to work as a team with Erik, she’ll have to face down her fear of wolves. Let the Games begin.

Warning: Contains uber-sexy werewolves of Russian descent, reluctant mates and exotic travels through the Yukon wilderness. Includes sarcasm and hot nookie under the Midnight Sun.

Роман написан для взрослых людей человеком, который пытается бесхитростно поведать о муках и метаниях, насмешках и несчастьях, какие могут омрачить сильнейшее из чувств, ведомых человеку; откровенно рассказать о смертельной борьбе между плотью и духом и раскрыть трагедию неосуществленных замыслов.

Это не полностью журнал, а статья из него. С иллюстрациями. Взято с http://7dn.ru/article/karavan и адаптировано для прочтения на е-ридере.

Когда феи покинули этот мир, они забрали с собой свои истории. Но оставили персонажей.

Fandom: Sherlock (TV).

Статья из цикла «Гуру менеджмента», посвященного теоретикам и практикам менеджмента, в котором отражается всемирная история возникновения и развития науки управления.

Многие из тех, о ком рассказывают данные статьи, сами или вместе со своими коллегами стояли у истоков науки управления, другие развивали идеи своих В предшественников не только как экономику управления предприятием, но и как психологию управления человеческими ресурсами. В любом случае без работ этих ученых невозможно представить современный менеджмент.

В статьях акцентируется внимание на основных достижениях «Гуру менеджмента», с описанием наиболее значимых моментов и возможного применения его на современном этапе. В каждой статье содержится их биографическая справка.