Miranda Jones welcomed the distraction offered by a summons to Italy to verify the authenticity of a Renaissance bronze of a Medici courtesan known as "The Dark Lady." However, instead of cementing Miranda's reputation as a leading authority in her field, the bronze nearly destroys it when her professional judgment is called into question and the bronze is declared a hoax. Desperate to restore her credibility and prove "The Dark Lady" is really a previously unknown work of Michelangelo, Miranda turns to Ryan Boldari, a seductive - and supposedly reformed - art thief.The Reef - read by Sandra Burr, directed by Bill WeidemanThe Reef is the story of Tate Beaumont, a beautiful young student of marine archeology - and of Matthew Lassiter, a sea-scarred young man who shares her dream of finding Anguelique's Curse, the jeweled amulet surrounded by legend and said to be long lost at the bottom of the sea. Forced into a reluctant partnership with Matthew and his uncle, Tate soon learns that her arrogant but attractive fellow diver holds as many secrets as the sea itself.River's End, read by Sandra Burr, directed by Laural MerlingtonOlivia's parents had been one of Hollywood's glittering golden couples . . . until the night the monster came. The monster who destroyed their beautiful home and took her mother away from her forever. The monster with the face of her father . . . Now a young woman, Olivia finds her memory of that night has faded. Her mother's grieving family spared no effort to keep Olivia safe from the publicity, taking her to grow up in the beautiful natural splendor of the Pacific Northwest. But, despite the terror and the years that have passed, a part of her still yearns to recall those horrifying events, to know the truth about her childhood. With the help of a young writer named Noah Brady, she could have the chance.

    But she’s a welcoming committee that’s hard to ignore. Thin walls and thick defenses prove to be no match for her irresistible charm.The Winning HandTaking the biggest gamble of her life, Darcy Wallace slips her last three dollars into a slot machine—and hits the jackpot. But the real prize is casino manager Robert MacGregor. He’s not the marrying kind, but Darcy knows that true love is worth the risk…The MacGregor BridesThere is nothing Daniel MacGregor would rather see than his three eldest granddaughters—Laura, Gwendolyn, and Julia—married. But the three cousins have one-track minds, and love is taking a back seat to career success. Until Daniel handpicks three unsuspecting candidates for grooms—and throws them in their paths…The MacGregor GroomsFresh from the success of sending his granddaughters down the aisle, Daniel MacGregor turns his matchmaking sights on his stubbornly single grandsons: D.C., Duncan, and Ian. And though each man will put up a good fight, they’ll be no match for the women chosen by Daniel to tempt and tease them all the way to the altar. Rebellion & In from the ColdSet in 1745, Rebellion tells the story of Serena MacGregor, whose hatred of all things English extends to her brother’s friend Brigham Langston. He’ll prove himself worthy of the MacGregor’s respect, but piercing Serena’s pride will take all the passion he can muster. In from the Cold follows the MacGregors during the American Revolution. Injured minuteman Ian MacGregor flees into the wilderness, where he finds refuge for his body and soul with Irish spitfire Alanna Flynn.

    Each guide includes an author biography, chapter summaries, creative cross-curricular activities, vocabulary builders, reproducibles, and discussion questions.

    He moves to a quiet country cottage in Dorset, which he’d once visited with his late wife.He finds it easy to slip into local society and decides that Frog End’s upcoming annual fete will be the start of his mission to be a pillar of the community.But when Lady Swynford is found dead on the night of the fete, it becomes clear that Frog End has a darker side. And as Inspector Squibb investigates the case, the Colonel finds himself more involved than he could possibly have imagined.DISCOVER FROG END, A BEAUTIFUL ENGLISH VILLAGE WITH SOME DARK SECRETSPerfect for fans of Faith Martin, Agatha Christie and Stella Cameron.THE DETECTIVEAt the grand old age of 55, the Colonel had been put out to grass by the British Army. In the same year, his beloved wife, Laura, died after a long illness. He found himself facing a bleak and lonely future. There were the children, of course, but they were grown up and had busy lives of their own.One summer, years before, he and Laura spent their leave in England, touring the West Country. They stopped at a village in Dorset called Frog End which had a spit-and-sawdust pub called the Dog and Duck. Laura had fallen in love with a stone cottage seen across the village green. She had admired the thatched roof and the pink roses round the door. Years later, after her death, the Colonel had revisited the same village alone and seen Laura’s dream cottage had aged badly and that it was up for sale. Against his better judgement, he bought it.THE SETTINGThe cottage was called Pond Cottage and the Colonel soon discovered that he had made a big mistake. The two-hundred-year-old building had deathwatch beetle, rising damp, a falling roof, rot and decay throughout. There was no heating and the wiring was a dangerous disgrace. Logs for an open fire were kept in a tin bath in the scullery and the nettle-infested lavatory was housed outside in a jungle. There was no sign of any pond.But there were compensations: a view over the beautiful village green, clusters of other stone cottages, a Norman church built on Saxon foundations, a graveyard of ancient tombs leaning at perilous angles. And, of course, the Dog and Duck.

    Arcadia received the Evening Standard, the Oliver, and the Critics Awards and The Real Thing won a Tony Award.

     - Chuang-tzu: The "Inner Teachings" of a widely influential compendium of wisdom stories, fables, and anecdotes. - Wen-tzu: Understanding the Mysteries: Another core text of Chinese Taoism, containing teachings also attributed to the author of the Tao Te Ching. - The Book of Leadership and Strategy: Lessons of the Chinese Masters: One of the great Chinese teachings on the subtle arts of management and leadership at all levels. - Sex, Health, and Long Life: Manuals of Taoist Practice: The techniques contained in these five texts reveal the transformative influence sex can have when wisely practiced.

    That the artist is constantly working on anelaborate and fantasticated self-portrait, but at the end has drawn, unbeknownst, a picture of the world." -- Clive Barker, "Private Legends: An Introduction"Clive Barker, award-winning and New York Times bestselling author, playwright, artist, producer, director, screenwriter, and one of the world's master storytellers, writing in the haunting and moving traditions of Poe and Dickens, invites us to join him on a dazzling, wondrous journey through the worlds of his imagination and to experience visions, dreams, love, terror, heaven and hell, and revenge.As we read, we discover and explore the dream-sea Quiddity and the islands of Ephemeris; the five Dominions of the Imajica, of which the Earth is but an imperfect facet; the rapturous world woven into an ancient, threadbare carpet in a derelict house in Liverpool; Hood's Holiday House where each day contains four seasons and children's wishes may come true; the Sky Room of Galilee, where the creation of the universe may be witnessed; and the clubs and bars of San Francisco and New York, in which all manner of sexual adventures lie in wait.In these stories, the real and the miraculous are within a breath of one another, life gives way to death, and death to life; doorways open into other states of existence, and each doorway leads us back to our own dreams and fears.The Essential Clive Barker is an irresistible narrative compendium that superbly represents the impressive quality and range of Barker's fiction, spanning more than twenty years of writing. It contains more than seventy excerpts from novels and plays and four full-length short stories, all personally selected by Barker, and offers a privileged insight into a remarkable writer and his art.

    JonesCold snap by Thom JonesDoe season by David Michael KaplanPatriotic by Janet KauffmanGirl by Jamaica KincaidTerritory by David LeavittThe kind of light that shines on Texas by Reginald McKnightYou're ugly, too by Lorrie MooreThe management of grief by Bharati MukherjeeMeneseteung by Alice MunroGhost girls by Joyce Carol OatesThe things they carried by Tim O'BrienThe shawl by Cynthia OzickBrokeback Mountain by Annie ProulxStrays by Mark RichardIntensive care by Lee SmithThe way we live now by Susan SontagTwo kinds by Amy TanFirst, body by Melanie Rae ThonAble, Baker, Charlie, Dog by Stephanie VaughnNineteen fifty-five by Alice WalkerFever by John Edgar WidemanTaking care by Joy Williams

    The MacGregor Grooms (1998)Daniel MacGregor sets his matchmaking skills against three of his grandsons - D.C., Duncan, and Ian. A Perfect Neighbor (1999)Daniel MacGregor is matchmaking again when he encourages playwright Preston McQuinn to move in across the hall from his granddaughter Cybill Campbell.

    But he soon learns that rats in suits are even worse. What do you do when rats invade your barn? Kill them or negotiate? Mason finds out the hard way that force does not always work! An allegory of war and violence? A statement on the arms race? Neal Asher’s work takes Orwell’s Animal Farm into a grimly humorous future where evolution is outrunning humanity. You may never trust a rat again! “I’ve never read anything like MASON’S RATS before … it’s sharp, funny and highly inventive. There’s more fun in this one slim volume than in many a full-length novel!” – Stephen Gallagher

    Here are Milton’ s early works, including his first great poem, “On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity,” the light and lyrical “L’Allegro” and “Il Penseroso,” the masque Comus, and the lushly beautiful pastoral elegy “Lycidas.” Here, too, included in their entirety, are the three epic poems considered to be among the finest works in the English language: Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes.Fully annotated by Burton Raffel, this distinguished edition clarifies the complex allusions of Milton’s verse and references the personal, religious, historical, and mythical influences that inspired the great blind poet of England, who ranks among the undisputed giants of world literature.

    This superb historical atlas provides a comprehensive overview of the battles and campaigns of Napoleon Bonaparte between 1796 and 1815.

    Andersen created intriguing and unique characters -- a tin soldier with only one leg but a big heart, a beetle nestled deep in a horse's mane but harboring high aspirations. Each one of us at some time, has been touched by one of Andersen's Fairy Tales. Here you'll find his classic tales such as: "The Mermaid, Thumbelina, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, "and "The Ugly Duckling," 38 of your favorite tales in all. This deluxe Children's Classic edition is produced with high-quality, leatherlike binding with gold stamping, full-color covers, colored endpapers with a book nameplate. Some of the other titles in this series include: Anne of Green Gables, Black Beauty, Heidi, King Arthur and His Knights and The Secret Garden.

    

    Williams once again takes on the left wing's most sacred cows with provocative insights, brutal candor, and an uncompromising reverence for personal liberty and the principles laid out in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution.

    Containing over 40 short pieces arranged in a seasonal almanac form along with longer essays arranged chronologically, each piece is introduced and set in context by the editors.

    Content:Always with You • [Polity Universe] • (1996) Blue Holes • [Polity Universe]Dragon in the Flower • [Polity Universe] • (1994)Neal AsherThe Gire & the Bibrat • [Polity Universe] • Walking John & Bird • [Polity Universe] •

    His candid and intimate views of teeming village squares and rustic workshops, cattle markets and spinning wheels give us a privileged view of a world that is no more.For more than sixty years, Alter Kacyzne's Forverts photographs-the sole fragment of his vast archive to survive World War II-lay unseen. Now, for the first time, the work of this lost master is restored to the world in a volume of extraordinary poetic force. At once ter and humorous, Poyln tells the story of a way of life and recalls the warmth and spirit of a community on the edge of destruction.Poyln is sure to stand with Roman Vishniac's A Vanished World as a rare treasure, an indispensable portrait of a people.

    Fascinated by deception and decay, and generally labeled a cyberpunk writer, his work transcends the limits of genre fiction. Beast of the Heartland contains seven tales that explore the darkside where science fiction meets horror. Headed by the award-winning "Barnacle Bill the Spacer," a story of high-space mutiny, the book includes "A Little Night Music," a gothic tale of insanity; "All the Perfumes of Araby," where an adventurer in the Middle East links up with an ancient entity; "Human History," a postapocalyptic chiller; "Sports in America," a noir tale in the Chandler tradition; "The Sun Spider," a mini space opera; and the title story -- an ingenious picture of a battered boxer on the decline.

    In Narcissus Leaves the Pool, he displays his signature verve and charm in sixteen agile, entertaining pieces. Among his targets in this collection are name-dropping, talent versus genius, the cult of youthfulness, and the information revolution.

    This fourth volume of Tom Stoppard's work for the stage brings together five of his most celebrated translations and adaptations of plays by Arthur Schnitzler (Dalliance and Undiscovered Country), Ferenc Molnar (Rough Crossing), Johann Nestroy (On the Razzle) and Anton Chekhov (The Seagull).

    Concentrating on the probabilistics theory of continuous arbitrage pricing of financial derivatives, including stochastic optimal control theory and Merton's fund separation theory, the book is designed for graduate students and combines necessary mathematical background with a solid economic focus. It includes a solved example for every new technique presented, contains numerous exercises and suggests further reading in each chapter. In this substantially extended new edition, Bjork has added separate and complete chapters on measure theory, probability theory, Girsanov transformations, LIBOR and swap market models, and martingale representations, providing two full treatments of arbitrage pricing: the classical delta-hedging and the modern martingales. More advanced areas of study are clearly marked to help students and teachers use the book as it suits their needs.

    From neo-noir master Andrew Vachss comes Everybody Pays, 38 white-knuckle rides into a netherworld of pederasts and prostitutes, stick-up kids and fall guys—where private codes of crime and punishment pulsate beneath a surface system of law and order, and our moral  compass spins frighteningly out of control. Here is the street-grit prose that has earned Vachss comparisons to Chandler, Cain, and Hammett--and the ingenious plot twists that transform the double-cross into an expression of retribution, the dark deed into a thing of beauty. Electrifying and enigmatic, Everybody Pays is a sojourn into the nature of evil itself—a trip made all the more frightening by its proximity to our front doorstep.

    Native American Studies. Winner of the North American Native Authors First Book Award. Deborah Miranda's INDIAN CARTOGRAPHY provides a psychic and emotional remapping of the Native American world of the West Coast. In lyric verse that is sometimes spare, sometimes dramatic, Miranda charts a homeward journey through the heart's territory --a land that has long been torn, disrupted, and colonized in the harshest sense of that word --Janice Gould. The first poem grabbed my wrist and held me for the duration. The prose is equally alive and its images have the precision and the edge of the finest poetry. Seamless back and forth journey from one little girl to another, one woman to another, one memory to another. All distinct yet connected. One long scream from a heart who will not stop living, whose life is an affirmation of survival --Wendy Rose. Miranda's poetry and essays have appeared in Bricolage, Calyx, Calloo, The Cimarron Review, Raven Chronicles, and Soujourner.

    These formative stories star a Man of Steel who boldly tackles the social injustices of his day.This deluxe edition collects the first three years of the classic Superman comic strips as written and illustrated by the Man of Steel's creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.Critical elements in the Superman mythos were introduced in the strips in this volume, which originally appeared from 1939 to 1942. Inside this book are nearly 1,000 daily newspaper strips, including the classic stories of Superman's origin along with "Clark Kent—Spy," "Superman Goes to War," "The Unknown' Strikes," and "The Hooded Saboteur."Born 1914 in Cleveland, Ohio, Jerome Siegel was, as a teenager, a fan of the emerging literary genre that came to be known as science fiction. Together with schoolmate Joe Shuster, Siegel published several science-fiction fan magazines and, in 1933, they came up with their own science-fiction hero — Superman. Siegel scripted and Shuster drew several weeks' worth of newspaper strips featuring their new creation but garnered no interest from publishers or newspaper syndicates. It wasn't until the two established themselves as reliable adventure-strip creators at DC Comics that the editors at DC offered to take a chance on the Superman material — provided it was re-pasted into comic-book format for DC's new magazine, ACTION COMICS.Siegel wrote the adventures of Superman (as well as other DC heroes, most notably the Spectre, his co-creation with Bernard Baily) through 1948 and then again from 1959-1966, in the interim scripting several newspaper strips including Funnyman and Ken Winston. Jerry Siegel died in January, 1996.Joseph Shuster was born in 1914 in Toronto, Canada. When he was nine, his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where Shuster met young Jerry Siegel. The two became fast friends and collaborators; together, they published the earliest science-fiction fan magazines, where Shuster honed his fledgling art skills. In 1936, he and Siegel began providing DC Comics with such new features as Dr. Occult, Slam Bradley, and Radio Squad before selling Superman to DC in 1938.Influenced by such comic-strip greats as Wash Tubbs' Roy Crane, Joe Shuster drew Superman through 1947, after which he left comic books to create the comic strip Funnyman, again with Siegel. Failing eyesight cut short his career, but not before his place in the history of American culture was assured. Shuster died of heart failure on July 30, 1992.

    al-Sadlaan of Muhammad Ibn Saud University covers the most important topics realated to the fiqh of Marriage. He discusses the topics found in traditional books of Fiqh, such as the place of the dower, the minimum and maximum amount of the dower, and when the woman is entitled to all, half or none of her dower. The book also discusses the rights of the husband and wife in Islam as well as sexual etiquette in Islam.

    It could not be more timely, as professional conferences, gender clinics, and the popular media now consider how medicine and society should handle intersex and intersexuals. This volume provides a much-needed perspective.

    Strip malls and concrete cannot tame this wild Florida, but they can kill it. These essays offer passionate argument why that should not be allowed to happen. Coming from a variety of backgrounds--fiction, journalism, poetry, and environmental writing--the writers turn their talent to one thing they have in common--a love for Florida’s natural beauty and a commitment to preserve it. Their essays--some old favorites, most appearing here for the first time--are both a celebration and a pointed reminder of what we stand to lose.Many of the areas singled out (the Lake Wales Ridge, the Panhandle’s Topsail Hill, Goethe State Forest, and Tampa’s Brooker Creek) were purchased through Florida’s Preservation 2000, one of the nation’s foremost land acquisition programs. All royalties from the book are being donated to the Florida chapter of The Nature Conservancy.Printed on recycled paper with soy ink.Jeff Ripple, natural history writer and photographer, is the author of five books of interpretive natural history, including Sea Turtles, Florida--The Natural Wonders, and Southwest Florida’s Wetland Wilderness: Big Cypress Swamp and the Ten Thousand Islands (UPF, 1996). He lives in Gainesville, Florida.Susan Cerulean, writer and biologist, is co-author of Florida Wildlife Viewing Guide. In 1997, the Governor’s Council for a Sustainable Florida honored her with an Individual Environmental Educator Award. She lives in Tallahassee, Florida.

    Taken from the war years of 1940-45, these writings provide plenty of acerbic wit and persistent prodding of "the good people of Ireland." And in typical O'Brien fashion, no one is safe from his opinionated attacks. His oftentimes hysterical musings include discussions of theater, what it means to be Irish, ideas for alternative pubs and liquors, advice for children, and ways to improve the home.

    Her words can rattle and sting, exposing private crimes and inner wars, the pain of need, and the chains of unspoken law. With evocative image and clear-sighted truth she transforms experience into dark and beautiful art. She is a poet of the urban streets whose passionate eye catches the motion and vibrant color of the life that surrounds us all. In this volume are collected the writings of Suzanne Vega, poems and stories, remembrances of times past and far countries, interviews and song lyrics, overheard conversations and imagined thoughts, complex inner worlds realized in simple yet breathtaking strokes. And through her words a portrait emerges of an exemplary artist and unique individual whose passion embraces the entire scope of human existence, from love and longing to war and politics. It is a window into a guarded life, and a remarkable journey across an emotional landscape sometimes hard, often cruel, but never barren or devoid of hope.

    It contains such classic stories as "The Quest for Saint Aquin," "Snulbug," and "The Compleat Werewolf." Many of the stories collected here have never before appeared in a Boucher collection, and some haven't been reprinted since their original magazine publication. "Rappaccini's Other Daughter" appears here for the first time.

    His subsequent works, from Nights in Aruba and The Beauty of Men to the essays in Ground Zero, established Holleran as the preeminent voice in the contemporary gay literary canon. His fiction has earned comparisons to that of Guy de Maupassant, Somerset Maugham, and E Scott Fitzgerald, and now Holleran returns with a collection of sixteen powerful short stories. Exploring the lives and times of those who have lived past the exuberance of youth, these tales make for a moving journey across landscapes of regret and loss, shame and pride, loneliness and love. With a surprising yet sensitive comic touch, Andrew Holleran has written his most mature work to date -- a poignant, polished collection.

    At school, Mae is delighted to be given the part of the Angel Gabriel in the nativity play. But will the new baby steal her glory?

    . . not for the obliquities and tenuosities of fiction.” Still, the novelist’s shaping hand, his gift for telling detail, can be detected in many of these literary considerations. Books by Edith Wharton, Dawn Powell, John Cheever, and Vladimir Nabokov are incisively treated, as are biographies of Isaac Newton, Abraham Lincoln, Queen Elizabeth II, and Helen Keller. As George Steiner observed, Updike writes with a “solicitous, almost tender intelligence. The critic and the poet in him . . . are at no odds with the novelist; the same sharpness of apprehension bears on the object in each of Updike’s modes.”

    Under the direction of Stephen Greenblatt, General Editor, the editors have reconsidered all aspects of the anthology to make it an even better teaching tool.

    Durant, who combined the Buick, Oldsmobile, and Oakland companies and, later, Cadillac, to form GM. From the 1920s onwards, GM grew from a firm that accounted for about 10% of new car sales in the U.S. to become the largest producer of cars and trucks in the world. The peak of the company's power and market dominance came in the 1960s, which proved to be the decade of change for the U.S. auto industry. With the introduction of federal safety regulations and control tailpipe emissions, GM's position as the world's largest industrial corporation changed. Its marketing strategy was undone by competitive challenges, and the business was never to be the same again. General Motors: A Photographic History explores the growth of the company in a series of over 200 black-and-white images. From the first assembly line to post-Second World War recovery, images from the world auto shows and the consequent re-organization of GM take the reader on an intriguing visual tour of a tremendously important era in the industrialization of America.

    The collection features many of Block's best-loved characters, including Matt Scudder (eight stories), Ehrengraf (nine stories), Chip Harrison (two stories) and Bernie Rhodenbarr (three stories).

    

    In contrast to the world of facts, values and morality seem insecure, easily influenced by illusion or ideology. How can objectivity and accuracy be applied to values and morality? Peter Railton's study reveals how a naturalistically informed view of the world might incorporate objective values and moral knowledge.

    Pearl and her co-authors attempt to ease the process with this helpful guide to the most elusive genre. Covering 1,000 novels, many of them award winners, the book organizes titles according to their major appeal characteristics (e.g., language, setting, story, and character) as delineated by Saricks and Brown in their standard text, Readers' Advisory Service in the Public Library, 2d ed., (ALA, 1997). For each book there is a plot summary, indications on the book's suitability for book discussion groups, and recommendations of similar titles. Awards are cited as well, and all titles mentioned are indexed by title, author, and subject. Describing some of the best literature published in the United States and abroad in recent years, this book is an essential guide for readers' advisors, and a helpful collection development tool.