After leaving the Soviet Union following a series of unsatisfying relationships, Marusya Tatarovich quickly becomes the center of the Russian community in Queens, New York, but finds that it mirrors in many ways the community she left behind

    Botibol◦ Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat◦ My Lady Love, My Dove◦ Neck ◦ Nunc Dimittis◦ Parson's Pleasure◦ Poison◦ Royal Jelly◦ Skin◦ Taste◦ The Butler◦ The Hitchhiker◦ The Landlady◦ The Sound Machine◦ The Umbrella Man◦ The Way Up to Heaven◦ Vengeance is Mine Inc.◦ William and MaryTake a pinch of unease. Stir it into a large dollop of the macabre, add a generous helping of dark and stylish wit, garnish with the bizarre and what do you have? Roald Dahl at his brilliant, hypnotizing best, cooking up some of the most unusual stories ever told. Here in one volume are Tales of the Unexpected and More Tales of the Unexpected, making this a superb compendium of vengeance, surprise and dark delight.

    To commemorate the centennial of his birth, Arnold Rampersad has contributed new Afterwords to both volumes of his highly-praised biography of this most extraordinary and prolific American writer. In young adulthood Hughes possessed a nomadic but dedicated spirit that led him from Mexico to Africa and the Soviet Union to Japan, and countless other stops around the globe. Associating with political activists, patrons, and fellow artists, and drawing inspiration from both Walt Whitman and the vibrant Afro-American culture, Hughes soon became the most original and revered of black poets. In the first volume's Afterword, Rampersad looks back at the significant early works Hughes produced, the genres he explored, and offers a new perspective on Hughes's lasting literary influence. Exhaustively researched in archival collections throughout the country, especially in the Langston Hughes papers at Yale University's Beinecke Library, and featuring fifty illustrations per volume, this anniversary edition will offer a new generation of readers entrance to the life and mind of one of the twentieth century's greatest artists.

    But it is more: Peter Nadas has given us a superb contemporary psychological novel that comes to terms with the ghosts, corpses, and repressed nightmares of Europe's recent past. "A Book of Memories" is made up of three first-person narratives: the first that of a young Hungarian writer and his fated love for a German poet; we also learn of the narrator's adolescence in Budapest, when he experiences the downfall of his once-upper-class but now pro-Communist family and of his beloved but repudiated father, a state prosecutor who commits suicide after the 1956 uprising. A second memoir, alternating with the first, is a novel the narrator is composing about a refined Belle Epoque aesthete, whose anti-bourgeois transgressions seem like emotionally overcharged versions of the narrator's own experiences. A third voice is that of a childhood friend who, after the narrator's return to his homeland, offers an apparently more objective account of their friendship. Together these brilliantly colored lives are integrated in a powerful work of tragic intensity.

    In Going to the Territory, Ellison provides us with dramatically fresh readings of William Faulkner and Richard Wright, along with new perspectives on the music of Duke Ellington and the art of Romare Bearden. He analyzes the subversive quality of black laughter, the mythic underpinnings of his masterpiece Invisible Man, and the extent to which America's national identity rests on the contributions of African Americans. Erudite, humane, and resounding with humor and common sense, the result is essential Ellison.

    The Torpedo, along with his constant companion, Rascal, reeks swift and terrible underworld justice on all those unfortunate enough to cross their paths. Abuli's stories are full of cruel and morbidly dark humor, and Bernet's art style is perfect for showcasing New York as a both stylish and grim. Together they work seamlessly to create a classic and timeless series.

    For many, the scruffy, adventurous and exuberant William and his trials and tribulations with the awful Violet Elizabeth and his companions in daring, Ginger, Henry and Douglas remain a part of our childhood. But what do we know of his creator, who always shunned the limelight? So shy of fame was she that, owing to her unusual Christian name, many people thought she was, in fact, a man. In this biography, Mary Cadogan provides a portrait of a witty and talented writer, and a celebration of her works. Fully illustrated with pictures of Richmal and her family - including the brother, nephew and great-nephew who helped inspire William's antics - and the timeless original pictures of William by Thomas Henry.