. . One wonders how the world might be different if works in The Best American Nonrequired Reading were indeed required.” —USA Today Sarah Vowell, author of Lafayette in the Somewhat United States and other best-selling titles "gilded with snark, buoyant on charm" (NPR), worked with the students of  the 826 Valencia writing lab to edit this year's anthology. They compiled new fiction, nonfiction, poetry, comics, and the category-defying gems that have become one of the hallmarks of this lively collection.

    MillerNever Go Home - L.T. RyanThe Critical Element - John L. BetcherThe Dark Path - Luke RomynThirteen to None - Claude BouchardThe Devil's Cauldron - Michael WallaceCrazy Days in Big Lake by Nick RussellThe Delilah Complex by MJ RoseThe Blurbs:JET by Russell BlakeJET - the code name of a former Mossad operative who faked her own death to escape the clandestine life. But the past doesn't let go of its secrets easily, and when old enemies hunt her down she is forced to kill or be killed in a deadly conflict that spans the globe. A breakneck thriller in the tradition of Bourne and Bond, JET is a non-stop adrenaline rush that redefines the genre.Irretrievably Broken by Melissa F. MillerIrretrievably Broken features the return of fierce and fearless attorney Sasha McCandless. Someone's killing the female partners at her old firm, and she's asked to represent their accused husbands. The cases put a strain on her own relationship, but that's the least of her troubles, because the real killer is waging a vendetta for a past case gone wrong: and there's one more lawyer on his list.Never Go Home by L.T. RyanWhen a woman is found brutally murdered in a small Florida town, Jack Noble breaks his vow to never return home in order to assist the local sheriff with her investigation. As the hunt for the killer intensifies, Jack realizes his past as a government assassin has come back to haunt those closest to him.The Critical Element by John L. BetcherThe theft of a mysterious meteor leads Beck, Beth, Gunner and Bull to uncover a terror plot that threatens the country's largest shopping mall. Meanwhile, the FBI, CDC & CIA attempt to defuse a large-scale biological attack and avert a crippling pandemic.The Dark Path by Luke RomynVain, a man versed in torture and death, is chosen to protect a boy whose sacrifice will release Satan's lieutenant from the pits of Hell. Armageddon sits upon the horizon & all that stands in its way is a man whose path has always been dark.Thirteen to None by Claude BouchardHome invasions were the new pastime for Butch Kincaid and his criminal crew during their nomadic summer vacations... Drunken orgies of terror, destruction, rape and murder... Until they chose the wrong home...The Devil's Cauldron by Michael WallaceParalyzed & locked in, Meggie can't tell anyone what really happened the night of her accident seven years earlier. Now, for the first time, there's hope for a cure -- and there are those who will kill to keep it away from her...Crazy Days in Big Lake by Nick RussellEverybody seems to have gone crazy in Big Lake; neighbors are threatening violence, eco-protestors are on the march, flower children are camping in the forest, the grocery store manager has locked himself in his office & won't come out, bears are chasing dogs into houses, and a retired couple have shot an intruder during a home invasion. By the time it's over more blood will be shed & the good people of Big Lake will be left wondering just how well they really know their neighbors.The Delilah Complex by MJ RoseThe Scarlet Society is a secret club of twelve powerful & sexually adventurous women. But when a photograph of the body of one of the men they've recruited to dominate is sent to the New York Times, they're shocked and frightened. Unable to cope with the tragedy, the women turn to NYC sex therapist Dr. Morgan Snow. But their grief counseling quickly becomes a murder investigation.

    CURATED AND INTRODUCED BY CERYS MATTHEWS.Tell Me the Truth About Life is an indispensable anthology which celebrates poetry’s power to tap into the truths that matter. Curated and introduced by Cerys Matthews, this collection draws on the wisdom of crowds: featuring poems nominated for their insight into truth by a range of ordinary and extraordinary people: from Britain’s first astronaut, Helen Sharman, to sporting heroes and world-famous musicians, teachers, artists and politicians.Their choices include contemporary work by Yrsa Daley-Ward, John Cooper Clarke and Kei Miller alongside classics by W H Auden, Emily Dickinson and Dylan Thomas. Here you will find poems to revive the spirit, ballads to mobilize and life-lines to hold you safe in the dark.Compiled for National Poetry Day’s twenty-fifth anniversary, Tell Me the Truth About Life is a book that reminds us we are never completely alone in our search to glimpse the truth.Containing nominations from a number of high-profile poetry lovers and poets, including Michael Morpurgo, Mark Gatiss, Dolly Alderton, and Helen Sharman, among others.

    It needs flannel in lengthy widths, and it's here that Harry and Alan come through like a whole warehouse full of pyjamas) to the 1976 Olympics ('Jenkins has a lot to do' was a new way of saying that our man, of whom we had such high hopes, was not going to pull out the big one). In between we have 'War and Peace' (Tolstoy makes television history), the Royal Wedding (Dimbling suavely, Tom Fleming introduced the scene), the Winter Olympics (unintelligibuhl), the Eurovision Song Contest (The Hook of their song lasted a long time in the mind, like a kick in the knee. You could practically hear the Koreans singing it. 'Waterloo . . .' ), and much more.

    Among them: Suheir Hammad, Beau Sia, Steve Colman, Stacyann Chin, Mayda del Valle, Georgia Me, Poetri, and other well-established and up-and-coming Slam artists who have forever changed the face of poetry and offer a fresh, exuberant, insightful, and comedic look at who we are as Americans today.

    'Revolution on Canvas' presents another collection of poetry from some of the country's most popular indie-rock bands, including Deftones, Fall Out Boy, Armor For Sleep, and Say Anything.

    This title presents a retrospective of the beautiful haze that was rock's golden age, from the end of the hippies through glam and punk, and into 80's heavy metal.

    W. Norton proudly announces the Seagull Readers, a new collection of the most frequently taught poems. Ideal for genre or introductory literature courses, the Seagull Readers offer a compact and affordable alternative to larger anthologies. Each volume includes a wide selection of both classic and contemporary works, as well as a thorough introduction to each genre and biographies of the authors. An inexpensive and portable alternative to bulky anthologies, The Seagull Reader: Poems offers 154 poems, from time-honored classics such as T. S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and John Keats's "La Belle Dame sans Merci" to contemporary classics by Rita Dove, Billy Collins, Seamus Heaney, Sharon Olds, and Li-Young Lee, among others. The Seagull Reader: Poems is lightly supplemented by editorial apparatus, including an introduction to the major concepts of the genre, brief headnotes, annotations where necessary, a glossary of terms, and biographical sketches of each author.

    Spanning a period from Walt Whitman to Sherman Alexie, this collection is the first to review the twentieth century comprehensively. It presents not only the canonical poetry of the last hundred years but also numerous poems by women, minority, and progressive writers only rediscovered in the past two decades. Uniquely comprehensive, Anthology of Modern American Poetry represents Robert Frost with 23 poems, Wallace Stevens with 22, and Marianne Moore with 14, including her most ambitious long poems. William Carlos Williams is represented not only by his exquisite short lyrics, but also with an experimental combination of poetry and prose. With 29 poems, Langston Hughes is given full treatment for the first time in any comprehensive anthology. Substantial selections by contemporary poets like John Ashbery, Sylvia Plath, Frank O'Hara, Philip Levine, Lucille Clifton, Judy Grahn, Adrian Louis, Yusef Komunyakaa, Martin Espada, and Sherman Alexie are also included. Anthology of Modern American Poetry is the first anthology to give full treatment to American long poems and poem sequences. T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land, Gertrude Stein's "Patriarchal Poetry," William Carlos Williams's The Descent of Winter, Edna St. Vincent Millay's "Sonnets from an Ungrafted Tree," Muriel Rukeyser's "The Book of the Dead," Melvin Tolson's Libretto for the Republic of Liberia, Theodore Roethke's "North American Sequence," Gwendolyn Brooks's "Gay Chaps at the Bar," Kenneth Rexroth's "The Love Poems of Marichiko," both Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" and his "Wichita Vortex Sutra," and both Adrienne Rich's "Shooting Script" and her "Twenty-One Love Poems" are all included in their entirety. Anthology of Modern American Poetry offers the most detailed annotations available in an anthology of this type. Many works benefit from specially commissioned research that provides students with such help as the identification of the inventive references in Melvin Tolson's poetry, translation of all foreign language passages, and illumination of obscure references. This is also the only American poetry anthology to present selected poems in the beautifully illustrated form in which they first appeared. In addition, an accompanying website featuring readings of poems and historical background is available at http: //www.english.uiuc.edu/maps. Ideal for courses in modern American poetry, modern American literature, modern or contemporary poetry, creative writing-poetry, and American studies, Anthology of Modern American Poetry introduces students to the last 100 years of our poetic heritage in a uniquely rich and provocative format."

    Boxed set collecting Poetry For The Beat Generation (1959), Blues and Haikus (1959), and Readings By Jack Kerouac On The Beat Generation (1960), remastered with bonus tracks.

    Matt McRaid, whose ancestors left the island more than a century before, joins a team of ruthless treasure hunters in search of untold wealth. One of their number is killed within hours and others soon follow. At first their deaths are put down to freak accidents but after only a couple of days in this mysterious place it becomes apparent to Matt that the true cause is far more strange ... and much more dangerous both to them and the whole of humanity.

    That’s how he wants me… It was supposed to be a one-night stand. One night with some guy I picked up at a bar. Totally unlike me, but a girl’s got to have some fun, right? He was hot as hell, all broad shoulders and brooding stares. He whispered dirty words when he took me back to his house and made me his. I thought I’d never see him again, so I told him some lie about how I was an office manager instead of a college student. And then I got to class the next day and found out he’s my professor.  My professor was the hot guy who’d given me the best orgasm of my life. I try to pretend nothing happened, even though I’m dying inside. But then he tells me to come to his office.  He tells me to bend over his desk, because that’s how he likes it… If anyone finds out, he’ll lose his job. And I’ll lose my reputation.  But before that happens, he’s determined to teach me everything I need to know. About pleasing him. Submitting to him. Letting him take what’s his… Even if it ends up costing us everything. Rough Hand by Olivia Chase A standalone romance with a guaranteed HEA from bestselling author Olivia Chase... LEVI I’m no good for her. And she’s probably no good for me, either.  But hell if I don’t find myself wanting her right now. My c*ck is slamming against my zipper at the thought of thrusting my tongue in her mouth, swallowing her moans… She’s so pure that I can almost see the glow of white around her. I’m too wicked, too dirty to touch her.  But there’s something about the way I can feel her emotions pouring from her, like she’s a broken dam spilling over, that makes my chest tight.  I can’t let her break me apart, not when I’ve worked so hard, so long, to keep myself glued together. To be strong and impenetrable.  No, I’ll just keep my distance. Surely that won’t be a problem. Even if she does live right across the street from my shop.  ALEXA I’ve never had this feeling before, this burning need to be around someone as much as I can. When we touch, I want to keep on touching.  When he’s inside me, our limbs tangled together, our sweat-slicked bodies connected in the most intimate way possible, I feel like I’ve found my other half. He’s so scared to open up to anyone. So scared to dig into the things that hurt him in his past. I just want to help him be happy. If only he’d drop all his walls and talk to me, he could let it go and move on. Will I ever be happy with Levi? Right or wrong, I need more.  Jackson by Paige North Meet the Croft brothers. Filthy rich, devastatingly handsome, and sexy as all hell… JACKSON I don’t do slow and easy.  I do fast and hard. I don’t do dates. I do … arrangements.

    Through six interconnected books, they search for love, happiness…and a TRUE family. Don’t miss the complete box set of Deceit and Desire, a HOT Mafia romance saga by bestselling romance author, Cassie Wild.

    Holiday decorations adorn each room. Trees glittering with ribbons and ornaments, gorgeous wreaths, velvet stockings and pine-scented candles brighten visitors’ stay at this vacation spot dedicated to Christmas all year, every year. The resort offers all the usual enticements plus one unique amenity…love. The little white chapel behind the inn, built by the Christmas family in the 1890s, boasts bell tower bells that toll when couples fall in love. Every year people come to the inn looking for their Christmas spirit. Sometimes they find love too. Will the bells ring again this year?

     He was my brother's best friend, my first crush, my first love...my first everything. And then he betrayed me. How many times have I thought about it? How many times have I relived the moment when I found out he left town without ever saying a word?  And how long has the memory of him consumed my every waking thought? Three years. That’s how long it’s been since I’ve seen or heard from him, the only man I ever loved.  The man I now despise. But suddenly, without warning, Landon Hill is back. And to make matters worse, he’s somehow become rich beyond imagination, and he’s opening some mega business in town and walking around like he owns everything in sight. Including me. But I’ll never be able to forgive him, even if the fire still rages between us. In the end, I know that he’s never to be trusted. He’s a filthy liar. Pump Fake by Lila Price He’s known for all the bad things he’s done since he came to Vegas.  The madam’s little black book with his name in it… The crazy late night bar fights… The trail of broken hearts he’s left in his wake… But nothing could have prepared me for actually coming face-to-face with Eli Brennan, hotshot wide receiver for my city’s professional football team. With his bulging muscles and rock-hard physique, Eli is every woman’s dirty little fantasy, but never in a million years did I think he could be my reality.  Because I’m nobody. I’ve always been the girl without a date to the school dance, the girl who had to study to get a scholarship, the one who was working instead of drinking and partying with boys… In short, I’ve always been invisible to people like Eli Brennan. But suddenly, the most notorious bachelor in Las Vegas sees me.  And when Eli propositions me to become his fake fiancé and help get him out of his latest public relations nightmare, I can’t refuse.  I just have to make sure that I don’t take this too seriously, because Eli Brennan isn’t serious about me. He isn’t serious about anything. The whole thing is crazy. But in my heart, I know that this relationship isn’t as fake as it’s supposed to be. The way Eli looks at me, the way he touches me, the way he makes me feel. In fact, it turns out that this pump fake romance might be the realest thing that’s ever happened to me… Ordered by Kaylee Quinn A standalone alpha billionaire romance with a guaranteed HEA... DARCY Bought and paid for. That’s what I am. Nothing but a plaything for billionaire Thayer Noble, picked off a website like some kind of product. He’s sexy as hell, with a clenched chiseled jaw, and the most sensual, brutal lips I've ever seen. His punishing mouth never bends into a welcoming smile but tugs into a furious frown. His indigo eyes are always blazing with fury. His heart is stone cold. When he sees me, he tries to turn me away.