It is a lonely job, and a thankless one for the most part. Until something goes wrong. Until a ship is in distress. In the 23rd century, this job has moved into outer space. A network of beacons allows ships to travel across the Milky Way at many times the speed of light. These beacons are built to be robust. They never break down. They never fail. At least, they aren't supposed to.

    A startling and original courtroom drama from New York Times #1 Bestseller John Grisham that is the prequel to his newest legal thriller, THE WHISTLER   A judge’s first murder trial.A defense attorney in over his head.A prosecutor out for blood and glory.The accused, who is possibly innocent.And the killer, who may have just committed the perfect crime.

    This prequel to the conspiracy thriller Isle of the Dead introduces us to the dark side of Venice - a city with secrets to rival its splendour.

    Writer and editor Nalo Hopkinson notes that the science fiction/fantasy genre “speaks so much about the experience of being alienated but contains so little writing by alienated people themselves.” It’s an oversight that Hopkinson and Mehan aim to correct with this anthology.The book depicts imagined futures from the perspectives of writers associated with what might loosely be termed the “third world.” It includes stories that are bold, imaginative, edgy; stories that are centered in the worlds of the “developing” nations; stories that dare to dream what we might develop into.The wealth of postcolonial literature has included many who have written insightfully about their pasts and presents. With So Long Been Dreaming they creatively address their futures.Contributors include: Opal Palmer Adisa, Tobias Buckell, Wayde Compton, Hiromi Goto, Andrea Hairston, Tamai Kobayashi, Karin Lowachee, devorah major, Carole McDonnell, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, Eden Robinson, Nisi Shawl, Vandana Singh, Sheree Renee Thomas and Greg Van Eekhout.Nalo Hopkinson is the internationally-acclaimed author of Brown Girl in the Ring, Skin Folk, and Salt Roads. Her books have been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, Tiptree, and Philip K. Dick Awards; Skin Folk won a World Fantasy Award and the Sunburst Award. Born in Jamaica, Nalo moved to Canada when she was sixteen. She lives in Toronto.Uppinder Mehan is a scholar of science fiction and postcolonial literature. A South Asian Canadian, he currently lives in Boston and teaches at Emerson College.

    in this e-book collaboration between Stephen King and Joe Hill.In the Tall Grass begins with a sister and brother who pull off to the side of the road after hearing a young boy crying for help from beyond the tall grass. Within minutes they are disoriented, in deeper than seems possible, and they’ve lost one another. The boy’s cries are more and more desperate. What follows is a terrifying, entertaining, and masterfully told tale, as only Stephen King and Joe Hill can deliver.In the Tall Grass was originally published in two parts in the June/July and August 2012 issues of Esquire magazine. This is their second collaboration since the novella Throttle, published in 2009.

    . . When a stalking case lands on DS ‘Heck’ Heckenburg’s desk it seems pretty straightforward.But when Heck discovers that the victim lives in the same house that a young woman was brutally murdered in six years earlier, instinct tells him that it’s not so simple after all.Before long Heck is entangled in something far more dangerous than he had expected. In a race against the clock, can Heck and Gemma stop history from repeating itself – or will they end up getting caught in the crossfire? The Sunday Times bestseller returns with a heart pounding short story that fans of M.J. Arlidge and Stuart MacBride won’t be able to put down.

    She was beautiful and quiet too. He just hoped she would be happy with him. He was his own man and wouldn't let any woman disrupt his life, but his Pa wasn't in good health and wanted a grandchild. He felt it his duty to make his Pa as happy as he could for what time he had left. Little did Caleb realize that Sissy Drake would rope his heart on their wedding night despite his reservations. Sissy Drake had no choice but to become a mail order bride. Her Pa was dead for a year when her aunt passed too, taking away her home with no other options available to her. When she met Caleb, she found him to be domineering and gruff, but she was determined to tame him and be the wife he needed. Little did both of them know that her brother, Lawson, followed Sissy to Caleb's ranch determined to find the stagecoach money their Pa hid. He had an old score to settle with Caleb too and wouldn't let anything stand in his way.

    and the art of meditation.It's Auckland, New Zealand. October, 1994. And a group of anarchist punks have hatched a plan to sabotage the opening of a multinational- fastfood restaurant, (Bobo's), by blowing the building sky-high come opening time. Chopstick has been given the unenviable task of setting the bomb in the restaurant the night before the opening, but when he is separated from his accomplice, Tracy, the night takes an unexpected turn.As they search the city streets for each other in the hope of making their rendezvous on time, a series of fateful meetings and events from their past conspire against them, forcing the friends to deal with more than just the mission at hand.As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that there is more at stake here than was first realised, and that the outcome of the night's events will change all of their lives in ways they never could have imagined...The Dharma Punks is a 384 page, eight-part comic which has received rave reviews and won the Eric Awards 2003 "Best Serialised Comic" and the Eric Awards 2004 (The Gotham Comics - Staedtler NZ Award) for "Best Comic".

    Lisa Papademetriou relives being a Texas girl at a Vermont summer camp-and one momentous night in the woods. Amy Kim Ganter draws her first kiss with her future husband in full comic-book form. And those are just a few of the many stories in First Kiss (Then Tell), a collection of anecdotes, poems, cartoons, and stories that are altogether hilarious, heartwarming, and memorable-just as a first kiss should be. This unique collection features pieces from today's hottest young-adult authors, and is packed with extras like kissing advice, trivia, and favorite quotes. First Kiss (Then Tell) will make readers want to relive their own magical moments all over again-or imagine what it might be like someday . ..

    . .LexiNow that my dad is retiring as fire chief, maybe I’ll finally be able to sleep at night. Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of Dad and his service. But it’s hard spending most of your life scared someone you love could get hurt—or worse—on the job.Which is why there’s absolutely no way I’m ever going to end up with a firefighter. Not even dad’s protege and successor, Dallas, who could make a girl drool just by looking at her.And right now he’s looking at me.DallasI’d almost forgotten about little Lexi until she shows up for her dad’s retirement party. The years have been kind to this stunning, curvy beauty. Very kind.When she says she won’t date a firefighter, it only makes me want her more.I’ll show Lexi I’m the only man for her. And then, I’ll make her mine forever.Sunset Canyon Fire & Rescue is a steamy, instalove short story romance series with the alpha men sworn to protect their community and the women they love. No cliffhangers! Read DALLAS if you like redeemed bad boys, younger boss’s daughters, and a love that burns hot.

    The wind tries first, but however hard it blows it fails to make any progress because the traveller simply buttons his coat even tighter than before. Only when the sun shines brightly does he finally remove it, and the wind roars away in a bad temper.

    In The Affair of the German Dispatch-Box, Hazell hatches a daring plan to retrieve a highly sensitive government document before it reaches the German Ambassador. In Sir Gilbert Murrell's Picture, when an entire wagon containing valuable paintings disappears from a goods train, Hazell's skill is needed. In The Affair of the Corridor Express, a multimillionaire's son disappears from a moving train. Hazell must find the kidnappers before the boy is lost forever. In The Stolen Necklace, a lady begs Hazell to help when the diamond necklace that she borrowed is stolen from her suitcase. In The Affair of the Birmingham Bank, customers keep drawing money from a Midlands bank, so gold reserves are sent by train. Hazell must guard against train robbery.

    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.

    Now, in his fifty-seventh book, Louis Auchincloss delivers a brilliant collection of ten new, previously unpublished, stories; once again, he unfailingly "voices truths with elegant precision" (Publishers Weekly). MANHATTAN MONOLOGUES charts a colorful New York century through a series of personal accounts from the rarefied circle that fills Auchincloss's best short fiction. Here are characters who confidently finesse their way through society's uppermost tiers and yet are just as easily undone by the smallest upset in a day. Like all of Auchincloss's richest creations, they bump up against their consciences, with often surprising results. What, for instance, is a woman to do when she must choose between true love and high society when making a marriage? How can a man stay true to himself, his family, and his country when it goes to war? How can a determined marriage broker salvage matters when the young man she has so painstakingly steered toward a love match becomes charmed by another woman? These tales, and many more, fashion a glamorous, yet all too human, societal portrait -- from the aristocratic loyalties of the early twentieth century to the complicated twists of modern-day mergers and acquisitions. MANHATTAN MONOLOGUES is Louis Auchincloss at his most clever, his most discerning, his best.

    He kidnapped, raped and killed six children and teenagers in a single month. While the previous missing children had been treated like runaways, there was now no question that somebody was abducting children in the Lower Mainland area, and the media went berserk.The police immediately came under scrutiny for failing to connect the previous disappearances. The missing person cases were passed to homicide detectives, and a whole new investigation began. The police were now hunting a serial killer and Clifford Olson Junior was one of the main suspects.From the age of seventeen, Clifford Olson Junior spent only 1,501 days outside of prison or jail. If his claims are to be believed, he averaged about one murder every ten days. During his imprisonment, he was assessed on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, a tool designed to evaluate psychopathy. The standard threshold is 25-30. He scored a 38 out of 40, the highest rating ever recorded.The Beast is a chilling account of Clifford Olson Junior and one of the most disturbing true crime stories in Canada’s history. Ryan Green’s riveting narrative draws the reader into the real-live horror experienced by the victims and has all the elements of a classic thriller.CAUTION: This book contains descriptive accounts of torture, abuse and violence. If you are especially sensitive to this material, it might be advisable not to read any further.