And certainly what Melville did for whaling Austen does for marriage--tracing the intricacies (not to mention the economics) of 19th-century British mating rituals with a sure hand and an unblinking eye. As usual, Austen trains her sights on a country village and a few families--in this case, the Bennets, the Philips, and the Lucases. Into their midst comes Mr. Bingley, a single man of good fortune, and his friend, Mr. Darcy, who is even richer. Mrs. Bennet, who married above her station, sees their arrival as an opportunity to marry off at least one of her five daughters. Bingley is complaisant and easily charmed by the eldest Bennet girl, Jane; Darcy, however, is harder to please. Put off by Mrs. Bennet's vulgarity and the untoward behavior of the three younger daughters, he is unable to see the true worth of the older girls, Jane and Elizabeth. His excessive pride offends Lizzy, who is more than willing to believe the worst that other people have to say of him; when George Wickham, a soldier stationed in the village, does indeed have a discreditable tale to tell, his words fall on fertile ground. Having set up the central misunderstanding of the novel, Austen then brings in her cast of fascinating secondary characters: Mr. Collins, the sycophantic clergyman who aspires to Lizzy's hand but settles for her best friend, Charlotte, instead; Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Mr. Darcy's insufferably snobbish aunt; and the Gardiners, Jane and Elizabeth's low-born but noble-hearted aunt and uncle. Some of Austen's best comedy comes from mixing and matching these representatives of different classes and economic strata, demonstrating the hypocrisy at the heart of so many social interactions. And though the novel is rife with romantic misunderstandings, rejected proposals, disastrous elopements, and a requisite happy ending for those who deserve one, Austen never gets so carried away with the romance that she loses sight of the hard economic realities of 19th-century matrimonial maneuvering. Good marriages for penniless girls such as the Bennets are hard to come by, and even Lizzy, who comes to sincerely value Mr. Darcy, remarks when asked when she first began to love him: "It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began. But I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley." She may be joking, but there's more than a little truth to her sentiment, as well. Jane Austen considered Elizabeth Bennet "as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print". Readers of Pride and Prejudice would be hard-pressed to disagree. --Alix Wilber

    Billy Dexter is the point man, the finisher. For years they were the most sought-after hit team in the country.Until Dex stopped killing.But when the woman he loves is in trouble, Dex discovers that murder is an easy habit to return to—for him, it’s as natural as breathing.A short story from the author of THE BLADE ITSELF and GOOD PEOPLE.* This story appears in the collection SCAR TISSUEMarcus Sakey is the author of four novels, three of which are in development as feature films. He has been nominated for or won an Anthony, Barry, Macavity, Strand Critic’s Circle, Reader’s Choice, Crimespree, Dilys, Crime Shot, Romantic Times, and ITW Thriller Award. Praise for Marcus Sakey: "The new reigning prince of crime fiction." - Chicago Tribune "An astoundingly good writer." - San Jose Mercury News "Crime drama for the 21st century." - National Public Radio

     Society offers little to educate the public or de-stigmatize the problem of addiction.I Love You More is distinct and unique from other books on the market on addiction as it is meant to be an emotional education on the family systems affected by addiction using three, fictional short stories, all with very different endings.These three powerful stories have common threads of hope, pain, mistrust, grief, worry, change, acceptance, belief, and the constant presence of varying levels of sanity across a broad spectrum.I Love You More offers insight into the various perspectives and experiences of family members who have dealt with the harrowing disease of addiction.  The goal of this book is to be the conduit that allows you to enter the body and mind of a substance abuser and their family, to see the world through their eyes as they navigate their way through one of the most heart-breaking and gut-wrenching hardships they will ever face.The author, Blake Cohen, is a recovering alcoholic and addict himself for multiple years. He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and is a Certified Additions Professional.  He currently works in the field of substance abuse treatment in the position of National Outreach Manager. Blake’s role allows him to be of assistance to families, and their loved ones, as they begin their journey into recovery. Blake is also a public speaker using his experience and education to help bring understanding to the public regarding the disease of addiction.From mothers to fathers to siblings to aunts and uncles to grandmothers and grandfathers, as well the individuals struggling themselves, these stories contain emotional tidbits from the author’s years in the treatment field, interviews with families, and his own personal experiences.The hardest thing for a person to do is watch a loved one slowly kill themselves while you standby; unable to do anything about it.  For the family, addiction is frustrating, heart-wrenching, exhausting and time-consuming.  It can lead to bouts of anger followed by bouts of hysteria.  It can leave you bed-ridden and paralyzed by insurmountable sadness and depression. Although we cannot make our loved ones better, we can learn to take care of ourselves through it all. This book is emotional support for anyone and everyone whose lives have been touched by addiction.

    

    She shares with her father a love of America, his ideals, and his dream for the future. But she wants more to be the first female president.Golden boy Richard Kane was born into a life of luxury. The scion of a banking magnate he is successful, handsome, and determined to carve his own path in the world-and to build a future with the woman he loves. With Florentyna's ultimate goal only a heartbeat away, both are about to discover the shattering price of power as a titanic battle of betrayal and deception reaches out from the past-a blood feud between two generations that threatens to destroy everything Florentyna and Richard have fought to achieve.------After years of great sacrifice and deep personal tragedy, Florentyna Kane’s has finally become the first woman president in America. But on the very day that she is sworn into office, powerful forces are already in motion to take her life.The FBI investigates thousands of false threats every year. This time, a reliable source has tipped them off about an assassination attempt. One hour later, the informant and all but one of the investigating agents are dead. The lone survivor: FBI Special Agent Mark Andrews. Now, only he knows when the killers will strike. But how can he alone unravel a ruthless conspiracy—in less than one week? The race to save the first woman president begins now…

    Wild magic, unexpected allies, a conflagration of sorcery and shifter magic the likes of which has not been seen in centuries... That's what awaits the peaceful town of Grizzly Cove. That, and love...lots and lots of love. This anthology contains books 4 thru 6 of the Grizzly Cove series. Book 4 is novel-length, while books 5 and 6 are slightly shorter. The titles are: Alpha Bear What’s a bear to do when he learns the woman he wants is a witch, and already knows he’s a shifter? Can a town full of bear shifters deal with having a mage in their midst? And when evil attacks from the sea, can they afford not to have a witch willing to give of herself to protect them? Or will the Alpha have to give up Grizzly Cove in order to keep the woman he loves? Saving Grace Jack never expected to find a badly injured mermaid washed up on shore. Grace never expected to live through her encounter with the leviathan. When she wakes up in Jack’s care, she finds herself drawn to the handsome grizzly shifter, though the sea, and the leviathan, calls to her. Can she resist the allure of the ocean? Can she stay with her bear, on land, or will she break both their hearts? Bearliest Catch Drew spends his days fishing in the Pacific, far from Grizzly Cove, seeking the peace of the ocean. Jetty lives in the ocean, part of a hunting party of mer folk, in near-constant danger now from the evil creature that roams the deep. When they meet, sparks fly and the ocean comes alive with danger. Can they get her people to safety?

    From David Gerrold's "The Martian Child" (winner of the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Locus Award, and HOMer Award) to brand new works published here for the first time by David Gerrold and Lawrence Watt-Evans to modern masterpieces by Pamela Sargent and Jay Lake to classics by E.E. "Doc Smith" and Alan E. Nourse -- we have everything a science fiction fan could want. Almost 1,500 pages of great reading!Fiction:TORQUING VACUUM, by Jay LakeCOLLECTORS, by Pamela SargentVICTORY, by Lester del ReyTHE TREE OF LIFE, by C. L. MooreYE OLDE RESIGNATION, by Rhys HughesFACE TO FACE, by Adrian ColeBEYOND THE THUNDER, by H. B. HickeyCAPTIVES OF THE THIEVE-STAR, by James H. SchmitzTHE DEEPS, by Keith RobertsMADMEN MUSTERED, by Connor Freff CochranEXILE FROM SPACE, by Judith MerrilTHROUGH TIME AND SPACE WITH FERDINAND FEGHOOT: THE CHAIRMAN DANCES, by David GerroldTHE FROZEN PLANET, by Keith LaumerTHE TAIL-TIED KINGS, by Avram DavidsonTHE GRAIN KINGS, by Keith RobertsHIS MASTER'S VOICE, by Randall GarrettBACK TO JULIE, by Richard WilsonBRIGHTSIDE CROSSING, by Alan E. NourseTHE SECRET OF THE SCARAB, by Ron GoulartREINVENTING CARL HOBBS, by James GlassTHE OLD SHILL GAME, by H.B. FyfeNOTES TOWARD A NEW TRAIT AS REVEALED BY CORRELATION AMONG ITEMS OF THE MMMPI, by M. Purrzillo, U. R. A. Ferball, and C. KitirunTHE SLEEPER IS A REBEL, by Bryce WaltonTHE TEACHER FROM MARS, by Eando BinderNIF'S WORLD, by Lawrence Watt-EvansA MAN OBSESSED, by Alan E. NourseFIRST LENSMAN, by E.E. “Doc” SmithREINCARNATE, by Lester del ReyTHE MAN WHO LIVED FOREVER, by R. DeWitt Miller and Anna HungerTHE MARTIAN CHILD, by David GerroldPoetry:I’VE NEVER SEEN, by Hannes Bok (poem)THOUGHT AND SPACE, by Ray BradburyNovel Serial:FIREBIRD, by Tony Rothman (part 1 of 3)If you enjoy this MEGAPACK™, don't forget to search your favorite ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see the 240+ other entries in this series, including science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, adventure, horror, westerns -- and much, much more!

    D. Robb Treachery in Death Eve Dallas and her partner, Peabody, are following up on a brutal, senseless crime—an elderly grocery owner killed by three stoned punks for nothing more than kicks and snacks. And for the first time, Peabody is primary detective on the case, which means she has to get used to a new level of authority and responsibility. Good thing she learned the ropes from a master like Eve.But after rounding up the perps, Peabody stumbles upon a much trickier situation. Determined to start working out as hard as she grills suspects, she chooses to do it at the old, rarely-used gym at Central. After a grueling workout, she squeezes into one of the narrow shower stalls, happy to have the place to herself. Just after she shuts the water off, the gym door clatters open—and while she cringes inside the stall, trying not to make a sound, Peabody overhears two fellow officers, Garnet and Oberman, arguing. References are made to delivering product, and a house in the islands, and someone named Keener who’s supposed to look like an OD. It doesn’t take long for a naked and vulnerable Peabody to realize that both officers are crooked—guilty not just of corruption but of murder as well. Fortunately, the two clear out of the locker room without realizing there was a witness.Eve Dallas may have trained Peabody well—but this is too dangerous for one person to take on alone. Now Peabody, Eve, and her husband, Roarke, must try to get the hard evidence they need to bring the dirty cops down—knowing all the while that the two have already killed to keep their secret, and are no doubt willing to do it again. New York to Dallas It was one of Eve Dallas’s earliest takedowns, back in her uniform days. A monster named Isaac McQueen had been abducting young victims and leaving them scarred in both mind and body. Thanks to Eve, he wound up where he belonged, removed from civilized society in Rikers. But he’s not behind bars anymore.After his escape, McQueen has two things in mind. One is to take up where he left off, preying on the young and innocent—when necessary, with the help of a female partner all too willing to be manipulated and to aid and abet his crimes. His other goal: to get revenge on the woman who stopped him all those years ago, now a high-profile lieutenant in the NYPSD and married to one of the city’s richest men.Commanding Eve’s attention with a chilling and brazen crime, McQueen sets off the chase—forcing Eve down a road marked with blood and tears, a road that eventually leads southwest to Dallas, Texas, the home Eve fled long ago. And each new twist brings her closer to the harrowing memory of when she wasn’t a hardened detective but a vulnerable girl just like McQueen’s innocent prey. As her husband, Roarke, tries to rescue her from the nightmares that claw at her mind, and her partner, Peabody, doggedly works to support her, Eve must confront—and call upon—the darkest parts of her own soul in order to survive.

    This edition brings together some of the best horror writers from the last few decades. Featuring stories from Ray Garton, Kelley Armstrong, Simon Clark, Gord Rollo, Chad Lutzke, Mike Duke, Christina Bergling, David Owain Hughes, P. Mattern & Kevin J. Kennedy.

    Whether fictionalizing his dramatic exploits as a Royal Air Force pilot during World War II or concocting the ingeniously plotted fables that were dramatized on television as Tales of the Unexpected, Dahl was brilliant at provoking in his readers the overwhelming desire to know what happens next—and at satisfying that desire in ways that feel both surprising and inevitable.In this collection:-A Fine Son-Death of an Old Man-Parson’s Pleasure-Poison-The Hitch-Hiker-The Wish-Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat-Dip in the Pool-The Landlady-Skin-Lamb to the Slaughter-Man from the South-The Way Up to Heavan-The Umbrella Man-Taste-The Swan-William and MaryFilled with devilish plot twists, his tales display a tantalizing blend of macabre humor and the absurdly grotesque. Dahl’s creations amuse and shock us in equal measure, gleefully reminding us of what might lurk beneath the surface of the ordinary.

    He just wants to live an anonymous life and be a good dad to his daughter. But when a local girl vanishes, he’s asked to return to the skills that made him a mythic figure in the shadowy world of counterterrorism.Follow Levon and his daughter while they go on the run from the feds and a growing army of enemies that Levon makes along the way.

     It is the day before Empire Day – 4th July - the day each year when the British Empire marks the brutal crushing of the rebellion dignified by the treachery of the fifty-six delegates to the Continental Congress who were so foolhardy as to sign the infamous Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia on that day of infamy in 1776. It is nearly two hundred years since George Washington was killed and his Continental Army was destroyed in the Battle of Long Island and now New England, that most quintessentially loyal and ‘English’ imperial fiefdom – at least in the original, or ‘First Thirteen’ colonies - is about to celebrate its devotion to the Crown and the Old Country, of which it still views, in the main, as the ‘mother country’. Yet all is not roses. Since 1776 in a world of empires the British Empire has grown and prospered until now, it stands alone as the ultimate arbiter of global war and peace. The Royal Navy has enforced the global Pax Britannia for over a century since the World War of the 1860s established a lasting but increasingly tenuous ‘peace’ between the great powers. Nonetheless, while elsewhere the Empire may be creaking at the seams, struggling to come to terms with a growing desire for self-determination; thus far the Pax Britannica has survived – buttressed by the commercial and industrial powerhouse of New England stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific North West - intact for all that barely a year goes by without the outbreak of another small, colonial war somewhere... This said, the British ‘Imperial System’ remains the envy of its friends and enemies alike and nowhere has it been so successful as in North America, where peace and prosperity has ruled in the vast Canadian dominions and the twenty-nine old and recent colonies of the Commonwealth of New England for the best part of two centuries. In Whitehall every British government in living memory has complacently based its ‘American Policy’ on the one immutable, unchanging fact of New England politics; that the First Thirteen colonies will never agree with each other about anything, let alone that the sixteen ‘Johnny-come-lately’ new (that is, post-1776) colonies, protectorates, territories and possessions which comprise half the population and eight-tenths of the land area of New England, should ever have any say in their affairs! New England is a part of England and always will be because, axiomatically, it will never unite in a continental union. Notwithstanding, in the British body politic the myths and legends of that first late eighteenth-century rebellion in the New World still touches a raw nerve in the old country, much as in former epochs memories of Jacobin revolts, Oliver Cromwell and the Civil War still harry old deep-seated scars in the national psyche. Empire Day might not have originally been conceived as a celebration of the saving of the first British Empire and but as time has gone by it has come to symbolise the one, ineluctable truth about the Empire: that New England is the rock upon which all else stands, an empire within an empire that is greater than the sum of all the other parts of the great imperium ruled from London. In past times a troubling question has been whispered in the corridors of power in London: what would happen to the Empire – and the Pax Britannica – if the British hold on New England was ever to be loosened? Generations of British politicians have always known that if the question was ever to be asked again in earnest it has but one answer.

    A chance meeting. A life-changing outcome. Growing up in a brothel, Mara O'Sullivan battled public disdain and contempt, but always remained kind-hearted and gracious. After testifying against vicious bank robbers, her life is threatened and Mara must find sanctuary far from everything she knows. One train ride changes her life as she fatefully meets a half-sister and a niece she never knew existed. But when circumstances end her sister's life, Mara makes a promise that she'll raise her niece as her own and take her sister's place as Preston Kincaid's mail-order-bride. As Mara and Preston grow closer, their marriage no longer seems like a ruse, but a relationship of love, passion, and desire. Mara's past comes back to haunt her and she finds herself in danger—will her new husband forgive Mara's deceit and protect her as his own?

    Also includes an extract from her new novel, Spirits of the Ghan.To the members of the Otto Bin Empire - the homeless men and women who gather around the plastic bins near the docks - Clive is an enigmatic addition to their ranks. Intelligent, healthy and always well presented, even Clive struggles to understand why he finds himself at the bottom of the barrel. How did it happen?'I'm just a bloke going through a period of adjustment,' he tells himself, 'I'll be back on my feet soon.'But as the weeks turn into months Clive slowly adjusts to his circumstances. He finds tolerance, acceptance and friendship and slowly begins to see humanity in its purest light. He finally realises that dignity, self-respect and honour are to be found in abundance in the Otto Bin Empire . and who knows? Perhaps even love.

    Book One – Forever Mine, Ren & MayaBook Two – More Than Forever, Luke & IslaBook Three – Until Forever, Cole & EbruBook Four – My Forever, Cole & Ebru pt 2 This is a box set of the Providence Series books 1 to 4