Charles John Huffam Dickens (7 February 1812 - 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's most memorable fictional characters and is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. During his life, his works enjoyed unprecedented fame, and by the twentieth century his literary genius was broadly acknowledged by critics and scholars. His novels and short stories continue to be widely popular. Born in Portsmouth, England, Dickens was forced to leave school to work in a factory when his father was thrown into debtors' prison. Although he had little formal education, his early impoverishment drove him to succeed. Over his career he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas and hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms. Dickens sprang to fame with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers. Within a few years he had become an international literary celebrity, famous for his humour, satire, and keen observation of character and society. His novels, most published in monthly or weekly installments, pioneered the serial publication of narrative fiction, which became the dominant Victorian mode for novel publication. The installment format allowed Dickens to evaluate his audience's reaction, and he often modified his plot and character development based on such feedback. For example, when his wife's chiropodist expressed distress at the way Miss Mowcher in David Copperfield seemed to reflect her disabilities, Dickens went on to improve the character with positive features. Fagin in Oliver Twist apparently mirrors the famous fence Ikey Solomon; His caricature of Leigh Hunt in the figure of Mr Skimpole in Bleak House was likewise toned down on advice from some of his friends, as they read episodes. In the same novel, both Lawrence Boythorne and Mooney the beadle are drawn from real life-Boythorne from Walter Savage Landor and Mooney from 'Looney', a beadle at Salisbury Square. His plots were carefully constructed, and Dickens often wove in elements from topical events into his narratives. Masses of the illiterate poor chipped in ha'pennies to have each new monthly episode read to them, opening up and inspiring a new class of readers.

    Get ready for the epic battle Marvel fans have been waiting for with previews and an in-side look into the Monsters Unleashed event!

    The stories are the perfect length for reading aloud in a classroom or at bedtime. With lots of humour and fantastic characters, these will appeal to newly confident readers to read alone as well as to younger children being read to.Enid Blyton remains one of Britain's favourite children's authors and her bumper short story collections are perfect for introducing her to the latest generation of readers.

    

    Its vampiric rulers have indulged their bloodlust in every shadow-clad alley, turning the once-proud metropolis into a charnel house. Already crushed beneath the tyranny of Radukar the Wolf and his Thirsting Court, a spate of vicious murders plunges the mortal inhabitants into fresh terror. Emerging to uncover a connection between the attacks is an unlikely group of heroes: a vampire hunter from Carstinia, a slum-born vigilante, a ruthless wizard, and a soldier who is the last survivor of her noble bloodline. Arrayed against them are the undead monsters that thrive upon Radukar's gory regime. But a daring search for answers turns into a fight for survival when the Wolf himself descends his Ebon Citadel and joins the carnage in the streets…

    Most of his friends are dead or disappeared. Corrupt CIA Director Marcus Cain is poised to ascend to the highest levels of power, and the shadowy group known as the Circle is causing chaos across the globe.

    Even more exciting, each of these stories will spin off into a series of its own. Maggie Shayne’s CHRISTMAS BLUESA true believer returns the music to a lonesome drifter’s soul.Miranda’s Shayne’s FINDING CHRISTMASA small-town coffee shop owner melts a humbug hero’s wounded heart.River Shayne’s A HERO FOR HANNAHCan a woman in grave danger learn to trust one more time?Jessica Lewis’s THE SOLDIER’S CHRISTMAS BABYA lonely serviceman comes home for a holiday he’ll never forget.Grab a cup of eggnog, curl up near the tree, and fall in love with the holidays all over again!

    This collection contains ten stories in the "Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser" series, seven originally collected in Swords Against Death, two originally collected in Swords in the Mist, plus "Bazaar of the Bizarre", as follows, with dates of original publication:Thieves' House * Unknown, February 1943The Bleak Shore * Unknown, November 1940The Howling Tower * Unknown, June 1941The Sunken Land * Unknown, February 1942The Seven Black Priests * Other Worlds, May 1953Claws from the Night ["Dark Vengeance"] * Suspense, November 1951The Price of Pain-Ease * ss Swords Against Death, Ace, 1970Bazaar of the Bizarre * Fantastic, August 1963The Cloud of Hate * Fantastic, May 1963Lean Times in Lankhmar * Fantastic, November 1959

    In Worlds, Worlds Apart, and Worlds Enough and Time, the acclaimed Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author of The Forever War imagines a near future rife with exhilarating and terrifying possibilities, when hundreds of thousands of human beings have abandoned the Earth’s surface to live in man-made habitats orbiting the troubled planet.   Haldeman’s science fiction saga follows Marianne O’Hara, a young inhabitant of the World known as New New York, from her arrival on Earth as a student who becomes seduced by radical politics, through her coming of age amid the Worlds’ war and the habitats’ devastation, and ultimately to Marianne’s emergence as a leader—and possibly the last hope of the human race as it heads toward the stars.   Stephen King said of the first book in Haldeman’s trilogy, “There are scenes in Worlds I will remember forever.” These gripping novels will enthrall anyone interested in the future—that of our planet and of the human race.

    The end of the world is near...It's up to Parakka to stop the destruction of the worlds, but just how much strength have they got left to defend the Citadel?When the final battle is over and silence reigns, will there be anyone left to tell the tale?

    It draws on extensive interviews with Kissinger, as well as 150 other sources, including Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. In addition, it makes use of many of Kissinger's private papers. The result is an intimate narrative, filled with surprising revelations, that takes this century's most colorful statesman from his childhood as a persecuted Jew in Nazi Germany, through his tortured relationship with Richard Nixon, to his twilight years as a globe-trotting business consultant.

    But popular and successful Noah Rackham is shocked when Adelaide won't have anything to do with him. He has no idea that his very presence reminds her of something she'd rather forget. He only knows that he's finally met a woman he could love. TAKE ME HOME FOR CHRISTMAS Everyone in Whiskey Creek remembers Sophia DeBussi as the town's Mean Girl. Especially Ted Dixon, whose love she once scorned. But Sophia has paid the price—the man she did marry was rich and powerful but abusive. When he goes missing, she learns that he died running from an FBI probe of his investment firm, leaving her penniless and forced to face all the townspeople he cheated. Desperate for work, she accepts a job as housekeeper for Ted, now a successful writer. He refuses to get emotionally involved, but will the holidays bring them another chance at happiness? COME HOME TO ME When Presley Christensen returns to Whiskey Creek with her little boy, she has completely changed her life. Now she's back in the small town that was the closest thing to “home” she ever knew. There's just one catch. Aaron Amos still lives in Whiskey Creek, and no matter how hard she's tried, Presley hasn't been able to get over him. She's come too far to backslide now. And there's a secret she's been guarding—a secret she'll do anything to protect.

    Merwin --Magic barrel / Bernard Malamud --About marriage / Denise Levertov --from Jane Austen / Virginia Woolf --Princess and the tin box / James Thurber.

    Don't let anyone tell you different.My name is Shyla Crowe, and I'm in hock to a demon I never met. My father started me off early, robbing magical antiquities from rich bastards. Thieving was the family business, and business was humming.Until my father got himself dragged to the pits of Hell. Now the only thing staving off his eternal torment is a monthly cash delivery to my new devil employer.Fortunately, not all hellions are evil, and thanks to an old family grimoire, I have the power to summon them. So I'm flush with enemies, sure, but I also have a few friends, like a furry know-it-all gremlin and my staunch gargoyle familiar.Summoning, like thieving, is about tools, technique, and team, and I've got them in spades. So it's only a matter of time until I work my father free.It's a good plan until the discovery of an ancient relic uncovers a sinister plot, rigged from the start. Turns out, I'm not fighting for my freedom... I'm fighting for my destiny.

      FREE Far from the Madding Crowd  Illustrated  Active Contents, Font Adjustments & Navigation About ‘Romeo and Juliet' by William Shakespeare The play Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed plays. Today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers. Romeo and Juliet is sometimes considered to have no unifying theme, save that of young love.Romeo and Juliet have become emblematic of young lovers and doomed love. All Time Best-Sellers in Classics