The last person to touch it was Nina Simone, her saliva and fingerprints unsullied. The idea that it was still in her towel was something I had drawn strength from. I thought each time I opened it some of Nina Simone's spirit would vanish. In many ways that thought was more important than the gum itself.On Thursday 1 July, 1999, Dr Nina Simone gave a rare performance as part of Nick Cave's Meltdown Festival. After the show, in a state of awe, Warren Ellis crept onto the stage, took Dr Simone's piece of chewed gum from the piano, wrapped it in her stage towel and put it in a Tower Records bag. The gum remained with him for twenty years; a sacred totem, his creative muse, a conduit that would eventually take Ellis back to his childhood and his relationship with found objects, growing in significance with every passing year.

    Now, six years later, I want my life back. Only I’m not sure what that is. The test results came back today. 22,000. Which means I’m officially out of remission—again. I have three options: 1) Another round of chemo. 2) A super-new experimental drug. 3) Dump it all— forget the meds and treatments and enjoy the time I have left. I think I know what I want. Then, in walks Damian, changing everything. I mean, everything… He’s got his own set of issues. It binds us together, you know? We understand what it’s like to lose what matters most in seconds. Still, the last thing I need is to have someone else to crush if I can’t fight hard enough. And the last thing he needs is someone else to grieve. Never mind. I’m down to two options now. Somehow I know that whichever one I choose, the result will be the same. With the sand in my hourglass seeping to the bottom, I hope there’s enough left to show Damian that life’s worth living. Worth fighting for. Worth dying for. Love Always, Kate

    Poems in English and Spanish that discuss what it means to be Puerto Rican in the United States today.

    The Small Rain, an adult novel, focuses on Katherine Forrester, the daughter of distinguished musical artists, whose career as a concert pianist evolves through loves and losses. Katherine is a child growing up in a refined, yet bohemian, artistic ambience--theatrical as well as musical . . . . [Her] adolescence is lonely and difficult, but as Katherine advances to young womanhood, her heart as well as her talent is promisingly engaged (Publishers Weekly).

    Enjoy or die..." --John LydonPunk has been romanticized and embalmed in various media. An English class revolt that became a worldwide fashion statement, punk's idols were the Sex Pistols, and its sneering hero was Johnny Rotten.Seventeen years later, John Lydon looks back at himself, the Sex Pistols, and the "no future" disaffection of the time. Much more than just a music book, Rotten is an oral history of punk: angry, witty, honest, poignant, crackling with energy. Malcolm McLaren, Sid Vicious, Chrissie Hynde, Billy Idol, London and England in the late 1970s, the Pistols' creation and collapse...all are here, in perhaps the best book ever written about music and youth culture, by one of its most notorious figures.

    It follows him during the year he plunged to rock bottom and his courageous decision to pick himself up and start living again."

    It dispels the myths about Layne's childhood, his early days in music, and the final, very private years of his life. It contains dozens of never-before-seen drawings, writings and photographs...that all shaped the ALICE IN CHAINS' songwriter/singer who sold millions of CDs...helping revolutionize modern rock.

    When he is lost in battle she loses everything, even their children. Her fight to win them back recalls the terror of the shield wall, the harsh lives of convict slaves, and the enormous difficulties a lone woman must face in a male dominated heroic age."This is a really excellent read, a page turner that gives a vivid, convincing picture of 7th century Mercian England." The Historical Novels Review

    But now destiny was about to manifest itself. I felt like it was looking right at me and nobody else." So writes Bob Dylan in Chronicles: Volume One, his remarkable book exploring critical junctures in his life and career. Through Dylan's eyes and open mind, we see Greenwich Village, circa 1961, when he first arrives in Manhattan. Dylan's New York is a magical city of possibilities -- smoky, nightlong parties; literary awakenings; transient loves and unbreakable friendships. Elegiac observations are punctuated by jabs of memories, penetrating and tough. With the book's side trips to New Orleans, Woodstock, Minnesota and points west, Chronicles: Volume One is an intimate and intensely personal recollection of extraordinary times.By turns revealing, poetical, passionate and witty, Chronicles: Volume One is a mesmerizing window on Bob Dylan's thoughts and influences. Dylan's voice is distinctively American: generous of spirit, engaged, fanciful and rhythmic. Utilizing his unparalleled gifts of storytelling and the exquisite expressiveness that are the hallmarks of his music, Bob Dylan turns Chronicles: Volume One into a poignant reflection on life, and the people and places that helped shape the man and the art.

    For official purposes, these agents do not exist. They are sent out on missions to spy on terrorists, hack into crucial documents, and gather intel on global threats—all without gadgets or weapons. It is an exceptionally dangerous job, but these agents have one crucial advantage: adults never suspect that teens are spying on them. James is the latest CHERUB recruit. He’s a bit of a troublemaker, but he’s also brilliant. And CHERUB needs him. James has no idea what to expect, but he’s out of options. Before he can start in the field he must first survive one hundred grueling days of basic training, where even the toughest recruits don’t make it to the end.Class ADrugs, cars and guns! Keith Moore is Europe's biggest cocaine dealer. The police have been trying to get enough evidence to nail him for more than twenty years. Now, four CHERUB agents are joining the hunt. Can a group of kids successfully infiltrate Keith Moore's organisation when dozens of attempts by undercover police officers have failed? James Adams must start at the bottom, making deliveries for small time drug dealers and getting to know the dangerous underworld they inhabit. He needs to make a big splash if he's going to win the confidence of the man at the top.Maximum SecurityCHERUB agents are highly trained, extremely talented—and all under the age of seventeen. For official purposes, these agents do not exist. They are sent out on missions to spy on terrorists, hack into crucial documents, and gather intel on global threats—all without gadgets or weapons. It is a highly dangerous job, but these agents have one crucial advantage: Adults never suspect that teens are spying on them. In Maximum Security, James’s newest mission brings him to the sun-baked desert prison Arizona Max, home to 280 child criminals. One of them is the son of a weapons dealer who has been selling U.S. missiles to terrorists. If James can get the kid, CHERUB has a chance to stop the father. Getting into the prison is easy. Breaking out is the hard part.

    But even with a new, loving family, he still finds himself haunted by memories of his old life. But those memories are easier to deal with whenever he’s with Lyric Scott, his spunky and outgoing best friend. Lyric Scott has had a good life surrounded by family and friends, yet she always felt something was missing. But that changed the day she met Ayden Gregory. Her sad, but sweet best friend fills the void in her life more than she ever could have imagined. She just wishes she could make him as happy as he does her. As Lyric and Ayden grow closer, the lines of their friendship start to blur. But when Ayden's past unexpectedly pushes its way into his new life, their friendship and newfound attraction will be tested. Raveling You (Unraveling You, #2) Ayden Gregory may want to keep running from his nightmares, but he no longer has a choice. His past is catching up with him. And fast. He relies on one person to keep him from crumbling. His best friend Lyric Scott. Lyric feels helpless watching her best friend’s world turn upside down. But she does her best to remain positive and upbeat. Her band gets their very first gig and even with everything going on, her relationship with Ayden starts to heat up. But when danger enters Ayden’s life again, even Lyric might not be able to help him. Awakening You (Unraveling You, #3) Lately, life has been going well for Ayden. His relationship with Lyric is starting to heat up and his career in music is taking off. But the disappearance of his sister still weighs heavily on his mind. Desperate to find out where his sister is, Ayden decides to take drastic measures. But his dangerous risk leads to the unraveling of secrets, and he’s left facing a darker past then he ever could have imagined. Inspiring You (Unraveling You, #4) Ayden knows it’s time to remember what really happened four years ago, so he can help save his sister. With the help of Lyric, he faces his past head on. But dealing with the truth is difficult. Will Ayden finally be free of his past so he can move forward to his future? **A series about Ella and Micha’s daughter and Lila and Ethan's son from The Secret Series. However, this series can be read on its own.**

    Because you, you are everything.” There’s no easy road traveled to such an intense sentiment, one I never dreamt I’d feel… But I also never planned on Cannon Blackwell climbing aboard my tour bus.

    "By turns moving, funny, appalling, disturbing. . . . There has never been anything like it".--"Rolling Stone". 80 b&w photos. 16-page color insert.In his twenty-nine years, rock idol Manson has experienced more than most people have (or would want to) in a lifetime. Now, in his shocking and candid memoir, he takes readers from backstage to gaol cells, from recording studios to emergency rooms, from the pit of despair to the top of the charts, and recounts his metamorphosis from a frightened Christian schoolboy into the most feared and revered music superstar in the country.

    . . . Act One: Girl Leaves BoyLindsay West may have the face of a Hollywood starlet, but the demanding life of a teen celebrity never suited her. So nearly twenty years ago, she left her hit TV show and returned to her hometown of Belle Coeur, Missouri. Now Lindsay takes a role in a new play at a regional theater, unaware that she’ll be sharing the stage with her former cast mate, one-time heartthrob Noah Patrick. Act Two: Boy Tries to Win Back GirlNoah Patrick took the gig at the Belle Coeur Theater hoping it would help revive his stalled career–but it was his heart that got the jumpstart. Playing opposite the beautiful and enigmatic Lindsay, he begins to understand that fame is fickle and fortune is fleeting but true love lasts. Growing up together on the set of the show that made them both stars, Noah didn’t give Lindsay much thought. But now she has grown into someone impossible to forget.Act Three: Anyone’s GuessFighting off man-eating bears, Lindsay’s quirky family, and a pretty serious case of pneumonia, Noah will do whatever it takes to prove that this former bad boy has turned into a man Lindsay can love . . . before the curtain falls!

    New start. New life. And an unexpected new job: assistant to Justin Beckett.The Justin Beckett.The boy band rebel with the cocky attitude and dreamy bed head who casts a spell over his fans and tests the patience of his handlers.Now at the peak of Mount Adulthood, he has to build a clean-cut, movie star image. It’s in his contract. No partying. No attitude. No groupies.To tie it together, he needs a normal girl.Suddenly, Kayla’s swept up in Justin’s glamorous world, and his arms. But the most dizzying thing is Justin himself. Sweet, generous, reliable, and as eager to shed his past as Kayla is hers.About that…Those ties she thought she’d cut? They’ve followed her across the country with her secrets in tow, and they’re about to test Kayla’s courage, Justin’s loyalty, and a love that wasn’t part of the deal.