The best authors put painstaking--sometimes obsessive--effort into each element of their stories, from plot and character development to dialogue and point of view.What made Nabokov choose the name Lolita? Why did Fitzgerald use first-person narration in The Great Gatsby? How did Kerouac, who raged against revision, finally come to revise On the Road? Veteran editor and teacher Richard Cohen draws on his vast reservoir of a lifetime's reading and his insight into what makes good prose soar. Here are Gabriel Garc�a M�rquez's thoughts on how to start a novel ("In the first paragraph you solve most of the problems with your book"); Virginia Woolf offering her definition of style ("It is all rhythm. Once you get that, you can't use the wrong words"); and Vladimir Nabokov on the nature of fiction ("All great novels are great fairy tales").Cohen has researched the published works and private utterances of our greatest authors to discover the elements that made their prose memorable. The result is a unique exploration of the act and art of writing that enriches our experience of reading both the classics and the best modern fiction. Evoking the marvelous, the famous, and the irreverent, he reveals the challenges that even the greatest writers faced--and shows us how they surmounted them.Praise for How to Write Like Tolstoy"The highest compliment one can pay How to Write Like Tolstoy is that it provokes an overwhelming urge to read and write, to be in dialogue or even doomed competition with the greatest creative minds . . . . That Mr. Cohen is an editor, that his love of literature comes in large part from awe in the presence of better writers than he, is no small matter. His love is infectious, and regardless of how well he ends up teaching us to write, that is miracle enough."--Wall Street Journal"[A] perfect tasting menu . . . the homage of a passionate reader to the writers who have provided his 'main pastime.' "--The Sunday Times (U.K.)"This book is a wry, critical friend to both writer and reader. It is filled with cogent examples and provoking statements. You will agree or quarrel with each page, and be a sharper writer and reader by the end."--Hilary Mantel "These twelve essays are like twelve perfect university lectures on the craft of writing fiction. The professor--or, in this case, author--succeeds in being not only knowledgeable but also interesting, charming, and engaging."--Library Journal (starred review)"Insightful . . . [Cohen] escorts his readers to Iris Murdoch for sage counsel on launching a novel, to Salman Rushdie for shrewd guidance on developing an unreliable narrator, to Rudyard Kipling for a cagey hint on creating memorable minor characters, and to Leo Tolstoy for a master's help in transforming personal experience into fictional art."--Booklist

    Alien bug-monsters. Beautiful women. Not bad for a strip-club bouncer with a talent for slowing down time.I never thought my power was good for anything really important. It was useful for helping me win fistfights against drunken customers, and for ogling the girls onstage. But saving the multiverse against a plague of inter-dimensional monsters?That was a bit out of my league. Or so I believed. But then a massive time-rift opened up behind the club, and a mad old time wizard saved my life. Now, here I am, careening through time in an old hippie van, with two crazy-hot strippers and an AI at my side, trying to level up enough to defeat the monsters.Sure, there’s a damn good chance I’ll die trying, but it ought to be one hell of a ride.Note: This book contains harem elements.

    Updated and set out in a clear, easy-to-read format, this book makes it simpler than ever before to get free. • A UNIQUE METHOD THAT DOES NOT REQUIRE WILLPOWER• REMOVE THE PSYCHOLOGICAL NEED TO EAT JUNK FOOD• BANISH EMOTIONAL EATING• REGAIN CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE• MAKE EATING A PLEASURE AGAINWhat people say about Allen Carr's Easyway method: "Your journey through Allen Carr's book will be a revelation in discovering how simple the answer to weight control can be."Dr PM Bray MB, CHb, MRCGP"The Allen Carr program was nothing short of a miracle." Anjelica Huston "I was exhilarated by a new sense of freedom." The Independent "A different approach. A stunning success." The Sun

    With 12 chapters and 1,244 practice problems, students can build fundamental skills in math and verbal through targeted practice. Plus, through easy-to-follow explanations and step-by-step applications, each question will help students cement their understanding of those concepts tested on the GRE. Purchase of this book includes access to additional online resources.

    This funny, personal journey through the art world answers the basic questions that might occur to us in an art gallery but that we’re too embarrassed to ask. Questions such as: What is “good” or “bad” art—and does it even matter? Is art still capable of shocking us or have we seen it all before? And what happens if you place apiece of art in a rubbish dump?

    It is revealed how all unifications in physics have been based on incredibly simple ideas. Using a logical approach, it is explained how the great 20th century theories of relativity and quantum mechanics share a common base, and how they can be linked using an idea so simple that anyone can understand it. An idea which is so simple it has been hidden in plain sight.

    Written expressly for "anyone who believes there are big questions out there, but does not know how to approach them," Think provides a sound framework for exploring the most basic themes of philosophy, and for understanding how major philosophers have tackled the questions that have pressed themselves most forcefully on human consciousness.

    A deadly challenge. The fate of the world is on Astra’s shoulders.Twenty-five-year-old Astra Ching has never sought the spotlight. So when a mysterious black orb appears with a challenge for Earth and selects her to compete in its strange—and very public—game, she’s not pleased to find herself a sudden superstar.The rules are bewildering, and there are no second chances for losers. Yet while Astra fights to stay alive and save the world from imminent destruction, the people of Earth are more interested in tabloids and gossip, like whether or not she’s engaging in a scandalous love affair with a fellow contestant . . . or the mysterious alien known only as Eleven.In her struggle to survive, Astra forms tentative alliances with a handful of trustworthy friends. But as the global gossip seeps into the game and contestants are eliminated with each round, Astra’s celebrity threatens to become infamy and the line between friend and foe blurs.Will she emerge from the arena a hero, or just another headline?

    The book also analyzes the complex and problematic films of Brian De Palma, attacks the 1980s fantasy cinema of Lucas and Spielberg, examines the work of women directors, and celebrates the films of Scorcese and Michael Cimino.

    “I’m willing to pay $100,000 to you for helping me to learn how to function as an adult, and pretend to be my girlfriend.”$100,000? For 3 months?That’s more money than Jacqueline Cross makes in three years!Dylan Brandt has just been given an ultimatum: Get your act together… or you’re getting cut off!No trust fund, no cars, no personal chefs, no bottomless expense cards, no nothing.That’s where Jacqueline Cross — Dylan’s sexy downstairs neighbor — comes in to the picture.After she barged in to his apartment at 2am on a Thursday morning to tell him off for his loud music and irreverent attitude……Dylan thinks he knows just the person to whip him in to shape… or at least pretend to.The plan works at first, his dad is happy and it looks like he’s making real progress… barring some confusing boundaries regarding sex……until Jaqueline finds out that Dylan’s father OWNS the company she works for and HR comes after her because she’s dating the boss’s son.It gets worse…A story breaks that Dylan knocked up two separate women — AT THE SAME TIME — and they say they’re carrying his children! The Playboy's Pretend Girlfriend is a stand-alone romance novel with a guaranteed HEA and no cliffhangers.

     A shark like me.She doesn't remember me. It's been a long time but I never forgot her. Hello to curvy, sexy Melanie, fresh out of College. She's got talent but she needs my help. Sure, I can help her. I can teach her a thing or two about the world of high finance. But, who am I kidding? I want her in my bed... under me and screaming my name. I'm crossing every boundary getting involved with her. There's billions of dollars at stake but I won't stop until she's mine. Shark is a 180 page romantic suspense novel. No cliffhanger. No cheating. HEA. WARNING: 18+ Only. Contains mature themes and language.

    The Counter-Cultivation division investigates, the elite Black Corpses are sent in for the kill. None are spared. Mercy does not exist.But did the cultivators really bring the War of Tribulation? Are they actually responsible for the Heavenly Curse? Are they truly the bloodthirsty psychopaths the government paints them to be?Wang Fan, a homicide detective, believes that officers like himself are tasked with championing the rights of the common citizens. But when a seemingly routine case goes awry, he finds himself dragged into the darkness of the cultivation world. By the time he realizes the Black Corpses have their sniper rifles aimed at the back of his head, Wang Fan has no choice.He has to fight the system to survive.

    With passion and wit, Mary Oliver skillfully imparts expertise from her long, celebrated career as a disguised poet. She walks readers through exactly how a poem is built, from meter and rhyme, to form and diction, to sound and sense, drawing on poems by Robert Frost, Elizabeth Bishop, and others. This handbook is an invaluable glimpse into Oliver’s prolific mind??—??a must-have for all poetry-lovers.

     When a terrorist plot results in the detonation of several nuclear devices across the West Coast, the Frasers are thrown into disarray and their strained familial relationships are tested as they watch society collapse around them. Tens of millions of people are killed, injured and driven away from their homes as the result of a sinister plot that the government and its citizens are struggling to understand. With their older daughter lost in the chaos, the Frasers must somehow pull together to support each other and fight to reunite their family. Darkness Rising is a thrilling post-apocalyptic series that follows the survivors of a massive terrorist attack that isn't quite what it seems. As you learn more about the Fraser family and a few brave government agents who are attempting to unravel the horror and mystery behind the attacks, you'll soon discover that not everything in the apocalypse is as it appears to be. Written as a collaboration between Justin Bell and #1 bestselling post-apocalyptic author Mike Kraus, Darkness Rising is a gripping, unique and timely take on the post-apocalyptic genre, and is one that will leave you breathless with every turn of the page. This complete edition of Darkness Rising features all six books in the series, each one full of action, suspense and drama as the Fraser family struggles to survive the end of days.

    But it is also much more than that: in talk and writing, in music and images, in film and television, genres actively generate and shape our knowledge of the world. Understanding genre as a dynamic process rather than a set of stable rules, this book explores:*the relation of simple to complex genres*the history of literary genre in theory*the generic organisation of implied meanings*the structuring of interpretation by genre*the uses of genre in teaching.John Frow’s lucid exploration of this fascinating concept will be essential reading for students of literary and cultural studies.