Fragments


Jeffry W. Johnston - 2007
    He can't remember that night, and everyone's treating him like a broken freak. He just wants things to go back to normal. So when he starts getting flashes of memory, he's relieved. He's sure once he remembers everything, he can put the crash behind him and start over. But when the flashes reveal another memory, Chase starts to panic. He's desperate to leave his ugly past behind. But if he wants to put the pieces together once and for all, he must face the truth about who he is . . . and what he has done.

The Compass Rose


Ursula K. Le Guin - 1982
    Twenty astonishing stories from acclaimed author Ursula K. Le Guin that carry us to worlds of wonder and horror, desire and destiny, enchantment and doom.

Flesh and Blood


C.K. Williams - 1987
    K. Williams, was awarded the 1987 National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry. Reviewing it in The New York Times Book Review, Edward Hirsch noted that the book's compression and exactitude gave it "the feeling of a contemporary sonnet sequence." Hirsch added: "Like Berryman's Dream Songs or Lowell's Notebooks, Mr. Williams's short poems are shapely yet open-minded and self-generative, loosely improvisational though with an underlying formal necesity."

The First Crusade and the Idea of Crusading


Jonathan Riley-Smith - 1986
    Following what was then conventional practice among church reformers, the Pope referred to his war of liberation as Christ's own war, to be fought in accordance with God's will and intentions.Urban II called this a war of liberation for two reasons: one, to free the church of Jerusalem from oppression and pillage by the Muslims and to liberate western churches in general; and two, to free the city of Jerusalem from the servitude into which it has fallen. This summons of the lay knight to the faith between 1095 and 1096 was Urban II's personal response to an appeal that had reached him from eastern Christians.In this classic work, Jonathan Riley-Smith, today one of the world's most renowned crusade historians, approaches this central and well-known topic of medieval history with freshness and impeccable research. Through the vivid presentation of a wide range of European chronicles and charter collections, Riley-Smith provides a striking illumination of crusader motives and responses and a thoughtful analysis of the mechanisms that made this expedition successful.

The Fence: A Police Cover-up Along Boston's Racial Divide


Dick Lehr - 2009
    “A monumental account of an urban travesty….[It] has all the earmarks of a classic.”—Dennis Lehane, New York Times bestselling author of Mystic River and Shutter Island Dick Lehr’s The Fence, subtitled, “A Police Cover-up Along Boston’s Racial Divide,” is a shocking true story of racism, brutality, official lies and negligence, when the truth about the savage beating of black plainclothes policeman by white officers was hidden behind a “blue wall of silence.”  Respected journalist Lehr, winner of the Hancock Award, the Loeb Award, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and bestselling author of Black Mass and Judgment Ridge, sheds a brilliant light on all aspects of this powerful, disturbing event and its aftermath.

A First-Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt


Geoffrey C. Ward - 1989
    Beginning in 1905, with Franklin and Eleanor's honeymoon, it covers FDR's years as New York state senator, assistant secretary of the Navy, his early struggle to overcome the ravages of polio and ends with his election as governor of New York in 1928. Ward not only traces the development of Roosevelt's "first-class temperament" but provides dimensional characterizations of friends, enemies and family members, gallantly defending FDR's often-maligned mother, Sara, and revealing the effect on the Roosevelt children of the tensions between Franklin and Eleanor. FDR's jaunty, fun-loving nature and his "breezy duplicity" are brought into focus in the early sections, but the tone deepens in the moving account of the future president's valiant but hopeless attempt to regain the use of his legs. Going against the accepted legend, Ward maintains that "the Roosevelt who could not walk was in most respects very like the one who could."

The Call of The Black River


Martin Adil-Smith - 2013
    Tasked with discovering who or what is reaching out to the stars, his mission will force him to confront the ghosts of his past in his hometown of Lorain, Ohio. Our government told us the signal was a hoax.Agent Conrad Reid must lead a team who neither know nor trust him... and is briefed that if the Soviets reach the source of the transmission before he does, then millions will die. Our government lied Doctor Rose Santiago knows of the shared secrets that bind the team and, even as the mystery unravels, that accounts must be settled.Because Ohio never forgets its debts, and everyone must heed the call

Falling for the Fireman


Allie Pleiter - 2012
    Widowed mom Jeannie Nelworth knows firsthand what it is: loss, hurt and yes—bitterness. Ever since the fire that changed their lives, Jeannie's young son has borne that same look, pushing everyone away. So she's grateful when Chad tries to get through to the boy with the help of his trusty fire station dog.But the man who's all about safety and prevention keeps himself protected—from loving and losing again. Seems as if Jeannie will have to add his kind, guarded heart to her rebuilding efforts.

The Last Castle


Jack Vance - 1966
    Their servants inexplicably revolt; what will gentlemen do? This novel shows Vance's verbal style like no other.

Tales of Old Earth


Michael Swanwick - 2000
    Nineteen tales from Michael Swanwick's best short fiction of the past decade are gathered here for the first time, including the 1999 Hugo Award-nominated "Radiant Doors" and "Wild Minds" and that year's Hugo winning story, "The Very Pulse of the Machine." The collection also features "The Raggle Taggle Gypsy-O," written especially for this volume.Contents"A User’s Guide to Michael Swanwick" by Bruce Sterling“Ancient Engines”“Ice Age”“In Concert”“Microcosmic Dog”“Midnight Express”“Mother Grasshopper”“North of Diddy-Wah-Diddy”“Radiant Doors”“Radio Waves”“Riding the Giganotosaur”“Scherzo the Tyrannosaur”“The Changeling’s Tale”“The Dead”"The Mask”“The Raggle Taggle Gypsy-O”“The Very Pulse of the Machine”“The Wisdom of the Old Earth”“Walking Out”“Wild Minds”

Ghosts in the Gallery


Barbara Brooks Wallace - 2000
    Why?"Guaranteed chills and thrills," says Horn Book of Ghosts in the Gallery, nominated by Mystery Writers of America for its EDGAR Award."Descriptions draw the reader a picture of time and place and atmosphere that is nearly perfect. Sure to be a hit," says School Library Journal.Washington Parent calls this book a "real page turner."

Bible Stories for Adults


James K. Morrow - 1996
    Among the dozen selections is the Nebula Award-winning “Bible Stories for Adults, No. 17: The Deluge.”Contents:Bible Stories for Adults, No. 17: The Deluge (1988)Daughter Earth (1991)Known but to God and Wilbur Hines (1991)Bible Stories for Adults, No. 20: The Tower (1994)Spelling God with the Wrong Blocks (1987)The Assemblage of Kristin (1984)Bible Stories for Adults, No. 31: The Covenant (1989)Abe Lincoln in McDonald's (1989)The Confessions of Ebenezer Scrooge (1989)Bible Stories for Adults No. 46: The Soap Opera (1994)Diary of a Mad Deity (1988)Arms and the Woman (1991)

Easy in the Islands


Bob Shacochis - 1985
    An entire island bureaucracy casually confounds the attempts of Tillman, a hotel owner, in his attempt to get his dead mother out of the freezer and into a real grave; stymied, he resorts to a highly unusual form of burial. Two poor islanders stumble into a high-class dance party one night and find themselves caught up in a violent encounter that just might escalate into revolution. And a young woman sails off into the romantic tropics with the man of her dreams, only to learn the hard way - as Eve did - that paradise is just another place to leave behind.Winner of the National Book Award for first fiction, Easy in the Islands is a “stunning” (Washington Post) collection of stories by one of America’s foremost contemporary fiction writers. Infused with the rhythms and the beat of the Caribbean, these vivid tales of paradise sought and paradise lost are as lush, steamy, and invigorating as the islands themselves.From fishing fleets in remote atolls too small to appear on any map and reggae bars on islands narrow enough to walk across in an hour, to the sprawling barrios and yacht filled marinas of Miami, Bob Shacochis charts a course across a Caribbean that no one who has ever been there on vacation will recognize.

Following the Mystery Man


Mary Downing Hahn - 1988
    He was busy reading the drugstore bulletin board when Madigan first saw him. He sure was good looking! His hair was dark and he had a full beard with a mustache that curled up on the ends and hid his mouth, just as his silver sunglasses hid his eyes. Then he walked right up to the soda fountain where Madigan and her friend Angie were sipping cherry Cokes, and asked for directions to Madigan's house!Now the handsome "mystery man" is renting a room in her very own home -- and Madigan is about to take some dangerous risks to find who he is...

Tran


Jerry Pournelle - 1996
    With Larry Niven he has collaborated on a string of bestselling novels, including Lucifer's Hammer, The Mote in God's Eye, Footfall, and many more. He holds advanced degrees in psychology, statistics, engineering, and political science, and has been involved professionally in all these fields. He and his wife live in Los Angeles.