His signature style is simplicity itself, but the themes he tackles are big, deep and universal—love, loss, happiness, grief, and all the shades of emotion in between. These are stories of city and small town, mountain and lowland, and of life lived slowly and lightly. For over fifty years, these tales have charmed and beguiled several generations of readers. Last year, Ruskin Bond made a selection of his favourite stories (from the several hundred that he has written) that were published in a book entitled A Gathering of Friends. It proved to be enormously popular, selling out in a matter of weeks. Encouraged by its success, the author has made a further selection of his favourite stories and non-fiction sketches, leavening the mix with several pieces that have never been published before. It is a collection that will burnish his reputation as one of the world’s great storytellers.

    She’s surfed the net to learn everything she can about being a monster. She’s ready. She’s even practicing on her sister. Inside her fractured mind, her imaginary mentor, Doctor Nine, promises that he is coming for her. To take her with him and his strange friends; to help her become all that she can be. Is Doctor Nine only a figment of her imagination, or has her madness opened a doorway to something –else? Jonathan Maberry the New York Times bestseller and multiple Bram Stoker award-winning author of Patient Zero, the King of Plagues, and Dead of Night takes you along for a ride through the darkest landscapes of the human soul.

    He inherited the best traditions of 19th century classical Russian literature and was at the same time the creator of a new art, socialist realism; he laid the foundations of the young Soviet Literature. Gorky was born "Aleksey Maksimovich Peshkov" on March 16, 1868, in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia - which was later renamed in his honor after his death (ordered by Stalin himself, it is rumored). The bitterness of his early life led him to choose the name Maxim Gorky (which means "the bitter one") as his pseudonym. Although jailed periodically for association with revolutionaries and for his own outspoken opinion on the existing social order, Gorky managed to publish a few short stories, mostly about the tramps and derelicts he had met on his journeys. These short stories soon became very popular, touching the imagination of the Russian people. Gorky became a kind of folk hero. He was the first Russian author to write sympathetically of such characters as tramps and thieves, emphasizing their daily struggles against overwhelming odds.

    A. Jance.Trial by FireIn the heat of the Arizona desert, a raging fire pushes temperatures to a deadly degree, and one woman is left to burn. Pulled naked and barely breathing from the fire, the victim has no idea who she is, let alone who would do this to her—or why. Then a savior appears. Sister Anselm is a devoted advocate for unidentified patients, but to Jane Doe’s remorseless would-be killer, she poses a serious threat. Ali Reynolds, the police department’s new media consultant, struggles to help Sister Anselm locate the missing relatives. But their efforts may be exposing the victim once more to danger. In the fearless pursuit of justice, Ali discovers a secret even darker and more twisted than she ever could have imagined.Fatal ErrorAli Reynolds begins the summer thinking her most difficult challenge will be surviving a six-week-long course as the lone forty-something female at the Arizona Police Academy. However, when Brenda Riley, a former colleague, shows up in town with an alcohol problem and an unlikely story about a missing fiancé, Ali reluctantly agrees to help. But when the man posing as Brenda’s fiancé is viciously murdered and the police focus their investigation on Brenda, Ali is quickly drawn into a web of online intrigue that may lead to a real-world fatal error.Left for DeadWhen one of Ali’s former Arizona Police Academy classmates is gunned down and left to die, he is at first assumed to be an innocent victim of the violent drug cartels. But the crime scene investigation reveals there’s much more to the story. Summoned to his hospital bedside, Ali meets another seriously injured victim—an unidentified young woman, presumed to be an illegal border crosser, who was raped and savagely beaten. Ali is determined to seek justice in both cases. But as she zeroes in on the truth, the real killer is lining her up in the crosshairs…

    Rock Paper Scissors is an exciting domestic thriller from the queen of the killer twist, about a couple who thinks they know each other well, but realize on a ten year anniversary trip things might not be all that they seem... Rock Paper Scissors goes on sale September 7.

    Gary Handler has issues. His boss hates him, his mother hounds him, and his cat thinks he’s an idiot. But that’s okay because Gary’s got the perfect solution to all of life’s troubles: a porn site subscription and his right hand.Sadly, all habits grow old, even the fun ones. Gary soon finds himself at the doorstep of a creepy old pawn shop where he buys a used adult novelty toy to spice up his one-man sex life.Pity for him that it’s cursed by the angry spirits of all the “kids” he’s flushed down the toilet. Needless to say, hairy palms are about to become the least of his worries.----------Jack on, jack off ... with the Jacklight in book 2 of Shingles, the horror comedy series that’s not for those with faint hearts or weak bladders.

    Only in the woods, among the wildlife, is Addison truly welcome. Only there can he be at peace. Until the day he first knows terror, the day when his life changes radically and forever....Twelve of the other fourteen short stories and novelettes included in this audio anthology were most recently reissued in a print collection entitled Strange Highways, published by Warner Books (1995). The other two—"The Scariest Thing I Know" (2000) first published in Martha Stewart Living magazine and "Hostage Situation" (2009) in The New York Times Summer Thriller series.Only the short work "Down in the Darkness," has ever been produced for audio.

    But now he’s back on her island, ready to marry another. She knows, she’s seen the vision. Only not everything is as it seems, and by the end of the night, if everything goes as planned, it just might be Frankie at the altar.

    This collection focuses upon the land he knew and loved so well—Normandy. Its people and its countryside are portrayed here in vivid colour and with great warmth. Amusing, saucy, and sometimes even farcical they may be, but they are also capable of great pathos, often branching off to end tragically. It is this skilful and affecting blend of tragedy and comedy, of tears and laughter, which make Maupassant's Normandy Stories the enduring favourites they are today.11 stories:Disc 1. In the country - Pierrot - A Normandy joke - A cock crowed - Old Boniface's crime - The confession - Disc 2. An apparition - The little cask - The castaway - Bombard - Master Belhomme's beast.