Enormously likable and a habitual screw-up, Eric Mercer has settled into a sometimes raucous, underachieving life in his one-stoplight hometown—a life cobbled together from his part-time activities as bartender at the American Legion, assistant mortician, and father to his beloved 5-year-old daughter, Tess. Tess seems to be the main reason smart, talented, twenty-four-year-old Eric is staying in town, though her mom, a centerfold-quality beauty, would have it otherwise. When Jill, the lost love of his life, returns to Pinely in the same week that the town goes nuts in preparation for the high school football team's Big Game, life unexpectedly shifts into high gear, and Eric must blunder his way toward enlightenment—fast. Authentic and refreshingly unpredictable, Small Town Odds is written with an acute sense of place and character reminiscent of Richard Russo.

    For the past five years, she had been in love with the man of her dreams. A man who had given her the world. Because of that love, Charlie had a free ride to college, nice cars, an expensive home, and she owned her own business. In her eyes, life was as good as it could possibly be. She had the love of her life, and success. Now if she could just survive the next four years while he finished a bid for yet another parole violation. As hard as it made life, and as lonely as she was, Charlie loved her man, and was going to get through it. Calvin “Hawk” Cason Hawk was in the streets, but he wasn’t like your typical hustler. Hawk was about his money and loved his woman. So much so that everything he gave Charlie was hers. He never wanted her to feel like the things that he did were because he was buying Charlie’s affection or because he wanted to control her. Charlie owned the title to everything Hawk purchased for her, so with or without him, her life would always be financially stable. Hawk knew that Charlie loved him and not the things that he did, so he had no problem helping to secure her future. The perfect union, right? Sometimes things aren’t always what they seem. Hawk paid his way out of a five-year bid after only doing one year, and was coming home. The problem being, who is he coming home to? His secret life has caught up with him, and it’s time to make a decision. A decision that will possibly rock Charlie to the core. Yazmine Carter Yaz is your typical hood certified chick. She refused to work for anything, but feels like she’s owed everything. That attitude created a love hate relationship between Yaz and Charlie. Yaz claims Charlie as her best friend but secretly hates everything about her. With friends like that, who needs enemies? Yaz doesn’t understand how Charlie is always winning, while she has to struggle for every dime. Even when it comes to Charlie’s relationship with Hawk. Yaz feels like it should have been her. When Yaz finds out that the one person that she really wants has eyes for Charlie instead, Yaz is fed up. She makes some decisions that could cancel years of friendship, and after a one night stand with a man who Yaz doesn’t know but quickly finds out is a powerful ally, Yaz decides that sometimes you have to just go for yours. Will that one decision cost her not only her friendship with Charlie but also her life? Delvin “Fray” Simmons Fray is all about his money. Fray puts nothing before it, which is why he has a reputation of being a savage. It’s nothing for him to take the life of those who are disloyal or try to get in his way. Being the top solider on Hawk’s team, it just made sense that he would be the one to take charge when Hawk got sentenced to a five year bid. Fray was the type to just do what was necessary, and made no apologies for it. For that reason, while Hawk placed him in charge, Fray decided to make sure that when Hawk came home, Fray could walk and still be in charge. Not only did he build Hawk’s business, but he began building his own. Fray understood that money changed everything, and there was no way that he was going to go from running it all to being second in command when Hawk returned. It wasn’t a respect thing, it was simply code of the streets. Things eventually get even more complicated when Hawk asks Fray for a favor that would put him right in the middle of a tug of war between Charlie and Hawk. Not only was Fray preparing to be Hawk’s biggest competitor in the streets, he would now find himself being Hawk’s biggest competitor for Charlie’s heart.

    

    Concludes the end of this series.

    Family secrets and lies will be revealed and lots of scheming surrounding the lives of these two sisters will surface. Once the drama ensues and lies are uncovered, you won't be able to handle what happens at each turning corner.

    One act play, Drama. Two wanna-be rock stars await their takeout delivery--or is it their rock-n-roll messiah? An early work by "True West" playwright and actor Sam Shepard. Librarian's Note: No separate publication found at this time. Generally published in collections of Shepard works.

     But when a casual fling turns serious, will they both be down for the ride? Riley Pratt is content living her quiet, less-than-thrilling life in the city minding her own business. Due to her hectic work schedule and self-made career as one of Savannah's up-and-coming interior designers, she's learned to keep her thoughts to herself and her eyes on the prize-- a fruitful, shining career in design. Until Cameron Alden waltzes into town.Always thinking up his next cocky comeback, Cameron is arrogant and annoyingly charming in all the wrong ways. Heir to the largest whiskey distillery in the South, he prides himself on being well-endowed but also claims he's prudish as hell. Official word around town? He's Savannah's hottest bachelor. And he takes complete advantage of it.Which... isn’t Riley’s glass of rosé. Though she can feel sparks flying rampant when they’re together, will Riley give him a chance? Or is she too sure that Cameron's old habits will die hard, making her just another one-night stand?

    But when a domestic disturbance call takes a turn for the worse, their friendship is put on the line. The result is a difficult journey into a moral gray area where trust and loyalty struggle for survival against a sobering backdrop of pimps, prostitutes, and criminal lowlifes.A dark duologue filled with sharp storytelling and biting repartee, A Steady Rain explores the complexities of a lifelong bond tainted by domestic affairs, violence, and the rough streets of Chicago.

    Book annotation not available for this title.

    Her oldest daughter, Kess, is a university professor in Minneapolis, but she has come home at the request of her sister, Jo who is concerned for Evelyn's mental health. Kess, a professed lesbian, wants to cut her family ties once and for all; Jo, an incurable romantic and longtime virgin, has now become pregnant; while Sherry, salty-tongued and amoral, wants only to finish high school so she can leave home for good. In the end, there is no accommodation possible but, instead, only a kind of arbitrary independence for each of the protagonists, as they come to realize that each must find her own heaven or hell in her own way.

    "By a mile, the best new play of the season>"--John Heilpern, New York Observer.

    Real and his lady, Constance, were living in the lap of luxury, with fancy cars, expensive clothes and a million dollar home until someone close to them alerted the feds to their illegal activity.At the blink of an eye their perfect life was turned upside down. Just as Real was sorting things out on the home front, the head of Miami's most powerful Cartel gave him an ultimatum that would eventually force him back into the life he had swore off forever. Knowing this lifestyle would surely put Constance in danger, he made plans to send her away until the score was settled but things spiraled out of control. Now Real and Constance are in a fight for survival where friends become enemies and murder is essential. Atlanta's underworld to Miami's most affluent community—no stone was left unturned as Real fought to keep Constance safe while attempting to regain control of the lifestyle he once would kill for.From the city of Atlanta to the cell block of Georgia's most dangerous prison, life under the City Lights would never be the same.

    The topics include feminism and the role of women in the drama, the American Dream, business and capitalism, the significance of technology, the legacy that Willy leaves to Biff, and Miller's use of symbolism. The authors of the essays include prominent Arthur Miller scholars such as Terry Otten and the late Steven Centola as well as young, emerging scholars. Some of the essays, particularly the ones written by the emerging scholars, tend to employ literary theory while the ones by the established scholars tend to illustrate the strengths of traditional criticism by interpreting the text closely. It is fascinating to see how scholars at different stages of their academic careers approach a given topic from distinct perspectives and sometimes diverse methodologies. The essays offer insightful and provocative readings of Death of a Salesman in a collection that will prove quite useful to scholars and students of Miller's most famous play.

    This new volume collects the author’s plays written in the past five years, including References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot ("effortlessly melds otherworldly fantasy with gritty realism to make sparks fly onstage."—The Journal News), Sueño (a reworking for Pedro Calderón’s Life is a Dream) and Sonnets for an Old Century, the author’s most recent work, which recently premiered in Los Angeles.Puerto Rican-born playwright José Rivera plays have been produced all over the world and his work has been translated into seven languages. His best known work includes Marisol and Each Day Dies with Sleep. "Rivera has a messianic mission to replace old and dying creeds with vibrant new visions."—Robert Brustein, New RepublicAlso available by José RiveraMarisol and Other Plays PB $15.95 1-55936-136-0 • USA