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Unreal Aliens


Karthik Laxman - 2016
    And it is Modi-led India that has this high honour. Prime Minister Modi rolls out the red carpet for the aliens. He receives them at the airport, shows them the sights in Delhi and convinces them to invest in the Make in India campaign. The leader of the alien delegation even holds a broom to promote Swachh Bharat. But what is the real reason the aliens have come to India? Are they friends? Or will they turn foes? Read this hilarious, rib-tickling novel from the author of Unreal Elections to find out.

Slanky: Poems


Mike Doughty - 2002
    Doughty’s poems are at once absurdist and matter-of-fact; the images he conjures are thrown into high relief through cutting wordplay. In a series of prose poems about showbiz, he reimagines Cookie Monster as a burned-out suicide, and cheesy talk-show host Joe Franklin as a cross-dressing witness to the apocalypse. And in “For Charlotte, Unlisted,” he wrenchingly tracks the elusive memory of a faded romance.

Buddy Babylon: The Autobiography of Buddy Cole


Scott Thompson - 1998
    His outrageous monologues made him a legend on tv's The Kids in the Hall.  Now he's back--with the life story only he could tell."My goal is not to shock and horrify, but to tell the truth.  And if that truth shocks and horrifies, well .  .  .  maybe you should get out more."Spinning martini-fueled tales from his stool in his favorite gay bar, acid-tongued raconteur Buddy Cole became one of The Kids in the Hall's most beloved and enduring characters.  Now, brought to you by Kids star Scott Thompson with series writer Paul Bellini, Buddy Babylon takes you on a jaw-dropping tour of Buddy's flashy, trashy life, filled with tales of poignant, heart-wrenching romance, lurid sexual debauchery, the birth of synchronized swimming, and the ugly, never-before-revealed truth behind the Prettiest Feet in Quebec contest.Join Marco (Buddy's cosmetically challenged sidekick), Cornygirl (the loyal corncob doll who rarely leaves his side), and a cast of unforgettably offbeat characters as Buddy blazes a trail across the deep Canadian forest, through the darkest corners of the big city, and back to his signature barstool.  From his humble beginnings as the twenty-third child of poor pig farmers, to his moment in the spotlight in the tabloids, Buddy Babylon lays bare a lifetime of madness, chaos, and things your mother warned you about--the essential Buddy Cole.After Kids' six-year run on CBS, HBO, Comedy Central, and the CBC in Canada, Scott Thompson joined the cast of the critically acclaimed HBO series The Larry Sanders Show.  He is also a frequent guest on Politically Incorrect and The Late Show, and continues to do stand-up comedy, which includes performances in the character of Buddy Cole.

Island Dreams


Evangeline Kelly - 2020
    I never won anything. But here I was, boarding a plane for an all-expenses paid trip to Makani Island. Alone. I wasn’t expecting anything more than a soul-soothing vacation.Then I met him. A total grouch, or so I thought. A guy I wouldn’t want to see again. Ever. But somehow, he convinced me to take a walk on the beach. The walk turned into an all-night conversation. A once in a lifetime connection. We both knew it, but his mega-wealthy parents had wedding plans set out for him already.He said he was his own man, but I refused to be a wedge between them. Could I really give him up? The bigger question was…would he let me?Island Dreams is a clean short read, and the first in a vacation romance series.

On A Journey Of Life


Kajal Rai - 2021
    The only thing getting her through the guilt of taking the trip against her father's wishes is the beautiful sunset in the hills and the echoes of her heartfelt conversations with Arjun. As she uncovers some secrets of her mother's life from the diary throughout the trip, she struggles against the fate decided for her and dares to hope for something more out of her life and with Arjun.But when her father's constant demands to come back home threaten to cut her trip short, Saanchi must make a choice. Will she go back to her restrictive life or take a chance at living life on her terms?***That Summer - Nivedita KarmaranAfter being forced to spend that summer at Bungalow No. 64, a thirteen-year-old recluse yet free-spirited Rashi Anand, who is bored of her parents’ monotonous lives forms an unexpected friendship with the maintenance man of her guarded society, Lalit. She should have nothing to do with him, yet they find themselves comforting and confiding in each other. But is such friendship considered forbidden? Would Rashi rebel to rescue her friendship and will their friendship stand the test of time?

Clean Break


David Matthew Klein - 2012
    Lured by the hope of a better life for herself and her son, Celeste Vanek must deal with the emotional and physical resistance of her compulsive gambler husband when she asks for a divorce. Though she hopes she is on the verge of making a clean break, her husband demands his family back, and things getviolent. Jake Atwood, who witnesses the shocking scene between Celeste and her husband, struggles with his own emotional and ethical issues while attempting to help Celeste escape her marriage. At the same time, Jake is involved with Sara, amarried and childless police detective who has a private agenda to pursue when a crime is committed that links all of these characters together and changes their lives forever. With heart-pounding suspense and brilliant psychological insight, CLEAN BREAK will leave readers breathless.

Faraway Child


Amy Maida Wadsworth - 2005
    But now Jen's life seems to be crumbling around her. Her husband Adam is suddenly without a job, her sister is moving far away, and people increasingly describe her two-year-old daughter as a difficult child. This is not the way Jen dreamed parenthood would be, especially with her youngest daughter.In the middle of each night, Kaye wakes up screaming. Human interactions and parental guidance have little meaning for her. Jen makes jokes about Kaye's public behavior to push away the pain. Marie, her four-year-old daughter, wants to know, "Why won't Kaye play with me?" Then Jen's new visiting teacher asks if Kaye is autistic. In Faraway Child, Amy Maida Wadsworth shares her most personal novel to date with a story about a family who faces shattered expectations, and then learns to reach out to family, ward members, and to God.

Searching for Lincoln's Ghost


Barbara J. Dzikowski - 2011
    After losing both parents in a car accident and being raised by a grandmother obsessed with death, Andi is struggling with an unusual quest for a girl her age-- to determine whether there is life after death.It is 1966, and Castalia, Indiana, like most cities of that time, is grappling with social and cultural change. Meanwhile, rumors have long swirled around Castalia's Lincoln Elementary School. Over its long history, the school has produced two sixth graders who claim to have seen Lincoln's ghost in the school's auditorium. When Andi prays on her dead mother's rosary to be the next to encounter Lincoln's ghost in order to confirm the existence of an after-life, a complex chain of events is set into motion, including the appearance of John Malone, a new boy at school who harbors an explosive secret, and mysterious moaning emanating from behind the dark stage after school. While Andi desperately seeks answers to life's most difficult questions, an unlikely new friend emerges--a mystical bait shop owner named Ezra.Searching for Lincoln's Ghost is a story about coming-of-age during the tumultuous 1960s, exploring such disturbing topics as personal isolation, fear and depression, bullying, social and racial intolerance. Peppered with Lincoln folklore and history, it is a timeless tale of the power of love, empathy, and how the actions of one person can profoundly impact another.

ASHWIN SANGHI BOX SET


Ashwin Sanghi
    Sanghi speculates that Jesus Christ survived the crucifixion and spent his missing years in India, and that the men searching for Jesus were Buddhist Monks who were searching for the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. He mentions that the lost tribes of Israel may have settled in Kashmir. The author also introduces St. Thomas as one of Jesuss closest friends and Mary Magdalene as a woman from the ancient Mauryan Empire headed by Ashoka. The book further features terrorist attacks that share some parallels with the 2008 Mumbai attacks.Sanghis hypothesis goes on to establish that Jesuss descendants are todays Kashmiri Islamists. The author draws some similar lines between the fate of a group of terrorists and that of Jesus and his 12 apostles. The book traces the roots of various religions and states that all their origins are closely knit.The Rozabal Line was first published in 2007 under Sanghi's pseudonym Shawn Haigins in the United States. The revised edition was later published in India under Sanghis own name in 2008 before Westland published it in 2010. 2.) Chanakya's Chant , Chanakya's Chant is a racy and gripping account on Chanakya, one of the greatest political strategists India has seen. The story changes track as it narrates the tale of Gangasagar Mishra, the reincarnation of Chanakya, in parallel. Will he be the next kingmaker?Gangasagar Mishra, a denizen of a quaint old Indian town, is no ordinary man. Society sees him as a Brahmin teacher who can barely make ends meet, but he's the reincarnation of the man who brought the fragmented subcontinent together under a single empire Chanakya.Chanakya's Chant by Ashwin Sanghi gives its readers a look into two parallel worlds that are tied together by the intelligence of the main protagonists. The first story is set in 340 BC, when a young Brahmin man, fueled by the death of his father, vows revenge against the king and overthrows his rule by bringing in Chandragupta Maurya, the first emperor of the Maurya Dynasty.The scene then shifts to modern day India, where Gangasagar Mishra leads his life as a nonentity until he decides to groom an ambitious girl from Kanpur into India's prime minister. Will Chanakya's manipulative mechanisms change the face of the nation again? 3.) The Krishna Key Five thousand years ago, there came to earth a magical being called Krishna, who brought about innumerable miracles for the good of mankind. Humanity despaired of its fate if the Blue God were to die but was reassured that he would return in a fresh avatar when needed in the eventual Dark Agethe Kaliyug. In modern times, a poor little rich boy grows up believing that he is that final avatar.Only, he is a serial killer.In this heart-stopping tale, the arrival of a murderer who executes his gruesome and brilliantly thought-out schemes in the name of God is the first clue to a sinister conspiracy to expose an ancient secretKrishnas priceless legacy to mankind.Historian Ravi Mohan Saini must breathlessly dash from the submerged remains of Dwarka and the mysterious lingam of Somnath to the icy heights of Mount Kailash, in a quest to discover the cryptic location of Krishnas most prized possession. From the sand-washed ruins of Kalibangan to a Vrindavan temple destroyed by Aurangzeb, Saini must also delve into antiquity to prevent a gross miscarriage of justice. Ashwin Sanghi brings you yet another exhaustively researched whopper of a plot, while providing an incredible alternative interpretation of the Vedic Age that will be relished by conspiracy buffs and thriller-addicts alike.

Mother of Rain


Karen Spears Zacharias - 2013
    Though family and community support helps, her hold on sanity remains tenuous.

Another Fairy Bastard: Rise of the New Arcana


Ron Randall - 2020
    

The Years


Nicholas Delbanco - 2015
    Forty years after their intense but doomed college romance, Lawrence and Hermia meet again on a Mediterranean cruise. They fall in love even more deeply, but being in their sixties, with plenty of baggage, they wonder if marriage is the right move. When Lawrence visits Hermia�s home on Cape Cod, she has one request: �Please stay.� What happens when he does fills the rest of this wise and unforgettable novel.With enormous sympathy and keen insight, Nicholas Delbanco follows Hermia and Lawrence through their years together and apart, in Los Angeles and New York, Michigan and Massachusetts, in frailness and in health. Old scores are settled; old wounds healed. A stunning, wise book about first and final love, The Years addresses the irrevocable end of life�and what ultimately endures.

Skinjob


Bruce McCabe - 2013
    Silicon Valley has taken virtual sex to the extreme, encouraging men to act out their darkest and most violent sexual fantasies. Militant feminists and churches are bitterly opposed. Powerful corporations battle for market control. In the midst of a fierce protest campaign, a bomb goes off in San Francisco. TWELVE ARE DEAD. Daniel Madsen is one of a new breed of federal agents armed with a gun, a badge and a handheld lie detector. He’s a fast operator and his instructions are simple: find the bomber before he strikes again. A NIGHTMARE AWAITS. Madsen plunges headlong into a sleazy, unsettling world where reality and fantasy are indistinguishable, exploitation is business as usual and the web of corruption extends all the way to Washington … only to discover the stakes are higher than he could ever imagine.

Ice Fire


David Lyons - 2012
    Cajun-born Jock Boucher has overcome modest beginnings to assume the prestigious position of U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana. One of his first cases on the bench involves a scientist who has been hiding in mortal fear for more than twenty years. The fugitive claims that another judge accepted bribes and helped a relentless global energy company steal his intellectual property: a way to recover energy from below the subsea bed that could end America’s dependence on foreign oil. Boucher takes on the company and its powerful founder, risking not only his judicial career but his life. He follows a trail of cryptic clues to the bottom of the ocean, and soon finds himself the target of killers—and too far from the law to ever return. Packed with suspense, science, politics, and murder, this fast-paced, riveting thriller will have readers on the edge of their seats. Ice Fire is the first in a series offered by this authentic new talent.

Coke Machine Glow


Gordon Downie - 2001
    Simultaneously, Vintage Canada is delighted to publish Downie's first book of poetry, under the same title. It will also contain the lyrics to the sixteen songs on the record.Coke Machine Glow is a rich, haunting collection that reveals both the public and private selves of one of Canada's most enigmatic musicians. In poetry that is urban, gritty and political, as well as romantic, nostalgic and whimsical, Downie allows us a glimpse inside his world. With his acute and observing eye, he gives us snapshots of his life, both on the road and at home; he writes of loneliness and isolation; of longing and desire; of the present and the past; of dreams and nightmares; love lost and love of family. Ultimately, this book is about the distances that bridge and separate us.Layered and deceptively simple, imbued with Downie's wit, insight, anger, compassion and rock 'n'roll edge, Coke Machine Glow is a remarkable debut. With its publication, Gordon Downie becomes a part of the wonderful literary tradition of Canadian songwriters like Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell who are also poets.