Discworld is a flat planet, supported on the backs of four elephants, who in turn stand on the back of the great turtle A'Tuin as it swims majestically through space.

    Stirling.

    Each annotation includes audio from the new unabridged recording of Heir to the Empire to enhance their comments. The biggest event in the history of Star Wars books, Heir to the Empire follows the adventures of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia after they led the Rebel Alliance to victory in Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi.Five years after the Death Star was destroyed and Darth Vader and the Emperor were defeated, the galaxy is struggling to heal the wounds of war, Princess Leia and Han Solo are married and expecting twins, and Luke Skywalker has become the first in a long-awaited line of new Jedi Knights.But thousands of light-years away, the last of the Emperor’s warlords—the brilliant and deadly Grand Admiral Thrawn—has taken command of the shattered Imperial fleet, readied it for war, and pointed it at the fragile heart of the New Republic. For this dark warrior has made two vital discoveries that could destroy everything the courageous men and women of the Rebel Alliance fought so hard to create.The explosive confrontation that results is a towering epic of action, invention, mystery, and spectacle on a galactic scale—in short, a story worthy of the name Star Wars.

    While you may read this in just twenty minutes, each little nugget is only the visible tip of an information iceberg.' In this free ebook sampler to accompany the new book 1,342 QI Facts To Leave You Flabbergasted, come face-to-face with some of the most mind-blowing facts in the QI universe, such as: The sun gets 4 million tons lighter every second; The first scientifically named dinosaur bone was called Scrotum humanum because it looked like a giant pair of human testicles; A 'batman' was a unit of weight in the Ottoman Empire. Ben Affleck weighs about nine batmans; Making all the chain mail for The Lord of the Rings wore the costume designers' fingerprints away.Enjoy the incredible world of QI facts.

    It covered jazz, of course, but it also included Davis’s ruminations on race, politics and culture. Fascinated, Hef sent the writer—future Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Alex Haley, an unknown at the time—back to glean even more opinion and insight from Davis. The resulting exchange, published in the September 1962 issue, became the first official Playboy Interview and kicked off a remarkable run of public inquisition that continues today—and that has featured just about every cultural titan of the last half century.To celebrate the Interview’s 50th anniversary, the editors of Playboy have culled 50 of its most (in)famous Interviews and will publish them over the course of 50 weekdays (from September 4, 2012 to November 12, 2012) via Amazon’s Kindle Direct platform. Here is the interview with the novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand from the March 1964 issue.

    Life has had a pleasant predictability to it for Lizzy. That is until a tall, black-haired, dark eyed man shows up in a black sports car, touches her hand and leaves a burn mark. His name is Gerwulf Grimoire, also known as Wulf. And he wants what Lizzy has: knowledge. Almost simultaneously comes another man, a different man, but this one just as dangerous in his own way. His name is Diesel. And he wants several things Lizzy has, only one of them being knowledge. Unbeknownst to Lizzy, she has the ability to find "empowered objects." Turns out, a collection of stones that represent the seven deadly sins have made their way to Marblehead. Nothing bad can happen if the stones are all separated. But if they are grouped together, they have the power to unleash hell on earth. Wulf wants them. Diesel wants to stop him. And Lizzy is the key to all of it. Can Lizzy stay one step ahead of two men who both want her…both body and soul? Can she juggle her job at Dazzle's bakery and still get the muffins out in time every morning? Can she stop the end of the world from occurring? For Elizabeth Tucker, cupcakes, 4 a.m. alarm clock settings, and Armageddon are all in a day's work….

    Once an elite military cop, Reacher is now a man with no phone, no address, and no ties anywhere. He wanders the land and lives in the moment—a cool-headed righter of wrongs who can’t let the bad guys get away with anything. This addictive eBook bundle features ten Reacher adventures, which can be read in any order. But fair warning: Once you start, you won’t stop until you’ve finished them all.   PERSUADER THE ENEMY ONE SHOT THE HARD WAY BAD LUCK AND TROUBLE NOTHING TO LOSE GONE TOMORROW 61 HOURS WORTH DYING FOR THE AFFAIR   And don’t miss the preview of A Wanted Man!

    Now Commander Vatta is backlocked and loaded and ready to win the fight against the marauding forces of ruthless space pirate Gammis Turek. For Ky, its not just about liberating the star systems subjugated by Turek and defending the rest of the galaxys freedom. Theres also a score to be settled and payback to be meted out for the obliteration of the Vatta Transport dynasty . . . and the slaughter of Kys family. But the enemy have their own escalation efforts under wayincluding the placement of covert agents among the allies with whom Ky and the surviving Vattas are collaborating in the war effort. And when a spy ring linked to a wealthy businessman is exposed, a cracked pirate code reveals a galaxywide conspiracy fueling the proliferation of Tureks warship fleet. Matching the invaders swelling firepower will mean marshaling an armada of battle-ready ships for Ky to lead into combat. But a violent skirmish leaves Ky reelingand presumed dead by her enemies. Now, as Turek readies an all-out attack on the Nexus systema key conquest that could seal the rest of the galaxys doomKy must rally to the challenge, draw upon every last reserve of her strategic skills, and reach deep if she is to tear from the ashes of tragedy her most decisive victory.

    Although Charlotte Brontë's heroine is outwardly plain, she possesses an indomitable spirit, and great courage. Forced to battle against the exigencies of a cruel guardian, a harsh employer and a rigid social order which circumscribes her life when she becomes governess to the daughter of the mysterious, sardonic Mr Rochester.Villette is based on Charlotte Brontë's personal experience as a teacher in Brussels. It is a moving tale of repressed feelings and cruel circumstances borne with heroic fortitude. Rising above the confinement of a rigid social order, it is also a story of a woman's right to love and be loved.Wuthering Heights is Emily Brontë's wild, passionate tale of the intense and almost demonic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a foundling adopted by Catherine's father. After Mr Earnshaw's death, Heathcliff is bullied and humiliated by Catherine's brother Hindley and, wrongly believing that his love for Catherine is not reciprocated, he leaves Wuthering heights. When he returns years later as a wealthy man, he proceeds to exact a terrible revenge for his former miseries.Agnes Grey, Ann Brontë's deeply personal novel, is a trenchant expose of the frequently isolated, intellectually stagnant and emotionally starved conditions under which many governesses worked in the mid-nineteenth century.The Tenant of Wildfell Hall shows Ann Brontë's bold, naturalistic and passionate style. It is a powerful and sometimes violent novel of expectation, love, oppression, sin and betrayal. It portrays the disintegration of the marriage of Helen Huntingdon, the mysterious 'tenant' of the title, and her dissolute, alcoholic husband.

    For writers, discoverability means the difference between gaining an audience and publishing into the void. Now, USA Today bestselling author and renowned business blogger Kristine Kathryn Rusch deftly tackles the topic of discoverability in this latest WMG Writers’ Guide. Rusch covers topics such as when to hire help, how to measure success and the most important thing a writers can do. With Discoverability, Rusch offers professional writers the most comprehensive guide available today to help them make an informed decision about the best marketing approaches for their writing businesses. “The bible for the self-employed.” —John Ottinger III, teacher and editor of Grasping for the Wind, on The Freelancer’s Survival Guide “A soup-to-nuts guide for business. Don’t be without it.” —Virginia Baker, President, Indigo Ink Communications, on The Freelancer’s Survival Guide “Not many people understand the publishing business as well as the author business—Kris Rusch is one of them. Her Freelancer’s Survival Guide is balanced, ambitious, and packed with information that all writers, editors, and publishers should read.” —Kevin J. Anderson, New York Times bestselling author, on The Freelancer’s Survival “[Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s blog,] The Business Rusch…is full of sound advice and analysis about what's going on.” —Jeff Baker, The Oregonian USA Today bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes in almost every genre. Generally, she uses her real name (Rusch) for most of her writing. Under that name, she publishes bestselling science fiction and fantasy, award-winning mysteries, acclaimed mainstream fiction, controversial nonfiction, and the occasional romance. Her novels have made bestseller lists around the world and her short fiction has appeared in eighteen best of the year collections. She has won more than twenty-five awards for her fiction, including the Hugo, Le Prix Imaginales, the Asimov’s Readers Choice award, and the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Choice Award. Publications from The Chicago Tribune to Booklist have included her Kris Nelscott mystery novels in their top-ten-best mystery novels of the year. The Nelscott books have received nominations for almost every award in the mystery field, including the best novel Edgar Award, and the Shamus Award. She writes goofy romance novels as award-winner Kristine Grayson, romantic suspense as Kristine Dexter, and futuristic sf as Kris DeLake. Her popular weekly blog on the changes in publishing has become an industry must-read. She also edits. Beginning with work at the innovative publishing company, Pulphouse, followed by her award-winning tenure at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, she took fifteen years off before returning to editing with the original anthology series Fiction River, published by WMG Publishing. She acts as series editor with her husband, writer Dean Wesley Smith, and edits at least two anthologies in the series per year on her own. To keep up with everything she does, go to kriswrites.com. To track her many pen names and series, see their individual websites (krisnelscott.com, kristinegrayson.com, krisdelake.com, retrievalartist.com, divingintothewreck.com). She lives and occasionally sleeps in Oregon.

    intelligence agencies wracked by internal power struggles and paralyzed by bureaucracy, the president has been forced to establish his own clandestine group--Covert-One. It's activated only as a last resort, when the threat is on a global scale and time is running out.THE UTOPIA EXPERIMENTWhen Dresner Industries unveils the Merge, a device that is destined to revolutionize the world and make the personal computer and smartphone obsolete, Covert-One operative Colonel Jon Smith is assigned to assess its military potential. He discovers that enhanced vision, real-time battlefield displays, unbreakable security, and near-perfect marksmanship are only the beginning of a technology that will change the face of warfare forever--and one that must be kept out of the hands of America's enemies at all costs.Meanwhile, in the mountains of Afghanistan, CIA operative Randi Russell encounters an entire village of murdered Afghans--all equipped with enhanced Merge technology that even the Agency didn't know existed. As Smith and Russell delve into the circumstances surrounding the Afghans' deaths, they're quickly blocked by someone who seems to have access to the highest levels of the military--a person that even the president knows nothing about.Is the Merge really as secure as its creator claims? And what secrets about its development is the Pentagon so desperate to hide? Smith and Russell are determined to learn the truth. But they may pay for it with their lives . . .

    Fifty-six are injured. The interior cabin is virtually destroyed but the pilot manages to land the plane… Airframe combines a realistic situation with heart-pounding suspense to keep the listener captivated until the very last word. The Lost World It is now six years since the secret disaster at Jurassic Park, six years since the extraordinary dream of science and imagination came to a crashing end–the dinosaurs destroyed, the park dismantled, the island indefinitely closed to the public.There are rumors that something has survived. . . . Timeline In a world of unforeseen technological advances, a group of historians finds its way to the medieval past. The journey, while ground-breaking, carries the listener also into a realm of unexpected suspense and terror, twisting our most basic ideas of reality.

    Howard in 1934-1936. In this book contains 20 stories of Conan The Cimmerian. 1.The Hyborian Age, first published in The Phantagraph, February-November 1936.2.Shadows In the Moonlight, first published in Weird Tales, April 1934.3.Queen Of the Black Coast, first published in Weird Tales, May 1934.4.The Devil In Iron, first published in Weird Tales, August 1934.5.The People Of the Black Circle, first published in Weird Tales, September, October and November 1934.6.A Witch Shall Be Born, first published in Weird Tales in 1934.7.The Jewels Of Gwahlur, first published in Weird Tales, March 1935.8.Beyond the Black River, first published in Weird Tales magazine circa 1935.9.Shadows In Zamboula, first published in Weird Tales, November 1935.10.The Hour Of the Dragon, first published in Weird Tales, December 1935-April 1936.11.Gods Of the North, first published in Fantasy Fan, March 193412.Red Nails, First Published in Weird Tales, July, August-September, October 193613. The Shadow of the Vulture, First published in the pulp magazine Magic Carpet Magazine, January 1934.14.The Phoenix on the Sword, First published in 1932.15.The Scarlet Citadel, First published in 1933.16.The Tower of the Elephant, First published in 1933.17.Black Colossus, First published in 1934.18.The Slithering Shadow, First published in 1934.19.The Pool of the Black One, First published in 1934.20.Rogues in the House, First published in 1935.

    To help teachers decide if Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express is right for their students, we’ve created this free e-book that features sample chapters from the book and a teaching guide.

    And the Republic commandos are the best of the best. As the Clone Wars rage, victory or defeat lies in the hands of these elite squads, stone-cold soldiers who go where no one else will, and do what no one else can....Hard Contact: It is three months after the Battle of Geonosis. On the backwater planet Qiilura, a Separatist scientist has created a nanovirus designed to kill clone soldiers, and it will be up to four Republic commandosthe Omega Squadto apprehend her and sabotage her research. When Darman, the squad's demolitions expert, gets cut off from the others during planetfall, he meets up with Etain, a stranded Jedi Padawan who has lost her Master. He expects her to be a competent commander, but that hope vanishes once she admits to her woeful inexperience. A long dangerous journey lies ahead, through hostile territory brimming with Trandoshan slavers, Separatists and suspicious natives. A single misstep could mean discovery...and death. Triple Zero: A year after Geonosis, the Republic commandos are being deployed on missions that take them beyond the battlefield and further into sabotage and intelligence operations in Separatist territory. Now, after a close brush with death, the Omega Squad is sent to the toughest terrain in the galaxy: Coruscant. Teaming up with Etain, now a Jedi General, and their legendary training sergeant Kal Skirata and his Null commandosa secret force even the Kaminoan cloners deem too dangerous to unleashthey pursue Separatist terrorists in the treacherous skylanes and labyrinthine underlevels of the world city. It's a critical mission unlike any they've ever tackledand it will test their courage and their friendship to the limit.