Demure Lily Merrick is a dutiful housewife and mother who teaches pottery classes in upstate New York. Then, out of the blue, her estranged sister, Sharon, shows up after fifteen years, seeking refuge from her life as a Las Vegas stripper. At first Lily is overwhelmed and overjoyed. Her daughter and husband welcome Sharon with open arms, eager to help the seemingly troubled young woman get a fresh start. But that’s not really what Sharon wants. Under the alias Starr Bright, Aunt Sharon is the most wanted female serial killer in the country. Driven by a need for love and security, she has sought out sex and degradation—leaving behind a bloody trail of carved-up men in cheap motel rooms from coast to coast. Now, she’s insinuating herself into the lives of those who trust and love her. She’s come home to family, and not just to hide. For her entire life, Sharon has been nursing a poisonous vengeance that has yet to claim its last victim. And very, very soon, Starr Bright will strike again.

Everyone knew the residents of Pepper Street were "nice" people -- especially the residents themselves. Among the self-satisfied group were: Mrs Merriam, the sanctimonious shrew who was turning her husband into a nonentity and her daughter into a bigoted spinster; Mr Roberts, who found relief from the street's unending propriety in shoddy side-street amours; Miss Fielding, who considered it more important to boil an egg properly than to save a disturbed girl from destruction. It took the gruesome act of a desperate boy who lived among them to pierce the shell of their complacency and force them to see their own ugliness.

There’s a monster running around Dublin, and it’s up to Ava to catch it. The pressure’s on, and she’s becoming as cynical as Peter. But when a demon marks her friend, and a possible threat from England spells war, Ava’s left with a huge choice to make. The lives of one or many. With a little help, Ava has the chance to win all of her battles… if the darkness doesn’t take her over first.

Once upon a time the Wapshots of St. Botolphs were distinguished for their unshakeable good opinion of themselves. But the family members have drifted far from their New England village - and into the demented caprices of the mighty, the bad graces of the IRS and the humiliating abyss of adulterous passion. A novel of large and tender vision, The Wapshot Scandal is filled with pungent characters and outrageous twists of fate, and, above all, with Cheever's luminous compassion for all his hapless fellow prisoners of human nature.

Tom Richards has fallen off a crane while directing his latest movie, 'The Hamburger Girl', fracturing some ribs and a hip. A comic procession of doctors, nurses, and relatives files through his hospital room. Another director replaces him at the studio, and everything in his cinematic dream is being changed - the screenplay, the title, the plot. Tom is baffled and furious. His children's marriages are coming apart, and who can be certain of his own? People everywhere are losing their jobs. His real life and his creative life become ever more displaced while he gradually recovers his health, his balance, and his natural imbalance. Tom's shrewd wife, Claire; their daughter Marigold, for whom Tom has ambivalent feelings; his beautiful daughter Cora, by his first marriage; and his lovers, family, friends, and colleagues all find themselves revolving in a sexual and economic maelstrom that gradually results in violence. "What we are doing, " Tom tells his film crew at last, "is real and not real. We are living in a world where dreams are reality and reality is dreams. In our world everything starts from a dream."

Our woe is upon us. This chilling tale of one man’s descent into madness was published shortly before the author was institutionalized for insanity, and so The Horla has inevitably been seen as informed by Guy de Maupassant’s mental illness. While such speculation is murky, it is clear that de Maupassant—hailed alongside Chekhov as father of the short story—was at the peak of his powers in this innovative precursor of first-person psychological fiction. Indeed, he worked for years on The Horla’s themes and form, first drafting it as “Letter from a Madman,” then telling it from a doctor’s point of view, before finally releasing the terrified protagonist to speak for himself in its devastating final version. In a brilliant new translation, all three versions appear here as a single volume for the first time. **The Art of The Novella Series **Too short to be a novel, too long to be a short story, the novella is generally unrecognized by academics and publishers. Nonetheless, it is a form beloved and practiced by literature's greatest writers. In the Art Of The Novella series, Melville House celebrates this renegade art form and its practitioners with titles that are, in many instances, presented in book form for the first time.

A dark poem whose origins are shrouded in mystery holds a riddle of Death and Eternal Damnation for all those who dare read it.Programming for kids. An introduction to programming for kids- new method: kids learn programming through stories.

The groundbreaking trans-genre work of Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) has been insinuating itself into the structure, stance, and very breath of world literature for well over half a century. Multi-layered, self-referential, elusive, and allusive writing is now frequently labeled Borgesian. Umberto Eco's international bestseller, The Name of the Rose, is, on one level, an elaborate improvisation on Borges' fiction "The Library," which American readers first encountered in the original 1962 New Directions publication of Labyrinths. This new edition of Labyrinths, the classic representative selection of Borges' writing edited by Donald A. Yates and James E. Irby (in translations by themselves and others), includes the text of the original edition (as augmented in 1964) as well as Irby's biographical and critical essay, a poignant tribute by André Maurois, and a chronology of the author's life. Borges enthusiast William Gibson has contributed a new introduction bringing Borges' influence and importance into the twenty-first century.

Wes Crowley and Otis "Mac" McFadden are teenagers in Watson, a town north of Amarillo in the heart of the traditional Comanche homeland. An impressive group of Texas Rangers ride in to the local livery stable to swap horses. After he overhears the Ranger corporal's description of Iron Bear and his trespasses, and Mac decides on the spot he has to join the Rangers.The Rise of a Warrior is the first prequel and Book 1 in the Wes Crowley novel series. Although the titles eventually will be arranged chronologically, each is a stand-alone novel. In The Rise of a Warrior, Wes Crowley and Otis "Mac" McFadden are teenagers in Watson, Texas, a town some distance north of Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle and the heart of Comancheria, the traditional Comanche homeland. An impressive group of Texas Rangers ride in to the local livery stable to swap horses. To convince the owner of the livery stable of the necessity of the trade, the ranking Ranger, Corporal Connolly, describes in detail what the Comanches are capable of when they raid. A few minutes later the Rangers ride out on fresh mounts. The corporal nods at Mac on their way out of town, and Mac decides on the spot he has to join the Rangers. Wes goes along for the ride. What else should a partner do? At what is eventually dubbed The Battle of Boquillas Draw, the Rangers take down one of the more dangerous renegade Comanche war chiefs and all but one of his raiding party. But that one is unique among the Comanches. He bears the sacred number in his name and is destined to become one of the greatest Comanche war chiefs ever known... at the ripe old age of fourteen. Come along to witness the advent of Wes and Mac as Texas Rangers, and the rise of a Comanche warrior, Four Crows.

Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You is renowned author Joyce Carol Oates's newest novel for teens. Laurie Halse Anderson, bestselling author of Wintergirls and Speak, said that "the painful honesty of this book will crack open your heart." Senior year, their last year together, Merissa and Nadia need their best friend Tink more than they ever did before. They have secrets they can share with no one but her, toxic secrets that threaten to unravel their friendship—and themselves. Tink had a secret, too, a big one, but no one knows what it was. And now she's gone. . . . In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews described Joyce Carol Oates as "a master at portraying the inner lives of teens." In Two or Three Things I Forgot to Tell You, she's created a powerful portrayal of a friendship strong enough to transcend death.

Alison lays unconscious in a hospital bed after a long-distance training run leaves her half-dead at the bottom of a deep ravine. While Rick is a faithful husband, Alison gave him many reasons to attempt to kill her. The question of who tried to kill Alison hangs in the air while Rick waits impatiently for her to awake and assure him he’s innocent.Blackboard Galaxy is a humorous science fiction story about a teacher who has dreamed of teaching in space. Now that she is living her dream, she must find ways to discipline students besides eating them, as that is the standard protocol among alien teachers. This story originally appeared in Issue 6 of Untied Shoelaces of the Mind. The author based this story on her experiences teaching middle school students. The line, "Does this look like a face that cares?" is a direct quote from a thirteen year old.

A hellfire sky. Winged things prowling. Meagan just wants to finish watching a creature feature on TV, but a strange apocalypse interrupts. In her words: "Mayhem took over." A group of survivors must decide: stay put, or take a chance and seek sanctuary in the nearest church. NOTE: "The Winged Things" is available as part of the compilation "Now You'll Never Know: A Collection of Strange Stories."This is a quick flash-fiction sci-fi story of 1000 words.Idiots in space, basically.