Retired stage magician Ian Logan thinks he wants nothing more to do with the life that once took everything from him. But when his dead wife's best friend Rachel Duvall walks back into his life, he realizes the only thing that might save her is magic. And maybe a little love. Can Logan pull off the greatest magic trick of his life? Or will she see right through him?

On his way to New York to celebrate his impending literary success, Simon Burchwood is the prototypical American careerist: arrogant, egotistical, narcissistic. But a quick detour to Montgomery, Alabama to visit a childhood friend sends Simon on a bizarre journey, challenging his hopes and dreams of becoming a famous writer. The Meteoric Rise of Simon Burchwood is a character study that delves into the psyche of a man who desperately tries to redefine himself.Simon is certain he is on the brink of literary stardom. Yet this brief sojourn in Montgomery challenges his haughty façade—and the "meteoric rise" that has continually eluded him. Expecting adulation from his childhood friends during his layover in Montgomery, he's instead met with indifference. Ready to finally leave his troubled past behind and move on to greater things, he invites his friend Jason—whose marriage is on the verge of divorce—to join him in New York. They quickly embark on a...

Jonas Lie (pronouced "Lee" in English) is one of the greats of Norwegian literature, together with Henrik Ibsen, Bjornstjerne Bjornson and Alexander Kielland. Although considered a Realist, he also worked with Scandanavian folk-lore, penning a number of fine supernatural tales (some of which are included here). In all, this volume collects 14 of his finest works, including 11 short stories and 3 novels: INTRODUCTION: MEET JONAS LIE, by Julius E. Olson INTRODUCTION TO LIE'S "WEIRD TALES FROM THE NORTHERN SEAS," by R. Nisbet Bain THE FISHERMAN AND THE DRAUG JACK OF SJOHOLM AND THE GAN-FINN TUG OF WAR "THE EARTH DRAWS" THE CORMORANTS OF ANDVAER ISAAC AND THE PARSON OF BRONO THE WIND-GNOME THE HULDREFISH FINN BLOOD THE HOMESTEAD WESTWARD IN THE BLUE MOUNTAINS "IT'S ME" THE PILOT AND HIS WIFE THE VISIONARY ONE OF LIFE'S SLAVESAnd don't forget to search this ebook store for "Wildside Megapack" to see more great collections, ranging from fantasy and science fiction to mysteries, westerns, adventure stories, and more! (View them by publication date to see the most recent additions.)

The classic tale of adventure and the dark secrets of a lost city in the Brazilian jungle, from the acclaimed master of action and suspense.

In story after story in this brilliant new collection, Alice Munro pinpoints the moment a person is forever altered by a chance encounter, an action not taken, or a simple twist of fate. Her characters are flawed and fully human: a soldier returning from war and avoiding his fiancée, a wealthy woman deciding whether to confront a blackmailer, an adulterous mother and her neglected children, a guilt-ridden father, a young teacher jilted by her employer. Illumined by Munro’s unflinching insight, these lives draw us in with their quiet depth and surprise us with unexpected turns. And while most are set in her signature territory around Lake Huron, some strike even closer to home: an astonishing suite of four autobiographical tales offers an unprecedented glimpse into Munro’s own childhood. Exalted by her clarity of vision and her unparalleled gift for storytelling, Dear Life shows how strange, perilous, and extraordinary ordinary life can be.

The twentieth novel in Michael Jecks's medieval Knights Templar series. March 1323: in the rural idyll of Iddesleigh, a gang of men break into the home of Bailiff Simon Puttock's servant and attack his family. When word reaches Simon, he and Sir Baldwin de Funshill, Keeper of the King's Peace, hurry to the home, finding it burned to the ground and the bodies from within already buried. Could this be the result of a tragic accident, or is a darker force at work? As Baldwin and Simon attempt to uncover the truth, it quickly becomes clear that a terrible evil lurks in the land, and that the pain and bloodshed are far from over.

A brilliant new collection of stories from one of the most acclaimed and beloved writers of our time. Alice Munro’s peerless ability to give us the essence of a life in often brief but always spacious and timeless stories is once again everywhere apparent in this brilliant new collection. In story after story, she illumines the moment a life is forever altered by a chance encounter or an action not taken, or by a simple twist of fate that turns a person out of his or her accustomed path and into a new way of being or thinking. A poet, finding herself in alien territory at her first literary party, is rescued by a seasoned newspaper columnist, and is soon hurtling across the continent, young child in tow, toward a hoped-for but completely unplanned meeting. A young soldier, returning to his fiancée from the Second World War, steps off the train before his stop and onto the farm of another woman, beginning a life on the move. A wealthy young woman having an affair with the married lawyer hired by her father to handle his estate comes up with a surprising way to deal with the blackmailer who finds them out. While most of these stories take place in Munro’s home territory—the small Canadian towns around Lake Huron—the characters sometimes venture to the cities, and the book ends with four pieces set in the area where she grew up, and in the time of her own childhood: stories “autobiographical in feeling, though not, sometimes, entirely so in fact.” A girl who can’t sleep imagines night after wakeful night that she kills her beloved younger sister. A mother snatches up her child and runs for dear life when a crazy woman comes into her yard. Suffused with Munro’s clarity of vision and her unparalleled gift for storytelling, these tales about departures and beginnings, accidents and dangers, and outgoings and homecomings both imagined and real, paint a radiant, indelible portrait of how strange, perilous, and extraordinary ordinary life can be.Amazon.com ReviewAmazon Best Books of the Month, November 2012: You half expect a new collection of stories by the beloved Alice Munro to arrive already devoured: pages dog-eared (“I feel exactly the same way! How did she know?”), spine cracked, cover bent from the dozens of times each story deserves to be read. The best thing to say about Alice Munro is said so often, it doesn’t mean much anymore. But here it is for the record: She is a master of her craft. In Dear Life, her 13th collection, Munro again breathes life--real, blemished, nuanced life--into her characters and settings (usually her hometown in Huron County, Ontario). Her empathy is the greatest weapon in her arsenal, and it is on full display here. But the most satisfying part of the new collection is the last four stories, bundled together in what the author calls “Finale,” the closest she’ll ever come to writing about her own dear life. --Alexandra FosterFrom BooklistStarred Review Munro’s latest collection brings to mind the expression, “What is old is new again.” As curiously trite and hardly complimentary as that statement may sound, it is offered as unreserved praise for the continued wonderment provided by arguably the best short-story writer in English today. Some of these 14 stories present new directions in Munro’s exploration of her well-recognized universe (rural and small-town Ontario), while other stories track more familiar paths, with characters and familial situations reminiscent of previous stories. That said, the truth is that on whatever level of reader familiarity Munro is working, in every story she finds new ways to make the lives of ordinary people compelling. “Amundsen” has a setting that will pique the interest of avid Munro followers, yet it is delivered with a tone surprising and even disturbing. A young woman ventures to a remote area to assume teaching duties in a TB sanitarium, soon entering into a dismal relationship with the head doctor. But with Munro’s care in craftsmanship and her trademark limpid, resonant style, the reader accepts that the depressing aftereffect is Munro’s intention. “Haven” will come to be considered one of her masterpieces: a quick-to-maturation piece, a fond specialty of Munro’s, this one is about a teenage girl going to live with her aunt and uncle while her parents do missionary work. In quite dramatic fashion, she observes that what might appear as somone’s acceptance of another person’s quirks may actually be indifference. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: A first printing of 100,000 copies supports Munro’s international popularity. --Brad Hooper

In this pithy, powerful parable, the masterly Naguib Mahfouz explores life's secrets and the mysterious maze of the human heart—a mystical and lyrical Pilgrim's Progress set in a mythical, timeless Middle East.

Elemental magic is a weapon of power, on both sides of the war.The Seven has another leader, Kaitlyn is a new mother, and everyone is busy building their armies. During one battle, the secret to Akasha is discovered, and the race to master it is on. With all eyes on the prize, what matters most gets left behind. It is up to Kaitlyn to preserve the planet in the wake of the pure destructive power of Akasha, and the humans who wield it.'Fire' is the third book of the Akasha Series. 'Water', Book One is now available for free on Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, and for iBooks: Click Here