A bold fantasy in the tradition of Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber, The Merchant Princes is a sweeping new series from the hottest new writer in science fiction! The six families of the Clan rule the kingdom of Gruinmarkt from behind the scenes, a mixture of nobility and criminal conspirators whose power to walk between their world and ours make them rich in both. Braids of family loyalty and intermarriage provide a fragile guarantee of peace, but a recently ended civil war has left the families shaken and suspicious. Miriam, a hip tech journalist form Boston, discovered her alternate-world relatives with explosive results that shook three worlds. Now, as the prodigal Countess Helge Thorold-Hyorth, she finds herself ensnared in schemes and plots centuries in the making. She is surrounded by unlikely allies, lethal contraband, and, most dangerous of all, her family. With her modern American attitudes, she's not sure she can fit in, or if she even wants to, but to stay alive, she really has no choice. To avoid a slippery slope down to an unmarked grave, Miriam must build a power-base of her own. She started applying modern business practices and scientific knowledge to a trade heretofore dominated by medieval mercantilists-with unexpected consequences for three different timelines, including the quasi-Victorian one exploited by the hidden family. Blending the creativity and humor of Roger Zelazny, the adventure of H. Beam Piper and Philip Jose Farmer, and the rigor and scope of a science-fiction writer on the grandest scale, Charles Stross has set a new standard for fantasy epics. Charles Stross is one of the big new SF writers of the 21st century, and the saga of The Merchant Princes is his most ambitious work yet.

This hilarious novel follows the continuing adventures of the simple peasant Ivan Chonkin, who has been arrested as a traitor to the motherland after spending World War II happily tending a garden. Lacking evidence against him, the bumbling bureaucrats base their case on a rumor in his home village that he is the illegitimate son of a prince. the comic case of mistaken identity escalates as they accuse this unlikely prince of working in league with Hitler to restore the monarchy.

Product Description Once a notorious hippie, Sammuel Himmelhoch joins a Hassidic sect of penitents in Jerusalem and becomes a Master of the Return, guiding fellow converts to the teachings of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslay From Publishers Weekly In Mara, Reich, herself the scion of a rabbinical family, took aim at the mores of American Orthodox Jewry. Here, she casts her sly, sardonic eye upon those at the opposite end of the spectrum, so to speakIsraeli penitents. With vigor, irreverence and devastating accuracy, she limns a flock of zany zealots, intoxicated by the rarefied Hassidism of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav. These cultists, former hippies who are now "high on the One Above," are at once delightfully absurd in their revival, even invention, of bizarre customs (such as the paramount pilgrimage to Rabbi Nahman's Ukranian grave to terminate "nocturnal emissions"); poignant in their misguided, miseducated search for identity and redemption; as self-indulgent in their expiation as they once were in their passions; and alarming in their patent misogyny, racism, deceit, self-righteousness and extreme messianic political agenda. In Reich's hands, plot and character development are sacrificed to an extravagant religious and social parody cum cautionary tale. The penitents remain symbolic figuresas exemplified by an elderly midwife, whose name, Shifra-Puah, evokes her righteous colleagues from the biblical book of Exodus who disobeyed the pharaonic decree to murder male newborns, and Avraham Ger, whose surname, Hebrew for convert, proclaims his adoption of Judaism. Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Samuel Himmelhoch was once lighting effects man for notorious rock groups, his wife Ivriya rode horses bare-breasted in Rosh Pina, and Sora Katz was the former Pam Buck of Macon, Georgia, but now they are all members of an extreme Hassidic sect, living together in the Moslem quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. Described with affection and great insight, the riotous adventures of these sincere but sometimes misguided penitents easily mix the supernatural with human events. Reich pinpoints absurdity and self-righteousness beautifully, as when Reb Lev Luria pontificates in gematria (talmudic numeric equivalents) derived from his newly donated computer. An arrestingly comtemporary treatment of Jewish spirituality and renewal. Highly recommended. Molly Abramowitz, Silver Spring, Md.Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In a trilogy of connected stories that revolve around an unfinished manuscript and a fallen angel's relationship with his half-mortal son in 1900 New York, three ordinary people are thrown into a series of extraordinary adventures.

Nine short stories depict the fantastic adventures of unwitting humans who make use of a remarkable machine to transmit themselves across space and through time

"Charlotte Dacre's debut novel Confessions of the Nun of St Omer (1805) was a bestseller in its day, launching the career of a woman who would go on to become one of the nineteenth century's most notorious female novelists. The work tells the story of the wilful Cazire, who recounts her passionate and destructive youthful adventures from the convent where she now lives in seclusion. Although Dacre's fame, then and now, rests largely on her sensationalist plots and portrayal of sexually self-possessed female villains, Confessions of the Nun of St. Omer shows a different side to her writing, one that is engaged in the political debate surrounding the French Revolution and eager to uphold the conservative moral line. Indeed, in many ways the novel strives to exemplify the moral and social orthodoxies of its time - dealing with themes of education, passion, seduction and the dangers of the radical 'new philosophy'. Yet even at this early stage of her career the author's frank exploration of the power of female desire reveals a willingness to experiment with themes left untouched by more conventional Romantic era novelists, themes that would dominate her writing for years to come. This edition of Charlotte Dacre's book is based on the Chawton House Library copy of the text from 1805 and contains textual notes. The book will be of interest to those researching the Gothic, women's writing and the development of the nineteenth-century novel."--

In 1890’s South Dakota, Amy and Joshua escape from their mean Aunt Vootch. They plan to find their grandparents in New York, and manage to team up with a traveling magician, Mortimer Wintergreen, who is also New York bound. Mortimer owns a truly magic hat with a temperamental, mischievous mind of its own. Adventures abound as their way is blocked by outlaws, runaway hot-air balloons, geese, and their persistent Aunt Vootch. But the hat is always ready for action. “Buoyant comedy. A fine addition to stories that truly entertain.”— Kirkus pointer review. A Junior Literary Guild Selection.

Winner - KOALA Children's Choice Awards 2011 - Fiction for Years 7-9 Winner - YABBA Children's Choice Awards 2011 - Hall of Fame Shortlisted - REAL Children's Choice Awards 2011 - Fiction for Years 7-9 Bridget wants a quiet life. Including, if possible, keeping her parents out of prison. Then a boy called Menzies makes her an offer she can't refuse, and they set off on a job of their own. It's a desperate, daring plan - to rescue two kids, Jamal and Bibi, from a desert detention centre. Can Bridget and Menzies pull off their very first jail break, or will they end up behind bars too? Sometimes, to help a friend, you have to dig deep . With its themes of friendship, perseverance and the power of standing up for what's right, Girl Underground is a must-read for anyone who loved Boy Overboard and wants to continue following Jamal and Bibi's journey through the eyes of all new, but every bit as endearing, characters. ------------------ PRAISE FOR MORRIS GLEITZMAN 'Readers can't get enough of him.' The Independent 'A brilliantly funny writer' Sunday Telegraph 'A virtuoso demonstration of how you can make comedy out of the most unlikely subject' Sunday Times 'He is one of the finest examples of a writer who can make humour stem from the things that really matter in life.' The Guardian

"[A] pomegranate writer: popping with seeds--full of ideas." --Ray Bradbury We are all part of some cosmic pattern, and this pattern works toward good and not evil. It builds and does not destroy. So I shall go on in my search for a race where I can find kinship and happiness." ―Henry Kuttner COSMIC TERROR STRIKES AS A MESSENGER OF DEATH SWEEPS THROUGH THE UNIVERSE. Like a great, lethal snake, plague creeps through the galaxies. No conscious entity can halt its progress, and life is slowly draining from planet after planet. Only one super-intelligence is capable of preventing cataclysm. To do it, he must penetrate far beyond infinity - to the formless, deathless creatures out to kill the universe.

"For Ellery Queen, there is no puzzle that reason cannot solve. In his time, he has faced down killers, thugs, and thieves, protected only by the might of his brain - and the odd bit of timely intervention by his father, a burly New York police inspector. But when a university professor asks Queen to teach a class, the detective finds there are people whom reason cannot touch: college students. Queen's adventure on campus is only the first of this incomparable collection of short mysteries. In the tales that follow, he tangles with a violent book thief, an assassin of acrobats, and New York's only cleanly shaven bearded lady. And the only thing more dazzling than the mysterious murders he confronts are his brilliant solutions at the end. Ellery Queen was a master of the short mystery, so closely associated with the form that the longest-running magazine for such tales bears his name; the excellent stories in this volume show why he continues to be considered one of the greatest American practitioners of the Golden Age whodunnit"--

A stunning and epic finale to the series, pitting Fandorin against both Ninjas and terrorists on the Trans-Siberian Express! The first of the interlinked plotlines is set in Russia during the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. Fandorin is charged with protecting the Trans-Siberian Railway from Japanese sabotage in a pacy adventure filled with double agents and ticking bombs. Then we travel back to the Japan of the late 1870s. This is the story of Fandorin's arrival and life in Yokohama, his first meeting with Masa and the martial arts education that came in so handy later. He investigates the death of a Russian ship-captain, fights for a woman, exposes double-agents in the Japanese police, fights against, and then with the ninjas, and becomes embroiled in a shocking finale that interweaves the two stories and ties up the series as a whole.

What is the connection between breast enlargement and building renovation, yoga retreats and gourmet restaurants, cell phones and globalization? Wakefield, both the title of Andrei Codrescu's hilariously absurd and brilliantly observed novel and the name of its alienated hero, examines these and other perplexities of the late twentieth century. Picture Wakefield: He's divorced, lives alone in a comfortable, book-filled apartment in a sophisticated city. A motivational speaker, his talks leave audiences dispirited and anxious. But for this peculiar talent, he's nicely paid by corporate America, and he's in demand. Then one day the Devil shows up, walks right into Wakefield's tasteful living room, and says, "Time's up." Just as literary Fausts have done for centuries, Wakefield makes a bargain with Satan, who as it turns out, is having his own existential crisis due to bureaucratic headaches and younger upstart demons in the afterworld. The Devil gives Wakefield a year to find an authentic life--or else it's curtains. So Wakefield travels across the country meeting New Age gurus, billionaire techno-geeks, global pioneers, gambling addicts and models who look like heroin addicts, venture capitalists, art collectors, rainforest protectors, and S and M strippers. Andrei Codrescu brings his unique vision to the American character: our desire to change, renovate, and improve both our inner and outer worlds; to remodel not only our buildings but our bodies and minds. Wakefield is an inspired novel--part metaphysical mystery, part travel adventure, part architectural romp--by turns funny and deadly serious.

Four short stories relate Sonny Pig and his father's adventures skating, exercising, finding greens for supper, and going to a wedding.

The Time Axis by Henry Kuttner Called to the end of time by a being known as The Face of Ea, four adventurers face a power that not even the science of that era could meet -- the nekron, negative matter, negative force, ultimate desctruction for everything it touched! We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.

INTERPLANETARY ODYSSEYS ".....One of the novas of the SF cosmos." The New Encyclopaedia of Science Fiction Interplanetary Odysseys collects together all of Stanley G. Weinbaum's tales set on the planets and moons of our own solar system. With their colony cities and fast, easy space travel, these stories from the great romantic tradition of SF remain entertaining, readable and relevant. Weinbaum was noted as the first SF writer to create believable aliens that were a product of their own planetary environments and eco-systems. The lead story, the classic "A Martian Odyssey", demonstrates this talent perfectly and with the nine other tales included here it gives readers new and old a chance to relive the sense of wonder that sprang from the glory days of science fiction.

Eighteen-year-old Candy relies on her considerable Kung fu skills, quick wit, and good friends in a dangerous around-the-world adventure when a spurned suitor begins to stalk her every move.

Wonder Stories was founded by legendary publisher Hugo Gernsback after he left Amazing Stories. Wonder Stories thrived in one form or another for more than thirty years, briefly rivaling even Astounding. This four hundred plus page anthology collects ten important stories from the magazine's zenith. If you enjoyed this book, you'll want to search on "Positronic Publishing Super Pack" and check out all our other Super Packs! Included herein are: Onslaught from Rigel by Fletcher Pratt Valley of Dreams by Stanley G. Weinbaum The Revolt of the Star Men by Raymond Gallun The Point of View by Stanley G. Weinbaum The Metal Moon by Everett C. Smith and R.F. Starzl The Martian by Allen Glasser and A. Rowley Hilliard Pygmalion's Spectacles by Stanley G. Weinbaum Spacewrecked on Venus by Neil R. Jones The Moon Destroyers by Monroe K. Ruch The Worlds of If by Stanley G. Weinbaum

Ramon Santiago, a fourteen-year-old street kid and poet, records his thoughts in a notebook. He is skilled with words and skilled with his knife, when needed. Alone, he wants to join a street gang to be macho, but to prove himself, he must rob an elderly artist down on his luck, Arnold Glasser. Glasser, as desperate as Ramon, is unafraid of Ramon's knife. From their mutual pain, an unorthodox friendship grows between them. But the gang is just a step behind Ramon, demanding loyalty above all else. "Grit, suspense, warmth, and wry humor."- Kirkus Reviews

The great game. When Mycroft Holmes is murdered, it is up to retired shadow detective Smith to track down his killer, leading him to stumble onto the greatest conspiracy of his life. Young Lucy Westerna, Holmes' protégé, must follow her own path to the truth, while on the other side of the world, a young Harry Houdini must face his greatest feat of escape -- death itself. As their paths converge the body count mounts up, the entire world is under threat, and in a foreboding castle in the mountains of Transylvania a mysterious old man weaves a spider's web of secrets and lies.

The Letter(TM) by Jerry Yellin confronts that quality in a novel in which two men are destined for conflict from their first meeting at age 13, continuing as one accepts his personal vision of a peaceful and inclusive God to become a rabbi while the other pursues a life of political and personal conquest that seems at first to be impossible to reconcile with his Protestant Christian faith. Religion is a comfort, if not a beacon, for Yellin's rabbi, Mark Davidson; it is a tool rather than a philosophy for Adam Flowers, a shallow politician and American Talibaptist. "As a WWII fighter pilot Jerry Yellin knows a few things about threats to humanity, and this nation. In The Letter he uses his considerable insight to strike a major blow against religious bigotry, hatred, and intolerance. If you are not concerned about the invasion of American politics by religious extremists, you will be when you finish this intriguing novel. I love the book!" -- Troy Evans Author Jerry Yellin was a WW 2 fighter pilot from Hillside, NJ. He flew P-51's over Japan from Iwo Jima. Married to Helene for 60 years, they have four sons and six grandchildren, three in America and three born and raised in Japan. Jerry is the author of the award winning historical fiction book The Blackened Canteen and his memoir Of War and Weddings. For More Info perform a Video Search "World War II: Jerry Yellin" These videos will bring Jerry's true story to life. "The hint of violence is always on the back burner, and kept me turning the page. My favorite line in the book: "This is where grown men come to cry." A deep compelling story that will keep you awake at night, wondering about the future of this planet, the human family and where we came from. I highly recommend this book. Five stars!!!" -- Kathleen Rogers, MWSA Reviewer "In his novel The Letter, Jerry Yellin tells the story of an American family divided by religion and politics, love and hate, old and new. By exposing the ramifications of one-way thinking he makes the case for religious tolerance in a personal and convincing way. A consummate storyteller, Jerry keeps us turning the pages through myriad plot twists and masterful plotting. A must read for everyone." -- Linda Egenes, author of Visits with the Amish: Impressions of the Plain Life "Most human beings have the bad habit of defining themselves by nationality, religion, or both-divisions which can lead to violent disagreements and, ultimately, death. In The Letter a powerful U.S. Senator who considers himself a Christian fundamentalist learns, after reading The Letter, that his bloodline is quite different-that he may, in fact, be just what he hates. Highly recommended for those who believe in the ultimate brotherhood of man, and for those who seek to exorcise their own demons." -- Neal Stannard: Author of Now and Then, the Movies Get it Right "The playing field that is Mark Davidson's life is be-sodded when he receives a letter from an attorney that reveals that his boyhood adversary who has grown up to become a hawkish politician is indeed his half-brother. His enemy has become his family. Does he have a duty to his brother? Does he have a duty to those who are the victims of his brother's brutal hatreds? The Letter is the novel you would expect when both religion and brotherhood engage in full combat for peace and for primacy, and yet, both must find a way to survive." A rare find with real-life messages. -- Jack Woodville London, Author of French Letters