From bestselling author Rich Cohen and award-winning illustrator Kelly Murphy comes a middle grade action-adventure novel, Alex and the Amazing Time Machine. Alex Trumble is a pretty ordinary kid—except for the fact that his IQ borders on genius, and he loves to read books on vortexes and time travel. But when two angry hit men kidnap his big brother Steven, Alex's life changes fast. Inventing a time machine (using an iPod, mirrors, duct tape, and a laser pointer) is only half the battle. With the help of the time-bending Dingus, Alex and his best friend Todd must travel back in time to collect clues, outwit the bad guys, and race against the clock to save his family from total oblivion.

In the classic noir tradition of "Have Gun, Will Travel," Rachel Pollack--one of the world's foremost authorities on the Tarot--gives us the tale of Jack Shade, an occult shaman for hire. Jack Shade has a secret, and this hidden part of his past sends him on a journey through time and space and a great number of metaphysical doorways. From the cosy poker table in the eleventh floor apartment of the Hotel de Reve Noire to the ethereal Forest of Souls to the faded houses along the Gold River, Jack flows in and out of this world. Even when his own duplicate hires him to kill himself, Jack is mercury in motion. Jack the Nimble. Jack the Quick. The Fissure King: A Novel in Fire Stories collects the four existing Jack Shades novellas and shows us Jack's final trick--one last story that finally reveals Jack's true nature. Only Rachel Pollack, one of the world's greatest authorities of tarot and an award-winning novelist and comic book writer, could dream of someone as mischievous and mythopoeic as Jack Shade. The King is dead. Long live the King.

Nick Herrera has been a superhero ever since he rescued a little girl from a speeding subway train. Now he believes he has a gift which compels him to perform more and more heroic feats--even if it means looking for them.

An "intelligent and entertaining" tale. (Kirkus Reviews): Priya is thrilled when she's recruited to serve in the spaceborne military. But she's soon forced to volunteer for a dangerous mission - and finds her life at stake... "For nail-biting science fiction thrillers, look no further than one of Rothman's stories" (New York Times bestselling author Larry Correia). ------ Aliens exist... and, as it turns out, most of them are fairly harmless. It's the humans you need to watch out for. Priya Radcliffe wasn't even born yet when the first set of terrorists struck. She was seventeen when they struck again, but this time her parents paid the ultimate price. That was seven years ago, and since then, the United Nations finally agreed to field its first spaceborne military. Serving aboard one of the first true starships had been a dream of hers. All of her years of education and training had been geared for entering the service. However, just before Priya's graduation, she's approached by an officer from a military branch she'd never heard of and given a choice: volunteer for a risky mission to an outpost she knows nothing about or be excluded from serving. She had no choice.

This story depicts the fates of five leftist revolutionaries foiled in their attack and two common peasants who have received death sentences. These condemned men are awaiting their executions by hanging. In prison, each of the prisoners deals with his fate in his own way.

Beckoned by the Emperor Valerius, Crispin, a renowned mosaicist, has arrived in the fabled city of Sarantium. Here he seeks to fulfill his artistic ambitions and his destiny high upon a dome that will become the emperor's magnificent sanctuary and legacy. But the beauty and solitude of his work cannot protect him from Sarantium's intrigue. Beneath him the city swirls with rumors of war and conspiracy, while otherwordly fires mysteriously flicker and disappear in the streets at night. Valerius is looking west to Crispin's homeland to reunite an Empire - a plan that may have dire consequences for the loved ones Crispin left behind. In Sarantium, however, loyalty is always complex, for Crispin's fate has become entwined with that of Valerius and his Empress, as well as Queen Gisel, his own monarch exiled in Sarantium herself. And now another voyager - this time from the east - has arrived, a physician determined to make his mark amid the shifting, treacherous currents of passion and violence that will determine the empire's fate.

One of America’s premier writers, the bestselling author of Ragtime, Billy Bathgate, The Book of Daniel, and World’s Fair turns his astonishing narrative powers to the short story in five dazzling explorations of who we are as a people and how we live. Ranging over the American continent from Alaska to Washington, D.C., these superb short works are crafted with all the weight and resonance of the novels for which E. L. Doctorow is famous. You will find yourself set down in a mysterious redbrick townhouse in rural Illinois (“A House on the Plains”), working things out with a baby-kidnapping couple in California (“Baby Wilson”), living on a religious-cult commune in Kansas (“Walter John Harmon”), and sharing the heartrending cross-country journey of a young woman navigating her way through three bad marriages to a kind of bruised but resolute independence (“Jolene: A Life”). And in the stunning “Child, Dead, in the Rose Garden,” you will witness a special agent of the FBI finding himself at a personal crossroads while investigating a grave breach of White House security. Two of these stories have already won awards as the best fiction of the year published in American periodicals, and two have been chosen for annual best-story anthologies. Composed in a variety of moods and voices, these remarkable portrayals of the American spiritual landscape show a modern master at the height of his powers.

Kaer's family has volunteered to emigrate through a world-gate to Linnea, a world known for horses as large as houses and dangerously mistrustful natives, in this new young adult novel from David Gerrold. Kaer and his mothers, fathers, siblings, and cousins embark on a training program in the Linnea dome designed to teach them to blend in with their new home's prior inhabitants in an environment free from the risk of discovery. The dome itself should be safe, but in a setting designed to be like Linnea in every conceivable way - from the long, harsh winters to the kacks, wolf-like creatures as tall as men - Kaer finds that even the simplest training exercises can be fraught with risk.

Interstellar kidnapping... or opportunity? A thousand teens and their teachers were stunned when the alien Garubis yanked Twenty-Nine Palms High School right out of California's Mojave desert, plopping it into a jungle many light years away. It was supposed to be a "gift"-a new settlement for humanity. But tell that to Mark, Alexandra, Barry and Sophie when strange parasites attack... and they don't know what to eat... and the island of Earth-buildings runs out of water! Some claim to have spotted strange tool-users in the forest. Are the Garubis back? Or is this some other possible alien menace? Whatever the skyjacked teenagers and their small number of adult companions face, they will need guts, ingenuity, hard work... and luck! But maybe the worst threat will come from the former students themselves. From basic human nature.

The HILARIOUS new novel and the year's most perfect festive gift - from million-copy bestselling author David Baddiel

The third novel in the original saga based on the movie Willow From the story by George Lucas, creator of Star Wars and Indiana Jones , and Chris Claremont, author of the bestselling X-Men adventures, comes the thrilling and unforgettable climax to an epic saga of myth, magic, and legend. Elora Danan has in her possession two last dragon eggs . . . and the last hope of the world. To protect them, Elora spellbinds herself to her faithful companions Thron Drumheller, the sorcerer and her sworn guardian, and Khory Bannefin, the woman warrior inhabited by a demon's offspring. It is a dire spell that ensures none of them will betray their cause . . . even at the cost of their lives. Meanwhile, Elora and her allies are being relentlessly pursued by the dreaded Black Rose, the Deceiver's commando assassins. But the greatest enemy lies within Elora herself. For the Deceiver is her own dark twin from a potential future of unimaginable evil. And the only way Elora can stop that future is to befriend an enemy whose insatiable appetite for destruction could destroy all of creation. Or is that, too, part of the Deceiver's plan?

In 2425 London, most of which is underwater, Rafe and Jule, members of warring Houses, must keep their love a secret to survive, but their lives become even more complicated when mysterious foreigners arrive on shore.

Card shark Hailey Gordon and ex-con Nick Patterson find themselves in Philadelphia, immersed in the history of Benjamin Franklin and Paul Revere. The Liberty Bell, Charles Willson Peale's Museum, and the Tomb of The Unknown Revolutionary Soldier are connected to Franklin in amazing ways. The more they discover, the more shocking the implications become.

Despite his lack of physical stature, the five-foot-tall John Dee was a towering figure in Renaissance Europe: to royalty, enemy to the vicious de Medici clan -- and confidant of Dyckson, a member of the alien race known as the Roc. Ancient and wise, the Roc have come to Earth to observe the evolution of humanity, not to interfere. But during the course of his studies, Dyckson has come to call Dee friend. When the de Medicis arrest Dee in Venice, Dyckson chooses to save his friend from prison and leave him in suspended animation until the year 2099. The "philosopher of Albion" wakes in a confusing future where humanity is on the brink of developing the ultimate weapon -- a weapon that will mean the destruction of the human race! The only thing that can prevent Armageddon is a genius from the past -- but can even the great John Dee save humanity from itself?

"Austin, a struggling screenwriter living in LA, is transported to the medieval city of Galiana, where he is charged with murder. He is suddenly transported back to LA and sets off in search of the only book written about the medieval kingdom. But Austin is not the only one interested in the book - Serge Orosgo, a powerful billionaire and family friend, wants the books so badly that he threatens to kill Austin if he doesn't find it. Realizing Serge and his family are on an evil mission, Austin struggles to stay alive and find the book before it gets into Serge's hands. His search is continually derailed, however, because Austin has no control over his passage between the two worlds and keeps suddenly returning Galiana."--

Elisabeth is a woman whose curiosity and passion far exceed the borders of her quiet middle-class life. She befriends a neighbor, organizes a small dinner party. And then, quite suddenly, finds herself embarked with him on an adventure that is one part vaudeville and one part high tragedy. A quiet novel of manners turns into a police procedural thriller. Her motivations for risking everything she has are never transparent. In a world where matters of life and death are nearly always transported to a clinical setting, whether it be a hospital or a courtroom, here each character must confront them unassisted.

Step right up! Shank’s Impossible Circus is back in town in this “utterly madcap adventure of sabotage and adventure” ( The Guardian ) from bestselling author William Sutcliffe. Get ready for more wonderfully bizarre antics because Shank’s Impossible Circus is back… There are 7,362 things that Armitage Shank hates and at the top of the list (which includes puppies, rainbows, and lifts) is being made a fool of. So, when he thinks his old nemesis, Queenie Bombazine, ringmaster of Bombazine’s Ecstatic Aquatic Splashtastic Circus, is trying to do just that, he sets out on a revenge rampage! Meanwhile, a HUGE revelation sends Hannah and Granny on their own journey to find Queenie—but it’s only a matter of time before they all collide… Filled with slapstick humor and clever word-play, this hilariously wacky and fun adventure is a must for fans of Andy Stanton, David Walliams, and Roald Dahl.

Step right up! Shank’s Impossible Circus is back in town in this “utterly madcap adventure of sabotage and adventure” ( The Guardian ) from bestselling author William Sutcliffe and featuring wonderful illustrations by David Tazzyman. The zany adventure continues and now there’s about to be double the trouble as dastardly ringmaster Armitage Shank comes face to face with his long lost twin! Oh no, how will the world cope with two Shanks? A brilliant mix of slapstick humor and word-play, Circus Thieves and the Comeback Caper is perfect as both a first read-alone novel and is also fun for adults to share at bedtime.

In the swamps of Asmat in West New Guinea, Tobias Schneebaum--traveler, writer, painter, explorer--finds the way of life that suits him best. Secret Places reels readers into a world of storytellers and sorcerers, cannibals and carvers, a place where Schneebaum discovers his soulmates and his own soul. Looking back at a life of wild adventure, Schneebaum seeks in Secret Places to intertwine the varied strands of his experience, pondering the parallel universes of his experience as a gay Jewish New Yorker and his years among the Asmat. The result illuminates both worlds--as when he juxtaposes the Asmat celebration of the spirits of the dead with a New York City plagued by AIDS and its own sad spirits.