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.

DANGER IN PARADISE Jeff Cape has been kicking around Indonesia as an oil geologist, but he s on his way home. But before his boat sails from Bali, he stops in for a drink where he meets Nicole Balashov, a bewitching White Russian trying to smuggle information out to the U.S. Cape agrees to take it with him but after she leaves, Cape sees a large, bald man rush out after her. Alarmed for her safely, he takes off after the man and misses his boat. Now every shady character on the island seems to be after him, including Mr. Chu and his mysterious serindit bird. Regina Williams, a seductive American woman. And the fat man himself, Apollo Fry, who will certainly kill anyone who gets in his way. All Cape wants to find again is Nicole before it s too late! MALAY WOMAN Jock Hamilton is on the run from Singapore. His unfaithful wife Eden has been found murdered and Jock is the only suspect. Stowing away in a ship bound for Kuala Tang, he overhears a plot to kill a young woman named Kay Allison, the widowed owner of a rubber plantation. Jock tries to warn her. But the task is anything but a simple one, because Jock finds himself immediately attracted to her yet he can't tell her who he is. When the ship lands, matters only become more complicated when he decides to hide out at the home of his best friend, Gabriel Wing. Jock soon finds out that Gabb's restless wife Monique has plans of her own for him!

book is in great condition covers show little wear spine is un-creased comes from smoke and pet free home.

Excerpt from The Rat Race: A Play in Three Acts To the right we look up at a roof with skylight and a series of windows which look onto it. Framed by her window, Mrs. Luigi Gallo, called soda because she is forever drinking it, sits and surveys the world. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

From the Introduction by Ed Gorman: If there's one thing Dick Lupoff understands (with perverse glee) it's the sorry state of the human condition. In this collection you'll find a wide variety of humans whose conditions leave much to be desired. A pit bull owner who's just as nasty as his dog A thief who believes his father-in-law was a real Nazi A dead-end boxer who has come back in a boxing movie A detective named Caligula Foxx who might be Nero Wolfe in drag A crooked corporal whose payoff is death Not only are the storylines original, the writing is indelibly stamped with Dick's vision and voice. Dick's writing talents really can't be defined by the usual means. Yes, he writes science fiction. Yes, he writes fantasy. Yes, he writes mystery. But what he really writes are Lupoffs. Long, short, hilarious, whimsical, dark, mysterious-they're all Lupoffs. Richard A. Lupoff is the author of many books including the popular Lindsey-and-Plum mysteries. The next of these, The Emerald Cat Killer, will be published by St. Martin's Press in October, 2010. His most recent collection of mysteries is Quintet: The Cases of Chase and Delacroix, published by Crippen & Landru.

Investigating the death of a philosophy professor at a fashionable northern California university, Aaron Asherfield interrogates the radical--and somewhat ridiculous--racial, sexual and intellectual factions at the college, each of which harbors a secret about the dead man.

Norma Barzman is a blacklisted writer living in Southern France. Henry Myers is her beloved cousin, a former member of the Algonquin circle who has found his writing talent diminished with age, and is living an isolated life in New York City. When Norma invites Henry to Italy to realize their mutual dream of traveling together to Cremona to write about the mysterious origins of violin making, neither one could have anticipated the explosive consequences of their journey. But their adventure opens a Pandora's box of long-suppressed emotions, family secrets, and forces each to reassess their feelings towards each other, and themselves.

"Mark Matousek was a nonbeliever when he met Mother Meera in 1985. Yet, in her presence, he experienced inexplicable occurrences that forced him to challenge his worldview. Mother Meera, born Kamala Reddy is believed by her thousands of devotees to be an embodiment of the Divine Mother. But who is Mother Meera, really? Now, in this deeply moving and wise book, Matousek brings us as close as possible to this extraordinary woman. He takes us on a mysterious quest into the "unseen world" where the divine and human intersect"--

Vera Caspary, the famed author of Laura , gives us another gripping crime drama, told through shifting points of view. John Ansell, young and idealistic editor of Truth and Crime magazine, wants to breathe new life into the stale and formulaic publication. Instead of rehashing a story that's already been proven popular elsewhere, he finds a fresh one: the murder of Warren G. Wilson, famed figurehead of a correspondence course. The murder itself isn't too remarkable--just a bullet in the back--but the victim is another case, as it becomes apparent that despite having a household name, nothing is known about him. Perhaps even more peculiar is how Ansell's boss absolutely refuses to run the story and, soon thereafter, Ansell is poisoned. Caspary masterfully allows the truth to slowly untangle in this incredibly woven mystery, finally available as an ebook.

A film studio sets out to create a documentary about the Tuskegee Airmen, a unit of African-Americans who flew combat missions in World War Two - but filming has barely begun when a corpse is found on the set. Hobart Lindsey, insurance investigator turned detective, enters the scene, aided by Marvia Plum, his policewoman girlfriend. Soon he uncovers a mystery stretching half a century into the past - and suddenly and unexpectedly is flying through a hazardous murder investigation by the seat of his pants!

"Lasting only one issue, Spirit World is an eclectic and stunning mix of horror, mystery and fantasy. This edition also includes stories by Jack Kirby that were originally intended for a second issue of Spirit World as well as an introduction by comics historian and Kirby biographer Mark Evanier."--P. [4] of cover. Includes works inked by Mike Royer.

"When Masha Mironova alights in Moscow at the turn of the century, with a modest inheritance and a determination to shed her provincial Siberian upbringing, she becomes Columbine: reckless and daring-and with the dramatic outfits to prove it. In her quest for danger and passion, Columbine soon discovers the Lovers of Death-a small gathering of poets who conduct séances to determine death's next chosen lover. Once named at a séance, the chosen one must await three signs from death before taking their own life. The resulting string of suicides has taken Moscow by storm, becoming fodder for sensational media coverage and widespread hysteria. As the group's numbers steadily dwindle, a mysterious newcomer appears. Immediately recognizable to the reader as the inimitable Fandorin, the newest member begins to sow doubt and discord from within, in order to ward Moscow's youth away from the lure of suicide and expose the sinister deception at the group's core. But will the gentleman detective be able to stop Columbine from taking action when she receives her three unmistakable signs? She Lover of Death is a fantastically entertaining murder mystery, where the murderer's weapons of choice are trickery and psychological manipulation"--

Excellent Book

SHANGHAI FLAME Alex Cloud knows he's being followed. He only has a short period of time to find Flame and bring her back to the ship in order to leave Shanghai alive. China has turned Red, and an American newspaperman's life has turned worthless. Dodging from one risky situation to the next, Cloud runs into Haigmann, a canny middle-man who seems to think Cloud has something of value. Eventually Cloud finds Flame, but she wants nothing to do with him. Undaunted, he's sworn to get her out of Shanghai, but now finds himself carrying a lethal pack of cards with a microfilm of names glued into them. Now they're both on the run, trying to stay one step ahead of the spies and thieves who want that film--ready and willing to kill anyone to get it. COUNTERSPY EXPRESS "Don't get ... mixed up with a woman. My mistake..." The dying words of Jim Cabot's European contact ring in his ears as finds himself being trailed by one woman and tempted by another. His mission is to locate Borsilov, a defected Russian scientist. His predecessor, Max Becker, died trying. And already Cabot has been knocked senseless and his life threatened by two gunmen as he tries to track down the missing scientist. Behind the threats is an Italian Red named Major Racasoli. Pitted against them all is an English opportunist, Sydney Jardine, who wants to sell Borsilov to the highest bidder. But those dying words of warning mean nothing to Cabot now, because he has met Pia--and all bets are off.

LOOK BEHIND YOU, LADY What a pickup line! Bruce Flemish is getting ready for his magic act at the Hotel China Seas in Macao when the girl sits down next to him at the bar and offers her room number. But this casual meeting is anything but. Donna Van Deerlin is looking for a hero. Her father was killed trying to get information to Hong Kong about a local opium ring. Donna has her father's notes in code. But getting them out of Macao will take courage. Bruce is sure she must have the wrong guy--he's just an itinerant magician. But before long Donna is working her magic on him, and Bruce is trying to stay one step ahead of a gang of murderers who want to get their hands on the notes as well. THE VENETIAN BLONDE Skelly stumbles into Venice with a gangster on his tail and his card dealing confidence blown to hell. He feels washed up. That's when he runs into Viola, a young blonde in a black swimsuit sitting at the end of the bar. He can't shake her. And he needs to, because Skelly is in town to hit up his old friend Rinny Jim for some quick cash. Instead he finds Rinny's beautiful wife Maggie, and a very sweet deal--a million-dollar con to bring a rich dame's nephew back from the dead. Now he's got two women after him, and all that sweet green tempting him to one last score. Skelly's problems have only begun.

Review "...This (is) a warning to anyone who thinks that anything less than total civil rights for everyone would be ...acceptable..." -- - Mark Shepherd, Author of BLACKROSE Product Description Mickey Derringer is having a hell of a year. A year filled with loss, crushing disappointment, personal tragedy, physical trauma, mental anguish, and constant change. It's also a year of personal triumphs, growth, love and enlightenment. All while she's trying to catch the worst serial killer the city has ever known. A murderer whose modus operandi reopens old wounds and rekindles her worst nightmares. About the Author Selina Rosen has sold several stories to Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine, two of which were reprinted in anthologies. She has also sold stories to the Iguana Informer, Cosmic Debris, Distant Journeys, Such A Pretty Face, Personal Demons, and a few other magazines and anthologies. Two of her novels, Queen of Denial and Chains of Freedom, were published in 1999 and 2001 by Meisha Merlin Publishing. Meisha Merlin will be publishing Chains of Destruction in May of 2002, Recycled (the sequel to Queen of Denial) in 2003, and Chains of Deliverance (the third and final book in the Chains trilogy) in 2004. She also has several novels, novellas and stories in anthologies that are available through Yard Dog Press, and Yard Dog will be publishing another one of her novels, Hammer Town, in 2002. Ms. Rosen says, "If you're reading this, then you've already bought one of my books. Come to my website and let me know how you like it, or just talk - I really like to talk!!"

The diary of Marcus Rottner, the 24-year-old scion of a rich and powerful family, who kills his girlfriend with an overdose of heroin.

A diabolically versatile serial killer is targeting talk show hosts for extinction. The industry is in panic, their revenues threatened, their very existence under attack, not only from the killer, but from certain sectors of society who, in some ways, side with the killer's grievances. To him talk show hosts are the sleazy practitioners of the art of destroying people's lives before a television audience. As New York City police detectives Charlie Marchetti, nighttime alcoholic, and his partner Angela Buonfiglio set out as lead investigators assigned to catch the assassin his tally of victims keeps steadily rising. The pressures on them from above to solve the case intensify. Then, in his twisted contempt for Marchetti, the killer begins writing letters to the detective--his way of upping the stakes in his insatiable thirst for gamesmanship, knowing that Charlie will never figure out the meanings behind his messages. The killer is too clever for any mere civil servant detective. Or is he? Charlie and Angela find out the hard way as they come face to face with a murderer determined to add them to his list of victims.

Prior to World War II, black actors were restricted to minor roles in mainstream films - though there was a 'black' Hollywood that created films with all-black casts for exhibition to black audiences. When a cache of long-lost films is discovered by cinema researchers, the aged director Edward 'Speedy' MacReedy appears to reclaim his place in film history. But insurance investigator Hobart Lindsey and homicide officer Marvia Plum soon find themselves enmeshed in a frightening web of arson and murder with its roots deep in the tragic events of a past era...