From #1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman, an ingenious and captivating reimagining of Rudyard Kipling's adventure The Jungle Book that is a glorious meditation on love, loss, survival, sacrifice, and what it means to truly be alive―one of ten classic Gaiman works repackaged with elegant original watercolor art by acclaimed artist Henry Sene Yee. Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would have been completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy--an ancient Indigo Man beneath the hill, a gateway to a desert leading to an abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack--who has already killed Bod's family. . . By turns macabre, uplifting, sinister, and heartwarming, Neil Gaiman's #1 national bestseller―winner of the Carnegie and Newbury Medals and the Hugo Award―is a "novel of wonder . . . a tale of unforgettable enchantment" (New York Times Book Review).

Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis is about Gregor Samsa, a traveling salesman who wakes up one day to find that he has transformed into a giant insect. His family is disgusted with him, especially when he is no longer able to earn income. Gregor eventually dies after deciding that he is a burden to his family.

The second collection of short stories from the highly acclaimed author of THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY and WONDER BOYS. There are the two boys of the title story, locked in their own world of fantasy and make-believe, reaching out to each other to survive the terrible prospect of fatherlessness. 'House Hunting' shows us the grim spectacle of a couple whose marriage is in its death throes, and whose search for a happy home is doomed; in another story a couple struggle to overcome the effects of a brutal rape. Elsewhere, a family therapist comes face to face with the dark secret of his childhood, and an American football star down on his luck makes his peace with his father. The collection culminates in a daring and wonderfully baroque horror story, 'In the Black Mill', which chronicles the terrifying fate that befalls an archaeologist as he uncovers cannibalism and ritual sacrifice in a gloomy Pennsylvanian town. Serious in their subject matter, yet shot through with wit, humour and compassion, these nine short stories are testament to Chabon's ability to weave together comedy and tragedy with unforgettable results.

Suspects who are identical twins... A leaking tent... Magical worm pills... A zebra's portrait... And a sheet of toilet paper from Spain that's been swiped! These are just some of the ten brain-twisting mysteries that Encyclopedia Brown must solve by using his famous computer-like brain. Try and crack the cases along with him--the answer to all the mysteries are found in the back!

Kids can be such monsters. Literally. From the award-winning author of Hidden Talents, two remarkable short story collections - Kidzilla and The Witch's Monkey - together for the first time. Plus several brand new stories. Each hilarious and harrowing. A substitute teacher finds out she has some monsters for students. A group of kids attempt a levitation trick with hair-raising results. A neighborhood is so boring the grown ups are turning into...well...you know. And dozens more. So don't be a weenie! Read these stories!

Mack's adventures continue in this fourth and final installment in Michael Grant's hilarious fantasy adventure tween series! Time is running out for Mack MacAvoy and the Magnificent Twel-er-Seven! In just a few short days, the Pale Queen will emerge from her earthly prison to destroy the world. But Mack and the Magnificent Twel-er-Seven, are all but powerless against the Pale Queen and her evil daughter Risky unless they can assemble the other five magnifica. The first step is to convince the evil traitor Valin to come over to the good side, a task that will force Mack to face his pogonophobia once and for all. (What? You've never heard of pogonophobia? It's a thing, we swear. At least, it's a thing for Mack. A serious thing. You'll see.) If they can convince Valin to switch sides and assemble the other four magnifica, the Pale Queen won't stand a chance. It will all be over! Maybe. Mack's hilarious adventures continue in this fourth and final installment in Michael Grant's The Magnificent 12 series.

"The stories in this volume were written between July of 1990 and March of 1995-the second half of the fifth decade of my career as a science-fiction writer. I don't think I could have imagined, when I began that career in the early 1950s, that science-fiction publishing would evolve the way it did over the next forty years. Here, then, is the cream of the Silverberg output, 1990-95. I suppose I wrote more short stories in the first six months of 1957 than in that entire six-year period; but so be it. It's a different world today. I look back nostalgically on the small-town atmosphere of the era in which I began my career, and there are times when I'd be glad to 'call back yesterday, bid time return.' As Shakespeare pointed out, though, that can't be done. The one recourse is the one I have chosen, which is to soldier staunchly onward through the years, come what may, writing a story or two here and a book there, while the world changes out of all recognition around me. And so-to leap neatly from the Bard of Avon to F. Scott Fitzgerald-'so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.'" -Robert Silverberg, from the Introduction

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.

Robert Silverberg needs little introduction to anyone at all familiar with the history of the science fiction field. Fan. Author. Editor. Creative force. He has been an integral part of the field for longer than most of his readers have been alive. Earlier this year, he kindly agreed to put together a MEGAPACK(R) of his short stories, so here, then, is a selection of early works by one of the all-time greats. Included are: ALAREE BIRDS OF A FEATHER BLAZE OF GLORY DELIVERY GUARANTEED THE DESSICATOR THE HAPPY UNFORTUNATE THE HUNTED HEROES THE IRON STAR THE ISOLATIONISTS THE LONELY ONE THE MAN WHO CAME BACK NEUTRAL PLANET OZYMANDIAS THE PAIN PEDDLERS THE PLEASURE OF THEIR COMPANY POINT OF FOCUS POSTMARK GANYMEDE PRIME COMMANDMENT THE SONGS OF SUMMER SPACEROGUE THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN THE WOMAN YOU WANTED VALLEY BEYOND TIME WE KNOW WHO WE ARE

Harry Harrison was recognized as a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writer's of America. He was best known for his Deathworld and Stainless Steel Rat series. He was nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Sideways Awards. He was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2004. This omnibus edition of his work includes four complete novels and six short stories. Both of his best known series Deathworld and The Stainless Steel Rat are represented herein. If you enjoyed this book, you'll want to search on "Positronic Publishing Super Pack" and check out all our other exciting Super Packs!

Somehow, for all my outward pretence of cold-eyed professionalism, all my insistence that writing is simply a job like any other, I've discovered to my surprise and chagrin that there's more than that going on around here, that I write as much out of karmic necessity and some inescapable inner need to rededicate my own skills constantly to my-what? My craft? My art? My profession? I wrote these stories because the only way of earning a living I have ever had has been by writing, but mainly, I have to admit, I wrote these stories because I couldn't not write them. Well, so be it. They involved me in a lot of hard work, but for me, at least, the results justify the toil. I'm glad I wrote them. Writing them, it turns out, was important for me, and even pleasurable, in a curiously complex after-the-fact kind of way. May they give you pleasure now too. -Robert Silverberg, from his Introduction

'The ultimate book for any Jennings or Gleitzman fan.' Kids Book Review Shortlisted - BILBY Children's Choice Awards 2002 - Prize for Writing for Young Adults Winner - KROC Children's Choice Awards 2000 - Prize for Writing for Young Adults Winner - YABBA Children's Choice Awards 1998 - Older Readers Winner - Dymock's Children's Choice Awards 1999 - Older Readers Winner - CROW Children's Choice Awards 1998 - Prize for Writing for Young Adults Winner - COOL Children's Choice Awards 1998 - Prize for Writing for Young Adults Something very weird is happening to Dawn and Rory. And it's not just their new step-family. Slurping slobberers want to suck their bones out. Strange steel sheep want to smash them to pieces. Giant frogs want to crunch them up. Cruel killer creepers want to squeeze the life out of them. Their parents can't help them. Dawn and Rory are on their own. It's wild. It's wacky. It's WICKED! With the perfect mix of humour and suspense, Wicked! will keep middle-grade readers on the edge of their seat as Rory and Dawn navigate the challenges of life, family ... and monsters! A must-read for any kid (or adult) who loves a good mix of creepy, funny and clever storytelling. ALL SIX PARTS IN ONE! Part 1- The Slobberers Part 2- Battering Rams Part 3- Croaked Part 4- Dead Ringer Part 5- The Creeper Part 6- Till Death Us Do Part ------------------ 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

This is a classic science fiction novella by Stanley G. Weinbaum that was originally published in Astounding Stories in 1935. This is the only of Weinbaum's stories to be set on the planet Pluto, written only five years after the planet's discovery. The tale starts with a spaceship called Aardkin that gets boarded by the notorious pirate ship the Red Peri. One year on Frank Keene and astrophysicist Solomon Nestor crash land on Pluto and find themselves captives of the Red Peri herself, the nineteen year-old daughter of the man who built the Red Peri. During their ordeal the secret of the reason behind her forays into piracy are revealed. This work is part of our Vintage Sci-Fi Classics Series, a series in which we are republishing some of the best stories in the genre by some of its most acclaimed authors, such as Isaac Asimov, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Robert Sheckley. Each publication is complete with a short introduction to the history of science fiction.

There is a lot of rubbish to sort through in Tommy and Tuppence Beresford's new country home, The Laurels. Turning the pages of an abandoned book, Tuppence uncovers a troubling note: "Mary Jordan did not die naturally. It was one of us. I think I know which one." Peering into the past, the Beresfords learn the author of the note died very young—was it coincidence, or did he know too much? But it is no coincidence when a loose panel of glass just misses Tuppence, nor when a bullet grazes her arm. Someone wants to bury the sixty-year-old secret...and the Beresfords.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

Book by Oppenheim, E. Phillips

Joseph P. Cray is an American manufacturer who has just completed a year serving coffee to the troops in France during World War 1. He worked in a YMCA canteen as a volunteer. He is motivated by good will, and also to escape his American second wife who is the head of a temperance organization. With sybaritic glee, he returns to London, dons civilian garb, and enjoys his first cocktail. He is soon joined by his daughter, the beautiful Lady Sara Sittingbourne, who lives in London. Together the two seek "adventure" in the form of crimes foiled, jewels recovered, spies uncovered, and plots smashed. Mr Cray is accosted at a costume ball by the fey spirit of a medium, Christine Seboa, who turns out to be even cleverer than he. The adventures continue on the Riviera and back in New York. E. Phillips Oppenheim, in full Edward Phillips Oppenheim (born Oct. 22, 1866, London, Eng.-died Feb. 3, 1946, St. Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands, U.K.), internationally popular British author of novels and short stories dealing with international espionage and intrigue.After leaving school at age 17 to help in his father's leather business, Oppenheim wrote in his spare time. His first novel, Expiation (1887), and subsequent thrillers caught the fancy of a wealthy New York businessman who bought out the leather business at the turn of the century and made Oppenheim a high-salaried director. He was thus freed to devote the major part of his time to writing. The novels, volumes of short stories, and plays that followed, totaling more than 150, were peopled with sophisticated heroes, adventurous spies, and dashing noblemen. Among his well-known works are The Long Arm of Mannister (1910), The Moving Finger (1911), and The Great Impersonation (1920).--Encyclopaedia Britannica.