Fiction & Literature - Books

The Second Christmas Megapack

Fiction & Literature

Christmas--the very word conjures up memories of the most wondrous childhood holiday of all--filled with the glitter of colorfully-wrapped presents, family visits, carols, photographs, decorating the tree, attendance at church to celebrate the birth of the Christ child, and tummy-stuffing dinners tucked with treats seen at no other time of the year. But the yule holiday has been celebrated for at least two centuries in North America, and our writers have been producing memorable stories about this unique day for almost as long. Here are 29 Christmas stories old and new, tales to delight, to entrance, to beguile, and even to sadden a whole new generation of readers. From C. C. MacApp's view of a Christmas future to Jacob A. Riis's gut-wrenching portraits of the holiday in the 1890s slums of New York to William J. Locke's reenactment of the tale of the Three Wise Men, we experience every possible facet of this most precious day of the year. So sit back and relive your memories once again, as recreated through the eyes of some of the finest writers of their time! Included in this volume: INTRODUCTION, by Robert Reginald THE BLOSSOMING ROD, by Mary Stewart Cutting AND ALL THE EARTH A GRAVE, by C.C. MacApp A REVERSIBLE SANTA CLAUS, by Meredith Nicholson BEASLEY’S CHRISTMAS PARTY, by Booth Tarkington A CHRISTMAS MYSTERY: THE STORY OF THREE WISE MEN, by William John Locke BETTY’S BRIGHT IDEA, by Harriet Beecher Stowe THE FIRST CHRISTMAS OF NEW ENGLAND, by Harriet Beecher Stowe THE LADY ERMETTA; or, The Sleeping Secret MR. KRIS KRINGLE: A CHRISTMAS TALE, by S. Weir Mitchell ROSEMARY: A CHRISTMAS STORY, by C. N. & A. M. Williamson THE CHRISTMAS CHILD, by Hesba Stretton THE LITTLE GRAY LADY, by F. Hopkinson Smith THE ROMANCE OF A CHRISTMAS CARD, by Kate Douglas Wiggin MR. BAMBOO AND THE HONORABLE LITTLE GOD, by Fannie C. MacAulay MRS. BUDLONG’S CHRISTMAS PRESENTS, by Rupert Hughes THE OAK TREE’S CHRISTMAS GIFT, by Julian...

Sheltering Rain

Fiction & Literature

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Me Before You, the basis for the major motion picture, comes the touching, unforgettable story of three generations of Irish women faced with the fundamental truths of love, duty, and the unbreakable bond that unites mothers and daughters. Estranged from her mother since she ran away from her rural Irish home as a young woman, Kate swore a future oath that she’d always be a friend to her daughter, Sabine. But history has a way of repeating itself, and Kate now faces an ever-widening chasm between herself and her daughter. With Sabine about to make her own journey to Ireland to see the grandmother Kate abandoned, Kate is left wondering how they ever made it here, and what she can do to close the gap between them. For Joy, seeing her granddaughter is a dream come true. After the painful separation from Kate, she’s looking forward to having time with Sabine. Yet almost as soon as the young woman arrives, the lack of common ground between them deflates her enthusiasm. And when Sabine’s impetuous, inquisitive nature forces Joy to face long-buried secrets from her past, she realizes that perhaps it’s time to finally heal old wounds.“This perceptive…novel does the mother-and-daughter thing in page-turning style.”--Elle

The Christmas Tales Bundle

Fiction & Literature

Books make great gifts. Treat yourself this holiday season to 10 entertaining Christmas stories for every occasion. Written by master storytellers and upcoming new voices these stories span various worlds. From women’s fiction to fantasy, crime to hot romance and mystery, you will find a Christmas story for everyone to enjoy. Whether you want to shiver, laugh, cry or sigh, give yourself, or someone you know, the gift of stories this holiday season and all year through. Table of Contents 1. "Rehabilitation" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch 2. "Christmas Whispers" by Bonnie Elizabeth 3. "Walter's Christmas Night-Musik" by Susan J. Kroupa 4. "A Christmas Blizzard Kiss" by Karen L. McKee 5. "One Magical Christmas" by Leigh Saunders 6. "Santa's Snack" by Dean Wesley Smith 7. "Pawprints in the Snow" by Dara Girard 8. "Firelights of Christmas" by M. L. Buchman 9. "Carl of the Bells" by Annie Reed 10. "A Fortunate Mistake" by Dara Girard

Der Morgen davor und das Leben danach

Fiction & Literature

Jetzt als Serie bei Apple TV+An einem Sommermorgen besteigen der zwölfjährige Edward und seine Familie ein Flugzeug, das sie von New York nach Los Angeles bringen soll. Auf halbem Weg über das Land, stürzt das Flugzeug ab. Edward ist von einhundertsiebenundachtzig Passagieren der einzige Überlebende. Was geschah in den Stunden davor? Wie geht sein Leben nach dem schmerzvollen Verlust weiter? Die atemberaubende Odyssee eines Jungen, dessen einsames Herz wieder lernen muss zu lieben.

Cat and Jemima J

Fiction & Literature

From New York Times bestselling author Jane Green comes Cat and Jemima J, a free ebook original short story.Featuring Jemima, the main character from Green's beloved novel Jemima J, and Cat, the main character from her novel Summer Secrets. Fans of these popular characters will be delighted to see them sharing the pages of Green's engrossing short story.

The Life Intended

Fiction & Literature

Sliding Doors meets P.S. I Love You in this richly told novel from the author of The Sweetness of Forgetting about the struggle to overcome the past when our memories refuse to be forgotten.After her husband’s sudden death over ten years ago, Kate Waithman never expected to be lucky enough to find another love of her life. But now she’s planning her second walk down the aisle to a perfectly nice man. So why isn’t she more excited? At first, Kate blames her lack of sleep on stress. But when she starts seeing Patrick, her late husband, in her dreams, she begins to wonder if she’s really ready to move on. Is Patrick trying to tell her something? Attempting to navigate between dreams and reality, Kate must uncover her husband’s hidden message. Her quest leads her to a sign language class and into the New York City foster system, where she finds rewards greater than she could have imagined.

A is for Apocalypse

Fiction & Literature

“In A is for Apocalypse, the world ends in both fire and ice–and by asteroid, flood, virus, symphony, immortality, the hands of our vampire overlords, and crowdfunding. A stellar group of authors explores over two dozen of the bangs and whispers that might someday take us all out. Often bleak, sometimes hopeful, always thoughtful, if A is for Apocalypse is as prescient as it is entertaining, we’re in for quite a ride.” – Amanda C. Davis, author of The Lair of the Twelve PrincessesWhat do you get when you take twenty six amazing writers, randomly assign them a letter of the alphabet and give them complete artistic freedom within a theme? A is for ApocalypseTwenty six apocalyptic stories written by both well-known and up-and-coming writers. Monsters, meteors, floods, war—the causes of the apocalypses in these tales are as varied as the stories themselves.This volume contains work by Ennis Drake, Beth Cato, Kenneth Schneyer, Damien Angelica Walters, K. L. Young, Marge Simon, Milo James Fowler, Simon Kewin, C.S. MacCath, Steve Bornstein and more!

Μεσάνυχτα στη Βιβλιοθήκη

Fiction & Literature

ΠΑΓΚΟΣΜΙΟ ΕΚΔΟΤΙΚΟ ΦΑΙΝΟΜΕΝΟ «Ανάμεσα στη ζωή και στον θάνατο υπάρχει μια βιβλιοθήκη», είπε. «Και μέσα σ’ αυτή τη βιβλιοθήκη, τα ράφια συνεχίζονται επ’ άπειρον. Κάθε βιβλίο σού δίνει μια ευκαιρία να δοκιμάσεις μιαν άλλη ζωή που θα μπορούσες να έχεις ζήσει. Να δεις πώς μπορεί να ήταν τα πράγματα, αν είχες κάνει διαφορετικές επιλογές… Θα είχες κάνει κάτι διαφορετικό, αν είχες την ευκαιρία να αναιρέσεις αυτά για τα οποία μετάνιωσες;» Η ζωή της Νόρα πηγαίνει από το κακό στο χειρότερο. Τότε, την τελευταία μέρα της στη Γη, όταν σημαίνουν μεσάνυχτα, μεταφέρεται σε μια βιβλιοθήκη. Εκεί της δίνεται η δυνατότητα να αναιρέσει επιλογές και να απαλλαγεί από τις τύψεις της, δοκιμάζοντας όλες τις διαφορετικές ζωές που θα μπορούσε να είχε ζήσει. Το αγωνιώδες ερώτημα που προκύπτει όμως είναι: Αν έχεις άπειρες εναλλακτικές, ποιος είναι ο καλύτερος τρόπος για να ζήσεις;

An Ideal Husband

Fiction & Literature

The room is brilliantly lighted and full of guests. At the top of the staircase stands lady chiltern, a woman of grave Greek beauty, about twenty-seven years of age. She receives the guests as they come up. Over the well of the staircase hangs a great chandelier with wax lights, which illumine a large eighteenth-century French tapestry—representing the Triumph of Love, from a design by Boucher—that is stretched on the staircase wall. On the right is the entrance to the music-room. The sound of a string quartette is faintly heard. The entrance on the left leads to other reception-rooms. mrs. marchmont and lady basildon, two very pretty women, are seated together on a Louis Seize sofa. They are types of exquisite fragility. Their affectation of manner has a delicate charm. Watteau would have loved to paint them.

The Dollmaker

Fiction & Literature

Named a Best Book of the Year by The Advocate and Tor.comA love story of two very real, unusual people, and a novel rich with wonders that shines a radically different light on society's marginal figures.Stitch by perfect stitch, Andrew Garvie makes exquisite dolls in the finest antique style. Like him, they are diminutive, but graceful, unique and with surprising depths. Perhaps that's why he answers the enigmatic personal ad in his collector's magazine.Letter by letter, Bramber Winters reveals more of her strange, sheltered life in an institution on Bodmin Moor, and the terrible events that put her there as a child. Andrew knows what it is to be trapped; and as they knit closer together, he weaves a curious plan to rescue her.On his journey through the old towns of England he reads the fairytales of Ewa Chaplin—potent, eldritch stories which, like her lifelike dolls, pluck at the edges of reality and thread their way into his mind. When Andrew and Bramber meet at last, they will have a choice—to remain alone with their painful pasts or break free and, unlike their dolls, come to life.

Deň trifidov

Fiction & Literature

Biológ Bill Masen je po operácií očí a ako jeden z mála ľudí na svete si nemôže pozrieť zvláštny meteorický roj. Všetci, ktorí toto vesmírne divadlo videli, však oslepli. Bezpečný a známy svet, ktorý Bill poznal len pred dvadsiatimi štyrmi hodinami, je navždy preč. Okrem nástrah po katastrofickej udalosti všade číhajú aj trifidy – dvojmetrové mäsožravé rastliny, ktoré dokážu kráčať a jedovatým žihadlom poľahky zabiť dospelého človeka. Ľudstvo je v troskách a trifidy sú na ceste ovládnuť svet.

Breakfast at the Honey Creek Café

Fiction & Literature

On the rolling hills that border the Brazos River lies Honey Creek, Texas—a small town where family bonds and legends run deep, and friendship and love are always close to hand . . . Piper Kate McKenzie, mayor of Honey Creek, won’t let a major scandal rip her quirky hometown apart, or jeopardize her dream of one day running for higher office. So she calls for reinforcements to find the source of corruption in the sheriff’s office—two men recommended by her Texas Ranger brothers . . . At seventeen, Sam Cassidy left home, heeding the call to be a preacher. Later he found another mission: serving his country. After his one love died, he lost both his faith and his fight. Drifting from one assignment to another, he’s come to Honey Creek intending to earn his pay check and move on. As a Dallas cop, Coby Riddell has grown skeptical and wary. People have a bad habit of disappointing each other, but the job never lets him down. This job in particular—his first undercover—is too intriguing to pass up. Piper, who’s been wondering if Honey Creek might be the only real love of her life, suddenly finds herself drawn to two very different men. And if she can keep her town—and her heart—from going completely off the rails, there may be a sweet, unexpected future in store . . . Visit us at www.kensingtonbooks.comOn the rolling hills that border the Brazos River lies Honey Creek, Texas—a small town where family bonds and legends run deep, and friendship and love are always close to hand . . . Piper Kate McKenzie, mayor of Honey Creek, won’t let a major scandal rip her quirky hometown apart, or jeopardize her dream of one day running for higher office. So she calls for reinforcements to find the source of corruption in the sheriff’s office—two men recommended by her Texas Ranger brothers . . . At seventeen, Sam Cassidy left home, heeding the call to be a preacher. Later he found another mission: serving his country. After his one love died, he lost both his faith and his fight. Drifting from one assignment to another, he’s come to Honey Creek intending to earn his pay check and move on. As a Dallas cop, Coby Riddell has grown skeptical and wary. People have a bad habit of disappointing each other, but the job never lets him down. This job in particular—his first undercover—is too intriguing to pass up. Piper, who’s been wondering if Honey Creek might be the only real love of her life, suddenly finds herself drawn to two very different men. And if she can keep her town—and her heart—from going completely off the rails, there may be a sweet, unexpected future in store . . . Visit us at www.kensingtonbooks.com

Metrophage

Fiction & Literature

New York Times bestselling author Richard Kadrey’s first novel—the cult classic dystopian cyberpunk tale—now back in print after twenty years in a special signed, collectible edition.Welcome to the near future: Los Angeles in the late 21st century—a segregated city of haves and have nots, where morality is dead and technology rules. Here, a small group of wealthy seclude themselves in gilded cages. Beyond their high security compounds, far from their pretty comforts, lies a lawless wasteland where the angry masses battle hunger, rampant disease, and their own despair to survive.Jonny was born into this Hobbesian paradise. A street-wise hustler who deals drugs on the black market—narcotics that heal the body and cool the mind—he looks out for nobody but himself. Until a terrifying plague sweeps through L.A., wreaking death and panic. And no one, not even a clever operator like Jonny, is safe.His own life hanging in the balance, Jonny must risk everything to find the cure—if there is one.The book will include a Q & A with Cory Doctorow.

Swapping Lives

Fiction & Literature

The New York Times bestselling author of Falling and Sister Stardust presents a charming transatlantic take on trading places... Being director of Poise! magazine affords Vicky Townsley a glamorous London life. She has everything she wants—except marriage, children, and a house in the country. Amber Winslow has a stone mansion in Connecticut, two kids, and a nanny. She loves her husband and her children, but that doesn't mean she can’t fantasize about a taste of something a little more...exciting. When a single Londoner and a Connecticut mother get the chance to walk in each other’s shoes for a month things are bound to get interesting. But as they quickly learn, wanting something and actually getting it are two entirely different things...

The Dog in the Manger(Read To Me and Interactive)

Fiction & Literature

This Read To Me and Interactive eBook has a new enhanced version with special audio, video and interactive illustrations. This story has originated by Aesop. Especially it has included narrative audio and background sound and Video for whole the story. Have fun with Read To Me and Interactive! Read To Me and Interactive are Trademarks of OrangeDigit Inc.

Jene Nacht in Paris

Fiction & Literature

Jede Nacht ist ein Festival der Lust! Bis Killian an der Treue seiner Ehefrau Cordie zweifelt und sich von ihr trennt. Doch Cordie gibt nicht auf. Unvermutet taucht sie in Killians Firma in New York auf - und das Verlangen in seinen Blicken schenkt ihr neue Hoffnung ...

A proposta do herdeiro - Prontos para amar

Fiction & Literature

OMNIBUS BIANCA 81A proposta do herdeiroRebecca WintersDesde que Laura chegou à casa da família Laroche, Raoul não parou de olhar para aquela beleza loira. Não conseguia parar de o fazer, apesar de estar convencido de que não passava de mais uma caçadora de fortunas.Laura, assim que desceu do navio, inspirou a relaxante brisa marinha e sentiu o sol na cara, apercebeu-se de que aquela viagem a França era precisamente o que precisava. Tinha de recomeçar e dar uma reviravolta à sua vida. Mas tudo mudou assim que sentiu o olhar penetrante de um francês muito aprumado...Prontos para amarTrish WylieCassidy Malone descrevia-se a si própria como uma professora de aspecto normal e um pouco gordinha. Não era nada parecida com as estrelas de Hollywood. Infelizmente, agora, tinha de trabalhar com o milionário da indústria do cinema e seu ex-namorado, Will Ryan.No passado, no auge da sua juventude e repleta de confiança, assinara um contrato para escrever três guiões. Oito anos depois, enquanto escrevia o último guião com Will, o seu sorriso diabólico e o seu encanto letal faziam-na dsejar a segurança da sua escola na Irlanda.

Fantasy Tales 4

Fiction & Literature

In this amazing issue:Three boys are pursued by a shapeless terror in The Drain by Stephen Gallagher, author of Down River and Rain.Acclaimed writer Charles L. Grant takes motherly love to the limits in Alice Smiling.And Kim Newman reveals an obsessive book collector's dark secret in The Man who collected Barker.Plus news and views from the world of fantasy and horror.

Planet of the Apes Omnibus 2

Fiction & Literature

The second omnibus to reissue classic Planet of the Apes stories, which includes Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Battle for the Planet of the Apes, and Planet of the Apes

Mystery Tribune / Issue Nº22-23

Fiction & Literature

The 480-page issue Nº22-23 features:A curated collection of short fiction including stories by Reed Farrel Coleman, SJ Rozan, Sharon Hunt, Scott Miles, Mark SaFranko, David Rich, Lee Matthew Goldberg, Paul Handley, Kevin Egan, Thomas Burchfield, Victor Kreuiter, D.C. Benny, Brian Cox, Jonathan Worlde, David Bart, Gary Earl Ross, Karl Luntta, John Timm, and Sara Henry Paolozzi.Interviews, Essay and Reviews by Zakariah Johnson, Rob D. Smith, and Casey StegmanArt and Photography by Justin Sellers,Tommi Viitala, and Trevor Lawrence.This issue also features a preview of the new graphic novel A Treasury of XXth Century Murder Compendium II by Rick Geary and exclusive covers of “Heat Seeker: Combustion”, the new comic series by Charles Ardai.NY Times Bestselling author Reed Farrel Coleman has called Mystery Tribune “a cut above” and mystery grand masters Lawrence Block and Max Allan Collins have praised it for its “solid fiction” and “the most elegant design”.An elegantly crafted quarterly issue, printed on uncoated paper and with a beautiful layout designed for optimal reading experience, our Issue Nº22-23 will make a perfect companion or gift for avid mystery readers and fans of literary crime fiction.