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Random House, Inc.
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Stories in the Travelman Short Stories series take the reader to places of mystery, fantasy, horror, romance, and corners of the universe yet unexplored. In turn, readers take them on the bus or subway, slip them into briefcases and lunchboxes, and send them from Jersey to Juneau. Each classic or original short story is printed on one sheet of paper and folded like a map. This makes it simple to read while commuting, convenient to carry when not, and easy to give or send to a friend. A paper envelope is provided for mailing or gift-giving, and both are packaged in a dear plastic envelope for display. The cost is not much more than a greeting card. |
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The unbelievably riveting adventure of an unlikely young explorer who emerged from the jungles of Africa with evidence of a mysterious, still mythical beast--the gorilla — only to stumble straight into the center of the biggest debate of the day: Darwin's theory of evolution In 1856 Paul Du Chaillu marched into the equatorial wilderness of West Africa determined to bag an animal that, according to legend, was nothing short of a monster. When he emerged three years later, the summation of his efforts only hinted at what he'd experienced in one of the most dangerous regions on earth. Armed with an astonishing collection of zoological specimens, Du Chaillu leapt from the physical challenges of the jungle straight into the center of the biggest issues of the time — the evolution debate, racial discourse, the growth of Christian fundamentalism — and helped push each to unprecedented intensities. He experienced instant celebrity, but with that fame came whispers — about his past, his credibility, and his very identity — which would haunt the young man. Grand in scope, immediate in detail, and propulsively readable, Between Man and Beast brilliantly combines Du Chaillu's personal journey with the epic tale of a world hovering on the sharp edge of transformation. |
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Fins and Brinco are best friends, and they both adore the wild and beautiful Leda. The three young friends spend their days exploring the dunes and picking through the treasures that the sea washes on to the shores of Galicia. One day, as they are playing in the abandoned school on the edge of the village, they come across treasure of another kind: a huge cache of whisky hidden under a sheet. But before they can exploit their discovery a shot rings out, and a man wearing an impeccable white suit and panama hat enters the room. That day they learn the most important lesson of all, that the mouth is for keeping quiet. |
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As the annual flow of novels grows ever greater, it's a hard job to keep up, let alone sort the wheat from the chaff. Fortunately John Sutherland is on hand to do precisely that for you, and in 500 wittily informative essays he introduces you to the very best of the world's fiction. His taste is impressively catholic: an appreciation of The Ambassadors is immediately followed by a consideration of American Psycho. War and Peace, Heat and Dust and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory all make an appearance. There are imposing Victorian novels, entertaining contemporary thrillers and everything in between, from spy novels to romance. In each case a sense of the flavour of the novel is brilliantly evoked and a compelling case made for why it should be a candidate for the bookshelf or bedside table. The end result is both a wonderful dip-in book and a virtual history of the novel. |
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«Once upon a time, I had known nothing about my family. Gran never, ever spoke about her family, and I never asked. My parents and I knew that Gran had come from Europe, but anyone would have known that from her beautiful, aristrocratic French. But being me, I just couldn't leave it alone. So I went to Europe and found out. And then my life fell apart. Or shoudl I say, my «old» life fell apart. And my new life... well, it was like something right out of a fairy tale. I had been ta teacher on the college level, and now I was a member of one of the royal families of Dobrenica, an obscure European country with some very unusual attributes. Like magic. Yes, there was magic in Dobrencia. For instance, if certain members of two royal lines married at a specific time, Dobrenia «vanished.» And ghosts, I could now see ghosts. And vampires... but I still can't quite wrap my brain around that one. Let's just say that Dobrenica was one strange little country. I was truly happy. I was engaged to the heir apparent to the throne of Dobrenica, and we were in love. Wedding preparations were underway and, although the thought of being a princess made me feel weird, being with Alec was like living a dream. So my mood was high as I walked under the triumphal arch in the center of the capital city and ducked thorugh a lichen-dotten medieval archway. Trailing my fingers along the wall, I soon passed the odd little painting of a door that had intrigued me ever since I first came to Dobrenica. It was rendered so realistically that on first glance it seemed three-dimensional, but as I passed my hands over the painted doorknob, my fingres closed on cold metal, and the false door swung inward, revealing a sun-drenched landscape and a teenage girl with honey-colored braids. «I am Xanpia,» she said, and somehow I knew she wasn't just another girl named after the patron saint of Dobrenica. «This door,» I blurted, «how does it work?» «It is a door between your past and your future,» she responded. «Oh, no! No, no, no — I'm about to married!» I said in desperation, trying to back away. «You are called to guide the child Aurelie,» she said. «But that is only half your task: To save Dobrenica, you must bring her here.» And with that, she disappeared, leaving me floating like a spirit in a strange world, two hundred years in the past...» |
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If you've approached Bains Stores recently, you'd be forgiven for hesitating on doing so. A prominent window advert for a discontinued chocolate bar suggests the shop may have closed in 1994. The security shutters are stuck a quarter-open, adding to the general air of dilapidation. A push or kick of the door triggers something which is more grating car alarm than charming shop bell. To Arjan Banga, returning to the Black Country after the unexpected death of his father, his family's corner shop represents everything he has tried to leave behind — a lethargic pace of life, insular rituals and ways of thinking. But when his mother insists on keeping the shop open, he finds himself being dragged back, forced into big decisions about his imminent marriage back in London and uncovering the history of his broken family — the elopement and mixed-race marriage of his aunt Surinder, the betrayals and loyalties, loves and regrets that have played out in the shop over more than fifty years. Taking inspiration from Arnold Bennett's classic novel The Old Wives' Tale, Marriage Material tells the story of three generations of a family through the prism of a Wolverhampton corner shop — itself a microcosm of the South Asian experience in the country: a symbol of independence and integration, but also of darker realities. This is an epic tale of family, love, and politics, spanning the second half of the twentieth century, and the start of the twenty-first. Told with humour, tenderness and insight, it manages to be both a unique and urgent survey of modern Britain by one of Britain's most promising young writers, and an ingenious reimagining of a classic work of fiction. |
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Will love or loyalty conquer? Lady-in-waiting Lucy Morgan is once again torn between her dangerous attraction to William Shakespeare and her loyalty to Queen Elizabeth I. England is facing its gravest threat yet. The Spanish have declared war, and Elizabeth finds herself attacked by sea — and by Catholic conspiracy from within her own court. Master Goodluck goes undercover, tasked with discovering the identity of this secret assassin, leaving his ward Lucy not knowing if the spy is alive or dead. Meanwhile Queen Elizabeth is growing old in a court of troublesome young noblemen, while Lucy is struggling to love a man whose duties lie elsewhere. When the final challenge comes, these two women must be ready to face it. But there is one last surprise in store for both of them. |
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«Jak and Daxter.» «Uncharted.» «The Last of Us.» One studio has been responsible for the most iconic video game experiences of this generation. Now, Dark Horse Books invites you on a thirty-year retrospective tour, observing Naughty Dog's rise from an ambitious upstart to one of the most influential game studios in the world! This beautifully designed volume collects decades of production art, introspective essays from studio staff, art inspired by Naughty Dog's incredible array of titles, and much more. Don't miss out on an opportunity to own a piece of video game history with The Art of Naughty Dog!» |
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This extraordinary, magical first novel is the story of Clare, a beautiful art student, and Henry, a librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-two and Henry thirty. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity in his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing. The Time Traveler's Wife depicts the effects of time travel on Henry and Clare's marriage and their passionate love for each other as the story unfolds from both points of view. Clare and Henry attempt to live normal lives, pursuing familiar goals — steady jobs, good friends, children of their own. All of this is threatened by something they can neither prevent nor control, making their story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable. |
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From familiar fairy tales and legends — Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, Puss in Boots, Beauty and the Beast, vampires and werewolves — Angela Carter has created an absorbing collection of dark, sensual, fantastic stories. |
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A stunning work of art that bears no comparisons the New York Observer wrote of Haruki Murakami's masterpiece, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle. In its playful stretching of the limits of the real world, his magnificent new novel, Kafka on the Shore is every bit as bewitching and ambitious. The narrative follows the fortunes of two remarkable characters. Kafka Tamura runs away from home at fifteen, under the shadow of his father's dark prophesy. The aging Nakata, tracker of lost cats, who never recovered from a bizarre childhood affliction, finds his highly simplified life suddenly overturned. Their parallel odysseys — as mysterious to them as they are to the reader — are enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerising dramas. Fish tumble in storms from the sky; cats carry on conversations with people; a ghostlike if familiar pimp deploys a Hegel-spouting girl of the night; a forest harbours soldiers apparently un-aged since WWII. There is a brutal murder, but the identity of both victim and killer is a riddle. Yet this, as all else, is eventually resolved, even as the entwined destinies of Kafka and Nakata are gradually unravelled. Murakami's new novel is at once a classic tale of quest, but it is also a bold exploration of mythic and contemporary taboos, of patricide, of mother-love, of sister-love. Above all it is an entertainment of a very high order. |
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Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick examine the dark side of American history from the beginning of the twentieth century right up to the Obama administration. Looking at American intervention in foreign conflicts in Latin American, Asia and the Middle East, including taking part in covert operations and interfering to overthrow elected leaders in favour of right-wing dictators, they ask whether US involvement around the globe is about democratic ideals, or political and economic gain. From Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the Watergate scandal and the transformation of America into a national security state, The Concise Untold History lays bare how US presidents have ignored the constitution and international law to influence the course of world events for the interest of the few. Based on the critically acclaimed documentary series of the same name, this book compellingly unmasks the shocking and unforgettable truth behind the American Empire. |
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Sonny's on the run. Sonny is a model prisoner. He listens to the confessions of other inmates, and absolves them of their sins. He's been lied to his whole life. But then one prisoner's confession changes everything. He knows something about Sonny's disgraced father. Sonny wants revenge. He needs to break out of prison and make those responsible pay for their crimes. Whatever the cost. |
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In 1941, Irene Nemirovsky sat down to write a book that would convey the magnitude of what she was living through, not in terms of battles and politicians, but by evoking the domestic lives and personal trials of the ordinary citizens of France. She did not live to see her ambition fulfilled, or to know that sixty-five years later, Suite Francaise would be published for the first time, and hailed as a masterpiece. Set during a year that begins with France's fall to the Nazis in June 1940 and ends with Germany turning its attention to Russia, Suite Francaise falls into two parts. The first is a brilliant depiction of a group of Parisians as they flee the Nazi invasion and make their way through the chaos of France; the second follows the inhabitants of a small rural community under occupation who find themselves thrown together in ways they never expected. Nemirovsky's brilliance as a writer lay in her portrayal of people, and this is a novel that teems with wonderful characters, each more vivid than the next. Haughty aristocrats, bourgeois bankers and snobbish aesthetes rub shoulders with uncouth workers and bolshy farmers. Women variously resist or succumb to the charms of German soldiers. However, amidst the mess of defeat, and all the hypocrisy and compromise, there is hope. True nobility and love exist, but often in surprising places. Irene Nemirovsky conceived of Suite Francaise as a four or five-part novel. It was to be a symphony — her War and Peace. Although only two sections were finished before her tragic death, they form a book that is beautifully complete in itself, and awe-inspiring in its understanding of humanity. |
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Baby Elephant can't sleep because he has lost his teddy, so Elmer sets off to look for it. Eventually Elmer hears a voice shouting 'Help! I'm lost!' Can Baby Elephant's teddy talk, or is Wilbur playing a trick on Elmer, as usual? |
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This special anthology features the very best stories about cats and dogs from the world of children's literature, chosen by bestselling author and Battersea Cats and Dogs Home patron Jacqueline Wilson. It includes a brand new story by Jacqueline herself, Leonie's Pet Cat, as well as extracts from treasured classics such as The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith and Gobbolino the Witch's Cat by Ursula Moray Williams, and from modern favourite writers such as Anne Fine and Patrick Ness. The book also features personal new pieces from many authors about their own treasured pets, with contributions from Michael Morpurgo, Philip Pullman, Malorie Blackman and more. This is a collection to enjoy and share for many years. For every copy sold, a significant donation will be made to Battersea Cats and Dogs Home. |
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A comprehensive guide to creating and developing comic book and graphic novel art, from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), one of the world's leaders in sequential arts instruction. John Lowe, Dean of the School of Communication Arts at SCAD, presents an in-depth primer on the tools and techniques used by top sequential artists to crate comic books, graphic novels, and other sequential art forms. Based on SCAD's world-famous sequential arts curriculum with examples of professional comic book art from their faculty and alumni, the book uses detailed instruction and step-by-step examples to teach key artistic methods like sketching, thumbnailing, reference gathering, and using production/digital design methods. This book covers all the materials and methods aspiring artists need to master to make it as sequential artists. |
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Children everywhere have always loved ponies. Those lucky enough to grow up with horses invariably recall them as the keepers of their happiest childhood memories. But for most, a brief ride on a rented pony was the closest they would ever get to a horse of their own. A PONY IN THE PICTURE is an endearing collection of antique and vintage photographs of children posing proudly with ponies and horses, often taken by itinerant photographers who traveled the countryside, suburbs, and cities. Each image captures a moment in time when it seems that all it took for a child to attain sheer joy was the patient presence of a shaggy Shetland pony and a borrowed cowboy hat. |
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Bring home your child's classroom with the wonderfully imaginative Step Ahead series of products. Proven educational methods reinforce what is taught in preschool through the elementary grades. Simple instructions and delightful graphics motivate your child to master the skills... and turn the page for more! So give your child a head start on being smart with Step Ahead educational products. |
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