Радек Йон (род. в 1954) — молодой чешский писатель, серьезно заявивший о себе в 80-е годы первым же романом о современной молодежи — «Джинсовый мир». В новом романе «Memento» автор затронул одну из острейших проблем современности, не миновавшую, к сожалению, и страны социалистического лагеря, — проблему наркомании. Роман построен на достоверном жизненном материале и рассказывает о трудном периоде взросления неплохого чешского парня Михала Отавы и его сверстников, затянутых в сети наркомании и не нашедших сил вырваться из них. Но «Memento» — не просто роман о губительной власти наркотиков, это роман-предостережение, книга, внушающая молодым людям необходимость воспитывать в себе волю, мужественно переносить невзгоды, твердо противостоять злу. В этом ее огромная нравственная сила. Перевод с чешского Т. Чеботаревой Художник В. Тихомиров Предисловие О. Малевича

Храм Соломона, альбигойцы, тамплиеры… Перед вами еще одна оригинальная версия загадочной истории ордена Храма.Впрочем, эта книга как раз о том, что не всегда полезно, а часто и смертельно опасно погружаться в тайны прошлого.Не боитесь? Тогда открываем и читаем детективный роман «Memento Finis: Демон Храма», в котором все ищут древнюю реликвию, а тень таинственного её хозяина влияет на события сквозь толщу веков. Всё смешалось и окружено загадками, настоящее живёт прошлым, а старая легенда определяет будущее

«Воистину интеллигенцию нашу нельзя мерить той мерою, которую приложил к ней поэт. „Я, – говорит Блок, – как интеллигент, влюблен в индивидуализм, эстетику и отчаяние“. Какое чудовищное непонимание духа нашей интеллигенции!..»

У героя ретроградная амнезия и каждые десять минут он «перезагружается», начинает свою жизнь с чистого листа. Единственный выход не потерять себя — это оставлять себе всевозможные письменные послания. А как иначе не забыть, что у него еще есть цель в этой жизни и цель эта — месть. Рассказ лег в основу сценария к фильму «Помни» (Memento), снятому в 2000 году Кристофером Ноланом

Персонажей романа «Memento mori» известной английской писательницы Мюриэл Спарк преследуют по телефону – неизвестный голос повторяет одну и ту же фразу: «Помните, что вас ждет смерть». Полиция бессильна

Представьте себе, что зомби-апокалипсис случился не в XXI веке, не в XX, даже не в начале XIX, а в то страшное время, когда чума, прозванная Чёрной смертью, опустошала города и веси. Новые приключения ждут бывшего рейдера, а теперь полноправного официала инквизиции Рейнара. Его цель - тиран по прозвищу Господин. Дело за малым собрать отряд отчаянных головорезов - и вперёд! Но так ли всё просто? Кто друзья, а кто - враги? Это Рейнару придётся узнать на собственном - часто очень горьком - опыте

Cтандартное СИ - фентези. Попаданство. ГГ - МС, хомяк, прогрессор, Марти - Сью, бабник (в меру:-) )

Это книга на неоднозначную тему — о том, какие риски сопровождали человеческую жизнь на протяжении веков и как люди учились избегать их в своем естественном стремлении к долголетию. Если всего лишь 100 лет назад люди умирали в первую очередь от инфекционных заболеваний, то сегодня основными причинами смерти в промышленно развитых странах стали болезни сердца, инсульт и рак. Изучая подобную статистику, мы можем понять, как жили предыдущие поколения, учиться на их ошибках, заимствовать лучшее и создавать новое. От средневекового голода и ныне полузабытой цинги до современного ожирения; от открытия витамина С и базовых правил санитарии и гигиены до терапии стволовыми клетками, редактирования ДНК, генной инженерии — освещая темы причин человеческой смерти в срезе множества поколений и вопросы охраны здоровья, профессор Манчестерского университета Эндрю Дойг насыщает свой рассказ интереснейшими фактами из области истории, культуры, политики, права и экономики. Особо выделяется тема вредных привычек и всевозможных зависимостей. Захватывающая история накопления знаний в области медицины, удивительных достижений и надежд на будущее

Это книга для каждого. О труднейшем для каждого. О вечном вопросе жизни – ее завершении. Страх смерти. Горе потери. Как уберечь от непоправимого. Как говорить о самом трудном с ребенком и взрослым. Как помогать уходящим. Как принимать неизбежное и делать возможное. Кончается ли жизнь смертью или переходит в другое состояние? Как и обычно для Владимира Леви, писателя, доктора и психолога, общение с читателем ведется соединенными средствами прозы, поэзии, публицистики, психологической аналитики, врачебных бесед и писем, авторской графики. Ирония и юмор, при всей серьезности разговора, присутствуют тоже. Книга пронизана верой в человека и бессмертие духа. Книга на жизнь

New York è stretta nella morsa di un inverno rigidissimo, ma i vampiri non sentono il freddo e Lestat, incontrastato principe delle tenebre, attende nella notte, pregustando il sangue della sua prossima vittima: Roger, un boss della droga. Una facile preda, se non fosse per uno strano turbamento che Lestat prova nei confronti della carismatica figlia dell’uomo, Dora. A dispetto degli inviti alla prudenza da parte dell’amico David Talbot, Lestat compie l’atto finale della caccia, affondando i denti nel collo di Roger. È un tragico errore: il fantasma del morto, infatti, minaccia di perseguitare Lestat se non si prenderà cura di Dora. Per il bene della sua nuova protetta, ma anche per liberarsi dall’angosciante sensazione di essere braccato — una sensazione che lo perseguita da tempo — il vampiro sarà costretto ad affrontare le sue paure più oscure e inconfessabili, perfino a costo di perdere la ragione. Una sfida che culminerà nello scontro con una creatura sovrannaturale, che dice di chiamarsi Memnoch e di essere nientemeno che il diavolo

Эта книга — результат многолетней работы Кристофера Воглера и Дэвида Маккенны. Будучи профессиональными экспертами, они проанализировали в общей сложности более 40000 сценариев самых разных жанров. Свой совместный труд Воглер и Маккенна рассматривают не просто как полезный инструментарий сторителлинга, они считают его «спасительным» и для начинающих, и для активно пишущих авторов. Своим названием книга обязана методичке Memo, написанной когда-то Воглером для работы в сценарном отделе и ставшей легендарным руководством для многих поколений сценаристов. Но это лишь один из множества описанных в книге методов анализа и работы над структурой повествования и персонажами — от характеров Теофраста и морфологии волшебной сказки русского филолога Владимира Проппа до авторских методик самих Воглера и Маккенны. Авторы не только щедро делятся своими секретами и показывают на примерах успешных кинолент, как они используются, но и дают после каждой главы практические советы и конкретные задания для самостоятельной работы будущим сценаристам и писателям

According to Arthur Golden's absorbing first novel, the word "geisha" does not mean "prostitute," as Westerners ignorantly assume-it means "artisan" or "artist." To capture the geisha experience in the art of fiction, Golden trained as long and hard as any geisha who must master the arts of music, dance, clever conversation, crafty battle with rival beauties, and cunning seduction of wealthy patrons. After earning degrees in Japanese art and history from Harvard and Columbia-and an M.A. in English-he met a man in Tokyo who was the illegitimate offspring of a renowned businessman and a geisha. This meeting inspired Golden to spend 10 years researching every detail of geisha culture, chiefly relying on the geisha Mineko Iwasaki, who spent years charming the very rich and famous

All human beings, says an African legend, have an animal double. Some doubles are benign, others wicked. This legend comes to life in Alain Mabanckou’s outlandish, surreal, and charmingly nonchalant Memoirs of a Porcupine. When Kibandi, a boy living in a Congolese village, reaches the age of 11, his father takes him out into the night and forces him to drink a vile liquid from a jar that has been hidden for years in the earth. This is his initiation. From now on, he and his double, a porcupine, become accomplices in murder. They attack neighbors, fellow villagers, and people who simply cross their path, for reasons so slight that it is virtually impossible to establish connection between the killings. As he grows older, Kibandi relies on his double to act out his grizzly compulsions, until one day even the porcupine balks and turns instead to literary confession. Winner of the Prix Renaudot, France’s equal to the National Book Award, Alain Mabanckou is considered one of the most talented writers today. He was selected by the French journal Lire as one of fifty writers to watch this coming century. And as Peter Carey suggests, he “positions himself at the margins, tapping the tradition founded by Celine, Genet, and other subversive writers.” In this superb and striking story, Mabanckou brings new power to magical realism, and is sure to excite American audiences nationwide

“The best science fiction writer working today in any language.” In this widely acclaimed sequel to The Star Diaries, Ijon Tichy, space traveler of future centuries, discovers that “out there” isn’t very different from “down here.” Especially when he finds a galactic society over which the Plenum Moronicum presides, which appoints as ruler a ruthless Machine; the inhabitants, docilely cooperating in their own destruction, go by the name of Phools. Tichy seems to attract inventors of splenetic genius, such as the madman who has invented the soul, or another who invents kitchen appliances so good at their jobs they might as well be wives or slaves. Throughout these nine wild adventures, surprise follows witty surprise for the discerning reader of riotously imaginative fiction. STANISLAW LEM, who “knows science well enough to be playful about it” (Time), lives in Poland and is the author of books translated into nearly thirty languages, including Tales of Pirx the Pilot and His Master’s Voice. In this sequel to The Star Diaries, Ijon Tichy, space traveler of future centuries, discovers that “out there” isn’t very different from “down here.” Throughout these nine wild adventures, surprise follows witty surprise. Line drawings by the Author

If Naomi had picked tails, she would have won the coin toss. She wouldn’t have had to go back for the yearbook camera, and she wouldn’t have hit her head on the steps. She wouldn’t have woken up in an ambulance with amnesia. She certainly would have remembered her boyfriend, Ace. She might even have remembered why she fell in love with him in the first place. She would understand why her best friend, Will, keeps calling her “Chief.” She’d know about her mom’s new family. She’d know about her dad’s fiancée. She never would have met James, the boy with the questionable past and the even fuzzier future, who tells her he once wanted to kiss her. She wouldn’t have wanted to kiss him back.  But Naomi picked heads.  After her remarkable debut, Gabrielle Zevin has crafted an imaginative second novel all about love and second chances

The elusive narrator of this beautifully written, complex, and powerfully disconcerting novel is the scion of a decayed aristocratic family from the farther reaches of the defunct Austro-Hungarian Empire. In five psychologically fraught episodes, he revisits his past, from adolescence to middle age, a period that coincides with the twentieth-century’s ugliest years. Central to each episode is what might be called the narrator’s Jewish Question. He is no Nazi. To the contrary, he is apolitical, accommodating, cosmopolitan. He has Jewish friends and Jewish lovers, and their Jewishness is a matter of abiding fascination to him. His deepest and most defining relationship may even be the strange dance of attraction and repulsion that throughout his life he has conducted with this forbidden, desired, inescapable, imaginary Jewish other. And yet it is just his relationship that has blinded him to — and makes him complicit in — the terrible realities his era. Lyrical, witty, satirical, and unblinking, Gregor von Rezzori’s most controversial work is an intimate foray into the emotional underworld of modern European history

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes are overshadowed by the event with which they close—the meeting of the great detective and Moriarty, the Napoleon of Crime. Their struggle, seemingly to the death, was to leave many readers desolate at the loss of Holmes, but was also to lead to his immortality as a literary figure

When Master Drachton Below unleashed a plague of sleep, which ironically claims him as well as his targets, Cley realizes that he will have to journey into his former master's memory to find a solution

Нина Ивановна Гаген-Торн (1900–1986). Дочь профессора, выпускница Петербургского университета, поэт и прозаик, ученый-этнограф — и политзаключенная, лучшие годы жизни которой прожиты в сталинских тюрьмах, колымских и мордовских лагерях, на пересылках, этапах, в ссылке… «В страшной жизни, где люди носили платье с номерами, не имели связи с нормальным бытием, встретить человека, как бы витающего над всем лагерным ужасом, — чудо. И этим чудом была встреча с Ниной Ивановной Гаген-Торн…» (К. С. Хлебникова-Смирнова, бывшая заключенная.) «Она прожила долгую жизнь, прожила ее с честью, но, если бы была возможность писать и, главное, увидеть опубликованными плоды своих раздумий, — жила бы еще долго. Крепкий была человек…» (Галина Гаген-Торн, дочь). «Ужасно жаль, что в наше время, запутавшееся в далеко не диалектических противоречиях, Ваших стихов нельзя опубликовать. Но не падайте духом: придет и для них время — иное, освобождающее…» (Илья Сельвинский)

They control your memories… They tell you how to live… In the bombed-out streets of New York, the corrupt bosses of Memoria Corporation make billions by erasing people’s traumatic memories. But their bubble bursts when a humble citizen Frank Shelby becomes a murder suspect on the run. Betrayed by his friends and hunted down by mysterious killers, Frank has to penetrate Memoria and find evidence of their real plans before it’s too late for all of us

Memoria de mis putas tristes es una novela que el premio Nobel colombiano Gabriel García Márquez publicó en 2004. La novela narra historia de un anciano y sus enamoramiento con una adolescente. Es, a la fecha, el último libro de este escritor. Esta novela relata el enamoramiento de un anciano nonagenario y una joven de 14 años. El día de su nonagésimo cumpleaños, el anciano decide regalarse una noche de sexo con una virgen. Para eso recurre a su vieja amiga y vieja prostituta, Rosa Cabarcas, quien hace las veces de celestina entre él y una joven durmiente, a quien el anciano bautiza como Delgadina. En el transcurso del relato, éste describe sus vivencias con otras mujeres y cómo encuentra significado a la vejez por medio del amor. También se percibe en el libro el ansia de García Márquez de morir desacompañado. El autor tenía 76 años de edad cuando escribió el mismo. En la novela el nonagenario que nunca formó familia, se encuentra por azar con una vieja prostituta, de la cual había sido un cliente asiduo desde que era una adolescente altiva. Ella, todavía en plena forma, le expresa que siempre le había querido y que hubiera sido su pareja ideal. El viejo, todo emocionado, empieza llorar y le dice: – Es que me estoy volviendo viejo. Le cuenta la historia de la Delgadina y ella le dice: – Haz lo que quieras, pero no pierdas a esa criatura. No hay peor desgracia que morir solo. En este libro García Márquez muestra nuevamente su gran poder en la narrativa, pero ahora no con ese trasfondo político sino con un toque de buena nostalgia y un poco más de su propia filosofía. Basada en la novela La Casa de las Bellas Durmientes del escritor japonés Yasunari Kawabata, en la que los ancianos pagaban por yacer junto a muchachitas desnudas narcotizadas para observarlas durante el sueño. Un antecedente de este relato lo podemos encontrar en "El avión de la bella durmiente", integrante de la colección "Doce Cuentos Peregrinos"

Intrigada por el silencio que se había originado a sus espaldas, lentamente, la mujer comenzó a darse la vuelta. De pronto, una luz brillante cegó sus ojos, dejándola inmóvil, en medio de la calle, como suele sucederle a las presas indefensas. En milésimas de segundo, el estrepitoso rugir de un motor y el chirriar de unos neumáticos le congelaron la sangre y le hicieron ver que no tendría escapatoria. Cuando el coche la derribó, su cuerpo y la misteriosa fotografía que llevaba en sus manos salieron disparados hacia el gélido aire de la noche londinense. Sin duda, se había tratado de un asesinato. Y de una frialdad estremecedora, como pudo constatar poco después la policía, cuando descubrió que el conductor no sólo la había atropellado, sino que había dado marcha atrás para pasar sobre su cuerpo inerte para rematarla. El problema era que, a partir de ahí, las pistas, más que apuntar hacia un asesino en el presente, parecían perderse en un confuso laberinto de crímenes, mentiras, culpas y castigos que habían rodeado la extraña muerte de una niña, hacía más de dos décadas. Como si se tratara de una máquina del tiempo, el suceso se había encargado de reabrir un lejano misterio que, por errores y debilidades humanas, nunca se había terminado de cerrar. La única verdad, si es que cabía encontrar alguna certeza, tenía que yacer en un antiguo y terrible secreto. Un secreto guardado, oculto y quizá perdido en alguna suerte de su memoria traidora

Нина Ивановна Гаген-Торн занимает видное место среди авторов женской «лагерной» прозы (наряду с Е. Керсновской, Е. Гинзбург, Т. Петкевич), в дневниках и воспоминаниях которых отразились судьбы людей, ставших жертвами сталинских репрессий. Известный ученый, стоявший у истоков советской этнографии, Н. И. Гаген-Торн была также талантливым поэтом, писателем и мемуаристом. Ее юность и студенческие годы прошли под знаком Серебряного века и первых лет советской республики; ей довелось услышать, как читал свои стихи Александр Блок, она участвовала в семинарах Андрея Белого и бывала на заседаниях знаменитой Вольфилы (Вольной философской ассоциации, ставшей средоточием духовной жизни Петрограда 1920-х годов). На взлете научной работы, в 1936 году, была арестована и осуждена на пять лет колымских лагерей. На воле остались две маленькие дочери. После освобождения успела защитить диссертацию – и новый срок, еще пять лет лагерей, а затем ссылка… Но какими бы тяжкими ни были испытания, Н. И. Гаген-Торн удалось сохранить и твердость воли, и ясность ума, и жадный интерес к миру, и желание рассказать о пережитом, «чтобы остался хоть тоненький следок, как отпечаток куликовой лапки на песке у реки, в огромных песках Вечности». Помимо воспоминаний, публикация которых стала возможной лишь в 1994 году, после смерти автора, издание включает стихи, написанные в разные годы жизни, и отрывки из дневников и писем, подготовленные Галиной Гаген-Торн, а также вступительную статью Мариэтты Чудаковой. В формате PDF A4 сохранён издательский дизайн

In his most profound and accomplished book to date, acclaimed author Bruce Wagner breaks from Hollywood culture with a novel of exceptional literary dimension and searing emotional depth. Joan Herlihy is a semi-successful architect grasping at the illustrious commission that will catapult her to international renown, glossy de cor magazines, and the luxe condo designs of Meier, Koolhaas, and Hadid: the incestuous cult of contemporary Starchitects. Unexpectedly, she finds her Venice Beach firm on the short list for a coveted private memorial — a Napa billionaire's vanity tribute to relatives killed in the Christmas tsunami — with life-changing consequences. Her brother Chester clings to a failing career as a location scout before suffering an accidental injury resulting from an outrageous prank; the tragicomic repercussions lead him through a maze of addiction, delusion, paranoia — and ultimately, transcendence. Virtually abandoned by her family, the indomitable Marjorie Herlihy — mother, widow, and dreamer — falls prey to a confidence scheme dizzying in its sadism and complexity. And unbeknownst to Marj and her children, the father who disappeared decades ago is alive and well nearby, recently in the local news for reasons that will prove to be both his redemption and his undoing. Spiraling toward catastrophe, separate lives collide as family members make a valiant attempt to reunite and create an enduring legacy. To rewrite a ruined American dream. Deeply compassionate and violently irreverent, "Memorial" is a testament to faith and forgiveness, and a luminous tribute to spirituality in the twenty-first century. With an unflagging eye on a society ruptured by naturaland unnatural disaster, and an insatiable love for humanity, Wagner delivers a masterpiece

When a spike in CIA intelligence suggests a major terrorist attack planned for Memorial Day, the president orders Mitch Rapp, his top counterterrorism operative, to pull out all the stops. Rapp immediately leaves for Afghanistan where he leads the ultra secret counterterrorism Special Forces unit on a daring commando raid across the border into Northern Pakistan. Their target: an al-Qaeda stronghold. Within a subterranean room, Rapp and his team discover a treasure trove of maps, computers, files and bills of lading for multiple freighters heading to US ports - all pointing to plans for a catastrophic attack on Washington DC. Information is quickly relayed back to CIA headquarters, and a nuclear emergency search team scrambles to the scene. In a few hours, the freighters have been located and the danger averted. Or has it? To Mitch Rapp, the whole operation seemed just a bit too easy. Following his instincts on a quest to unearth the whole truth, Rapp makes a truly terrifying discovery - and with Memorial Day closing fast, he must find a way to prevent a disaster of unimaginable proportions

Un relato de viajes, investigación histórica, aprendizaje y desafíos morales para crear una obra en la tradición de la mejor novela picaresca. Dos historias paralelas que se cruzan. Un joven peruano que busca triunfar como escritor en Madrid y una mujer de la alta sociedad caribeña venida a menos en París. Diana Minetti necesita escribir sus memorias y él necesita que le paguen por escribir. Un thriller literario que repasa las atrocidades cometidas durante las dictaduras de Trujillo en Santo Domingo, Fulgencio Batista en Cuba y las mafias económicas dominantes de Latinoamérica y que pone de relieve las complicidades del poder económico y el poder político durante estos periodos

En esta maravillosa novela escuchamos las confesiones de Sayuri, una de las más hermosas geishas del Japón de entreguerras, un país en el que aún resonaban los ecos feudales y donde las tradiciones ancestrales empezaban a convivir con los modos occidentales. De la mano de Sayuri entraremos un mundo secreto dominando por las pasiones y sostenido por las apariencias, donde sensualidad y belleza no pueden separarse de la degradación y el sometimiento: un mundo en el que las jóvenes aspirantes a geishas son duramente adiestradas en el arte de la seducción, en el que su virginidad se venderá al mejor postor y donde tendrán que convencerse de que, para ellas, el amor no es más que un espejismo. Apasionante y sorprendente, Memorias de una geisha ha batido récords de permanencia en las listas de superventas de todo el mundo y conquistado a lectores en más de veintiséis idiomas. Su publicación en Suma coincide con el estreno en España de la superproducción basada en esta novela

«Le hipnotizará y le conmoverá… Un libro más dolorosamente autorrevelador de lo que la Oates novelista o crítica se haya atrevido a publicar jamás.» – Ann Hulbert, The New York Times Book Review En una mañana gris de febrero, Joyce Carol Oates llevó a su marido Raymond Smith a urgencias aquejado de una neumonía; una semana después, ciertas complicaciones terminaban con su vida. Estas deslumbrantes páginas capturan el estado emocional de Oates tras la repentina muerte de su marido, y cómo se ve obligada a hallar su equilibrio sin la alianza que la había sostenido durante cuarenta y siete años y veinticinco días. Llenas de agudas reflexiones y, a veces, de humor negro, estas Memorias de una viuda narran también una conmovedora historia de amor, lírica, moral e implacable, como las que pueblan sus novelas, y ofrecen un inédito retrato de su intimidad, hasta ahora celosamente guardada. «Impecable… No cometa el error de pasar por alto este libro; simplemente, es demasiado bueno para perdérselo.» – Dave Moyer, The New York Journal of Books «Sorprendente… Periodística e intuitiva, emocional y reflexiva… Oates comenzó escribiendo el diario de una viuda, y lo que ha logrado es la historia de un matrimonio.» – Geeta Sharma Jensen, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel «Oates pertenece a la vieja estirpe de Poe, Borges, Kafka, Cortázar o Chéjov…» – Ángeles López, Qué Leer «Una novela maravillosamente escrita y muy conmovedora… Una compra valiosa para el lector de memorias y, en especial, para los más mayores.» – Library Journal «Oates escribe con una honestidad visceral y no ceja en obligar a sus lectores a las conjeturas al respecto de su próxima y estremecedora empresa.» – Kirkus Reviews «Las memorias de Oates se unirán a Antonia Fraser y Joan Didion en la sección de obras esenciales sobre la pérdida.» – The Daily Beast «Tiene tanto de retrato de un matrimonio único como de crónica del duelo… Inmensamente conmovedora.» – Kim Hubbard, People Magazine «Tan cautivadora como dolorosa… un relato desgarrador… Esta posibilidad que Oates ofrece al lector de experimentar la muerte de Smith del mismo y dramático modo en que lo hizo ella es algo muy característico del excelente equilibrio de la autora entre lo intelectual y lo emocional.» – Valerie Sayers, The Washington Post

Per cercare una via di scampo a un tragico passato, Raymond Keller acconsente a diventare un Occhio, ovvero un volontario che accetta di farsi impiantare nel cervello un perfetto impianto di registrazione. In tal caso non potrà più guardare dove vorrà, ma solo dove è necessario per vedere, registrare, documentare. E così dimentica il proprio passato, il presente, il futuro. Finché incontra Teresa, la meravigliosa ragazza che è anche una splendida artista. Una donna preda delle violente allucinazioni indotte dai gioielli sognanti seminati in epoche remote da una razza di extraterrestri, e che hanno proprietà ancora non completamente esplorate dalla razza umana. Occorre qualcuno che abbia rinunciato a sé per poter penetrare un segreto tra i meglio custoditi dell’universo

Amazon.com Review "The year I turned ninety, I wanted to give myself the gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin." So begins Memories of My Melancholy Whores, and it becomes even more unlikely as the novel unfolds. This slim volume contains the story of the sad life of an unnamed, only slightly talented Colombian journalist and teacher, never married, never in love, living in the crumbling family manse. He calls Rosa Cabarcas, madame of the city's most successful brothel, to seek her assistance. Rosa tells him his wish is impossible-and then calls right back to say that she has found the perfect girl. The protagonist says of himself: "I have never gone to bed with a woman I didn't pay… by the time I was fifty there were 514 women with whom I had been at least once… My public life, on the other hand, was lacking in interest: both parents dead, a bachelor without a future, a mediocre journalist… and a favorite of caricaturists because of my exemplary ugliness." The girl is 14 and works all day in a factory attaching buttons in order to provide for her family. Rosa gives her a combination of bromide and valerian to drink to calm her nerves, and when the prospective lover arrives, she is sound asleep. Now the story really begins. The nonagenarian is not a sex-starved adventurer; he is a tender voyeur. Throughout his 90th year, he continues to meet the girl and watch her sleep. He says, "This was something new for me. I was ignorant of the arts of seduction and had always chosen my brides for a night at random, more for their price than their charms, and we had made love without love, half-dressed most of the time and always in the dark, so we could imagine ourselves as better than we were… That night I discovered the improbably pleasure of contemplating the body of a sleeping woman without the urgencies of desire or the obstacles of modesty." Márquez's style never falters throughout this recounting of his life and his exploration of love, found at an unexpected time and place. The erstwhile lover is still capable of being surprised-and fulfilled. After an absence of ten years, it is a treat to have another parable from the master. From Publishers Weekly García Márquez's slim, reflective contribution to the romance of the brothel, his first book-length fiction in a decade, is narrated by perhaps the greatest connoisseur ever of girls for hire. After a lifetime spent in the arms of prostitutes (514 when he loses count at age 50), the unnamed journalist protagonist decides that his gift to himself on his 90th birthday will be a night with an adolescent virgin. But age, followed by the unexpected blossoming of love, disrupts his plans, and he finds himself wooing the allotted 14-year-old in silence for a year, sitting beside her as she sleeps and contemplating a life idly spent. Flashes of García Márquez's brilliant imagery-the sleeping girl is "drenched in phosphorescent perspiration"-illuminate the novella, and there are striking insights into the euphoria that is the flip side of the fear of death. The narrator's wit and charm, however, are not enough to counterbalance the monotony of his aimlessness. Though enough grace notes are struck to produce echoes of eloquence, this flatness keeps the memories as melancholy as the women themselves. 250,000 first printing

When historian Alfred “Alf” Clayton is invited by an academic journal to record his impressions of the Gerald R. Ford Administration (1974–77), he recalls not the political events of the time but rather a turbulent period of his own sexual past. Alf’s highly idiosyncratic contribution to Retrospect consists not only of reams of unbuttoned personal history but also of pages from an unpublished project of the time, a chronicle of the presidency of James Buchanan (1857–61). The alternating texts mirror each other and tell a story in counterpoint, a frequently hilarious comedy of manners contrasting the erotic etiquette and social dictions of antebellum Washington with those of late-twentieth-century southern New Hampshire. Alf’s style is Nabokovian. His obsessions are vintage Updike. Memories of the Ford Administration is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental

Considered Teffi’s single greatest work, Memories: From Moscow to the Black Sea is a deeply personal account of the author’s last months in Russia and Ukraine, suffused with her acute awareness of the political currents churning around her, many of which have now resurfaced. In 1918, in the immediate aftermath of the Russian Revolution, Teffi, whose stories and journalism had made her a celebrity in Moscow, was invited to read from her work in Ukraine. She accepted the invitation eagerly, though she had every intention of returning home. As it happened, her trip ended four years later in Paris, where she would spend the rest of her life in exile. None of this was foreseeable when she arrived in German-occupied Kiev to discover a hotbed of artistic energy and experimentation. When Kiev fell several months later to Ukrainian nationalists, Teffi fled south to Odessa, then on to the port of Novorossiysk, from which she embarked at last for Constantinople. Danger and death threaten throughout Memories, even as the book displays the brilliant style, keen eye, comic gift, and deep feeling that have made Teffi one of the most beloved of twentieth-century Russian writers

Acclaimed hard-SF author Linda Nagata introduces a new world: a human colony whose people have forgotten their past, on a tremendous structure that forms a great ring around the sun… where the sky is bisected by an arch of light and the mysterious “silver” rises from the ground each night to completely transform the landscape—and erase from existence anything it touches. Young Jubilee is devastated when her brother Jolly is caught and taken by the silver. But when a forbidding stranger with the incredible power to control the silver comes seeking Jolly—and claiming that Jolly knows him—Jubilee first distrusts the man, then fears him and flees. For she has learned an impossible secret: Jolly may still be alive… and may somehow become the catalyst for the annihilation of everything she knows if she does not find him first. Jubilee’s flight will lead her to discoveries she could never have imagined, from the secret history of her civilization and her people’s origins to the true nature of the silver, to the awesome forgotten memories within her. And with these she will forever alter her world’s future… unless the dark stranger, relentless in his pursuit, achieves his goal of destroying it. One way or another, Jubilee’s final confrontation will change everything…

Dreams have magic in them. A few of us have the power to make that magic real. A masterwork by one of fantasy’s most gifted storytellers: a magnificent tale of love, courage, and the power of imagination to transform our lives. This is the novel Charles de Lint’s many devoted readers have been waiting for, the compelling odyssey of a young woman whose visionary art frees ancient spirits into the modern world. Isabelle Copley’s visionary art frees ancient spirits. As the young student of the cruel, brilliant artist Vincent Rushkin, she discovered she could paint images so vividly real they brought her wildest fantasies to life. But when the forces she unleashed brought tragedy to those she loved, she turned her back on her talent—and on her dreams. Now, twenty years later, Isabelle must come to terms with the shattering memories she has long denied, and unlock the slumbering power of her brush. And, in a dark reckoning with her old master, she must find the courage to live out her dreams and bring the magic back to life. Charles de Lint’s skillful blending of contemporary urban characters and settings with traditional folk magic has made him one of the most popular fantasy authors of his generation. Memory and Dream is the most ambitious work of de Lint’s extraordinary career, an exciting tale of epic scope that explores the power our dreams have to transform the world-or make it a waking nightmare. It is the story of Isabelle Copley, a young artist who once lived in the bohemian quarter of the northern city of Newford. As a student of Vincent Rushkin, a cruel but gifted painter, she discovered an awesome power—to craft images so real that they came to life. With her paintbrush she called into being the wild spirits of the wood, made her dreams come true with canvas and paint. But when the forces she unleashed brought unexpected tragedy to those she loved, she ran away from Newford, turning her back on her talent-and on her dreams. Now, twenty years later, the power of Newford has reached out to draw her back. To fulfill a promise to a long-dead friend, Isabelle must come to terms with the shattering memories she has long denied, and unlock the slumbering power of her brush. She must accept her true feelings for her newfound lover John Sweetgrass, a handsome young Native American who is the image of her most intense imaginings. And, in a dark reckoning with her old master, she must find the courage to live out her dreams, and bring the magic back to life. Charles de Lint - Novelist, poet, artist, and musician, Charles de Lint is one of the most influential fantasy writers of his generation. With such warmly received works as Spiritwalk, Moonheart, Into the Green, and Dreams Underfoot(also set in the town of Newford), he has earned high praise from readers and critics alike, Booklist has called him “one of the most original fantasy writers currently working.” And The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction writes: “De Lint shows us that, far from being escapism, contemporary fantasy can be the deep, mythic literature of our time.” De Lint and his wife MaryAnn Harris, an artist, live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, where they are both Celtic musicians in the band Jump At the Sun. “For more than a decade, Charles de Lint has enjoyed a reputation as one of the world’s leading fantasists.”— Toronto Star “A superb storyteller. De Lint has a flair for tales that blur the lines between the mundane world and magical reality, and nowhere is this more evident than in his fictional city of Newford.”— Library Journal “De Lint can feel the beauty of the ancient lore he is evoking. He can well imagine what it would be like to conjure the Other World among ancient standing stones. His characters have a certain fallibility that makes them multidimensional and human, and his settings are gritty. This is no Disneylike Never-Never Land. Life and death in de Lint’s world are more than a matter of a few words or a magic crystal.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer “There is no better writer now than Charles de Lint at bringing out the magic in contemporary life ... The best of the post-Stephen King contemporary fantasists, the one with the clearest vision of the possibilities of magic in a modern setting.” — Orson Scott Card “In the fictional city of Newford, replete with the brutal realities of modern urban life, de Lint’s characters encounter magic in strange and unexpected places ... In de Lint’s capable hands, modern fantasy becomes something other than escapism. It becomes folk song, the stuff of urban myth.” — The Phoenix Gazette

Amos Decker’s life changed forever — twice. The first time was on the gridiron. A big, towering athlete, he was the only person from his hometown of Burlington ever to go pro. But his career ended before it had a chance to begin. On his very first play, a violent helmet-to-helmet collision knocked him off the field for good, and left him with an improbable side effect — he can never forget anything. The second time was at home nearly two decades later. Now a police detective, Decker returned from a stakeout one evening and entered a nightmare — his wife, young daughter, and brother-in-law had been murdered. His family destroyed, their killer’s identity as mysterious as the motive behind the crime, and unable to forget a single detail from that horrible night, Decker finds his world collapsing around him. He leaves the police force, loses his home, and winds up on the street, taking piecemeal jobs as a private investigator when he can. But over a year later, a man turns himself in to the police and confesses to the murders. At the same time a horrific event nearly brings Burlington to its knees, and Decker is called back in to help with this investigation. Decker also seizes his chance to learn what really happened to his family that night. To uncover the stunning truth, he must use his remarkable gifts and confront the burdens that go along with them. He must endure the memories he would much rather forget. And he may have to make the ultimate sacrifice

"Is my father a murderer?" Caring for a mother with Alzheimer's was heartbreaking enough for Lindsey Merrill. But when her mother made bizarre but adamant claims that Lindsey's loving father was a killer, it was too much to bear. So she turned to detective Alan Cameron for guidance. Before long, the single dad's soothing reassurances morphed into a smoldering attraction… Evidence quickly mounted that all was not as it seemed in the Merrill family. As a professional, Alan was obliged to pursue the case – as a man, he had to shield this special woman from pain. Would his shocking discovery break her heart just as he was making it his very own?

An amazing, award-winning speculative fiction debut novel by a major new talent, in the vein of Ursula K. Le Guin. Global warming has changed the world’s geography and its politics. Wars are waged over water, and China rules Europe, including the Scandinavian Union, which is occupied by the power state of New Qian. In this far north place, seventeen-year-old Noria Kaitio is learning to become a tea master like her father, a position that holds great responsibility and great secrets. Tea masters alone know the location of hidden water sources, including the natural spring that Noria’s father tends, which once provided water for her whole village. But secrets do not stay hidden forever, and after her father’s death the army starts watching their town—and Noria. And as water becomes even scarcer, Noria must choose between safety and striking out, between knowledge and kinship. Imaginative and engaging, lyrical and poignant, Memory of Water is an indelible novel that portrays a future that is all too possible

From this renowned philosopher comes a debut work of fiction, at once a brilliant précis of the history of philosophy, a semiautobiographical meditation on the absurd relationship between knowledge and memory, and a very funny story. A French philosopher dies during a savage summer heat wave. Boxes carrying his unpublished papers mysteriously appear in Simon Critchley’s office. Rooting through them, Critchley discovers a brilliant text on the ancient art of memory and a cache of astrological charts predicting the deaths of various philosophers. Among them is a chart for Critchley himself, laying out in great detail the course of his life and eventual demise. While waiting for his friend’s prediction to come through, Critchley receives the missing, final box, which contains a maquette of Giulio Camillo’s sixteenth-century Venetian memory theater, a space supposed to contain the sum of all knowledge. With nothing left to hope for, Critchley devotes himself to one final project before his death — the building of a structure to house his collective memories and document the remnants of his entire life