Just in time for spring training, two power hitters return to our pages. Ben Bova not only writes about the future, he has helped create it. The author of more than eighty-five futuristic novels and nonfiction books, he has been involved in science and high technology since the very beginnings of the space program. President Emeritus of the National Space Society and a past president of SFWA, Dr. Bova is a frequent commentator on radio and television, and a widely popular lecturer. He has also been an award-winning editor and an executive in the aerospace industry. Rick Wilber has sold about a hundred short stories and poems, and over one thousand nonfiction articles. He is the SF reviewer for the St. Petersburg Times, and he edits the Fiction Quarterly for the Tampa Tribune. Mr. Wilber is a faculty member of the School of Mass Communications at the University of South Florida. He is also administrator of the Isaac Asimov Award for excellence in undergraduate writing that is co-sponsored by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts and by this magazine

Best remembered for his sensational bestselling novels of the 1930s, James M. Cain may well be one of the most important, yet still misunderstood, of American authors. Among other writers and for certain critics, his reputation and singularity are unquestioned, resting on an extraordinary force of style and view of the human condition that have influenced a host of modern authors. Cain’s unique voice — hard-edged, caustically ironic, and impeccably controlled — was in fact forged through an extensive journalistic training and remains best exemplified in the compressed power of his short fiction. Here then, timed with a major revival of interest in Cain’s work, is the first book to collect the best of his shorter work — selected short stories and sketches together with one of his finest serials, the novella published at different times under the titles “Money and the Woman” and “The Embezzler.” As taut and brilliant in its way as Cain’s most famous serial, Double Indemnity, this ingenious example of Cain’s “love rack” fiction has been out of print for many years, but reads as immediately today as when first written more than three decades ago. Equally fascinating, especially when seen within Roy Hoopes’s tracings of the development of Cain’s work, are the entertaining sketches and dialogues Cain originally wrote for journalistic publication — beautiful models of efficiency and concision stamped with Cain’s characteristic irony. We are given ten of his best, out of hundreds he wrote for the New York World and H. L. Mencken’s American Mercury. Together with nine of his finest short stories — including those three Cain classics, “Pastorale,” “The Baby in the Icebox,” and “Dead Man” — this volume comprises both an ideal introduction to the work of this remarkable American author and a mandatory book for all James M. Cain fans

When fifteen-year-old Marilyn Howe turns up alone and frightened on Inspector Ramsay's doorstep he has little choice but to invite her in. Marilyn and her mother, Kathleen, are a familiar sight around Heppleburn, a strangely inseparable couple. But Kathleen has unaccountably failed to return home that evening, and Marilyn is fearful for her mother's safety. Ramsay takes the young girl home, to the isolated coastal community known as the Headland. And in the Howes' dark and cluttered kitchen they find Kathleen safe and apparently well, though acting rather mysteriously. Six months later, Ramsay has more or less forgotten the strange incident, busy as he is on the trail of a local child abductor. Until he receives news that Mrs Howe has disappeared once more. And for the second time he is drawn into the strange relationships of the families living on the lonely Headland. Then a woman's body is washed up on the beach…

The World Unity Organization is about to sign a peace treaty with the Meso-Arabian Kingdoms to cease military hostility for the first time in joint history. But German Luftwaffe officer Gerhardt Schmidt has other plans. By illegally procuring an ancient Mesopotamian artifact, the Babylonian Mask, he hopes to use the item to assume the identity of his superior in order to command a strike force to destroy the already fragile peace paradigm. With the historical event looming before him, Captain Schmidt has very little time to enact his plan, which is marred by the Mask’s unconventional protector. At the same time, Dr. Nina Gould has been admitted to the Heidelberg University Hospital for treatment of her radiation sickness and finds herself in the middle of a manhunt after two security guards and one doctor are slain by an unknown assailant hiding in the hospital building. The incidents are reported on global news and seen by her friends in Scotland. Sam Cleave is approached to cover a simple military corruption story in Germany, but soon finds that there is a lot more to the suspected conspiracy than originally thought. Concerned for Nina’s safety and accompanied by famed billionaire explorer Dave Purdue, Sam gets involved in a mad web of treachery, confusion and mistaken identity that ultimately leads to the secret of the ancient Mesopotamian relic Schmidt is willing to kill for. With the help of a German Air Force Lieutenant, another journalist, and the strange guardian of the Mask, Sam, Nina and Purdue are locked in a volatile race for time. The team spreads out over three countries to try and avert World War III, while the seconds tick down toward the signing of the treaty. At the root of it all lies man’s greed for power and the deadly lesson of The Babylonian Mask… A word from the author: Hello and thank you for your interest in my book. It has come to my attention that some people have been mistaking my books for those written by the famous author duo Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. This is not the case. I wish to clarify that I am not, by any means, related to Douglas Preston or Lincoln Child, Lee Child or any other author called Preston Child. I hope this clears up the confusion. The Babylonian Mask leads the reader on a roller-coaster ride in search of a legend. Packed with breathtaking suspense and nerve-shredding action, The Babylonian Mask is a thrilling read for all fans of action, suspense, and intrigue

Psychic…or psychotic? Anna knows her family is crazy. But when she goes to visit her aunt and uncle for the summer and learns that her uncle’s charred body has been found, her life reaches a new level of insanity. Her erratic aunt’s “psychic” abilities are exaggerated by her grief, and have become borderline violent. Alone in an unfamiliar town, Anna struggles to pick up the pieces and establish any sense of normalcy. She desperately wants to trust Zack, the cute boy next door, but even he might know more about the incident than he is letting on. But when Anna starts feeling an inexplicable pull to the site of her uncle’s murder, she begins to believe that her family’s supernatural gifts are real after all. Torn between loyalty and suspicion, Anna is certain of only one thing: she must discover who killed her uncle or she could be next…

Looking for evil is one thing. Finding is another. When Patricia White re-visits her backwoods home, an atrocious secret from her past isn’t the only thing that begins to haunt her. Creepy, erotic, and relentless, THE BACKWOODS delivers up a new kind of horror in a foreboding terrain of reclusive hillfolk, demented murder mysteries, and soul-searing horror. Has the town Patricia calls home really been cursed? No, it’s been blessed. By an unspeakable evil older than sin. From Publishers Weekly At the start of Lee's peculiar and uneasily convincing mix of sex and violence, 40-ish D.C. lawyer Patricia White temporarily leaves her successful practice and her loving husband to console her sister, Judy, after the grisly murder of Judy's brutish husband, Dwayne. Judy lives in Agan's Point, a boondocks Chesapeake Bay town where the sisters grew up. There Patricia relives unhappy memories of her rape years earlier by an unknown assailant and feels unexpected and intense sexual longings for a childhood friend who never left the Point. Eerie and insular squatters and an unscrupulous land developer anxious to eliminate the squatters contribute to the growing mayhem. Lee (City Infernal) throws in some overly convenient supernaturalism toward the end, but if you're still reading by that point, it's a fair bet you won't want to put the book down unfinished

After the sudden death of their parents, the three Baudelaire children must depend on each other and their wits when it turns out that the distant relative who is appointed their guardian is determined to use any means necessary to get their fortune

Israel Armstrong – the hapless duffle coat wearing, navel-gazing librarian who solves crimes and domestic problems whilst driving a mobile library around the north coast of Ireland – finds himself on the brink of thirty. But any celebration, planned or otherwise, must be put on hold when a troubled teenager – the daughter of a local politician – mysteriously vanishes. Israel suspects the girl's disappearance has something to do with his lending her American Pastoral from the library's special "Unshelved" category. Now he has to find the lost teen before he's run out of town – while he attempts to recover from his recent breakup with his girlfriend, Gloria, and tries to figure out where in Tumdrum a Jewish vegetarian might celebrate his thirtieth birthday

The Green Mile, Stephen King’s #1 New York Times bestselling novel, was first published twenty years ago in six original paperback installments. Inspiration for the Oscar-nominated film starring Tom Hanks about an innocent man on death row, The Green Mile is now available for the first time in e-serial form. The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix is Volume Four. Time has run out for one of the inmates at Cold Mountain penitentiary. Eduard Delacroix is set to make his way into the lap of Old Sparky. But first he must say good-bye—to the guards, to his fellow inmates, and to a strange creature that forever changed his life. Little does he know of the terrible fate that awaits him, and of a devilish plan of revenge. Though no execution can ever be routine, it can follow procedures put in place to minimize pain and avoid a ghastly end. But those procedures are only as good as the men carrying them out. Unfortunately for Delacroix, one of those men is Percy Wetmore. And he’s determined to hear Delacroix’s screams of agony echoing along the Green Mile

A conman always has a bag of tricks, ready to fool the unsuspecting, and almost everyone is unsuspecting until they get taken. When that happens, they turn to Carpenter and Quincannon, Professional Detective Services, to recover their money and what’s left of their dignity, and perhaps even to save their lives. When one such case leaves Sabina Carpenter the only witness to a murder, the family of the culprit vows to stop at nothing to keep her silent. The threat leaves John Quincannon deeply concerned for Sabina’s safety, but there’s no rest for the wicked and so the crime-solving duo must split up to tackle two separate con games, run by two villains with deadly bags of tricks at hand. And when Sabina’s life is put in danger, John must rush to save her while grappling with the terrifying realization of exactly how much she means to him

Steve Berry's first ever eBook exclusive short story finds an adventurer in a strange and forbidding land, in search of a long lost treasure, and very much in harm's way. As a favor to enigmatic billionaire Henrik Thorvaldsen, Cassiopeia Vitt treks into Bulgaria's Rila mountains in search of a buried stash of exceedingly rare artifacts from a bygone civilization: the ancient tomb of a Thracian king. But when her presence is discovered by a shadowy group of Russians secretly mining the area, she needs a way out. "Who to trust" becomes the question, and her life depends on choosing the right option. Includes a sneak-preview of the new Cotton Malone thriller " The Emperor's Tomb."

One of Eastern Europe’s most important writers, Croatian journalist and novelist Drakulic takes readers into the violent and bitter maelstrom that is the Yugoslavian conflict. In a series of brilliant and poignant personal essays, she describes how ordinary people respond to this gruesome situation

A riveting tale of risk and obsession set in the alluring world of Macau’s casinos, by the author of the critically acclaimed The Forgiven. As night falls on Macau and the neon signs that line the rain-slick streets come alive, Doyle — “Lord Doyle” to his fellow players — descends into his casino of choice to try his luck at the baccarat tables that are the anchor of his current existence. A corrupt English lawyer who has escaped prosecution by fleeing to the East, Doyle spends his nights drinking and gambling and his days sleeping off his excesses, continually haunted by his past. Taking refuge in a series of louche and dimly lit hotels, he watches his fortune rise and fall as the cards decide his fate. In a moment of crisis he meets Dao-Ming, an enigmatic Chinese woman who appears to be a denizen of the casinos just like himself, and seems to offer him salvation in the form of both money and love. But as Doyle attempts to make a rare and true connection, all that he accepts as reality seems to be slipping from his grasp. Resonant of classics by Dostoevsky and Graham Greene, The Ballad of a Small Player is a timeless tale steeped in eerie suspense and rich atmosphere

People move to New York looking for magic and nothing will convince them it isn't there. Charles Thomas Tester hustles to put food on the table, keep the roof over his father's head, from Harlem to Flushing Meadows to Red Hook. He knows what magic a suit can cast, the invisibility a guitar case can provide, and the curse written on his skin that attracts the eye of wealthy white folks and their cops. But when he delivers an occult tome to a reclusive sorceress in the heart of Queens, Tom opens a door to a deeper realm of magic, and earns the attention of things best left sleeping. A storm that might swallow the world is building in Brooklyn. Will Black Tom live to see it break?

Although best known today for his singular, stunning “anti-novels” dazzlingly conjured from anecdotes, quotes, and small thoughts, in his early days David Markson paid the rent by writing punchy, highly dramatic fictions. On the heels of a new double edition of his steamy noirs Epitaph for a Tramp and Epitaph for a Deadbeat comes a new edition of his 1965 classic The Ballad of Dingus Magee, whose subtitle — “Immortal True Saga of the Most Notorious and Desperate Bad Man of the Olden Days, his Blood-Shedding, his Ruination of Poor Helpless Females, & Cetera” — gives readers a hint of the raucous sensibility at work here. Brimming with blasphemy, bullets, and bordellos, this hilarious tale, which inspired the Frank Sinatra movie Dirty Dingus McGee, shows the early Markson at his outrageous best, taking down, as Playboy put it, “the breeches of the Old West and blast[ing] what's exposed with buckshot.”

Frances Silver, a girl of 18, was charged in 1832 with murdering her husband. Lafayette Harkryder is also 18 when he is accused of murder and he is to be the first convict to die in the electric chair. Both Frances and Lafayette hid the truth. But can the miscarriages of justice be prevented?

A reissue of the 1960 novel which revolves around Dougal Douglas, evil genius and charmer who turns an entire South London community on its head. Murial Spark is the author of more than 15 novels including "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" and "Girls of Slender Means"

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a dystopian action-adventure novel by American author [Suzanne Collins](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzanne_Collins). It is a spinoff and a prequel to [ *The Hunger Games*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunger_Games)  trilogy. Set against the backdrop of the 10th Hunger Games,  *The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes*  revolves around the adventures of a teenage Coriolanus Snow, who would become the dictatorial president of Panem by the events of the [original trilogy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunger_Games). With his family on the brink of poverty, Coriolanus is tasked with mentoring [District 12](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_12_\(Hunger_Games\)) tribute Lucy Gray Baird for his one shot at glory

The Ballad of the White Horse is one of the last great epic poems in the English language. On the one hand it describes King Alfred’s battle against the Danes in 878. On the other hand it is a timeless allegory about the ongoing battle between Christianity and the forces of nihilistic heathenism. Filled with colorful characters, thrilling battles and mystical visions, it is as lively as it is profound. Chesterton incorporates brilliant imagination, atmosphere, moral concern, chronological continuity, wisdom and fancy. He makes his stanzas reverberate with sound, and hurries his readers into the heart of the battle

Hang down your head, Tom Dooley. The folk song, made famous by the Kingston Trio, recounts a tragedy in the North Carolina mountains after the Civil War. Laura Foster, a simple country girl, was murdered and her lover Tom Dula was hanged for the crime. The sensational elements in the case attracted national attention: a man and his beautiful, married lover accused of murdering the other-woman; the former governor of North Carolina spearheading the defense; and a noble gesture from the prisoner on the eve of his execution, saving the woman he really loved. With the help of historians, lawyers, and researchers, Sharyn McCrumb visited the actual sites, studied the legal evidence, and uncovered a missing piece of the story that will shock those who think they already know what happened – and may also bring belated justice to an innocent man. What seemed at first to be a sordid tale of adultery and betrayal was transformed by the new discoveries into an Appalachian Wuthering Heights. Tom Dula and Ann Melton had a profound romance spoiled by the machinations of their servant, Pauline Foster. Bringing to life the star-crossed lovers of this mountain tragedy, Sharyn McCrumb gifts understanding and compassion to her compelling tales of Appalachia, and solidifies her status as one of today's great Southern writers

Meet Trenchmouth Taggart, a man born and orphaned in 1903, a man nicknamed for his lifelong oral affliction. His boyhood is shaped by the Widow Dorsett, a strong mountain woman who teaches him to hunt and to survive the taunts of others. In the hills of southern West Virginia, a boy grows up fast. Trenchmouth sips moonshine, handles snakes, pleases women, and masters the rifle — a skill that lands him in the middle of the West Virginia coal wars. A teenaged union sniper, Trenchmouth is exiled to the back-woods of Appalachia's foothills, where he spends his years running from the past. But trouble will sniff a man down, and an outlaw will eventually run home. Here Trenchmouth Taggart's story, like the best ballads, etches its mark deep upon the memory

Peter Naseby is enjoying a leisurely naval career when his ship runs down the Admiral in Command at Portsmouth. On his watch. It is early 1915 and he had been looking forward to joining the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow. Now he must accept a posting to obscurity or volunteer for hazardous duty. To save his career, he joins the Blimps of the Royal Naval Air Service – he becomes a Balloonatic. Sat in a flimsy cockpit under 70,000 cubic feet of inflammable hydrogen with a crew of one, a Lewis Gun, and a single bomb, he potters out every day to chase submarines in the English Channel. Occasionally, he catches one. Onshore, he juggles the demands of Josephine, a young English rose, and Charlie, much more of a hothouse flower, while he decides just what his future shall be

January 1801, and Captain Alan Lewrie, RN, known as “St. Alan the Liberator” for freeing (stealing!) a dozen black slaves on Jamaica to man his frigate years before, is at last being brought to trial for it, with his life on the line. At the same time, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, and Prussia are forming a League of Armed Neutrality, to Napoleon Bonaparte’s delight, to deny Great Britain their vital exports, even if it means war. England will need all her experienced sea dogs, but … even Alan Lewrie? Ultimately Lewis is acquitted, but he’s also ignored by the Navy, so it’s half-pay on “civvy street” for him, and with idle time on his mischievous hands, Lewrie is sure to get himself in trouble---again!---especially if there are young women and his wastrel public school friends involved…and they are! A brawl in a Panton Saint brothel, a drunk, infatuated young Russian count, precede Lewrie’s summons to Admiralty and the command of the Thermopylae frigate to replace an ill captain as the fleet gathers to face down the League of the North, and its instigator, the mad Tsar Paul

Daring and bold, The Bamboo Stalk takes an unflinching look at the universal struggles of identity, race, and class as they intersect between two disparate societies: Kuwait and the Philippines. Josephine comes to Kuwait from the Philippines to work as a maid, where she meets Rashid, a spoiled but kind-hearted only son. Josephine, with all the wide-eyed naivety of youth, believes she has found true love. But when she becomes pregnant, and with the rumble of the Gulf War growing ever louder, Rashid abandons her and sends her back home with their baby son José. Brought up struggling with his dual identity in the Philippines, José clings to the hope of returning to his father's country when he turns eighteen. But will Kuwait be any more welcoming to him? Will his Kuwaiti family live up to his expectations and alleviate his sense of alienation? Jose’s coming of age tale draws in readers as he explores his own questions about identity and estrangement. Masterfully written, The Bamboo Stalk is the winner of the 2013 International Prize for Arab Fiction, chosen both for its literary qualities and for “its social and humanitarian content.” Through his complex characters, Alsanousi crafts a captivating saga that boldly deals with issues of identity, alienation, and the phenomenon of foreign workers in Arab countries

Tristan d'Arcenne is what he always wished to be—Vianne di Rocancheil's Consort. But Vianne is no more a noblewoman, she is the Queen of Arquitaine, faced with treachery, invasion, war, and a Consort whose secrets may well shatter their marriage. For before Tristan was hers, he belonged to a King...and that King died by Tristan's hand. Arquitaine needs them both. The country is locked in a deadly game whose rules change by the moment. The Queen is an adept player, but hardly ruthless enough. The contest requires a man who has nothing to lose, a man who has already done the worst and will continue to do so for his wife, his country, and his own salvation. The Bandit King approaches

The #1 New York Times bestselling author returns to the world of Mistborn with the follow-up to *Shadows of Self* With The Alloy of Law and Shadows of Self, Brandon Sanderson surprised readers with a New York Times bestselling spinoff of his Mistborn books, set after the action of the trilogy, in a period corresponding to late 19th-century America. Now, with The Bands of Mourning, Sanderson continues the story. The Bands of Mourning are the mythical metalminds owned by the Lord Ruler, said to grant anyone who wears them the powers that the Lord Ruler had at his command. Hardly anyone thinks they really exist. A kandra researcher has returned to Elendel with images that seem to depict the Bands, as well as writings in a language that no one can read. Waxillium Ladrian is recruited to travel south to the city of New Seran to investigate. Along the way he discovers hints that point to the true goals of his uncle Edwarn and the shadowy organization known as The Set

 The fifth of the six classic Elric novels picks up, as is usual with these books, where the fourth leaves off. Moorcock sets the last pieces of the puzzle into place, introducing us to Zarozinia, the love of Elric's life. Once again, Moorcock takes his already intriguing concepts that he's built up throughout the series and adds a few more twists and turns, to make them even more intriguing than they already were. The book is good, it's readable, and the payoff, in Stormbringer, is astounding

In his preface, Davis sheds light on the origins of The Bar Sinister. "In the dog world, the original of the bull-terrier in the story is known as Edgewood Cold Steel and to his intimates as 'Kid'. His father was Lord Minto, a thoroughbred bull-terrier, well known in Canada, but the story of Kid's life is that his mother was a black-and-tan named Vic. She was a lady of doubtful pedigree. Among her offspring by Lord Minto, so I have been often informed by many Canadian dog-fanciers, breeders, and exhibitors, was the only white puppy, Kid, in a litter of black-and-tans."

Lew Archer #6 The beautiful, high-diving blonde had Hollywood dreams and stars in her eyes but now she seems to have disappeared without a trace. Hired by her hotheaded husband and her rummy “uncle,” Lew Archer sniffs around Malibu and finds the stink of blackmail, blood-money, and murder on every pricey silk shirt. Beset by dirty cops, a bumptious boxer turned silver screen pretty boy and a Hollywood mogul with a dark past, Archer discovers the secret of a grisly murder that just won’t stay hidden. Lew Archer navigates through the watery, violent world of wealth and privilege, in this electrifying story of obsession gone mad

“San Francisco in 1900 was a Gold Rush boomtown settling into a gaudy middle age…. It had a pompous new skyline with skyscrapers nearly twenty stories tall, grand hotels, and Victorian mansions on Nob Hill…. The wharf bristled with masts and smokestacks from as many as a thousand sailing ships and steamers arriving each year…. But the harbor would not be safe for long. Across the Pacific came an unexpected import, bubonic plague. Sailing from China and Hawaii into the unbridged arms of the Golden Gate, it arrived aboard vessels bearing rich cargoes, hopeful immigrants, and infected vermin. The rats slipped out of their shadowy holds, scuttled down the rigging, and alighted on the wharf. Uphill they scurried, insinuating themselves into the heart of the city.” The plague first sailed into San Francisco on the steamer Australia, on the day after New Year’s in 1900. Though the ship passed inspection, some of her stowaways—infected rats—escaped detection and made their way into the city’s sewer system. Two months later, the first human case of bubonic plague surfaced in Chinatown. Initially in charge of the government’s response was Quarantine Officer Dr. Joseph Kinyoun. An intellectually astute but autocratic scientist, Kinyoun lacked the diplomatic skill to manage the public health crisis successfully. He correctly diagnosed the plague, but because of his quarantine efforts, he was branded an alarmist and a racist, and was forced from his post. When a second epidemic erupted five years later, the more self-possessed and charming Dr. Rupert Blue was placed in command. He won the trust of San Franciscans by shifting the government’s attack on the plague from the cool remove of the laboratory onto the streets, among the people it affected. Blue preached sanitation to contain the disease, but it was only when he focused his attack on the newly discovered source of the plague, infected rats and their fleas, that he finally eradicated it—truly one of the great, if little known, triumphs in American public health history. With stunning narrative immediacy fortified by rich research, Marilyn Chase transports us to the city during the late Victorian age—a roiling melting pot of races and cultures that, nearly destroyed by an earthquake, was reborn, thanks in no small part to Rupert Blue and his motley band of pied pipers

Eager to graduate from the school on the hill, Phelan Cle chose Bone Plain for his final paper because he thought it would be an easy topic. Immortalized by poets and debated by scholars, it was commonly accepted-even at a school steeped in bardic tradition-that Bone Plain, with its three trials, three terrors, and three treasures, was nothing more than a legend, a metaphor. But as his research leads him to the life of Nairn, the Wandering Bard, the Unforgiven, Phelan starts to wonder if there are any easy answers

The Barefoot Bandit tells the riveting true story of Colton Harris-Moore, America’s twenty-first-century outlaw. Born into a poor family marred by alcohol abuse, Colt had the local sheriff after him before the age of ten. Colt survived by breaking into homes to forage for food, and learned to evade the police by melting into the Pacific Northwest wilds. As a teenager, he escalated to stealing cars, boats, and identities. An extensive manhunt finally caught Colt, but he escaped juvenile prison and fled to nearby Orcas Island, where he assured his place alongside outlaw legends such as D. B. Cooper by stealing an airplane without ever having a formal flight lesson. And that was just the beginning. As a resident of Orcas Island, author Bob Friel witnessed firsthand as local police, FBI agents, SWAT teams, and even Homeland Security helicopters pursued Colt around the island. Colt’s crime spree infuriated and terrified many locals, while others sympathized with the barefoot young criminal—the controversy tearing at the formerly quiet community. The story gained international fame, with Time calling Colt “America’s Most Wanted Teen” when he stole and crashed his third airplane. After more than two years on the run in the Northwest, Colt fled Orcas and began a spectacular cross-country trek. Friel followed the Barefoot Bandit all the way to the Bahamas, where the chase finally ended in a hail of gunfire at 3 a.m. on a dark sea. Through his personal experiences and hundreds of interviews with witnesses, victims, local authorities, Colt’s family, and, indirectly, Colt himself, Friel gives readers an exclusive look at an outlaw legend. Set against the backdrop of the Pacific Northwest’s evergreen islands, where Internet millionaires coexist with survivalists and ex-hippies, this is a gripping, stranger-than-fiction tale about a neglected and troubled child who outfoxed the authorities, gained a cult following, and made the world take notice. “I doubt if even the best fiction writer could create a character like Colton Harris-Moore. This is an incredible but true story. Bob Friel is a gifted reporter and a very fine writer.” “Something about Colton Harris-Moore—crafty stealer of cars, boats, and airplanes—captured the fascination of our fast-moving country. But it took Bob Friel, a plucky reporter with a pitch-perfect story sense—to chase down the legend and make it real. In Friel’s fine telling, the Barefoot Bandit emerges as both villain and folk hero in a thrilling modern fugitive tale.” “A Dillingeresque tale for our current Great Recession era. Friel not only gives a brilliantly clear-eyed look at a bandit’s adventures but also the effects they had on his peaceful community.” “Riveting, thorough, and deeply human, this terrific read doesn’t just tell the story—it brings it to life.” “Friel offers a thrilling portrait of a bright and neglected teen trying to outrun authorities and his own troubled past.” “This highly entertaining story of a modern-day Huck Finn will be enjoyed by lovers of adventure stories as well as true crime.” “It is Friel’s ability to spin a great yarn that draws the reader in from the start and never lets up. And he does it with deft reporting and a breezy and entertaining style that enlivens a tale as incredible as it is true.” “[A] true-crime classic.”

Laura Harwood reluctantly agreed to accompany her cousin Olivia, Baroness Pilmore, to London for the season. What did she know about nabbing a husband? But Olivia caught the attention of the famous artist Lord Hyatt, who decided to paint her barefoot. And Laura came along as chaperone. When his lordship’s attention shifted to Laura, she feared he would soon discover what a provincial miss she really was

Cooper, a nervous newcomer to the town, and his friend, Margaret, are targeted by two evil dogs who cast a spell to switch bodies with the children as a way of wreaking further havoc

The Barnum Museum is a combination waxworks, masked ball, and circus sideshow masquerading as a collection of short stories. Within its pages, note such sights as: a study of the motives and strategies used by the participants in the game of Clue, including the seduction of Miss Scarlet by Colonel Mustard; the Barnum Museum, a fantastic, monstrous landmark so compelling that an entire town finds its citizens gradually and inexorably disappearing into it; a bored dilettante who constructs an imaginary woman — and loses her to an imaginary man! — and a legendary magician so skilled at sleight-of-hand that he is pursued by police for the crime of erasing the line between the real and the conjured

Elizabeth Reegan, after years of freedom — and loneliness, marries into the enclosed Irish village of her upbringing. Moving between tragedy and savage comedy, desperation and joy, this was John McGahern's first novel