The Sea and Little Fishes is a short story by Terry Pratchett, written in 1998. It is set in his Discworld universe, and features Lancre witches Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg. It was originally published in a sampler alongside a story called "The Wood Boy" by Raymond E. Feist, and later in a collection called Legends. The story established a basis for various elements of the novel A Hat Full of Sky, but is not required to understand that novel

A book for your head and your heart. A powerful novel from one of Ireland’s best writers on the turbulent birth of a nation, and the lovers it divides. Ireland 1945. Young and beautiful, Iz begins a life on the south-east coast with her new husband. As she settles in to try and make her life by the ever restless sea, circumstances that have brought Iz to the town of Monument are shrouded in mystery. However, history, like the sea cannot stay silent for long. The war in Europe is over, and change is about to brush away the old order. Soaring across the decades that follow Ireland’s newly won independence, sweeping across the fierce class issues and battles over land ownership that once defined Irish society, The Sea and the Silence is an epic love story set inside the fading grandeur of the Anglo-Irish class

Rachel Carson’s National Book Award–winning classic effortlessly mingles detailed fieldwork and inspiring prose to reveal a deep understanding of the earth’s most precious, mysterious resource—the ocean. With more than one million copies sold, Rachel Carson’s The Sea Around Us became a cultural phenomenon when first published in 1951 and cemented Carson’s status as the preeminent natural history writer of her time. Her inspiring, intimate writing plumbs the depths of an enigmatic world—a place of hidden lands, islands newly risen from the earth’s crust, fish that pour through the water, and the unyielding, epic battle for survival.  Firmly based in the scientific discoveries of the time, The Sea Around Us masterfully presents Carson’s commitment to a healthy planet and a fully realized sense of wonder. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Rachel Carson including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University

Three star travelers—Ming, Ari, and Angel—become enmeshed in a vicious blood-feud between an evil genius and Jeremiah Wong Kincaid, the man who has vowed to destroy him

Ingram Sandy had been lured to the Greek island of Thera by a father she had never known, an archaeologist scorned for his obsession with Atlantis. Now, as the island's slumbering volcano came back to life, a terrifying power drew Sandy deep into the fathomless waters of her heritage, destiny and doom

After a summer spent trying to prevent a catastrophic war between the Greek gods, Percy Jackson's seventh grade school year seems unnervingly quiet. His biggest problem is dealing with his new friend, Tyson — a six-foot-three, mentally challenged homeless kid who follows Percy everywhere, making it hard for Percy to have any «normal» friends. But things don't stay quiet for long. Percy soon discovers there is trouble at Camp Half Blood: the magical borders that protect Half-Blood Hill have been poisoned by a mysterious enemy, and the only safe haven for demigods is on the verge of being overrun by mythological monsters. To save the camp, Percy needs the help of his best friend, Grover, who has been taken prisoner on an island somewhere in the Sea of Monsters, the dangerous waters Greek heroes have sailed for millennia. Only today, the Sea of Monsters goes by a new name... The Bermuda Triangle. Percy must retrieve the Golden Fleece from the Island of the Cyclopes by the end of the summer or Camp Half Blood will be destroyed. But first, Percy will learn a stunning new secret about his family — one that makes him question whether being claimed as Poseidon's son is an honor or simply a cruel joke

Kothifir the Great, ruled by an obscenely obese god-king, peopled with colorful, dueling guilds, guarded by the Southern Host of the Kencyrath. Here Jame arrives, only to find that the turbulent city claims more of her attention as the Talisman than the Host’s training fields do as a second year randon cadet. Mysteries abound: Caravans plunge deep into the hostile Southern Wastes and return laden with fabulous riches—from what source, and why do they crumble to dust if not claimed by the god-king’s touch? Karnids from Urakarn prowl the shadows, preaching the return of their mysterious prophet. An unstable Kencyr temple rumbles in the outer, decayed rings of the city. Then too, someone in the Host’s camp is trying to get Jame killed. In order to save the present, Jame must search the past, be it fifteen years ago when as a boy her brother Torisen arrived here, unknown and unwanted, or three thousand years ago when the Wastes were a great sea ringed with rich civilizations. Somehow, Tori survived. Somehow, the cities of the plain were destroyed in one catastrophic night. Now Kothifir's gods have lost their power and its proud towers are falling. What curse out of the past has struck it? Jame, a potential Nemesis, must try to stop the destruction—without undoing time itself

Jack was eleven when the berserkers loomed out of the fog and nabbed him. “It seems that things are stirring across the water,” the Bard had warned. “Ships are being built, swords are being forged.” “Is that bad?” Jack had asked, for his Saxon village had never before seen berserkers. “Of course. People don’t make ships and swords unless they intend to use them.” The year is A.D. 793. In the next months, Jack and his little sister, Lucy, are enslaved by Olaf One-Brow and his fierce young shipmate, Thorgil. With a crow named Bold Heart for mysterious company, they are swept up into an adventure-quest that follows in the spirit of “The Lord of the Rings.” Award-winner Nancy Farmer has never told a richer, funnier tale, nor offered more timeless encouragement to young seekers than “Just say no to pillaging.”

The Man Booker Prize Charles Arrowby, leading light of England's theatrical set, retires from glittering London to an isolated home by the sea. He plans to write a memoir about his great love affair with Clement Makin, his mentor, both professionally and personally, and amuse himself with Lizzie, an actress he has strung along for many years. None of his plans work out, and his memoir evolves into a riveting chronicle of the strange events and unexpected visitors-some real, some spectral-that disrupt his world and shake his oversized ego to its very core

The Seagull is the first of Anton Checkov’s four full-length plays. It explores the romantic and artistic tension in the relationships between a young woman, a fading older lady, her playwright son and a popular story writer. The play references Shakespeare’s Hamlet both in text and content. It has a cast of eclectic characters whose principle dramas play themselves out off stage and in unvoiced subtext

Miss Emily "Fido" Faithfull is a "woman of business" and a spinster pioneer in the British women's movement, independent of mind but naively trusting of heart. Distracted from her cause by the sudden return of her once-dear friend, the unhappily wed Helen Codrington, Fido is swept up in the intimate details of Helen's failing marriage and obsessive affair with a young army officer. What begins as a loyal effort to help a friend explodes into a courtroom drama that rivals the Clinton affair – complete with stained clothing, accusations of adultery, counterclaims of rape, and a mysterious letter that could destroy more than one life. Based on a scandalous divorce case that gripped England in 1864, The Sealed Letter is a riveting, provocative drama of friends, lovers, and divorce, Victorian style

The Seamstress and the Wind is a deliciously laugh-out-loud-funny novel. A seamstress who is sewing a wedding dress for the pregnant local art teacher fears that her son, while playing in a big semitruck, has been accidentally kidnapped and driven off to Patagonia. Completely unhinged, she calls a local taxi to follow the semi in hot pursuit. When her husband finds out what’s happened, he takes off after wife and child. They race not only to the end of the world, but to adventures in desire — where the wild Southern wind falls in love with the seamstress, and a monster child takes up with the truck driver. Interspersed are Aira’s musings about memory and childhood, and his hometown of Coronel Pringles, with a compelling view of the hard lot of this working-class town, situated not far from Buenos Aires

Sometimes we can’t see what’s right in front of us A commercial airliner that has departed from Seattle on its way to Anchorage is missing; it deviated from its route and has disappeared from radar in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The rescue unit fails to locate the crash site, and the ongoing investigation doesn’t disclose what might have happened to the vanished plane. The mystery surrounding the puzzling plane disappearance rapidly becomes a subject for media and public speculations. Frustration grows as the plane seems to have vanished into thin air; the idea that a commercial airliner could simply vanish seems beyond disbelief. George Stanton works as a public relation manager at the affected airline company, and as he tries to minimize the repercussions of the mysterious plane disappearance, he unintentionally discovers the incredible truth about what actually happened to the plane

Walker is at a party where he meets Rachel. Two days later she turns up at his apartment. However it's not Walker she wants, but her husband Malory who has gone missing. She wants Walker to find him. So begins this strange, beautiful, road-movie of a novel that takes the hero across the vast landscape of middle America on the trail of a man he has never met. And as Walker's search grows in its weird intensity it seems that somebody else is following, searching for him too

To most people, Fiona Bristow seems to have an idyllic life-a quaint house on an island off Seattle's coast, a thriving dog-training school, and a challenging volunteer job performing canine search and rescues. Not to mention her three intensely loyal Labs. But Fiona got to this point by surviving a nightmare... Several years ago, Fiona was the only survivor of the Red Scarf serial killer, who shot and killed Fiona's cop fiancé and his K-9 partner. On Orcas Island, Fiona found the peace and solitude she needed to rebuild her life. But all that changes on the day Simon Doyle barrels up her drive, desperate for her help. He's the reluctant owner of an out-of-control puppy, foisted upon him by his mother. Jaws has eaten through Simon's house, and he's at his wit's end. To Fiona, Jaws is nothing she can't handle. Simon, however, is another matter. A newcomer to Orcas, he's a rugged and in-tensely private artist, known for the exquisite furniture he creates from wood. Simon never wanted a puppy-and he most definitely doesn't want a woman. Besides, the lanky redhead is not his type. But tell that to his hormones. As Fiona embarks on training Jaws, and Simon begins to appreciate both dog and trainer, the past tears back into Fiona's life. A copycat killer has emerged out of the shadows, a man whose bloodlust has been channeled by a master with one motive: to reclaim the woman who slipped out of his hands

Barely had Dirk Barnevelt finishing writing a publicity campaign for his boss, then he learned that he would shortly find himself isolated in the middle of the terrible Sunqar, a floating swamp on the planet of Krishna. Without scientific equipment and surrounded by deadly dangers, he must escape from a place he knows is impossible to succeed

Retired detective Cal Hooper moves to a remote village in rural Ireland. His plans are to fix up the dilapidated cottage he's bought, to walk the mountains, to put his old police instincts to bed forever. Then a local boy appeals to him for help. His brother is missing, and no one in the village, least of all the police, seems to care. And once again, Cal feels that restless itch. Something is wrong in this community, and he must find out what, even if it brings trouble to his door

In Regency London, Alexandra is about to embark on her first season of balls and dinners, and while nothing would steer her mother from the course of marrying off her only daughter, 17-year-old Alex is put off by men's seeming lack of interest in women with any amount of intelligence (Evidently, it scares eligible gentlemen off). Her opinions about romance change when she develops feelings for her brothers' friend Gavin, who is mourning the sudden death of his father (making Gavin the new earl of Blackmoor). Mac-Lean's debut is well paced, and as readers fill up on descriptions of dresses and society's rules, another plot line develops: Alex overhears a conversation proving that Gavin's father was murdered, and she puts her relationship, reputation and life in danger to help him. Readers will appreciate the clique lit/historical romance hybrid: headstrong Alex rolls her eyes and gossips with friends, but still knows the steps to the quadrille. Clever conversation in the spirit of Jane Austen makes this quite a page turner

In 2069 mankind is on the verge of extinction. 80 % of the population have P2; a virus that will kill them within ten to fifteen years. The only cure is a course of drugs and a complete transfusion of healthy blood. Blood is life. The latest World Association of Blood Banks price for one litre of healthy human blood is $1.84 million. The world’s blood banks are protected by state of the art security systems. The most secure bank of alt Is not even on Earth. The First National Blood Bank is on the moon. Its security systems are Impregnable. Dallas knows this. He designed them. And now he is bent on revenge on the company that has betrayed him. Dallas is about to attempt an Impossible bank raid. To succeed he will need the help of the Second Angel. If he succeeds mankind has a future

The master of the legal thriller delivers a brilliantly suspenseful novel of deadly secrets, privileged youth, and uncertain justice… Dismas Hardy is finally on top: As a managing partner at his thriving, newly reorganized law firm, he's a rainmaker and fix-it guy for clients leery of taking their chances in a courtroom. Now Hardy's up-and-coming associate, Amy Wu, brings him a high-profile case: Andrew Bartlett, the seventeen-year-old son of a prominent San Francisco family, has been arrested for the double slaying of his girlfriend and his English teacher. The D.A. wants to try him as an adult. Determined to get the case into juvenile court and overwhelmed by the mounting evidence against her client, Wu asks Hardy to sit second chair for her in Bartlett's defense. As the Bartlett case moves swiftly to trial, another series of murders grip the city. An unseen killer seems to be shooting citizens wantonly, and as fear and anxiety build around The Executioner (as he is quickly dubbed in the ensuing media frenzy), Abe Glitsky, the newly promoted deputy chief of the Investigations Bureau, leads the desperate hunt to stop him. With the city on the verge of panic, Hardy and Glitsky are locked in a race against time-to save a client and to catch a murderer. But nothing is what it seems, and as both men's cases twist and turn to their shocking conclusions, the very foundations of San Francisco's legal system will be shaken to the core

They asked him to fight again. There would be no second chance at the crown, but a friend needed help, and it might be a second chance for the woman he loved

Percy’s stirring sequel to The Last Gentleman: the offbeat story of how a man’s midlife crisis finally leads him to happiness. Now in his late forties, Will Barrett lives a life other men only dream of. Wealthy from a successful career on Wall Street and from the inheritance of his deceased wife’s estate, Will is universally admired at the club where he spends his days golfing in the North Carolina sun. But everything begins to unravel when, without warning, Will’s golf shots begin landing in the rough, and he is struck with bouts of losing his balance and falling over. Just when Will appears doomed to share the fate of his father — whose suicide has haunted him his whole life — a mental hospital escapee named Allison might prove to be the only one who can save him. Original and profound, The Second Coming is a moving love story of two damaged souls who find peace with each other

When Mavala Shikongo deserted them, the teachers at the boys' school in Goas weren't surprised. How could they be? She was too beautiful, too powerful, and too mysterious for their tiny, remote, and arid world. They knew only one essential fact about their departed colleague: she was a combat veteran of Namibia's brutal war for independence. When Mavala returns to Goas with a baby son, all are awed by her boldness. The teachers try hard, once again, not to fall in love with her. They fail, immediately and miserably, especially the American volunteer, Larry Kaplanski

The Second Confession by Rex Stout in which Nero Wolfe is retained by a tycoon to expose an alleged Communist... has his home tommy-gunned and his orchid collection destroyed, and actually stirs himself and leaves his house

Our second volume of Fletcher Flora’s crime and mystery stories collects 20 more tales by the classic author. Enjoy!

Fredric Brown (1906-1972) is perhaps best remembered for his use of humor and his mastery of the "short-short" form (these days called flash fiction) — stories of one to three pages, often with ingenious plotting devices and surprise endings. (He also wrote excellent short stories and novels.) This volume contains 27 of his stories, including the classics "The Waveries," "Honeymoon in Hell," "Cartoonist," and many more!

Mowgli was once the little man-cub raised by Mother Wolf. Now Mowgli is the Jungle Lord ruling over the elephant and the panther, the python and the crocodile. All obey him and he fears no one….not even Man. The Second Jungle Book tells of the further adventures of Mowgli, the boy raised by wolves in the jungle. Through his cunning and fearlessness, Mowgli earns the respect of the animals of the jungle. He leads his wolf-brothers into battle against a threatening pack of red dogs. And when Mowgli’s human parents are persecuted by a violent group of villagers, he comes to their aid. This is the story of how Mowgli must come face-to-face with himself as a man and decide whether he will leave his jungle kingdom to join the society of man

Suspenseful and atmospheric, this extraordinary novel portrays both the hardship and grace in the life of a man struggling to realize his destiny. When Samuel Tyne emigrated from the Gold Coast (now Ghana) in 1955, he was determined to accomplish great things. He excelled at Oxford and then came to Canada with the uncle who raised him, leaving the traditions and hard life of his homeland behind. Here, in this nation of immigrants, Samuel would surely be free to follow his destined path to success. That new beginning didn’t live up to Samuel’s expectations. As the novel opens fifteen years later, he is working as an economic forecaster for the government in Calgary. It’s a stiflingly bureaucratic, dead-end job, where petty managerial types and lifeless co-workers make Samuel’s days almost unbearable. Everything changes for Samuel when he finds out that his Uncle Jacob has died. Samuel and his uncle had grown apart. They had not spoken for a number of years, though Jacob had raised Samuel and, in a way, sacrificed himself for Samuel’s future. Jacob’s death weighs heavily on Samuel, yet his reaction seems more about having “a singular chance to get all his sadness out” than about familial love. Samuel is jolted out of his sadness and his workaday world when he receives a call telling him he has inherited Jacob’s old mansion in the small town of Aster, Alberta. The town, originally settled by freed slaves from Oklahoma, sounds to Samuel like the perfect place to start a new life, one that would allow him to live up to his potential, and he decides to exchange the drudgery of the city for the simplicity of small-town existence. When Samuel leaves his office for good after yet another minor humiliation, we cheer his resolve and look forward to what the coming days will bring. Samuel believes that he is setting on a path to fulfill his personal expectations, but we begin to see the signs of what one reviewer has called Samuel’s “pathological temerity.” He doesn’t tell his family what has happened: not that he’s inherited the house, or that he plans to move there or even that he’s quit his job. Instead, he spends his days tinkering in the shed, emerging at just the right time to make it seem like he’s coming home from work. The truth comes out only when one of his daughters discovers his secret. His deception points to a paralyzing inability to communicate with others and suggests that this new beginning may be as fruitless as the last. Maud and the twins, Chloe and Yvette, resist the move to Aster, but are helpless in the face of Samuel’s conviction that this is the right thing to do. And when they arrive, their new home — a gloomy, worn-down remnant of days long past — doesn’t exactly fill them with hope. But the seeds of renewal have been sown, the move has been made and they hesitantly take up their new lives. At first, the Tynes seem to be settling in — they meet some of their neighbours, Samuel sets up his own electronics shop, Maud begins to fix up the house and the twins are curious enough to at least begin exploring their new home. However, the idealized Aster of Samuel’s imagination proves to be as false as his family’s veneer of acceptance, and a dark undercurrent of small-mindedness, racism and violence soon turns on the town’s newest residents. When mysterious fires begin to destroy local buildings, and the bizarre yet brilliant twins retreat into their own dark world, Samuel’s fabled second chance slips slowly out of his grasp. The Second Life of Samuel Tyne is a harrowing and beautifully written work of fiction, one that shows us how fragile our dreams can be in the face of the relentless march of time. Esi Edugyan’s evocative writing and pitch-perfect ability to get into the minds of her characters confirm that this book heralds the arrival of a major new novelist

Bestselling author Mark Frost makes a triumphant return to fiction with this riveting World War II thriller, based on a shocking real-life German operation run by "the most dangerous man in Europe " Fall 1944. Germany is losing, and the Americans are starting to hope they'll be home for Christmas. Lieutenant Colonel Otto Skorzeny, "Hitler's Commando," famed for his daring rescue of the imprisoned Mussolini, has just received orders for Operation Greif: He is to assemble a new brigade of 2,000 men, all of whom speak English, and send them behind Allied lines disguised as GIs, where they will wreak havoc in advance of a savage new offensive. And from those men, Skorzeny is to select a smaller group, made up of the twenty most highly skilled commandos fluent in American culture, to attempt an even more sinister mission – the second objective – which, if completed, not only would change the course of the war, but would change the course of history. Filled with real characters and details only recently released by the United States military, The Second Objective is historical fiction at its most pulse-pounding, its most unpredictable, and its most compulsively readable

23 mystery stories by Richard Deming

Richard Deming (1915–1983) was an American pulp writer who specialised in mystery and detective fiction. In addition to original novels, he found a lucrative niche writing books based on movies TV series (such as Dragnet) and also ghost-wrote no less than ten “Ellery Queen” novels. In addition to numerous stand-alone books and stories, he created series featuring Manville (Manny) Moon and Matt Rudd. This volume provides a great sampling of his work

Does sexism against men exist? What it looks like and why we need to take it seriously This book draws attention to the “second sexism,” where it exists, how it works and what it looks like, and responds to those who would deny that it exists. Challenging conventional ways of thinking, it examines controversial issues such as sex-based affirmative action, gender roles, and charges of anti-feminism. The book offers an academically rigorous argument in an accessible style, including the careful use of empirical data, and includes examples and engages in a discussion of how sex discrimination against men and boys also undermines the cause for female equality

After closing the portal to hell, Claire and her talking cat, Austin, acquired a new companion--Dean, who was a Bystander and should not have remembered Keepers existed. But with Dean around, and a little of her sister Diana's meddling--the world is heading for Chaos, and Claire is about to face a challenge beyond her wildest imagination

We are delighted to present our second collection of Talmage Powell mystery short stories! Talmage Powell (1920–2000) was one of the all-time great mystery writers of the pulp magazines (and later the digest mystery magazines). He claimed to have written more than 500 short stories, and we have no reason to doubt him — we are working on a bibliography of his work and have documented 373 magazine stories so far... and who knows how many are out there under pseudonyms or buried in obscure magazines? He wrote his first novel, The Smasher, in 1959. He went on to pen 11 more novels under his own name, 4 as “Ellery Queen,” and 2 novelizations of the hit TV series Mission: Impossible. Clearly, though short stories were his first love

Paul Macy wears the Rehab badge, the sign of healing that advertises his status as a reconstruct job. When society derides capital punishment and opts, instead, for personality rehabilitation, criminals undergo mindpick operations in which their identities are stripped and extinguished. Given a new bank of memories and a fresh identity, they are offered a second chance at life. For Paul, though, this gift comes without a price. His former self still lingers inside him, waiting for the opportunity to emerge and battle Paul’s new self for ultimate control

The Rules currently governing my life are these. Rule Number one: there is no justice. Rule Number two: contrary to a husband's hopes, a second wife does not have the Karma Sutra tucked into her handbag. It is more likely to be aspirin. Rule number three: never complain, particularly if you have been instrumental in demonstrating Rule number one. Rule number four: never serve liver or tofu. It is not clever. So says Minty Lloyd as she struggles to make her life work as Nathan's second wife. Mother to six year-old twins, sidelined at family gatherings by Nathan's hostile family, ostracised by his friends, she is haunted by the shadow of the glowing, successful Rose Nathan's first wife. The trouble is, 'she concludes, everything I do is second hand.' Yet, such is curious nature of fate, Minty finds herself united in loss with an unexpected ally the woman she once betrayed. Buchan's signature gift for capturing women's daily joys and struggles is beautifully deployed in "The Second Wife", an irresistible story of love, grief and renewal that explores that nature of friendship and the bonds that grow strongest when stretched to breaking