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The Awkward Black Man: Stories
by Walter MosleyBestselling author Walter Mosley has proven himself a master of narrative tension, both with his extraordinary fiction and gripping writing for television. The Awkward Black Man collects seventeen of Mosley's most accomplished short stories to showcase the full range of his remarkable talent.Mosley presents distinct characters as they struggle to move through the world in each of these stories?heroes who are awkward, nerdy, self-defeating, self-involved, and, on the whole, odd. He overturns the stereotypes that corral black male characters and paints a subtle, powerful portrait of each of these unique individuals. In "The Good News Is," a man's insecurity about his weight gives way to a serious illness and the intense loneliness that accompanies it. Deeply vulnerable, he allows himself to be taken advantage of in return for a little human comfort in a raw display of true need. "Pet Fly," previously published in the New Yorker, follows a man working as a mailroom clerk for a big company?a solitary job for which he is overqualified?and the unforeseen repercussions he endures when he attempts to forge a connection beyond the one he has with the fly buzzing around his apartment. And "Almost Alyce" chronicles failed loves, family loss, alcoholism, and a Zen approach to the art of begging that proves surprisingly effective.Touching and contemplative, each of these unexpected stories offers the best of one of our most gifted writers.
An Awkward Commission: The thrilling maritime adventure series (John Pearce #3)
by David DonachieJuly, 1793. Since being press-ganged into service in King George’s Navy, John Pearce has endured a whirlwind few months, which have seen him survive wild storms and bitter battles with the enemy. He is finally free to follow his own wishes, but the same does not apply for the trio of Pearce’s closest friends, who call themselves the Pelicans.When they are shipped off to the Mediterranean, Pearce vows to liberate the men who have stuck by him through thick and thin. But with help being withheld by all higher powers, he is obliged to embark on a dangerous mission before he can free his friends: at stake, the whole British position in the Mediterranean.
Awkward Conversations with Animals I’ve F*cked (Oberon Modern Plays)
by Rob HayesOne-night stands are awkward. One-night stands with animals are more awkward. And when you’re as desperate to please as Bobby, things get awkward as f*ck. He’s just a guy with too much love to give, and a burning desire to give it to consensual adult mammals.
The Awkward Path To Getting Lucky (Mira Ser.)
by Summer HeacockA laugh-out-loud romantic comedy, perfect for summer! ‘In thirty-four days, it will have been exactly two years to the day since I've had sex.’
The Awkward Squad (MacLehose Press Editions)
by Sophie HénaffSuspended from her job as a promising police officer for firing "one bullet too many", Anne Capestan is expecting the worst when she is summoned to H.Q. to learn her fate. Instead, she is surprised to be told that she is to head up a new police squad, working on solving old cold cases.Though relieved to still have a job, Capestan is not overjoyed by the prospect of her new role. Even less so when she meets her new team: a crowd of misfits, troublemakers and problem cases, none of whom are fit for purpose and yet none of whom can be fired.But from this inauspicious start, investigating the cold cases throws up a number a number of strange mysteries for Capestan and her team: was the old lady murdered seven years ago really just the victim of a botched robbery? Who was behind the dead sailor discovered in the Seine with three gunshot wounds? And why does there seem to be a curious link with a ferry that was shipwrecked off the Florida coast many years previously?Translated from the French by Sam Gordon
The Awkward Years (Oberon Modern Plays)
by Matthew BulgoLily's like a lot of other 20-somethings - working a dead-end job, stuck in a cycle of one-night stands and not where they expected to be at the age of 27. Her friends all feel like their lives are falling apart…except Lily's really is. Can she stop the rot before she crumbles away to nothing?The Awkward Years fuses a muscular text with frenetic movement and an evocative sound and lighting design to produce a breakneck-speed show about grief, hope and staying alive.
Awol Bride (Camden Family Secrets #2)
by Victoria PadeThis is one bride that doesn’t want to be found!
AWOL with the Operative (Mills And Boon Vintage Romantic Suspense Ser.)
by Jean ThomasEve Warren made a sworn promise–she'd never tell the FBI her real connection to mob informant Charlie Fowler. When he's found dead, we-have-ways-to-make-you-talk agent Sam McDonough wants to know everything.
The Axe Factor: A Jimm Juree Novel (A\jimm Juree Mystery Ser. #3)
by Colin CotterillOn the gulf of Thailand, the Juree family are managing their run-down beach resort for the second year - still stalked by disaster. Daughter Jimm has a new love in her life, but finds herself pursued by another man with a markedly different agenda in mind. Meanwhile, Jimm's new case is that of Dr. Somluk, a champion of the rights of rural mothers, who is missing following a run-in with the marketeers of infant formula. As ever, there is blood, brine and bedlam aplenty at the Gulf Bay Lovely Resort.
The Axe Woman: The Godfather of Swedish Crime (The Barbarotti Series)
by Håkan Nesser'A master of suspense' – Sunday TimesWhen Inspector Gunnar Barbarotti returns to work after a personal tragedy, his boss hands him a cold case to ease him back in. But the case doesn't stay cold for long . . . The Axe Woman is the fifth Inspector Barbarotti novel from bestselling author Håkan Nesser.Five years previously, Morinder simply vanished. His partner claimed he had travelled abroad, never to return. But Arnold’s partner was Ellen Bjarnebo: one of Sweden’s most notorious killers, having served over ten years in prison for killing her first husband and dismembering his body with an axe. And when Barbarotti seeks to re-interview Ellen, she is nowhere to be found . . .With neither a body nor a prime suspect, Barbarotti must use all the ingenuity at his disposal. And as the cold case begins to thaw and he finally begins to make progress, he realises that nothing about Ellen Bjarnebo can be taken for granted . . .
Axel Storm: Cola Power (PDF)
by Shoo RaynerAxel Storm's parents are rock stars - and they just want Axel to be a normal boy! But when he goes to stay with his crazy uncles, Axel always ends up stealing the show... Axel Storm's uncle has invented an amazing new plane which could change the future of travel - but only if it wins the Power Cola Flying Competition! Axel must take to the skies in his toughest challenge yet...
The Axeman's Jazz (City Blues Quartet #1)
by Ray CelestinWinner of the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger for Best Debut Crime Novel of the Year.Shortlisted for the Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year Award.As recommended on the Radio 2 Arts Show with Claudia Winkleman.Inspired by a true story, set against the heady backdrop of jazz-filled, mob-ruled New Orleans, The Axeman's Jazz by Ray Celestin is a gripping thriller announcing a major talent in historical crime fiction.New Orleans, 1919. As a dark serial killer – the Axeman – stalks the city, three individuals set out to unmask him:Detective Lieutenant Michael Talbot – heading up the official investigation, but struggling to find leads, and harbouring a grave secret of his own.Former detective Luca d'Andrea – now working for the mafia; his need to solve the mystery of the Axeman is every bit as urgent as that of the authorities.And Ida – a secretary at the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Obsessed with Sherlock Holmes and dreaming of a better life, she stumbles across a clue which lures her and her musician friend, Louis Armstrong, to the case –and into terrible danger . . .As Michael, Luca and Ida each draw closer to discovering the killer's identity, the Axeman himself will issue a challenge to the people of New Orleans: play jazz or risk becoming the next victim.
Axiomatic: Short Stories Of Science Fiction
by Greg EganTHE HUNDRED LIGHT YEAR DIARY - Scientists can bounce messages from the future back to the present, but there's no guarantee they'll tell the truth ... LEARNING TO BE ME - Crystalline minds may take the place of human brains, but where does the self really lie?CLOSER - Lovers exchange bodies and minds, but their experiments go just that little bit too far, proving that you can have too much of a good thing
Axiomatic
by Maria TumarkinHow to speak of the searing, unpindownable power that the past – ours, our family’s, our culture’s – wields in the present? In five long sections, Maria Tumarkin’s Axiomatic tells true and intimate stories of a community dealing with the extended aftermath of a suicide, a grandmother’s quest to kidnap her grandson to keep him safe, one community lawyer’s battle inside and against the justice system, the effects of multigenerational trauma, and the history of the author’s longest friendship. In writing that is inventive, bold, and generous, Axiomatic is a brilliantly inventive exploration of how the past shapes our culture. ‘Nobody can write like Maria Tumarkin: she charges headlong into the worst and best of us, with an iron refusal to soften or decorate; sentences bare of artifice, stripped back to the bone, to the nerve; fired by raging grief and love.’ — Helen Garner
Axis: Spin, Axis, Vortex (Gateway Essentials #2)
by Robert Charles WilsonThe World Next Door.Engineered by the mysterious Hypotheticals to support human life, it's connected to Earth by way of the Arch that towers hundreds of miles over the Indian ocean. Humans are colonizing this new world - and, predictably, exploiting its resources, chiefly large deposits of oil in the western deserts of the continent of Equatoria.Lise Adams is a young woman attempting to uncover the mystery of her father's disappearance ten years ago. Turk Findley is an ex-sailor and sometime drifter. They come together when an infall of cometary dust seeds the planet with tiny Hypothetical machines.Now Lise, Turk, a Martian woman, and a boy who has been engineered to communicate with the Hypotheticals, are drawn to a place in the desert where this seemingly hospitable world has become suddenly very alien indeed - and the nature of time is being once again twisted by entities unknown.
Axis/Axes to Grind: Political Slants in American World War II Novels, 1945-1975 (Clemson University Press)
by Milton A. CohenAxis/Axes to Grind studies various political themes in American World War II novels of three decades. These themes include “big picture” novels that interpret the war’s meaning and predict the postwar political climate (The Naked and the Dead, The Young Lions) and novels that dramatize rebellions against military authority (From Here to Eternity, The Caine Mutiny and Catch-22). “Political” also includes conflicts between various minorities and the dominant socio-political culture (White, Christian and heterosexual). Racial conflicts appear in If He Hollers Let Him Go, And Then We Heard the Thunder and Guard of Honor); subversive gay themes inform The Gallery; anti-Semitic conflicts appear in several novels, particularly the Holocaust novel Point of No Return. War novels written well after the war tend to see the war through the lens of the author's own times. Thus, the 1960s protests against the Vietnam war inform the pacifism in Slaughterhouse-Five. And in Gravity's Rainbow, the transnational cartels that enable the V-2 rocket attacks against England prefigure the military-industrial complex of Pynchon's time.
Aya and the Star Chaser
by Radiya HafizaFor fans of Sophie Anderson and South Asian myths and legends comes a fairytale based on Bengali folklore that puts brown girls centre-stage, from the author of Rumaysa: A Fairytale. Filled with gorgeous black and white illustrations by Kaley McKean.Aya has been fascinated by stars ever since she can remember. But never in her wildest imagination did she expect to get struck by one and develop powers beyond her control.When the evil Abnus takes over the region of Alferra in search of power, Aya quickly learns there is a great darkness afoot. Can Aya learn to control her burgeoning magic and keep her friends and family safe before it's too late?Aya and the Star Chaser is a brilliant gothic fairytale from Radiya Hafiza.
Ayala's Angel (Classics To Go)
by Anthony TrollopeAyala's Angel is a novel written by English author Anthony Trollope between 25 April and 24 September 1878, although it was not published for two years. It was written as a stand-alone novel rather than as part of a series, though several of the minor characters appear in other novels by Trollope. The plot focuses on two orphaned sisters, Lucy and Ayala Dormer, Ayala especially, and their trials, with first their relatives, and then of the heart, though as in most Trollope novels, pages are given over to subplots related to the main plot. (Wikipedia)
Aye, and Gomorrah: And Other Stories (Gateway Essentials)
by Samuel R. DelanyA father must come to terms with his son's death in the war. In Venice, an architecture student commits a crime of passion. A white southern airport loader tries to do a favour for a black northern child. The ordinary stuff of fiction - but with a difference! These tales take place twenty-five, fifty, a hundred and fifty years from now. Men and women have been given gills to labor under the sea. Huge repair stations patrol the cables carrying power to the ends of the earth. Telepathic and precocious children yearn so passionately to visit distant galaxies that they'll kill to go. Brilliantly crafted, beautifully written, these are Samuel Delany's award-winning stories, like no other before or since.
Aye-Aye Captain! Pirates Can Be Polite: Pirates Can Be Polite (Pirates to the Rescue #4)
by Tom Easton (Author)Captain Cod is finding that his crew aren't being very polite to him. When he orders Peter to hoist the main sail, he just gets grunted at. When he helps Sam bake biscuits, Sam doesn't even say thank you. And when Davy Jones walks into the captain's cabin without knocking, it's the final straw. After all, he was in his bath!When the ship is attacked by a band of Rotten Pirates, the crew don't know what to do. They rush to the Captain's cabin to ask for advice, but his door is locked and he won't answer. Will the ship be overrun with Rotten Pirates or will they find a way to repel them?The books in the 'Pirates to the Rescue' series are designed to help children to recognise the virtues of generosity, honesty, politeness and kindness. Reading these books with children will help them to understand that their actions and behaviour have a real effect on people around them. The books will help young readers to recognise what is right and wrong and what to do when faced with difficult choices.Notes for parents, guardians and teachers are included at the end of the story to help give starting points for discussion and follow-up activities to help encourage positive behaviour.
Ayesha at Last: A heart-warming and achingly funny read, perfect for fans of Crazy Rich Asians
by Uzma Jalaluddin'Enchanting, achingly funny and uplifting, Ayesha at Last is a must read!' Randa Abdel-FattahA big-hearted, captivating, modern-day Muslim Pride and Prejudice, with hijabs instead of top hats and kurtas instead of corsets. AYESHA SHAMSI has a lot going on. Her dreams of being a poet have been overtaken by a demanding teaching job. Her boisterous Muslim family, and numerous (interfering) aunties, are professional naggers. And her flighty young cousin, about to reject her one hundredth marriage proposal, is a constant reminder that Ayesha is still single.Ayesha might be a little lonely, but the one thing she doesn't want is an arranged marriage. And then she meets Khalid... How could a man so conservative and judgmental (and, yes, smart and annoyingly handsome) have wormed his way into her thoughts so quickly? As for Khalid, he's happy the way he is; his mother will find him a suitable bride. But why can't he get the captivating, outspoken Ayesha out of his mind? They're far too different to be a good match, surely...
Ayiti
by Roxane GayFrom New York Times-bestselling powerhouse Roxane Gay, Ayiti is a powerful collection exploring the Haitian diaspora experience.In Ayiti, a married couple seeking boat passage to America prepares to leave their homeland. A young woman procures a voodoo love potion to ensnare a childhood classmate. A mother takes a foreign soldier into her home as a boarder, and into her bed. And a woman conceives a daughter on the bank of a river while fleeing a horrific massacre, a daughter who later moves to America for a new life but is perpetually haunted by the mysterious scent of blood. Originally published by a small press, this edition will make Gay's debut widely available for the first time, including several new stories.'These early stories showcase Gay's prowess as one of the voices of our age' (National Post, Canada).
Ayn Rand and the Russian Intelligentsia: The Origins of an Icon of the American Right (Russian Shorts)
by Derek OffordThis book examines the writings of the American novelist Ayn Rand, especially The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957), which Rand considered her definitive statement about the need for an unregulated free market in which superior humans could fully realize themselves by living for no-one but themselves. It explores Rand's conception of American identity, which exalted individualism and capitalism, and her solution for saving the modern American nation, which she believed was losing the spirit of its 18th- and 19th-century founders and frontiersmen, having been degraded morally and economically by the rampant socialism of the mid-20th-century world.Derek Offord crucially goes on to analyse how Rand's writings functioned as a vehicle in which she, a Russian-Jewish writer born in St Petersburg in 1905, engaged with ideas that had long animated the Russian intelligentsia. Her conception of human nature and of a utopian community capable of satisfying its needs; her reversal of conventional valuations of self-sacrifice and selfishness; her division of humans into an extraordinary minority and the ordinary mass; her comparison of competing civilizations – in all these areas, Offord argues that Rand drew on Russian debates and transposed them to a different context. Even the type of novel she writes, the novel of ideas, is informed by the polemical methods and habits of the Russian intelligentsia. The book concludes that her search for a brave new world continues to have topicality in the 21st century, with its populist critiques of liberal democracies and acrimonious debates about countries' moral, social, and economic priorities and their identities, inequalities, and social tensions.
Ayn Rand and the Russian Intelligentsia: The Origins of an Icon of the American Right (Russian Shorts)
by Derek OffordThis book examines the writings of the American novelist Ayn Rand, especially The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957), which Rand considered her definitive statement about the need for an unregulated free market in which superior humans could fully realize themselves by living for no-one but themselves. It explores Rand's conception of American identity, which exalted individualism and capitalism, and her solution for saving the modern American nation, which she believed was losing the spirit of its 18th- and 19th-century founders and frontiersmen, having been degraded morally and economically by the rampant socialism of the mid-20th-century world.Derek Offord crucially goes on to analyse how Rand's writings functioned as a vehicle in which she, a Russian-Jewish writer born in St Petersburg in 1905, engaged with ideas that had long animated the Russian intelligentsia. Her conception of human nature and of a utopian community capable of satisfying its needs; her reversal of conventional valuations of self-sacrifice and selfishness; her division of humans into an extraordinary minority and the ordinary mass; her comparison of competing civilizations – in all these areas, Offord argues that Rand drew on Russian debates and transposed them to a different context. Even the type of novel she writes, the novel of ideas, is informed by the polemical methods and habits of the Russian intelligentsia. The book concludes that her search for a brave new world continues to have topicality in the 21st century, with its populist critiques of liberal democracies and acrimonious debates about countries' moral, social, and economic priorities and their identities, inequalities, and social tensions.