In this short story, college students and friends Jessica and Bryan are talking and studying one night. The next day, Jessica buys a magical hat and begins to learn what people are really thinking!New Pulp Author David White takes on Heaven, Hell, and everything in between with the debut of Magee, his Pro Se Single Shots series.Banished from on high for standing up to the archangel Michael, the being now known as Magee finds himself on Earth, stripped of his wings. Literally, as they were torn from his back. Left to his own vices, this fallen angel discovers he has many. In Magee: Knight From Hell, a killer is on the loose, one that no mortal means can stop. Magee begrudgingly finds himself involved in the hunt for this mystical murderer, alongside the only being he might call friend- a cultured and wealthy werewolf named Princeton. As Magee fights his way through his own issues, he finds that horrors of the past may mean more to his present than even a disgraced angel can survive.

No writer has rendered our boundariless, post-colonial world more acutely or prophetically than V. S. Naipaul, or given its upheavals such a hauntingly human face. A perfect case in point is this riveting novel, a masterful and stylishly rendered narrative of emigration, dislocation, and dread, accompanied by four supporting narratives. In the beginning it is just a car trip through Africa. Two English people - Bobby, a civil servant with a guilty appetite for African boys, and Linda, a supercilious 'compound wife' - are driving back to their enclave after a stay in the capital. But in between lies the landscape of an unnamed country whose squalor and ethnic bloodletting suggest Idi Amin’s Uganda. And the farther Naipaul’s protagonists travel into it, the more they find themselves crossing the line that separates privileged outsiders from horrified victims. Alongside this Conradian tour de force are four incisive portraits of men seeking liberation far from home. By turns funny and terrifying, sorrowful and unsparing, In A Free State is Naipaul at his best.

Britain's best-loved comic genius Stephen Fry turns his celebrated wit and insight to unearthing the real America as he travels across the continent in his black taxicab. Stephen's account of his adventures is filled with his unique humour, insight and warmth in this beautifully illustrated book that accompanies his journey for the BBC1 series. 'Stephen Fry is a treasure of the British Empire.' - The Guardian Stephen Fry has always loved America, in fact he came very close to being born there. Here, his fascination for the country and its people sees him embarking on an epic journey across America, visiting each of its 50 states to discover how such a huge diversity of people, cultures, languages, beliefs and landscapes combine to create such a remarkable nation. Starting on the eastern seaboard, Stephen zig-zags across the country in his London taxicab, talking to its hospitable citizens, listening to its music, visiting its landmarks, viewing small-town life and America's breath-taking landscapes - following wherever his curiosity leads him. Stephen meets a collection of remarkable individuals - American icons and unsung local heroes alike. Stephen starts his epic journey on the east coast and zig-zags across America, stopping in every state from Maine to Hawaii. En route he discovers the South Side of Chicago with blues legend Buddy Guy, catches up with Morgan Freeman in Mississippi, strides around with Ted Turner on his Montana ranch, marches with Zulus in New Orleans' Mardi Gras, and drums with the Sioux Nation in South Dakota; joins a Georgia family for thanksgiving, 'picks' with Bluegrass hillbillies, and finds himself in a Tennessee garden full of dead bodies. Whether in a club for failed gangsters (yes, those are real bullet holes) or celebrating Halloween in Salem (is there anywhere better?), Stephen is welcomed by the people of America - mayors, sheriffs, newspaper editors, park rangers, teachers and hobos, bringing to life the oddities and splendours of each locale. A celebration of the magnificent and the eccentric, the beautiful and the strange, Stephen Fry in America is our author's homage to this extraordinary country.

The twelfth in the fun 12-book collectible series for young readers from survival expert and Chief Scout BEAR GRYLLS.Mia loves to take charge and be a leader - she's not lacking in confidence and throws herself into every experience. Except she's terrible at taking a back seat and letting others have their say. A mysterious compass leads her to an unexpected adventure with Bear Grylls sailing the high seas. Can Bear show Mia the importance of teamwork and how dangerous the ocean can be if the captain doesn't have a crew who will work together?Each book in this fun new 12-book series from BEAR GRYLLS follows a different child on the outdoor activity camp. Once they are given the magical compass, they meet the inspirational adventurer in an amazing place and learn new skills and facts they can take with them back to their real life.

A brand new young fiction series by TV broadcaster and intrepid explorer Ben Fogle, inspired by his real-life animal experiences... Co-written with best-selling children's author Steve Cole and illustrated throughout with beautiful black and white illustrations by Nikolas Ilic. You can always count on Mr Dog to help an animal in trouble... When Mr Dog takes a trip into town, he doesn't expect to stay for long. But then he meets a fox who needs his help – a fox who's very far from home...

Hester appears to have it all - marriage, a nice home, three children and a stimulating job.But it is not enough. For no matter how much she and her husband earn, she spends more.Driven by a desire to be loved by his mother, young Paul starts betting on the horses with the family's gardener.He wins, wins and just keeps winning. But, as quickly as he hands her the money, Hester has splurged it away.Then, as Derby day approaches, the spooky secret of Paul's endless run of luck is revealed.As tragedy beckons, will Paul win his mother's love?This book is perfect for fans of Edgar Allan Poe and Ernest Hemingway.It was made into the 1949 fantasy film 'The Rocking Horse Winner', starring John Howard Davies, Valerie Hobson and John Mills.-

Durrell's third work, the original angry young novel, was first published by his good friend and long-time correspondent Henry Miller as the first title in the short-lived Villa Seurat imprint of the Paris-based Obelisk Press. Unpublishable by the more staid (and censored) presses across the Channel, no work better captures the anguish and death-consciousness of a Europe about to plunge, once again, into cataclysmic war and destruction. The Black Book first saw print in 1938.

"Brilliant. . . . A powerfully observed, stylistically elegant exploration." --The New York Times A New York Times Notable Book of the Year "The book's strength lies in Naipaul's extraordinary ability as a storyteller to draw striking portraits of a cross section of individuals."--The Boston Globe Fourteen years after the publication of his landmark travel narrative Among the Believers, V. S. Naipaul returned to the four non-Arab Islamic countries he reported on so vividly at the time of Ayatollah Khomeini's triumph in Iran. Beyond Belief is the result of his five-month journey in 1995 through Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, and Malaysia--lands where descendants of Muslim converts live at odds with indigenous traditions, and where dreams of Islamic purity clash with economic and political realities. In extended conversations with a vast number of people--a rare survivor of the martyr brigades of the Iran-Iraq war, a young intellectual training as a Marxist guerilla in Baluchistan, an impoverished elderly couple in Teheran whose dusty Baccarat chandeliers preserve the memory of vanished wealth, and countless others--V. S. Naipaul deliberately effaces himself to let the voices of his subjects come through. Yet the result is a collection of stories that has the author's unmistakable stamp. With its incisive observation and brilliant cultural analysis, Beyond Belief is a startling and revelatory addition to the Naipaul canon. "Highly accomplished. . . . Another display of Naipaul's remarkable talent." --The Independent (London)

In Two of a Kind, twelve-year-old Faith, who has grown up in a home for orphans in the distant future, unexpectedly finds herself on the run with a youth named Fisher. Together, they must escape the government forces that hunt them to find hope, family and a new life.‘Don’t let me lose myself.’Fifteen-year-old X thinks she is going to die. Shacked up in the cellar of an old farmhouse, she starts a journal to document her last few days. Much less than a few days if the uglies manage to get in.X is a post-apocalyptic short story from Jack Croxall, author of Tethers.Praise for XA luminous, captivating tale perfect for giving you one of those reading "moments".– Liz Loves BooksI was left with a genuine shiver down my spine.– D.M. Cain, author of The Phoenix Project

The seventeenth-century philosopher-statesman Francis Bacon famously declared that nothing had changed the world more profoundly than three great inventions: gunpowder, printing and the compass. What he didn't know was that the Chinese had been successfully using all three long before the West ever 'invented' them. And yet it was another 300 years before a remarkable man called Joseph Needham embarked on his lifetime's work which would finally set the record straight. Inspired by a wartime mission to occupied China, he wrote a twenty-four-volume masterpiece, chronicling the nation's astonishing history of invention and technology over five thousand years. In 'Bomb, book and compass' Simon Winchester tells the story of Joseph Needham, his magnificent book, the passion that inspired it, and the remarkable rise of the Chinese nation that continues to this day

A standalone royal romance At first glance I probably seem like any good-looking guy in their late twenties. I have an obscene amount of confidence, a tattooed body sculpted by the Nordic gods, and I love the ladies as much as they love me. If I’m not BASE jumping or car racing, I’m chasing other devious thrills with the woman of the week. And that’s fine if you’re the average single guy. But I'm not the average single guy. ​ ​I’m Crown Prince Magnus of Norway and my latest scandal just landed my entire royal family in hot water. Now the only way the monarchy can save face is for me to smarten up – publicly. If I don’t, I’ll no longer be heir apparent to the throne. So it’s either I abdicate my future role as King or… I get married. To a blue-blooded stranger. Enter Princess Isabella of the tiny country of Liechtenstein. Quiet, intelligent, and uniquely beautiful, Ella doesn’t like this arrangement any more than I do and she’s not afraid to show it. She says I’m a womanizer, that I don’t take anything seriously, that my ego should be taken down a few pegs, and I think she aims to make me miserable for the rest of my life. But even as our arranged marriage becomes a war of wit and words, I’m determined to break through Ella’s prim and proper façade to find the wild​, sexual​ and risk-taking woman underneath. I want to uncover the Queen inside her. The only question is – will she let me? The Wild Heir is a standalone royal romance and a spinoff of The Swedish Prince but it is not necessary to read that book beforehand as The Wild Heir is about different characters

From New York Times bestselling author Karina Halle comes DIRTY SOULS the much-anticipated, nail-biting conclusion to Black Hearts… Violet McQueen has always been a sensitive soul. Troubled and misunderstood, she never realized her place in the world, nor her true potential…until she met Vicente Bernal. From birth, Vicente Bernal has always known his place in the world – he’s been groomed to be a ruthless king. Yet for a man whose soul has become morally bankrupt, it’s only through Violet he’s realizing the worth of someone’s heart. But at what cost? With a deadly game set in motion taking them from the stark deserts of California to the steamy jungles of Mexico, Violet and Vicente’s forbidden relationship will be put to the test. Boundaries will be pushed, lines will be crossed and souls will get very, very dirty. Because how do you choose between blood and love when both might get you killed? NOTE: Dirty Souls is the second and FINAL book in the Sins Duet. You MUST read book #1, BLACK HEARTS, first before this one!

The author of The Professor and the Madman and The Perfectionists explores the notion of property—our proprietary relationship with the land—through human history, how it has shaped us and what it will mean for our future.Land—whether meadow or mountainside, desert or peat bog, parkland or pasture, suburb or city—is central to our existence. It quite literally underlies and underpins everything. Employing the keen intellect, insatiable curiosity, and narrative verve that are the foundations of his previous bestselling works, Simon Winchester examines what we human beings are doing—and have done—with the billions of acres that together make up the solid surface of our planet.Land: The Ownership of Everywhere examines in depth how we acquire land, how we steward it, how and why we fight over it, and finally, how we can, and on occasion do, come to share it. Ultimately, Winchester confronts the essential question:...