"You’re never too old for a great fairy tale." -?5-star reader's review.? A funny and quirky fantasy fairy tale for adults complete?with mystery, murder, romance!? The mystical green planet of Rendaz is home to devout goddess worshiper and university professor, middle-aged Beautimus Potamus—who also happens to be a hippo plagued by hot flashes and poor self-esteem. Beautimus forms an alliance with Samuel S. Goodwings, a younger womanizing, atheist praying mantis. When these two are together, life morphs from the mundane into the fantastic. Our unlikely duo solves mysteries, bring a murderer to justice, and even help end a war while experiencing their own trials, triumphs, and tragedies. Often with humor, their situations and adventures parody Earth culture. During their exploits, the two interact with a host of characters, including a pair of New Age flamingos, an A.D.H.D. afflicted trout, an orangutan detective, and a 310-year-old blue crane High Priestess. All of these creatures are more “human” in surprising ways than the citizens of the blue planet, Earth, we discover was once a Rendazian Colony. Beautimus Potamus’ tongue-in-cheek story is a magical fable-stew made with the ingredients of satire, drama, social commentary, and comedy, with jests, puns and wordplay sprinkled throughout. For good measure, a generous pinch of romantic flavoring is thrown into the pot. Readers' reviews:? "Truly a splendid and extraordinary story. It was refreshing to find something so original. Well written, vivid descriptions, great humor and delightful characters." "So often we limit our reading to books by Dan Brown, John Grisham, Nicholas Sparks or Michael Connelly and we [...] miss the gems by new writers that put their heart, soul and dreams on paper to let our imaginations go where theirs have. This is one of those gems." If you liked this book, you should check out Peggy's dystopian tale,?Chaco?as well!? About the author Peggy A. Wheeler is a writer of fantastical fiction. Her debut novel, THE RAVEN'S DAUGHTER is published by Dragon Moon Press in Canada. Peggy studied English and Creative Writing at the U.C.L.A., where she was the only undergraduate chosen to study with Robert Pinsky, former Poet Laureate of the United States. Peggy has led adult poetry and fiction writing critique groups and workshops in both Colorado and California. ?

COMPTE AMB ALL? QUE DESITGES Un misteri paranormal de les bruixes de Westwick La mort d’un multimilionari no és gaire bona per a un negoci! ?s el que diu la tieta Pearl a la Cen quan troben un cadàver a l’hostal familiar a Westwick Corners. Tanmateix, la Cen pensa que no és cosa d’ella. Viu una vida normal apartada de la màgia per alguna cosa. Està promesa amb un noi normal i té una feina normal com a periodista, sense màgia de per mig, i un inconvenient com un assassinat al poble no pertorbarà la seva còmoda existència. Encara que tot el poble acusi la tieta Pearl d’haver assassinat el seu hoste. Encara que el seu promès actu? d’una manera sospitosa i vegi fantasmes on no n’hi ha. Encara que el nou i atractiu xèrif, en Tyler Gates, la tracti com la més sexy de les bruixes. Si t’agraden els misteris lleugers amb una dosi d’humor i un toc sobrenatural, t’encantarà aquesta història de bruixes! Cada llibre de la saga conta una història diferent, i es poden llegir en qualsevol ordre. Sobre la saga Els misteris de les bruixes de Westwick: Registra’t per rebre notificacions a http://www.colleencross.com ?Una captivadora aventura màgica. Si t’agraden els misteris lleugers t’encantaran la Cendrine West i la seva peculiar família de bruixes. Westwick Corners no és el típic poblet. Ni tan sols un poble fantasma normal i corrent. ?s on la gent es perd i on les bruixes entrenen la seva màgia sense cridar massa l’atenció. Aquesta combinació el converteix en un lloc interessant on mesclar els misteris i l’humor, i les bruixes sempre són el centre d’acció. La cuina de la Ruby, les investigacions de la Cendrine i l’escola de màgia de la tieta Pearl sempre cerquen l’ingredient secret que impulsi les bruixes a la fama i la fortuna i torni a fer brillar el poble de Westwick Corners. Les bruixes sempre treballen en noves oportunitats de negoci per l’hostal Westwick Corners, el bar Embruix i, per descomptat, l’Escola d’Encanteri Pearl, on les bruixes van a desentranyar enigmes, conjurar encanteris i crear nous misteris màgics. Llàstima que sempre es distreguin perquè ocorren successos estranys a Westwick Corners, des de petits delictes fins a assassinats. La família West sempre ha estat a Westwick Corners i sempre hi estarà. Descendeixen d’una llarga estirp de bruixes que ha viscut a Westwick Corners des de la seva fundació. Bruixes que desvelen misteris, resolen crims i ajuden qui ho necessita. Són un conjunt de bruixes de tots els estils, perquè embruixar és una de les coses típiques que es fan a un poblet. Tothom ajuda. Fins i tot el fantasma de l’àvia Vi s’entremet i investiga. Però quan totes estiren, no ho fan sempre en la mateixa direcció. Si t’agraden les endevinalles, les rialles i les sagues de misteri, t’encantarà aquesta col·lecció. Disponible en format electrònic i en paper. La següent aventura de la saga ocorre la Nit de Nadal. Mentre hi hagi lectors que gaudeixin amb les meves històries, continuaré escrivint-les. Gràcies per la lectura!

The Magnificent Ambersons is a 1918 novel by Booth Tarkington which won the 1919 Pulitzer Prize. It was the second novel in the Growth trilogy, which included The Turmoil (1915) and The Midlander (1923, retitled National Avenue in 1927). In 1942 Orson Welles directed a film version, also titled The Magnificent Ambersons. The novel and trilogy traces the growth of the United States through the declining fortunes of three generations of the aristocratic Amberson family in a fictional Mid-Western town, between the end of the Civil War and the early part of the 20th century, a period of rapid industrialization and socio-economic change in America. The decline of the Ambersons is contrasted with the rising fortunes of industrial tycoons and other new-money families, which did not derive power from family names but by "doing things". As George Amberson's friend (name unspecified) says, "don't you think being things is 'rahthuh bettuh' than doing things?" "The Magnificent Ambersons is perhaps Tarkington's best novel," said Van Wyck Brooks. "[It is] a typical story of an American family and town—the great family that locally ruled the roost and vanished virtually in a day as the town spread and darkened into a city. This novel no doubt was a permanent page in the social history of the United States, so admirably conceived and written was the tale of the Ambersons, their house, their fate and the growth of the community in which they were submerged in the end." Even though the story is set in a fictitious city, it was inspired by Tarkington's hometown of Indianapolis and the neighborhood he once lived in, Woodruff Place.

There is a fertile stretch of flat lands in Indiana where unagrarian Eastern travellers, glancing from car-windows, shudder and return their eyes to interior upholstery, preferring even the swaying caparisons of a Pullman to the monotony without. The landscape lies interminably level: bleak in winter, a desolate plain of mud and snow; hot and dusty in summer, in its flat lonesomeness, miles on miles with not one cool hill slope away from the sun.

Newton Booth Tarkington (July 29, 1869 – May 19, 1946) was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his novels The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams. He is one of only three novelists to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once, along with William Faulkner and John Updike.

"The Beautiful Lady", is another of the short novels from Booth Tarkington's early career. It was originally published in two parts, December of 1904 and January of 1905, in "Harper's Magazine", and then as Tarkington's fifth book in May of 1905. As with many of Tarkington's other works, it is a bit too predictable, though in this case that doesn't detract too much from the story. The story appears to sets up a love triangle (or in this case it may be a love square), but it does deviate from that a bit. The story is told from the point of the Italian, Ansolini from Naples, living in Paris who due to being down on his luck is forced into a most embarrassing position of acting as a billboard by shaving his head and having an advertisement for a show placed on the back of his bald head. It is while performing this job, that he nearly meets the "beautiful lady", though he keeps his head down and sees only her feet and the hem of her skirt and hears her lovely voice as it has sympathy for his plight. In fact, Ansolini's feelings are appreciative of her beautiful soul, and not that of romance.

A young newspaperman who has just moved to a new town overhears the wealthy politician in the house next door talking aloud to nonexistent figures. Has David Beasley gone mad, or is his imagination simply greater than his friends and ex-fiancée believe?

Youth and the Bright Medusa is a collection of short stories by Willa Cather, published in 1920. Several were published in an earlier collection, The Troll Garden. This collection contains the following stories: "Coming, Aphrodite!" a.k.a. "Coming, Eden Bower!" "The Diamond Mine" "A Gold Slipper" "Scandal" "Paul's Case" "A Wagner Matinee" "The Sculptor's Funeral" "A Death in the Desert"

The first of her renowned prairie novels--a story that expresses Cather's conviction that "the history of every country begins in the heart of a man or a woman." When Alexandra Bergson takes over the family farm after her father's death, she falls under the spell of the rich, forbidding Nebraska prairie.

"The White Ship" is a short story written by H.P. Lovecraft. It was first published in The United Amateur (Volume 19) #2, November 1919. A lighthouse keeper named Basil Elton engages upon a peculiar fantasy in which a bearded man piloting a mystical white ship is found sailing upon a bridge of moonlight. Elton joins the bearded man on this ship, and together they explore a mystical chain of islands unlike anything that can be found on Earth.

The story describes of a strange hybrid race, half-human and half an unknown creature that resembles a cross between a fish and frog, that dwells in the seaside village of Innsmouth (formerly a large town, but lately fallen into disrepair). The townspeople worship Cthulhu and Dagon, a Philistine deity incorporated into the Cthulhu Mythos.

"Medusa's Coil" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft and Zealia Bishop. It was first published in Weird Tales magazine in January 1939, two years after Lovecraft's death. The story concerns the son of an American plantation owner who brings back from Paris a new wife. It mixes elements of Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos with the ancient Greek myth of Medusa, but it has also been noted for its racist aspects.

Un productor neobosit de surprize, n spaiul nostru literar, este Nicolae Breban…“ (Gabriel Dimisianu, Romnia literar“, nr. 42, 2009) Nicolae Breban este stpnit de – i ajunge sa stpneasc el nsui – voina de putere creatoare. Creaia este, dup Fr. Nietzsche, adevrata voina de putere. Ct pot crea – att exist“, iat relaia definitorie i poate chiar sensul vieii, raliat adnc unei ontologii a artei literare. Scriitorul se teme cel mai mult de insuficiena voinei. ntotdeauna a fost ngrozit de un succes de mna a doua. Un succes a fost faptul ca n Frana i-au fost publicate romane dificile“, ntr-un context literar i istoric defavorabil. (…) Breban triete cu luciditate abisal un vis estetic“. Urmeaz, aadar, i nu contrazice autonomia esteticului. Omul i cultura sunt artificioase, nu naturale. El crede c, n esen, literatura nu s-a schimbat niciodat de la Homer ncoace.“ (Marian Victor Buciu) Un romancier pentru o generaie a literaturii. Nici un prozator roman nu a trit, dup 1960, o evoluie att de rapid. Succesul fulgertor al lui Nicolae Breban nu poate i nici nu trebuie s fie judecat independent de momentul 1965 al literaturii tinere. O generaie de povestitori i de poei avea nevoie de un adevrat romancier pentru a-i consacra, aa cum se cuvine, strlucirea. Nu de un romancier fcut prin aglomerarea povestirilor, strlucitor pe fiecare pagina, spectaculos prin fiecare personaj al sau; generaia reclama nu un autor care tie sa povesteasc, ci un scriitor nzestrat cu vocaie de romancier: de adevrat constructor.“ (Cornel Ungureanu)

Bestseller New York TimesUn roman din seria inspectorul Guido BrunettiCelebra c?nt?rea?? de oper? Flavia Petrelli reapare cu totul nea?teptat ?n via?a inspectorului de poli?ie Guido Brunetti.Flavia, care o interpreteaz? acum pe Floria Tosca din faimoasa oper? a lui Puccini, ?i m?rturise?te c? un admirator necunoscut a urmat-o de la Londra la Sankt Petersburg ?i la Vene?ia, cople?ind-o cu buchete imense de trandafiri galbeni. Pe m?sur? ce admiratorul invadeaz? via?a c?nt?re?ei, Brunetti ?ncearc? s? afle identitatea acestuia. Inspectorul ??i d? seama c? Flavia e ?n pericol c?nd un coleg de-al ei este r?nit grav.Va reu?i Brunetti s? intre ?n mintea admiratorului psihopat ?nainte ca Flavia sau altcineva din preajma ei s? p??easc? ceva r?u?"Un roman care are grandoarea unui spectacol de oper?… Seria Inspectorul Brunetti nu ?i-a pierdut deloc prospe?imea. Acesta e talentul extraordinar al Donnei Leon. Scriitura ei are exuberan?a unei opere de Puccini." - Independent (UK)"C?r?ile Donnei Leon se remarc? prin pitorescul locurilor unde se petrece ac?iunea ?i farmecul personajelor." - New York Times Book ReReview"Reapari?ia Flaviei ?i ofer? autoarei Donna Leon ocazia de a-?i exprima profunda dragoste pentru muzic? ?i de a construi o scen? magnific? ?ntre Flavia ?i admiratorul ei, scena ce reia finalul operei Tosca." - Booklist"Stilul elegant ?i expresiv al romanelor Donnei Leon face pentru Vene?ia ceea ce a f?cut Canaletto cu pensula ?i paleta de culori pentru cel mai seren dintre ora?e." - Daily Express

Now ponder well, you parents deare,?These wordes which I shall write;?A doleful story you shall heare,?In time brought forth to light.??A gentleman of good account?In Norfolke dwelt of late.?Who did in honour far surmount?Most men of his estate.??Sore sicke he was, and like to dye,?No helpe his life could save;?His wife by him as sicke did lye,?And both possest one grave.??No love between these two was lost,?Each was to other kinde;?In love they liv'd, in love they dyed,?And left two babes behinde:??The one a fine and pretty boy,?Not passing three yeares olde;?The other a girl more young than he?And fram'd in beautye's molde. Randolph Caldecott (1846 – 1886) was an English artist and illustrator, born in Chester. The Caldecott Medal was named in his honour. He exercised his art chiefly in book illustrations. His abilities as an artist were promptly and generously recognised by the Royal Academy. Caldecott gre-atly influenced illustration of children's books during the nineteenth century. Two books illustrated by him, priced at a shilling each, were published every Christmas for eight years. Caldecott also illustrated novels and accounts of foreign travel, made humorous drawings depicting hunting and fashionable life, drew cartoons and he made sketches of the Houses of Parliament inside and out, and exhibited sculptures and paintings in oil and watercolour in the Royal Academy and galleries. After six years at Whitchurch, Caldecott moved to the head office in Manchester of the Manchester & Salford Bank. He lodged variously in Aberdeen Street, Rusholme Grove and at Bowdon. He took the opportunity to study at night school at the Manchester School of Art and practised continually, with success in local papers and some London publications. It was a habit of his at this time, which he maintained all his life, to decorate his letters, papers and documents of all descriptions with marginal sketches to illustrate the content or provide amusement. A number of his letters have been reprinted with their illustrations in Yours Pictorially, a book edited by Michael Hutchings. In 1870, a painter friend in London, Thomas Armstrong, put Caldecott in touch with Henry Blackburn, the editor of London Society, who published a number of his drawings in several issues of the monthly magazine. Encouraged by this evidence of his ability to support him-self by his art, Caldecott decided to quit his job and move to London; this he did in 1872 at the age of 26. Within two years he had become a successful magazine illustrator working on commission. His work included individual sketches, illustrations of other articles and a series of illustrations of a holiday which he and Henry Blackburn took in the Harz Mountains in Germany. The latter became the first of a number of such series.

Din cauza unui denun? calomnios ?i a unui magistrat corupt, Edmond Dantès este arestat pentru tr?dare ?i condamnat f?r? proces la ?nchisoare pe via??. Aruncat ?n izolarea unei carcere, aflat ?n pragul sinuciderii, ?nt?lne?te un alt prizonier, care ?i ofer?, de-a lungul anilor, nu numai o educa?ie aleas?, ci ?i mijloacele de a se r?zbuna. ?i r?m?ne doar s? g?seasc? o cale ingenioas? de a evada din ?nchisoare…

Biblioteca pentru toi copiii“ cuprinde cele mai preuite opere ale scriitorilor clasici ai literaturii romne i universale. Crile de neuitat ale copilriei sunt disponibile astzi si in format e-book.Publicat n 42 de limbi, aceast carte este una dintre cele mai traduse opere dup Biblie.Alice a existat cu adevrat. Avea doar trei-patru ani i era cea mai drgla i mai istea dintre cele trei fetie ale decanului Universitii din Oxford, cu care tnrul profesor de matematic Charles L. Dodgson se mprietenise pe vremea cnd lucra ca ajutor de bibliotecar. La dorina micii sale prietene favorite acesta a scris, sub pseudonimul devenit celebru, basmul pe care i-l povestise n timpul unei plimbri cu barca, ntr-o zi de iulie a anului 1862.Multe generaii de copii i de oameni mari“ au sorbit i vor mai sorbi nc, fermecai, povestea din ara Minunilor, i, de la 1865 ncoace, aceast poveste a devenit n Anglia cartea de literatur poate cea mai rspndit.

Cum se percepe o femeie pe sine ?ns??i sau cum – prin ce lentile distorsionante, cu ce preconcep?ii induse de o educa?ie cvasipatriarhal? – ?i vede ea pe ceilal?i? Care sunt grani?ele libert??ii ei de op?iune ?i ce obstacole ?nt?lne?te voin?a ei de a juca alte roluri dec?t acelea ce i sunt tradi?ional atribuite? Poate o femeie – mai bine zis, i se ?ng?duie – s? aspire a fi ?i altceva dec?t mam?, sor?, fiic?, so?ie etc. – atribute care o descriu doar din perspectiva rela?iilor ei cu al?ii, nu prin ceea ce este ea ?ns??i?! Sunt ?ntreb?ri identificabile ?n ?es?tura narativ? a c?r?ilor Cellei Serghi. Eroinele acestei autoare se revolt? ?mpotriva unei ordini sociale rigide, vor s? ?i afirme identitatea – feminin? ?i nu doar –, impulsionate nu at?t de mult invocata fantasm? a ?c?ut?rii fericirii“ (tem? asociat? de critic?, ?n virtutea unei iner?ii de judecat?, a?a numitei ?literaturi feminine“), c?t de o fireasc?, omeneasc? nevoie de integrare ?i de recunoa?tere.

Fran?a, 1939. ?n lini?titul or??el Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac ??i ia r?mas-bun de la so?ul ei, Antoine, ?ntruc?t acesta pleac? pe front. Ea nu crede c? nazi?tii vor invada Fran?a… ?i totu?i, solda?ii ??i fac apari?ia, m?r??luind ?n num?r mare, ?n convoaie de camioane ?i tancuri, ?n avioane care ?nnegresc v?zduhul ?i bombardeaz? ?inuturile locuite de oameni nevinova?i. C?nd un c?pitan neam? ??i stabile?te cartierul general ?n casa lui Vianne, ea ?i fiica sa au dou? op?iuni: fie s? locuiasc? sub acela?i acoperi? cu du?manul, fie s? piard? totul. F?r? hran? ?i bani, dezn?d?jduit? ?n timp ce pericolul p?nde?te dup? fiecare col?, tot mai amenin??tor, Vianne e silit? s? fac? alegeri imposibil de ?ndurat pentru a-?i ?ine familia ?n via??.Sora sa, Isabelle, este o pu?toaic? rebel? de optsprezece ani, aflat? ?n c?utarea unui ?el ?n via?? cu toat? pasiunea necugetat? specific? tinere?ii. Pe c?nd mii de parizieni se retrag din capital?, trec?nd prin ororile r?zboiului, ea ?l ?nt?lne?te pe Ga?tan, un partizan care crede c? Fran?a poate lupta cu nazi?tii, ?i se ?ndr?goste?te nebune?te de el. Dar c?nd el o tr?deaz?, Isabelle se al?tur? Rezisten?ei f?r? a se uita ?n urm?, ?i, risc?ndu-?i via?a zilnic, o salveaz? pe a altora.

Ppuica Dadece, o poveste captivant de la un capt la altul, ce mpletete elemente de realitate cu fire de vis i de fantezie, este un ghid pentru adolesceni i tineri, nvndu-i s se fereasc de rcilele societii de astzi i s slujeasc forelor binelui i progresului.Lucrarea poate fi citit n egal msur de maturi, ntruct vorbete pe limba copilului din noi. Fiecare dintre noi poart cu sine, ascuns adnc n fiina sa, un copil... o fragilitate care se vrea ocrotit i cultivat. Carina Ebenstein tie s ajung acolo, n profundul sufletelor noastre i s ne transmit un mesaj de rar frumusee i poezie.Personajele i ntmplrile din cartea de fa ne dau ncredere n puterea valorilor spirituale perene ale omului.“ – Vasile Poenaru

Cinderella, or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances, that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune. The oldest documented version comes from China, and the oldest European version from Italy. The most popular version was first published by Charles Perrault in Histoires ou contes du temps passé in 1697, and later by the Brothers Grimm in their folk tale collection Grimms' Fairy Tales. Although the story's title and main character's name change in different languages, in English-language folklore "Cinderella" is the archetypal name. The word "Cinderella" has, by analogy, come to mean one whose attributes were unrecognized, or one who unexpectedly achieves recognition or success after a period of obscurity and neglect. The still-popular story of "Cinderella" continues to influence popular culture internationally, lending plot elements, allusions, and tropes to a wide variety of media. ONCE there was a gentleman who married, for his second wife, the proudest and most haughty woman that was ever seen. She had, by a former husband, two daughters of her own humour and they were indeed exactly like her in all things. He had likewise, by another wife, a young daughter, but of unparalleled goodness and sweetness of temper, which she took from her mother, who was the best creature in the world. No sooner were the ceremonies of the wedding over, but the stepmother began to shew herself in her colours. She could not bear the good qualities of this pretty girl; and the less, because they made her own daughters appear the more odious. She employed her in the meanest work of the house; she scoured the dishes, tables, &c. and rubbed Madam's chamber, and those of Misses, her daughters; she lay up in a sorry garret, upon a wretched straw-bed, while her sisters lay in fine rooms, with floors all inlaid, upon beds of the very newest fashion, and where they had looking-glasses so large, that they might see themselves at their full length, from head to foot.