Martial arts, magic, demons and scienceThe forces of Hell are poised to strike . . . When Emma’s relatives come to visit her, they are totally freaked out by what they learn . . . Emma’s beloved, John Chen, is a 3,000-year-old Chinese god. Not only that, John is becoming weaker by the day. Demons pursue him relentlessly, hoping to use Emma and his child, Simone, as bargaining tools against him. Emma battles to defend Simone as John’s energy is drained by the effort of both living in the mortal world and protecting them. While Emma is nagged by doubts about her own nature, she must find the courage to go on . . .

When allies become enemies,to whom can a clever thief turn?Armed with one of seven Ancient Blades, Malden waschosen by Fate to act as savior . . . and failed dismally.And now there is no stopping the barbarian hordes from invading and pillaging the kingdom of Skrae. Suddenly friends and former supporters alike covet the young hero’s magic while seeking his destruction—from the treacherous King and leaders of theCity of Ness to the rogue knight Croy, who owes Malden his life. It will take more than Malden’s makeshift army of harlotsand cutpurses to preserve a realm. Luckily the sorceressCythera fights at his side, along with the ingenious,irascible dwarf Slag. And the wily thief still has a desperate and daring plan or two up his larcenous sleeve . . .

Circumstance made him a criminal.Destiny may make him a hero.As a thief, Malden is unparalleled in the Free City of Ness,and happy there. But by saving the life of theknight Croy, Malden has bound himself to an ancient,noble brotherhood . . . and he now possesses one ofonly seven Ancient Blades capable of destroying demons. Malden fears accompanying Croy and the barbarian M?rget on their quest to dispatch a foul creature of nightmare . . .nor does he want to disturb the vengeful dead. But with anassassin on his heels, the young cutpurse is left with no choice. And there is the comely sorceress, Cythera, to consider—promised to Croy but in love with Malden—not to mentionthe fabulous treasure rumored to be hidden in the depths of the demon’s lair . . .

There is an unseen power in the universe—a terrible force that was dominating the galaxy tens of thousands of years before the warlike Sh'daar were even aware of the existence of Sol and its planets. As humankind approaches the Singularity,when transcendence will be achieved throughtechnology, contact will be made.In the wake of the near destruction of the solar system, the political powers on Earth seek a separate peace withan inscrutable alien life form that no one has ever seen.But Admiral Alexander Koenig, the hero of Alphekka,has gone rogue, launching his fabled battlegroup beyond the boundaries of Human Space against all orders.With Confederation warships in hot pursuit, Koenig istaking the war for humankind’s survival directlyto a mysterious omnipotent enemy.

Temptation in paradiseSmart, sexy, successful Laura Murdock never mastered the fine arts of loving and trusting. Taking a well-deserved vacation from her work at a Detroit women’s crisis center, she’s prepared for three glorious weeks in the Virgin Islands. What she’s not ready for is Wilham Sebastian Kramer.A brilliant artist, Wilham is pure magic—as bold and bewitching as his remarkable paintings. When Laura agrees to pose for him, she realizes she’s stoking a fire too hot for either of them to control. So she runs from his arms, driven away from quite possibly the perfect man by a lifetime of cruel lessons.But the flame will not die—and the memory of their sweet and sultry island magic haunts her sleepless nights, tempting her back. Yet Laura is far too wise and much too stubborn to admit she desires this man with all her soul. After all, she knows pain and heartbreak always follow surrender . . . don’t they?

The anomaly called the Breach is the government’s most carefully guarded secret.But there is another secret even less known . . . and far more terrifying.As the U.S. President addresses the nation fromthe Oval Office, a missile screams toward the White House. In a lightning flash, the Chief Executive is dead, his mansion in ruins, and two cryptic words are the only clue to the assassins’ motives: “See Scalar.”Now Travis Chase of the covert agency Tangent—caretakers of the Breach and all its grim wonders—along with partner and lover Paige Campbell and technology expert Bethany Stewart, have only twenty-four hours to unearth a decades-old mystery once spoken of in terrified whispers by the long since silenced. But their breakneck race cross-country—and back through time and malleable memory—is calling the total destructive might of a shadow government down upon them. For Travis Chase has a dark destiny he cannot be allowed to fulfill . . .

The acclaimed author of The Sweet Hereafter and Rule of the Bone returns with a provocative new novel that illuminates the shadowed edges of contemporary American culture with startling and unforgettable resultsSuspended in a strangely modern-day version of limbo, the young man at the center of Russell Banks’s uncompromising and morally complex new novel must create a life for himself in the wake of incarceration. Known in his new identity only as the Kid, and on probation after doing time for a liaison with an underage girl, he is shackled to a GPS monitoring device and forbidden to live within 2,500 feet of anywhere children might gather. With nowhere else to go, the Kid takes up residence under a south Florida causeway, in a makeshift encampment with other convicted sex offenders.Barely beyond childhood himself, the Kid, despite his crime, is in many ways an innocent, trapped by impulses and foolish choices he himself struggles to comprehend. Enter the Professor, a man who has built his own life on secrets and lies. A university sociologist of enormous size and intellect, he finds in the Kid the perfect subject for his research on homelessness and recidivism among convicted sex offenders. The two men forge a tentative partnership, the Kid remaining wary of the Professor’s motives even as he accepts the counsel and financial assistance of the older man.When the camp beneath the causeway is raided by the police, and later, when a hurricane all but destroys the settlement, the Professor tries to help the Kid in practical matters while trying to teach his young charge new ways of looking at, and understanding, what he has done. But when the Professor’s past resurfaces and threatens to destroy his carefully constructed world, the balance in the two men’s relationship shifts.Suddenly, the Kid must reconsider everything he has come to believe, and choose what course of action to take when faced with a new kind of moral decision.Long one of our most acute and insightful novelists, Russell Banks often examines the indistinct boundaries between our intentions and actions. A mature and masterful work of contemporary fiction from one of our most accomplished storytellers, Lost Memory of Skin unfolds in language both powerful and beautifully lyrical, show-casing Banks at his most compelling, his reckless sense of humor and intense empathy at full bore.The perfect convergence of writer and subject, Lost Memory of Skin probes the zeitgeist of a troubled society where zero tolerance has erased any hope of subtlety and compassion—a society where isolating the offender has perhaps created a new kind of victim.

Andrew Carmellini, two-time James Beard Award winner, acclaimed author of Urban Italian, and executive chef–owner of the hit New York City restaurants Locanda Verde and The Dutch, takes readers on a wonderfully rich and diverse tour through the ingredients and cuisines that constitute American flavorFor most of his life, Andrew Carmellini has been hitting the road, tasting the best of American flavors. Whether on childhood trips escaping from the hard-bitten winters of Ohio to sunny Florida and its fresh citrus fruit, cross-country trips in pursuit of the Great American Breakfast, or five-meal-a-day swings through barbecue country, he absorbed everything he could about regional cooking, American-style, at every stop.In American Flavor, Carmellini shares the lessons of his culinary life on the road in recipes and stories that get at the soul of how we eat today. Using the traditional regional foodways and the multicultural neighborhoods, global eateries, and ethnic groceries that dot the American landscape as his inspiration, he introduces delectable, enticing dishes that deliver maximum impact yet are surprisingly simple to make. In the book, you’ll find cheese pierogies inspired by the Polish church ladies of Carmellini’s native Cleveland right next to his take on savory-sweet barbecued beef short ribs from L.A.’s Korea Town; seriously smoky southwestern mole alongside savory lamb stew that takes its flavors from Astoria, the historically Greek neighborhood in Queens, New York. Every recipe reflects Carmellini’s laid-back style, midwestern roots, big-city palate, and dedication to great ingredients and serious flavor.Along with the recipes are true-life tales of Carmellini’s crazy culinary travels across America, into Canada, and even to Europe. Whether he’s hunting ramps with the locals during an extern summer at a Virginia mountain resort or sampling some of the surprising off-menu specials at a hippie café in Vancouver, British Columbia, these hilarious, engaging stories tell the tale of the education of an American chef inside the kitchen—and out. Entertaining and inspiring, American Flavor is a book that readers will turn to again and again, not only for special occasions and everyday meals, but also as a portrait of real American food in the twenty-first century: sophisticated but down-to-earth, rustic but refined, and always deeply flavored and delicious.

"First, I'll tell about the robbery our parents committed. Then about the murders, which happened later."Then fifteen-year-old Dell Parsons' parents rob a bank, his sense of normal life is forever altered. In an instant, this private cataclysm drives his life into before and after, a threshold that can never be uncrossed.His parents' arrest and imprisonment mean a threatening and uncertain future for Dell and his twin sister, Berner. Willful and burning with resentment, Berner flees their home in Montana, abandoning her brother and her life. But Dell is not completely alone. A family friend intervenes, spiriting him across the Canadian border, in hopes of delivering him to a better life. There, afloat on the prairie of Saskatchewan, Dell is taken in by Arthur Remlinger, an enigmatic and charismatic American whose cool reserve masks a dark and violent nature.Undone by the calamity of his parents' robbery and arrest, Dell struggles under the vast prairie sky to remake himself and define the adults he thought he knew. But his search for grace and peace only moves him nearer to a harrowing and murderous collision with Remlinger, an elemental force of darkness.A true masterwork of haunting and spectacular vision from one of our greatest writers, Canada is a profound novel of boundaries traversed, innocence lost and reconciled, and the mysterious and consoling bonds of family. Told in spare, elegant prose, both resonant and luminous, it is destined to become a classic.

From Zakary Pelaccio, founder and owner of Fatty Crab and Fatty 'Cue, comes a gorgeous, groundbreaking cookbook of Southeast Asian—inspired, French— and Italian—inflected food that celebrates getting your hands dirty in—and out of—the kitchen.Eat with Your Hands takes readers on a tour of the outrageously flavorful and wholly original food that has made Pelaccio a star, in a cookbook that's as irreverent, high-spirited, and deeply iconoclastic as the chef himself.Combining a punk rock ethos with a commitment to producing exquisitely imagined and executed food, Eat with Your Hands brings together Pelaccio's eclectic influences in wildly inventive recipes that showcase his innovative blending of Asian flavors, sustainable local ingredients, and American gusto. Full of highly opinionated suggestions for both what to drink and what to listen to in the kitchen, paeans to the joys of the mortar and pestle and fermented condiments, charming sidebars on kitchen techniques, and an unbridled love for real food, Eat with Your Hands is a celebration of no-holds-barred cooking from a chef who is redefining the American culinary landscape.

The bestselling author of Faith and The Condition returns with a collection of unforgettable short stories inspired by a Pennsylvania coal-mining town and the people who call it home.When her iconic novel Baker Towers was published in 2005, it was hailed as a modern classic—"compassionate and powerful . . . a song of praise for a too-little-praised part of America, for the working families whose toils and constancy have done so much to make the country great" (Chicago Tribune). Its young author, Jennifer Haigh, was "an expert natural storyteller with an acute sense of her characters' humanity" (New York Times). Now, in this collection of interconnected short stories, Jennifer Haigh returns to the vividly imagined world of Bakerton, Pennsylvania, a coal-mining town rocked by decades of painful transition. From its heyday during two world wars through its slow decline, Bakerton is a town that refuses to give up gracefully, binding—sometimes cruelly—succeeding generations to the place that made them. A young woman glimpses a world both strange and familiar when she becomes a live-in maid for a Jewish family in New York City. A long-absent brother makes a sudden and tragic homecoming. A solitary middle-aged woman tastes unexpected love when a young man returns to town. With a revolving cast of characters—many familiar to fans of Baker Towers—these stories explore how our roots, the families and places in which we are raised, shape the people we eventually become. News from Heaven looks unflinchingly at the conflicting human desires for escape and for connection, and explores the enduring hold of home.

For nearly three decades, Terry Pratchett has enthralled millions of fans worldwide with his irreverent, wonderfully funny satires set in the fabulously imaginative Discworld, a universe remarkably similar to our own. From sports to religion, politics to education, science to capitalism, and everything in between, Pratchett has skewered sacred cows with both laughter and wisdom, and exposed our warts, foibles, and eccentricities in a unique, entertaining, and ultimately serious way.At long last, Lady Sybil has lured her husband, Sam Vimes, on a well-deserved holiday away from the crime and grime of Ankh-Morpork. But for the commander of the City Watch, a vacation in the country is anything but relaxing. The balls, the teas, the muck—not to mention all that fresh air and birdsong—are more than a bit taxing on a cynical city-born and -bred copper.Yet a policeman will find a crime anywhere if he decides to look hard enough, and it’s not long before a body is discovered, and Sam—out of his jurisdiction, out of his element, and out of bacon sandwiches (thanks to his well-meaning wife)—must rely on his instincts, guile, and street smarts to see justice done. As he sets off on the chase, though, he must remember to watch where he steps. . . . This is the countryside, after all, and the streets most definitely are not paved with gold.Hailed as the “purely funniest English writer since Wodehouse” (Washington Post Book World), with a “satirist’s instinct for the absurd and a cartoonist’s eye for the telling detail” (Daily Telegraph, London), Terry Pratchett offers a novel of crime, class, prejudice, and punishment that shows this master at his dazzling best.

From internationally bestselling author Paullina Simons comes another compelling saga of heartbreak and redemption, and the devastating love story that led to The Bronze HorsemanLove was just the beginning of their journeyGina and Harry gave up everything to be together. But they both want different things—from their marriage, from life, from each other . . . and from the shifting world around them.Gina, independent, compassionate, and strong, desperately wants a family. Harry, idealistic and fiercely political, wants to create a better world, a better country. At a crossroads and at cross-purposes, they pursue their opposing dreams at great cost to themselves and those near to them. Through years of passion and turmoil they rail, rage, and break each other's hearts, only to come face-to-face with a stark final choice that will forever determine their destiny.Their journey takes them through four decades and two continents, from extreme poverty to great wealth, from the wooden planks of the troubled immigrant town of Lawrence, Massachusetts, to the marble halls and secret doors of a mystical place called . . . Bellagrand.

Falling in love was the easy part . . .Chloe and her three best friends are weeks away from finishing high school and beginning their new grown-up lives apart from one another. They have been friends since they were kids, their families and lives intertwined, but this is their last summer together. They plan a magical trip to sun-drenched Barcelona, with its possibility of adventure and passion. But first, Chloe has an old family promise to keep, and the four of them must detour through historic Eastern Europe.In this fledgling post-Communist world, Chloe meets a mysterious American vagabond named Johnny, who carries a guitar, an easy smile, and a lifetime of secrets. From Treblinka to Trieste, from Carnikava to Krakow, the unlikely band of friends and mismatched lovers traverses the Old World on a train ride that becomes a treacherous journey into Europe’s and Johnny’s dark pasts—a journey that jeopardizes Chloe’s plans and all she ever thought she wanted.The ties that bind Chloe to her friends and her future are about to be put to the ultimate test. Whether or not they reach Barcelona . . . their lives will never be the same again.A sweeping, beautiful tale of old friendships and new love that mesmerizes and enchants, Lone Star will linger long in the memory even after the final page has been turned.

After finding the first of six legendary crowns, Trundle the lamplighter thought he could finally return to his quiet life in Port Shiverstones. But Esmeralda has other ideas. A princess with a talent for magic and mischief, she is determined to continue their quest to find the five other crowns, and to use them to unite the Sundered Lands once and for all.Accompanied by their new friend, Jack Nimble the bard, Trundle and Esmeralda sail to new lands in search of Esmeralda’s wise old aunt. Will the mysterious Aunt Millie give them the clues they need to find the next treasureOr are they walking straight into a trap?

A biography of the American Indian known as one of the best all-round athletes in history for his accomplishments as an Olympic medal winner and as an outstanding professional football and baseball player.

Michael Jordan was a late bloomer.Cut from the Varsity basketball team in high school when he first tried out, Michael nonetheless became the best basketball player that ever lived—Rare Air Jordan.The true story of how Michael Jordan achieved this amazing level of success as a basketball player—and as the high king of commercial endorsements—underscores one of the new roles of athletes in our society today.Here's a fascinating look at both the evolution of basketball and Michael Jordan's stunning climb to the peak of his sport, and his season in minor league baseball.

The sixth and final book in the animal fantasy series The Six Crowns, of which Booklist said, "Evokes elements of both Redwall and Lord of the Rings." The adventuring hedgehog Trundle Boldoak and energetic Princess Esmeralda must find the final legendary crown in their quest to save their lands!Five of the six lost Badger crowns have been found. Only one is left—the Crown of Stone. But legend has it this crown is on an island long forgotten. Will Trundle and his swashbuckling companions be able to find it on their trusty shipWith dangerous pirates hot on their trail, Trundle and his friends must set sail to an island that might not even exist. An entertaining—and funny!—tween adventure with lively black-and-white illustrations throughout. School Library Journal called the Six Crowns an "action-packed page-turner . . . that even reluctant fantasy readers will embrace."

The question is as old as parenting itself: How can new moms and dads eat well when all their time and energy is spent on babyFinally, we have the answer!Specifically designed for frazzled, sleep-deprived parents, every recipe in Parents Need to Eat, Too is nutritious, delicious, satisfying, and EASY. As a bonus each recipe includes instructions for preparing baby food from the same ingredients. Plus every recipe has the added advantage of being tested by a group of more than 100 new parents.Inside you'll find: Meals you can eat with one hand Recipes for the new parent's best friend: the slow cooker More ambitious recipes, broken down into simple stages to perform while baby naps “Un-Recipes” for parents who can't cook at all Recipes that support breastfeeding Advice from experts, including a pediatric dietitian and a lactation consultantHere are real solutions for the real problems new parents face in the kitchen. Through comforting, honest, and essential help for stressed out, undernourished moms and pops, Parents Need To Eat Too ensures that nobody will go hungry!Parents Need to Eat Too has been named one of the Best Cookbooks of 2012 by Leite’s Culinaria, whose Editor-in-Chief Renee Schettler Rossi called it the “What to Expect After You’re Expecting” and said that the book “savvily and sassily helps you extend the efficiency of any time spent in the kitchen.”

Fifty Million Americans Have Thyroid-Based Weight Problems—Do You?Since Mary J. Shomon’s groundbreaking book The Thyroid Diet hit the New York Times bestseller list in 2004, the number of Americans diagnosed with thyroid disease has more than doubled. This newly expanded and updated version of Shomon’s classic work, The Thyroid Diet Revolution identifies the many hormonal factors that can get in the way of your weight loss and offers much-needed solutions. New material includes:Guidelines to help frustrated dieters determine if they have an undiagnosed thyroid condition.A comprehensive step-by-step approach to help you get proper thyroid treatment, optimize thyroid function, increase metabolism, and effectively lose weight.A common-sense look at cutting-edge hormonal, nonsurgical weight-loss treatments, plus the latest on weight-loss drugs and surgery.Updated information on the latest nutritional approaches—herbs, supplements, and vitamins to help enhance your metabolism, improve energy, balance hormones, control blood sugar, and promote weight loss.Customized exercise approaches that help you fit in fitness and build muscle without fatigue.Reviews and recommendations of the best diet programs for thyroid patients . . . and more.Offering an integrated diet and exercise recommendations—and a special resource section featuring websites, books, and support groups—The Thyroid Diet Revolution provides vital help for the millions of thyroid patients dealing with weight problems.

Hired by the Egyptology department of a Denver museum to create displays for an exhibit, medical illustrator Kate McKinnon encounters an intriguing enigma: the mummy of a young woman who lived thirty-three centuries ago, her ribs broken, one hand shattered, and a man's skull between her legs.With the aid of radiologist Max Cavanaugh, employing the latest forensic and medical imaging techniques, Kate starts to unravel the millennia-old puzzle. And as the mummy's remarkable secrets come to light, a parallel story begins to unfold of a young girl born into a nest of vipers in an age when godlike pharaohs reigned in unimaginable splendor. Suddenly Kate finds herself on a twisting path leading her deeper into the shadows of anciet Kemet...and ever closer to the shocking revelations of a crime so staggering its horrific power remains undimished by the relentless passage of time.