The night is here, but the dark is coming. . . . Deep in the underworld lies the kingdom of Nebula. Although it is always everlasting night there, Nebula is never dark because all of its people, buildings, and creatures glow with an inner light source protected by the Lightkeepers. But true darkness—the kind that is malicious and blinding—lurks just beyond the kingdom’s gates.There, the deadly Warriors of the Black Shroud are on the move, destroying and engulfing every outpost with their relentless evil and black despair. And this time, they have a weapon deadlier than anyone has ever encountered before. Only a Chosen One, someone with the mark of the king, can help save Nebula from destruction. Astonishingly, that Chosen One is discovered in the Outerworld far above Nebula. But he is the unlikeliest of heroes, living in a dark of his own making. Can he accept who he is and lead the forces of the Light against the Warriors of the Black ShroudPeter Howe delivers a riveting, high-action fantasy about battling evil and discovering and believing in the power within.

The second of five new books of unpublished poems from the late, great, Charles Bukowski, America's most imitated and influential poet –– 143 never–before–seen works of gritty, amusing, and inspiring verse.

in this place there are the dead, the deadly and the dying. there is the cross, the builders of the cross and the burners of the cross. the pattern of my life forms like a cheap shadow on the wall before me. my love what is left of it now must crawl to wherever it can crawl. the strongest know that death is final and the happiest are those gifted with the shortest journey.

There are times when a tree can no longer withstand the pain inflicted on it, and the wind will take pity on that tree and topple it over in a mighty storm. All the other trees who witnessed the evil look down upon the fallen tree with envy. They pray for the day when a wind will end their suffering. I pray for the day when God will end mine. In a time and place without moral conscience, fourteen-year-old Ansel knows what is right and what is true. But it is dangerous to choose honesty, and so he chooses silence. Now an innocent man is dead, and Ansel feels the burden of his decision. He must also bear the pain of losing a friend, his family, and the love of a lifetime. Coretta Scott King Award winner and Newbery Honoree Julius Lester delivers a haunting and poignant novel about what happens when one group of people takes away the humanity of another.

For fans of Susan Isaacs and Jennifer Cruise comes a witty, wisecracking tale of divorce, revenge, and great antiques, set in sultry Savannah.Landing a catch like ultra-WaspTalmadge Evans III got Eloise "Weezie" Foley a jewel of a town house in Savannah's historic district. Divorcing Tal got her exiled into the backyard carriage house, where she has launched a spite fest with Tal's new fiancée, the elegant Caroline DeSantos. The War of the Roses is nothing compared to the escalating hostilities between Weezie and Caroline.Weezie is an antiques "picker" who combs Savannah's steamy back alleys and garage sales for treasures, when she's not dealing with her loopy relatives or her hunky ex-boyfriend. She is convinced that her troubles will be over if she makes a big killing at the upcoming estate sale at a noble plantation house.But an unauthorized "sneak preview" at the sale lands Weezie smack in the middle of magnolia-scented murder, mayhem... and more. Dirty deals simmerall around her just as her relationship with the hottest chef in town heats up, and she finds out how delicious love can be—the second time around.

For Alex Ford, dressage is an oasis. In the stable, he can slip into his riding pants, shed the macho cowboy image, and feel like himself for a change. For Cleo O'Shea, dressage is a fresh start. She's got a new boarding school, absentee parents, and, best of all, no one to remember her past. . . . They're an unlikely pair. Cleo's looking for love, but Alex has a secret he's not ready to give up, and a flirtation with Cleo is the last thing on his mind. But you can't find romance before you know real friendship, and sometimes the last person you'd ever think of as a friend ends up being the one you need the most. Susan Juby's trademark humor brings life and laughter to this remarkable story of relationships, mixed signals, and the soul-searching that sometimes takes two.

The exhilarating final book in the Otherworld Chronicles trilogy, which School Library Journal called "a surefire hit with the legions of Rick Riordan fans."Artie Kingfisher, his sister, Kay, and the New Knights of the Round Table have finally reached the legendary isle of Avalon. But before Artie can take his place as King Arthur reborn, he must recover nothing less than the mythical Holy Grail. And as the greatest battle of his life looms, Artie finds himself facing off against the one person he never dreamed he'd be fighting.In The Dragon King, Artie's life-changing quest comes to a spectacular close as the young king discovers what it truly means to be a hero. Rich in mythology and bursting with twenty-first-century fun, this high-spirited spin on Arthurian legend is perfect for middle grade fans of Percy Jackson, the Alex Rider Chronicles, and House of Secrets.

The First Rule of Torching: Cleanse with fire. Josh is by far the best zombie Torcher around—at least, he is in his virtual-reality zombie-hunting game. Josh has quickly risen through the player ranks, relying on the skill, cunning, and agility of a real Torcher.The Second Rule of Torching: Save all humans.But luckily for Josh, zombies exist only in the virtual world. The real zombie war is now more than fifteen years in the past, and the battle to defeat the deadly epidemic that devastated his family—and millions of others—is the stuff of history lessons.The Third Rule of Torching: You can't bring them back.Charlie is the top-ranked player in the game. Since all the players are shrouded in anonymity, Josh never expects Charlie to be a girl—and he never expects the offer she makes him: to join the underground gaming league that takes the virtual-reality game off the screen and into the streets. Josh is thrilled. But the more involved he gets, the more he realizes that not everything is what it seems. Real blood is spilling, members of the team are disappearing, and the zombies in the game are acting strange. And then there's the matter of a mysterious drug called Z. . . .

This is Stefan’s big break. He’s on location in the mountains far from home for his first movie role, filming a blockbuster sci-fi adventure. The props, the spaceships, and the trained wolves on set should add up to a dream job, but acting turns out to be much tougher than he ever imagined, and he feels like his inner loser is all that’s showing through. From the way his famously stuck-up co-star, Raine, treats him, he’s pretty sure she thinks so too. And worst of all, no one will believe his claim that there are wild wolves haunting the forest around the set.When a blizzard strikes, isolating the young co-stars and bringing hungry feral wolves into the open, Stefan must take on his biggest role yet—working together with his co-stars to survive. With no second takes, they only have one chance to get it right.Lights,Camera,Action!Dee Garretson takes suspense and danger to new heights with her thrilling tale of friendship and survival against all odds.

Hans doesn't know who he is or where he came from. When he was a baby, he washed ashore in a wooden box and was adopted by the conniving grave robber, Knobbe the Bent. Now fate has thrown him together with Angela von Schwanenberg, a young countess fleeing for her life from the evil Archduke Arnulf and his dreaded Necromancer. Together, these friends are on a daring quest to discover Hans' true identity and to save Angela's parents from the archduke.Join Hans and Angela on their grand adventure as they ride through the depths of the great forest, sled down a mountain in a coffin, and sneak along the secret passageways of the archduke's palace. The Grave Robber's Apprentice is a world of highwaymen, hermits, and dancing bears; and of a boy separated from his family by the sea.In this world anything is possible with luck and imagination—even for a grave robber's apprentice.

Decisions, decisions . . . You’ve survived your first semester and captured the interest of not one but two of the hottest guys on campus.Now who are you going to choose?Callie Andrews returns for her second semester at Harvard determined to do better than the previous fall, where those Bs on her report card seemed pretty good compared to the state of her extracurriculars (F, as in if at first you don’t succeed, you should probably stop trying), friendships (C-minus, since she and former BFF Vanessa are still on thin ice), and love life (D, as in don’t even go there). But various campus rivalries soon threaten to thwart Callie’s resolve. Will Callie ever be a match for—Grace Lee the take-no-prisoners managing editorAlessandrathe gorgeous transfer studentClintthe guy who might just be too perfectand Gregorythe guy who may never be perfect enough.Callie will face some of the toughest choices imaginable: in friendships, in loyalties, and in love. The pressure to pick a side—and a suitor—has never been higher. But will she and her friends choose well?

Tween readers who enjoy a mix of spooky and funny will love the Unseen World of Poppy Malone books by Suzanne Harper.In A Gust of Ghosts, the second book of the middle-grade series, nine-year-old Poppy Malone’s parents, paranormal investigators, are exploring a haunted cemetery in Austin, Texas. There are eerie sounds in the graveyard, and a strange silvery glow.Poppy sees herself as a scientist. She has a log book to record evidence, and she’s set a camera trap in the cemetery. She’s going to find out exactly what’s going on…Unseen World of Poppy Malone #2: A Gust of Ghosts mixes hilarious characters, tons of action, creepy situations, and lively dialogue. It’s a great pick for fans of The Books of Elsewhere series.

Nine-year-old Poppy Malone’s parents are paranormal investigators. They research vampires, fairies, UFOs, and other strange things. When they need help, it’s up to scientific Poppy. Her twin brother, Will, is too lazy. Her older sister, Franny, is too busy with teenage stuff. And Rollie, the baby of the family, is too little.In the third book in the spooky and hilarious Unseen World of Poppy Malone series, A Mischief of Mermaids, Poppy makes friends with Nina, a mermaid who lives in Lake Travis. When Franny messes with Nina’s magic, she gets transformed into a mermaid herself, and Poppy has to figure out how to turn her sister back into a human.Tween fans of the middle-grade Intergalactic Bed and Breakfast series will love Poppy’s adventures.

Readers who love seafaring adventures like Avi’s The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle or the American Girl books will love Barbara Mariconda’s The Emerald Shore. This book is the marvelous conclusion to the Voyage of Lucy P. Simmons trilogy, a series that Newbery Award–winning author Katherine Applegate calls “a grand and adventurous tale.”Lucy is trapped between two powerful magics. The glittering magic that’s protected her ever since her parents died, and the dark magic of the Simmons family curse. Lucy’s fight to survive the curse has led her to sail on an epic journey across the globe. Now finding Mary Maude Lee’s stolen pirate treasure on the rocky shores of Ireland is the only way for Lucy to break the curse and protect herself and everyone she loves.But time is running out. Danger looms closer than ever before, and Lucy will need courage stronger than magic to save herself from the fate that awaits her.

From Bruce Coville, the master of tween comic suspense, comes a tale of monsters, the bond between brothers, and saving the world.Jake's baby brother, LD, may be a monster (complete with fangs and fur!), but together with his best friend, Lily, Jake isn't going to let anything happen to that baby. Even if it turns out LD may be the key to saving the world—or destroying it. Soon Jake and Lily are on a perilous quest through Always October, a land populated with monsters.Perfect for fans of Bruce Coville's beloved books, such as Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher, the Unicorn Chronicles series, and My Teacher Is an Alien series.

If you do it right, it can be a life. The hothouse, the guys, the glory. But just like that, it can all go up in smoke.In the beginning it was strange, ya know, because of all that we had lost. But there was something about it that felt so good and so right, too: "I'm so proud of you, Russ." "We'll always be here for you, man." "Heroes don't pay for nothin' in this town." It was nonstop. The mayor shook my hand. Ladies sent food. I've never eaten so much baked ham in my life.And nowNow the phone won't stop ringing from the crazies ready to blame me. My mom has to cry herself to sleep. They take a firefighter, a man, and they pump him up so big. . . . But once they start taking it away from you, they don't stop until they leave nothing on the bones.First they needed heroes, then they needed blood.

Mr. Star broke the news gently. "Well, 4B," he said, "it appears we're going to do it."It was the talk of last year's fourth, especially the part about the catfish between the principal's sheets. It is the good-behavior reward for this year's fourth grade. It is Outdoor Education: three days at Camp Trotter in Wisconsin.From where Hobie Hanson sits -- at Central School in Stockton, Illinois -- it is bad news. Three days also means two nights, two nights far from home. The thought brings wooly-worms to his stomach and floods his head with what-ifs. As things turn out, however, Outdoor Education lives up to its name, and in ways that neither Hobie nor his friends expect.The class, and sub, that kept readers breathless in Thirteen Ways to Sink a Sub are back for another rousing adventure, filled with the sights, sounds, tastes, and, yes, smells familiar to veteran campers everywhere.

Part epic of Texas, part classic coming-of-age story, part unflinching portrait of the bloody price of power, The Son is an utterly transporting novel that maps the legacy of violence in the American West through the lives of the McCulloughs, an ambitious family as resilient and dangerous as the land they claimSpring, 1849. The first male child born in the newly established Republic of Texas, Eli McCullough is thirteen years old when a marauding band of Comanches storms his homestead and brutally murders his mother and sister, taking him captive. Brave and clever, Eli quickly adapts to life among the Comanches, learning their ways and language, answering to a new name, becoming the chief's adopted son, and waging war against their enemies, including white men—which complicates his sense of loyalty and understanding of who he is. But when disease, starvation, and overwhelming numbers of armed Americans decimate the tribe, Eli finds himself alone. Neither white nor Indian, civilized nor fully wild, he must carve a place for himself in a world in which he does not fully belong—a journey of adventure, tragedy, hardship, grit, and luck that reverberates in the lives of his progeny.Intertwined with Eli's story are those of his son, Peter, a man who bears the emotional cost of his father's drive for power, and Jeannie, Eli's great-granddaughter, a woman who must fight hardened rivals to succeed in a man's world.Philipp Meyer deftly explores how Eli's ruthlessness and steely pragmatism transform subsequent generations of McCulloughs. Love, honor, even children are sacrificed in the name of ambition as the family becomes one of the richest powers in Texas, a ranching-and-oil dynasty of unsurpassed wealth and privilege. Yet, like all empires, the McCulloughs must eventually face the consequences of their choices. Harrowing, panoramic, and vividly drawn, The Son is a masterful achievement from a sublime young talent.

"This shit would be really interesting if we weren't in the middle of it." Barack Obama, September 2008In 2008, the presidential election became blockbuster entertainment. Everyone was watching as the race for the White House unfolded like something from the realm of fiction. The meteoric rise and historic triumph of Barack Obama. The shocking fall of the House of Clinton and the improbable resurrection of Hillary as Obama's partner and America's face to the world. The mercurial performance of John McCain and the mesmerizing emergence of Sarah Palin. But despite the wall-to-wall media coverage of this spellbinding drama, remarkably little of the real story behind the headlines has yet been told. In Game Change, John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, two of the country's leading political reporters, use their unrivaled access to pull back the curtain on the Obama, Clinton, McCain, and Palin campaigns. How did Obama convince himself that, despite the thinness of his resume, he could somehow beat the odds to become the nation's first African American presidentHow did the tumultuous relationship between the Clintons shape and warp Hillary's supposedly unstoppable bidWhat was behind her husband's furious outbursts and devastating political miscalculationsWhy did McCain make the novice governor of Alaska his running mateAnd was Palin merely painfully out of her depth or troubled in more serious ways?Game Change answers those questions and more, laying bare the secret history of the 2008 campaign. Heilemann and Halperin take us inside the Obama machine, where staffers referred to the candidate as "Black Jesus." They unearth the quiet conspiracy in the U.S. Senate to prod Obama into the race, driven in part by the fears of senior Democrats that Bill Clinton's personal life might cripple Hillary's presidential prospects. They expose the twisted tale of John Edwards's affair with Rielle Hunter, the truth behind the downfall of Rudy Giuliani, and the doubts of those responsible for vetting Palin about her readiness for the Republican ticket along with the McCain campaign staff's worries about her fitness for office. And they reveal how, in an emotional late-night phone call, Obama succeeded in wooing Clinton, despite her staunch resistance, to become his secretary of state.Based on hundreds of interviews with the people who lived the story, Game Change is a reportorial tour de force that reads like a fast-paced novel. Character driven and dialogue rich, replete with extravagantly detailed scenes, this is the occasionally shocking, often hilarious, ultimately definitive account of the campaign of a lifetime.

An unstoppable collection of the most hardcore figures who ever strapped on chain mail and ran screaming into battle Throughout history from the bone-crushing age of antiquity to the sack-tearing modern era there have been larger-than-life ass-kickers with a natural talent for unleashing their epic bloodlust on anyone who crossed them. They built empires, smashed armies, and ravaged civilizations for wealth, glory, and ultimate supremacy. Sometimes villains, sometimes heroes, sometimes criminally insane, they had one thing in common: They were all . . . Badass!Chandragupta MauryaAn Indian warlord who commanded an army of drunken war elephants and employed an elite detachment of highly trained female bodyguardsPeter FranciscoAn unsung hero of the American Revolution, this powerful giant battled the British with a massive five-foot-long broadswordWolf the QuarrelsomeA mysterious barbarian leader who only appears in history twice and both times he's kicking someone's assBhanbhagta Gurung A fearless Gurkha who won the Victoria Cross by clearing out six Japanese foxholes with nothing more than grenades, a bayonet, and a knifeFrom Alexander the Great to George S. Patton, from Genghis Khan to Bruce Lee, this pantheon of ass-kicking awesomeness should inspire you to quit your stupid job and dive headfirst into a new career as a professional badass.

The shocking, never-before-told story of the bizarre world inside the legendary Playboy Mansion - and finally the secret truth about the man who holds the key - from one of the few people who truly knows: Hef's former number-one girlfriend and star of The Girls Next Door. A spontaneous decision at age 21 transformed small-town Oregon girl Holly Sue Cullen into Holly Madison, Hugh Hefner's number-one girlfriend. But like Alice's journey into Wonderland, after Holly plunged down the rabbit hole, what seemed like a fairy tale life inside the Playboy Mansion - including A-list celebrity parties and her own number-one-rated television show for four years - quickly devolved into an oppressive routine of strict rules, manipulation, and battles with ambitious, backstabbing bunnies. Life inside the notorious mansion wasn't a dream at all - and quickly became her nightmare. After losing her identity, her sense of self-worth, and her hope for the future, Holly found herself sitting alone in a bathtub, contemplating suicide. But instead of ending her life, Holly chose to take charge of it. In this shockingly candid and surprisingly moving memoir, this thoughtful and introspective woman opens up about life inside the mansion, the drugs, the sex, the abuse, the infamous parties, and her real behind-the-scenes life with Bridget, Kendra, and, of course, Mr. Playboy himself. With great courage Holly shares the details of her subsequent troubled relationship, landing her own successful television series, and the hard work of healing, including her turn on Dancing with the Stars. A cautionary tale and a celebration of personal empowerment, Down the Rabbit Hole reminds us of the importance of fighting for our dreams - and finding the life we deserve.