A collection of short works includes the stories of a couple who become estranged after a mysterious man claims he grew up in their house, and a Russian bus boy who is entangled with an organized crime ring. Wakefield -- Edgemont Drive -- Assimilation -- Liner notes: The songs of Billy...  more

A collection of short works includes the stories of a couple who become estranged after a mysterious man claims he grew up in their house, and a Russian bus boy who is entangled with an organized crime ring. Wakefield -- Edgemont Drive -- Assimilation -- Liner notes: The songs of Billy Bathgate -- Heist -- Walter John Harmon -- A house on the plains -- Jolene: A life -- The writer in the family -- Willi -- The hunter -- All the time in the world

Set in New Orleans in the years after the Civil War, A Separate Country is based on the incredible life of John Bell Hood, arguably one of the most controversial generals of the Confederate Army--and one of its most tragic figures. Robert E. Lee promoted him to major general after the Battle of...  more

Set in New Orleans in the years after the Civil War, A Separate Country is based on the incredible life of John Bell Hood, arguably one of the most controversial generals of the Confederate Army--and one of its most tragic figures. Robert E. Lee promoted him to major general after the Battle of Antietam. But the Civil War would mark him forever. At Gettysburg, he lost the use of his left arm. At the Battle of Chickamauga, his right leg was amputated. Starting fresh after the war, he married Anna Marie Hennen and fathered 11 children with her, including three sets of twins. But fate had other plans. Crippled by his war wounds and defeat, ravaged by financial misfortune, Hood had one last foe to battle: Yellow Fever. A Separate Country is the heartrending story of a decent and good man who struggled with his inability to admit his failures-and the story of those who taught him to love, and to be loved, and transformed him.

It begins with a simple ritual: Every Saturday afternoon, a boy who loves to cook walks to his grandmother’s house and helps her prepare a roast chicken for dinner. The grandmother is Swedish, a retired domestic. The boy is Ethiopian and adopted, and he will grow up to become the...  more

It begins with a simple ritual: Every Saturday afternoon, a boy who loves to cook walks to his grandmother’s house and helps her prepare a roast chicken for dinner. The grandmother is Swedish, a retired domestic. The boy is Ethiopian and adopted, and he will grow up to become the world-renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson. This book is his love letter to food and family in all its manifestations. Marcus Samuelsson was only three years old when he, his mother, and his sister -- all battling tuberculosis -- walked seventy-five miles to a hospital in the Ethiopian capital city of Addis Adaba. Tragically, his mother succumbed to the disease shortly after she arrived, but Marcus and his sister recovered, and one year later they were welcomed into a loving middle-class white family in Göteborg, Sweden. It was there that Marcus’s new grandmother, Helga, sparked in him a lifelong passion for food and cooking with her pan-fried herring, her freshly baked bread, and her signature roast chicken. From a very early age, there was little question what Marcus was going to be when he grew up. Yes, Chef chronicles Marcus Samuelsson’s remarkable journey from Helga’s humble kitchen to some of the most demanding and cutthroat restaurants in Switzerland and France, from his grueling stints on cruise ships to his arrival in New York City, where his outsize talent and ambition finally come together at Aquavit, earning him a coveted New York Times three-star rating at the age of twenty-four. But Samuelsson’s career of “chasing flavors,” as he calls it, had only just begun -- in the intervening years, there have been White House state dinners, career crises, reality show triumphs and, most important, the opening of the beloved Red Rooster in Harlem. At Red Rooster, Samuelsson has fulfilled his dream of creating a truly diverse, multiracial dining room -- a place where presidents and prime ministers rub elbows with jazz musicians, aspiring artists, bus drivers, and nurses. It is a place where an orphan from Ethiopia, raised in Sweden, living in America, can feel at home. With disarming honesty and intimacy, Samuelsson also opens up about his failures -- the price of ambition, in human terms -- and recounts his emotional journey, as a grown man, to meet the father he never knew. Yes, Chef is a tale of personal 

Long ago, so the stories say, the old-fathers came to Nanagada through a worm’s hole in the sky. Looking for a new world to call their own, they brought with them a rich mélange of cultures, religions, and dialects from a far-off planet called Earth. Mighty were the old-fathers, with...  more

Long ago, so the stories say, the old-fathers came to Nanagada through a worm’s hole in the sky. Looking for a new world to call their own, they brought with them a rich mélange of cultures, religions, and dialects from a far-off planet called Earth. Mighty were the old-fathers, with the power to shape the world to their liking---but that was many generations ago, and what was once known has long been lost. Steamboats and gas-filled blimps now traverse the planet, where people once looked up to see great silver cities in the sky.Like his world, John deBrun has forgotten more than he remembers. Twenty-seven years ago, he washed up onto the shore of Nanagada with no memory of his past. Although he has made a new life for himself among the peaceful islanders, his soul remains haunted by unanswered questions about his own identity.These mysteries take on new urgency when the fearsome Azteca storm over the Wicked High Mountains in search of fresh blood and hearts to feed their cruel, inhuman gods. Nanagada’s only hope lies in a mythical artifact, the Ma Wi Jung, said to be hidden somewhere in the frozen north. And only John deBrun knows the device’s secrets, even if he can’t remember why or how!Crystal Rain is the much-anticipated debut novel by one of science fiction’s newest and most promising talents.

The Benevolent Satrapy rule an empire of forty-eight worlds, linked by thousands of wormholes strung throughout the galaxy. Human beings, while technically “free,” mostly skulk around the fringes of the Satrapy, struggling to get by. The secretive alien Satraps tightly restrict the...  more

The Benevolent Satrapy rule an empire of forty-eight worlds, linked by thousands of wormholes strung throughout the galaxy. Human beings, while technically “free,” mostly skulk around the fringes of the Satrapy, struggling to get by. The secretive alien Satraps tightly restrict the technological development of the species under their control. Entire worlds have been placed under interdiction, cut off from the rest of the universe. Descended from the islanders of lost Earth, the Ragamuffins are pirates and smugglers, plying the lonely spaceways around a dead wormhole. For years, the Satraps have tolerated the Raga, but no longer. Now they have embarked on a campaign of extermination, determined to wipe out the unruly humans once and for all. But one runaway woman may complicate their plans. Combat enabled, Nashara is more machine than flesh, and she carries inside her a doomsday weapon that could reduce the entire galaxy to chaos. A hunted fugitive, she just wants to get home before she’s forced to destroy civilization -- and herself.

For years he has endured the endless trials and triumphs of a man whose skill and power could not be restrained. Battling ancient enemies, forging new alliances, and confronting the corruption within his own land, Gaius Octavian became a legendary man of war and the rightful First Lord of Alera....  more

For years he has endured the endless trials and triumphs of a man whose skill and power could not be restrained. Battling ancient enemies, forging new alliances, and confronting the corruption within his own land, Gaius Octavian became a legendary man of war and the rightful First Lord of Alera. But now, the savage Vord are on the march, and Gaius must lead his legions to the Calderon Valley to stand against them using all of his intelligence, ingenuity, and craft to save their world from eternal darkness.

Tavi of Calderon, now recognized as Princeps Gaius Octavian and heir to the crown, has achieved a fragile alliance with Alera's oldest foes, the savage Canim. But when Tavi and his legions guide the Canim safely to their lands, his worst fears are realized. The dreaded Vord - the enemy of...  more

Tavi of Calderon, now recognized as Princeps Gaius Octavian and heir to the crown, has achieved a fragile alliance with Alera's oldest foes, the savage Canim. But when Tavi and his legions guide the Canim safely to their lands, his worst fears are realized. The dreaded Vord - the enemy of Aleran and Cane alike - have spent the last three years laying waste to the Canim homeland. And when the Alerans are cut off from their ships, they find themselves with no choice but to fight shoulder to shoulder if they are to survive. For a thousand years, Alera and her furies have withstood every enemy, and survived every foe. The thousand years are over.

A revelatory examination of how the wildfirelike spread of new forms of social interaction enabled by technology is changing the way humans form groups and exist within them, with profound long-term economic and social effects-for good and for ill A handful of kite hobbyists scattered around...  more

A revelatory examination of how the wildfirelike spread of new forms of social interaction enabled by technology is changing the way humans form groups and exist within them, with profound long-term economic and social effects-for good and for ill A handful of kite hobbyists scattered around the world find each other online and collaborate on the most radical improvement in kite design in decades. A midwestern professor of Middle Eastern history starts a blog after 9/11 that becomes essential reading for journalists covering the Iraq war. Activists use the Internet and e-mail to bring offensive comments made by Trent Lott and Don Imus to a wide public and hound them from their positions. A few people find that a world-class online encyclopedia created entirely by volunteers and open for editing by anyone, a wiki, is not an impractical idea. Jihadi groups trade inspiration and instruction and showcase terrorist atrocities to the world, entirely online. A wide group of unrelated people swarms to a Web site about the theft of a cell phone and ultimately goads the New York City police to take action, leading to the culprit's arrest. With accelerating velocity, our age's new technologies of social networking are evolving, and evolving us, into new groups doing new things in new ways, and old and new groups alike doing the old things better and more easily. You don't have to have a MySpace page to know that the times they are a changin'. Hierarchical structures that exist to manage the work of groups are seeing their raisons d'�tre swiftly eroded by the rising technological tide. Business models are being destroyed, transformed, born at dizzying speeds, and the larger social impact is profound. One of the culture's wisest observers of the transformational power of the new forms of tech-enabled social interaction is Clay Shirky, and Here Comes Everybody is his marvelous reckoning with the ramifications of all this on what we do and who we are. Like Lawrence Lessig on the effect of new technology on regimes of cultural creation, Shirky's assessment of the impact of new technology on the nature and use of groups is marvelously broad minded, lucid, and penetrating; it integrates the views of a number of other thinkers across a broad range of disciplines with his own pioneering work to provide a holistic framework for understanding the opportunities and the threats to the existing order that these new, spontaneous networks of social interaction represent. Wikinomics, yes, but also wikigovernment, wikiculture, wikievery imaginable interest group, including the far from savory. A revolution in social organization has commenced, and Clay Shirky is its brilliant chronicler.

For years, tales of DRAGONS from another world kidnapping and enslaving humans have been circulating in Jason Masters’ world, while for a slave girl named Koren, the stories of a human world seem pure myth. Together, these two teens will need to bridge two planets in order to...  more

For years, tales of DRAGONS from another world kidnapping and enslaving humans have been circulating in Jason Masters’ world, while for a slave girl named Koren, the stories of a human world seem pure myth. Together, these two teens will need to bridge two planets in order to overthrow the draconic threat and bring the lost slaves home. The mysteries unfold As a Starlighter, Koren knows her destiny is to save her fellow human slaves from the dragons’ bondage―but by following the orders of the smooth-talking dragon king, Taushin, has she in fact doomed her people and herself? As Koren struggles over her choices, Elyssa discovers a new aspect to her Diviner gifts when her pendant begins to unlock mysteries surrounding the stardrops from the Exodus star. Soon Elyssa, along with Jason and his father, also uncovers new truths behind the dragons’ prophecy and learns that Randall has teamed with Magnar and Arxad to wage battle against Taushin’s followers. With a major war imminent and talk of a new Starlighter in the air, confusion and uncertainty reign―something Taushin might have planned for all along. The Mysteries Unfold As a Starlighter, Koren knows her destiny is to save her fellow human slaves from the dragons' bondage---but by following the orders of the smooth-talking dragon king, Taushin, has she in fact doomed her people and herself? As Koren struggles over her choices, Elyssa discovers a new aspect to her Diviner gifts when her pendant begins to unlock mysteries surrounding the stardrops from the Exodus star. Soon Elyssa, along with Jason and his father, also discover new truths behind the dragons' prophecy and learn that Randall has teamed with Magnar and Arxad to wage battle against Taushin's followers. With a major war imminent and talk of a new Starlighter in the air, confusion and uncertainty reigns---something Taushin may have planned for all along.

Heroes for Hire: Seeking the truth -- at any cost. SOMEONE WAS WATCHING HER... No matter how many times Tessa Camry moves, her mysterious tormentor always finds her... and leaves a grim reminder of all she's lost.  But this year, no longer content to deliver roses, her stalker...  more

Heroes for Hire: Seeking the truth -- at any cost. SOMEONE WAS WATCHING HER... No matter how many times Tessa Camry moves, her mysterious tormentor always finds her... and leaves a grim reminder of all she's lost.  But this year, no longer content to deliver roses, her stalker wants her dead.  When former soldier Seth Sinclair becomes her bodyguard, he encourages her to stand her ground, even if it means letting go of long-held secrets.  Seth realizes that Tessa may be his second chance at love, but their future depends on finding the man determined that Tessa never forgets the past....  

The eyes of the world are watching A powerful world leader is expected to join the Hollywood elite at a star-studded ceremony to be broadcast around the globe. But security has been severely compromised -- and a plot is already in motion to turn the Los Angeles Chamberlain Auditorium into...  more

The eyes of the world are watching A powerful world leader is expected to join the Hollywood elite at a star-studded ceremony to be broadcast around the globe. But security has been severely compromised -- and a plot is already in motion to turn the Los Angeles Chamberlain Auditorium into a gruesome slaughterhouse. When an on-line "Trojan Horse" detected by the CTU cyber unit sends up red flags, rogue operative Jack Bauer is called into action. He has less than twenty-four hours to prevent an unthinkable act of death and destruction from occurring -- a televised massacre intended to topple a foreign government and bring terror into millions of American households. The countdown is on.

How to become a trusted resource for consumers in a society of constant manipulationPeople decide who to trust, what advice to heed, and which individuals to forge personal or transactional relationships with based on a simple metric of believability. Success, in turn, comes from understanding...  more

How to become a trusted resource for consumers in a society of constant manipulationPeople decide who to trust, what advice to heed, and which individuals to forge personal or transactional relationships with based on a simple metric of believability. Success, in turn, comes from understanding one basic principle: how to be more trusted. Likeonomics offers a new vision of a world beyond Facebook where personal relationships, likeability, brutal honesty, extreme simplicity, and basic humanity are behind everything from multi-million dollar mergers to record-breaking product sales. There is a real ROI to likeability, and exactly how big it is will amaze you.Likeonomics provides real-world case studies of brands and individuals that have used these principles to become wildly successful, including:An iconic technology brand that awakened a revolution among their employees by standing for something bigger than their productsA Portuguese singer who used YouTube to rack up more than 30 million views and launch her professional career. A regional team of financial advisors that went from being last in the nation among 176 branches to first, and stayed there for 13 of the next 15 yearsA tiny professional sports talent agent who achieved the impossible by landing the #1 drafted player in the NFL draft as a client through the power of relationshipsAuthor Rohit Bhargava is a founding member of the world's largest group of social media strategists at Ogilvy, where he has led marketing strategy for clients including Intel, Pepsi, Lenovo, Seiko, Unilever, and dozens of other large companiesWith Likeonomics as a guide, readers will get unconventional advice on how to stand out in a good way, avoid the hype and strategic traps of social media, and appeal to customers in a way that secures your company as a trusted and believable resource.

Scholar Shannon Macaulay and the Dragon-Prince Ewan have been traveling together for a year when their blissful companionship is interrupted by a cryptic message from their friend Martin. "Come to Westshire. Edmond needs you." Drawn to his brother's aid, Ewan finds himself hunting an elusive...  more

Scholar Shannon Macaulay and the Dragon-Prince Ewan have been traveling together for a year when their blissful companionship is interrupted by a cryptic message from their friend Martin. "Come to Westshire. Edmond needs you." Drawn to his brother's aid, Ewan finds himself hunting an elusive monster: a winged beast kidnapping young women and stealing their memories. Its latest victim is the Princess Brighid of Westshire, the very girl Edmond has recently fallen for, to the disapproval of her temperamental father, King Riley, and stoic brother, Prince Ryan. Ewan is determined to rescue his brother's beloved, no matter what the cost. But when Ryan's eyes fall upon Shannon, the dragon realizes the cost might be greater than he is willing to pay.

When Eden was ten years old she found her father, David, bleeding out on the bathroom floor. The suicide attempt led to her parents’ divorce, and David all but vanished from Eden’s life. Since childhood, she has heard from him only rarely, just enough to know he’s been living...  more

When Eden was ten years old she found her father, David, bleeding out on the bathroom floor. The suicide attempt led to her parents’ divorce, and David all but vanished from Eden’s life. Since childhood, she has heard from him only rarely, just enough to know he’s been living on the streets and struggling with mental illness. But lately, there has been no word at all.  Now in her thirties, Eden decides to go look for her father, so she can forgive him at last, and finally move forward. When her search uncovers other painful truths—not only the secrets her mother has kept from her, but also the agonizing question of whether David, after all these years, even wants to be found—Eden is forced to decide just how far she’ll go in the name of love.

SHE COULDN'T STOP IT. NOT THEN. NOT NOW. If she'd only turned her head, she would have seen the car containing her daughter, struggling to get out. Struggling to escape her kidnapper. Despite all her years determining the fates of families, veteran family court judge Hope...  more

SHE COULDN'T STOP IT. NOT THEN. NOT NOW. If she'd only turned her head, she would have seen the car containing her daughter, struggling to get out. Struggling to escape her kidnapper. Despite all her years determining the fates of families, veteran family court judge Hope Willis couldn't save her own. Now she's frantically grasping at any hope for Krissy's rescue. Her husband dead-set against it, she calls Casey Woods and her team of renegade investigators, Forensic Instincts. A behaviorist. A techno-wizard. An intuitive. A former Navy SEAL. Unconventional operatives. All with unique talents and personal reasons for being part of Casey's group, they'll do whatever it takes. Able to accurately read people after the briefest of encounters, Casey leads her crew to Krissy's home. There, she picks up the signs of a nervous spouse, a guilty conscience, a nanny that hides on her cell. She watches as secrets beg to creep into the open. Forensic Instincts will dig through each tiny clue and eliminate the clutter. But time is running out, and even working around the clock, the authorities are bound by the legal system. Not so Casey's team. For they know that the difference between Krissy coming back alive and disappearing forever could be as small as a suspect's rapid breathing, or as deep as Hope's dark family history.

FBI Special Agent Jackson Crowne is flying his Cessna over the Appalachians, with a very important passenger: renowned psychiatrist Dr. Timothy MacLean; their destination is Washington, D.C. Upon their arrival, the FBI will protect the doctor -- and ascertain just who wants him dead. But they...  more

FBI Special Agent Jackson Crowne is flying his Cessna over the Appalachians, with a very important passenger: renowned psychiatrist Dr. Timothy MacLean; their destination is Washington, D.C. Upon their arrival, the FBI will protect the doctor -- and ascertain just who wants him dead. But they don't make it. In San Francisco, married FBI Special Agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock take an early morning phone call from their supervisor, Jimmy Maitland. Maitland received a Mayday from Jackson in the mountains near Parlow, Kentucky, and sends Savich and Sherlock to see what's happened. Agent Crowne is able to bring his plane down in a narrow valley and haul the unconscious Dr. MacLean from the burning wreckage before it explodes. Their crash is witnessed by Rachael Abbott, a young woman on the run after the mysterious death of her father. When Savich and Sherlock arrive on the scene, they find Jackson and Rachael in the Parlow clinic and Dr. MacLean comatose in the local hospital, prognosis unknown. What they do know frightens them: Dr. MacLean was recently diagnosed with frontal lobe dementia, and in the months prior to the crash his behavior had become erratic and alarmingly uninhibited, his ability to maintain doctor-patient confidentiality badly compromised. With a patient list made up of Washington movers and shakers, MacLean's role as a keeper of secrets is jeopardized as well. Is there someone out there so desperate that they'd kill the doctor for what he knows? It is up to Jackson, Savich, and Sherlock to find out -- no matter the cost.

SOMETHING EVIL HAS COME TO AMISH COUNTRY Libby Morgan never wanted to return to Lancaster County.  She'd made her own life in the city as a news photographer, leaving the slow pace of Amish country behind.  She'd left love behind, too, when she fled the old-fashioned ways...  more

SOMETHING EVIL HAS COME TO AMISH COUNTRY Libby Morgan never wanted to return to Lancaster County.  She'd made her own life in the city as a news photographer, leaving the slow pace of Amish country behind.  She'd left love behind, too, when she fled the old-fashioned ways of Adam Byler.  But when a friend in trouble beckons, Libby knows she has no choice.  What she doesn't know is that something sinister awaits her.... For Adam Byler, the traditional ways convey safety and order.  As police chief of Springville, the former marine strives to keep the peace between the Amish and their modern "Englischer" neighbors -- and he will not allow Libby's beauty to distract him from his duties.  But when an innocent woman is attacked, they'll confront a danger more threatening than their growing passion.

Did a sweet-faced Amish teenager brutally murder a young woman? To save her career, big-city lawyer Jessica Langdon is determined to defend him -- against the community's bitter and even violent outrage. Yet without an understanding of Amish culture, Jessica must rely on arrogant businessman...  more

Did a sweet-faced Amish teenager brutally murder a young woman? To save her career, big-city lawyer Jessica Langdon is determined to defend him -- against the community's bitter and even violent outrage. Yet without an understanding of Amish culture, Jessica must rely on arrogant businessman Trey Morgan, who has ties to the Amish community … and believes in the boy's guilt. Jessica has threats coming from all sides: a local fanatic, stirred up by the biased publicity of the case; the dead girl's boyfriend; even from the person she's learned to trust the most, Trey Morgan. But just when Jessica fears she's placed her trust in the wrong man, Trey saves her life. And now they must both reach into a dangerous past to protect everyone's future -- including their own.

Gerald Wilkins never considered himself a particularly exceptional thirteen-year-old. But that was before he inherited twenty billion pounds, a Caribbean island, a yacht, and three estates from a great-aunt he never knew. With this fortune, however, comes a letter. One from his great-aunt...  more

Gerald Wilkins never considered himself a particularly exceptional thirteen-year-old. But that was before he inherited twenty billion pounds, a Caribbean island, a yacht, and three estates from a great-aunt he never knew. With this fortune, however, comes a letter. One from his great-aunt Geraldine. One that tells Gerald that she was murdered, and that it's up to him to find out why. Along with his friends Ruby and Sam, Gerald embarks on a journey that will lead him from the British Museum to dodgy social clubs for the disgustingly rich to mansions in the English countryside to secret places far underground. Who was Geraldine Archer? And what secrets was she hiding? Unless Gerald, Sam, and Ruby can find out before the killer does, they may be next.

Three strangers, each a murder victim: a security guard, a struggling student, and a beautiful woman. They have something more in common than death and Monk can't believe what it is -- a couch. Before you find out why, you'd better sit down.  

Lucy Marinn is a glass artist living in mystical, beautiful, Friday Harbor, Washington.  She is stunned and blindsided by the most bitter kind of betrayal:  her fiancé Kevin has left her.  His new lover is Lucy’s own sister.   Lucy's bitterness over...  more

Lucy Marinn is a glass artist living in mystical, beautiful, Friday Harbor, Washington.  She is stunned and blindsided by the most bitter kind of betrayal:  her fiancé Kevin has left her.  His new lover is Lucy’s own sister.   Lucy's bitterness over being dumped is multiplied by the fact that she has constantly made the wrong choices in her romantic life.   Facing the severe disapproval of Lucy's parents, Kevin asks his friend Sam Nolan, a local vineyard owner on San Juan Island, to "romance" Lucy and hopefully loosen her up and get her over her anger. Complications ensue when Sam and Lucy begin to fall in love, Kevin has second thoughts, and Lucy discovers that the new relationship in her life began under false pretenses. Questions about love, loyalty, old patterns, mistakes, and new beginnings are explored as Lucy learns that some things in life -- even after being broken -- can be made into something new and beautiful.

View the Table of Contents.���Read the Introduction.Henry Jenkins at Authors@Google (video)?This book rocks for anyone with concerns about the immediate and future direction of media, culture, and omnipresence.??Business 2 BusinessWinner of the 2007 Society for Cinema and Media Studies Katherine...  more

View the Table of Contents.���Read the Introduction.Henry Jenkins at Authors@Google (video)?This book rocks for anyone with concerns about the immediate and future direction of media, culture, and omnipresence.??Business 2 BusinessWinner of the 2007 Society for Cinema and Media Studies Katherine Singer Kovacs Book Award?The standard convergence narrative of recent years presents media concentration as a threat both to the diversity of communication channels and to individuals? opportunities to engage in public discourse. A respected and well-established media scholar, Jenkins (MIT) here counters such pessimistic perspectives on the brave new media world with theoretical and evidentiary attestations to the growing power of individuals and grassroots groups to affect the larger media landscape.??Choice?Jenkins is an astute observer of media culture and his insights are spot-on. . . . He intends his book to be a powerful tool both now and in the future. . . . This is a book to be praised. It raises many issues.? ?Los Angeles Times?Remarkable. . . . Jenkins' insights are gripping and his prose is surprisingly entertaining and lucid for a book that is, at its core, intellectually rigorous. . . . Jenkins' impressive ability to break down complex concepts into readable prose makes this study vital and engaging.? ?Publishers Weekly?Jenkins tries to bring clarity to cultural changes that are melting and morphing into new shapes on an hourly, daily, weekly, monthly basis. Convergence Culture provides a view that looks at the restless ocean and tracks the currents rather than just looking at the individual rocks on the beach.? ?The McClatchy Newspapers?I thought I knew twenty-first century pop media until I read Henry Jenkins. The fresh research and radical insights in Convergence Culture deserve a wide and thoughtful readership. Bring on the ?monolithic block of eyeballs!? ? ?Bruce Sterling, author, blogger, visionary?Henry Jenkins offers crucial insight into an unexpected and unforeseen future. Unlike most predictions about how New Media will shape the world in which we live, the reality is turning out far stranger and more interesting than we might have imagined. The social implications of this change could be staggering.? ?Will Wright, designer of SimCity and The Sims?One of those rare works that is closer to an operating system than a traditional book: it?s a platform that people will be building on for years to come. What's more, the book happens to be a briskly entertaining read?as startling, inventive, and witty as the culture it documents. It should be mandatory reading for anyone trying to make sense of today?s popular culture?but thankfully, a book this fun to read doesn?t need a mandate.? ?Steven Johnson, author of the national bestseller, Everything Bad Is Good For You?Henry Jenkins is the 21st century McLuhan I've been waiting for. With all the fuzzy generalities, moral panics, and gloomy pronouncements from industry spokesmen and social critics, Jenkins' clearly communicated and nuanced analysis is sorely needed. The world McLuhan foretold back in the age of 'electric media' has become immensely more complicated in today's many-to-many, converged, remixed and mashed-up, digital, mobile, always-on media environment. If you are a parent, a student, an educator, a creator or consumer of popular culture, an entrepreneur, or a media industry executive, you need to understand convergence culture. And you will only after reading Henry Jenkins.??Howard Rheingold, author of Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution?For any Sony PS3 execs out there wondering why their technological masterpiece is being ridiculed by customers before it?s even released . . . Convergence Culture is a must read...Jenkins offers numerous insights on how technology and media professionals can forge better relationships with their customers.??Slashdot?I simply could not put this book down! Henry Jenkins provides a fascinating account of how new media intersects old media and engages the imagination of fans in more and more powerful ways. Educators, media specialists, policy makers and parents will find Convergence Culture both lively and enlightening.??John Seely Brown, Former Chief Scientist, Xerox Corp & director of Xerox PARC ?Henry Jenkins is the Director of MIT's Comparative Media Studies Program. Or, in other words, he's a genius. He's one of those rare people you meet and are instantly jealous of, wishing you could somehow transplant their amazing wealth of knowledge into your own noggin. I was privileged to have made his acquaintance when he interviewed me for his fabulous new book, Convergence Culture...Go read it, you just might learn something.??The Heather Show?The book is a short, smart, buttery read on a hot topic, and it is sure to draw both popular and academic interest.??Water Cooler Games?Convergence Culture, is for anyone who is curious about future trends at the intersection of technology and humanity. Jenkins tries to bring clarity to cultural changes that are melting and morphing into new shapes on an hourly, daily, weekly, monthly basis. Convergence Culture provides a view that looks at the restless ocean and tracks the currents rather than just looking at the individual rocks on the beach.??Ledger-EnquirerConvergence Culture maps a new territory: where old and new media intersect, where grassroots and corporate media collide, where the power of the media producer and the power of the consumer interact in unpredictable ways.Henry Jenkins, one of America?s most respected media analysts, delves beneath the new media hype to uncover the important cultural transformations that are taking place as media converge. He takes us into the secret world of Survivor Spoilers, where avid internet users pool their knowledge to unearth the show?s secrets before they are revealed on the air. He introduces us to young Harry Potter fans who are writing their own Hogwarts tales while executives at Warner Brothers struggle for control of their franchise. He shows us how The Matrix has pushed transmedia storytelling to new levels, creating a fictional world where consumers track down bits of the story across multiple media channels.Jenkins argues that struggles over convergence will redefine the face of American popular culture. Industry leaders see opportunities to direct content across many channels to increase revenue and broaden markets. At the same time, consumers envision a liberated public sphere, free of network controls, in a decentralized media environment. Sometimes corporate and grassroots efforts reinforce each other, creating closer, more rewarding relations between media producers and consumers. Sometimes these two forces are at war.Jenkins provides a riveting introduction to the world where every story gets told and every brand gets sold across multiple media platforms. He explains the cultural shift that is occurring as consumers fight for control across disparate channels, changing the way we do business, elect our leaders, and educate our children.

Tom Loxley, an Indian-Australian professor, is less concerned with finishing his book on Henry James than with finding his dog, who is lost in the Australian bush. Joining his daily hunt is Nelly Zhang, an artist whose husband disappeared mysteriously years before Tom met her. Although Nelly...  more

Tom Loxley, an Indian-Australian professor, is less concerned with finishing his book on Henry James than with finding his dog, who is lost in the Australian bush. Joining his daily hunt is Nelly Zhang, an artist whose husband disappeared mysteriously years before Tom met her. Although Nelly helps him search for his beloved pet, Tom isn't sure if he should trust this new friend. Tom has preoccupations other than his book and Nelly and his missing dog, mainly concerning his mother, who is suffering from the various indignities of old age. He is constantly drawn from the cerebral to the primitive--by his mother's infirmities, as well as by Nelly's attractions. THE LOST DOG makes brilliant use of the conventions of suspense and atmosphere while leading us to see anew the ever-present conflicts between our bodies and our minds, the present and the past, the primal and the civilized.

When Hilton was just a boy, his grandmother sacrificed her life to save him from drowning. Thirty years later, he begins to suspect that he was never meant to survive that accident, and that dark forces are working to rectify that mistake. When Hilton's wife, the only elected...  more

When Hilton was just a boy, his grandmother sacrificed her life to save him from drowning. Thirty years later, he begins to suspect that he was never meant to survive that accident, and that dark forces are working to rectify that mistake. When Hilton's wife, the only elected African-American judge in Dade County, FL, begins to receive racist hate mail, he becomes obsessed with protecting his family. Soon, however, he begins to have horrible nightmares, more intense and disturbing than any he has ever experienced. Are the strange dreams trying to tell him something? His sense of reality begins to slip away as he battles both the psychotic threatening to destroy his family and the even more terrifying enemy stalking his sleep. Chilling and utterly convincing, The Between follows the struggles of a man desperately trying to hold on to the people and life he loves, but may have already lost. The compelling plot holds readers in suspense until the final, profound moment of resolution.

With the fierce emotional and intellectual power of such classics as Jean Rhys's Good Morning, Midnight, Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar, and Clarice Lispector's The Hour of the Star, Kate Zambreno's novel Green Girl is a provocative, sharply etched portrait of a young woman navigating the spectrum...  more

With the fierce emotional and intellectual power of such classics as Jean Rhys's Good Morning, Midnight, Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar, and Clarice Lispector's The Hour of the Star, Kate Zambreno's novel Green Girl is a provocative, sharply etched portrait of a young woman navigating the spectrum between anomie and epiphany.First published in 2011 in a small press edition, Green Girl was named one of the best books of the year by critics including Dennis Cooper and Roxane Gay. In Bookforum, James Greer called it "ambitious in a way few works of fiction are." This summer it is being republished in an all-new Harper Perennial trade paperback, significantly revised by the author, and including an extensive P.S. section including never before published outtakes, an interview with the author, and a new essay by Zambreno.Zambreno's heroine, Ruth, is a young American in London, kin to Jean Seberg gamines and contemporary celebutantes, by day spritzing perfume at the department store she calls Horrids, by night trying desperately to navigate a world colored by the unwanted gaze of others and the uncertainty of her own self-regard. Ruth, the green girl, joins the canon of young people existing in that important, frightening, and exhilarating period of drift and anxiety between youth and adulthood, and her story is told through the eyes of one of the most surprising and unforgettable narrators in recent fiction?a voice at once distanced and maternal, indulgent yet blackly funny. And the result is a piercing yet humane meditation on alienation, consumerism, the city, self-awareness, and desire, by a novelist who has been compared with Jean Rhys, Virginia Woolf, and Elfriede Jelinek.

Russia, 1986. On a run-down apartment block in Moscow, a nine-year-old prodigy plays his piano silently for fear of disturbing the neighbors. In a factory on the outskirts of the city, his aunt makes car parts, hiding her dissident past. In a nearby hospital, a surgeon immerses himself in his...  more

Russia, 1986. On a run-down apartment block in Moscow, a nine-year-old prodigy plays his piano silently for fear of disturbing the neighbors. In a factory on the outskirts of the city, his aunt makes car parts, hiding her dissident past. In a nearby hospital, a surgeon immerses himself in his work, avoiding his failed marriage. And in a village in Belarus, a teenage boy wakes to a sky of the deepest crimson. Outside, the ears of his neighbor's cattle are dripping blood. Ten miles away, at the Chernobyl Power Plant, something unimaginable has happened.Now their lives will change forever.

For more than one hundred years, the Angelini Shoe Company in Greenwich Village has relied on the leather produced by Vechiarelli & Son in Tuscany. This ancient business partnership provides a twist of fate for Valentine Roncalli, the schoolteacher-turned-shoemaker, to fall in love with...  more

For more than one hundred years, the Angelini Shoe Company in Greenwich Village has relied on the leather produced by Vechiarelli & Son in Tuscany. This ancient business partnership provides a twist of fate for Valentine Roncalli, the schoolteacher-turned-shoemaker, to fall in love with Gianluca Vechiarelli, a tanner with a complex past . . . and a secret. But after the wedding celebrations are over, Valentine wakes up to the reality of juggling the demands of a new business and the needs of her new family. Confronted with painful choices, Valentine remembers the wise words that inspired her in the early days of her beloved Angelini Shoe Company: "A person who can build a pair of shoes can do just about anything." Now the proud, passionate Valentine is going to fight for everything she wants and savor all she deserves -- the bitter and the sweet of life itself.

It's Her Game . . . Here's my deal--I'm not knocking myself out to find Mr. Right anymore. As far as this thirty-something sistah is concerned, it's now about reciprocity, not romance. A brother doesn't have to whisper promises he won't keep or make me any kind of commitment. All he needs to...  more

It's Her Game . . . Here's my deal--I'm not knocking myself out to find Mr. Right anymore. As far as this thirty-something sistah is concerned, it's now about reciprocity, not romance. A brother doesn't have to whisper promises he won't keep or make me any kind of commitment. All he needs to do is respect my boundaries, rock my world--then step the hell on before anyone gets too attached. That's why the last man I need to be trying to hook-up with is my next door neighbor, Carl. But He's Breaking All The Rules . . . Who does Faye think she's fooling? She and I both know all that talk she does about game-playing is little more than a big front. Besides, playing by the rules won't necessarily keep us from falling in love. And if what's been going on between us lately is any indication, I'm thinking at least one of us is already halfway there....

Magic, love spells, and an enchanted wood provide the materials for one of Shakespeare's most delightful comedies. When four young lovers, fleeing the Athenian law and their own mismatched rivalries, take to the forest of Athens, their lives become entangled with a feud between the King and...  more

Magic, love spells, and an enchanted wood provide the materials for one of Shakespeare's most delightful comedies. When four young lovers, fleeing the Athenian law and their own mismatched rivalries, take to the forest of Athens, their lives become entangled with a feud between the King and Queen of the Fairies. Some Athenian tradesmen, rehearsing a play for the forthcoming wedding of Duke Theseus and his bride, Hippolyta, unintentionally add to the hilarity. The result is a marvelous mix-up of desire and enchantment, merriment and farce, all touched by Shakespeare's inimitable vision of the intriguing relationship between art and life, dreams and the waking world. Each Edition Includes: * Comprehensive explanatory notes * Vivid introductions and the most up-to-date scholarship * Clear, modernized spelling and punctuation, enabling contemporary readers to understand the Elizabethan English * Completely updated, detailed bibliographies and performance histories * An interpretive essay on film adaptations of the play, along with an extensive filmography

Since she was a little girl, Marisa Angelo has been haunted by the image of her mother walking away, suitcase in hand, to return to her Amish roots. Marisa and her "Englischer" father never saw or heard from her again. Now Marisa has received a shocking call from police. Her...  more

Since she was a little girl, Marisa Angelo has been haunted by the image of her mother walking away, suitcase in hand, to return to her Amish roots. Marisa and her "Englischer" father never saw or heard from her again. Now Marisa has received a shocking call from police. Her mother's bloodstained suitcase was found hidden inside the wall of a Pennsylvania Dutch farmhouse. Desperate for answers, Marisa heads to Lancaster County. But no one -- not the police or Marisa's tight-lipped Amish relatives -- can explain what happened to her mother. Only one man is as determined as Marisa to unravel the mystery -- Link Morgan, the handsome ex-military loner who found the suitcase in the house he inherited from his uncle. Now both Link's and Marisa's family members are implicated in the decades-old disappearance. The secret lies somewhere in the quaint Amish settlement. But someone will do anything to ensure the truth remains hidden forever.