Bücher veröffentlicht von Penguin Publishing Group

A behind-the-scenes tour of New York City's dynamic food culture, as told through the voices of the chefs, line cooks, restaurateurs, waiters, and street vendors who have made this industry their lives.';A must-read both for those who live and dine in NYC and those who dream of doing so.' Bustle';[A] compelling volume by a writer whose beat is not food . . . with plenty of opinions to savor.' Florence Fabricant, The New York TimesIn Food and the City, Ina Yalof takes us on an insider's journey into New York's pulsating food scene alongside the men and women who call it home. Dominique Ansel declares what great good fortune led him to make the first Cronut. Lenny Berk explains why Woody Allen's mother would allow only him to slice her lox at Zabar's. Ghaya Oliveira, who came to New York as a young Tunisian stockbroker, opens up about her hardscrabble yet swift trajectory from dishwasher to executive pastry chef at Daniel. Restaurateur Eddie Schoenfeld describes his journey from Nice Jewish Boy from Brooklyn to New York's Indisputable Chinese Food Maven.From old-schoolers such as David Fox, third-generation owner of Fox's U-bet syrup, and the outspoken Upper West Side butcher ';Schatzie' to new kids on the block including Patrick Collins, sous chef at The Dutch, and Brooklyn artisan Lauren Clark of Sucre Mort Pralines, Food and the City is a fascinating oral history with an unforgettable gallery of New Yorkers who embody the heart and soul of a culinary metropolis.

From master of suspenseHarlan Coben comes the#1 New York Times bestseller about the ties we have to our pastand the lies that bind us togetheras the ultimate Internet scam unfolds...Surfing an online dating site, NYPD detective Kat Donovan feels her whole world explode. Staring back at her is her ex-fiance, the man who shattered her heartand whom she hasn't seen in eighteen years. But when Kat reaches out to the man in the profile, an unspeakable conspiracy comes to light. As Kat begins to investigate, her feelings are challenged about everyone she's ever lovedeven her father, whose cruel murder so long ago has never been fully explained. With lives on the line, including her own, Kat must venture deeper into the darkness than she ever has before and discover if she has the strength to survive what she finds there.

A twisty, thought-provoking futuristic tale that unnerves and enthralls. Family Circle In a future where women are a rare commodity, Emma fights for freedom but is held captive by the love of two menone her husband, the other her worst enemy. If only she could remember which is which . . .In the stunning first volume of a two-book series that will appeal to readers of William Gibson and Philip K. Dick, Emma wakes with her memory wiped clean. Her husband, Declana powerful and seductive mannarrates the story of her past, but Emmas dreams contradict him. They show her war, a camp where girls are trained to be wives, and love for another man. Something inside warns her not to speak of these things, but the line between her dreams and reality is about to shatter forever.

The Book of Jhereg and The Book of Taltos collected the first five novels of Steven Brusts highly imaginative fantasy series that Locus praised as entertaining and worth reading. The Book of Athyra features books six and seven in the seriesAthyra and Orca.Vlad Taltos is a sorcerer and assassin without peeras deadly at spell casting as he is with sword wielding. Accompanying him on his journeys are two leathery-winged jhereg who share a telepathic link with Vladand triple his chances against even the most powerful of enemiesIn Athyra, Vlad finds hes ready to retire himself and his jhereg companions, but the biggest hitters of the House of the Jhereg have something else in mind. In Orca, Vlad must repay a debt to a boy who saved his lifeeven if it means breaking a financial scandal big enough to bring down the House of the Orca, and possibly the entire Empire

';Surprising and remarkableToggling between big ideas, technical details, and his personal intellectual journey, Greene writes a thesis suitable to both airplane reading and PhD seminars.'The Boston Globe Our brains were designed for tribal life, for getting along with a select group of others (Us) and for fighting off everyone else (Them). But modern times have forced the world's tribes into a shared space, resulting in epic clashes of values along with unprecedented opportunities. As the world shrinks, the moral lines that divide us become more salient and more puzzling. We fight over everything from tax codes to gay marriage to global warming, and we wonder where, if at all, we can find our common ground. A grand synthesis of neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy, Moral Tribes reveals the underlying causes of modern conflict and lights the way forward. Greene compares the human brain to a dual-mode camera, with point-and-shoot automatic settings (';portrait,' ';landscape') as well as a manual mode. Our point-and-shoot settings are our emotionsefficient, automated programs honed by evolution, culture, and personal experience. The brain's manual mode is its capacity for deliberate reasoning, which makes our thinking flexible. Point-and-shoot emotions make us social animals, turning Me into Us. But they also make us tribal animals, turning Us against Them. Our tribal emotions make us fightsometimes with bombs, sometimes with wordsoften with life-and-death stakes.A major achievement from a rising star in a new scientific field, Moral Tribes will refashion your deepest beliefs about how moral thinking works and how it can work better.

A revolutionary reappraisal of how to educate our children and young people by Ken Robinson, the New York Times bestselling author of The Element and Finding Your Element. You, Your Child, and School is forthcoming from Viking.Ken Robinson is one of the world's most influential voices in education, and his 2006 TED Talk on the subject is the most viewed in the organization's history. Now, the internationally recognized leader on creativity and human potential focuses on one of the most critical issues of our time: how to transform the nation's troubled educational system. At a time when standardized testing businesses are raking in huge profits, when many schools are struggling, and students and educators everywhere are suffering under the strain, Robinson points the way forward. He argues for an end to our outmoded industrial educational system and proposes a highly personalized, organic approach that draws on today's unprecedented technological and professional resources to engage all students, develop their love of learning, and enable them to face the real challenges of the twenty-first century. Filled with anecdotes, observations and recommendations from professionals on the front line of transformative education, case histories, and groundbreaking researchand written with Robinson's trademark wit and engaging styleCreative Schools will inspire teachers, parents, and policy makers alike to rethink the real nature and purpose of education.

The National Book Awardwinning novel by the writer whom Fran Lebowitz called ';the real F. Scott Fitzgerald'Joe Chapin led a storybook life. A successful small-town lawyer with a beautiful wife, two over-achieving children, and aspirations to be president, he seemed to have it all. But as his daughter looks back on his life, a different man emerges: one in conflict with his ambitious and shrewish wife, terrified that the misdeeds of his children will dash his political dreams, and in love with a model half his age. With black wit and penetrating insight, Ten North Frederick stands with Richard Yates' Revolutionary Road, Evan S. Connell's Mr. Bridge and Mrs. Bridge, the stories of John Cheever, and Mad Men as a brilliant portrait of the personal and political hypocrisy of mid-century America.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Perfect for fans of Lara Prescott's The Secrets We Kept, this haunting debut novel--andKirkus ReviewsBest Book of the Year--is set against the background of New York City in the 1920sConfessions are Rose Baker's job. A typist for the New York City Police Department, she sits in judgment like a high priestess. Criminals come before her to admit their transgressions, and, with a few strokes of the keys before her, she seals their fate. But while she may hear about shootings, knifings, and crimes of passion, as soon as she leaves the room, she reverts to a dignified and proper lady. Until Odalie joins the typing pool. As Rose quickly falls under the stylish, coquettish Odalie's spell, she is lured into a sparkling underworld of speakeasies and jazz. And what starts as simple fascination turns into an obsession from which she may never recover.

Jim Butcher, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Dresden Files and the Codex Alera novels, conjures up a new series set in a fantastic world of noble families, steam-powered technology, and magic-wielding warriors... Since time immemorial, the Spires have sheltered humanity. Within their halls, the ruling aristocratic houses develop scientific marvels, foster trade alliances, and maintain fleets of airships to keep the peace. Captain Grimm commands the merchant ship Predator. Loyal to Spire Albion, he has taken their side in the cold war with Spire Aurora, disrupting the enemy's shipping lines by attacking their cargo vessels. But when the Predator is damaged in combat, Grimm joins a team of Albion agents on a vital mission in exchange for fully restoring his ship. And as Grimm undertakes this task, he learns that the conflict between the Spires is merely a premonition of things to come. Humanity's ancient enemy, silent for more than ten thousand years, has begun to stir once more. And death will follow in its wake...

GET INSIDE GRIMM.NBCs hit television series Grimm pits modern detective Nick Burkhardt of the Portland Police against a cast of terrifying villainslifted directly from the pages of classic fairytales. In the world of the show, the classic stories are actually a document of real events, and Nick himself is descended from a long line of guardians, or Grimms, charged with defending humanity from the mythological creatures of the world.From The Big Bad Wolf to Sleeping Beauty, The Mythology of Grimm explores the history and folkloric traditions that come into play during Nicks incredible battles and investigationstapping into elements of mythology that have captured our imaginations for centuries.

The Edge lies between worlds, on the border between the Broken, where people shop at Wal-Mart and magic is a fairy taleand the Weird, where blueblood aristocrats rule, changelings roam, and the strength of your magic can change your destiny Charlotte de Ney is as noble as they come, a blueblood straight out of the Weird. But even though she possesses rare magical healing abilities, her life has brought her nothing but pain. After her marriage crumbles, she flees to the Edge to build a new home for herself. Until Richard Mar is brought to her for treatment, and Charlotte's life is turned upside down once again. Richard is a swordsman without peer, future head of his large and rambunctious Edger clanand he's on a clandestine quest to wipe out slavers trafficking humans in the Weird. So when his presence leads his very dangerous enemies to Charlotte, she vows to help Richard destroy them. The slavers' operation, however, goes deeper than Richard knows, and even working together, Charlotte and Richard may not survive...

Collected for the first time, the New York stories of John O'Hara, "e;among the greatest short story writers in English, or in any other language"e; (Brendan Gill,Here at The New Yorker) Collected for the first time, here are the New York stories of one of the twentieth century's definitive chroniclers of the citythe speakeasies and highballs, social climbers and cinema stars, mistresses and powerbrokers, unsparingly observed by a popular American master of realism. Spanning his four-decade career, these more than thirty refreshingly frank, sparely written stories are among John O'Hara's finest work, exploring the materialist aspirations and sexual exploits of flawed, prodigally human characters and showcasing the snappy dialogue, telling details and ironic narrative twists that made him the most-published short story writer in the history of the New Yorker.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

In this enticing read fromNew York Timesbestselling authorTara Sue Me's Submissive Series, the submissive and her dominant explore just how long they can make the pleasure last It started with a hidden desire. Millionaire CEO Nathaniel West has always played by his own strict set of rules, ones he expects everyone to followespecially the women he's dominated in his bedroom. But his newest lover is breaking down all his boundaries and rewriting his rule book. Abby King never imagined that she would capture the heart of Nathaniel West, one of New York City's most eligible bachelorsand its most desirable dominant. What began as a weekend arrangement of pleasure has become a passionate romance with a man who knows every inch of her body and her soulyet remains an enigmatic lover. Though he is tender and caring, his painful past remains a wall between them. Abby knows the only way to truly earn his trust is to submit to him fully and let go of all of her lingering inhibitions. Because to lead Nathaniel on a path to greater intimacy, she must first let him deeper into her world than anyone has ever gone before...

';Stewart O'Nan'sCity of Secretswill keep you up all night reading what a beautifully crafted novel.' Alan Furst,New York Timesbestselling author ofMission to ParisFrom master storyteller Stewart O'Nan, author of Henry, Himself and Emily, Alone,a timely moral thriller of the Jewish underground resistance in Jerusalem after the Second World WarIn 1945, with no homes to return to, Jewish refugees by the tens of thousands set out for Palestine. Those who made it were hunted as illegals by the British mandatory authorities there and relied on the underground to shelter them; taking fake names, they blended with the population, joining the wildly different factions fighting for the independence of Israel. From master storyteller Stewart O'Nan, author of Emily, Alone and Henry, Himself, City of Secrets follows one survivor, Brand, as he tries to regain himself after losing everyone he's ever loved. Now driving a taxi providedlike his new identityby the underground, he navigates the twisting streets of Jerusalem as well as the overlapping, sometimes deadly loyalties of the resistance. Alone, haunted by memories, he tries to become again the man he was before the warhonest, strong, capable of moral choice. He falls in love with Eva, a fellow survivor and member of his cell, reclaims his faith, and commits himself to the revolution, accepting secret missions that grow more and more dangerous even as he begins to suspect he's being used by their cell's dashing leader, Asher. By the time Brand understands the truth, it's too late, and the tragedy that ensues changes history. A noirish, deeply felt novel of intrigue and identity written in O'Nan's trademark lucent style, City of Secrets asks how both despair and faith can lead us astray, and what happens when, with the noblest intentions, we join movements beyond our control.

Michael Pollan, the bestselling author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, Food Rules, and How to Change Your Mind,explores the previously uncharted territory of his own kitchen in Cooked.Cookedis now a Netflix docuseries based on the book that focuses on the four kinds of "e;transformations"e; that occur in cooking. Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney and starring Michael Pollan, Cooked teases out the links between science, culture and the flavors we love.In Cooked, Pollan discovers the enduring power of the four classical elementsfire, water, air, and earthto transform the stuff of nature into delicious things to eat and drink. Apprenticing himself to a succession of culinary masters, Pollan learns how to grill with fire, cook with liquid, bake bread, and ferment everything from cheese to beer. Each section of Cooked tracks Pollan's effort to master a single classic recipe using one of the four elements. A North Carolina barbecue pit master tutors him in the primal magic of fire; a Chez Panissetrained cook schools him in the art of braising; a celebrated baker teaches him how air transforms grain and water into a fragrant loaf of bread; and finally, several mad-genius ';fermentos' (a tribe that includes brewers, cheese makers, and all kinds of picklers) reveal how fungi and bacteria can perform the most amazing alchemies of all. The reader learns alongside Pollan, but the lessons move beyond the practical to become an investigation of how cooking involves us in a web of social and ecological relationships. Cooking, above all, connects us. The effects of not cooking are similarly far reaching. Relying upon corporations to process our food means we consume large quantities of fat, sugar, and salt; disrupt an essential link to the natural world; and weaken our relationships with family and friends. In fact, Cooked argues, taking back control of cooking may be the single most important step anyone can take to help make the American food system healthier and more sustainable. Reclaiming cooking as an act of enjoyment and self-reliance, learning to perform the magic of these everyday transformations, opens the door to a more nourishing life.

Shortlisted for the 2014 Man Booker PrizeWinner of the 2014 PEN/Faulkner Award One of the New York Times Book Review's 100 Notable Books of 2013Named by The Christian Science Monitor as one of the top 15 works of fiction The New York Times bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club introduces a middle-class American family, ordinary in every way but one... Meet the Cooke family: Mother and Dad, brother Lowell, sister Fern, and Rosemary, who begins her story in the middle. She has her reasons. ';I was raised with a chimpanzee,' she explains. ';I tell you Fern was a chimp and already you aren't thinking of her as my sister. But until Fern's expulsion...she was my twin, my funhouse mirror, my whirlwind other half and I loved her as a sister.' As a child, Rosemary never stopped talking. Then, something happened, and Rosemary wrapped herself in silence. In We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler weaves her most accomplished work to datea tale of loving but fallible people whose well-intentioned actions lead to heartbreaking consequences.';A gripping, big-hearted book...through the tender voice of her protagonist, Fowler has a lot to say about family, memory, language, science, and indeed the question of what constitutes a human being.'Khaled Hosseini

The bestselling author of This Is Where I Leave You returns with a hilarious and heart-rending tale about one familiy's struggle to reconnect.';Mistakes have been made.' Drew Silver has begun to accept that life isn't going to turn out as he expected. His fleeting fame as the drummer for a one-hit wonder rock band is nearly a decade behind him. His ex-wife is about to marry a terrific guy. And his Princeton-bound teenage daughter Casey has just confided in him that she's pregnantbecause Silver is the one she cares least about letting down.So when Silver learns that he requires emergency life-saving heart surgery, he makes the radical decision to refuse the operation, choosing instead to spend what time he has left to repair his relationship with Casey, become a better man, and live in the momenteven if that moment isn't going to last very long. As his exasperated family looks on, Silver grapples with the ultimate question of whether or not his own life is worth saving.

Includes a free bonus: a Kate Daniels novella, Magic GiftsThe New York Times bestselling Kate Daniels novels have been hailed as ';top-notch urban fantasy' (Monsters and Critics). Now, Ilona Andrews delves deeper into Kate's world, and reveals its untold stories After being kicked out of the Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid, Andrea's whole existence is in shambles. She tries to put herself back together by working for Cutting Edge, a small investigative firm owned by her best friend. When several shapeshifters working for Raphael Medranothe male alpha of the Clan Bouda, and Andrea's former loverdie unexpectedly at a dig site, Andrea is assigned to investigate. Now she must work with Raphael as her search for the killer leads into the secret underbelly of supernatural Atlanta. And dealing with her feelings for him might have to take a back seat to saving the world

Soon to be a major motion picture starring Kate Bosworth, Josh Lucas, Anthony Edwards, and Radha Mitchell"e;Each book by Jack Kerouac is unique, a telepathic diamond. With prose set in the middle of his mind, he reveals consciousness itself in all its syntatic elaboration, detailing the luminous emptiness of his own paranoiac confusion. Such rich natural writing is nonpareil in later half XX century, a synthesis of Proust, Cline, Thomas Wolfe, Hemingway, Genet, Thelonius Monk, Basho, Charlie Parker, and Kerouac's own athletic sacred insight."e;Big Sur's humane, precise account of the extraordinary ravages of alcohol delirium tremens on Kerouac, a suerior novelist who had strength to complete his poetic narrative, a task few scribes so afflicted have accomplishedothers crack up. Here we meet San Francisco's poets & recognize hero Dean Moriarty ten years after On the Road. Jack Kerouac was a 'writer,' as his great peer W.S. Burroughs says, and here at the peak of his suffering humorous genius he wrote through his misery to end with 'Sea,' a brilliant poem appended, on the hallucinatory Sounds of the Pacific Ocean at Big Sur."e; Allen Ginsberg

';America's favorite writer' (The New Yorker) begins a trilogy inspired by the inn she owns and the town she loves.The historic hotel in BoonsBoro, Maryland, has endured war and peace, changing hands, even rumored hauntings. Now it's getting a major facelift from the Montgomery brothers and their eccentric mother. As the architect of the family, Beckett has little time for a social life. But there's another project he's got his eye on: the girl he's been waiting to kiss since he was sixteen.After losing her husband and returning to her hometown, Clare Brewster soon settles into her life as the mother of three young sons while running the town's bookstore. Though busy, Clare is drawn across the street by Beckett's transformation of the old inn, wanting to take a closer lookat both the building and the man behind it...Don't miss the other books in the Inn BoonsBoro TrilogyThe Last BoyfriendThe Perfect Hope

A strong-minded, sharp-witted heroine who will appeal to fans of Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series and Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake. (Library Journal) Clouds are brewing over Cadogan House, and Merit the vampire can't tell if this is the darkness before the dawn, or the calm before the storm. With the city itself in turmoil over paranormals and the state threatening to pass a paranormal registration act, times have never been more precarious for the vampires. If only they could lay low for a bit...Then magic rears its ugly head when Lake Michigan turns black. The mayor insists it's nothing to worry about, but Merit knows a panic is coming. She'll have to turn to friends old and new to find out who's behind this, and stop them before it's too late for both the vampires and humans.

From the New York Times-bestselling author of A Gentleman in Moscow, a ';sharply stylish' (Boston Globe) novel of a young woman in post-Depression era New York who suddenly finds herself thrust into high societynow with over one million readers worldwideOn the last night of 1937, twenty-five-year-old Katey Kontent is in a second-rate Greenwich Village jazz bar when Tinker Grey, a handsome banker, happens to sit down at the neighboring table. This chance encounter and its startling consequences propel Katey on a year-long journey into the upper echelons of New York societywhere she will have little to rely upon other than a bracing wit and her own brand of cool nerve.With its sparkling depiction of New York's social strata, its intricate imagery and themes, and its immensely appealing characters,Rules of Civility won the hearts of readers and critics alike.

Spy turned art restorer Gabriel Allon finds himself accused of murder in this New York Times bestseller from Daniel Silva.An Israeli spy by trade and art restorer by preference, Gabriel Allon arrives in Zurich to restore the work of an Old Master for a millionaire bankerand finds himself standing in blood and framed for the man's murder.While trying to clear his name, Allon is swept into a spiraling chain of events involving Nazi art theft, a decades-old suicide, and a dark and bloody trail of killingssome of them his own. The spy world Allon thought he had left behind has come back to haunt him. And he will have to fight for his lifeagainst an assassin he himself helped train.

Most histories of the personal computer industry focus on technology or business. John Markoff's landmark book is about the culture and consciousness behind the first PCsthe culture being counter and the consciousness expanded, sometimes chemically. It's a brilliant evocation of Stanford, California, in the 1960s and '70s, where a group of visionaries set out to turn computers into a means for freeing minds and information. In these pages one encounters Ken Kesey and the phone hacker Cap'n Crunch, est and LSD, The Whole Earth Catalog and the Homebrew Computer Lab. What the Dormouse Said is a poignant, funny, and inspiring book by one of the smartest technology writers around.

Return to the seductiveand dangerousworld of J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood as the fever rises in the war between the vampires and slayersJohn Matthew has come a long way since he was found living among humans, his vampire nature unknown to himself and to those around him.After he was taken in by the Brotherhood, no one could guess what his true history wasor his true identity. Indeed, the fallen Brother Darius has returned, but with a different face and a very different destiny.As a vicious personal vendetta takes John into the heart of the war, he will need to call up on both who he is now and who he once was in order to face off against evil incarnate...and rescue his one true love.

';A can't-miss entry in one of the best urban-fantasy series currently being published.'Booklist (starred review)As Chicago's only professional wizard, Harry Dresden has faced demons, vampires, werewolves, dark sorcerers, and hosts of horrors from beyond the mortal realm. But nothing could have prepared him for this Long ago, Susan Rodriguez was Harry's Dresden's loveruntil she was attacked by his enemies, leaving her caught between humanity and the relentless bloodlust of the vampiric Red Court. She disappeared to South America, where she could fight both her savage gift and those who cursed her with it. Now, she needs Harry's help more than ever. For the vengeful Duchess of the Red Court has discovered a secret Susan has long kept from everyoneincluding Harryand she plans to use it. To prevail, Harry may have to unleash the full fury of his untapped powerand he may have no choice but to embrace the darkness within himself. Because this time, he's fighting to save his child.

A definitive edition of stories by the master of supernatural fictionHoward Phillips Lovecraft's unique contribution to American literature was a melding of traditional supernaturalism (derived chiefly from Edgar Allan Poe) with the genre of science fiction that emerged in the early 1920s. This Penguin Classics edition brings together a dozen of the master's tales-from his early short stories "e;Under the Pyramids"e; (originally ghostwritten for Harry Houdini) and "e;The Music of Erich Zann"e; (which Lovecraft ranked second among his own favorites) through his more fully developed works, "e;The Dunwich Horror,"e; The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, and At the Mountains of Madness.The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories presents the definitive corrected texts of these works, along with Lovecraft critic and biographer S. T. Joshi's illuminating introduction and notes to each story.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

The two Alice books--Lewis Carroll's masterpieces--are ranked by many as peers of the great adult works of English literature. And despite their riches of untranslatable puns, nonsense, and parody, they have been happily translated around the world. The matchless original illustrations by Tenniel share with Carroll's text the glory of making Alice immortal.

In the final novel in #1 New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher's acclaimed Codex Alera series, the people of Alerawho use their unique bond with the elementals of earth, air, fire, water, wood, and metal for protectionmust face the ultimate conflict For Gaius Octavian, life has been one long struggle. Battling ancient enemies, forging new alliances, and confronting the corruption within his own land, he became a legendary man of war and leader of menand the rightful First Lord of Alera. Now, the end of all he fought for is close at hand. The brutal, dreaded Vord are on the march, using fear and chaos to turn the Alerans against one another, and forcing those who will not submit to flee to the outer reaches of the realm. Perhaps for the final time, Gaius Octavian and his legions must stand against the enemies of his people. And it will take all his intelligence, ingenuity, and furycraft to save their world from eternal darkness...

Sink your teeth into the first novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Sookie Stackhouse seriesthe books that gave life to the Dead and inspired the HBO original series True Blood. Sookie Stackhouse is just a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Bon Temps, Louisiana. She's quiet, doesn't get out much, and tends to mind her own businessexcept when it comes to her ';disability.' Sookie can read minds. And that doesn't make her too dateable. Then along comes Bill Compton. He's tall, dark, handsomeand Sookie can't hear a word he's thinking. He's exactly the type of guy she's been waiting for all her life... But Bill has a disability of his own: he's a vampire with a bad reputation. And when a string of murders hits Bon Tempsalong with a gang of truly nasty bloodsuckers looking for BillSookie starts to wonder if having a vampire for a boyfriend is such a bright idea.