"From critically-acclaimed playwright EM Lewis, comes Infinite Black Suitcase, the story of one day in a small Oregon town and three families who are trying, in the most loving and human ways, to deal with death and dying"--P. [4] of cover.

Set in depleted, post-recession suburbia, with its endlessly interlocking cul-de-sacs, mega-parking lots and big box stores, The Infinite Tides tells the story of star astronaut Keith Corcoran's return to earth. Keith comes home from a lengthy mission aboard the International Space Station to find his wife and daughter gone, and a house completely empty of furniture, as if Odysseus had returned to Ithaca to find that everyone he knew had forgotten about him and moved on. Keith is a mathematical and engineering genius, but he is ill equipped to understand what has happened to him, and how he has arrived at the center of such vacancy. Then, he forges an unlikely friendship with a neighboring Ukrainian immigrant, and slowly begins to reconnect with the world around him. As the two men share their vastly different personal and professional experiences, they paint an indelible and nuanced portrait of modern American life. The result is a deeply moving, tragicomic and ultimately redemptive story of love, loss and resilience, and of two lives lived under the weight of gravity.

From New York Times bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones comes the second book in the sexy, suspenseful new The Secret Life of Amy Bensen series. Picking up where Escaping Reality left off, Infinite Possibilities follows Amy and Liam, the darkly entrancing billionaire who demanded everything from her and offered even more—but can she trust him? Secrets and Lies. They are everywhere: haunting her, tormenting her. In the midst of it all, he’d been her escape, her passion. The only person she’d trusted in six years. And then he’d made her doubt that trust, wounding her deeply. But she is ready to fight and not just for survival. She is fighting for the truth and she won’t stop until she has it, not even for…him.

This is a gloriously funny, gloriously serious novel by Pulitzer Prize nominated playwright Ronald Ribman that actually answers the age old question: How is it possible that one man, who has magnificently succeeded as a most brave, honorable, and extraordinarily decent human being, ends up with his head severed and in a pot of honey; while another, given everything, turning everything to shit, ends up blessed by a miracle, given the one true love of his life and the ultimate answer to it all? Ribman has given us a rich and enduring tale, steeped in magical realism, where walls are sometimes quivering membranes to be walked through, and stars can find their way beneath your skirt to ravish you “in all the secret places that are joy!”

Max Forrestal is going to fail biology if he doesn't complete a 20-page paper on extinction by 2pm on Tuesday, but his mother, Lily, is dying of cancer, and school is the last thing on his mind. His father, Ellery, a biologist obsessed with saving a rare Bolivian insect, is incapable of dealing with his wife's impending death, or his son's distress. Max's biology teacher, Khim Phan, tries to figure out why Max is failing the class. Helping Max, however, pushes Khim into a magical journey of his own, from the Cambodian fields of his youth into the undiscovered country beyond.

In two days time, the state of Connecticut is to take the life of teenager, Ronald Thompson - found guilty of the murder of Nina Peterson two years before. His death will not stop the pain and anger of Nina's husband, Steve, nor will it still the fears of Nina's six-year-old son, Neil, who witnessed his mother's brutal slaying. Only time, perhaps, can heal their wounds. But Ronald Thompson knows he did not kill Nina. And in the shadows a stranger waits and watches, a stranger who knows why Nina died, and who has unfinished business with the Peterson family…

Thirteen new stories by the celebrated writer, including two which he considers his greatest achievements to date, artfully blend elements from many literary geares.

A 2013 Montana Book Award Honor Book Margie Fitzgerald has a soft spot for helpless creatures; her warm heart breaks, her left ovary twinges, and she is smitten with sympathy. Under the spell of her seductive but troubled Latin professor, she joins a ragtag group of animal rights activists called Operation H.E.A.R.T., and appears to have found her mission in life. But in time Margie’s increasingly reckless and dangerous actions force her to flee her flowery California home, say goodbye to her fragile dad, and seek shelter on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana. There, she will make unexpected discoveries about animals, kinship, love, and her own heart.

New object-oriented technologies have been conceived and implemented over the past decade in order to manage complexity inherent in information systems development. Research has spanned from information systems modelling languages (UML and OML) to databases (ODMG), from programming languages (Java) to middleware technology (CORBA). A more widespread use of the Internet has led to the emergence and integration of various other technologies, such as XML and database connectivity tools, allowing businesses to access and exchange information over the Internet. The main theme of OOIS 2000 was "Object-Technology and New Business Opportunities" and focused on research conducted in the area of effective information systems development for the promotion of e-commerce. Papers were invited from academics and practitioners. The thirty-nine papers accepted for oms 2000 are included in these proceedings. It is nice to see this year that the shift from centralised to distributed systems and the widespread access and use of the Internet has allowed the advent of new opportunities for businesses to exploit, in the form of e-commerce.