One of our most imaginative and accomplished writers, Angela Carter left behind a dazzling array of work: essays, citicism, and fiction. But it is in her short stories that her extraordinary talents—as a fabulist, feminist, social critic, and weaver of tales—are most penetratingly evident. This volume presents Carter's considerable legacy of short fiction gathered from published books, and includes early and previously unpublished stories. From reflections on jazz and Japan, through vigorous refashionings of classic folklore and fairy tales, to stunning snapshots of modern life in all its tawdry glory, we are able to chart the evolution of Carter's marvelous, magical vision.

Alice is the smart and beautiful daughter of a powerful businessman. She lives a charmed life - until her father is killed in a tragic accident. Then she meets Jamie, a young man from a very different background, who has evidence that her father met a much darker end.

Historical novel based on the life of the 19th century Chinese prostitute who became the most powerful pirate in history. The first time her story has been fully told in any language.

Years ago someone lit a match... Laura has spent most of her life being judged. She's seen as hot-tempered, troubled, a loner. Some even call her dangerous. Miriam knows that just because Laura is witnessed leaving the scene of a horrific murder with blood on her clothes doesn't mean Laura is a killer. Bitter experience has taught her how easy it is to get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Carla is reeling from the brutal murder of her nephew. She trusts no one and no thing: good people are capable of terrible deeds. But how far will she go to find peace? Innocent or guilty, everyone is carrying damage. Some are damaged enough to kill. Look what you started.

The Burning Shore, another gripping installment in Wilbur Smith's Courtney Family Adventure series Centaine de Thiry grew up with privilege, wealth, and freedom on a sprawling French estate. Then war came crashing down around her, and a daring young South African aviator named Michael Courtney stole her heart amidst the destruction. But the tides of fate and battle sent the young woman on a journey across a dangerous sea to the coast of Africa. When Centaine's ship is torpedoed and sunk, she is plunged into a shark-filled sea miles from the unseen shore. And when she reaches land, Centaine puts foot not in the lush world that Michael Courtney described to her, but on the edge of a burning desert--alone and fighting for her life. In a strange world, under a great rushing sky, Centaine sets forth in the company of wandering Bushmen--and then into the arms of a renegade white soldier who may be her savior or destruction. As Michael Courtney's family searches for Centaine, she comes near her promised land--and the untold tragedy and riches that it holds...

Professor John Waales, an anthropologist at U.C. Berkeley has spent his life in quest of a great find. He has been the assistant on many good projects, but every original project he tries winds up in failure. His wife died suddenly when he was on a failed mission out of contact with his family for six weeks. His daughter, who was 12 at the time never forgave him completely. He lost himself in his work and further alienated her. He has been working on finding the famed El Dorado, the legendary city made of gold hidden in the Andean Mountains near Bogota, the modern capitol of Columbia, for years. He is close friends with a chiropractor, Dr. Jack Paris, who takes care of him and his daughter. He has an assistant, Robin Quigley, who is secretly plotting against him to capture gold and the glory of the El Dorado treasure. He is also friends with the skipper of a W.W.II PT boat who takes him up the Amazon in search for the gold. His theory, laughed at by many of his colleagues, shows that the Chibcha Indians, who built the Lost City at Lake Guatavita, actually tore down the buildings covered with sheets of gold, took their treasures, and moved out of the mountains down several thousand feet to the Amazon jungle, along one of the many hidden tributaries. Here they hid from the outside world and were never heard from again, except by occasional sightings, all unconfirmed. This data had been gathered by Professor Waales and was now waiting physical confirmation. There is an Ex-CIA spy, Thomas Reichen, who was kicked out of the Agency and was supposed to be terminated. They were unable to kill him and he changed his looks and his identity. He became a professional guide in Peru and Columbia and learned those countries inside and out. He has connections with the natives, terrorists, drug runners and gun dealers. He is hired by a Financier, Leon Scarborough, who is financing the efforts of the Anthropologist, but is actually working for a terrorist. The guide is told that once the City is found, then he will kill the anthropologist, his daughter, the chiropractor and the boat captain. This also works well for the Guide, because he will keep the Captain's boat and will return for supplies to set up a satellite relay / laser weapon which will serve the terrorist's country. They would keep the gold and also harvest, extract and sell cocaine from the Basin. Then the Assistant Anthropologist will take credit for the discovery of the site, the laser will be installed and the gold will be secretly removed. The assistant anthropologist will be told he will get most of the gold and the credit for the discovery, but he will be killed after the others once they discover the City. The plan is, that at the end, the Financier and the Guide will make it back to civilization with the help of the natives and will be thought to be dead along with the others. What they also didn't count on was the presence of giant killer piranhas in the river around the new location of the famed El Dorado. These piranha were bred over 500 years ago with the local, non killer Pacu fish - a close relative which feeds on vegetation and also the giant pirarucu fish. The Pacu are much larger than the piranhas- some two to three feet in length, but have the same body shape as the piranhas and the pirarucu are one of the world's largest fresh water fish, as long as twelve feet in length and weigh several hundred pounds. When they were cross bred by the local kings who lived in the El Dorado, they eventually became giant killers, with Piranha teeth and a taste for flesh, but with the length of the much larger pirarucu and the girth of the fat pacu.

In this thought-provoking and lyrical debut novel, a young woman's only hope for survival in the dystopian future is a ship, a Noah's Ark, that can rescue 500 people. London burned for three weeks. And then it got worse. . . Young, naive, and frustratingly sheltered, Lalla has grown up in near-isolation in her parents' apartment, sheltered from the chaos of their collapsed civilization. But things are getting more dangerous outside. People are killing each other for husks of bread, and the police are detaining anyone without an identification card. On her sixteenth birthday, Lalla's father decides it's time to use their escape route -- a ship he's built that is only big enough to save five hundred people. But the utopia her father has created isn't everything it appears. There's more food than anyone can eat, but nothing grows; more clothes than anyone can wear, but no way to mend them; and no-one can tell her where they are going.

Her father traded away her youth. Sea bandits stole her freedom. She has one way to get them back: Become the most powerful pirate in the world. South China coast, 1801. Sold as a child to a floating brothel, 26-year-old Yang has finally bought her freedom, only to be kidnapped by a brutal pirate gang and forced to marry their leader. Dragged through stormy seas and lawless bandit havens, Yang must stay scrappy to survive. She embeds herself in the dark business of piracy, carving out her role against the resistance of powerful pirate leaders and Cheung Po Tsai, her husband's flamboyant male concubine. As she is caught between bitter rivals fighting for mastery over the pirates—and for her heart—Yang faces a choice between two things she never dreamed might be hers: power or love. Based on a true story that has never been fully told until now, The Flower Boat Girl is the tale of a woman who, against all odds, shaped history on her own terms. "A breathtaking saga of a real life heroine, so richly alive that the pages seem to breathe." -Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author

A Most Anticipated in 2021 Pick for The Independent | Buzzfeed | The Nerd Daily When we came to America, we brought anger and socialism and hunger. We also brought our demons. In Burning Girls and Other Stories, Veronica Schanoes crosses borders and genres with stories of fierce women at the margins of society burning their way toward the center. This debut collection introduces readers to a fantasist in the vein of Karen Russell and Kelly Link, with a voice all her own. Emma Goldman—yes, that Emma Goldman—takes tea with the Baba Yaga and truths unfold inside of exquisitely crafted lies. In "Among the Thorns," a young woman in seventeenth century Germany is intent on avenging the brutal murder of her peddler father, but discovers that vengeance may consume all that it touches. In the showstopping, awards finalist title story, "Burning Girls," Schanoes invests the immigrant narrative with a fearsome fairytale quality that tells a story about America we may not want—but need—to hear. Dreamy, dangerous, and precise, with the weight of the very oldest tales we tell, Burning Girls and Other Stories introduces a writer pushing the boundaries of both fantasy and contemporary fiction. With a foreword by Jane Yolen At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Classical Science Fiction awaits the reader with stories to excite and inspire your Imagination! 1.....Mistress of the Djinn-----When the third crusade smashed into the Holy Land, the real enemy was not the Infidel, the real enemy was the weird magic of the Djinn. 2.....The Golden Amazon Returns-----The best weapons against the Amazon were her own children, reasoned Welgand, so he kidnaped them, and led her into a trap! 3.....Onslaught of the Druid Girls-----When Lee Blaine reached Earth's second moon, he found a tangle of mystery. Who were the Nonites? What danger menaced Aurita and her Druid girls?. Classical Science Fiction from some of the earliest and best writers of the gen