A HERO IS BORN! His name is Dr. Bones. His adventures will take him across a perilous galaxy in search of lost cities, secret empires, and vanished species. And sometimes into exploits when his background makes him the best man for a dangerous job . . . From nowhere they came, the mysterious aliens called the Lona. The races of our galaxy tried to communicate with them and failed. The Lona were not interested in talking; they had come to crush the galaxy into submission and rule it with absolute power. Ezekiel Bones is Earth’s secret weapon. He alone stands a chance of finding a way to defeat the Lona. He has learned all the ways of war, and has become a member of the top-secret mercenary army, the Legion of Ares. Yet his real strength against the Lona will be his ability to penetrate the workings of a monstrous alien mind and learn how Earth can fight back. But can Dr. Bones think like a monster without becoming a monster himself?

A glamorous, haunted life unfolds in the mesmerizing biography of the woman behind a classic children's book In 1957, a children's book called The Lonely Doll was published. With its pink-and-white-checked cover and photographs featuring a wide-eyed doll, it captured the imaginations of young girls and made the author, Dare Wright, a household name. Close to forty years after its publication, the book was out of print but not forgotten. When the cover image inexplicably came to journalist Jean Nathan one afternoon, she went in search of the book-and ultimately its author. Nathan found Dare Wright living out her last days in a decrepit public hospital in Queens, New York. Over the next five years, Nathan pieced together a glamorous life. Blond, beautiful Wright had begun her career as an actress and model and then turned to fashion photography before stumbling upon her role as bestselling author. But there was a dark side to the story: a brother lost in childhood, ill-fated marriage plans, a complicated, controlling mother. Edith Stevenson Wright, herself a successful portrait painter, played such a dominant role in her daughter's life that Dare was never able to find her way into the adult world. Only through her work could she speak for herself: in her books she created the happy family she'd always yearned for, while her self-portraits betrayed an unresolved tension between sexuality and innocence, a desire to belong and painful isolation. Illustrated with stunning photographs, The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll tells the unforgettable story of a woman who, imprisoned by her childhood, sought to set herself free through art.

Once upon a time, when magic was common and princesses were many, there lived a powerful wizard named Druth. He could transform a prince into a toad, or a shepherd boy into a sheep by a mere flick of his finger. But no matter how hard he tried he could not enchant a princess by any magic at all. Enraged and humiliated, Druth took revenge upon three kingdoms whose princesses he was unable to enchant. He flooded their lands and imprisoned the people in a deep, unending sleep. He saved one princess alone, however. She was a baby named Lona whom Druth planned to raise himself until she was old enough to enchant. Some new spell, he was certain, would eventually succeed. But when she grew up, Lona showed surprising courage, challenging the mighty wizard's power. Through Dare Wright's rich descriptions and superb photographs, readers will breathlessly follow each moment of Lona's remarkable struggle to remove Druth's spell over the three kingdoms.

“The best thing about niksen is the absence of a goal. It doesn’t serve a purpose, but it’s wonderful.” Don’t you think it’s time for a break? Plagued—as we are!—by nonstop pings and notifications, we have lost the knack of zoning out. Kicking back. Slacking off. Even when pandemic-induced lockdowns forcibly cleared our calendars, many who thought I’m free! filled their days with Netflix and doomscrolling. How can we reclaim our free time (planned or not) to truly rest and reset? The Dutch have it figured out: with niksen. Perhaps their best-kept lifestyle secret, niksen is the art of doing, well, nothing. It’s the opposite of productivity, and it’s incredibly good for your . . . MIND—it makes you calmer. BODY—it offers rest on hectic days. CREATIVITY—it clears a space for brilliant ideas. WALLET—it’s free! If you’re waiting for an invitation to go lie down in the sunshine, this book is it.

Meet Morris and Lona Cohen, an ordinary-seeming couple living on a teacher's salary in a nondescript building on the East Side of New York City. On a hot afternoon in the autumn of 1950, a trusted colleague knocked at their door, held up a finger for silence, then began scribbling a note: Go now. Leave the lights on, walk out, don't look back. Born and raised in the Bronx and recruited to play football at Mississippi State, Morris Cohen fought for the Loyalists in the Spanish Civil War and with the U.S. Army in World War II. He and his wife, Lona, were as American as football and fried chicken, but for one detail: they'd spent their entire adult lives stealing American military secrets for the Soviet Union. And not just any military secrets, but a complete working plan of the first atomic bomb, smuggled direct from Los Alamos to their Soviet handler in New York. Their associates Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who accomplished far less, had just been arrested, and the prosecutor wanted the death penalty. Did the Cohens wish to face the same fate? Federal agents were in the neighborhood, knocking on doors, getting close. So get out. Take nothing. Tell no one. In Operation Whisper, Barnes Carr tells the full, true story of the most effective Soviet spy couple in America, a pair who vanished under the FBI's nose only to turn up posing as rare book dealers in London, where they continued their atomic spying. The Cohens were talented, dedicated, worldly spies - an urbane, jet-set couple loyal to their service and their friends, and very good at their work. Most people they met seemed to think they represented the best of America. The Soviets certainly thought so.