Each of Lara Vapnyar's six stories invites us into a world where food and love intersect, along with the overlapping pleasures and frustrations of Vapnyar's uniquely captivating characters. Meet Nina, a recent arrival from Russia, for whom colorful vegetables represent her own fresh hopes and dreams . . . Luda and Milena, who battle over a widower in their English class with competing recipes for cheese puffs, spinach pies, and meatballs . . . and Sergey, who finds more comfort in the borscht made by a paid female companion than in her sexual ministrations. They all crave the taste and smell of home, wherever—and with whomever—that may turn out to be. A roundup of recipes are the final taste of this delicious collection.

TWO OCCULT TALES are now together in one volume: Respect for the Dead, set in Africa, and the gripping sequel, Sleight Return, set in witchy New England.

South Seas Cong is a lurid hodgepodge of seven previously published Pacific island taleshumorous, mystical, romantic, occult, tragic, transsexual, or death-defying, featuring sharks, centipedes, parasites, sacred cows, fortunetellers, prisoners, beatings, shootings, the devil, and the walking dead.

The Coffee Magnate and Other Tales?a richly disturbing, darkly comedic, and macabre collection?hits a new low as an insulting portrait of life?s slimy underbelly and humanity at its worst, guaranteed to offend the most insensitive readers. These 17 stories of senseless death, suicide, slaughter, and death-defiance, flanked by episodes of debacle, divorce, alcoholism, drug abuse, prostitution, greed, malpractice, murder, mysticism, and madness, culminate in a hell of mankind?s creation, an apocalypse, and the end of so-called civilization.

Self-aware, edgy, and masterfully crafted, this charismatic collection (including some heartbreakers) is for anyone who has ever felt over-attached to a pet, stalked her high school crush, said long goodbyes to loved ones, or tried to talk (and talk and talk) her way through the ups and downs of life. A wonderful new addition to a genre best described as humor that matters. These are roll-on-the-floor-funny, embarrassing and just plain crazy stories that your female friends have told you compiled into one handy book. Except that these stories are well articulated by an imaginative and excellent writer and they have all the guilt, shame and modesty removed from them.

Reminiscent of Scheherazade and One Thousand and One Nights, Gianni Rodari's Telephone Tales is many stories within a story. Every night, a traveling father must finish a bedtime story in the time that a single coin will buy. One night, it's a carousel that adults cannot comprehend, but whose operator must be some sort of magician, the next, it's a land filled with butter men who melt in the sunshine Awarded the Hans Christian Anderson Award in 1970, Gianni Rodari is widely considered to be Italy's most important children's author of the 20th century. Newly re-illustrated by Italian artist Valerio Vidali​ (The Forest)​, Telephone Tales​ entertains, while questioning and imagining other worlds.

These are not your mother's fairy tales... Did you ever wonder how the dwarves felt after Snow White ditched them for the prince? Do you sometimes wish Cinderella hadn't been so helpless and petite? Are you ready to hear the Giant's point of view on Jack and his beanstalk? Then this is the book for you. Thirteen award-winning fantasy and science fiction writers offer up their versions of these classic fairy tales as well as other favorites, including The Ugly Duckling, Ali Baba, Hansel and Gretel, and more. Some of the stories are funny, some are strange, and others are dark and disturbing -- but each offers something as unexpected as a wolf at the door.

This “oral autobiography” of Jimmy Page, the intensely private mastermind behind Led Zeppelin—one of the most enduring bands in rock history—is the most complete and revelatory portrait of the legendary guitarist ever published. More than 30 years after disbanding in 1980, Led Zeppelin continues to be celebrated for its artistic achievements, broad musical influence, and commercial success. The band's notorious exploits have been chronicled in bestselling books; yet none of the individual members of the band has penned a memoir nor cooperated to any degree with the press or a biographer. In Light & Shade, Jimmy Page, the band’s most reticent and inscrutable member, opens up to journalist Brad Tolinski, for the first time exploring his remarkable life and musical journey in great depth and intimate detail. Based on extensive interviews conducted with the guitarist/producer over the past 20 years, Light & Shade encompasses Page’s entire career, beginning with his early years as England’s top session guitarist when he worked with artists ranging from Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, and Burt Bacharach to the Kinks, The Who, and Eric Clapton. Page speaks frankly about his decadent yet immensely creative years in Led Zeppelin, his synergistic relationships with band members Robert Plant, John Bonham, and John Paul Jones, and his notable post-Zeppelin pursuits. While examining every major track recorded by Zeppelin, including “Stairway to Heaven,” “Whole Lotta Love,” and “Kashmir,” Page reflects on the band’s sensational tours, the filming of the concert movie The Song Remains the Same, his fascination with the occult, meeting Elvis Presley, and the making of the rock masterpiece Led Zeppelin IV, about which he offers a complete behind-the-scenes account. Additionally, the book is peppered with “sidebar” chapters that include conversations between Page and other guitar greats, including his childhood friend Jeff Beck and hipster icon Jack White. Through Page’s own words, Light and Shade presents an unprecedented first-person view of one of the most important musicians of our era.