Incredible Stories of the Prophets, Vagabonds, Fortune-Tellers, Hermits, Lords, and Poets Who Shaped New England New England has been a lot of things—an economic hub, a cultural center, a sports mecca—but it is also home to many of the strangest individuals in America. Wicked Weird & Wily Yankees explores and celebrates the eccentric personalities who have left their mark in a way no other book has before. Some folks are known, others not so much, but the motley cast of characters that emerges from these pages represents a fascinating cross-section of New England’s most peculiar denizens. Look inside to find: Tales of the Leather Man and the Old Darned Man, who both spent years crisscrossing the highways and byways of the northeast, their origins and motivation to remain forever unknown. The magnificent homes of William Gillette and Madame Sherri, famed socialites who constructed enormous castles in the New England countryside. William Sheldon’s apocalyptic prophecies and wild claims including that the American Revolution had hastened the end of the world and that he could—through his mastery of the “od-force”—prevent cholera across the eastern United States. The mysterious fortune-teller Moll Pitcher whose predictions, some say, were sought by European royalty and whose fame made her the subject of poems, plays, and novels long after her death. Stretching back to the colonial era and covering the development and evolution of New England society through the beginning of the twenty-first century, this book captures the rebel spirit, prickly demeanors, and wily attitudes that have made the region the hotbed for oddity it is today. *All Royalties Donated to the Education and Youth Programs at the Connecticut River Museum*

Dear audience, welcome to a danse bizarre in four acts between fictional fantastic worlds. Fans of wacky horror stories will get their money's worth in the first, 'wicked' act. In addition, there are recipes from the realm of fantasy for all gourmets - we recommend 'unicorn stew' here. In the second act we delight our audience with bizarre crime stories and tales from our 'weird world'. The whole thing is garnished with really wacky advertisements for totally smart people or masochists. Cool articles are included for free. In the third act we look beyond reality and delight the inclined audience with all kinds of fantasy stories. In addition, there are all sorts of fantastic odds and ends, including the religious outpourings of our atheistic druid. In the last act, shadows from time and a surreal game with timelines await us.

Star radio-host Rich Terfry presents the amazing tales of his alter ego, musician Buck 65, in this rollicking account of growing up poor, talented, baseball-obsessed, music-mad and girl-smitten. With wit, style and a born writer's knack for telling detail, Rich Terfry gives us the wildly entertaining story of his unusual life through the eyes of his shy but brilliant and preternaturally observant alter-ego, Buck. Born in a small town in Nova Scotia to a mother who begins yelling at him the moment he is born and a father who keeps his own counsel, Buck imbibes fear and insecurity like other kids guzzle milk. Hobbled by his fears and demons, Buck almost disappears into the “evil in the woods” that lurks just beyond the town's border . . . until he is saved by three gifts: baseball, romantic love and music. His epic journey­­—full of diversions, coincidences, and larger-than-life characters—out of the darkness of his suicide-plagued childhood and into the bright wide world begins with a killer pitching arm (Buck almost makes it to the pros) and continues with his transformation into hip hop artist Buck 65. Along the way, Buck develops into a hopeless romantic and an obsessively creative, shape-shifting man who both fears life and dives into it with abandon. Wicked and Weird is a lively, sometimes shocking portrait of a life lived on the edge, by turns funny and heartbreaking.

There's a side of the world those deemed "normal" don't see, save for glimpses in flashing moments of fear and confusion. These places exist just around the corner of our vision, beyond the ocean fog of memory and nightmare, where monstrous children cry for love and secrets are hidden in remote caves; where nature reclaims its own and a sweet taste in your mouth portends evil beyond imagining. Within these pages are twenty-one secrets hidden behind a veil only the most ancient of beings have dared to pass through, brought to you by some of the most talented and imaginative authors to come out of New England.In short, these stories are Wicked Weird.Featuring oddities and terrors from Matthew M. Bartlett, J. Edwin Buja, William D. Carl, Victoria Dalpe, Barry Lee Dejasu, Peter N. Dudar, Emma J. Gibbon, John Goodrich, Paul R. McNamee, F. R. Michaels, Kali Moulton, Errick A. Nunnally, Jason Parent, Steve Van Samson, Rob Smales, LL Soares, Wicker Stone, Morgan Sylvia, Jeffrey Thomas, K. H. Vaughan and Trisha J. Wooldridge

The long-anticipated sequel to the million-copy bestselling novel Wicked Ten years after the publication of Wicked, beloved novelist Gregory Maguire returns at last to the land of Oz. There he introduces us to Liir, an adolescent boy last seen hiding in the shadows of the castle after Dorothy did in the Witch. Bruised, comatose, and left for dead in a gully, Liir is shattered in spirit as well as in form. But he is tended at the Cloister of Saint Glinda by the silent novice called Candle, who wills him back to life with her musical gifts. What dark force left Liir in this condition? Is he really Elphaba's son? He has her broom and her cape -- but what of her powers? Can he find his supposed half-sister, Nor, last seen in the forbidding prison, Southstairs? Can he fulfill the last wishes of a dying princess? In an Oz that, since the Wizard's departure, is under new and dangerous management, can Liir keep his head down long enough to grow up? For the countless fans who have been dazzled and entranced by Maguire's Oz, Son of a Witch is the rich reward they have awaited so long.

Take a trip with Larry Stanford through 350 years of Newport's hidden, dark history. Founded by a small band of religious freedom seekers in 1639, Newport, Rhode Island, subsequently became a bustling colonial seaport teeming with artists, sailors, prosperous merchants and, perhaps most distinctively, the ultra-rich families of the Gilded Age. Clinging to the lavish coattails of these newly minted millionaires and robber barons was a stream of con artists and hangers-on who attempted to leech off their well-to-do neighbors. From the Vanderbilts to the Dukes, the Astors to the Kennedys, the City by the Sea has served as a sanctuary for the elite, and a hotbed of corruption. Local historian Larry Stanford pulls back the curtain on over 350 years of history, uncovering the real stories behind many of Newport's most enduring mysteries, controversial characters and scintillating scandals.

The welcome return of one of Michael Rosen's favourite books! Till Owlyglass (Till Eulenspiegel) is a boy who was special from the day he was baptised three times. But not in a good way. Not in a way his parents liked. He was always in trouble for his rudeness and practical jokes, and grew up to be the most outrageous trickster in Germany. Everyone told stories about him¿ and they still do five centuries later. In this wickedly funny book, Michael Rosen retells the best ofthese traditional German tales, with pictures by Fritz Wegner which are perfectly in the spirit of the prankster's wild tricks.

What started as a night at the theater and a meteor shower ended with the dead walking the planet. Living in a fortified cul-de-sac in the shadow of Boston a group of refugees have etched out their survival. At times they're not sure who to fear more, the zombies wandering the streets or the power mad "controller" of Boston, Richard Crenshaw. Until the day a crazed environmentalist shows up at the gates with promises of "the cure" disrupting their lives. With a handful of volunteers, Catherine sets off with her team to follow the half-mad scientist to Florida to where he believes the cure for the zombie plague exists. When they arrive in the swamp they are greeted by unexpected horrors both human and inhuman. The insanity of the scientist, Pierce leads them on a chase through the swamps of Florida searching the cure that ends badly for everyone. "... a wild and terrifying road trip through the apocalypse! This is top notch zombie action, told with an intelligence and energy that had me begging for more. Goudsward writes what I love!" -Joe McKinney, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of DEAD CITY and THE DEAD WON'T DIE "... a solid road-trip zombie novel, with a cool cast, plenty of undead mayhem, and a wild finale in the Florida swamps I didn't see coming. Fans of the subgenre will devour this one in no time." -The Horror Fiction Review "...the ultimate post-apocalyptic road trip, complete with a megalomaniacal villain, an East Coast long race to a possible cure and zombie alligators. What more could a walker fan want or need? Read this book. Read it NOW." -Jan Kozlowski, author of DIE, YOU BASTARD! DIE!