Simon Winchester, struck by a sudden need to discover exactly what was left of the British Empire, set out across the globe to visit the far-flung islands that are all that remain of what once made Britain great. He traveled 100,000 miles back and forth, from Antarctica to the Caribbean, from the Mediterranean to the Far East, to capture a last glint of imperial glory.His adventures in these distant and forgotten ends of the earth make compelling, often funny reading and tell a story most of us had thought was over: a tale of the last outposts in Britain's imperial career and those who keep the flag flying.With a new introduction, this updated edition tells us what has happened to these extraordinary places while the author's been away.About the AuthorSimon Winchester was born and educated in England, has lived in Africa, Ireland, India and China, and now lives in US. He was a foreign correspondent for 30 years and now contributes to a variety of American and British magazines and newspapers. Hismost recent books have been the two international bestsellers, The Surgeon of Crowthorne and The Map that Changed the World. His new book, Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded is published in June 2002. From AudioFileSimon Winchester travels to the far reaches of the British Empire. Winchester reads his own sometimes oddball tales. He tells of a cricket match on St. Helena in which a fielder falls off the edge and thus is "retired, dead." On Ascension Island, an island so small it was considered a ship--the H.M.S. ASCENSION--any baby born was considered born at sea. Winchester's nicely modulated voice is perfect for reading this history/travelogue. He is engaging while narrating the history and perpetually amused at the quirks of keeping the Empire alive no matter the discomfort. The production concludes with an interview in which Winchester discusses his delight at discovering that readers share his fascination with geology. A.B. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

‘Fable, intellectual thriller, Gothic extravaganza, symbolist conundrum . . . a true work of art’ Sunday Independent Is there a numerical solution to the quest for the meaning of life? A brilliant reworking of the classic Dr Faustus theme, Mefisto focuses on the mathematically gifted Gabriel Swan, who seeks a numerical solution to his quest for order and meaning in life. ‘Mefisto renders all superlatives woefully inadequate . . . Undisputed master of language, the laconic pause and the blackly comic, Banville is a supreme stylist . . . He is a magician . . . Another expectedly astonishing and very daring display from this richly, almost wickedly, gifted artist’ Time Out ‘An excellent novel, beautifully written. The sort of thing you have to read more than once – wonderful stuff’ Punch ‘Few writers in Ireland today can arouse such expectation by the advent of a new novel . . . A profound beauty of words displayed by their lover . . . Banville’s great enterprise does not falter . . . read Mefisto straight through; it deserves it’ Irish TimesReviewA novel of virtuosic scope, written in a style as pristine as the rarefied mountain air atop the Brocken. --The New York TimesIntense, cerebral, linguistically inventive. --Cleveland Plain Dealer About the AuthorJohn Banville was born in Wexford, Ireland, in 1945. He is the author of fourteen previous novels including The Sea, which won the 2005 Man Booker Prize. He has received a literary award from the Lannan Foundation. He lives in Dublin.

The superbly crafted stories collected in Alistair MacLeod's As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories depict men and women acting out their “own peculiar mortality” against the haunting landscape of Cape Breton Island. In a voice at once elegiac and life-affirming, MacLeod describes a vital present inhabited by the unquiet spirits of a Highland past, invoking memory and myth to celebrate the continuity of the generations even in the midst of unremitting change.His second collection, As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories confirms MacLeod's international reputation as a storyteller of rare talent and inspiration.

He was Tige, born of the desert winds, raised as a slave and winning his freedom by weaving a special kind of magic with a warrior's skill. Now he was an almost legendary sword-dancer, ready to take on any challenge—if the price was right...or if the woman pretty enough. She was Del, born of ice and storm, trained by the greatest of Northern sword masters. Now, her ritual training completed and steeped in the special magic of her own runesword, she had come South in search of the young brother stolen five years before. But even Del could not master all the dangers of the deadly Punja alone. And meeting Del, Tiger could not turn back from the most intriguing challenge he'd ever faced—the challenge of a magical, mysterious sword-dancer of the North...

The night before his final exams, a semi-alcoholic teenager packs up his gear and disappears into the woods. Totally unprepared for bush life, he nearly dies until he meets someone else who has her own reasons to hide.

“The definitive version of Lorca’s masterpiece, in language that is as alive and molten today as was the original.”—John AshberyNewly translated for the first time in ten years, Federico García Lorca’s Poet in New York is an astonishing depiction of a tumultuous metropolis that changed the course of poetic expression in both Spain and the Americas. Written during Lorca’s nine months at Columbia University at the beginning of the Great Depression, Poet in New York is widely considered one of the most important books Lorca produced. This influential collection portrays a New York City populated with poverty, racism, social turbulence, and solitude—a New York intoxicating in its vitality and beauty. After the tragedy of September 11, 2001, poets Pablo Medina and Mark Statman were struck by how closely this seventy-year-old work spoke to the atmosphere of New York. They were compelled to create a new English version...

When they met for a weekend on Lammerty Island, none of the guests believed in the existence of an evil psychic force. But then they found a mysterious book with a cast of characters exactly mirroring their group--and foretelling their deaths by appalling, supernatural means.

Desire Provoked is an amusing look at modern living, while also a meditation on fatherhood, marriage and ambition. The cartographer protagonist of the novel, Sam Adams, can't seem to map out his own life while he maps everything else for a living.

AN OCEAN OF LOVEKate Hardesty had inherited a pile of mysterious ocean charts. Her practical, no-nonsense father had had a dream--sunken treasure--and he'd left a map leading to a gold-laden ship.Determined to complete her father's explorations, she turned to the only man with the ability to tackle the treacherous dive deep beneath the Atlantic: Ky Silver.Kate had left Ky four years ago, frightened of the needs he awoke in her, yet now she needed him more than ever. But working with Ky meant more than searching for gold pieces--it meant plunging her heart into the depths of love....

Edward Burns is professor of English at William Paterson University and editor of A Tour of the Darkling Plain: The “Finnegans Wake ” Letters of Thornton Wilder and Adaline Glasheen; A Passion for Joyce: The Letters of Hugh Kenner and Adaline Glasheen; and The Letters of Gertrude Stein and Thornton Wilder.

Jake McGraw, independent space trucker, has been shanghaied. He and his crew, fresh off their adventures in STARRIGGER and RED LIMIT FREEWAY, are plucked off the Skyway by a creature of unknown power. Now on an alien planet where most of the rules of the regular universe don’t seem to apply, Jake confronts the builders of the Skyway once and for all. Will he and his crew make it out alive?

The fantastic Mission Earth saga continues with Black Genesis, as the aliens implement their insidious plan to infiltrate Earth society. Every volume of the Mission Earth series has been a New York Times bestseller and a Literary Guild Alternate Selection. Get in on the profits b y cashing in on Mission Earth-Mania! Nominated for Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1987.

FREEDOM’S GLORY One hundred years after Russia’s thermonuclear first strike, the radioactive wasteland that was once America has become a slave state crushed under the iron fist of the Soviet invader. Only a small, fierce group of survivors refuse to submit to the oppressive Red overlords. Led by Ted Rockson, the ultimate soldier of survival, the Freefighters are dedicated to returning freedom’s way to their nuclear-shattered homeland; to push the hated Russian oppressor into the sea—or die in the attempt. And when the savage KGB blackshirts, in a vicious power grab, launch a bloody but unsuccessful attack against the ruling Russian Army, Rockson risks an alliance with a deadly archenemy in one final, desperate bid for freedom. But first he must find and destroy the most powerful weapon in the world, a force that once unleashed would consume the entire planet in a nuclear hellfire. The future of all mankind will be settled once and for all in the fateful showdown between the forces of evil and the . . . DOOMSDAY WARRIOR

Revisit this tale of danger and desire from New York Times bestselling author Heather Graham, now available for the first time in ebook!The tranquil waters of a Bahamian paradise turn dark and treacherous when Amanda is ruthlessly abducted. Sean, a Miami undercover cop, witnessed the crime and throws himself into danger, pretending he's Amanda's lover. It's a perilous game, but Amanda knows there's no one to pay her captors, and she finds it's easy to play along with her irresistible mystery man...Originally published in 1987