I am an old man now; the burden of fourscore years is resting upon me. But the events of a certain April day in the year 783 A.U.C.—full half a century ago—are as fresh in my memory as if they had happened yesterday. At that time I was stationed with my Hundred on garrison duty at the Castle of Antonia, in Jerusalem. I had been ordered to take charge of the execution of a malefactor who had just been sentenced to death. Accordingly, on the morning of the day mentioned, I selected twelve of...

A British naval officer details life as a prisoner of war and his courageous and suspenseful escape attempts during World War II.David James was in Motor Gunboats (with Robert Hichens of Gunboat Command). Captured in February 1943 after abandoning ship due to fierce engagement with three German armed trawlers in the North Sea, he was imprisoned in Dulag Marlag.His first tunnel was discovered before completion. In December 1943 he succeeded in escapin...

"Not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach, the 19 stories in this new best-of annual anthology feature episodes of graphic gore and violence--including torture, dismemberment, self-mutilation, and home abortion--that are designed to push buttons as well as boundaries...strictly for hardcore horror fans." --Publishers WeeklyExcerpt from the Introduction:Editors Randy Chandler and Cheryl Mullenax put the call out to horror writers and editors of...

He's an alien-human hybrid with an attitude. And he's Earth's last line of defense.Canis Borg is part human, part alien, and all attitude. When Alien Special Affairs intercepts information about an extraterrestrial vessel on a crash course with Earth, Canis and his partner Sam Muraty are sent to investigate. Along the way, they uncover a plot to steal the alien technology when it crashes in the desert. They will have to navigate the alien underworld, defeat a secre...

**An epic comedy about the quest for transcendence in an anything-but-transcendent America, set amid the gorgeous landscapes of the American west: A “spiritual journey” full of “fun, joy, love, courage and compassion” (**Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Powers) from the author of the perennial cult bestsellers The River Why and The Brothers K.A random bolt from a DC-8 falls from the sky, killing a child and throwing the faith...

Throughout history, the ideas of magic, sorcery, and witchcraft have never been as fixed or universal as many assume. Instead, they are fluid concepts—shaped, reshaped, and continually reinterpreted by the societies that use them. This book explores how these terms have evolved across time and culture, arguing that our understanding of magical practices is inseparable from the social environments in which we live. Folklore, religion, politics, and collective memory all play a role in deter...

From the editors of Lost Signals comes the new volume in technological horror. Nineteen authors, both respected and new to the genre, team up to deliver a collection of terrifying, eclectic stories guaranteed to unsettle its readers. In Lost Films, a deranged group of lunatics hold an annual film festival, the lost series finale of The Simpsons corrupts a young boy’s sanity, and a VCR threatens to destroy reality. All of that and much more, with fiction from Brian Evenson, Gemma Files, Kel...

The classic novel of fly fishing and spirituality republished with a new Afterword by the author.Since its publication in 1983, The River Why has become a classic. David James Duncan's sweeping novel is a coming-of-age comedy about love, nature, and the quest for self-discovery, written in a voice as distinct and powerful as any in American letters.Gus Orviston is a young fly fisherman who leaves behind his comically schizoid family to find his own...

Double Cross continues the story of Taylor Pasbury, a heroic young woman introduced in James David Jordan's novel, Forsaken (highly readable . . . Taylor is a character worth another visit" -BookPage).Raised by a father who was a former Special Forces officer, Taylor is beautiful and brilliant and knows how to take care of herself. But she is haunted by her past and the sacrifice her father made to save her from a brutal rape when she was seventeen. After a controversial stint in the Secr...

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOKOnce in a great while a writer comes along who can truly capture the drama and passion of the life of a family. David James Duncan, author of the novel The River Why and the collection River Teeth, is just such a writer. And in The Brothers K he tells a story both striking and in its originality and poignant in its universality.This touching, uplifting novel spans decades of loyalty, anger, re...

Friday, 12th February, 1993. Two outwardly unremarkable ten-year-old boys began the day by playing truant and ended it running an errand for the local video shop. In between they abducted and killed a two-year-old boy, James Bulger. In search of an explanation, award-winning journalist David James Smith looks behind the misinformation, misunderstanding and sensational reporting to an exact account of the events of that day. A sensitive and definitive account, The Sleep of Reason a...

Illustrated with 16 photos of the ship and crewWriters Gerold Frank and James Horan were struck by their travelling companion on a train between New York and New London, Conneticut in 1943; "He was big and brawny, his giant frame squeezed into a coach seat; he had the clear blue eyes, the hawklike gaze of a Viking; and he was the most beribboned figure we had ever seen in a navy uniform". This man was Chief Radio Operator Jim Eckberg, and as he told Frank and Horan the tale of his s...