An award-winning historian reveals the harrowing, little-known story of an American effort to save the newly formed Soviet Union from disasterAfter decades of the Cold War and renewed tensions, in the wake of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, cooperation between the United States and Russia seems impossible to imagine—and yet, as Douglas Smith reveals, it has a forgotten but astonishing historical precedent.In 1921, facing one of the worst famines in his...

The riveting and harrowing story of the fate of the Russian nobility, from the Bolshevik Revolution to the Stalinist era.Winner of the Pushkin House Russian Book PrizeNamed a Best Book of the Year by The Kansas City Star and Salon"Sobering stories about the politics of power―its loss, its gain―and the deep human suffering that inevitably...

Most writing craft books, courses, and workshops focus on the tools for being a writer and how to use them: dialog, setting, pacing, plot, openings, exposition, point-of-view. And so on.And on and on and on.Their aim is to add another tool, or maybe even a set of tools, to your writer's toolbox.The problem with that approach is the vast gulf in knowledge between having your toolbox filled with tools and applying those tools to create a story.Those c...

WINNER — AURORA AWARD — BEST YA NOVELWINNER — Juried IAP AWARD — BEST YA NOVELVanishing street kids. An ancient evil. The end of the world.Our only hope? A hero who can't leave home.At seventeen, Will Dreycott is a superhero…in his dreams. And in yours.Eight years ago, Will's parents, shady dealers in ancient artifacts, disappeared on a jungle expedition. Will, the ...

Get the entire multi-award-winning trilogy in one volume! This ebook includes all three books in The Dream Rider Saga:The Hollow Boys (Book 1)The Crystal Key (Book 2)The Lost Expedition (Book 3)Plus get this exciting bonus material:Deleted scenesAlternate plot linesCharacter notesSetting background…and more!Series Description:At seventeen, Will Dreyco...

From an award-winning historian, the gripping, singular story of the destruction of Jewish Vienna as seen through the letters and diaries of an extraordinary woman who witnessed it all.In 1922, Hugo Bettauer published the novel The City Without Jews, a satirical critique of Austrian antisemitism. Three years later he would be killed by an early follower of the Nazi Party. More than a decade later, in March 1938, the novel's terrifying vision of a Vienna em...

On the centenary of the death of Rasputin comes a definitive biography that will dramatically change our understanding of this fascinating figureA hundred years after his murder, Rasputin continues to excite the popular imagination as the personification of evil. Numerous biographies, novels, and films recount his mysterious rise to power as Nicholas and Alexandra's confidant and the guardian of the sickly heir to the Russian throne. His debauchery and sinister pol...

“An irresistible lineup of tales … Satisfying twists and turns join with humor and deliciously vibrant descriptions to immerse readers in their compelling and eccentric worlds. … A must-read for anyone craving layered and offbeat chills and thrills. A dazzling array of stories.” — Kirkus Reviews (Starred review)“A collection that refuses easy categorization … spanning cosmic fantasy, noir mystery, and psychological horror. … Balancing scale with intimacy i...

A woman tries in vain to convince those around her that the world is ending. Is she right…or is she losing her mind?"...short and dark. An effective mood piece which uses words playfully to create horror. " —Rainbow Dragon RecommendsAbout the AuthorDouglas Smith is a five-time award-winning author described by Library Journal as “one of Canada’s most original writers of speculative fiction.”His latest work is the multi-awar...

As First Officer on the part passenger ship, part space freighter, The Fiscal Restraint, Jack Dexter (Dex to his friends) thinks he knows all there is to know about "Murphy’s Law": If anything can go wrong, it will. And on the perpetually under-staffed, under-funded Restraint, it generally does.But he never expected to actually meet Murphy. The real Murphy. Dex hires Orville Sod onto the Restraint just before the ship makes the jump to deep space. Unfortunately, by the time that De...

In a world stripped of life, where the Earth’s vibrant ecosystems have been reduced to a barren, synthetic haze, **The Algorithm That Governs the Seedless Earth** by Douglas Smith unfolds as a thrilling dystopian saga of rebellion, redemption, and the fight to reclaim the planet’s stolen fertility. Decades after the catastrophic Great Collapse, Verdant Synergy reigns supreme, its proprietary algorithm, “The Arbiter,” dictating every morsel of sustenance—a system designed not to sustain, bu...

Doug Smith was a social worker, a policy insider at the Texas Capitol, and a father-until untreated mental illness and addiction led him to rob a bank and land in prison for nearly six years.The Path of Rocks and Thorns isn't a redemption story dressed up for TED. It's a descent. A reckoning. And, ultimately, a resurrection.Structured like Dante's Inferno, this unflinching memoir follows Smith's journey through the darkest corners of his past-childhood trauma, sham...