The true adventures of David Fairchild, a turn-of-the-century food explorer who traveled the globe and introduced diverse crops like avocados, mangoes, seedless grapes—and thousands more—to the American plate.*“Fascinating.”—The New York Times Book Review •“Fast-paced adventure writing.”—The Wall Street Journal • “Richly descriptive.”—Kirkus • “A must-read for foodies.”*—HelloGigglesIn the nineteenth century, Ame...

The book is an edgy romantic thriller that tells the story of Joan, a character inspired by a few of the amazing matriarchal figures I have known. Joan's life is a succession of disasters involving bereavement, illness and abuse. The little comfort she eventually finds is whilst reading the Rush Hour Crush segment in the daily newspaper, a concept thought up by an old school friend. Despite being desperately unlucky in love and life, Joan never gives up until her shocking relationship lead...

A shattered, battered and bruised Pilot Light collapses, trapped in a reed bed. He has just committed a truly terrible crime. His getaway vehicle, the canal boat, is moored up only a few meters away. Weak and bloodied having been wounded and suffering the after effects of a drug fuelled comedown Pilot Light drifts away having become stuck, he then loses consciousness.How he came to be in that predicament is then revealed to the reader through a succession of flash backs chronicling ...

From the national bestselling author of The Food Explorer, a fascinating and rollicking plunge into the story of the world’s most famous shipwreck, the RMS TitanicOn a frigid April night in 1912, the world’s largest—and soon most famous—ocean liner struck an iceberg and slipped beneath the waves. She had scarcely disappeared before her new journey began, a seemingly limitless odyssey through the world’s fixation with her every tragic detail. Plans...

From the national bestselling author of The Food Explorer comes the untold story of Alice Hamilton, a trailblazing doctor and public health activist who took on the booming auto industry—and the deadly invention of leaded gasoline, which would poison millions of people across America.At noon on October 27, 1924, a factory worker was admitted to a hospital in New York City, suffering from hallucinations and convulsions. Before breakfast the next day, he was...

"Once a bustling town of bakers and dreamers, Icing Sugar Town now slumbered under a blanket of moss and morning glories. Its centerpiece was the Marshmallow Clocktower, its face frozen at 3:14 (the time of the last human’s departure), its bell tower home to a family of squirrels who stored acorns in the clock’s gears. The town’s cottages, shaped like oversized cupcakes with frosting-colored roofs, leaned drunkenly against each other. Weeds grew through cracked stained-glass windows th...

There are some nightmares from which you can never wake.Dread: A Head Full of Bad Dreams, from the Bram Stoker Award-nominated editoral team of Anthony Rivera and Sharon Lawson, is Volume One in the Best of Grey Matter Press series. Selected by readers and horror fans, the twenty short stories contained within the pages of Dread include some of the darkest hallucinatory revelations from the minds of the most accomplished award-winning authors of our time.T...

A relentless voice of self-doubt lives in your head, but what if the conventional wisdom for evicting it is completely wrong? The modern wellness industry offers platitudes and positive affirmations, yet the critic remains. Why do these methods fail so spectacularly? Author and journalist Daniel Stone launches a deep investigation into the true nature of this internal antagonist. The book reveals that the inner critic is not a character flaw but a sophisticated piece of ancient survival ha...

For decades, a single message has dominated self-improvement: you must believe in yourself before you can act. But what if this advice is a psychological trap? This book begins with the story of basketball legend Bill Russell, a man who vomited from anxiety before games yet dominated the court, to dismantle the myth of pre-existing confidence. Author Daniel Stone traces the history of this flawed idea, from the well-meaning but failed California Task Force to Promote Self-Esteem in the 198...

Epic, emotionally charged, and rich with speculative depth, this tale weaves legacy, sacrifice, and the courage to thrive in imperfection into a spellbinding saga that soars above the ordinary.In Stitches in the Clouds, Leah Starfall battles to safeguard her airborne homeland, Sky City, from Shiver—a sinister, shadowy force that invades minds and taints magic. As chaos swirls through the floating spires, Leah confronts twin horrors: her brother’s harrowing...

Sexually arousing, liberating, and elegantly prosed, Shades of the Past is a novella that will obsess you, possess you, and stay with you forever.Sienna, who suffered from her abusive father, has recently traded the habitual southern summers for New York’s new edges. She met a wealthy venture capitalist, Grayson, and reunited with Ethan, who had suddenly disappeared from her life.Sienna and Grayson are both haunted by their pasts. Sex becomes their...

In the whirlwind of modern life, Chinese mythological beings shed their divine aloofness. Whether adapting to human society or steadfastly clinging to their principles in the face of adversity, they redefine legend through the clash and fusion of worlds.The gluttonous Taotie, banished to Earth, becomes the star of a weight-loss reality show. After accidentally ingesting a satellite fragment, Taotie gains a profound understanding of the perils of excessive greed and...