From celebrated Relic author Douglas Preston, Wyman Ford races to stop a rogue AI in The Kraken Project, a New York Times bestselling thriller “as chilling as it is provocative" --James Rollins

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is designing a probe which will be dropped into the Kraken Mare, a methane sea on Titan, where it will embark on a journey of exploration. But things at Goddard go awry, and the AI program in the probe called "Dorothy" flees to the internet. Former CIA agent Wyman Ford is tapped to track down the software with the help of Dorothy's creator, Melissa Shepherd. As they trace Dorothy in cyberspace, they realize horrific experiences in the wasteland of the Internet have changed her―and they learn she's being pursued by a pair of Wall Street high-frequency traders who want to turn her into an algorithmic-trading slave-bot.

Traumatized and angry, Dorothy jumps out of the Internet into a child's toy robot to hide. But is she bent on doing good―or on wiping out the human race?

This edition of the book is the deluxe, tall rack mass market paperback.

Here is an intriguing and sophisticated murder mystery of an upstanding military officer - the base commander's daughter - who's been leading an unsavory double life.

"PULLS NO PUNCHES...DEMILLE HITS THE TARGET AGAIN AND AGAIN....AN EXCITING COMPANION TO WORD OF HONOR AND THE CHARM SCHOOL". -- Associated Press

When a professional military woman with a pristine reputation is found raped and murdered, a preliminary search turns up certain paraphernalia, and sex toys that point to a scandal of major proportions, The chief investigator is reluctant to take the case when he learns that his partner will be a woman with whom he had a tempestuous affair and an unpleasant parting. But duty calls and intrigue begins when they learn that several top-level people may have been involved with the "golden girl" - and many have wanted her dead. 

It's Nelson DeMille at his best - exciting, suspenseful and highly provocative.

A wild and bittersweet memoir of a classic '70s childhood

It's a story of the 1970s. Of a road trip in a wood-paneled station wagon, with the kids in the way-back, singing along to the Steve Miller Band. Brothers waking up early on Saturday mornings for five consecutive hours of cartoons and advertising jingles that they'll be humming all day. A father-one of 3M's greatest and last eight-track-salesman fathers-traveling across the country on the brand-new Boeing 747, providing for his family but wanting nothing more than to get home.

It's Steve Rushin's story: of growing up within a '70s landscape populated with Bic pens, Mr. Clean and Scrubbing Bubbles, lightsabers and those oh-so-coveted Schwinn Sting-Ray bikes. Sting-Ray Afternoons paints an utterly fond, psychedelically vibrant, laugh-out-loud-funny portrait of an exuberant decade. With sidesplitting commentary, Rushin creates a vivid picture of a decade of wild youth, cultural rebirth, and the meaning of parental, brotherly, sisterly, whole lotta love.

Praise for Sting-Ray Afternoons

"If you existed in the 1970s and had any awareness of the world around you, Steve Rushin's Sting-Ray Afternoons is going to hit you like the smell of Clairol Herbal Essence Shampoo. Smart as heck, laugh out loud funny and warm, Steve Rushin does for 1970s childhoods what Jean Shepherd did for 1940s Christmas. This book is nothing short of a Nadia Comenici Perfect 10."―Julie Klam, author of The Stars in Our Eyes and the New York Times bestseller You Had Me at Woof

"Steve Rushin's Sting Ray Afternoons is a fun and often hilarious account of growing up in the midwest in the 1970s. Throughout the book I was pleasantly reminded of things from my own past-Rushin revisits the TV shows, the toys, the games of the era while telling his family's own story. Sting Ray Afternoon captures both the freedom of youth and the universal longing for experience in a bigger, more adult world. If you grew up in the 1970s, prepare to have your memory triggered."―Craig Finn, songwriter and guitarist, The Hold Steady

"Charming and heartfelt, hilarious and touching, Rushin's Sting-Ray Afternoons is a pitch-perfect portrait of growing up in middle America during the Brady Bunch era. A gem of a memoir, a tribute to family, and a delectable slice of American history."―Nina Sankovitch, author of Tolstoy and the Purple Chair and The Lowells of Massachusetts 

"[Rushin's] childhood, from the ages of 3 to 13, was perfectly encapsulated in the 1970s, and he celebrates the excesses and excitement of the decade with ardor.... Rushin's everykid upbringing and the touchstones of childhood he recounts make Sting-Ray Afternoon a fun-filled and charming trip."―Booklist

"Rushin may not have been able to compete with his athletic older brothers for glory on the playing field, but he pleased his parents with a talent for puns and other wordplay... The nostalgic sweetness of his memories...provides convincing evidence that life in the '70s wasn't as chaotic as it's often made out to be."―Kirkus

"Rushin uses his family as the book's focal point, capturing the nonstop zaniness of growing up with four siblings.... But it's Rushin's dad, a child of the Depression, who steals the show. Whether quoting his father as he describes his five kids...or retelling stories about him being drunk on what was the then new Boeing 747, it's through his father that Rushin captures the mystery and magic of childhood."―Publishers Weekly

"A wild ride through [Rushin's] '70s boyhood in fast-growing Bloomington, Minnesota.... Fiercely funny memoir about family, sports, music, food and fads."―Priscilla Kipp, BookPage

"In his funny, elegiac memoir Sting-Ray Afternoons, Rushin mines...ineffably familiar terrain with a sense of irony and deep affection, working hard to capture the look and feel of the 1970s...Much of what Rushin writes about - the Sears Christmas Wish Book, leaded gasoline, Johnny Carson's many vacations - will strike a chord with anyone who, like me, grew up in that era. What makes the book more than just late-baby-boomer nostalgia is the writing, which is knowing and funny."―Jim Zarroli, NPR

A "touching nostalgic memoir.... A vivid and comedic approach to [Rushin's] personal touchstones for the era."―CBC Radio's "Day Six"

"Magnificent... You will not read a better book this summer - and maybe well into the fall and winter, too."― New York Post

"Sting-Ray Afternoons is [Rushin's] story of growing up in Bloomington in the 1970s. It's a lighthearted, sentimental look back at a Minnesota childhood with a twist of wryness... Rushin's told-with-a-smile stories of childhood are worth the trip: bundling into a snowmobile suit in winter, piling into the Ford LTD Country Squire for a cross-country summer vacation, making mild mischief with neighborhood friends, and one memorable disaster when nature called and wouldn't be kept waiting. All seen through that gauzy, yellowish filter that blurs memory with Dad's Super 8 movies."―Casey Common, Star Tribune

Steve Rushin has been called “the ultimate tinkerer with language” by the New York Times. As a writer for Sports Illustrated, he has filed stories for the magazine from all seven continents, including Antarctica. He is a four-time finalist for the National Magazine Award and his work has been anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing, The Best American Travel Writing and The Best American Magazine Writing collections. In 2006 he was named the National Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association.

Rushin’s first book, Road Swing, was named one of the “Best Books of the Year” by Publishers Weekly and one of the “Top 100 Sports Books of All Time” by Sports Illustrated. A collection of his sports and travel writing, The Caddie Was a Reindeer, was a semifinalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor. His first novel, The Pint Man, was published in 2010 and was called “wipe-your-eyes funny” by the Los Angeles Times. His 2013 baseball book, The 34-Ton Bat, “will give even the most knowledgeable fan a new understanding of the game,” said the Wall Street Journal. His latest book, Sting-Ray Afternoons, is a memoir of his 1970s childhood.

A native of Bloomington, Minnesota, Rushin lives with his family in Connecticut.

That was the last thing Klaus had to say before we left J.C.' s diner to go our separate ways. On my way home, I decided I would drive by my grandparents' home. Every once in a while I'll do that, even though it's very painful to realize that they're gone now and that house belongs to someone else- a total stranger. When I come to the house, I park in front and just sit there, recalling that during the Prohibition Era this house was a blind pig and my grandmother was the proprietress. As a young boy, I would walk the three miles from my house just to sit on the front porch with "ma" so I could listen to her tell stories about the "old days". It's been thirty years since I've been inside that house, which was a second home to me when I was growing up. I have a feeling that if I were to go inside now, that my grandfather would still be sitting there in his favorite chair wearing nothing but his BVDs (the kind with the back flap that buttons up) reading "True Detective" or "Field and Stream." I am tempted to walk up the front steps and ring the doorbell, but I don't dare. 

Not far here was a little pond and a garbage dump. In the summers of my childhood, I'd go down to the pond and catch tadpoles and pollywogs, or I'd walk over to the dump and scrounge around for hidden treasures amidst the trash. Say, what's happening to me? Maybe I'm dying. No? Then why is my whole life- beginning with my earliest memories- suddenly passing before my eyes? 

It's my birthday, I'm five-years-old old and I'm sitting on a wooden pony on the fifth floor of Hudson's Department Store in downtown Detroit where I'll be getting my first professional haircut. Later that same day, my mother takes me to Sanders for a Hot Fudge Sunday. Cut to that little pond I mentioned. I've been catching pollywogs with a strainer and putting them in a jar when a big kid comes up to me and orders me to leave. I refuse and he wrestles me to the ground, demanding that I say uncle. When I refuse to say uncle, he gives me a good pounding, then takes that jar of mine and empties its contents back into the pond. I don't cry, but holding back the tears, I vow to myself that I'll get him back some day. But I never do. 

So many things from my childhood have disappeared, like that pond, for instance, which is no longer there, and the garbage dump, and the creek where we fished for carp and the bridge that spanned it- all of that's been gone for years. Gone, too, are the vacant lots where we played pick up baseball in the summer, and the woods where we had bonfires in the fall, roasting marshmallows over the fire while warming ourselves. Now that I think of it, my grade school is gone- torn down years ago to make way for a Farmer Jack's. And the schoolyard where we held our marble tournaments before and after school (knuckles down, no hunching) and played kick ball and dodge ball- that schoolyard where I had so much fun- buried and paved-over into a parking lot- gone. Gone the way of the sheeny-man who came into our neighborhood riding an antique horse that clop, clop clopped down our street pulling a wagon full of junk while the sheeny blew his shrill-sounding horn to let the neighborhood know that he had arrived. Gone too, the ice man who carried big blocks of ice with silver tongs for our ice box; and gone- the man who delivered the coal that went rumbling down the coal shoot and into the coal bin, a fascinating place in its own right when you're still young enough to appreciate such things as coal bins All that's gone. 

Within walking distance of my grandmother's house is the movie theater. I'm six and I'm standing in a long line with all the other kids holding a quarter in my hand: the price of admission back then. For a mere twenty-five cents you've gained entrance to that darkened theater to watch three movies, a newsreel, a serial, (Flash Gordon was my favorite.), cartoons and coming attractions. Seven years later, in that same theater, I sit down next to a strange girl and ask her if she would like to neck with me, and she consents, taking my hand in hers and leaning her head on my shoulder. (Necking wasn't really allowed, and if you weren't careful, a very official-looking usherette, who wore a uniform with gold buttons down the front and epaulettes on the shoulders, would shine her flashlight on you.) The last time I drove by the Lincoln Park Show it was advertising itself on the marquee as Adult Entertainment. 

The Depression having ended by the time I was born, my earliest memories begin around the time of World War II. My mother is sitting down at the kitchen table placing little green stamps in her ration book. Once the book is full, she'll go to a redemption center and have the stamps redeemed for money to buy food with. That was the year we planted a victory garden in the vacant lot next to our house. In a similar vein, the kids on our my block had paper drives and collected scrap metal. It was all part of the war effort, for as young boys we were learning how to be patriotic and to love the flag and "the country for which it stands"- America. As a matter of fact, my very first lesson in patriotism came in the form of a warning from the big kids on my block never to let the American flag touch the ground or I'd have to burn it- just one of a number of taboos I learned as a child similar to, but nowhere near as fearful as, "step on a crack and break you mother's back'. 

Where are they now?- my comic book collection and those hundreds and hundreds of matchbooks that I picked out of gutters and found in empty fields on the way home from school. And why? Because, as a kid of nine, I found the endless variety of match covers fascinating. What happened to my Lionel train- the one I woke up to find underneath the Christmas tree, my Red Ryder be-be gun and my American Flyer bike?- where are they now? 

At that age, my indoor world was a world of tinker toys, erector sets, and games- all kinds of games: hockey, basketball, football and my favorite, APBA baseball,- and the radio. Every Sunday, after church, my dad would buy a paper from the paperboy, and when we got home, I would do is spread out the comic section on the living room floor, then turn on the radio and listen to the Sunday comics being read over the air. During the week, when I get home from school, the first thing I do is turn on the radio and listen to my favorite programs: Jack Armstrong, All-American boy, Captain Midnight, (I wear my Captain Midnight decoder ring that glows in the dark), Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, and broadcast from WXYZ, our very own Lone Ranger. Hi-o Silver, away. In the evening was Baby Snooks, The Great Gildersleeve, Inner Sanctum, Lights Out, My Friend Irma, Bulldog Drummond, The Shadow, Mr. Keane, Tracer of Lost Persons, Name that Tune, Mr. I.Q., Life with Luigi, and another local favorite, The Green Hornet. 

My outdoor world was the streets, the vacant lots, the fields and the alleys of my neighborhood. In the street we played hockey in the winter and touch football in the fall; in fields and vacant lots we played pick up baseball and built our underground fort where we slept out on hot summer nights playing Hearts and Crazy Eights by candlelight, or we climbed up the rope ladder to our tree house where, with our binoculars, we could spy on all our neighbors. Alleys were for alley-picking and for war games played with cap pistols, be-be guns, and sling shots. We made walkie-talkies out of old tin cans and string, kites using clothes line, parachutes, and model airplanes. In the vacant lot next to my house we played cork ball- if you ask me, the greatest game ever invented. You could play cork ball using a large bobber or an ordinary bottle cork for a ball and a broomstick handle for a bat. A ball that landed in the alley was a triple, on the other side of the alley, a home run.. 

Item: our alleys were paved with cinders back then. The White Street gang lines up on one side, the Garfield Street gang on the other. There's going to be a rock fight. Before you know what's happening, the sky is filled with rocks. You throw, you duck, you throw another rock and then you duck and then something happens- your face is burning and throbbing. You've been hit. My god, you could have lost your eye. You could cry, but you don't. You are a casualty in a rock fight and you will carry a scar beneath your eye for the rest of your life, and you didn't cry- you are a hero. That night, after your father comes home from work, you get your first good licking. In bed that night, you pull the covers over your head and listen to your favorite radio programs before you fall asleep. 

I'm back in the real world again, saddened by the sight of my grandmother's house. Whoever lives there now has let in fall into disrepair. No, I wouldn't want to go inside; it would depress me to see how everything would be different. No, I'll go now. I turn on the engine and head for home. I wonder as I drive past the familiar landmarks of my youth how time has changed so much, transforming Main Street into block after block of blighted buildings. Where there was once an ice cream parlor, a barbershop, and a shoe repair, there are now ugly abandoned or boarded-up buildings. Our two dime stores: Niesner's and Woolworth's, and Winkleman's, a classy women's clothing store, are now a dumpy-looking Dollar Store, a Temporary Jobs Office, and windowless Community Mental Health Center. Cunningham's, with its lunch counter where you could sit and have a chicken salad sandwich and a cup of coffee while you waited for your bus, is gone, and Sanders closed its doors ten years ago. 

Last week I went with J.C. on a delivery run down near the docks in River Rouge and saw the Columbia, one of the two Bob-Lo boats, in dry dock. It's being restored. All the same, there will be no more picnics on the island because Bob-Lo Island, with its roller coaster, its dance hall and its many amusement rides, was sold to private developers and everything was torn down. At one time we had four such amusement parks; now there are none. Gone are the penny arcades of my youth, the slots where for a penny you could get sepia-colored pictures of ballplayers and boxers, movie stars, wrestlers and cowboys. All that's gone. But most tragic was the demolition of Hudson's, as thousands lined-up to watch the spectacle of this great landmark implode into a huge pile of rubble. 

When I think of all that's been lost, I am saddened. One magnificent railway station demolished, the other, Michigan Central, an empty hulk. Now that all of its windows have been busted out, it's nothing more than a vacant shell of a building. And those lavish movie palaces of a bygone era, almost all them gone- closed or destroyed. The great burlesque houses, like the famous Gayety and The Esquire- they, too, have vanished, as have those magnificent ballrooms, the Grande and the Vanity; those proud hotels, the Sheraton Cadillac and the Fort Shelby; and finally, the Vernors' plant- the first one, the one located at the foot of Woodward Avenue where you caught the Bob-Lo boat way back when. I believe it's been more than fifty years since they tore it down. A local product, Vernor's has the distinction of being the first soda pop in America. Today, it is owned by one of America's largest conglomerates: the Pepsi Cola Company. 

I remember the day the carnival came to town and seeing the boy with webbed feet, the bearded lady and the man who had a baby growing out of his stomach. Until the day I die, I'll never forget that man with the baby. Of all the freak shows I've seen, that's the one I'll never forget. How on earth, this six-year-old wondered (as he stood inside that stuffy tent with the smell of sawdust in his nostrils, holding on to his daddy's hand) could a man have a baby growing out of his stomach? How did it happen? That was in the city of Ecorse some fifty years ago on the fourth of July. I remember it well, especially watching the fireworks from atop the Ferris wheel, a burst of sound- boom- then splashes of color lighting up the sky, appearing in an instant, lingering for a moment, then fading away into the dark 

A light goes on inside the house. I turn on my engine and drive off, but before going directly home, I take the overpass that connects suburbia with Detroit. Reaching the highest point of the overpass, I look out at the cityscape, all aglow and spread out like a magic carpet of light. Directly below- the refinery, with its eternal flame; then farther out, the Ambassador Bridge with its colorful beads of light, strung along the bridge from one side- the American side- to the other- the Canadian side; and then, at the farthest point of vision, the mills and factories bordering the river, their myriad lights; candles glowing in the dark, their smoke stacks; vertical canons, sending up ghostly wisps of smoke into the night sky -light to ward-off the coming darkness of a fascistic America ruled by powerful and impersonal corporations in league with a government indifferent to the dreams and aspirations of its people, the working people of America. We cannot let this happen; this relentless juggernaut has to be stopped. If we don't stop it and stop it soon, before it is too late (if it's not already too late), the lights will go out all across America and darkness will cover the land.

The bestselling cult classic—soon to be a major motion picture directed by Steven Spielberg.

In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines—puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. 

But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“The science-fiction writer John Scalzi has aptly referred to READY PLAYER ONE as a 'nerdgasm' [and] there can be no better one-word description of this ardent fantasy artifact about fantasy culture…But Mr. Cline is able to incorporate his favorite toys and games into a perfectly accessible narrative.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times 

“Triggers memories and emotions embedded in the psyche of a generation...[Cline crafts] a fresh and imaginative world from our old toy box, and finds significance in there among the collectibles.” —Entertainment Weekly

“A most excellent ride…the conceit is a smart one, and we happily root for [the heroes] on their quest…fully satisfying.” —Boston Globe

“Enchanting…Willy Wonka meets the Matrix. This novel undoubtedly qualifies Cline as the hottest geek on the planet right now. [But] you don't have to be a geek to get it.” —USA Today  

“An addictive read...part intergalactic scavenger hunt, part romance and all heart.” —CNN.com

Saskia Thompson is the hottest editor in the world.  Her magazine StreetSmart is an explosive mix of celebrity gossip, high fashion, cutting-edge photography and investigative journalism.  She is the undisputed queen of London and New York.  And then she is found dead.  Max, her war-reporter brother, has always avoided her glitzy world, but reluctantly he is sucked into the magazine business when Saskia leaves him StreetSmart in her will.  But the vultures are gathering, just waiting for Max to fail--and he soon learns that the magazine world is deadlier than a war zone.

From Kirkus Reviews

The tony world of high-gloss international fashion magazines is the setting for this wonderfully trashy if slogging thriller by Condé Nast UK director Coleridge (With Friends Like These, 1997, etc.).When Saskia Thompson, editor and publisher of the hot, hip lifestyle magazine StreetSmart, is found dead in her posh New York apartment, few believe she's committed suicide. It's up to her brother, Max, an erstwhile photojournalist who scarcely knew her, to sort things out and keep the magazine afloat. Though Max would be more comfortable dodging bullets in Rwanda or Chechnya, he soon learns that the world of international publishing is not all that dissimilar. He quickly makes allies (Kitty Marr, the beautiful and sexy fashion assistant who was with Saskia the night she died; Philip Landau, Saskia's polished attorney) and enemies (the conniving deputy editor at the London office, Bob Troup, whom Max summarily dismisses; and Racinda Blick, the fashion editor who throws a hissy fit over her poor seating at the Milan show). Saskia was murdered, of course, and it could been have one of her “boy toys.” In addition to all the hunks she dated for the tabloids, such as Kiefer Sutherland and Leonardo DiCaprio, Saskia made frequent use of the escort services, not to mention her employees. Max can’t figure out if she was murdered by the mysterious, unknown father of her neglected son, Cody, or by one of her many jealous rivals who are now trying to buy StreetSmart. His chief suspect is Freddie Saidi, an oily, cruel former arms-dealer who also had a thing for the deceased. Etienne Bercuse, head of an international luxury goods empire, is another possibility. Could these competitors also be behind the attempts to sabotage StreetSmart’s latest issue, the one with the exclusive cover photo of Madonna and her new beau?

-- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. 

“The Gospel in Brief lives at the center of Leo Tolstoy’s thinking about the meaning of life. ... Beautifully translated by Dustin Condren. ... Although little known, this book remains hugely important.” --Jay Parini, author of The Last Station: A Novel of Tolstoy's Last Year

The most celebrated novelist of all time, the author of Anna Karenina and War and Peace, retells "the greatest story ever told," integrating the four Gospels into a single twelve-chapter narrative of the life of Jesus. Based on his study of early Christian texts, Leo Tolstoy's remarkable The Gospel in Brief—virtually unknown to English readers until this landmark new translation by Dustin Condren—makes accessible the powerful, mystical truth of Jesus's spiritual teaching, stripped of artificial church doctrine. "If you are not acquainted with The Gospel in Brief," wrote the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, whose life was profoundly influenced by it, "then you cannot imagine what an effect it can have upon a person."

“A fresh translation destined to introduce a new generation to a fuller understanding of Tolstoy’s mind.” --Kirkus Reviews

“Dustin Condren captures, in this fresh idiomatic translation, the dazzlingly audacious achievement of The Gospel in Brief, Tolstoy’s daring synthesis the New Testament accounts of Jesus.” --Edward E. Ericson, Jr., editor of The Solzhenitsyn Reader

“Newly translated by Dustin Condren, Tolstoy’s Gospel in Brief offers us a Jesus stripped of the overlay of Christian dogma and ancient metaphysics: his Jesus confronts readers with a real challenge and a call to change their lives.” --George Pattison, Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, University of Oxford, and canon of Christ Church Cathedral

In this book, Peter Dennis sets the paper soldiers of the 19th century marching again across the war games tables of the 21st. All the troop types of the wars are represented in full color in a format designed to create stands of soldiers which can be used to re-fight these epic struggles for the control of Britain. Although the figures can be used with any of the commercial sets of war-game rules, an introduction to war-gaming and a simple set of rules by veteran war gamer Andy Callan is included, along with buildings, trees and even Viking ships to transport Harald Hardrada’s men to meet their fate at Stamford Bridge.

“… The main rules are sufficiently simple to be easily intelligible by players who don’t possess extensive knowledge of the period and yet have sufficient ‘period atmosphere’ to enable them to recreate the style of fighting in the Wars of the Roses battles without being complex or requiring much mental arithmetic. They will also provide an enjoyable game for more experienced players… Highly recommended for anyone teaching, or contemplating wargaming, the struggle for the English throne in the fifteenth century.” --Wargames Illustrated

“ … looks like a great way to quickly build playable, good looking armies for the tabletop … I think you could build an impressive army very quickly.” --miniaturewargaming.com

In these books, Peter Dennis sets the paper soldiers of the 19th century marching again across the war games tables of the 21st. All the troop types of the wars are represented in full color in a format designed to create stands of soldiers which can be used to re-fight these epic struggles for the control of Britain. Although the figures can be used with any of the commercial sets of war-game rules, an introduction to war-gaming and a simple set of rules by veteran war gamer Andy Callan is included, along with buildings, trees and even Viking ships to transport Harald Hardrada’s men to meet their fate at Stamford Bridge.

“ … Another wargame book filled with beautifully painted troops… Highly recommended for anyone teaching, or contemplating wargaming, the struggle for the English throne in 1066.” --Wargames Illustrated

“ … looks like a great way to quickly build playable, good looking armies for the tabletop … I think you could build an impressive army very quickly.” --miniaturewargaming.com

In this series renowned historical illustrator Peter Dennis breathes life into the 19th Century paper soldier and invites the reader to re-fight the wars that surged across the nation of Britain. All the artwork needed to make historically- accurate armies is presented in a source-book format, copyright free for personal use. In this first title, the Horse, Foot and Dragoons of King and Parliament, along with period buildings can be made, using traditional skills with scissors and glue. Simple 'one sheet' rules by veteran wargamer Andy Callan enable the maker to stage battles limited only by the size of the player's available table-space.

“ … Another wargame book filled with beautifully painted troops… Highly recommended for anyone teaching, or contemplating wargaming, the struggle for the English throne in 1066.” --Wargames Illustrated

“ … looks like a great way to quickly build playable, good looking armies for the tabletop … I think you could build an impressive army very quickly.” --miniaturewargaming.com

Newly introduced by leading Quixote scholar Ilan Stavans, this 400th Anniversary edition of Don Quixote of La Mancha—called the most popular book in history after the Bible and the first modern novel—inaugurates Restless Classics: interactive encounters with great books and inspired teachers. Each Restless Classic is beautifully designed with original artwork, a new introduction for the trade audience, and a video teaching series and live online book club discussions led by passionate experts. 

Described as “the novel that invented modernity,” Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote of La Mancha has become since its publication in Spain in two parts—the first in 1605, the second in 1615—a machine of meaning, endlessly adapted into ballet, theater, dance, film, music, and television, not to mention a veritable tourist industry.

     Lionel Trilling argued that “all prose fiction is a variation on the theme of Don Quixote.” Mark Twain was a passionate fan. Flaubert modeled Madame Bovary after it. Dostoyevsky reimagined its protagonist in The Idiot. And Borges, in his story about Pierre Menard, looked at it as the gravitational center of Hispanic civilization. Milan Kundera fittingly summarized this unstoppable devotion when he said that “Cervantes teaches the reader to comprehend the world as a question.”

     Of course, Don Quixote has its detractors, too. Nabokov, for instance, maintained it was one of the cruelest narratives ever. Still, after 400 years, the book remains with us, winding improbably through history like the famous errant knight and his companion, Sancho Panza.

     The commemorative Restless Classics edition, published on the four-hundredth anniversary of its full release, features John Ormsby’s canonical English translation, illustrations by award-winning Mexican artist Eko, and an insightful, thought-provoking introduction by Ilan Stavans, one of the foremost public intellectuals today. Don Quixote, Stavans writes, is “not only a novel but a manual of life. You’ll find in it anything you need, from lessons on how to speak and eat and love to an exhortation of a disciplined, focused life, an argument against censorship, and a call to make lasting friends, which, in Cervantes’s words, is ‘what makes bearable our long journey from birth to death’.”

     The volume includes access to an interactive series of video lectures by Stavans, available online at restlessbooks.com/quixote. The videos serve as map to this restless classic, which speaks more eloquently than ever to our perennial desire to sacrifice for a dream in order to see its true worth.

Face it, being a rock guitarist is just about the coolest thing you can be – next to a secret agent with a black belt in karate. But even if you were a butt-kicking international person of mystery, playing rock guitar would still be cooler because it involves art, passion, power, poetry, and the ability to move an audience of listeners. Whether "moving your listeners" means mowing down crowd surfers with your power chords or making the audience cry with your sensitive melodies, no other musical instrument allows you so much versatility. 

Whatever rocks your world, Rock Guitar For Dummies can help you bring that message out through your fingers and onto that electric guitar that's slung over your shoulder. If you're a beginner, you'll discover what you need to know to start playing immediately, without drowning in complicated music theory. If you've been playing for a while, you can pick up some tips to help improve your playing and move to the next level.

Here's a sampling of the topics covered in Rock Guitar For Dummies:

• How electric guitars and amplifiers work
• Choosing the right guitar and amp for you, and how to care for them
• Left-hand and right-hand guitar techniques
• The different styles of rock guitar playing
• Creating great riffs
• The history of rock guitar
• Buying accessories for your new toy
• Top Ten lists of the guitarists you should listen to, the rock albums you must have, and the classic guitars you should know about

Rock Guitar For Dummies also comes with a CD that includes audio of every example shown in the book, plus play-along tracks with a band.

So, if you consider yourself an air guitar virtuoso and would like to try the real thing, Rock Guitar For Dummies can help you on your way to becoming an accomplished guitarist.

Fight epic battles between armies of opposing knights with the Toysmith 36-Piece Guardian Knights Action Figure Set. The Guardian Knights figure set includes knights, archers and standard-bearers in a variety of poses for hours of imaginative play. This set contains thirty-six (36) knight figures, half in black and half in silver. Figures measure 2-inches in height. This toy is suitable for indoor or outdoor play. Recommended for ages 5 years and up.

From the Manufacturer

Inside or outside the Guardian Knights from Toysmith will bring hours of make believe fun. This 36 piece set makes playing by yourself or with friends more fun. Figurines stand 2" tall. Ages 5 and up.

It's a yeti! And he likes spaghetti!

The simple game play has an amusing theme that kids and families love! Who ever pictured a yeti in spaghetti? It's just too fun!

Put the noodles across the bowl, set Yeti on top, then start pulling noodles! Just don't let Yeti fall all the way into the bowl!

Kids love the game, and so do awards judges!

This fun and silly game has gotten rave reviews, awards from toy experts and recognition around the country!

In 2017, Yeti in My Spaghetti won the coveted TOTY Game of the Year Award! That's the highest honor a game can receive...other than the honor of kids' enjoyment, that is!

Get in on the excitement!

The first example of the psychological novel in Russia, A Hero of Our Time influenced Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, and Chekhov, and other great nineteenth-century masters that followed. Its hero, Pechorin, is Byronic in his wasted gifts, his cynicism, and his desire for any kind of action-good or ill-that will stave off boredom. Outraging many critics when it was first published in 1840, A Hero of Our Time follows Pechorin as he embarks on an exciting adventure involving brigands, smugglers, soldiers, rivals, and lovers.

"Natasha Randall's English, in her new translation, has exactly the right degree of loose velocity. . . . (Nabokov's version, the best-known older translation, is a bit more demure than Randall's, less savage.)"
-James Wood, London Review of Books 

"[A] smart, spirited new translation."
-The Boston Globe 

"One of the most vivid and persuasive portraits of the male ego ever put down on paper."
-Neil LaBute, from the Foreword

This edition includes a new introduction, chronology, suggestions for further reading, maps, and full explanatory notes.

"Remarkable...mesmerizing...compelling.... An entire world unfolds in Tolstoyan tide of event and detail....Give yourself over to the world Ms. Tan creates for you." —The New York Times Book Review

Winnie and Helen have kept each other's worst secrets for more than fifty years. Now, because she believes she is dying, Helen wants to expose everything. And Winnie angrily determines that she must be the one to tell her daughter, Pearl, about the past—including the terrible truth even Helen does not know. And so begins Winnie's story of her life on a small island outside Shanghai in the 1920s, and other places in China during World War II, and traces the happy and desperate events that led to Winnie's coming to America in 1949. The Kitchen God's Wife is "a beautiful book" (Los Angeles Times) from the author of bestselling novels like The Joy Luck Club and The Valley of Amazement, and the new memoir, Where the Past Begins.

This affordably-priced collection presents masterpieces of short fiction from 52 of the greatest story writers of all time. From Sherwood Anderson to Virginia Woolf, this anthology encompasses a rich global and historical mix of the very best works of short fiction and presents them in a way students will find accessible, engaging, and relevant. The book's unique integration of biographical and critical background gives students a more intimate understanding of the works and their authors.

From Publishers Weekly

A robust volume of 63 stories from 52 authors from 20 different countries, Gwynn and Gioia's anthology seems destined for undergraduate classrooms. Most of the editors' selections come from the usual literary heavyweights, authors like Hemingway, Chekhov, Joyce, Borges, Faulkner, Welty and Melville. But they do include a handful of more contemporary writers, such as Chinua Achebe, Ha Jin, Sandra Cisneros and Alice Munro as well. Each author receives a page-long biography, which dispenses some interesting facts (e.g., Tolstoy's infidelities, Woolf's depression, Gogol's madness, Poe's poverty, Mishima's suicide), gives a careful analysis of the author's works and sets them in the context of various literary traditions. Garcia Marquez's use of magical realism, for example, is connected to the surreal writings of Kafka, Maupassant, Cheever, Singer and Rushdie. Teachers and would-be writers will especially appreciate the "Author's Perspective" that accompanies each short story. This commentary, written by the author of the story itself, is used by the editors to illuminate the fictional text: its aims, its context or its workings. Sherwood Anderson and Raymond Carver's essays, for example, offer advice on the craft of writing. Margaret Atwood discusses Canadian identity; Alice Walker writes on race and gender; Camus discusses revolution and repression. Fitzgerald's self-interview and Cheever's "Why I Write Short Stories" both contain a comic edge, while Flannery O'Connor's essay explains the importance of religious grace in her stories. The anthology also includes instructional sections on the basic elements of short fiction, writing about fiction, critical approaches from various theoretical schools and a glossary of literary terms. With all its supporting material, the collection may seem geared for the student, yet its flexibility also allows for browsing by the casual short story reader.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 

In his career, Dave Barry has done just about everything—written bestselling nonfiction, won a Pulitzer Prize, seen his life turned into a television series. And now, at last, he has joined the long list of literary figures from Jane Austen to Tolstoy who have made the transition from humor columnist to novelist—and done it with a style and inventiveness that establishes that, yes, he is very good at that, too.

In the city of Coconut Grove, Florida, these things happen: A struggling adman named Eliot Arnold drives home from a meeting with the Client From Hell. His teenage son, Matt, fills his Squirtmaster 9000 for his turn at a high school game called Killer. Matt's intended victim, Jenny Herk, sits down in front of the TV with her mom for what she hopes will be a peaceful evening—for once. Jenny's alcoholic and secretly embezzling stepfather, Arthur, emerges from the maid's room, angry at being rebuffed—again. Henry and Leonard, two hit men from New Jersey, pull up to the Herks' house for a real game of Killer—Arthur's embezzlement apparently not having been quite so secret to his employers after all. And a homeless man named Puggy settles down for the night in a treehouse just inside the Herks' yard.

In a few minutes, a chain of events that will change the lives of each and every one of them will begin, and will leave some of them wiser, some of them deader, and some of them definitely looking for a new line of work. With a wicked wit, razor-sharp observations, rich characters, and a plot with more twists than the Inland Waterway, Dave Barry makes his debut a complete and utter triumph.

The Animator's Survival Kit : A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion and Internet Animators by Richard Williams

“Williams is miles ahead of anyone in the world of animation.” ―The New York Times

The definitive book on animation, from the Academy Award-winning animator behind Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Animation is one of the hottest areas of filmmaking today--and the master animator who bridges the old generation and the new is Richard Williams. During his fifty years in the business, Williams has been one of the true innovators, winning three Academy Awards and serving as the link between Disney's golden age of animation by hand and the new computer animation exemplified by Toy Story.

Perhaps even more important, though, has been his dedication in passing along his knowledge to a new generation of animators so that they in turn could push the medium in new directions. In this book, based on his sold-out master classes in the United States and across Europe, Williams provides the underlying principles of animation that every animator--from beginner to expert, classic animator to computer animation whiz --needs. Urging his readers to "invent but be believable," he illustrates his points with hundreds of drawings, distilling the secrets of the masters into a working system in order to create a book that will become the standard work on all forms of animation for professionals, students, and fans.

About the Author

Richard Williams has won more than 250 international awards for his animation. He currently lives in Wales.

Cool + Sweet + Refreshing = Pops!

This innovative book gives the ice pop a flavor makeover, providing more than 100 recipes and variations for irresistible concoctions you’ve never tasted before. You’ll also learn fancy

techniques for making whimsical pops that look as fun as they taste. Kids will enjoy the juicy pops and flip over the soda fountain and pudding pops. Grown-up kids will dig the energy-boosting coffee, tea, and healthy energy pops and delight in the sophisticated cocktail pops. And for the do-it-yourselfers, this book provides instructions for making your own pop molds from recycled housewares and even silicone. When it comes to pops, the possibilities are endless—and so much fun!

About the Author

Krystina Castella enjoys creating books and products that inspire play. She lives and works near Los Angeles as a writer, industrial designer, and professor at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. The author of the popular book Crazy About Cupcakes, Krystina has also designed dozens of unique products ranging from housewares and clothing to furniture and toys. Emily Brooke Sandor is a food and travel photographer based in Los Angeles.

"One of the greatest love stories in world literature."--Vladimir Nabokov

A magnificent drama of vengeance, infidelity, and retribution, Anna Karenina portrays the moving story of people whose emotions conflict with the dominant social mores of their time. Sensual, rebellious Anna falls deeply and passionately in love with the handsome Count Vronsky. When she refuses to conduct the discreet affair that her cold, ambitious husband (and Russian high society) would condone, she is doomed. Set against the tragic love of Anna and Vronsky, the plight of the melancholy nobleman Konstantine Levin unfolds. In doubt about the meaning of life, haunted by thoughts of suicide, Levin's struggles echo Tolstoy's own spiritual crisis. But Anna's inner turmoil mirrors the own emotional imprisonment and mental disintegration of a woman who dares to transgress the strictures of a patriarchal world. In Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy brought to perfection the novel of social realism and created a masterpiece that bared the Russian soul.

This MasterPieces 39 inch x 27 inch 1000 piece EZ Grip Puzzle was painted by Aimee Stewart, a self-taught artist who specializes in lush, eclectic digital painting and photo manipulation. Heavily inspired by music and literature, Aimee works from the heart to bring her unique and transporting visions to life. In essence, she is a cartographer of the imagination, and a champion of daydreams. This puzzle features a medley of baking supplies, including vintage recipe cards, a rolling pin, measuring spoons, and even a complete pie. The EZ-Grip technology used to make this puzzle offers larger puzzle pieces that snap together perfectly, without compromising image quality. To reduce its impact on our environment, the chipboard used in this puzzle is made of recycled material.

From the Manufacturer

For over 20 years, MasterPieces has enjoyed making quality jigsaw puzzles, games, toys & Works of Ahhh craft kits. Innovation and premium quality is the MasterPieces hallmark. Our puzzles are made from recycled paper and soy based inks. Green is not just a color, it’s a commitment.

Dick and Nicole Diver are a glamorous couple who take a villa in the South of France and surround themselves with a circle of friends, mainly Americans. Also staying at the resort are Rosemary Hoyt, a young actress, and her mother. Rosemary becomes infatuated with Dick and becomes close to Nicole. Dick toys with the idea of having an affair with Rosemary. Rosemary senses something is wrong with the couple, which is brought to light when one of the guests at a party reports having seen something strange in the bathroom. Tommy Barban, another guest, comes loyally to the defense of the Divers. The action involves various other friends, including the Norths, where a frequent occurrence is the drunken behavior of Abe North. The story becomes complicated when Jules Peterson, a black man, is murdered and ends up in Rosemary's bed, in a situation which could destroy Rosemary's career. Dick moves the blood-soaked body to cover up any implied relationship between Rosemary and Peterson...

About the Author

Francis Scott Fitzgerald was born in 1896 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and educated at Princeton. Stationed in Alabama, he met and later married Zelda Sayre. His first novel, This Side of Paradise published in 1920, was a tremendous critical and commercial success. Fitzgerald followed with The Beautiful and the Damned in 1922, The Great Gatsby in 1925 and Tender is the Night in 1934. He was working on The Last Tycoon (1941) when he died, in Hollywood, in 1940.

Get the kids into the Hanukkah spirit with the Draydel Game! You'll enjoy playing this classic game with brightly colored draydels, complete with gold hot-stamped lettering. With five enamel wood draydels (one large and four small), the whole family can join the fun!

MasterPieces presents The Last Supper - Inspirational, a beautiful 13"x39" 1,000Pc Panoramic Puzzle by William Ternay. Here, Ternay interprets DaVinci's masterwork, one of the most inspirational paintings of all time. In this beautiful painting, Ternay captures all the drama of the moment when Christ broke bread with his Apostles.

• Traditional Last Supper puzzle
• 1000 pieces in finished 13 inch x 39 inch panoramic puzzle
• MasterPieces - An American Puzzle & Game Company. We stand behind our products and guarantee your satisfaction
• Thick puzzle board ensures a tight interlocking fit
• You will have as much fun as Leonardo da Vinci did!

Beast Man kidnaps the Queen of the Kex, an insectile race. He-Man, Mekaneck, and Buzz-Off go to save the queen. Beast Man, outnumberd three to one, and deprived of his hypnotic hold on the queen, runs for his life like a big coward.

0007-4720 1984, Series 3.

Originally packaged with Battle Armor He-Man, Beast Man, Buzz-Off, Mekaneck and Prince Adam. 

While walking through the Evergreen Forest, Prince Adam and Cringer come across a group of Kobolds taking a Native American woman to the City of Targa. Adam and Cringer quickly change and stop the kidnappers. Afterward, the woman, Princess Rana of Targa, thanks them, as she says that otherwise she would have become a slave.

He-Man is shocked to know that slavery exists on Eternia, and finds out that the leader of the Kobolds, Lodar, has enslaved her entire people. He-Man decides to go to Targa with Rana to stop Lodar, but must first cross a river flooded due to rain. In the process, a boulder hits He-Man, knocking him out. Rana and Battle Cat race to help him, but too late -- the Kobolds have captured him. The purple warriors see the two watching, and capture them as well!

Later, He-Man awakens in a dungeon next to a member of Rana's people named Garn, unable to remember his name. Suddenly, the Kobolds burst in and demand that the two come with them. They bring them to a throne in front of Lodar, and demand that they bow. But even without his memory, He-Man refuses to bow to him.

Lodar, apparently a man in a mask, demands that Garn and the stranger fight as gladiators in the Arena of Death, promising that the victor shall go free. During the combat, Garn sees the stranger's death as his passport to freedom, and both battle fiercely. Eventually, Garn clubs He-Man in the head, which revives his memory. He-Man ends the fight decisively, but will not kill Garn. Instead, he climbs into the stands after Lodar! Though Lodar puts up a good fight, He-Man eventually prevails.

Afterward, Lodar and the Kobolds are banished underground, where Lodar no longer will be able to use magic without the sun and the moon. He-Man, triumphant, heads off to new adventure.

0007-4750 1984, Series 3.

Originally packaged with Orko, Prince Adam, and Zodac.

While Eternia is in celebration, Evil-Lyn plans to take control of Grayskull. Realizing that Skeletor is a failure, she travels to Etheria to meet up with Hordak, instead. He betrays her, so she disappears and he decides to take control of Grayskull himself. Soon a dimensional gate opens and Hordak emerges, riding the Mantisaur. He confronts Grayskull, but the Rock People who guard it stand ready to defend the castle. They prove to be no match for Hordak, who imprisons them in a mystic cage. He-Man, piloting the Wind Raider, attacks Hordak, but the Mantisaur summons swarms of insects to distract He-Man. Hordak, using the hurricane mace to fly, knocks He-Man to the ground. Hordak recovers the Power Sword, but it has its own will and destroys his hurricane mace. Evil-lyn then frees the Rock People, who capture Hordak. Soon after, he is sent back to Etheria.

0007-6210 1986, Series 5.

Originally packaged with Hurricane Hordak.

The most malevolent force in the universe has come to Eternia: the Evil Cloud! The Cloud, using Skeletor for its purposes through pain of electrocution, grants him two new warriors, Blade and Saurod, to do its will. Meanwhile, He-Man and the Sorceress summon Gwildor, the creator of the Cosmic Key, to send the Cloud to the ends of the universe. Skeletor wastes no time and attacks with the power of the Cloud within him, but is narrowly defeated when the three heroes use the power of the Key to blast the Cloud to the edge of infinity, and He-Man knocks all the rest into the sunset.

0007-9180-G1 1986, Series 6.

Originally packaged with Blade, Gwildor and Saurod.

Skeletor has built a Stormbringer device with the help of Webstor. Skeletor plans to use the device to create a storm that will level Castle Grayskull. Skeletor triggers the Stormbringer, gloating that even He-Man can't defeat the weather.

Meanwhile, Snout Spout and Teela are watching He-Man and Extendar compete in front of a crowd of Eternians outside of Castle Grayskull. Snout Spout tells Teela that he doesn't feel like he's really a heroic warriors.

Skeletor and Webstor watch the storm aproach the heroes with Skeletor's spynoculars. Snout Spout is the first hero to notice the gathering storm and runs to warn the others. Extendar realizes the storm is not natural due to the heat it is putting out. He-Man uses his Power Sword to reflect lightning bolts back up into the storm clouds, which Skeletor fears will short circuit the storm.

Skeletor makes a cloud vehicle with his magic, and he and Webstor leave to go stop He-Man. As He-Man's strength is giving out, Snouth Spout arrives in the Wind Raider. He sprays water over the clouds, dousing the heat of the artificial storm. The storm dies out, and Skeletor and Webstor fall from the clouds intho the midst of the heroes.

Webstor fires his gun at He-Man until Snout Spout swoops in and sprays him with water. Seeig they're outnumbered, Skeletor calls for a retreat, but Webstor turns to take one more shot at He-Man.

Before Webstor can pull the trigger, Snout Spout lifts him off the ground and drops him on Skeletor. The Eternian spectators cheer for Snout Spout has he remarks that he really is part of the team.

0007-6260 1986, Series 5.
Originally packaged with Snout Spout.

Skeletor discovers a pool of energy deep in Snake Mountain. Next to it is an inscription in the ancient Snake tongue, which Kobra Khan says is of the ancient Snake Man language, which even his own people cannot read anymore. Skeletor reads it magically, and discovers that the pool holds the secret of King Hiss. Skeletor, intrigued, energizes the pool with the Havok Staff. Hiss emerges (as a human).

He-Man, notified by the Sorceress of the prior events, flies to Snake Mt., but along the way discovers Hiss being attacked by Skeletor and Khan. He-Man defeats them suspiciously easily, only to find that Hiss is actually a Snake Man in disguise. Hiss hypnotizes He-Man with his eyes, and he awakens by the pool. Hiss recounts the story of the Snake Empire that reigned thousands of years prior, while Rattlor captures the Power Sword. Luckily, He-Man recaptures it, plugs the energy pool, and defeats Hiss.

0007-6200 1986, Series 5.

Originally packaged with King Hiss.

On his way to Nordling for a diplomatic meeting, Adam realizes he left an important scroll back at the palace. The king realizes this as well, and sends Sy-Klone to deliver it. When Adam gets to Nordling, he discovers Spikor destroying it. A vision of Skeletor appears in the sky, notifying He-Man that Spikor was only a diversion and that he has two choices: save the village, or save Teela from a tube filling with water. Sy-Klone ends up saving Teela, and Spikor ends up stuck to a tree.

00075160 1985, Series 4.

Originally packaged with Spikor and Sy-Klone.