So much has how been said and written about the life and career of Michael Jackson that it has become almost impossible to disentangle the man from the myth. Recent revelations are only the latest installments of a saga that began decades ago. This book is the fruit of over 30 years of research and hundreds of exclusive interviews with a remarkable level of access to the very closest circles of the Jackson family — including Michael himself. Cutting through tabloid rumors, J. Randy Taraborrelli traces the real story behind the Michael Jackson we see and hear today, from his drilling as a child star through the blooming of his talent to his ever-changing personal appearance and bizarre publicity stunts. This major biography includes the behind-the-scenes story to many of the landmarks in Jackson's life: his legal and commercial battles, his marriages to Lisa Marie Presley and Debbie Rowe, his passions and addictions, his children. Objective and revealing, it carries the hallmarks of all of Taraborrelli's best-sellers: impeccable research, brilliant storytelling and definitive documentation.

An imprisoned man is certain that his supposed murder victim is very much alive... A female driver is pursued relentlessly by a menacing figure in another vehicle... A young artist gets the biggest break of her career... A restless beauty manages the perfect birthday celebration... An escaped Iraqi on Saddam Hussein's death list pays an involuntary visit to his homeland... How will they react? How would you?

«Growing up in the slums of East End London, Charlie Trumper dreams of someday running his grandfather's fruit and vegetable barrow. That day comes suddenly when his grandfather dies leaving him the floundering business. With the help of Becky Salmon, an enterprising young woman, Charlie sets out to make a name for himself as «The Honest Trader». But the brutal onset of World War I takes Charlie far from home and into the path of a dangerous enemy whose legacy of evil follows Charlie and his family for generations. Encompassing three continents and spanning over sixty years, As the Crow Flies brings to life a magnificent tale of one man's rise from rags to riches set against the backdrop of a changing century.»

«The breathtaking vision and incomparable storytelling of Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson'sDune: The Butlerian Jihad, a prequel to Frank Herbert's classic Dune, propelled it to the ranks of speculative fiction's classics in its own right. Now, with all the color, scope, and fascination of the prior novel, comes Dune: The Machine Crusade. More than two decades have passed since the events chronicled in The Butlerian Jihad. The crusade against thinking robots has ground on for years, but the forces led by Serena Butler and Irbis Ginjo have made only slight gains; the human worlds grow weary of war, of the bloody, inconclusive swing from victory to defeat. The fearsome cymeks, led by Agamemnon, hatch new plots to regain their lost power from Omnius — as their numbers dwindle and time begins to run out. The fighters of Ginaz, led by Jool Noret, forge themselves into an elite warrior class, a weapon against the machine-dominated worlds. Aurelius Venport and Norma Cenva are on the verge of the most important discovery in human history — a way to «fold» space and travel instantaneously to any place in the galaxy. And on the faraway, nearly worthless planet of Arrakis, Selim Wormrider and his band of outlaws take the first steps to making themselves the feared fighters who will change the course of history: the Fremen. Here is the unrivaled imaginative power that has put Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson on bestseller lists everywhere and earned them the high regard of readers around the globe. The fantastic saga of Dune continues in Dune: The Machine Crusade.»

Jeremy Solter is a teenager growing up in the late 21st century. During the school year, his family lives in Southern California-but during the summer the whole family lives and works in the city of Polisso, on the frontier of the Roman Empire. Not the Roman Empire that fell centuries ago, but a Roman Empire that never fell. For we now have the technology to move between timelines, and to exploit the untapped resources of those timelines that are hospitable to human life. So we send traders and businesspeople-but as whole-family groups, in order to keep the secret of Crosstime Traffic to ourselves. But when Jeremy ducks back home for emergency medical treatment, the gateways stop working. So do all the communication links. Jeremy and his sister are on their own, Polisso is suddenly under siege, and there's only so much you can do when cannonballs are crashing through your roof...

Charles Seymour, second-born son, will never be the earl like his father, but he did inherit his mother's strength and the will to realize his destiny... Simon Kerslake's father sacrificed everything to make sure his son's dreams come true. Now it is Simon's chance to rise as high as those dreams allow... Ray Gould was born to the back streets but raised with pride — a quality matched by a sharp intellect and the desire to attain the impossible... Andrew Fraser was raised by a soccer hero turned politician. Now it's his turn for heroics, whatever the cost.From strangers to rivals, four men embark on a journey for the highest stakes of all — the keys to No.10 Downing Street. Unfolding over three decades, their honor will be tested, their loyalties betrayed, and their love of family and country challenged. But in a game where there is a first among equals, only one can triumph.

Twelve remarkable, gritty stories starring Detective Inspector John Rebus in his home city of Edinburgh, as only Ian Rankin can portray it: not just the tearooms and cobbled streets of the tourist brochures, but a modern urban metropolis with a full range of criminals and their victims--blackmailers, peeping Toms, and more than one kind of murderer. It's a city like any other, a city that gives birth to crimes of passion, accidents, and long-hidden jealousy, and a city in which criminal minds find it all too easy to fade into the shadows. As dedicated readers of the series well know, nobody is better equipped to delve into Edinburgh's back alleys and smoky pubs than Rebus, and no one better able to illuminate his world than Ian Rankin.

Meet Georgia, SuSu, Teeny, Diane, and Linda-five women who've been best friends through thirty years since high school. Whenever they get the chance, they don their red hats and purple outfits for a delicious monthly serving of racy jokes, iced tea and chicken salad, baskets of sweet rolls, the latest Buckhead gossip, and-most of all-lively support and caring through the ups and downs of their lives. When Diane discovers her banker husband has a condo (with mistress) that he bought with their retirement funds, the Red Hats swing into action and plot to hang him with his own rope in a story that serves up laughter, elegant revenge, high school memories, long-lost loves, a suburban dominatrix, plenty of white wine and junk food and most of all, the power of friendship.

«Meet Andrew «Ender» Wiggin, the unforgettable boy-hero ofEnder's Game — winner of the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for Best Novel — and enter his Universe through this collection of stories. «The Polish Boy» is John Paul Wiggin, the future father of Ender. In the years between the first two Bugger Wars, the Hegemony is desperate to recruit brilliant military commanders to repel the alien invasion. They may have found their man — or boy — in John Paul Wiggin.... In «Teacher's Pest» — a novella written especially for this collection — a brilliant but arrogant John Paul Wiggin, now a university student, matches wits with an equally brilliant graduate student. «The Investment Counselor» is set after the end of the Bugger Wars. Banished from Earth and slandered as a mass murderer, twenty-year-old Andrew Wiggin wanders incognito from planet to planet as a fugitive — until a blackmailing tax inspector compromises his identity and threatens to expose Ender the Xeoncide. Also reprinted here is the original award-winning novella, «Ender's Game», which first appeared in 1977.»

«Key Concepts in Accounting and Finance» is one of a range of comprehensive glossaries with entries arranged alphabetically for easy reference. All major concepts, terms, theories and theorists are incorporated and cross-referenced. Additional reading and Internet research opportunities are identified. More complex terminology is made clearer with numerous diagrams and illustrations. With almost 600 key terms defined, the book represents a comprehensive must-have reference for anyone studying a business-related course or those simply wishing to understand what accounting and finance is all about. It will be especially useful as a revision aid.»