«From Ernest Hemingway's Preface: 'There are many kinds of stories in this book. I hope you will find some that you like — In going where you have to go, and doing what you have to do, and seeing what you have to see, you dull and blunt the instrument you write with. But I would rather have it bent and dulled and know I had to put it on the grindstone and hammer it into shape and put a whetstone to it, and know that I had something to write about, than to have it bright and shining, and nothing to say, or smooth and well-oiled in the closet, but unused'. This is a collection of Hemingway's first forty-nine short stories, featuring a brief introduction by the author and lesser known as well as familiar tales, including «Up in Michigan», «Fifty Grand», and «The Light of the World», and the «Snows of Kilimanjaro», «Winner Take Nothing» and «Men Without Women» collections.»

«On the 45th floor of the Matsumoto Tower in LA, the headquarters of the Japanese Electronics Corporation, celebrities from the film and music world mix with the captains of industry and politics. On the 46th floor, the dead body of a young woman is discovered. By the author of «Jurassic Park».»

The story of the dissolution of the once aristocratic Compson family told through the eyes of three of its members. In different ways they prove to be inadequate to their own family history, unable to deal with either the responsibility of the past or the imperatives of the present.

Bob Slocum was a promising executive. He had an attractive wife, three children, a nice house, and as many mistresses as he desired. His life was settled and ordered; he had conformed and society demanded he be happy — or at least pretend to be, But the pretence was becoming more and more difficult, as Slocum's discontent grew into an overwhelming sense of desolation, frustration and fear. And then something happened...

«The first of my father's illusions was that bears could survive the life lived by human beings, and the second was that human beings could survive a life led in hotels». So says John Berry, son of a hapless dreamer, brother to a cadre of eccentric siblings, and chronicler of the lives lived, the loves experienced, the deaths met, and the myriad strange and wonderful times encountered by the family Berry. Hoteliers, pet-bear owners, friends of Freud (the animal trainer and vaudevillian, that is), and playthings of mad fate, they «dream on» in a funny, sad, outrageous, and moving novel by the remarkable author of A Son of the Circus and A Prayer for Owen Meany. «Like Garp, [THE HOTEL NEW HAMPSHIRE] is a startlingly original family saga that combines macabre humor with Dickensian sentiment and outrage at cruelty, dogmatism and injustice». — Time «Rejoice! John Irving has written another book according to your world....You must read this book». — Los Angeles Times «Spellbinding...Intensely human...A high-wire act of dazzling virtuosity». — Cosmopolitan»

«It began with Benny Hogan and Eve Malone, growing up, inseparable, in the village of Knockglen. Benny — the only child, yearning to break free from her adoring parents...Eve — the orphaned offspring of a convent handyman and a rebellious blueblood, abandoned by her mother's wealthy family to be raised by nuns. Eve and Benny — they knew the sins and secrets behind every villager's lace curtains...except their own. It widened at Dublin, at the university where Benny and Eve met beautiful Nan Mahlon and Jack Foley, a doctor's handsome son. But heartbreak and betrayal would bring the worlds of Knockglen and Dublin into explosive collision. Long-hidden lies would emerge to test the meaning of love and the strength of ties held within the fragile gold bands of a...»Circle Of Friends».»

On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all. On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope-and a terrible secret. And one may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.

«By the author of «The Name of the Rose», these essays, written over the last 20 years and culled from newspapers and magazines, explore the rag-bag of modern consciousness. Eco considers a wide range of topics, from «Superman» and «Casablanca», Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni, Jim Jones and mass suicide, and Woody Allen, to holography and waxworks, pop festivals and football, and not least the social and personal implications of tight jeans.»

They were the castrati-male sopranos whose glorious voices brought them adulation throughout Europe even as they were despised as monsters. For Tonio Treschi, the child of Venetian nobility, kidnapped and castrated in a murderous family conspiracy, only one thing would soothe his soul-revenge!

Alternate History is historical fiction that examines the ramifications of a change or changes in known history. Alternate History can use science-fiction devices — such as time-travel — to change history, or it can simply pick a point where, had things merely happened differently (for example: Abraham Lincoln decided not to go to the theater that night, or Henry VIII stayed married to his first wife), history might have taken another path altogether. The series takes place during WWII and the warring Allied and Axis powers are forced to combine resources in order to combat an invading alien species that threatens to conquer the entire planet.

Honoring a family pact that compels him to return to Transylvania to take part in a secret ceremony, young Arkady Tsepesh of the family Dracul learns a devastating truth about his ancestor, Prince Vlad.

The story of a British earthling plucked from his planet, and his subsequent adventures elsewhere in the universe.

«The Washington Post Book World Facing annihilation at the hands of the warlike Vogons is a curious time to have a craving for tea. It could only happen to the cosmically displaced Arthur Dent and his curious comrades in arms as they hurtle across space powered by pure improbability — and desperately in search of a place to eat. Among Arthur's motley shipmates are Ford Prefect, a longtime friend and expert contributor to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; Zaphod Beeblebrox, the three-armed, two-headed ex-president of the galaxy; Tricia McMillan, a fellow Earth refugee who's gone native (her name is Trillian now); and Marvin, the moody android who suffers nothing and no one very gladly. Their destination? The ultimate hot spot for an evening of apocalyptic entertainment and fine dining, where the food (literally) speaks for itself. Will they make it? The answer: hard to say. But bear in mind that the Hitchhiker's Guide deleted the term «Future Perfect» from its pages, since it was discovered not to be! «What's such fun is how amusing the galaxy looks through Adams' sardonically silly eyes.»

Farmer Hogget's old sheepdog, Fly, adopts a piglet she names Babe and is astonished at how quickly he learns all she has to teach him. But plucky little Babe has even more surprises in store — and the farm will never be the same again.

«Accident» is a powerful and ultimately triumphant novel of lives shattered and changed by one devastating moment. Although frequent business meetings keep her husband, Brad, away from home, Page Clarke feels blessed with her happy family and comfortable marriage. They have a house near San Francisco and she keeps busy looking after their seven-year-old son, Andy, and their teenage daughter, Allyson. Allyson, at fifteen, is trying her wings and one weekend, instead of an evening with her friend Chloe, the girls lie and go out with two older high school boys. But a Saturday night that was supposed to be fun ends in tragedy when their car collides head-on with another. At the hospital, Page finds Chloe's divorced father, Trygve, and, unable to locate Brad, she leans on his strength throughout the long hours of tormenting questions. Will Allyson live? Will any of them? Were the teenagers drinking? Using drugs? Who was at fault? And where is her husband? Without Brad by her side Page feels her life start to come apart as she is forced to confront the fact that Allyson may not live, and if she does, she may never be the same again. In an inspiring novel that explores how many people are affected by one tragic accident and how they survive it, Danielle Steel brings us close to the characters whose lives are as familiar as our own... and who live, as we all do, in a world where everything can change in a single moment.»

This omnibus of Belloc's stories is a feast of delightful tales told in rhyme — all with a dramatic moral twist in the tail. Are you prone to pulling faces, telling tales or bouts of extravagance? Yes? Then ignore these stories at your peril. If not, you might suffer a fate similar to those described in these cautionary tales.

Joining Bantam's successful republications of Rex Stout's classic Nero Wolfe novels comes this amazing triple-play, including a deadly dinner party where five femmes fatales come under suspicion; a wandering cabbie with a comely corpse as a passenger; and a rodeo complete with cowboys, cowgirls and a dead millionaire with a fancy lariat for a necktie.

When Earth is destroyed to make way for a Hyperspatial express route, Arthur Dent discovers that space is big, as he is taken on a hair-raising tour of the Galaxy and its very strange inhabitants, by his friend Ford Perfect. This is a new edition which incorporates the fifth part of the trilogy.

An entirely new edition of Herbert's collected poems with nots, chronology and introduction by the distinguised scholar Anne Pasternak Slater, this volume is designed to complement the editions of Marvell, Donne and Milton already published by the Everyman's Library. This volume is ideal for students and offers the best text available.

Earthy, magical, and utterly charming, this tale of family life in turn-of-the-century Mexico became a best-selling phenomenon with its winning blend of poignant romance and bittersweet wit. The classic love story takes place on the De la Garza ranch, as the tyrannical owner, Mama Elena, chops onions at the kitchen table in her final days of pregnancy. While still in her mother's womb, her daughter to be weeps so violently she causes an early labor, and little Tita slips out amid the spices and fixings for noodle soup. This early encounter with food soon becomes a way of life, and Tita grows up to be a master chef. She shares special points of her favorite preparations with listeners throughout the story. The Spanish language edition of the best-selling Like Water For Chocolate is a remarkable success in its own right. Now, in this mass market edition, thousands of new readers will be able to partake in the sumptuous, romantic, and hilarious tale of Tita, the terrific cook with an extra special something in her sauce.