Modern Fiction

During the rainy summer of 1816, the "Year Without a Summer", the world was locked in a long cold volcanic winter caused by the eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815. Mary Shelley, aged 18, and her lover (and later husband) Percy Bysshe Shelley, visited Lord Byron at the Villa Diodati by Lake Geneva in Switzerland. The weather was consistently too cold and dreary that summer to enjoy the outdoor holiday activities they had planned, so the group retired indoors until dawn.

Quixotic is a word that the dictionary defines as "extravagantly chivalrous or romantic; visionary...." and that is a fitting definition, indeed, for this charming retelling of Don Quixote, the 17t- century Spanish classic by Miguel de Cervantes, now updated for the modern listener. The gallant and fragile Quixote will touch listeners, as will his faithful squire Sancho Panza and the tragically beautiful heroine of the gentle Don’s chivalries, the fair Dulcinea.

Twenty-three-year-old witch Aurelia Schwartz has always had to carefully balance her human life with her secret magical one. With a place at an elite Cambridge university college, she almost has everything she could possibly want within her grasp. Just so long as she follows the rules: Make no promises. Tell no one what you are. And never stay the night. Except Aurelia’s gift of green magic has begun to fade. Worse still, someone is hunting witches – and stealing their powers. Reluctantly, Aurelia needs the help of fellow witch – and dreadfully arrogant classmate – Theodore Ingram.

Nicole Palmieri is married to her job. As a user experience designer at Virtuality, an artificial intelligence company in Los Angeles, Nicole is at her desk from sunrise to sunset. She doesn’t have time for a social life (or a love life), but that’s perfectly fine with her. Until her best friend, Parisa Shahin, announces her engagement and asks Nicole to be her maid of honor. That’s when Nicole decides to meticulously schedule out the next six months of her life....

We live within the ruins of an ancient civilization whose size has rendered it invisible. Remembered in myth as Atlantis, Lemuria, or other lost world archetypes, the remains of this advanced civilization have lain buried for millennia beneath the deserts and oceans of the world. Investigating the perennial myth of a forgotten fountainhead of civilization, J. Douglas Kenyon presents extensive physical and spiritual evidence of a lost great culture, the collective amnesia that wiped it from planetary memory, and the countless ways ancient catastrophes still haunt modern civilization.

Even in the months before his death, Peter Drucker was thinking in innovative ways about management - in a world transforming before his eyes. He requested a series of meetings with Elizabeth Haas Edersheim to explain his ideas, and this insightful, practical work is the result. The Definitive Drucker provides visions, concepts, and advice that will help you steer your company or nonprofit through the turmoil and unpredictability of business today.

In this new novel, beloved best-selling author Elizabeth Berg weaves a beautifully written and richly resonant story of a mother and daughter in emotional transit. Helen Ames - recently widowed, coping with loss and grief, unable to do the work that has always sustained her - is beginning to depend far too much on her 27-year-old daughter, Tessa, and is meddling in her life, offering unsolicited and unwelcome advice. Helen’s problems are compounded by her shocking discovery that her mild-mannered and loyal husband was apparently leading a double life.

In many ways Niles should be as American as apple pie: raised by missionary parents, taught to respect his elders and be an honorable and upright Christian citizen dreaming of the good life on the sun-blessed shores of California. But Niles is also Japanese: reared in the aesthetics of Shinto and educated in the dance halls and backroom poker gatherings of Tokyo's shady underworld to steal, trick, and run for his life. As a gaijin, a foreigner - especially one with a gift for the artful scam - he draws suspicion and disfavor from Japanese police.

A suspicious death at the Koenig Estate has everyone talking. Stormy Day was there when it happened, and she alone holds the key to solving the mystery. With a little help from her friends, including those on the police force, everyone's favorite small-town sleuth, Stormy Day, won't stop until justice is served.

The Will to Power is an audiobook of notes compiled from the literary remains of Friedrich Nietzsche. The title derives from a work that Nietzsche himself had intended to write. The "will to power", a prominent concept in his philosophy, describes what Nietzsche believed to be the main driving force in humans.

After Colin cuts off their connection to Underhill, the high Fae lose their position of magical supremacy. Sensing a shift in the balance of power, an unknown faction begins a brutal assault on the Fae. Incensed by the injustice of their actions, Colin embarks on a one-man quest to find the persons responsible...so he can mete out some Druid Justice.

Felicity Hart has one goal: completing her masters in art. Falling in love isn't part of the plan. She reluctantly agrees to attend a Halloween party with her best friend. After sneaking away from the party and falling asleep in an unoccupied room, she wakes to the sexiest pair of eyes she's ever seen. Eyes that belong to the one man who could turn her well organized world upside down. When he flashes that wicked, panty-melting smile at her, the vow to not fall in love seems impossible.

It's August in the Barsetshire village of Worsted, and Richard Tebben, just down from Oxford, is contemplating the gloomy prospect of a long summer in the parental home. But the numerous and impossibly glamorous Dean family - exquisite Rachel, her capable husband and six of their nine brilliant children - have come for the holidays, and their hostess, Mrs. Palmer, plans to rope everyone into performing in her disastrous annual play.

1922. The town of Evermore off the coast of Ireland is under the protection of a Goddess. She has bestowed power upon village healer Brigid Heron to ensure the heart of magic within the Lough of Brionglóid—the lake of dreams—remains untouched. For the witches of Knight want to absorb its powerful energies and release the Damned from the Otherworld. Brigid has devoted her whole life to being Evermore’s guardian, immersing herself in witchcraft, and sacrificing her own dreams.

In Einstein's Compass: A YA Time Traveler Adventure, a young Albert is gifted a supernatural compass that allows him to travel through time and space. He finds wisdom in other dimensions, like the lost city of Atlantis, but evil forces seek the power of the compass, including a monstrous, shape-shifting dragon from a different age. Can the compass protect Albert from such villainy?

Shocking and controversial when it was first published, The Grapes of Wrath is Steinbeck's Pultizer Prize-winning epic of the Joad family, forced to travel west from Dust Bowl-era Oklahoma in search of the promised land of California. Their story is one of false hopes, thwarted desires and powerlessness, yet out of their struggle Steinbeck created a drama that is both intensely human and majestic in its scale and moral vision.

Praise for Alice Crowley's writing: "I LOVED THE IMAGINATION OF THIS AUTHOR!" ~Satisfied Kindle Reader "FIVE STARS!" ~ Multiple Fans "Alice Crowley is one of our best living authors!" ~ G. Taylor Ciedre is just a young professional woman in the big city when she meets the hunk of her life named Shane, who rescues her from a gang of vampire aliens who are hell-bent on harvesting the blood of all earthlings. And to the victors go the spoils. After Shane saves the day, Ciedre demands he show her the ancient art of the erotic fist. And this mutant's fists are bigger than any mortal male's...

Val is expanding her horizons as she settles into her new abode. Her jewelry business is taking off, and she's also found a pub or two for relaxing. Plus, she's got the bodyguard business, and the occasional bouncing gig. Busy dwarf! She's also learning the art and science of having friends. One of them, Stella, will be moving, which forces Val to make a choice. Has she finally found a world that will accept her? Does she want to make it her home? Then Anne, her first client who is now a friend as well, calls her about another protection job, and she can't say no.

The Reveries of the Solitary Walker was one of the last works written by the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) and was, in fact, not quite complete. It was published four years after his death and came quickly to be regarded as one of his most poetic works. It consists of 10 Walks (only the final ‘Walk’ was unfinished) during which he muses on a variety of topics including thoughts on issues which featured strongly in his notable life as a philosopher and commentator, including education and political philosophy.

Sage Moonblossom, a young witch with big dreams, swaps her small-town life for the bustling streets of Spiderville. Armed with her grandmother's spell book and a sassy talking plant named Herb, she opens a charming potion shop, "Hex And The City." As Sage brews up success in her magical business, she stumbles upon a mysterious recipe for True Heart's Brew – a potion that promises to reveal one's soulmate. Between crafting enchanted concoctions for her eclectic customers, solving magical mishaps, and embarking on a city-wide scavenger hunt for rare ingredients, Sage finds herself stirring ...