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Salem's Lot
Stephen King's second book, 'Salem's Lot--about the slow takeover of an insular hamlet called Jerusalem's Lot by a vampire patterned after Bram Stoker's Dracula--has two elements that he also uses to good effect in later novels: a small American town, usually in Maine, where people are disconnected from each other, quietly nursing their potential for evil; and a mixed bag of rational, goodhearted people, including a writer, who band together to fight that evil. Simply taken as a contemporary vampire novel, 'Salem's Lotis great fun to read, and has been very influential in the horror genre. But it's also a sly piece of social commentary. As King said in 1983, "In 'Salem's Lot, the thing that really scared me was not vampires, but the town in the daytime, the town that was empty, knowing that there were things in closets, that there were people tucked under beds, under the concrete pilings of all those trailers. And all the time I was writing that, the Watergate hearings were pouring out of the TV.... Howard Baker kept asking, 'What I want to know is, what did you know and when did you know it?' That line haunts me, it stays in my mind.... During that time I was thinking about secrets, things that have been hidden and were being dragged out into the light." Sounds quite a bit like the idea behind his 1998 novel of a Maine hamlet haunted by unsightly secrets, Bag of Bones. --Fiona Webster
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Dylan On Dylan
I change during the course of a day. I wake and I'm one person, and when I go to sleep I know for certain I'm somebody else.'" Bob DylanDYLAN ON DYLANgathers together for the first timetwenty-nine of the most significant and revealing conversations with the singer, stretching over forty years from the earliest days of his career in 1962 through to 2004. Among the highlights are the seminal Rolling Stone" interviews by Jann Wenner, Jonathan Cott, Kurt Loder and Mikal Gilmore, as well as the legendary 1966 Playboy" interview.In-depthand intimate, these interviews cover the gaps left by the Chronicles: Volume 1".Dylan expert Jonathan Cott writes an introduction to this must-have collection of the artist in his own words.
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Cell
'Civilization slipped into its second dark age on an unsurprising track of blood but with a speed that could not have been foreseen by even the most pessimistic futurist. By Halloween, every major city from New York to Moscow stank to the empty heavens and the world as it had been was a memory.' The event became known as The Pulse. The virus was carried by every cell phone operating within the entire world. Within ten hours, most people would be dead or insane. A young artist Clayton Riddell realises what is happening. And together with Tom McCourt and a teenage girl called Alice, he flees the devastation of explosive, burning Boston, desperate to reach his son before his son switches on his little red mobile phone...
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Balham To Bollywood
For some actors, the idea of going to India for eight weeks to act in a Bollywood epic shot in the middle of a desert would send them scurrying back to their agent asking for some other work, any other work.| Not Chris England. He runs his own cricket team (An England XI), and since he was given the part of a cricketer in a British Army team playing against a small Indian village a hundred years ago, he wouldn t just be working. He would be representing his country at his favourite sport.| This is a cricket tour diary with a difference, as Chris England charts the progress of the film from his audition in a London park to the film s release eighteen months later. The author s ability to evoke the landscape and atmosphere of India is complemented by his skill in bringing to life the bizarre and often very funny world of film making.
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Fatwa
Jacky was twenty-three when she arrived in Egypt for a holiday with her boyfriend, Dave. Little did she know that an innocent holiday would result in a horror beyond her imagination. Separated from Dave in a bustling street, Jacky fell and twisted her ankle, only to be swept up by a handsome, chivalrous Egyptian called Omar. It was love at first sight. Jacky spent those ten days living with the family - sharing a bed with Omar's sister - irresistibly attracted to Omar. Swept away by her infatuation she married him and converted to Islam before returning to England to her parents. Returning to Cairo against her parents' advice but full of hopes and plans, Jacky's dream turned into a nightmare. As a blue-eyed blonde she was never going to fit in with life in a poor suburb where the women walked at all times with their heads bowed. During the next eight years she suffered non-stop physical and emotional abuse. She had to escape with her two little girls but how? This tense story never quite ends. Even now, Jacky is living in the shadow of a death threat. A fatwa is issued legitimately under Islamic law to a Muslim woman who leaves her husband. Jacky to protect herself and her daughters minute by minute, day by day, never quite sure what may be around the corner...
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Darkness Falls
Darkness Falls is a model of what the modern suspense thriller should be - tense, scary, page-turning and stomach-churning - because we care most of all about what happens to the characters. Set aside a day -- you won't be able to put it down once it has you in its grip.' - Val McDermid on DARKNESS FALLS 'Debut crime novels that can be praised unreservedly are rare. Murphy creates terrific menace and tension, well-climaxed.' - Marcel Berlins, The Times on GOODNIGHT, MY ANGEL 'Sets new standards in the psychological thriller...It's hard to believe something this assured is a first novel. A remarkable debut - threatening, thrilling and thoroughly authentic.' - Val McDermid on GOODNIGHT, MY ANGEL Yesterday Clara Pascal, successful barrister, was prosecuting a top drugs baron in a trial that filled the newspapers. Now she lies in a cellar, chained to the wall and unable to communicate with anyone. Her kidnapper won't even tell her why she is being held hostage. Meanwhile the machinery of the state is set in action to search for Clara, with Detective Inspector Steve Lawson in control. Using the literary device of mixing the mentality of the killer with that of Clara's abductor, Murphy succeeds in heightening the tension to almost unbearable levels. From the beginning her writing succeeds in depicting the despair a victim can feel, and the contrast between Clara's horrifying suffering and the police procedural of the investigation is highly effective. Truly unputdownable. (Kirkus UK)A Crown Prosecutor descends into hell, as does the family awaiting her return. Dropped off at the schoolyard early by a mum in a great hurry to get to court and start her day prosecuting minor felons before devoting time to the Crown's case against drug czar Ray Casavettes, young Pippa becomes the sole witness to something unimaginable: the abduction of her mum Clara by a man wearing a red ski mask and a blue anorak and driving a white van. Five days later, Pippa is still in shock, her dad Hugo is near breaking point, and Clara is terrorized, near starvation, half-mad, and chained to a cellar wall by a man who seems to loathe her. Will the police find her before she becomes a fatality? Unfortunately, the ghoul they suspect is not the right ghoul, although he has a record of raping and destroying young girls and has crossed paths with Clara in court. Casavettes offers help in finding Clara in exchange for bail, but DI Steve Lawson and his superiors resist until routine detective work puts them, Casavettes and his thugs, and Clara's tormentor on a collision path that ends with death, pain, and the anguish of second-guessing. Alternating segments of dogged police work, despite the personality conflicts at the Diva Street Station, with the excruciating degradation of Clara, Murphy (Goodnight My Angel, not reviewed, etc.) turns personal responsibility into an unassailable rallying cry
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The Last Red Death
Iraklis is a mysterious Greek terrorist group - A rogue offshoot of the communist party. At its head is a man with many names - an elusive master assassin who has been in exile for ten years. Alex Mavros is a half-Greek, half-Scottish investigator - a man driven by the desire to find his missing brother, last heard of at an underground resistance meeting during the dictatorship. Grace Helmer is an American who saw her father murdered when she was a child. Iraklis was responsible. Two businessmen are murdered in Athens. The trademark piece of olive wood is found with the victims' bodies. Iraklis is back. And Grace Helmer employs Mavros to track down her father's killer.
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Freddie
Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff, England's cricketing superstar, hero of the Ashes victory and British Sports Personality of the Year 2005, celebrates his rise to stardom with a large format, beautifully illustrated pictorial autobiography.
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A Biography Of Douglas Adams
Bestselling novelist, avid ecologist, inventor of words and leading technologist, Douglas Adams was one of the most influential thinkers of the late 20th century. His was an extraordinary life: he started his career as a struggling comedy sketch writer but then became an overnight success after his "Hitchhiker" series were first aired by the BBC in 1978. Arthur Dent's adventures through space with his friend Ford Prefect became a popular culture phenomenon, spawning bestselling novels by Adams, hit television and stage shows, a cult following and fan clubs all over the world. Brilliantly researched and packed with anecdotes from friends and colleagues, it is the definitive biography of this extraordinary man.
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The Art Of Happiness At Work
Once again, Dr Cutler brings forward seminal studies and asks the Dalai Lama to respond, probing his wisdom by posing these significant questions: How does the relationship between our personal values and those of our employers affect happiness? What are the main sources of dissatisfaction, and how can we cope with them? How does the lack of freedom affect our levels of happiness? How do we deal with conflicts with co-workers and bosses? Overly demanding or taxing situations? Job change and unemployment? 'The Art of Happiness at Work' is an invaluable source of strength and peace for anyone who earns a living.
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Water Elephants
When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, grifters, and misfits, a second-rate circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night stands in town after endless town. A veterinary student who almost earned his degree, Jacob is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It is there that he meets Marlena, the beautiful young star of the equestrian act, who is married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. He also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable until he discovers a way to reach her. Beautifully written, Water for Elephants is illuminated by a wonderful sense of time and place. It tells a story of a love between two people that overcomes incredible odds in a world in which even love is a luxury that few can afford.
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We Are Eternal
For over 20 years, internationally renowned medium Robert Brown has helped thousands of people around the world, including Princess Diana, communicate with the other side. Now, for the first time, he reveals exactly what we need to know from those who have crossed over and shares the inspiring stories of clients who have contacted departed loved ones. WE ARE ETERNAL reveals the astonishing story of the world beyond the physical, including what happens when our physical body dies, and what spirits really want us to know about capital punishment, suicides, evil spirits, and man's inhumanity to man. What Robert Brown has learned and is ready to share could change people's views on life and death forever.
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An Open Heart
IT IS MY HOPE that the reader of this small book will take away a basic understanding of Buddhism and some of the key methods by which Buddhist practitioners have cultivated compassion and wisdom in their lives. The methods discussed have been taken from three sacred texts of Buddhism. I would like to stress at the outset, however, that one doesn`t have to be a Buddhist to make use of these meditation techniques. Meditation is merely the process whereby we gain control over the mind and guide it in a more virtuous direction.
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Fish
Imagine a workplace where everyone chooses to bring energy, passion and a positive attitude to the job every day. In this parable, a fictional manager has the responsibility of turning a chronically unenthusiastic and unhelpful department into an effective team. Seattle's Pike Place Fish is a world famous market that is wildly successful thanks to its fun, bustling, joyful atmosphere and great customer service. By applying ingeniously simple lessons learned from the Pike Place, our manager discovers how to energise and transform her workplace. Addressing the 21st century's most pressing work issues with an engaging metaphor and an appealing message, Fish! offers wisdom that is easy to grasp, instantly applicable, and profound.
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The Book Of Lost Things
Connolly has made a name for himself specialising in darkness, and THE BLACK ANGEL is no exception. Five Star. 'Seldom has a thriller writer been so adept at turning the screw yet further and evoking a sense of awful dread among his landscapes and tormented characters. Colourful but visceral grand guignol, and definitely not to be read at night