Daedalus Books

Since its launch in 1999, Darby Conley's Get Fuzzy has become one of the most popular comic strips in newspaper syndication, online, and in books. Get Fuzzy books have sold over half a million copies and topped best-seller lists — and now the lovable characters land on this delightful soft-cover journal.

Timothy Brights doesn't exactly live up to his name. Brought up to regard copious flows of money as his birthright, he can't understand why the funds have been cut off, nor why friends he recruited as Lloyds' Names no longer want to talk to him. When gambling fails, Timothy turns to embezzlement, but it's the lesser offence of helping himself to some strangely aromatic tobacco that propels him up the motorway and into bed with the Chief Constable's wife. The Chief Constable has just survived charges of bribery and perjury and is not too concerned that his efforts to dispose of Timothy involve false imprisonment, breaking and entering, and a spot of GBH. It is only when the Chief tries to frame his old adversary, the upright Miss Midden, hat things begin to go seriously wrong as his underhand ploy opens up the way to spectacular mayhem.

Now in paperback: Alice Sebold's luminous first novel — one of the most celebrated literary debuts of recent seasons — that builds out of a family's grief the most hopeful and joyful of stories.

A dictionary written to help the high-school student succeed. 100,000 entries. More than 1,000 revised illustrations. Abundant word history, synonym paragraphs, and examples sentences.

In February 1917, the centuries-old empire of the Czars collapses. Eight months later, revolutionaries under Lenin's leadership, take power. Few would have gambled on this government of inexperienced militants against a force of armed counter-revolutionaries sustained by the West. But mobilization of the people, the power of the Red Army and political police, the experience gained during the war and, not least, Lenin's skill in directing the new political economy, allow the Bolsheviks to strengthen their hold.

Decorated with Edward Gorey's unicycling puss in a rugby jersey, this little blue address book is pretty on the outside, handy on the inside, with 112 pages and space for over 400 names, home addresses, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers. The page edges are alphabetically indexed (additional cats appear within), while the smart red wire binding lets the book lie flat (or even fold back), and the thoughtful elastic band keeps the whole arrangement neatly closed. It measures about 4 x 5 inches.

These funny stories all contain favourite characters such as Posy Bates, Dilly the Dinosaur, flying dogs and dancing cows.

40 affordable projects featuring the newest bead styles and fashions. Crafters will learn basic beading and jewelry making with the help of over 250 color photographs for a wealth of ideas.

The cat's pajamas, the bee's knees, and the whole nine yards rolled into one, this true feast for wordlovers delightfully skewers commonly accepted word origin myths and etymological folk tales. The real story of a world or phrase's origin and evolution is often much stranger — and much more humorous — than the commonly accepted one; the many entries will certainly leave you happy as a clam. Happy as a clam? Really — what's so happy about being a clam? The saying makes much more sense when it's paired with its missing second half: at high water. Now a clam at high water is a safe clam, and thus a happy clam. The confusion surrounding the word kangaroo caused so much trouble that the Aborigines thought this English word meant any edible animal; they asked whether the cattle being unloaded from ships were kangaroos. From the bawdy to the sublime, Quinion's explanations and delightful asides truly prove that the proof is in the pudding.

In a particularly insightful examination of the spirituality and ethics of Middle-earth in «The Lord of the Rings,» Curry argues that Tolkien found a way to provide something close to Spirit in a secular age, and focuses on three main aspects of this monumental work of literature.

Denis Stone, a naive young poet, is invited to stay at Crome, a country house renowned for its gatherings of 'bright young things'. Crome's hosts, the world-weary Henry Wimbush and his exotic wife Pricilla are joined by a party of colourful guests whose intrigues and opinions ensure Denis' stay is a memorable one. In the course of the weekend Henry tells his guests fantastical stories from the history of the house, Mr. Barbeque-Smith invents inspirational aphorisms conceived in trances, Mary dispenses with her virginity on the roof, the local vicar prophesies the Apocolypes, the annual Crome Fair takes place and Denis tries to capture it all in poetry and has his heart broken.

A colour encyclopedia providing an authoritative overview of the Japanese garden flora.

The fifteenth novel in the bestselling Marcus Didius Falco series is a tale of corruption, informers and the Roman courts of law. Following his trip to Londinium, Falco takes up employment with Paccius Africanus and Silius Italicus, two lawyers at the top of their trade. For the trial of a senator they need Falco to make an affidavit confirming repayment of a loan. Having been out of the country, and starved of Forum gossip for some time, Falco has little interest in this, so he makes his deposition and then leaves. The prosecution is successful and a large financial judgment is made, but one month later the senator is dead, apparently by suicide. The heirs are now in a situation of not having to pay up. Silius Italicus decides to start a new prosecution and, with a little coercion, Falco joins the action. Blinded by the vision of rich pickings to be gained by a winning verdict, Falco temporarily forgets that, if they fail, the financial penalties leveled against the informers who brought the case are potentially enormous.

Henry Wilt is back. The hapless community college teacher is satirist Tom Sharpe's most famous character, introduced in the eponymous 1976 novel «Wilt» and the subsequent television film of the same name that starred Griff Rhys Jones. In this latest misadventure, Wilt's fifth, the expected impossible scenarios, outsized characters, knotty plot twists, and buckets of sexual innuendo abound.

Aglaya Stepanova Revkina is a true believer in Stalin — so much so that when Khrushchev comes to power and statues of Stalin are pulled down all over the Soviet Union, Aglaya takes the one she helped erect in her provincial town of Dolgov and installs it in her apartment as a potent totem. In this arch satire by the author of «The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin», Aglaya and her statue watch as Khrushchev relents to Brezhnev, Brezhnev relents to stagnation, and the U.S.S.R. itself dissolves away in dissent. But even the new freedom has its perils, and some wonder if Russia just needs a strong leader again.

What a swashbuckling read! A dashingly illustrated hardcover packed with facts and trivia, this comprehensive volume explains it all, in thrilling detail: who the pirates of the past really were, their countries of origin, their crews, life on their ships, navigating the high seas, their weapons and methods of attack, and much more. Read about the myths, meet some famous fictional and real-life privateers, trace their routes on maps, shiver at accounts of their fearsome progress through history, and learn about archaeological pirate ship recoveries.

Throughout her life, Stephanie von Hohenlohe (1891-1972) was notorious as a secret go-between and even a professional blackmailer. Although she was the illegitimate daughter of a Jewish woman from Prague and a Jewish moneylender, Stephanie always claimed to be of pure Aryan descent. A shameless social climber, she acquired her title by marriage to an Austrian nobleman. Thanks to her remarkable gifts for networking and negotiation, she was employed as a society columnist by Lord Rothermere, with whom she had been having a long-standing affair. She gained access to the German Reich Chancellery in Berlin and got to know Adolf Hitler personally. Conveniently overlooking her Jewish origins, Hitler began to employ her on secret diplomatic missions. She reached the peak of her success when Hitler awarded her the Golden Insignia of the Nazi Party and gave her a castle in Austria. By this time Hitler's adjutant, Fritz Wiedemann, had been her lover for several years. However, when this liaison was discovered by the Fuhrer, Wiedemann was dispatched to the USA in a junior diplomatic post, and Stephanie followed him. In 1941 she was on the point of being expelled from the US as a German spy, but managed to avoid this by starting an affair with the head of the US immigration authority. After the war she returned to Germany and, without missing a beat, began an extraordinary new career in the Axel Springer media empire and on Henri Nannen's Stern magazine.

An historical treatise on the popular and government reaction to the possibility of a fifth column threat preceding the second world war, and the implications for American politics and public perception through the latter half of the twentieth century.

In this collection of three Arthurian tales, Merlin the magician watches over young Arthur as he rises to become king of England. But enemies threaten Arthur. Will the good king triumph over the dark forces in his path and bring peace and justice to the world? Full color.

This is the new thriller from the internationally bestselling author of the Kurt Wallander mysteries.

Precious Ramotswe, that cheerful Botswanan private investigator of 'traditional build', is well-known to millions across the world through the best-selling No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. Those who have been following her exploits in five previously published novels will soon be able to savour the next instalment, in which, as usual, circumstances are never as straightforward as they seem and events take a more than unexpected turn. Precious Ramotswe, is now married to Mr J.L.B. Matekoni, of Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors. The Agency is busy, but Mma Ramotswe cannot ignore the plea which is made to her by a woman who comes to her with a tale of particular misfortune. Unfortunately, her attempts to help are interrupted by a close encounter between her tiny white van and a bicycle, and by a spectacular disagreement between her assistant, Mma Makutsi, and one of the apprentices at the garage. This apprentice has found a fancy girlfriend who drives a large silver Mercedes-Benz. How can he be rescued from his folly? And as for Mma Makutsi, she has found a dancing class, and a man who may not be able to dance very well but who admires her greatly. And all of this happens against a background of quiet sessions of bush tea, and of a land that stretches out forever under mile upon mile of empty sky.

Ever since that tragic night when her mother and guardian were murdered, thirteen-year-old Sarah has been living on her own and searching for the knight who was responsible. Her quest for revenge leads to an even greater adventure when she witnesses Queen Guinevere being kidnapped. Soon Sarah finds herself accompanying Sir Gawain and Squire Terence on a remarkable journey to rescue the Queen. In their travels they meet, among others, a mystery knight traveling incognito in a dung cart, a faery who becomes Sarah's first friend in a long time, a reclusive monk who plans to spend the rest of his life building a tomb for Sir Lancelot, and a princess who might have a little more gumption than she appears to. As the plot thickens, Sarah finds out more about the people she's met and befriended, as well as about herself. She begins to learn the true consequences of vengeance and what it really means to be a princess.

In this alternate history, Pulitzer Prize winner Roth considers what it would be like for his Newark family — and for a million such families all over the country — during the menacing years of a Charles Lindbergh presidency, when American citizens who happened to be Jews would have every reason to expect the worst.

When ideas fail, words come in handy. But sometimes you can't find the right word, and what you want to say can't be found in the dictionary. English has its limitations, but the expression you're searching for may exist in another language. In Other Words is a unique collection of well-known and absolutely obscure untranslatables — linguistic gems that convey a feeling or notion with satisfying precision yet resist simple translation. This quirky lexicon of hard-to-translate words gives the reader a new way to look at the world and how words relate to us. The words are arranged by region or country of origin, and a brief introduction to each section--each done by a respected translator — gives insight into the culture of the people as well as the language. Each of these singular words is cleverly and thoroughly defined, with interesting details and references throughout. The search for that elusive mot juste may be over.