Penguin Group

In his prime, Edward Bloom was an extraordinary man. He could outrun anybody. He never missed a day of school. He saved lives and tamed giants. He was an inspired salesman — a visionary, in fact — and a beneficent real estate magnate who once bought a whole town just to make sure it would never change. Animals loved him. People loved him. Women loved him (and he loved them back). And he knew more jokes than any man alive. Or at least that's what he's told his son, William. William doesn't really know his father because, actually, Edward wasn't home all that much. So William sets out to discover who his father was by recreating his life in a series of myths and legends inspired by the few facts he knows. Through these tall tales, William begins to understand Edward Bloom's great feats — and his great failings. In scenes by turns hilarious and wrenching, tender and outrageous, Big Fish teaches us about the manipulative power of mythmaking, the search for an honesty somehow deeper than truth, and the redemption that can occur when one moves from life to death.

Introducing James Bond: charming, sophisticated, handsome; chillingly ruthless and very deadly. This, the first of Fleming's tales of agent 007, finds Bond on a mission to neutralize a lethal, high-rolling Russian operative called simply 'The Cypher' — by ruining him at the Baccarat table and forcing his Soviet spymasters to 'retire' him. It seems that lady luck is taken with James — The Cypher has hit a losing streak. But some people just refuse to play by the rules and Bond's attraction to a beautiful female agent leads him to disaster and an unexpected saviour...

Australian horse breeder Daniel Roke had resisted the exorbitant sum of money offered by a suave Englishman to investigate a scandal involving drugged racehorses. But after another investigator dies mysteriously, Roke agrees to fill his shoes--and learns that men who would give drugs to horses are capable of doing much worse to human beings.

A superbly crafted collection of thirteen tightly plotted tales that treats readers to murder, mystery, and mayhem in the world of horseracing.

A closed-door enquiry has found a jockey guilty of the lowest possible crime--throwing a race for money. His reputation scarred, he's begun his own investigation--but asking the wrong questions just might get him killed.

Architect Lee Morris has plans to restore Stratton Park racecourse to its former grandeur. But the combative Stratton heirs have violent plans of their own.

Veteran horseman Randall Drew travels to Mosow to help the Russian royal family--but ends up caught in a world of jealousy, sabotage, and murder.

Kelley Armstrong's debut novel--which does «much the same for werewolves as Anne Rice did for vampires» («Rocky Mountain News»)--is now available in mass market paperback. Thirty-year-old Elena Michaels comes to terms with her feral appetites as the world's only living female werewolf.

Fearing that she is about to be fired by the governor, hounded in the media and in the courtroom, Kay Scarpetta leaves Virginia forwhat she believes will turn out to be the warmth and solace of the Florida sun. However, Scarpetta is soon deep into a case that has left colleagues in Louisiana profoundlydisturbed. A woman is found dead in a seedy hotel, dressed to go out, keys in her hand. Her history of blackouts, and her violent outbursts while under their spell, offer more questions than dues about the cause of her death. Then Scarpetta receives news that chills her to the core: from his cell on death row, Jean-Baptiste Chandonne — the vicious and unrepentant Wolfman, who pursued her to her very doorstep — demands to see her. Only to Scarpetta will he tell the secrets he knows the authorities desire. After ail the death and destruction, what sort of endgame could this violent psychopath have in mind?

Once a sworn enemy of all monsters, Anita is now the human consort of both Master Vampire Jean Claude and leopard shapeshifter Micah. When a centuries-old vampire hits St. Louis, Anita finds herself needing all the dark forces her passion can muster to save the ones she loves.

Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, takes on a case as a favor to his friend Thomas-a vampire of dubious integrity-only to become the prime suspect in a series of ghastly murders.

From the early 1800s to the outbreak of World War II, this collection spans more than 100 years of literary history with 33 complete short stories by such timeless masters as Washington Irving, Mark Twain, Jack London, and William Faulkner. Reissue.

The alien Reapers have ruled Earth for 45 years. David Valentine is a member of the human resistance, who is now being trained as a Cat — an elite stealth warrior. His mission is to investigate the Twisted Cross, a mysterious new force under Reaper contro.

Taking the legends surrounding King Arthur and weaving in new psychological elements of personal desire and courtly manner, Chretien de Troyes fashioned a new form of medieval Romance. The Knight of the Cart is the first telling of the adulterous relationship between Lancelot and Arthur's Queen Guinevere, and in The Knight with the Lion Yvain neglects his bride in his quest for greater glory. Erec and Enide explores a knight's conflict between love and honour, Cliges exalts the possibility of pure love outside marriage, while the haunting The Story of the Grail chronicles the legendary quest. Rich in symbolism, these evocative tales combine closely observed detail with fantastic adventure to create a compelling world that profoundly influenced Malory, and are the basis of the Arthurian legends we know today.

A New York Times Bestseller. Her telekinetic gift has forced Dahlia to spend her life isolated from others. And just when she thinks she's found peace, her world comes crashing down... She has become the target of deadly assassins and she must rely on Nicholas, a dangerous warrior sent to protect her.

With the full cooperation of Stephen King himself, Vincent examines the epic journey of the author to complete his seven-part Dark Tower series — a journey began in 1970 that threatened to overwhelm him. Vincent presents a book-by-book analysis of each volume that would become the crowning achievement of King's literary career.

Short story collection first published by Granta in 1999.

How do you ever know the whole story? How do you ever know even part of the story? How do you find meaning when chance and coincidence could, just be chance and coincidence? Presenting connections and missed connections, this collection of stories is an inquiry into things ranging from flies and trees and books to sex, art, drunkenness, and love.

From his teenage years in provincial Russia to his premature death in 1904, Anton Chekhov wrote thousands of letters to a wide range of correspondents. This fascinating new selection tells Chekhov's story as a man and a writer through affectionate bulletins to his family, insightful discussions of literature with publishers and theatre directors, and tender love letters to his actress wife. Vividly evoking landscapes, people and his daily life, the letters offer revealing glimpses into Chekhov's preoccupations — the onset of tuberculosis, his dual careers as doctor and writer, and his ambivalence about his growing reputation as Russia's foremost playwright and author. This volume takes us inside the mind of one of the world's great writers, and the character that emerges from these pages is resilient, generous, charming and life enhancing.

Rogerson Biscoe, with his green eyes and dark curly hair, is absolutely seductive. Before long, 16-year-old Caitlin finds herself under his spell. And when he starts to abuse her, she finds she's in too deep to get herself out.

Fifteen-year-old Colie is spending the summer with her eccentric Aunt Mira while her mother travels. Formerly chubby and still insecure, Colie has built a shell around herself. But her summer with her aunt, her aunt's tenant Norman, and her friends at the Last Chance Diner and 150 teaches her some important lessons about friendship and learning to love yourself.

Phule gets on the wrong side of Barky the Environmental Dog by hosting a group of big game hunters who intend to bag a dinosaur on Zenobia, even though dinosaurs are not a native species. But cold, hard facts has never stopped a Phule.

For fifteen-year-old Haven, life is changing too quickly. She's nearly six feet tall, her father is getting remarried, and her sister and 150 the always perfect Ashley and 150 is planning a wedding of her own. Haven wishes things could just go back to the way they were. Then an old boyfriend of Ashley's reenters the picture, and through him, Haven sees the past for what it really was, and comes to grips with the future.

Richard Evans' brilliant book unfolds perhaps the single most important story of the 20th century: how a stable and modern country in less than a single lifetime led Europe into moral, physical and cultural ruin and despair. A terrible story not least because there were so many other ways in which Germany's history could have been played out. With authority, skill and compassion, Evans recreates a country torn apart by overwhelming economic, political and social blows: the First World War, Versailles, hyperinflation and the Great Depression. One by one these blows ruined or pushed aside almost everything admirable about Germany, leaving the way clear for a truly horrifying ideology to take command.