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In this collection of wonderful stories, which range between fantasy, humour, science fiction and a sprinkling of horror, the reader will relish the range and skill of Neil Gaiman's writing. Be prepared to laugh at the detective story about Humpty Dumpty's demise, spooked by the sinister jack-in-the-box who haunts the lives of the children who own it, and intrigued by the boy who is raised by ghosts in a graveyard in this collection of bite-sized narrative pleasures.

David Sedaris's new collection tells a most unconventional life story. It begins with a North Carolina childhood filled with speech therapy classes and unwanted guitar lessons taught by a midget. From budding performance artist to writing teacher in Chicago, his career leads him to New York and eventually, of all places, France. Arriving a "spooky man-child" capable of communicating only through nouns, he is led ever deeper into cultural confusion. Sedaris brings a view and a voice like no other -- "Original, acid, and wild". said the L.A. Times -- to every unforgettable encounter.

He's every woman's fantasy. After a string of nightmare relationships, Emily Albright has decided she's had it with modern-day men. Shed rather pour herself a glass of wine, curl up with Pride and Prejudice and step into a time where men were dashing, devoted and honourable, strode across fields in breeches, their damp shirts clinging to their chests...So when her best friend invites her to Mexico for a week of margaritas and men, Emily decides to book a guided tour of Jane Austen country instead. She quickly realises she wont find her dream man here. The coach tour is full of pensioners, apart from one Mr Spike Hargreaves, a foul-tempered journalist sent to write a piece on why Mr Darcy's been voted the man most women would love to date Until she walks into a room and finds herself fa

The man has been shot many times. Who wants to kill him, and why? The man can't remember. As he begins to learn about his past, he becomes even more confused. Does he have a future? Or will he be killed before he knows who - or what - he really is? American English

Paul is shy and Judy has no friends. Oliver is afraid of other boys. Jane and Leo can't talk about their feelings, and Sue lies to her boyfriends. These five short plays tell the stories of young people with problems. Are there any answers? What do you think?

British English

Chevalier sets her sights on the poet, mystic, and engraver William Blake in London during the year 1792. Blake is an odd duck. The story is told from the viewpoints of some neighbors, in particular, two families, one recently moved from the country (the INNOCENT) and a streetwise and hardened family (the EXPERIENCED). Thus we have the metaphor for Blake's great work SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE. The French Revolution was underway and King George was terrified that his subjects would rebel against him. Mobs circulated collecting signatures on loyalty oaths. This excessive and intimidating barrage of bogus patriotism is eerily reminiscent of some of the things we saw in this country after 9/11. Do you remember all the cars with flags? It's a lovely story and she tells it well. Is i

The most remarkable thing that happened to the world economy after 9/11 was ... nothing. What would have once meant a crippling shock to the system was absorbed astonishingly quickly, partly due to the efforts of the then Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Alan Greenspan.The post 9/11 global economy is a new and turbulent system - vastly more flexible, resilient, open, self-directing, and fast-changing than it was even twenty years ago. The Age of Turbulence is an incomparable reckoning with the nature of this new world - how we got here, what we're living through, and what lies over the horizon, for good or ill, channelled through Greenspan's own experiences working in the command room of the global economy for longer and with greater effect than any other single living figure. P

THE UNDERCOVER ECONOMIST showed how ordinary economics explained everyday curiosities, such as the price of a cup of coffee and the traffic jam on the way to the supermarket. THE LOGIC OF LIFE shows how the new economics of rational choice theory explains much, much more. Drug addicts and teenage muggers can be rational. Suburban sprawl and inner city decay are rational. Endless meetings at the office and the injustices of working life? Rational. Economics explains why your boss is overpaid, whether we should build more prisons, and whether a city like New Orleans can recover from disaster. THE LOGIC OF LIFE introduces you to engaging stories and characters linked together in a bold narrative sweep. The book starts with the most intimate decisions - to have sex, to take drugs, to lead

A device of extraoedinary power, forged from alchemical gold, is hidden smoewhere in Manhattan, primed to detonate in seven days, killing millions. Only one man - journalist by the name of Reckliss-has the ability to uncover seven days keys and disarm the device. But there are others, history's hidden shadows and warriors, determined to stop him at any cost. Ancient conspiracies and an unlikely quest are only the start... Does Reckliss have the courage to face his greatest fears and halt the devastation of The Malice Box?

Harry Rawlins had been masterminding raids and robberies for almost twenty years. The hijack of a security van in the Strand Underpass would bring the gang thousands - but the job went disastrously and fatally wrong. Harry always said that if anything ever happened to him Dolly would be all right: Joe and Terry would take over, the team would look after everyone. But when Harry got blown to bits, trapped in a blazing van, Joe and Terry went with him. Dolly had three options. She could give up, and hand over Harry's ledgers to the police. She could hand them over to a bunch of thugs. Or she - and the other widows - could take the business over . . . and survive...

Hewn into the towering cliffs of central Greece, the Metéora monasteries are all but inacessible. The Holy Trinity is the most isolated, its sacred brotherhood the guardians of a long-forgotten secret. In the dead of night, the sanctity of the holy retreat is shattered by an elite group of warriors, carrying ancient weapons. One by one, they hurl the silent monks from the cliff-top - the holy men taking their secret to their rocky graves. Halfway across Europe, a terrified academic fears for his life. Richard Byrd has nearly uncovered the location of one of the Seven Ancient Wonders - the statue of Zeus and his mighty throne. But Byrd's search has also uncovered a forbidden conspiracy, and there are those who would do anything to conceal its dark agenda...