by Justin Peacock

Blind Man's Alley - Justin PeacockPROLOGUETHEY WERE three hundred feet in the air when the floor gave out beneath them. The floor crumbled into pieces; it stopped being floor. Instead it was a mass of disintegrating concret...

by James M. Tabor

Blind Descent_ The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth - James M. TaborPROLOGUEAs the fifteenth century began, we believed, absolutely, that the earth was flat.As the twenty-first century began, we believed with equal c...

by Charles Dickens

Bleak House - Charles DickensINTRODUCTION ‘What do you think of Bleak House?’ is a question which everybody has heard propounded within the last few weeks, when this serial was drawing towards its conclusion; and whic...

by John Shirley

Bleak History - John ShirleyPROLOGUEDon't you just feel... different today? Gulcher said to Jock.I dunno, Jock rumbled. Bottled up in here, I dunno how I feel.Troy Gulcher looked up at the clock in the aluminum mesh on the...

by Gail Carriger

Blameless - Gail CarrigerAcknowledgmentsThis book really wouldn’t have happened without Kristin, Devi, and Francesca. No, really, you’d be reading a big fat collection of blank pages right now. Thanks, ladies, I owe you...

by Conn Iggulden

Blackwater - Conn IgguldenCHAPTER ONEI STOOD IN THE water and thought about drowning. It’s strange how the sea is always calmer at night. I’ve walked along Brighton beach a hundred times on cold days and the waves ...

by Graham Brown

Black Sun_A Thriller - Graham BrownACKNOWLEDGMENTSTo my agent, Barbara Poelle, thanks for the trust and support, and the laughs. I don’t know how someone so brilliant can also be so funny. To Marisa Vigilante, my editor, ...

by Graham Brown

Black Rain_ A Thriller - Graham BrownACKNOWLEDGMENTSOnly the writer knows how instrumental others are in the work that he gets to call his own. In my case, at least, those brief moments of intervention often seemed far more i...

by Lisa Unger

Black Out_A Novel - Lisa UngerPrologueToday something interesting happened. I died. How awful, they’ll say. How tragic. And she was so young, with everything ahead of her. There will be an article in the paper about how ...

by John Saul

Black Lightning - John SaulPROLOGUEFive Years Ago—Experiment Number Forty-SevenIt was a ballet the man had danced so many times before that the first steps had become familiar enough to be performed automatically, with little if...

by Michael Connelly

The Black Ice - Michael ConnellyThis is for Linda McCaleb ConnellyOneTHE SMOKE CARRIED UP FROM THE CAHUENGA Pass and flattened beneath a layer of cool crossing air. From where Harry Bosch watched, the smoke looked like a gray...

by Michael Connelly

The black echo - Michael ConnellyAcknowledgmentsI WOULD LIKE TO THANK the following people for their help and support:Many thanks to my agent, Philip Spitzer, and to my editor, Patricia Mulcahy, for all their hard work, enthusia...

by Lloyd Alexander

The Black Cauldron - Lloyd AlexanderAuthor’s NoteTHE FOLLOWING PAGES are intended, hopefully, to do somewhat more than continue the Chronicles of Prydain. What happens next? is always an urgent question, and this volume atte...

by Paul Mooney & Dave Chappelle

Black Is the New White - Paul Mooney & Dave ChappelleFOREWORDBY DAVE CHAPPELLEWhen I was a young black boy growing up in Washington, D.C., during my formative years, my comic inspiration came from various comedy idols, particul...

by Stephen King

Black House - Stephen KingPART ONEWelcome to Coulee Country1RIGHT HERE AND NOW, as an old friend used to say, we are in the fluid present, where clear-sightedness never guarantees perfect vision. Here: about two hundred feet, t...

by David Macinnis Gill

Black Hole Sun - David Macinnis GillCHAPTER ?Outpost Fisher Four, South Pole, MarsANNOS MARTIS 238. 4. 5. 17:11Now come the mousies nosing out their hole, thinks Kuhru as he wipes fresh bone marrow from his snout. Three pretty...

by Alex Kava

Black Friday - Alex KavaCHAPTER1Friday morning, November 23Mall of AmericaBloomington, MinnesotaRebecca Cory stood her ground despite another elbow shoved into her shoulder blades. She'd let the first two shoves go. A quick gla...

by L. H. Maynard & M. P. N. Sims

Black Cathedral - L. H. Maynard & M. P. N. SimsDedicationBlack Cathedral is dedicated to all lovers of supernatural stories, real and imagined,the stories not the lovers…TAKEN BY THE HOUSECasey Faraday took a glass of white wi...

by Jackie Kessler & Caitlin Kittredge

Black and White - Jackie Kessler & Caitlin KittredgeCHAPTER 1IRIDIUMThe thing people seem all too happy to forget is that where there be superheroes, there also be supervillans. It makes one wonder: If the heroes went away, wo...

by Danielle Steel

Bittersweet - Danielle SteelChapter 1INDIA TAYLOR had her camera poised as an unruly army of nine-year-old boys ran across the playing field after the soccer ball they had been heatedly pursuing. Four of them collapsed in a he...

by Helena Andrews

Bitch Is the New Black_A Memoir - Helena AndrewsOneDIRTY ASTRONAUT DIAPERSDex10 (12:01:10 p.m.): heyDex10 (12:01:40 p.m.): stop it!Dex10 (12:03:10 p.m.): you winDex10 (12:05:00 p.m.): AHHHHHHHHCopy, paste, and send. Dude, what the e...

by Jan Guillou

Birth of the Kingdom - Jan GuillouEpigraph‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions’Jacula Prudentum, 1651, no. 170‘We who are strong are obliged to help the weak with their burdens, and should not think ...

by E. L. Doctorow

Billy Bathgate - E. L. DoctorowPart OneONEHe had to have planned it because when we drove onto the dock the boat was there and the engine was running and you could see the water churning up phosphorescence in the river, whi...

by James King

Bill Warrington's Last Chance - James KingACKNOWLEDGMENTSI am extremely grateful to Penguin Group USA and Amazo...

by Nancy Bell

Biggie and the Devil Diet - Nancy BellPrologueI see the Angel of Death," Rosebud said, gesturing toward the afte...

by B. J. Daniels

Big Sky Standoff - B. J. DanielsABOUT THE AUTHORB.J. Daniels’s life dream was to write books. After a career as an award-winning newspaper journalist, she sold thirty-seven short stories before she finally wrote her first ...

by Nora Roberts & J. D. Robb

Big Jack - Nora Roberts & J. D. RobbChapter 1NEW YORK, 2059She was dying to get home. Knowing her own house, her own bed, her own things were waiting for her made even the filthy afternoon traffic from the airport a pleasu...

by Danielle Steel

Big Girl_ A Novel - Danielle SteelChapter 1Jim Dawson was handsome from the day he was born. He was an only child, tall for his age, had a perfect physique, and was an exceptional athlete as he grew older, and the hub of...

by Charles Williams

Big city girl - Charles WilliamsOneEighty-eight.Eighty-nine, ninety, ninety-one, Joy counted, tilting her head over to one side and putting the brush down through the shining cascade of her hair. Why? she thought. My God, why?Fro...

by Dean Koontz

A Big Little Life - Dean KoontzDogs live most of lifein Quiet Heart.Humans live mostly next doorin Desperate Heart.Now and then will do you goodto live in our zip code.—TRIXIE KOONTZ, Bliss to YouIa spooky moment around which...

by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana

Mindfulness in Plain English - Bhante Henepola GunaratanaPrefaceIN MY EXPERIENCE I have found that the most effective way to express something in order to make others understand is to use the simplest language. I have also lear...

by Mark Morris

Torchwood: Bay of the Dead - Mark MorrisPrologue'Mike's funny, isn't he?'Joe Hargreaves glanced at his wife, Jackie, who was sprawled on the passenger seat next to him, bare feet tucked up under her thighs. She h...

by Charles Williams

The Big Bite by Charles Williams1They said it was going to be as good as ever, but it wasn’t. You could see that by the end of the first week of practice. They’d stuck it back on, all right, and it looked like...

by Alisa Sheckley

The Better to Hold You - Alisa SheckleyThis one's for Mark,who feeds me,keeps me sane,and reminds me that I saythere's no way I can makemy deadline every year.ACKNOWLEDGMENTSI wrote this book five long years ago and was...

by Francis Scott Fitzgerald & Bryant Mangum

The best early stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald - Francis Scott Fitzgerald & Bryant MangumA NOTE ON THE TEXTNine of the stories in this volume have been reprinted from original first printings of the volumes in which they were...

by Tom Gabbay

The Berlin Conspiracy - Tom GabbayEpigraphThe following is an account of events that took place in June 1963. I’ve kept these facts to myself all these years for obvious reasons, but I’m too old now to worry about...

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Beautiful and Damned - F. Scott FitzgeraldF. SCOTT FITZGERALDFrancis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on September 24, 1896, to Edward and Mollie McQuillan Fitzgerald. His father was an unsuccessful busin...

by Tom Clancy

The Bear and the Dragon - Tom ClancyCHAPTER 1Echoes of the BoomSo, who were his enemies? Lieutenant Colonel Shablikov asked.Gregoriy Filipovich had many. He was overly free with his words. He insulted too many people and—What ...

by Jane Green

The Beach House - Jane GreenChapter OneThe bike crunches along the gravel path, weaving around the potholes that could present danger to someone who didn’t know the road like the back of their hand.The woman on the bike...

by Brent Weeks

Beyond the Shadows - Brent Weeks1Logan Gyre was sitting in the mud and blood of the battlefield of Pavvil’s Grove when Terah Graesin came to him. It was barely an hour since they’d routed the Khalidorans, when the...

by J. L. Bourne

Beyond Exile_ Day by Day Armageddon - J. L. BourneAuthor’s NoteThe first volume of Day by Day Armageddon took us deep into the mind of a military officer and survivor as he made a New Year’s resolution to start k...

by Pat Benatar & Patsi Bale Cox

Between a Heart and a Rock Place_A Memoir - Pat Benatar & Patsi Bale CoxPROLOGUE1979I KNEW THE SOUND wasn’t right.As I sat there, listening to the playback from my first-ever recording session, I knew that something was ...

by Lisi Harrison

Best Friends for Never - Lisi HarrisonTHE BLOCK ESTATEDINING ROOM7:45 PMOctober 23rdMassie Block hated herself for looking so beautiful. She angled a silver soup spoon toward her face and quickly glanced at her reflection. The n...

by John Shors

Beside a Burning Sea - John ShorsDAY ONEWarm winds bear old scents.I ask why I have fallenAnd how I may rise.BenevolenceSEPTEMBER 23, 1942SOLOMON ISLANDSTen minutes before a torpedo sliced through the sea and slammed into steel,...

by Deborah Raney

Beneath a Southern Sky - Deborah RaneyPrologueA chill spring rain washed the Kansas Turnpike, and the angry grey skies overhead offered no hope for an end to the downpour. It seemed to Daria that hers was the only car on th...

by Brynn Paulin

Belonging to Them - Brynn PaulinChapter OneMa’am, to tell you the truth, I really don’t know how that car got you this far.Rayna Halliday bit her lip and listened to the darkly handsome man on the other side of t...

by Danielle Evans

Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self - Danielle EvansVirginsMe and Jasmine and Michael were hanging out at Mr. Thompson’s pool. We were fifteen and it was the first weekend after school started, and me and Jasmine wer...

by Christopher Bohjalian

Before You Know Kindness - Christopher BohjalianPrologueCavitationThe bullet—cylindriform as a rocket but tapering to a point almost sharp enough to prick skin with a casual touch—was two and a half inches long when it was in...

by Lauren Oliver

Before I Fall - Lauren OliverPROLOGUEThey say that just before you die your whole life flashes before your eyes, but that’s not how it happened for me.To be honest, I’d always thought the whole final-moment, mental ...

by Mary Wine

Bedding the Enemy - Mary WineChapter OneRed Stone Castle, McQuade land, Scotland, Spring 1604Laird…He’d never courted the title. Never considered it something that might be his. Keir McQuade walked through the hallways he&rs...

by A. N. Roquelaure & Anne Rice

Beauty's Release - A. N. Roquelaure & Anne RiceLAURENT: CAPTIVES AT SEANIGHTTIME.But something had changed. As soon as I opened my eyes, I knew we were close to land. Even in the shadowy silence of the cabin, I could sme...

by A. N. Roquelaure & Anne Rice

Beauty's Punishment - A. N. Roquelaure & Anne RiceTHE PUNISHEDTHE MORNING star was just fading in the violet sky as the huge wooden cart, crowded with naked slaves, moved slowly over the castle draw-bridge. The white draft...

by Julia Barrett

Beauty and the Feast - Julia BarrettAcknowledgmentsI would like to thank Resplendence Publishing and my editor, Chantal Depp for her hard work and wonderfully minute attention to detail.Chapter OneJesus Christ, Jason! What the hel...

by Oscar Hijuelos

Beautiful Maria of My Soul - Oscar HijuelosPART ICuba, 1947Chapter ONEOver forty years before, when Nestor Castillo’s future love, one María García y Cifuentes, left her beloved valle in the far west of Cuba, ...

by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Beautiful Creatures - Kami Garcia & Margaret StohlBEFOREThe Middle of NowhereThere were only two kinds of people in our town. The stupid and the stuck, my father had affectionately classified our neighbors. The ones who are bou...

by Michael C. White

Beautiful Assassin - Michael C. WhitePROLOGUEColorado, 1996Elizabeth had driven several miles past the dirt road before it occurred to her that it might have been the one the old woman had told her to take. After glancing once...

by Josh Bazell

Beat the reaper_a novel - Josh Bazell1So I’m on my way to work and I stop to watch a pigeon fight a rat in the snow, and some fuckhead tries to mug me! Naturally there’s a gun. He comes up behind me and stick...

by Nicholas Sparks

A Bend in the Road - Nicholas SparksPrologueWhere does a story truly begin? In life, there are seldom clear-cut beginnings, those moments when we can, in looking back, say that everything started. Yet there are moments when fa...

by Malla Nunn

A Beautiful Place to Die - Malla Nunn1SOUTH AFRICA, SEPTEMBER 1952.DETECTIVE SERGEANT EMMANUEL Cooper switched off the engine and looked out through the dirty windscreen. He was in deep country. To get deeper he’d have to...

by Diane Chamberlain

The Bay at Midnight by Diane ChamberlainACKNOWLEDGEMENTSDo you miss some special place from your childhood and wish you could return there for a while? When I was a child, my family had a summer bungalow on the Intracoastal W...

by Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson

The Battle of Corrin - Brian Herbert & Kevin J. AndersonAcknowledgmentsFor the two authors of this book, envisioning the path from concept to finished manuscript is akin to a pair of Guild Navigators at the helm of the same ...

by Richard Overy

The Battle of Britain - Richard OveryACKNOWLEDGEMENTSI would like to acknowledge the helpful assistance received in the Imperial War Museum, the Public Record Office, and above all in the Ministry of Defence, Air Historical Branc...

by Mark D. White & Robert Arp

Batman and philosophy_the dark knight of the soul - Mark D. White & Robert ArpACKNOWLEDGMENTSThe Oscar Speech George Clooney Never Got to MakeWe wish to thank the Justice League (Eric Nelson, Connie Santisteban, and the rest of...

by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche & Walter Arnold Kaufmann

Basic writings of Nietzsche - Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche & Walter Arnold KaufmannEditor’s Introduction1Ecce Homo is one of the treasures of world literature. Written in 1888 and first published in 1908, it has been largely...

by David Sedaris

Barrel Fever - David SedarisPARADEI WAS ON Oprah a while ago, talking about how I used to love too much. Did you see it? The other guests were men who continue to love too much. Those men were in a place I used to be, ...

by Adam Nevill

Banquet for the Damned - Adam NevillCHAPTER ONEIt is a night empty of cloud and as still as space.Alone, a young man walks across a deserted beach. His eyes are vacant and his mouth is loose. The steps of his unlaced boots...

by Dick Francis

Banker - Dick FrancisThe First YearMAYGordon Michaels stood in the fountain with all his clothes on.‘My God,’ Alec said. ‘What is he doing?’‘Who?’‘Your boss,’ Alec said. ‘Standing in...

by John Burdett

Bangkok 8 - John BurdettACKNOWLEDGMENTSI thank Sandra Bacon for her great help and kindness in a difficult moment; Nick Wolff for sharing the burden of research; Nong Ruamsantiah (not to be confused with any character bearing t...

by James Church

Bamboo and Blood - James ChurchPART IPrologueEach note was a bell hanging from its own brass hook, an infinity of them cleverly attached to the smooth and rounded edges of the sky. When streams froze, when branches on the tr...

by Gaile Parkin

Baking Cakes in Kigali - Gaile Parkin1IN THE SAME way that a bucket of water reduces a cooking fire to ashes—a few splutters of shocked disbelief, a hiss of anger, and then a chill all the more penetrating for having so a...

by Leslie Meier

Bake Sale Murder (Lucy Stone #13) - Leslie MeierPrologueThe last customer hadn’t left the bar until nearly ...

by John Sandford

Bad Blood - John Sandford1One of those days: late fall, bare black tree branches scratching at a churning gray sky, days cold, nights colder. The harvest was very late—record late—and moving fast. The soybean crop had been d...

by Ben Goldacre

Bad science - Ben GoldacreINTRODUCTIONLet me tell you how bad things have become. Children are routinely being taught—by their own teachers, in thousands of British state schools—that if they wiggle their head up and down it ...

by Blake Crouch

Bad Girl - Blake CrouchIndianapolis, 1995Lucy sat down at one of the few empty tables on the perimeter of the hotel bar and hoped none of the waitresses would notice her. She was fifteen years old, and even wearing the make...

by Joshilyn Jackson

Backseat Saints - Joshilyn JacksonPART I:A MARRIAGE MADE OF SWORDSAmarillo, Texas, 1997CHAPTER 1IT WAS AN AIRPORT ...

by J. Mark Bertrand

Back on Murder - J. Mark BertrandPART 1THE SUICIDE COPCHAPTER 1I’m on the way out. They can all tell, which is why the crime scene technicians hardly acknowledge my presence, and my own colleagues do a double take whene...

by Jane Green

Babyville - Jane GreenJulia1Julia hoists herself around on the bed until her head's at the bottom, then sticks her legs straight up in the air and leans them gently on the headboard.You know, you look ridiculous, Mark snor...

by Sinclair Lewis

Babbitt - Sinclair LewisCHAPTER IITHE TOWERS OF ZENITH aspired above the morning mist; austere towers of steel and cement and limestone, sturdy as cliffs and delicate as silver rods. They were neither citadels nor churches, but...

by SHARON ARCHER

MARRIAGE REUNITED: BABY ON THE WAY BY SHARON ARCHERBorn in New Zealand, Sharon Archer now lives in county Victoria, Australia, with her husband Glenn, one lame horse and five pensionable hens.Always an avid reader, she discovere...

by Lietha Wards

Mercenary’s Conquest by Lietha WardsChapter OneIt was the last day of school and the first day of summer holidays for the students of Scott Springs High School. With graduation ceremonies ending the week prior to the fina...

by Ward Moore

BRING THE JUBILEE by Ward MooreINTRODUCTIONIt is a never-ending source of entertaining discussion among those who are fascinated by the great events of history: "What if . . . ?" Throughout time, and the great events of Man, ...

by LUCY CLARK

BRIDE ON THE CHILDREN’S WARD BY LUCY CLARKCHAPTER ONEEDEN couldn’t believe the apprehensive nervousness clouding her as she entered the hospital and made her way to the spinal ward.She was back.Back home in one of Sy...

by Nora Roberts

A Matter of Choice by Nora RobertsPrologueJames Sladerman frowned at the toe of his shoe. He'd been frowning since the summons from Commissioner Dodson had reached him in the squad room that morning. After blowing out a lo...

by Nora Roberts

(MacGregors 6)Rebellion by Nora RobertsPrologueGlenroe Forest, Scotland, 1735They came at dusk, when the villagers were at their evening meal, and the peat fires sent smoke curling from the chimneys into the chillNovember air. The...

by Nora Roberts

(MacGregors 4)One Mans Art by Nora RobertsChapter OneGennie knew she'd found it the moment she passed the first faded clapboard building. The village, pragmatically and accurately called Windy Point, at last captured her perso...

by Dan Fesperman

The Arms Maker of Berlin - Dan FespermanONETHE BIGGEST HAZARD of studying history, Nat Turnbull once told his wife, is that if you spend too much time looking backward, you’ll be facing the wrong way when the forces of...

by Tom Clancy & Steve Perry & Steve R. Pieczenik & Larry Segriff

The Archimedes Effect - Tom Clancy & Steve Perry & Steve R. Pieczenik & Larry SegriffAcknowledgmentsWe would like to acknowledge the assistance of Martin H. Greenberg, Denise Little, John Helfers, Brittiany Koren, and Tom Colgan,...

by Chelsea Handler

Are You There, Vodka?_It's Me, Chelsea - Chelsea HandlerCHAPTER ONEBlacklistedI was nine years old and walking myself to school one morning when I heard the unfamiliar sound of a prepubescent boy calling my name.I had heard...

by Anne Rice

Angel Time_The Songs of the Seraphim - Anne RiceCHAPTER ONEShades of DespairTHERE WERE OMENS FROM THE BEGINNING.First off, I didn’t want to do a job at the Mission Inn. Anywhere in the country, I would have been willing,...

by Chaz McGee

Angel Interrupted - Chaz McGeeChapter 1Love is squandered by the human race. I have seen people kill in the name of love. I have watched others torture themselves with it, bleeding every drop of joy from their hearts because...

by Kristin Hannah

Angel Falls - Kristin HannahChapter OneIn northwest Washington state, jagged granite mountains reach for the misty sky, their peaks inaccessible even in this age of helicopters and high-tech adventurers. The trees in this part of...

by Cathy Cassidy

Angel Cake - Cathy Cassidy1The last few bits and pieces are packed. Mum is running around the flat with a duster, trying to make it all perfect for the next tenants, and Kazia’s sitting on her suitcase hugging the old...

by Count Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy & Ben H. Winters & Leo Tolstoy

Android Karenina - Count Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy & Ben H. Winters & Leo TolstoyPART ONE: A CRACK IN THE SKYCHAPTER 1FUNCTIONING ROBOTS are all alike; every malfunctioning robot malfunctions in its own way.Everything was in conf...

by DANNIKA DARK

SIX MONTHS_(A Seven Series Novel Book 2) by DANNIKA DARKAcknowledgements:This book is dedicated to every person who has found their happy ending in a new beginning, and for those who seek it.PrologueReno parked his Triumph motor...

by Stark Sabrina

Rebelonging by Stark SabrinaPrologueLawtonI glanced down at my left wrist. The pain was nothing. I wound the rope tighter and gave it another sharp, seesaw tug. The coarse fibers chewed at my skin.Not enough.I gave the rope an...

by WHITNEY G.

REASONABLE DOUBT by WHITNEY G.PrologueAndrewNew York City is nothing more than a shit-filled wasteland, a dump where failures are forced to drop all their broken dreams and leave them far behind. The flashing lights that shined...

by Whitney Gracia Williams

Mid Life Love by Whitney Gracia WilliamsDedication:For those who believe in a second chance at love...December 28, 2012Dear Journal,I just realized that the key to advertising can be summed up in one word: Bullshit.That’s r...

by Laurelin Paige

FOREVER WITH YOU (Book 3 in the Fixed Trilogy) by Laurelin PaigeChapter OneI took a deep breath and stared at the door of apartment three-twelve. Whether or not I wanted to go any further, I hadn’t decided. Actually, I...

by Laurelin Paige

FIXED ON YOU by Laurelin PaigeChapter OneI felt alive.The alternating flashes of dark and soft lights, the throbbing pulse from an Ellie Goulding club mix, the movement of sweaty bodies dancing, grinding, enjoying each other—The...

by John Grisham

The Appeal - John GrishamPART ONETHE VERDICTchapter 1The jury was ready.After forty-two hours of deliberations that followed seventy-one days of trial that included 530 hours of testimony from four dozen witnesses, and after a li...