World Fiction

The Hero of Humanity—the man summoned to slay the Demon King—he went and destroyed all who wronged him, humans and gods included. At the end of his bloody campaign, he had nothing left. He retired to a humble cottage built from the divine, wood of the World Tree that he chopped down. All was well until, one day, the world shook. The Hero wanted nothing to do with it and went to sleep. The next day, he went outside and saw that his property had been transferred to yet another world.

Worried that old age will inevitably mean losing your libido, your health, and possibly your marbles too? Well, Cicero has some good news for you. In How to Grow Old, the great Roman orator and statesman eloquently describes how you can make the second half of life the best part of all - and why you might discover that reading and gardening are actually far more pleasurable than sex ever was.

David Sedaris's beloved holiday collection is new again with six more pieces, including a never before published story. Along with such favorites as the diaries of a Macy's elf and the annals of two very competitive families, are Sedaris's tales of tardy trick-or-treaters ("Us and Them"); the difficulties of explaining the Easter Bunny to the French ("Jesus Shaves"); and what to do when you've been locked out in a snowstorm ("Let It Snow").

Henry Townsend, a black farmer, bootmaker, and former slave, has a fondness for Paradise Lost and an unusual mentor, William Robbins, perhaps the most powerful white man in antebellum Virginia's Manchester County. Under Robbins's tutelage, Henry becomes proprietor of his own plantation, as well as of his own slaves. When he dies, his widow Caldonia succumbs to profound grief, and things begin to fall apart.

Leon doesn't want a leading role, not in the kingdom and not in the game. Too bad for him. Between his new promotion and the attentions of protagonist Livia and villainess Angie, no one will leave him alone--least of all the prince and his lordly gang. As Leon struggles for independence, tension grows with his allies. But soon, they'll have to band together to face the greatest danger imaginable, one that threatens to destabilize the game itself.

Grab your tickets for Cajun Country Live!, the pickers' and crooners' answer to the legendary New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Maggie Crozat, proprietor of the Crozat Plantation B&B, plans to be in the cheering section when her friend Gaynell Bourgeois takes the stage with her band, Gaynell and the Gator Girls. The festival's headliner, native daughter Tammy Barker, rocketed to stardom on a TV singing competition. When a member of Tammy's entourage is murdered at the festival, Tammy makes sure Gaynell is number one on the suspect list.

Au cœur de l'enfer, une femme se bat pour l'espoir. "Rappelle-toi: notre seule arme, c'est de rester en vie, et pour rester en vie, nous devons aimer, nous devons donner, et, malheureusement, nous devons souffrir." Lorsqu'elle arrive à Auschwitz, sous un ciel bas et gris, Ana est persuadée qu'elle ne survivra pas à l'enfer du camp. Mais elle possède une compétence que les nazis recherchent : elle est sage-femme. Son travail sera de donner naissance aux enfants des autres prisonnières.

An astonishing work of cultural criticism, this book is widely recognized as a brilliant and devastating challenge to conventional views of literature, anthropology, religion, and psychoanalysis. In its scope and interest it can be compared with Freud's Totem and Taboo, the subtext Girard refutes with polemic daring, vast erudition, and a persuasiveness that leaves the listener compelled to respond, one way or another. This is the single fullest summation of Girard's ideas to date, the book by which they will stand or fall.

Those in power do not believe in the possibility of triumph against the will of the gods, and instead squander their time and effort in indulging their needs and desires as the world quickly rots away around them. Mankind’s only hope rests on the shoulders of a man they hate the most. A man who has taken every possible measure, both accepted and forbidden, to attain power. Sungchul Kim, the man who reached the pinnacle of strength, now stands alone against the Calamities. Not because he is a hero, but because of a promise.

À la fin de la Renaissance, le duc de Guise s'éprend de Mlle de Mézières. Mais bien qu'elle l'aime aussi, la jeune fille est contrainte d'épouser le prince de Montpensier. Trois ans plus tard, un jour qu'il a perdu son chemin près du château de la princesse, le duc la rencontre au bord d'une rivière où elle est venue se reposer : elle rougit à sa vue, et lui-même comprend aussitôt que sa propre passion n'est pas morte. Publié en 1662, le court récit de "La princesse de Montpensier" fonde l'art classique de la nouvelle.

Father John has lived his whole life without knowing a woman’s touch. Hard at first, his self-denial grew easier over time, as he learned to master his urges with a regimen of prayer, cold showers, and jigsaw puzzles. That changes the day that Debra Rocks enters his confessional. A rough-talking adult film actress, she has come to ask him to pray for a murdered costar. Her cinnamon perfume infects Father John, and after she departs he becomes obsessed.

Coyote Peterson's Brave Adventures: Wild Animals in a Wild World chronicles some of the wildest encounters Coyote Peterson has had over the course of his travels.

I thought magic didn’t exist. I was so, so wrong. I'm just a typical college student...until a demon attacks me on the night of my 21st birthday. Luckily, I'm saved by Noah - a mysterious, sexy wolf shifter who appears and disappears before I can ask him any questions. Then, my mom is abducted by the same demon who came after me. And who turns up at the scene of the crime again? Noah. He’s hunting the demons who are taking humans, and he’s ultimately heading where I need to go to save my mom - the mystical island of Avalon.

Full of tragic heroes, intoxicating love stories, and the unstoppable force of fate, there is no conflict more iconic than the Trojan War. Troy is the story of the epic battle retold by Fry with drama, humor, and vivid emotion. Achilles, Hector, Odysseus, Helen, their lovers, and their mortal enemies all burn bright in Fry's compelling prose. This volume invites you to explore a captivating world with a brilliant storyteller as your guide.

Here is the precursor to Jurassic Park. Victorian explorers have heard there is a remote plateau where dinosaurs still survive, and a group set outs on a dangerous mission to find out more about it.

Alice Comstock has always been a dutiful wife and an attentive mother, a perfectionist presiding over a flawless home. She’s reliably been her family’s center, the caretaker and problem-solver, until an illness requires her children to assume responsibility for their mother. For Adam, Alice’s youngest, a return home to California sparks a memory of his younger self. Alternating between the present and flashbacks to Adam’s college years, "There Are Flowers in Ohio" explores how the paths not taken shape all of our lives.

A sickness runs rampant through the world. In Portland, Oregon it is no different. As the night takes hold, eight men and women bear witness to the horror of a zombie outbreak. This Rotten World is the zombie novel that horror fans have been waiting for. Where other zombie works skip over the best part of a zombie outbreak, This Rotten World revels in it the downfall of humanity, dragging you through the beginnings of society's death, kicking and screaming.

In the highly anticipated conclusion to the Land of Stories series, Conner and Alex must brave the impossible. All of the Land of Stories fairy tale characters - heroes and villains - are no longer confined within their world! With mayhem brewing in the Big Apple, Conner and Alex will have to win their biggest battle yet. Can the twins restore order between the human and fairy tale worlds?

Exodus End's legendary drummer Steve Aimes plays the role of a rock star better than anyone in the business. Since his divorce, he's embraced every rock-and-roll stereotype and uses those vices to keep women at a safe emotional distance, while keeping their physical distance recklessly close. He vowed years ago to never give any woman the power to break his heart again. He just has to keep playing the part, and never drop his guard, and stop obsessing over the keyboardist in their new opening act.

The opening sentence of John Irving's breakout novel, The World According to Garp, signals the start of sexual violence, which becomes increasingly political. "Garp's mother, Jenny Fields, was arrested in Boston in 1942 for wounding a man in a movie theater." Jenny is an unmarried nurse; she becomes a single mom and a feminist leader, beloved but polarizing. Her son, Garp, is less beloved, but no less polarizing.