| Search | About | Preferences | Interact | Help | |
| 150 million books. 1 search engine. | ||
books tagged “alternate history”
books tagged “alternate history”
›› Find signed collectible books by ''
54by Shaun Whiteside, Wu Ming, Ming WuISBN 0151013802 (0-15-101380-2)
Hardcover, Harcourt
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: '54'More editions of 54:
Airbornby Kenneth OppelISBN 0060531827 (0-06-053182-7)
Softcover, Harpercollins Childrens Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Airborn'
Al Capone Does My Shirtsby Gennifer CholdenkoISBN 0142403709 (0-14-240370-9)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Al Capone Does My Shirts'More editions of Al Capone Does My Shirts:
-
Alas, Babylonby Pat Frank, David BrinISBN 0060741872 (0-06-074187-2)
Softcover, Harpercollins
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Alas, Babylon'Book summary:Those fateful words heralded the end. When the unthinkable nightmare of nuclear holocaust ravaged the United States, it was instant death for tens of millions of people; for survivors, it was a nightmare of hunger, sickness, and brutality. Overnight, a thousand years of civilization were stripped away.
But for one small Florida town, spared against all the odds, the struggle was just beginning, as men and women of all ages and races found the courage to join together and push against the darkness. [via]
An Alien Heatby Michael MoorcockISBN 0060130040 (0-06-013004-0)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'An Alien Heat'More editions of An Alien Heat:
The Alternative Third World War, 1985-2035by William JacksonISBN 0080347401 (0-08-034740-1)
Hardcover, Potomac Books Inc
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Alternative Third World War, 1985-2035'More editions of The Alternative Third World War, 1985-2035:
-
American Godsby Neil GaimanISBN 0060558121 (0-06-055812-1)
Softcover, Harpercollins
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'American Gods'Book summary:American Gods is Neil Gaiman's best and most ambitious novel yet, a scary, strange, and hallucinogenic road-trip story wrapped around a deep examination of the American spirit. Gaiman tackles everything from the onslaught of the information age to the meaning of death, but he doesn't sacrifice the razor-sharp plotting and narrative style he's been delivering since his Sandman days.
Shadow gets out of prison early when his wife is killed in a car crash. At a loss, he takes up with a mysterious character called Wednesday, who is much more than he appears. In fact, Wednesday is an old god, once known as Odin the All-father, who is roaming America rounding up his forgotten fellows in preparation for an epic battle against the upstart deities of the Internet, credit cards, television, and all that is wired. Shadow agrees to help Wednesday, and they whirl through a psycho-spiritual storm that becomes all too real in its manifestations. For instance, Shadow's dead wife Laura keeps showing up, and not just as a ghost--the difficulty of their continuing relationship is by turns grim and darkly funny, just like the rest of the book.
Armed only with some coin tricks and a sense of purpose, Shadow travels through, around, and underneath the visible surface of things, digging up all the powerful myths Americans brought with them in their journeys to this land as well as the ones that were already here. Shadow's road story is the heart of the novel, and it's here that Gaiman offers up the details that make this such a cinematic book--the distinctly American foods and diversions, the bizarre roadside attractions, the decrepit gods reduced to shell games and prostitution. "This is a bad land for Gods," says Shadow.
More than a tourist in America, but not a native, Neil Gaiman offers an outside-in and inside-out perspective on the soul and spirituality of the country--our obsessions with money and power, our jumbled religious heritage and its societal outcomes, and the millennial decisions we face about what's real and what's not. --Therese Littleton [via]
More editions of American Gods:
-
Animal Farmby George Orwell, Ralph SteadmanISBN 0151002177 (0-15-100217-7)
Hardcover, Harcourt
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Animal Farm'Book summary:Since its publication in 1946, George Orwell's fable of a workers' revolution gone wrong has rivaled Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea as the Shortest Serious Novel It's OK to Write a Book Report About. (The latter is three pages longer and less fun to read.) Fueled by Orwell's intense disillusionment with Soviet Communism, Animal Farm is a nearly perfect piece of writing, both an engaging story and an allegory that actually works. When the downtrodden beasts of Manor Farm oust their drunken human master and take over management of the land, all are awash in collectivist zeal. Everyone willingly works overtime, productivity soars, and for one brief, glorious season, every belly is full. The animals' Seven Commandment credo is painted in big white letters on the barn. All animals are equal. No animal shall drink alcohol, wear clothes, sleep in a bed, or kill a fellow four-footed creature. Those that go upon four legs or wings are friends and the two-legged are, by definition, the enemy. Too soon, however, the pigs, who have styled themselves leaders by virtue of their intelligence, succumb to the temptations of privilege and power. "We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organisation of the farm depend on us. Day and night, we are watching over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples." While this swinish brotherhood sells out the revolution, cynically editing the Seven Commandments to excuse their violence and greed, the common animals are once again left hungry and exhausted, no better off than in the days when humans ran the farm. Satire Animal Farm may be, but it's a stony reader who remains unmoved when the stalwart workhorse, Boxer, having given his all to his comrades, is sold to the glue factory to buy booze for the pigs. Orwell's view of Communism is bleak indeed, but given the history of the Russian people since 1917, his pessimism has an air of prophecy. --Joyce Thompson [via]
-
Archangelby Robert HarrisISBN 0091801370 (0-09-180137-0)
Softcover, Hutchinson
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Archangel'Book summary:Before political journalist Robert Harris turned to fiction and resurrected Hitler for his best selling novel Fatherland, he also wrote a hugely entertaining account of the farce surrounding the publication of the hoax Hitler diaries. Archangel, with the obvious exception of substituting Hitler for that other 20th-century ogre Josef Stalin, can be seen as something of a combination of these previous projects. The novel opens in present-day Russia where a louche Oxford academic, Christopher "Fluke" Kelso, is attending a conference on the newly available Stalin archives. Kelso quickly becomes embroiled in a quest for some of Uncle Joe's still secret papers--and also a quest to make his own academic reputation--but soon uncovers more than he bargains for. The ghosts of the old authoritarian past exert a peculiar and all too powerful tug on Yeltsin's fragile capitalist democracy and as Kelso is drawn ever nearer to the secret that lies in the remote White Sea port of Archangel so the tragedies of the past become hideously more plausible in the present. Harris is historically sound, politically astute and his acute insight into the apparatus of state repression and minds of despots is unnerving. But most of all he tells a terrific yarn and Archangel sees him on top form. This is his best yet.--Nick Wroe [via]
-
Archer's Goonby Diana Wynne JonesISBN 0064473562 (0-06-447356-2)
Softcover, HarperCollins Canada, Limited
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Archer's Goon'Book summary:"Face the facts!
This town is run by
seven megalomaniac wizards!"
When Howard Sykes comes home to find a giant thug -- the Goon -- in the kitchen, life turns upside down. Archer, one of seven siblings who control everything in their town from electricity to the police, has sent the Goon to collect the two thousand words Howard's father owes him. Suddenly, the Sykes family is caught in the middle of the wizards' battle for power -- and only Howard can save them!
[via] 
Brother Esauby Douglas Orgill, John R. GribbinISBN 0060390166 (0-06-039016-6)
Hardcover, Harper & Row
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Brother Esau'More editions of Brother Esau:
Castaways of the Flying Dutchmanby Brian Jacques, Ian SchoenherrISBN 0142501182 (0-14-250118-2)
Softcover, Firebird
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Castaways of the Flying Dutchman'More editions of Castaways of the Flying Dutchman:
-
Chronicles of Chrestomanciby Diana Wynne JonesISBN 006447268X (0-06-447268-X)
Softcover, Trophy Pr
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Chronicles of Chrestomanci'Book summary:In the multiple parallel universes of the Twelve Related Worlds, only an enchanter is powerful enough to control the misuse of magic. [via]
More editions of Chronicles of Chrestomanci:
A Clockwork Orangeby Anthony BurgessISBN 0091683815 (0-09-168381-5)
Softcover, Hutchinson
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'A Clockwork Orange'More editions of A Clockwork Orange:
-
Cold Comfort Farmby Stella GibbonsISBN 014018869X (0-14-018869-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Cold Comfort Farm'Book summary:This title is a classic of its kind, a dazzling parody of the earthy, melodramatic novels of the period. Flora Poste has been expensively educated to do everything but earn her own living. When she is orphaned at twenty, she decides her only option is to go and live with her relatives the Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm. What relatives, though: Judith, alone in her grief; raving old Ada Doom, who once saw something nasty in the woodshed; Amos, called by God; Seth, smouldering with sex; and Elfine, who just needs a little polish. Flora feels it incumbent upon her to bring order into the chaos. And she turns out to be remarkably good at it. [via]
More editions of Cold Comfort Farm:
- Cold Comfort Farm: ISBN 0140244875 (0-14-024487-5)
Softcover, Penguin Uk - Cold Comfort Farm: ISBN 0140274146 (0-14-027414-6)
Softcover, Penguin Uk - Cold Comfort Farm: ISBN 0141441593 (0-14-144159-3)
Softcover, Penguin Classics - Cold Comfort Farm: ISBN 0143039598 (0-14-303959-8)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA - Cold Comfort Farm: ISBN 0140001409 (0-14-000140-9)
Softcover, Penguin USA - Cold Comfort Farm: ISBN 0140258132 (0-14-025813-2)
Softcover, Penguin Group (Canada) - Cold Comfort Farm: ISBN 014018869X (0-14-018869-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
- Cold Comfort Farm: ISBN 0140244875 (0-14-024487-5)
-
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeedby Jared DiamondISBN 0143036556 (0-14-303655-6)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed'Book summary:Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed is the glass-half-empty follow-up to his Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs, and Steel. While Guns, Germs, and Steel explained the geographic and environmental reasons why some human populations have flourished, Collapse uses the same factors to examine why ancient societies, including the Anasazi of the American Southwest and the Viking colonies of Greenland, as well as modern ones such as Rwanda, have fallen apart. Not every collapse has an environmental origin, but an eco-meltdown is often the main catalyst, he argues, particularly when combined with society's response to (or disregard for) the coming disaster. Still, right from the outset of Collapse, the author makes clear that this is not a mere environmentalist's diatribe. He begins by setting the book's main question in the small communities of present-day Montana as they face a decline in living standards and a depletion of natural resources. Once-vital mines now leak toxins into the soil, while prion diseases infect some deer and elk and older hydroelectric dams have become decrepit. On all these issues, and particularly with the hot-button topic of logging and wildfires, Diamond writes with equanimity.
Because he's addressing such significant issues within a vast span of time, Diamond can occasionally speak too briefly and assume too much, and at times his shorthand remarks may cause careful readers to raise an eyebrow. But in general, Diamond provides fine and well-reasoned historical examples, making the case that many times, economic and environmental concerns are one and the same. With Collapse, Diamond hopes to jog our collective memory to keep us from falling for false analogies or forgetting prior experiences, and thereby save us from potential devastations to come. While it might seem a stretch to use medieval Greenland and the Maya to convince a skeptic about the seriousness of global warming, it's exactly this type of cross-referencing that makes Collapse so compelling. --Jennifer Buckendorff [via]
More editions of Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed:
-
A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Courtby Mark Twain, Justin KaplanISBN 0140430644 (0-14-043064-4)
Softcover, Puffin
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court'Book summary:When Connecticut mechanic and foreman Hank Morgan is knocked unconscious, he wakes not to the familiar scenes of nineteenth-century America but to the bewildering sights and sounds of sixth-century Camelot. Although confused at first and quickly imprisoned, he soon realises that his knowledge of the future can transform his fate. Correctly predicting a solar eclipse from inside his prison cell, Morgan terrifies the people of England into releasing him and swiftly establishes himself as the most powerful magician in the land, stronger than Merlin and greatly admired by Arthur himself. But the Connecticut Yankee wishes for more than simply a place at the Round Table. Soon, he begins a far greater struggle: to bring American democratic ideals to Old England. Complex and fascinating, "A Connecticut Yankee" is a darkly comic consideration of the nature of human nature and society. [via]
More editions of A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court:
-
The Crying of Lot 49by Thomas PynchonISBN 006091307X (0-06-091307-X)
Softcover, Harpercollins
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Crying of Lot 49'Book summary:The highly original satire about Oedipa Maas, a woman who finds herself enmeshed in a worldwide conspiracy, meets some extremely interesting characters, and attains a not inconsiderable amount of self knowledge.
[via]More editions of The Crying of Lot 49:
Demon Knightby Ken HoodISBN 0061057592 (0-06-105759-2)
Softcover, Harpercollins
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Demon Knight'More editions of Demon Knight:
Demon Swordby Ken HoodISBN 0061054100 (0-06-105410-0)
Softcover, Harpercollins
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Demon Sword'More editions of Demon Sword:
-
A Dream of Eaglesby Jack WhyteISBN 0140170480 (0-14-017048-0)
Softcover, Penguin USA
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'A Dream of Eagles'Book summary:In The Eagles' Brood, the third novel in his Camulod Chronicles, Jack Whyte introduces a new narrator. Caius Merlyn Britannicus, known to his friends as Merlyn, is growing from a young boy to Commander of Camulod and living a life that will establish his place in legend. Whyte's great talent in the Camulod Chronicles is the use of everyday historical detail to make the world of fifth-century England as real to the reader as it is to his characters, and in The Eagles' Brood, this approach really pays off. As Roman influence declines, other factors, including restless local warlords and kings and a Christian church growing in strength, take its place. One result is an increase in warfare and adventure, and there may be as many sword fights in The Eagles' Brood as in the previous two volumes combined. Yet it is typical of Whyte's attention to detail and to the intellectual life of the Britons that some of the bloodiest action takes place en route to a debate over the theology of Saint Augustine.
The Eagles' Brood also offers an alternative starting point for someone who has not read the earlier books and doesn't want to tackle the entire series of fairly large volumes. This is possible because Merlyn is the bridge that takes us from the Roman-dominated world of Publius Varrus to the world of the Britons, in which the baby Arthur will grow up. Wherever you start, though, the Camulod Chronicles offers flesh-and-blood characters living in an historical era so well portrayed that it's easy to see how it became legend. --Greg L. Johnson [via]
More editions of A Dream of Eagles:
The End of All Songsby Michael MoorcockISBN 0060129999 (0-06-012999-9)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The End of All Songs'More editions of The End of All Songs:
-
Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witchby Terry Pratchett, Neil GaimanISBN 0060853972 (0-06-085397-2)
Softcover, Harpercollins
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch'Book summary:Pratchett (of Discworld fame) and Gaiman (of Sandman fame) may seem an unlikely combination, but the topic (Armageddon) of this fast-paced novel is old hat to both. Pratchett's wackiness collaborates with Gaiman's morbid humor; the result is a humanist delight to be savored and reread again and again. You see, there was a bit of a mixup when the Antichrist was born, due in part to the machinations of Crowley, who did not so much fall as saunter downwards, and in part to the mysterious ways as manifested in the form of a part-time rare book dealer, an angel named Aziraphale. Like top agents everywhere, they've long had more in common with each other than the sides they represent, or the conflict they are nominally engaged in. The only person who knows how it will all end is Agnes Nutter, a witch whose prophecies all come true, if one can only manage to decipher them. The minor characters along the way (Famine makes an appearance as diet crazes, no-calorie food and anorexia epidemics) are as much fun as the story as a whole, which adds up to one of those rare books which is enormous fun to read the first time, and the second time, and the third time... [via]
More editions of Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch:
- Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch: ISBN 0060853980 (0-06-085398-0)
Softcover, Harpercollins - Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch: ISBN 0061121304 (0-06-112130-4)
Softcover, Harpercollins - Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch: ISBN 0060853964 (0-06-085396-4)
Hardcover, Harpercollins - Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch: ISBN 0060853972 (0-06-085397-2)
Softcover, Harpercollins
- Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch: ISBN 0060853980 (0-06-085398-0)
The Gospel According to Jesus Christby Jose Saramago, Giovanni PontieroISBN 0151367000 (0-15-136700-0)
Hardcover, Harcourt
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Gospel According to Jesus Christ'More editions of The Gospel According to Jesus Christ:
-
The Hobbit or There and Back Againby J. R. R. TolkienISBN 0048233862 (0-04-823386-2)
Hardcover, Unwin Hyman
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Hobbit or There and Back Again'Book summary:Poor Bilbo Baggins! An unassuming and rather plump hobbit (as most of these small, furry- footed people tend to be ), Baggins finds himself unwittingly drawn into adventure by a wizard named Gandalf and 13 dwarves bound for the Lonely Mountain, where a dragon named Smaug hordes a stolen treasure. Before he knows what is happening, Baggins finds himself on the road to danger. Wizards, dwarves and dragons may seem the stuff of children's fairy tales, but The Hobbit is in a class of its own--light-hearted enough for younger readers, yet with a dark edge guaranteed to intrigue an older audience. In the best tradition of the archetypal hero's quest, Bilbo Baggins sets out on his fateful journey a callow, untested soul and returns--tempered by hardship, danger and loss--a better man--er, hobbit.
This book is the predecessor to Tolkien's masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, and though that trilogy can be thoroughly enjoyed without first reading The Hobbit, much that happens in the later novels is foreshadowed here. A word of caution, however: as Bilbo discovers early on, travel and adventure are addictive things; embark on this journey to the Lonely Mountain with Tolkien's reluctant hero, and you might not be able to stop there. And the road taken to the distant mountains of Mordor in the ensuing trilogy is an even more perilous one. [via]
More editions of The Hobbit or There and Back Again:
The Hollow Landsby Michael MoorcockISBN 0060130024 (0-06-013002-4)
Hardcover, Harper & Row
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Hollow Lands'More editions of The Hollow Lands:
-
The House of Doctor Deeby Peter AckroydISBN 0140171177 (0-14-017117-7)
Hardcover, Penguin
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The House of Doctor Dee'Book summary:This novel centres on the famous 16th-century alchemist and astrologer John Dee. Reputedly a black magician, he was imprisoned by Queen Mary for allegedly attempting to kill her through sorcery. When Matthew Palmer inherits an old house in Clerkenwell, he feels that he has become part of its past. [via]
More editions of The House of Doctor Dee:
Johnny And the Bombby Terry PratchettISBN 0060541911 (0-06-054191-1)
Hardcover, Harpercollins Childrens Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Johnny And the Bomb'Book summary:Twelve-year-old Johnny Maxwell has a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This has never been more true than when he finds himself in his hometown on May 21, 1941, over forty years before his birth!
An accidental time traveler, Johnny knows his history. He knows England is at war, and he knows that on this day German bombs will fall on the town. It happened. It's history. And as Johnny and his friends quickly discover, tampering with history can have unpredictableand drasticeffects on the future.
But letting history take its course means letting people die. What if Johnny warns someone and changes history? What will happen to the future? If Johnny uses his knowledge to save innocent lives by being in the right place at the right time, is he doing the right thing?
Mixing nail-biting suspense with outrageous humor, Terry Pratchett explores a classic time-travel paradox in Johnny Maxwell's third adventure.
[via]-
King of Attoliaby Megan Whalen TurnerISBN 006083577X (0-06-083577-X)
Hardcover, Harpercollins Childrens Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'King of Attolia'Book summary:By scheming and theft, the Thief of Eddis has become King of Attolia. Eugenides wanted the queen, not the crown, but he finds himself trapped in a web of his own making. Attolia's barons seethe with resentment, the Mede emperor is returning to the attack, and the king is surrounded by the subtle and dangerous intrigue of the Attolian court.
When a naive young guard expresses his contempt for the king in no uncertain terms, he is dragged by Eugenides into the center of the political maelstrom. Like the king, he cannot escape the difficulties he makes for himself. Poor Costis knows he is the victim of the king's caprice, but he discovers a reluctant sympathy for Eugenides as he watches the newly crowned king struggle against his fate.
Fans of the Newbery Honor Book The Thief and The Queen of Attolia will recognize Megan Whalen Turner's signature plot twists and turns in the third exquisitely crafted tale about Eugenides.
[via] -
The Last Witchfinderby James MorrowISBN 0060821809 (0-06-082180-9)
Softcover, Harpercollins
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Last Witchfinder'Book summary:Jennet Stearne's father hangs witches for a living in Restoration England. But when she witnesses the unjust and horrifying execution of her beloved aunt Isobel, the precocious child decides to make it her life's mission to bring down the Parliamentary Witchcraft Act. Armed with little save the power of reason, and determined to see justice prevail, Jennet hurls herself into a series of picaresque adventurestraveling from King William's Britain to the fledgling American Colonies to an uncharted island in the Caribbean, braving West Indies pirates, Algonquin Indian captors, the machinations of the Salem Witch Court, and the sensuous love of a young Ben Franklin. For Jennet cannot and must not rest until she has put the last witchfinder out of business.
[via] -
The Lathe of Heavenby Ursula K. Le GuinISBN 0060512741 (0-06-051274-1)
Softcover, Harpercollins
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Lathe of Heaven'Book summary:Ursula K. Le Guin is one of science fiction's greatest writers. She is also an acclaimed author of powerful and perceptive nonfiction, fantasy, and literary fiction. She has received many honors, including six Nebula and five Hugo Awards, the National Book Award, the Pushcart Prize, the Newbery, the Pilgrim, the Tiptree, and citations by the American Library Association. She has written over a dozen highly regarded novels and story collections. Her SF masterworks are The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), The Dispossessed (1974), and The Lathe of Heaven (1971).
George Orr has dreams that come true--dreams that change reality. He dreams that the aunt who is sexually harassing him is killed in a car crash, and wakes to find that she died in a wreck six weeks ago, in another part of the country. But a far darker dream drives George into the care of a psychotherapist--a dream researcher who doesn't share George's ambivalence about altering reality.
The Lathe of Heaven is set in the sort of worlds that one would associate with Philip K. Dick, but Ms. Le Guin's treatment of the material, her plot and characterization and concerns, are more akin to the humanistic, ethically engaged, psychologically nuanced fiction of Theodore Sturgeon. The Lathe of Heaven is an insightful and chilling examination of total power, of war and injustice and other age-old problems, of changing the world, of playing God. --Cynthia Ward [via]
More editions of The Lathe of Heaven:
-
Little, Bigby John CrowleyISBN 0061120057 (0-06-112005-7)
Softcover, Harpercollins
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Little, Big'Book summary:Little, Big tells the epic story of Smoky Barnable -- an anonymous young man who meets and falls in love with Daily Alice Drinkwater, and goes to live with her in Edgewood, a place not found on any map. In an impossible mansion full of her relatives, who all seem to have ties to another world not far away, Smoky fathers a family and tries to learn what tale he has found himself in -- and how it is to end.
[via] -
The Lord of the Ringsby J. R. R. TolkienISBN 0048230871 (0-04-823087-1)
Hardcover, Allen and Unwin
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Lord of the Rings'Book summary:Let's face it--even some adults find Tolkien's mammoth fantasy a daunting mouthful but children now have this special seven-book box set of The Lord of The Rings to make the epic tale just that bit easier to chew on. Split into its seven constituent parts, these slim volumes tell the ageless tale of young Frodo's quest to destroy The Ring and defeat the forces of evil. It's beautifully presented in a black presentation box with the movie logo and an illustration on the side and the spines of the books also form the movie logo. A contemporary look and plenty of "cool appeal" will grab kids' interest and ensure they don't miss out on reading this classic of the genre. --Jonathan Weir [via]
More editions of The Lord of the Rings:
-
Lostby Gregory MaguireISBN 0060988649 (0-06-098864-9)
Softcover, Regan Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Lost'Book summary:At the flat in Weatherall Walk there was no milk in the fridge, no ice in the tiny freezer unit.... The better furniture was hung over with drop cloths, the leather-bound books evacuated from their shelves.... Unconnected wiring threaded from walls, and a smell of lazy drains, something rotting, unfurled from the sewer all the way up to this flat. Winnie wrenched open a window. But no sign of John?
Winifred Rudge, a bemused writer struggling to get beyond the runaway success of her mass-market astrology book, travels to London to jump-start her new novel about a woman who is being haunted by the ghost of Jack the Ripper. Upon her arrival, she finds that her stepcousin and old friend John Comestor has disappeared, and a ghostly presence seems to have taken over his apartment in the nineteenth-century rowhouse once owned by Winnie's great-great-grandfather. Is it the spirit of this ancestor, who, family legend claims, was Charles Dickens's childhood inspiration for Ebenezer Scrooge? Could it be the ghostly remains of Jack the Ripper? Or a phantasm derived from a more arcane and insidious origin?
Winnie begins to investigate, but John's erstwhile girlfriend, Allegra, is aggressively unhelpful, and his downstairs neighbor, the cat-obsessed Mrs. Maddingly, is growing stranger by the day. Gripped by inspiration and desperation alike, Winnie finds herself the unwilling audience for a drama of specters and shades, some from her family's peculiar history and some from her own unvanquished past.
In the spirit of A. S. Byatt's "Possession, with dark overtones echoing from "A Christmas Carol, Lostpresents a rich fictional world that will enrapture Gregory Maguire's eager audience. [via]
Making It Upby Penelope LivelyISBN 0143037846 (0-14-303784-6)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Making It Up'More editions of Making It Up:
-
Mirror Mirrorby Gregory MaguireISBN 0060988657 (0-06-098865-7)
Softcover, Harpercollins
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Mirror Mirror'Book summary:A brilliant achievement.
Boston Herald
Entertaining&profound&.A novel for adults that unearths our buried fascination with the primal fears and truths fairy tales contain.
Christian Science MonitorGregory Maguire, the acclaimed author who re-imagined a darker, more dangerous Land of Oz in his New York Times bestselling series The Wicked Years, offers a brilliant reinvention of the timeless Snow White fairy tale: Mirror Mirror. Setting his story amid the cultural, political and artistic whirlwind of Renaissance Italyand casting the notorious Lucrezia Borgia as the Evil QueenMaguire and Mirror Mirror will enthrall a wide array of book lovers ranging from adult fans of Harry Potter to readers of the sophisticated stories of Angela Carter.
[via] -
Mirror Mirror Intlby Gregory MaguireISBN 0060594535 (0-06-059453-5)
Softcover, Harpercollins
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Mirror Mirror Intl'Book summary:> 11/11/2011 3:47:53 PM: 9780060594534, MIRROR MIRROR INTL, PB [via]
More editions of Mirror Mirror Intl:
Mother Londonby Michael MoorcockISBN 0060973099 (0-06-097309-9)
Softcover, Harpercollins
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Mother London'More editions of Mother London:
-
Neverwhereby Neil GaimanISBN 0060557818 (0-06-055781-8)
Softcover, Harpercollins
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Neverwhere'Book summary:Neverwhere's protagonist, Richard Mayhew, learns the hard way that no good deed goes unpunished. He ceases to exist in the ordinary world of London Above, and joins a quest through the dark and dangerous London Below, a shadow city of lost and forgotten people, places, and times. His companions are Door, who is trying to find out who hired the assassins who murdered her family and why; the Marquis of Carabas, a trickster who trades services for very big favors; and Hunter, a mysterious lady who guards bodies and hunts only the biggest game. London Below is a wonderfully realized shadow world, and the story plunges through it like an express passing local stations, with plenty of action and a satisfying conclusion. The story is reminiscent of Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, but Neil Gaiman's humor is much darker and his images sometimes truly horrific. Puns and allusions to everything from Paradise Lost to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz abound, but you can enjoy the book without getting all of them. Gaiman is definitely not just for graphic-novel fans anymore. --Nona Vero [via]
More editions of Neverwhere:
The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuqueby Jeffrey FordISBN 0060936177 (0-06-093617-7)
Softcover, Harpercollins
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque'More editions of The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque:
-
Qby Shaun Whiteside, Luther BlissettISBN 0151010633 (0-15-101063-3)
Hardcover, Harcourt
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Q'Book summary:Something of a publishing sensation elsewhere in Europe, Q is a convoluted historical thriller by a consortium of young pseudonymous authors, who, it has to be said, are a little too in love with their own cleverness. Q is the working name of a papal spy trying to keep a lid on the Reformation, particularly on the Anabaptist radicalism which is its form most dangerous to the social order, and for decades he watches, and occasionally gets in close and betrays. The man sometimes known as Gert is his opposite--all the more so because he hardly knows of Q's existence--the idealist who is caught up in the same events: Luther's sermons, the rise and fall of Thomas Muntzer, the disastrous People's Republic of Munster.
Parallels are being struck all over the place with radicalism in the 20th century--part of what makes Gert a memorable voice is a combination of zeal, pragmatism and survival instinct that keeps him one step ahead of the Inquisitors for 30 years and enables him to, for example, do serious damage to the Holy Roman Emperor's favourite bankers. In the end, Gert and Q are left with more in common than the past they share--the rules are changing and the board is being cleared, and there is time for one last crucial intervention... This is ingeniously plotted, and full of vividly realised scenes of 16th century life; if it has a fault, it is that we live through every day of three tumultuous decades, every sermon and theological treatise, in exhausting detail. --Roz Kaveney [via]
More editions of Q:
-
The Riftby Walter WilliamsISBN 0061057940 (0-06-105794-0)
Softcover, HarperCollins Publishers
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Rift'Book summary:Rock & roll takes on new meaning in The Rift, Walter Jon Williams's huge book about a magnitude 8.9 earthquake centered under the southeastern United States. This is a major departure from the intricate science fiction tales Williams usually writes (City on Fire, Aristoi), but he applies the same thoroughness, complexity, and great character development to this disaster yarn. Some readers might balk at the book's size (it's a doorstopper), but consider the subject: the biggest earthquake in recorded history, a monstrous disaster that lays waste to entire cities from Chicago to New Orleans, flings one of the world's largest rivers out of its banks, and within 10 minutes obliterates countless lives. But the earthquake is only the beginning of this horror story--fire, flood, and chaos follow, and ordinary people are pushed to the limits of ability and sanity as they are transformed into survivors:
Marcy thought the tremor was just another aftershock, but then she saw the flash brighten the shining steel of the Gateway Arch, and turned south to watch in awestruck horror as the bright fireball rose over south St. Louis. Bright arching trails of flame shot out of the fireball, like Fourth of July rockets, as debris rose and fell.... It is the Bomb, Marcy thought. It is the End.... The bubble of fire rose into the heavens, and its reflection turned the Mississippi to the color of blood.
Williams follows the fates of nine people in the earthquake's aftermath. Among the most compelling, considering the racial and political tension characteristic of the American southeast, are the stories of sheriff Omar Paxton, a card-carrying KKK member from a small parish in Louisiana; the Reverend Noble Frankland, a fundamentalist preacher with well-stocked bunkers and fanatic followers; and General Jessica Frazetta of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the woman in charge of somehow repairing the damage. Each character's story would make a terrifying disaster novel on its own, and Williams handles them all deftly, weaving their threads through the apocalyptic postquake landscape. The Rift is a magnitude 9 novel--you'll walk gingerly on the quiet earth when you're done reading. --Therese Littleton [via]
The Scourge of Godby William DietrichISBN 0060735082 (0-06-073508-2)
Softcover, Harpercollins
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Scourge of God'
Serpent in the Sky: The Higher Wisdom of Ancient Egyptby John Anthony WestISBN 0060145811 (0-06-014581-1)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Serpent in the Sky: The Higher Wisdom of Ancient Egypt'More editions of Serpent in the Sky: The Higher Wisdom of Ancient Egypt:
-
Sex with Kings : 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revengeby Eleanor HermanISBN 0060585439 (0-06-058543-9)
Hardcover, HarperCollins Publishers
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Sex with Kings : 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge'Book summary:Throughout the centuries, royal mistresses have been worshiped, feared, envied, and reviled. They set the fashions, encouraged the arts, and, in some cases, ruled nations. Eleanor Herman's Sex with Kings takes us into the throne rooms and bedrooms of Europe's most powerful monarchs. Alive with flamboyant characters, outrageous humor, and stirring poignancy, this glittering tale of passion and politics chronicles five hundred years of scintillating women and the kings who loved them.
Curiously, the main function of a royal mistress was not to provide the king with sex but with companionship. Forced to marry repulsive foreign princesses, kings sought solace with women of their own choice. And what women they were! From Madame de Pompadour, the famous mistress of Louis XV, who kept her position for nineteen years despite her frigidity, to modern-day Camilla Parker-Bowles, who usurped none other than the glamorous Diana, Princess of Wales.
The successful royal mistress made herself irreplaceable. She was ready to converse gaily with him when she was tired, make love until all hours when she was ill, and cater to his every whim. Wearing a mask of beaming delight over any and all discomforts, she was never to be exhausted, complaining, or grief-stricken.
True, financial rewards for services rendered were of royal proportions -- some royal mistresses earned up to $200 million in titles, pensions, jewels, and palaces. Some kings allowed their mistresses to exercise unlimited political power. But for all its grandeur, a royal court was a scorpion's nest of insatiable greed, unquenchable lust, and vicious ambition. Hundreds of beautiful women vied to unseat the royal mistress. Many would suffer the slings and arrows of negative public opinion, some met with tragic ends and were pensioned off to make room for younger women. But the royal mistress often had the last laugh, as she lived well and richly off the fruits of her "sins."
From the dawn of time, power has been a mighty aphrodisiac. With diaries, personal letters, and diplomatic dispatches, Eleanor Herman's trailblazing research reveals the dynamics of sex and power, rivalry and revenge, at the most brilliant courts of Europe. Wickedly witty and endlessly entertaining, Sex with Kings is a chapter of women's history that has remained unwritten -- until now. [via]
More editions of Sex with Kings : 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge:
-
Sex With Kings: Five Hundred Years Of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, And Revengeby Eleanor HermanISBN 0060585447 (0-06-058544-7)
Softcover, Harpercollins
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Sex With Kings: Five Hundred Years Of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, And Revenge'Book summary:Throughout the centuries, royal mistresses have been worshiped, feared, envied, and reviled. They set the fashions, encouraged the arts, and, in some cases, ruled nations. Eleanor Herman's Sex with Kings takes us into the throne rooms and bedrooms of Europe's most powerful monarchs. Alive with flamboyant characters, outrageous humor, and stirring poignancy, this glittering tale of passion and politics chronicles five hundred years of scintillating women and the kings who loved them.
Curiously, the main function of a royal mistress was not to provide the king with sex but with companionship. Forced to marry repulsive foreign princesses, kings sought solace with women of their own choice. And what women they were! From Madame de Pompadour, the famous mistress of Louis XV, who kept her position for nineteen years despite her frigidity, to modern-day Camilla Parker-Bowles, who usurped none other than the glamorous Diana, Princess of Wales.
The successful royal mistress made herself irreplaceable. She was ready to converse gaily with him when she was tired, make love until all hours when she was ill, and cater to his every whim. Wearing a mask of beaming delight over any and all discomforts, she was never to be exhausted, complaining, or grief-stricken.
True, financial rewards for services rendered were of royal proportions -- some royal mistresses earned up to $200 million in titles, pensions, jewels, and palaces. Some kings allowed their mistresses to exercise unlimited political power. But for all its grandeur, a royal court was a scorpion's nest of insatiable greed, unquenchable lust, and vicious ambition. Hundreds of beautiful women vied to unseat the royal mistress. Many would suffer the slings and arrows of negative public opinion, some met with tragic ends and were pensioned off to make room for younger women. But the royal mistress often had the last laugh, as she lived well and richly off the fruits of her "sins."
From the dawn of time, power has been a mighty aphrodisiac. With diaries, personal letters, and diplomatic dispatches, Eleanor Herman's trailblazing research reveals the dynamics of sex and power, rivalry and revenge, at the most brilliant courts of Europe. Wickedly witty and endlessly entertaining, Sex with Kings is a chapter of women's history that has remained unwritten -- until now.
[via]More editions of Sex With Kings: Five Hundred Years Of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, And Revenge:
-
Shade's Childrenby Garth NixISBN 0064471969 (0-06-447196-9)
Softcover, Harpercollins Childrens Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Shade's Children'Book summary:In the brutal world of Shade's Children, your 14th birthday is your last. Malevolent Overlords rule the earth, directing hideous, humanoid creatures to harvest the brains and muscles of teens for use in engineering foul beasts to fight senseless wars. Young Gold-Eye escapes this horrific fate, fleeing the dormitories before his Sad Birthday. He is rescued from certain doom by other refugees who live in an abandoned submarine and work for Shade, a strange, computer-generated adult. Shade provides food and shelter in exchange for information that the children gather on dangerous forays into Overlord territory. But what does Shade really want? He is a sworn enemy of the Overlords, but his use of the children to gain knowledge and power seems uncaring and ruthless. Finally, Gold-Eye and his new friends set out to destroy the Overlords--with or without the enigmatic, dangerous Shade. Garth Nix, author of Sabriel, blends suspense, action, and high emotion in this excellent, fast-moving science-fiction story. [via]
-
Silmarillionby J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher TolkienISBN 0048231398 (0-04-823139-8)
Hardcover, Allen & Unwin
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Silmarillion'Book summary:Although The Silmarillion takes place in the same imaginary world as J.J.R Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, and was originally published four years after the author's death and over two decades after the former book, it is set much earlier, in the First Age of the World. The tales and the book which reads as a fusion between a story collection and historical chronicle, are a matter of legend even to the characters of The Lord of the Rings:
In the beginning Eru, the One, who in the Elvish tongue is named Ilúvatar, made the Ainur of his thought; and they made a great Music before him
Tolkien wrote the heart of this material very early in his career, and continued to work on it throughout his life. It fell to his son, Christopher Tolkien, to edit it into book form, and such proved the unquenchable public appetite that he subsequently oversaw 12 volumes of The History of Middle-Earth. This edition features 20 highly evocative colour plates by Ted Nasmith, themselves worth the price of admission, while reinforcing the sense of a historical work are genealogical tables, an extensive index, appendix and colour map. Far removed from the genial style of The Hobbit, this is Tolkien at his most formal, his prose austere, poetically beautiful, his storytelling capturing the epic scale, high drama and melancholy wonder of myth. These stories of elves and heroes and old gods are quite literally the foundation of the entire modern fantasy-publishing revival, and are therefore essential reading. --Gary S. Dalkin [via]More editions of Silmarillion:
Skybreakerby Kenneth OppelISBN 0060532297 (0-06-053229-7)
Softcover, Harpercollins Childrens Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Skybreaker'-
Smoke and Mirrorsby Neil GaimanISBN 0060934700 (0-06-093470-0)
Softcover, Perennial
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Smoke and Mirrors'Book summary:This anthology of short stories, and the occasional story poem, is vintage Neil Gaiman: quirky, sometimes very funny, often dark and disturbing. Most have been published before, but are hard to find elsewhere and cover all of Gaiman's writing life. As Gaiman says in his introduction, "most of the stories in this book are about love in some form or another," but not requited love. The stories in Smoke and Mirrors touch on all of Gaiman's themes: sex, death, dreams, and the end of the world. From "Chivalry," about the Holy Grail and where it finally ended up, to "Troll Bridge," a very adult version of "The Three Billy Goats Gruff"; from "Bay Wolf," a story poem that melds Beowulf and Baywatch, with interesting results, to "Murder Mysteries," which is about a murder, but also about angels, God's will, and Evil, these stories leave lasting impressions. Fans of Ray Bradbury's short stories and of Gaiman's other works will enjoy this collection. --Nona Vero [via]
More editions of Smoke and Mirrors:
-
State of Fearby Michael CrichtonISBN 006055438X (0-06-055438-X)
Softcover, Harpercollins
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'State of Fear'
The Teeth of the Galeby Joan AikenISBN 0060200448 (0-06-020044-8)
Hardcover, Harpercollins Childrens Books
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Teeth of the Gale'More editions of The Teeth of the Gale:
The Time Shipsby Stephen BaxterISBN 0061056480 (0-06-105648-0)
Softcover, Harpercollins
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'The Time Ships'More editions of The Time Ships:
Titanby Stephen BaxterISBN 0061052590 (0-06-105259-0)
Softcover, HarperCollins Canada, Limited
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Titan'
Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-Earthby J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher TolkienISBN 0048231797 (0-04-823179-7)
Hardcover, Harpercollins
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-Earth'More editions of Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-Earth:
Vagabondby Bernard CornwellISBN 0060532688 (0-06-053268-8)
Softcover, HarperCollins Publishers
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Vagabond'Book summary:Vagabond, the second entry in the "Grail Quest" sequence, has been eagerly anticipated by those who read the first book, and it doesn't disappoint. Thomas has managed to survive the battle of Crécy. Still nursing his wounds, he is dispatched by the king on a mission to look into the matter of his father's inheritance, which is obscurely connected to the Holy Grail. This most precious relic of the Christian faith is a much sought-after object, offering the power of total victory in war to its owner. But Thomas finds himself in the middle of a battle against an army invading the North of England, and other shadowy forces pursuing the grail are prepared to slaughter anyone who stands in their way. In the ruins of his birthplace, Thomas discovers more about his father, and a dangerous voyage to France brings him up against his cousin and arch-enemy, Count of Astarc Guy Vexville. The stage is set for a merciless showdown.
Thomas is a protagonist drawn quite as pithily as his much-loved predecessor, and the sheer verve of Cornwell's storytelling here is irresistible. We are plunged into a distant age: bloody, colourful and dangerous. Roll on, volume three! --Barry Forshaw [via]
More editions of Vagabond:
Weby Clarence Brown, Evgenii Ivanovich ZamiatinISBN 0140185852 (0-14-018585-2)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'We'More editions of We:
-
Wickedby Gregory Maguire, Douglas SmithISBN 0060745908 (0-06-074590-8)
Softcover, Harpercollins
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Wicked'Book summary:This is the book that started it all! The basis for the smash hit Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, Gregory Maguire's breathtaking New York Times bestseller Wicked views the land of Oz, its inhabitants, its Wizard, and the Emerald City, through a darker and greener (not rosier) lens. Brilliantly inventive, Wicked offers us a radical new evaluation of one of the most feared and hated characters in all of literature: the much maligned Wicked Witch of the West who, as Maguire tells us, wasn't nearly as Wicked as we imagined. [via]
More editions of Wicked:
- Wicked: ISBN 0060987103 (0-06-098710-3)
Softcover, Harpercollins - Wicked: ISBN 0061350966 (0-06-135096-6)
Softcover, Harpercollins - Wicked: ISBN 0061351393 (0-06-135139-3)
Softcover, Harpercollins - Wicked: ISBN 0060391448 (0-06-039144-8)
Hardcover, Harpercollins - Wicked: ISBN 0060745908 (0-06-074590-8)
Softcover, Harpercollins
- Wicked: ISBN 0060987103 (0-06-098710-3)
Witch Weekby Diana Wynne JonesISBN 0060298790 (0-06-029879-0)
Hardcover, HarperCollins Publishers
Find This Book
› Find signed collectible books: 'Witch Week'More editions of Witch Week:
1942: John Michael Crichton is born in Chicago, Illinois, on Oct. 23.
![[powered by Muze Inc.]](http://i.bookfinder.com/images/site/muze/powered_by_muze.gif){kind=small}