ReviewPraise for Viginia Andrews: 'Beautifully written, macabre and thoroughly nasty! it is evocative of the nasty fairy tales like Little Red Riding Hood and The Babes in the Wood, with a bit of Victorian Gothic thrown in. ! What does shine through is her ability to see the world through a child's eyes' Daily Express 'Makes horror irresistible' Glasgow Sunday Mail 'A gruesome saga! the storyline is compelling, many millions have no wish to put this down' Ms London 'There is strength in her books -- the bizarre plots matched with the pathos of the entrapped' The Times Product DescriptionOf all the folks in the mountain shacks, the Casteels were the lowest -- the scum of the hills. Heaven Leigh Casteel was the prettiest, smartest girl in the backwoods, despite her ragged clothes and dirty face...despite a father meaner than ten vipers...despite her weary stepmother, who worked her like a mule. For her brother Tom and the little ones, Heaven clung to her pride and her hopes. Someday they'd get away and show the world that they were decent, fine and talented -- worthy of love and respect. Then Heaven's stepmother ran off, and her wicked, greedy father had a scheme -- a vicious scheme that threatened to destroy the precious dream of Heaven and the children forever!

“Alice Adams writes with beautiful economy, an infallible sense of the telling detail.  Her place in the company of John Updike and Mary McCarthy.”  --San Francisco Chronicle Alice Adams’ reputation as a short story writer continued to grow with each collection. The stories in her third collection revolve for the most part around the theme of travel.The stories are about people in search of fresh experience, the inspiration of art, the pleasure of new relationships . . . people opening up to the accidental magic of a foreign place, or returning to scenes of childhood to forgive the past.Included are “Alaska,”  “Time in Santa Fe,”  “Barcelona, “ “Molly’s Dog,”  “My First and Only House.”

When Selina Thorn applied for a job with the father she never met, darkly handsom Piers Gresham, his nephew, decided she was just another grasping woman on the make. And made no secret of his contempt for her. But neither could he hide his desire.Selina found the aggravating man increasingly difficult to resist. But was Piers's expert seduction of her only a means to get her to confess to the real reason she was there? Her dark secret was about to be exposed....

First published in 1971 as Ground Zero Man, this novel was revies by the author and published in 1985 as The Peace Machine . It is 1988, and an obscure scientist, Lucas Hutchman, has made a momentous discovery. He can build a neutron resonator: a device which, once triggered, will detonate every nuclear warhead in the planet. In a future on the brink of nuclear suicide (Damascus has just been wiped out by a terrorist nuclear bomb), the temptation is irresistible to use his invention as a gun held against the heads of the world’s leaders. Lucas constructs the machine, and then sends plans to prominent scientists and politicians everywhere, giving a deadline on which he will activate it. They will be forced to dismantle their weapons, and the world will breathe again. Very quickly, Lucas discovers that he has pitched himself into a world with which he is ill-equipped to cope: the world of secret agents, espionage, kidnapping and murder. His problem is to stay under cover and survive long enough to implement his plan.

This small but memorable treatise, written "for all who live in the country of the blue," examines the color as state of mind, as Platonic Ideal, as a notoriously erotic hue, and as a color of our interior life. In a brilliant, extended meditation, Gass mulls over blue in literature and art, dance, music, and the popular press. No shade or variation escapes his engaged and engaging prose or his vertiginous asides. This is a witty, lyrical, highly original, and beautifully written book that demands to be read and redefines the meaning of a "philosophical inquiry." "Not since Herman Melville pondered the whiteness of Moby Dick has a region of the spectrum been subjected to such eclectic scrutiny. . . Gass gives philosophy back its good old name as a feast that can never sate the mind."—Time

When gold is found in the mountains of Canada, it brings a rush of prospectors, pilots, and men looking to get rich quick. It also brings a slew of dead bodies. That's when Reid Bennett, the lone cop of tiny Murphy's Harbour, gets called in to help. The dead body of geologist Jim Prudhomme is found mauled beyond recognition by a bear. Or is it? Bear attacks are more than rare in these parts, and the tracks don't add up. Is it murder instead? Things get complicated as witnesses cry foul and more bodies pile up, including the reappearance of someone already dead. Thankfully, Reid has the help of the local police chief out for one last big case. He's also joined by a beautiful motel keeper and by his faithful dog Sam. But, with gold on the line, the danger might come too fast and furious for our four heroes.

Kristina DuMont couldn't forget that long-ago summer weekend she'd spent with Tucker McCain. Seeing him now, it's as if the intervening years never happened. She knows she's in danger of falling in love with him all over again, but if Tucker discovers the secret she's kept from him all this time, can he ever forgive her? Can they start anew and find a future together? Contemporary Romance by Karen Toller Whittenburg; originally published by Dell Candlelight Ecstasy

IN A CERTAIN TIME, IN A CERTAIN LAND . . . Once there lived and once there was a simple woodcutter and his good-hearted wife, whose greatest pleasure was making toys for children. Then the miracle occurred. In a magical kingdom at the Top of the World the kindly pair discovered the secret of making reindeer fly and of bringing happiness to children everywhere, then and forever. His reward was to be the joy that shines in every child’s face at Christmas. But one of his helpers decided he could improve on Christmas—and almost ruined it. Now a wondrous movie and a magical novel, this story tells of the good man’s gravest threat and biggest triumph. He went on to become the Greatest Living Legend of All Time. But still you might not know his name. Unless you too were once a child . . .

AMERICAN COUNTERATTACK! One hundred years after the apocalypse of World War III, the U.S. fights for freedom against the hated Soviet occupation force. Willing to pay the ultimate price to regain their nuclear-shattered homeland, The Freefighters flock to join the remarkable soldier of survival, Ted Rockson, who has promised to lead them out of slavery—and into a new world of freedom. But to the Russians, the Americans are mere rabble, to be crushed by a savage show of force. From their worldwide empire they import a vast 600,000 man horde of goose-stepping Nazi-like German soldiers to do their bloody bidding. And when the battle is joined, Rockson must somehow rally his hopelessly outnumbered rebels for one desperate counter-attack that will either be the glory—or the death—of the . . . DOOMSDAY WARRIOR

Leonie Conyngham's family had lost their fortune and she was left with only her pride and her beauty. The Duke of Thornbury had designs on her, along with shrewd Edward Longhurst. Imogen Longhurst was determined to destroy Leonie for daring to rival her for handsome Sir Guy de Lacy. Leonie knew that one moment of weakness would undo her but she was so tempted... Regency Romance by Sandra Heath; originally published by Signet

Deirdre Gower’s aunt, the Duchess of Charney, had trapped Lord Belami into offering for her niece. Deirdre had accepted in order to escape having to marry someone she disliked. But now, at Beaulac for the New Year’s holiday, both participants were ready to renege on the engagement—until solving the mystery of the duchess’s stolen diamond threw them together. Regency Romance by Joan Smith; originally published by Fawcett

Barr courched down to get out of the sea spray. The rock bulking over his head was wet and slick in the darkness, cold. But it was a measure of protection against the wind and the spray that lashed up from the shallow bay.