Showing results by publisher "Phoenix Books" in Literature & Fiction

Long considered the world's greatest adventure story, The Odyssey is celebration of life in all its infinite variety. The poem has deeply ingrained in us the sense of life as a journey, introducing a gallery of characters and events that have profoundly influenced western literature. Scylla and Charybdis, Circe, the Lotus Eaters, a visit with the dead, and, through it all, Odysseus's determined search for home, are all here in a classic translation.

Victor Frankenstein is a young scientist whose experiments in alchemy lead to a disturbing achievement—the ability to create new life from dead body parts. His ultimate creation—a large, monstrous creature—wreaks havoc, but in ways much different from those depicted on film.

Hollywood can be a tough town, but its been awfully good to Danny Dennison. At 55, he's wealthy, successful, and although the movies he directs are more hot commerce than great art, he's respected throughout the film world. But Danny Dennison has been living a lie. His true identity is buried halfway around the world in the ruins of a Nazi concentration camp. Danny believes his secret to be safe - until he meets Luba, a young sensuous call girl.

Rediscover the voices of the original text of the Bible in this fresh retelling of its most powerful stories. The author introduces the listener to many new authors, reveals the imaginative power of the original verse, and heralds a new era in Biblical scholarship.

The third in a series of American Western short stories compiled by Jon Tuska, and preformed by celebrity readers.

"Isn't so and so a snob?" he asks. "She won't even admit she liked Grease." Looking for an author who ponders the imponderable, expresses the inexpressible, describes the indescribable, and leaves no burning issue of American popular culture or world concern unexamined? Well, you'll find him in Mark Leyner. On this recording, Leyner, one of the most gifted and original young American writers around, reads 6 prose pieces from his first published book.

This collection of classic horror tales is as remarkable for its literary value as for its scream factor. You'll hear stories by the masters of the genre, past and present.

The Canterbury Tales & Paradise Lost are two epic works that have been entertaining—and sometimes exasperating—readers for centuries. In a series of lectures, literary scholar Elizabeth McNamer provides engaging insights into these two iconic works of British literature. Geoffrey Chaucer's merry charm and John Milton's high seriousness become relatable to modern minds when explored by Dr. McNamer. Chaucer's lively, lusty, and never boring Pilgrims have tales to tell that for six centuries have delighted the hearts of readers and listeners.

The Illiad & The Odyssey are two epic poems by Greek author Homer, works that have been entertaining—and perhaps exasperating—readers for centuries. In a series of lectures, literary scholar Elizabeth McNamer provides engaging insights into these two iconic works. McNamer first discusses how The Iliad portrays love, jealousy, pride, and the courage men and women display in war. McNamer then focuses on and The Odyssey in which the hero Odysseus endures strange adventures en route home to his faithful wife.

Perhaps the first great and truly "American" poet, Walt Whitman's writing reflected the idealism and turbulence of the mid-19th century. His poetry broke new stylistic ground with its unconventional meter and rhyme schemes, yet celebrated democratic values, the beauty of nature, and the complex variety and vitality of American life.

More of the Greatest Mysteries of All Time is the second in a series featuring the finest short story mystery fiction by the most acclaimed writers, past and present. From Thomas Hardy, O. Henry, Jack London, Vincent Starrett and everyone in between, this unique collection, edited by multi-award winning mystery connoisseur Otto Penzler, is a delightful mixture of mystery and suspense.

Legendary Western writer Max Evans takes you into the heart of Hi Lo Country to spend a little time with cowboys who work hard, play hard, live hard—and have a great time being cowboys in this collection of all three of Evans' classic novels.

In novels such as Mars, Moonbase, and The Rock Rats, Ben Bova told stories about rivalries and wars, of outsized individuals, public crusades, and the private passions that drive us as we expand into the solar system and make use of its vast resources. Bova wrote short fiction about some of the same characters and events—Sam Gunn, Martin Humphries, Klaus Fuchs, Dan Randolph, and the Asteroid Wars—featured in those works, and those stories are collected in Tales of the Grand Tour, a landmark of modern science fiction. The stories in this collection are:

The lure of the American West is in the spirit of adventure, in the majestic expanse of unconquered wilderness and in rugged individuals on a quest for identity and sometimes for survival. Owen Wister's unsmiling Virginian... Dorothy M. Johnson's, "A Man Called Horse": These are a few of the colorful, even legendary characters who populate The American West in Fiction, a collection of stories edited by Jon Tuska.

Stephen Pearse and Peter Maryk are doctors who once worked together to research a horrifying virus outbreak in the Congo. Now Pearse heads the Bureau of Disease Control, and Maryk runs the clandestine special pathogens section of the disease detectives—making the two scientists bitter enemies. But when the disease from the Congo re-emerges in America, they must set aside their differences in order to stop a potential worldwide epidemic. Using the blood of one woman who is immune to the disease, they create a serum that might work—if the disturbingly cunning virus doesn't have plans of its own.

Although most famous for her bestselling fiction, including Fear of Flying and Any Woman's Blues, Erica Jong started her publishing career as a poet. The celebrated author enjoys an international reputation for her verse. An essential collection of poetry, Becoming Light includes early poems previously uncollected in book form, selections from her previous books, and many new poems. Erica Jong's poetry exhibits her rare gifts for inventiveness, wit, vigor, honesty, and accessibility. Critics have generously praised Jong's unique poetic voice.

This is the story of Bronx-born David Kokolovitz and his hilarious experiences with sex, Shakespeare, and the South Pacific. We follow David on his journey away from his Bronx home in search of an acting career. In a comedy of opposites, New Yorker David ends up living in the Deep South where he lands his first acting job at a southern Shakespeare repertory company. Just as the hazards of too-tight tights and too-long soliloquies become too much for him, World War II conveniently breaks out and he moves on to entertain the troops.

Only 35, Jack Whitman is head of long-range planning at a major media-entertainment empire. It has been two years since the senseless murder of his pregnant wife in New York; the tragedy has left him emotionally numb, and blindly ambitious. With the corporation in verge of a merger with its German-Japanese counterpart, Jack becomes caught in a ruthless power play between the scheming CEO and the aging chairman and tastes the bitterness of corporate politics at its most ruthless level.

This collection of the finest short story mystery fiction by the most acclaimed writers, past and present features Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Burke, Harry Kemelman, and everyone in between. Edited by multi-award-winning mystery connoisseur Otto Penzler, it offers a delightful mixture of mystery and suspense.

Learn the truth behind the mask of Hollywood in these 10 bizarre tales of dreams and dream weavers, movies and movie-makers, by some of the most respected fantasy writers of our time.