Showing results by narrator "George Guidall" in All Categories

Stanley Elkin’s The Living End is a marvelously funny novel about life and death, heaven and hell. In it, the National Book Award-winning author sets into motion a divine comedy that will have you chuckling at his wry visions of celestial affairs. Ellerbee, the unassuming owner of a small liquor store, is fatally shot in a holdup. First, the Angel of Death ushers him into a wondrous heaven, but St. Peter has other, more infernal plans for this hero. After his transfer, Ellerbee discovers that hell is a busy place. Even God pays an occasional visit there.

Everyone will stay up late. Best of all, Henry says, there will be popcorn. Mudge gets very excited because popcorn is one of his favorites.

When the night comes, the boys and dogs gather in Patrick's attic and have a great time. They play all kinds of games, but nobody can play with the bowling set, because a bulldog keeps stealing the pins. They eat pizza and watch a movie about giant lizards. There is still lots of popcorn to eat before everybody falls asleep.

Serpent Gate portrays former Santa Fe policeman Kevin Kerney in a perilous struggle against corrupt officers, New Mexico politicians, and a deadly enemy from the past. Recruited for the State police by the new chief, Kerney searches the mountainous countryside for a patrolman’s killer. Quickly solving the months-old murder, he takes on a more challenging assignment: recover the priceless art collection stolen from the governor’s office.

Fielding Pierce is a rising young Chicago attorney who has been offered a seat in Congress. But even in the midst of the demanding campaign, Pierce still mourns the loss of his love, Sarah. Five years ago, in an attempt to provide sanctuary for refugees, she was apparently killed by a car bomb. As Pierce becomes immersed in the world of politics, he begins to suspect that Sarah is still alive. Soon, his obsession drives Pierce to question all he sees and hears.

Lucius Watson is obsessed with learning the truth about his father. Who was E. J. Watson? Was he a devoted family man, an inspired farmer, a man of progress and vision? Or was he a cold-blooded murderer and amoral opportunist? Were his neighbors driven to kill him out of fear? Or was it envy? And if Watson was a killer, should the neighbors fear the obsessed Lucius when he returns to live among them and ask questions?

Herman Melville is one of the greatest figures in literary history. His classic Moby Dick is generally considered the finest novel ever written by an American. Yet in Melville’s day, Typee was a far more popular book. Largely autobiographical, this classic adventure story is set in the South Seas, where a runaway sailor is captured by the Typees. Described as “a fierce and unrelenting tribe of savages," the islanders have no intention of letting their captive go.

Ryne Douglas Pearson has been compared to both Thomas Harris and James Patterson. In Top Ten he delves into the heart and mind of a tormented man who becomes the terrifying killer known as Michaelangelo. Michaelangelo believes himself to be an artist of unparalleled vision. He stages elaborate murders and sends pictures of his “work” to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

With his breathtaking social insight and his graceful sentences, Sinclair Lewis—a Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winner—stands out as one of the most important American writers of the 20th century. At turns lyrically soul-searching and scathing in its honesty, Babbitt captures the essence of the 1920s while remaining a timeless piece of literature. Babbitt, the ultimate conformist and social climber, seeks power in his community and self-esteem from others. Outwardly, he is the ultimate “big booster,” and he toes the company line with “zip and zowie.”

One day in 1952, the strangled body of 10-year-old Cathy Lake is discovered in a public park. A homeless suspect, Albert Jay Smalls, is arrested and held for interrogation. Now, Officers Norman Cohen and Jack Pierce have only 24 hours to make the sullen young man talk before he's released. How far are they willing to push him to get a confession?

Kenny Huldorf is not happy when he learns that he and his family will be moving all the way across the country to Rhode Island, a state smaller than Los Angeles, the city he’s known his whole life. His new home, The Stillwell House, was built in 1789 and, like everything in Providence, it seems old-fashioned and somber. But things start to look a little brighter when Kenny’s mom shows him his new bedroom: a long, open attic with plenty of room and privacy.

Newbery Medal winner Cynthia Rylant has sold more than two million copies of her beloved Henry and Mudge books. In this tale, Henry and his enormous dog go on vacation in the West. They have a great time wearing cowboy hats and bandannas, chasing tumbleweeds, and eating jerky. And when they finally return home, they learn something they never expected.

It has been said of five-time Spur Award winner Loren D. Estleman that even “Louis L’Amour looks down with envy” ( Kirkus Reviews). Here Estleman applies his incomparable narrative panache to this novelization of a real-life romance that never was. Judge Roy Bean is an infamous arbiter of Old West justice.

The Old City lay dark and cold … It is night. And Edmund is alone. His mother is gone. His aunt, who went in search of her, is dead. His sister has disappeared. Edmund has no one. Except for a stranger of the night.

Seems like every time Arizona Ranger Sam Burrack turns over a rock a Black Valley Rider jumps out. So when two bounty hunters arrive in Minton Hill trailing the same outlaws, Sam agrees to ride with them. Trouble is, only a drunken gambler knows where the gang is holed up.

nephew Neil walks back into her life. Instead of the boy she knew 12 years ago, he is now a handsome young man. Soon, he has offered to rebuild her barn in exchange for lodging. But his offer of help and friendship is part of a larger plan that will leave a trail of deception and murder in its wake. As the barn takes shape, Ellen watches her life and her world change under the spell of forces she no longer knows how to name or control. This gripping pause-resister will haunt you long after the last sentence.

A young soldier during World War II attempts to save his own life and the lives of his boyhood friends by making an unusual wager with death: he pits his local sandlot team against some of the greatest baseball players of all time.

Fourteen-year-olds Elliot and Vincent live worlds apart, but both dream of a better life. Learning to run the Montana ranch that he will some day inherit, Elliot dreams of being an astronaut. In Africa, Vincent must deny his thirst for knowledge of the world beyond his village in order to become a Masai warrior. Forced to quit school, his only link to the outside world is a short wave radio.

An authority on the American West, award winner Loren D. Estleman has been called the most critically acclaimed author of his generation. In Journey of the Dead, Spanish alchemist Franciso de la Zaragoza—more than a hundred years old and known as a wise man and healer—and Sheriff Pat Garrett, the man who killed Billy the Kid, meet. The men share their stories, evoking the wonder of the Old West as they wrestle with possible answers to their deepest questions.

Pages magazine says this collection represents “the absolute best in short literary fiction.” This installment exhibits a fresh batch of immensely talented writers, all of whom exemplify the level of accomplishment that has kept this acclaimed series running strong since 1985. Comprising 20 stories, this rich and varied collection features everything from a fresh take on the classic Southern gothic to a velvet-smooth work of erotic suspense.

This book reveals the interplay between official government channels, covert intelligence agents and others, who acted largely behind the scenes of the peace process between Egypt and Israel that began in1978 and is still holding. The world leaders: Jimmy Carter, Menachem Begin, and Anwar Sadat, were driven by deeply held faith and conviction. Others were military hawks who, later saw peace as the only viable option. Still others saw peace and stability in terms of business and prosperity.