Showing results by publisher "Phoenix Books" in All Categories

Watch out - the Earth just fell into a dark sun's orbit! Or maybe you'd rather visit a theme park called Hell? These are just two of the strange and unnerving tales you'll find in this collection of great science fiction and fantasy stories.

Dick Morrison's life has become a nightmare of addictions, filling his days with overeating, overworking, and smoking way too much. When an old friend tells him about a surefire way to quit, he's more than willing to give it a shot. But what Dick doesn't know is that Quitters, Inc. demands a high price from anyone who strays from their rigid rules-like a few volts of electricity for the nearest and dearest... or maybe a missing thumb?

Warning: This isn't the real thing...it's funnier! "Gerber's affectionate, giggle-inducing send-up is one giant step toward restoring the somewhat debased art form known as 'parody,'" says Sean Kelly, former editor of National Lampoon. If you love Harry Potter - or if you have had enough of him! - you've gotta hear this.

Two friends in 1950s San Francisco Bohemia explore Buddhism Zen - hipster style. On the road to finding Dharma, or truth, the story's narrator, Raymond Smith comes to a spiritual roadblock. Smith, based on Kerouac himself, discovers a role model in his friend Japhy Ryder, modeled after the real poet-Buddhist Gary Snyder. This autobiographical novel is one of Kerouac's most popular, and has served as an inspiration to the beat culture, hippies, and dharma seekers since the 1950s.

For nearly two decades, the United States delved into the dark world of psychic espionage, recruiting individuals who used their paranormal gifts to transcend time and space to uncover the military secrets of other nations. When David Morehouse walked through the doors of the CIA's Stargate Program, he had little idea what awaited him: a paranormal hell that would bring him to the front lines of some of the most horrific disasters in recent history and nearly destroy him. At first unable to tell the shocking truth for fear of death, Morehouse eventually produced this shocking exposé.

It is nearing the end of the Year of Our Lord 1145. A monk vows to abandon all earthly ties, but how can Brother Cadfael obey when his son is captured in battle? Olivier de Bretagne is one of many young knights taken prisoner in the current power dispute in Britain, but he is also Cadfael's son, and the monk cannot be objective. A council is planned at Coventry to try to appease the warring factions, and Brother Cadfael asks leave to attend, knowing he must do all in his power to find and deliver his son. This most thrilling and humane of Ellis Peters's novels is filled with excitement, intrigue, and a meticulously depicted medieval background.

For decades, a quartet of Chinese women who have emigrated to San Francisco gather to eat dim sum, play mahjong, and talk — they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. Over the years, their stories have informed the lives of four daughters who feel the weight of family and world history on their shoulders.

In Stone Cold, Police Chief Jesse Stone has a problem - actually, two problems - dead bodies turning up, and no clues. A man takes his dog out for a run on the beach, only to be discovered hour later with two holes in his chest. A woman drives her Volvo to the mall to do some grocery shopping, never makes it back to her house and is found dead. Investigating a serial killer in an affluent suburban town is difficult, and with the added pressures from the town selectmen and media, the heat is turned up on Jesse. The harder these outside forces push against him, the more Jesse retreats into himself, convinced - despite all the odds - that it's up to him alone to stop the killing.

An extraordinary friendship binds two strikingly different women together through 30 years of drama, free-spirited joy, and shattering tragedy.

Off the coast of southern Florida, a deadly war is being waged that threatens our national security. Thousands of kilos of illicit drugs are dumped on our shores annually. But "business as usual" takes a quite different turn when Sandra Geffar and Ian Hardcastle (heads of the U.S. Customs Department and the Coast Guard respectively) put their departmental and personal squabbles behind them and team up in a daring plan to put an end to airborne smuggling.

One night in 1995, author Douglas Adams kidnapped an audience and held them hostage for 70 minutes at London's Almeida Theatre. The audience members were subjected to Adams's dramatic solo performances of excerpts and scenes from his wildly funny, wildly popular books The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, and Life, the Universe and Everything. LEARN how to fly! HEAR about Arthur and the Irrational Sofa! GROAN at Marvin's escapade with the Frogstar Battle Robot! Just keep laughing and nobody will get hurt!

The beautiful planet Pern seemed a paradise to its new colonists—a return to an agrarian way of life—until unimaginable terror turned it into hell. Lethal spores began to fall like silvery thread-like rain from the sky, vaporizing everything—and everyone—in their path. The colony, cut off from Earth and lacking the resources to combat the menace, was doomed.

This haunting memoir tells the brutal story of the Vietnam War from the perspective of an innocent victim whose childhood was dominated by violence, devastation, and conflicts between the teachings of her culture and the realities of war. Le Ly Hayslip—the youngest in a close-knit Buddhist family—was 12 years old when U.S. helicopters landed in her village. She was raped and "ruined" for marriage by Viet Cong soldiers, imprisoned and tortured by the South Vietnamese, and sentenced to death by the Viet Cong.

Kevin Trudeau blows the lid off a nest of deception and double standards concerning general and individual health in New York Times best seller Natural Cures 'They' Don't Want You To Know About. Kevin has risked government prosecution to bring you the full story of an intricate conspiracy. Follow Kevin on an amazing journey through the behind-the-scenes world of corporate sponsored "nutrition" and "health," and learn about Natural Cures 'THEY' Don't Want You To Know About.

Back in Pickax, Jim Qwilleran expects to resume a quiet life, but the people and animals of Pickax have other ideas. A noisy cardinal wakes him every morning. Nosy neighbors drop by uninvited, and the Siamese misbehave, even sneezing on guests. As if they weren't bad enough, Qwill's long-time companion acts as though she is in love, with another man. But worst of all, Qwill finds a body in his apple orchard.

Winner of the 1921 Pulitzer Prize, The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton’s masterful portrait of desire and betrayal which takes place in the sumptuous Golden Age of Old New York, and questions the morals and assumptions of the elite New York society set in the 1870s when "scandal was more dreaded than disease."

During the past several years, doctors at leading institutions across the nation have been investigating the relationship between breast cancer and diet: confirming that what a woman eats can have a dramatic impact on whether or not she contracts the disease. In The Breast Cancer Prevention Diet, Dr. Bob Arnot has synthesized this research into an eating program that finally enables women to fight back.

Lee Carroll, the "magnetic master," channels information for personal peace from the entity known as Kryon. In this audio program, Carroll shares these messages, explaining that when our planet reaches a time of dimensional shift and change, we must remember that the universe (which we know as God) never abandons us. Another important message of the Kryon: "Love is the most powerful force in the entire universe. It is the glue that will bond our belief together."

In today's workplace, managers must be able to accept accountability for the overall well-being of the company, yet also be able to give up the need to control or be controlled by others. Author Peter Block discusses ways to create a new kind of workplace, where every employee thinks and acts like an owner, by integrating management with workers to increase productivity.

We, the Jury is the dramatic story of the seven jurors who convicted Scott Peterson of murdering his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner, despite a series of internal battles that brought the first major murder trial of the 21st century to the brink of a mistrial. The Peterson jurors argued and disagreed but eventually bonded to seal the fate of the icy killer who dumped his victims into the bullet-gray waters of San Francisco Bay.