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Halloween 1954, Mitternacht, die Stunde der Geister und Verstorbenen. Über die Friedhofsmauer zwischen der Stadt der Toten und der Filmstadt Hollywood klettert eine Leiche – oder ist es eine Puppe? Ein junger Science-Fiction-Schreiber und Drehbuchautor beobachtet dies …

»In einer grandiosen Mischung aus Horrorstück, Detektivroman, Gesellschaftssatire und philosophischem Traktat über die fließenden Übergänge von Sein und Schein schildert Bradbury mit wohldosierter Steigerung von Spannung und Gruseleffekten seine haarsträubende Geschichte von der Stadt der (in der Fiktion) Lebenden, dem Studiogelände von Maximus Films, und der Stadt der Toten, dem direkt daneben liegenden Friedhof Green Glades, deren Grenzen im Laufe der rasanten Handlung immer weiter zusammenfließen. Das liest sich amüsant und spannend, gruselig und aufschlußreich zugleich, und das am besten in einer unheimlichen Nacht vom Anfang bis zum Ende in einem Zuge.«

»Eine Hollywood-Gruselgeschichte mit allen Merkmalen des reifen Bradbury-Sounds. Bradbury macht seine Leser süchtig nach mehr Bradbury.«

Titel der 1990 bei Alfred A. Knopf, New York,

erschienenen Originalausgabe:

›A Graveyard for Lunatics‹

At first all one noticed was how gifted Fischer was.  Possessing a 181 I.Q. and remarkable powers of concentration, Bobby memorizedhundreds of chess books in several languages, and he was only 13 when he became the youngest chess master in U.S. history.   But his strange behavior started early.  In 1972, at the historic Cold War showdown in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he faced Soviet champion Boris Spassky, Fischer made headlines with hundreds of petty demands that nearly ended the competition. 

It was merely a prelude to what was to come.

Arriving back in the United States to a hero’s welcome, Bobby was mobbed wherever he went—a figure as exotic and improbable as any American pop culture had yet produced.  No player of a mere “board game” had ever ascended to such heights.  Commercial sponsorship offers poured in, ultimately topping $10 million—but Bobby demurred.  Instead, he began tithing his limited money to an apocalyptic religion and devouring anti-Semitic literature.  

After years of poverty and a stint living on Los Angeles’ Skid Row, Bobby remerged in 1992 to play Spassky in a multi-million dollar rematch—but the experience only a paranoia that had formed years earlier when he came to believe that the Soviets wanted him dead for taking away “their” title.  When the dust settled, Bobby was a wanted man—transformed into an international fugitive because of his decision to play in Montenegro despite U.S. sanctions.  Fearing for his life, traveling with bodyguards, and wearing a long leather coat to ward off knife attacks, Bobby lived the life of a celebrity fugitive – one drawn increasingly to the bizarre.  Mafiosi, Nazis, odd attempts to breed an heir who could perpetuate his chess-genius DNA—all are woven into his late-life tapestry. 

And yet, as Brady shows, the most notable irony of Bobby Fischer’s strange descent – which had reached full plummet by 2005 when he turned down yet multi-million dollar payday—is that despite his incomprehensible behavior, there were many who remained fiercely loyal to him.  Why that was so is at least partly the subject of this book—one that at last answers the question: “Who Bobby Fischer?”

John Browning was the most influential gun designer who ever lived. After building his first firearm at the age of thirteen, he went on to create a series of radical blueprints for pistols, rifles and machine guns that changed the way wars were fought and streets were policed.

His fingerprints are still on every gun manufactured today.

But who was the man behind the weapons?

How did he manage to revolutionise the way guns worked?

And what drove him to keep innovating right through his life.

‘John Browning: Man and Gunmaker’ by the best-selling military thriller writer James Barrington is a readable, concise history to the man and his legacy.

It is a must-read for gun collectors, enthusiasts and anyone interested in the history of firearms.

James Barrington is a trained military pilot and the author of worldwide best-sellers such as ‘Manhunt’, ‘Payback’ and ‘Overkill’.

In the distant future, the world’s population has decreased dramatically to less than 200,000 people. A new government has been developed. A new society has grown, and with this change, the human kind is still deceitful, manipulative, and controlling.

Coraset Prescott, a business executive once in a worldwide company before the downfall of man, has been a victim of a lie that lands her in prison. Once she’s out, she must get back to her life, but she will find that it won’t be so easy. Coraset’s stepfather will be threatened if she doesn’t complete one dangerous task. Will she be able to get her mission complete and save the life of her last living family member? Or will she be caught by the new government officials?

Find out in this story .

Post Apocalypse America: Bluevale was about all Howie had seen of the world. Even his Pa, who knew everything, didn’t know much about the way it was before the war. Scriptures said all of the unclean animals had been wiped out. Howie didn’t know what that meant exactly. He’d seen horses. And stock of course. Stock looked like humans. ’Cept stock had no soul. That’s why they was meat.

Contains bonus chapter!

Saul Bellow’s , handpicked by the author, display the depth of character and acumen of the Nobel laureate’s narrative powers. While he has garnered acclaim as a novelist, Bellow’s shorter works prove equally strong. Primarily set in a sepia-toned Chicago, characters (mostly men) deal with family issues, desires, memories, and failings—often arriving at humorous if not comic situations. In the process, these quirky and wholly real characters examine human nature.

The narrative is straightforward, with deftly handled shifts in time, and the prose is concise, sometimes pithy, with equal parts humor and grace. In “Looking for Mr. Green,” Bellow describes a relief worker sized up by tenants: “They must have realized that he was not a college boy employed afternoons by a bill collector, trying foxily to pass for a relief clerk, recognized that he was an older man who knew himself what need was, who had more than an average seasoning in hardship. It was evident enough if you looked at the marks under his eyes and at the sides of his mouth.” This collection should appeal both to those familiar with Bellow’s work and to those seeking an introduction.

—

For the first time in one volume, the complete collected short stories by the author of and  — regarded by many as Britain’s No 1 living fiction writer.

With sixteen novels over four decades from in 1962 to the controversial in 1973, the award winning, semi-autobiographical in 1984 and his recent Sunday Times bestseller  — J.G. Ballard is firmly established as one of Britain’s most highly regarded and most influential novelists.

Throughout his remarkable career, he has won equal praise for his ground-breaking short stories, which he first started writing during his days as a medical student at Cambridge. In fact, it was winning a short story competition that gave him the impetus to become a full-time writer.

His first published works, ‘Prima Belladonna’ and ‘Escapement’, appeared in and in 1956. Ever since, he has been a prolific producer of stories, which have been published in numerous magazines and several separate collections, including , , , , , , , and .

Now, for the first time, all of J.G. Ballard’s published stories — including four that have not previously appeared in a collection — have been gathered together and arranged in the order of original publication, providing an unprecedented opportunity to review the career of one of Britain’s greatest writers.

Lucifer’s War, which damned legions of angels to Hell, is an ancient and bitter memory shrouded in the smoke and ash of the Inferno. The Fallen, those banished demons who escaped the full wrath of Heaven, have established a limitless and oppressive kingdom within the fiery confines of Hell. Lucifer has not been seen since the Fall and the mantle of rulership has been passed to the horrific Prince Beelzebub, the Lord of the Flies.

The Demons Major, Heaven’s former warriors, have become the ruling class. They are the equivalent to landed lords, each owing allegiance to the de facto ruler of Hell. They reign over their fiefdoms, tormenting the damned souls and adding to their wealth.

One Demon Major, however, who has not forgotten his former life in Heaven. The powerful Lord Sargatanas is restless. For millennia Sargatanas has ruled dutifully but unenthusiastically, building his city, Adamantinarx, into the model of an Infernal metropolis. But he has never forgotten what he lost in the Fall—proximity to God. He is sickened by what he has become.

Now, with a small event—a confrontation with one of the damned souls—he makes a decision that will reverberate through every being in Hell. Sargatanas decides to attempt the impossible, to rebel, to endeavor to go Home and bring with him who chooses to follow… be they demon or soul. He will stake everything on this chance for redemption.

As a , or blood prophet, Meg Corbyn can see the future when her skin is cut — a gift that feels more like a curse. Meg's Controller keeps her enslaved so he can have full access to her visions. But when she escapes, the only safe place Meg can hide is at the Lakeside Courtyard — a business district operated by the Others.

 Shape-shifter Simon Wolfgard is reluctant to hire the stranger who inquires about the Human Liaison job. First, he senses she's keeping a secret, and second, she doesn't smell like human prey. Yet a stronger instinct propels him to give Meg the job. And when he learns the truth about Meg and that she's wanted by the government, he'll have to decide if she's worth the fight between humans and the Others that will surely follow

— Le document brûlera, mais la vérité restera, répondit Le Clerc. Car la vérité est à la portée de quiconque désire la trouver. Ceci dit, c’est à vous qu’il revient de décider si oui ou non les feuillets doivent être détruits. Vous pouvez contribuer à l’avènement d’une nouvelle religion et être portés au rang des saints, ou vous pouvez … »

Ces dernières paroles m’horrifièrent. Je regardai alors Leslie et lus, sur son visage, une répulsion semblable à la mienne.

Puis, je vis Leslie prendre le tison des mains de l’ermite et mettre le feu aux quatre coins du manuscrit. Celui-ci s’enflamma immédiatement, puis s’envola en fumée, ne laissant que quelques cendres éparses, çà et là sur le sol.

Le vieil homme soupira d’aise. « Quelle soirée bénie, murmura-t-il enfin. Car ce n’est pas tous les jours qu’il nous est donné de protéger le monde contre la venue d’une nouvelle religion ! »

While on vacation near Silver Springs, Arkansas, Tulsa lawyer Ben Kincaid ( Deadly Justice , Ballantine. 1993.) hastily agrees to defend a young white supremacist accused of murdering a local Vietnamese immigrant. Although time is of the essence, town hostilities and prejudices make Ben's life difficult--even with the aid of his own "A team" (male secretary, private gumshoe, and on-leave detective). Flawed plot, shallow characters, and lack of finesse, however, do not make a winning combination.

After years of struggling, Ben Kincaid shuts down his small legal office and decides to make a living doing something that—compared to practicing law in Tulsa—is easy money: playing jazz piano. He buys a minivan to haul his gear, and gets steady gigs playing in a combo at Uncle Earl’s Jazz Emporium. His new career is just starting to take off when a body falls from the Emporium ceiling, knocking the wind out of Kincaid and sending him right back to his old profession. The dead woman is Cajun Lily Campbell, aof the Tulsa music scene and onetime girlfriend of Uncle Earl himself. And Kincaid must be careful as he readies the old jazzman’s defense, because there is a killer on the north side of town who would like nothing more than to hear the piano player’s last tune.