From Publishers Weekly

In contrast to the utopian official literature of Communist China, the stories in this wide-ranging collection marshal wry humor, entangled sex, urban alienation, nasty village politics and frequent violence. Translated ably enough to keep up with the colloquial tone, most tales are told with straightforward familiarity, drawing readers into small communities and personal histories that are anything but heroic. "The Brothers Shu," by Su Tong (Raise the Red Lantern), is an urban tale of young lust and sibling rivalry in a sordid neighborhood around the ironically named Fragrant Cedar Street. That story's earthiness is matched by Wang Xiangfu's folksy "Fritter Hollow Chronicles," about peasants' vendettas and local politics, and by "The Cure," by Mo Yan (Red Sorghum; The Garlic Ballads), which details the fringe benefits of an execution. Personal alienation and disaffection are as likely to appear in stories with rural settings (Li Rui's "Sham Marriage") as they are to poison the lives of urban characters (Chen Cun's "Footsteps on the Roof"). Comedy takes an elegant and elaborate form in "A String of Choices," Wang Meng's tale of a toothache cure, and it assumes the burlesque of small-town propaganda fodder in Li Xiao's "Grass on the Rooftop." Editor Goldblatt has chosen not to expand the contributors' biographies or elaborate on the collection's post-Tiananmen context. He lets the stories speak for themselves, which, fortunately, they do, quietly and effectively.

From Library Journal

The 20 authors represented here range from Wang Meng, the former minister of culture, to Su Tong, whose Raise the Red Lantern has been immortalized on screen.

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Chinese literature has changed drastically in the past thirty years. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) arts and literature of all sorts were virtually nonexistent since they were frowned upon by official powers so that attempts to produce any were apt to cause one’s public humiliation and possibly even death by the Red Guards and other unofficial arms of the government. After 1976, in the wake of Mao’s death, literature slowly regained its importance in China, and by the mid-1980s dark, angry, satirical writings had become quite prominent on the mainland.

In the wake of Tiananmen Square, dark literature faded somewhat, but never vanished. Now Howard Goldblatt, a prominent translator of Chinese fiction and editor of the critical magazine Modern Chinese Literature, has compiled a representative collection of contemporary Chinese fiction entitled Chairman Mao Would Not Be Amused. Even with my limited knowledge of modern China I feel certain the title of the book is fairly accurate.

Mo Yan is one of my favorite contemporary writers. His dark, no-holds-barred satires Red Sorghum and The Garlic Ballads detailed what he sees as the failings of both Chinese peasants (of which he was born as one) and the Chinese leaders. His short story "The Cure" is in the same vein, detailing how a local government representative-probably self-appointed during the Cultural Revolution, although that is never made quite clear in the story-leads a lynching of the village’s two most prominent leaders and their wives. But, as in most Mo Yan stories, the bitterness directed at the lyncher is double-edged with the bitter look at a local peasant who sees the deaths of the two village leaders as a desperate chance to possibly rescue his mother from impending blindness. The story is coldly realistic and totally chilling in the rational way it treats the series of events.

Su Tong is the author of the novella "Raise The Red Lantern", the basis of the wonderful movie. His "The Brothers Shu" is a bitter look at some traditional character weaknesses of Chinese people, and particularly how they affect family life. The Shu family is incredibly dysfunctional. The father nightly climbs up the side of his two-family house to have sex with the woman upstairs until her husband bolts her windows shut. So the woman sneaks downstairs to have sex in the younger son’s bedroom while the son is tied to his bed, gagged and blindfolded. Meanwhile the elder son abuses the girl upstairs until she falls in love with him. When she becomes pregnant, they are both so shamed they form a suicide pact, tie themselves together and jump into a river, where the boy is rescued in time but the girl dies. The younger son so hates his older brother-somewhat deservedly considering the abuse heaped on him by the brother-that he pours gasoline through his bedroom and sets it ablaze.

And so on, complete with beatings and torments worthy of the most dysfunctional American families. While not a particularly likeable cast of characters, the story is strong and thoughtful.

Perhaps the most moving part about "First Person", by Shi Tiesheng is in the brief author description in the back of the book. Shi is described as “crippled during the Cultural Revolution”. So many lives were needlessly destroyed during that tumultuous decade, it is easy to feel that the arrest and subsequent conviction of the notorious Gang of Four was not nearly sufficient punishment for them.

"First Person" tells the story of a man with a heart condition-Shi frequently writes about the lives of handicapped people, according to his description-who is visiting his new 21st floor apartment for the first time. While climbing the stairs very slowly, taking frequent rests, he notices a cemetery separated from the apartment building by a huge wall. On one side of the wall is sitting a woman, while on the other side stands a man. As the man climbs the stairs he fantasizes about why the couple are there, and why they are separated by the wall. Perhaps the man is having an affair, and the wife is spying on him as he rendezvous with his lover?

But then the man notices a baby lying on a gravesite, being watched from a distance by the man, and he realizes that the couple is abandoning the child. An interesting story about the fanciful delusions a person can have, but with no real depth beyond that.

Two stories involve fear of dentists in completely different ways. Wang Meng’s "A String of Choices" is a very funny story that combines a bitter look at both Eastern and Western medicine with perhaps the most extreme case of fear of dentists imaginable. Chen Ran’s "Sunshine Between the Lips" tells of a young girl whose adult male friend exposes himself to her. If that were not traumatic enough, after he is arrested for exposing himself to a complete stranger, he sets his apartment on fire and dies a brutal death. This event, combined with a near-fatal bout of meningitis, creates in the girl a deep fear of phallic objects such as needles and penises. So imagine her trauma when she develops impacted wisdom teeth at the same time as she gets married. While this description might sound a bit ludicrous, this story is very serious and very well-executed.

A strong satire on how history can be rewritten to suit the writers’ needs is Li Xiao’s "Grass on the Rooftop". When a peasant’s hut goes on fire, he is rescued by a local student. The rescue is written up for an elementary school newspaper by a local child, but the story is picked up by other papers, changing radically with each reprinting until the rescuing student becomes a great hero of the Maoist revolution because of his supposed attempt to rescue a nonexistent portrait of Mao on the wall of the hut. While this story is uniquely Chinese in many ways, it resonates in all societies in which pride and agenda is often more important than the truth.

Anybody interested in a look at contemporary Chinese society should enjoy this collection immensely.

Мнозина на запад от Япония мислят, че гейша означава елитна куртизанка, но нашумелият роман на американеца Артър Голдън показва истинската й същност. Тя е артистка, владееща до съвършенство изкуството на развлечението. Книгата се радва на изключителен интерес в цял свят, защото авторът успява да „свали“ кимоното на една прочута гейша и да разкрие нейната драматична история невероятно увлекателно и елегантно.

Продадена на девет години, красивата сивоока дъщеря на беден рибар става една от най-търсените гейши в квартала на удоволствията Гион. Тя получава изумително висока цена при наддаването за нейната девственост и години наред забавлява богатите и известните в чайните на Киото, докато накрая съдбата я отвежда в Ню Йорк. Четирийсет години по-късно, когато всички мъже в нейния живот са си отишли, прочутата Саюри повдига завесата пред един тайнствен, изчезващ свят.

After the seeming defeat of the dark archon Ulrezaj on the protoss homeworld of Aiur, Jake and Rosemary become separated as they flee through the newly repaired warp gate. Rosemary finds herself with the other refugee protoss on Shakuras, while Jake is catapulted elsewhere. But Jake does not have long to live: their enemies are regrouping, and Zamara’s essence must be separated from Jake’s mind before time runs out.

Jake knows he must survive long enough for Zamara to pass on her vital secret. But which faction—Valerian, zerg, or the recovered and increasingly powerful Ulrezaj—will find them first? His only hope rests with the powerful and legendary Zeratul, but as Jake is about to learn…even a dark templar can have a crisis of faith.

Anyone who lived through the 1980s may find it impossible—inconceivable, even—to equate  with anything other than the sweet, celluloid romance of Westley and Buttercup, but the film is only a fraction of the ingenious storytelling you'll find in these pages. Rich in character and satire, the novel is set in 1941 and framed cleverly as an “abridged” retelling of a centuries-old tale set in the fabled country of Florin that's home to “Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passions.”

Филмиран и очакващ триумфа си по света, това не е само семеен фарс или романс, а порочно-смешна комедия на нравите и маниерите в Ню Йорк.

Мама е остроумна, пряма до безобразие, остра като бръснач и… отчаяние за семейството. Нейните три пораснали деца изпадат в ужас от решението й да заживее при тях и да превърне отново живота им в ад. За убийство и дума не може да става — по чисто практически причини. Изходът е намерен от голямата дъщеря — Сиг, изискана, владееща себе си брокерка с провалящ се професионален и личен живот.

Шарън — невротизирана домакиня от предградията с две деца и безработен съпруг и Брус, синчето на фамилията с бързо западащ бизнес, приемат плана й „Операция издирване на дъртак“.

Но къде и как ще намерят стар, глух, ням, сляп и най-вече богат жених?

Оригинални ситуации, блестящ диалог, забавен сюжет.

И много, много смях.

Злото му е легендарно. Властелин на Немъртвите пълчища, той притежава руническия меч Фростморн и е враг на свободните хора на Азерот. Крал-лич е същество с неизмерима сила и безподобно зло, а ледената му душа е напълно обладана от плановете му да унищожи всичко живо във… Вселената на Уоркрафт.

Но невинаги е било така. Много преди душата му да се слее с тази на оркския шаман Нер’зул, Крал-лич е бил Артас Менетил, принц на Лордерон и достоен паладин на Сребърната ръка.

Когато заразата на немъртвите заплашва всички, които обича, Артас е принуден да тръгне на обречен поход в търсене на рунически меч, който ще му осигури нужната сила, за да спаси родната си земя. Но целта на пътешествието му ще изиска тежка цена от новия си господар и това ще отприщи едно ужасяващо проклятие. Пътят на Артас ще го поведе към арктическата пустош до Замръзналия трон, където той накрая ще срещне най-тъмната съдба…

Напоследък Ейдриън Монк се справя добре. Разкрива убийства още в момента, в който се случват, и натрапчивите му разстройства са видимо по-незабележими — вече не брои късчетата от зърнената си закуска, докато се озоват в купата. Напредъкът си е напредък и Монк знае, че го дължи изцяло на терапевта си д-р Крогър.

Но когато д-р Крогър заминава на конференция в Германия, Монк изпада в шок. Не може да си завърже обувките, забравя как да преглъща, губи бройката на миганията си… Обзет от отчаяна нужда да си върне равновесието, Монк решава да последва терапевта си в Германия.

И именно там на един градски площад Монк вижда онзи мъж.

Мъжът, когото никога не е спирал да търси.

Мъжът с шестте пръста.

Мъжът, отговорен за смъртта на съпругата му.

Дали Монк само си е въобразил, че пътищата им са се пресекли?

From bestselling historian Adrian Goldsworthy, a profoundly authentic, action-packed adventure set on the northern frontier of the Roman Empire.

The official novelization of the summer blockbuster The Predator, Shane Black’s new movie with a screenplay by Shane Black and Fred Dekker. For centuries Earth has been visited by warlike creatures that stalk mankind’s finest warriors. Their goals unknown, these deadly hunters kill their prey and depart as invisibly as they arrived, leaving no trace other than a trail of bodies. When a young boy accidentally triggers the universe’s most lethal Hunters’ return to earth, only a ragtag crew of ex-soldiers and a disgruntled science teacher can prevent the end of the human race. The Predator, Alien, and Aliens TM & © 2017 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.

Nero Wolfe, the brilliant orchid-growing gourmet detective, and his inimitable confidential assistant, Archie Goodwin, are America’s most beloved detection team. Now they are back in a splendid new murder mystery that takes up where Rex Stout left off. In the perfect Stout tradition, author Robert Goldsborough has ingeniously rendered every detail of character and place with such uncanny accuracy that fans will savor every page to its surprising and immensely satisfying conclusion. Threatening notes have been sent to Milan Stevens, celebrated conductor of the New York Symphony. His niece, Maria, fears for her uncle’s life and travels to the Thirty-fifth Street brownstone of Nero Wolfe. Archie can barely conceal his surprise when Wolfe agrees to investigate — Archie has just spent two spectacularly unsuccessful years trying to pry his employer out of retirement. But Wolfe has his own reasons for taking the case, reasons that have nothing to do with helping a pretty young woman in distress. For while the world knows Milan Stevens as a brilliant conductor, Wolfe knows him as Milos Stefanovic, the brave freedom fighter who saved Wolfe’s life many years ago. It is a debt that must be paid. But Maria has come to the big detective too late. Milan Stevens is soon found dead, and Maria’s musician boyfriend, Gerald, is in police custody. Despite Maria’s cries that Gerald could not have possibly committed such a bloody act, there are plenty of witnesses who overheard Stevens screaming at Gerald that marrying his niece was out of the question. To make matters worse, Gerald also happened to be the only person seen entering Stevens’s apartment on the night when the final curtain was pulled on his brilliant life. The juicy public scandal of it all enthralls the city, which is anxious for the next development and the climax of the case. With precious little to go on, and not sold on Gerald’s guilt, Wolfe and Archie begin compiling a list of suspects, discovering very soon that the problem isn’t where to start — it s where to stop. But when the scanty clues finally arrange themselves like notes on a score, Wolfe recognizes a dark melody that only a talented murderer could perform.

From bestselling historian Adrian Goldsworthy, a profoundly authentic, action-packed adventure set in Roman Britain. AD 100: BRITANNIA. THE EDGE OF THE ROMAN WORLD. Flavius Ferox is the hardbitten centurion charged with keeping the peace on Britannia’s frontier with the barbarian tribes of the north. Now he’s been summoned to Londinium by the governor, but before he sets out an imperial freedman is found brutally murdered in a latrine at Vindolanda fort – and Ferox must find the killer. As he follows the trail, the murder leads him to plots against the empire and Rome itself, and an old foe gathering mysterious artefacts in the hope of working a great magic. Bandits, soldiers, and gladiators alike are trying to kill him, old friends turn traitor, and Ferox is lured reluctantly to the sinister haunts of the old druids on the isle of Mona, and the bitter power struggle among the Brigantes, the great tribe of the north…

Въпреки че младият Военачалник Трал слага край на демоничното проклятие, което поколения наред е тормозело хората му, орките все още се борят с греховете от кървавото си минало. Като вилнееща Орда те повеждат няколко опустошителни войни срещу вечния си враг — Алианса. Но яростта и жаждата за кръв, които принуждават орките да унищожават всичко по пътя си, едва не ги съсипва във… Вселената на Уоркрафт. Много отдавна в идиличния свят Дренор благородните оркски кланове живеели в мир с енигматичните си съседи — дренаите. Но порочните агенти на Пламтящия легион имали други планове и за двете нищо неподозиращи раси. Демоничният властелин Кил’джейден поставя начало на поредица от зловещи събития, резултатът от които е не само заличаването на дренаите, но и обединяването на оркските кланове в една неудържима стихия на омраза и унищожение.

In science fiction, nearly everybody reads Galaxy. Since its first issue, and in all of the decade that fol­lowed, it has ranked among the best science fiction magazines—always exciting, and, mutatis mutandis, always reliable. The man whose editorial skill steers Galaxy past the rocks where scores of other maga­zines founder is, in his off-duty hours, a talented author in his own right. You didn't know this? You will know it very soon ... if you go on to read—

Не желая становиться любовницей короля, убежденного, что девственница излечит его от болезни, Элизабет Болейн сама приходит  в шатер к красивому шотландскому рыцарю, чтобы тот стал ее первым мужчиной. Эмрис Макферсон заинтригован и очарован своей ночной гостьей, но в последний момент красавица сбегает, напуганная его страстью. Шотландец понимает, что не успокоится, пока не найдет ее снова. И вот судьба дарит им новую встречу во Флоренции, где Элизабет скрывается под чужим именем...

Красавицу Марию, юную вдову венгерского короля, ее брат, император Карл, готовит в жены королю Шотландии. Не познавшая в браке любви и страсти, Мария отказывается подчиниться, но испанский корабль, на котором она бежит, потоплен пиратами. Спасти беглянку суждено шотландцу Джону Макферсону, посланному королем за своей невестой. Джон не подозревает, что черноволосая русалка, которую он выловил в море и которая с первой минуты завладела его сердцем, — невеста короля. А Мария наслаждается несколькими украденными у судьбы днями счастья, понимая, что их любовь обречена. Она знает — ее выбор может стоить возлюбленному жизни…