Adventure fiction: Westerns

Book SynopsisBrutally violent, Blood Meridian is the story of one teenage runaway in the nineteenth-century American South, as a sadistic gang unleashes its massacre across the desert land. It is the work that sealed Cormac McCarthy's reputation as one of the twentieth century's greatest writers – his magnum opus.‘[A] brilliant, uncompromising work of fiction – imagine if the authors of the King James Bible, their hands guided by Satan, wrote a western’ – The TimesThrough the hostile landscape of the Texas–Mexico border wanders the Kid, a fourteen year-old Tennessean who is quickly swept up in the relentless tide of blood.A group known as the Glanton gang hunt Indigenous Americans, collecting scalps as their bloody trophies. At the centre of this violence stands Judge Holden: a massive, hairless man, mysterious if not supernatural, erudite and cold-blooded. He is singularly extreme in his sadistic violence.But the apparent chaos is not without order – the Glanton gang, too, are stalked as prey.Read as both a brilliant subversion of the Western novel and a blazing example of that form, it is a powerful, mesmerizing and savagely beautiful novel – and one of the most important works in American fiction of the last century.‘In Blood Meridian, McCarthy reaches the peak of his style: spare and ornate at once, repetitious but endlessly readable’ – GuardianPraise for Cormac McCarthy:'His prose takes on an almost biblical quality, hallucinatory in its effect and evangelical in its power' – Stephen King, author of The Shining and the Dark Tower series‘McCarthy worked close to some religious impulse, his books were terrifying and absolute’ – Anne Enright, author of The Green Road and The Wren, The Wren'[I]n presenting the darker human impulses in his rich prose, [McCarthy] showed readers the necessity of facing up to existence' – Annie Proulx, author of Brokeback MountainPart of the Picador Collection, a series showcasing the best of modern literature.Trade ReviewBlood Meridian is his masterpiece . . . An astonishing sanguinary epic dealing with the Indian wars of the 1840s in West Texas and Mexico . . . Unlike anything I have ever read in recent years, an extraordinary, breathtaking achievement -- John Banville, author of The SeaA bloody and starkly beautiful tale -- Stephen Amidon * Sunday Times *Possibly the greatest American novel of the past 25 years -- Aleksandar Hemon, author of The World and All That It Holds and The Lazarus ProjectI have rarely encountered anything as powerful, as unsettling, or as memorable as Blood Meridian . . . A nightmare odyssey * Evening Standard *The Judge is the book, and the Judge is, short of Moby Dick, the most monstrous apparition in all of American literature -- Harlold Bloom, on the character of Judge Holden in Blood MeridianMcCarthy distances us not only from the historical past, not only from our cowboy-and-Indian images of it, but also revisionist theories that make white men the villains and Indians the victims. All men are unremittingly bloodthirsty here, poised at a peak of violence, the "meridian" from which their civilization will quickly fall * New York Times Book Review *In Blood Meridian, McCarthy reaches the peak of his style: spare and ornate at once, repetitious but endlessly readable * Guardian *Blood Meridian, published in 1985, is a brilliant, uncompromising work of fiction – imagine if the authors of the King James Bible, their hands guided Satan, wrote a western * The Times *

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Book SynopsisREAD STOP DRINKING NOW AND BECOME A HAPPY NONDRINKER FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.Allen Carr''s Easyway a global phenomenon. It has helped millions of smokers from all over the world to quit instantly and easily. Stop Drinking Now applies Allen Carr''s Easyway method to problem drinking. By explaining why you feel the need to drink and, with simple step-by-step instructions to set you free, he shows you how to escape from the alcohol trap.• A UNIQUE METHOD THAT DOES NOT REQUIRE WILLPOWER• REMOVES THE DESIRE TO DRINK ALCOHOL• STOP EASILY, IMMEDIATELY AND PAINLESSLY• REGAIN CONTROL OF YOUR LIFEWhat people say about Allen Carr''s Easyway method:"The Allen Carr program was nothing short of a miracle."Anjelica Huston"It was such a revelation that instantly I was freed from my addiction."Sir Anthony Hopkins"His skill is in removing the psychological dependence"The Sunday Times

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Book SynopsisCormac McCarthy was the author of many acclaimed novels, including Blood Meridian, Child of God and The Passenger. Among his honours are the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His works adapted to film include All the Pretty Horses, The Road and No Country for Old Men the latter film receiving four Academy Awards, including the award for Best Picture. McCarthy died in 2023 in Santa Fe, NM at the age of 89.Trade ReviewNo Country for Old Men is a compelling, harrowing, disturbing, sad, endlessly surprising and resonant novel. -- Robert Edric * Spectator *No Country for Old Men is a severed head and shoulders over anything else written in America this year. * Independent on Sunday *A fast, powerful read, steeped with a deep sorrow about the moral degradation of the legendary American West. * Financial Times *A Western thriller with a racy plot and punchy dialogue, perfect for a lazy Sunday. * The Times *[An] utterly absorbing, chilling tale . . . One of the most sinister characters in modern American fiction. * Herald *It's hard to think of a contemporary writer more worth reading. * Independent *

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Book SynopsisIt's the nineteenth century. As America prepares for civil war, five men living within ninety miles of one another will change the course of history. The invention and refinement of the repeating firearm-the precursor to today's automatic weapons-means life in America and beyond will never be the same again. In this riveting work of narrative history, veteran reporter John Bainbridge, Jr. vividly brings to life the five charismatic and idiosyncratic men at the heart of the story: the huckster and hard-living Samuel Colt; the cunning former shirt-maker Oliver Winchester; the constant tinkerer Horace Smith; the resilient and innovative businessman Daniel Wesson; and the skinny abolitionist Christopher Spencer. As the men competed ferociously, each trying to corner the market for repeating weapons, invention and necessity collided in a perfect storm: America was crashing violently towards furious sectarianism, irrevocable tensions, and, of course, bloodthirsty war. Though capable of firing many times without reloading, astonishingly, the new guns faced a government backlash for using too much ammunition. Sold directly to soldiers, sometimes just as they were walking into battle, they quickly became coveted possessions, both during the Civil War and in the conquering of the West-and thus America's romance with personal firearms was born. Wide-ranging and vividly told, this is a gripping story of tenacity, conviction, innovation, and pure heartless greed.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewHER BEST NOVEL YET * The Times *Inspiring and wildly romantic * Daily Mail Books of the Year *Utterly enchanting * Mail on Sunday *An entertaining, immersive and moving read. The Giver of Stars is rip-roaring popular fiction . . . but it is also a novel that celebrates education, intellectual curiosity and, above all, books and the knowledge, comfort, company and power that they can bring. Moyes shines a light on a historic footnote to pay tribute to women's work, endurance and female solidarity * The Sunday Times *For years I've been a huge Jojo Moyes fan. It's such a great narrative about personal strength and really captures how books bring communities together, especially for these women who are completely bonded by their love of literature * Reese Witherspoon *A genuinely entertaining book that's a perfect gift for people who need some escape from the everyday and just want to be absorbed in a really cracking story. Set in rural America in the 1930s, it's got a band of feisty characters who are funny and sweet with contemporary resonances to boot * The best books to give this Christmas, Stylist *With characters so real they feel like dear friends and a compelling storyline, this is a beautiful, special novel. I loved it and didn't want it to end! * Liane Moriarty *What a wonderful novel. The Giver of Stars is the most sweeping, dramatic, richly evocative book, full of brilliantly feisty women. I whipped through the pages, utterly agog, pretty much feeling as though I was on a horse in 1930s Kentucky myself * Sophie Kinsella *Epic * David Nicholls, bestselling author of One Day *Timeless, Jojo Moyes' greatest work yet, and one of the most exquisitely-written - and absolutely compulsory - novels about women ever told. Brilliant and perfect and will remind you of why you read; even of why you breathe * Lisa Taddeo, bestselling author of Three Women *

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Book SynopsisCormac McCarthy was the author of many acclaimed novels, including Blood Meridian, Child of God and The Passenger. Among his honours are the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His works adapted to film include All the Pretty Horses, The Road and No Country for Old Men the latter film receiving four Academy Awards, including the award for Best Picture. McCarthy died in 2023 in Santa Fe, NM at the age of 89.Trade ReviewThe Crossing, together with its predecessor All the Pretty Horses, towers over most contemporary fiction. An American epic infused with a grand solemnity * Sunday Times *McCarthy writes prose as clean as a bullet cutting through the air and constructs tales as compelling as any you will read . . . They are stories about people as real as the land they ride and as disturbing as the rituals they enact * Daily Telegraph *Admirers of All the Pretty Horses will need little encouragement . . . McCarthy speaks to us in the thrilling, apocalyptic tones of an Old Testament prophet. We must treasure him * Sunday Telegraph *The Crossing is like a river in full spate: beautiful and dangerous * The Times *Nominally Westerns, these books are too entropic and philosophical to fit within the limits of the genre. They summon the ghosts of history, and haunt the gaps between justice and reality -- Rachel Kushner, author of The Mars Room

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Book SynopsisCormac McCarthy was the author of many acclaimed novels, including Blood Meridian, Child of God and The Passenger. Among his honours are the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His works adapted to film include All the Pretty Horses, The Road and No Country for Old Men the latter film receiving four Academy Awards, including the award for Best Picture. McCarthy died in 2023 in Santa Fe, NM at the age of 89.Trade ReviewA darkly shining work . . . executed with consummate skill and much subtlety - the effect is magnificent -- John Banville, author of The Sea * Observer *An exhilarating, exceptional novel * Spectator *All the Pretty Horses is indisputably a masterpiece. * Financial Times *One of the greatest American novels of this or any time * Guardian *[A] totalizing reality, where meditation and resistance are two components of one reality, a destiny of wandering the borderlands of the U.S. and Mexico in the postwar twentieth century -- Rachel Kushner, author of The Mars Room

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Book SynopsisQuentin Tarantino''s long-awaited first work of fiction - at once hilarious, delicious, and brutal - is the always surprising, sometimes shocking new novel based on his Academy Award-winning film.RICK DALTON - Once he had his own TV series, but now Rick''s a washed-up villain-of-the week drowning his sorrows in whiskey sours. Will a phone call from Rome save his fate or seal it?CLIFF BOOTH - Rick''s stunt double, and the most infamous man on any movie set because he''s the only one there who might have gotten away with murder . . . SHARON TATE - She left Texas to chase a movie-star dream, and found it. Sharon''s salad days are now spent on Cielo Drive, high in the Hollywood Hills.CHARLES MANSON - The ex-con''s got a bunch of zonked-out hippies thinking he''s their spiritual leader, but he''d trade it all to be a rock ''n'' roll star.HOLLYWOOD 1969 - YOU SHOULDA BEEN THERETrade ReviewOutrageous and addictively readable... The book is a reminder that Tarantino is, in fact, a really good writer, and it should not be so surprising that his brilliance as a screenwriter should be transferable into fiction. * Guardian *The book is a distinct experience - rangier, sexier, bloodier ... Classic, sparks-flying Tarantino ... The start of a new direction for this relentlessly inventive director. * Washington Post *The rollicking debut novel by Quentin Tarantino is a seamless, seamy blend of fact and fiction * The Times *The rat-a-tat pace of a screenplay ... Tarantino's concern here is world-building, luxuriating in an era and a genre that he is clearly fascinated by ... with undeniable flair * Evening Standard *This book boasts some tremendous scenes, with magical dialogue, that I wouldn't have missed for the world * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisA THE TIMES HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK OF THE YEARLONGLISTED FOR THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE FOR HISTORICAL FICTION 2023MY NAME IS YIP TOLROY & I am a mute. I have made not a sound since the day of my birth, October 2nd, 1815. I will say that my life has been something of a trial but such is God''s wish & so I must tell my story here on the page.Yip Tolroy and his fiery Mama run the general store in Heron''s Creek, Georgia. An uneventful life, until gold is discovered nearby and Yip is caught up in a bloody, grievous crime forcing him to flee. On the run, friendless and alone, he meets Dud Carter a savvy but unlikely companion. Together, they embark on a journey that thrusts them unwittingly into a world of menace and violence, of lust and revenge. And, as Yip and Dud''s odyssey takes them further into the unknown - via travelling shows, escaped slaves and the greed of gold-hungry men - the pull of home only gets stronger. But what will they find

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Book SynopsisCormac McCarthy was the author of many acclaimed novels, including Blood Meridian, Child of God and The Passenger. Among his honours are the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His works adapted to film include All the Pretty Horses, The Road and No Country for Old Men the latter film receiving four Academy Awards, including the award for Best Picture. McCarthy died in 2023 in Santa Fe, NM at the age of 89.Trade ReviewIn a lovely and terrible landscape of natural beauty and impending loss we find John Grady; a young cowboy of the old school, trusted by men and horses, and a fragile young woman, whose salvation becomes his obsession . . . McCarthy makes the sweeping plains a miracle. * Scotsman *Like the Western settings he captures to perfection, his work is both heart-wrenchingly beautiful and uncompromisingly brutal. * Express *The completed trilogy emerges as a landmark in American literature * Guardian *This haunting, deeply felt novel completes one of the literary masterworks of the 1990s * Telegraph *Like a slow-acting hallucinogen, the book has managed to transform a Texas boy of sixteen looking for adventure into a mysterious figure that augurs the destruction of the world -- Rachel Kushner, author of The Mars Room

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Book SynopsisLink Bonner never wanted to gain a reputation as a fast hand with a six-gun and the will to use it. But sometimes circumstances drive the lives of men even beyond their own desires. Bonner was such a man, always in the middle of trouble he was not looking for. It took a woman to change Bonner and losing her made life and death of little consequence to him. But the man he was also changed the West for the better. Without his kind, many more innocent people would have died. To the end he fought for what he thought right, down to the last bullet.

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Book SynopsisSam Heggarty returns home to hunt for the gunmen who robbed and executed his father. As he makes his way back, he witnesses another murder and stumbles across a clue to the people responsible for his father's death. Sam becomes caught up in the chase to track down an escaped prisoner as he partners up with ageing lawman, County Sheriff Lewis Leeming. He discovers that the one person who may hold the key to the identity of his father's murderers is someone that everyone else is intent on killing. Heggarty will have to save the life of a man involved in his father's death.

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Book SynopsisSin was a profitable commodity in a mining town like Motherlode. Lust made money for the madam, wrath and avarice created targets for the manhunter, and the newspaperman was greedy for stories. 'He had no right to take you against your will.' When a prostitute is raped during the robbery of the Motherlode stage, Jonah Durrell seems to be the only man who cares. The handsome manhunter can never resist a damsel in distress. He is determined to get justice for Miss Jenny's girl, and recruits Robinson, an enthusiastic newspaperman who witnessed the attack. The women are not meek and passive though. They are willing to take matters, and guns, into their own hands to survive in a tough world. Together, with Durrell and Robinson, they begin to uncover the layers of lust, avarice and envy in town, bringing down the wrath of their enemies. Can the women of sin get the justice they deserve?

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Book SynopsisButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid have given up robbing banks and trains and are now ranch owners, and are waiting to hear from the Governor of Wyoming about a possible pardon. While in Buffalo, Wyoming, to buy supplies, they have an unfortunate encounter with Luther Greeley, an outlaw from a rival gang based at Hole-in-the-Wall, during which Sundance is badly wounded. Butch takes him to the nearby home of a friend to recover. As a worried Butch watches over his injured partner, he thinks back to their first meeting and to the events that led up to their partnership. It all began in the town of Green River, Wyoming, and a chance meeting between them when they were young, then using their names Leroy and Lonzoâ.

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Book SynopsisAs the survivors turn against each other, a few begin to realise that the threat they face reaches beyond the fury of the natural elements, to something more primal and far more deadly.Based on the true story of The Donner Party, The Hunger is an eerie, shiver-inducing exploration of human nature, pushed to its breaking point.Trade ReviewDeeply, deeply disturbing. -- STEPHEN KINGKatsu adds a rich vein of horror to her imaginative retelling . . . astonishingly atmospheric, with a strong sense of claustrophobia, despite the vast prairies and mountains . . . this is an enthralling and chilling read. -- Laura Wilson * GUARDIAN *Uneasy, nauseous, slow-burning tale that marries historical fiction with a hint of the supernatural. Great detailing; colourful characterization; some supremely ominous stuff, but always reined in at the final moment to rack up the tension even more. Loved it! -- JOANNE HARRIS, author of ChocolatThis . . . is supernatural suspense at its finest. It is strangely ethereal, yet gritty, with one eye on the distant skyline and the other on the bloody journey. If historical novels are your thing, The Hunger delivers a believable, fully realized 19th-century America. But the best thing about The Hunger is that it will scare the pants off you. -- Danielle Trussoni * NEW YORK TIMES *An absorbing thriller that had me digging into the history behind this tale as soon as I’d read the last page . . . Her descriptions of the land are movingly beautiful, but there is danger even here. -- Alison Flood * OBSERVER 'Thrillers of the Month' *

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Book SynopsisINSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA REESE WITHERSPOON BOOK CLUB PICKMAJOR TV ADAPTATION IN DEVELOPMENT BY AMY ADAMS''Calling it The Handmaid''s Tale crossed with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid goes some way to describe this novel''s memorable world, but it is also wholly its own'' KIRKUS ''2021 is already a year that could use a little joy. Here to provide some is Outlawed . . . It''s an absolute romp and contains basically everything I want in a book: witchy nuns, heists, a marriage of convenience, and a midwife trying to build a bomb out of horse dung'' Vox ''Outlawed sets a high bar for the 12 months of publishing still to come . . . It upends the tropes of the traditionally macho and heteronormative genre while also being a rip-snortin'' good read, too'' THE WEEK (Most Anticipated Books of the Year) ''North is a riveting storyteller . . . Reader, you are in for a real treat'' JENNY ZHANG''Fans of Margaret Atwood and Cormac McCarthy finally get the Western they deserve'' ALEXIS COE ''A thrilling tale eerily familiar but utterly transformed ... In North''s galloping prose, it''s a fantastically cinematic adventure that turns the sexual politics of the Old West inside out'' WASHINGTON POST ''A western unlike any other, Outlawed features queer cowgirls, gender nonconforming robbers and a band of feminists that fight against the grain for autonomy, agency and the power to define their own worth'' MS. ''A grand, unforgettable tale'' ESMÉ WEIJUN WANG In the year of our Lord 1894, I became an outlaw.On the day of her wedding-dance, Ada feels lucky. She loves her broad-shouldered, bashful husband and her job as an apprentice midwife.But her luck will not last. It is every woman''s duty to have a child, to replace those that were lost in the Great Flu. And after a year of marriage and no pregnancy, in a town where barren women are hanged as witches, Ada''s survival depends on leaving behind everything she knows.She joins up with the notorious Hole in the Wall Gang. Its leader, a charismatic preacher-turned-robber, known to all as The Kid, wants to create a safe haven for women outcast from society. But to make this dream a reality, the Gang hatches a treacherous plan. And Ada must decide whether she''s willing to risk her life for the possibility of a new kind of future for them all.Trade ReviewAnna North has written a captivating Western unlike any other, with unique rhythms, dusty lands, and characters like new friends brought in on high winds. A grand, unforgettable tale. -- Esmé Wang, author of THE COLLECTED SCHIZOPHRENIASI'm dazzled by this feminist Western about a world in which women's worth and right to live are determined by the vagaries of fertility. Set in an alternate past, one all too similar to our today, Outlawed is terrifying, wise, tender, and thrilling. A masterpiece.Outlawed flips the script on the beloved Western genre and gives us the iconic heroine-on-the-run we deserve. Anna North is a riveting storyteller ... Reader, you are in for a real treat! -- Jenny Zhang, author of SOUR HEARTFans of Margaret Atwood and Cormac McCarthy finally get the Western they deserve in OUTLAWED, but Anna North doesn't just reimagine a damsel-in-distress as her own savior. She plays with the promise and danger of the frontier, introducing us to an America we never knew-and one we know all too well -- Alexis Coe, author of YOU NEVER FORGET YOUR FIRST and ALICE+FREDA FOREVERA moving and invigorating complication of the Western, highlighting chosen family, love, and survival among outcasts in another American timeline. As she mines the genre for vital new stories, North beautifully shines a light on our real past and conveys a warning for the future. -- Lydia Kiesling, author of THE GOLDEN STATEThis absorbing feminist western plucks the greatest conceits of the genre - the tension between individual freedom and society, the romance of the Old West marred by its inherent violence - and turns them on their heads . . . Anna North skewers the machismo traditionally championed by outlaws, and gives us instead resilient women who dress, rob and kill as men, but have all the burdens and forbearance of rejected women . . . written with careful prose that lingers lovingly on the details of convalescence, and luxuriating in its surroundings: the jackrabbits that hide behind jagged rocks, the smell of sage in Powder country . . . Outlawed shares concerns with The Handmaid's Tale and The Crucible, but is distinctly itself . . This is first a moving examination of how the marginalised find friendship in an indifferent world and only second, a western. John Wayne's characters had the luxury of self-imposed isolation; these outlaws must stick together or die * The i *

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Book SynopsisA dying man, Peter Barker asks Sheriff Quigley to deliver a message to his family. Quigley does so, only to find himself the target of range baron Huston McRae, who controls everything in Gila County, including the local sheriff, and doesn't want an outsider nosing around in his affairs. And above all, he doesn't want Quigley helping Noreen Barker, Peter Barker's widow. When McRae's attempted intimidation of Quigley fails, he orders him killed. Quigley sends for his deputy, Murray Fishbourne, and together they take on the local sheriff and the gunslingers McRae sends after them. But as the fighting intensifies, can Quigley and Murray survive?

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Book SynopsisA brutalized woman is left for dead. But dead is the one thing she isn’t. With a stolen horse and rifle, she escapes into the mountains, and a small posse of her tormentors has to gear up and give chase – whether to beg forgiveness or shut her up for good, nobody knows. With detours through time, space and myth – not to mention into the minds of a pack of philosophical mules – Pity the Beast is a mind-melting feminist Western that pins a tale of sexual violence and vengeance to a canvas as wide and strange as America itself. It’s a novel that turns our assumptions about the West, masculinity, good and evil, and the very nature of storytelling onto their heads, with an eye to the cosmic as well as the comic. It urges us to write our stories anew – if we want to avoid becoming beasts ourselves.

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Book Synopsis''I lost my own father at 12 yr. of age and know what it is to be raised on lies and silence...''To the authorities in pursuit of him, outlaw Ned Kelly is a horse thief, bank robber and police-killer. But to his fellow ordinary Australians, Kelly is their own Robin Hood. In a dazzling act of ventriloquism, Peter Carey brings the famous bushranger wildly and passionately to life.

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Book SynopsisThis may not be a prison, and it may not purgatory, but it''s sure as hell not a paradise either...Imagine a place populated by criminals - people plucked from their lives, with their memories altered, who've been granted new identities and a second chance. Welcome to The Blinds, a dusty town in rural Texas populated by misfits who don't know if they've perpetrated a crime or just witnessed one. All they do know is that they opted into the programme and that if they try to leave, they will end up dead.For eight years, Sheriff Calvin Cooper has kept an uneasy peace - but after a suicide and a murder in quick succession, the town's residents revolt. Cooper has his own secrets to protect, so when his new deputy starts digging, he needs to keep one step ahead of her - and the mysterious outsiders who threaten to tear the whole place down. The more he learns, the more the hard truth is revealed: The Blinds is no sleepy hideaway, it's simmering with

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Book SynopsisA masked predator is stalking the small town of Oakridge. Known only as The Phantom, he strikes at night, attacking sleeping couples in their beds, raping and murdering with impunity. Despite the best efforts of the local deputy, he manages to elude capture, and finally former marshal Ed Burton is brought in to assist the investigation.

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Book SynopsisSome hot property Mal's crew desperately need another payday, but not desperately enough to transport a Blue Sun flightcase to Badger, no questions asked, when the area is swarming with Alliance spacecraft equally keen to regain the stolen property. Yet Jayne refuses to miss out, and sneaks the case aboard Serenity. Lucid dreams Within hours of secreting the case Jayne suddenly finds himself back on the Cobb homestead with his brother Matty miraculously cured of the damplung. Wash is at the controls of the highest-spec cruiser money can buy, the billionaire head of a 'verse-spanning business empire. All of the crew but River are soon immersed in vivid hallucinations of their deepest desires, while their bodies lie insensible on the ship. Fantasies gone sour Wash's empire begins to crumble; the Cobb ranch is under attack by merciless bandits. As everyone's daydreams turn nightmare, Serenity floats on a crash course towards a barren moon, with only River standing between the crew and certain oblivion.Trade Review"The Ghost Machine is a delight from page one right on through to the end. The heart of one of my favorite franchises continues to beat strong in the Titan Books series of novels, and I am eager for more." - Nerds on Earth "Lovegrove ends up creating something that's really clever, and gives a new look at some very familiar characters." - Grimdark Dad

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Book SynopsisWhen Sheriff Cornelius Doyle is killed, his estranged son Kane sets out to find the culprit, hoping to reconcile with a family that doesn't want to know him - but he soon discovers that his father's apparently honourable life was a lie. The sheriff had become a legend when he killed the notorious outlaw Jesse Sawyer, but Kane discovers that the facts are at odds with the legend, as Jesse is still alive. With the sheriff's murder apparently being connected to the events of ten years ago, Kane hopes that Jesse can lead him to the killer. Instead he uncovers a dark secret that will not only put his life in peril, but could make it impossible for his family to ever accept him.

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Book SynopsisA dazzling magical realism western in the vein of Cormac McCarthy meets Gabriel García Márquez, The Bullet Swallower follows a Mexican bandido as he sets off for Texas to save his family, only to encounter a mysterious figure who has come, finally, to collect a cosmic debt generations in the making.In 1895, Antonio Sonoro is the latest in a long line of ruthless men. He''s good with his gun and is drawn to trouble but he''s also out of money and out of options. A drought has ravaged the town of Dorado, Mexico, where he lives with his wife and children, and so when he hears about a train laden with gold and other treasures, he sets off for Houston to rob it-with his younger brother Hugo in tow. But when the heist goes awry and Hugo is killed by the Texas Rangers, Antonio finds himself launched into a quest for revenge that endangers not only his life and his family, but his eternal soul.In 1964, Jaime Sonoro is Mexico''s most renowned actor and singer. But his

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Book SynopsisThe gunfighter known as Brolin was thought to have been dead for the past ten years. That was until Red Mike Stall and his outlaws hijacked the westbound train and attempted to murder everyone on board. Stall recognized Brolin from the old days and left him to burn in the abandoned church with the other passengers. Can a dead man win the day?

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Book SynopsisA Most Anticipated Book of 2024 by Goodreads, CrimeReads, The Millions, StyleCaster, The EveryGirl, Sunset, Book Riot, and HipLatinaJanuary Recommended Reading by The Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews, Book Riot, Nerd Daily, The Mary Sue, and Reading Between the SpinesMesmerizing...wildly entertaining...Gonzalez is a great storyteller, bringing both Texas and Mexico to the page with a mix of blood and magic...A must-read. -The Boston GlobeIn 1895, Antonio Sonoro is the latest in a long line of ruthless men. He''s good with his gun and is drawn to trouble but he''s also out of money and out of options. A drought has ravaged the town of Dorado, Mexico, where he lives with his wife and children, and so when he hears about a train laden with gold and other treasures, he sets off for Houston to rob it-with his younger brother Hugo in tow. But when the heist goes awry and Hugo is killed by the Texas Rangers, Antonio finds himself launched into a quest for revenge that endangTrade ReviewAn utterly original, wild ride rendered by Gonzalez James' masterful hand that turns the traditional redemption narrative on its head. In cracking open her own family legends, The Bullet Swallower brings to vibrant, three dimensional life the people and history of the Mexican and Texas border. Full of heart and humor, the magic in this book is not what is invented, but that it makes you wonder what it is, in all our histories, we may have forgotten? * Xochitl Gonzalez, New York Times bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming *One Hundred Years of Solitude meets Lonesome Dove. A gunslinging Western laced with magical realism that illuminates the complicated history between Texas and Mexico, and the impacts of colonialism and generational trauma. The Bullet Swallower is the historical novel of our time because it asks: "What do we owe for the crimes of our ancestors?" A masterpiece! * Mary Pauline Lowry, author of The Roxy Letters *The Bullet Swallower is a rollicking, inventive tour-de-force, a novel you don't so much read as fall into like a dream-vivid, violent, and magical. Part Western revenge narrative, part family epic, part study of colonialism and displacement, this is the Texas-Mexico novel I wish had existed decades ago. We're lucky to have it now. Elizabeth Gonzalez James is a force. * Katie Gutierrez, bestselling author of More Than You'll Ever Know *Mythic, epic and multigenerational in scale, this novel reclaims North American history through its grand story-a gritty and bloody, iconic and subversive, smart, heartbreaking, and often funny fireside tale. The Bullet Swallower contends with such big and necessary questions and will mark new edges on a far larger map of the American literary and historic West. * Robin McLean, author of Get ’em Young, Treat ’em Tough, Tell ’em Nothing *To the lineage of Saramago and Borges add Gonzalez James. Resplendent and magisterial, The Bullet Swallower is an exploration of great evil, desperate longing, and redemption. This is a triumph: one of those rare stories which dwells in this our world but is not of it. * Tom Lin, author of The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu *Elizabeth Gonzalez James has accomplished an astounding feat - a book that is as thrilling as it is beautiful, that challenges toxic masculinity as it envisions what manhood could be. Yet, my favorite part of The Bullet Swallower is the elegance with which it collapses boundaries between genres, crafting an entirely original text-a magical realism western that calls to mind Don Quixote? Sign me up, please. Gonzalez James is a master storyteller who has gifted us a wild, unexpected story. Bravo! * Cleyvis Natera, author of Neruda on the Park *James is a writer to watch * ADAM JOHNSON, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Orphan Master's Son *James makes such deft use of tropes from Westerns, Gothic literature, and magical realism that they don't feel like tropes at all . . . she gives them life with prose that's both spare and intensely rich. This novel is valuable for its gorgeous language and gripping story . . . Mesmerizing and important. * Kirkus Reviews *Readers will find this a refreshingly modern recasting of the classic western . . . Gonzalez laces magical realism into her vivid epic of the Texas-Mexico border and the violence that shapes a family for generations * Publishers Weekly *With a powerfully drawn setting and viscerally convincing characters, James's novel is a strong addition to any general fiction collection * Library Journal *The Bullet Swallower rarely pauses to catch its breath, though its readers might need to. Like the corridos it evokes, it somehow folds a landscape, a people, and a culture into its beguiling swirl of lyrical intensity and galloping cadences. * Garden & Gun *

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Book Synopsis**NOW THE WINNER OF THE 2022 BEST DIRECTOR OSCAR AND TWO 2022 BAFTA AWARDS**Discover Thomas Savage's dark poetic tale of a small town in early 20th century America.Phil and George are brothers and joint owners of the biggest ranch in their Montana valley.Phil is the bright one, George the plodder. Phil is tall and angular; George is stocky and silent. Phil is a brilliant chess player, a voracious reader, an eloquent storyteller; George learns slowly, and devotes himself to the business. They sleep in the room they shared as boys, and so it has been for forty years.When George unexpectedly marries a young widow and brings her to live at the ranch, Phil begins a relentless campaign to destroy his brother's new wife. But he reckons without an unlikely protector.From its visceral first paragraph to its devastating twist of an ending, The Power of the Dog will hold you in its grip.WITH AN AFTERWORD BY ANNIE PROULX'With its echoes of East of Eden and Brokeback Mountain, this satisfyingly complex story deserves another shot at rounding up public admiration' GuardianTrade ReviewOptimistically billed as the next Stoner, this 1967 reissue is in fact the better novel...a rich and challenging psychodrama, based on brilliant characterisation... With its echoes of East of Eden and Brokeback Mountain, this satisfyingly complex story deserves another shot at rounding up public admiration * Guardian *[Savage’s] prose is vivid and direct… [his] descriptions of nature have real power… a slow-burn psychological western. * The Times *An exhilarating drama between two brothers set in Twenties Montana, and better even than Stoner * Daily Telegraph *Something aching and lonely and terrible of the west is caught forever on Savage's pages, and the most compelling and painful of [his] books is The Power of the Dog, a work of literary artThe shocking turn of the book’s final pages keeps the story bright as a blade to the end...This is the perfect example of a book that never quite made it to the rank of classic...but is more than worthy of resurrection now * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisPercival Everett is the author of over thirty books, including Telephone, Dr No, The Trees, which was shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize and won the 2022 Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize, and Erasure, which was adapted into the major Oscar-winning film American Fiction. He has received the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and the PEN Center USA Award for Fiction, has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California. An instant New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller in hardback, James was a finalist for the 2024 Orwell Prize for Fiction, was shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize, and was named the Winner of the 2024 National Book Award for Fiction. Percival Everett lives in Los Angeles.

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Book SynopsisSerenity races against time to save Inara's life in an original Firefly tie-in novel that reads like a lost episode from the show A deadly disease Months after Inara leaves Serenity, Mal and the crew finally learn the reason for her sudden departure: she is dying of a terminal illness. It is Kiehl's Myeloma, a form of cancer that's supposedly incurable, and Inara has very little time left. A disreputable scientist Through their shock and despair, rumors of a cure reach the crew. Expert Esau Weng is said to have developed a means to treat Inara's condition, but he has been disgraced and incarcerated for life on a notorious Alliance prison planet. An infamous prison On the planet of Atata, inmates are abandoned with no guards and left to survive as best they can. What's more, terraforming the planet did not take properly, so the world is a frozen wasteland. To save Inara, the Serenity crew must infiltrate the prison...Trade ReviewPRAISE FOR THE SERIES "The entire novel feels like it could be a lost episode from the show." – The Verge "[Big Damn Hero is] Season Two. Episode One." - Birth.Movies.Death "Illuminates not only a huge chunk of Mal's past but also showcases a perfectly plausible chapter in the adventures of the Serenity's crew." - The Frumious Consortium "Fans who know the 'verse well...will feel right at home in this story that spans the era before the series, with callbacks to events in the series, and right afterward as if it were a 15th episode." - Borg.com "For someone who genuinely enjoyed the Firefly ‘verse, this was a treat to read." - Editing Everything"An outstanding tie-in to the beloved TV series, this book is shiny in every way possible." - Books Bones & Buffy "This was a wild ride back into the world of Firefly that I sorely missed; I loved learning some of the backstory that Fox robbed us from fifteen years ago and look forward to the next installment." - Reader Voracious "Big Damn Hero absolutely nails it across the board for me...It brings back all of the familiar and beloved while adding in dashes of the new and unknown. This Firefly book is a no-brainer buy for fans of the franchise." - Nerds on Earth

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Book SynopsisVOTE METTA FOR BETTA! As Marshal of Badrock, Metta Lawson saved the town she has come to love from being annihilated by the corrupt corporation Munce Inc., established it as a thriving haven of free trade, and brokered an uneasy peace with the enigmatic Zhind race. Now, having resigned her position as Marshal, Metta faces a new kind of fight, a political battle for the mayorship of Badrock. But without Metta enforcing the law, things aren’t looking good for Badrock. The mysterious Mr Roke continues to establish a hold over the citizens of the town through his protection racket, the town’s major employer, Getz, is conducting shady experiments with potentially disastrous consequences, and the SJS continues to work to undermine the fragile balance that Lawson managed to establish before her resignation. Dan Abnett (Aquaman, Guardians of the Galaxy) and Phil Winslade’s (Howard the Duck, Wonder Woman) frontier epic

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Book SynopsisThe Western, though a singularly American art form, is one of the great genres of world literature with a truly global readership. It is also durable despite being often unfairly maligned. Ever since James Fenimore Cooper transformed frontier yarns into a distinct literary form, the Western has followed two paths: one populist - what Time magazine famously billed 'the American Morality Play' - capable of taking many points of view, from red to redneck, but always populist, with a sentimental attachment to the misfit; the other literary - eschewing heroism, debunking with unsettling candour many of the myths of the West. It can sometimes be difficult to draw a sure line between the two forms, but both are represented in this outstanding collection which includes stories by Rick Bass, Walter Van Tilburg Clark, Larry McMurtry, Mari Sandoz, Christopher Tilghman, and Mark Twain, among many others.

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Book SynopsisThe book that inspired the epic movie, Dances With Wolves, and its sequel, The Holy Road, together in one volume for the first time. 1863. The last occupant of Fort Sedgewick, Lieutenant John Dunbar watches over the American frontier. A thousand miles back east, his comrades are locked in battle with the Confederates, but out here he is alone. His desolate posting will bring him into contact with the lords of the southern plains – the Comanche. He has no knowledge of their customs but Dunbar is intrigued by these people and begins a transformation from which he emerges a different man. A man called Dances With Wolves. The story continues, 11 years later in The Holy Road. Times are hard for the Comanche. The white man is closing in from all directions, claiming land, driving the tribes on to reservations. Should the Comanche fight or make peace? Misunderstanding and duplicity lead to raids and atrocities on both sides that can have only one conclusion. The man that was John Dunbar must go to war again.Trade ReviewMichael Blake was a true writer... His love of the American West palpable' * Rolling Stone *Great visionary writers like Michael Blake are often ahead of Hollywood and ahead of the audience by a generation * Irish Entertainment *Inhuman agony, brilliantly portrayed * Kirkus Reviews *Table of ContentsDances with Wolves. The Holy Road.

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Book SynopsisFrom Michael Crichton, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Jurassic Park, comes a thrilling adventure set in the Wild West that will keep you on the edge of your seat from the first page to the last!If you thought Jurassic Park was an adventure, you should try the Wild West!1876. In the lawless territories of the Wild West, two teams of explorers are pitted against one another. Their quarry? Dinosaur bones. But in a land filled with hostile Indian tribes and towns where pistol fights are a daily occurrence, every exploit puts their lives in dangerWilliam Johnson, a student with more privilege than sense, finds himself plunged into this deadly environment after making a brash wager. Alongside Edwin Drinker Cope, the famed adventurer, he stumbles upon a momentous discovery dragon teeth of a fantastic size!But to keep this extraordinary treasure safe, William must first confront some of the West's most dangerous and notorious charactersTrade Review‘A gripping and entertaining read’ Sunday Times ‘Filled with colorful Wild West characters’ Washington Post ‘A fun, suspenseful, entertaining, well-told tale’ USA Today Praise for Michael Crichton: ‘One of the most ingenious, inventive thriller writers around… Another high-concept treat… written in consummate page-turning style’ Observer ‘This is Crichton on top form, preying on our fears about new technology and convincing us that we aren’t half as afraid as we should be’ The Times ‘Mixing cutting-edge science with thrills and spills, this is classic Crichton’ Daily Mirror ‘Crichton masterfully maintains the suspense throughout the fast-paced story … Prey will invade your nightmares for a long time to come’ Time Out ‘A satirical black-comedy thriller… Crichton writes likes Tom Wolfe on speed… completely brilliant…’ Daily Mail ‘Crichton pulls off a slick thriller at a cracking pace’ Daily Telegraph ‘Exciting … a master storyteller’ Sunday Telegraph ‘Terrific fun. The pages whip by’ Independent ‘A gripping, impeccably researched thriller’ Evening Standard

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Book Synopsis'I am a white man and never forget it, but I was brought up by the Cheyenne Indians from the age of ten.' So starts the story of Jack Crabb, the 111-year old narrator of Thomas Berger's masterpiece of American fiction. As a "human being", as the Cheyenne called their own, he won the name Little Big Man. He dressed in skins, feasted on dog, loved four wives and saw his people butchered by the horse soldiers of General Custer, the man he had sworn to kill. As a white man, Crabb hunted buffalo, tangled with Wyatt Earp, cheated Wild Bill Hickok and survived the Battle of Little Bighorn. Part-farcical, part-historical, the picaresque adventures of this witty, wily mythomaniac claimed the Wild West as the stuff of serious literature.Trade ReviewA seminal event in the most significant cultural and literary trend of the 1960s... Few creative works of post-Civil War America have had as much of the fibre and blood of national experience in them * Nation *One of the best novels of the decade and the best novel ever about the American West * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisFalling for someone who doesn''t want to get married is soon to be the least of his concerns.While his brothers and their new wives search for who shot him, Wyatt Hunt is temporarily bedridden and completely miserable. Somehow Molly Garner''s limited skills have made her the most qualified in their circle to care for Wyatt. But by the time he''s healed, she''s fed up with him and the whole ungrateful family. For even worse than his grumpiness were the few unguarded moments when he pulled at her heartstrings, and she has been long determined to never repeat her mother''s mistakes. When alternate plans of finding her own independent life fall through, Molly volunteers to work for the Pinkertons and help investigate nearby ranch owner Oliver Hawkins. She signs on to be his housekeeper, hoping to find clues to prove his nefarious, and possibly murderous, past. Wyatt refuses to let her risk it alone and offers to act as Hawkins''s new foreman. But when a

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Book SynopsisWill their lives and romance survive the trouble coming their way?Becky Pruitt has always prided herself on knowing everything that''s happening on her successful ranch, so an unexpected admission from her foreman, Nate Paxton, comes as quite a surprise. With the notorious Deadeye Gang on the loose, Nate--a former U.S. Marshal--believes Becky''s ranch is the best spot for a group of Marshals to use as a base to hunt them down.The timing couldn''t be more crucial for the town of Pine Valley, and Becky feels obligated to help. But after escaping the grasp of her harsh father, she''s never liked giving up control, of her life or her ranch. If there''s anyone she can trust with her ranch, and her heart, it might be Nate. But the outlaws won''t go away quietly, and as danger draws ever nearer, Becky and Nate are faced with impossible choices that will test their growing bond.

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Book SynopsisIntroducing high-octane drama for fans of Lee Child, Jeffery Deaver and Vince Flynn: IT'S TIME TO DISCOVER A NEW HERO!Clyde Barr, the drifter with lethal skills, is alone again, wandering the highways of the American West in search of something to believe in. As summer turns to autumn, he heads for the mountains, planning to clear his head and regain his edge with some hunting. But when he runs across an elderly sick man—a Ute Indian from a nearby reservation—Clyde’s dream of solitude is quickly dashed. On the reservation, Clyde finds the old man’s daughter, Lawana, and grandson, Taylor, as well as a group of menacing bikers called Reapers running wild in the struggling, half-abandoned village. Gripped by the desire to do good in a hard world, Clyde offers to stay on Lawana’s ranch to help out until her father is better. As tensions rise between the locals and the Reapers, Clyde’s

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Book SynopsisAfter months in a provisional prison for fighting for the imperial Kattakans, Janan ele Sephele is given parole to live with a distant member of his family. Yearning to build a life on his sister's land with the dragons their people revere, the peace Janan seeks is threatened by a ruthless dragon baron who covets both Janan's connection to the earth and the battle dragon to which he is covenanted.

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Book SynopsisBook of the Year in The Times An Amazon.com Best Book of 2018 'A gripping and vivid novel . . . remarkable' John Boyne A story of two brothers on a trail of revenge Queensland, 1885. It is a scorching day in Australia's deserted outback when Tommy McBride and his brother, Billy, return home to discover a devastating tragedy. Distraught and eager for revenge, the young men set out in search of the perpetrators. They are soon forced to seek help from their ruthless neighbour John Sullivan, and the Queensland Native Police - an armed militia infamous for hunting down Indigenous Australians. The retribution that follows will embroil the brothers in a heartbreaking injustice, uniting them in a battle for survival, and forever tearing them apart.

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