Travel with eleven writers, including Kij Johnson, Maureen F McHugh, Mike Resnick, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and Lawrence Watt-Evans, to Coney Island's gateway on the ragged edge of North America, where Merlin haunts the deserted amusement rides, memory is more real than desire, and the dark Atlantic surges behind a bathroom mirror.

The venerable Wonder Wheel, Coney Island's oldest and greatest attraction, has dominated the Coney Island skyline for more than a century. Towering over an ephemeral amusement zone long plagued by fires, floods, and ill-conceived urban renewal schemes, the magnificent steel machine has proved to be the ultimate survivor. The ride boasts impressive statistics. A combination of roller coaster and Ferris wheel, the 150-foot-tall structure weighs 200 tons, has 16 swinging cars and 8 stationary cars, and can carry 144 riders. More than 40 million passengers have taken a ride on the wheel since it was built in 1920, and during that time, it has maintained a perfect safety record. The ride is also a monument to immigrant initiative. Charles Hermann, the ride's designer, was Romanian; the original owner, Herman Garms, was German; and Denos Vourderis, who purchased and lovingly restored the aging landmark in 1983, was Greek. An official New York City landmark, the Wonder Wheel is now owned and operated by three generations of the Vourderis family as the centerpiece of their Deno's Wonder Wheel Park. The enduring saga of this iconic ride, and the family that saved it, provide a captivating chapter of Coney Island's history.

This literary anthology celebrates the history and romance of Coney Island with works by some of the 19th and 20th centuries’ greatest authors and poets. Featuring a stunning gallery of portraits by the world's finest poets, essayists, and fiction writers--including Walt Whitman, Stephen Crane, José Martí, Maxim Gorky, Federico García Lorca, Isaac Bashevis Singer, E. E. Cummings, Djuna Barnes, Colson Whitehead, Robert Olen Butler, and Katie Roiphe—this anthology illuminates the unique history and transporting experience of New York City’s quintessential beach destination. Moody, mystical, and enchanting, Coney Island has thrilled newcomers and soothed native New Yorkers for decades. Its fantasy entertainments, renowned beach foods, world-class boardwalk, and expansive beach offer a kaleidoscopic panorama of people, places, and events that have inspired writers of all types and nationalities. It becomes, as Lawrence Ferlinghetti once wrote, "a Coney Island of the mind."

Twenty stories by Hugo-winning author Lawrence Watt-Evans, spanning the cosmos from spaceships to unicorns.

Over 15 million people have read the #1 New York Times bestseller Wonder and have fallen in love with Auggie Pullman, an ordinary boy with an extraordinary face. And don't miss R.J. Palacio's highly anticipated new novel, Pony, available now! Auggie & Me gives readers a special look at Auggie’s world through three new points of view. These stories are an extra peek at Auggie before he started at Beecher Prep and during his first year there. Readers get to see him through the eyes of Julian, the bully; Christopher, Auggie’s oldest friend; and Charlotte, Auggie’s new friend at school. Together, these three stories are a treasure for readers who don’t want to leave Auggie behind when they finish Wonder.

WONDER told the story of August Pullman: an ordinary kid with an extraordinary face, whose first year at school changed the lives and the perspectives of everyone around him. PLUTO looks at Auggie's story through the eyes of his best and oldest friend, Christopher: who has been with Auggie right from the start, shares his love of space, Star Wars and the planets, and knows better than most that being part of Auggie's life comes with its challenges. Poignant, surprising and utterly heartwarming, this is a must-read for the thousands of readers who loved WONDER.

On the Day of the Dead, the Solona Music Hall is jumping. That's where Altagracia Quintero meets John Burns, just two weeks too late. Altagracia – her friends call her Grace – has a tattoo of Nuestra Señora de Altagracia on her shoulder, she's got a Ford Motor Company tattoo running down her leg, and she has grease worked so deep into her hands that it'll never wash out. Grace works at Sanchez Motorworks, customizing hot rods. Finding the line in a classic car is her calling. Now Grace has to find the line in her own life. A few blocks around the Alverson Arms is all her world -- from the little grocery store where she buys beans, tamales, and cigarettes ("cigarettes can kill you," they tell her, but she smokes them anyway) to the record shop, to the library where Henry, a black man confined to a wheelchair, researches the mystery of life in death – but she's got unfinished business keeping her close to home. Grace loves John, and John loves her, and that would be wonderful, except that John, like Grace, has unfinished business – he's haunted by the childhood death of his younger brother. He's never stopped feeling responsible. Like Grace in her way, John is an artist, and before their relationship can find its resolution, the two of them will have to teach each other about life and love, about hot rods and Elvis Presley, and about why it's necessary to let some things go. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A kid of Italian immigrants grows up in South Brooklyn and Flatbush during the 20s, 30s, and 40s, playing Johnny-on-the-Pony, Ringalevio and Spin-the-Bottle. Life was simpler then, before the breakup of Ma Bell, the corporate takeovers, and junk mail. His generation was deeply affected by the Great depression; the Big Band music of Goodman, Dorsey, Ellington; movies of Cowboy and Indians, Fred and Ginger; Mickey and Judy; the New York Worlds Fair; and Pearl Harbor, which forced them to leave home and go to war in places they could hardly find on a map. REVIEW What great fun! Ive never been to Brooklyn, and I feel I know the old place - and love it. Although those simple, innocent, carefree, halcyon pre-war days of 50, 60, 70 years ago are long gone, they surely come alive in this charming, laugh-out-loud poignant memoir of Brooklyn. DGuido writes as if hes talking to his reader over a beer, making the story both appealing and very accessible - a la Neil Simon, in tone and the story itself. Thanks to the author for recapturing a kinder, sweeter, gentler time with such wonderful recall. Id love to send this book to several former Brooklyn-ite friends. I cant imagine anyyone from that era or place whod not enjoy this breezy, good read.

In this, his second published book set in Coney Island through the latter half of the 20th century, the author focuses primarily on an aging professor who has found sympathetic conditions of environment in which to ruminate on his experiences and destiny. He lives in a rundown hotel located in the heart of the amusement area, with ready access to secret places and intermittent encounters. A variety of Island transients and dreamers also appear in these dark tales.