Consumed is a collection of love notes & poetry that were written in yearning, to find a perfect heart and perfect soul. It is written in an idealistic, pure form, of wanting to be in love, to be loved - to be consumed.

“An eye-opening dazzler” (Stephen King) about a pair of globetrotting, gore-obsessed journalists whose entanglement in a French philosopher’s death becomes a surreal journey into global conspiracy from legendary filmmaker David Cronenberg. Stylish and camera-obsessed, Naomi and Nathan thrive on the yellow journalism of the social-media age. Naomi finds herself drawn to the headlines surrounding a famous couple, Célestine and Aristide, Marxist philosophers and sexual libertines. Célestine has been found dead, and Aristide has disappeared. Police suspect him of killing her and consuming parts of her body. Yet Naomi sets off to find him, and as she delves deeper into the couple’s lives, she discovers the news story may only skim the surface of the disturbing acts they performed together. Journalist Nathan, meanwhile, is in Budapest photographing the controversial work of an unlicensed surgeon named Zoltán Molnár, once sought by Interpol for organ trafficking. After sleeping with one of Molnár’s patients, Nathan contracts a rare STD called Roiphe’s and travels to Toronto, determined to meet the man who discovered the syndrome. Dr. Barry Roiphe, Nathan learns, now studies his own adult daughter, whose bizarre behavior masks a devastating secret. These parallel narratives become entwined in a gripping, dreamlike plot that involves geopolitics, 3-D printing, North Korea, the Cannes Film Festival, cancer, and, in an incredible number of varieties, sex. Consumed is an exuberant, provocative debut novel from one of the world’s leading film directors, a writer of “fierce sculptural intensity” (Jonathan Lethem, The New York Times Book Review) who makes it “impossible to look away” (Publishers Weekly).

By 2050, the world population is expected to reach nine billion. And the challenge of feeding this rapidly growing population is being made greater by climate change, which will increasingly wreak havoc on the way we produce our food. At the same time, we have lost touch with the soil—few of us know where our food comes from, let alone how to grow it—and we are at the mercy of multinational corporations who control the crops and give little thought to the damage their methods are inflicting on the planet. Our very future is at risk. In Consumed, Sarah Elton walks fields and farms on three continents, not only investigating the very real threats to our food, but also telling the little-known stories of the people who are working against time to create a new and hopeful future. From the mountains of southern France to the highlands of China, from the crowded streets of Nairobi to the banks of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, we meet people from all walks of life who are putting together an alternative to the omnipresent industrial food system. In the arid fields of rural India we meet a farmer who has transformed her community by selling organic food directly to her neighbors. We visit a laboratory in Toronto where scientists are breeding a new kind of rice seed that they claim will feed the world. We learn about Italy’s underground food movement; how university grads are returning to the fields in China, Greece, and France; and how in Detroit, plots of vacant land planted with kale and carrots can help us see what’s possible. Food might be the problem, but as Elton shows, it is also the solution. The food system as we know it was assembled in a few decades—and if it can be built that quickly, it can be reassembled and improved in the same amount of time. Elton here lays out the targets we need to meet by the year 2050. The stories she tells give us hope for avoiding a daunting fate and instead help us to believe in a not-too-distant future when we can all sit at the table.

CONSUMED is a high-energy free-fall through the twisted inner sanctums of Seattle’s high-tech elite. In the center is Byron Wells, head of Digitron’s Virtual Reality division. He’s brilliant, conniving, fifthly rich… and out of the picture by the end of Chapter One. Enter Less McKee. A divorce attorney who hates divorce, Les is a devoted family man who can’t sweep Byron’s wife from the darkest corner of his heart. While reading on his deck one perfect Sunday, he photographs a magnificent hot air balloon as it prepares to land nearby. Without warning, it explodes in a horrific ball of flames. All on board, including Byron, are killed. His mysterious client, Beverly, is Byron’s seductive, alluring but soon to be ex-wife. From the time they were college sweethearts, Beverly has been a part of his life, though he chose to tie the knot with her best friend. He handled her gut-wrenching first divorce from a shady nightclub owner who won’t stop haunting him. And now her multi-million dollar second divorce from Byron Wells has erupted into a massive murder investigation. Byron had been grabbing headlines for a year, embroiled in litigation and accused of conspiring to join forces with Akira Nakamura, another defector from the Japanese-based Vortex Video Games. As Les investigates, he catapulted into the shark-infested waters of cutting-edge technology. Along the way he finds himself accused of murder. Six men are dead, forty-four million dollars have vanished, and international manhunt is underway and the evidence point to Les. With each reluctant step, deeper into darkness, Les teeters on the edge of losing his marriage, his career, his life. If only he could know the heart of his enigmatic client. She controls him. She repulses him. And like the flames that swallowed both her husbands, she reaches for Les, consuming him.

*** 'This powerful, speaking-truth-to-power book is an essential read for everybody who wants to stop feeling clueless and helpless about the impacts of cosumerism, and start doing their part to help create a more sustainable world' - Layla Saad 'A critique on what we buy, how it's made and the systems behind it that make an unfair and broken cycle' - New York Times 'The book is a blueprint for anyone who wants to do better' - VOGUE 'SUCH integrity. Aja is no bullsh*t.' - Florence Given 'Consumed takes us through the hideously complex topic of fashion and sustainability, from its knotty colonial roots to what everyday people can do to uproot those systems, today.' - Yassmin Abdel-Magied Aja Barber wants change. In the 'learning' first half of the book, she will expose you to the endemic injustices in our consumer industries and the uncomfortable history of the textile industry; one which brokered slavery, racism and today's wealth inequality. And how these oppressive systems have bled into the fashion industry and its lack of diversity and equality. She will also reveal how we spend our money and whose pockets it goes into and whose it doesn't (clue: the people who do the actual work) and will tell her story of how she came to learn the truth. In the second 'unlearning' half of the book, she will help you to understand the uncomfortable truth behind why you consume the way you do. She asks you to confront the sense of lack you have, the feeling that you are never quite enough and the reasons why you fill the aching void with consumption rather than compassion. And she makes you challenge this power disparity, and take back ownership of it. The less you buy into the consumer culture the more power you have. CONSUMED will teach you how to be a citizen not a consumer. 'an absolute must-read' - Red Magazine 'An absolute must-read for any person who wears clothes.' - Orsola de Castro 'A hugely compelling exploration of a culture of exploitation and how, together, we can end it.' - Gina Martin 'Barber's isn't just a voice we should listen to - it is a voice we MUST listen to.' - Clementine Ford 'If you buy one book about sustainable fashion, make it this one. Consumed is an urgent call to action to demand a fashion system that is actually fair for both people and planet, not just Big Fashion billionaires. I adore Aja and I love this brilliant book.' - Venetia La Manna

Myla used to love spending long, hot days on the beach with her sister, Asha. Until the day Asha was taken from her and the sun went out. Forever. That was two years ago. Myla hasn't been down to the beach - or even left the house - since. Crippling agoraphobia and panic attacks keep her locked inside a nightmare of the day she can never forget. Her main contact with the outside world is online - until she meets Jamie. Jamie is new in town and also struggles with things most people find easy. Nobody gets why it's so hard for him to eat. But, like Myla, Jamie is trapped by his fears and feels anxious, awkward and alone. Gradually the pair begin to trust each other. Are they willing to reveal their secrets - and risk discovering the truth? Or will they let their pasts consume them for good...

The Wedding from Hell, Part 3: Exclusive Excerpt of Consumed is the final part of J.R. Ward’s The Wedding From Hell ebook serialization. Don’t miss this exclusive teaser to her upcoming standalone suspense, Consumed (available in October 2018). See why “Consumed takes it to a whole new level” (Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author). From the creator of the #1 New York Times bestselling Black Dagger Brotherhood series, get ready for a new band of brothers. And a firestorm. Anne Ashburn is a woman consumed... By her bitter family legacy, by her scorched career as a firefighter, by her obsession with department bad-boy Danny McGuire, and by a new case that pits her against a fiery killer. Strong-willed Anne was fearless and loved the thrill of fighting fires, pushing herself to be the best. But when one risky decision at a warehouse blaze changes her life forever, Anne must reinvent not only her job, but her whole self. Shattered and demoralized, Anne finds her new career as an arson investigator a pale substitute for the adrenaline-fueled life she left behind. She doesn't believe she will ever feel that same all-consuming passion for her job again—until she encounters a string of suspicious fires setting her beloved city ablaze. Danny McGuire is a premiere fireman, best in the commonwealth, but in the midst of a personal meltdown. Danny is taking risks like never before and seems to have a death wish until he teams up with Anne to find the fire starter. But Danny may be more than a distraction, and as Anne narrows in on her target, the arsonist begins to target her.