This is the story of an author and his apprentice. It is the story of literary influence and tragedy. It is also the story of incarceration in America. Norman Mailer was writing The Executioner’s Song, his novel about condemned killer Gary Gilmore, when he struck up a correspondence with Jack Henry Abbott, Federal Prisoner 87098-132. Over time, Abbott convinced the famous author that he was a talented writer who deserved another chance at freedom. With letters of support from Mailer and other literary elites of the day, Abbott was released on parole in 1981. With Mailer’s help, Abbott quickly became the literary “it boy” of New York City. But in a shocking turn of events, the day before a rave review of Abbott’s book, In the Belly of the Beast, appeared in TheNew York Times, Abbott murdered a New York City waiter and fled to Mexico. Eerily, like Gary Gilmore in Mailer’s true-life novel, Abbott killed within six weeks of his release from prison. Now Jerome Loving explores the history of two of the most infamous books of the past 50 years, a fascinating story that has never before been told.

Norman Riley is unhappy with his planetary mission to characterize mundane rock formations on the desolate Hossa. But this is not the first disagreement between Norman and his employer, the young and brash Jason Alcott of Alcott Enterprises. As Norman concludes that his assignment is a convenient way for the Alcott family to put both him and his spaceship out to pasture, he is propelled into a new territory without any idea of what lies in store for him. After making a startling discovery on Hossa, Norman must jump into action to ensure an important secret is kept safe from human exploitation. Unfortunately, Norman soon realizes Jason has different ideas. Convinced by Normans sudden departure from his companys payroll that he is being tricked out of a valuable ore find, Jason sends his best team to Hossa to reclaim what is rightfully his. Now only time will tell if Norman can pick up the gauntlet and somehow save the day, not just for the universe but also himself. In this science fiction tale, an unlikely hero is propelled on the journey of his life after he makes a shocking discovery on an isolated planet.

Four retired CIA agents team up when one of their own goes missing in this spy thriller by the bestselling author of The Tears of Autumn. Welcome to the world of Charles McCarry’s legendary character, Paul Christopher, the crack intelligence agent who is as skilled at choosing a fine wine as he is at tradecraft, at once elegant and dangerous, sophisticated and rough-and-ready . . . Paul Christopher, now an aging but remarkably fit seventy-ish, is dining at home with his cousin Horace, also an ex-agent. Dinner is delicious and uneventful. A day later, Paul has vanished. The months pass, Paul’s ashes are delivered by a Chinese official to the American consulate in Beijing and a memorial service is held in Washington. But Horace is not convinced that Paul is dead and, enlisting the support of four other retired colleagues—a sort of all-star backfield of the old Outfit—Horace gets the “Old Boys” back in the game to find Paul Christopher. Harassed by American intelligence, hunted by terrorists, Horace Christopher and the Old Boys travel the globe, from Xinjiang to Brazil, from Rome to Tel Aviv, Budapest to Moscow, in search of Paul and the unspeakably dangerous truth. Praise for Old Boys “Old Boys is like the best parts of ten John le Carre novels all put together.” —Time “As soon as he began publishing fiction more than three decades ago, Charles McCarry was recognized as a spy novelist of uncommon gifts. . . . McCarry is a careful plotter and an unfussy stylist; he nourishes his narrative with cosmopolitan reflections on the craft. . . . Old Boys is, at heart, a lament for a dying generation of American spies, an elegy for the human twilight, Cocoon with a cloak and dagger.” —Washington Post “McCarry is the best modern writer on the subject of intrigue.” —P. J. O’Rourke, The Weekly Standard “McCarry's latest is an old-fashioned, rollicking adventure that beats Ludlum and Cussler at their own game. . . . McCarry’s commitment to [his] fanciful premise is absolute, and the resulting yarn combines the intrepid exploits of John Buchan, the cagey intrigue of Eric Ambler, and the clipped cadences of Dashiell Hammett. Tremendous fun.” —Booklist

As they careened to the left, to his surprise the wounded Iroquois was not in a spin. Though the pilot was dead, the co-pilot was flying. Once the olive green bird slapped the ground and the twin rotor-blades were still, maybe there was just enough room for the escort gunship to land and get them out if the blades were rotated. Unfortunately while he turned the blades no one would be shooting at Charlie.

Set in wartime London, this is a sequel to Cockney Waif . Patsy now has a husband and four children, and as the fateful events of September 1939 unfold, London will be shaken by air raids and food shortages, children will be evacuated, and men called up. Patsy wonders if her family can survive.

Nevil Shute was a pioneer in the world of flying long before he began to write the stories that made him a bestselling novelist. This autobiography charts Shute’s path from childhood to his career as a gifted aeronautical engineer working at the forefront of the technological experimentation of the 1920s and 30s. The inspiration for many of the themes and concerns of Shutes novels can be found in this enjoyable and enlightening memoir.

is a collection of stories from the pen of a writer who refuses to accept that the glass ceiling of cinema cannot, at times, be broken. Without credentials or connections, Letters to Hollywood is a cinematic love letter meant to inspire writers of varying success and petition a new route of submission into the world of film. The Britton Bridge When the girl of your dreams shows up on your doorstep on a cold and rainy night, you almost forget to wonder where she came from and whether or not she is who she claims to be. Abandoned Jacks accident has left him in a coma, stuck in a reverie of a village from years past. As Jacks closest friends and family watch over him in a hospital bed, he delves deeper into the village, composed of distorted doppelgngers of his real-world counterparts, unnatural Shadow People, and a calculating murderer. Shakspeer Gordons B-movie acting career is threatened when his leading lady moves to Hollywood. Faced with losing everything, hell sacrifice his friends, finances, and reputation to create the best movie of his career. Can he accept his own identity, or will the lights of Hollywood blind him from his true calling? After all, it isnt Shakespeare.

In the aftermath of global devastation, Surviving a Destroyed World with The Johnsons offers a glimpse into the tenacity of the human spirit. Crafted by a retired mechanical engineer with a penchant for the past, this novel bridges the gap between a bygone era and a post-apocalyptic reality. Clive Towle applies a lifetime of engineering knowledge to ponder how humans might overcome such a challenge. From the safety of their shelters, the survivors emerge to a world unrecognizable, now shared with a family of Centaurs born from the chaos of radiation. Together, they forge an unlikely community, proving that unity can flourish in the face of the extraordinary. With the resourcefulness of an engineer and the warmth of a collector’s heart, The Johnsons lead the charge in reclaiming the remnants of a shattered world. Their journey is one of rebirth and camaraderie, a narrative that celebrates the resilience required to rebuild and the unexpected friendships that become the cornerstone of a new society.

originally published by Syracuse University Press (May 2000) Drawing on extensive archival material and oral history, Robbie Lieberman illustrates how grassroots peace activism in the United States became associated with Communist subversion after World War II. This association gave proponents of the Cold War a powerful weapon with which to try to silence the opposition. This weapon - anti-communism - was extremely effective until the early 1960s and its effects linger even today. The persecution of peace activists as subversives dates back to the colonial era, but the specific link between communism and peace developed out of the unique conditions of the Cold War.Communist agitation for peace, American notions of national security and freedom that rested on containing communism at all costs. Not until peace organizations challenged external and internal anti-Communist attacks were they able to achieve a new level of respectability. The end of the Cold War enabled scholars to take a fresh look at the peace movement in the early part of that era and how it was affected by fears about communism, whether imagined or real. With this book, Lieberman seeks to clarify American attitudes about peace and the fate of the peace movement in ways that previous studies have overlooked or avoided.