In this brilliant and lyrical novel of family passions and personal fate, Ethan Mordden weaves a family saga of fiery intensity, as the scornful Witch of Fooley plays chess with the King of Tara to determine the fate of his sons.

Alice is becoming more and more forgetful. Her daughter Mandy is always on hand to help out, but is starting to feel the strain. One day a long-forgotten photograph stirs a memory and lures Alice back to the Crown Hotel in Blackpool, where she hopes for the chance to dance in the tower ballroom one last time. But when mother and daughter reach Blackpool, nothing is quite how Alice remembers, and she finds herself getting lost in the past. One Last Waltz is a beautifully written portrayal of a family coming to terms with complications caused by Alzheimer’s disease. By turns sparkling with wit and heart-wrenching in its honesty, it’s filled with vital and compassionate insight into the sufferings accompanying a disease that has blighted the landscape for so many.

Faced with the tragic deaths of both her husband and baby, Jenny is at her wit's end, with nowhere to turn. She soon learns that her husband has left for her, of all things, a sheep-station known as Churinga, in the Australian Outback. Although she thinks his final gift to her a strange one, Jenny thinks she might find solace in a trip out to Churinga. After all, what better way to feel close to her husband now than to visit a place he loved? But, like the grief she has tried to leave behind, the Outback she encounters is barren and the weather, hostile; however, Jenny is not one to turn around. Once there she hears of Churinga's last keeper, Matilda, whose identity becomes less and less clear to Jenny: the neighbors hold a grudging respect for Matilda's way with the land but are reluctant to speak of her to Jenny. And as Jenny spends more and more time on the farm, her predecessor's lingering presence looms ever larger. Then she discovers some old diaries and is bewitched by a tale more shocking than her wildest dreams could foretell. And the deeper she delves into Matilda's past, the more Jenny wonders whether inheriting Churinga has been a blessing or a curse, in Matilda's Last Waltz by Tamara McKinley.

For Vol. 2 of the series CMS Sourcebooks in American Music, Neil Minturn acknowledges the phenomenon of rock and roll with a serious examination of Martin Scorsese's film, THE LAST WALTZ (1978), the celebrated "rockumentary" that so artfully captured for posterity the final performance of The Band. From 1861 to 1976, this partnership of one American and four Canadians produced an impressive body of popular song in the rock idiom between 1961 and 1976. Joining its members for their farewell performance are a variety of guests, who, like The Band itself, reflected the rich array of traditions that have nourished rock and roll since its emergence. Minturn approaches the substance of the performances and the film itself in terms of intimacy and tradition. He presents the San Francisco concert as a summation of an extraordinary musical journey and prefaces his "scene-by-scene" analysis with a cogent introduction to documentary filmmaking. Selected performances are discussed in detail.

Gerard Percy, the new Earl of Wanstead, dreads returning home to Thornwood, where the widow of his predecessor lives with her two children. He has unhappy memories of Christina, the widowed countess. But it is Christmas, and he decides to take a houseful of guests with him to make his return easier. For her part, Christina feels an equal dread of seeing Gerard again, ten years after she renounced him in order to marry his strict, puritanical—but seemingly safe—cousin. She is horrified when she learns about the guests and the fact that Christmas this year is to be a bright and merry occasion, for her late husband would allow no frivolity of any kind in their life. And so they meet again, these two former lovers who have bitterly resented each other for ten years—but never forgotten each other.

Alex Faversham dreams of rebellion and longs to break away from her comfortable background. And so a chance visit from her aunt fires her determination to escape. At the age of nineteen Alex sets out to find the exciting destiny she yearns for in Italy. Italy is enchanting, but as she watches the dancers in hotel ballrooms she feels something missing from her life. When her employer decides to return home, Alex sets out for Vienna - home of the waltz. The heady glitter of imperial Vienna in the years before the First World War is as alluring as Alex had dreamed. Here she finds romance with Karl von Winkler, a hussar in the Emperor's guard. But like the Hapsburg Empire their love cannot last and as she finds herself away from home on the brink of war, will Alex ever see England or her family again . . .? Discover Piatkus Entice: temptation at your fingertips - www.piatkusentice.co.uk

"I have been travelling since I was born, seen so many countries, witnessed so many experiences that opened my mind, in a sort of odd way, I have become a different person, detached from the microcosm, the city I live in, the burden carried, is much heavier and most of the times, difficult to describe to whom hasn't seen the outside world."

Today's most celebrated, prominent, and promising authors of gay fiction in English explore the literary influences and themes of their work in these revealing interviews with Richard Canning. Though the interviews touch upon a wide range of issues—including gay culture, AIDS, politics, art, and activism—what truly distinguishes them is the extent to which Canning encourages the authors to reflect on their writing practices, published work, literary forebears, and their writing peers—gay and straight. Edmund White talks about narrative style and the story behind the cover of A Boy's Own Story. Armistead Maupin discusses his method of writing and how his work has adapted to television. Dennis Cooper thinks about L.A., AIDS, Try, and pop music. Alan Hollinghurst considers structure and point of view in The Folding Star, and why The Swimming-Pool Library is exactly 366 pages long. David Leavitt muses on the identity of the gay reader—and the extent to which that readership defined a tradition. Andrew Holleran wonders how he might have made The Beauty of Men "more forlorn, romantic, lost" by writing in the first person.

In this historical western romance by the author of Swan Bride, a Boston firebrand and a hard-riding scout discover a passion the defies the wild frontier. In the years after the Civil War, Miss India Simms leaves the comforts of Boston to preach women’s rights throughout the Wyoming Territory. The raw town of Cheyenne is a shock to the petite aristocrat and so is her guide, Gat Ransom. His rough-hewn appearance and quick, good-natured smile embodied the contradictions of the West. But his scarred, taut power set disturbing, unfamiliar feelings pounding through India’s veins. India and Ransom ride the sweeping plains and towering forests, sharing a deep need for freedom and a sensuous promise. Only when they cast off their stubborn pride would they know the bliss of pure surrender and the fiery love that burns between them.