Sun I, the illegitimate son of an American aviator and a Chinese beauty, leaves his remote Taoist monastery to find his father on Wall Street and is caught up in the way to wealth and power of the other Tao.
Set in 1950's North Carolina, rich with the windswept beauty of its Outer Banks, Ruin Creek examines the early life of characters from Gravesend Light, creating a portrait of a family that breaks apart, heals, and endures. A New York Times Notable Book.
Hailed as "the most gifted American novelist of his generation" (Boston Globe), David Payne introduces us to Ransom Hill, a big-hearted, wild-man lead singer of a legendary indie rock group, who has come to South Carolina determined to save his marriage, his family, and himself. But back at Wando Passo, his wife's inherited family estate, things don't proceed according to plan. There's another man in the picture, and Ran's discovery of a mysterious relic from slave times transports him—and the reader—back into the story of another romantic triangle at Wando Passo that erupted violently at the height of the Civil War. Will the present repeat the past? Filled with fast-paced adventure, lyrical writing, wicked humor, and unforgettable characters, David Payne's Back to Wando Passo propels the two love stories, linked by place through time, to a simultaneous crescendo of betrayal, revenge, and redemption.
From a New York Times Notable author comes a “fiercely honest . . . and utterly heartbreaking” memoir of brotherhood, grief, and mental illness (Jay McInerney). In 2000, while moving his household from Vermont to North Carolina, author David Payne watched from his rearview mirror as his younger brother, George A., driving behind him in a two-man convoy of rental trucks, lost control of his vehicle, fishtailed, flipped over in the road, and died instantly. Soon thereafter, David’s life entered a downward spiral that lasted several years. His career came to a standstill, his marriage disintegrated, and his drinking went from a cocktail hour indulgence to a full-blown addiction. He found himself haunted not only by George A.’s death, but also by his brother’s manic depression, a hereditary illness that overlaid a dark and violent family history whose roots now gripped David, threatening both his and his children’s futures. The only way out, he found, was to write about his brother. This is the “piercing . . . tour de force” account of David and George A.’s boyhood footrace that lasted long into their adulthood, defining their relationship and their lives (Los Angeles Times). As universal as it is intimate, this is an exceptional memoir of sibling rivalry and sibling love, and of the torments a family can hold silent and carry across generations. A story not only of survival in the face of adversity but of hard-won wisdom, Barefoot to Avalon is “an elegy to a brother that plumbs depths beyond depths—a fever-dream of a memoir, a blazing map of familial love and loss, headlong and heartbreaking and gorgeously written” (James Kaplan, national bestselling author of Frank: The Voice and Sinatra: The Chairman).
Economic ruin and partisan rancor have pushed America to the brink of a new civil war. Esther is caught in the middle, serving as a page in the United States House of Representatives when rogue politicians and military leaders stage a modern day coup d'etat. When the coup turns violent, she abandons Washington, D.C. for home. She must learn to survive on her own as transportation and financial networks fail, as the war disrupts food and water supplies. The result is a cautionary tale about political extremism and the true cost of war.
The Collector of Tales is a novel about a man who, if he really knew it, is looking for answers. Whilst he is searching for a story about a curious people called the Fire Dancers he is also is also, unwittingly, looking to gain some understanding about the place that his fifty-two years have brought him to. He is at a crossroads and, like the poet Dante many centuries before him, he finds himself with a choice between the broader, well trodden way and the narrow path ripe with risk. He chooses the former, the one that he perceives to be easier. The Collector first hears of the Fire Dancers at a chance meeting on the road with a fellow traveller and then, a few months later he heads into the cold northern lands of his world in search of the tale. The story is set somewhere in Earth's future but the world of the Collector is inherently medieval. In a strange village inn, run by Grendel and his Mother and frequented by a brutish collection of people, he learns a mythical tale of these Fire Dancers. After a brief stay there he travels on to Trellsheim, the northern-most city of the region. On his way and after arriving, he has a series of encounters that tap into his own innate sense of paranoia so that he becomes increasingly worried about being pursued by persons unknown. This feeling is crystalised when he is abandoned, sick and dying, outside the city walls by the owners of the inn where he had been staying. His rescue at the hands of a well proportioned woman with an earthy sense of humour and the ability to talk without pause serves to emphasise his lack of control over the events in his own life alongside the effects induced by his illness. As he recovers slowly from the temporary paralysis of his illness be becomes the unwitting participant in a festival of celebration of death and rebirth. Here, in spite of everything that seems to be set against him, he discovers the real Fire Dancers and comes to learn a little about them and how the reality of it all is both similar to (and yet a world of difference from) the myth. The Collector is on a quest of sorts and in this story, as in life, the journey is more important than the destination. Although he is looking for one tale, every encounter that he has presents itself as a story in its own right and each opens out a little further, our understanding of the nuances of the world in which he lives. This is a random cross section from a world unlike our own: dissimilar and yet very familiar.
Gower Champion's career spanned the years during which American musical theatre was transformed from a crude popular entertainment into a sophisticated art form. As the director and choreographer of Hello, Dolly!, 42nd Street, and other Broadway musicals, he was central to that transformation. He came of age during the zenith of American musical theatre production and made his mark on both sides of the curtain. As a dancer, he gained notoriety through his work with Jeanne Tyler and Marjorie Belcher, and his experience as a performer gave him a solid foundation for his later success as an organizer of memorable productions. As a choreographer and director, he became known for spectacular numbers that blended dance, staging, and elaborate scenography. More than anyone else, he seemed to realize that the achievement of a musical depended on those spots where music, dance, lighting, costumes, and staging created a sustained narrative and emotional flow through sound and motion rather than words. This book provides the first extensive treatment of Champion's life and legendary career. The book falls neatly into two main sections. The first discusses Champion's career as a performer, with chapters on his early Broadway appearances and his work for MGM Special attention is given to how his experiences as a dancer prepared him for the later half of his career. The second examines his work as a choreographer and director and is organized around the musicals with which he was involved. Each chapter consists of a history of one or more of those productions, from original concept to opening night and sometimes beyond, as Champion, ever the perfectionist, sought to improve on what everyone else thought was already perfect. The volume is fully documented, with basic historical research conducted at several special collections. In addition, the book is based on a careful analysis of Champion's scripts, which include numerous revisions and thus illuminate how he crafted his productions. Finally, the study depends on interviews conducted with various individuals who knew and worked with Champion throughout his impressive career.
There is a path that God has set for you to run that will raise your life to the highest plane of quality, fulfillment and significance. It is not an easy or painless run. It can be demanding and tough. The Bible says, "Run with endurance the race that God has set before you." God's race has an astounding eternal destination. This book focuses on the amazing journey of getting there. We often think the greatest races are reserved for the gods we read about in books or watch in the movies, not for mere mortals like us. Not true. The most amazing race is reserved for everyday folk like you and me. It is a sad reality that many people run the race of life far below their potential. Too many begin well but fail to finish well. They tire over the distance. They settle for the mediocre. The ordinary. They feel the pain of the run, but not the exhilaration. They become discouraged. Slowly dismayed. Easily distracted. Gradually sidetracked. They live aimlessly and soon find themselves running on empty. But God did not put you here to simply exist. He put you here to thrive. This book will encourage, challenge, and inspire you to participate, endure, enjoy, flourish and go the distance in life's most amazing race.
This a story about a boy and his brother and the complexities of growing up when language and learning don't come naturally. Tom has strange dreams that creep up on him when he doesn't expect them. And these dreams don't just happen when he goes to sleep: they can happen any time. Sometimes he uses them to help him deal with problems but other times he has no control at all. When he finds himself in a different world inhabited by creatures of legend he is forced to take stock.In this world the dead row longships; demons can be seen walking in the daylight; there are sorcerers, part human part reptile; and here there be dragons. Tom's dreams are not just experienced by him. His brother Sam has them too and so do his parents. They are also watched by the Titan, Prometheus, as he searches for a way to escape the punishment that the Gods have unleashed on him. Bound to a rock, he seeks relief from his daily torment in dreams and it is in those dreams that he sees the young boy as he moves between his own world and that of myth. Whilst Prometheus in his own world is handsome and majestic, in Tom's world of dreams he is The Watchers, a hideous and monstrous creature, blackened and scarred by fire. There he is a thing of horror and so to Tom it is a serious concern that this creature seems to be trying to break through into his real life. But Tom is not alone. His younger brother Sam also moves in and out of this mythical world and his powers as a Sibilant (part wizard and part reptile) provide Tom with help at need. An even greater surprise is that his parents can see into this world and his father appears in dragon form whilst his mother is a sorceress. Is that enough to overcome the power of one of the ancient gods?
This is the second book in The Collector of Tales series. It is set in the classical world of the Xandrian City States, just about as far away from the Northern Lands in temperature and temperament as you can get. Whereas in Trellsheim, The Collector viewed the inhabitants as brutish and crude, in this world it is he who is considered the Barbarian. Following a period of recuperation at home in the Midlands, The Collector is thrown out once more by his wife and heads off to the south in search of warmth and the tale of the Outlaw Broken Knee. We don't hear a lot about this particular Xandrian folk tale in the book as the Collector is soon embroiled in the convoluted and complicated activities that seem to follow him about. In this book we meet up once more with Welcome, the enigmatic spice trader who, it now appears, is a lot more than he seems. He is also about to get married and he invites The Collector to his wedding which as fate would have it, is to be held on the island of Bretha Yenglesh, the largest of the islands of the archipelago. He also appoints a man to act as a minder to him to ensure that he is able to get to the wedding unharmed and in one piece. The Xandrian Quarters themselves are a lawless archipelago of small islands lying off the south eastern corner of the mainland. Following a chance meeting in the heat of the City of Xandria, The Collector finds himself on the open sea headed for the island of Bretha Yenglesh to deliver a document. He has to find a man known as Malice although to his friends, if he had any he would be called Billy.Malice was once a surgeon and a scholar but as a result of an inherited condition he has to abandon this calling. He has become a mercenary soldier and is a berserker - in the medieval sense of the word. He carries about him an aura of latent danger. Through him The Collector is drawn into a world of increasing threat and violence as the tales that he gathers develop a more sinister twist. The Collector's experiences offer a fly-on-the-wall view of some of the nuances, and in certain cases the extremities, of the human condition as he wanders across a landscape of increasing absurdity and complexity. What's the plot?Although this novel follows on from The Collector of Tales, it has been written to stand alone. Following a chance encounter ( more accurately a chance collision) with a strange and unsanitary man in the Xandrian capital, The Collector is tasked with delivering a book to someone in the Xandrian Quarters, an archipelago of lawless islands off the mainland. He has little to go on other than that he is referred to as Malice, although to his friends ( if he had any) he is called Billy. He is paid more money than he could earn in a good year to carry out this task. The book itself is unimportant but Malice is something else.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.