MTV has discovered the authors of tomorrow. Read them today in Pieces. This unique short-story collection is more than a good read—it's an exciting glimpse into the future of fiction. The winners of MTV's "Write Stuff" competition share their voices and visions in tales that are endearingly raw, undeniably bold, and engagingly inventive. In Next Time, a housewife encounters a gunman—an experience that changes her life, and her mind, in surprising ways...Pinball is an edgy tale of a young mail clerk's hidden sex life...After her broken engagement, a cook in New York goes to work for a chic SoHo couple in Roam...Mother captures the tragedy of a woman's illness, as witnessed through her daughter's eyes...In Day of the Dead, a humorously doomed relationship begins when a twentysomething's boyfriend returns from an Outward Bound trip and moves in with her...Two old high school friends reunite—and compare their very different lives—in Black Cowboy. Along with other stories and an introduction by Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower), Pieces is filled with the excitement of discovery—as a host of newcomers present their works to a wide and eager audience.

Clearly this wasn't just another New Year's Eve, but if anything would have surprised obstetrician—yet baby-phobic—Claire Wainwright more than the little pink bundle on her snowy doorstep, it was who came when she called for help: Nick Campisano. the man she'd sent packing years ago...and had never gotten out of her heart. Back then he'd wanted more than she thought she had to give. Now, snowbound with Nick and baby for days on end, she was the one wanting more—of him, in every possible way. Was this one old acquaintance destined not to be forgotten?

non-fiction; prose

The third installment in the Relic Master quartet! The coronet, a potent ancient relic, might be the only way to defeat the power that is destroying Anara. But it has been lost for centuries, and only legend tells of its whereabouts. Will Galen and Raffi be able to find it before the Watch does? Watch a Video

Anchor proudly presents a new omnibus volume of three novels--previously published separately by Anchor--by Naguib Mahfouz, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Assembled here is a collection of Mahfouz's artful meditations on the vicissitudes of post-Revolution Egypt. Diverse in style and narrative technique, together they render a rich, nuanced, and universally resonant vision of modern life in the Middle East. The Beggar is a complex tale of alienation and despair. In the aftermath of Nasser's revolution, a man sacrifices his work and family to a series of illicit love affairs. Released from jail in post-Revolutionary times, the hero ofThe Thief and the Dogs blames an unjust society for his ill fortune, eventually bringing himself to destruction. Autumn Quail is a tale of moral responsibility, isolation, and political downfall about a corrupt bureaucrat who is one of the early victims of the purge after the 1952 revolution in Egypt.

The People's Republic of Haven made a tiny mistake when it announced the execution of Honor Harrington. It seemed safe enough. After all, they knew she was already dead. Unfortunately, they were wrong. Now Honor has escaped from the prison planet called Hell and returned to the Manticoran Alliance with a few friends. Almost half a million of them, to be precise including some who know what really happened when the Committee of Public Safety seized power in the PRH. Honor's return from the dead comes at a critical time, providing a huge, much-needed lift for the Allies' morale, for the war is rapidly entering a decisive phase. Both sides believe that victory lies within their grasp at last, but dangers no one could foresee await them both. New weapons, new strategies, new tactics, spies, diplomacy, and assassination all are coming into deadly focus, and Honor Harrington, the woman the newsies call "the Salamander," once more finds herself at the heart of them all. But this time, the furnace may be too furious for even a salamander to survive.

Mary Saunders, a lower-class London schoolgirl, was born into rough cloth but hungered for lace and the trappings of a higher station than her family would ever know. In 18th-century England, Mary's shrewd instincts will get her only so far, and she despairs of the plans made for her to carve out a trade as a seamstress or a maid. Unwilling to bend to such a destiny, Mary strikes out on a painful, fateful journey all her own. Inspired by the obscure historical figure Mary Saunders, Slammerkin is a provocative, graphic tale and a rich feast of an historical novel. Author Emma Donoghue probes the gap between a young girl's quest for freedom and a better life and the shackles that society imposes on her. "Never give up your liberty."

The Next Chapter in Christy Miller's Unforgettable Life! More than a million readers have picked up books in the The Christy Miller Series making Robin Jones Gunn's newest series, Christy and Todd: The College Years, an eagerly awaited continuation to Christy's life. Featuring longer reads and college-age characters, these books will meet the enjoyment of readers young and old. As You Wish is the second book of the series following the well-received Until Tomorrow. In As You Wish, Christy is finally back in the country after finishing her year abroad. Together with her friends at Rancho Corona University her junior year is everything she's hoped for--sharing a dorm with her best friend and seeing Todd every day. But then the painful break-up of her friends' marriage causes Christy to pull back and seriously evaluate her deepening relationship with Todd. Above all, she wants to be clear on what God wants her to do with her future before she makes a lifelong commitment to anyone. Naturally, everyone has advice for Christy's life, including Sierra, Uncle Bob, and even her younger brother. The most helpful guidance, however, comes from a surprising source. Will Christy and Todd at last become engaged? Does life ever turn out as we wish it would?

Cass doesn't know if she's a light or a dark siren. Wait, what? Oh, no. And she's learned too many secrets about her family. More than she ever wanted to know. Now her cousin's been abducted and Cass is the only one who seems to care. She's got to find her missing cousin.Of all the people to have help her, did it have to be Kai Sinclair? The hot beast who seems to be nice to everyone but her. Okay, well, truthfully, she'd like to make his blood boil until he's dead. Yeah, those aren't the makings of a good friendship, are they?

Doug AllynLawrence BlockJeffery DeaverLoren D. EstlemanJ.A. JanceEd McBainMarcia MullerAnne PerryBill PronziniIan RankinJerry SykesDonald E. Westlakeand many others.Table of Contents:HeroesRio Grande gothicThe hanged manSpookedShow me the bonesA flash of chrysanthemumThe man in the white hat'53 BuickCrackPaleta manSnowThe canasta clubUnchained melodySomething simpleThe circle of inkThe death cat of Hester St.Dark timesThose that trespassBlitzed.

Review... entertaining encounters with monsters, old school chums, gypsies, and an amorous nixie. For balance, there are also some serious subjects under consideration, such as the fundamental conflict of magic and religion. --LocusA fast moving story that wraps all of its many separate threads into one coherent whole. --Science Fiction ChronicleContains humor, romance, and adventure--something for everyone! --Kliatt

As a young double agent infiltrating the Soviet spy network in Nazi-occupied Paris, Andrew Hale finds himself caught up in a secret, even more ruthless war. Two decades later, in 1963, he will be forced to confront again the nightmare that has haunted his adult life: a lethal unfinished operation code-named Declare. From the corridors of Whitehall to the Arabian desert, from post-war Berlin to the streets of Cold War Moscow, Hale's desperate quest draws him into international politics and gritty espionage tradecraft -- and inexorably drives Hale, the fiery and beautiful Communist agent Elena Teresa Ceniza-Bendiga, and Kim Philby, mysterious traitor to the British cause, to a deadly confrontation on the high glaciers of Mount Ararat, in the very shadow of the fabulous and perilous Ark.

In Sarah, author Orson Scott Card uses his fertile imagination and uncanny insight into human nature to flesh out a unique woman—one who is beautiful, tough, smart, and resourceful in an era when women get short shrift in life as well as in the historical record. Sarah takes on vivid reality as a woman desirable to kings, a devoted wife, and a faithful follower of the God of Abraham, chosen to experience an incomparable miracle. Set in the splendor and excess of Egypt and the starkly beautiful desert landscapes of the Sinai peninsula, Sarah is an altogether believable and provocative drama. This first novel in a trilogy on the women of Genesis illuminates the hardships and the triumphs of a woman destined for greatness.

When Pierre-Anthon realizes there is no meaning to life, the seventh-grader leaves his classroom, climbs a tree, and stays there. His classmates cannot make him come down, not even by pelting him with rocks. So to prove to Pierre-Anthon that life has meaning, the children decide to give up things of importance. The pile starts with the superficial—a fishing rod, a new pair of shoes. But as the sacrifices become more extreme, the students grow increasingly desperate to get Pierre-Anthon down, to justify their belief in meaning. Sure to prompt intense thought and discussion, Nothing—already a treasured work overseas—is not to be missed.