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<div><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>A physician who teaches at the Yale School of Medicine, Nuland writes gracefully about a topic most of us would rather not dwell on--our impending deaths. He demystifies the process of dying by providing straightforward information on the clinical, biological and emotional details of deaths resulting from heart disease, stroke, cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, old age, accidents, suicide, euthanasia and murder or violent physical assault. Crammed with intriguing scientific findings and useful facts, as well as case histories of dying patients whom Nuland ( Doctors: The Biography of Medicine ) has treated, his report is imbued with wisdom rooted in a belief that the dignity we seek in dying must be found in the art of living life to the fullest. 50,000 first printing. <br>Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p><h3>From</h3><p>Drawing upon his own broad experience and the characteristics of the six most common death-causing diseases, Nuland examines what death means to the doctor, patient, nurse, administrator, and family. Thought provoking and humane, his is not the usual syrup-and-generality approach to this well-worn topic. Fundamental to it are Nuland's experiences with the deaths of his aunt, his older brother, and a longtime patient. With each of these deaths, he made what he now sees as mistakes of denial, false hope, and refusal to abide by a patient's wishes. Disease, not death, is the real enemy, he reminds us, despite the facts that most deaths are unpleasant, painful, or agonized, and to argue otherwise is to plaster over the truth. The doctor, Nuland stresses, should instill in dying patients the hope not for a miraculous cure but for the dignity and high quality of the remainder of their lives as well as of what they have meant--and will continue to mean--to family, friends, and colleagues. Nuland also has strong feelings about suicide and "assisted death": the doctor should be prepared psychologically and practically to help the longtime patient slip off the scene in relative comfort. <em>William Beatty</em></p>

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<div><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>In her latest novel, Scotch tackles an oft-asked question—what if I had held on to the one that got away?—with an engaging, fast-moving, high-concept drama. Endearing Jillian Westfield seems to have it all: a loving lawyer husband, a healthy infant daughter, and a lovely home in Westchester County, N.Y. But cleaning spit-up and dealing with her husband's long office hours have begun to wear on Jill, and it hardly helps that she's just learned that her post-college boyfriend, Jackson, is getting married. The day after a deep, chi-clearing massage, Jill wakes up and finds herself seven years in the past, giving her the chance to revisit her life with Jack in Manhattan, when she worked as an advertising executive. Hindsight, of course, is anything but 20/20, and Jill's new choices hold unforeseen consequences for herself and those she loves. As Jill, through trial and error, rethinks her biggest decisions—such as her choice not to reconcile with her estranged mother—Scotch keeps one dexterous step ahead of page-flipping readers eager to guess the outcome. <em>(Oct.)</em> <br>Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From School Library Journal</h3><p>Jillian has what seems to be a perfect life—a beautiful house in the suburbs, a loving husband, and an adorable baby girl. But she also has a nagging feeling that something isn't quite right. Could it have something to do with Jackson, her past boyfriend, who couldn't be more different than her solid, stable, and perfectly predictable husband, Henry? One morning, Jillian wakes up seven years in the past, in bed with Jackson, and she has the chance to live her life again—a do over, complete with the knowledge of what her future will become. Will she still quit her job right on the cusp of making it big? Will she run for the hills when she meets Henry or be drawn to him again? Or will Jackson's easygoing, wild lifestyle pull her back from her future baby, the adorable Katie? So many life choices come at Jillian, and she can go forward as she pleases, knowing the outcome of one direction. If you've ever wanted your own do over, this cute, light read by a debut novelist will keep you guessing 'til the end. Recommended for women's fiction collections.—Beth Gibbs, Davidson, NC <br>Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p>

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<h3>Review</h3><p><em>Not just another zombie story ... Unflinching horror and surreal, almost dreamlike imagery combine to make THE INFECTION a disturbing, nightmarish read. </em>-David Moody, author of HATER  </p><p><em>A wild ride into the darkest regions of zombie territory. Brilliant and terrifying! </em>-Jonathan Maberry, author of PATIENT ZERO  </p><p><em>28 DAYS LATER meets THE MIST ... a definite page-turner right from the get-go all the way to the insanely intense final scene.</em> -TheGOREScore.com </p><h3>Product Description</h3><p><em>Five ordinary people must pay the price of survival at the end of the world.</em>  </p><p>A mysterious virus suddenly strikes down millions. Three days later, its victims awake with a single purpose: spread the Infection. As the world lurches toward the apocalypse, some of the Infected continue to change, transforming into horrific monsters.   </p><p>In one American city, a small group struggles to survive. Sarge, a tank commander hardened by years of fighting in Afghanistan. Wendy, a cop still fighting for law and order in a lawless land. Ethan, a teacher searching for his lost family. Todd, a high school student who sees second chances in the end of the world. Paul, a minister who wonders why God has forsaken his children. And Anne, their mysterious leader, who holds an almost fanatical hatred for the Infected.   </p><p>Together, they fight their way to a massive refugee camp where thousands have made a stand. There, what's left of the government will ask them to accept a mission that will determine the survival of them all--a dangerous journey back onto the open road and into the very heart of Infection. </p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Starred Review. Zeltserman's superb mix of humor and horror focuses on Jack Durkin, the ninth generation of firstborn sons in his family who have daily weeded Lorne Field to purge it of Aukowies, bloodthirsty plants that could overrun the world in weeks if not attended to. Though Jack takes his job seriously, no one else does: his oldest son doesn't want to follow in his footsteps; his wife is tired of living poorly on his caretaker's salary; and the townspeople who subsidize him are increasingly skeptical of purported menaces that no one has ever seen because Jack diligently nips them in the bud. With his support dwindling, Jack finds himself driven to desperate measures to prove that he's truly saving the world. Zeltserman (_Pariah_) orchestrates events perfectly, making it impossible to tell if Jack is genuinely humankind's unsung hero or merely the latest descendant of a family of superstitious loonies. Readers will keep turning the pages to see how the ambiguous plot resolves. <em>(July)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From</h3><p>This superbly crafted horror story explores the dichotomy between belief and rationality. Why has a small town maintained a contract since the eighteenth century with a member of the community and his heirs to pull weeds in Lorne Field? Jack Durkin, the current and ninth generation of Lorne Field caretakers, says the things he pulls from the ground aren't weeds; they are something called Aukowies, and if they're not pulled up by the roots and burned every day, the world will end. Under pressure from his wife to get a real job; from the town fathers (looking to save a few bucks and end the contract); and from his sons, who don't see themselves as career weed-pullers, Durkin is finally out of a job. No more weed pulling. So is he just a nut case, or does the novel segue into another Little Shop of Horrors? Sorry, we don't do spoilers. Horror fans will have to read this first-class cautionary tale themselves. --Elliott Swanson </p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Becker gathers many familiar elements of the religious artifact subgenre and reshuffles them into an entertaining, hunt-and-chase thriller that races from the English countryside to a hidden valley in the Middle East. Angela Lewis, a British Museum ceramics conservator, persuades her ex-husband with whom she remains friendly, police detective Chris Bronson, to join her at Carfax Hall, the Suffolk estate of recently murdered minor aristocrat Oliver Wendell-Carfax, who has willed his collection of antiques and ancient relics to the museum. At the hall, the pair uncover clues that point to an ancient treasure, one that Angela and Bronson have searched for in two earlier books, The First Apostle and The Moses Stone. A mad priest, who doesn't want the treasure to be found, and a greedy industrialist, who desires it for economic gain, make trouble. Appealing and clever protagonists coupled with intriguing history set this above the average Dan Brown clone. (Dec.) <br />(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. </p><h3>Product Description</h3><p>Assessing the contents of a lavish English estate, museum conservator Angela Lewis discovers a crate full of sealed pottery jars-one of which holds a parchment which describes the life and times of Jesus of Nazareth.   </p><p>For Angela, the find is a miracle-a written reference to Jesus outside of the New Testament. But her discovery draws her and her husband, Chris, into a centuries-old race for the truth that they may not win...or survive. </p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>In this painfully slow story, Jenkins (Left Behind) builds two protagonists' story lines-each from different generations and different walks of life, yet destined to cross paths through God's providence. When readers meet young Brady Wayne Darby, he is still struggling to make it through high school, barely weaseling his way out of troubles that often come his way. With the Rev. Thomas Carey, Jenkins introduces an elder pastor, down on his luck and trying to find a new flock-eventually landing himself a prison chaplaincy on death row. Though the story ends with a predictable redemption, along the way, readers are assaulted with a heavy dose of despair, with women who cause the men in their lives endless trials and a plot that takes its sweet time. Since the novel is a complete departure from Jenkins's high-octane Left Behind series, longtime fans may be surprised by his versatility even as they grow impatient with the story's lugubrious development. <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From</h3><p>You would never expect the paths of Brady Darby and Thomas Carey to cross. The teenage Brady is an outsider from the wrong side of the tracks who’s trying to find his place in life while still somehow protecting his little brother from their negligent mother. Thomas is a preacher without a flock, as he and his devoted wife, Grace, are forced to move towns once again after allowing membership at yet another church to dwindle under their watch. At every turn, Brady’s decisions seem to backfire, even when he tries change by participating in the high school musical. At the same time, Thomas and Grace are immediately rejected by their latest congregation for refusing to give in to politics, and their only child seems to reject them and their lifestyle. Several years later, the worlds of Brady and Thomas collide at a juvenile halfway house. They act as life forces for each other even as their individual worlds sink deeper into misery. Christian fiction author Jenkins covers much ground in this weighty book, and while heroes are made out of those who come to God, Jenkins avoids preachiness and, instead, lets goodness shine. Expect demand as Jenkins’ following grows with every outing. --Mary Frances Wilkens </p>


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<p class="description">SUMMARY:<br>In a vase in a closet, a couple of years after his father died in 9/11, nine - year - old Oskar discovers a key . . . The key belonged to his father, he's sure of that. But which of New York's 162 million locks does it open? So begins a quest that takes Oskar - inventor, letter - writer and amateur detective - across New York's five boroughs and into the jumbled lives of friends, relatives and complete strangers. He gets heavy boots, he gives himself little bruises and he inches ever nearer to the heart of a family mystery that stretches back fifty years. But will it take him any closer to, or even further from, his lost father?</p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Jill Rohmer, a convicted child killer with a borderline personality disorder, lures Charlotte Charley Webb, a popular columnist for the <em>Palm Beach Post</em> and single mom, into a web of danger and deceit in this spine-tingler from bestseller Fielding (_Heartstopper_). When Jill invites Charley to collaborate on the true story of what really happened to the three children she was convicted of murdering, Charley at first thinks it sounds like a great idea. Her sister Anne is, after all, a bestselling romance author, so why couldn't Charley have a nonfiction bestseller? Charley meets with Jill's attractive lawyer, Alex Prescott, who secures a book contract. After committing to the project, Charley begins dating Alex. Then Charley learns Jill had an accomplice, someone on the loose whom Jill calls Jack. Fielding pulls out all the stops as the identity of the ruthless murderer becomes obvious, and Charley must race against time to catch the horrible Jack and save his next target—her son. <em>(Mar.)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From</h3><p>Fresh off the solid thriller Heartstopper (2007), prolific, perennially best-selling Fielding delivers another suspenseful tale. Feisty Charley Webb is forever stirring up controversy with her popular column for the Palm Beach Post. But while her career is going great guns, her personal life is something of a struggle. She’s raising two children on her own, her satirical columns about her neighbors’ hobbies and opinions have not made her very popular in her residential community, and she has only recently reestablished a relationship with her mother, who abandoned the family when Charley was eight. When she is asked to write a biography of notorious female serial killer Jill Rohmer, whose victims were children, she sees it as a chance to take her career to the next level. However, she is unprepared for the emotional toll that her interviews with the wily felon will exact, and she begins to receive a series of e-mails threatening harm to her own children. Despite the repetitive and, at times, inane dialogue, Fielding turns her latest page-turner into a chillingly tense read while creating another winning lead in the smart-mouthed Charley. --Joanne Wilkinson </p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Fielding (The Wild Zone) delivers another emotional blitz in this story about Marcy Taggart, who, at 50, is newly divorced and mourning her daughter, Devon, who two years ago disappeared in a boating accident and is presumed dead. On what was to be her 25th wedding anniversary, Marcy travels to Ireland for a vacation and spots a girl she believes to be Devon, and her sightseeing quickly turns into a quest. For better or worse, she meets two strangers who offer to help her in her search, but she can't determine whether their kindness is sincere. The stakes are raised when Marcy's hotel room is ransacked, and the carefully drawn plot twists toward a dramatic conclusion. Though some of the coincidences and developments stretch believability, Fielding succeeds in creating a winning heroine; indeed, Marcy's need for emotional release ends up being a more compelling plot driver than the unlikely craziness involving her charismatic new friends and the hunt for her daughter. (Feb.) <br />(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From</h3><p>Fifty-year-old Marcy Taggart is in Ireland celebrating her twenty-fifth wedding anniversary with one notable absence, that of her husband, who recently left her for the female golf pro at their country club. Ever since the mysterious disappearance of her daughter, Devon, two years ago, Marcy has been suffering one long nervous breakdown. Her soon-to-be-ex-husband and her sister are convinced that Devon, who had bipolar disorder, committed suicide. But Marcy believes Devon ran away to start a new life. When Marcy takes a break from her relentless sightseeing in Cork, she catches sight of Devon through a window, and so begins her reckless odyssey to reclaim her missing daughter. A handsome tourist, a charming bartender, and a lonely nanny add spice to the mix. Despite Fielding’s weakness at creating dialogue and her rote attempts to add local color and history, which read like they’ve been cut and pasted from a Fodor’s guide, Marcy is one appealing character. Blunt, grief-stricken, and, finally, sick and tired of acting the good girl, she gives vent to her emotions and comes into her own. --Joanne Wilkinson </p>


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<h3>From</h3><p>Casey Marshall has it all: a successful interior-design business; a handsome, loving husband; wonderful friends; and a boatload of family money at her disposal. But just as she’s contemplating starting a family, she’s the victim of a hit-and-run accident that leaves her in a coma. But she’s not completely out of it, so she’s a witness to everything that happens in her hospital room. But is that so bad? Isn’t it everyone’s dream to be a fly on the wall, to hear what might be said at our funerals? Even though Casey is privy to everyone’s “private” remarks and conversations as they visit, she feels trapped and helpless, especially when it becomes abundantly clear that the incident with the car was no accident. Her frustration mounts as her sister, the wayward but bighearted Drew, becomes a suspect, along with everyone close to her. While not narrated in first person, the action revolves around Casey’s experiences and perceptions. Fielding makes the most of this intriguing premise without succumbing to gimmicky plot tricks. The moment that Casey solves her own attempted murder is truly riveting, and the anxiety she feels as she tries to avoid the would-be murderer’s completion of his task is palpable. A heart-pounding mainstream thriller. --Mary Frances Wilkens </p><h3>Review</h3><p>“Fielding is a master of anticipation and knows how to create a labyrinth of tension, never providing an exit until the very last page.” — <em>The Globe and Mail</em></p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Starred Review. The Wild Zone, a South Beach (Miami Beach, Fla.) bar filled with lusty men—specifically, charismatic personal trainer Jeff Rydell; his cute visiting half-brother, Will, a Princeton graduate student; and Jeff's married best friend, Tom Whitman, a dishonorably discharged Afghanistan war veteran with some serious problems—provides the starting point for bestseller Fielding's nonstop thrill ride. A sexy bar patron, Suzy Bigelow, inspires the trio to make a wager on who can bed her first, and they even ask Jeff's live-in girlfriend, a Wild Zone bartender, for help. Suzy chooses Will for a platonic date, which has some distinctly unpleasant repercussions that involve not only wide-eyed Will but desperate, gun-loving Tom, whose wife takes their children and files for divorce. Fielding (_Still Life_) combines a fast-paced plot with top-notch character development to create an atmosphere of brooding unease that explodes in a wonderfully wild resolution. <em>(Feb.)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>Review</h3><p>"A wild ride with a life all its own, strewn with surprises and consequences for all parties along the way. Fielding's characters and plot are strong and well-developed. The story is gripping, always leaving the reader guessing, and culminates in a deliciously untamed twist of a conclusion." <br />— _Winnipeg Free Press  </p><p>_"[Fielding] sucks you in with end-of-chapter cliffhangers, violent results and wild sex....This is a thriller and, as with all thrillers, there is that twist at the end that forces you to read until the very last sentence." <br /><em>— The Globe and Mail</em></p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Differences between siblings couldn't be more extreme than they are in this overwrought feel-good novel by Hannah (Distant Shores), a tale about two estranged sisters. Meghann Dontess is a hotshot, well-to-do Seattle divorce lawyer in her 30s, entirely focused on her career. Her younger sister, Claire Cavenaugh, a single mom living in a backwater town in the Pacific Northwest, takes care of her five-year-old daughter and helps her father run his low-key lakeside resort. The half-sisters were raised by a neglectful mother, who finally abandoned them for Hollywood when she won a starring role in a science fiction series. Meghann was 16 and Claire was nine; Meghann had already essentially raised Claire herself, and after their mother left, she tracked down Claire's biological father. Sam Cavenaugh was thrilled to be reunited with Claire, but Meghann suddenly found herself motherless and sisterless all at once, and numbed the pain by pouring herself into school, college and career. Now she's horrified because Claire has recklessly fallen in love with a country singer whom she's about to marry. Their absentee mom suddenly steps in to get him a recording contract, but before there can be a happy mother-daughter reunion, Claire is diagnosed with a brain tumor. Only Meghann, with her worldly connections, can come to the rescue. The melodramatic plot is something of a stretch, especially when Hannah ties it all together with a happy ending. Some devoted fans will enjoy the sisterly bonding, but the broad-strokes characters will disappoint more demanding readers of women's fiction.<br />Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p><h3>From</h3><p>Hannah returns to a minor character, Meghann, from <em>Distant Shores</em> [BKL My 1 02], and explores her life in-depth as she and her sister confront the past in order to have a better future relationship. They share a bitter childhood and find it difficult to trust each other, but for Meghann it goes deeper as her inability to trust anyone leads to a dangerously promiscuous lifestyle. Both sisters feel betrayed by the other, and now lead very different lives. Meghann, a shark of a Seattle divorce attorney, has been in therapy for years. Claire leads a simple, small-town life, and now tells her sister that she's getting married. Meghann initially tries to save her sister from what she believes will be a disaster since she doesn't believe in love, only in prenups, but eventually she adopts a more positive attitude and takes the first step toward healing the rift. Then Joe arrives, a wanderer with his own issues. Change comes gradually but with such finesse that the reader will enter the characters' relationships and make them her own as Hannah transcends the mundane in this gratifying, five-hankie story. <em>Patty Engelmann</em><br /><em>Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved</em></p>


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<div><h3>Product Description</h3><p>By virtue of her profession as a midwife, Tabitha Eckles is the keeper of many secrets: the names of fathers of illegitimate children, the level of love and harmony within many a marriage, and now the identity of a man who may have caused his wife's death. Dominick Cherrett is a man with his own secret to keep: namely, what he, a British nobleman, is doing on American soil working as a bondsman in the home of Mayor Kendall, a Southern gentleman with his eye on a higher office. </p><p>By chance one morning before the dawn has broken, Tabitha and Dominick cross paths on a misty beachhead, leading them on a twisted path through kidnappings, death threats, public disgrace, and . . . love? Can Tabitha trust Dominick? What might he be hiding? And can either of them find true love in a world that seems set against them? </p><p>With stirring writing that puts readers directly into the story, <em>Lady in the Mist</em> expertly explores themes of identity, misperception, and love's discovery. </p><h3>From the Back Cover</h3><p><strong>"_Lady in the Mist_ brims with tension, intrigue, and romance."--Julie Klassen, bestselling author of <em>The Silent Governess</em> and <em>The Girl in the Gatehouse</em> </strong></p><p>By virtue of her profession as a midwife, Tabitha Eckles is the keeper of many secrets. Dominick Cherrett is a man with his own secret to keep: namely, why he, a British aristocrat, is on American soil working as an indentured servant. </p><p>In a time when relations between America and England rest on the edge of a knife, Tabitha and Dominick cross paths, leading them on a journey of intrigue, threats, public disgrace, and . . . love. But can Tabitha trust Dominick? Finding true love seems impossible in a world set against them. </p><p>With stirring writing that draws you directly into the story, <em>Lady in the Mist</em> takes you on the thrilling ride of love's discovery. </p><p>"I loved, loved, loved this book. It grabbed me by the heart and held on."--Lena Nelson Dooley, author of <em>Love Finds You in Golden, New Mexico</em></p><p>"Secrets, suspense, and a sweetly told love story make this a highly rewarding read."--Cheryl Bolen, Holt Medallion-winning author of <em>One Golden Ring</em></p><p>The role of midwives in history began to fascinate <strong>Laurie Alice Eakes</strong> in graduate school and she knew that someday she wanted to write novels with midwife heroines. Ten years later, after several published novels and a National Readers Choice Award for Best Regency, the midwives idea returned, and <em>Lady in the Mist</em> was born. Laurie Alice has a masters degree in creative writing and now writes full time from her home in Texas, where she lives with her husband and sundry dogs and cats. </p>

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<h3>From</h3><p>The Scottish Highlands that Beaton depicts with such skill are beautiful and sinister, a fitting backdrop to her Hamish Macbeth series and especially to this one, her twenty-sixth craggy-cozy. The mystery centers in the tiny Highlands village of Drim, “a huddle of white-washed cottages” on the banks of a sea loch, where mountains rise up at water’s edge. There, the body of the posh new owner of a long-abandoned estate is found, stuffed up the chimney. The chimney sweep himself, who was to have been cleaning the estate chimney, is found dead on the motorway, an apparent accident victim, a few hours later. The local police feel the case is open and shut, with the chimney sweep tabbed as the murderer of the estate owner, until Constable Hamish Macbeth questions the findings, even of the forensics team. Someone has embarked on a spree, starting at the estate, and spreading to Edinburgh. Great stuff, as usual. --Connie Fletcher </p><h3>Product Description</h3><p>In the south of Scotland, residents get their chimneys vacuum-cleaned. But in the isolated villages in the very north of Scotland, the villagers rely on the services of the itinerant sweep, Pete Ray, and his old-fashioned brushes. Pete is always able to find work in the Scottish highlands, until one day when Police Constable Hamish Macbeth notices blood dripping onto the floor of a villager's fireplace, and a dead body stuffed inside the chimney. The entire town of Lochdubh is certain Pete is the culprit, but Hamish doesn't believe that the affable chimney sweep is capable of committing murder. Then Pete's body is found on the Scottish moors, and the mystery deepens. Once again, it's up to Hamish to discover who's responsible for the dirty deed--and this time, the murderer may be closer than he realizes. </p>


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<h3>From</h3><p>When Troy Chance spots what she thinks is a small boy being tossed off the back of a passing ferry, she instinctively jumps into the icy waters of Lake Champlain. She rescues the youngster and discovers that his arms were bound with an adult sweatshirt. He’s incredibly frightened, speaks only French, and won’t tell her what happened. Troy determines that she will keep him safe rather than turn him over to the police. When he finally begins to confide in her, he tells a bizarre tale of being kidnapped, hearing his mother murdered by gunshot, and then being held for months. As Troy tracks down the boy’s father, she begins to question whether she will be able to let him go, since he has unleashed within her a maternal instinct she had no idea she possessed. In her debut, the first in a projected series, Henry proves herself to be a smooth and compelling storyteller. And her lead is highly appealing: an athletic, fiercely independent young woman who, like crime-fiction author Gillian Flynn’s feisty females, is capable of making delightfully acerbic observations. --Joanne Wilkinson </p><h3>Review</h3><p>"From the grabber beginning to the heartfelt conclusion, Sara J. Henry's _Learning to Swim_ is an auspicious debut ... Fresh setting, well-realized characters, cleanly written, with a mysterious and suspenseful story - just what I was looking for."  - Daniel Woodrell, award-winning author of _The Death of Sweet Mister_ and _Winter's Bone_  </p><p>"Emotional, intense, and engrossing, LEARNING TO SWIM is a terrific debut. The talented Sara J. Henry introduces a thoroughly modern heroine with an independent spirit and a tender heart. Readers will be cheering for Troy Chance as she deftly navigates the treacherous waters of betrayal and loss, and they'll be looking forward to seeing her again when the book is closed." <br />-Lisa Unger, New York Times bestselling author of <em>Fragile</em>  </p><p>“_Learning to Swim_ is a gut-wrenching, heart-thumping twist of the knife. A compelling tale of mystery’s holy trinity: love, loss, and betrayal. Take the plunge.” <br /><em>—</em>Reed Farrel Coleman, three-time Shamus Award-winning author of <em>Innocent Monster</em> and co-author of <em>Tower</em>  </p><p>“From the opening page, <em>Learning to Swim</em> is a terrific debut. This moving and insightful psychological thriller features the inspiring Troy Chance <em>—</em> an everywoman hero who women will admire and men will want to meet. I can’t wait for her next adventure.” <em>—</em>Michael Robotham, bestselling author of <em>Shatter</em> and <em>Bleed for Me</em>  </p><p> “From its shocking opening to its stunning conclusion, <em>Learning to Swim</em> is a frightening ride. Sara J. Henry will quite literally take your breath away.” <br /><em>—</em>J.T. Ellison, author of <em>The Immortals</em> and _The Cold Room  </p><p>_<br /><em> </em>“_Learning to Swim_ is a thriller of the most thrilling kind_—_a smart and crafty story with whiffs of <em>Rebecca </em>that insists from the first sentence that you sit down and not stand up again until you've read the last word. Tell your loved ones to take care of themselves.” <br /><em>—</em>Quinn Cummings, author of <em>Notes from the Underwire</em> <br />_<br />_“With a strong believable cast of characters and a breathtaking plot, it's a non-stop thrilling ride that’s impossible to put down.” <br /><em>—</em>Cat Connor, author of <em>Killerbyte </em>and <em>Terrorbyte</em><br /><em> </em><br />“If <em>The Usual Suspects</em> and a Jodi Picoult novel had a love child, it would be <em>Learning to Swim—</em>a thought-provoking, evocative, and thrilling read.” <em>—</em>Steph Bowe, author of <em>Girl Saves Boy</em><br /><em> </em><br />“A mesmerizing confluence of mystery, intrigue, and suspense, with undercurrents of deep personal drama…_Learning to Swim_ will hook you from the first page."<br />_—Jamie Ford, bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet<br />_<br />"Impressive...Henry adroitly handles Troy's exposure to new emotions as she re-examines her life and relationships." - _Publisher's Weekly  </p><p>_"In her debut, the first in a projected series, Henry proves herself to be a smooth and compelling storyteller. And her lead is highly appealing:<br />An athletic, fiercely independent young woman who, like crime-fiction author Gillian Flynn’s feisty females, is capable of making delightfully acerbic observations." - _Booklist<br />_<br />"A compelling plot, a pervading sense of foreboding, well-constructed characters" - _Kirkus Review<br />_</p>


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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p>If you think you wouldn't raise your skirts for a rakish legend about the purifying powers of a unicorn's horn, then maybe you aren't a 15th-century serving girl under the sway of a velvet-tongued court painter of ill repute. In keeping with her bestselling <strong>, and its Edwardian-era follow-up, </strong>, Tracy Chevalier's tale of artistic creation and late-medieval amours, <em>The Lady and the Unicorn</em> is a subtle study in social power, and the conflicts between love and duty. Nicolas des Innocents has been commissioned by the Parisian nobleman Jean Le Viste to design a series of large tapestries for his great hall (in real life, the famous <em>Lady and the Unicorn</em> cycle, now in Paris's Musee National du Moyen-Age Thermes de Cluny). While Nicolas is measuring the walls, he meets a beautiful girl who turns out to be Jean Le Viste's daughter. Their passion is impossible for their world--so forbidden, given their class differences, that its only avenue of expression turns out to be those magnificent tapestries. The historical evidence on which this story is based is slight enough to allow the full play of Chevalier's imagination in this cleverly woven tale. <em>--Regina Marler</em></p><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Chevalier, whose bestselling Girl with a Pearl Earring showed how a picture can inspire thousands of words, yokes her limpid, quietly enthralling storytelling to the six Lady and the Unicorn tapestries that hang in the Museum of the Middle Ages in Paris. As with her Vermeer novel, she takes full creative advantage of the mystery that shrouds an extraordinary collaborative work of art. Building on the little that is known or surmised - in this case that the tapestries were most likely commissioned by the French noble Jean Le Viste and made in a workshop in Brussels at the end of the 15th century - she imagines her way into a lost world. We are introduced to Nicholas des Innocents, the handsome, irrepressibly seductive artist who designed the works for the cold Le Viste, a rich, grim social climber who bought his way into the nobility and cares more about impressing the king and his court than pleasing the wife who has disappointed him by bearing three girls and no sons. Le Viste's wife, Genevieve, tells Nicholas to create scenes with a unicorn but Nicholas's love of women - and especially of Geneviève's beautiful daughter Claude - inspires the extraordinary faces and gestures of the women he depicts. A great romance unfolds. What makes the tale enthralling are the details Chevalier offers about the social customs of the time and, especially, the craft of weaving as it was practiced in Brussels. There are psychological anachronisms: would a young woman in medieval times express her pent-up frustrations by cutting herself as some teenage girls do today? Yet the genuine drama Chevalier orchestrates as the weavers race to complete the tapestries, and the deft way she herself weaves together each separate story strand, results in a work of genuine power and beauty. And yes, readers will inevitably think about what a gorgeous movie this would make.<br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p>


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SUMMARY:
My name is Ree.   Some folks know me as The Pioneer Woman.   After years of living in Los Angeles, I made a pit stop in my hometown in Oklahoma on the way to a new, exciting life in Chicago. It was during my stay at home that I met Marlboro Man, a mysterious cowboy with steely blue eyes and a muscular, work-honed body. A strict vegetarian, I fell hard and fast, and before I knew it we were married and living on his ranch in the middle of nowhere, taking care of animals, and managing a brood of four young children. I had no idea how I'd wound up there, but I knew it was exactly where I belonged.   The Pioneer Woman Cooks is a homespun collection of photography, rural stories, and scrumptious recipes that have defined my experience in the country. I share many of the delicious cowboy-tested recipes I've learned to make during my years as an accidental ranch wife—including Rib-Eye Steak with Whiskey Cream Sauce, Lasagna, Fried Chicken, Patsy's Blackberry Cobbler, and Cinnamon Rolls—not to mention several "cowgirl-friendly" dishes, such as Sherried Tomato Soup, Olive Cheese Bread, and CrÈme BrÛlÉe. I show my recipes in full color, step-by-step detail, so it's as easy as pie to follow along.   You'll also find colorful images of rural life: cows, horses, country kids, and plenty of chaps-wearing cowboys.   I hope you get a kick out of this book of mine. I hope it makes you smile. I hope the recipes bring you recognition, accolades, and marriage proposals. And I hope it encourages even the most harried urban cook to slow down, relish the joys of family, nature, and great food, and enjoy life.


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<div><h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p><strong>Amazon Exclusive: Kathryn Stockett Interviews Sarah Blake</strong>   </p><p><em>The Postmistress</em>.  </p><p><strong>Kathryn Stockett</strong>: I should start by saying that I am honored to be on the same page with you—I loved <em>The Postmistress</em>. The book is so complex, it gives you so much to think about and discuss. My first question to you is, how did the book come about? What made you start writing it?   </p><p><strong>Sarah Blake</strong>: Thanks so much, Kathryn—and I'd like to lob those kind words right back at you; it's a tremendous thrill for me to be in conversation with the author of   </p><p><em>The Postmistress</em> began with a picture that sprang into my head one day, of a woman sorting the mail in the back of a post office, quietly slipping a letter into her pocket instead of delivering it. Immediately, questions flooded forward: Whose letter was it? Why on earth would she choose to pocket it? What havoc would be wreaked by not delivering a letter? As I answered those questions, Emma and Will and their love story, and the workings of the small town in which Iris was the center, came to life. One hundred pages into that draft, Frankie Bard arrived on the bus, out of the blue. I had no idea who she was or why she was there, except that one character referred to her as a war correspondent without a war. That was interesting, I thought. By this time I had decided to set the novel in the late thirties, early forties. It was 2001 and I was living in Washington, D.C., after the attacks of 9/11, and I was very preoccupied with trying to make sense of what was happening around me. Were we in danger? Would we go to war? The parallels between that uncertain time and the time before the United States entered World War II resonated with me, and what was a novel about accident and fate and the overlapping of lives deepened into a novel with war as its backdrop, which asked questions about how we understand ourselves to be in a historical moment and what we do when we are called to it.   </p><p><strong>Kathryn Stockett</strong>: Your book features three different women. From a logistical standpoint, did you find it hard to pull off the different points of view? I know this is something I spend a lot of time on in my work—making sure the voices are distinct and also very much true to the different characters.   </p><p><strong>Sarah Blake</strong>: To be honest, with this novel, the challenge was trying to keep each of these women in line, since each one threatened at some point or another to run away with the story! It took eight years for this story to become the novel you have in your hands, and in large part that's because with the introduction of each character, I found myself going off and following an individual story, traveling further and further from a workable plot. By the time I had finished, I had written three separate novels, one for each of the three women—complete with love affairs, whole families, other towns—and the challenge came not in trying to keep them distinct, but in trying to figure out how to weave their stories together.  </p><p><strong>Kathryn Stockett</strong>: Who is your favorite character, and why?   </p><p><strong>Sarah Blake</strong>: I'm not sure I can answer that, since there are parts of each of these women I admire, and parts of each of them I don't like. They are all broken in an essential way—a way I find incredibly interesting. When a reporter finds she cannot tell a story and a postmaster finds herself unable to pass along a letter, the moments they have arrived at as characters are compelling. Mrs. Cripps was certainly the most fun to write—she didn’t have to carry too much weight in the telling of the story, and she was such a nosy parker it was fun to write her lines.   </p><p><strong>Kathryn Stockett</strong>: Is there a character in <em>The Postmistress</em> with whom you identify most? (And if you have been having trysts with good-looking soldiers in dark alleyways, please share!)   </p><p><strong>Sarah Blake</strong>: Oh, there are bits of me in all three women: certainly Frankie's rage and sorrow, the desire to get the story (something I despaired of often in the eight years of writing); Iris's love of order; and Emma's feeling of invisibility, her longing for the sense that someone would watch over her.   </p><p><strong>Kathryn Stockett</strong>: The most haunting scenes for me—and there were many—were those of Frankie on the train with Thomas and of the mother and child on the train platform. How did these scenes come about? Were they difficult to write?   </p><p><strong>Sarah Blake</strong>: Much of the drive to write the book had to do with my own attempt to write my way toward understanding the sudden, final breaks that crack into our lives, in the form of accidents, death, other irrevocable events. I have two sons, and while it is impossible for me to imagine putting them on a train by themselves, with nothing but paper to send them to safety, it was easy to conjure feelings of despair and heartbreak. The book is full of mothers and sons being torn apart by childbirth, bombs, and visas; but the last parting—the mother embracing her boy in the train car with Frankie—was probably the most difficult to write. It's the hardest to comprehend, and yet it happened all the time, saying good-bye, knowingly, possibly forever.   </p><p><strong>Kathryn Stockett</strong>: What research did you do for historical accuracy? You seem to have really nailed the time period.   </p><p><strong>Sarah Blake</strong>: Thank you. I'm glad it feels credible. I read many books on the history of World War II, pored through <em>Life </em>magazines from 1939 to 1945 for a sense of how much things cost and what they looked like, read Federal Writers Project interviews with all types of people living on Cape Cod in the 1930s, watched movies made in 1940 and 1941 (my favorite is </p><p>(Photo of Kathryn Stockett © Kem Lee)</p><hr><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Weaving together the stories of three very different women loosely tied to each other, debut novelist Blake takes readers back and forth between small town America and war-torn Europe in 1940. Single, 40-year-old postmistress Iris James and young newlywed Emma Trask are both new arrivals to Franklin, Mass., on Cape Cod. While Iris and Emma go about their daily lives, they follow American reporter Frankie Bard on the radio as she delivers powerful and personal accounts from the London Blitz and elsewhere in Europe. While Trask waits for the return of her husband—a volunteer doctor stationed in England—James comes across a letter with valuable information that she chooses to hide. Blake captures two different worlds—a naïve nation in denial and, across the ocean, a continent wracked with terror—with a deft sense of character and plot, and a perfect willingness to take on big, complex questions, such as the merits of truth and truth-telling in wartime. <em>(Feb.)</em> <br>Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p>

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<p class="description">SUMMARY:<br>The depth and breadth of science fiction and fantasy fiction continues to change with every passing year. The twenty-nine stories chosen for this book by award-winning anthologist Jonathan Strahan carefully map this evolution, giving readers a captivating and always-entertaining look at the very best the genre has to offer.</p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>In this timely study, University of Texas historian Brands (Traitor to His Class) describes the rise of the great corporate capitalists after the Civil War. J. Pierpont Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie constituted an trinity of power-obsessed individuals who instinctively understood that wealth was the ultimate political weapon. They defined the cold-blooded authority of big business. Fascinating detours away from the tale of corporate empires examine the Reconstruction process in the South, the Indian Wars of the West, the opening of the Great Plains, immigration in the East, and the rise of organized labor and the agrarian reformers. Effectively, excerpts from the first-person accounts of Booker T. Washington, Black Elk, Jacob Riis, and others convey the drama of the time. Perhaps the only significant omission in this fast-paced, engrossing narrative is a tendency to dwell on political doctrines that sought to repudiate or restrain capitalism while only briefly discussing the dogma of Herbert Spencer's social Darwinism, which favored the monopolists. <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>Review</h3><p><em></em>Praise for <em>American Colossus</em>  </p><p><em></em>"Mr. Brands, a terrific writer who commands his material, handles this sprawling, complicated story with authority and panache. A book that might have been a worthy but boring tome turns out to be as close as serious history gets to a page turner...._American Colossus_ is a first-rate overview of one of the most important periods in American history, one without which the American Century could not have happened."<br /><em></em>—John Steele Gordon, <em>The New York Times</em> <br /><em></em>  </p><p>"A superb new history….This is a big, brash narrative running from the Confederate surrender at Appomattox to the trust busting of Theodore Roosevelt….I read swaths of this book twice, just to savor Brands’ storytelling and mastery of detail."<br /><strong>—James Pressley, Bloomberg News</strong>  </p><p>"Mr. Brands paints a vivid portrait of both this understudied age and those industrialists still introduced by high school teachers as ‘robber barons’: Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and J.P. Morgan….As Mr. Brands relates the tycoons’ stories, he drops some anecdotes wonderfully relevant today."<br />—_The Wall Street Journal  </p><p>_"An excellent book….H. W. Brands is a smart, lively writer… [who] demonstrates, as the best historians do, that past is prologue."<br /><strong>—</strong>_<strong>Dallas Morning News</strong><br />_  </p><p><em></em>Praise for <em>The Age of Gold</em><br /><em></em>“A fine, robust telling of one of the greatest adventure stories in history.”<br /><em></em>—David McCullough, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of <strong>_</strong>John Adams<br /><em></em>_<br />“A barn burner . . . Masterfully sketched historical figures, subtly developed themes, and especially well-braided stories . . . Eureka!”<br /><strong>—_San Francisco Chronicle_</strong>  </p><p><em></em>Praise for <em>Traitor to His Class</em><br />(Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Biography)<br /><em></em><br />“This is a rare book indeed, shedding new light and brilliant insight upon an elusive subject we thought we knew well . . . <em>Traitor to His Class</em> will quickly emerge as the finest one-volume biography of FDR.”<br /><strong>—David Oshinsky, winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for History</strong>  </p><p>“H. W. Brands has accomplished a remarkable feat in this terrific work…. He has brought to vivid life the central figures in his story . . . while at the same time providing a fresh understanding of the rich historical context for their thoughts and actions at every step along the way.”<br /><em></em>—Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and author of <strong>_</strong>Team of Rivals<br /><em></em>_<br />“This may well be the best general biography of Franklin Roosevelt we will see for many years to come.”<br /><strong>—_Christian Science Monitor_</strong>  </p><p><em></em>Praise for _The First American<br />_(Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Biography)  </p><p><em></em>“H. W. Brands has given us the authoritative Franklin biography for our time.”<br /><strong>—Joseph J. Ellis, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning <em>Founding Brothers</em></strong>  </p><p>“A biography with a rich cast of secondary characters and a large and handsome stock of historical scenery…This is a Franklin to savor.”<br /><em></em>—_Wall Street Journal_<br /><em></em><br /><em></em>Praise for <em>Lone Star Nation</em><br /><em></em><br />“Sweeping and specific . . . [Brands] writes the story with clarity and vigor . . . .Clearly adds to our knowledge of an era when men rode to the sound of guns and honor was a comprehensible concept.”<br /><em></em>—_Washington Post Book World_<br /><em></em><br />“Brands [is] on the path to becoming the preeminent popular historian of his generation.”<br /><em></em>—<strong>_</strong>Chicago Tribune<br /><em></em>_<br /><em></em>Praise for <em>Andrew Jackson</em><br /><em></em>“A great story . . . Serves up everything you might expect in a ripping yarn: murderous duels, savage Indian raids, equally savage counterattacks.”<br /><em></em>—<strong>_</strong>Washington Post Book World<br /><em></em><br />_“Old Hickory rides again in Brands’ elegantly written and carefully researched biography . . . A must-read!”<br /><strong>—Douglas Brinkley, author of <em>The Great Deluge</em>, winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award</strong></p>


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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p><strong>Why Henry Clay? An Essay by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler</strong></p><p>Many Americans do not know this extraordinary person, which is a pity. Many years ago, a conference gave us the opportunity to visit his grave and his home. A friend accompanied us to the cemetery where we stood before the large vault with its imposing column topped by a statue of Clay, his right arm partially extended, entreating during one of his famous orations. The day was raw, and a dirty cotton sky sent down a misty drizzle that glossed the marble with a wet patina. In the back portion of the vault, a marble slab held one of Clay’s most famous quotes: “I had rather be right than be President.” Our friend, who inclines to the acerbic, muttered, “Nothing about a corrupt bargain?” We laughed.</p><p>Yet later as we walked through the house named Ashland, we paused over the twin legacies of Clay’s fateful decision in 1825 and of his unstinting labor to improve and sustain his country. His behavior in 1825 fastened upon him--presumably forever, if our companion’s remark was any evidence--the infamy of the “Corrupt Bargain.” His work for the country revealed the great poignancy of his generation, the futility of practical politics clashing with grave moral imperatives. He sought the presidency and was labeled a schemer; he compromised for the Union and was lauded as a statesman. Which one was the real Henry Clay? In this book we try to answer that question.</p><p>His personal life, for instance, presents intriguing clues. Clay married what many described as an ugly girl, possibly only for the status and influence her family imparted, but there is no evidence that he ever strayed from her bed and considerable proof (they had eleven children) that he found it congenial. He early found slavery morally troubling and ultimately regarded it as incompatible with American ideals of liberty. But he died owning slaves. He gained fame as the master of political compromise, which by definition is the bending of principles to achieve functional agreements. But in 1825, he was reviled as crooked, even though he did not violate a single personal scruple or run counter to his own conscience.</p><p>All lives are marked by such inconsistencies. We strive to reveal Clay to a new generation of readers by showing how he was both exemplary and unique, how he was both mired in the customs of his time and a prophet for ideas that would not gain acceptance until our own. He believed in ideas with passion, but he leavened everything with humor, a novelty among public figures of his time and obviously one of the facets that Abraham Lincoln found appealing enough to imitate. Most of all, we found that there has never been anyone like Clay in American political history. He transformed the post of Speaker of the House into its modern role, he proposed and doggedly advocated a plan to expand American prosperity, and he was a crucial leader in every matter great and small bearing upon American politics for almost fifty years.</p><p>When our friend made that crack about the “Corrupt Bargain,” we all laughed, but we shouldn’t have. In a way, this book is our penance for having done so, because Henry Clay was a patriot, a statesman, and a gentleman. Not without flaws, he was nevertheless about as good as it gets in public life, and we hope that readers will find him as fascinating as we have.</p><hr /><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Yet another hulking biography of an early American political giant, this one, unnecessarily clogged with detail, is still a fitting, up-to-date, and highly readable account of Henry Clay's life (1777–1852) and achievements. In vigorous prose, the Heidlers (coauthors, <em>The War of 1812</em>), experienced scholars of pre–Civil War America, relate the emergence of the Kentuckian who served in the House (as Speaker) and Senate, as secretary of state, and as repeatedly failed presidential candidate. A man of enormous gifts—the beloved mirror of his country and its aspirations—Clay bestrode Washington and the Senate as member of the Great Triumvirate with John C. Calhoun and Daniel Webster and did his best as the Great Compromiser to hold the nation together as it splintered over slavery. That he failed, as the authors show, was not his fault: even great congressional leadership couldn't save the Union. The authors bring verve and clarity to Clay's struggles, even if they add little to what's known. They also make one yearn for more statesmen and stateswomen, who, like Clay, could say, I had rather be right than be president. 32 pages of b&amp;w photos. <em>(May)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p>


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<h3><meta charset="utf-8"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; font-size: small; "><h3 class="productDescriptionSource" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: 1.23em; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0.75em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.375em; margin-left: -15px; clear: both; ">From Kirkus Reviews</h3><div class="productDescriptionWrapper" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; ">A ``prequel'' to The Magic of Recluse (1991), this sometimes engaging, more often frustrating novel details the founding of the island-kingdom of Recluce. Young Creslin, kept ignorant of his powers in both magic and swordcraft, grows unsatisfied with his lot as a male in matriarchal Westwind. Unwillingly betrothed to the ``sub-Tyrant'' of a neighboring nation, Creslin flees eastward, where he is captured by the White (Chaos) magicians, aided by the Black (Order) wizards, and finally forced by circumstance to wed his less-than-thrilled betrothed Megaera, who has been manipulated by magic into the marriage herself. Together (though constantly bickering), they undertake the regency of the desolate isle of Recluce, hoping to turn it into a prosperous haven free of the White wizards. But the wizards have other plans--and Creslin must master his own powers, make the desert Recluce bloom, and defeat the Chaos magicians if he hopes to survive. Unsatisfying--despite some interesting inversions of typical fantasy elements. The first half moves very slowly, as Creslin wanders purposelessly toward Fairhaven, the lair of the White wizards, and the second section is plagued by Megaera's shrewish and cruel treatment of Creslin. But the worst flaw is Modesitt's choice of the present tense throughout the book--very distracting and deadly to any building sense of drama. Disappointing. -- <i>Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.</i> </div></span></h3>


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<p class="description">SUMMARY:<br>With The Magic of Recluce, L.E. Modesitt made his impressive hardcover debut, breaking out in wide scope and grand scale with a novel in the great tradition of the war between good and evil in a wonderful fantasy world. Modesitt had been producing fast-paced, slickly-written novels of SF adventure, often compared to the work of Keith Laumer and Gordon R. Dickson. Then, in his biggest and best book yet, he broadened his canvas and turned to fantasy and magic, stepping immediately into the front rank of contemporary fantasy writers.The Magic of Recluce is a carefully-plotted fantasy novel of character about the growth and education of a young magician. In it, Modesitt confronts real moral issues with gripping force, builds atmosphere slowly and convincingly and gives his central character, Lerris, real intellectual challenges. This is the kind of highly-rationalized fantasy that Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson write when they write fantasy, colorful and detailed.He is given the standard two options: permanent exile from Recluce or the dangergeld, a complex, rule-laden wanderjahr in the lands beyond Recluce with the aim of learning how the world works and what his place in it might be. Many do not survive. He chooses dangergeld.Though magic is rarely discussed openly in Recluce, it becomes clear, when Lerris is sent into intensive training for his quest, that he has a natural talent for it during his weapons lessons. And he will need magic in the lands beyond, where the power of the Chaos Wizards reigns unchecked. He must learn to use his powers in an orderly way or fall prey to Chaos.Lerris may resent order, but he has no difficulty choosing good over evil. As he begins his lonely journey, he falls into the company of a gray magician, once of Recluce, who tutors him in the use of magic and shows him some of the devastation caused by the Chaos Wizards in the great wars between Chaos and Order of past times.Lerris pursues a quest for knowledge and power that leads him across strange lands, through the ghostly ruins of the old capitol of Chaos, down the white roads of the Chaos Wizards to a final battle with the archenemy of Order, discovering in the end true control of magic, true love, and the beginning of true wisdom. An epic adventure, The Magic of Recluce0, is a triumph of fantasy.The Magic of Recluce is the first book of the saga of Recluce.</p>


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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><hr /><p><strong>Book Description:</strong><br />Imagine becoming a bestselling novelist, and almost immediately famous and wealthy, while still in college, and before long seeing your insufferable father reduced to a bag of ashes in a safety-deposit box, while after <em>American Psycho</em> your celebrity drowns in a sea of vilification, booze, and drugs. </p><p>Then imagine having a second chance ten years later, as the Bret Easton Ellis of this remarkable novel is given, with a wife, children, and suburban sobriety--only to watch this new life shatter beyond recognition in a matter of days. At a fateful Halloween party he glimpses a disturbing (fictional) character driving a car identical to his late father's, his stepdaughter's doll violently "malfunctions," and their house undergoes bizarre transformations both within and without. Connecting these aberrations to graver events--a series of grotesque murders that no longer seem random and the epidemic disappearance of boys his son’s age--Ellis struggles to defend his family against this escalating menace even as his wife, their therapists, and the police insist that his apprehensions are rooted instead in substance abuse and egomania. </p><p><em>Lunar Park</em> confounds one expectation after another, passing through comedy and mounting horror, both psychological and supernatural, toward an astonishing resolution--about love and loss, fathers and sons--in what is surely the most powerfully original and deeply moving novel of an extraordinary career.</p><hr /><p><strong> A Tale of Two Brets: An Amazon.com Interview with Bret Easton Ellis</strong><br /><em>Lunar Park</em>, Bret Easton Ellis takes first-person narrative to an extreme, inserting himself (and a host of real characters from the publishing world) into the haunting story of a drugged-out famous writer living in the suburbs trying to reconnect with his wife and son and reconcile his damaged past. Ellis is at the top of his game in <em>Lunar Park</em>, his first novel since 1999's <em>Glamorama</em>, delivering a disturbing and delirious novel about celebrity, writers, and fathers and sons (not to mention a cameo from notorious Ellis creation, Patrick Bateman). Amazon.com senior editor Brad Thomas Parsons spoke with Ellis in a Seattle to Los Angeles phone call to <em>Lunar Park</em>, New York versus LA, '80s music, and the whole "_American Psycho_ thing."   </p><hr /><p><strong><em>Less Than Zero</em> (1985)</strong> <br />Published when Ellis was a junior at Bennington, </p><p><strong>Ellis on Ellis</strong>: <em>"I don't think it's a perfect book by any means, but it's valid. I get where it comes from. I get what it is. There's a lot of it that I wish was slightly more elegantly written. Overall, I was pretty shocked. It was pretty good writing for someone who was 19.</em>"   </p><hr /><p><strong><em>The Rules of Attraction</em> (1987)</strong><br /><em>Less than Zero</em>'s Clay makes a cameo appearance as well as a passing glimpse of Ellis' Bennington classmate Donna Tartt's murderous Classics majors from </p><p><strong>Ellis on Ellis</strong>: "_It might be my favorite book of mine. I was writing that book while I was at college. Sort of like the best of times, the worst of times. There was a lot of elation, there was a lot of despair. It was just a really fun book to write. I loved mimicking all the different voices. The stream of conscious does get a little out of hand. I kind of like that about the book. It's kind of all over the place. It's casual. It's scruffy. That's the one book of mine that I have a very, very soft spot for._"   </p><hr /><p><strong><em>American Psycho</em> (1991)</strong><br /><em>Batman Begins</em>. </p><p><strong>Ellis on Ellis</strong>: "_It was good. It was fun. It was not nearly as pretentious as I remember I wanted it to be when I was writing it. I found it really fast-moving. I found it really funny. And I liked it a lot. The violence was... it made my toes curl. I really freaked out. I couldn't believe how violent it was. It was truly upsetting. I had to steel myself to re-read those passages._"   </p><hr /><p><strong><em>The Informers</em> (1994)</strong><br /><em>Less than Zero</em>. Sex, drugs, and gratuitous violence take center stage, with characters including an aging, predatory anchorwoman, a debauched rock star tearing through Japan, and a pick-up artist vampire. While some of the vignettes echo better Ellis works, ultimately the stories don't add to much as a whole. Book critics are less than receptive to Ellis' post-_American Psycho_ offering. </p><p><strong>Ellis on Ellis</strong>: "_Those were written while I was at Bennington. I wrote a lot of short stories between 1981 or 1982 or so..._ The Informers <em>more or less kind of represented probably the best of those stories. I wrote a lot of really bad ones, but those are the ones that worked the best together.</em>"   </p><hr /><p><strong><em>Glamorama</em> (1999)</strong><br /><em>The Rules of Attraction</em>) is the narrator of </p><p><strong>Ellis on Ellis</strong>: "_[T]he book wasn't necessarily about terrorism to me. It was about a whole bunch of other stuff. It's definitely the book that I can tell--I don't know if other people can tell but I can tell as a writer--is probably the most divisive that I've written. It has an equal number of detractors as it does fans. It doesn't really hold true with the other books. It was the one that took the longest to write, and the one that seemed the most important at the time. It's an unwieldy book... I like it._"   </p><hr /><p><strong>Ellis on DVD</strong></p><hr /><p><strong>Will the Real Bret Easton Ellis Please Stand Up?</strong><br />Visit the author's Web site at www.2brets.com.   </p><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Having ridden to fame as the laureate of Reagan-era excesses, Ellis serves up a self-eviscerating apologia for all the awful things (wanton drug use, reckless promiscuity, serial murder) he worked so hard to glamorize. Narrated faux memoir style by a character named Bret Easton Ellis, author of bestsellers, L.A. native, friend to Jay McInerney, the book seeks to make obvious its autobiographical elements without actually remaining true to the facts. In the novel, Ellis marries B-list actress Jayne Dennis (with whom he'd fathered a child years earlier), moves to the New York City suburbs and begins working on his latest neo-porn shocker, <em>Teenage Pussy</em>, when things start to go awry. His house becomes possessed by strange, threatening spirits intent on attacking his family and transforming their home into the pink stucco green shag disaster of Ellis's childhood; a well-read stalker begins acting out, victim by victim, the plot of <em>American Psycho</em>; and the town becomes enthralled by a string of child abductions (oddly, only the boys are disappearing) that may or may not be the work of Ellis's son. This is a peculiar novel, gothic in tone and supernatural in conceit, whose energy is built from its almost tabloidlike connection to real life. As a spirit haunting Ellis's house tells him, "I want you to reflect on your life. I want you to be aware of all the terrible things you have done. I want you to face the disaster that is Bret Easton Ellis." Ultimately, though, the book reads less like a roman à clef than as a bizarre type of celebrity penance. The closest contemporary comparison is, perhaps, the work of Philip Roth, who went for such thinly veiled self-criticism earlier in his career, but Roth's writing succeeded on its own merits, whereas <em>Lunar Park</em> begs a knowledge of Ellis's celebrity and the casual misanthropy his books espoused. Yet for those familiar with Ellis's reputation, the book is mesmerizing, easily his best since <em>Less than Zero</em>. Maybe for the first time, Ellis acknowledges that fiction has a truth all its own and consequences all too real. It is <em>his</em> demons who destroy his home, break up his family and scuttle his best chance at happiness and sobriety. As a novel by anyone else, <em>Lunar Park</em> would be hokum, but in context, it is a fascinating look at a once controversial celebrity as a middle-aged man. <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p>


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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p>In 1995 Madison Smartt Bell published __, earning both critical plaudits and a National Book Award nomination for this fictional account of Haiti's 18th-century slave rebellion. Now he continues the saga with <em>Master of the Crossroads</em>, the second volume of a projected trilogy. Even in his earlier narratives of contemporary America, the author has always been attuned to the byzantine politics of color. But by focusing on the figure of Toussaint Louverture--the black general who led the Haitians to independence only to be jailed for treason against the French Republic--Bell allows the politics of race to point him in unexpected and rewarding narrative directions. This is a big, muscular book, which derives much of its strength from the author's willingness to paint his tumultuous political and physical landscapes with broadly sweeping strokes. But it is also a work of surprising delicacy, whose finely drawn characters come to life with the minutest gesture or softly whispered word.</p><p>The crossroads herein are not merely literal but metaphorical. Yes, the former slaves and their courageous leader are pinned down in the island's remote interior, caught between the English forces and the Spanish army (their nominal yet treacherous ally). But more to the point, Haiti's intricate progress from slavery to freedom brings each of the characters to a crucial, defining moment of energy or introspection. And finally, swirling through the book like an island mist, is the voodoo figure of Mâit' Kalfou, or the "Master of the Crossroads." Straddling the worlds of the dead and the living, this ecstatic spirit may at any time inhabit the body of a believer: </p><blockquote><p>Between Legba and Kalfou the crossroads stood open now, and now Guiaou could feel that opened pathway rushing up his spine--passage from the Island Below Sea inhabited by <em>les Morts et les Mystères</em>. His hips melted into the movement of the drums, and the tails of the red coat swirled around his legs like feathers of a bird. With the other dancers he closed the small, tight circle around Legba and Kalfou, who faced each other as in a mirror: the shining surface of the waters, which divides the living from the dead. </p></blockquote><p>Throughout, Bell's captivating vision of the battlefield bears witness to his rigorous research. Still, the voodoo celebrations, and the author's sly evocation of their unexpected resonance, remain the novel's strongest moments. Why? They speak, perhaps, to the apocalyptic nature of the Haitian rebellion. And more intriguingly, they permit Bell to play with the deceptive nature of belief and reality--a move that, in an avowedly historical novel, hints at the ironic fluidity of history itself. <em>--Kelly Flynn</em></p><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Bell manages the bravura feat of bringing coherence and novelistic focus to the intrinsically complex history of Haiti's national liberator in this second installment in his brutal, sweeping trilogy. The first volume, All Souls' Rising, a National Book Award finalist, took the slave revolt in Haiti up to 1793, when the great leader Toussaint Louverture was consolidating power. Continuing his stunning historical fresco, Bell traces the intricate weave of Toussaint's campaigns with an intelligence and verve reminiscent of Shelby Foote's classic military histories, braiding his rich character studies into the larger scheme. Racial classification was a science in Haiti in the 18th century, and the subtlest variations in skin color determined the treatment each person received. Riau, Toussaint's godson, is an ex-slave. For him, the desire of the white planters to reintroduce slavery, and their fundamental racism, is evident, but Riau's hatred doesn't vitiate his humanity. Riau does trust Toussaint's secretary, a white doctor, Antoine H bert. A subplot running like a silver thread in the shadow of the war is H bert's quest for his mulatto mistress, Nanon, after she runs away from H bert's plantation with Choufleur, a sadistic mulatto planter and Nanon's former lover, who exploits the psychodynamics of slavery in a frightening erotic context. The faltering planter aristocracy is represented by Michel Arnaud, who returns to the island although his house and lands were torched in the first phase of the revolt. Arnaud's past is one of murderous cruelty. Now, he is slowly rehabilitating himself, thanks to Claudine, his wife, who suffers from possession by the darkest Vodou spirit, Baron Samedi. Bell continually integrates his history with the sacred Vodou landscape, and as events channel between crossroads, trances, dreams and bloodshed, this mesmerizing, disturbing saga of a half-forgotten war takes on the ominous outlines and biblical proportions of a prophetic vision. (Oct.) <br />Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p>


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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p><em>The Wise Man's Fear</em> continues the mesmerizing slow reveal of the story of Kvothe the Bloodless, an orphaned actor who became a fearsome hero before banishing himself to a tiny town in the middle of Newarre. The readers of Patrick Rothfuss's outstanding first book, <em>The Wise Man's Fear</em> makes up day two, and uncovers enough to satisfy readers and make them desperate for the full tale, from Kvothe's rapidly escalating feud with Ambrose to the shockingly brutal events that mark his transformation into a true warrior, and to his encounters with Felurian and the Adem. Rothfuss remains a remarkably adept and inventive storyteller, and Kvothe's is a riveting tale about a boy who becomes a man who becomes a hero and a killer, spinning his own mythology out of the ether until he traps himself within it. Drop everything and read these books. <em>--Daphne Durham</em></p><p><strong>Author One-on-One: Patrick Rothfuss and Brandon Sanderson</strong> <br /><em>The Wise Man's Fear</em>) and </p><p><strong>Author Q&amp;A with Patrick Rothfuss</strong></p><p><strong>Q: Your first novel, <em>The Name of the Wind</em> introduces the hero (or some may say anti-hero) Kvothe as a larger-than-life living legend. </strong></p><p>A: I don't know if I'd call him larger-than-life. His reputation is larger-than-life, certainly. The man himself is remarkably life-sized. I think that's part of the reason people like him.</p><p><strong>Q: How did you create him?</strong></p><p>A: I got the idea for Kvothe after I finished reading Cyranno De Bergerac for the first time. I was completely knocked over by that character. He was passionate, arrogant, witty, clever, a fighter, a poet, a philosopher. He was compelling and interesting, and a bit of a bastard, but you loved him and felt sorry for him. I remember thinking, "Why haven't I ever read a fantasy novel with a character this good?"   </p><p>Shortly after that I read Casanova's memoirs. That's when I realized that autobiography could be really compelling so long as the person's life is exciting, and their personality is interesting.   </p><p>Those two things might not have been the seed for the book, they were certainly around when the seed was sprouting....</p><p><strong>Q: What contemporary superhero would you put Kvothe up against? </strong></p><p>A: Batman.</p><p><strong>Q: Who would win? </strong></p><p>A: Ah hell. If we're talking about Kvothe as he appears in the second book. Batman would probably come out on top. I'd say Kvothe would only have about a 30% chance of pulling off the win there.   </p><p>But even if Batman did win, he'd walk away with a limp.</p><p><strong> Q: Kvothe leads readers through the entire series—from the storytelling, to the action, to the inner monologue. Are there any similarities between Kvothe and yourself? </strong></p><p>A: A few. But less than people typically think. People are always saying, "Why do you hate poets so much?" I have to remind them that Kvothe is the one with that particular grudge.   </p><p>But yeah. There are a few similarities. We both have the bad habit of expressing ourselves freely and clearly when it would be better to keep our mouths shut.</p><p><strong>Q: Fans love the books and are fascinated by the characters, but you’ve also garnered a cult-like following. Can you tell us what that’s like? </strong></p><p>A: I've got a cult? That's awesome. Do they have robes and stuff? Do we have baccanals? We better have baccanals. If I have cult it better old-school. Dionysian. Orgiastic. If I find out they're just drinking tang and handing out pamphlets on streetcorners I'm going to be pissed.</p><p><strong>Q: When did you realize that you wanted to become a writer? </strong></p><p>A: I’ve known I wanted to be a writer for a long time. Since forever. I started my first fantasy novel when I was 15 or so. It wasn’t very good, of course. In fact, it was horrible. Beyond horrible. It had cat-man samurai in it. I'm not even kidding. But it was a good learning experience. The mistakes I made in that novel taught me a lot about writing. Generally speaking, our failures teach us more than our successes. Part of the reason <em>The Name of the Wind</em> turned out so good is because I made so many rookie mistakes in that first, horrible novel.</p><p><strong>Q: Did any of your experiences in college influence some of the scenes at the University? </strong></p><p>A: No. Not really. You're making that whole Pat/Kvothe mistake again. He's the one with the red hair. I'm the one with the beard.   </p><p>A lot of people assume that because I spent 11 years in college, I based the University off my experiences as a student. It's a reasonable thought, but it couldn't be further from the truth. It wouldn't have taken me nearly so long to write this book I was just stealing things out of the real world.   </p><p>The truth is, I find stories that are thinly-veiled autobiography pretty tiresome. Authors inevitably put something of themselves into a book, but that doesn't mean you should turn your 3rd grade math teacher into a villain in a desperate attempt to get revenge. I've read books like that in the past. They're terrible.</p><p><strong>Q: What was the best class you took in all that time? </strong></p><p>A: Basic Critical Thinking. This is usually taught as a philosophy class at most universities, but in my opinion it should be required for every college student.   </p><p>You see, everyone assumes they know how to think rationally, but most people don't. We are emotional, messy-headed creatures. And even very clever, well-informed people can be very stupid when it comes to dealing with things in a rational, critical way.   </p><p>I've had people try to have arguments with me. They say things like, "What you have to realize is that logically..." and then they spout off the most ridiculous bullshit. They don't know what logic is. They think that if they feel strongly about something, it's logic. They think if they grew up believing it, it's logic.   </p><p>I had a guy try to convince me that ESP was real because he was thinking about his girlfriend before the phone rang. Not only was he sure he was right, but he was absolutely certain that he was providing a crushing argument. He felt unassailable in his reasoning.   </p><p>All I could think was, <em>'Sweet baby Jesus. That's a post hoc fallacy. You're trying to convince me using faulty logic that Aristotle was making fun of over 2000 years ago.'</em> Maybe that shit works in whatever N-sync chatroom you grew up in. But don't bring it round here. Here we have rational discourse. You want to sit at the grown-up table, you learn the rules.</p><p><strong>Q: The structure of your story is different than most fantasy novels. Why did you choose to write your book that way? </strong></p><p>A: Everyone always seems so surprised by the framed story, but it isn't anything new. <em>The Princess Bride</em> is a framed tale. <em>The Arabian Nights</em> is a framed tale.... <em>Taming of the Shrew</em> is a... well... it's half a framed tale.   </p><p>As for the first person, it’s the most natural form of storytelling there is. When you tell your friend a story, you say, "I almost got hit by a truck today.” You don't hide behind third person.   </p><p>Yeah. Sure. Most novels are written a different way. Tradition. The Aristotelian unities. Three act structure. What do I care about that? I'm not doing a paint-by-numbers here. I'm not doing a connect-the-dots. I’m looking to tell a different type of story here. I'll do it my way.</p><p><strong>Q: The first edition of <em>The Name of the Wind</em> was released in 2007. What kinds of projects have you been involved with over the past 3 years, besides writing <em>The Wise Man's Fear</em>, the long-awaited and highly anticipated sequel? </strong></p><p>A: Let's see…   </p><p>I started a charity called Worldbuilders. Fantasy authors and publishers donate books that we use to encourage people to donate to Heifer International. In the last three years we've raised over half a million dollars for Heifer International.   </p><p>I also wrote a not-for-children picture book illustrated by my friend Nate Taylor. It turned out amazing. I think of it as <em>Calvin and Hobbes</em> meets <em>Coraline</em> meets Edward Gorey.   </p><p>Oh. And I had a baby. Does that count as a project? I think it counts as a project.</p><p><strong>Q: What’s next for Kvothe and the Kingkiller Chronicle? </strong></p><p>A: Explosions. Gunfights. Moonlit swordfights across rooftops. Johnny Depp. Naked supermodels. Kung-fu. Car chases. A thousand elephants.   </p><p>Actually, that's all a lie. I don't believe in spoilers.   </p><p>Still, I think it's safe to say that Kvothe grows up a bit in the second book. There's a big difference between the story of a young boy and the story of a young man. It wouldn't be realistic to have twelve-year-old Kvothe doing much swashbuckling. But sixteen-year-old Kvothe? Yeah. It's safe to say that he'll be buckling a little swash.</p><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Starred Review. As seamless and lyrical as a song from the lute-playing adventurer and arcanist Kvothe, this mesmerizing sequel to Rothfuss's 2007's debut, The Name of the Wind, is a towering work of fantasy. As Kvothe, now the unassuming keeper of the Waystone Inn, continues to share his astounding life story—a history that includes saving an influential lord from treachery, defeating a band of dangerous bandits, and surviving an encounter with a legendary Fae seductress—he also offers glimpses into his life's true pursuit: figuring out how to vanquish the mythical Chandrian, a group of seven godlike destroyers that brutally murdered his family and left him an orphan. But while Kvothe recalls the events of his past, his future is conspiring just outside the inn's doors. This breathtakingly epic story is heartrending in its intimacy and masterful in its narrative essence, and will leave fans waiting on tenterhooks for the final installment. (Mar.) <br />(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. </p>


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<div><meta charset="utf-8"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; ">London, 2043. Jake Reed is a young futures broker, trading stock on the datascape, the high-tech virtual stock market, one of the best in his field. When the datascape comes under attack from hackers, Reed is called in to investigate who could be responsible. However, the virtual attack is but the opening move in a struggle years in the planning. Cities burn, riots erupt and armies are neutralised as the long-feared collapse of modern civilisation begins.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; "><br></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; "><meta charset="utf-8">Twenty-two years later, Reed lives in a rural community in Dorset. Millions have died in the post-Collapse years and the UK is now a patchwork of farming communities. Supplies of advanced medicines and high technology are running low, with no infrastructure available to replace them. But strange things are happening. Waves of refugees are appearing out of the east, strange craft with dragons painted on the wings have been seen in the sky and, on the horizon, a vast structure has appeared and is getting closer. The age of Western dominance has ended and the future belongs to the East.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic; ">Son of Heaven</span> is the first novel in the new version of David Wingrove's<span style="font-weight: bold; ">Chung Kuo</span> series, a science fiction epic spanning 200 years of future history. In Wingrove's series, the entire world has come to be dominated by China, which has constructed vast, continent-spanning cities packed with billions of people and begun to expand into space. Wingrove previously attempted to tell this story in the late 1980s and through the 1990s in eight large volumes, but the series was not completed properly. Now Corvus are republishing the saga in <span style="font-style: italic; ">twenty</span>volumes, with a new beginning and ending and a thorough revising of the previously-published material.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic; ">Son of Heaven</span> starts the story much earlier than the original first volume, depicting exactly how Western civilisation and modern economic system were destroyed and how China survived the aftershocks to rise to dominance. This is an interesting movie: the original first book started with China's supremacy firmly established and the reasons for its rise consigned to backstory. Here we see it in progress. It also means we are introduced to the world through the eyes of outsiders (Jake and his neighbours and family who are 'incorporated' into the World of Levels) rather than from inside, which is perhaps a little more forgiving to new readers to the series.<br><br>On the downside, this means that the methods by which China's dominance was established have to be depicted in a lot of detail, and these methods are somewhat fanciful, requiring a catastrophic and colossal failure of tens of thousands of Western intelligence, military and economic experts across many years whilst still requiring China to have acquired technology far in advance of the rest of the world (particularly the AI and nanotech required start building its massive continent-spanning cities in the space of a few years). Lots of SF is based on far more ludicrous premises, of course, but generally these work by taking place in the distant future with the transition from modern society being a vague or mythological event. Here it's more central to the story and therefore more open to scrutiny. This isn't helped by Wingrove having to take into account twenty years of additional real history (such as China's economic explosion) and then weld it onto the front of his original narrative. Ironically, China's real-life economic success provides a much more reasonable grounding for it becoming the dominant world culture over the course of decades, but using this as the grounding of the story would have presumably required a much more thorough rewriting of the entire series.<br><br>Moving beyond this, Wingrove's actual writing is pretty solid, depicting both the high-tech world of 21st Century London and the post-Collapse, almost post-apocalyptic agrarian society quite well. The conflict presented by the latter is handled intriguingly: the 21st Century, money-fixated world of haves and have-nots is shown to be comfortable but also shallow. The post-apocalyptic world initially lauds the absence of pointless materialism but then exposes the ugliness of living in a world where people die of cold exposure in the winter or from very minor wounds a modern hospital would sort out in a few minutes, or where girls are encouraged to get pregnant before the age of twenty to increase the chances of propagating the species. This sort of duality was one of the key themes of the original series, with the conflicts between progress and stasis and the state and the individual being key, but with the various options being presented as having their own benefits and disadvantages.<br><br>In the latter part of the book the Chinese finally show up and we meet a raft of new characters. General Jiang Lei is leading the subjugation of England and is presented as an effective soldier but also one with a sense of history and a conscience. He is contrasted against Wang Yu-Lai, a savage and ruthless intelligence agent who is all for rape, plunder and genocide. Jiang is an interesting character whose attitudes mirror many of the conflicts inherent in the series in microcosm. Wang is a caricature and a cartoon villain at best, however, lacking convincing motivation or characterisation.<br><br>The contrast between these two characters is symptomatic of much of the book: some excellent worldbuilding stands contrasted against some highly unconvincing developments needed to make China top dog. Jake and Jiang's solid depictions stand against some under-developed characters (particularly women) elsewhere. Respect and admiration for Chinese culture is contrasted against stereotypical elements elsewhere (the 'cold, brutal' Chinese stereotype is played up a bit, even when characters like Jiang are shown to be nothing like this). Overall though, the book is readable and sets up a world intriguing enough to make even the modest wait for the second book,<span style="font-style: italic; ">Daylight on Iron Mountain</span> (due in late 2011), feel somewhat disappointing. Whether it's enough to sustain twenty novels released across five years is another question, but we'll see.<br><br><span style="font-style: italic; ">Son of Heaven </span>(***½) is a solid opening to a very long epic SF series, overcoming its weaknesses to deliver an unsettling (if implausible) depiction of the future. The novel will be published in the UK on <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Son-Heaven-David-Wingrove/dp/0857890417/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1293367783&amp;sr=8-2" style="color: rgb(68, 85, 102); ">3 February 2011</a> as a limited-edition hardcover and ebook and on 1 March as <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Son-Heaven-David-Wingrove/dp/184887524X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1293367783&amp;sr=8-1" style="color: rgb(68, 85, 102); ">a regular hardcover</a>. American imports of the latter should be available via <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Son-Heaven-David-Wingrove/dp/184887524X/ref=tmm_hrd_title_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1293367788&amp;sr=8-2" style="color: rgb(68, 85, 102); ">Amazon</a> and the <a href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9781848875241/Son-of-Heaven" style="color: rgb(68, 85, 102); ">Book Depository</a>.</span></div></div>


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<div><h3>From Library Journal</h3><p>This duo continue the adventures of Anne Shirley begun in Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables. Avonlea (1909) finds her at 16 taking on a job as a school teacher, while in Island (1915), a slightly older Anne moves on to college to continue her own education. Along with the full text, these editions also include scholarly essays. These budget hardcovers are for all fiction collections.<br>Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p><h3>Review</h3><p>"An exceptional audio. Highly recommended." --Reviewer’s Bookwatch </p>

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<div><h3>Product Description</h3><p>“Matthew had taken the scrawny little hand awkwardly in his; then and there he decided what to do. He could not tell this child with the glowing eyes that there had been a mistake. . . .”  </p><p>When eleven-year-old Anne Shirley arrives at Green Gables with nothing but a carpetbag and an overactive imagination, she knows that she has found her home. But first she must convince the Cuthberts to let her stay, even though she isn’t the boy they’d hoped for. The loquacious Anne quickly finds her way into their hearts, as she has with generations of readers, and her charming, ingenious adventures in Avonlea, filled with colorful characters and tender escapades, linger forever in our memories.   </p><p>This Modern Library edition of the first of L. M. Montgomery’s beloved and immensely popular Avonlea novels features the restored original text and an Introduction by the noted children’s literature scholar Jack Zipes. </p><h3>About the Author</h3><p>L. M. Montgomery was born in 1874 on Prince Edward Island in Canada, the setting of nineteen of her twenty novels. She died in Toronto in 1942. </p>

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<h3>Product Description</h3><p>The continued saga of the now adult, Anne, mother of five children. </p><h3>From the Publisher</h3><p>Anne is the mother of five, with never a dull moment in her lively home. And now with a new baby on the way and insufferable Aunt Mary Maria visiting -- and wearing out her welcome -- Anne's life is full to bursting.</p><p>Still Mrs. Doctor can't think of any place she'd rather be than her own beloved Ingleside. Until the day she begins to worry that her adored Gilbert doesn't love her anymore. How could that be? She may be a little older, but she's still the same irrepressible, irreplaceable redhead -- the wonderful Anne of Green Gables, all grown up. . . She's ready to make her cherished husband fall in love with her all over again! </p>


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<div><h3>Product Description</h3><p>Third volume of the series in which Anne goes to college. </p><h3>From the Publisher</h3><p>New adventures lie ahead as Anne Shirley packs her bags, waves good-bye to childhood, and heads for Redmond College. With old friend Prissy Grant waiting in the bustling city of Kingsport and frivolous new pal Philippa Gordon at her side, Anne tucks her memories of rural Avonlea away and discovers life on her own terms, filled with surprises...including a marriage proposal from the worst fellow imaginable, the sale of her very first story, and a tragedy that teaches her a painful lesson. But tears turn to laughter when Anne and her friends move into an old cottage and an ornery black cat steals her heart. Little does Anne know that handsome Gilbert Blythe wants to win her heart, too. Suddenly Anne must decide if she's ready for love... </p>

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<h3>Review</h3><p><strong>Lucy Maud Montgomery CBE, (always called "Maud" by family and friends) and publicly known as L. M. Montgomery, (1874-1942) was a Canadian author, best known for a series of novels beginning with <em>Anne of Green Gables,</em> published in 1908.</strong></p><p><strong>Once published, <em>Anne of Green Gables</em> was an immediate success. The central character, Anne, an orphaned girl, made Montgomery famous in her lifetime and gave her an international following. The first novel was followed by a series of sequels with Anne as the central character. The novels became the basis for the highly acclaimed 1985 CBC television miniseries, <em>Anne of Green Gables</em> and several other television movies and programs, including <em>Road to Avonlea,</em> which ran in Canada and the U.S. from 1990-1996.</strong></p><h3>Product Description</h3><p>Delightful, unpredictable Anne Shirley takes her first job away from Green Gables. </p>


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<div><h3>From School Library Journal</h3><p>Grade 6 Up–L. M. Montgomery fans will be delighted by Barbara Caruso's narration of the fifth volume in the series (Indy, 2001). It follows the red-headed heroine and her new husband, Dr. Gilbert Blythe, to the snug little cottage that is their first home at Four Winds Harbor on Prince Edward Island. There's laughter, heartache, and unexpected turnabouts with new friends such as lighthouse keeper Captain Jim, and neighbors, Cornelia and Leslie. There's sorrow after the death of the couple's first child, and happiness after their healthy son is born. The story is liberally peppered with sketches of other memorable islanders and views of family life around the turn of the 20th century. Caruso's spirited and versatile narration brings to life diverse character traits such as Anne's zest for life, Cornelia's crusty opinions, and Leslie's soft, sometimes fearful breathlessness. This story will be appreciated by anyone who likes their happy-ending stories wrapped in old fashioned values. A great choice for all school and public libraries.–_Barbara Wysocki, Cora J. Belden Library, Rocky Hill, CT_ <br>Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From Library Journal</h3><p>This 1917 volume is the latest of the publisher's inexpensive hardcover editions of Montgomery's adventures of Anne Shirley, which began with Anne of Green Gables.<br>Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p>

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<div><h3>Product Description</h3><p>For Erica Sanders, finding a soul mate was the easy part. Brian Lawson is the man she wants, and everyone agrees they're the ideal couple. <em>Almost</em> everyone. The one exception is Erica's mother, Karen, who prefers her daughter marry another man. Karen even hires a private detective to investigate Brian, but the truth he uncovers is the last thing she expected—a devastating betrayal that rips both families apart.</p><p>Convinced that her relationship can't be salvaged, Erica ends her engagement. Yet she has lingering doubts over her decision, especially once Brian's attractive single neighbor starts pursuing him. A chance meeting proves that the passion between Brian and Erica hasn't dimmed—but neither has the determination of others to keep them apart, or the shocking lengths Karen will go to in order to undermine her daughter's relationship.</p><p>As secrets old and new are revealed, Erica and Brian find themselves caught between the bonds of the past and an uncertain future, each making painful discoveries about who to believe and trust. Masterfully told and laced with the sensuality and drama that Brenda Jackson does best, this is an unforgettable story of relationships at their most complex, and how hard it can be to choose between living separate lives—or holding fast when love hangs by a silken thread…. </p><h3>Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.</h3><p>"Jo, tell me. Have wedding jitters taken a toll on you yet?"</p><p>Erica Sanders glanced across the table, thinking that only April, her close friend since junior high school, would have the nerve to ask her something like that with a straight face. April North knew her so well. She could tell Erica's anxiety and stress were mounting, only a couple of weeks from the engagement party at which the couple's families would officially meet. Erica was so not looking forward to that affair— unless her mother's attitude changed drastically.</p><p>"Yes, I'm a <em>little </em>stressed," she admitted. "My sanity is barely holding up. But it's to be expected of every bride, isn't it?" She figured if anyone should know, surely April would. After all, her best friend had walked down the aisle three times already.</p><p>"Umm, a <em>little </em>stress is to be expected of every bride. But in your situation…" April left the words unsaid.</p><p>Erica's mother was driving her crazy.</p><p>With one breath Karen Sanders would rant and rave about Brian Lawson not being good enough to marry her daughter, and with the next breath she'd give the wedding planner hell because she intended for Erica's wedding to be the social event of the year.</p><p>It would be a wedding befitting the great-great-granddaughter of one of the founding fathers of Hattersville, a small town of seven thousand, noted in the history books as one of the first cities for freed blacks in Ohio. Erica had lived in Hattersville all twenty-seven years of her life, except for her college years in Wisconsin. Living in another city those four years had opened her eyes to a lot of things, especially how closed-minded and snobbish some of the residents of her hometown were. But not all of the citizens were privileged. Her friend April had been born on the other side of the tracks, in the Fifth Ward—something Erica's mother liked to remind her of every chance she got. But to Erica, what side of the tracks someone was born on didn't matter, and her close friendship with April had always been special. Besides, April, who had always been a beautiful person, had gone from rags to riches and was now a world-famous model. That proved that anyone who put her heart and mind to it could become successful, despite her humble beginnings.</p><p>Needing to escape the oppressive atmosphere of the town even more than Erica did, April had traveled west to attend UCLA, where she'd met husbands one and two. Husband number three, whom she'd divorced a year ago, was someone she'd met in Great Britain.</p><p>"You know as well as I do," April continued to say while eating her salad, "that Ms. Karen's idea of a dream marriage is one between you and Griffin."</p><p>Erica knew that was true. Griffin Hayes's family, like hers, represented old money in Hattersville. Naturally some people, especially her mother, assumed she and Griffin would grow up and marry. There were those, again namely her mother, who figured that doing such a thing was not only politically correct, but would destroy some curse reputed to have been placed upon the two families that could only be broken by a marriage between them.</p><p>Unfortunately, nobody bothered to inform her and Griffin's hearts, since they just weren't feeling it. Their families had thrown them together so often when they were growing up that eventually they began thinking of themselves as sister and brother, rather than as a couple whose lives were destined to end in holy matrimony.</p><p>Although they'd tried dating while in high school, the fire was simply not there. Griffin had recognized it and so had she. That was when they'd made the decision to be nothing more than friends.</p><p>"Mom might as well get used to the idea that I will not be Mrs. Griffin Hayes," Erica said. "I most certainly have. Trust me. Brian is all the man I want and need." She doubted anyone, even April, knew just how much she meant that.</p><p>"Will he be flying in this weekend?"</p><p>A huge smile spread across Erica's lips and she held up two crossed fingers. "Let's hope. They've hired two more attorneys at his firm but he still has a large caseload."</p><p>She and Brian, an attorney at a prestigious law firm in Dallas, had met last summer while vacationing in Myrtle Beach. He had been out fishing on the pier one morning and she had been jogging along the shoreline. They had struck up a conversation, and he had invited her to breakfast the next day. A few weeks later, they had become lovers.</p><p>When the summer ended they decided to keep the affair going and, beating the odds, their long-distance romance had survived. Over the Christmas holidays Brian had asked her to marry him. She had accepted and now looked forward to her August wedding and her move to Texas.</p><p>Her mother had been in an uproar at the thought of her only child marrying someone other than a Hayes and moving away. Even now, months later, there were days Karen Sanders had problems coping with the inevitable.</p><p>"So how's your dad holding out?" April asked, breaking in on Erica's thoughts. "Has your mom convinced him to disown you yet?"</p><p>Erica thought about her dad, with his soft hazel eyes so filled with love and understanding. He had given her his full support—although he kept it low-key so as not to get her mother riled. But it was the little things he would say and do to let her know he admired the fact that she was doing the very thing he hadn't done, marrying for love instead of for the sake of preserving some legacy. It was no secret her parents' marriage had been arranged.</p><p>"You know as well as I that won't be happening," she replied. She and her father had a close relationship and things between them would always be that way.</p><p>A short while later she and April were walking to their parked cars, promising to get together several more times while April was in town visiting her grandmother. It was the first week of March and there was definitely an Ohio chill in the air, which made Erica tighten her shawl around her shoulders. The shawl, a Giorgio exclusive, had been a birthday gift last year from April.</p><p>Up ahead Erica saw the town's square, brightly lit and rimmed by a well-maintained lawn. The parks in the Fifth Ward might look deteriorated and in need of care, but here the statues of the city's forefathers were in perfect condition. It almost sickened her when she thought of the good citizens' priorities.</p><p>She glanced at her watch. It wasn't even eight o'clock and already the retail businesses had closed, leaving the area looking like a ghost town. The town had survived what would have been rough economic times when a few wealthy residents had come in and bought out the small, struggling businesses, which made the rich even richer and gave them tighter control and ownership of the town.</p><p>Even her job as head librarian and accountant at the town's historical library was nothing more than a cushy position created by her parents—mainly her mother—to assure the history of Hattersville was well preserved. Erica was constantly reminded that if it hadn't been for the forefathers—those free blacks who'd come from Canada—the town wouldn't exist.</p><p>For generations there had been a distinct line between the two groups of people living in Hattersville, the haves and the have-nots. Those that had money—the Hayeses, Delberts, Sanderses, Carters, Heards, Bakers, Cobbs and Stonewells— were those who owned major manufacturing corporations that employed thousands of people who drove into the city to work.</p><p>After giving April a good-bye hug, Erica slid into her car, a cherry-red Mercedes two-door that had been a birthday gift from her father a couple of years ago. After strapping on her seat belt, she was about to turn the key in the ignition when her cell phone rang. She smiled when she saw the caller was Brian. She wasted no time answering it. "Hi."</p><p>"Hi, sweetheart. Where are you?" he asked.</p><p>"About to leave Ryder's Steak House. April's in town so we did dinner." She paused a moment and then asked, "So, do you think you can get away for the weekend?"</p><p>She heard his chuckle and the sexiness of it carried through the phone. She immediately recalled the first time she'd seen him, shirtless and wearing a pair of cutoff jeans with a fishing pole in his hands. He had given her a flirty smile and she'd turned to mush. She had actually felt that smile in every part of her body, every pore and every single cell. That smile had transformed her into one hot and achy mass and on that day she'd discovered that the whole concept of lust was as real as real could get.</p><p>"Yes, I think I can get away," he said, interrupting her thoughts. "By the way, there's something waiting for you at your house."</p><p>A smile touched her lips. He had been known to send her thinking-of-you gifts through the mail. "There is?"</p><p>"Yes."</p><p>She wondered what he'd sent her this time. Last week it was a CD on which he'd recorded "Rock-a-bye Baby" in his deep voice like Barry White's as a way to lull her to sleep each night. "What is it?" she asked.</p><p>He gave her another sexy chuckle before simply saying, "Me. And now that you know, don't speed getting here."</p><p>How could she not, Erica thought after a quick gasp escaped her lips. They hadn't seen each other in over three weeks and she was filled with a deep longing that she knew would be getting satisfied in a big way when she saw him. Sensual shivers danced up her spine when she envisioned how that would be accomplished.</p><p>"Make yourself comfortable until I get there," she told him.</p><p>"I've done that already and I can't wait to see you, baby."</p><p>She couldn't wait to see him, either. "I'm on my way."</p><p>Before Brian could give her a hot response, one that would probably make her detonate, she clicked off the phone, started her engine and pulled out of the parking lot. With Brian in town her plans for the weekend had definitely changed. Everyone would understand.</p><p>Everyone but her mother.</p><p>Brian Lawson held his mobile phone in his hand a m... </p>

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<h3>Review</h3><p>"Terrific, a  compellingly suspenseful tale." -- Clive Cluser. -- <em>Review</em></p><h3>Product Description</h3><p>One by one, patients at Boston Doctors Hospital survive delicate surgery, only to die shortly thereafter--mysteriously and horribly. No one knows why--except the Sisterhood, nurses bound together by a secret pledge to end human suffering--nurses with warped, deadly intentions. Reissue. </p>


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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p><strong>Book Description</strong><br />A mesmerizing narrative about the rise and fall of an unlikely international crime boss.  </p><p>In the 1980s, a wave of Chinese from Fujian province began arriving in America. Like other immigrant groups before them, they showed up with little money but with an intense work ethic and an unshakeable belief in the promise of the United States. Many of them lived in a world outside the law, working in a shadow economy overseen by the ruthless gangs that ruled the narrow streets of New York’s Chinatown.</p><p>The figure who came to dominate this Chinese underworld was a middle-aged grandmother known as Sister Ping. Her path to the American dream began with an unusual business run out of a tiny noodle store on Hester Street. From her perch above the shop, Sister Ping ran a full-service underground bank for illegal Chinese immigrants. But her real business—a business that earned an estimated $40 million—was smuggling people.</p><p>As a “snakehead,” she built a complex—and often vicious—global conglomerate, relying heavily on familial ties, and employing one of Chinatown's most violent gangs to protect her power and profits. Like an underworld CEO, Sister Ping created an intricate smuggling network that stretched from Fujian Province to Hong Kong to Burma to Thailand to Kenya to Guatemala to Mexico. Her ingenuity and drive were awe-inspiring both to the Chinatown community—where she was revered as a homegrown Don Corleone—and to the law enforcement officials who could never quite catch her.</p><p>Indeed, Sister Ping’s empire only came to light in 1993 when the Golden Venture, a ship loaded with 300 undocumented immigrants, ran aground off a Queens beach. It took New York’s fabled “Jade Squad” and the FBI nearly ten years to untangle the criminal network and hone in on its unusual mastermind.</p><p><em>The Snakehead</em> is a panoramic tale of international intrigue and a dramatic portrait of the underground economy in which America’s twelve million illegal immigrants live. Based on hundreds of interviews, Patrick Radden Keefe’s sweeping narrative tells the story not only of Sister Ping, but of the gangland gunslingers who worked for her, the immigration and law enforcement officials who pursued her, and the generation of penniless immigrants who risked death and braved a 17,000 mile odyssey so that they could realize their own version of the American dream. <em>The Snakehead</em> offers an intimate tour of life on the mean streets of Chinatown, a vivid blueprint of organized crime in an age of globalization and a masterful exploration of the ways in which illegal immigration affects us all.</p><hr /><p><strong>A Q&amp;A with Patrick Radden Keefe</strong>  </p><p><strong>Question:</strong> Can you tell us a little bit about Sister Ping? She is one of the most unusual "godmothers" in the annals of modern crime.  </p><p><strong>Answer:</strong> Sure. I first found out about Sister Ping in 2006, when she was on trial in New York. It emerged that she was a Chinese woman who had come to the United States in 1981 with no education, didn’t speak English, and started smuggling other people—from her home village and then the region in China that she came from—to the U.S. She did this for the better part of two decades, and made $40 million or so in the process, and then went on the lam. She was the FBI’s most wanted Asian organized crime figure for another five or six years before they finally tracked her down in Hong Kong, extradited her to the U.S., and tried her.</p><p><strong>Q:</strong> If you passed her in the street, or went by her place of work, if you were wandering around Chinatown as a tourist, would you have any idea about what she did?</p><p><strong>A:</strong> You wouldn’t give her a second look. This was a part of what was so fascinating about her; she made an enormous fortune but she made a point of being very humble in her appearance. She worked incredibly long hours, and there was nothing ostentatious about the way she carried herself. And I actually think that this studied anonymity was part of what allowed her to do what she did with impunity for so long. And it also secured her a huge amount of respect within the Chinatown neighborhood, where she was regarded as kind of a humble, hometown heroine who hadn’t let the success she’d had go to her head.</p><p><strong>Q:</strong> Sister Ping was clever enough to distance herself from the more violent aspects of human trafficking. How did she outsource the seedier aspects of what she was doing, and how did that ultimately affect her?</p><p><strong>A:</strong> Well, this in some ways was what brought about her downfall, in that she was always a perfectionist, and when she started out as a smuggler in the early 1980s she would transport people herself. By that I mean, she would be there in Hong Kong when she put them on a plane; they would be flown to Guatemala, she would be there in Guatemala when they arrived. They would be escorted up through Mexico; she would meet them in California, then she would fly back with them to New York City. But as her operation grew, and the word spread—really, around the world—that this was a woman who could move anyone from point A to point B, it got so large that she could no longer oversee everything herself, and she had to start subcontracting. And this, in some ways, was her great mistake, because she subcontracted to a very violent gang of youths in Chinatown known as the Fuk Ching gang, and the gang, ultimately—because they were less scrupulous than she was about issues of safety and things like that—ended up mismanaging things. There were a number of these journeys that ended in death, and then a number of murders as well.</p><p><strong>Q:</strong> Tell us what the title <em>The Snakehead</em> means.</p><p><strong>A:</strong> The snakehead is the name, the Chinese name, to refer to these human smugglers, who basically emerged in China in the 1960s and 1970s, helping smuggle people out of China. But then in the late 1980s and early 1990s—basically after Tiananmen Square—it became a massive (many say four- to six-billion-dollar-a-year) industry. These were the snakeheads, and among the snakeheads Sister Ping was the most prolific and certainly the most famous. </p><p>In the case of The Golden Venture, they would bring these ships to the U.S., and they wouldn’t want to bring them right to the shore in California or Massachusetts or New York—as you can imagine, it would look a little strange to have a freighter coming up, to appear in Brooklyn and drop off hundreds of Chinese people. So they would bring them to about a hundred miles off shore, out in the open ocean, and then they would send out small fishing boats which would offload the ships. This was called offloading and it was actually a kind of niche in the industry. And the gangsters were the ones who occupied this niche. They would take these fishing boats out and bring the passengers back in. Because Sister Ping had outsourced offloading to one of these gangs, the gang happened to have a lot of inner turmoil in the early part of 1993, precisely because they were making so much money in the snakehead business and they didn’t know how to divide it, and so there was a massive shoot-out just weeks before The Golden Venture arrived, and the guys who were supposed to go and offload the ship were all killed in the shootout. All of the guys who had gone to kill them were hoping they could be the ones to go and offload it and collect the money from the passengers, but they were all locked up and put in prison. So when the ship arrived, there was nobody to offload it, and that was why it came in—all the way in, to the Rockaways, in Queens, and actually ran aground right there on the beach in the media capital of the world.</p><p><strong>Q:</strong> Of course, the real payoff for the reader is this reading experience—this is an amazing crime story with incredible twists and turns. </p><p><strong>A:</strong> Yeah; it’s funny, I really didn’t anticipate this to be the case when I began the research. As I started digging in and talking to law enforcement sources and finding out about these various underworld figures, in Chinatown but also in places like Bangkok, I began to realize the relationships between them. One of the things that’s interesting in the book is that you realize that a whole series of people were actually cooperating with American authorities at different times over the years, that we’d never really known about. And in many cases, they were going to American authorities and giving them information about one another. There was an interesting, almost spy-versus-spy game going on between these ruthless, but also very enterprising and business-minded, underworld figures. </p><p>(Photo © Sai Srikandarajah)</p><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Starred Review. Keefe (_Chatter_) examines America's complicated relationship with immigration in this brilliant account of Cheng Chui Ping, known as Sister Ping, who built a multimillion-dollar empire as a snakehead, smuggling Chinese immigrants into America. Sister Ping herself entered the U.S. legally in 1981 from China's Fuzhou province, but was soon known among Fujianese immigrants in Manhattan's Chinatown as the go-to for advice, loans and connections to bring their families to America. Her empire grew so large that she contracted out muscle work to the local gang, the Fuk Ching. Keefe points to the <em>Golden Venture</em>—a ship full of Fujianese illegals that ran fatally aground in 1993—as the beginning of the end for Sister Ping. She was sentenced in 2000 to 35 years in prison for conspiracy, money laundering and trafficking. Despite an enormous cast of characters in a huge underground web of global crime, Keefe's account maintains the swift pace of a thriller. With the immigration debate still boiling, this exploration of how far people will go to achieve the American dream is a must-read. <em>(July 21)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p>


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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p>After Tom Wolfe defined the '60s in <em>The Bonfire of the Vanities</em> arrived, the literati called Wolfe an "aging enfant terrible."</p><p>He wasn't aging; he was growing up. <em>Bonfire</em>'s pyrotechnic satire of 1980s New York wasn't just Wolfe's best book, it was the best bestselling fiction debut of the decade, a miraculously realistic study of an unbelievably status-mad society, from the fiery combatants of the South Bronx to the bubbling scum at the top of Wall Street. Sherman McCoy, a farcically arrogant investment banker (dubbed a "Master of the Universe," Wolfe's brilliant metaphorical co-opting of a then-important toy for boys), hits a black guy in the Bronx with his Mercedes and runs--right into a nightmare peopled by vicious mistresses, thin wives like "social x-rays," slime-bag politicos, tabloid hacks, and Dantesque denizens of the "justice" system. If the Coen and Marx brothers together dramatized <em>The Great Gatsby</em>, Wolfe's <em>Bonfire</em> would probably be funnier. Many think his second novel, <em>Bonfire</em> will never die down.</p><p>You might find it interesting to compare the film <em>--Tim Appelo</em></p><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>In his spellbinding first novel, Wolfe proves that he has the right stuff to write propulsively engrossing fiction. Both his cynical irony and sense of the ridiculous are perfectly suited to his subject: the roiling, corrupt, savage, ethnic melting pot that is New York City. Ranging from the rarefied atmosphere of Park Avenue to the dingy courtrooms of the Bronx, this is a totally credible tale of how the communities uneasily coexist and what happens when they collide. On a clandestine date with his mistress one night, top Wall Street investment banker and snobbish WASP Sherman McCoy misses his turn on the thruway and gets lost in the South Bronx; his Mercedes hits and seriously injures a young black man. The incident is inflated by a manipulative black leader, a district attorney seeking reelection and a sleazy tabloid reporter into a full-blown scandal, a political football and a hokey morality play. Wolfe adroitly swings his focus from one to another of the people involved: the protagonist McCoy; Kramer, the assistant D.A.; two detectivesone Irish, the other Jewish; a slimy, alcoholic British journalist; an outraged judge, etc. He has an infallible, mocking ear for New York voices, rendering with equal precision the defense lawyer's "gedoutdahere," the deliberate bad grammar ("that don't help matters") of the wily "reverend" and the clenched-teeth WASP locution ('howjado"). His reporter's eye has seized every gritty detail of the criminal justice system, and he is also acute in rendering the hierarchy at a society party. He convincingly equates the jungles of Wall Street and the Bronx: in both places men casually use the same four-letter expletives and, no matter what their standing on the social ladder, find that power kindles their lust for nubile young women. Erupting from the first line with noise, color, tension and immediacy, this immensely entertaining novel accurately mirrors a system that has broken down: from the social code of basic good manners to the fair practices of the law. It is safe to predict that the book will stand as a brilliant evocation of New York's class, racial and political structure in the 1980s. 200,000 first printing; $200,000 ad/promo; Literary Guild dual main selection; author tour. <br />Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p>


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<h3>Product Description</h3><p>When half-human Cal Leandros wakes up on a beach littered with the slaughtered remains if a variety of hideous creatures, he's not that concerned. In fact, he can't remember anything-including who he is.   </p><p>And that's just the way his deadly enemies like it... </p>


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<div><h3>From</h3><p>Popular author Picoult tackles the controversial topic of gay rights in her latest powerful tale. When music therapist Zoe Baxter’s latest pregnancy ends in a stillbirth, her husband Max decides he can’t handle any more heartbreak and leaves her. As she picks up the pieces of her life, Zoe is surprised to find herself falling for a school counselor who happens to be a woman. While Zoe is finding happiness with Vanessa, Max falls off the wagon and is helped by a pastor from his brother’s evangelical church. Vanessa and Zoe wed in Massachusetts, and Vanessa offers to carry one of the fertilized embryos Zoe and Max stored. Excited by the prospect of being a mother, Zoe goes to Max to get him to release the embryos to her and is shocked when he instead sues her for custody of them, backed by his church. Told from the perspectives of all three major characters, Picoult’s gripping novel explores all sides of the hot-button issue and offers a CD of folk songs that reflect Zoe’s feelings throughout the novel. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The always topical Picoult plans a multimedia tour to more than two dozen cities with Ellen Wilber, who will perform the songs she and Picoult wrote together. --Kristine Huntley </p><h3>Product Description</h3><p><strong><em>Every life has a soundtrack. </em></strong><strong>All you have to do is listen.</strong></p><p>Music has set the tone for most of Zoe Baxter’s life. There’s the melody that reminds her of the summer she spent rubbing baby oil on her stomach in pursuit of the perfect tan. A dance beat that makes her think of using a fake ID to slip into a nightclub. A dirge that marked the years she spent trying to get pregnant. </p><p><strong>For better or for worse, music is the language of memory. It is also the language of love.</strong></p><p>In the aftermath of a series of personal tragedies, Zoe throws herself into her career as a music therapist. When an unexpected friendship slowly blossoms into love, she makes plans for a new life, but to her shock and inevitable rage, some people—even those she loves and trusts most—don’t want that to happen. </p><p><em>Sing You Home </em>is about identity, love, marriage, and parenthood. It’s about people wanting to do the right thing for the greater good, even as they work to fulfill their own personal desires and dreams. And it’s about what happens when the outside world brutally calls into question the very thing closest to our hearts: <em>family.</em></p><p>INCLUDES A COMPACT DISC OF ORIGINAL SONGS</p><p>Music by Ellen Wilber</p><p>Lyrics by Jodi Picoult</p><p>All songs performed by Ellen Wilber </p>

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Han Solo was a child without a past, a Corellian street urchin, abandoned, foraging for scraps of food, when the cruel Garris Shrike whisked him away to a nomadic band of spacefaring criminals. Now, years later, Han fights his way free. His goal: to become an Imperial Navy pilot. But first he needs hand-on experience flying spacecraft, and for that he takes a job on the planet Ylesia—a steaming world of religious fanaticism, illicit drugs, and alluring sensuality…where dreams are destroyed and escape is impossible.


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Once one of the Academy's brightest stars, Han Solo is now a fugitive from the Imperial Navy. But he has made a valuable friend in a former Wookiee slave named Chewbacca, who has sworn Han a life debt. Han will need all the help he can get. For the Ylesian Hutts have dispatched the dreaded bounty hunter Boba Fett to track down the man who already outsmarted them once. But Han and Chewie find themselves in even bigger trouble when they agree to lend their services to crime lords Jiliac and Jabba the Hutts. Suddenly the two smugglers are thrust into the middle of a battle between the might of the Empire and the treachery of their outlaw allies…a battle where even victory means death!


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The Millennium Falcon is "the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy." So when Han Solo wins it in a game of sabacc, he and Chewbacca become kings of the smugglers—uncatchable and unstoppable. But with the Empire clamping down, Han knows his luck can't last. Still, when an old girlfriend who is now the leader of an insurgent Rebel group offers him a shot at an incredible fortune, Han can't resist. The plan seems a sure thing. The resistance will be light and the take enormous. Han and his friends will divide it equally with the Rebels. Too bad for Han that the planet of Ylesia is far from a pushover, that the Rebels have an agenda of their own, and that smuggler friends can often turn into enemies…quicker than lightspeed.


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As the Yuuzhan Vong's devastating conquests continue unchecked, Luke Skywalker, Han and Leia Solo, and Wedge Antilles are forced to destroy what they have risked their lives to create…

Scattering after the Yuuzhan Vong's invasion of Coruscant, the panic-stricken members of the New Republic Advisory Council pause just long enough to set up a mock defense on nearby Borleias—an attempt to buy time that fools no one, least of all the Jedi.

Leia and Han Solo travel from world to world to foment rebellion against the New Republic's disastrous appeasement policies. But Luke Skywalker has chosen the most dangerous assignment of all: to sneak into the Yuuzhan Vong's stronghold on Coruscant. His outrageous scheme to gain entry is either brilliant or suicidal, depending on the outcome. Bearing down swiftly on Borleias is a Yuuzhan Vong invasion fleet, determined to destroy the galaxy's remaining defenders…


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Not since Emperor Palpatine have the Jedi battled such monstrous evil. Unless they succeed against staggering odds, the galaxy is doomed.

Luke Skywalker's daring mission to halt the Yuuzhan Vong's nefarious plot to overthrow the New Republic is struggling on all fronts. And time is slipping away for Han and Leia Organa Solo, trapped on a small planet whose rulers are about to yield to Yuuzhan Vong pressure to give up the Jedi rebels.

On Coruscant, Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker have made a shocking discovery that is preventing the Yuuzhan Vong from exerting complete control. But when the enemy tracks them down, Luke and Mara are thrust into a firece battle for their lives. Suddenly, the chances of escaping appear nearly impossible. And in space, another battle rages, one that holds ominous consequences for the New Republic—and for the Jedi themselves…


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Repercussions from the dark side's fatal seduction of Jacen Solo and the mysterious plague of madness afflicting young Jedi continue to wreak havoc galaxy-wide. Having narrowly escaped the deranged Force worshippers known as the Mind Walkers, and a deadly Sith hit squad, Luke and Ben Skywalker are in pursuit of the now Masterless Sith apprentice. It is a chase that leads to the forbidding planet Dathomir, where an enclave of powerful dark-side Force-wielders will give Vestara the edge she needs to escape—and where the Skywalkers will be forced into combat for their quarry and their lives.
Meanwhile, Han and Leia Solo have completed their own desperate mission, shuttling madness-stricken Jedi from Coruscant to safe haven in the Transitory Mists and beyond the grasp of Galactic Alliance Chief of State Natasi Daala. But the bold maneuver has intensified Daala's fury, and she is determined to shatter Jedi Order resistance once and for all.
Yet no greater threat exists than that which still waits in the depths of the distant Maw Cluster: A being of pure, ravenous dark-side energy named Abeloth calls out across the stars to Jedi and Sith alike. For some, it may be the ultimate source of answers crucial to their survival. For others, it could be the ultimate weapon of conquest. But for all, it is a game-changing—and life-altering—encounter of untold magnitude, and a tactical gambit with unimaginable consequences.


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After a violent civil war, and the devastation wrought by the now-fallen Darth Caedus, the Galactic Alliance is in crisis—and in need. From all corners, politicians, power brokers, and military leaders converge on Coruscant for a crucial summit to restore order, negotiate differences, and determine the future of their unified worlds. But even more critical, and far more uncertain, is the future of the Jedi.
In a shocking move, Chief of State Natasi Daala orders the arrest of Luke Skywalker for failing to prevent Jacen Solo's turn to the dark side and subsequent reign of terror as a Sith Lord. But it's only the first blow in an anti-Jedi backlash fueled by a hostile government and suspicious public. When Jedi Knight Valin Horn, scion of a politically influential family, suffers a mysterious psychotic break and becomes a dangerous fugitive, the Jedi become the target of a media-driven witch-hunt. Facing conviction on the charges, Luke has only one choice. He must strike a bargain with the calculating Daala-his freedom in exchange for his exile from Coruscant and from the Jedi Order.
Now, though forbidden to intervene in Jedi affairs, Luke is determined to keep grim history from being repeated. With his son, Ben, at his side, Luke sets out to unravel the shocking truth behind Jacen Solo's corruption and downfall. But the secrets he uncovers among the enigmatic Force mystics of the distant world Dorin may bring his quest—and life as he knows it—to a sudden end. And all the while, another Jedi Knight, consumed by the same madness as Valin Horn, is headed for Coruscant on a fearsome mission that could doom the Jedi Order . . . and devastate the entire galaxy.


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Honor and duty collide with friendship and blood ties as the Skywalker and Solo clans find themselves on opposing sides of an explosive conflict.

When a mission to uncover an illegal missile factory on the planet Adumar ends in a violent ambush—from which Jedi Knight Jacen Solo and his protégé and cousin, Ben Skywalker, narrowly escape with their lives—it's the most alarming evidence yet that political unrest is threatening to ignite into total rebellion. The specter of full-scale war looms between a growing cadre of defiant planets and the Galactic Alliance that some fear is becoming a new Empire.

Determined to root out those behind the mayhem, Jacen follows a trail of cryptic clues to a rendezvous with the most shocking of revelations. Meanwhile Luke grapples with something even more troubling: dream visions of a shadowy figure whose Force power and ruthlessness remind him of Darth Vader. If Luke's visions come to pass, they will bring untold pain to the Jedi Master…and to the galaxy.


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In the Stars Wars [sic] galaxy, evil is on the move as the Galactic Alliance and Jedi order battle forces seen and unseen, from rampant internal treachery to the nightmare of all-out war.

With each victory against the Corellian rebels, Jacen Solo becomes more admired, more powerful, and more certain of achieving galactic peace. But that peace may come with a price. Despite strained relationships caused by opposing sympathies in the war, Han and Leia Solo and Luke and Mara Skywalker remain united by one frightening suspicion: someone insidious is manipulating this war, and if he or she isn't stopped, all efforts at reconciliation may be for naught. And as sinister visions lead Luke to believe that the source of the evil is none other than Lumiya, Dark Lady of the Sith, the greatest peril revolves around Jacen himself.


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Mired in greed and corruption, tangled in bureaucracy, the Galactic Republic is crumbling. In the outlying systems, where the Trade Federation maintains a stranglehold on shipping routes, tensions are boiling over—and now even the comfort of Coruscant is being invaded, as Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi foil an assassination attempt on Supreme Chancellor Valorum.

As Humans and aliens gather for an emergency trade summit, conspiracies sealed with large sums of money run rampant, and no one is entirely above suspicion. But the greatest threat of all remains unknown to everyone except three members of the Trade Federation who have entered into a shadowy alliance with a dark overlord. While the trio will be content with more money and fewer problems, Darth Sidious has grander, far more terrifying plans.


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Fighting alongside the Corellian rebels, Han and Leia are locked in a war against their son Jacen, who grows more powerful and more dangerous with each passing day. Nothing can stop Jacen’s determination to bring peace with a glorious Galactic Alliance victory–whatever the price.

While Luke grieves the loss of his beloved wife and deals with his guilt over killing the wrong person in retaliation, Jaina, Jag, and Zekk hunt for the real assassin, unaware that the culprit commands Sith powers that can cloud their minds and misdirect their attacks–and even turn them back on themselves.

As Luke and Ben Skywalker struggle to find their place among the chaos, Jacen, shunned by friends and family, launches an invasion to rescue the only person still loyal to him. But with the battle raging on, and the galaxy growing more turbulent and riotous, there’s no question that it is Jacen who is most wanted: dead or alive.


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Against all odds, the controversial Wraith Squadron has survived its first covert mission. But now they are called upon to cheat death twice. This time Wedge Antilles sends them in to stop the warlord Zsinj and his Super Star Destroyer, Iron Fist. If Zsinj joins the Empire, it could turn the tide of war against the Rebels. The Wraith Squadron's mission: infiltrate the warlord's fleet and uncover his carefully guarded plans. To do so, they must pose as ruthless pirates seeking to join Zsinj's forces. And that means first becoming pirates in space lanes teeming with Imperial Navy patrols. If that isn't enough to get them killed, they'll have to pass one last test—a suicide mission for Zsinj.

Can they survive the test and turn the tables on Zsinj?

Or is this the end for Wraith Squadron?


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Their covert mission has been a success. The enemy has been vanquished. Or so they thought. The Super Star Destroyer Iron Fist somehow escaped destruction and with it the New Republic's greatest threat, the infamous warlord Zsinj. To defeat him, Wraith Squadron must join a combat task force led by the only man crafty enough to beat Zsinj at his own game: Han Solo. But Zsinj knows the X-wing fighters' indomitable courage is both their greatest strength—and their greatest weakness. For even against the most overwhelming odds, the Rebels will fight to the death. And that will leave Zsinj the galaxy's unchallenged master!


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The X-wing fighter pilots have earned their reputation as the Rebel Alliance's ulitmate strike force by overwhelming enemies with their rapid-fire assaults. But now they are about to embark on a diplomatic mission that will prove to be even more hazardous than all-out combat...

The neutral world of Adumar has decided to pick a side in the war to control the galaxy. Delegates from both the New Republic and the Empire have been invited to Adumar, and each camp will be given a change to plead its government's case. But there is one small catch: since the Adumari prize military skill above all else, they insist that both delegations be composed exclusively of fighter pilots. For pilot Wedge Antilles and his company, it's an unfamiliar exercise in diplomacy - and one that's filled with unexpected peril. For once they arrive, the X-wing pilots are challenged by Adumar's fierce warriors and attacked by Imperial assassins bent on eliminating all competition. But these challenges pale in comparison to the threat posed by a rogue Republic agent...one who is determined to win Adumar's allegiance once and for all - even if it costs the X-wing pilots their lives.


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It is Wedge Antilles' boldest creation: a covert-action unit of X-wing fighters, its pilots drawn from the dregs of other units, castoffs and rejects given one last chance. But before the new pilots can complete their training, the squadron's base is attacked by former Imperial Admiral Trigit, and Wraith Squadron is forced to swing into action—taking over an Imperial warship and impersonating its crew. The mission: to gain vital intelligence about Trigit's secret weapons, to sabotage the admiral's plans, and to lure him into an Alliance trap. But the high-stakes gamble pits Wraith Squadron's ragtag renegades against the Empire's most brilliant master of guile and deception. Are they up to the challenge? If not, the penalty is instant death...


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Stranded on a jungle planet, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia found themselves desperately racing Imperial Stormtroopers to claim a gem that had mysterious powers over the Force.

Luke Skywalker expected trouble when he volunteered to follow Princess Leia on her mission to Circarpous to enlist their Rebel underground in the battle against the Empire. But the farm boy from Tatooine hadn't counted on an unscheduled landing in the swamplands of Mimban…hadn't counted on any of the things they would find on that strange planet.

Hidden on this planet was the Kaiburr crystal, a mysterious gem that would give the one who possessed it such powers over the Force that he would be all but invincible. In the wrong hands, the crystal could be deadly. So Luke had to find this treasure and find it fast.

Accompanied by Artoo-Detoo and See-Threepio—his two faithful droids—Luke and the Princess set out for the Temple of Pomojema…and a confrontation deep beneath the surface of an alien world with the most fearsome villain in the galaxy!


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The Republic is decaying, even under the leadership of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, who was elected to save the galaxy from collapsing under the forces of discontent. On the tiny but strategic planet of Ansion, a powerful faction is on the verge of joining the growing secessionst movement. At the Chancellor's request, the Jedi Council sends two Jedi Knights, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luminara Unduli, along with their Padawans Anakin Skywalker and Barriss Offee, to stabilize the planet's population. To succeed, the Jedi will have to fulfill near impossible tasks, befriend wary strangers, and influence two great armies, stalked all the while by an enemy sworn to see the negotiations collapse and the mission fail….


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The Death Star has been destroyed. But back at the Rebel base, the celebration is over. The Alliance has intercepted a coded transmission, indicating that the Empire is determined to discover which pilot was responsible for the destruction of the Death Star. New security protocol is in effect: The details of the Death Star mission are now top secret, and no one is to know that Luke fired the decisive shot.

But that's hardly the Alliance's only problem. Almost all their finances were lost with the destruction of Alderaan -- and they are out of money. Their last hope is to access the secret accounts on Muunilinst, the former home of the InterGalactic Banking Clan, and the financial heart of the galaxy. So Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca, and the droids head for Muunilinst.

The Empire's top assassin will be waiting for them.


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The deadly assassin contracted by the Empire, X-7, is closer than ever to discovering the identity of his target. He's already infiltrated the top levels of the Rebel Alliance and gained Leia's trust. But he still hasn't been able to get Leia to give up the classified information he needs.
After all, Leia Organa is unbreakable: the youngest, toughest member of the Galactic Senate, and after its dissolution, the fiercest opponent of the Empire. She's survived kidnapping and torture under Darth Vader, but she's never had to do anything more difficult than her latest mission. She is going home.
And X-7 knows it will be the perfect opportunity to destroy her.


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Deadly assassin X-7 has infiltrated the Rebel Alliance. Trained by ruthless Commander Rezi Soresh, X-7 is the best there is: he feels nothing and sees everything. Now, he's gunning for the ultimate prize: Luke Skywalker, the pilot that destroyed the Death Star. The seemingly clueless kid from Tatooine proves more resourceful and difficult to eliminate than X-7 could ever have imagined. Surrounded by friends and allies, and with a connection to the Force that grows stronger every day, Luke seems all but impervious to the usual tactics.

But X-7 isn't done with him yet. This time, he knows how to bring Luke down. He'll shatter the trust that holds the Rebel Alliance together -- and manufacture the ultimate betrayal.


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Deadly assassin X-7 has never failed to complete a mission--until now.

Unmasked and unarmed, he narrowly escapes from the Rebels with his life and little else. His cover may be blown, but he's not returning to Commander Rezi Soresh until his target has been eliminated. This time, he has a new plan. He'll gather six of the best pilots in the galaxy–all of them roguish mercenaries who care only about money–and turn them loose on Red Squadron.

He counts on his pilot's mercenary instincts to keep them in line. But one of them has a secret that could cost X-7 his victory.


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The Force is still to be reckoned with, primarily because Darth Vader continues to be one of the most fascinating dark pop icons since Dracula. Picking up where Matthew Stover's Revenge of the Sith (2005) left off, Luceno (Labyrinth of Evil) delivers exciting battle scenes and brave characters, including the beloved Wookie, Chewbacca. His ease with Star Wars techno-jargon is admirable. What's needed in this intermittently entertaining installment is a better opponent for Vader. Unfortunately, Yoda, the spiritual heart of the saga, appears to be in hiding. Instead, Luceno focuses on Jedi knight Roan Shryne; his Padawan sidekick, Olee Starstone; and other survivors of Emperor Palpatine's Jedi extermination. All appear to be earnest, if pale, imitations of Obi-Wan Kenobi. And where's Han Solo, far older than the Skywalker twins? Why can't Vader sense his twins' existence with his vaunted supernatural abilities? Too often the sympathetic Vader wallows in self-pity. Thankfully, exuberantly evil Palpatine (aka Darth Sidious) returns with more power lessons Vader laps up eagerly: "Where the Jedi gained power through understanding, the Sith gain understanding through power."


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<div><p class="description"></p><p class="description">A dazzling new short story featuring Darth Maul, merciless apprentice of evil…<br><br>On the distant planet Dorvalla, precious ore is mined by two competing companies: InterGalactic Ore and Lommite Limited. Neither rival suspects that they are central to a sinister plot masterminded by Darth Sidious, Lord of the Sith, himself.<br><br>Dispatched by Sidious on his very first solo mission, Darth Maul infiltrates Lommite Limited. There, his unique gifts of deception and subterfuge will set off an explosive chain of events that could destroy both companies, leaving them ripe for takeover by the Trade Federation. But a vengeful Lommite Limited Manager with his own thirst for retaliation against InterGal could blow Maul's cover — and all of Sidious's fiendishly laid plans…</p></div>


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The war that erupted in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones is nearing its boiling point. In Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the fates of key players on both sides of the conflict will be sealed. But first, crucial events that pave the way to that time of reckoning unfold in a labyrinth of evil....

On the planet Neimoidia, Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker set out to capture a treacherous ally of the Sith. Though they come up empty, their daring efforts yield an unexpected prize: intelligence capable of leading the Republic forces to their ultimate quarry, the ever-elusive Darth Sidious, whom they suspect has been manipulating every aspect of the Separatist rebellion. In the escalating galaxy-wide chess game of sabotage and retaliations, Sidious stays one move ahead. Then the trail takes a shocking turn. For Sidious and his minions have set in motion a ruthlessly orchestrated campaign to divide and overwhelm the Jedi forces—and bring the Republic to its knees.


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Two years have passed since Jacen Solo, seduced by the dark side and reanointed as the brutal Sith Lord Darth Caedus, died at the hands of his twin sister Jaina, Sword of the Jedi. For a grieving Han and Leia, the shadow of their son's tragic downfall still looms large. But Jacen's own bright and loving daughter, Allana, offers a ray of hope for the future as she thrives in her grandparents' care. The eager, inquisitive and Force-strong girl makes a curious discovery aboard her grandfather's beloved spacecraft—the much-overhauled but ever-dependable Millennium Falcon. The Solo family then finds itself at a new turning point, about to set out on an odyssey into uncertain territory, untold adventure, and unexpected rewards.

To Han, who knows every bolt, weld, and sensor of the Falcon as if they were parts of himself, the strange device Allana shows him is utterly alien. But its confounding presence—and Allana's infectious desire to unravel its mystery—are impossible to dismiss. The only answer lies in backtracking into the past on a fact-finding expedition to retrace the people, places, and events in the checkered history of the vessel that's done everything from making the Kessel Run"in less than twelve parsecs" to helping topple an evil Empire.

From the moment the Falcon broke loose from a Corellian assembly line like an untamed creature with a will of its own, it seemed destined to seek out trouble. It wasn't long before the feisty YT-1300 freighter went from shuttling cargo to smuggling contraband. But it's a fateful rendezvous on Coruscant, at the explosive height of the Republic/Separatist uprising, that launches a galaxywide cat-and-mouse game whose newest players are Han, Leia, Allana and C-3PO. And they're not alone: Crime lords, galactic pirates, rogue politicians and fortune hunters alike loom at every turn of the quest—each with his or her own desperate stake in the Millennium Falcon's most momentous mission.

Through the years and across the stars, from the Rim Worlds to points beyond, the race will lead them all to a final standoff for a prize some will risk everything to find—and pay any cost to possess.


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In the spectacular finale of the New Jedi Order series, Luke, Han, and Leia rally for their last stand against the enemy that threatens not only the galaxy but the Force itself.

The Galactic Alliance's hard-won success in countering the extragalactic Yuuzhan Vong onslaught has proven all too brief—and the tide has turned more to the invaders' advantage. The marauding aliens have pushed deeper into the galaxy in their ruthless quest for domination. The remnants of the resistance are struggling to form a united front. Clearly the stage is set for endgame.

Now, as Luke and his team try desperately to convince the living world of Zonama Sekot to join the Jedi's final campaign against the Yuuzhan Vong, a lone space station is all that stands between Alliance headquarters and ferocious enemy forces, which are poised to wage their most decisive assault. For both sides, too much has been sacrificed—and too much is at stake—to ever turn back. And now nothing can stand in the way of seizing victory...or facing annihilation.


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When the Imperial prison barge Purge — temporary home to five hundred of the galaxy's most ruthless killers, rebels, scoundrels and thieves — breaks down in a distant, uninhabited part of space, its only hope seems to lie with a Star Destroyer found drifting, derelict and seemingly abandoned. But when a boarding party is sent to scavenge for parts, only half of them come back — bringing with them a horrific disease so lethal that within hours, nearly all aboard the Purge will die in ways too hideous to imagine.

And death is only the beginning.

The Purge's half-dozen survivors — two teenage brothers, a sadistic captain of the guards, a couple of rogue smugglers and the chief medical officer, the lone woman on board — will do whatever it takes to stay alive. But nothing can prepare them for what lies waiting onboard the Star Destroyer amid its vast creaking emptiness that isn't really empty at all. The dead are rising, soulless, unstoppable, and unspeakably hungry.


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Twenty-five years ago the survivors of the marooned Sith ship Omen bloodlessly conquered the native population of the remote planet Kesh, installing themselves as overlords and transforming the primitive Keshiri civilization into a new Sith society. Letting nothing stand in his way—including his own brother's life—Omen commander-turned-Grand Lord Yaru Korsin has ruled unopposed ever since. But now his days, and those of the ruthless Sith order on Kesh, may be numbered.

Revolt—and revenge—have been brewing in the hearts of the two women closest to Korsin. One is Adari Vaal, the once-outcast Keshiri who rescued the stranded Sith, aided their domination of Kesh, and now leads the secret resistance against them. The other is Seelah, wife of Korsin, widow of his murdered brother, and mastermind of the plot to assassinate the Grand Lord and seize power. But have the comforts of a king and his own arrogance blunted Korsin's cunning Sith instincts? Or is he ready to deal swiftly and mercilessly with treachery from any quarter?

Enemies themselves, Adari and Seelah are unaware of each other's destiny-altering gambits. They only know that there can be no turning back—and no escaping the consequences if they fail.


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When valuable prisoner Lune Divinian disappears from his cell on Yavin 4, Luke is determined to find him. As the only link to X-7, the assassin sent to kill Luke, Div is the only hope to staying a step ahead of the Empire.

Across the galaxy, X-7 has escaped from Imperial custody. Caught between the past and the present, X-7 must fight the only battle for which he's not prepared: the battle with his identity. But his desperate confusion makes him more dangerous than ever.

A chance encounter and a figure from the past bring X-7, Luke, and Div together for a final showdown that will reveal everything—or destroy them all.


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It was supposed to be a simple mission to the palace of Nyemari. Quick, covert, easy.

But before the Rebels can get off the planet, Luke receives a mysterious—and deadly—message from former Imperial Commander Rezi Soresh. Though Soresh's assassin, X-7, didn't manage to kill Luke, Soresh hasn't given up on vengeance.

Luke must surrender himself, or Soresh is prepared to kill a ship full of innocent travelers. Luke has no choice. To save the hostages, he must follow Soresh's directions.

Even if they lead straight into a trap.


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Princess Leia, Han Solo, and Chewbacca set out on a mission vital to the survival of the fragile New Republic. They are searching for the long-lost children of the Jedi on the frozen world of Belsavis, from whose dark crypts no one has returned alive. Halfway across the galaxy, Luke Skywalker is on an equally dangerous mission. Taken aboard the enemy Dreadnaught Eye of Palpatine, Luke must find a way to destroy the automated ship before it completes the mission encoded into its super-sophisticated artificial intelligence system: the total annihilation of Belsavis. To succeed, Luke will need the help of the spirit of the Jedi Knight Callista, who gave her life to stop the ship once before. The mystery of the crypts, the invincible power of the Dreadnaught, the lost Jedi, and the burgeoning passion between Luke and Callista come together in a stunning climax worthy of the magnificent Star Wars saga.


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Nam Chorios is a barren backwater world—once a dreaded prison colony, now home to a fanatic religious cult. It is here that Princess Leia has been taken captive by a ruthless and charismatic warlord bent on destroying the New Republic. Meanwhile, Luke lands on a mysterious planet in search of his lost love, Callista, only to discover the Force is his own worst enemy. But worst of all, as Han, Chewie, and Lando leave Coruscant on a desperate rescue mission, a strange life-form, unlike any the galaxy has ever seen, awakens...a life-form so malevolent it will destroy everything—both Empire and New Republic—on its path to domination.


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Vanished?

D'vouran seems like a normal planet. The friendly locals welcome Tash, Zak, and their uncle Hoole with open arms.

But Tash has a bad feeling about this place.

There's a madman running around the streets shouting that people are disappearing. He's saying they've just vanished into thin air.

Tash knows that's impossible. But something is really wrong on D'vouran. Will she find the courage to trust her gut instincts…before it's too late?


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Welcome to the city of the dead…

When Hoole, Tash, and Zak stop on Necropolis to look for a new starship, Zak immediately makes friends with the local kids. And he's willing to pull a crazy stunt—like going into the Necropolitan cemetery at midnight—just to prove he's as tough as they are.

The cemetery is silent as death and full of white, wriggling boneworms. And maybe Zak should have thought twice before accepting this dare. Just because the bodies are buried doesn't mean they're dead.


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When Hoole decides to visit the planet Gobindi, even a warning from Tash's anonymous HoloNet contact isn't enough to change his mind. He's determined to study the planet's ancient ruins. For Tash, it's a chance to discover what her mysterious uncle is really up to.

On Gobindi, Tash thinks she's discovered an Imperial plot to spread a terrible virus across the galaxy. But when Hoole assures her that nothing is wrong, Tash is relieved.

For a little while.

When a big brown bump appears on her arm, Tash is scared. Has Hoole lied to her? Is he working with the Empire? Tash knows she must discover the truth.

Meanwhile, the bump on her arm is getting bigger….


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Hologram Fun World. It's a theme park visited by families from all across the galaxy. It's a place where Tash and Zak can safely hang out while Hoole continues his work.

It's a place where daytime fun turns into nighttime terror.

One of the park's attractions is called the Nightmare Machine. It scans your brain, then shows you your worst fears in holographic form. Hairy, creepy-crawly insects. Cyborrean battle dogs thirsting for blood.

But it's not real, so it's fun—right?

Wrong.

As Zak and Tash will soon find out, nightmares can come true.


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Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.
Master and apprentice.
Chosen by fate. Destined for conflict.

The planet of Mawan has been decimated by war and the resulting chaos. The population has taken refuge underground, while three greedy crimelords battle over food and fuel on the planet's surface. Only one group has a chance at securing peace—the Jedi.

But what if there's something even more sinister behind the chaos? What if the planet is really a trap, with many innocent lives held in the balance?

What if, in order to save Mawan, a Jedi must die?


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Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.
Master and apprentice.
Chosen by fate. Destined for conflict.

There is increasing tension between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. Anakin still feels responsible for the death of a Jedi Council member—a guilt he does not think Obi-Wan can help him overcome.

Obi-Wan feels he is a less-than-perfect Master—trying to teach a less-than-perfect apprentice.

It is with these feelings that Obi-Wan and Anakin head to the last free planets of the Uziel system to make a daring rescue attempt. When the rescue goes awry and Anakin is taken prisoner, the Master and Padawan must overcome their conflict—or a planet will die.


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Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.
Master and apprentice.
Chosen by fate. Destined for conflict.

The planet of Romin is a hotbed of villainy and corruption. It is a refuge for criminals from across the galaxy—including evil scientist Jenna Zan Arbor, an arch-enemy of the Republic.

In order to foil Zan Arbor's insidious plans, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and a team of Jedi must infiltrate Romin—disguised as a band of thieves. Where lawlessness is the law, the Jedi will have to master the art of deception to trap a master deceiver.


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There's a fabled treasure at stake and a price on Han's head. So he and Chewbacca head for a planet rumored to hide undreamed-of riches. But once they get there, Han's beloved spacecraft, the Millennium Falcon, is hijacked by a band of assassins and killer robots. Their chances for survival are so slim, they might as well risk it all….


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Han Solo trusts no one, and does no favors. But when the best illegal ship rebuilder in the galaxy disappears, Han and Chewbacca agree to go after him—after all, the Millennium Falcon needs some very special repairs. Their search pits them against powerful and ruthless enemies out to destroy them, and finally leads them to an airless speck of desolate asteroid—the Authority prison planet known as Stars' End.


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For a cool ten thousand credits, Han and Chewbacca will do just about anything—except transport slaves. For one thing, it means an instant death sentence. So when a high-paying cargo shipment turns out to be a consignment of Lurrian slaves, Han and Chewie have to think fast. But Han forms a plan to turn the tables on the slavers and free the captives. Then, good deed accomplished, he scours the skies for the nasty joker who set him up—because revenge can be so sweet.


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Tash, Zak, and their uncle Hoole are on the run from evil Imperial scientist Borborygmus Gog. The only place to hide is on Nespis 8, an abandoned space station.

There used to be a giant Jedi library on Nespis 8. According to Deevee, the library is still there, but it's cursed…and haunted by the ghost of a Jedi.

If they can find the library, maybe Tash and Zak can find a way to stop Gog.

But something evil dwells on Nespis 8.

And it's much scarier than a Jedi ghost.


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Tash, Zak, and their uncle Hoole want to make sure that Borborygmus Gog's Project Starscream has been destroyed. So they journey to Kiva, a planet on the galaxy's Outer Rim.

Kiva is dark, rocky, and barren.

Except for some strange shadows, the planet is completey lifeless.

And when they find Gog's laboratory, it's empty. Or so they think….


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Uncle Hoole's idea of a vacation is visiting the palace of Jabba the Hutt. Of course, it's a working vacation. Hoole wants to study the B'omarr monks who live in tunnels beneath the palace. If Jabba isn't enough to give Zak and Tash nightmares, the monks should do it. The most enlightened monks don't have bodies. They're just brains in jars. Brains in jars that walk around on robotic legs. Worst of all, one of the monks is mad—not just angry-mad, but out-of-his-mind mad. And if Tash isn't careful, she might lose her head.


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Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.
Master and apprentice.
Chosen by fate. Destined for conflict.

The Senate makes the laws that ensure peace and justice in the galaxy. It is meant to keep chaos and lawlessness from taking over.

But what if the Senators are not safe? What if they are about to be attacked by powerful and sinister forces?

Under the watchful eye of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi must counter the threat to the Senate—or the whole galaxy might be thrown into a violent darkness.


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Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.
Master and apprentice.
Chosen by fate. Destined for conflict.

Granta Omega is an evil mastermind who has one goal: to help the Sith destroy the Jedi Order. Now Omega has escaped to the planet of Korriban—home to the tombs of the ancient Sith Lords and their terrible secrets. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker must stop him before his sinister power grows out of control.

They are not alone on this mission. Anakin's rival, Ferus, is also searching for Omega, and Anakin sees this as a contest he must win. But as the dark side of the Force becomes stronger and stronger, there is only one guaranteed outcome for any showdown:

Death.


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CHOSEN TO RISE.
DESTINED TO FALL.

Anakin Skywalker is no longer a boy, but not yet a man. Almost thirteen, he has begun to travel on the path that will lead him to glory…and infamy.

In the mysterious caves of Ilum, Anakin must create his lightsaber after confronting the demons of his past—and his future. Once the lightsaber is completed, Anakin joins his Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, on a mission that will cut to the heart of his fear, anger, and power.

When Anakin was a young slave on Tatooine, everyone lived in terror of a creature named Krayn, who kidnapped slaves for his own profit—and killed anyone who got in his way. Now Krayn's evil has grown to a dangerous degree, threatening peace and safe passage throughout the galaxy.

Anakin and Obi-Wan must stop Krayn. But can Obi-Wan also stop Anakin from seeking vengeance against an old enemy?

The path to truth is a clear one.

Anakin's path is not.


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<h3>Product Description</h3><p>4 Masters. 4 Apprentices. Yoda and Dooku. Dooku and Qui-Gon. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan (the focus of the best-selling Jedi Apprentice series). Obi-Wan and Anakin (featured in the best-selling Jedi Quest series). One enemy. A Jedi student with a dark streak at the beginning of the book, he becomes a powerful -- and potentially dangerous -- planetary leader whose help Obi-Wan and Anakin will need in the Clone Wars. </p>


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What began as a quest for truth has become a struggle for survival for Luke Skywalker and his son, Ben. They have used the secrets of the Mind Walkers to transcend their own bodies and speak with the spirits of the fallen, risking their very lives in the process. They have faced a team of Sith assassins and beaten the odds to destroy them. And now the death squad’s sole survivor, Sith apprentice Vestara Khai, has summoned an entire fleet of Sith frigates to engage the embattled father and son. But the dark warriors come bearing a surprising proposition that will bring Jedi and Sith together in an unprecedented alliance against an evil more ancient and alien than they can imagine.
While the Skywalkers and their Sith allies set off on their joint mission into the treacherous web of black holes that is the Maw, Han and Leia Solo risk arrest and worse to aid the Jedi imprisoned back on Coruscant. Tyrannical Chief of State Natasi Daala has issued orders that will open a permanent schism between her government and the Jedi Order—a schism that could turn all Jedi into renegades and wanted criminals.
But it is in the depths of the Maw that the future of the galaxy will be decided. For there the Skywalkers and their Sith allies will engage a true monster in battle, and Luke will come face-to-face with a staggering truth.


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The Jedi Order is in crisis. The late Jacen Solo's shocking transformation into murderous Sith Lord Darth Caedus has cast a damning pall over those who wield the Force for good: Two Jedi Knights have succumbed to an inexplicable and dangerous psychosis, criminal charges have driven Luke Skywalker into self-imposed exile, and power-hungry Chief of State Natasi Daala is exploiting anti-Jedi sentiment to undermine the Order's influence within the Galactic Alliance.
Forbidden to intervene in Jedi affairs, Luke is on a desperate mission to uncover the truth behind Jacen's fall to the dark side -- and to learn what's turning peaceful Jedi into raving lunatics. But finding answers will mean venturing into the mind-bending space of the Kathol Rift, and bargaining with an alien species as likely to destroy outsiders as deal with them. Still, there is no other choice and no time to lose, as the catastrophic events on Coruscant continue to escalate. Stricken by the same violent dementia that infected her brother, Valin, Jedi Knight Jysella Horn faces an equally grim fate after her capture by Natasi Daala's police. And when Han and Leia Solo narrowly foil another deranged Jedi bent on deadly destruction, even acting Jedi Grand Master Kenth Hamner appears willing to bow to Daala's iron will -- at the expense of the Jedi Order.
But an even greater threat is looming. Millennia in the past, a Sith starship crashed on an unknown, low-tech planet, leaving the survivors stranded. Over the generations, their numbers have grown, the ways of the dark side have been nurtured, and the time is fast approaching when this lost tribe of Sith will once more take to the stars to reclaim their legendary destiny as rulers of the galaxy. Only one thing stands in their way to dominance, a name whispered to them through the Force: Skywalker.


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Peace over Anger
Honor over Hate
Strength over Fear

Twelve-year-old Obi-Wan Kenobi desperately wants to be a Jedi Knight. After years at the Jedi Temple, he knows the power of the lightsaber and the Force. But he cannot control his own anger and fear. Because of this, the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn will not take him on as a Padawan apprentice.

Now Obi-Wan is about to have his first encounter with true evil. He must face off against unexpected enemies—and face up to his own dark wishes.

Only then can his education as a Jedi truly begin.


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Uncle Hoole wants to study the S'krrr--a race of creatures that look like giant bugs. While Hoole works, Zak and Tash visit the S'krrr's huge garden--it's the most beautiful place they have ever seen. It's also full of very strange creatures. When a batlike shreev swoops down at Zak, he panics and accidentally kills it. Suddenly, the garden is overrun by big beetles. When Zak wakes up in the middle of the night covered with creepy crawly bugs, he's terrified. Did Zak upset the garden's delicate ecological balance by killing the shreev? Or is something far more sinister at work?


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Tash, Zak, and Uncle Hoole stop on the planet Ithor for supplies, including a mineral the Shroud needs for its engines. The mineral isn't available on Ithor, but one of the Ithorians knows where they can find it—on a mining colony in the middle of a space slug-filled asteroid belt. The journey to the colony is filled with many dangers. But nothing prepares Hoole, Tash, and Zak for what they meet when they reach their destination. An ancient life-form has been released from its tomb. It has lurked there, waiting, for many years. It cannot be seen. It is made from pure evil. And its name is Spore.


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Bug swarms, space slugs, brains on legs, mad Imperial scientists—Zak has had enough! He's glad to be on board the luxury space yacht, Star of Empire, where at last, there's peace and quiet.

Until—"Abandon ship! Critical meltdown!" As a blaring siren sounds, panic-stricken passengers rush to get off the ship. Everyone evacuates…except Zak and Tash. But to their relief, nothing happens. There's no meltdown, no explosion. Everything is fine. Except that the ship's exits are sealed and all communications have been shut down. Zak and Tash are trapped. And they are not alone.


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To be a Jedi is to safeguard peace in the galaxy. To be a Jedi is to defend justice against tyranny. To be a Jedi is to rely on the Force. To be a Jedi is to not love or live as normal people do…at whatever the price.

Jedi know that love is not meant to be for them. But when Obi-Wan Kenobi and his fellow apprentice Siri Tachi approach a very Human falling, the reverberations are felt for many years…to when Obi-Wan has an apprentice of his own, Anakin Skywalker, whose secrets will draw Obi-Wan and Siri further into the Clone Wars.


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The Empire has risen. The Jedi Order has been destroyed. As far as the Emperor is concerned, the Jedi are all but extinct.

But on the remote planet of Tatooine, one Jedi Master remains: Obi-Wan Kenobi. Devastated by the loss of his fellow Jedi—and the betrayal of his former apprentice Anakin—Obi-Wan has been left with one last task: to watch over and protect a young child named Luke.

When Obi-Wan finds out that a former Jedi apprentice has survived, he must make a painful decision: whether to stay on Tatooine or go on one last, desperate mission—right into the heart of the Empire.

The thrilling new series from The New York Times bestselling author of Jedi Apprentice and Jedi Quest.


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Who Are the Last of the Jedi?

Obi-Wan Kenobi is on a mission. Along with the former Jedi apprentice Ferus Olin and a headstrong kid named Trever, he is trying to keep the Jedi's most important secret safe from the inquisitive Empire. With Boba Fett on their trail and time running out, Obi-Wan, Ferus, and Trever must make some daring and desperate escapes…into even more danger.

Along the way, they discover some incredible news: Obi-Wan and Yoda are not the only Jedi to have survived the Emperor's annihilation of the Order. There is at least one other…and he is hiding in the Caves of Ilum, a place where nightmares become reality and dark warnings tell of conflicts yet to come.

The thrilling new series from The New York Times bestselling author of Jedi Apprentice and Jedi Quest.


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George Lucas brought us the blockbuster Star Wars® film trilogy. Then some of science fiction's best writers® expanded the adventure in their bestselling Star Wars novels. Now the tradition continues with the culmination of a love story that spans a war-torn galaxy….

Though Darth Vader and the Emperor are dead, the Empire lives on and a weakened Alliance must find powerful new help if it is to survive. The answer could lie in the Hapes consortium, a cluster of sixty-three high-tech worlds. There is only one catch: Princess Leia must marry the Queen Mother's son, the dashing and wealthy Prince Isolder.

Han Solo reacts badly to the news. Tricking Leia, he flees with her to the beautiful but untamed planet of Dathomir, where he hopes to change her mind - and win her heart. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker and Artoo form an unlikely partnership with the jilted prince to track down the runaways. But their mission is only the beginning of an adventure that will lead to the discovery of an awesome treasure, a group of Force-trained "witches," and a showdown with an invincible foe.


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“Within twenty-four standard hours we will sit firmly astride the communications link that connects the worlds of the Republic…. Our control will be a dagger thrust directly at Coruscant. This is the move that will win the war for us.”

With these ominous words, Pors Tonith, ruthless minion of Count Dooku, declares the fate of the Republic sealed. Commanding a Separatist invasion force more than one million strong, the cunning financier-turned-warrior lays siege to the planet Praesitlyn, home of the strategic intergalactic communications center that is key to the Republic's survival in the Clone Wars. Left unchallenged, this decisive strike could indeed pave the way for the toppling of more Republic worlds…and ultimate victory for the Separatists. Retaliation must be swift and certain.

But engaging the enemy throughout the galaxy has already stretched Supreme Chancellor Palpatine's armies to the limit. There is no choice but to move against the surging waves of invading battle-droids on Praesitlyn with only a small contingent of clone soldiers. Commanding them will be Jedi Master Nejaa Halcyon — hand-picked by the Council for the do-or-die mission. And at his side, skilled young starfighter pilot Anakin Skywalker, a promising young Jedi Padawan eager to be freed of the bonds of apprenticeship — and to be awarded the title of Jedi Knight.

Shoulder to shoulder with a rogue Republic army officer and his battle-hardened crew, a hulking Rodian mercenary with an insatiable taste for combat, and a duo of ready-for-anything soldiers, the Jedi generals take to the skies and the punishing desert terrain of occupied Praesitlyn — to gain back a vital position in the Republic. Already outnumbered and outgunned, when confronted with an enemy ultimatum that could lead to the massacre of innocents, they may also be out of options. Unless Anakin Skywalker can strike a crucial balance between the wisdom born of the Force…and the instincts of a born warrior.


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Everyone is searching for Bornan Thul. Not only is he father to one of Jacen's and Jaina's fellow students, he holds the key to a secret coalition gaining power in the New Republic.

The young Jedi Knights race across the galaxy to find him—but they may be too late. For their true enemy is about to show its treacherous face. And it will be shockingly familiar…


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As the search for Raynar Thul's father continues, the young Jedi Knights turn for help to a most unusual—and dangerous—source: the reprogrammed assassin droid IG-88. They think they can keep him under control. But can one of the most feared bounty hunters in the galaxy be trusted?


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Lowbacca has left the Jedi academy and traveled to the planet Ryloth, headquarters of the Diversity Alliance, to see what the Diversity Alliance is really all about.

On Yavin 4, Jacen, Jaina and the other young Jedi Knights have already discovered one truth about the Alliance—once you go to Ryloth, you either join or you die. Lowie is in great danger, and they must rescue him. But what can a small group of humans do against a planet full of hostile aliens?


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Jacen and Jaina

When the Galactic Empire died, they were born—a new hope for the New Republic. The young twins of Han Solo and Princess Leia have taken their first steps as Jedi Knights, defeating the evil minions of the Shadow Academy. Now, with their friends Tenel Ka and Lowbacca the Wookiee, the future heroes of an already legendary saga continue their training.

Bornan Thul's secret is out: he's been protecting a deadly plague that could devastate the galaxy if released. And the evil Nolaa Tarkona—leader of the Diversity Alliance—knows where it is hidden.

Now Jacen, Jaina and their allies must race against time. As a massive battle rages between New Republic soldiers and the forces of the Diversity Alliance, the young Jedi Knights must find and destroy the plague before it can be released.

But they first must face Nolaa Tarkona. And her very lethal hired hand, Boba Fett.


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In the Ruins of an abandoned Jedi Fortress on the remote planet Dantooine, Tash Arranda stands, all alone. At least, she thinks she's alone. She senses something in the ruins — Something Dark.

The darkness is stronger than Tash, and Against her will, she reaches out to it. It makes her feel powerful. And it frightens her. Tash doesn't know that this is only the beginning of a terrifying journey into an evil world, where she'll be forced to fight her own brother and uncle .... to the death!


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A survey team crash-lands on an unknown planet. The planet is dark, and its fetid swamps are filled with flesh-eating flowers, fearsome swamp slugs, and deadly dragonsnakes. No one hears the survey team's distress signals. They are stranded.

Thirty years later, Zak and Tash Arranda and their uncle Hoole, with Boba Fett in hot pursuit, land on the planet. Descendants of the survey team—half-starved and crazed with strange fevers—are still alive. They call themselves the Children, and how they have survived is a mystery. Does the strange creature named Yoda have the answer?


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I have followed the Sith path to power, drawing strength from hate. My vow is to defeat the Jedi. I have embraced the dark side…and the dark side has embraced me.

I have been chosen. My mission is clear.

I will have revenge.

My name is Darth Maul. This is my story.


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A disgraced Padawan returns to the captive Jedi Temple on Coruscant to redeem himself. Ferus Olin has heard rumors that the Empire holds imprisoned Jedi within the desecrated building. Olin and his street-kid partner, Trever Flume, must plunge into the depths of Coruscant's dark and dangerous underworld in order to free the Jedi Knights. The lower reaches of the city planet have become a perilous sanctuary from those fleeing the Emperor's wrath, and navigating its alleyways and corridors may be just as dangerous as a foolhardy mission to breach the temple.

The thrilling new series from The New York Times bestselling author of Jedi Apprentice and Jedi Quest.

Alternate Book Summary

Who are the Last of the Jedi?

As a Jedi apprentice, Ferus Olin had to leave the Jedi Temple in disgrace. Now he must return to redeem himself--and save the future of the Jedi Order. The Empire now controls the Temple and everything inside... including, it is rumored, an impriosned Jedi. Ferus and his street kid partner, Trever, must plunge into the depths of Coruscant in order to free the Jedi, exposing themselves to a dark underworld where both thieves and refugees hide from the Emperor's wrath. Breaking into the temple isn't going to be easy... and surviving the underworld is going to be even harder.

The thrilling new series from The New York Times bestselling author of Jedi Apprentice and Jedi Quest.


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Who Are the Last of the Jedi?

Ex-Jedi Ferus Olin has been imprisoned by the Empire. His crime? Trying to save the Jedi Order.

The sinister Empire won't be able to hold Ferus for long—not when he has a friend on the inside. But escaping is only part of the problem. Ferus's quest is going to take him to the planet of Naboo, where a secret vital to the survival of the Jedi and the entire galaxy is being kept…and is in danger of being revealed.

In order to keep this secret, Ferus will have to face the ruthless Inquisitor Malorum. A battle will be fought—and lives will be lost.

Who will die on Naboo?

The thrilling new series from The New York Times bestselling author of Jedi Apprentice and Jedi Quest.


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Who Are the Last of the Jedi?

Since evil Emperor Palpatine destroyed the Jedi Knights and seized power, his reign has been absolute. He controls the Senate. He controls the Imperial Army. He controls the galaxy. He is a Sith.

And now, for mysterious reasons, he wants to control Ferus Olin, ex-Padawan.

Ferus does not want to aid the Empire in any way. But when the Emperor threatens the lives of the people closest to him, Ferus doesn't have a choice. He agrees to go on a secret mission for Palpatine—to become a double-agent—and somehow keep his allegiance to the fallen Jedi Order.

Can he succeed? Or are the Emperor and his henchman Darth Vader too powerful to overcome?

The thrilling new series from The New York Times bestselling author of Jedi Apprentice and Jedi Quest.


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Years ago, when they were both Jedi apprentices, Ferus Olin and Anakin Skywalker were rivals. Now, their paths are about to cross again…

Abandoning the Jedi Order saved Ferus's life. As a result, he is the only one who can track down and save Jedi who have survived the rise of the Empire. He has rebellion on his mind, and hopes to bring about the fall of the Emperor.

Only Darth Vader stands in his way. Ferus may not realize it, but his old rival is now his new deadly enemy.

The thrilling new series from The New York Times bestselling author of Jedi Apprentice and Jedi Quest.


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<div><p class="description">In a stunning turn of events, Luke Skywalker and his son, Ben, joined forces with members of the Sith armada sent to kill them—and turned their combined might against the monstrous being Abeloth. But with one menace dealt with, a new and even more insidious threat looms.</p>
<p class="description">Now Luke and Ben must go on the run, taking along the inscrutable—and ever dangerous—Sith apprentice Vestara Khai. With a host of Sith warriors in hot pursuit, the Skywalkers soon find themselves trapped on the moon Pydyr, caught between their former allies and a mob of angry Fallanassi. A new truce may be their only hope. But can a Sith ever be trusted?</p>
<p class="description">With the Jedi's most famous father-and-son team outnumbered and outgunned, the countdown to galactic disaster has begun—and time is running out.</p></div>


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Although they had won a significant battle, the war between the Rebels and the Empire had really just begun. Soon, Luke, Han, the princess and their faithful companions were forced to flee, scattering in all directions…the Dark Lord's minions in fevered pursuit…


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<h3>Product Description</h3><p>Twenty years have passed since Darth Bane, reigning Dark Lord of the Sith, demolished the ancient order devoted to the dark side and reinvented it as a circle of two: one Master to wield the power and pass on the wisdom, and one apprentice to learn, challenge, and ultimately usurp the Dark Lord in a duel to the death. But Bane’s acolyte, Zannah, has yet to engage her Master in mortal combat and prove herself a worthy successor. Determined that the Sith dream of galactic domination will not die with him, Bane vows to learn the secret of a forgotten Dark Lord that will assure the Sith’s immortality–and his own.  </p><p>A perfect opportunity arises when a Jedi emissary is assassinated on the troubled mining planet Doan, giving Bane an excuse to dispatch his apprentice on a fact-finding mission–while he himself sets out in secret to capture the ancient holocron of Darth Andeddu and its precious knowledge. But Zannah is no fool. She knows that her ruthless Master has begun to doubt her, and she senses that he is hiding something crucial to her future. If she is going to claim the power she craves, she must take action now.   </p><p>While Bane storms the remote stronghold of a fanatical Sith cult, Zannah prepares for her Master’s downfall by choosing an apprentice of her own: a rogue Jedi cunning and cold-blooded enough to embrace the Sith way and to stand beside her when she at last wrests from Bane the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith.   </p><p>But Zannah is not the only one with the desire and power to destroy Darth Bane. Princess Serra of the Doan royal family is haunted by memories of the monstrous Sith soldier who murdered her father and tortured her when she was a child. Bent on retribution, she hires a merciless assassin to find her tormentor–and bring him back alive to taste her wrath.  </p><p>Only a Sith who has taken down her own Master can become Dark Lord of the Sith. So when Bane suddenly vanishes, Zannah must find him–possibly even rescue him–before she can kill him. And so she pursues her quarry from the grim depths of a ravaged world on the brink of catastrophe to the barren reaches of a desert outpost, where the future of the dark side’s most powerful disciples will be decided, once and for all, by the final, fatal stroke of a lightsaber. </p><h3>About the Author</h3><p>Drew Karpyshyn is the <em>New York Times </em>bestselling author of <strong>Star Wars: Darth Bane: Rule of Two, Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction,</strong> and the Mass Effect novels <strong>Revelation</strong> and <strong>Ascension</strong>, as well as several other fantasy and science fiction novels. He is also an award-winning writer/designer for the computer game company BioWare, where he was lead writer on <em>Mass Effect</em> and the blockbuster <em>Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic</em> video game. He lives in Canada’s hinterlands with his wife, Jen, and their cat. </p>


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EDITORIAL REVIEW:

“Two there should be; no more, no less.One to embody the power, the other to crave it.”–Darth Bane, Dark Lord of the SithOn the run from vengeful Republic forces, Dessel, a cortosis miner, vanishes into the ranks of the Sith army and ships out to join the bloody war against the Republic and its Jedi champions. There, Dessel’s brutality, cunning, and exceptional command of the Force swiftly win him renown as a warrior. But in the eyes of his watchful masters, a far greater destiny awaits him. As an acolyte in the Sith academy, studying the secrets and skills of the dark side, Dessel embraces his new identity: Bane. But the true test is yet to come. In order to gain acceptance into the Brotherhood of Darkness, he must defy the most sacred traditions and reject all he has been taught. It is a trial by fire in which he must surrender fully to the dark side–and forge from the ashes a new era of absolute power. “A solid space adventure [that] charts the evolution of an antihero almost as chilling as Darth Vader.”–Publishers Weekly


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Jacen and Jaina

When the Galactic Empire died, they were born—a new hope for the New Republic. The young twins of Han Solo and Princess Leia have grown strong with the Force, thwarting the evil Nolaa Tarkona and destroying the Emperor's Plague. Now, with their friends Lowbacca the Wookiee and Tenel Ka, the future heroes of an already legendary saga continue their training.

Han Solo's past is about to catch up with him. When he and the twins take the Millennium Falcon to Ord Mantell for a high-speed race, they meet a battle-hungry woman wielding a lightsaber. Her name is Anja Gallandro, and she knows more about Han's history than he likes. But Anja Gallandro guards an even more devastating secret—a secret that could mean disaster for the entire Solo family.


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Jacen and Jaina

When the Empire died, they were born—a new hope for the New Republic. The young twins of Han Solo and Princess Leia have grown strong with the Force, thwarting the evil Nolaa Tarkona and destroying the Emperor's Plague. Now, with their friends Lowbacca the Wookiee and Tenel Ka, the future heroes of an already legendary saga continue their training.

Lando Calrissian offers the young Jedi Knights a rare opportunity—a vacation on Cloud City. They jump at the chance—as long as their new friend, the mysterious Anja Gallandro, can come along.

Anja is happy to be included. But little do the twins know that they are actually helping Anja hatch her sinister plan. A plan that goes far deeper than simple revenge…


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<div><p class="description">Anja Gallandro planned to destroy the Solo family. But now she fights an intense inner battle—against her growing spice addiction, and her growing friendship with Jacen and Jaina. She no longer knows where her loyalties lie. In desperation for spice, she steals a ship and flees the Jedi academy.</p>
<p class="description">The young Jedi Knights give chase, following her from the spice mines of Kessel to the dangerous paradise of Crystal Reef. But Anja has been a pawn all along in a game that is much bigger than all of them. And they just landed in the middle of it…</p></div>


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Peace over Anger
Honor over Hate
Strength over Fear

Qui-Gon Jinn's past is not at rest. How can he forge a bond with young Obi-Wan Kenobi while he is haunted by the betrayal of his first apprentice—Xanatos? Xanatos was also a promising student—until the dark side of the Force intervened. Qui-Gon thought he was gone forever.

But now Xanatos is back.

And he wants revenge.


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Peace over Anger
Honor over Hate
Strength over Fear

After Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn are hijacked to the planet Phindar, they find themselves trapped in a world gone mad. The ruling Syndicat controls the people by erasing their memories. The planet's only hope lies with a band of thieving rebels.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are caught in a mind war.

And if they're not careful, their own pasts will be wiped out forever.


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Peace over Anger
Honor over Hate
Strength over Fear

A queen is dying. Her angry son is conspiring to thwart his planet's elections and maintain his rule. But he might not be her only heir. There may be another bearing the elusive Mark of the Crown.

Qui-Gon Jinn and young Obi-Wan Kenobi come to the planet of Gala as guardians of peace. Now they are facing a deadly battle for power and royal position.

The true heir must be found.

The Jedi must find the way.


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Peace over Anger
Honor over Hate
Strength over Fear

The Defenders of the Dead live in the past while they destroy the future. They face a revolt of the Young—a band of rebels led by two teenagers, Cerasi and Nield.

Thirteen-year-old Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn are not supposed to take sides in any war. But once Obi-Wan meets Cerasi and Nield, he feels he must join their fight…even though Qui-Gon forbids it.

The rebellion has become personal.

And Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are on opposing sides.


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SUMMARY:
Because he chose to take part in the revolution on Melida/Daan, Obi-Wan Kenobi is no longer a Jedi. But as the revolution continues and he can no longer tell his friends from his enemies, he grows to regret his choice.


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On the planet Belassa, parts of a secret new weapon are being built by the Empire. Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin are present to make sure the secret stays a secret—and they are joined by none other than the former Jedi apprentice and Rebel leader Ferus Olin.

But is Ferus Olin really on their side? Or is he a double agent trying to save his planet and steal the Empire's plans? Ferus must guard the secret of his own allegiance… or become yet another victim consumed by the dark side.

The thrilling new series from The New York Times bestselling author of Jedi Apprentice and Jedi Quest.


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As the Empire's power grows, rebels face a choice: give in… or fight. Some form pockets of resistance on battleground planets. Some go undercover, trying to fight the Empire from within. Others watch and wait.

For Ferus Olin, hatred of the Empire is personal. The things that have been closest to him have been destroyed. The Jedi Order he once belonged to has been decimated. And the future isn't looking much brighter…

Unless a true Rebellion can be born.

The thrilling new series from The New York Times bestselling author of Jedi Apprentice and Jedi Quest.


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The planet of Alderaan is a peaceful one…and Senator Bail Organa wants to keep it that way. But the presence of the Empire is starting to cast a shadow over their tranquility—as spies and traitors infiltrate the corridors of power.

Alderaan holds a secret—a secret on which the future existence of the Jedi depends. Under strict instructions from the Emperor, double agent Ferus Olin must both uncover this secret and protect it. What he discovers raises dark questions from his own past—and puts him in direct conflict with another former Jedi…the sinister Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader.

The thrilling new series from The New York Times bestselling author of Jedi Apprentice and Jedi Quest.


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When Ferus Olin was a young Jedi apprentice, his rival was a headstrong student named Anakin Skywalker.

Now Ferus is older, trying to save the Jedi Order from extinction. His enemy, however, remains the same. Because Anakin Skywalker is now Darth Vader…and Darth Vader wants Ferus Olin destroyed.

This is their final encounter.

The fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance.

The thrilling series from The New York Times bestselling author of Jedi Apprentice and Jedi Quest.


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<h3>Product Description</h3><p>In the New York Times bestseller Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, Drew Karpyshyn painted a gripping portrait of a young man’s journey from innocence to evil. That man was Darth Bane, a twisted genius whose iron will, fierce ambition, and strength in the dark side of the Force made him a natural leader among the Sith–until his radical embrace of an all-but-forgotten wisdom drove him to destroy his own order . . . and create it anew from the ashes. As the last surviving Sith, Darth Bane promulgated a harsh new directive: the Rule of Two.  </p><p>Two there should be; no more, no less.<br />One to embody the power, the other to crave it.  </p><p>Now Darth Bane is ready to put his policy into action, and he thinks he has found the key element that will make his triumph complete: a student to train in the ways of the dark side. Though she is young, Zannah possesses an instinctive link to the dark side that rivals his own. With his guidance, she will become essential in his quest to destroy the Jedi and dominate the galaxy.  </p><p>But there is one who is determined to stop Darth Bane: Johun Othone, Padawan to Jedi Master Lord Hoth, who died at Bane’s hands in the last great Sith War. Though the rest of the Jedi scoff at him, Joshua’s belief that there are surviving Sith on the loose is unshakeable.  </p><p>As Johun continues his dogged pursuit of the man who killed his master, Zannah, faced unexpectedly with a figure from her past, begins to question her embrace of the dark side. And Darth Bane is led by Force-induced visions to a moon where he will acquire astonishing new knowledge and power–power that will alter him in ways he could never have imagined. . . . </p><h3>About the Author</h3><p>Drew Karpyshyn is the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Darth Bane: Path of Destruction and Mass Effect: Revelation, as well as several other fantasy and science fiction novels. He is also an award-winning writer/designer for the computer game company BioWare, where he was lead writer on Mass Effect and the blockbuster Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic video game. He lives in Canada’s hinterlands with his wife, Jen, and their cat. </p>


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The New Jedi Order continues as Jaina Solo struggles with anger and despair after the Jedi Knights' harrowing adventure behind enemy lines.

Though the Jedi strike force completed its deadly mission into Yuuzhan Vong territory, the price of success was tragedy: not everyone made it out alive. In a daring getaway, hotshot pilot Jaina Solo stole an enemy ship, taking along her fellow survivors—and leaving behind a huge piece of her heart.

With the enemy in hot pursuit, Jaina is forced to seek haven in the unprotected, unfriendly Hapes Cluster, where the Jedi are held responsible for a past tragedy—and where the royal family has grim plans for their famous Jedi guest. Even more sinister are the intentions of the Yuuzhan Vong, desperate to capture Jaina for a hideous sacrifice.

Grief-stricken and obsessed with revenge, Jaina is blind to these threats—and to the overpowering evil dangerously close to consuming her. In the coming conflagration, Jaina will be fighting not for victory or vengeance, but for her very being…


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Trust no one. Especially a bounty hunter.

When he died in the first Clone War battle, Jango Fett left a fortune somewhere on the planet of Aargau. The bounty hunter Aurra Sing is the only person who knows where the fortune is. But Jango's son, Boba Fett, is the only person who can get to it.

Aurra Sing needs Boba, and Boba needs Aurra Sing. But there's no way they can trust each other. Every move could be a deception. Every word could be a lie.

As the search for Jango Fett's legacy becomes dangerously complicated, young Boba Fett must outsmart and outmaneuver enemies of all kinds—even hidden ones. His future as a bounty hunter depends on it.


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Somewhere in the galaxy, millions suddenly perish—a disruption of the Force so shocking it is felt by Luke at his Jedi academy and by Leia on Coruscant. While Leia must deal with an assassination attempt, a rumored plot against the New Republic, and allegations that Han Solo is involved, Luke seeks out a former Jedi student who may hold the key to the mass destruction. But Brakiss is only the bait in a deadly trap set by a master of the dark side who is determined to rule as emperor. He's targeted Luke, Leia, and Leia's Jedi children to die. Then billions will follow, in a holocaust unequaled in galactic history.


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The Oseon was a solar system of luxury hotels catering to the underemployed filthy rich -- every gambler's dream come true. And so it was for Lando Calrissian and his robot companion until Lando broke the gambler's cardinal rule: never beat a cop at high-stake games of chance...


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Gambler, rogue, and con-artiste, Lando Calrissian was more comfortable at the dealer's end of a fast shuffle than at the rear end of a blaster pistol. So he always had his sensors scanning for the chance to pick up easy credits – and when he heard that the planets of the Rafa System were practically buried in ancient alien treasure, he hopped aboard the Millennium Falcon, never stopping to think that someone might be conning the con man...


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For a year Lando Calrissian and Vuffi Raa, his five-armed robot astrogator, had roamed space in the Millennium Falcon, seeking or creating opportunities to turn an easy, but not too dishonest, credit.

But now their partnership seemed doomed—for Lando's uncharacteristic impulse to help a race of persecuted aliens had suddenly made him and Vuffi vulnerable to several sets of their own enemies…not least of whom was the evil Rokur Gepta, the Sorcerer of Tund!


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SUMMARY:
The Jedi Temple is under attack. An attempt has been made to kill Yoda. A dangerous intruder has infiltrated the Jedi. Everyone is under suspicion, and no one is safe. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jim must get to the heart of the conspiracy or watch the Temple be destroyed from the inside.


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SUMMARY:
Qui-Gon Jinn's evil former apprentice, Xanatos, has set a trap for his old Master. He has lured Qui-Gon and young Obi-Wan Kenobi to his home planet of Telos--and has framed them for a crime they didn't commit. The penalty is death.


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SUMMARY:
As they visit the strange planet Kegan to inquire about a young potential Jedi, Qui-Gon and Adi find themselves caught in a web of deception, while Obi-Wan and Siri are imprisoned in a boarding school where thought is dictated and detention is permanent.


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He's the most feared and successful bounty hunter in the galaxy. He is Boba Fett, and even the most hardened criminals tremble at his name. Now he faces the deadliest challenge of his infamous career—an all-out war against his most dangerous enemies.

As the Rebellion gathers force, Prince Xizor proposes a cunning plan to the Emperor and Darth Vader: smash the power of the Bounty Hunters Guild by turning its members against each other. Only the strongest and most ruthless will survive, and they can be used against the Rebellion. It's a job for the fiercely independent Boba Fett, who jumps at the chance to destroy his rivals. But Fett soon realizes the game is rigged, as he finds himself the target of murderous factions, criminal conspiracies, and the evil at the Empire's dark heart. Boba Fett has always finished first. And in this game, anything less is death.


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He's both feared and admired, respected and despised. Boba Fett is the galaxy's most successful bounty hunter. Now he finds himself hunted in the oldest game of all: survival of the fittest.

The once powerful Bounty Hunter's Guild has been shattered into warring factions. Now the posting of an enormous bounty on a renegade Imperial stormtrooper is about to start a frenzy of murderous greed. Hoping to fuel rumors of his death, Boba Fett abandons his ship, Slave I, and sets out to claim the prize. Yet his every move leads him closer to a trap set by the cunning Prince Xizor. Fett will die before becoming Xizor's pawn in the Emperor's war against the Rebels. And he may have to. For in order to gain his freedom he must outwit a sentient weapon that feeds on Human spirits. Then he must escape a galaxy of deadly enemies who want to make the rumors of his death a reality.


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Feared and admired, respected and despised, Boba Fett enjoys a dubious reputation as the galaxy's most successful bounty hunter. Yet even a man like Boba Fett can have one too many enemies….

When Boba Fett stumbles across evidence implicating Prince Xizor in the murder of Luke Skywalker's aunt and uncle, Fett makes himself an enemy even he fears: the unknown mastermind behind a monstrous deception, who will kill to hide his tracks. Fett also finds himself in possession of an amnesiac young woman named Neelah, who may be the key to the mystery—or a decoy leading Fett into a murderous ambush. Fett's last hope is to run through the list of Xizor's hidden enemies. And since Xizor's hidden enemies are almost as legion as Fett's, the chance of survival is slim—even for someone as skilled and relentless as Boba Fett.


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Planet by planet, darkness creeps across the galaxy. Among warriors and generals, among ordinary beings living in far-flung worlds, the fear will not go away: We are losing this war. . . .

Anakin Skywalker feels it, too. The Separatist Alliance, with ruthlessness and treachery, is beating the Republic to every strategic target. But after a costly clash with General Grievous for the planet Kothlis, Anakin has a mission that will focus his anxious mind. Alongside Obi-Wan Kenobi, he is posing as a long-lost native of Lanteeb, an impoverished world on the Outer Rim. This seemingly unimportant planet has drawn the interest of the Seps—and Anakin and Obi-Wan soon discover the disturbing reason: A scientist enslaved by General Lok Durd is drawing on Lanteeb's one natural resource for a devastating bioweapon. Now Anakin and Obi-Wan have entered the eye of a storm. Their presence has been exposed, Lok Durd's plans unveiled, and a fight has begun for survival behind enemy lines—and a chance of winning a war that must be fought at any cost.


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His first mission may be his last.

On the barren planet of Tatooine, young Boba Fett is surrounded by criminals, mercenaries, and thieves. In his quest to become a bounty hunter, he is searching out the greatest crime lord of all—Jabba the Hutt.

But Jabba the Hutt is not easily found…or easily impressed. When Boba finally tracks down the crime lord, Jabba has an offer for him: one assignment, one chance. He must capture a deadly bounty…or else.

It is the biggest test Boba Fett has ever faced—one that will determine his future.


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A powerful enemy is the greatest danger.

When you work for Jabba the Hutt, you do whatever he wants you to do—no matter what the risk. As Jabba's newest bounty hunter, Boba Fett has a lot to prove…and little time to prove it. So when Jabba sends him into the thick of the Clone Wars, there's no backing down from the fight.

General Grievous is at the heart of the plot to overthrow the Republic. He is fierce, strong, and virtually unstoppable. When his path crosses Boba's, sparks fly—and many lives are threatened.


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A father's death. A son's revenge.

Boba Fett is emerging as one of the most skilled bounty hunters in the galaxy. After surviving his deadly battle with the fearsome General Grievous, there's one bounty he wants more than any other: Mace Windu, the Jedi who killed his father.

When fate and Anakin Skywalker bring Boba Fett to the city-planet of Coruscant, Boba plunges into the Coruscant underworld and arms himself for the greatest confrontation of his young life.

It's the bounty hunter vs. the Jedi as Boba Fett takes his one and only chance at revenge.


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The turning point for the entire Star Wars saga is at hand…

As combat escalates across the galaxy, the stage is set for an explosive endgame: Obi-Wan undertakes a perilous mission to destroy the dreaded Separatist military leader, General Grievous. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine continues to strip away constitutional liberties in the name of security while influencing public opinion to turn against the Jedi. And a conflicted Anakin fears that his secret love, Senator Padmé Amidala, will die. Tormented by unspeakable visions, Anakin edges closer to the brink of a galaxy-shaping decision. It remains only for Darth Sidious to strike the final staggering blow against the Republic—and to ordain a fearsome new Sith Lord: Darth Vader.


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Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader are dead. The Empire has been toppled by the triumphant Rebel Alliance, and the New Republic is ascendant. But the struggle against the dark side and the Sith order is not over. Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, and their faithful comrades have had little time to savor victory before being called on to defend the newly liberated galaxy.

Powerful remnants of the vanquished Empire, hungry for retaliation, are still at large, committing acts of piracy, terrorism, and wholesale slaughter against the worlds of the fledgling Republic. The most deadly of these, a ruthless legion of black-armored stormtroopers, do the brutal bidding of the newly risen warlord Shadowspawn. Striking from a strategically advantageous base at the planet Mindor, they are waging campaigns of plunder and destruction, demolishing order and security across the galaxy—and breeding fears of an Imperial resurgence. And another reign of darkness beneath the boot-heel of Sith despotism is something General Luke Skywalker cannot and will not risk.

Mobilizing the ace fighters of Rogue Squadron—along with the trusty Chewbacca, Threepio, and Artoo-Detoo—Luke, Han, and Leia set out to take the battle to the enemy at the site of its stronghold, and neutralize the threat before it's too late. But their imminent onslaught against Mindor will be playing directly into the hands of their cunning new adversary. Lord Shadowspawn is no freshly anointed Sith Chieftain, but in fact a vicious former Imperial Intelligence officer—and Prophet of the Dark Side. The Emperor's death has paved the way for Shadowspawn's return from exile in the Outer Rim; and mastery of ancient Sith knowledge and modern technology has given him the capability to mount the ultimate power play for galaxy-wide dominion. Dark prophecy has foretold that only one obstacle stands in his way, and he is ready—even eager—for the confrontation.

All the classic heroes, all the explosive action and adventure, all the unparalleled excitement of Star Wars come breathlessly alive here, as the further adventures of Luke Skywalker continue.


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Mace Windu is a living legend: Jedi Master, skilled diplomat, and devastating fighter. But he is also a man of peace—and for the first time in a thousand years, the galaxy is at war.

'The jungle planet of Haruun Kal, the homeworld Mace barely remembers, has become a battleground for the Republic and the renegade Separatist movement. The Jedi Council has sent Depa Billaba—Mace's former Padawan—to the planet to train the local tribesmen as a guerrilla resistance force to fight against the Separatists. But Depa has vanished. The only clue to her disappearance is a cryptic recording that hints of madness and murder…a recording in Depa's own voice.

Mace Windu trained her. Only he can find her. Now Mace must journey alone into one of the most treacherous jungles in the galaxy—and into his own heritage. He will leave behind the Republic he serves, the civilization he believes in, everything but his passion for peace and his devotion to his former Padawan. And he will learn the terrible price that must be paid when keepers of the peace are forced to make war.


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From the depths of catastrophe, a glimmer of hope.

After the capture of Coruscant, the mighty heart of the New Republic, a stunned galaxy fears that nothing can stop the Yuuzhan Vong. Still, that crushing defeat produces one small miracle: Jacen Solo is alive. Yet he can scarcely imagine himself in stranger circumstances.

The young Jedi Knight is in the care of Vergere, a fascinating creature of mystery and power, her intentions hard to fathom, her cruelties rarely concealed. But this master of inscrutable arts has much to teach the young Jedi… for she holds the key to a new way to experience the Force, to take it to another level—dangerous, dazzling, perhaps deadly.

In the wrong hands, the tremendous energies of the Force can be devastating. And there are others watching Jacen's process closely, waiting patiently for the moment when he will be ready for their own dire purposes. Now, all is in shadows. Yet whatever happens, whether Jacen's newfound mastery unleashes light or darkness, he will never be the same Jedi again…


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SUMMARY:
Peace over anger.Honor over hate.Strength over fear.For generations, the firstborn children of the rulers of the planets Rutan and Senali have been exchanged at the age of seven. This was meant to promote peace and understanding between the societies. Now it has led them to the brink of war.Leed, the heir to the Rutan throne, does not want to return to his home planet. His father will stop at nothing to get him back. Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi must prevent this rift from turning to bloodshed.It is their hardest challenge yet.


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SUMMARY:
Nobody knows her name or when she will strike. All they know is she is a deadly bounty hunter -- and her latest mission takes her to Coruscant, the home of the Jedi. Her target: an old friend of Qui-Gon Jinn's. Qui-Gon and his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi try to catch her and fail. Now they are her targets, too. Includes a bind-in sticker sheet.


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Peace over Anger
Honor over Hate
Strength over Fear

An evil scientist is imprisoning and torturing Jedi to find the secret behind the Force. She taps their emotions, monitors their actions…and then drains them of their blood.

Qui-Gon Jinn is now her captive.

Obi-Wan Kenobi is desperately searching for his Master. Meanwhile, Qui-Gon must match wits with one of the most dangerous enemies he has ever encountered.

His survival depends on it.


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Peace over Anger
Honor over Hate
Strength over Fear

Murder. Kidnapping. Torture.

Jenna Zan Arbor will stop at nothing in her quest to discover the secrets of the Force—and use them for her own power and greed. One Jedi remains in her dangerous grasp. And a whole planet is being held hostage by her sinister plans.

Only a single team of Jedi stands in her way….


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<div><p class="description">The Clone Wars have exploded across the galaxy as Republic forces and Separatists struggle to gain the upper hand. But while the Jedi generals work tirelessly to defeat Count Dooku and his rebels, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine is hatching his own dark plans.</p>
<p class="description">The Separatists have launched a sneak attack on Coruscant. Obi-Wan Kenobi, wounded in battle, insists that Anakin Skywalker and his rookie Padawan Ahsoka leave on a risky mission against General Grievous. But when Senator Bail Organa reveals explosive intelligence that could turn the tide of war in the Republic's favor, the Jedi Master agrees to accompany him to an obscure planet in the Outer Rim to verify the facts. What Obi-Wan and Bail don't realize is that they're walking into a deadly trap concocted by Palpatine... and escape may not be an option.</p>
<p class="description">Inspired by the full-length animated feature film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and brand new TV series, this thrilling adventure is filled with provocative, never-before-revealed insights into the characters of Obi-Wan, Anakin, Padmé, Yoda, Count Dooku and many other Star Wars favorites.</p></div>


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On the surface, it seems like just another routine contract for Boba Fett and his Mandalorian commandos, but the mystery client who hires them to start a small war is more dangerous than any of them can possibly imagine. When the Yuuzhan Vong invasion force sweeps into the galaxy, the Mandalorians find they’re on the wrong side–fighting for an alien culture that will bring about the end of their own.

Now Fett has to choose between his honor and the survival of his people. Since he’s a practical man, he’s determined help the resistance beat the Yuuzhan Vong–even if it means working with a Jedi agent. Trouble is, no one trusts a man with Fett’s reputation. So convincing the New Republic that they’re fighting on the same side is a tall order. Denounced as traitors, Fett’s Mandalorians need to stay one step ahead of their Yuuzhan Vong paymasters–and the Republic who sees them as collaborators with the most destructive enemy the galaxy has ever faced. . . .


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The Clone Wars are over, but for those with reason to run from the new galactic Empire, the battle to survive has only just begun....

The Jedi have been decimated in the Great Purge, and the Republic has fallen. Now the former Republic Commandos -- the galaxy's finest special forces troops, cloned from Jango Fett -- find themselves on opposing sides and in very different armor. Some have deserted and fled to Mandalore with the mercenaries, renegade clone troopers, and rogue Jedi who make up Kal Skirata's ragtag resistance to Imperial occupation. Others -- including men from Delta and Omega squads -- now serve as Imperial Commandos, a black ops unit within Vader's own 501st Legion, tasked to hunt down fugitive Jedi and clone deserters.

For Darman, grieving for his Jedi wife and separated from his son, it's an agonizing test of loyalty. But he's not the only one who'll be forced to test the ties of brotherhood. On Mandalore, clone deserters and the planet's own natives, who have no love for the Jedi, will have their most cherished beliefs challenged. In the savage new galactic order, old feuds may have to be set aside to unite against a far bigger threat, and nobody can take old loyalties for granted.


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A new era of exciting adventures and shocking revelations continues to unfold, as the legendary Star Wars saga sweeps forward into astonishing new territory.

Civil war looms as the fledgling Galactic Alliance confronts a growing number of rebellious worlds-and the approaching war is tearing the Skywalker and Solo families apart. Han and Leia return to Han's homeworld, Corellia, the heart of the resistance. Their children, Jacen and Jaina, are soldiers in the Galactic Alliance's campaign to crush the insurgents.

Jacen, now a complete master of the Force, has his own plans to bring order to the galaxy. Guided by his Sith mentor, Lumiya, and with Luke's young son Ben at his side, Jacen embarks on the same path that his grandfather Darth Vader once did. And while Han and Leia watch their only son become a stranger, a secret assassin entangles the couple with a dreaded name from Han's past: Boba Fett. In the new galactic order, friends and enemies are no longer what they seem.…


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Luke Skywalker Challenged the Stormtroopers of a Distant Galaxy on a Daring Mission—Where a Force of Life Became the Power of Death!

Luke Skywalker was a twenty-year-old who lived and worked on his uncle's farm on the remote planet of Tatooine...and he was bored beyond belief. He yearned for adventures out among the stars—adventures that would take him beyond the farthest galaxies to distant and alien worlds.

But Luke got more than he bargained for when he intercepted a cryptic message from a beautiful princess held captive by a dark and powerful warlord. Luke didn't know who she was, but he knew he had to save her—and soon, because time was running out.

Armed only with courage and with the light saber that had been his father's, Luke was catapulted into the middle of the most savage space war ever...and he was headed straight for a desperate encounter on the enemy battle station known as the Death Star!


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The Force is strong in twelve-year-old Anakin Skywalker…so strong that the Jedi Council, despite misgivings, entrusted young Obi-Wan Kenobi with the mission of training him to become a Jedi Knight. Obi-Wan—like his slain Master Qui-Gon—believes Anakin may be the chosen one, the Jedi destined to bring balance to the Force. But first Obi-Wan must help his undisciplined apprentice, who still bears the scars of slavery, find his own balance.

Dispatched to the mysterious planet of Zonama Sekot, source of the fastest ships in the galaxy, Obi-Wan and Anakin are swept up in a swirl of deadly intrigue unlike any they have encountered before. It seems there are more secrets on Zonama Sekot than meet the eye. But the search for those secrets will threaten the bond between Obi-Wan and Anakin… and bring the troubled young apprentice face-to-face with his deepest fears—and his darkest destiny.


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No longer content with the destruction the Yuuzhan Vong have already sown, Warmaster Tsavong Lah has demanded the heads of all the Jedi. Now the Jedi Knights are in terrible danger—and none more so than the young students at the Jedi academy on Yavin 4. Already the sympathizers known as the Peace Brigade are in the Yavin system—and a Yuuzhan Vong fleet is not far behind.

At Luke Skywalker's request, Talon Karrde mounts an expedition to rescue the young students. Anakin Solo has his own ideas. Impatient, and figuring that forgiveness is easier to come by than permission, he takes off for Yavin 4 in his X-wing.

When it comes to confidence, courage, and raw Force talent, Anakin has few peers. But when his friend Tahiri is separated from the other academy kids and captured by the Yuuzhan Vong, even Anakin may be in over his head. For the aliens have a different future in mind for Tahiri, and they will stop at nothing to achieve their horrific ends…


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With unsurpassed action and imagination, New York Times bestselling author Michael A. Stackpole continues The New Jedi Order with DARK TIDE I: ONSLAUGHT, testing the heroes of the past along with the next generation of Jedi against fearsome enemies from beyond the galactic rim.…

It is a perilous time for the New Republic. Just when unity is needed most, mistrust is on the rise. Even the Jedi feel the strain, as rogue elements rebel against Luke Skywalker's leadership. When alien invaders known as the Yuuzhan Vong strike without warning, the New Republic is thrown on the defensive.

Luke must wield all the awesome powers of a Jedi Master to defeat the gravest threat since Emperor Palpatine. As Leia Organa Solo and Gavin Darklighter lead desperate refugees in a fighting retreat from Yuuzhan Vong forces, Mara Jade Skywalker, Jedi apprentices Jacen and Anakin Solo, and Jedi Knight Corran Horn find themselves tested as never before by a faceless, implacable foe determined to smother the light of the New Republic forever beneath a shroud of darkest evil.…


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The alien Yuuzhan Vong have launched an attack on the worlds of the Outer Rim. They are merciless, without regard for life—and they stand utterly outside the Force. Their ever-changing tactics stump the New Republic military. Even the Jedi, once the greatest guardians of peace in the galaxy, are rendered helpless by this impervious foe—and their solidarity has begun to unravel.

While Luke struggles to keep the Jedi together, Knights Jacen Solo and Corran Horn set off on a reconnaissance mission to the planet Garqi, an occupied world. There, at last, they uncover a secret that might be used to undermine the enemy—if only they can stay alive long enough to use it!


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Peace over Anger
Honor over Hate
Strength over Fear

Six years ago, Qui-Gon Jinn and Tahl helped the people of the planet Apsolon choose their first free leader. It seemed that peace had arrived at last.

Now the leader has been killed. His daughters have been kidnapped. And Qui-Gon and Tahl have returned to Apsolon with Qui-Gon's apprentice Obi-Wan—against the wishes of the Jedi Council.

The ties that bind Qui-Gon and Tahl are about to experience their most powerful test yet.


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Peace over Anger
Honor over Hate
Strength over Fear

"I pledge myself to you, Tahl."

"I pledge myself to you, Qui-Gon."

With these words, two Jedi Knights acknowledged that their bond had grown beyond friendship and into love.

Now Tahl has been abducted in a trap that Qui-Gon feels he should have foreseen. Consumed by dark visions, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan Kenobi must do everything in their power to get her back before it's too late. But that won't be easy in a land where nobody can be trusted…and everyone has something to hide.


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Peace over Anger
Honor over Hate
Strength over Fear

Qui-Gon Jinn is a man on the edge. His heart has been shattered. His beliefs have been destroyed. And now he is dangerously close to stepping over a line that no Jedi dares to cross.

He wants revenge.

His fellow Jedi—his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Jedi Council member Mace Windu—will try to stop him. But when Qui-Gon strikes out on his own, anything can happen. Revenge is not a Jedi trait…but it is a Human one. Can Qui-Gon separate his personal feelings from his Jedi training?


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Peace over Anger
Honor over Hate
Strength over Fear

An evil crime family controls the fate of a planet. Only one witness can bring them down—someone from the inside. In order to make it off the planet to testify, she's going to need the protection of the Jedi.

Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi take the assignment, thinking it will be easy. But nothing is ever easy when crime is concerned, and soon the two Jedi are entangled in a violent web of power, corruption, and lies. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan know their allegiance is to the witness. But can she be trusted?


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During this savage civil war, all efforts to end Jacen Solo’s tyranny of the Galactic Alliance have failed. Now, with Jacen approaching the height of his dark powers, no one–not even the Solos and the Skywalkers–knows if anything can stop the Sith Lord before his plan to save the galaxy ends up destroying it.

Jacen Solo’s shadow of influence has threatened many, especially those closest to him. Jaina Solo is determined to bring her brother in, but in order to track him down, she must first learn unfamiliar skills from a man she finds ruthless, repellent, and dangerous. Meanwhile, Ben Skywalker, still haunted by suspicions that Jacen killed his mother, Mara, decides he must know the truth, even if it costs him his life. And as Luke Skywalker contemplates once unthinkable strategies to dethrone his nephew, the hour of reckoning for those on both sides draws near. The galaxy becomes a battlefield where all must face their true nature and darkest secrets, and live–or die–with the consequences.


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To bring peace and order to a galaxy at war, Jacen Solo will sacrifice anything-or anyone. Now the moment of choice is at hand.

Suspected of treason, Han and Leia Solo are on the run, hunted by none other than their own son, Jacen. But though his family sees in Jacen the chilling legacy of his Sith grandfather, Darth Vader, many of the frontline troops adore him, and countless citizens see him as a savior in a galaxy torn apart by too many wars. All Jacen wants is safety and stability for all-and he's prepared to do whatever it takes to achieve that goal... even if it means embracing the teachings of Lumiya, the Dark Lady of the Sith. But there is one final test that Jacen must pass before he can gain the awesome power of a true Sith Lord: He must bring about the death of someone he values dearly. What troubles Jacen isn't whether he has the strength to commit murder, but who the sacrifice should be.


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As the Clone Wars rage, victory or defeat lies in the hands of elite squads that take on the toughest assignments in the galaxy—stone-cold soldiers who go where no one else would, to do what no one else could….

On a mission to sabotage a nanovirus research facility on a Separatist-held planet, four clone troopers operate under the very noses of their enemies. The commandos are outnumbered and outgunned, deep behind enemy lines with no backup—and working with strangers instead of trusted teammates. Matters don't improve when Darman, the squad's demolitions expert, gets cut off from the others during planetfall. Even Darman's apparent good luck in meeting a Jedi Padawan vanishes once she admits to her woeful inexperience.

For the isolated clone commandos and stranded Jedi, a long, dangerous journey lies ahead, through hostile territory brimming with Trandoshan slavers, Separatists , and suspicious natives. A single misstep could mean discovery … and death. It's a virtual suicide mission for anyone—anyone except Republic Commandos.


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The brutal Yuuzhan Vong are scouring the universe for Jedi to slaughter. With no help from the divided New Republic, the Jedi stand alone against their seemingly invincible foe. Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo risk deadly consequences with their controversial tactics to bolster the Jedi resistance. After uncovering a new Yuuzhan Vong menace, Anakin and Tahiri find themselves wanted for murder by the Peace Brigade. To avoid capture, they jump into hyperspace… and into trouble far graver.

Hunted by the Yuuzhan Vong, wanted as criminals by the New Republic, and with unrest stirring within their own ranks, the Jedi find peril everywhere they turn. But even in the midst of despair, while the most fiercest battle of all looms on the horizon, hope arises with the birth of one very special child…


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As a beleaguered galaxy fights its way back from the brink of destruction, the Jedi's most fearsome enemy plots to end the war—and claim victory—with a final act of domination….

The troubles for the embattled living planet Zonama Sekot have just begun. As Luke Skywalker and Jacen Solo negotiate its place in the galactic struggle against the Yuuzhan Vong, one of its organic ships is taken by the alien invaders. Scientist Nen Yim is ordered to use the captive to find weak spots in Zonama Sekot's technology. But what Nen Yim discovers about the planet and its mysteries shocks her to the core. Clearly her people have gone terribly astray. For the peace-loving planet harbors not only the key to its own destruction, but the long-forgotten secrets of the Yuuzhan Vong themselves.

Meanwhile, General Wedge Antilles, commanding one fleet in a three-pronged campaign to retake the Bilbringi system, is suddenly stranded deep in Yuuzhan Vong space, cut off from all contact. Wedge and his ships must rely on trickery and brilliant battle tactics if they are to survive long enough to ensure the success of one of the deadliest and most crucial missions the Galactic Alliance forces have ever seen….


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It was a dark time for the Rebel Alliance… Han Solo, frozen in carbonite, had been delivered into the hands of the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt. Determined to rescue him, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Lando Calrissian launched a hazardous mission against Jabba's Tatooine stronghold.

The Rebel commanders gathered all the warships of the Rebel fleet into a single giant armada. And Darth Vader and the Emperor, who had ordered construction to begin on a new and even more powerful Death Star, were making plans to crush the Rebel Alliance once and for all.


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Corran Horn has distinguished himself as one of the best and brightest of Rogue Squadron's elite fighting force. Then his wife, Mirax, vanishes on a covert mission for the New Republic, and Corran vows to find her. To do so, he knows he must develop the latent Force powers inherited from his grandfather, a legendary Jedi hero. He joins Luke Skywalker's famed Jedi academy to begin training, only to quit in frustration at Skywalker's methods. Now Corran is on his own. Using his Corellian undercover experience, he must infiltrate, sabotage, and destroy a ruthless organization in order to find his wife. But to succeed, Corran will have to come to terms with his Jedi heritage—and make a terrible choice: surrender to the dark side…or die.


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Sleek, swift, and deadly, the famed X-wing fighters have earned their reputation as the Rebel Alliance's ultimate strike force the hard way—first in battle, the last line of defense. Now they must make a deal with the devil herself—an enemy whose ultimate goal is their total annihilation.

It's the kind of mission only Wedge Antilles and the Rogue Squadron would dare to undertake. Against impossible odds they will stage a daring raid into an enemy stronghold—only to be rescued from certain destruction by an unexpected ally. Ysanne Isard, the ruthless Imperial commander, has appeared on the scene seemingly from out of nowhere. Now she proposes a most unusual alliance, offering to help Wedge rescue his captured comrades from Imperial Warlord Admiral Krennel's sadistic prison camp. But her offer is not without a price. Wedge must lead Rogue Squadron in Isard's deadly struggle against an enemy made in her own image. It's an offer Wedge would love to refuse, for Isard is certain to betray them. But how can they leave their comrades at Krennel's mercy? The answer is: they can't—even if it means being caught between Krennel's ruthlessness and Isard's treachery.


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They are sleek, swift, and deadly. They are the X-wing fighters. And as the struggle rages across the vastness of space, the fearless men and women who pilot them risk both their lives and their machines. Their mission: to defend the Rebel Alliance against a still-powerful and battle-hardened Imperial foe in a last-ditch effort to control the stars!

Its very name strikes fear into enemy hearts. So when Rebel hero Wedge Antilles rebuilds the legendary Rogue Squadron, he seeks out only the best-the most skilled, the most daring X-wing pilots. Through arduous training and dangerous missions, he weeds out the weak from the strong, assembling a group of hard-bitten warriors to fight, ready to die. Antilles knows the grim truth: that even with the best X-wing jockeys in the galaxy, many will not survive their near-suicidal missions. But when Rogue Squadron is ordered to assist in the assault on the heavily fortified Imperial stronghold of Black Moon, even the bravest must wonder if any at all will survive…


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Peace over Anger
Honor over Hate
Strength over Fear

When Obi-Wan Kenobi started off as Qui-Gon Jinn's Jedi apprentice, he was just a boy. Now, on the verge of manhood, he is starting on the path that will lead him to become a Jedi Knight…and the master of his own fate.

As Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon investigate a strange wave of planetary sabotages, they find their relationship shifting—sometimes in a dangerous direction. As events turn deadly, their lives may never be the same again.


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Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan.
Obi-Wan and Anakin.
Two Masters. Two Apprentices. One Mystery.

Who are the followers of the Sith? Devoted to the study of the dark side of the Force, they live an underground existence…but their threat is growing. Although they do not have Sith power, they are on a constant search for it. Nothing—not even the Jedi Knights—will get in their way.

Dr. Lundi is the leader of the Sith followers. As he gets closer to attaining a Sith Holocron, he comes face-to-face with Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan.

Ten years later, when the Sith followers reappear, Obi-Wan and his own apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, must rely on Lundi to help them. But he is to be feared, not trusted.

The Sith are on the rise. The Jedi must stop them.


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<h3>Product Description</h3><p>Deep in Obi-Wan's past, a dark secret lurks . . . a secret that the Jedi Master thought had been forgotten. But the secret has not been forgotten. Now, twenty years later, Obi-Wan senses that there is something unruly about his young apprentice. Someone is plotting long-awaited revenge, and everything is going to change for Obi-Wan and Anakin! This captivating story, which takes place in the time period between Episode I and Episode II is a must-read! </p>


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The Clone Wars rage to their bloody climax. Treachery reigns. Treason takes courage. Commandos, Jedi, and the entire Galactic Republic must face the end of life as they know it…and the dreaded dawn of a new empire.


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Following the eruption of the bloody Clone Wars at the battle of Geonosis, both sides remain deadlocked in a stalemate that can be broken only by elite warrior teams like Omega Squad, clone commandos with terrifying combat skills and a lethal arsenal….

For Omega Squad, deployed deep behind enemy lines, it's the same old special ops grind: sabotage, espionage, ambush, and assassination. But when Omega Squad is rushed to Coruscant, the war's most dangerous new hotspot, the commandos discover they're not the only ones penetrating the heart of the enemy.

A surge in Separatist attacks has been traced to a network of Sep terror cells in the Republic's capital, masterminded by a mole in Command Headquarters. To identify and destroy a Separatist spy and terror network in a city full of civilians will require special talents and skills. Not even the leadership of Jedi generals, along with the assistance of Delta squad and a certain notorious ARC trooper, can even the odds against the Republic Commandos. And while success may not bring victory in the Clone Wars, failure means certain defeat.


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As the savage Clone Wars rage unchecked, the Republic's deadliest warriors face the grim truth that the Separatists aren't their only enemy—or even their worst.

In the Grand Army's desperate fight to crush the Separatists, the secret special ops missions of its elite clone warriors have never been more critical…or more dangerous. A growing menace threatens Republic victory, and the members of Omega Squad make a shocking discovery that shakes their loyalty.

As the lines continue to blur between friend and enemy, citizens—from civilians and sergeants to Jedi and generals—find themselves up against a new foe: the doubt in their own hearts and minds. The truth is a fragile, shifting illusion—and only the approaching inferno will reveal both sides in their true colors.


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Across the galaxy, the Clone Wars are raging. The Separatists, led by Count Dooku, the onetime Jedi and now secret Sith Lord, continue to press forward, and more and more worlds are either falling, or seceding and joining the cause. Under the leadership of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, the Republic heroically battles on, championed by its huge army of cloned soldiers and their Jedi generals.

Anakin Skywalker, believed by some to be the prophesied "Chosen One" destined to bring balance to the Force, is now a Jedi Knight under the tutelage of his Jedi Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Death is a constant possibility—and his chances of survival aren't improved by the unexpected arrival of an apprentice: Ahsoka, a brash inexperienced fourteen-year-old Padawan. But there's no time for Anakin to question his latest orders. He and Obi-Wan have been assigned a new mission, and failure is not an option.

Jabba the Hutt's precious infant son has been kidnapped, and when the frantic parent applies to the Jedi for help, it falls to Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and their clone troops to track down the evidence and retrieve the missing Huttlet. And more is at stake: For a grateful Jabba just might allow the Republic access to the Hutt-controlled space lanes that the Grand Army desperately needs in order to beat the Separatists into submission.

But the Republic is not the only power that craves access to those space lanes. Count Dooku, determined to win the prize for the Separatists, has set a trap for the Jedi. When they find the Huttlet, they will also find Dooku's master assassin, Asajj Ventress, and countless legions of battle droids waiting to spring a trap.


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Merciless attacks by an invincible alien force have left the New Republic reeling. Dozens of worlds have succumbed to occupation or annihilation, and even the Jedi Knights have tasted defeat. In these darkest of times, the noble Chewbacca is laid to rest, having died as heroically as he lived—and a grief-stricken Han Solo is left to fit the pieces of his shattered life back together before he loses everything: friends, family, and faith.

Refusing help from Leia or Luke, Han becomes the loner he once was, seeking to escape the pain of his partner's death in adventure…and revenge. When he learns that an old friend from his smuggling days is operating as a mercenary for the enemy, he sets out to expose the traitor. But Han's investigation uncovers an even greater evil: a sinister conspiracy aimed at the very heart of the New Republic's will and ability to fight—the Jedi.

Now Han must face down his inner demons and, with the help of a new and unexpected ally, honor Chewbacca's sacrifice in the only way that matters—by being worthy of it.


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A string of smashing victories by the forces of the sinister aliens known as the Yuuzhan Vong has left New Republic resources and morale stretched to the breaking point. Leia Organa Solo, estranged from her husband, Han, oversees the evacuation of refugees on planets in the path of the merciless invaders. Luke Skywalker struggles to hold the fractious Jedi Knights together, even while one of them undertakes a bold but reckless undercover mission.

Manipulating their alliance with the amoral Hutts, the Yuuzhan Vong leave a cunning trail of vital information where New Republic agents are sure to find it—information the desperate defenders cannot afford to ignore: the location of the aliens' next target.

Then Han Solo stumbles into the dark heart of a raging battle, thus beginning a furious race against time that will require every skill and trick in his arsenal to win…


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While the Alliance fleet mounts a major campaign against a deadly warlord, Ysanne Isard has seized control of Thyferra, intending to use its precious supply of bacta to destabilize and destroy the New Republic. It falls to Rogue Squadron - undermanned, deprived of Alliance support and even weapons - to oppose Isard's dangerous designs, defeat her powerful complement of Star Destroyers, and free Thyferra from her iron rule. But when Isard discovers the Squadron's secret base, its ragtag group of pilots must scramble for survival in a winner-take-all battle against Isard's overwhelming and seemingly superior force.


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The Rebels have taken Coruscant, but their problems are far from over. A killer virus called Krytos is wiping out the indigenous population, and a counter-revolution is exploding. At the center of the storm is the highly charged treason trial of Rebel hero Tycho Celchu. While agents provocateurs carry out their acts of terrorism, the fledging state can be defended only by the blood and courage of Rogue Squadron. As the X-wing fighters scramble to save the Rebellion, Corran Horn, given up for dead in Ysanne Isard's inescapable prison, discovers he alone holds the key to freeing Coruscant from the Empire!


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It is the evil heart of a battered and reeling Empire: Coruscant, the giant city-world from whose massive towers the Imperial High Command directs the war. The Rebels will invade this mighty citadel in a daring move to bring the Empire to its knees. But first Wedge Antilles and his X-wing pilots must infiltrate Coruscant to gain vital intelligence information. Capture means death, or worse--enslavement by the vicious leader known as "Iceheart," Ysanne Isard, now Emperor in all but name. And one of Rogue Squadron's own is already her slave, a traitor hidden behind a mask of innocence, working to betray both colleagues and the Rebellion itself.


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Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.
Master and apprentice.
Chosen by fate. Destined for conflict.

Fourteen-year-old Anakin Skywalker is strong in the ways of the Force. His lightsaber skills are exceptional, and his piloting is legendary. He should be an ideal Jedi apprentice. And yet, there is so much he still has to learn.

It is up to Obi-Wan Kenobi to teach him these things. But on a mission to a planet threatened by toxic disaster, Obi-Wan and Anakin are separated. Anakin and three other apprentices—one of them his rival—must work together in order to survive. Anakin's instincts are clear…but are they right?

Anakin Skywalker's destiny will determine the future of a galaxy. These are the events that form his fate.


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Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.
Master and apprentice.
Chosen by fate. Destined for conflict.

Anakin Skywalker knows that Obi-Wan Kenobi did not choose him as an apprentice. Instead, it was the dying wish of Obi-Wan's own Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, that brought them together. Now, Anakin is beginning to doubt his Master's commitment…and Obi-Wan is starting to wonder if he will ever be as good a Master as Qui-Gon.

With these things in mind, Master and apprentice head out on a training exercise that soon turns into a struggle to survive. A squad of bounty hunters has been hired to capture the Jedi—and they will stop at nothing to do it. Anakin and Obi-Wan must avoid the traps and ambushes…and try to discover who is behind the deadly Jedi hunt.


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Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.
Master and apprentice.
Chosen by fate. Destined for conflict.

When Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker are sent to the Galactic Games, they are meant to be keepers of the peace. Then they discover an illegal event that Anakin knows all too well: Podracing. Even though Obi-Wan forbids it, Anakin cannot resist the thrill of the race—and the chance to face off against his childhood rival, the loathsome Sebulba.

As a Jedi, Anakin is supposed to let go of his past. But his past will not let go of him.


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The Clone Wars rage on. As insurgent Separatists fight furiously to wrest control of the galaxy from the Republic, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine cunningly manipulates both sides for his own sinister purposes.

Torrent Company’s Captain Rex agrees to temporarily relieve Anakin Skywalker of Ahsoka, his ubiquitous—and insatiably curious—Padawan, by bringing her along on a routine three-day shakedown cruise aboard Captain Gilad Pellaeon’s newly refitted assault ship. But the training run becomes an active—and dangerous—rescue mission when Republic undercover agent Hallena Devis goes missing in the middle of a Separatist invasion.

Dispatched to a distant world to aid a local dictator facing a revolution, Hallena finds herself surrounded by angry freedom fighters and questioning the Republic’s methods–and motives. Summoned to rescue the missing operative who is also his secret love, Pellaeon—sworn to protect the Republic over all—is torn between duty and desire. And Ahsoka, sent in with Rex and six untested clone troopers to extract Hallena, encounters a new and different Jedi philosophy, which shakes the foundation of her upbringing to the core. As danger and intrigue intensify, the loyalties and convictions of all involved will be tested. . . .


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There is no place to channel the flood of refugees fleeing the murderous Yuuzhan Vong but the overcrowded planet Duro, poisoned by centuries of technological excess. Fortunately a deal is struck: In exchange for a new home, the refugees will work to restore the planet to health, under the watchful eye of Leia Organa Solo.

While tempers flare between the Duros and the New Republic, Han Solo, his son, Jacen and the Ryn called Droma arrive to keep the peace. They are unaware that Leia is on Duro…and that Luke, Mara and Anakin are on their way, searching for a missing Jedi apprentice. And none realize that the Yuuzhan Vong have chosen this embattled planet as the next target in their brutal coreward thrust.

Now, as the fragile stability on Duro threatens to collapse into violence, Jacen Solo must face his greatest dilemma: At what point does the use of power become aggression? Whatever he decides, his next step could tip the galaxy destiny toward the light or toward darkness—with the life of someone he loves hanging in the balance…


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No sooner has Darth Vader's funeral pyre burned to ashes on Endor than the Alliance faces a new challenge at the far-flung Imperial outpost of Bakura. The Ssi-Ruuk, a race of cold-blooded reptilian invaders, plan to enslave human minds to pilot their invincible machines of war and destruction. With the hope of turning Bakura's loyalties toward the fledgling New Republic with defensive aid, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia race to the besieged planet. Yet as the eve of the final onslaught rapidly approaches, Rebel and Imperial forces still must come to terms with each other. And there is already evidence of a traitor hidden in their midst…


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In the blockbuster bestselling tradition of Heir to the Empire comes this thrilling addition to the Star Wars saga, as peace gives way to a dire new threat…

It is a time of tranquillity for the New Republic. The remnants of the Empire now lie in complete disarray, and the reemergence of the Jedi Knights has brought power and prestige to the fledgling government on Coruscant. Yesterday's Rebels have become today's administrators and diplomats, and the factions that fought against Imperial tyranny seem united in savoring the fruits of peace.

But the peace is short-lived. A restless Luke must journey to his mother's homeworld in a desperate and dangerous quest to find her people. An adventurous Lando must seize a mysterious spacecraft that has weapons of enormous destructive power and an unknown mission. And Leia, a living symbol of the New Republic's triumph, must face down a ruthless leader of the Duskhan League, an arrogant Yevetha who seems bent on a genocidal war that could shatter the fragile unity of the New Republic…and threaten its very survival.


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The New Republic's triumph grows ever more precarious in the face of an arrogant race bent on war, as the bestselling Star Wars saga continues….

As Leia must deal with a new threat to the fragile alliance that binds the New Republic, Lando becomes a prisoner aboard a runaway spacecraft of unknown origin. The ship is following an unstoppable path to its homeworld, destroyed by Imperial forces. Luke continues his quest to learn more about his mother among the Fallanassi, where his every belief about the use of the Force is about to be challenged. And while Leia ponders a diplomatic solution to the aggression of the fierce Yevetha race, Han pilots a spy ship into the heart of Yevethan space and faces a vast fleet of warships under the command of a ruthless leader—a fleet more than a match for the New Republic's forces….


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In the wake of a shattered alliance, the New Republic fights a relentless new enemy in an all-new adventure in the bestselling Star Wars saga…

Faced with an alarming image of Han as a battered hostage of the Yevetha, Chewbacca takes on an urgent mission. Meanwhile, Leia calls upon the Senate to take a stand and eliminate the Yevetha threat—even at the cost of Han's life. As a former Imperial governor takes his battle to the runaway Qella spaceship, Luke's continuing search for his mother brings him dangerously close to Nil Spaar's deadly forces. And as the Yevetha close in on the forces of the New Republic, Luke takes a desperate gamble with an invisible weapon….


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With the dark ascension of the Empire, and the Jedi Knights virtually wiped out, one Jedi who escaped the massacre is slated for a date with destiny—and a confrontation with Darth Vader.

Jax Pavan is one of the few Jedi Knights who miraculously survived the slaughter that followed Palpatine's ruthless Order 66. Now, deep in Coruscant's Blackpit Slums, Jax ekes out a living as a private investigator, trying to help people in need while concealing his Jedi identity and staying one step ahead of the killers out for Jedi blood. Others search for the elusive Jax too. Hard-boiled reporter Den Dhur and his buddy, the highly unorthodox droid I-5YQ, have shocking news to bring Jax—about the father he never knew.

But when Jax learns that his old Jedi Master has been killed, leaving behind the request that Jax finish a mission critical to the resistance, Jax has no choice but to emerge from hiding—and risk detection by Darth Vader to fulfill his Master's dying wish.


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With the Jedi all but wiped out in the grim aftermath of Order 66, the Empire's power seems unchecked. But one lone Knight continues to fight the good fight — against all odds and when all else fails.

Deep in the bowels of Coruscant, Jedi Jax Pavan seekes out a living as a private investigator; a go-to, can-do guy for the downtrodden. Now a mysterious Zeltron knockout named Deejah approaches Jax with a case that needs to be cracked: to find out who killed her artist lover Volette, brutally murdered hours after his triumphant unveiling of a dazzling new light sculpture with obvious links to lightsaber pyrotechnics.

Finding Volette's killer won't be easy — too many secrets, too many suspects, and all kinds of motives. But with the droid I-5YQ's help, and ex-reporter Den Dhur's excellent snooping skills, the investigation is soon operating like a well-oiled machine.

Unfortunately, there's a far more efficient machine hunting Jax. It's a deadly game of cat-and-mouse as the clock starts ticking toward the final explosive showdown… to see who strikes first and who will die first.


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After the Empire's bloody purge of the Jedi, one lone Knight still fights for those who cannot, unaware that he's about to be swept into a cataclysmic battle against the Master of Darkness himself.

Throughout the galaxy, a captured Jedi is a dead Jedi, even in Coruscant's most foul subterranean slums, where Jedi Knight Jax Pavan champions the causes of the oppressed with the help of hard-nosed reporter Den Dhur and the wisecracking droid I-5YQ. But Jax is also involved in another struggle -- to unlock the secrets of his father's death and his own past.

While Jax believes that I-5YQ holds some of those answers, he never imagines that the truth could be shocking enough to catapult him to the frontlines of a plot to kill Emperor Palpatine. Worse yet, Darth Vader's relentless search for Jax is about to end... in triumph.

The future looming over the valiant Jedi and his staunch pals promises to be dark and brief, because there's no secret whatsoever about the harshest truth of all: Few indeed are those who tangle with Darth Vader and live to tell the tale.


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After years of waiting in the shadows, Darth Sidious is taking the first step in his master plan to bring the Republic to its knees. Key to his scheme are the Neimoidians of the Trade Federation. Then one of his Neimoidian contacts disappears, and Sidious does not need his Force-honed instincts to suspect betrayal. He orders his apprentice, Darth Maul, to hunt the traitor down.

But he is too late. The secret has already passed into the hands of information broker Lorn Pavan, which places him right at the top of Darth Maul's hit list. Then, in the labyrinthine alleyways and sewers of Coruscant, capital city of the Republic, Lorn crosses paths with Darsha Assant, a Jedi Padawan on a mission to earn her Knighthood. Now the future of the Republic depends on Darsha and Lorn. But how can an untried Jedi and an ordinary man, stranger to the powerful ways of the Force, hope to triumph over one of the deadlist killers in the galaxy?


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The untold story of the ultimate weapon—created to annihilate worlds…and enslave a galaxy!

The Death Star's name says it all, with bone-chilling accuracy. It is a virtual world unto itself—equipped with uncanny power for a singularly brutal purpose: to obliterate entire planets in the blink of an eye. Its annihilation of the planet Alderaan lives in infamy. And its own ultimate destruction, at the hands of Luke Skywalker, is the stuff of legend. But what is the whole story, and who are the players, behind the creation of this world-killing satellite of doom?


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As civil war between the Republic and the Separatists rages across the galaxy, nowhere is the fighting more fierce than on the swamp world of Drongar, where a beleaguered mobile hospital unit wages a never-ending war of its own….

A surgeon who covers his despair with wisecracks; another who faces death and misery head-on, venting his emotions through beautiful music … A nurse with her heart in her work and her eye on a doctor … A Jedi Padawan on a healing mission without her Master … These are the core members of a tiny med unit serving the jungle world of Drongar, where battle is waged over the control of a priceless native plant, and an endless line of medlifters brings in the wounded and dying—mostly clone troopers, but also soldiers of all species.

While the healers work desperately to save lives, others plot secretly to profit from the war—either by dealing on the black market or by manipulating the events of the war itself. In the end, though, all will face individual tests, and only those of compassionate hearts and staunch spirits can hope to survive to fight another day.


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While the Clone Wars wreak havoc throughout the galaxy, the situation on the far world of Drongar is desperate, as Republic forces engage in a fierce fight with the Separatists….

The threatened enemy offensive begins as the Separatists employ legions of droids in their attack. Even with reinforcements, the flesh and blood of the Republic forces are just no match for battle droids' durasteel. Nowhere is this point more painfully clear than in the steaming Jasserak jungle, where the doctors and nurses of a small med unit face an impossible situation. As the dead and wounded start to pile up, surgeons Jos Vondar and Kornell "Uli" Divini know that time is running out.

Even the Jedi abilities of Padawan Barriss Offee have been stretched to the limit. Ahead lies a test for Barriss that could very well lead to her death—and that of countless others. The conflict is growing—and for this obscure mobile med unit, there's only one resolution. Shocking, bold, unprecedented, it's the only option Jos and his colleagues really have. The unthinkable has become the inevitable. Whether it kills them or not remains to be seen.


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Anakin Solo is now eleven—and headed for the Jedi academy! The Force is very strong with him—he can feel it. And his uncle Luke thinks it is time for him to start his training…

On his first day at the Jedi academy, Anakin makes a new friend named Tahiri. The Force is with her too. Soon they find out that together they can accomplish feats that surprise even their teachers.

But the teachers don't know what else Anakin and Tahiri do together. Every night, they both have the same dream of going down the river by the Academy on a raft. In the dream, they are drawn by the Force…but for all they know, it could be the dark side!

There is only one way to find out for sure. They have to go down the river all by themselves—for real!


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Anakin Solo is now eleven—and headed for the Jedi academy! The Force is very strong with him—he can feel it. And his uncle Luke thinks it is time for him to start his training…

Anakin and Tahiri are off on an adventure to the distant moon of Yavin 8! There they will help their alien friend Lyric join the "elders", the adults of her race. To do it, she must go through a strange and wonderful change. And when it is over, Lyric won't look anything like her old self.

But Anakin and Tahiri are in for an even bigger surprise. Deep within the caves of Lyric's world are carvings that match the ones they back in the temple on Yavin 4. If they can read them, they might be able to break the curse of the mysterious Golden Globe and defeat the dark side of the Force!

But there is something waiting for them down in the caves. Something large and dangerous. And it will take more than the Force to defeat it!


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Anakin Solo is now eleven—and headed for the Jedi academy! The Force is very strong with him—he can feel it. And his uncle Luke thinks it is time for him to start his training…

Before she joined the academy, Anakin's friend Tahiri lived with a strange and dangerous tribe. She knows nothing of her real parents—or how she came to live with the treacherous Tusken Raiders. Tahiri knew the day would come when she'd learn everything about her past…and that day has come!

But first, Tahiri must prove she's worthy. And that means she must complete a deadly task that will test her skills as a warrior and a Jedi Knight. With Anakin by her side, she will have to use the Force like never before.

If Tahiri succeeds, she will learn how her parents lived—and died. But if she fails, she and Anakin may have to pay the ultimate price…


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THE DEATH STAR HAS BEEN DESTROYED.

THE EMPIRE IS IN RUINS.

BUT THE DARK SIDE LIVES ON.

Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, and the Rebel Alliance have fought valiantly against the evil Galactic Empire. Together they have kept alive the hopes for freedom, and helped restore the ways of the Old Republic with its wise Senate and noble line of Jedi Knights. But now a new threat awaits the Alliance.

Within the evil Empire, the surviving Imperial warlords have been fighting among themselves for power. No one knows who will seize control, but the Prophets of the Dark Side have foretold that soon a new Emperor will arise, and on his right hand he shall wear an indestructible symbol of evil…


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TRIOCULUS HAS ASSUMED POWER.

THE EMPIRE HAS BEEN REBORN.

AND A YOUNG JEDI IS ABOUT TO BE DISCOVERED.

The battle to defeat the forces of the evil Galactic Empire rages on. Throughout the vastness of space, heroic men, women, and aliens of the Rebel Alliance fight valiantly to keep alive the hopes for freedom and to restore the ways of the Old Republic with its wise Senate and noble line of Jedi Knights. But now a sinister plot is about to befall the Alliance.

Having secured the glove of Darth Vader, Trioculus receives a warning that a Jedi Prince will be a threat to his reign and must be destroyed. Underground, beneath the rain forests of the fourth moon of Yavin, the young Jedi is growing up hidden within...The Lost City of the Jedi.


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Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.
Master and apprentice.
Chosen by fate. Destined for conflict.

How do you defeat an enemy whose riches buy unlimited power?

How do you defeat an enemy who is a master of disguise?

How do you defeat an enemy you cannot find?

Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi are facing a very real threat from a very elusive adversary, who is as cunning as he is evil. He will stop at nothing to draw others to the dark side and undermine the Republic. If the Jedi do not stop him, it will mean danger for the whole galaxy.


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Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.
Master and apprentice.
Chosen by fate. Destined for conflict.

A Senator's son has vanished. A secret squad of renegade students exists in the shadows of his elite leadership school. Do they have something to do with the disappearance? Or is it linked to the Senator's unseen political foes, who are pushing the planet toward war?

The only way to solve the mystery and maintain peace is for two Jedi apprentices—Anakin Skywalker and his rival, Ferus Olin—to infiltrate one of the fiercest places in the galaxy: school.


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Luke returns home with Han Solo, hoping to make contact with Obi-Wan Kenobi. Instead, what they find is disturbing news: the Hutts, criminal warlords of the galaxy, are building a secret superweapon, a reconstruction of the original Death Star superlaser, to be called Darksaber. This planet-crushing power will be in the ruthless hands of Durga, a creature without conscience or mercy. And there is trouble on another front: Admiral Daala is very much alive and, in league with Pellaeon, is marshaling forces to destroy the Rebels. Soon they and Luke will face the ultimate test of their power—one in which all the temptations of the dark side of the Force beckon…


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In the dusty heat of twin-sunned Tatooine lives the wealthiest gangster in a hundred worlds, master of a vast crime empire and keeper of a vicious, flesh-eating monster for entertainment (and disposal of his enemies). Bloated and sinister, Jabba the Hutt might have made a good joke—if he weren’t so dangerous. A cast of soldiers, spies, assassins, scoundrels, bounty hunters, and pleasure seekers have come to his palace, and every visitor to Jabba’s grand abode has a story. Some of them may even live to tell it.…


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In a far off corner of the universe, on the small desert planet of Tatooine, there is a dark, nic-i-tain-filled cantina where you can down your favorite intoxicant while listening to the best jizz riffs in the universe. But beware your fellow denizens of this pangalactic watering hole, for they are cutthroats and cutpurses, assassins and troopers, humans and aliens, gangsters and thieves.…


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In a wild and battle-scarred galaxy, assassins, pirates, smugglers, and cutthroats of every description roam at will, fearing only the professional bounty hunters—amoral adventurers who track down the scum of the universe…for a fee. When Darth Vader seeks to strike at the heart of the Rebellion by targeting Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon, he calls upon six of the most successful—and feared—hunters, including the merciless Boba Fett. They all have two things in common: lust for profit and contempt for life.…


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As the New Republic continues its struggle for survival, a scattered but powerful remnant of the shattered Empire seeks to destroy three precious children—among them Han and Leia's Jedi twins—who represent the next generation of Jedi Knights, in this third and final novel of the Jedi Academy Trilogy…

Suspended helplessly between life and death, Luke Skywalker lies in a state at the Jedi academy. But on the spirit plane, Luke fights desperately for survival, reaching out physically to the Jedi twins. At the same time, Leia is on a life-and-death mission of her own, racing against Imperial agents hoping to steal a third Jedi child – Leia and Han's baby Anakin—hidden on the planet Anoth.

Meanwhile, Luke's former protégé Kyp Durron has piloted the deadly Sun Crusher on an apocalyptic mission of mass destruction, convinced he is fighting for a just cause. Hunting down the rogue warrior, Han must persuade Kyp to renounce his dark crusade and regain his lost honor. To do it, Kyp must take the Sun Crusher on a suicide mission against the awesome Death Star prototype—a battle Han knows they may be unable to win… even with Luke Skywalker at their side!


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As the New Republic takes devastating losses in the ongoing war with the scattered remnants of the Empire, the galaxy's future depends on three small children – among them the Jedi twins—born to incredible powers and perils, as an extraordinary new Star Wars saga unfolds…

While the New Republic struggles to decide what to do with the deadly Sun Crusher—a new doomsday weapon stolen from the Empire by Han Solo—the renegade Imperial Admiral Daala uses her fleet of Star Destroyers to conduct guerrilla warfare on peaceful planets. And now she threatens the watery homeworld of Admiral Ackbar.

But as the battle for a planet rages, an even greater danger arises at Luke Skywalker's Jedi academy. A brilliant student delves dangerously into the dark side of the Force and unleashes the spirit of an ancient master of the evil order that warped Darth Vader himself. Working together, they may become an enemy greater than any the New Republic has ever fought… more powerful than even a Jedi Master can face.


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As the war between the Republic and the scattered remnants of the Empire continues, two children—the Jedi twins—will come into their powers in a universe on the brink of vast changes and challenges. In this time of turmoil and discovery, an extraordinary new Star Wars saga begins…

While Luke Skywalker takes the first step toward setting up an academy to train a new order of Jedi Knights, Han Solo and Chewbacca are taken prisoner on the planet Kessel and forced to work in the fathomless depths of a spice mine.

But when Han and Chewie break away, they flee desperately to a secret Imperial research laboratory surrounded by a cluster of black holes—and go from one danger to a far greater one…

On Kessel, Luke picks up the trail of his two friends, only to come face-to-face with a weapon so awesome, it can wipe out an entire solar system. It is a death ship called the Sun Crusher, invented by a reclusive genius and piloted by none other than Han himself…


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While exploring the jungle outside the academy, the twins make a startling discovery—the remains of a TIE Fighter that had crashed years ago during the battle against the first Death Star. Mechanical whiz Jaina thinks she can repair it…if they can sneak the right parts from the academy.

Meanwhile, their work is being closely watched—but not by academy eyes. The original pilot, an Imperial trooper, has been living wild in the jungle since his ship went down. Waiting to return to duty. And now his chance has come…


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The Dark Jedi Brakiss—the student Luke Skywalker expelled from his academy—has learned much since he left. Enough to master the dark side of the the Force. And enough to establish his own school for training Jedi—the Shadow Academy.

But now Brakiss has been given an even greater task. Not only must he create a sinister legion of Dark Jedi to serve the Empire, he must undertake a challenge not even Darth Vader and the Emperor could meet: Kidnap the heirs of the Skywalker bloodline, and turn them to the dark side of the Force…


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During a break in training, Jacen and Jaina are reunited with their old friend Zekk, an orphan living in the streets on their home planet of Coruscant. Young, wild, and free, Zekk has never had a care in the world…until now. He sees the changes in his friends. Jacen and Jaina have learned so much, have grown in so many ways. Compared to them, he is only a lost little boy.

However, a powerful being has seen his potential. Someone who knows about shame and jealousy—and how to make use of them. Someone who knows that the dark side of the Force is especially attractive when you've got nothing to lose…


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Luke Skywalker has come to a grim conclusion. With the threat of a new generation of Dark Jedi being trained at the Shadow Academy, he knows the New Republic will need all the fighters it can muster. At last, it is time for the young Jedi Knights to build their lightsabers.

But there is more to mastering the ancient weapon than mere swordsmanship. Each student must learn about the mysterious bond between Jedi and lightsaber. For Jacen and Jaina, success will mean growing stronger in the Force. But for one of their friends, failure will mean tragedy...


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Jacen, Jaina Solo and their Wookiee companion Lowbacca travel to the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk where Lowie's younger sister Sirrakuk is about to undergo a Wookiee ritual. Since the ritual is dangerous, Lowie wants to assist his sibbling.

However, the Dark Jedi Zekk has been assigned to lead a raid on the Wookiee city of Thikkiiana, a major exporter of computer technology. By executing this mission, he will fulfill his great potential and win the title of the Darkest Knight of the Second Imperium. However, he must face his former friends Jacen and Jaina in the process…


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The Jedi Praxeum is under attack from the Second Imperium. The Shadow Academy has arrived on the jungle moon of Yavin 4 along with legions of stormtroopers and Dark Jedi adepts, clouds of TIE Fighters and a fleet of modified warships. In response, the Jedi quickly prepare for war.

Thus begins the battle! This conflict will pit the Solo twins along with their friends and Luke Skywalker against the Dark Jedi Zekk and his superiors Brakiss and the Nightsister Tamith Kai. Who ever wins the battle will decide the fate of the entire galaxy.


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Following the defeat of the Second Imperium, Jacen and Jaina travel to the Alderaan system to retrieve a shard from Alderaan's core. However, they are not alone since they are being watched by Ailyn Vel, disguised as her father Boba Fett. In the past, Boba Fett had been an enemy of their father Han Solo and his daughter is continuing his legacy.


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A trade summit on Corellia brings Han Solo back to the home world he left many years before. Arriving on the distant planet with Leia, their children, and Chewbacca, Han finds Corellia overrun with agents of the New Republic Intelligence and finds himself part of a deceptive plan whose aim not even he understands. One thing is clear: the five inhabited worlds of the sector are on the brink of civil war and the once peaceful coexistence of the three leading races—Human, Selonian and Drallan—has come to an end.

Suddenly all that Han, Leia, and others of the Alliance have fought for is threatened. As jammerships block all communication with Luke Skywalker and the outside universe, Han and Leia find themselves trapped on a world about to explode in violence unless they can meet a fanatical Rebel leader's impossible demands....


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Imprisoned on the planet Corellia, Han Solo finds himself at the mercy of his evil cousin, Thrackan Sal-Solo. Thracken [sic] plans to restore the Imperial system and seize total power—no matter what the cost. Han has one chance to stop him. But to do so he must turn his back on his Human cousin and join forces with a female alien. Dracmus was arrested as a ringleader in a plot against the corrupt Human League. Now she and Han will attempt a daring escape to Selonia in time to warn Leia, Luke Skywalker, and Lando of Thracken's [sic] plan. But can Han trust the alien to keep her word?

Meanwhile, other questions threaten the New Republic—and the lives of millions. Who is behind the deadly Starbuster plot? Why is someone attempting to take possession of Corellia's powerful planetary repulsors? And what is the secret behind the mysterious Centerpoint Station, an ancient, artificial world of unknown origin that has suddenly—and inexplicably—come alive?


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When a loyalist ship approaching Selonia is blasted out of space, Han Solo quickly realizes that rebel forces are turning planetary repulsors into weapons of immense destruction. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker and Lando Calrissian manage to discover the terrifying secret of Centerpoint Station. It is the infamous Starbuster itself, and its next programmed nova, hard-wired in, is set to annihilate a chosen star, its inhabited worlds, and millions of innocent lives. There's only one way to stop it: blow up the station. But as a massive rebel fleet closes in on Centerpoint, Han, Luke and their friends will discover time is running out.

Then the true leaders of the rebellion reveal their identities, and issue their final ultimatum: The New Republic must withdraw all claim to power over the entire Corellian sector. With the future of Corellian freedom at stake, Han and those loyal to the Republic must somehow resist. But how can they possibly stop the deadliest weapon the galaxy has ever known?


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Hidden away at birth, he would believe himself an orphan. Watched over by a mysterious hermit, he would discover incredible abilities. And by finding hope where others found only evil, he would restore balance to the galaxy.

This is the legendary story of Luke Skywalker, from his childhood on Tatooine to his fierce battle with his toughest enemy—himself.


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A Jedi Master is missing.

She is trapped in a hostile fortress.

Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and their fellow Jedi are her only hope.

The rescue has begun.


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A band of Bartokk assassins is in possession of many unusual Trade Federation starfighters.

They have also kidnapped an innocent child.

The Bartokks must be stopped.

More than one life hangs in the balance.


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Someone has stolen something that belongs to Darth Sidious, and he wants it back. When a Sith Lord wants something, there's only one person he can trust to get it--another Sith Lord.


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A young girl has been found who has the power to become a Jedi. But an evil scientist doesn't want to let her go. And her home is under attack by Bartokk Assassins. Yoda, Mace Windu, and other Jedi must save her.


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The book begins with Darth Vader dreaming for the first time in years while aboard the Executor shortly before it departs for the second Death Star about his son and his master and wonders if he is having a premonition of the future. He then thinks of the dreams he had as Anakin Skywalker and reminisces about his life. He and Shmi Skywalker are aboard a freighter being taken to Gardulla the Elder as slaves. Watto sees Anakin busy repairing a podracer and he says that he taught himself how to fix it. Watto is intrigued by this and takes Anakin and Shmi as payment for a lost bet.

The story continues with Anakin's life on Tatooine, his participation in the Battle of Naboo and his life as a Padawan. Anakin's motives for turning to the dark side. Eventually, events end with his death during the Battle of Endor and his passing into the netherworld of the Force.


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<h3>Product Description</h3><p>Overlooked as a Padawan, he was to become one of the most revered Masters of all. Sworn to serve the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order, his own apprentice would bring about their destruction. Powerless to retrieve Darth Vader from the dark side, he would train the only one who could. This is the legendary story of Obi-Wan Kenobi, from his first meeting with Anakin Skywalker to his final meeting with Darth Vader—and beyond . . . </p>


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HAN SOLO IS THINKING OF GETTING MARRIED.

TRIOCULUS HAS FOUND HIS QUEEN.

BUT THE FATHER OF JABBA THE HUTT IS ABOUT TO SHATTER THEIR PLANS.

The battle to defeat the forces of the evil Galactic Empire rages on. Throughout the vastness of space, heroic men, women, and aliens of the Rebel Alliance fight valiantly to keep alive the hopes for freedom and to restore the ways of the Old Republic with its wise Senate and noble line of Jedi Knights. But a feud between two powerful villains may prove disastrous for the Alliance.

Trioculus is determined to steal away Princess Leia from Han Solo and make her his dark queen. But when Jabba the Hutt's father, Zorba, returns to Tatooine and learns that his son died by Leia's hand, Zorba takes off to Cloud City and prepares for... Zorba the Hutt's Revenge.


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A DYING PLANET.

A DESPERATE MISSION.

AND A PROPHECY OF DOOM FOR THE REBEL ALLIANCE.

The battle against the evil Empire rages on as heroic men, women, and aliens of the Rebel Alliance continue their struggle to end the era of darkness. But now a mysterious visitor comes to the Rebel fortress located atop Mount Yoda, bringing ominous news.

Kadann, Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side, plots to capture and destroy the carbonized body of Trioculus and take control of the Empire. Meanwhile, the Rebel Alliance races to save the archaeologists of the dying planet Duro, only to discover an incredible mystery in the underground tunnels, a secret that depends on a perilous… Mission from Mount Yoda.


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A DANGEROUS EXPERIMENT.

A SHOCKING MARRIAGE.

AND THE REAPPEARANCE OF AN OLD ENEMY.

The battle against the evil Empire rages on as heroic men, women, and aliens of the Rebel Alliance continue their struggle to end the era of darkness. But the ultimate defeat of the Imperial forces could come from within the Empire itself.

The Imperial grand moffs are in revolt against the Prophets of the Dark Side. As the Alliance struggles with its latest weapon, Project Decoy, Princess Leia is kidnapped by an old enemy, then menaced by the surprise of another evil foe – one obsessed with turning Leia to the Dark Side and making her the… Queen of the Empire.


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A JEDI PRINCE.

A DEVASTATING BETRAYAL.

AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE LOST CITY?

The battle against the evil Empire rages on as heroic men, women, and aliens of the Rebel Alliance continue their struggle to end the era of darkness. But by rescuing an Imperial prisoner, have the Rebels brought disaster upon themselves?

While on a perilous quest in the mushroom forest of Arzid, Luke and Ken are captured by Kadann, Supreme Imperial Prophet. Having tempted the young Jedi Prince into revealing the location of the Lost City of the Jedi, the Supreme Prophet plans to steal the ancient knowledge of the Jedi Knights. Now Kadann will rule over a new tyrannical empire, as foretold by the… Prophets of the Dark Side.


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<h3>Product Description</h3><p>An ancient Sith ship hurtles into the future carrying a lethal cargo that could forever destroy Luke Skywalker’s hopes for peace.  </p><p>The Civil War is almost over when Jedi Knight Jaden Korr experiences a Force vision so intense he must act. Enlisting two salvage jocks and their ship, Jaden sets out into space. Someone—or something—appears to be in distress.  </p><p>But what Jaden and his crew find confounds them. A five-thousand-year-old dreadnaught—bringing with it a full force of Sith and one lone Jedi—has inadvertently catapulted eons from the past into the present. The ship’s weapons may not be cutting-edge, but its cargo, a special ore that makes those who use the dark side nearly invincible, is unsurpassed. The ancient Jedi on board is determined to destroy the Sith. But for Jaden, even more is at stake: for his vision has led him to uncover a potentially indestructible threat to everything the Jedi Order stands for. </p><h3>About the Author</h3><p>Paul S. Kemp<strong> </strong>is the author of nine Forgotten Realms_ _fantasy novels and many short stories. When he’s not writing, he practices corporate law in Michigan, which has inspired him to write some really believable villains. He digs cigars, single malt scotch, and ales, and tries to hum the theme song to Shaft at least once per day. Paul Kemp lives and works in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, with his wife, twin sons, and a couple of cats. </p>


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Culled from the pages of the Star Wars Adventure Journal, one of the most popular Star Wars magazines in the field today, comes this exciting new short-story collection. Here are stories from such award-winning and New York Times bestselling authors as Timothy Zahn, Michael A. Stackpole, and Kathy Tyers as well as exciting newcomers, including Erin Endom, Laurie Burns, and Patricia A. Jackson. From the desperate flight of a civilian mail courier carrying vital Rebel intelligence through an Imperial blockade, to a suicidal commando raid on an impregnable Imperial prison, to a Corellian smuggler mysteriously hired by an actor turned Jedi Knight turned Imperial assassin for one final transformation, these tales capture all the high adventure, imaginative genius, and nonstop action that are the hallmarks of the Star Wars saga.

What's more, the centerpiece of this magnificent collection is the short novel Side Trip, the first-ever collaboration between Timothy Zahn and Michael A. Stackpole, in which a freighter smuggling arms for the Rebels is commandeeered by an Imperial Star Destroyer led by a mysterious helmeted figure who claims to be the notorious bounty hunter Jodo Kast. It is all part of a devious plan that includes Hal and Corran Horn, who are working undercover to nail the infamous Corellian warlord Zekka Thyne. But one slipup can get them all killed.


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On Zelos II a man and a woman are held prisoner in a dark cell, each fighting their way for survival at the hands of Imperial captors-and a chance for escape that could cost one of them their life. On the tortured landscape of Ryloth, Fenig Nabon awaits a ship of women warriors to complete a dangerous deal: the smuggling of a troupe of dancers to the homeworld of the Hutts-only to get more than she bargained for. And in a stunning new novella written especially for this collection by Hugo-Award winning, New York Times bestselling author Timothy Zahn and Michael A. Stackpole, Senator Garm Bel Iblis, believed dead at the hands of an Imperial assassin, teams up with Hal Horn in a duel against the Empire's most dangerous agent. At stake are the plans for a terrifying new weapon called the Death Star-and the fate of both the Empire and the New Republic.


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Courageous to the point of recklessness, and possessing a wild independent streak, twenty-year-old Anakin Skywalker, apprentice to Obi-Wan Kenobi, is coming of age in a time of great upheaval. The attempted assassination of Senator Padmé Amidala before a crucial vote thrusts the Republic even closer to the edge of disaster. Unbeknownst to the Jedi, a low rumble of discontent is building into the roar of thousands of clone soldiers readying for the ultimate fight. The dark side is growing. Masters Yoda and Mace Windu sense enormous unease…for the fiercest battle of dark versus light is fast approaching, threatening to consume them all in a tidal wave of war.


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Twenty-one years after the Battle of Endor, the New Republic will face an even darker enemy…

The Galactic Empire has ended the war with the New Republic, but the galaxy is far from peace. Unrest is spreading everywhere, and threatens to destroy the New Republic's tenuous reign.

Into this fragile moment comes Nom Anor, a mysterious and charismatic firebrand who is sowing seeds of mistrust and anger through his call for a simpler time. Little do his followers know the truth which hides behind his words.

When ExGal 4, a scientific outpost on Belkadan, discovers an odd comet-like object coming through the vast distance between the galaxies, astrophysicist Danni Quee takes it upon herself to investigate. She journeys to the Helska system, unaware of the danger which threatens the survival of the entire galaxy: the Yuuzhan Vong.

Jedi Masters Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade Skywalker, along with the Solo's and Chewbacca are thrust into the middle of the danger once more, forced to fight with all they have to save the galaxy.

But this time, the Force itself may not be enough.


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Anakin Solo is now eleven—and headed for the Jedi academy! The Force is very strong with him—he can feel it. And his uncle Luke thinks it is time for him to start his training…

Anakin has been having terrible dreams of a secret cave on Dagobah. He asks his uncle Luke if he can go there, to see if it's real. Luke says yes—but only if Tahiri, R2-D2 and the Jedi Master Ikrit go along.

Anakin and his friends find more danger than they bargained for in the swamps of Dagobah. But they do find the cave. What is inside? And will Anakin be strong enough in the Force to face it?


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Anakin Solo is now eleven—and headed for the Jedi academy! The Force is very strong with him—he can feel it. And his uncle Luke thinks it is time for him to start his training…

Anakin and his friends just heard an incredible secret! Darth Vader may have retrieved Obi-Wan Kenobi's lightsaber from the original Death Star. The lost weapon may be hidden in Vader's abandoned fortress on the planet Vjun, and Luke Skywalker agrees that it must be recovered.

Now Anakin and his friends—along with Tionne and the Jedi Master Ikrit—are heading off to Vjun to find the legendary fortress. Untold dangers await them, for no one knows what secrets still lie within those ancient walls. Even abandoned, it is a stronghold of dark power.

But the biggest danger may not have shown its face. For if they know about Obi-Wan's saber…who else does?


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Anakin Solo is now eleven—and headed for the Jedi academy! The Force is very strong with him—he can feel it. And his uncle Luke thinks it is time for him to start his training…

Uldir, Anakin's classmate at the Jedi academy, wants to be a Jedi more than anything. But he can't even lift a feather with the Force. He thinks he knows how he can learn faster: the Holocron.

The Holocron is a cube that holds all the secrets of the ancient Jedi Masters. By "borrowing" it, along with Obi-Wan Kenobi's lightsaber, Uldir believes he will become a powerful Jedi Knight!

Now Anakin—along with Tahiri, R2-D2, Tionne and the Jedi Master Ikrit—must race across the galaxy to find Uldir. If they don't, Uldir could be killed. And Kenobi's blade and the holocron will fall into the hands of a very evil man…


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As the Clone Wars rage, Jedi Master Yoda must once again face one of his greatest adversaries—Count Dooku….

The savage Clone Wars have forced the Republic to the edge of collapse. During the height of battle, one Jedi Knight escapes the carnage to deliver a message to Yoda on Coruscant. It appears Dooku wants peace and demands a rendezvous. Chances are slim that the treacherous Count is sincere, but with a million lives at stake, Yoda has no choice.

The meeting will take place on Vjun, a planet steeped in evil. The challenge could not be more difficult. Can Yoda win back his once promising pupil from the dark side, or will Count Dooku unleash his sinister forces against his former mentor? Either way, Yoda is sure of one thing: This battle will be one of the fiercest he'll ever face.


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As the bloodied and weary galaxy faces battle once more, the Jedi take on the formidable task of bringing the last of the Empire into the light…

From the ashes of the New Republic—torn to shreds by the savage Yuuzhan Vong forces—the newly formed Galactic Alliance has risen, determined to bring peace to the entire galaxy. But first the Yuuzhan Vong must be contained once and for all. And so Luke Skywalker seeks a world long lost to legend: Zonama Sekot, a sentient planet believed to have repelled an invasion by the Yuuzhan Vong decades ago. Deciphering the enigmatic secrets of Zonama Sekot just might turn the tides of this relentless war.

Aboard the Jade Shadow, Luke, his wife Mara, Jacen Solo, and other Jedi head off into the Unknown Regions, where rumors and clues suggest Zonama Sekot might be found. Yet the mission has barely begun when the searchers stumble into a horrific battle. The Imperial Remnant, in retreat from the mighty Yuuzhan Vong, is about to be destroyed. It would seem those aboard the Jade Shadow have little choice but to leave the Empire to its fate. But these are no ordinary space travelers, they are Jedi…


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Swift and deadly, the Yuuzhan Vong have blasted their way across the galaxy—and now stand on the threshold of total victory. Yet a courageous few still dare to oppose them…

Rife with hostile cultures and outright enemies, the Unknown Regions hold many perils for Luke Skywalker and the Jedi searching for Zonama Sekot, the living planet that may hold the key to dealing with the Yuuzhan Vong once and for all.

Meanwhile, on the edge of the galaxy and in the heart of a trusted ally, old enemies are stirring. The Yuuzhan Vong have inflamed long-forgotten vendettas that are even now building up to crisis point. And as Han and Leia journey on their quest to knit the unraveling galaxy back together, betrayal and deception await them…


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The Jedi move one step closer to saving the embattled galaxy—only to confront a formidable wall of resistance…

The harrowing search for Zonama Sekot is finally over for Luke Skywalker, Jacen Solo, and the others aboard the Jade Shadow. But joy turns to alarm when the living planet sends a defiant message: it refuses to follow them back to a galaxy full of war, exploitation, and misery.

While Luke works feverishly to persuade the elusive planet to reconsider, the Yuuzhan Vong launch a full-scale attack aimed at the heart of the new alliance. Sent to defend a major communications base, Han and Leia find themselves hopelessly outnumbered. Reinforcements are just too far away to help before everything is destroyed. So the courageous pair must now fight an unrelenting battle against staggering odds. Whether they actually survive is another matter…


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Along with the comic, it features the storyline of the game and the fate of Darth Vader's apprentice at the end of the book. Although the game has multiple endings, the book and comic follow the sole canonical ending. Along with the comic, the book's release was timed around the release of the game.

There are differences between the novel and the game. For instance, during Starkiller's mission to Imperialized Raxus Prime, the plot of the novel diverges from the plot of the video game, in that a giant computer, known only as "The Core", gains control over PROXY, and uses PROXY to attack Starkiller, making PROXY assume the form of Darth Maul (although this plot point was included in the Nintendo DS version of the game). In the game, PROXY attacks Starkiller, sensing the best opportunity to fulfill his primary programming.


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It is a time of crisis. Han Solo, frozen in carbonite, is being taken to the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt. As Princess Leia mounts a rescue mission including Luke Skywalker, Lando Calrissian, and a brilliant young pilot, Darth Vader pits himself against a cunning and ruthless rival. Xizor is the leader of a powerful crime syndicate who seeks to supplant Vader for the favor of their mutual master, the dreaded Emperor. Their target: Luke Skywalker. Suddenly Luke finds himself the potential prize of the two most evil entities in the galaxy - one who wants him alive...and one who wants him dead.


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When the economically depressed government of Ord Cestus threatens to sell incredibly deadly battle droids to the Separatists, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine dispatches a team led by Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi to the planet. Their mission: to halt the deal. A peaceful resolution is preferable, but if all else fails, the Republic will not hesitate to demonstrate the consequences of disloyalty by launching a full-scale attack—wiping out not only the means of biodroid production but countless lives as well. The prospect of such a slaughter only fuels Obi-Wan's growing suspicions about the sinister path the Republic seems to be taking. Facing a crisis of conscience, Obi-Wan must find the wisdom and strength to prevent a bloodbath and safeguard the Republic—while abiding by the ancient code to which he has pledged his life.


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Dispatched as a Republic envoy to the Outer Rim planet Ord Cestus — in a bid to halt the sale of potentially deadly "bio-droids" to the Confederacy — Obi-Wan Kenobi finds himself enlisted in a mission more desperate, and dangerous, than diplomatic. The once self-contained world has long since been co-opted by unscrupulous offworlders, whose plunder of a vital natural resource has enabled the rise of a powerful corporation that controls the economy. Ord Cestus's native population, the X'Ting, are now mere second-class citizens in their own society.
Enter the Jedi Knight, with news that a legal technicality has turned the tables—and the corrupt forces with a stranglehold on Ord Cestus are now at the mercy of the X'Ting. Circumstances, however, are more dire than the Republic suspected.
In the wake of a devastating plague, the X'Ting's benevolent rulers are dead, and the once tightly knit race has splintered into battling factions. Reunification can only come with the rise of new royals, whom all X'Ting are bound by blood to serve. But the eggs that will spawn those sovereigns lie out of reach, secured in a secret chamber and booby-trapped by those whose knowledge died with them in the plague. Now, to salvage a people's destiny, Obi-Wan will risk a veritable descent into hell: braving the unknown horrors in the forgotten depths of an alien world, on a perilous quest from which none who went before have ever returned.


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Boba Fett is not like other boys. His father, Jango Fett, is a bounty hunter. His planet, Kamino, is home to an army of clones. He has no friends, no school. The one thing he does have is a future as a bounty hunter.
This future comes quickly. Suddenly Boba Fett is all alone in a dangerous galaxy. He must struggle for safety—and vengeance—using his strength, his intelligence and his father's hard lessons.
Boba Fett will grow up to be one of the most feared bounty hunters in the galaxy.
But first he must survive his childhood.


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His most important ally is his greatest enemy.

Boba Fett is alone in the world. His father is dead. He's never had friends. The only thing that keeps him going is his desire to survive—and become a bounty hunter.

Aurra Sing has taken him to Count Dooku's lair on the toxic planet of Raxus Prime. Boba thinks Dooku will help him. But Dooku has other plans…and the Jedi have their plans as well.

The Clone Wars are raging throughout the galaxy, and Boba Fett is caught in a spectacular crossfire on Raxus Prime. What he discovers there will change the course of his life.


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A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, an evil legacy long believed dead is stirring. Now the dark side of the Force threatens to overwhelm the light, and only an ancient Jedi prophecy stands between hope and doom for the entire galaxy.

The Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice, young Obi-Wan Kenobi, are charged with the protection of Amidala, the young Queen of Naboo, as she seeks to end the siege of her planet by Trade Federation warships. This quest brings Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and one of the Queen's young handmaidens to the sand-swept streets of Tatooine and the shop where the slave boy Anakin Skywalker toils and dreams of finding a way to win freedom from enslavement for himself and his beloved mother. His only hope lies in his extraordinary instincts and his strange gift for understanding the "rightness" of things. It is this unexpected meeting that marks the beginning of the drama that will become legend.


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Five idealistic but fed-up Imperial stormtroopers led by Daric LaRone share the stage with young Rebel Alliance crusaders Han Solo, Princess Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker and Chewbacca in this politically fraught but still rollicking early years Star Wars adventure from Hugo-winner Zahn (Star Wars: Outbound Flight). Emperor Palpatine's favorite Sith, Darth Vader, has a new rival, the 18-year-old Countess Mara Jade Claria, whom Palpatine has schooled in the Force to assume the special agent role of "Emperor's Hand." Zahn depicts the intrepid Rebel quartet and the turbulent development of the Alliance while revealing the Human faces behind the stormtrooper armor of Daric and company, who become unexpected allies of Han and friends once the troopers are on the run after killing a superior officer. The author also underscores Mara Jade's tough-girl charm and blossoming Imperial clout against the background of Palpatine's dedication to Imperial domination and his insidious influence on his minions. This episode will please fans wondering about events between the first and second movies in the original Star Wars trilogy.


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The 501st Stormtrooper Legion, 'Vader's Fist', is sent in to take down a powerful warlord on the planet Eickarie. Many of the troopers meet up with the resistance formed against the warlord, who is hated because he has taken many prisoners. Unfortunately something seems deeply wrong with these new allies.


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Luke and his wife Mara are on a planet, where Luke is helping to arbitrate many disputes among the natives, who revere Jedi wisdom. Mara grows increasingly frustrated at the amount of Luke's time being taken by settling these disputes. On a visit to Kei Ras Cirali, an agricultural coordinator, Luke takes Mara to a remote retreat that he has had furnished with things she likes so they can spend some time together alone.


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It began as the ultimate voyage of discovery, only to become a dark chapter in Jedi history. Now acclaimed author Timothy Zahn returns to tell the whole extraordinary story of the remarkable—and doomed—Outbound Flight Project.

The Clone Wars have yet to erupt when Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth petitions the Senate for support of an ambitious mission: to contact intelligent life and colonize undiscovered worlds beyond the known galaxy. But the government bureaucracy threatens to scuttle the expedition before it can even start—until Master C'baoth foils a murderous conspiracy plot, winning him the political capital he needs to set in motion the dream of Outbound Flight.

Or so it would seem. The evil Sith Lord Darth Sidious has his own interests in Outbound Flight. Yet even he is not the mission's most dangerous challenge. Once underway, the starship crosses paths with the forces of the alien Chiss Ascendancy and the brilliant mastermind known as "Thrawn." Thus what begins as a peaceful Jedi mission is violently transformed into an all-out war for survival.


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After fifty years, the remains of Outbound Flight—a pioneering Jedi expedition viciously destroyed by the alien warlord Grand Admiral Thrawn—have been found on the planet Nirauan. The beings who reside there wish to turn over to the New Republic the remnants of the doomed mission. Accepting the gesture will mean a long voyage into the treacherous cluster of stars where the thousands of souls aboard the Outbound Flight vessel met their grim fate.

Embarking on the strange and solemn journey, Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker are unaware that the gravest danger lies within the derelict walls of Outbound Flight itself. As the marooned hulk yields up stunning revelations and unexpected terrors, Luke and Mara find all they stand for—and their very existence—brutally challenged. The ultimate test will be surviving the deathtrap carefully laid by foes who are legendary for their ruthlessness…and determined to complete the job Thrawn began: exterminating the Jedi.


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The Empire stands at the brink of total collapse. But they have saved their most heinous plan for last. First a plot is hatched that could destroy the New Republic in a bloodbath of genocide and civil war. Then comes the shocking news that Grand Admiral Thrawn—the most cunning and ruthless warlord in history—has apparently returned from the dead to lead the Empire to a long-prophesized victory. Facing incredible odds, Han and Leia begin a desperate race against time to prevent the New Republic from unraveling in the face of two inexplicable threats—one from within and one from without. Meanwhile, Luke teams up with Mara Jade, using the Force to track down a mysterious pirate ship with a crew of clones. Yet, perhaps most dangerous of all, are those who lurk in the shadows, orchestrating a dark plan that will turn the New Republic and the Empire into their playthings.


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The Empire's master plan is under way. The New Republic is on the verge of civil war and the rumor that the legendary Admiral Thrawn has returned from the dead is rallying the Imperial forces. Now, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, and their allies face the challenge of their lives. They must infiltrate a hidden fortress filled with Imperial fanatics, rendezvous with a double-dealing Imperial commander, and journey into enemy territory to learn the identity of those responsible for an act of unthinkable genocide. But most important of all is the truth about Thrawn. In his hands—alive or dead—rests the fate of the New Republic.


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The embattled Republic reels from the attacks of Grand Admiral Thrawn, who has marshaled the remnants of the Imperial forces and driven the Rebels back with an abominable technology recovered from the Emperor's secret fortress: clone soldiers. As Thrawn mounts his final siege, Han and Chewbacca struggle to form a coalition of smugglers for a last-ditch attack against the Empire, while Leia holds the Alliance together and prepares for the birth of her Jedi twins. Overwhelmed by the ships and clones at Thrawn's command, the Republic has one last hope—sending a small force, led by Luke Skywalker, into the very stronghold that houses Thrawn's terrible cloning machines.

There a final danger awaits, as the Dark Jedi C'baoth directs the battle against the Rebels and builds his strength to finish what he had already started: the destruction of Luke Skywalker.


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I am a nine-year-old slave on the planet of Tatooine. I am owned by a creature named Watto. There's no way to escape. Then one day a Jedi appears. He says I am to be a Jedi, too. But first I must prove myself.

First I must survive.

My name is Anakin Skywalker. This is my story.


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While on Coruscant, Lumpawarrump catches a burglar stealing a datapad from Han and Leia Solo. Lumpawarrump then pursues the burglar into Coruscant's dangerous underlevels. Chewbacca follows his son and finds him fighting the burglars and eventually getting kidnapped. When Chewbacca found him again he finds the burglars carrying him into one of the secret detention centers Palpatine kept in the undercity. Chewbacca and Lumpawarrump learn that the burglars were attempting to assassinate the New Republic's leaders so Chewbacca comms Han to inform him of the plot. Chewbacca and Lumpawarrump invade the enemies' base to find an advanced IT-3 interrogation droid behind the plot. Chewbacca attacks and destroys the droid. In the end Lumpawarrump heads back to Kashyyyk after learning a lesson about listening to his parents.


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After triumphing in Star Wars: The Unifying Force, the heroes of the New Jedi Order return in a dazzling new adventure!

Luke Skywalker is worried: A handful of Jedi Knights, including his nephew and niece, Jaina and Jacen Solo, have disappeared into the Unknown Regions in response to a strange cry for help that only they could hear. Now the alien Chiss have angrily lodged a formal complaint, accusing the missing Jedi of meddling in a border dispute between the Chiss and an unidentified aggressor.

Luke has no choice but to head to the Unknown Regions for serious damage control. Han and Leia follow, intent on protecting their children from what could be grave danger. But none of them are prepared for what they find when they reach their destination.

A colony of mysterious aliens is expanding toward the edge of Chiss space. The leader of the alien nest is resolute. Adept in the Force, he is drawing old friends to his side, compelling them to join the colony and meld their Force-abilities with his, even if it leads to all-out war…


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The epic Star Wars odyssey enters a new frontier as the heroes of the New Jedi Order confront a monstrous evil-insidious, unseen, and insatiable....

Though the insectoid Killiks have been given new worlds, they have not found peace yet. Their new colonies are under attack from a mysterious foe and the furious Killiks blame the Jedi. Racing back to the Unknown Regions to investigate, the Skywalkers and Solos discover a threat more familiar and terrifying than they had ever expected. Worse, the Dark Nest wants to kill Mara Jade. Will Jacen's apocalyptic vision create yet another galactic war or prevent one? Most mysterious and deadly of all, the Killiks are hiding a deadly secret.

To find out, Luke, Mara, Han and Leia must embark on a perilous journey into the unknown void between right and wrong. For a strange yet devastating dispute is about to explode into chaos, pitting Jedi against each other and threatening the galaxy itself.


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In the explosive conclusion to the Dark Nest trilogy, Luke Skywalker summons the heroes of the New Jedi Order from near and far as the Star Wars galaxy teeters on the edge of eternal war. Yet even the combined powers of the formidable Jedi may not be enough to vanquish the deadly perils confronting them.

Luke Skywalker summons Jedi Knights from all over the galaxy as war starts. Yet even the combined might of the Jedi Order may not be enough against the deadly perils confronting them.

The Chiss-Killik border confrontration is threatening to engulf the entire galaxy in yet another galactic war. The Killik have planned to absorb all living creatures into a single hive mind. The only hope for peace lies in the hands of the Jedi, who must not only end the war between the Chiss and the Killik but also confront the new threat of the Dark Nest and its unseen queen.

Leia's Jedi skills will be put to the test in the coming conflict, while Luke will have to prove in a brilliant display of Force strength and swordplay, that he is the most powerful Jedi Master in the galaxy.


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Following a trail of clues across the galaxy, Luke Skywalker continues his quest to find the reasons behind Jacen Solo’s dark downfall and to win redemption for the Jedi Order. Sojourning among the mysterious Aing-Tii monks has left Luke and his son Ben with no real answers, only the suspicion that the revelations they seek lie in the forbidden reaches of the distant Maw Cluster. There, hidden from the galaxy in a labyrinth of black holes, dwell the Mind Walkers: those whose power to transcend their bodies and be one with the Force is as seductive and intoxicating as it is potentially fatal. But it may be Luke’s only path to the truth.
Meanwhile, on Coruscant, the war of wills between Galactic Alliance Chief of State Natasi Daala and the Jedi Order is escalating. Outraged over the carbonite freezing of young Jedi Knights Valin and Jysella Horn after their inexplicable mental breakdowns, the Jedi are determined to defy Daala’s martial tactics, override Council Master Kenth Hamner’s wavering leadership, and deal on their own terms with the epidemic of madness preying on their ranks. As Han and Leia Solo, along with their daughter Jaina, join the fight to protect more stricken Knights from arrest, Jedi healers race to find a cure for the rapidly spreading affliction. But none of them realize the blaster barrel is already swinging in their direction and Chief Daala is about to pull the trigger.
Nor do Luke and Ben, deep in the Maw Cluster and pushing their Force abilities beyond known limits, realize how close they are–to the Sith strike squad bent on exterminating the Skywalkers, to a nexus of dark–side energy unprecedented in its power and its hunger, and to an explosive confrontation between opposing wielders of the Force from which only one Master–good or evil–can emerge alive.


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Luke Skywalker wanted to unify the Jedi Order and bring peace to the universe. Instead, his wife, Mara, lies dead at the hands of an unknown assassin, his wayward nephew Jacen has seized control of the Galactic Alliance, and the galaxy has exploded in all-out civil war.

With Luke consumed with grief, Jacen Solo works quickly to consolidate his power and jumpstart his plan to take over the Jedi. Convinced he's the only one who can save the galaxy, Jacen will do whatever it takes, even ambush his own parents.

With the Rebel confederacy driving deep into the Core to attack Coruscant and the Jedi under siege, Luke must reassert his position. Only he can lead the Jedi through this crisis, but it means solving the toughest problem Luke's ever faced. Does he fight alongside his nephew Jacen, a tyrant who's taken over the GA or does he join the rebels to smash the Galactic Alliance he helped create?


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In the epic battle between the defiant champions of the New Jedi Order and the juggernaut that is the Galactic Alliance, the endgame is finally at hand. With so much lost—and nothing less that the course or the future at stake—there can be no turning back. No matter the consequences.

The rebel cause is losing ground under the twin blows of Admiral Gilad Pellaeon's assassination and the death of Mara Jade Skywalker. The Galactic Alliance, with the extraordinary power of the newly ascendant Sith Lord Darth Caedus at its helm, may be unstoppable. Tormented and torn between the call of duty and the thirst for vengeance, Luke Skywalker has searched the Force and beheld an unspeakable vision of the galaxy enslaved under tyranny more monstrous than even Emperor Palpatine's. It seems that the last, best hope lies in mobilizing the scattered Jedi for one decisive search-and-destroy mission. The objective: eliminate Darth Caedus. There is only one who is bound by destiny to stand against him in what will surely be a duel to the death, only one with any chance of bringing down the dark lord who was once Jacen Solo...


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Forty years after the Battle of Yavin a dangerous new era in the Star Wars epic begins–the revelations are shocking, the stakes desperate, and the enemy everywhere.

As civil war threatens the unity of the Galactic Alliance, Han and Leia Solo have enraged their families and the Jedi by joining the Corellian insurgents. But the Solos draw the line when they discover the Corellian's plot to make the Hapan Consortium an ally - which rests upon Hapan nobles murdering their pro-Alliance queen and her daughter.

Yet the Solos' selfless determination to save the queen cannot dispel the inescapable consequences of their actions that will pit mother against son and brother against sister in the battles ahead. For as Jacen Solo's dark powers grow stronger under Dark Lady Lumiya, and his influence over Ben Skywalker becomes more insidious, Luke's concern for his nephew forces him into a life-and-death struggle against his fiercest foe, and Han and Leia Solo find themselves at the mercy of their deadliest enemy. . . their son.


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As the forces of darkness threaten to engulf the galaxy, one last defiant spark remains…. Though the Yuuzhan Vong were victorious in their savage conquest of the planet Duro, they failed to extract sensitive information from Leia Organa Solo, who now barely clings to life after enduring the enemies' torture. Unless she receives medical attention soon, the badly wounded Princess and former head of the New Republic will surely die. Pursued by bounty hunters, Han Solo begins a race against time, only to find his urgent pleas for help rejected by planet after planet, as the Jedi are blamed for the continuing fight against the seemingly invincible aliens. Desperate, the Solos decide on a suicide mission. They must reach Coruscant, the New Republic's strife-ridden capital where traitors, appeasers, and assassins now share the same goal as the fierce Yuuzhan Vong: kill all Jedi….


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It is a solemn time for the New Republic, as the merciless Yuuzhan Vong continue their campaign of destruction. The brutal enemy has unleashed a savage creature capable of finding—and killing—Jedi Knights. Now Leia Organa Solo faces a terrible ultimatum. If the location of the secret Jedi base is not revealed within one week, the Yuuzhan Vong will blast millions of refugee ships into oblivion.

As the battered but still unbroken Jedi scramble to deal with the newest onslaught, Leia's son Anakin lays out a daring plan. He will lead a Jedi strike force into the heart of enemy territory in order to sabotage the Yuuzhan Vong's deadliest weapons. There, with his brother and sister at his side, he will come face-to-face with his destiny—as the New Republic, still fighting the good fight, will come face-to-face with theirs…


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Han and Leia struggle to keep the Empire at bay as stunning revelations from the past threaten to eclipse the future of the New Republic…

The deaths of Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine by no means spelled the end of the Empire. In the aftermath, the New Republic has faced a constant struggle to survive. Now a new threat looms: a masterpiece of Alderaanian art—lost after the planet's destruction—has resurfaced on the black market. It conceals a vital secret—the code used to communicate with New Republic agents undercover within the Empire. Discovery by Imperial forces would spell disaster. The only option is recovery—and Han, Leia, Chewbacca, and C-3PO have been dispatched to Tatooine to infiltrate the auction.

When a dispute at the auction erupts into violence, the painting vanishes in the chaos. Han and Leia are thrust into a desperate race to reclaim it. As they battle against marauding TIE fighters, encroaching stormtroopers, and Tatooine's savage Tusken Raiders, Leia's emotional struggle over the specter of her infamous father culminates in the discovery of an extraordinary link to the past. And as long-buried secrets at last emerge, she faces a moment of reckoning that will forever alter her destiny… and that of the New Republic.


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Princess Leia's children have been kidnapped. Along with Chewbacca and Artoo-Detoo, she follows the kidnappers' trail to a disabled refugee ship, from which children are also missing. Here she learns of a powerful Imperial officer with a twisted plan to restore the Empire. Meanwhile, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker are cut off from Leia by the death of a nearby star, which has caused a disruption in the Force. They have gone to the planet Crseih to investigate a report of a lost group of Jedi. Instead they find a charismatic alien named Waru whose miraculous healing powers have attracted a fanatic following. As Leia follows the path of her children across space, Luke and Han draw closer to the truth behind Waru's sinister cult. Together they will face an explosive showdown that will decide the survival of the New Republic…and the universe itself!


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Enter the explosive universe of the exciting online game

STAR WARS GALAXIES: AN EMPIRE DIVIDED!

It is a time of great turmoil. The oppressive Empire is close to seizing complete control of the galaxy. The ragtag guerrilla army of the Rebel Alliance fights on, striking wherever it can, but now something has come to light that could spell certain doom. Hidden in the Jedi ruins of Dantooine is a Holocron containing a list of high-level Rebel sympathizers. If that list were to fall into the hands of Darth Vader, the Rebel Alliance would lose its most valued support, and possibly the war itself.

As an Imperial bio-engineer who frequently visits other worlds, Dusque Mistflier is the perfect cover for a Rebel who needs to travel far and wide without arousing suspicion. And so she agrees to help Rebel spy Finn Darktrin in his quest to recover the crucial Holocron. Despite help from Han, Luke, and Leia, the mission is fraught with peril. And as their journey takes them into the fiery belly of the beast that is galactic civil war, Dusque and Finn will learn that the hardest part of all is figuring out whose side are you're on-and how far you're willing to go to win....


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The time of reckoning is close at hand, as the heroes of the New Republic prepare for their most volatile clash yet with the enemy—from without and within….

In the war against the ruthless Yuuzhan Vong, the fall of Coruscant leaves the galaxy on the verge of bowing to conquest. Those who steadfastly refuse to surrender—Luke, Han, Leia, and their children and comrades-in-arms—are determined to seize victory against overwhelming odds. But the New Republic is crumbling, divided by internal strife, and intrigue runs rampant: in the heated political race for Chief of State…in the shadows where Yuuzhan Vong spies plot assassinations…and in the inscrutable creature Vergere, a Jedi whose allegiance is impossible to predict.

Now, as Luke Skywalker sets about reestablishing the Jedi Council, the growing faction opposed to the ways of the Force unveils a terrifying weapon designed to annihilate the Yuuzhan Vong species. The opposition must be stopped, before dooming the New Republic to becoming the very thing it has sworn to fight against—and unleashing the power of the dark side.


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RIPE FOR THE PLUCKING

That's Jedi Knight Kyp Durron's opinion about the planet Ylesia, home base of the so-called Peace Brigade, a group of traitors dedicated to hindering the war efforts of the New Republic and hastening the ultimate victory of the merciless Yuuzhan Vong. Kyp's plan calls for a lightning-fast strike, backed with overwhelming force, to destroy the Brigade's offensive capabilities and teach prospective traitors that betrayal carries a heavy price. But young Jacen Solo, still bearing the scars of his imprisonment by the Yuuzhan Vong, has a better idea: a daring raid into the heart of Ylesia's capital, with the objective of capturing the Brigade's top leaders—-including the newly sworn-in President, Thrackan Sal-Solo, cousin to Jacen and his twin, Jaina.

But unknown to the Jedi and the New Republic forces, Supreme Overlord Shimrra of the Yuuzhan Vong has dispatched reinforcements to the Ylesia system. Instead of a swift surgical strike, Jaina, Jacen, Kyp, and their comrades are about to find themselves locked in a desperate battle for survival, with the odds stacked against them and time running out….


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Kyle Katarn, Rebel agent and novice Jedi, has just returned from his covert operation to find the location of the Valley of the Jedi. But he knows that the evil Jerec, a dark Jedi with designs on the Empire's throne, knows where the Valley is too. Upon returning to the Alliance, and with the support of Luke Skywalker himself, Kyle offers to find the Valley and stop the oncoming Imperial invasion—and, at last, fulfill his destiny as a Jedi.


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Secret Rebel Agent Kyle Katarn will do anything to avenge his father's untimely death at the hands of the Empire. When Kyle is threatened by 8t88 in a Nar Shaddaa bar, he tracks down the droid and secures a mysterious disk that could put him on the path to learning why his father was killed. Kyle soon finds that the disk contains information about a map to the Valley of the Jedi, a place his father had stumbled upon and kept secret. Now it's a race between Kyle and the Empire to see who can get to the map—and the Valley—first.


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Kyle Katarn is a decorated graduate from the Imperial Military Academy who would forfeit his very life for the Empire. But he wouldn't forfeit his father's life, and that's what the Empire has taken. Kyle is willing to do anything to avenge his father's death which is what the Rebel Alliance is counting on. Join Kyle Katarn in this brand-new, fast-paced tale of adventure and suspense.

Based on the popular Star Wars: DARK FORCES and Star Wars: JEDI KNIGHT interactive games, this novella-length prose-story is written by acclaimed author William C. Dietz (The Final Battle) and illustrated by award-winning artist Dean Williams (Tarzan: The Lost Adventure).


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Readers familiar with Angelou's <em>I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings</em> will find what may be the secret ingredient of her success in this collection of tear- and laughter-provoking vignettes with 73 savory recipes. Here's Angelou's grandmother's Chicken and Dumplings, Crackling Corn Bread and Caramel Cake. Big brother Bailey makes a mean batch of Smothered Pork Chops and knows how to stretch them for a week's worth of meals. Mother, who "cooked wonderful meals and was very poignant about how to present them," can make a Roasted Capon play second fiddle to Red Rice. As the wider world beckons, Angelou dines. Sometimes she's the worker; having passed herself off as an experienced Creole cook, she becomes one with her Braised Short Ribs. Other times, she's the hostess serving what M.F.K. Fisher pronounces "the first honest cassoulet I have eaten in years." A batch of spoon bread nets Angelou a job and compliment: "If you can write half as good as you can cook, you are going to be famous." She does, and the food world widens (tamales, paté, minestrone, chachouka), and the fellow diners often have famous names (Oprah, Jessica Mitford, Rosa Guy). The food remains delectable and comfortable, and Angelou's directions are minimal but clear enough for experienced cooks. Color photos not seen by <em>PW</em>. <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From</h3><p>Angelou has feasted at both ends of the food spectrum and everywhere in between. Her appreciation of good food has given her stamina and has enriched the texture of her days. In this memoir of significant meals, the poet recalls her grandmother's ironic discovery that rich folks relished wilted lettuce while she was investing in ice to keep her greens crisp. In another recollection, Angelou recalls her brother Bailey's advice on how to stretch a pork chop or two into enough different meals to please even her ravenous young son. As Angelou's renown swells, so does her purse, and before long she's sitting down to tables where nothing is impossible. Humble beef stew becomes beef Wellington and lemon meringue pie elegant eclairs. But Angelou's savoring of well-made food is a single continuum. Her recipes for favorite dishes derive from traditions as diverse as the origins of menudo, minestrone, spoon bread, tomato souffle, and hog head cheese. Angelou's fans curious about their hero's appetites will find tasty satisfaction here. <em>Mark Knoblauch</em><br /><em>Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved</em></p>


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<div><h3>Product Description</h3><p>The making of the "Oxford English Dictionary" was a monumental 50 year task requiring thousands of volunteers. One of the keenest volunteers was a W C Minor who astonished everyone by refusing to come to Oxford to receive his congratulations. In the end, James Murray, the "OED's" editor, went to Crowthorne in Berkshire to meet him. What he found was incredible - Minor was a millionaire American civil war surgeon turned lunatic, imprisoned in Broadmoor Asylum for murder and yet who dedicated his entire cell-bound life to work on the English language. </p><h3>About the Author</h3><p>Simon Winchester has had an award-winning 20 year career as Guardian correspondent. He lives in New York and is the Asia-Pacific Editor for Conde Nast Traveler and contributes to a number of American magazines, as well as the Daily Telegraph, the Spectator and the BBC. He has written numerous books. THE RIVER AT THE CENTRE OF THE WORLD (Viking 1997/Penguin 1998) has been shortlisted for the 1998 Thomas Cook/Daily Telegraph Travel Book Award. </p>

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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p>It's been a long time coming, but <em>A Song Flung Up to Heaven</em> triumphantly completes the six volumes of autobiography that began nearly 30 years ago with Maya Angelou's astonishingly successful __, a work that changed readers' perceptions of what autobiographical writing could achieve. The impact of <em>I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings</em> (which evoked the author's adolescence and sexual abuse in Arkansas) was unprecedented. It combined frankness and emotional force with a nuanced, poetic style--a style that Angelou has perhaps found more elusive recently. But it's here again, as affecting as ever. The book deals with the years 1964-68, a turbulent period in which Angelou came back to America after her African sojourn. This, of course, was the time of the assassinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King; Angelou was on the point of working with the latter in the civil rights movement. Her voice is fresh and exhilarating as she deals with the tragedies and triumphs of a packed life, and there are some set-piece moments, such as her account of the misguided revenge she took on an ex-lover. </p><p>Many women have become celebrated as writers and poets, but Angelou has also enjoyed a distinguished career as a civil rights activist, producer, performer, actress, and filmmaker. With all of this under her belt, she can be forgiven for the note of self-congratulation that creeps in at times. But for those who've followed her unique writing, this is a journey into a fascinating life and a riveting picture of a divided America, always informed with that clear-sighted vision Angelou is famous for. <em>--Barry Forshaw, Amazon.co.uk</em></p><h3>From School Library Journal</h3><p>Adult/High School-Far from a textbook account, this final volume in the writer's series of six memoirs takes readers into the heart of the civil rights movement. Angelou begins in 1964. When she replanted her feet in America to help Malcolm X, she admittedly left a piece of her heart in Ghana with her son. She was also developing artistically during this time, and finding the means by which to express herself to her country and in her community. Any YA who has aimed to accomplish something meaningful and met with personal loss or the disappointment of bad timing, will identify with her. Before she was able to help Malcolm X form the Organization of African-American Unity, he was assassinated. Her mother and protective brother buttressed her spirits, and encouraged her to move forward. From San Francisco to Hawaii and back to California she takes readers into an economically depressed area in Los Angeles before, during, and after it burned. Her next giant step will be appreciated by YAs with an artistic side. She describes performing and writing plays for an African-American theater. Later, after she moved to New York, her pal James Baldwin and others instrumental in changing the view of America in the 1960s are featured prominently. History was in the making and Angelou was in the midst of it as this worthwhile autobiography attests.<br /><em>Karen Sokol, Fairfax County Public Schools, VA </em><br />Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p>


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SUMMARY:
Ted Sorensen knew Kennedy the man, the senator, the candidate, and the president as no other associate did. From his hiring as a legislative assistant to Kennedy's death in 1963, Sorensen was with him during the key crises and turning points—including the spectacular race for the vice presidency at the 1956 convention, the launching of Kennedy's presidential candidacy, the TV debates with Nixon, and election night at Hyannis Port. The first appointment made by the new president was to name Ted Sorensen his Special Counsel.   In Kennedy, Sorensen recounts failures as well as successes with surprising candor and objectivity. He reveals Kennedy's errors on the Bay of Pigs, and his attitudes toward the press, Congress, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Sorensen saw firsthand Kennedy's actions in the Cuban missile crises, and the evolution of his beliefs on civil rights and arms control. First published in 1965 and reissued here with a new preface, Kennedy is an intimate biography of an extraordinary man, and one of the most important historical accounts of the twentieth century.


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Journalist Leamer (The Kennedy Women) provides a stirring narrative of the Kennedy men but comes up short as regards analysis of the byzantine motivations, complex psychology and persistent moral failures that lie behind the events he otherwise describes so well. Putting his own spin on well-known anecdotes (including all the most popular tales from so many other books that document Joe Sr.'s rise in business and politics, his failure to recognize the menace of Hitler and his sponsorship of his children's careers). Leamer steadfastly refuses to shed a critical light on the proclivities of Kennedy père. The author soft-pedals, for example, the Kennedy partriarch's well-documented anti-Semitism. The same lack of critical analysis despite Leamer's access to never-before available materials constitutes a considerable flaw throughout the book. Although offering engaging and fast-moving accounts of such events as Joe Jr.'s death and Jack's rise in politics through means both fair and foul, Leamer consistently refrains from considering the ethical implications of his stories, or the evident shortcomings in the character of more than one Kennedy. He seems, for example, to step back in awe when considering the brilliance and audacity of the Kennedys' stealing Cook County and therefore the election during the 1960 presidential race. In the final analysis, Leamer is a fan, idealizing his subjects. The result is a good read, though not necessarily a balanced history. Leamer's book is the first of a projected two-volume set.<br />Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p><h3>From Library Journal</h3><p>While this is a work of political and family history, as any Kennedy book must be, it is best described as an extended character study of Joseph Kennedy and his sons, Joseph Jr., John, Robert, and Edward. It is not a celebration of triumphs or an undraping of frailties but instead offers much of both in an evenhanded narrative of courage, meanness, ambition, hypocrisy, patriotism, anti-Semitism, duty, and wantonness. Few tales can be more familiar, yet the writing is always tight and often graceful. How the men of this family lived their lives both publicly and privately is the real subject of this book, even as the cinema of Leamer's plot projects scenes featuring the likes of Roosevelt, King, Monroe, Castro, and Nixon. Although Leamer aims primarily at a general audience, scholars will take note of his considerable primary research, in printed and recorded material, and dozens of his own interviews. Worthy of being placed on the same shelf with Doris Kearns Goodwin's The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, this book follows Leamer's The Kennedy Women and precedes a planned second volume. For all libraries.<br /><em>- Robert F. Nardini, Chichester, NH </em><br />Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p>


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In this newly updated book, C-SPAN provides a comprehensive guide to the final resting places of our nation's presidents. As much about the presidents' lives as it is about their burial sites and how to visit them, this book belongs in the glove box of every traveler and the bedside table of every American history fan. Contributions from presidential historian Richard Norton Smith and an afterword by historian Douglas Brinkley add to this unique look at the American presidency.


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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p><em>West of Here</em>, at the Elwha River dam, where over a hundred years since settlers of the fictional town of Port Bonita tamed the river, their descendants gather in anticipation of the dam's blasting, and a new era of restoration. Across the next five hundred pages, Evison's story moves between 2006 and the town's earliest days at the close of the 19th century, overlaying stories of the people who passed through or dug in at Port Bonita, which swelled from settlement to town on the ragged shoreline of Washington State's Strait of Juan de Fuca. The past is populated by intrepid folk--an exploration party penetrating the Olympic Mountain range in the depths of winter, Klallam natives sickened by homeland eviction and whiskey, a young feminist at odds with motherhood, a prostitute doing covert battle with her whorehouse's owner, and an idealistic entrepreneur, blasting the river canyon into submission. In 2006, we meet their softer progeny--an ex-con who flees into the mountains with a stash of Snickers, the lonely parole officer determined to find him, a fish processing plant worker with a Bigfoot fixation, a native woman who rethinks her whole life when her son has a psychic break, and more memorable characters haunted by the past, by their unlived lives, by themselves. Though its themes are weighty, <em>West of Here</em> never bogs down--irreverent humor, lustrous prose, and unexpected moments animate a tale as vast as the land it inhabits. --_Mari Malcolm_</p><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Starred Review. A century after the late–19th-century settlers of Olympic Peninsula to the west of Seattle set out to build a dam, their descendants want to demolish it to bring back fish runs, providing one of the many plots in this satisfyingly meaty work from Evison (All About Lulu). The scenes of the early settlers track an expedition into the Olympic wilderness and the evolving relations between settlers and the Klallam tribe, provide insights into early feminism, and outline an entrepreneur's dream to build the all-important dam. By comparison, the contemporary stories are chock-full of modern woe and malaise, including a Bigfoot watcher and seafood plant worker who wishes to relive his glory days as a high school basketball star; an ex-convict who sets out into the wilderness to live off the land; and an environmental scientist who is hit with an unexpected development. Evison does a terrific job at creating a sense of place as he skips back and forth across the century, cutting between short chapters to sustain a propulsive momentum while juggling a sprawling network of plots and a massive cast of characters real enough to walk off the page. A big novel about the discovery and rediscovery of nature, starting over, and the sometimes piercing reverberations of history, this is a damn fine book. (Feb.) <br />(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. </p>


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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p><em>Profile of a Prodigy</em> (originally published in 1969) chronicled the chess icon's early years, a selection of 90 games, and (in later editions) his 1972 World Championship match with Boris Spassky. With <em>Endgame</em>, published two years after Fischer's death, Brady's on-and-off proximity to Fischer lends new depth to the latter's full and twisted life story. Though Fischer's pinnacle artistry on the chessboard may often be discussed in the same breath with his eventual paranoia and outspoken anti-Semitism, the particular turns and travels of his post-World Championship years (half his life) lend his story most of its vexing oddity: the niggling insistence on seemingly arbitrary conditions for his matches, the years on the lam after flagrantly disregarding U.S. economic sanctions, his incarceration in Japan, his eventual citizenship and quiet demise in Iceland. All told, Fischer's life was like none other, and told through the lens of Brady's personal familiarity and access to new source material, results in an utterly engaging read. --_Jason Kirk_   </p><p><strong>Guest Reviewer: Dick Cavett</strong>   </p><p><strong>Dick Cavett</strong> is the host of “The Dick Cavett Show”---which aired on ABC from 1968 to 1975 and on public television from 1977 to 1982---Dick Cavett is the author, most recently, of <em>Otherwise Engaged</em> and <em>Into the Woods,</em> and as narrator in <em>The Rocky Horror Show</em>, and has made guest appearances in movies and on TV shows including <em>Forrest Gump</em> and <em>The Simpsons</em>. His column appears in the Opinionator blog on <em>The New York Times</em> website. Mr. Cavett lives in New York City and Montauk, N.Y.   </p><p>Even if you don’t give a damn about chess, or Bobby Fischer, you’ll find yourself engrossed by Frank Brady‘s book about Fischer, which reads like a novel.</p><p>The facts of Bobby’s life (I knew him from several memorable appearances on “The Dick Cavett Show” on both sides of the Big Tournament) are presented in page-turner fashion. Poor Bobby was blessed and cursed by his genius, and his story has the arc of a Greek tragedy---with a grim touch of mad King Lear at the end.</p><p>The brain power and concentrated days and nights Bobby spent studying the game left much of him undeveloped, unable to join conversations on other subjects. Later in his life, unhappy with his limited knowledge of things beyond the chess board, he compensated with massive study---applying that same hard-butt dedication to other fields: politics, classics, religion, philosophy and more. He found a hide-away nook in a Reykjavic bookstore---barred from his homeland, Iceland had welcomed him back---where he read in marathon sessions. (After he was recognized, he never went back to his cozy cul de sac.)</p><p>In Brady’s telling the high drama of the Spassky match quickens the pulse; the contest that made America a chess-crazed land was seen by more people than the Superbowl. People skipped school and played sick in vast numbers, glued to watching Shelby Lyman explain what was happening. The fanaticism was worldwide. The match was seen as a Cold War event, with the time out of mind chess-ruling Russian bear vanquished.</p><p>Arguably the best known man on the planet at his triumphant peak, Bobby is later seen in this account riding buses in Los Angeles, able to pay his rent in a dump of an apartment only because his mother sent him her social-security checks. The details of all this are stranger than fiction, as is nearly everything in the life of this much-rewarded, much-tortured genius.</p><p>I liked him immensely, knowing only the tall, broad-shouldered, athletically strong and handsome six-foot-something articulate and yes, witty, youth that Bobby was before the evil times set in, with deranged anti-Semitic outbursts and other mental strangeness preceding his too early end at age 64.</p><p>I can’t ever forget the moment on the show when in amiable conversation I asked him what, in chess, corresponded to the thrill in another sort of event; like, say, hitting a homer in baseball. He said it was the moment when you “break the other guy’s ego.” There was a shocked murmur from the audience and the quote went around the world.</p><p>Frank Brady’s <em>Endgame </em>is one of those books that makes you want your dinner guests to go the hell home so you can get back to it.</p><h3>From</h3><p>Brady’s insightful biography of the legendary chess player focuses more on Fischer’s life as a chess champion than on his much-publicized legal troubles and alleged psychological breakdowns. Brady first became friends with Fischer at a chess tournament when they were both children, and he combines a traditional biography with a personal memoir. Fischer began playing chess at age six and was soon playing games by himself, unable to find worthy competition. He seems to have had a lifelong battle with himself, and his biggest challenge may have been conquering not his competitors but his own intellect. Brady is uniquely qualified to write this book. Not only is he a seasoned biographer and someone who knew Fischer on a personal level; he’s also an accomplished chess player himself, able to convey the game’s intricacies to the reader in a clear, uncomplicated manner. The book should appeal to a broad audience, from hard-core chess fans to casual players to those who are simply interested in what is a compelling personal story. --David Pitt </p>


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<h3>Product Description</h3><p>"We need a simple government. Don't get me wrong; I know that many of the nation's problems are highly complex. But I also know that the governing principles that can solve them, if we work together, are simple."   </p><p>Armed with little money but a lot of common sense, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee surprised the nation by coming in second during the 2008 Republican presidential primaries. He connected with millions of voters by calling for a smaller, simpler government that would get out of the way when appropriate. (Unfortunately, there weren't quite enough of those voters to prevent the election of Barack Obama.)   </p><p>Since then, President Obama's message has morphed from "hope and change" to "tax and spend" and "borrow and spend" and "over-regulate and spend." The stimulus failed to stop the recession, the deficit exploded to unimaginable heights, and the Democrats jammed through Congress a financial "reform" bill that didn't really reform anything and a healthcare monstrosity that gave the government more power over our personal lives than ever.   </p><p>Meanwhile, Huckabee has continued to be the voice of common sense conservatism, through his television talk show, his radio commentaries, and his lectures around the country. Now he's written a book that sums up the twelve things we <em>really</em> need from Washington to get the country back on the right track.   </p><p>These twelve essential truths will have you nodding in agreement, whether you're a Republican, an Independent, or even an open-minded Democrat. They can help us put aside our differences, tone down the partisan rancor, and return to the simple principles of the Founding Fathers: liberty, justice, personal freedom, and civic virtue. And they can help us tackle even the most seemingly complicated of today's problems. For instance:   </p><ul> <li>     You can't spend what you don't have; you can't borrow what you can't pay back. Families, businesses, towns, cities, and states all have to balance their budgets or face dire consequences. Why shouldn't the federal government be held to the same standard? And if that means making some hard choices now, it's a far better alternative than saddling our kids and grandkids. *<strong> The further you drift from shore, the more likely you are to be lost at sea. </strong> The Founders expected the federal government to be subordinate to state and local governments. How can politicians in DC know the best way to help farmers in Iowa, autoworkers in Michigan, or teachers in California? They can't. So every problem should be solved at the most local level capable of solving it.    </li></ul><p>*<strong> Bullies in the playground only understand one thing.</strong> There's a time and place for diplomacy, but we can't protect the country just by negotiating with our enemies. We need a strong national defense and a counterterrorism policy that focuses on effectiveness, not political correctness.   </p><p>*<strong> The most important form of government is the family.</strong> In the long run, the only way to ensure prosperity, safety, and equal opportunity is to make sure we raise our children to be ethical and productive citizens. No bureaucracy can replace parents in that essential role, so we have to do everything possible to help parents do their job.   </p><p>A Simple Government will inspire any American looking forward to a better future. </p><h3>About the Author</h3><p><strong>Mike Huckabee</strong> served as lieutenant governor of Arkansas from 1993 to 1996 and as governor from 1996 to 2007. After coming in second place in the 2008 Republican presidential primaries, he became the host of the popular talk show <em>Huckabee</em> on Fox News Channel (where he plays bass guitar with the house band) and <em>The Huckabee Report</em> on Citadel Radio. He's also the chairman of HuckPAC, a grassroots conservative organization. His books include the <em>New York Times</em> bestsellers <em>Do the Right Thing</em> and <em>A Simple Christmas</em> as well as <em>Quit Digging Your Grave with a Knife and Fork</em>. He and his wife, Janet, have been married for 36 years and have three grown children. Visit www.MikeHuckabee.com </p>


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<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; "><h3 class="productDescriptionSource" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-size: 1.23em; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 0.75em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.375em; margin-left: -15px; clear: both; ">Product Description</h3><div class="productDescriptionWrapper" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; ">This collection, available exclusively in e-book form, brings together the twelve novels (and one novella) of the great Portuguese writer José Saramago, with an introductory essay by Ursula Le Guin. From Saramago's early work, like the enchanting <i>Baltasar &amp; Blimunda</i> and the controversial <i>Gospel According to Jesus Christ</i>, through his masterpiece <i>Blindness </i>and its sequel<i>Seeing</i>, to his later fables of politics, chance, history, and love, like <i>All the Names</i> and <i>Death with Interruptions</i>, this volume showcases the range and depth of Saramago’s career, his inimitable narrative voice, and his vast reserves of invention, humor, and understanding.</div></span></div>


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<div><h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p><em>Salinger: A Life</em> avoids such scandalmongering in order to deliver a sensitive (but not fawning) portrait of Salinger the writer. Slawenski looks not only at Salinger's most famous works, but also finds a wealth of psychological insights in places like rejection letters and biographical statements. Not surprisingly, Salinger's life, and especially his service in World War II, provided much of the raw material for his stories. But Slawenski does much more than compare Salinger's biography to his literary output: he also shows how compromises, conflicts, and editorial intrigues shaped Salinger's works, even when he was at the peak of his career. The book has much less to say about Salinger's post-1960 retirement and self-seclusion, apart from the author's occasional foray into the public eye by way of a rare interview or court case. But Slawenski does this for good reason: <em>Salinger: A Life</em> seeks only to explain Salinger as most of us knew him, through his writing. As a result, both die-hard fans and those who last picked up <em>--Darryl Campbell</em>   </p><hr><p><strong>A Look Inside <em>J.D. Salinger: A Life</em></strong>   </p><p>© PS 166<br>Until he was thirteen, Sonny attended public school on the Upper West Side. This is a class photo of Salinger and his schoolmates on the steps of P.S. 166, circa 1929. </p><p>© Valley Forge Military Academy<br>Cadet Corporal Salinger in 1936. Salinger’s yearbook photo from Valley Forge Military Academy. Salinger used his own boarding school as the inspiration for Holden Caulfield’s Pency Prep when writing <em>The Catcher in the Rye</em>. Unlike Holden, Salinger excelled at Valley Forge. </p><p>© Dorothy Nollman/Peter Imbres<br>Jerry in 1939. A photo taken by his friend Dorothy Nollman while on break from Columbia University. Within a year, Salinger’s first short story would be published and his career launched. </p><p>Between boot camp and combat. Air Corps photo taken in 1943 while Salinger was assigned to the Public Relations Department of the Air Service Command. A year later he would be fighting in Europe. </p><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Starred Review. After nearly a decade™s research and Slawenski™s obvious empathy with his reclusive subject™s search for emotional and philosophical equilibrium, this exemplary biography will be released on the first anniversary of J.D. Salinger™s death. It™s a highly informative effort to assess the arc of Salinger™s career, the themes of his fiction, and his influence on 20th-century American literature. Born in 1919, indulged by his mother while growing up on Park Avenue, Salinger was a bored and indifferent student. He eventually found a mentor in legendary Columbia professor Whit Burnett, who encouraged him to work on the pieces that became The Catcher in the Rye even while Salinger was serving in WWII Europe. Slawenski emphasizes that Salinger™s wartime experience, from D-Day to the liberation of Dachau, œwas the traumatic turning point in his life, influencing the sense of futility that permeates his early work. Salinger™s salvation, Slawenski demonstrates, came through his acceptance of Vedatic Buddhism, and he argues persuasively that Salinger came to consider writing an aspect of meditation, a task that demanded solitude and perfect control over the presentation of his fiction. The celebrity surrounding the publication of Catcher in the Rye in 1951 activated the split between his striving for asceticism and the demands of the outside world. Slawenski describes Salinger™s three marriages, records his contentious relationships with his publishers, his special relationship with the New Yorker, and Slawenski™s assiduous research allows him to identify and assess many obscure and unpublished stories. In total, an invaluable work that sheds fascinating light on the willfully elusive author. B&amp;w photos. (Jan. 25) <br>(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved. </p>

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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p><strong>Author Paula McLain on <em>The Paris Wife</em></strong>   </p><p>Most of us know or think we know who Ernest Hemingway was -- a brilliant writer full of macho swagger, driven to take on huge feats of bravery and a pitcher or two of martinis -- before lunch. But beneath this man or myth, or some combination of the two, is another Hemingway, one we’ve never seen before. Hadley Richardson, Hemingway’s first wife, is the perfect person to reveal him to us -- and also to immerse us in the incredibly exciting and volatile world of Jazz-age Paris. </p><p>The idea to write in Hadley’s voice came to me as I was reading Hemingway’s memoir, <em>A Moveable Feast</em>, about his early years in Paris. In the final pages, he writes of Hadley, “I wished I had died before I ever loved anyone but her.” That line, and his portrayal of their marriage -- so tender and poignant and steeped in regret -- inspired me to search out biographies of Hadley, and then to research their brief and intense courtship and letters -- they wrote hundreds and hundreds of pages of delicious pages to another!</p><p>I couldn’t help but fall in love with Hadley, and through her eyes, with the young Ernest Hemingway. He was just twenty when they met, handsome and magnetic, passionate and sensitive and full of dreams. I was surprised at how much I liked and admired him -- and before I knew it, I was entirely swept away by their gripping love story.</p><p>I hope you will be as captivated by this remarkable couple as I am -- and by the fascinating world of Paris in the 20’s, the fast-living, ardent and tremendously driven Lost Generation.</p><p><strong>A Look Inside <em>The Paris Wife</em></strong>   </p><p>Ernest and Hadley Hemingway, Chamby, Switzerland, winter 1922</p><p>Ernest and Hadley Hemingway on their wedding day, 1921</p><p>Ernest, Hadley, and Bumby, Schruns, Austria, 1925   </p><p>The Hemingways and friends at a cafe in Pamplona, Spain   </p><p><strong>Guest Reviewer: Helen Simonson on <em>The Paris Wife</em></strong>   </p><p>_<strong>Helen Simonson</strong> is the <em>New York Times</em> bestselling author of <em>_. She was born in England and spent her teenage years in a small village in East Sussex. A graduate of the London School of Economics and former travel advertising executive, she has lived in America for the past two decades. After many years in Brooklyn, she now lives with her husband and two sons in the Washington, D.C., area.</em></p><p>Paula McLain has taken on the task of writing a story most of us probably think we already know--that of a doomed starter wife. To make life more difficult, McLain proposes to tell us about Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, Hadley Richardson, who is a twenty-eight-year-old Midwestern spinster when she marries the twenty-one-year-old unpublished, (but already cocksure) writer and runs off to Paris with him. The talent and joy of this novel is that McLain does a startling job of making us understand this as a great love story and seducing us into caring deeply, about both Ernest and Hadley, as their marriage eventually comes apart.</p><p>This novel moves beyond the dry bones of biography or skewed personal vision of memoir, and takes a leap into the emotional lives of these characters. It is a leap of faith for those readers who think they know Hemingway, but McLain’s voice sticks close enough to historical material, and to the words and tone of Hemingway’s own writing, to be convincing. She had me at the description of young Hadley’s father committing suicide.</p><p>“The carpets had been cleaned but not changed out for new, the revolver had been emptied and polished and placed back in his desk.”</p><p>Hadley is also crippled by a childhood fall and trapped into spinsterhood by her mother’s declining health and eventual death. By the time she meets Hemingway, we are rooting for her to make a break for foreign shores--even as we understand the danger of marrying a tempestuous man. Hemingway is all nervous purpose, ambition and charisma as he meets Hadley and is drawn to her quiet strength and ordinary American sweetness. In his youth and uncertainty, she is his rock and yet we already suspect that as he grows in artistic power, she will become an unwanted anchor. Through Hadley’s eyes and plain-speaking voice, we see all of twenties Paris and the larger-than-life artists who gather in the cafes. We drink tea with Gertrude Stein and champagne with Fitzgerald and Zelda. We run with the bulls in Pamplona and spend winters in alpine chalets. And we see, through her love for him, the young writer becoming the Hemingway of legend. Perhaps it is the nature of all great artists to be completely selfish and obnoxious, but Hadley’s voice is always one of compassion. Even as Hemingway leaves her completely out of <em>The Sun also Rises</em>, even as Hemingway publicly flirts with other women, she continues to explain and defend him. It is a testament to Paula McLain that the reader is slow to dislike Hemingway, even as he slowly and inexorably betrays Hadley’s trust.</p><p>I loved this novel for its depiction of two passionate, yet humanly-flawed people struggling against impossible odds--poverty, artistic fervor, destructive friendships--to cling on to each other. I raise a toast to Paula McLain’s sure talent.</p><h3>From</h3><p>History is sadly neglectful of the supporting players in the lives of great artists. Fortunately, fiction provides ample opportunity to bring these often fascinating personalities out into the limelight. Gaynor Arnold successfully resurrected the much-maligned Mrs. Charles Dickens in Girl in a Blue Dress (2009), now Paula McLain brings Hadley Richardson Hemingway out from the formidable shadow cast by her famous husband. Though doomed, the Hemingway marriage had its giddy high points, including a whirlwind courtship and a few fast and furious years of the expatriate lifestyle in 1920s Paris. Hadley and Ernest traveled in heady company during this gin-soaked and jazz-infused time, and readers are treated to intimate glimpses of many of the literary giants of the era, including Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, James Joyce, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. But the real star of the story is Hadley, as this time around, Ernest is firmly relegated to the background as he almost never was during their years together. Though eventually a woman scorned, Hadley is able to acknowledge without rancor or bitterness that �Hem� had �helped me to see what I really was and what I could do.� Much more than a �woman-behind-the-man� homage, this beautifully crafted tale is an unsentimental tribute to a woman who acted with grace and strength as her marriage crumbled. --Margaret Flanagan </p>


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<h3>Review</h3><p>"This very well-written, cogent, and accessible book by freelance writer Queijo will be an important resource, especially for a lay audience. Each of the ten medical discoveries mentioned in the title is really a chapter delimiting the history of medicine. Chapters range from The World[HTML_REMOVED]s First Physician: Hippocrates and the Discovery of Medicine[HTML_REMOVED] to [HTML_REMOVED]A Return to Tradition: The Rediscovery of Alternative Medicine.[HTML_REMOVED] This book deserves a very wide readership. Especially useful for general readers, it also will be applicable in undergraduate education across a surprising range of disciplines." <strong>Summing Up:</strong> <strong>Highly recommended. Lower- and upper-level undergraduates, general readers, and researchers/faculty</strong>. Reprinted with permission from CHOICE, copyright by the American Library Association. </p><h3>Product Description</h3><p>"A wonderfully clear account of the great moments in medicine and a powerful reminder of the possibility of improvement in the fight against illness."  -–<strong>Matt Ridley</strong>, author of <em>Genome</em></p><p><strong>10 World-Changing Revolutions in Medicine...</strong><strong>and the Remarkable Human Discoveries That Made Them Possible</strong></p><p>•     The unforgettable life-or-death stories behind antibiotics, vaccines, DNA, X-rays, and more</p><p>•     What happened, how it happened, and what it means to you today</p><p>•     A colorful cast of characters whose discoveries were often driven not only by personal tragedy, curiosity, and hard work, but petty bickering, dumb luck, and a healthy dose of humor</p><p>•     For anyone interested in science, medicine, and beyond...</p><p><strong>Why are you alive right now?</strong> Chances are, you owe your life to one of the remarkable medical discoveries in this book. Maybe it was vaccines. Or antibiotics. Or X-rays. Revolutionary medical breakthroughs like these haven’t just changed the way we treat disease, they’ve transformed how we understand ourselves and the world we live in. In _<strong>Breakthrough!</strong>_, Jon Queijo tells the hidden stories behind 10 of history’s most amazing medical discoveries. This isn’t dry history: These are life-and-death mysteries uncovered, tales of passionate, often-mocked individuals who stood their ground and were proven right. From germs to genetics, the ancient Hippocrates to the cutting edge, these are stories that have changed the world–and, quite likely, saved your life.  </p>


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<h3>Review</h3><p>"I would heartily recommend it. I don't think anybody could go buy a book written by anybody who has been more intimately involved, closer to power, for as many years, has been through as much, has known all of the power players as you have. It is amazing." <br />-Rush Limbaugh (interview transcript)/2/8/2001   </p><p>"Readers might be appreciative to find themselves in possession of a serious memoir, more in keeping with the older Washington tradition of Dean Acheson or Henry Kissinger. As might the historians." <br />-Kimberly Strassel/_Wall Street Journal_/2/8/2011   </p><p>"The battle is joined. After a long silence, Donald Rumsfeld opened both barrels Tuesday, releasing his memoir, <em>Known and Unknown</em> . Early leaks of the book's defiant take on his life, times, and conduct of the Iraq War drew howls from some of the targets of his score-settling...But Rumsfeld battles on, taking his unapologetic account to the public." <br />-John Barry/_Newsweek-The Daily Beast_/2/8/2011   </p><p>"The book places the reader in Rumsfeld's chair and is a serious stab at telling the history of a consequential period in America through the eyes of one of its most consequential players. It will be an important addition to the history of our time." <br />-Peter Baker (_New York Times_ White House correspondent)/Foreign Policy/2/9/2011   </p><p>Rumsfeld "describes the highs and lows of a long and dramatic career and discloses some behind the scenes details that may shock you." <br />-Sean Hannity (interview transcript)/2/9/2011   </p><p>"_Known and Unknown_ is a meaty, well-written book that will be a primary source for historians...this power memoir deserves to be read with the care that went into writing it." <br />-Christopher Buckley/_Businessweek_/2/10/2011   </p><p>"'Dismissive' is a word often used to describe Rumsfeld, but 'dismissive' perfectly describes his critics, who are unwilling or unable to re-examine their own assumptions in the light of new or overlooked information and fresh perspective provided by Rumsfeld, in his exceedingly well-documented work. With its hundreds of annotations and supplementary documents, Known and Unknown is a significant contribution to the historical record. It is, as Rumsfeld once noted about similar memoirs, 'only from one perspective,' but it's a unique and valuable perspective, a serious work that deserves consideration by any serious student of recent history." <br />-Jamie McIntyre (former CNN Pentagon correspondent)/Line of Departure/2/10/2011   </p><p>"It is a terrific book...Let me tell you something, it is absolutely fascinating. He's very blunt in talking about people and issues and so forth, you'll really enjoy it, in my humble opinion." <br />-Mark Levin (interview transcript)/2/10/2011 </p><h3>Product Description</h3><p>"If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much." - Rumsfeld's Rules   </p><p>Few Americans have spent more time near the center of power than Donald Rumsfeld. Now he has written an unflinching memoir of his half-century career, sharing previously undisclosed details that will fascinate readers and force historians to rethink many controversies.   </p><p>Starting from a middle-class childhood in Illinois, Rumsfeld had a rapid rise that won him early acclaim. He shows us what it was like growing up during the Great Depression and World War II, going to Princeton on scholarships, serving as a naval aviator, then getting his first political job on Capitol Hill during the Eisenhower administration. He recalls how he won a seat in the House of Representatives at age thirty and what he experienced as a Republican in Congress during the Kennedy and Johnson years.   </p><p>We also follow him back to the executive branch as he took on key cabinet positions in the Nixon and Ford administrations, including his service as the youngest-ever secretary of defense, just after the trauma of Vietnam. And we learn about the challenges he later faced as a CEO in the private sector, and during his special assignments for President Reagan, including a face-to-face meeting with Saddam Hussein in 1983.   </p><p>All of that would have been enough material for a fascinating book. But as 2001 began, Rumsfeld's greatest challenges lay ahead of him. At age sixty-eight he returned to the Pentagon as President Bush's secretary of defense, with a mandate to transform the military for a new century. Just nine months later he would confront the worst acts of terrorism in American history, followed by unexpected wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And he would be on the firing line for many controversies, from the revelations of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison to allegations of torture at Guantánamo Bay.   </p><p><em>Known and Unknown</em> reveals what happened behind the scenes during the critical moments of the Bush years, as the President's inner circle debated how best to defend our country. It is based not only on Rumsfeld's memory but also on hundreds of previously unreleased documents from throughout his career. It also features his blunt, firsthand opinions about some of the world's best-known figures, from Margaret Thatcher to Elvis Presley, from Henry Kissinger to Colin Powell, and about each American president from Dwight D. Eisenhower to George W. Bush.   </p><p>In a famous press briefing, Rumsfeld once remarked that "there are also unknown unknowns . . . things we do not know we don't know." His book makes us realize just how much we didn't know.   </p><p>Donald Rumsfeld is donating his proceeds from the sales of <em>Known and Unknown</em> to the military charities supported by the Rumsfeld Foundation. </p>


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<h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p><strong>Jennifer Weiner Reviews <em>Awkward Family Photos</em></strong></p><p><strong>Jennifer Weiner was born in 1970 on an army base in Louisiana. She grew up in Connecticut and graduated with a degree in English literature from Princeton University. She is the author of the novels <em>Good in Bed</em>, and her most recent, <em>Awkward Family Photos</em>:</strong></p><p>Samuel Butler once said "Every man’s work, whether it be literature or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself."</p><p>If that’s true, than God help Mike Bender and Doug Chernack, who waded into the toxic slurry of bad mullets, spiral perms, skin conditions, leg warmers, wet pants, creepy Moms, funny uncles, and truly disturbing Santas, and came back with this hilarious collection of awkward family photos. <em>Awkward Family Photos</em> reminds anyone with a dusty shoebox full of snapshots of unfortunate fashion choices, band trips, braces, bad bridesmaids’ dresses and that one time you got talked into dressing up and going to the Renaissance Faire, that you are not alone. This isn’t just a book, it’s a public service on the page, a living, breathing, laugh-out-loud reminder that no matter how badly you dressed, how oddly you posed, and how weird Uncle Dave who lived in the basement was, somebody out there had it worse. Particularly the girl on page 77.</p><hr /><h3>Review</h3><p>"This is the best book of embarrassing and strange photos of people who look like my family that I have ever seen."<br />—Judd Apatow   </p><p>"Being a test tube baby doesn't seem such a bad idea after looking at these folks. I laughed till it hurt. To paraphrase Tolstoy... every family is freaky in its own way. There's so much love here- but maybe a little more pain, or desperation, or bewilderment. I often feel slightly sad or guilty that I'm not closer with my own family- but looking at this bunch I sense we all have something in common and I'm far from being alone."<br />—David Byrne   </p><p>"Awkwardness has never looked so cool.  Finally there's a book that celebrates the cringe-worthy family photo we all have buried in an album somewhere."<br />— Amanda Goldberg, <em>New York Times </em>bestselling author of <em>Celebutantes</em>   </p><p>"Anything that both makes me laugh and think my family isn't so embarrassing deserves to be a book." <br />—Joel Stein, <em>Time </em>magazine columnist  </p><p>"I wept with laughter fourteen times while reading this book and snorted aloud twice. I dare you to find a higher weep/snort ratio in any other publication." <br />—Karen McCullah Lutz, screenwriter of <em>Legally Blonde</em> and <em>The Ugly Truth</em>  </p><p>"_Awkward Family Photos_ is the funniest book that I've read in a long time. It reminds you that it's okay to laugh at yourself and celebrates the family that made you awkward in the first place."<br />—Mia Kirshner, The L Word   </p><p>"_Awkward Family Photos _is absolutely hysterical, yet at the same time, it's a stunningly accurate photographic record of the late 20th century American family.  Now I can be certain I was not alone in my awkwardness."<br />—Adam Herz, Writer, _American Pie I, II, III_</p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>According to Leary, his first book is not for the faint of heart, by which he means Americans: "I am here to debunk and declassify and otherwise hold up a brutally honest mirror to our fat, ugly, lazy American selves." Now, a good many comedians make a career out of daring to speak the ugly, gasping truths that few others would. Leary brings a particularly acid-tinged tone to his rantings about annoying children, why cats are satanic spawn, what an ugly racket the Catholic Church is and (more surprisingly) why he loves <em>Oprah</em>. The book will most likely appeal to fans of Leary, and while the material might have been better delivered as a live performance (some of these hate-laced monologues are just begging to be read aloud), Leary himself wildly entertains. <em>(Nov.)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>Product Description</h3><p><strong><em>The New York Times</em> bestseller </strong>  </p><p>One of America's most original and biting comic satirists, Denis Leary takes on all the poseurs, politicians, and pop culture icons who have sucked in public for far too long. Sparing no one, Leary zeroes in on the ridiculous wherever he finds it-his Irish Catholic upbringing, the folly of celebrity, the pressures of family life, and the great hypocrisy of politics-with the same bright, savage, and profane insight he brought to his critically acclaimed one-man shows <em>No Cure for Cancer</em>&lt; and <em>Lock 'n Load</em>.   </p><p>Proudly Irish-American, defiantly working class, with a reserve of compassion for the underdog and the overlooked, Leary delivers blistering diatribes that are both penetrating social commentary with no holds barred and laugh-out-loud funny. As always, Leary's impassioned comic perspective in <em>Why We Suck</em> is right on target.   </p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>For anyone who's wondered about how humans first started eating honey—after all, bees guard it jealously—Ellis's charming history will be a treat. Apis mellifera is "the most studied creature on the planet after man," she writes, although even so, it turns out that the honeybee's biological ancestry isn't quite clear. There is some evidence that their relatives existed 200 million years ago or more—earlier than the earliest known flower, in other words, which would mean that they were eating something other than nectar. British food writer Ellis (_Tea_) leaves the tedious details of bee taxonomy to the experts, but satisfies readers with the fact that bees probably evolved from an ancestor of the carnivorous wasp. She then reveals the state of modern beekeeping by visiting apiarists and letting them talk about their bees, which they do, quite happily, relating tales of the delightful symbiosis of human and bee. Ultimately, it's all about the honey, and those who prefer to think of the sweet stuff as something that comes from jars might cringe at Elllis's description of how bees make it: the phrase "sucked and pumped, sucked and pumped, sucked and pumped" is queasily accurate. Entrancing anecdotes, accurate details and meticulous research add up to a sweetly satisfying read. 20 b&amp;w photos. <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From</h3><p>As Ellis points out, wherever bees are, whether jungle, tundra, or forest, they find nectar to turn into honey, honey that tastes of mint, or grapes, or oranges, depending on the flowers the bees have visited. Ellis, a columnist and food writer, has created a marvelous combination of natural history and social science as she explores the ways of bees, honey, and humans. The history of bees and flowers are inexorably intertwined--flowers need bees for pollination; bees need flowers for nectar. And as shown in Paleolithic art, humans have stolen honey from bees for millennia, and as early as the ancient Egyptians began to create homes for bees to encourage them to live nearby. Ellis follows the course of beekeeping, even visiting modern beekeepers on Manhattan rooftops. <em>Nancy Bent</em><br /><em>Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved</em></p>


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<h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>After years of painstaking planning, veteran cookbook authors Cheryl and Bill Jamison (Smoke &amp; Spice, American Home Cooking, The Big Book of Outdoor Cooking and Entertaining) used all their frequent flier miles on a three-month global culinary tour, chronicled in this charming travelogue. Beginning in Bali, the couple traveled to 10 different countries during the fall of 2005, sampling the local cuisine and taking in the sights. Narrating as "we," the Jamisons bring readers along as they dig into succulent jumbo crab at a hole in the wall in Singapore, dine on a luxurious wood and rattan houseboat in India and tour wineries in Australia; unfortunately, the spell is occasionally broken by awkward lapses into third person. That aside, the Jamisons make for informative and inquisitive travel guides, seeking out lesser-known establishments that capture the feel of each country. Though they occasionally splurge on an upscale meal, the majority of their dining experiences are well within the budgets of most travelers. Those interested in replicating legs of their journey will find the book a welcome resource, including information on lodging, dining destinations and not-to-be-missed cultural experiences (like the Carmen Miranda Museum in Brazil). For the sedentary, the Jamisons have thoughtfully included a native recipe from each stop. <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p><h3>From</h3><p>Loath to squander frequent-flier miles on pointless excursions, the Jamisons organize a trip around the world to sample the best foods the planet has to offer. Traveling a westerly route, they commence their planetary banquet in Bali, with its unique island version of Hindu cookery. Fine wines enhance the Australian dining experience. Singapore’s multiculturalism turns the days spent there into a vast Asian banquet. South Africa offers an opportunity to savor such wild delights as smoked zebra. No gastronomic journey being complete without a French stopover, the travelers revisit a favorite Provençal inn. For each destination, the Jamisons offer a list of visited hotels and restaurants and a particularly exemplary recipe. Anyone contemplating a similar circumnavigation or other extensive, exotic travel will find here a trove of practical and anecdotal information and encouragement along with useful recommendations for clothes, luggage, and even medicines. --Mark Knoblauch </p>


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<h3>Review</h3><p>“The best book I know of for talented but unacknowledged creators. . . . A masterpiece.” —Margaret Atwood  </p><p>“No one who is invested in any kind of art . . . can read <em>The Gift</em> and remain unchanged.” —David Foster Wallace  </p><p>“Few books are such life-changers as <em>The Gift</em>: epiphany, in sculpted prose.” —Jonathan Lethem  </p><p>“A manifesto of sorts for anyone who makes art [and] cares for it.” —Zadie Smith   </p><p>“This long-awaited new edition of Lewis Hyde's groundbreaking and influential study of creativity is a cause for across-the-board celebration.” —Geoff Dyer </p><h3>Product Description</h3><p>By now a modern classic, <em>The Gift</em> is a brilliantly orchestrated defense of the value of creativity and of its importance in a culture increasingly governed by money and overrun with commodities. Widely available again after twenty-five years, this book is even more necessary today than when it first appeared. An illuminating and transformative book, and completely original in its view of the world, <em>The Gift</em> is cherished by artists, writers, musicians, and thinkers. It is in itself a gift to all who discover the classic wisdom found in its pages. </p>


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<div><h3>Product Description</h3><p>It is estimated that some three million people died in the Soviet forced-labour camps of Kolyma, in the northeastern area of Siberia. Shalamov himself spent seventeen years there, and in these stories he vividly captures the lives of ordinary people caught up in terrible circumstances, whose hopes and plans extended to further than a few hours. This new enlarged edition combines two collections previously published in the United States as Kolyma Tales and Graphite. </p><h3>Language Notes</h3><p>Text: English, Russian (translation) </p>

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<div><h3>Review</h3><p>"Natasha Randall's English, in her new translation, has exactly the right degree of loose velocity. . . . (Nabokov's version, the best-known older translation, is a bit more demure than Randall's, less savage.)" <br>-James Wood, <em>London Review of Books</em>   </p><p>"[A] smart, spirited new translation." <br>-_The Boston Globe_   </p><p>"One of the most vivid and persuasive portraits of the male ego ever put down on paper." <br>-Neil LaBute, from the Foreword </p><h3>Product Description</h3><p><strong>A brilliant new translation of a perennial favorite of Russian Literature</strong>  </p><p>The first major Russian novel, <em>A Hero of Our Time</em> was both lauded and reviled upon publication. Its dissipated hero, twenty-five-year-old Pechorin, is a beautiful and magnetic but nihilistic young army officer, bored by life and indifferent to his many sexual conquests. Chronicling his unforgettable adventures in the Caucasus involving brigands, smugglers, soldiers, rivals, and lovers, this classic tale of alienation influenced Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, and Chekhov in Lermontov's own century, and finds its modern-day counterparts in Anthony Burgess's <em>A Clockwork Orange</em>, the novels of Chuck Palahniuk, and the films and plays of Neil LaBute. </p>

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<div><h3>Amazon.com Review</h3><p>Imagine a Dickens story with a Venetian setting, and you'll have a good sense of Cornelia Funke's prizewinning novel <em>The Thief Lord</em>, first published in Germany in 2000. This suspenseful tale begins in a detective's office in Venice, as the entirely unpleasant Hartliebs request Victor Getz's services to search for two boys, Prosper and Bo, the sons of Esther Hartlieb's recently deceased sister. Twelve-year-old Prosper and 5-year-old Bo ran away when their aunt decided she wanted to adopt Bo, but not his brother. Refusing to split up, they escaped to Venice, a city their mother had always described reverently, in great detail. Right away they hook up with a long-haired runaway named Hornet and various other ruffians who hole up in an abandoned movie theater and worship the elusive Thief Lord, a young boy named Scipio who steals jewels from fancy Venetian homes so his new friends can get the warm clothes they need. Of course, the plot thickens when the owner of the pawn shop asks if the Thief Lord will carry out a special mission for a wealthy client: to steal a broken wooden wing that is the key to completing an age-old, magical merry-go-round. This winning cast of characters--especially the softhearted detective with his two pet turtles--will win the hearts of readers young and old, and the adventures are as labyrinthine and magical as the streets of Venice itself. (Ages 9 and older) <em>--Karin Snelson</em></p><h3>From Publishers Weekly</h3><p>Wacky characters bring energy to this translation of an entertaining German novel about thieving children, a disguise-obsessed detective and a magical merry-go-round. After their mother dies, 12-year-old Prosper and his brother, Bo, five, flee from Hamburg to Venice (an awful aunt plans to adopt only Bo). They live in an abandoned movie theater with several other street children under the care of the Thief Lord, a cocky youth who claims to rob "the city's most elegant houses." A mysterious man hires the Thief Lord to steal a wooden wing, which the kids later learn has broken off a long-lost merry-go-round said to make "adults out of children and children out of adults," but the plan alters when Victor, the detective Aunt Esther hired to track the brothers, discovers their camp and reveals that the Thief Lord is actually from a wealthy family. There are a lot of story lines to follow, and the pacing is sometimes off (readers may feel that Funke spends too little time on what happens when the children find the carousel, and too much on the ruse they pull on Prosper's aunt). But between kindhearted Victor and his collection of fake beards, the Thief Lord in his mask and high-heeled boots, and a rascally street kid who loves to steal, Prosper's new world abounds with colorful characters. The Venetian setting is ripe for mystery and the city's alleys and canals ratchet up the suspense in the chase scenes. Ages 9-12. <br>Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. </p>

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<div><h3>From</h3><p>Comedian Birbiglia, frequent contributor to public radio’s This American Life and The Moth and author of the blog My Secret Public Journal, has the ability to remember a lot of things most of us would just as soon forget. Lucky for us, in this memoir Birbiglia recalls the events leading up to his earning the childhood nickname “Tinkles” (though you might be able to guess how it happened), and he tells the story of how, instead of bestowing his first kiss on his middle-school crush, he tossed his cookies at her feet. He’s now, hopefully, cashing in on the demoralizing dues paid in his youth and early career as a stand-up comic—readers will recognize him from the late-night circuit and Comedy Central specials, and the book itself is an extension of his one-man show. Charming, brainier than he’d probably admit, and frequently poignant in spite of himself, Birbiglia throws together an alternately rollicking and warm handful of stories; the lengthy title story, of his struggle with a sleep disorder, is as fascinating as it is hilarious. --Annie Bostrom </p><h3>Review</h3><p>“Mike Birbiglia was always a very funny guy who told stories onstage. But in the last two years it's been inspiring to see the stories get bigger and more complicated and emotional as he turned himself into a real storyteller and—with this book—a real author as well. These are deeply relatable, totally engaging stories. They're as moving and amusing as they come.” —Ira Glass, host and producer of “This American Life”  </p><p>“Mike Birbiglia can write an entertaining yet soulful story in his sleep—that and jump out of motel windows.” —Sarah Vowell, author of <em>The Wordy Shipmates</em> and <em>Assassination Vacation</em>  </p><p>“First, know that this book is well written and funny. Now, know that I hate cynicism. Hate it. This book is the opposite of cynicism. I love <em>Sleepwalk With Me</em>.” —Jeff Garlin, Co-creator and Co-star of <em>Curb Your Enthusiasm</em>  </p><p>“Mike Birbiglia is a good friend of mine but I'm still really happy when weird, bad things happen to him because I love hearing the stories.” —Seth Meyers, head writer and host of Weekend Update, <em>Saturday Night Live</em>  </p><p>“Funny. Very funny. Birbiglia is the child Woody Allen and Bob Newhart never had—please don't try to picture that 'encounter.' Smart and self-aware, with just enough perspective on his quirks and issues that you don't have to feel too sorry for him...as you laugh at and/or with him.” —Bob Odenkirk, creator and star of HBO's <em>Mr. Show with Bob and David</em>  </p><p>“Mike Birbiglia has always made me laugh and so did this book. No one explains their insanity as sanely or as honestly or is as funny as Mike. If you think you’re crazy, this is the book for you. It’s a good thing the kid is a talented writer and comic or he’d be screwed.” —Lewis Black  </p><p>“_Sleepwalk with Me_ is so funny, inspired, and jealous-makingly well written, I am beginning to suspect that Mike Birbiglia MAY ACTUALLY HAVE BEEN AWAKE WHILE HE WROTE IT. This changes my whole worldview.” —John Hodgman, author of <em>More Information Than You Require</em>  </p><p>“Insightful, heartfelt, and comedic—what more could you want from a book? Mike Birbiglia is a unique and wonderful new voice in American theater and letters.” —Jonathan Ames, creator of HBO's "Bored to Death" and author of <em>The Extra Man</em> and <em>Wake Up, Sir!</em>  </p><p>“_Sleepwalk With Me_ is about the things that keep us all up at night: love, family and growing up. In equal parts hilarious and moving, this book should cement Mike Birbiglia’s status as a national treasure.” —Andy Borowitz, author of <em>Who Moved My Soap: The CEO's Guide to Surviving Prison; The Bernie Madoff Edition</em>  </p><p>“Mike Birbiglia is a great storyteller, just as funny on the page as on the stage. These comic gems strung together create a hilarious and touching memoir of growing up awkwardly and finding his way in the cruel world of stand-up. An original wit who raises self-deprecation to an art form, and always leaves you thinking and laughing." —Nathan Lane </p>

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<div><p class="description">SUMMARY:<br>Capture the fantasy, thrills, and far-flung adventure of the first three novels in Terry Brooks’s enchanting Magic Kingdom of Landover series–now for the first time in one gripping volume.Chicago lawyer Ben Holiday can’t fathom what lies ahead when he purchases Landover–a magical kingdom of chivalry and sorcery–from Meeks, the mysterious seller who placed the ad. Weary and jaded, Ben clings to the ad’s promise: “Escape into your dreams.” But Landover is not the enchanted idyll he expected.The kingdom is in ruin. The barons refuse to recognize Ben as King, a dragon is decimating the countryside, and a demon lord has challenged any prospective ruler to a fatal duel. To make matters worse, the Paladin, renowned champion of the Kings of Landover, seems to be merely a legend.Ben’s only allies are a bumbling court magician, a talking dog turned court scribe, and the beautiful Willow, who is part girl, part tree. With his friends in tow, Ben sets out to claim the throne. But when Meeks decides he wants Landover back, Ben will face supernatural foes of every stripe to prove himself worthy of the kingship. The question is: Can he survive?</p><p class="description"><br></p><p class="description"><b>Magic Kingdom For Sale SOLD!</b></p><p class="description"><b>The Black Unicorn</b></p><p class="description"><b>Wizard at Large</b></p></div>


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<div><p class="description">SUMMARY:<br>Now in one thrilling volume experience the magic, the intrigue, and the exciting escapades of the final two novels in Terry Brooks's spellbinding Magic Kingdom of Landover series All appears well with Ben Holiday. He's finally secured for himself the throne of Landover, and he and his wife, the exquisite sylph Willow, are expecting their first child. But their peaceful days are numbered. The conjurer Horris Kews returns to Landover and inadvertently releases an evil sorcerer from the Tangle Box, a magic chest used by the fairy folk to imprison wayward spirits. Now free, the sorcerer traps Ben inside the box's labyrinthine passages and plots to wreak havoc in Landover using Horris as his pawn. But Ben's greatest challenge comes when Rydall, a foreign king, issues Ben an ultimatum: defeat seven deadly champions, or Rydall's armies invade Landover. Complicating matters is the devastating fact that Ben and Willow's young daughter has been kidnappedand her fate lies in Rydall's dangerous hands. Relying on his loyal friends, his steadfast wife, and no small amount of endurance and enchantment, Ben risks his life to save everything he loves. But this time, black magic may prove too powerful for even the most devoted heart.</p><p class="description"><b>The Tangle Box</b></p><p class="description"><b>Witches' Brew</b></p></div>


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<p class="description">SUMMARY:<br>After fourteen years, New York Times bestselling fantasy master Terry Brooks has returned to the magic kingdom of Landover. The remarkable realm of dragons, demons, wizards, and wonders that wove an irresistible spell in five classic novels throws open its gates at long last for a brand-new adventure featuring a dazzling cast of characters and creatures.Ben Holiday, Chicago lawyer and mere mortal turned monarch of enchanted Landover, has grappled with scheming barons, fire-breathing beasts, diabolical conjurers, and extremely wicked witches. None of whom have prepared him for the most daunting of challengers–a teenage daughter. Sent by Ben and his beloved sylph bride, Willow, to an exclusive girls’ prep school, headstrong (and half-magical) Mistaya Holiday has found life in the natural world a less than perfect fit. And when her latest rebellious antics get her indefinitely suspended, she’s determined to resume her real education–learning sorcery from court wizard Questor Thews–whether her parents like it or not. But back home in Landover, Mistaya’s frustrated father is just as determined that the precocious princess learn some responsibility, and he declares her grounded until she successfully refurbishes the long-forsaken royal library. Mortified by the prospect of salvaging a king’s ransom in moldy books–and horrified by word that repulsive local nobleman Lord Laphroig seeks to marry her–Mistaya decides that the only way to run her own life is to run away from home. So begins an eventful odyssey peppered with a formidable dragon, recalcitrant gnomes, an inscrutable magic cat, a handsome librarian, a sinister sorcerer, and more than a few narrow escapes as fate draws Landover’s intrepid princess to the last place she expected to go, and into the thick of a mystery that will put her mettle to the test–and might bring the kingdom to its knees.</p>


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<div><div>As ruthless apprentice to Darth Vader, Starkiller was mercilessly schooled in the ways of the dark side, commanded to exterminate the last of the purged Jedi Order, and groomed for the ultimate Sith power play: assassination of the Emperor. He served without question, killed without remorse, and lost his heart without warning to beautiful Imperial fighter pilot Juno Eclipse, never suspecting that he was just a tool in the schemes of his masters—until it was too late to escape their lethal betrayal.</div><div><br></div><div>Juno mourned Starkiller as dead...but now he is back, purged of all memories and programmed to kill. And as fate brings Juno and Starkiller closer to reuniting, with Darth Vader determined not to lose his assassin a second time, they will both have to make a stand. The prize is freedom. The punishment for failing will be eternal enslavement to the dark side of the Force...</div></div>


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<div><div>Tassaa Bareesh, a matriarch in the Hutt crime cartel, is holding an auction that’s drawing attention from across the galaxy. Representatives of both the Republic and the Sith Empire are present, along with a Jedi Padawan sent to investigate, a disenfranchised trooper drummed out of the Republic’s elite Blackstar Squad, and a mysterious Mandalorian with a private agenda. But the Republic’s envoy is not what he seems, the Empire’s delegate is a ruthless Sith apprentice, the Jedi Padawan is determined to do the right thing and terrified that he can’t, the trooper hopes to redeem her reputation, and the Mandalorian is somehow managing to keep one step ahead of everyone.</div><div><br></div><div>None of these guests—invited or uninvited—have any intention of participating in the auction. Instead they plan to steal the prize, which is locked inside an impregnable vault: two burned chunks of an exploded star cruiser, one of which may hold the key to the wealth of an entire world.</div><div><br></div><div>But the truth about the treasure is dangerous and deadly. And in the end, Sith and Jedi, Republic and Empire, must do something they’ve never done before, something that all the agents of good and evil could never make them do: join together to stop a powerful threat that could destroy the galaxy…</div></div>


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<p class="description">SUMMARY:<br>A genius, a great mathematician once said, performs magic, does things that nobody else could do. To his scientific colleagues, Richard Feynman was a magician of the highest caliber. Architect of quantum theories, enfant terrible of the atomic bomb project, caustic critic of the space shuttle commission, Nobel Prize winner for work that gave physicists a new way of describing and calculating the interactions of subatomic particles, Richard Feynman left his mark on virtually every area of modern physics. Originality was his obsession. Never content with what he knew or with what others knew, Feynman ceaselessly questioned scientific truths. But there was also another side to him, one which made him a legendary figure among scientists. His curiosity moved well beyond things scientific: he taught himself how to play drums, to give massages, to write Chinese, to crack safes. In Genius, James Gleick, author of the acclaimed best-seller Chaos, shows us a Feynman few have seen. He penetrates beyond the gleeful showman depicted in Feynman's own memoirs and reveals a darker Feynman: his ambition, his periods of despair and uncertainty, his intense emotional nature. From his childhood on the beaches and backlots of Far Rockaway and his first tinkering with radios and differential equations to the machine shops at MIT and the early theoretical work at Princeton - work that foreshadowed his famous notion of antiparticles traveling backward in time - to the tragic death of his wife while he was working at Los Alamos, Genius shows how one scientist's vision was formed. As that vision crystallized in work that reinvented quantum mechanics, we see Feynman's impact on the elite particle-physicscommunity, and how Feynman grew to be at odds with the very community that idolized him. Finally, Gleick explores the nature of genius, our obsession with it and why the very idea may belong to another time. Genius records the life of a scientist who has forever changed science - and changed what it means to know something in this uncertain century.</p>


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<div><h3>From School Library Journal</h3><p>Grade 7–10—Conor is enjoying his life until the day his aunt shows up on horseback and tries to run him through with a spear. He and his father are carried off to Tir na Nog, where he learns that he is a prince and that nearly everybody he meets wants to kill him. With the help of the mother he has never met, the teen and his dad escape captivity, and Conor begins to learn more about the land he has been brought to and about his uncle's evil plot to destroy it. With the help of two new friends, one who rarely speaks and one who never shuts up, Conor sets out to defeat his uncle and save the ancient Celtic land. Along the way he meets a variety of imps, banshees, leprechauns, and elves—and one very pretty girl who, like so many others, wants him dead. The story moves quickly with a lot of action and humor, but occasionally background information and characterization are sacrificed to the fast-paced plot. Readers will enjoy Conor's romp through Tir na Nog but will not pick up a lot of detail about the mythology surrounding that legendary land. This is a fun tale for readers who are looking for another light fantasy.—_Misti Tidman, Boyd County Public Library, Ashland, KY_ <br>(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. </p><h3>From</h3><p>Conor’s dad is quite eccentric—he speaks in ancient languages and trains Conor in swordplay—but the 17-year-old never dreamed it was because his father was actually from the land of the ancient Celts. Conor is spirited away to Tir Na Nog, and life suddenly moves at a frantic pace. He meets his mother (a sorceress working in Shadowmagic), befriends an imp and a banshee, and must somehow survive the prophecy of his death long enough to help his dad claim his rightly deserved throne. Though some of the rescues and escapes are almost too easy, they still work, and Lenahan throws in some unforeseen twists. The characters are fully developed and the dialogue witty and full of spunk. With the pace and thrill of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, a sense of place worthy of Narnia itself, and Conor’s dryly humorous first-person narration, this novel is a fast read that will engage reluctant readers. A less-than-tidy ending will have readers begging for more. Grades 7-11. --Melissa Moore </p>

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<p class="description">SUMMARY:<br>Based on historically accurate roots, this novel explores one New Yorker's involvement in his family's rice plantation and the wild tensions involved as he tries to right the wrong he sees at work in his family. Tracing the thread of slavery from 1500s Timbuktu up to the Civil War, Songs of Slaves in the Desert explores one man's struggle with the legacy of slavery and the loyalty of family, brought into sharp focus as he finds himself attracted to one young slave woman. A masterful writer, Cheuse grapples with the nether parts of our history and the wild nature of love, especially by those held closest in chains. Praise for To Catch the Lightning: "Compelling fiction that digs deep into the mystery and sacrifice and selfishness of creative vision." -Charles Frazier, author of Cold Mountain and Thirteen Moons "Vivid and poignant...Cheuse's ambitious historical novel illuminates one man's heroic obsession and the perpetual dichotomies of duty and dream, discovery, and loss."-Booklist</p>


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<p class="description">SUMMARY:<br>A small Nepali man melts into shadows. A cutthroat crime lord is looking for a miraculous cure. And a map to an impossible dream and a mythic paradise is pointing the way.Archaeologist Annja Creed is in Katmandu, awash in its scents, sounds and liveliness. But this is no sightseeing trip. An old friend is in possession of a map that leads to a place that lies outside our world. But the map is known to one other—a vicious man who has Annja and her companions right where he wants them. Her hand forced, Annja sets out in search of the fabled Shangri-La—an expedition of danger and subversion.And her journey will end only with triumph…or tragedy.</p>


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<h3>From School Library Journal</h3><p>Gr 6-9-Flinn reimagines a fairy-tale world in her latest novel. Teenaged Johnny works as a cobbler in his mother's shoe repair shop in a posh hotel in South Beach. He spends his days with his friend Meg and designs his own line of shoes while dreaming of wealth to free his family from the confines of poverty. Unexpectedly, the striking Princess Victoriana of Aloria comes to the swanky Miami hotel for a royal visit. The super-hot partying princess pleads for Johnny's help in finding her missing brother, and offers of money and a royal marriage convince him to take her seriously-even when she explains that the prince has been turned into a frog. With the aid of a magical cloak and some headphones that allow him to hear animals speak, Johnny embarks on a journey wherein he encounters talking swans, a fox named Todd, and two angry giants. When he lands in hot water with an evil witch bent on destroying him, Meg comes to his rescue. The pair journey from South Beach to Key West, to Europe, and to Manhattan; and in the end, Johnny finds wealth, fame, and true love. Flinn cleverly plays on some lesser-known fairy tales to make this book a fun, romantic adventure with likable characters. Rapid action and amusing situations make it a quick read that will easily entice even reluctant readers.-Tara Kehoe, Plainsboro Public Library, NJ (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. </p><h3>From</h3><p>A princess, a cobbler, a witch, and modern-day South Beach mash up in Flinn�s latest fairy-tale retelling. Johnny works tirelessly in a luxury hotel�s shoe-repair shop, dreaming of becoming a high-end shoe designer. He sees an opportunity to get his shoes on famous feet when a hard-partying European princess moves in. Victoriana notices Johnny, too, and thinks he is just the one to find her brother, Prince Philippe, who was turned into a frog as blackmail for Victoriana�s hand in marriage. She gives Johnny a fistful of cash, a transporting cloak, and an earpiece that allows him to understand animals that used to be human, which are a lot more plentiful in Florida than he ever imagined. Instead of a well-known classic, several lesser-known tales combine here to give the book a nice blend of the familiar (the frog who needs a kiss to transform) and the novel (how will a puny kid best two giants?). Readers will keep turning pages to figure out just how many transmogrifications Johnny can resolve, and whose dreams will come true. Grades 6-10. --Heather Booth </p>


