Throughout his career as a novelist, Banks has also been a master of the short form, publishing four story collections, and winning O. Henry and Best American Short Story Awards and other prizes. Now with The Angel on the Roof, he offers readers an astonishing collection of thirty years of short fiction, resonant with irony and compassion, honesty and insight, extending into the vast territory of the heart and world, from working-class New England to Florida, the Caribbean and Africa. Along with nine new stories that are among the finest fiction he has ever written, he has selected the best from his collections and revised them for this volume.
Shortlisted for the East Anglian Book Awards 2016! It has been estimated that over 90% of England's figurative medieval art was obliterated in the image destruction of the Reformation. Medieval angel roofs, timber structures with spectacular and ornate carvings of angels, with a peculiar preponderance in East Anglia, were simply too difficult for Reformation iconoclasts to reach. Angel roof carvings comprise the largest surviving body of major English medieval wood sculpture. Though they areboth masterpieces of sculpture and engineering, angel roofs have been almost completely neglected by academics and art historians, because they are inaccessible, fixed and challenging to photograph. 'The Angel Roofs of East Anglia' is the first detailed historical and photographic study of the region's many medieval angel roofs. It shows the artistry and architecture of these inaccessible and little-studied medieval artworks in more detail and clarity than ever before, and explains how they were made, by whom, and why. Michael Rimmer redresses the scholarly neglect and brings the beauty, craftsmanship and history of these astonishing medieval creations to the reader. The book also offers a fascinating new answer to the question of why angel roofs are so overwhelmingly an East Anglian phenomenon, but relatively rare elsewhere in the country.
Fourteen-year-old Shelby cannot understand why her mother, Zoe, is constantly packing them up and moving. Now that they've lived in the city for a year and Shelby even has a best friend, she's determined to stay put. She's tired of being at the mercy of her mother's strange moods and sudden whims. And she's tired of Zoe's evasions, especially on the subject of Shelby's father. When Shelby finds some concrete evidence of his existence--old photographs with a man's head carefully cut out--she determines to confront her mother. But before she has the chance, Zoe announces that they're taking a trip to Red Valley, where she used to live. Shelby hopes she can find some answers there and leave quickly. But Red Valley turns out to have a strange hold on Zoe, and Shelby discovers that some questions might be better left alone.
In this "raucous, moving, and necessary" story by a Pulitzer Prize finalist (San Francisco Chronicle), the De La Cruzes, a family on the Mexican-American border, celebrate two of their most beloved relatives during a joyous and bittersweet weekend. "All we do, mija, is love. Love is the answer. Nothing stops it. Not borders. Not death." In his final days, beloved and ailing patriarch Miguel Angel de La Cruz, affectionately called Big Angel, has summoned his entire clan for one last legendary birthday party. But as the party approaches, his mother, nearly one hundred, dies, transforming the weekend into a farewell doubleheader. Among the guests is Big Angel's half brother, known as Little Angel, who must reckon with the truth that although he shares a father with his siblings, he has not, as a half gringo, shared a life. Across two bittersweet days in their San Diego neighborhood, the revelers mingle among the palm trees and cacti, celebrating the lives of Big Angel and his mother, and recounting the many inspiring tales that have passed into family lore, the acts both ordinary and heroic that brought these citizens to a fraught and sublime country and allowed them to flourish in the land they have come to call home. Teeming with brilliance and humor, authentic at every turn, The House of Broken Angels is Luis Alberto Urrea at his best, and cements his reputation as a storyteller of the first rank. "Epic . . . Rambunctious . . . Highly entertaining." -- New York Times Book Review"Intimate and touching . . . the stuff of legend." -- San Francisco Chronicle"An immensely charming and moving tale." -- Boston GlobeNational Bestseller and National Book Critics Circle Award finalistA New York Times Notable BookOne of the Best Books of the Year from National Public Radio, American Library Association, San Francisco Chronicle, BookPage, Newsday, BuzzFeed, Kirkus, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Literary Hub
L. E. Modesitt's bestselling fantasy novels set in the magical world of Recluce have established a standard of entertainment in contemporary fantasy. "In Modesitt's universe, where good and evil, chaos and order, are in perpetual conflict, a young wizard finds that his destiny is to strike a balance, but at considerable personal cost. Modesitt creates a deeper and more intricate world with each volume," says Publishers Weekly. "Modesitt's elaborate and intelligent working out of a systemof magic and a system of technology parallel to it is becoming more the lifeblood of the Recluce books with every new volume. . . . His saga continues to gain in popularity," says Booklist. Each Recluce novel tells an independent story that nevertheless reverberates though all the other Recluce novels to deepen and enrich the reading experience. Now in Fall of Angels, Modesitt moves deep into Recluce's past to chronicle the founding of the Empire of the Legend, the almost mythological domain ruled by woman warriors on the highland plateau of the continent of Candar. He tells the story from the point of view of Nylan, the engineer and builder whose job it is to raise a great tower on the plateau known as the Roof of the World. Here the exiled women warriors will live and survive to fulfill their destiny. Here a revolutionary new society will be born . . . if Nylan can get the tower built and defenses in place before the rulers of the lowland nations come with their armies to obliterate them all. And if Nylan can learn to control the magical powers that are growing within him. Thus Modesitt relates the story of how magic comes into the world of Recluce, in a fantasy novel destined to please the growing Recluce audience and win new readers to the series. Fall of Angels is the sixth book of the saga of Recluce.
When Ben Underwood became blind at the age of two, anyone would have thought he faced a life full of hardship and uphill challenges--a world full of things he'd never be able to see and activities he'd never be able to enjoy. But as far as his mom, Aquanetta Gordon, was concerned, nothing was impossible for Ben . . . and so he accomplished the incredible. Known as "the boy who could see with sound," Ben mastered human echolocation--the ability to detect the size, shape and location of objects through the reflection of sound waves. By clicking his tongue and "seeing" the waves, Ben could ride his bike, shoot baskets, identify objects, and even play video games. Some called it a miracle, but to Ben and Aqua, the real miracles were the otherworldly experiences God gave Ben--physical and spiritual--that others couldn't explain. Echoes of an Angel is the remarkable true story of how a child who seemed destined for darkness brought light to the world. It's the story of a single mom who encouraged her son to push beyond his limits, even as her heart clenched with protective love and fear. And it's the story of a family's unshakable faith . . . in God and each other.
A sensory narrative poem capturing the rhythms of the universe and secrets of the subconscious with stunning linguistic dexterity from the author of On the Road A spontaneous writing project in the form of an extended prose poem, this sonorous and spiritually playful book is one of Jack Kerouac’s most boldly experimental works. Collected from five notebooks dating from 1956 to 1959—a time in which Kerouac was immersed in Buddhist theory—Old Angel Midnight is comprised of sixty-seven short sections unified by an unwavering dedication to sounds, the subconscious, and verbal ingenuity. Friday Afternoon in the Universe, in all directions in & out you got your men women dogs children horses pones tics perts parts pans pools palls pails parturiences and petty Thieveries that turn into heavenly Buddha. Thus begins Kerouac’s Joycean language dance. From birdsong to dharmic verse, street jargon to French slang, the resonances of the universe come blaring in though the windows, unfurling their meaning as the mind lets go and listens.
On some days, New York is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. This was one of the other days... Melody Malone, owner and sole employee of the Angel Detective Agency, has an unexpected caller. It’s movie star Rock Railton, and he thinks someone is out to kill him. When he mentions the ‘kiss of the Angel’, she takes the case. Angels are Melody’s business... At the press party for Railton’s latest movie, studio owner Max Kliener invites Melody to the film set of their next blockbuster. He’s obviously spotted her potential, and Melody is flattered when Kliener asks her to become a star. But the cost of fame, she’ll soon discover, is greater than anyone could possibly imagine. Will Melody be able to escape Kliener’s dastardly plan – before the Angels take Manhattan?
In March 2015, millions worldwide were captivated by news reports of the dramatic rescue of an 18-month old girl, Lily Groesbeck, who'd somehow survived fourteen hours in an overturned car, submerged in an icy-cold Utah river, after her mother apparently lost control of the vehicle. Police officers arrived at the scene and heard a woman's voice spurring them on: 'Please hurry, there isn't much time.' Yet, once the two victims were recovered, it was clear the voice could not have come from Lily's mother: she'd been killed on impact. How to explain this modern-day miracle? Ptolemy Tompkins, New York Times bestselling collaborator, with the help of responding officer, Tyler Beddoes will do just that. PROOF OF ANGELS will be the first mainstream trade book to effectively address a topic that has captivated individuals across cultures, age groups and religious beliefs for centuries. This deeply engaging, hard-hitting book is poised to do for angels what PROOF OF HEAVEN, the internationalbestseller by Eben Alexander on which Ptolemy Tompkins collaborated, did for Near Death Experiences. Tyler Beddoes' compelling story launches a sweeping inquiry into the evidence supporting the existence of spiritual beings. Weaving real-life stories into a rich narrative exploring the history, nature and significance of angels in our lives, this book will appeal to the enormous audience who have bought books such as PROOF OF HEAVEN. PROOF OF ANGELS is poised to join the ranks of major bestselling inspirationaltitles by offering readers not only a highly entertaining look into a universally fascinating topic but by also delivering afresh, well-constructed and deeply reassuring message: we are not alone.
