Adult

An old woman, riddled with dementia, walks off into the woods in the middle of the night. A light in the wood draws her to a campfire with two strange, dangerous men, who are there plotting a crime of as-yet-indeterminate purpose. The two men have a job to do. They are hunting something precious but have only been told: you’ll know it when you see it. When they arrive at the place, an abandoned church cellar in the burned-out countryside, they find an answer. Now, the job feels dubious, one that’ll surely bring them to ruin. Yet if they’re to go against orders, no step can be undone and nothing can be taken back. In spare, imagistic prose, LAY YOUR ARMOR DOWN charts the course of several broken people, all outrunning danger’s dark fingers and all brought together for one last chance at redemption.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Detective Stilwell has been “exiled” to a low-key post, after department politics drove him off a homicide desk on the mainland. But while following up the usual drunk-and-disorderlies and petty thefts, Detective Stilwell gets a report of a body found at the bottom of the harbor. At the same time, a report of poaching on a protected reserve turns into a case fraught with danger as Stilwell digs into the past of an island bigwig. Stilwell doggedly works both cases. Though hampered by an old beef with an ex-colleague, he is convinced he is the only one who can bring justice to the woman known as “Nightshade.” Soon, his investigation uncovers closely guarded secrets and a dark heart to the serene island that was meant to be his escape from the evils of the big city.

His family farm and the surrounding community now emptied by war, young Hani embarks on an epic quest – assisted by a brooding yet brilliant donkey – to find his lost sister in the ruins of Troy. Some war stories transcend time and circumstance and so it is with the resourceful and heartbroken Hani, who must employ every bit of intelligence, every scrap of ingenuity and ultimately every ounce of his spirit and humor to withstand the forces of civilization’s collapse. Hani is no ordinary boy, however, and a character unlike any you’ve ever met. His interior world is one of startling depth and complexity. His insights into life, lives and history are fresh. And his hope for survival -- not a given, and in fact, less than likely -- will propel you to the startling conclusion of this brief, elegiac and singular work.

Sybil Delling has spent nine years dreaming of having no dreams at all. Sybil is a Diviner. In her dreams she receives visions from six unearthly figures known as Omens. From them, she can predict terrible things before they occur and lords and common folk alike travel across the kingdom of Traum to learn their futures by her dreams. Just as she and her sister Diviners near the end of their service, a mysterious knight arrives at the cathedral. Rude, heretical and devilishly handsome, the knight Rodrick has no respect for Sybil's visions. But when Sybil's fellow Diviners begin to vanish one by one, she has no choice but to seek his help in finding them. Only the gods have the answers she is seeking and as much as she'd rather avoid Rodrick's dark eyes and sharp tongue, only a heretic can defeat a god. 

SKIPPER takes on an ambitious Moneyball-esque premise: a deep dive into the ongoing struggle for control that often takes place behind the scenes between Major League Baseball managers and the ownership groups, and now, their data analysts. In a culture still attempting to come to terms with the Digital Age, there’s a bigger story behind the evolution of authority of managing inside the major leagues. Packed with baseball history, interviews with dozens of MLB's current stars and veterans, and an exclusive, inside look at the day-to-day life of manager LA Dodgers’ Dave Roberts, SKIPPER is a fascinating look into the highs, the lows, and the inner workings of the changing world of professional baseball.

In THE WARRIOR, Christopher Clarey talks about  Rafael Nadal's most mind-blowing achievement: 14 French Open titles. Nadal has won big on tennis's many surfaces en route to becoming one of the greatest players of all time: securing two Wimbledon titles on grass and four U.S. Open titles on cushioned acrylic hardcourts. But clay, the slowest and grittiest of the game’s playgrounds, is where it all comes together best for his tactical skills, whipping topspin forehand and gladiatorial mindset. Clarey draws on interviews over many years with Nadal and his team and with rivals like Roger Federer. Not just a book about tennis, THE WARRIOR draws much wider lessons from Nadal’s approach to competition.

August 1942. When they realize the danger of remaining under the rule of the Nazi occupation, Dr. Leon Schmelzer, his wife Donya, and their baby daughter attempt to flee Romania under the cover of darkness. Joining a dozen other brave souls, they hastily board a small ship, leaving behind family, friends, and the only life they ever knew --- for a slim chance at survival. But their path to freedom does not sail over smooth waters. As endless waves threaten to drown what little hope they have, the desperate refugees find that the hatred in the hearts of men is more terrifying than any force of nature. And when they are shipwrecked and taken captive in a foreign land, Leon’s own faith and resolve are put to the ultimate test. Can he find the courage and resourcefulness to protect his wife and only daughter?

Elle has the chance of a lifetime to write a big-budget movie set in New York City. The only problem? She’s had writer’s block for months, and her screenplay is due at the end of the summer. In a desperate attempt at inspiration, Elle ends up back in the city she swore she would never return to, in an apartment she could never afford. It’s the perfect place to write her screenplay…until she realizes that her new neighbor is tech “Billionaire Bachelor” Parker Warren, her stairwell hookup from two years ago. When seeing him again turns into a full night of hate-fueled writing, Elle realizes that her enemy/twisted muse just might be the key to finishing her screenplay. He needs to fake a buzzy relationship during his company’s precarious acquisition. She needs to write a movie around a list of NYC locations. Summers always end, and so will this agreement. It’s all pretend. Until it isn’t.

Ten strangers wake up inside an old, locked house. They have no recollection of how they got there. In order to escape, they have to solve the disappearance of a young woman. But a killer also stalks the halls of the house, and soon the body count starts to rise. Who are these strangers? Why were they chosen? Why would someone want to kill them? And who --- or what --- lurks in the cellar?

Babs Dionne --- proud Franco-American, doting grandmother, and vicious crime matriarch --- rules her small town of Waterville, Maine, with an iron fist. She controls the flow of drugs into Little Canada with the help of her loyal lieutenants, girlfriends since they were teenagers, and her eldest daughter, Lori, a Marine vet struggling with addiction. When a drug kingpin discovers that his numbers are down in the upper northeast, he sends a malevolent force, known only as The Man, to investigate. At the same time, Babs' youngest daughter, Sis, has gone missing, which doesn't seem at all like a coincidence. In 24 hours, Sis will be found dead, and the whole town will seek shelter from Babs’ wrath.