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Bernie Taupin, author of Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton, and Me

Half of one of the greatest creative partnerships in popular music, Bernie Taupin is the man who wrote the lyrics for Elton John, who conceived the ideas that spawned countless hits. Together they were a duo, a unit, an immovable object. Their extraordinary, half-century-and-counting creative relationship has been chronicled in biopics (like 2019's Rocketman) and even John's own autobiography, ME. But Taupin, a famously private person, has kept his own account of their adventures close to his chest, until now. SCATTERSHOT allows the reader to witness events unfolding from Taupin's singular perspective --- sometimes front and center, sometimes from the edge, yet always described vibrantly, with an infectious energy that only a vivid songwriter's prose could offer.

Safiya Sinclair, author of How to Say Babylon: A Memoir

Throughout her childhood, Safiya Sinclair’s father, a volatile reggae musician and militant adherent to a strict sect of Rastafari, became obsessed with her purity --- in particular, with the threat of what Rastas call Babylon, the immoral and corrupting influences of the Western world outside their home. He worried that womanhood would make Safiya and her sisters morally weak and impure, and believed a woman’s highest virtue was her obedience. As Safiya watched her mother struggle voicelessly for years under housework and the rigidity of her father’s beliefs, she increasingly used her education as a sharp tool with which to find her voice and break free. Inevitably, with her rebellion comes clashes with her father, whose rage and paranoia explodes in increasing violence.

Jo Nesbø, author of The Night House

In the wake of his parents’ tragic deaths in a house fire, 14-year-old Richard Elauved has been sent to live with his aunt and uncle in the remote, insular town of Ballantyne. Richard quickly earns a reputation as an outcast, and when a classmate named Tom goes missing, everyone suspects he is responsible. No one believes him when he says the telephone booth out by the edge of the woods sucked Tom into the receiver. No one, that is, except Karen, a beguiling fellow outsider. Richard traces the number that Tom prank-called from the phone booth to an abandoned house in the Mirror Forest. There he catches a glimpse of a terrifying face in the window. And then the voices begin to whisper in his ear: She’s going to burn. The girl you love is going to burn. There’s nothing you can do about it.

Editorial Content for My Darling Girl

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

Jennifer McMahon has proven time and again that she is one of the top players in the psychological thriller game. However, lately her novels have taken more of a turn into the supernatural realm. Her previous book, THE CHILDREN ON THE HILL, was a terrifying story that called to mind FRANKENSTEIN. Read More

Teaser

Alison has never been a fan of Christmas. But with it right around the corner and her husband busily decorating their cozy Vermont home, she has no choice but to face it. Then she gets the call. Mavis, Alison’s estranged mother, has been diagnosed with cancer and has only weeks to live. She wants to spend her remaining days with her daughter, son-in-law and two granddaughters. But Alison grew up with her mother’s alcoholism and violent abuse and is reluctant to unearth these traumatic memories. Still, she eventually agrees to take in Mavis, hoping that she and her mother could finally heal and have the relationship she’s always dreamed of. But when mysterious and otherworldly things start happening upon Mavis’ arrival, Alison begins to suspect that her mother is not quite who she seems.

Promo

Alison has never been a fan of Christmas. But with it right around the corner and her husband busily decorating their cozy Vermont home, she has no choice but to face it. Then she gets the call. Mavis, Alison’s estranged mother, has been diagnosed with cancer and has only weeks to live. She wants to spend her remaining days with her daughter, son-in-law and two granddaughters. But Alison grew up with her mother’s alcoholism and violent abuse and is reluctant to unearth these traumatic memories. Still, she eventually agrees to take in Mavis, hoping that she and her mother could finally heal and have the relationship she’s always dreamed of. But when mysterious and otherworldly things start happening upon Mavis’ arrival, Alison begins to suspect that her mother is not quite who she seems.

About the Book

From the New York Times bestselling author of THE CHILDREN ON THE HILL, a psychological thriller “that delivers both chilling scares and genuine emotion” (Chandler Baker, New York Times bestselling author) about a woman who, after taking in her dying, alcoholic mother, begins to suspect demonic possession is haunting her family.

Alison has never been a fan of Christmas. But with it right around the corner and her husband busily decorating their cozy Vermont home, she has no choice but to face it. Then she gets the call.

Mavis, Alison’s estranged mother, has been diagnosed with cancer and has only weeks to live. She wants to spend her remaining days with her daughter, son-in-law and two granddaughters. But Alison grew up with her mother’s alcoholism and violent abuse and is reluctant to unearth these traumatic memories. Still, she eventually agrees to take in Mavis, hoping that she and her mother could finally heal and have the relationship she’s always dreamed of.

But when mysterious and otherworldly things start happening upon Mavis’ arrival, Alison begins to suspect her mother is not quite who she seems. And as the holiday festivities turn into a nightmare, she must confront just how far she is willing to go to protect her family in this “twisty, propulsive, character-driven, and hair-raisingly scary” (Nick Cutter, author of THE TROOP) novel.

Audiobook available, read by Hillary Huber with Kitty Hendrix

Editorial Content for Land of Milk and Honey

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Sarah Rachel Egelman

In several passages of the Torah, the Hebrews yearned for the land of milk and honey. It was a promised land of abundance, richness, safety, sweetness and healing. It was not an Edenic paradise, but close --- a space of both knowledge and peace. In her gorgeous new novel, C Pam Zhang takes this mythic place into a dystopian future of climate devastation, economic collapse and scientific experimentation. LAND OF MILK AND HONEY is the story of a consuming love affair amid a background of consumption, greed and fear, all set at a table of culinary delight. Read More

Teaser

A smog has spread. Food crops are rapidly disappearing. A chef escapes her dying career in a dreary city to take a job at a decadent mountaintop colony seemingly free of the world’s troubles. There, the sky is clear again. Rare ingredients abound. Her enigmatic employer and his visionary daughter have built a lush new life for the global elite, one that reawakens the chef to the pleasures of taste, touch and her own body. In this atmosphere of hidden wonders and cool, seductive violence, the chef’s boundaries undergo a thrilling erosion. Soon she is pushed to the center of a startling attempt to reshape the world far beyond the plate.

Promo

A smog has spread. Food crops are rapidly disappearing. A chef escapes her dying career in a dreary city to take a job at a decadent mountaintop colony seemingly free of the world’s troubles. There, the sky is clear again. Rare ingredients abound. Her enigmatic employer and his visionary daughter have built a lush new life for the global elite, one that reawakens the chef to the pleasures of taste, touch and her own body. In this atmosphere of hidden wonders and cool, seductive violence, the chef’s boundaries undergo a thrilling erosion. Soon she is pushed to the center of a startling attempt to reshape the world far beyond the plate.

About the Book

The award-winning author of HOW MUCH OF THESE HILLS IS GOLD returns with a rapturous and revelatory novel about a young chef whose discovery of pleasure alters her life and, indirectly, the world.

A smog has spread. Food crops are rapidly disappearing. A chef escapes her dying career in a dreary city to take a job at a decadent mountaintop colony seemingly free of the world’s troubles.

There, the sky is clear again. Rare ingredients abound. Her enigmatic employer and his visionary daughter have built a lush new life for the global elite, one that reawakens the chef to the pleasures of taste, touch and her own body.

In this atmosphere of hidden wonders and cool, seductive violence, the chef’s boundaries undergo a thrilling erosion. Soon she is pushed to the center of a startling attempt to reshape the world far beyond the plate.

Sensuous and surprising, joyous and bitingly sharp, told in language as alluring as it is original, LAND OF MILK AND HONEY lays provocatively bare the ethics of seeking pleasure in a dying world. It is a daringly imaginative exploration of desire and deception, privilege and faith, and the roles we play to survive. Most of all, it is a love letter to food, to wild delight and to the transformative power of a woman embracing her own appetite.

Audiobook available, read by Eunice Wong

Editorial Content for Black River Orchard

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

Chuck Wendig has received praise from and been compared to the legendary Stephen King. This has never been more evident than with his latest release, BLACK RIVER ORCHARD, which is destined to become a Gothic horror classic. This weighty tome is Wendig’s masterpiece, and he pulls out all the stops in telling a spine-chilling tale that readers will never forget. Read More

Teaser

It’s autumn in the town of Harrow, but something besides the season is changing there. Because in that town there is an orchard with seven most unusual trees. From those trees grows a new sort of apple: strange, beautiful, with skin so red it’s nearly black. Take a bite, and you will desire only to devour another. And another. You will become stronger and more vital. But then your appetite for the apples and their peculiar gifts will keep growing --- and become darker. Soon it seems that everyone is consumed by an obsession with the magic of the apples. However, something else is buried in the orchard besides the seeds of these extraordinary trees: a bloody history whose roots reach back to the very origins of the town. Now it’s harvest time, and the town will soon reap what it has sown.

Promo

It’s autumn in the town of Harrow, but something besides the season is changing there. Because in that town there is an orchard with seven most unusual trees. From those trees grows a new sort of apple: strange, beautiful, with skin so red it’s nearly black. Take a bite, and you will desire only to devour another. And another. You will become stronger and more vital. But then your appetite for the apples and their peculiar gifts will keep growing --- and become darker. Soon it seems that everyone is consumed by an obsession with the magic of the apples. However, something else is buried in the orchard besides the seeds of these extraordinary trees: a bloody history whose roots reach back to the very origins of the town. Now it’s harvest time, and the town will soon reap what it has sown.

About the Book

A small town is transformed when seven strange trees begin bearing magical apples in this masterpiece of horror from the bestselling author of WANDERERS and THE BOOK OF ACCIDENTS.

It’s autumn in the town of Harrow, but something besides the season is changing there.

Because in that town there is an orchard, and in that orchard, seven most unusual trees. And from those trees grows a new sort of apple: strange, beautiful, with skin so red it’s nearly black.

Take a bite of one of these apples, and you will desire only to devour another. And another. You will become stronger. More vital. More yourself, you will believe. But then your appetite for the apples and their peculiar gifts will keep growing --- and become darker.

This is what happens when the townsfolk discover the secret of the orchard. Soon it seems that everyone is consumed by an obsession with the magic of the apples...and what’s the harm, if it is making them all happier, more confident, more powerful?

Even if something else is buried in the orchard besides the seeds of these extraordinary trees: a bloody history whose roots reach back to the very origins of the town.

But now the leaves are falling. The days grow darker. It’s harvest time, and the town will soon reap what it has sown.

Audiobook available; read by Xe Sands, Brittany Pressley, Sean Patrick Hopkins, Cindy Kay, Kalani Queypo, Gabra Zackman and Victor Colomé

Editorial Content for Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

It seems like a natural fit for Native American writers to tell tales of dark fiction and the supernatural. It is almost as if they have a deeper connection with nature and the world around us that provides them with insight that other authors might never notice. Read More

Teaser

Many Indigenous people believe that one should never whistle at night. This belief takes many forms. For instance, Native Hawaiians believe it summons the Hukai’po, the spirits of ancient warriors, and Native Mexicans say it calls Lechuza, a witch that can transform into an owl. But what all these legends hold in common is the certainty that whistling at night can cause evil spirits to appear --- and even follow you home. These wholly original and shiver-inducing tales introduce readers to ghosts, curses, hauntings, monstrous creatures, complex family legacies, desperate deeds and chilling acts of revenge. Introduced and contextualized by Stephen Graham Jones, these stories are a celebration of Indigenous peoples’ survival and imagination, and a glorious reveling in all the things that an ill-advised whistle might summon.

Promo

Many Indigenous people believe that one should never whistle at night. This belief takes many forms. For instance, Native Hawaiians believe it summons the Hukai’po, the spirits of ancient warriors, and Native Mexicans say it calls Lechuza, a witch that can transform into an owl. But what all these legends hold in common is the certainty that whistling at night can cause evil spirits to appear --- and even follow you home. These wholly original and shiver-inducing tales introduce readers to ghosts, curses, hauntings, monstrous creatures, complex family legacies, desperate deeds and chilling acts of revenge. Introduced and contextualized by Stephen Graham Jones, these stories are a celebration of Indigenous peoples’ survival and imagination, and a glorious reveling in all the things that an ill-advised whistle might summon.

About the Book

A bold, clever and sublimely sinister collection that dares to ask the question: “Are you ready to be un-settled?”

Many Indigenous people believe that one should never whistle at night. This belief takes many forms. For instance, Native Hawaiians believe it summons the Hukai’po, the spirits of ancient warriors, and Native Mexicans say it calls Lechuza, a witch that can transform into an owl. But what all these legends hold in common is the certainty that whistling at night can cause evil spirits to appear --- and even follow you home.

These wholly original and shiver-inducing tales introduce readers to ghosts, curses, hauntings, monstrous creatures, complex family legacies, desperate deeds and chilling acts of revenge. Introduced and contextualized by bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones, these stories are a celebration of Indigenous peoples’ survival and imagination, and a glorious reveling in all the things that an ill-advised whistle might summon.

Audiobook available; read by Erin Tripp, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Joelle Peters, Kaniehtiio Horn, Lisa Cromarty, Maika Harper, Shane Ghostkeeper, Sheldon Elter and Tara Sky

Editorial Content for Cleat Cute

Book

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Norah Piehl

Grace Henderson is pretty much the grande dame of US women’s soccer. She has been on the national team since she was a teenager and is also the captain of the New Orleans professional women’s soccer team, the Krewe. Younger players coming up through the high school and college ranks look up to her as an inspiration, even an idol. Read More

Teaser

Grace Henderson has been a star of the US Women’s National Team for 10 years. But when she’s sidelined with an injury, a bold new upstart, Phoebe Matthews, takes her spot. The last thing Grace expects is to become teammates with benefits with this class clown she sees as her rival. Phoebe is too focused on her first season as a professional soccer player to think about seducing her longtime idol. But when Grace ends up making the first move, they can’t keep their hands off of each other. As the World Cup approaches and Grace works her way back from injury, a miscommunication leaves the women with hilariously different perspectives on their relationship. But they’re on the same page on the field, realizing they can play together instead of vying for the same position.

Promo

Grace Henderson has been a star of the US Women’s National Team for 10 years. But when she’s sidelined with an injury, a bold new upstart, Phoebe Matthews, takes her spot. The last thing Grace expects is to become teammates with benefits with this class clown she sees as her rival. Phoebe is too focused on her first season as a professional soccer player to think about seducing her longtime idol. But when Grace ends up making the first move, they can’t keep their hands off of each other. As the World Cup approaches and Grace works her way back from injury, a miscommunication leaves the women with hilariously different perspectives on their relationship. But they’re on the same page on the field, realizing they can play together instead of vying for the same position.

About the Book

A sapphic rivals to lovers rom com for fans of "Ted Lasso" and A League of Their Own, where two soccer teammates are at odds before falling in love as their team gears up for the World Cup.

Grace Henderson has been a star of the US Women’s National Team for 10 years, even though she’s only 26. But when she’s sidelined with an injury, a bold new upstart, Phoebe Matthews, takes her spot. Twenty-two-year-old Phoebe is everything Grace isn’t --- a gregarious jokester who plays with a joy that Grace lost somewhere along the way. The last thing Grace expects is to become teammates with benefits with this class clown she sees as her rival.

Phoebe Matthews is too focused on her first season as a professional soccer player to think about seducing her longtime idol. But when Grace ends up making the first move, they can’t keep their hands off of each other.

As the World Cup approaches and Grace works her way back from injury, a miscommunication leaves the women with hilariously different perspectives on their relationship. But they’re on the same page on the field, realizing they can play together instead of vying for the same position. With every tackle the tension between them grows, and both players soon have to decide what's more important --- being together or making the roster.

The perfect blend of funny and steamy, Meryl Wilsner’s CLEAT CUTE is about being brave enough to win on and off the field.

Audiobook available, read by Dana Varden and Zim Avaltrades

Editorial Content for The Square of Sevens

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Pamela Kramer

A masterful piece of historical fiction, THE SQUARE OF SEVENS is set in Georgian England in the first half of the 1700s, as we visit Cornwall, Bath and even London. Laura Shepherd-Robinson's narrative is both descriptive and flowery. In prose that at times brings to mind Daphne du Maurier's descriptions of the barren Cornwall coast, we read about a young girl as she and her father make their way from town to town, telling fortunes and trying to survive. Read More

Teaser

Cornwall, 1730: A young girl known only as Red travels with her father making a living predicting fortunes using the ancient Cornish method of the Square of Sevens. Shortly before he dies, her father entrusts Red’s care to a gentleman scholar, along with a document containing the secret of the Square of Sevens technique. Raised as a lady amidst the Georgian splendor of Bath, Red’s fortune-telling delights in high society. But she cannot ignore the questions that gnaw at her soul: Who was her mother? How did she die? And who are the mysterious enemies her father was always terrified would find him? While Red’s pursuit of these mysteries brings her the possibility of great reward, it also leads to grave danger.

Promo

Cornwall, 1730: A young girl known only as Red travels with her father making a living predicting fortunes using the ancient Cornish method of the Square of Sevens. Shortly before he dies, her father entrusts Red’s care to a gentleman scholar, along with a document containing the secret of the Square of Sevens technique. Raised as a lady amidst the Georgian splendor of Bath, Red’s fortune-telling delights in high society. But she cannot ignore the questions that gnaw at her soul: Who was her mother? How did she die? And who are the mysterious enemies her father was always terrified would find him? While Red’s pursuit of these mysteries brings her the possibility of great reward, it also leads to grave danger.

About the Book

This “intricately plotted, epic” (The Times, London) international bestseller --- in the vein of the vivid novels of Sarah Waters and Sarah Perry --- follows an orphaned fortune teller in 18th-century England as she searches for answers about her long-dead mother.

Cornwall, 1730: A young girl known only as Red travels with her father making a living predicting fortunes using the ancient Cornish method of the Square of Sevens. Shortly before he dies, her father entrusts Red’s care to a gentleman scholar, along with a document containing the secret of the Square of Sevens technique.

Raised as a lady amidst the Georgian splendor of Bath, Red’s fortune-telling delights in high society. But she cannot ignore the questions that gnaw at her soul: Who was her mother? How did she die? And who are the mysterious enemies her father was always terrified would find him?

The pursuit of these mysteries takes her from Cornwall and Bath to London and Devon, from the rough ribaldry of the Bartholomew Fair to the grand houses of two of the most powerful families in England. And while Red’s quest brings her the possibility of great reward, it also leads to grave danger.

“Intricate, haunting, and magical by turns, Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s tale is an absolute immersive read you won’t soon forget” (Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling author).

Audiobook available, read by Imogen Wilde

Editorial Content for Football Done Right: Setting the Record Straight on the Coaches, Players, and History of the NFL

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Stuart Shiffman

Michael Lombardi brings substantial credibility to FOOTBALL DONE RIGHT, a delightful and thoughtful discussion of the history of the National Football League. The book features the type of conversations that often occur among football fans across America. Read More

Teaser

From “Monday Night Football” to Super Bowl Sunday, the NFL is a dominating force in the lives of millions of fans who tune in and passionately cheer for their favorite teams. And when the games are over, the conversation is just getting started. Who's the greatest player of all time? Which coaches truly shaped the game we know and love today? What was the most unforgettable game? Why is professional football such an undeniable part of our culture? Three-time Super Bowl winner Michael Lombardi has done it all --- from scout to executive to coach --- and now he sets the record straight on these questions and more. With FOOTBALL DONE RIGHT, Lombardi tackles all aspects of the sport, discussing the best of the best.

Promo

From “Monday Night Football” to Super Bowl Sunday, the NFL is a dominating force in the lives of millions of fans who tune in and passionately cheer for their favorite teams. And when the games are over, the conversation is just getting started. Who's the greatest player of all time? Which coaches truly shaped the game we know and love today? What was the most unforgettable game? Why is professional football such an undeniable part of our culture? Three-time Super Bowl winner Michael Lombardi has done it all --- from scout to executive to coach --- and now he sets the record straight on these questions and more. With FOOTBALL DONE RIGHT, Lombardi tackles all aspects of the sport, discussing the best of the best.

About the Book

Former NFL general manager and three-time Super Bowl winner Michael Lombardi takes readers on the ultimate journey through the NFL's history to present his calls on the greatest players and coaches the sport has ever seen.

From "Monday Night Football" to Super Bowl Sunday, the NFL is a dominating force in the lives of millions of fans who tune in and passionately cheer for their favorite teams. And when the games are over, the conversation is just getting started. Who's the greatest player of all time? Which coaches truly shaped the game we known and love today? What was the most unforgettable game? Why is professional football such an undeniable part of our culture?

Three-time Super Bowl winner Michael Lombardi has done it all --- from scout to executive to coach --- and now he sets the record straight on these questions and more. With FOOTBALL DONE RIGHT, Lombardi tackles all aspects of the sport, discussing the best of the best. He channels his 35+ years of experience with the NFL into an all-encompassing celebration of the game. More than just ranking the giants of the league, Lombardi shows how and why each affected the game. Mixing first-person, in-the-locker-room experience with little known history and hard stats, Lombardi makes a definitive case for the most influential coaches and the best players, and also offers an insider look to how drafts and trades operate behind the scenes and honoring the sportscasters who played an essential role in popularizing the sport.

Both a full history of the sport and a comprehensive reimagining of the Football Hall of Fame to honor every deserving athlete and coach, FOOTBALL DONE RIGHT will change the way you watch, discuss and debate the gridiron.

Audiobook available; read by Michael Lombardi, Dan Woren and Jim Nantz