Editorial Content for Lightning Down: A World War II Story of Survival
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Bestselling author Tom Clavin has brought the dark past back to life and light in LIGHTNING DOWN, a stirring account of the perils faced and ordeals suffered by American airman Joe Moser, who was captured by the Nazis near the end of the war in Europe. Read More
Teaser
On August 13, 1944, Joe Moser set off on his 44th combat mission over occupied France. Soon, he would join almost 170 other Allied airmen as prisoners in Buchenwald, one of the most notorious and deadly of Nazi concentration camps. Tom Clavin's LIGHTNING DOWN tells this largely untold and riveting true story. Moser was just 22 years old, a farm boy from Washington State who fell in love with flying. During the War he realized his dream of piloting a P-38 Lightning, one of the most effective weapons the Army Air Corps had against the powerful German Luftwaffe. But on that hot August morning, he had to bail out of his damaged, burning plane. Captured immediately, Moser’s journey into hell began.
Promo
On August 13, 1944, Joe Moser set off on his 44th combat mission over occupied France. Soon, he would join almost 170 other Allied airmen as prisoners in Buchenwald, one of the most notorious and deadly of Nazi concentration camps. Tom Clavin's LIGHTNING DOWN tells this largely untold and riveting true story. Moser was just 22 years old, a farm boy from Washington State who fell in love with flying. During the War he realized his dream of piloting a P-38 Lightning, one of the most effective weapons the Army Air Corps had against the powerful German Luftwaffe. But on that hot August morning, he had to bail out of his damaged, burning plane. Captured immediately, Moser’s journey into hell began.
About the Book
An American fighter pilot doomed to die in Buchenwald but determined to survive.
On August 13, 1944, Joe Moser set off on his 44th combat mission over occupied France. Soon, he would join almost 170 other Allied airmen as prisoners in Buchenwald, one of the most notorious and deadly of Nazi concentration camps. Tom Clavin's LIGHTNING DOWN tells this largely untold and riveting true story.
Moser was just 22 years old, a farm boy from Washington State who fell in love with flying. During the War he realized his dream of piloting a P-38 Lightning, one of the most effective weapons the Army Air Corps had against the powerful German Luftwaffe. But on that hot August morning he had to bail out of his damaged, burning plane. Captured immediately, Moser’s journey into hell began.
Moser and his courageous comrades from England, Canada, New Zealand, and elsewhere endured the most horrific conditions during their imprisonment...until the day the orders were issued by Hitler himself to execute them. Only a most desperate plan would save them.
The page-turning momentum of LIGHTNING DOWN is like that of a thriller, but the stories of imprisoned and brutalized airmen are true and told in unforgettable detail, led by the distinctly American voice of Joe Moser, who prays every day to be reunited with his family.
LIGHTNING DOWN is a can’t-put-it-down inspiring saga of brave men confronting great evil and great odds against survival.
Audiobook available, read by George Newbern
Editorial Content for The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
In 2015's DREAMLAND, Sam Quinones chronicled the start and rise of America’s opioid epidemic. It began with Oxycontin, created by the Sackler family’s Purdue pharmaceutical company, and morphed into an all-out drug war as users turned to heroin, resulting in harrowing nationwide death tolls and a booming drug trafficking market. But a new "star" has emerged in the epidemic’s third phase: fentanyl. Read More
Teaser
Sam Quinones traveled from Mexico to main streets across the US to create DREAMLAND, a groundbreaking portrait of the opioid epidemic. As the nation struggled to put back the pieces, Quinones was among the first to see the dangers that lay ahead. In fentanyl, traffickers landed a painkiller a hundred times more powerful than morphine, causing tens of thousands of deaths. At the same time, Mexican traffickers made methamphetamine cheaper and more potent than ever, creating swaths of mental illness and a surge in homelessness across the United States. Quinones hit the road to investigate these new threats, discovering how addiction is exacerbated by consumer-product corporations.
Promo
Sam Quinones traveled from Mexico to main streets across the US to create DREAMLAND, a groundbreaking portrait of the opioid epidemic. As the nation struggled to put back the pieces, Quinones was among the first to see the dangers that lay ahead. In fentanyl, traffickers landed a painkiller a hundred times more powerful than morphine, causing tens of thousands of deaths. At the same time, Mexican traffickers made methamphetamine cheaper and more potent than ever, creating swaths of mental illness and a surge in homelessness across the United States. Quinones hit the road to investigate these new threats, discovering how addiction is exacerbated by consumer-product corporations.
About the Book
From the New York Times bestselling author of DREAMLAND, a searing follow-up that explores the terrifying next stages of the opioid epidemic and the quiet yet ardent stories of community repair.
Sam Quinones traveled from Mexico to main streets across the US to create DREAMLAND, a groundbreaking portrait of the opioid epidemic that awakened the nation. As the nation struggled to put back the pieces, Quinones was among the first to see the dangers that lay ahead: synthetic drugs and a new generation of kingpins whose product could be made in Magic Bullet blenders. In fentanyl, traffickers landed a painkiller a hundred times more powerful than morphine. They laced it into cocaine, meth and counterfeit pills to cause tens of thousands of deaths --- at the same time as Mexican traffickers made methamphetamine cheaper and more potent than ever, creating, Sam argues, swaths of mental illness and a surge in homelessness across the United States.
Quinones hit the road to investigate these new threats, discovering how addiction is exacerbated by consumer-product corporations. “In a time when drug traffickers act like corporations and corporations like traffickers,” he writes, “our best defense, perhaps our only defense, lies in bolstering community.” Amid a landscape of despair, Quinones found hope in those embracing the forgotten and ignored, illuminating the striking truth that we are only as strong as our most vulnerable.
Weaving analysis of the drug trade into stories of humble communities, THE LEAST OF US delivers an unexpected and awe-inspiring response to the call that shocked the nation in Sam Quinones’ award-winning DREAMLAND.
Audiobook available, read by Tom Jordan
Editorial Content for The Apollo Murders
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Several years ago, I was half-listening to a radio interview in which an unnamed expert commented on how profoundly the commercial news industry affects our perception of who deserves recognition. Read More
Teaser
NASA is about to launch Apollo 18. While the mission has been billed as a scientific one, flight controller Kazimieras "Kaz" Zemeckis knows there is a darker objective. Intelligence has discovered a secret Soviet space station spying on America, and Apollo 18 may be the only chance to stop it. But even as Kaz races to keep the NASA crew one step ahead of their Russian rivals, a deadly accident reveals that not everyone involved is quite who they were thought to be. With political stakes stretched to the breaking point, the White House and the Kremlin can only watch as their astronauts collide on the lunar surface, far beyond the reach of law or rescue.
Promo
NASA is about to launch Apollo 18. While the mission has been billed as a scientific one, flight controller Kazimieras "Kaz" Zemeckis knows there is a darker objective. Intelligence has discovered a secret Soviet space station spying on America, and Apollo 18 may be the only chance to stop it. But even as Kaz races to keep the NASA crew one step ahead of their Russian rivals, a deadly accident reveals that not everyone involved is quite who they were thought to be. With political stakes stretched to the breaking point, the White House and the Kremlin can only watch as their astronauts collide on the lunar surface, far beyond the reach of law or rescue.
About the Book
An exceptional debut thriller and “exciting journey” into the dark heart of the Cold War and the space race from New York Times bestselling author and astronaut Chris Hadfield (Andy Weir, author of THE MARTIAN and PROJECT HAIL MARY).
1973: a final, top-secret mission to the Moon. Three astronauts in a tiny spaceship, a quarter million miles from home. A quarter million miles from help.
NASA is about to launch Apollo 18. While the mission has been billed as a scientific one, flight controller Kazimieras "Kaz" Zemeckis knows there is a darker objective. Intelligence has discovered a secret Soviet space station spying on America, and Apollo 18 may be the only chance to stop it.
But even as Kaz races to keep the NASA crew one step ahead of their Russian rivals, a deadly accident reveals that not everyone involved is quite who they were thought to be. With political stakes stretched to the breaking point, the White House and the Kremlin can only watch as their astronauts collide on the lunar surface, far beyond the reach of law or rescue.
Full of the fascinating technical detail that fans of THE MARTIAN loved, and reminiscent of the thrilling claustrophobia, twists and tension of THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, THE APOLLO MURDERS is a high-stakes thriller unlike any other. Chris Hadfield captures the fierce G-forces of launch, the frozen loneliness of space, and the fear of holding on to the outside of a spacecraft orbiting the Earth at 17,000 miles per hour as only someone who has experienced all of these things in real life can.
Strap in and count down for the ride of a lifetime.
Audiobook available, read by Ray Porter
Editorial Content for Comfort Me With Apples
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
It’s definitely apple season --- I like the kind that aren’t too sweet or soft, with real bite --- and this new fantasy novella has both the brightness and the incipient gloom of autumn.
The title is a biblical phrase from the Song of Solomon (“Comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love”), also used by Ruth Reichl, former editor of Gourmet magazine, for a memoir about her life in food. Reichl, of course, was interested in culinary possibilities. Catherynne M. Valente is way more engaged by the apple’s symbolic potential. Read More
Teaser
Sophia was made for him. Her perfect husband. She can feel it in her bones. He is perfect. Their home together in Arcadia Gardens is perfect. Everything is perfect. It's just that he's away so much. So often. He works so hard. She misses him. And he misses her. He says he does, so it must be true. He is the perfect husband, and everything is perfect. But sometimes Sophia wonders about things. Strange things. Dark things. The look on her husband's face when he comes back from a long business trip. The questions he will not answer. The locked basement she is never allowed to enter. And whenever she asks the neighbors, they can't quite meet her gaze. But everything is perfect. Isn't it?
Promo
Sophia was made for him. Her perfect husband. She can feel it in her bones. He is perfect. Their home together in Arcadia Gardens is perfect. Everything is perfect. It's just that he's away so much. So often. He works so hard. She misses him. And he misses her. He says he does, so it must be true. He is the perfect husband, and everything is perfect. But sometimes Sophia wonders about things. Strange things. Dark things. The look on her husband's face when he comes back from a long business trip. The questions he will not answer. The locked basement she is never allowed to enter. And whenever she asks the neighbors, they can't quite meet her gaze. But everything is perfect. Isn't it?
About the Book
COMFORT ME WITH APPLES is a terrifying new thriller from bestseller Catherynne M. Valente, for fans of GONE GIRL and SPINNING SILVER.
Sophia was made for him. Her perfect husband. She can feel it in her bones. He is perfect. Their home together in Arcadia Gardens is perfect. Everything is perfect.
It's just that he's away so much. So often. He works so hard. She misses him. And he misses her. He says he does, so it must be true. He is the perfect husband, and everything is perfect.
But sometimes Sophia wonders about things. Strange things. Dark things. The look on her husband's face when he comes back from a long business trip. The questions he will not answer. The locked basement she is never allowed to enter. And whenever she asks the neighbors, they can't quite meet her gaze.
But everything is perfect. Isn't it?
Audiobook available, read by Karis Campbell
Editorial Content for The Return of the Pharaoh: From the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D.
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
It is no secret that I am a huge Sherlock Holmes fan. What impresses me the most about Nicholas Meyer’s latest effort is that he refers to himself as the editor instead of the writer. Everyone in the know will immediately smirk at this literary wink to the great Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who made it clear that he was merely utilizing the journals written by John H. Watson, M.D. to compose his stories. Read More
Teaser
In 1910, Dr. John Watson travels to Egypt with his wife, Juliet. Her tuberculosis has returned, and her doctor recommends a stay at a sanitarium in a dry climate. But while his wife undergoes treatment, Dr. Watson bumps into an old friend --- Sherlock Holmes. An English Duke with a penchant for Egyptology has disappeared, leading to enquiries from his wife and the Home Office. Holmes has discovered that the missing duke has indeed vanished from his lavish rooms in Cairo and that he was on the trail of a previous undiscovered and unopened tomb. With the help of Howard Carter, Holmes and Watson are on the trail of something much bigger, more important and more sinister than an errant lord.
Promo
In 1910, Dr. John Watson travels to Egypt with his wife, Juliet. Her tuberculosis has returned, and her doctor recommends a stay at a sanitarium in a dry climate. But while his wife undergoes treatment, Dr. Watson bumps into an old friend --- Sherlock Holmes. An English Duke with a penchant for Egyptology has disappeared, leading to enquiries from his wife and the Home Office. Holmes has discovered that the missing duke has indeed vanished from his lavish rooms in Cairo and that he was on the trail of a previous undiscovered and unopened tomb. With the help of Howard Carter, Holmes and Watson are on the trail of something much bigger, more important and more sinister than an errant lord.
About the Book
In Nicholas Meyer's THE RETURN OF THE PHARAOH, Sherlock Holmes returns in an adventure that takes him to Egypt in search of a missing nobleman, a previously undiscovered pharaoh's tomb, and a conspiracy that threatens his very life.
With his international bestseller, THE SEVEN PER CENT SOLUTION, Nicholas Meyer brought to light a previously unpublished case of Sherlock Holmes that reinvigorated the world's interest in the first consulting detective. Now, many years later, Meyer is given exclusive access to Dr. Watson's unpublished journal, wherein he details a previously unknown case.
In 1910, Dr. John Watson travels to Egypt with his wife, Juliet. Her tuberculosis has returned and her doctor recommends a stay at a sanitarium in a dry climate. But while his wife undergoes treatment, Dr. Watson bumps into an old friend --- Sherlock Holmes, in disguise and on a case. An English Duke with a penchant for Egyptology has disappeared, leading to enquiries from his wife and the Home Office.
Holmes has discovered that the missing duke has indeed vanished from his lavish rooms in Cairo and that he was on the trail of a previous undiscovered and unopened tomb. And that he's only the latest Egyptologist to die or disappear under odd circumstances. With the help of Howard Carter, Holmes and Watson are on the trail of something much bigger, more important and more sinister than an errant lord.
Audiobook available, read by David Robb
Editorial Content for Burntcoat
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
It’s perhaps inevitable that the next several months and years will see a flood of pandemic novels. Some of them will be very good at saying something new about what our recent history means, while others will be less so. But it’s almost certain that at least some readers will compare everything that follows to Sarah Hall’s exquisite BURNTCOAT, which manages to transform the pandemic into a commentary on what it means to be an artist, and to be human. Read More
Teaser
In an unnamed British city, a deadly global virus is spreading, and like everyone else, the celebrated sculptor Edith Harkness retreats inside. She isolates herself in her immense studio, Burntcoat, with Halit, the lover she barely knows. As life outside changes irreparably, inside Burntcoat, Edith and Halit find themselves changed as well: by the histories and responsibilities each carries and bears, by the fears and dangers of the world outside, and by the progressions of their new relationship. And Burntcoat will be transformed, too, into a new and feverish world, a place in which Edith comes to an understanding of how we survive the impossible --- and what is left after we have.
Promo
In an unnamed British city, a deadly global virus is spreading, and like everyone else, the celebrated sculptor Edith Harkness retreats inside. She isolates herself in her immense studio, Burntcoat, with Halit, the lover she barely knows. As life outside changes irreparably, inside Burntcoat, Edith and Halit find themselves changed as well: by the histories and responsibilities each carries and bears, by the fears and dangers of the world outside, and by the progressions of their new relationship. And Burntcoat will be transformed, too, into a new and feverish world, a place in which Edith comes to an understanding of how we survive the impossible --- and what is left after we have.
About the Book
A "masterpiece" (Daisy Johnson) of mortality, passion and human connection, set against the backdrop of a deadly global virus --- from the Booker–nominated writer.
You were the last one here, before I closed the door of Burntcoat. Before we all closed our doors...
In an unnamed British city, the virus is spreading, and like everyone else, the celebrated sculptor Edith Harkness retreats inside. She isolates herself in her immense studio, Burntcoat, with Halit, the lover she barely knows. As life outside changes irreparably, inside Burntcoat, Edith and Halit find themselves changed as well: by the histories and responsibilities each carries and bears, by the fears and dangers of the world outside, and by the progressions of their new relationship. And Burntcoat will be transformed, too, into a new and feverish world, a place in which Edith comes to an understanding of how we survive the impossible --- and what is left after we have.
A sharp and stunning novel of art and ambition, mortality and connection, BURNTCOAT is a major work from “one of our most influential short story writers” (The Guardian). It is an intimate and vital examination of how and why we create --- make art, form relationships, build a life --- and an urgent exploration of an unprecedented crisis, the repercussions of which are still years in the learning.
Audiobook available, read by Louise Brealey