"Heroism is having to do something drastic to keep from getting killed." That's what security consultant Pete Avakian tells his dinner date, Dr. Judy Rose, on a night out in Beijing. Little does he know that his words are about to be illustrated in graphic detail. Just as they are getting to know each other, chaos erupts in the street. China has launched missiles at Taiwan; a long history of tension has given way to war. Suddenly Pete and Judy are confronted by hostile youths, and an act of self-defense puts them on the run from the authorities in a country crazed by war. Pursued by the Chinese police, the Americans race toward the Mongolian border. Their only chance of survival is to work together to escape a country gone mad…even if that means taking drastic action.

Award-winning author Guy Gavriel Kay evokes the dazzling Tang Dynasty of 8th-century China in an masterful story of honor and power. It begins simply. Shen Tai, son of an illustrious general serving the Emperor of Kitai, has spent two years honoring the memory of his late father by burying the bones of the dead from both armies at the site of one of his father's last great battles. In recognition of his labors and his filial piety, an unlikely source has sent him a dangerous gift: 250 Sardian horses. You give a man one of the famed Sardian horses to reward him greatly. You give him four or five to exalt him above his fellows, propel him towards rank, and earn him jealousy, possibly mortal jealousy. Two hundred and fifty is an unthinkable gift, a gift to overwhelm an emperor. Wisely, the gift comes with the stipulation that Tai must claim the horses in person. Otherwise he would probably be dead already...

A trio of mismatched mercenaries is hired by a young woman to evaluate the safety of a boy who may have been taken against his will to a New Mexico backwoods settlement, where the mercenaries encounter paranoia, mistrust, and insanity in the shadow of a monolithic idol.

From the author of the acclaimed Dinner with Persephone comes a radically original novel about four women who invite us to imagine the divine anew: what if “a woman’s point of view” were also God’s? Patricia Storace’s Eve begins by telling us her version of what happened in Eden, and by revealing that our familiar constellations conceal other heavens we have never allowed ourselves to see. Each of the four subsequent chapters is the story of one of these new zodiacs, featuring images central to women: a knife, a cauldron, a garden, a pair of embracing lovers. The four women whose stories they tell are Job’s daughter, the Queen of Sheba, a polytheistic cook, and a transformed Sarah, wife of Abraham. Storace brilliantly reimagines the worlds of these women, freeing them from the old tales in which they were trapped and putting them in the foreground of their stories and of the Old Testament itself.

"Nana Martin and her divorced, thirty-something daughter, Jane, and teenage granddaughters, Sarah and Rachel, live in New Hope, a friendly, innocent small town caught up in the whirlwinds of change and dislocation." "Nana is feisty, smart, and determined. Troubled by her failure to pass on vital life lessons to Jane, she finds an unexpected ally in George. George is a laptop, a retirement gift to Nana. Like many of her generation, Nana is wary of the computers, camera phones, and iPods surrounding her - and George in particular. George speaks, has a distinct personality, and seems to anticipate Nana's thoughts and concerns." "Distrust gives way to reliance and hope when Nana encounters an insidious predator who stalks the town's most vulnerable residents, attempting to destroy the fabric of the community." "In A Purpose Under Heaven, Derek Smith has woven an allegory that explores how technology, like Prometheus's gift of fire, may be used for good or ill. And finally, he depicts God's boundless love for mankind, the fierce and vital bonds among families, and the spiritual foundation shared by an interdependent community."--BOOK JACKET.

RELENTLESSLY VIOLENT AND HUMOROUSLY REALISTIC-A HISTORICAL ESPIONAGE THRILLER AT ITS FINEST. "Heroism is having to do something drastic to keep from getting killed." That's what security consultant Pete Avakian tells his dinner date, Dr. Judy Rose, on a night out in Beijing. Little does he know, his words are about to play out in graphic detail. Just as they are starting to get comfortable with each other, chaos erupts in the street. China has launched missiles at Taiwan-a long history of tension given way to war. Suddenly, Pete and Judy are confronted by hostile youths, and an act of self-defense puts them on the run from the authorities in a country crazed by war. Pursued by the Chinese police, the Americans race toward the Mongolian border. But Pete and Judy's only chance of survival is to work together to escape a country gone mad...even if that means taking drastic action.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the author of Into the Wild and Into Thin Air, this extraordinary work of investigative journalism takes readers inside America’s isolated Mormon Fundamentalist communities. • Now an acclaimed FX limited series streaming on HULU. “Fantastic.... Right up there with In Cold Blood and The Executioner’s Song.” —San Francisco Chronicle Defying both civil authorities and the Mormon establishment in Salt Lake City, the renegade leaders of these Taliban-like theocracies are zealots who answer only to God; some 40,000 people still practice polygamy in these communities. At the core of Krakauer’s book are brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a commandment from God to kill a blameless woman and her baby girl. Beginning with a meticulously researched account of this appalling double murder, Krakauer constructs a multi-layered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, polygamy, savage violence, and unyielding faith. Along the way he uncovers a shadowy offshoot of America’s fastest growing religion, and raises provocative questions about the nature of religious belief.