Grass for His Pillow is the second novel in Lian Hearn's astonishingly beautiful series inspired by feudal Japan, Tales of the Otori. In the ancient Oriental lands of the Otori, amidst a time of violent war, famine and treacherous alliances, the fate of the young lovers Otori Takeo and Shirakawa Kaede hangs in the balance . . . Takeo, heir to the great Otori clan, has pledged his life to the secret Tribe. His supernatural skills of virtual invisibility and acute hearing make him their most deadly assassin. But he must deny the solemn oath of vengeance he made, his adopted birthright of wealth, land and power – and his love for Kaede. If he does not devote himself entirely to the brutal ways of the Tribe, they will kill him. Whichever path he chooses, it will lead to hardship and sacrifice in the bitter winter of the high mountains, and test him to the limits of his being. Kaede, heiress to vast lands, is now the valuable pawn of ruthless warlords. She must use her intelligence, beauty and cunning to assert her place in a world of all-powerful men – who must never suspect the dangerous secret she hides.

First published in Japanese in 1966, this debut novel by the critically acclaimed author of Singular Rebellion creates an unparalleled portrait of a man at odds with his society, and with himself."--BOOK JACKET.

THE STORIES: GRACELAND. The place is the front entrance of Graceland, the late Elvis Presley's Memphis mansion, the time, five o'clock in the morning, three days before the estate is to be opened to the public. Two ardent Presley fans, Bev and Rootie, are

The Cool Side of the Pillow is a coming-of-age story that begins with my life among the aristocracy in Mexico, and concludes in a courtroom in El Paso, Texas. Arrested in Mexico City and after three months in prison, I am on the edge of my seat waiting to hear a judge decide my future. Mine was a life of privilege --My British father, a pilot during the First World War, and my beautiful mother are ill-matched, but they have forged a life together in a privileged society. I have no memory of the death of my first-born brother, but I recall vividly the day my younger brother Christopher, who was one year younger and my best friend, died at the age of four. Two weeks later, blaming incompetent doctors, our parents packed up my sister “Billie,” who was six years older, and me, and headed to Los Angeles. My sister figures out her life quite quickly, while I, on the other hand, become, in the words of one teacher, “incorrigible.” In my mind, I am the lonely, bright boy who struggles to form an identity as my parents divorce, and I am moved from a safe and responsible farm life and a one-room schoolhouse, to one of the biggest high schools in Los Angeles. I develop a persona that enables me to manage in a tricky world. Soon I am introduced to the darker realms of society, where I try to create a balance between a normal life of dating and fun hijinks and the almost uncontrollable urges to outwit the system. As one who had learned to cover his fears and anger with a patina of arrogance and callousness, I had to be brought to the absolute edge of terror before I would begin my adult life with an attitude of gratitude and responsibility.

In the room the bedding had already been laid out. I thanked Norio and bade him good night. Two lamps lit the room. I drew Jato from its scabbard and gazed on the blade, thinking of the fire that had forged it into this combination of delicacy, strength and lethal sharpness. The folds in the steel gave it a beautiful wavelike pattern. It was Shigeru's gift to me, along with my name and my life. I held the sword in both hands and went through the ancient movements he had taught me in Hagi. Jato sang to me of blood and war.

The largest Japanese poetic anthology, thus the most important compendium of Japanese culture of the Asuka and Nara periods, is very much more than a work of literature. The author presents the Man’yoshu preserving as far as possible the flavour, sounds and semantics of the original poems. The result is a more literate but true translation.

Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction — Shortlisted For Elinor Greystone, the only way forward is back into the past. At ninety years of age, Elinor, a Saskatchewan Cree artist, inveterate roll-your-own smoker, and talker to rivers and stuffed bison, sets out to find something that was stolen almost a lifetime ago. With what little time she has left, she is determined to find the child taken from her after she, only a child herself, was raped at a residential school. It is 1968, and a harsh winter and harsher attitudes await Elinor, her daughter, and her granddaughter as they set out on an odyssey to right past wrongs, enduring a present that tests their spirit and chips away at their aboriginal heritage. Confronting a history of trauma, racism, love, and cultural survival, Tears in the Grass is the story of an unflagging woman searching for the courage to open her heart to a world that tried to tear it out.