I'm Endo, an office worker who has feelings for Konishi-kun, a construction worker ten years younger than me. Konishi-kun confuses me. He insists on having no interest in men, but his actions such as waiting in the rain and making lunch for me bring my hopes up.Even so, I should give up after telling him my true feeling...Right when I thought so, he says he is interested in how I beat off to him!If that's the case, will Konishi-kun let me touch his body just a little?Endo, who is chicken-hearted but comes through when the chips are down, and Konishi, who looks tough but is a pushover. A love story between two complete opposites!

By the time Jim Thompson was sixteen years old, he had been a newspaper boy, a burlesque show hawker, a plumber's helper, a comedian in two-reel pictures, a night bellboy in a luxury hotel and over a dozen other occupations. By the time he was eighteen, he was driving across America in a broken-down Ford without a penny to his name and his mother and his kid sister Freddie in tow, looking for just one more paycheck to keep them all alive. A bittersweet comedy of a hard-won American life, ROUGHNECK chronicles the many jobs, near-criminal escapades, and downright unlawful grifts of the man who would become one of crime fiction's most enduring writers, in a larger-than-life literary memoir--or wildly entertaining tall tale--as only Thompson could tell it. Hard times have never sounded so good.

The Firstborn–the mysterious race of aliens who first became known to science fiction fans as the builders of the iconic black monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey–have inhabited legendary master of science fiction Sir Arthur C. Clarke’s writing for decades. With Time’s Eye and Sunstorm, the first two books in their acclaimed Time Odyssey series, Clarke and his brilliant co-author Stephen Baxter imagined a near-future in which the Firstborn seek to stop the advance of human civilization by employing a technology indistinguishable from magic. Their first act was the Discontinuity, in which Earth was carved into sections from different eras of history, restitched into a patchwork world, and renamed Mir. Mir’s inhabitants included such notables as Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, and United Nations peacekeeper Bisesa Dutt. For reasons unknown to her, Bisesa entered into communication with an alien artifact of inscrutable purpose and godlike power–a power that eventually returned her to Earth. There, she played an instrumental role in humanity’s race against time to stop a doomsday event: a massive solar storm triggered by the alien Firstborn designed to eradicate all life from the planet. That fate was averted at an inconceivable price. Now, twenty-seven years later, the Firstborn are back. This time, they are pulling no punches: They have sent a “quantum bomb.” Speeding toward Earth, it is a device that human scientists can barely comprehend, that cannot be stopped or destroyed–and one that will obliterate Earth. Bisesa’s desperate quest for answers sends her first to Mars and then to Mir, which is itself threatened with extinction. The end seems inevitable. But as shocking new insights emerge into the nature of the Firstborn and their chilling plans for mankind, an unexpected ally appears from light-years away.

In the face of corporate bullies, one lawyer's passion and persistence paid off. Bullied as a Jewish kid in the hardscrabble neighborhoods of Chicago, Mike Burg had to learn how to fight at a young age. As an adult who started his own law firm from scratch that fire—and understanding of the underdog—still burns and makes him one of America's top trial lawyers fighting for consumers' rights. In Trial by Fire: One Man's Battle to End Corporate Greed and Save Lives, read about Burg's unwavering personal constitution to stand up for the weary, the weak, and the downtrodden at all costs. Follow the justice as he takes on a negligent gas company and wins not only financial settlement for victims but dramatic changes to a city's pipelines to save thousands of lives. Cheer him on as he leads hundreds of individuals against companies shilling drugs such as Fen-Phen, Yaz, Zyprexa, and Pradaxa. Empathize with him as he fights an eight-year battle against UBS Warburg for knowingly selling risky mortgages to investors before collecting compensation. Root him on as he files a sweeping action against 28 California wineries to force them to stop selling toxic wine contaminated with arsenic. Representing everyone from the Little Rascals to Ralph Tamm in the first NFL steroid case, Burg has lived a thousand lives. Trial by Fire shows that, like with every victory in the courtroom, he doubles down for the next adventure. Performing stand-up comedy alongside Roseanne Barr, golfing with Michael Jordan, and attending President George W. Bush's inauguration with President Bush's father, Burg has a story to tell. His undeniably explosive personality and inspiring tale—complete with theatrics, eccentricities, excitement, humor, and maybe just a hint of craziness—will make you laugh, leave you in disbelief, and, most of all, inspire you.