Staff Picks for March 2001
Jason's March Picks
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Guy Montag was a fireman whose job it was to start fires. And he enjoyed his job. He had been a fireman for ten years, and he had never questioned the pleasure of the midnight runs nor the joy of watching pages consumed by flames...never questioned anything until he met a seventeen-year-old girl who told him of a past when people were not afraid. Then Guy met a professor who told him of a future in which people could think. And Guy Montag suddenly realized what he had to do...
$10.00
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Richard Mayhew is a plain man with a good heart -- and an ordinary life that is changed forever on a day he stops to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk. From that moment forward he is propelled into a world he never dreamed existed -- a dark subculture flourishing in abandoned subway stations and sewer tunnels below the city -- a world far stranger and more dangerous than the only one he has ever known...
$6.99
Kingless Land by Ed Greenwood
Aglirta is known as the Kingless Land, a once prosperous and peaceful river valley under the protection of a noble sovereign, now fallen into lawlessness and tyranny. The only hope for peace lies in the restoration of the Sleeping King, but he has been ensorcelled. A lowly band of four adventurers, thrown together by circumstance and adversity, must recover the legendary Swaerindim stones to return peace to the land and save themselves from a fate worse than death. A warrior, a thief, and a healer must turn their backs on their ordinary lives and join with the sorceress Lady Embra Silvertree -- the Lady of Jewels -- in a last-ditch attempt to awaken the Sleeping King and restore him to his rightful throne.
$6.99
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.
$6.99
The Hashish Man by Lord Dunsany
In this collection of twenty-five short stories, one of the original masters of early 20th century science fiction and fantasy is introduced to a new generation of readers. Often cited as a major influence on H. P. Lovecraft and J. R. R. Tolkien, Dunsany's work continues to delight and cause intrigue, whether he is weaving fanciful tales of strange adventure in imaginary locales, or
depicting grim and creepy visions of otherworldliness.
$11.95
Annie's March Picks
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
"We hear the world will end on Saturday.
Next Saturday, in fact. Just before dinner."
Unfortunately, Sister Mary Loquacious of the Chattering Order has misplaced the Antichrist. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ride motorcycles. And the representatives from Heaven and Hell have decided they actually like the human race…
$6.99
Cinderella Skeleton by Robert D. San Souci
At first glance Boneyard Acres might seem like any graveyard-decayed, decrepit, and sedate. But if you look a little more closely, you'll meet Cinderella Skeleton, as sweetly foul as only she can be. You might think that Cinderella is the happiest ghoul in the land. But her two evil stepsisters treat her with scorn -- and leave her with all their housework and more. Enter Prince Charnel, the heartthrob of the Halloween Ball. Cinderella steals his heart. Will she find her happiness at last?
$16.00
prior to 25% new release discount
The Golden Compass: His Dark Materials Book One by Philip Pullman
It was no ordinary life for a young girl living among scholars in the hallowed halls of Jordan College and tearing unsupervised through Oxford's motley streets on mad quests for adventure. But Lyra's greatest adventure would begin closer to home, the day she heard hushed talk of an
extraordinary particle. Microscopic in size, the magical dust -- found only in the vast Arctic expanse of the North -- was rumored to possess profound properties that could unite whole universes. But there were those who feared the particle and would stop at nothing to destroy it.
Catapulted into the heart of a terrible struggle, Lyra was forced to seek aid from clans, gyptians, and formidable armored bears. And as she journeyed into unbelievable danger, she had not the faintest clue that she alone was destined to win, or to lose, this more-than-mortal battle...
$6.99
prior to 15% bestseller discount
The Subtle Knife: His Dark Materials Book Two by Philip Pullman
Having slipped through a newly formed astral portal, the intrepid Lyra finds herself in the beautiful, haunted world of Citigazze - a city where soul-eating Specters stalk the streets and the wingbeats of distant angels sound against the sky. But she is not without allies. For young Will
Parry, in search of his father, has also stumbled into this strange new realm via a magic gateway.
Together the enlightened pair forge ahead on a perilous journey between worlds teeming with witches, angels, and sorcery - and uncover a deadly secret: an object of extraordinary and devastating power. But with every step, they move closer to an even greater threat - and the shattering truth of their own destiny.
$6.99
prior to 15% bestseller discount
The Amber Spyglass: His Dark Materials Book Three by Philip Pullman
Lyra and Will, the two ordinary children whose extraordinary adventures began in The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife, are in unspeakable danger. With help from Iorek Byrnison the armored bear and two tiny Gallivespian spies, they must journey to a dank and gray-lit world where no living soul has ever gone.
All the while, Dr. Mary Malone builds a magnificent amber spyglass. An assasin hunts her down. And Lord Asriel, with troops of shining angels, fights his mighty rebellion, a battle of strange allies -- and shocking sacrifice. As war rages and Dust drains from the sky, the fate of the living -- and the dead -- finally comes to depend on two children and the simple truth of one simple story. The Amber Spyglass reveals that story, bringing Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials to an astonishing conclusion.
$19.95
prior to 25% new release discount
The Summer Tree: The Fionavar Tapestry Book One
by Guy Gavriel Kay
It all began with a lecture that introduced five university students to a man who would change their lives, a wizard who could take them from Earth to the heart of the first of all worlds -- Fionavar. And take them Loren Silvercloak did, for his need -- the need of Fionavar and all the worlds -- was great indeed. And in a marvelous land of men and dwarves, of wizards and gods -- and of the Unraveller and his minions of Darkness -- Kimberly, Dave, Jennifer, Kevin, and Paul discovered who they were truly meant to be. For the five were a long-awaited part of the pattern known as the Fionavar Tapestry and only if they accepted their destiny would the armies of the Light stand any chance of surviving when the Unraveller unleashed his wrath upon the world...
$6.99
Andrew's March Picks
On Night's Shore by Randall Silvis
It is the summer of 1840-for some in New York City a season of prosperity; for others, another season of desperation... A girl tosses her baby from a warehouse window, then follows the infant into the Hudson River far below. The only witness to this desperate act is a ten-year-old street arab named Augie Dubbins, a boy who survives by the motto, "in calamity, opportunity."
Augie does what he can to make a few pennies from the girl's tragedy. In doing so, he encounters another of the desperate ones, a struggling young journalist named Edgar Allan Poe, a poet and critic and newspaper hack whose penchant for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time not only has stymied his advancement as a writer but has earned him more than a few enemies.
Poe, too, hopes to use the girl's misfortune to fatten his threadbare purse. His efforts to do so lead to the discovery of the body of yet another young woman, and the ensuing investigation of her murder soon entraps Poe in a mire of murder, greed, lust, and power that stretches from the Five Points slums to the gleaming heights of Fifth Avenue...
$24.95
prior to 25% new release discount
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Slaughterhouse Five is one of the world's great anti-war books. Centering on the infamous firebombing of Dresden, Billy Pilgrim's odyssey through time reflects the mythic journey of our own fractured lives as we search for meaning in what we are afraid to know.
$6.99
Stir of Echoes by Richard Matheson
Tom Wallace lived an ordinary life, until a chance event awakened psychic abilities he never knew he possessed. Now he's hearing the private thoughts of the people around him-and learning shocking secrets he never wanted to know. But as Tom's existence becomes a waking nightmare, greater jolts are in store when he becomes the unwilling recipient of a compelling message from beyond the grave!
$5.99
Four to Score by Janet Evanovich
Stephanie Plum, Trenton, New Jersey's favorite pistol-packing, condom-carrying bounty hunter, is back and on the trail of a revenge-seeking waitress who's skipped bail. With the help of 73-year old Grandma Mazur, a transvestite musician named Sally Sweet, ex-hooker Lula, and the all-too-hospitable, all-too-sexy Joe Morelli, Stephanie might just catch her woman. Then again, with more mishaps than there are exits on the Jersey Turnpike including murders, firebombs, and Stephanie's arch-rival bounty hunter chasing after the same fugitive, Stephanie better watch her back big-time if she wants to live to crack this case.
$6.99
Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
The time is 1948, the town is Los Angeles, and Easy Rawlins is a black war veteran just fired from his job at a defense plant. Easy is drinking in a friend's bar, wondering how he'll meet his mortgage, when a white man in a linen suit walks in, offering good money if Easy will simply locate Miss Daphne Monet, a blond beauty known to frequent jazz clubs...
$6.99
Lelia's March Picks
Revenge of the Cootie Girls by Sparkle Hayter
As the executive producer of Special Reports, Robin Hudson is feeling (relatively) settled. Okay, she's bored. But it's Halloween, and she has invited her innocent intern, Kathy, along on a Girls' Night Out -- a semiregular frenzy of female bonding meant to alleviate Robin's goilfriends' love crises and her own ennui.
When Kathy doesn't show -- but telephones from a strange man's closet -- Robin and her pals set off on a girlhunt through one long night of murder and mayhem, costumes and concealed weapons, men who are not what they seem (are they ever?), and unsettling déjá vu. And Robin slowly comes to realize that the search for her missing intern is really a deadly trip into the past, fueled by an old curse.
$5.99
Evans Above by Rhys Bowen
Constable Evan Evans was glad to trade city life for idyllic Llanfair, a Welsh village that time forgot...but before Evan -- now known as Evans-the-Law -- can enjoy Llanfair's tranquillity, he's called to the scene of a crime as brutal as any in the big city. Two hikers have been murdered on the trails of the local mountain, and now Evan must hunt down a vicious killer -- in a town where one of these lovable new neighbors could prove to be deadly...
$5.99
signed copy available
In the Spirit of Murder by Laura Belgrave
When a medium turns up dead in a backwoods Florida town, police Detective Claudia Hershey is thrust into a nightmarish case that reaches from the secretive heart of a psychic community to the powerful corridors of the state Legislature. Unraveling the truth could end her career -- maybe even her life.
$15.00
Bum Steer by Nancy Pickard
Hours after the Port Frederick, Massachusetts, Civic Foundation got wind of an imminent, highly unusual bequest -- a $4 million Kansas cattle ranch -- director Jenny Cain hopped a flight heading west. She arrived at the hospital room of the Foundation's mysterious, gravely ill benefactor, Charles W. "Cat" Benet IV, to find he was already dead. Murdered.
Yet out on the Crossbones Ranch, Jenny was unexpectedly content...maybe it was ranch hand Quentin Harlan, with his deep blue eyes and old-fashioned charm...she had to remember that Quentin Harlan just might be Cat Benet's killer -- although Cat's estranged daughters, unhappy ex-wives, and their jealous second husbands left plenty of room for suspicion!
$5.99
Cornish Conundrum by Gene Stratton
An American police detective, Priscilla Booth, inherits a house in Cornwall from her murdered cousin, but she must live there 30 days. Her lover, Mort Sinclair, a multi-disciplined criminologist comes down from Oxford to stay with her. Gradually they get drawn into the mysterious past of the murdered woman, as a new murder occurs. Their suspects include people who frequent the village pub and also TV actors and technicians who are filming a miniseries at a nearby manor. They hear stories of ghosts and smugglers and...Priscilla and Mort learn more and more astonishing details about her dead cousin...exploring a secret tunnel, she suddenly finds herself alone with the killer...
$12.95
