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Ten years after the blackout, a group of humans struggling to fight off a conscious famine, try to re-learn empathy to save humanity in an old industrial assembly plant. In 3 days; feigned affection, deception and a black heart will take them to the repression of their own fears in search of unconditional love.A Rising Fall is the first book in a dystopian trilogy entitled City:aliteraryconcerto. The story starts ten years after the blackout as a group of humans struggling to fight off a conscious famine, try to re-learn empathy to save humanity in an old industrial assembly plant. In 3 days; feigned affection, deception and a black heart will take them further into the repression of their own fears in search of unconditional love. Following the theme of a concerto, City is divided into three parts; A Rising Fall, Utopian Circus and I, Cannibal. Each book is then divided into three pieces and with A Rising Fall, each piece refers to a day; the three days leading to the fall of their city. The trilogy illustrates the human emancipation from three states of love; Eros, Philos and Agape as each is torn apart under the guise of well intention as humanity; now void of identity in the wake of a century of dehumanising dependence and necessity upon industry and digital technology; has separated itself from the labour of its existence, aborting empathy and setting in place the death of mother nature. Yet, on the verge of extinction; mankind presses on; towards salvation; towards the city of light and sound; towards New Utopia

An unconventional take on unconditional love. What does god have to do with it?Sometimes wierd literature is at its best when it can create a fantastic visual image in your head, and often, the form of poetry is best suited to that idea.Here is an attempt at creating a few lovecraftian images; a short poem concerning shoggoths, and their horrific drawling shudders.Inspired by the poetry of H.P.Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith.Previously published in the magazine, "Cthulhu Cultus", #12.

Through the charred wreckage of one man’s philosophy, an adventure into conscious delusion and dark dystopian fantasy begins as the survivors of The Nest find themselves on three paths where each will endeavor to rein their conscious minds to grasp the philosophy of existence and abate the shackles of conscious Famine as they march onwards towards New Utopia.Through the charred wreckage of one man’s philosophy, an adventure into conscious delusion and dark dystopian fantasy begins as the survivors of The Nest find themselves on three paths where each will endeavor to rein their conscious minds to grasp the philosophy of existence and abate the shackles of conscious Famine as they march onwards towards New Utopia.On one path, Marcos, having woken naked and amnesic at the scorn of ancient women whose immortality derives from the wearing of young girl’s faces like decorative dresses; is chased through a dense wilderness for the face that he wears whilst drifting in and out of conscious Famine, giving a glimpse into The City that was, one of obligation and Infant Industries.On the second path, in The Kingdom of the Hound, Ruff the dog is awoken to conscious debate, rationalizing and philosophizing with an ostentatious small Chihuahua called The Bitch Queen over the nature of unconditional love as he fights to save the lives of his human friends from being gamed by savage hounds and monolithic boars. While on a third path, The Woman will unravel, through conscious delusion, the true extent of her repressions and her loveless abandon as a young girl; Safrine, through childish rhyme, is challenged by a creepy old man into a game of coloured cubes to save her two companions from the effect of The Famine.

Two neuroscientists – Graham (45); an overweight insomniac with hemorrhoids, and Isaac (27); a naïve and neurotic romanticizer of LOVE – are about to embark on groundbreaking research into near death experiences and maybe even proof of God; if, of course, their personal lives don’t explode by then.

Bret Ellis, the narrator of Lunar Park, is a writer whose first novel Less Than Zero catapulted him to international stardom while he was still in college. In the years that followed he found himself adrift in a world of wealth, drugs, and fame, as well as dealing with the unexpected death of his abusive father. After a decade of decadence a chance for salvation arrives; the chance to reconnect with an actress he was once involved with, and their son. But almost immediately his new life is threatened by a freak sequence of events and a bizarre series of murders that all seem to connect to Ellis’s past. His attempts to save his new world from his own demons makes Lunar Park Ellis’s most suspenseful novel. In this chilling tale reality, memoir, and fantasy combine to create not only a fascinating version of this most controversial writer but also a deeply moving novel about love and loss, parents and children, and ultimately forgiveness. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Named as one of the 100 Best Things in the World by GQ magazine in 2003, the riotous adventures of Vernon Gregory Little in small town Texas and beachfront Mexico mark one of the most spectacular, irreverent and bizarre debuts of the twenty-first century so far. Its depiction of innocence and simple humanity (all seasoned with a dash of dysfunctional profanity) in an evil world is never less than astonishing. The only novel to be set in the barbecue sauce capital of Central Texas, Vernon God Little suggests that desperate times throw up the most unlikely of heroes.

Under a black starless sky, a troupe of ragged freaks and performers - led by the perverse and enigmatic Ringmaster - makes its way into a town disparaged by death and disease, intent on curing the sadness, suffering and infirmity of its inhabitants with Light.“Light, as it were, is but a current in the vast ocean of time.”Under a black starless sky, a troupe of ragged freaks and performers - led by the perverse and enigmatic Ringmaster - makes its way into a town disparaged by death and disease, intent on curing the sadness, suffering and infirmity of its inhabitants with Light.

Although it may read to modern audiences like a hilarious slapstick comedy, The Inspector-General is actually much more than that. Famed Russian writer Nikolai Gogol intended it to be a veiled but pointed satire of the ineptitude, corruption, and greed that exemplified the Russian bureaucracy in the nineteenth century. The witty play was later used as the basis for a movie version starring Danny Kaye (1949).

This unique eBook presents the complete FICTIONAL works of Nikolai Gogol, with beautiful illustrations, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (4MB Version 1)* Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Gogol's life and works* Concise introductions to the novels and other works* The complete novels, stories and plays, with contents tables* Features many of Constance Garnett's original translations* Images of how the books were first printed, giving your eReader a taste of the original texts* Excellent formatting of the texts* Special chronological and alphabetical contents tables for the short stories* Easily locate the short stories you want to read* Special criticism section, with two essays evaluating Gogol's contribution to literature* Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genresCONTENTS:The NovelsTARAS BULBADEAD SOULSThe Short Story CollectionsEVENINGS ON A FARM NEAR DIKANKAARABESQUESMIRGORODUNCOLLECTED SHORT STORIESThe Short StoriesLIST OF SHORT STORIES IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDERLIST OF SHORT STORIES IN ALPHABETICAL ORDERThe PlaysMARRIAGETHE GAMBLERSTHE GOVERNMENT INSPECTORThe CriticismGOGOL BY IVAN PANINEXTRACT FROM ‘ESSAYS ON RUSSIAN NOVELISTS’ BY WILLIAM LYON PHELPS

New York Times bestselling author David Wong's Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick is the latest—and greatest—sci-fi thriler in the Zoey Ashe Series.Nightmarish villains with superhuman enhancements. An all-seeing social network that tracks your every move. Mysterious, smooth-talking power players who lurk behind the scenes. A young woman suddenly in charge of the most decadent city in the world. And her very smelly cat.Zoey Ashe is like a fish so far out of water that it has achieved orbit. She finds herself struggling to establish rule over a sprawling empire while Tabula Ra$a's rogue's gallery of larger-than-life crime bosses and corrupt plutocrats smell weakness. Tensions brew across the city.A steamer trunk-sized box arrives at Zoey's door, and she and her bodyguard Wu are shocked to find that it contains a disemboweled corpse, and even more shocked when that corpse, controlled by an unknown party, rises...

Combining personal reflection and social observation, Bret Easton Ellis's first work of nonfiction is an incendiary polemic about this young century's failings, e-driven and otherwise, and at once an example, definition, and defense of what "freedom of speech" truly means.Bret Easton Ellis has wrestled with the double-edged sword of fame and notoriety for more than thirty years now, since Less Than Zero catapulted him into the limelight in 1985, earning him devoted fans and, perhaps, even fiercer enemies. An enigmatic figure who has always gone against the grain and refused categorization, he captured the depravity of the eighties with one of contemporary literature's most polarizing characters, American Psycho's iconic, terrifying Patrick Bateman, and received plentiful death threats in the bargain. In recent years, his candor and gallows humor on both Twitter and his podcast have continued his legacy as someone determined to speak the truth, however...

Nikolai Gogol's novel Dead Souls and play The Government Inspector revolutionized Russian literature and continue to entertain generations of readers around the world. Yet Gogol's peculiar genius comes through most powerfully in his short stories. By turns—or at once—funny, terrifying, and profound, the tales collected in The Nose and Other Stories are among the greatest achievements of world literature.These stories showcase Gogol's vivid, haunting imagination: an encounter with evil in a darkened church, a downtrodden clerk who dreams only of a new overcoat, a nose that falls off a face and reappears around town on its own, outranking its former owner. Written between 1831 and 1842, they span the colorful setting of rural Ukraine to the unforgiving urban landscape of St. Petersburg to the ancient labyrinth of Rome. Yet they share Gogol's characteristic obsessions—city crowds, bureaucratic hierarchy and irrationality, the devil in... Nikolai Gogol’s novel Dead Souls and play The Government Inspector revolutionized Russian literature and continue to entertain generations of readers around the world. Yet Gogol’s peculiar genius comes through most powerfully in his short stories. By turns‖or at once‖funny, terrifying, and profound, the tales collected in The Nose and Other Stories are among the greatest achievements of world literature. These stories showcase Gogol’s vivid, haunting imagination: an encounter with evil in a darkened church, a downtrodden clerk who dreams only of a new overcoat, a nose that falls off a face and reappears around town on its own, outranking its former owner. Written between 1831 and 1842, they span the colorful setting of rural Ukraine to the unforgiving urban landscape of St. Petersburg to the ancient labyrinth of Rome. Yet they share Gogol’s characteristic obsessions‖city crowds, bureaucratic hierarchy and irrationality, the devil in disguise‖and a constant undercurrent of the absurd. Susanne Fusso’s translations pay careful attention to the strangeness and wonder of Gogol's style, preserving the inimitable humor and oddity of his language. The Nose and Other Stories reveals why Russian writers from Dostoevsky to Nabokov have returned to Gogol as the cornerstone of their unparalleled literary tradition. Nikolai Gogol (1809―1852) was born in Ukraine and achieved literary success in St. Petersburg. Among his most famous works are Dead Souls and The Government Inspector, as well as short stories set in the Ukrainian countryside and tales of St. Petersburg. He spent some of his most productive years in Rome. Upon his return to Russia, he struggled unsuccessfully to write a sequel to Dead Souls, burning the manuscripts not long before his death. Susanne Fusso is Marcus L. Taft Professor of Modern Languages and professor of Russian, East European, and Eurasian studies at Wesleyan University. Her many books include Designing Dead Souls: An Anatomy of Disorder in Gogol (1993), and she has translated Russian writers including Sergey Gandlevsky.