Showing results by publisher "Phoenix Books" in Genre Fiction

Drs. Stephen Pearse and Peter Maryk once worked together to research a horrifying virus outbreak in the Congo. Now Pearse heads the Bureau of Disease Control and Maryk runs the clandestine special pathogens section of the disease detectives - making the 2 scientists bitter enemies. But when the disease from the Congo re-emerges in America, they must set aside their differences in order to stop a potential worldwide epidemic.

Champion Motors, one of Detroit's biggest auto manufactures and ruled by the law of overtime, is shutting down plants and laying off their workers. Tensions are mounting and violence is erupting. The lack of overtime to go around and a fatal attraction between employees at the plant ends in murder. Against this backdrop four very different people are about to collide.

America's richest legends come from the frontier - from the land where the events of a single moment might erase the lines between law and lawlessness, between safety and mortal danger, between heroes and villains. The carefully selected stories in this collection are vibrant proof that the great American West is a fertile ground to storytellers. Here is the most varied collection of short stories by 17 highly acclaimed Western writers.

There's the Durango in Colorado, the one in Mexico, and the one in Spain; then there's the fourth one—the California town where god and the Franciscans forgot to found a mission. Now all it has going for it is climate—and splendid isolation. Kelly Vines, a disbarred attorney, and his father-in-law Jack Adair, a former judge just released from prison, are in the market for some isolation, since whoever put Adair in jail seems to have a continuing interest in putting him out of commission.

More than any other writer, Alice McDermott exposes the vein of poetry, of profound joy and pain that transforms everyday experience into the heroic and universal. At Weddings and Wakes tells the bittersweet, lovable, human story of an Irish-Catholic family on Long Island as seen through the eyes of two sisters and a brother.

"I am born" famously begins David Copperfield. However, this is a birth which is blighted by its timing: 12 o'clock on a Friday night at precisely the time the clock began to strike. Such untimeliness means that David was destined to be unlucky in life and would be privileged to see ghosts and spirits, a dubious privilege. In David Copperfield, ghosts and other supernatural phenomena are invoked in relation to a range of male characters and situations.

If there's even a smidgen of Scrooge in your psyche, just say, "Bah-Humbug!" and laugh at this satire of the treacly best seller, The Christmas Box. Among the variations on the theme are: The Christmas Vox, in which a young man finds himself having phone sex with Ms. Santa Claus; The Christmas Jury Box, a touching memoir by a sequestered O.J. juror who misses her fruitcake; and The Christmas Box Lunch, the touching tale of a caterer's X-mas. You'll be pleased to learn that the true meaning of Christmas is receiving.

This is the story of a generation, shaped by the 60s, that has reached its time of reckoning, and of a man who must uncover the secrets of his father's past before he can live and love in the present. Mitch Rozier has spent half of his 50 years writing an environmental column for an alternative West coast paper. Now he finds himself back under his father's roof. Sisters Lexa and Mariah McCaskill wrestle with the past that has driven them away from domesticity:

Beaufort, South Carolina is home to the Smallwoods, a family closely knit but fiercely at odds. Georgie, the youngest, is tormented by worry for her son, who vanished two years earlier, and by her anger at her father. An unforgiving patriarch and ex-Marine, Georgie's father neglects her mother, belittles her brother Ashby, and denies her sister Claire the financial support she needs after a trying divorce.

Qwill, Koko, and Yum Yum return for another adventure "400 miles north of everywhere" in the twelfth episode of the extraordinarily popular Cat Who... series. Back in Pickax, Jim Qwilleran's plans to resume a quiet, normal life are disrupted by a series of annoyances, culminating in the discovery of a dead body in his orchard. When Qwill's friend Dennis Hough becomes the chief suspect, he embarks on a crusade to clear Hough's name.

Dave Barry exposes natural childbirth for what it is: a pop phenomenon of the 1960's that, along with paisley bell-bottoms and creative sideburns, deserves a rest. His new book gives parents-to-be the hard facts they need. He examines the new federal law requiring prospective fathers to free themselves from their self-made macho prison - to laugh, cry, love and just generally behave like certified wimps.

Subtitled "512 boorish, insensitive, and socially obnoxious pointers for leading a simple, self-centered life," this little book is a hilarious parody of the best seller with a similar name. Here are just a few of the gems contained within. Number 24: Give little kids clothes for their birthdays. Number 101: Argue with everybody. Number 326: Leave the alarm on when he doesn't have to get up. This guide is bound to bring at least 512 laughs.

For President Spencer Jefferson Lee—the great-great-grandson of both Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee—it's politics as usual. On one side, the lily-white Senate wants quid pro quo; on the other, the all black House has an agenda of its own. But whatever their differences, the powers-that-be agree on one thing: Utter separations between the races is the key to peace and prosperity. To love someone of the opposite race is to court disaster; to act on that love is to become officially nonexistent.

Perhaps the finest novel of nineteenth-century England, Bleak House embodies artful narrative, an engaging cast of characters, biting satire, and a detailed depiction of Victorian society. At the height of his creative power in this great work, Dickens pursues two great themes.

A hilarious but heartrending diary that chronicles the trials and tribulations of a 30-year-old woman during her first year of adjustment following divorce. In a simple and down-to-earth style, Mary Sheldon paints a brilliant portrait of a sensitive woman in transition, capturing the frustations of learning how to live all over again.

In the hustle of modern technology it might seem odd to discover an angel surfing the Internet, but what an interesting paradox that would be. Here, in Andrew M. Greeley's fine tale of young love and faith, Toby Tobin considers the peculiar terms of his great-uncle's will. Ten million dollars, a required visit to Ireland, ending a Tobin family feud, and a request to court his eight cousin once removed, Sara Elizabeth Anne Tobin.

Strongly influenced by the gentility and generosity of spirit of the older brother from whom he eventually inherits his beloved Mount Vernon, the young George Washington matures into a devoted and able public servant in both the military and political arenas. Though marked by tragedies and disappointments, his domestic life offers him well-earned solace and satisfaction, especially after his marriage to the young widow, Martha "Patsy" Custis.

Sick of working your way to the top? America's most popular humorist, Dave Barry, shows you the alternate route, giving you tools to become the head of a major corporation in roughly a week. His surefire tips, from what shirt to wear to how to deal with pesky subordinates, will keep you laughing all the way up the corporate ladder.

Baseball! Suspense! Michael Connelly decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida. He has written 17 books, including 12 featuring LAPD Detective Hieronymus Bosch. His novels consistently debut at number-one on the New York Times best-seller list. His most recent is Echo Park, released in October 2006.

It is the winter of 1879, and Dodge city has lost its snap. Thirty-one-year-old Wyatt Earp, assistant city marshal, loads his wife and all they own into a wagon, and goes with two of his brothers and their women to Tombstone, Arizona, land of the silver mines. There Earp becomes deputy sheriff, meeting up with the likes of Doc Holliday, Clay Allison and Bat Masterson as well as finding the love of his life, showgirl Josie Marcus.