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THREE PENRIC AND DESDEMONA NOVELLAS IN THE WORLD OF THE FIVE GODS BY GRAND MASTER LOIS McMASTER BUJOLD. INCLUDES "MASQUERADE IN LODI," "THE ORPHANS OF RASPAY," AND "THE PHYSICIANS OF VILNOC."

Penric and Desdemona are back in three novellas from Grand Master Lois McMaster Bujold.

Masquerade in Lodi:

Bastard's Eve is a night of celebration for most residents in the canal city of Lodi--but not for sorcerer Learned Penric and his Temple demon Desdemona, who find themselves caught up in the affairs of a shiplost madman, a dangerous ascendant demon, and a very unexpected saint of the fifth god.

The Orphans of Raspay:

When the ship in which they are traveling is captured by Carpagamon island raiders, Penric and Desdemona find their life complicated by two young orphans, Lencia and Seuka Corva, who are far from home and searching for their missing father. Pen and Des will need all their combined talents of mind and magic to unravel the mysteries of the sisters and escape from the pirate stronghold.

The Physicians of Vilnoc:

When a mysterious plague breaks out in the army fort guarding Vilnoc, the port capital of the duchy of Orbas, Penric and Desdemona are called upon by General Arisaydia to resurrect Penric's medical skills and solve its lethal riddle. In the grueling days that follow, Pen will find that even his magic is not enough to meet the challenges without help from dedicated new colleagues--and the god of mischance.

Also includes a new introduction, "outroduction," and suggested reading order by Lois McMaster Bujold!

Praise for the Penric & Desdemona series:

"Lord Penric, Pen to his friends and Penric to others, is a fabulous character. He's got a serious problem; he's never been trained to handle so he's doing the best he can. This ruffles the feathers or exasperates the other characters that he comes in contact with throughout the story. There's tension, danger, humor, and some interesting insights into various human traits." --SFRevu

"Another thoroughly engaging entry in the Penric and Desdemona series. There are some truly interesting new characters, a medical mystery to be solved, lots of great dialogue, and some philosophical issues to think about when you finish the story. What could be better?" --SFRevu

"An engaging revisitation of the world of the Five Gods. Another felicitous combination of formerly told tales, again meshing masterfully (mistressfully?)" --Seattle Book Review

"[F]illed with a satisfying blend of strong characters and wry humor." --Publishers Weekly

"Fans of fantasy with clever, innocent underdog characters will root for Penric to beat the odds and hope to visit him and his demon again." --Booklist

"Bujold's fans will be delighted with this latest adventure featuring Penric and his resident demon." --Booklist

"Bujold continues to expand her "Five Gods" world, reviving familiar faces along the way. The fascinating relationship between Penric and Desdemona is especially fun." --Library Journal

"Bujold's many faithful readers will delight in this engaging blend of mystery and magic." --Library Journal

"Changing points of view make earlier chapters a little challenging, but strong secondary characters and Bujold's amazing worldbuilding will please readers of this swift-paced series." --Library Journal

"Fast action and dialog create a humorous and satisfying story that shows the intriguing connection between sorcerer and demon." --Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Library System

"Bujold's nuanced writing vividly shows the unique relationship between Penric and Desdemona and their journey that continues to grow in action-filled ways." --Library Journal

"Bujold's fans will appreciate this novella, which returns to her World of the Five Gods and beloved maturing characters." --Library Journal

Praise for Lois McMaster Bujold:
"The pace is breathless, the characterization thoughtful and emotionally powerful, and the author's narrative technique and command of language compelling. Highly recommended." --Booklist

"If you love solid space opera rooted in strong character, you can't go wrong . . . The Warrior's Apprentice already displays the craft and the heart which would soon make Lois McMaster Bujold one of the most feted talents in SF." --SF Reviews

"Bujold is adept at worldbuilding and provides a witty, character-centered plot, full of exquisite grace notes . . . fans will be thoroughly gripped and likely to finish the book in a single sitting." --Publishers Weekly on Diplomatic Immunity

The third magical bookwandering adventure in the nationally bestselling Pages & Co. series, featuring Tilly Pages as she journeys to Washington, DC, to wander inside the books at the Library of Congress. Perfect for fans of Inkheart and The Land of Stories.

Tilly and Oskar embark on an impromptu trip to the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, in search of an elusive group of bookwanderers called the Archivists, who they believe are the key to restoring the balance and saving the British Underlibrary.

Along the way, the friends realize that something strange is happening in the world of bookwandering: books are disappearing, people are forgetting their favorite stories, and stories are trying to drag Tilly into them.

With a mysterious set of clues and some surprising new faces, Tilly and Oskar will need the help of some of their dearest fictional friends to be able to solve the mystery . . . and save bookwandering forever.

Praise for Pages & Co.: The Bookwanderers

A USA Today Bestseller!
A Barnes & Noble Book of the Month!
A Fall 2019 Kids' Indie Next List Pick!

"Mr. Lemoncello would love to go bookwandering at Pages and Co. If you love books, you're going to LOVE this book!"--Chris Grabenstein, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Mr. Lemoncello series

*"Highly recommended for readers young and old. An important reminder of the centrality of stories in shaping our lives." --School Library Journal, starred review

"A loving testament to the powerful magic of books and imagination." --Kirkus Reviews

"An affectionate ode to books and book lovers." --Publishers Weekly

"Delightful! A Joy of a book."--Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Girl of Ink & Stars

"A thrilling, inventive, book-lover's delight."--Matt Haig, author of A Boy Called Christmas

Slay movie night with frighteningly delicious food and cocktail creations inspired by your favorite scary movies, perfect for fans of spooky season and movie buffs alike!

If you're looking for kitschy Pinterest recipes like coffin-shaped cookies or zombie finger sandwiches, look elsewhere. With The Horror Movie Night Cookbook, you'll enjoy thoughtful and tasty food and cocktail pairings inspired by the actual content of chilling classics like Jaws, Psycho, Scream, The Conjuring, The Evil Dead, Halloween, and more of horror's most frightening favorites! Inside you'll find recipes like:

• Crawling Steak (Poltergeist)
• Campfire Sour (The Blair Witch Project)
• Zombie Baby Kale Salad (Dawn of the Dead)
• Bloody Floaties (Jaws)
• Alligator Bites (Crawl)
• The Mama's Boy Martini (Psycho)
• And more!

This killer cookbook contains everything you'll need to be the star of your own horror-themed dinner party. So to quote a famous final girl, "What are you waiting for?"

Do you fall in love hard, but fear intimacy? Are you sick of being told that you are "too sensitive"? Do you struggle to respect a less-sensitive partner? Or have you given up on love, afraid of being too sensitive or shy to endure its wounds?

Statistics show that 50 percent of what determines divorce is genetic temperament. And, if you are one of the 20 percent of people who are born highly sensitive, the risk of an unhappy relationship is especially high. Your finely tuned nervous system, which picks up on subtleties and reflects deeply, would be a romantic asset if both you and your partner understood you better. But without that understanding, your sensitivity is likely to be making your close relationships painful and complicated.

Based on Elaine N. Aron's groundbreaking research on temperament and intimacy, The Highly Sensitive Person in Love offers practical help for highly sensitive people seeking happier, healthier romantic relationships. From low-stress fighting to sensitive sexuality, the book offers a wealth of practical advice on making the most of all personality combinations. Complete with illuminating self-tests and the results of the first survey ever done on sex and temperament, The Highly Sensitive Person in Love will help you discover a better way of living and loving.

Myths! Lies! Secrets! Uncover the hidden truth behind the infamous Pearl Harbor attack with beloved educator/author Kate Messner. The fun mix of sidebars, illustrations, photos, and graphic panels make this perfect for fans of I Survived! and Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales.

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese launched a completely unpredictable attack on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Right? Well, that's not quite the real deal. Some military experts had suggested that Pearl Harbor was a likely target. There were other warning signs, too, but nobody paid much attention. From the first wave of the Japanese bombers to the United States' internment of thousands of Japanese Americans, acclaimed author Kate Messner smashes history by exploring the little-known truths behind the story of Pearl Harbor and its aftermath.

Don't miss History Smashers: The Mayflower and Women's Right to Vote

A new page-turning thriller from USA Today bestselling author David Bell.

When a girl disappears, who do you suspect?

When 17-year-old Hunter Gifford wakes in the hospital on the night of homecoming, he's shocked to learn he and his girlfriend, Chloe Summers, have been in a terrible car accident. Hunter has no memory of the crash, and his shock turns to horror when he is told Chloe's blood has been found in the car--but she has disappeared.

Back at school, his fellow students taunt him, and his former best friend starts making a true-crime documentary about the case--one that points the finger directly at Hunter. And just when things can't get any worse, Chloe's mother stands in front of the entire town at a candlelight vigil and accuses Hunter of murder.

Under mounting pressure from the police, Hunter takes matters into his own hands by questioning anyone who might know the truth and posting videos to prove his innocence. When Hunter learns he and Chloe were seen arguing loudly outside the dance, he faces a sickening possibility. Was he angry enough to kill the person he loved?

Praise for David Bell:

"David Bell is a top-notch storyteller and Layover is his best book yet. I flew through this twisty, riveting psychological thriller at breakneck speed, hooked from the first page right up through the book's breathless conclusion."--Cristina Alger, New York Times bestselling author of Girls Like Us

"With hints of Patricia Highsmith's THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY, this is a riveting thriller." --Palm Beach Daily News

"Readers will find themselves thoroughly immersed in this riveting thriller...both compelling and surprising."--Booklist

"Bell is a brilliant craftsman as well as storyteller."--The Providence Journal

"Feeding Ghosts reminds us how much the personal is political . . . an audacious, awe-inspiring feat. For me, it was an essential read." --Ling Ma, author of Bliss Montage

An astonishing, deeply moving graphic memoir about three generations of Chinese women, exploring love, grief, exile, and identity.

In her evocative, genre-defying graphic memoir, Tessa Hulls tells the story of three generations of women in her family: her Chinese grandmother, Sun Yi; her mother, Rose; and herself.

Sun Yi was a Shanghai journalist caught in the political crosshairs of the 1949 Communist victory. After eight years of government harassment, she fled to Hong Kong with her daughter. Upon arrival, Sun Yi wrote a bestselling memoir about her persecution and survival, used the proceeds to put Rose in an elite boarding school--and promptly had a breakdown that left her committed to a mental institution. Rose eventually came to the United States on a scholarship and brought Sun Yi to live with her.

Tessa watched her mother care for Sun Yi, both of them struggling under the weight of Sun Yi's unexamined trauma and mental illness. Vowing to escape her mother's smothering fear, Tessa left home and traveled to the farthest-flung corners of the globe (Antarctica). But at the age of thirty, it starts to feel less like freedom and more like running away, and she returns home to face the history that shaped her family.

Extensively researched and gorgeously rendered, Feeding Ghosts is Hulls's homecoming, a vivid journey into the beating heart of one family, set against the dark backdrop of Chinese history. By turns fascinating and heartbreaking, inventive and poignant, Feeding Ghosts exposes the fear and trauma that haunt generations, and the love that holds them together.

You want to open a fashion truck?
Here's how!
You want open a boutique?
This is the book for you!
And most importantly, are you trying to decide between a fashion truck and a boutique?
Read this book and get all the information you need to make the right decision for you.

Written by the award winning owner of The Fashion Truck, Emily Benson, The Ultimate Boutique Handbook is a comprehensive, easy to follow guide of how to open a boutique of your own. Ms. Benson's 12+ years of experience in the retail world will be passed on to you through stories and advice on how to deal with the ups and downs in the start up and operation of your boutique. This is the only book in the world that will give you the full details on how to open a mobile retail shop, from build out to scheduling. After reading this guide, you'll have the knowledge and the confidence to build the store of your dreams!

The Ultimate Boutique Handbook includes:
- How to define your target market
- How to select a location that works for your boutique
- What to consider in deciding between a brick and mortar store or mobile boutique
- What and where to purchase products for your boutique
- How to make the most money on the products you sell
- Budgets for startup and ongoing costs
- How to set your business up with insurance and credit card processing
- Developing a professional brand image for your boutique
- Fixture layouts for both brick and mortar and mobile boutiques
- Insider tips on designing your fashion truck
- Plan a opening event & get press for your boutique
- Operating your fashion truck- getting permits, power and building a schedule
- Resource guide with all the websites you need to get started FAST!

That hot guy tied to Lissianna Argeneau's bed? He's not dessert--he's the main course!

Lissianna has been spending her centuries pining for Mr. Right, not just a quick snack, and this sexy guy she finds in her bed looks like he might be a candidate. But there's another, more pressing issue: her tendency to faint at the sight of blood . . . an especially annoying quirk for a vampire. Of course, it doesn't hurt that this man has a delicious-looking neck. What kind of cold-blooded vampire woman could resist a bite of that?

Dr. Gregory Hewitt recovers from the shock of waking up in a stranger's bedroom pretty quickly--once he sees a gorgeous woman about to treat him to a wild night of passion. But is it possible for the good doctor to find true love with a vampire vixen, or will he be just a good meal? That's a question Dr. Greg might be willing to sink his teeth into . . . if he can just get Lissianna to bite.

System Design Interview - An Insider's Guide (Volume 2)

This book can be seen as a sequel to the book: System Design Interview - An Insider's Guide. It covers a different set of system design interview questions and solutions. Although reading Volume 1 is helpful, it is not required. This book should be accessible to readers who have a basic understanding of distributed systems.

This volume provides a reliable strategy and knowledge base for approaching a broad range of system design questions that you may encounter. It will help you feel confident during this important interview. This book provides a step-by-step framework for how to tackle a system design question. It also includes many real-world examples to illustrate a systematic approach, with detailed and well-explained steps you can follow.

What's inside?
- An insider's take on what interviewers really look for and why.
- A 4-step framework for solving any system design interview question.
- 13 real system design interview questions with detailed solutions.
- 300+ diagrams to visually explain how different systems work.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Proximity Service
Chapter 2: Nearby Friends
Chapter 3: Google Maps
Chapter 4: Distributed Message Queue
Chapter 5: Metrics Monitoring
Chapter 6: Ad Click Event Aggregation
Chapter 7: Hotel Reservation
Chapter 8: Distributed Email Service
Chapter 9: S3-like Object Storage
Chapter 10: Real-time Gaming Leaderboard
Chapter 11: Payment System
Chapter 12: Digital Wallet
Chapter 13: Stock Exchange

Named a Best Book of 2021 by the Financial Times and a Best Science Book of 2021 by The Guardian

"Rovelli is a genius and an amazing communicator... This is the place where science comes to life." ―Neil Gaiman

"One of the warmest, most elegant and most lucid interpreters to the laity of the dazzling enigmas of his discipline...[a] momentous book" ―John Banville, The Wall Street Journal

A startling new look at quantum theory, from the New York Times bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, The Order of Time, and Anaximander.

One of the world's most renowned theoretical physicists, Carlo Rovelli has entranced millions of readers with his singular perspective on the cosmos. In Helgoland, he examines the enduring enigma of quantum theory. The quantum world Rovelli describes is as beautiful as it is unnerving.

Helgoland is a treeless island in the North Sea where the twenty-three-year-old Werner Heisenberg made the crucial breakthrough for the creation of quantum mechanics, setting off a century of scientific revolution. Full of alarming ideas (ghost waves, distant objects that seem to be magically connected, cats that appear both dead and alive), quantum physics has led to countless discoveries and technological advancements. Today our understanding of the world is based on this theory, yet it is still profoundly mysterious.

As scientists and philosophers continue to fiercely debate the meaning of the theory, Rovelli argues that its most unsettling contradictions can be explained by seeing the world as fundamentally made of relationships rather than substances. We and everything around us exist only in our interactions with one another. This bold idea suggests new directions for thinking about the structure of reality and even the nature of consciousness.

Rovelli makes learning about quantum mechanics an almost psychedelic experience. Shifting our perspective once again, he takes us on a riveting journey through the universe so we can better comprehend our place in it.

A dynamic re-envisioning of the tarot, including tarot card imagery, that describes how the tarot is queer, that the archetypes are alive, and that tarot doesn't tell the future; it creates it.

Radical Tarot meets the tarot in a space of evolution, deconstruction, and creation, using the historical and common meanings of the cards as a launchpad for digging into limiting beliefs and societal conditioning and unlocking the personal truths beneath.

The Fool's Journey is re-envisioned as a journey to non-binary thinking, the gender essentialism is ousted from the Major Arcana and the Court Cards--and all the cards--are reframed through a non-hierarchical, anti-capitalist, and intersectional lens. The archetypes are re-imagined in modern, progressive, and queered contexts. For example:

• The Empress and the body positivity movement
• Justice, not in the legal sense, but as ethical discernment and accountability
• Temperance and transcending the gender binary
• The Devil and anti-capitalism
• Judgement and revolution

Radical Tarot also touches on Charlie's personal story of how tarot helped them embrace their queerness, leave their marriage, and radically change their life. It speaks to their queer awakening and how tarot became, for them, a tool for social justice and conscious awareness of the world around them. Their words and experience will help anyone who wishes to be closer to their own authentic selves.

Blending fantasy and science fiction, N. E. Davenport's fast-paced, action-packed debut kicks off a duology of loyalty and rebellion, in which a young Black woman must survive deadly trials in a racist and misogynistic society to become an elite warrior.

It's all about blood.

The blood spilled between the Republic of Mareen and the armies of the Blood Emperor long ago. The blood gifts of Mareen's deadliest enemies. The blood that runs through the elite War Houses of Mareen, the rulers of the Tribunal dedicated to keeping the republic alive.

The blood of the former Legatus, Verne Amari, murdered.

For his granddaughter, Ikenna, the only thing steady in her life was the man who had saved Mareen. The man who had trained her in secret, not just in martial skills, but in harnessing the blood gift that coursed through her.

Who trained her to keep that a secret.

But now there are too many secrets, and with her grandfather assassinated, Ikenna knows two things: that only someone on the Tribunal could have ordered his death, and that only a Praetorian Guard could have carried out that order.

Bent on revenge as much as discovering the truth, Ikenna pledges herself to the Praetorian Trials--a brutal initiation that only a quarter of the aspirants survive. She subjects herself to the racism directed against her half-Khanaian heritage and the misogyny of a society that cherishes progeny over prodigy, all while hiding a power that--if found out--would subject her to execution...or worse. Ikenna is willing to risk it all because she needs to find out who murdered her grandfather...and then she needs to kill them.

Mareen has been at peace for a long time...

Ikenna joining the Praetorians is about to change all that.

Magic and technology converge in the first part of this stunning debut duology, where loyalty to oneself--and one's blood--is more important than anything.

One of the finest and best-selling horror novels of the 1970s returns at last to chill a new generation of readers

In the isolated farming community of Harlowe, New Hampshire, where life has changed little over the past several decades, John Moore and his wife Mim work the land that has been in his family for generations. But from the moment the charismatic Perly Dunsmore arrives in town and starts soliciting donations for his auctions, things begin slowly and insidiously to change in Harlowe. As the auctioneer carries out his terrible, inscrutable plan, the Moores and their neighbors will find themselves gradually but inexorably stripped of their possessions, their freedom, and perhaps even their lives ...

A chilling masterpiece of terror whose sense of creeping menace and dread increases page by page, Joan Samson's The Auctioneer (1975) is a rediscovered classic of 20th-century fiction. With echoes of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and Stephen King's Needful Things, Samson's novel returns to print at last in this long-awaited new edition, which features an introduction by Grady Hendrix (Horrorstör, Paperbacks from Hell).

"Buy this book ... there is no way to stop reading it, once you've started!" - Baltimore Sun

"A well-made piece of dynamite ... For all their talk, the author seems to be saying, men will permit their souls to be carried away bit by bit and auctioned off to the highest bidder. Samson has written a suspenseful, engrossing novel with the most gripping and violent ending we've encountered for some time."--Newsday

"A frightening novel . . . a powerful book from a powerful writer."--The Grand Rapids Press

"A novel you may never forget . . . a tight classic."--San Diego Tribune

"Brilliant, compelling . . . Add a powerful twist at the end and you have a total novel that takes hold of the reader on Page One and never lets go until the finish. This just could prove to be one of the top thrillers of the year."--Dayton News

An epic stand-alone adventure in Erin Hunter's #1 nationally bestselling Warriors series! Also includes an exclusive ten-page Warriors comic.

In this Super Edition, set during the events of The Broken Code, respected ThunderClan warrior Graystripe seeks a path to the Clan's future by returning to his past--and the Moonstone in the Clans' old forest territory.

Graystripe served ThunderClan for many moons before retiring to the elders' den. As Firestar's most trusted friend and deputy, Graystripe promised that he would never abandon his home. But as new tensions strain ThunderClan, Graystripe will need to call on all of his long history, leaving ThunderClan behind in hopes of finding an answer that might save it.

Join the legion of fans who have discovered the epic adventures, fierce warrior cats, and thrilling fantasy world of the mega-bestselling Warriors series. This stand-alone entry is perfect for new readers and dedicated fans alike.