I can assure you that notorious criminals were not the goody-goody types some writers make them out to be. Forget the Robin Hood syndrome face up to reality
- they were evil bastards." Don Smith was a regular soldier & later a prison officer for twenty-five years. Both occupations were good to him. He travelled the world & ended his career as a senior prison officer at HM Prison Parkhurst. He met both the Hard Men & the Jelly Babies."
...

Scranton the strangest city on earth has an uneasy live & let unlive relationship with the supernatural. But when a vamp puts the bite on an unwilling victim or some witch casts the wrong kind of spell thats when they call me. My names Markowski a Detective Sergeant on the Scranton PDs Supernatural Crimes Investigation Unit. I carry a badge. Also a crucifix some wooden stakes a big vial of holy water & a 9mm Beretta loaded with silver bullets. This title takes you on a magical mystery tour of a murder case rife with supernatural suspects. Sit down for an enchanted evening of otherworldly entertainment
- Laura Resnick author of Unsympathetic" & " Vamparazzi"."
...

Using a golf pencil sharpened on a cell wall Shaun Attwood wrote one of the first prison blogs Jons Jail Journal excerpts of which were published in The Guardian & attracted international media attention. Brought up in England Shaun took his business degree to Phoenix Arizona where he became an award winning stockbroker & then a millionaire day trader during the dot-com bubble. But Shaun also led a double life. An early fan of the rave scene in Manchester he formed an organisation that threw raves & distributed Ecstacy. Before being convicted of money laundering & drug dealing he served 26 months in the infamous jail system run by the notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Hard Time is the harrowing yet often darkly humorous account of the time Shaun spent submerged in a nightmarish world of gang violence insect infested cells & food unfit for animals. His remarkable story provides a revealing glimpse into the tragedy brutality comedy & eccentricity of prison life. ...

A damning indictment of Utilitarianism & the dehumanising influence of the Industrial Revolution Charles Dickenss Hard Times" is edited with an introduction & notes by Kate Flint in " Penguin Classics". In " Hard Times" the Northern mill-town of Coketown is dominated by the figure of Mr Thomas Gradgrind school headmaster & model of Utilitarian success. Feeding both his pupils & family with facts he bans fancy & wonder from any young minds. As a consequence his obedient daughter Louisa marries the loveless businessman & bully of humanity Mr Bounderby & his son Tom rebels to become embroiled in gambling & robbery. & as their fortunes cross with those of free-spirited circus girl Sissy Jupe & victimized weaver Stephen Blackpool Gradgrind is eventually forced to recognize the value of the human heart in an age of materialism & machinery. This edition of " Hard Times" is based on the text of the first volume publication of 1854. Kate Flints introduction sheds light on the frequently overlooked character interplay in Dickenss great critique of Victorian industrial society. Charles Dickens is one of the best-loved novelists in the English language whose 200th anniversary was celebrated in 2012. His most famous books including " Oliver Twist" " Great Expectations" "A Tale of Two Cities" " David Copperfield" & " The Pickwick Papers" have been adapted for stage & screen & read by millions. If you enjoyed " Hard Times" you might like Dickens " Bleak House" also available in " Penguin Classics". "A masterpiece...a completely serious work of art". (F.R. Leavis)." ...

Unusually for Dickens Hard Times is set not in London but in the imaginary mid-Victorian Northern industrial town of Coketown with its blackened factories downtrodden workers & polluted environment. This is the soulless domain of the strict utilitarian Thomas Gradgrind & the heartless factory owner Josiah Bounderby. However human joy is not excluded thanks to Mr Slearys Horse-Riding circus a gin-soaked & hilarious troupe of open-hearted & affectionate people who act as an antidote to all the drudgery & misery endured by the ordinary citizens of Coketown. ...

Coketown is dominated by the figure of Mr Thomas Gradgrind school headmaster & model of Utilitarian success. Feeding both his pupils & family with facts he bans fancy & wonder from any young minds. As a consequence his obedient daughter Louisa marries the loveless businessman & bully of humanity Mr Bounderby & his son Tom rebels to become embroiled in gambling & robbery. & as their fortunes cross with those of free-spirited circus girl Sissy Jupe & victimized weaver Stephen Blackpool Gradgrind is eventually forced to recognize the value of the human heart in an age of materialism & machinery. ...

Lucile Garrett is just thirteen when she meets Clint Palmer a charismatic stranger who will forever change her life. The year is 1934 & as the windblown dust of the Great Depression rakes the Oklahoma plains Palmer offers Lucile & her father homeless & hungry the irresistible promise of a better future. But when they follow Palmer to Texas Lucile's father mysteriously disappears launching man & girl on an epic journey through the American Southwest: a spree of violence & murder that culminates in one of the most celebrated criminal trials of the era. Based on a true story Hard Twisted is a chilling tale of survival & redemption & a young girl's coming of age in a world as cruel as it is beautiful. ...

This student cookbook stands out from all the others on the market. It doesnt feature baked beans & its packed with truly mouthwatering easy nutritious recipes. Betsy Bell wrote this book for her children & their friends when they were heading to university. She realised that they all knew little (or nothing) about culinary survival but that their sophisticated tastes went beyond the standard macaroni cheese & beans on toast recipes that feature in other student cookbooks. So Hard Up & Hungry

Includes:: recipes that students will want to make; that are tempting enough to keep them away from the nearest pizza outlet or chip shop. It

Includes:: Spaghetti with Fennel & Smoked Bacon Spinach Frittata Cod with Olives & Sweet Peppers Southwestern Burgers Italian Rice & Beans & sweet treats (including American pancakes & Vodka Jelly). Betsy doesnt forget the basics either: the ultimate Bacon Butty Boiled Eggs & Baked Potatoes all feature too. The book is also packed with advice on how to store & shop for food inexpensively (including alternatives to supermarkets & the pros & cons of online shopping). Illustrated throughout with hip black & white photographs & wiro bound this is the ultimate cookbook for students & anyone who wants to cook fantastic food on a budget.



...

A narrative particle-accelerator that zooms between Wild Turkey Whiskey & Bob Dylan unicorn skulls & voracious librarians John Coltrane & Lord Jim. Science fiction detective story & post-modern manifesto all rolled into one rip-roaring novel Hard-boiled Wonderland & the End of the World is the tour de force that expanded Haruki Murakami's international following. Tracking one man's descent into the Kafkaesque underworld of contemporary Tokyo Murakami unites East & West tragedy & farce compassion & detachment slang & philosophy. The result is a wildly inventive fantasy & a meditation on the many uses of the mind. ...

When V.I. Warshawski is asked to find a man whos been missing for four decades a search that she thought would be futile turns lethal. Old skeletons from the citys racially charged history rise up to force her back with a vengeance
- a nun who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. dies without revealing crucial evidence & on the citys South Side people spit when she shows up. The elderly sisters who hired her are also keeping important information to themselves. Then V.I. finds that her family is keeping secrets of their own. A young cousin whom shes never met arrives from Kansas City to work on a political campaign but disappears under mysterious circumstances. Afraid to learn that her adored father might have been a bent cop deception & corruption following her at every step V.I. finds all her certainties under threat but takes the investigation all the way to its frightening end.
...