Мир охватила новая неизлечимая болезнь. Она поражает только детей. Больных становится все больше, и хосписы, где пытаются облегчить их муки, начинают закрывать. Врачи, священник, дети и их родители запираются там, как в крепости… Надежда победить страшный недуг приходит с неожиданной стороны, а вот вечные вопросы – зачем нужны страдания и в человеческих ли силах уменьшить их – остаются с каждым. «Только показав всё честно, без щадящей ретуши, имеешь право утверждать – из любой бездны всегда есть путь к свету». Руслан Козлов «Получилась мощная проза, которую автору жизненно важно было написать. Забыть эту книгу вы точно не сможете. Будете ли жить после нее по-прежнему – не знаю». Дмитрий Быков

This collection of tightly crafted, highly imaginative short stories employs surrealist, satirical, and fantastical devices to explore politics, class, and gender. From a hilarious tale about bioengineering and the stresses of climbing the corporate ladder to an evocative story of a woman who loses a sock at the the laundromat and finds she's missing a bit of her soul, these science fiction stories showcase an award-winning writer's compelling vision of the universe. Computer pioneers, cross-country skiers, and aliens figure into these literary stories that challenge the boundaries of imagination with quirky, anti-establishment characters and visionary technological extrapolation

STABURAGA BĒRNI VALDIS Valda grāmata «Staburaga bērni» pirmo reizi publicēta pirms vai­rāk nekā simt gadiem. Kopš tā laika šis stāsts iznācis vairākas reizes, un to iemīļojuši gan ma­zie, gan arī lielie lasītāji. «Staburaga bērni» ir viens no izjustākajiem bērnu dienu attēlo­jumiem latviešu pirmspadomju literatūrā. Tas ir stāsts par diviem uzticamiem draugiem — VTgantes muižas dārznieka dēlu Janci un muižas strādnieces dēlu Mārču. Zēni pavada kopā tikai vienu gadu, un, ja pirmajā — iepazīša­nās dienā Marčs ar lielu neuzti­cību raugās uz savu jauno draugu, tad nākamajā pavasarī, Jurģos, šķiroties no Janča, Marčam ir bez­gala skumji un viņš pats saka — tāda drauga kā Jancis viņam vairs nebūs. Un tiešām — dz'vais, dro­šais, atjautīgais, bezgala godī­gais Jancis, kas nekad nepamet draugu nelaimē, kas neļauj darīt pāri vājākam, — tādu draugu un rotaļu biedru ikviens vēlētos iegūt. Lēnīgo, sākumā diezgan bailīgo un neapķērīgo Mārču draudzība ar Janci izveido dros­mīgāku, atjautīgāku. Marčs, kuram reibst galva, kāpjot lejā uz Liep- avotu, vēlāk metas Daugavā, lai dabūtu laivu un izglābtu Janci, kuru ledus gabals nes uz krācēm. Abu zēnu kopīgās gaitas, viņu dzīves visdažādākos notikumus rakstnieks notēlojis tik saistoši, ar vieglu humoru, ka tie neizdzēšami paliek lasītāju atmiņā. SAĪSINĀTS IZDEVNIECĪBA "LIESMA" RĪGĀ 1968 MĀKSLINIEKS VASILIJS SELKOVS

Ēriks Marija Remarks Stacija pie apvāršņa Romāna “Stacija pie apvāršņa” galvenā varoņa Kaja domas un jūtas ir veltītas ne tikai sacensību trasei vien – viņš ir nonācis dzīves krustcelēs. Vai joprojām strauji traukties uz priekšu, vai apvaldīt jaunības neprātīgo skrējienu? Vai turpināt ceļu kopā ar kādu līdzgaitnieci? Rakstnieka tēlotās trīs sievietes – Moda, Liliāna, Barbara – ir tik dažādas. Džema : [romāns] / no vācu val. tulk. Austra Aumale. _Stacija pie apvāršņa : [romāns] / no vācu val. tulk. Silvija Brice / Ērihs Marija Remarks ; māksl. Agata Muze. Faila kļūdas  izlabojis I.Ločmelis

Stany Zjednoczone wpadają w sidła demokracji. Pod populistycznymi hasłami władzę przejmują syndykaliści. Ameryka w szponach dyktatury oznacza tajną policję, aresztowania i zsyłki opozycjonistów. Rząd deklaruje jednak, że nie wykonuje wyroków śmierci. Gdzie więc znikają działacze opozycji? W przeszłości! Oto w przeszłości o miliard lat odległej od nas syndykaliści tworzą stację zsyłki niewygodnych politycznie więźniów. To czas, kiedy na Ziemi nie ukształtowały się jeszcze obecne kontynenty, a pierwsze zwierzęta nie wyszły na ląd. A podróż w czasie może się odbywać tylko w jedną stronę…

„Stacja tranzytowa” jest powszechnie uważana za arcydzieło gatunku i najwybitniejsze dzieło w bogatym dorobku wielkiego pisarza. Kunszt Simaka sprawia, iż wierzymy w to, że stara, prowincjonalna chałupa, może być centrum wszechświata, że przybysze z innym galaktyk pojawiają się na zapuszczonych podwórkach

A new collection of seven short stories and an original introduction by one of the genre’s most prolific writers and editors. Includes stories about the Nameless Detective

By Parker an210088@anon.penet.fi

Während einer streng geheimen Militäroperation in der Antarktis entdecken die Amerikaner antike Ruinen unter dem Eis. Ein amerikanischer Archäologe und eine junge Wissenschaftlerin aus dem Vatikan wollen das Rätsel um die versunkene Stadt unter dem Eis lösen. Sie suchen die Ursprünge der menschlichen Zivilisation und kämpfen gegen einen unsichtbaren, lebensbedrohlichen Feind. Dr. Conrad Yeats hat nur ein Ziel: Er will das Mysterium um das sagenumwobene Atlantis enthüllen. Sein Vater, vom dem er sich seit Jahren immer mehr entfernt hatte, und Serena Serghetti, eine Frau, die er einst geliebt und dann verloren hatte, sollen ihn bei seiner Mission unterstützen. Doch unter dem Eis liegt ein weiteres Geheimnis begraben: etwas, das die gesamte Menschheit bedroht. Die Originalausgabe RAISING ATLANTIS erschien 2005 bei Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. New York

"A wickedly clever writer." – Ruth Rendell Clarion Calhoun is a fading pop star wanting to launch an acting career. The audience at her debut on stage at Bath's Theatre Royal are expecting a dramatic evening – but what they get is beyond their wildest imagination. When Clarion is rushed to hospital with third degree burns, rumours spread through the theatrical community and beyond. In the best theatrical tradition, the show goes on, but the agony turns to murder. The case falls to Peter Diamond, Bath's top detective – but for reasons he can't understand, he suffers a physical reaction amounting to phobia each time he goes near the theatre. As he tries to find its root in his past, the tension at the Theatre Royal mounts, legends come to life and the killer strikes again…

Markus, Stagger Bay’s protagonist, is a man who overcame a horrendous childhood and criminal youth to go straight and raise a family. His violent past makes him an easy fall guy to frame for a gruesome mass murder and he’s sentenced to life without parole, losing his family in the process. Exonerated and freed on DNA evidence after seven years, Markus is shortly thrust into a bloody do-or-die fracas during an elementary school hostage situation, becoming an overnight hero. Everyone wants in on the media feeding frenzy; to his dismay, paparazzi and news crews hound him wherever he goes. Unfortunately they’re not the only ones stalking him. Can Markus find the path back into his estranged son’s heart? What’s Markus supposed to do, when he discovers fifteen minutes of fame is the worst thing that could ever happen to him? What can he do, now that his town is hunting ground to serial killers and rogue cops working together – and the shadowy force behind them is turning its cold, deadly eye straight at him? Stagger Bay is a battle of wills, where every moral choice seems only to increase the body count. It’s in the tradition of Paul Cain’s Fast One, Ted Lewis' Get Carter or Geoffrey Household’s Rogue Male. Stagger Bay should appeal to readers looking for a fast paced, hyper-violent thriller

Neun Eisjuwelen stiehlt die Kriegerin Kitiara Uth Matar dem Zauberer Janusz, der die schwarze Robe des Bösen trägt. Allerdings ahnt sie kaum, welche Macht sie mit diesen magischen Kleinodien in die Hände bekommen hat. Janusz hingegen will seine Eisjuwelen zurück, koste es, was es wolle. Eine ungleiche Verfolgungsjagd beginnt, denn vor Janusz’ Magie kann sich Kitiara nicht verstecken. Um so mehr, als sie nicht ahnt, daß der Zauberer ihr auf den Fersen ist

Panass Mirnijs Staigule Romāns no tautas dzīves Romāna galvenā varone Kriste ir traģisks tēls. Meitene uzaug trūcīgā zemnieka — bijušā dzimtcilvēka ģimenē. Viņas tēvs iet boja ziemas salā, māte nomirst žēlabās. Kriste ir daiļa, apdāvināta, godīga un čakla. Taču viņas liktenis ir ļauns. Bagātnieks Supruns ar viltu izdzen Kristi no mājas. Meitene nonāk pilsēta, kur sākas rūgtā un zaimu pilnā kungu kalpones dzīve. Piekrāptu un apkaunotu liekulīgā saimniece Kristi izmet uz ielas. Slidenais ceļš ved arvien lejup, Kriste kļūst staigule. Tāpat kā tēvs, viņa ziemas naktī nosalst žogmalē pie savas kādreizējās mājas. «Staigule» ir pirmais Panasa Mirnija darbs, kas izdots latviešu valodā. No ukraiņu valodas tulkojusi Marija Šūmane Mākslinieks Vitolds Svirskis Noskanējis grāmatu un  failu izveidojis Imants Ločmelis imantslochmelis@inbox.lv Izdevniec «Liesma» Rīga 1966 Ukraiņu literatūras klasiķis, reālists, revolucionārais demokrāts Panass Mirnijs, īstajā vārdā Afanasijs Rud-čenko, dzimis 1849. g. Mir-gorodā sīka ierēdņa ģimenē. 1862. g. viņš beidz apriņķa pilsētiņas Gadjačas skolu, pēc tam iesāk darba gaitas kantori kā pārrakstītājs, tad strādā Poltavas kamerālpalāta par grāmatvedi. Vēlāk kļūst par šās palātas sekretāru un reizēm pilda arī pārvaldnieka pienākumus. Mirnija pasaules uzskats izveidojas krievu revolucionāro demokrātu un Tarasa Ševčenko ietekmē. Rakstnieka pirmie sacerējumi iespiesti 1872. g. Tie ir dzejoļi, stāsti un tēlojumi. Panass Mirnijs uzrakstījis arī vairākus romānus, kuros spilgti parāda ukraiņu tautas Izīvi laika posmā no 1861. gada zemes reformas līdz 1905.—1907. g. revolūcijai. Panasa Mirnija daiļrade evērojami ietekmējusi ukraiņu literatūras attīstību, it evišķi tas sakāms par viņa scilo romānu «Staigule», pie kura rakstnieks sāka strādāt septiņdesmito gadu beigās un kura divas pirmās daļas iespiestas 1882.—1884. g., bet trešā daļa tikai 1919. g. un ēdējā— 1928. g., pēc autora nāves. Panass Mirnijs miris 920. g

A fractured community. Bodies full of shattered glass. A broken mage, stripped of his power. While Alexi Sokolsky is hiding on the streets from the Russian Mafia, twenty supernaturally-gifted children are kidnapped from a foster home. Their adoptive parents, leaders in New York’s shapeshifter community, are brutally murdered by someone – or something – with incredible magical and physical power. Frustrated by weeks of botched Government investigation, the werecreatures of New York City are searching for an Occult expert capable of doing the dirty work the police cannot. Someone like Alexi: currently ex-magus, hitman, and reluctant finder of lost children. A chance meeting results in Alexi joining forces with the shapeshifters against a mutual enemy, but street justice is rarely as simple as putting a bullet through someone’s head. Backed up by a biker gang of were-cats and a disturbingly attractive Biomancer, Alexi must recover the kids and regain his magic, a dangerous and deadly mission that will test them all to the limit

When a motionless woman dressed in white appears in the village of Falk, Kendall Stockton has no inkling that the strange apparition will soon leave her homeless, and tangled in the affairs of mages and monsters. For the white figure is the first sign of a spell which will shatter cities, and make the caster as powerful as the gods. Saved by a stranger who claims her goal is to stop the woman, Kendall is torn between admiring the mage Rennyn Claire’s strength, and doubting her methods. What is Rennyn willing to do to win? Do the best of intentions justify pragmatic sacrifice, or is Rennyn Claire no better than the monster she is trying to stop?

Newly vamped Sarah Dearly wants her normal life back, but fate is fighting against her. She tries to get a regular job and gets staked in the interview, only to be rescued by a masked vampire who calls himself the Red Devil. Then a wallflower-turned-witch curses her, making her a bloodthirsty, sun-allergic nightwalker--the worst vampire there is. As if all that weren't enough, she can't get married because her 600-year-old boyfriend, Thierry, is in a centuries-long marriage of convenience he can't escape. As Sarah's nightwalker tendencies make her more dangerous, even to those she loves, she'll have to counteract that curse, unmask the increasingly intriguing Red Devil, and get a commitment from her man. But if that's what it takes to secure her happiness, Sarah is ready...even if it means embracing her inner vamp to do it

The third in the ‘Red Gambit’ series, Stalemate deals with the events of the Third World War, up to 25th October 1945. Relating the experiences from both sides of the divide, and from all levels. ‘Stalemate’ deals with the man in the trench, through the pilot in his fighter, through to the Generals who direct the war from their command centres. ‘Stalemate’ brings the first stages of WW3 to a climax on the Alsatian plain, a sleepy town in Holland, and an insignificant town in Germany, whose name is now synonymous with death on a grand scale. [The ‘Red Gambit Series’ novels are works of fiction, and deal with fictional events. Most of the characters therein are a figment of the author’s imagination. Without exception, those characters that are historical figures of fact or based upon historical figures of fact are used fictitiously, and their actions, demeanour, conversations, and characters are similarly all figments of the author’s imagination.]

From Publishers Weekly In the latest Eve Duncan forensics thriller from bestseller Johansen (Killer Dreams), the Atlanta-based forensic sculptor with an international reputation finds herself attracted, not always convincingly, to a sleazy manipulator. Duncan, who specializes in reconstructing facial features from skulls, has buried herself in her work since the disappearance and presumed death of her seven-year-old daughter, Bonnie, years earlier. That still-open wound is probed with sadistic skill by Luis Montalvo, a shady Colombian arms dealer, who offers to solve the mystery of what happened to Bonnie if Duncan agrees to attempt a reconstruction from a skull Montalvo believes was his late wife's. Despite the misgivings of her former husband, an FBI agent, Duncan accepts, and soon finds herself dodging bullets in a war between Montalvo and a drug lord rival in the Colombian jungle. Despite a shortage of the sort of meaty science that, say, a Kathy Reichs thriller typically provides, Johansen's faithful audience should be satisfied. From Booklist Forensic sculptor Eve Duncan is a complicated woman. She has survived her years in the school of hard knocks, although not without scars. And she has suffered the worst event a parent can, losing a child to abduction. Now she helps other stricken parents by reconstructing skulls so that victims can be identified. In this, she is one of the best. In addition to her work, she has Joe, a wonderfully understanding man with many military and government connections. But all this abruptly changes when Eve gets a phone call from Montalvo, a drug lord in South America in need of her services. Eve initially refuses to make the journey, but after he promises to use all his resources to find her daughter's killer and her body, this scarily single-minded and stubborn woman agrees to go, despite knowing that she will most likely be killed. Eve is then simultaneously repelled by and attracted to Montalvo. Johansen strikes again, creating both a nonstop thriller and a character study about an individual who has long seen the world in black and white, and now perceives only shades of gray

On a midsummer day in 1937, Boris Bibikov kissed his two daughters goodbye and disappeared. One of those girls, Lyudmila, was to fall in love with a tall young foreigner in Moscow at the height of the Cold War and embark on a dangerous and passionate affair. Decades later, a reporter in nineties Moscow, her son Owen Matthews pieces together his grandfather’s passage through the harrowing world of Stalin’s purges, and tells the story of his parents’ Cold War love affair through their heartbreaking letters and memories. Stalin’s Children is a raw, vivid memoir about a young man’s struggle to understand his parents’ lives and the history of the strange country in which they lived

A chilling, skillfully delineated account based on newly released Russian documentation that reveals Stalin’s true motives—and the extent of his enduring commitment to expanding the Soviet empire—during the years in which he seemingly collaborated with Roosevelt, Churchill, and the capitalist West. At the Big Three conferences of World War II, Stalin persuasively played the role of a great world leader. Even astute observers like George F. Kennan concluded that the United States and Great Britain should view Stalin as a modern-day tsarist-like figure whose primary concerns lay in international strategy and power politics, not in ideology. Now Robert Gellately uses recently uncovered documents to make clear that, in fact, the dictator was an unwavering revolutionary merely biding his time, determined as ever to establish Communist regimes across Europe and beyond, and that his actions during these years (and the poorly calculated Western responses) set in motion what would eventually become the Cold War. Gellately takes us behind the scenes. We see the dictator disguising his political ambitions and prioritizing the future of Communism, even as he pursued the war against Hitler. Along the way, the ascetic dictator’s Machiavellian moves and bouts of irrationality kept the Western leaders on their toes, in a world that became more dangerous and divided year by year. Exciting, deeply engaging, and shrewdly perceptive, Stalin’s Curse is an unprecedented revelation of the sinister machinations of the Soviet dictator

Another story collection from the prolific Watson (Salvage Rites, Evil Water, Slow Birds), this one comprising 12 tall tales published between 1985 and 1990. The longest piece here is brilliantly conceived: a company of Ushabti, tiny clay figurines placed in the sarcophagus of a pharaoh as his attendants, explore their sarcophagus-universe, then attempt to revive their dead master; what makes no stylistic or literary sense, and irredeemably flaws the story, is Watson's introduction of some investigating Egyptologists in the form of a play and, worse, chanting blank verse. Also noteworthy: the impressively imagined title yarn, which probes the strange consequences arising from deliberately distorted maps but all too soon meanders off into unfathomable byways; and a persuasive yarn that features the surrealist architect Gaudi. Elsewhere, three clumsily obvious metaphors (time travel and race hatred; rich vs. poor; a human chicken becomes chancellor of Oxford University) irritate rather than uplift; a jailer physically and psychically absorbs his prisoners; an English village hides odd goings-on; Sherlock Holmes ponders Cinderella, to astonishing effect; and an ayatollah's eyeball elicits only routine irony. Amazingly inventive – but too often inattentive or downright eccentric in the execution

Overthrowing the conventional image of Stalin as an uneducated political administrator inexplicably transformed into a pathological killer, Robert Service reveals a more complex and fascinating story behind this notorious twentieth-century figure. Drawing on unexplored archives and personal testimonies gathered from across Russia and Georgia, this is the first full-scale biography of the Soviet dictator in twenty years. Service describes in unprecedented detail the first half of Stalin’s life—his childhood in Georgia as the son of a violent, drunkard father and a devoted mother; his education and religious training; and his political activity as a young revolutionary. No mere messenger for Lenin, Stalin was a prominent activist long before the Russian Revolution. Equally compelling is the depiction of Stalin as Soviet leader. Service recasts the image of Stalin as unimpeded despot; his control was not limitless. And his conviction that enemies surrounded him was not entirely unfounded. Stalin was not just a vengeful dictator but also a man fascinated by ideas and a voracious reader of Marxist doctrine and Russian and Georgian literature as well as an internationalist committed to seeing Russia assume a powerful role on the world stage. In examining the multidimensional legacy of Stalin, Service helps explain why later would-be reformers—such as Khrushchev and Gorbachev—found the Stalinist legacy surprisingly hard to dislodge. Rather than diminishing the horrors of Stalinism, this is an account all the more disturbing for presenting a believable human portrait. Service’s lifetime engagement with Soviet Russia has resulted in the most comprehensive and compelling portrayal of Stalin to date

This widely acclaimed biography provides a vivid and riveting account of Stalin and his courtiers—killers, fanatics, women, and children—during the terrifying decades of his supreme power. In a seamless meshing of exhaustive research and narrative plan, Simon Sebag Montefiore gives us the everyday details of a monstrous life. We see Stalin playing his deadly game of power and paranoia at debauched dinners at Black Sea villas and in the apartments of the Kremlin. We witness first-hand how the dictator and his magnates carried out the Great Terror and the war against the Nazis, and how their families lived in this secret world of fear, betrayal, murder, and sexual degeneracy. Montefiore gives an unprecedented understanding of Stalin’s dictatorship, and a Stalin as human and complicated as he is brutal. Fifty years after his death, Stalin remains one of the creators of our world. The scale of his crimes has made him, along with Hitler, the very personification of evil. Yet while we know much about Hitler, Stalin and his regime remain mysterious. Now, in this enthralling history of Stalin’s imperial court, the fear and betrayal, privilege and debauchery, family life and murderous brutality are brought blazingly to life. Who was the boy from Georgia who rose to rule the Empire of the Tsars? Who were his Himmler, Göring, Goebbels? How did these grandees rule? How did the “top ten” families live? Exploring every aspect of this supreme politician, from his doomed marriage and mistresses, and his obsession with film, music and literature, to his identification with the Tsars, Simon Sebag Montefiore unveils a less enigmatic, more intimate Stalin, no less brutal but more human, and always astonishing. Stalin organised the deadly but informal game of power amongst his courtiers at dinners, dances, and singsongs at Black Sea villas and Kremlin apartments: a secret, but strangely cosy world with a dynamic, colourful cast of killers, fanatics, degenerates and adventurers. From the murderous bisexual dwarf Yezhov to the depraved but gifted Beria, each had their role: during the second world war, Stalin played the statesman with Churchill and Roosevelt aided by Molotov while, with Marshal Zhukov, he became the triumphant warlord. They lived on ice, killing others to stay alive, sleeping with pistols under their pillows; their wives murdered on Stalin’s whim, their children living by a code of lies. Yet they kept their quasi-religious faith in the Bolshevism that justified so much death. Based on a wealth of new materials from Stalin’s archives, freshly opened in 2000, interviews with witnesses and massive research from Moscow to the Black Sea, this is a sensitive but damning portrait of the Genghis Khan of our epoch

Stalin: The Enduring Legacy considers the ‘Man of Steel’ in a manner that will outrage dogmatists of both Left and Right. Stalinist Russia is reassessed as a state that transcended Marxism, and proceeded on a nationalist and imperial path rather than as the citadel of ‘world revolution’. Stalin reversed many early Bolshevik policies re-instituting, for example, the traditional family. He abolished the Communist International, championed ‘realism’ in the arts and rejected post-1945 US plans for a ‘new world order’. Despite so-called ‘de-Stalinization’ after his death, the Soviet bloc continued to oppose globalism, as does Putin’s Russia. Stalin: The Enduring Legacy, examines the anti-Marxist character of Stalinism, the legitimacy of the Moscow Trials against the ‘Old Bolsheviks’, the origins of the Cold War, the development of Trotskyism as a tool of US foreign policy, the question of Stalin’s murder, and the relevance of Russia to the future of world power politics

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Stalina Folskaya’s homeland is little more than a bankrupt country of broken dreams. She flees St. Petersburg in search of a better life in America, leaving behind her elderly mother and the grief of the past. However, Stalina quickly realizes that her pursuit of happiness will be a hard road. A trained chemist in Russia, but disillusioned by her prospects in the US, she becomes a maid at The Liberty, a “short-stay” motel on the outskirts of Hartford. Able to envision beauty and profit even here, Stalina convinces her boss to let her transform the motel into a fantasy destination. Business skyrockets and puts the American dream within Stalina’s sights. A smart, fearless woman like Stalina can go far… if only she can reconcile the ghosts of her past. Obsessed with avenging her family while also longing for a new life, Stalina is a remarkable immigrant’s tale about a woman whose imagination—and force of personality—will let her stop at nothing

In October 1942, a panzer officer wrote ‘Stalingrad is no longer a town… Animals flee this hell; the hardest stones cannot bear it for long; only men endure’. The battle for Stalingrad became the focus of Hitler and Stalin’s determination to win the gruesome, vicious war on the eastern front. The citizens of Stalingrad endured unimaginable hardship; the battle, with fierce hand-to-hand fighting in each room of each building, was brutally destructive to both armies. But the eventual victory of the Red Army, and the failure of Hitler’s Operation Barbarossa, was the first defeat of Hitler's territorial ambitions in Europe, and the start of his decline. An extraordinary story of tactical genius, civilian bravery, obsession, carnage and the nature of war itself, Stalingrad will act as a testament to the vital role of the soviet war effort. Hitler made two fundamental and crippling mistakes during the Second World War: The first was his whimsical belief that the United Kingdom would eventually become his ally, which delayed his decision to launch a major invasion of Britain, whose army was unprepared for the force of blitzkrieg warfare. The second was the ill-conceived Operation Barbarossa—an invasion of Russia that was supposed to take the German army to the gates of Moscow. Antony Beevor’s thoughtfully researched compendium recalls this epic struggle for Stalingrad. No one, least of all the Germans, could foretell the deep well of Soviet resolve that would become the foundation of the Red Army; Russia, the Germans believed, would fall as swiftly as France and Poland. The ill-prepared Nazi forces were trapped in a bloody war of attrition against the Russian behemoth, which held them in the pit of Stalingrad for nearly two years. Beevor points out that the Russians were by no means ready for the war either, making their stand even more remarkable; Soviet intelligence spent as much time spying on its own forces—in fear of desertion, treachery, and incompetence—as they did on the Nazis. Due attention is also given to the points of view of the soldiers and generals of both forces, from the sickening battles to life in the gulags. Many believe Stalingrad to be the turning point of the war. The Nazi war machine proved to be fallible as it spread itself too thin for a cause that was born more from arrogance than practicality. The Germans never recovered, and its weakened defenses were no match for the Allied invasion of 1944. We know little of what took place in Stalingrad or its overall significance, leading Beevor to humbly admit that “[t]he Battle of Stalingrad remains such an ideologically charged and symbolically important subject that the last word will not be heard for many years.” This is true. But this gripping account should become the standard work against which all others should measure themselves. This gripping account of Germany's notorious campaign combines sophisticated use of previously published firsthand accounts in German and Russian along with newly available Soviet archival sources and caches of letters from the front. For Beevor (Paris After the Liberation, 1944-1949), the 1942 German offensive was a gamble that reflected Hitler's growing ascendancy over his military subordinates. The wide-open mobile operations that took the 6th Army into Stalingrad were nevertheless so successful that Soviet authorities insisted they could be explained only by treason. (Over 13,000 Soviet soldiers were formally executed during the battle for Stalingrad alone.) Combat in Stalingrad, however, deprived the Germans of their principal force multipliers of initiative and flexibility. The close-gripped fighting brought men to the limits of endurance, then kept them there. Beevor juxtaposes the grotesque with the mundane, demonstrating the routines that men on both sides developed to cope with an environment that brought them to the edge of madness. The end began when German army commander Friedrich von Paulus refused to prepare for the counterattack everyone knew was coming. An encircled 6th Army could neither be supplied by air nor fight its way out of the pocket unsupported. Fewer than 10,000 of Stalingrad's survivors ever saw Germany again. For the Soviet Union, the victory became a symbol not of a government, but of a people. The men and women who died in the city's rubble could have had worse epitaphs than this sympathetic treatment. Agent: Andrew Nurnberg. History Book Club main selection; BOMC alternate selection; foreign sales to the U.K., Germany and Russia

…Вот зеркало. Оно терпеть тебя не может, потому и говорит: уходи, лучше тебе на меня не смотреть. Вот люди. Они терпеть тебя не могут, потому и говорят: уходи, лучше тебе не портить пейзаж. Вот человек. Он знать тебя не знает, потому и не говорит с тобой. А если бы знал, то поступил бы так же, как зеркало. Как люди, в чьих пейзажах тебе не место. Но есть другие зеркала. И другие люди. И другой человек. Они непременно увидели бы главное в тебе. И это главное прекрасно. Это главное — редкий дар. Осталось лишь найти их, и это совсем не так сложно, как кажется на первый взгляд… Издано в авторской редакции

Šis sensacinga novelė, prisodrinta įvykių sparta ir pro akis prašaunančiomis absurdo dekoracijomis, leidžia pagalvoti, kad skaitai ne knygą, o žiūri „kietai sukaltą“ Holivudo filmą. O finalas tikrai šokiruoja. Kad taip yra, galime įsitikinti ir mes

J. V.Staļins Par Padomju Savienības Lielo Tēvijas karu  22. jūnijā iesāktais hitleriskās Vācijas nodevīgais kara uzbrukums mūsu dzimtenei — turpinās. Neraugoties uz Sarkanās Armijas varonīgo pretestību, neraugoties uz to, ka ienaidnieka labākās divīzijas un viņa aviācijas labākās daļas jau sakautas un atradušas sev kapu kaujas laukos, ienaidnieks turpina līst uz priekšu, sviežot frontē jaunus spēkus. Hitlera karaspēkam izdevies sagrābt Lietuvu, ievērojamu daļu Latvijas, Baltkrievijas rietumu daļu un daļu Rietumu Ukrainas. Fašistiskā aviācija paplašina savu bumbvedēju darbības rajonus, bombardējot Murmansku, Oršu, Mogiļevu, Smoļensku, Ķijevu, Odesu un Sevastopoli. Mūsu dzimtenei draud nopietnas briesmas. «Darba Balss» e-grāmatu izdevniecība No. 345 Rīga, 2016 darbabalss.eu padomjugrainata.ucoz.com Politisko rakstu apgāds Rīga, 1944

Lieutenant Jonathan Stride knows his partner Maggie Bei is in trouble when she reports a deadly crime on a bitter winter night. She's obviously hiding a terrible secret, and her silence only feeds suspicion. Maggie isn't the only one keeping secrets in Duluth. A seductive young woman has disappeared, leaving behind a stash of lurid fantasies and a cryptic message: I know who it is. Following a twisted trail, Stride uncovers a sordid web of violence and voyeurism that someone is willing to kill to keep hidden. Stride isn't alone. His lover Serena Dial – a homicide cop turned private investigator – is chasing a blackmailer who knows all the city's dirty secrets. Even Maggie's. But as Stride and Serena hunt for a killer, a predator with a vicious past is hunting them – with a terrifying plan for revenge. Now every step they take to expose the truth brings them closer to a showdown amid the howling winds of a winter storm. Where survival in the blinding snow is measured in seconds. Where crimes can be buried forever

Jodi knows that any slip-ups made by the Ophi--a special group of necromancers born under the 13th sign of the zodiac--will fall on her shoulders... and that Hades is just waiting for them to screw up so he can wipe out the Ophi line. Unfortunately, Jodi has only convinced one Ophi to join her school: A hot guy named Chase who jeopardizes her relationship with Alex. Jodi loves Alex, but Chase can enhance her powers with just a touch—making her stronger than any Ophi has ever been. Her mixed emotions send her powers surging out of control, and the dead start rising without her conscious summoning—exactly what Hades doesn't want! If she chooses Alex over Chase, she may lose the battle to Hades, leading the Ophi race to extinction. If she chooses Chase, she might be able to stop Hades for good… but lose everything else. Jodi needs to figure things out fast--because death is stalking her at every turn

Someone is always watching… Derek Flint is a loner. He lives with his mother and spends his evenings watching his clients on the CCTV cameras he has installed inside their homes. He likes their companionship – even if it’s through a screen. When a series of crimes hits Derek’s neighbourhood, DC Beth Mayes begins to suspect he’s involved. How does he know so much about the victims’ lives? Why won’t he let anyone into his office? And what is his mother hiding in that strange, lonely house? As the crimes become more violent, Beth must race against the clock to find out who is behind the attacks. Will she uncover the truth in time? And is Derek more dangerous than even she has guessed? A spellbinding crime novel from the worldwide bestseller Cathy Glass, writing as Lisa Stone

IF THE LIGHTS ARE ON, THEY CAN SEE YOU A film arrives at the National Criminal Investigation Department in Stockholm. It shows a woman, alive, being filmed through the window of her house. She does not know she is being watched. The police don’t take it seriously. Until she is found dead. BUT IF THE LIGHTS ARE OFF When the next video arrives, Detective Margot Silverman frantically searches for any way of identifying the victim. But it is already too late. Because at the time the video was sent, the subject was already facing the terrifying final moments of their life. And without anything to link the victims, the police are powerless to help them. IT’S ALREADY TOO LATE Soon Stockholm is in the grip of terror. Who will the Stalker target next?

Des Visiteurs sont venus sur Terre. Sortis d’on ne sait où,ils sont repartis sans crier gare. Dans la Zone qu’ils ont occupéependant des années sans jamais correspondreavec les hommes, ils ont laissé traînerdes objets de toutes sortes. Objets-pièges. Objets-bombes. Objets-miracles. Objets que les stalkers viennent pillerau risque de leur vie,comme une bande de fourmis coloniseraitsans rien y comprendre les détritus abandonnéspar des pique-niqueurs au bord d’un chemin. Les hommes ne sont-ils doncque des fourmis pour les Visiteurs ? De ce roman étonnant, le cinéaste soviétique Tarkovskya tiré un film admirable

La novela de madurez más sugerente de los maestros de la ciencia ficción rusa. Un vívido retrato del totalitarismo y la alienación del individuo en manos del poder. La ciudad se extiende en una franja limitada al este con un muro que cubre el horizonte y al oeste con un abismo insondable. Nadie sabe desde cuándo existe y sus habitantes, procedentes de distintas épocas y culturas, han resucitado en ella después de morir. Al sur se hallan los cultivos que la alimentan y al norte los yermos que, según cuentan, ocultan la anticiudad. Rica y cargada de simbolismo, Ciudad maldita no pudo ver la luz hasta la llegada de la perestroika. En esta obra, los hermanos Strugatski reflexionan sobre la aplicación de los experimentos sociales sobre el individuo, a la par que satirizan la estructura misma del sistema impuesto, que abarca desde la burocracia anquilosada a la paranoia intervencionista y policial, tal como denunció Orwell en 1984

Bradley Warren had lost something very valuable, something that belonged to someone else: a rare thirteenth century Japanese manuscript called the Hagakure. Everything PI Elvis Cole knew about Japanese culture he'd learned from reading Shogun, but he knew a lot of crooks and what he didn't know, his sociopathic sidekick Joe Pike did. Together their search begins in LA's Little Tokyo and the nest of the notorious Japanese mafia, the yakuza, and leads to a white knuckled adventure filled with madness, murder and sexual obsession just another day's work for Elvis Cole

Vampires, werewolves, mages–the Others are very real, and wreaking havoc in Shiarra Waynest’s life. But now, she’s returning the favor… Once, she was one of the good guys–or as close as a New York P.I. can get. Then Shiarra Waynest was drawn into the world of the Others. Every faction has its own loyalties and agenda. And Shia’s recent betrayal by her ex-boyfriend means that she may be on the verge of becoming a rogue werewolf at the next full moon. Of course, with all the threats against her, Shia’s not sure she’ll live long enough to find out. The enigmatic vampire Royce wants her back in his clutches, as do two powerful werewolf packs, along with the police. Instead of going into hiding, Shia is enlisting the aid of her enchanted hunter’s belt and every dirty P.I. trick she knows. If she’s going down, she’ll take out as many of her enemies as she can–and hope that in the process, she keeps whatever humanity she has left…

What makes me saddest, is the double silence of her being. Language has packed its bags and jumped over the railing of the capsizing ship, but there is also another silence in her or around her. I can no longer hear the music of her soul.' One day, the author's mother no longer remembers the word for 'book'. This seemingly innocuous moment of distraction is the first sign of the slow disintegration of her mind. As Alzheimer's disease sets in and language increasingly escapes her, her son attempts to gather the fragments of what she has become, writing a moving, loving chronicle of the gradual descent into dementia of someone who 'no longer knows who she is, where she is or what will happen

A circle may begin at any point - with a gun, or a an argument, or a butterfly blown by the wind. When someone shoots at the President on tour in Morocco, the shock is less than the mystery. Of all the recent Presidents, why this one? What to do with the shooter, dubbed Prisoner Zero? And - increasingly urgent - who IS Zero? Prisoner Zero will say nothing, and seems to have no past. He could be Arab. He could be American. He could be insane, he could be professional, he could be a lone gunman or represent a vast conspiracy. Maybe he has more than one past. Or maybe the answer lies in the future, where an emperor waits alone in the Forbidden City, for an assassin and a butterfly. Jon Courtenay Grimwood's gripping and brilliantly clever new novel confirms what fans of his Ashraf Bey series have always known - that he is one of Britain's most innovative writers

Utopijna opowieść o genetycznie zmodyfikowanych ludziach, przystosowanych do życia w nieważkości. Bez kontaktu z innymi Ziemianami czworączki prowadzą sielankowy żywot, ale tylko do momentu, gdy interesy konsorcjum łożącego na projekt, w trakcie którego powstali, przestają być ich interesami

Gdy w Szpitalu pojawia się stażystka z Sommaradvy, nic nie zapowiada kłopotów. Wielogatunkowe środowisko jest jednak dla Cha Thrat zaskoczeniem, a zasady, którymi się kieruje, różnią się od wpojonych jej surowych reguł etycznych. Mimo sympatii otoczenia Sommaradvanka popada więc ciągle w kłopoty. Czy wyprawa na Goglesk, w trakcie której Cha Thrat opiekuje się uzdrawiaczem Khone'em, a następnie odkrywa rasę przemierzających kosmos inteligentnych pasożytów, coś zmieni? Czy uratuje jej stojącą pod znakiem zapytania karierę?