This real-life inspired, yet fictional, young adult and adult fable focuses on a young Inyupiaq (Northern Native Alaskan) who was born into a troubled home when the U.S. was just beginning its involvement with her rural arctic village. The text, interwoven with Emily Dickinson inspired poetry, is comprised of vivid descriptions of Alaskan tundra, intense and whimsical dialogue between varied dynamic characters, and action-filled, intelligent, and suspenseful narrative as Samantha ventures into endless Alaska. One day, Sam wakes up after one of her father's drunken evenings and leaves her arctic village in the middle of winter with nothing but the essentials to survive. Mid-walk, she encounters a polar bear and its cub. With her home blocked by these territorial gargantuas, she is tempted to take an adventure into the -20 - -40 degree weather. With her questionable choice, she ends up having to fend off off wildlife, the elements, and even polar bear. A mere 80 miles from the Arctic Ocean in the Alaskan wilderness, Sam begins to redefine her perspective on the lifelong stories she has heard from elders, her relationship with her seized sister, supportive best friend, goofy uncle, drunk father, and troubled mother. She even begins to change her perspective on interracial relations.

"He flicked the coin onto the table and it spun lazily, resting on tails. An eagle, squatting on a cactus, snake held aloft in its beak. Cinco pesos, the worn script read . . . " Within these covers, you will find murderous dropbears, zombie kangaroos and undead camels. Poignant endings to the world mash-up with muscle car battles, featuring feral killers that make Mad Max look like the Disney channel. Everything is a Graveyard delves into the fantastic, the horrifying, the sad and the just plain weird.

Shedding profound natural light on the inner lives of migrant workers, Jaime Cortez's debut collection ushers in a new era of American literature that gives voice to a marginalized generation of migrant workers in the West. The first-ever collection of short stories by Jaime Cortez, Gordo is set in a migrant workers camp near Watsonville, California in the 1970s. A young, probably gay, boy named Gordo puts on a wrestler's mask and throws fists with a boy in the neighborhood, fighting his own tears as he tries to grow into the idea of manhood so imposed on him by his father. As he comes of age, Gordo learns about sex, watches his father's drunken fights, and discovers even his own documented Mexican-American parents are wary of illegal migrants. Fat Cookie, high schooler and resident artist, uses tiny library pencils to draw huge murals of graffiti flowers along the camp's blank walls, the words "CHICANO POWER" boldly lettered across, until she runs away from home one day with her mother's boyfriend, Manny, and steals her mother's Panasonic radio for a final dance competition among the camp kids before she disappears. And then there are Los Tigres, the perfect pair of twins so dark they look like indios, Pepito and Manuel, who show up at Gyrich Farms every season without fail. Los Tigres, champion drinkers, end up assaulting each other in a drunken brawl, until one of them is rushed to the emergency room still slumped in an upholstered chair tied to the back of a pick-up truck. These scenes from Steinbeck Country seen so intimately from within are full of humor, family drama, and a sweet frankness about serious matters - who belongs to America and how are they treated? How does one learn decency, when laborers, grown adults, must fear for their lives and livelihoods as they try to do everything to bring home a paycheck? Written with balance and poise, Cortez braids together elegant and inviting stories about life on a California camp, in essence redefining what all-American means.

The new century saw a furthering of violence hinged in some bizarre way to organized religion, religions that were centuries old and born of good will toward man. Within months of the terror attacks ultimately linked to Bin Laden and his platter. The initial shock, horror, revulsion and sorrow was now replaced with vengeance served up big-time and brought to you nightly by CNN or whoever had the best feed. The far reaching effects trickled down into the communities we lived in. Surprise anthrax packages, remember Tom Brokaw's little gift at the network home site? The attacks continue today with assaults at Fort Hood attributed to a madman, English transit, in Spain and everyday something new. The recent Shafia trial in Kingston Ontario was blocks from our fictitious setting, imagine... The setting is ever changing in this thriller set between Ontario prisons and the fluid world of terrorists who maneuver their agenda with well laid out plans that cover several months or more of planning. We've grown somewhat callous perhaps to the daily bombings and activities of the Middle East. Picture some of the same events in our own towns and communities, the scope of the 911 attacks on a smaller scale, but with potential to devastate lives. A must read

Welcome to New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller Brandon Sanderson's first collection of short fiction. These wonderful works, originally published individually, have been collected for the first time and convey the true expanse of the Cosmere. Telling the exciting tales of adventure Sanderson fans have come to expect, Arcanum Unbounded include the Hugo Award-winning novella 'The Emperor's Soul', an excerpt from the graphic novel 'White Sand', and the never-before-published Stormlight Archive novella 'Edgedancer'. The collection will include nine works in all: 'Edgedancer' (Stormlight Archive) 'The Hope of Elantris' (Elantris) 'The Eleventh Metal' (Mistborn) 'The Emperor's Soul' (Elantris) 'Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania' (excerpt; Mistborn) 'White Sand' (excerpt; Taldain) 'Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell' (Threnody) 'Sixth of Dusk' (First of the Sun) 'Mistborn: Secret History' (Mistborn) This superb collection also includes essays and illustrations which offer an insight into the numerous worlds in which the stories are set.

In this unique collection of stories, each story chronicles an emotional dance of some type-the dance of life, the dance of death. Each story resonates with the knowledge that every person must learn the steps to his or her own dance and with the subtle reality that each of us recognizes when the dance is over. In "Lost," Ginny longs for the innocence of a life that is long gone-obliterated by alcohol and lost love. She has lost the desire to live and love; she is hopeless, even in the face of life in the exotic South Pacific. In "The Yellow Dress," set in New Zealand, Joseph Miller is mourning the loss of his beloved wife and wondering how he will spend his remaining time-since he is also unwell. He wanders aimlessly through his days, not focusing on anything in particular. Then one day, by chance, he joins some people at a cultural performance, the type of event he would have normally skipped in the past. That night something happens that changes him-and once again he finds himself joining the dance of life. "All in Order" explores the dance of marriage, hindered by the neuroses of man to whom order is of utmost importance. "The Dancing Hills" depicts the dance of new relationship in which both the tune and the dancers are somewhat unconventional. Full of life, love and emotions, the stories in "Dances" will awaken your heart and take you along on some surprising journeys.

October 31st. It's been called everything from "Sowein," "Samhain," and "Mischief Eve" to "Devil's Night" and the "Season of the Witch." Its most common moniker of course is "Halloween." It is that mysterious night of the year when the veil between reality and that of the underworld grows so thin as to allow spirits of the dead to commune with the living. This compendium is a tribute to the entire month. Hallow Evil is a darkly-delightful panoply of short fiction and poetry authored by master of horror, Chris Cook. Herein are thirty-one writings. This collection of peculiar poems, twisted tales and oft-times humorous pieces are designed to chill your bones on cool, fall evenings. They can be read throughout the month of October, one piece per calendar day. Or you may devour the book in one sitting. However you digest these entrails, make Hallow Evil a new tradition in your home. When October's winds whistle through skeletal trees, dust off the hideous cover and crack open the spine like the creaky lid of a coffin in decay. Read by the flicker of a Jack-O-Lantern. Settle in for a long night of mystery and the macabre