All new Fiction by: Gary A. Braunbeck, Hank Schwaeble, David Liss, Norman Partridge and Gemma Files. Interviews with: David Liss, Chelsie Aryn, Joe Bob Briggs and Quentin Tarantino Articles on: The Strange and Bizarre Alejandro Jodorowsky, Stephen King in the Old West - Rocky Wood, The Bloody Spaghetti Western turns 50 Columns from Jonathan Maberry, Yvonne Navarro, Richard Dansky, Robert Morrish and so much more Table of Contents Fiction Fever Springs by Norman Partridge Ungrateful Places by Gary A. Braunbeck Dead Man's Pecker by David Liss Phantom Hill by Hank Schwaeble Satan's Jewel Crown by Gemma Files Interviews A Conversation with David Liss by Joel B. Kirkpatrick Leah Jung presents: The Dark Side of Beauties with Chelsie Aryn by Joel B. Kirkpatrick Joe Bob Briggs: King of the Drive-Ins by Steve Holetz Quentin Tarantino on "Django Unchained" by Nick Freeman Features The Strange and Bizarre Alejandro Jodorowsky by Aaron J. French Stephen King in the Old West by Rocky Wood The Bloody Spaghetti Western turns 50 by James R. Beach Gaming in the Weird West: A Run through the Deadlands by Richard Dansky I Hear Voices in my Head by Yvonne Navarro What the hell ever happened to ... Mark Clements by Robert Morrish Once upon a Nightmare YA Horror: Western Horror by Amy Shane New Column by By Jonathan Maberry and David F. Kramer Literature, Genre, Horror ... and Mormons-What? by Michael R. Collings Hellnotes Reviews Book Reviews Movie Reviews

CRIME + MUSIC: The Sounds of Noir, collects twenty darkly intense, music-related noir stories by world-renowned mystery authors including David Corbett, Tyler Dilts, Brendan DuBois, Bill Fitzhugh, Alison Gaylin, A.J. Hartley, Craig Johnson, David Liss, Val McDermid, Gary Phillips, Peter Robinson, and Zoe Sharp, and, from the music world, Galadrielle Allman, author of Please Be With Me: A Song for My Father, Duane Allman and award-winning songwriter-novelist Willy Vlautin. Edited by novelist and Wall Street Journal rock and pop music critic Jim Fusilli. The lively anthology's chilling, sinister tales tap into the span of rock and pop history, ranging from Peter Blauner's heart-wrenching "The Last Temptation of Frankie Lymon" to Fusilli's "Boy Wonder," set in the world of contemporary electronic dance music; from Naomi Rand's "The Misfits," a punk-rock revenge saga to Mark Haskell Smith's menacingly comedic "1968 Pelham Blue SG Jr."; from Reed Farrel Coleman's study of a one-hit wonder, "Look at Me/Don't Look at Me" to Erica Wright's account of betrayal among minor talents in "A Place You're Likely to Find"--and many more. CRIME + MUSIC exposes the nasty side of the world of popular music, revealing it to be the perfect setting for noir tales.

Lucy Derrick is a young woman of good breeding and poor finances. After the death of her beloved father, she becomes the unwanted boarder of her tyrannical uncle, fending off marriage to a local mill owner. But just as she is resigned to a life of misery, a handsome stranger--the poet and notorious rake Lord Byron--arrives at her house, stricken by what seems to be a curse, and with a cryptic message for Lucy.
With England on the cusp of revolution, Lucy inexplicably finds herself awakened to a world where magic and mortals collide, and the forces of ancient nature and modern progress are at war for the soul of England . . . and the world. The key to victory may be connected to a cryptic volume whose powers of enchantment are unbounded. Now, challenged by ruthless enemies with ancient powers at their command, Lucy must harness newfound mystical skills to preserve humanity's future. And enthralled by two exceptional men with designs on her heart, she must master her own desires to claim the destiny she deserves.
Look for special features inside. Join the Circle for author chats and more.

THE OFFICIAL PREQUEL TO THE BLOCKBUSTER ACTION VIDEO GAME! PETER PARKER is caught in a complicated web. Working in a cutting-edge laboratory, he's a young scientist who's trying to make a difference. Yet he's constantly burdened by the responsibilities of his second career as the crime-fighting... SPIDER-MAN Wilson Fisk-the so-called Kingpin of Crime-has returned to New York, establishing himself publicly as an altruistic entrepreneur and philanthropist. Spider-Man knows better, but he can't uncover Fisk's scheme that, if executed, will make the crime lord "too big to fail." When a new threat-a deadly doppelganger with Spider-Man's suit and abilities-wreaks havoc in the streets, can the real wall-crawler prove his innocence? With the clock ticking and lives on the line, can Spider-Man stop the brutal rampage of the Blood Spider? Will Spider-Man fall to his fears and foes, or will he rise and be greater?

Amsterdam in the 1690s - a boom town with Europe's biggest stock exchange and traders who will stop at nothing to get even richer.

Lienzo, a Portugese Jew, stumbles across a new commodity - coffee - which, if he plays his cards right, will make him the richest man in Holland. But others stand in his way - rival traders who do all in their power to confuse the exchange and scupper his plans, his brother who is jealous of his financial wizardry and even his brother's beautiful wife who both tempts and spurns him in equal measure.
 

The Edgar Award–winning novel A Conspiracy of Paper was one of the most acclaimed debuts of 2000. In his richly suspenseful second novel, author David Liss once again travels back in time to a crucial moment in cultural and financial history. His destination: Amsterdam, 1659—a mysterious world of trade populated by schemers and rogues, where deception rules the day.

On the world’s first commodities exchange, fortunes are won and lost in an instant. Miguel Lienzo, a sharp-witted trader in the city’s close-knit community of Portuguese Jews, knows this only too well. Once among the city’s most envied merchants, Miguel has lost everything in a sudden shift in the sugar markets. Now, impoverished and humiliated, living on the charity of his petty younger brother, Miguel must find a way to restore his wealth and reputation.

Miguel enters into a partnership with a seduc-tive Dutchwoman who offers him one last chance at success—a daring plot to corner the market of an astonishing new commodity called “coffee.” To succeed, Miguel must risk everything he values and test the limits of his commercial guile, facing not only the chaos of the markets and the greed of his competitors, but also a powerful enemy who will stop at nothing to see him ruined. Miguel will learn that among Amsterdam’s ruthless businessmen, betrayal lurks everywhere, and even friends hide secret agendas.

With humor, imagination, and mystery, David Liss depicts a world of subterfuge, danger, and repressed longing, where religious and cultural traditions clash with the demands of a new and exciting way of doing business. Readers of historical suspense and lovers of coffee (even decaf) will be up all night with this beguiling novel.


From the Hardcover edition.

All new Fiction by: Gary A. Braunbeck, Hank Schwaeble, David Liss, Norman Partridge and Gemma Files. Interviews with: David Liss, Chelsie Aryn, Joe Bob Briggs and Quentin Tarantino Articles on: The Strange and Bizarre Alejandro Jodorowsky, Stephen King in the Old West - Rocky Wood, The Bloody Spaghetti Western turns 50 Columns from Jonathan Maberry, Yvonne Navarro, Richard Dansky, Robert Morrish and so much more Table of Contents Fiction Fever Springs by Norman Partridge Ungrateful Places by Gary A. Braunbeck Dead Man's Pecker by David Liss Phantom Hill by Hank Schwaeble Satan's Jewel Crown by Gemma Files Interviews A Conversation with David Liss by Joel B. Kirkpatrick Leah Jung presents: The Dark Side of Beauties with Chelsie Aryn by Joel B. Kirkpatrick Joe Bob Briggs: King of the Drive-Ins by Steve Holetz Quentin Tarantino on "Django Unchained" by Nick Freeman Features The Strange and Bizarre Alejandro Jodorowsky by Aaron J. French Stephen King in the Old West by Rocky Wood The Bloody Spaghetti Western turns 50 by James R. Beach Gaming in the Weird West: A Run through the Deadlands by Richard Dansky I Hear Voices in my Head by Yvonne Navarro What the hell ever happened to ... Mark Clements by Robert Morrish Once upon a Nightmare YA Horror: Western Horror by Amy Shane New Column by By Jonathan Maberry and David F. Kramer Literature, Genre, Horror ... and Mormons-What? by Michael R. Collings Hellnotes Reviews Book Reviews Movie Reviews

From the acclaimed author of The Whiskey Rebels and A Conspiracy of Paper comes a superb new historical thriller set in the splendor and squalor of eighteenth-century London. In Benjamin Weaver, David Liss has created one of fiction's most enthralling characters.
The year is 1722. Ruffian for hire, ex-boxer, and master of disguise, Weaver finds himself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse, pitted against Jerome Cobb, a wealthy and mysterious schemer who needs Weaver's strength and guile for his own treacherous plans.
Weaver is blackmailed into stealing documents from England's most heavily guarded estate, the headquarters of the ruthless British East India Company, but the theft of corporate secrets is only the first move in a daring conspiracy within the eighteenth century's most powerful corporation. To save his friends and family from Cobb's reach, Weaver must infiltrate the Company, navigate its warring factions, and uncover a secret plot of corporate rivals, foreign spies, and government operatives. With millions of pounds and the security of the nation at stake, Weaver will find himself in a labyrinth of hidden agendas, daring enemies, and unexpected allies.
With the explosive action and scrupulous period research that are David Liss's trademarks, The Devil's Company, depicting the birth of the modern corporation, is the most impressive achievement yet from an author who continues to set ever higher standards for historical suspense.

"From the Hardcover edition."

This sequel to the Edgar Award-winning "A Conspiracy of Paper" brings back ex-pugilist Benjamin Weaver and his 18th-century London environs in all their squalid glory. Benjamin is investigating the simple case of a threatening letter when he is caught up in a riot, accused of murder, and sentenced to hang.

America, 1787. Ethan Saunders, once among General Washington's most valued spies, is living in disgrace after an accusation of treason cost him his reputation. But an opportunity for redemption comes calling when Saunders's old enemy, Alexander Hamilton, draws him into a struggle with bitter rival Thomas Jefferson over the creation of the Bank of the United States.
Meanwhile, on the western Pennsylvania frontier, Joan Maycott and her husband, a Revolutionary War veteran, hope for a better life and a chance for prosperity. But the Maycotts' success on an isolated frontier attracts the brutal attention of men who threaten to destroy them.
As their causes intertwine, Joan and Saunders-both patriots in their own way-find themselves on opposing sides of a plot that could tear apart a fragile new nation.

Benjamin Weaver, a Jew and an ex-boxer, is an outsider in eighteenth-century London, tracking down debtors and felons for aristocratic clients. The son of a wealthy stock trader, he lives estranged from his family--until he is asked to investigate his father's sudden death. Thus Weaver descends into the deceptive world of the English stock jobbers, gliding between coffee houses and gaming houses, drawing rooms and bordellos. The more Weaver uncovers, the darker the truth becomes, until he realizes that he is following too closely in his father's footsteps--and they just might lead him to his own grave. An enthralling historical thriller, A Conspiracy of Paper will leave readers wondering just how much has changed in the stock market in the last three hundred years. . . .

Edgar award-winning author of the popular historical novels A Conspiracy of Paper and A Spectacle of Corruption, David Liss showcases his amazing versatility with this brilliant new tale of contemporary suspense: a literary thriller set in Florida, where killing is a matter of conscience.
No one is more surprised than Lem Altick when it turns out he's actually good at peddling encyclopedias door to door. He hates the predatory world of sales, but he needs the money to pay for college. Then things go horribly wrong. In a sweltering trailer in rural Florida, a couple whom Lem has spent hours pitching is shot dead before his eyes, and the unassuming young man is suddenly pulled into the dark world of conspiracy and murder. Not just murder: assassination- or so claims the killer, the mysterious and strangely charismatic Melford Kean, who has struck without remorse and with remarkable good cheer. But the self-styled ethical assassin hadn't planned on a witness, and so he makes Lem a deal: Stay quiet and there will be no problems. Go to the police and take the fall.
Before Lem can decide, he is drawn against his will into the realm of the assassin, a post-Marxist intellectual with whom he forms an unlikely (and perhaps unwise) friendship. The ethical assassin could be a charming sociopath, eco-activist, or vigilante for social justice. To unravel the mystery and save himself, Lem must descend deep into a bizarre world he never knew existed, where a group of desperate-and genuinely deranged-schemers have hatched a plan that will very likely keep Lem from leaving town alive.
David Liss skillfully interweaves a gallery of eccentric characters with a multilayered plot characterized by its unpredictable twists and turns. The Ethical Assassin is a brilliant, darkly comic novel that will leave readers in suspense until the very last page.

"From the Hardcover edition."