Boy Wonder Valancourt 20th Century Classics

Told in the form of interviews with those who knew and hated him, this hilarious and irreverent mockumentary recounts the rise and fall of notorious Hollywood producer Shark Trager. As a young man, Shark had dreams of directing artistic movies, but when his film school project is savaged by a snobby French critic, Shark turns instead to producing exploitative trash, the more shocking and outrageous the better. Fueled by a nonstop supply of sex and drugs, Shark's life and work become increasingly bizarre and erratic. Yet we meet a different side of Shark too, as we learn how he saved a group of Sunday school teachers held hostage by terrorists, prevented a horrific attack on Nancy Reagan by a sex-crazed donkey, and single-handedly took out a squad of dangerous neo-Nazis posing as disabled schoolchildren. It all leads up to a wild and explosive finale when, against all odds, one of Shark's films finds itself a contender for the Academy Awards--but the ceremony doesn't go exactly according to plan ... Riotously funny, wickedly politically incorrect, and completely impossible to put down, James Robert Baker's satire of the film industry Boy Wonder (1988), long revered as a cult classic, returns to print at last in this new edition, which includes an afterword by his partner, Ron Robertson. "[A]mphetamine-drenched, violence-riddled, sex-steeped . . . an exhilarating read." -- John Keilman, Chicago Tribune "Wild invention, bizarre plot twists . . . a raunchy, funny, savvy tale." -- Kirkus Reviews

'An exquisite book.' - E. M. Forster 'No other novelist of today can recapture more clearly than Mr. Reid the sense of early wonder and adventurous childhood.' - "The Times" 'An altogether remarkable book.' - "Glasgow Herald" Left in the care of his unloving stepmother after his father's death, sixteen-year-old Tom Barber has a vivid dream one night in which he sees his Uncle Stephen, whom he has never met and who is rumoured to have been mixed up in scandal and the practice of black magic. Unhappy at home and not knowing what to expect when he arrives at Uncle Stephen's manor house, Tom runs away, hoping to live with his uncle. In his depiction of Tom's initiation into Uncle Stephen's mystic creed, his illicit love for the poacher Jim Deverell, and his adventures with Philip, a mysterious boy with a strange and fantastic connection to Uncle Stephen's past and Tom's future, Forrest Reid's artistic vision finds its fullest expression. The first in Reid's Tom Barber trilogy, "Uncle Stephen" (1931) is both a tale of boyhood adventure in the tradition of Mark Twain and a story of the supernatural in the vein of Sheridan Le Fanu and Walter de la Mare. This new edition of the book E.M. Forster considered Reid's masterpiece features a new introduction by Andrew Doyle along with never before published photographs and archival materials.

Baker's groundbreaking novel of simmering rage and justifiable violence follows combative ex-lovers Tim and Pete, thrown together on a bizarre trek from Laguna Beach, Calif., to Los Angeles. Sarcastic, satiric, violent, and exhilarating, "Tim & Pete" is a fiercely imagined, boldly realized vision of the cultural war raging in the hearts of the disenfranchised and in the streets of America.

The epoch-making novel The Blue Lagoon has inspired numerous movie adaptations and has been disturbing the imagination of the fans of adventure sea stories for more than a century. It is the most successful and famous novel by Henry De Vere Stacpoole, telling a story of life and fate of two marooned kids who are left to themselves on a tropical island. They grow relying only on their wit, resourcefulness and the bounty of tropical nature that gives them food and shelter. The two fall in love with each other as they grow older.

In this volume, you will encounter tales of ghosts, haunted houses, witchcraft, vampirism, lycanthropy, and sea monsters. Stories of cruelty and vengeance, of a body that refuses to be cremated, a deranged performer with one last shocking show, a frozen corpse that may not be dead. With stories ranging from frightening to horrific to weird to darkly funny, by a lineup of authors that includes both masters of horror fiction and award-winning literary greats, this is a horror anthology like no other. Spanning two hundred years of horror, this new collection features seventeen macabre gems, including two original tales and many others that have never or seldom been reprinted, by: Charles Birkin • John Blackburn • Michael Blumlein • Mary Cholmondeley • Hugh Fleetwood • Stephen Gregory • Gerald Kersh • Francis King • M. G. Lewis • Florence Marryat • Richard Marsh • Michael McDowell • Christopher Priest • Forrest Reid • Bernard Taylor • Hugh Walpole 'The things were there and they were hiding in the slime; waiting ... waiting to clutch and claw and savage’ - AUNTY GREEN by John Blackburn ‘The sound that came from her throat, a small, pleading cry of terror, was cut off before she’d hardly had a chance to utter it’ - OUT OF SORTS by Bernard Taylor ‘The words filled her with an indescribable fear, and she turned to run; but her way was blocked by a figure, gigantic in stature​ – and its monstrous shape moved towards her, and she knew it was the incarnation of evil itself ’ - THE TERROR ON TOBIT by Charles Birkin

Elementals is the first in a new series that fans of Percy Jackson and The Secret Circle will love! When Nicole Cassidy moves from sunny Georgia to gloomy New England, the last thing she expects is to learn that her homeroom is a cover for a secret coven of witches. Even more surprisingly ... she's apparently a witch herself. Despite doubts about her newfound abilities, Nicole is welcomed into this ancient circle of witches and is bedazzled by their powers-and, to her dismay, by Blake-the school's notorious bad-boy. Girls who get close to Blake wind up hurt. His girlfriend Danielle will do anything to keep them away, even if she must resort to using dark magic. But the chemistry between Blake and Nicole is undeniable, and despite wanting to protect Nicole from Danielle's wrath, he finds it impossible to keep his distance. When the Olympian Comet shoots through the sky for the first time in three thousand years, Nicole, Blake, Danielle, and two others in their homeroom are gifted with mysterious powers that have never been seen before. But the comet has another effect-it opens the portal to the prison world that has contained the Titans for centuries. After an ancient monster escapes and attacks Nicole and Blake, it's up to them and the others to follow the clues from a cryptic prophecy so that they can save their town ... and possibly the world.

A classic work of surreal fiction, originally published in 1978, is a passionate and violent love story about adolescent obsession and revenge. By the author of The House of the Solitary Maggot. Original.