Intoxicated Love Story

In 2009, in a private hospital in Exeter, the cry of a newborn baby shocked and delighted several young people outside the operating room.

In 2009, in a private hospital in Exeter, the cry of a newborn baby shocked and delighted several young people outside the operating room.

An "entertaining and enlightening" deep dive into the alcohol-soaked origins of civilization—and the evolutionary roots of humanity's appetite for intoxication (Daniel E. Lieberman, author of Exercised). While plenty of entertaining books have been written about the history of alcohol and other intoxicants, none have offered a comprehensive, convincing answer to the basic question of why humans want to get high in the first place. Drunk elegantly cuts through the tangle of urban legends and anecdotal impressions that surround our notions of intoxication to provide the first rigorous, scientifically-grounded explanation for our love of alcohol. Drawing on evidence from archaeology, history, cognitive neuroscience, psychopharmacology, social psychology, literature, and genetics, Drunk shows that our taste for chemical intoxicants is not an evolutionary mistake, as we are so often told. In fact, intoxication helps solve a number of distinctively human challenges: enhancing creativity, alleviating stress, building trust, and pulling off the miracle of getting fiercely tribal primates to cooperate with strangers. Our desire to get drunk, along with the individual and social benefits provided by drunkenness, played a crucial role in sparking the rise of the first large-scale societies. We would not have civilization without intoxication. From marauding Vikings and bacchanalian orgies to sex-starved fruit flies, blind cave fish, and problem-solving crows, Drunk is packed with fascinating case studies and engaging science, as well as practical takeaways for individuals and communities. The result is a captivating and long overdue investigation into humanity's oldest indulgence—one that explains not only why we want to get drunk, but also how it might actually be good for us to tie one on now and then.

In 2009, in a private hospital in Exeter, the cry of a newborn baby shocked and delighted several young people outside the operating room.

He'd been mine-until I made the biggest mistake of my life.I thought if I put enough time and distance between us, my heart could forget him.I thought wrong.Drake Foster owns my heart, my entire being. He always will.As the pieces of what happened to us begin to fall into place, I realize our relationship had been sabotaged.We'd been pawn s in a game neither of us knew we were playing, and our relationship was the price we paid. Now, we must find our way together before it's too late.

A terrifying short story from Shirley Jackson, the master of the macabre tale. Shirley Jackson's chilling tales of creeping unease and random cruelty have the power to unsettle and terrify unlike any other. When her story The Lottery was first published in The New Yorker in 1948, readers were so horrified they sent her hate mail. It became known as one of the greatest short stories ever written. Have you read her yet? 'Shirley Jackson's stories are among the most terrifying ever written' Donna Tartt 'An amazing writer ... if you haven't read any of her short stories ... you have missed out on something marvellous' Neil Gaiman 'Her stories are stunning, timeless - as relevant and terrifying now as when they were first published ... 'The Lottery' is so much an icon in the history of the American short story that one could argue it has moved from the canon of American twentieth-century fiction directly into the American psyche, our collective unconscious' A. M. Homes Shirley Jackson was born in California in 1916. When her short story The Lottery was first published in The New Yorker in 1948, readers were so horrified they sent her hate mail; it has since become one of the greatest American stories of all time. Her first novel, The Road Through the Wall, was published in the same year and was followed by five more: Hangsaman, The Bird's Nest, The Sundial, The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, widely seen as her masterpiece. Shirley Jackson died in her sleep at the age of 48.

A collection of some of Ellen Gilchrist's best short stories.

They took her. They took the one thing in our miserable lives that means anything to us. When we find her. Revenge will be had. But with that revenge, secrets must unravel. Truths must be told. But with the revelations....Questions arise. Will our bonds of trust be shattered beyond repair? Will the demons that lurk below the surface finally consume us into their darkness? How can we defeat the constant blows coming our way? Well the answer is simple. We fight like hell. But when the biggest setback comes our way? We may just be royally screwed.