Selections From The Illustrious Annals Of Slagheepian History

This is the first complete English translation of Bealu Girma's classic. Originally published in 1983 in Ethiopia, the novel served as a critical account of the Red Star Campaign, the Communist Derg government's attempt at a final comprehensive victory over the secessionist rebellion in Eritrea. A passionate and turbulent story of love and war, Oromay mocked high-level members of Ethiopia's communist regime and criticized the Derg's actions in Eritrea. The criticism contained in this incisive political allegory put Bealu in considerable danger owing to the repressive environment in which it was published. The novel was almost immediately banned after publication. Government officials attempted to confiscate all available copies but bootleg versions continued to circulate. In the aftermath, Bealu was fired from his job in Ethiopia's Ministry of Information and a few months later disappeared. It is generally believed that he was abducted and killed on the orders of government officials in retaliation for Oromay. Bealu's life had a dramatic arc of its own. Born in rural Ethiopia to an Ethiopian mother and Indian father, he was a graduate of Addis Ababa University and later studied journalism in the United States. In addition to serving as editor of several of Ethiopia's most respected magazines and newspapers (including Addis Zemen and The Ethiopian Herald) he also worked as a civil servant in Ethiopia's Ministry of Information. This position allowed him access to government officials during both the Imperial and Communist governments. Prior to Oromay, he wrote five other popular and critically-acclaimed Amharic-language novels: Beyond the Horizon, The Bell of Conscience, The Call of the Red Star, Haddis, and The Author. His integrity as a journalist, courageous criticism of repressive regimes, and martyrdom to the cause of literary freedom make him a significant figure in modern Ethiopian history and Amharic literature.

It was a dastardly kidnap plot. The Dreaded Hooded Frog has kidnapped Princess Linda. We're off on a wild raucous and riotous hilarious ride across the Multiverse with Billy Space Boy and the Astro Dog, Zap. From Dangerous Danny's Spaceside Burger, Bar, and Disco to the Planet Slagheep, follow the adventures of Billy and Zap as they attempt to rescue Princess Linda and bring peace and tranquility back to the Multiverse. And you thought this was just going to be your standard boring Dreaded Hood Frog and Princess formula story...! Yeah, right.

THE HOTEL MONTICELLO, a little joint at one of many crossroads in time and space. Those that hang out there are an odd lot - an old woman who plays a sad crying violin; a time traveling gangster blues pianist and his blues singing whore; a gay couple fresh out of the big house; the mysterious young woman who wears a Venetian mask; a writer chased across time and space by her own creations; the two-bit hood come to make a buck at the expense of a well known politician; and a small assortment of other down on their luck characters. And the occasional demon that shows up from time to time to entertain themselves at the expense of the hotel clientele, inflicting hideous unimaginable pain and horror on each of them until finally, in the end, there's no one left.

Dear Mom, Joy's vaporator lipstick extracted me onto an enhanced microchip-virtual black ops is what I do nights now, nobody regulates this bio gun biz so they've cut our pay chits like porridge to orphans.. Please cyber credit my kill zones quick... - David S. Pointer

Columbiana County, Ohio - a place of dark woods, meandering creeks, open farmland, and twisting narrow back country roads. It's colorful there, from the flat farmland in the north to the rolling hills in the south. Picture postcard perfect. Almost. There are also the haunted ruins of a lock and canal system, the Sprucevale ghost town, legends of Big Foot, and other...things...said to walk the dark woods. But it wouldn't be so bad if that's all it was. There is something else in those woods, something ancient, as old as time. It waits and watches, and sometimes whispers to the unsuspecting. On rare occasions someone stumbles upon it. Fortunately, most don't live to regret it.