The Curious Case Of Captain Cloud

Embark on a magical journey with "The Curious Case of Captain Cloud," a whimsical tale that unfolds in the Enchanted Sky. Join Captain Cloud and the Fluff Pirates as they navigate floating islands, meet fantastical creatures, and discover the wonders of the mystical skies. Each chapter is a new adventure filled with laughter, imagination, and the bonds of friendship. From Cloud Castle Memories to Captain Cloud's Final Farewell, this enchanting story sparks the imagination of young readers and reminds us all that the end of one adventure is the beginning of another. Dive into the clouds and let the Flight of the Whimsical Winds carry you to a world where dreams take flight!

Mark Hodder's second Burton & Swinburne steampunk adventure, following the acclaimed The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack, is filled with eccentric steam-driven technology, grotesque characters, and a deepening mystery. When a clockwork-powered man of brass is found abandoned in Trafalgar Square, Burton and his assistant, the wayward poet Algernon Swinburne, find themselves on the trail of the stolen Garnier Collection--black diamonds rumored to be fragments of the Lemurian Eye of Naga, a meteorite that fell to Earth in prehistoric times. From a haunted mansion to the Bedlam madhouse, from South America to Australia, from séances to a secret labyrinth, Burton struggles with shadowy opponents and his own inner demons. Can the king's agent expose a plot that threatens to rip the British Empire apart, leading to an international conflict the like of which the world has never seen? And what part does the clockwork man have to play? From the Trade Paperback edition.

Although better known today for his novels, in the 1920s F. Scott Fitzgerald ranked among the top writers of magazine fiction. Fitzgerald represented the dreams and aspirations of the post-World War I generation in his life as well as his works. With his glamorous wife, Zelda, and his cosmopolitan social circle, he projected the perfect image for narrating tales of restless youth in a hectic world. These short stories offer insights into many themes, characters, and techniques that emerged in Fitzgerald's later works. The title tale, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," reflects his preoccupation with life's fleeting nature. "Winter Dreams," written three years before The Great Gatsby, shares the concept of commitment to an idealized dream. "Babes in the Woods," developed during the author's Princeton days, evidences the roots of This Side of Paradise. Thirteen other selections offer further insights into the author's growing skills as well as examples of his sparkling prose, understated wit, and deft characterizations.

Set against the magnificent backdrop of Alaska in the waning days of World War II, The Cloud Atlas is an enthralling debut novel, a story of adventure and awakening—and of a young soldier who came to Alaska on an extraordinary, top-secret mission…and found a world that would haunt him forever. Drifting through the night, whisper-quiet, they were the most sublime manifestations of a desperate enemy: Japanese balloon bombs. Made of rice paper, at once ingenious and deadly, they sailed thousands of miles across the Pacific...and once they started landing, the U.S. scrambled teams to find and defuse them, and then keep them secret from an already anxious public. Eighteen-year-old Louis Belk was one of those men. Dispatched to the Alaskan frontier, young Sergeant Belk was better trained in bomb disposal than in keeping secrets. And the mysteries surrounding his mission only increased when he met his superior officer—a brutal veteran OSS spy hunter who knew all too well what the balloons could do—and Lily, a Yup’ik Eskimo woman who claimed she could see the future. Louis’s superior ushers him into a world of dark secrets; Lily introduces Louis to an equally disorienting world of spirits—and desire. But the world that finally tests them all is Alaska, whose vastness cloaks mysteries that only become more frightening as they unravel. Chasing after the ghostly floating weapons, Louis embarks upon an adventure that will lead him deep into the tundra. There, on the edge of the endless wilderness, he will make a discovery and a choice that will change the course of his life. At once a heart-quickening mystery and a unique love story, The Cloud Atlas is also a haunting, lyrical rendering of a little-known chapter in history. Brilliantly imagined, beautifully told, this is storytelling at its very best.

Places the information about the Lakota chief's life within the larger context of Indian tribal conflicts and Anglo-Indian wars

American Fiction Awards Finalist - Mystery/Humor PenCraft Awards Winner for Literary Excellence (Mystery) "Boswell continues his genre-defying series in this ambitious adventure…" –Publishers' Weekly ***This box set includes the first three mystery novels in the Simon Grave Mystery series by Len Boswell. Book #6, Simon Grave and the Wrath of Grapes, is now available! A Grave Misunderstanding (Book 1) Murder has come once more to the seaside town of Crab Cove, testing the mettle of "almost handsome" Detective Simon Grave and his "nearly invisible" partner, Sergeant Barry Blunt, who investigate a locked-room mystery with a significant twist: the prime suspects are in the locked room, not the victim, a logic-defying situation that challenges the team at every turn. As if murder weren't enough, they must also investigate the simultaneous disappearance of The MacGuffin Trophy from that same locked room, the studio of artist Whitney Waters, famous for her stylized paintings of red herrings. Who is/are the killer(s)? How did he/she/they get out of the locked room with the trophy, kill the victim, and return unnoticed by others in the room? These and other questions, including the limits of logic and the meaning of life, are posed and perhaps even answered in this quirky, near-future mystery. Yes, there are robots. Simon Grave and the Curious Incident of the Cat in the Daytime (Book 2) Murder rocks the seaside town of Crab Cove, but to solve the crime, Detective Simon Grave must first deal with the curious incident of the cat in the daytime. Murder has come yet again to the seaside town of Crab Cove, testing the mettle of Detective Simon Grave, his "almost invisible" partner, Sergeant Barry Blunt, and his new assistant, Charlize, a simdroid (an android lookalike of a famous person) who fancies herself a match for Sherlock Holmes, in the simulated body of Charlize Theron. When a body is discovered on a deserted beach, alongside a deactivated Betty White simdroid, the game is afoot. Grave must not only deal with the murder, but also come to grips with a deadly prognosis for his retired detective father. The murder and his father's illness take them on a tour of local cemeteries, including a new graveyard that features multiscreen videos celebrating the lives of the deceased. They soon discover that the only way to solve the murder is to first deal with the curious incident of the cat in the daytime. Simon Grave and the Drone of the Basque Orvilles (Book 3) A demon hound haunts Crab Cove, taking its victims as they come. When a mutilated corpse is found in the marshes, Detective Simon Grave rises to the challenge. Everything points to the hound, but it is quickly apparent that the body has been stabbed repeatedly, in a way that suggests serial killer Chester Clink also may be involved. Or maybe not. Grave and his team, including his partner, Sergeant Barry Blunt, and androids Charlize and Smithers, who fancy themselves as Sherlock Holmes and Watson, follow clues that lead them from drone manufacturing plants, to the labyrinthine caves along the shore, to the abode of a strange Scotsman who plays his bagpipes on a bluff above the crime scene. As always in Crab Cove, one killing leads to another, further pressuring Grave to solve the mystery—fast. The year is 2053. Time to... Release the hounds! (And the drones.)

Tracing an awe-inspiring oceanic route from Boston, around Cape Horn, to the California coast, Two Years Before the Mast is both a riveting story of adventure and the most eloquent, insightful account we have of life at sea in the early nineteenth century. Richard Henry Dana is only nineteen when he abandons the patrician world of Boston and Harvard for an arduous voyage among real sailors, amid genuine danger. The result is an astonishing read, replete with vivid descriptions of storms, whales, and the ship's mad captain, terrible hardship and magical beauty, and fascinating historical detail, including an intriguing portrait of California before the gold rush. As D. H. Lawrence proclaimed, "Dana's small book is a very great book."