Tor Essentials presents science fiction and fantasy titles of proven merit and lasting value, each volume introduced by an appropriate literary figure.Acclaimed as one of the most original voices in modern literature, a winner of the World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement, Raphael Aloysius Lafferty (1914-2002) was an American original, a teller of acute, indescribably loopy tall tales whose work has been compared to that of Avram Davidson, Flannery O'Connor, Flann O'Brien, and Gene Wolfe.The Best of R. A. Lafferty presents 22 of his best flights of offbeat imagination, ranging from classics like "Nine-Hundred Grandmothers" (basis for the later novel) and "The Primary Education of the Cameroi," to his Hugo Award-winning "Eurema's Dam."Introduced by Neil Gaiman, the volume also contains story introductions and afterwords by, among many others, Michael Dirda, Samuel R. Delany, John Scalzi, Connie Willis, Jeff VanderMeer, Kelly Robson, Harlan Ellison,...

A New York Review Books Original Everything Flows is Vasily Grossman’s final testament, written after the Soviet authorities suppressed his masterpiece, Life and Fate. The main story is simple: released after thirty years in the Soviet camps, Ivan Grigoryevich must struggle to find a place for himself in an unfamiliar world. But in a novel that seeks to take in the whole tragedy of Soviet history, Ivan’s story is only one among many. Thus we also hear about Ivan’s cousin, Nikolay, a scientist who never let his conscience interfere with his career, and Pinegin, the informer who got Ivan sent to the camps. Then a brilliant short play interrupts the narrative: a series of informers steps forward, each making excuses for the inexcusable things that he did—inexcusable and yet, the informers plead, in Stalinist Russia understandable, almost unavoidable. And at the core of the book, we find the story of Anna Sergeyevna, Ivan’s lover, who tells about her eager involvement as an activist in the Terror famine of 1932–33, which led to the deaths of three to five million Ukrainian peasants. Here Everything Flows attains an unbearable lucidity comparable to the last cantos of Dante’s Inferno.

WolfeBlade (De Wolfe Pack Generations)

"Handeland is at the top of her game in this taut thriller. Part detective tale, part supernatural chiller, this is a full-on exciting read." Romantic TimesIn the RITA® nominated Thunder Moon, the Blue Ridge Mountains are a haunted place—literally.Cherokee sheriff, Grace McDaniel, has dealt with paranormal entities before and is not surprised that they're back. After a freak thunderstorm the elderly residents in Lake Bluff, Georgia start to die. Upon further examination, their hearts are missing.Ian Walker, a Cherokee doctor who blends native and traditional medicine, also arrives with the Thunder Moon. He bears the mark of a warrior on his back and wears an eagle feather in his hair. Ian hides both powerful medicine and a painful past. Grace is attracted immediately, despite her mistrust of strangers, secrecy and magic.As the creature preying on the town's residents gains strength and begins to kill not just the old but the young and healthy as well, Grace and Ian must team up in...

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When I'm not a test pilot flying for the U.S. Air Force, I can be found risking my life in other ways.Skydiving. No problem.Bungee jumping off a bridge. Like a pro.Paragliding in Switzerland. Time of my life.Zorbing in New Zealand. Fun as hell.You see...all these life-risking adventures are not just a hobby for me, not just a way to pass the time. I needthe adrenaline rush like I need my next breath. I'm addicted to it. It's the only thing that allows me to bury my painful past—even if only for as long as it takes for me to come down from the high. All that matters is that I'm able to forget. And every heart-stopping moment of it was working...at least, until she appeared back in my life.Both my worst nightmare and my wildest dream all wrapped up in one beautiful woman...a woman I was still very much in love with.And that's not the worst part...Linnzi Cunningham has no idea who I am. She has no idea how intertwined...

It is a strong proof of the diffusive tendency of every thing in this country, that America never yet collected a fleet. Nothing is wanting to this display of power but the will. But a fleet requires only one commander, and a feeling is fast spreading in the country that we ought to be all commanders; unless the spirit of unconstitutional innovation, and usurpation, that is now so prevalent, at Washington, be controlled, we may expect to hear of proposals to send a committee of Congress to sea, in command of a squadron. We sincerely hope that their first experiment may be made on the coast of Africa. It has been said of Napoleon that he never could be made to understand why his fleets did not obey his orders with the same accuracy, as to time and place, as his corps d\'armée. He made no allowances for the winds and currents, and least of all, did he comprehend that all important circumstance, that the efficiency of a fleet is necessarily confined to the rate of sailing of the dullest of its ships. More may be expected from a squadron of ten sail, all of which shall be average vessels, in this respect, than from the same number of vessels, of which one half are fast and the remainder dull. One brigade can march as fast as another, but it is not so with vessels. The efficiency of a marine, therefore, depends rather on its working qualities, than on its number of ships.

"A Piece of the World is a graceful, moving and powerful demonstration of what can happen when a fearless literary imagination combines with an inexhaustible curiosity about the past and the human heart: a feat of time travel, a bravura improvisation on the theme of art history, a wonderful story that seems to have been waiting, all this time, for Christina Baker Kline to come along and tell it." —Michael Chabon, New York Times bestselling author of MoonglowFrom the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the smash bestseller Orphan Train, a stunning and atmospheric novel of friendship, passion, and art, inspired by Andrew Wyeth's mysterious and iconic painting Christina's World. "Later he told me that he'd been afraid to show me the painting. He thought I wouldn't like the way he portrayed me: dragging myself across the field, fingers clutching dirt, my legs twisted behind. The arid moonscape of wheatgrass and...