The Idiota Code -Poppycock Place Series

      Tobias Dingbat
     The Idiota Code -Poppycock Place Series

Decaffeinated murder and violence creamed with humour. If you were Papa Speculatus III pontiff of the American Capitalist Church on Wall St, and the ancient Calamari Brotherhood stole the anti-clutter reactor to kill you and your Cardinals, and snitch your billions, what would you do? Hire Botzi & Noodles to investigate? The Papa did, and disaster came along for the ride. You'll giggle with terrorWhen four Zurich Gnomes of the American Capitalist Church are kidnapped, Noodles and Botzi are summoned by Papa Speculatus III to his Basilica, the Golden Sucks Tower on Wall Street to go on a mission and save them. The missing Capitalist monsignors are the only ones who hold the codes to the multi-billion bullion stored in Swiss caves. Our boys can’t unravel teaser clues which they found, and as a last resort they enlist the brains of the famous Negative Detective, Professor Matto Pipistrello to explain what is going on. Alas, some serious murders cause a change in plans, and the Bio-Teks have to return to tell the Papa he too is in great danger. The anti-clutter reactor which Noodles invented has been stolen from the CERN laboratories in Switzerland and the ancient brotherhood of the Calamari, thought extinct, has surfaced with a vengeance, not only to annihilate Papa Speculatus III but also the whole Capitalist Church….But wait! -There’s more…..Who is Leonardo da Ladro? And what are chief Nazis Hermann Goering, Joseph Goebels, Heinrich Himmler and Albert Speer doing singing Wagnerian arrangements in the key of Hitler from the skies over Manhattan?

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    So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish

      Douglas Adams
     So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish

The quest continues in the fourth volume in the ever-popular Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. Against all odds, at the eleventh hour, and in the unlikeliest place of all, the intrepid Arthur Dent finds the girl of his dreams. After eight years and about 100,000 lightyears of intergalactic travel, he is looking a little down-at-the-heels himself, and she is heavily sedated because she thinks she is a hedgehog. She is also in the company of a brother that Arthur wouldn’t wish on a Vogon. But they are both in search of God’s Final Message to His Creation, and hey, this time they might actually find it.

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    Money in the Bank

      P. G. Wodehouse
     Money in the Bank

About The Author: Pelham Grenville Wodehouse was born in 1881 in Guildford, the son of a civil servant, and educated at Dulwich College. He spent a brief period working for the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank before abandoning finance for writing, earning a living by journalism and selling stories to magazines. An enormously popular and prolific writer, he produced about 100 books. In Jeeves, the ever resourceful "gentleman's personal gentleman", and the good-hearted young blunderer Bertie Wooster, he created two of the best known and best loved characters in twentieth century literature. Their exploits, first collected in Carry On, Jeeves, were chronicled in fourteen books, and have been repeatedly adapted for television, radio and the stage. Wodehouse also created many other comic figures, notably Lord Emsworth, the Hon. Galahad Threepwood, Psmith and the numerous members of the Drones Club. He was part-author and writer of fifteen straight plays and 250 lyrics for some 30 musical comedies. The... Name: P. G. Wodehouse Also Known As: Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (full name); P. Brooke-Haven, Pelham Grenville, J. Plum, C. P. West, J. Walker Williams, and Basil Windham Date of Birth: October 15, 1881 Place of Birth: Guildford, Surrey, England Date of Death: February 14, 1975 Place of Death: Southampton, New York Education: Dulwich College, 1894-1900 Biography Pelham Grenville Wodehouse was born in 1881 in Guildford, the son of a civil servant, and educated at Dulwich College. He spent a brief period working for the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank before abandoning finance for writing, earning a living by journalism and selling stories to magazines. An enormously popular and prolific writer, he produced about 100 books. In Jeeves, the ever resourceful "gentleman's personal gentleman", and the good-hearted young blunderer Bertie Wooster, he created two of the best known and best loved characters in twentieth century literature. Their exploits, first collected in

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    Inspector Flytrap in the President's Mane Is Missing

      Tom Angleberger
     Inspector Flytrap in the President's Mane Is Missing

Welcome to Inspector Flytrap’s Detective Agency, home to the world-renowned solver of BIG DEAL mysteries. Inspector Flytrap, a Venus flytrap, works tirelessly with his assistant Nina the Goat, a goat, on his community’s unsolved cases. There’s no case too big, but there are definitely cases too small for this endearingly self-important plant detective. In book two, Inspector Flytrap and Nina the Goat return in a set of mysteries involving the president of the United States and a very large horse statue that mysteriously attracts a threat from outer space. This wacky, illustrated early-chapter-book series combines the masterful humor of Tom Angleberger with the critically acclaimed art of his wife, author-illustrator Cece Bell.

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    The Wishbones

      Tom Perrotta
     The Wishbones

Everything is going pretty well for Dave Raymond. He's 31, but he still feels young. He's playing guitar with the Wishbones, a New Jersey wedding band, and while it isn't exactly the Big Time, it is music. He has a roof over his head...well, it's his parents' roof, but they don't hassle him much. Life isn't perfect, but it isn't bad. Not bad at all. But then he has to blow it all by proposing to his girlfriend.

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    Wild Ducks Flying Backward

      Tom Robbins
     Wild Ducks Flying Backward

Known for his meaty seriocomic novels–expansive works that are simultaneously lowbrow and highbrow–Tom Robbins has also published over the years a number of short pieces, predominantly nonfiction. His travel articles, essays, and tributes to actors, musicians, sex kittens, and thinkers have appeared in publications ranging from Esquire to Harper’s, from Playboy to the New York Times, High Times, and Life. A generous sampling, collected here for the first time and including works as diverse as scholarly art criticism and some decidedly untypical country- music lyrics, Wild Ducks Flying Backward offers a rare sweeping overview of the eclectic sensibility of an American original. Whether he is rocking with the Doors, depoliticizing Picasso’s Guernica, lamenting the angst-ridden state of contemporary literature, or drooling over tomato sandwiches and a species of womanhood he calls “the genius waitress,” Robbins’s briefer writings often exhibit the same five traits that perhaps best characterize his novels: an imaginative wit, a cheerfully brash disregard for convention, a sweetly nasty eroticism, a mystical but keenly observant eye, and an irrepressible love of language. Embedded in this primarily journalistic compilation are a couple of short stories, a sheaf of largely unpublished poems, and an off-beat assessment of our divided nation. And wherever we open Wild Ducks Flying Backward, we’re apt to encounter examples of the intently serious playfulness that percolates from the mind of a self-described “romantic Zen hedonist” and “stray dog in the banquet halls of culture.” From the Hardcover edition.

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    Sketches New and Old

      Mark Twain
     Sketches New and Old

Sketches New and Old is a compilation of fictional stories written by Mark Twain. Among them is "A Ghost Story". In each story, one can catch a great sense of Twain's humor and creativity. These classic sketches from Twain are no longer than 10 minutes each, but all show his quick-witted humor in response to the events of the day. A real storyteller can make a great story out of anything, even the most trivial occurrence. Composed between 1863 and 1875, the 63 often outrageous sketches in Sketches, New and Old contain, for instance, a piece about the difficulty of getting a pocket watch repaired properly; complaints about barbers and office bores; and satirical comments on bureaucrats, courts of law, the profession of journalism, the claims of science, and the workings of government. In Mark Twain's hands, all these potentially dry and dull topics bristle with vitality and interest. "What fascinates Twain," Lee Smith writes in her introduction, is how people "react to the things that happen to them." Twain "lets them speak in their own voices by and large, in a chorus ranging from high-flown oratory to the plain speech of working people.... It seems generally true that the more elevated the speech, the likelier that person is to be an idiot; words of wisdom and common sense are invariably voiced by the common man" - or woman. "The most profound and moving sketch in this whole collection" Smith writes, is one "told by a freed slave." The candid, ironic, playful, and petulant sketches in this volume are indispensable to our understanding of a harried genius during 13 quite amazing years.

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    The Almost Wives Club: Kate

      Nancy Warren
     The Almost Wives Club: Kate

Sometimes Prince Charming is the one who turns out to be the frog, and true love appears in the most unexpected places.Follow the cursed dress through five sets of bridal hands as four more women join The Almost Wives Club.Five Brides–One DressKate Winton-Jones is marrying one of America’s most eligible bachelors. Edward Carnarvon III is rich, handsome and hers. But at the final fitting of her wedding gown, one of the seamstresses pricks her and a tiny blood spot appears on the outrageously expensive gown. Its famous designer fires the clumsy seamstress on the spot, whereupon the girl puts a curse on the dress and storms out. Kate doesn't believe in curses. She’s modern, American and in love with the perfect guy. What could go wrong?But that very evening she meets a man who makes her question her future. And then she discovers that Edward has been hiding a secret or two… and before you can say, “This dress is so cursed,” she’s on the run from Edward, his family, her mother, the paparazzi and the person she thought she was.When the man who discovers her hiding place turns out to be the last man she should trust, it’s time to throw her cautious good sense out with the satin shoes she won’t be wearing. Playing it safe hasn’t done her much good. Maybe it’s time to play by a new set of rules. Her rules.Sometimes Prince Charming is the one who turns out to be the frog, and true love appears in the most unexpected places.Follow the cursed dress through five sets of bridal hands as four more women join The Almost Wives Club.These are complete novels. Watch for:Secondhand Bride coming in April, 2015Bridesmaid for Hire coming in May, 2015The Wedding Flight in June, 2015If the Dress Fits in July 2015

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    The Actor and the Housewife

      Shannon Hale
     The Actor and the Housewife

A very different kind of fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Shannon Hale. *What if you were to meet the number-one person on your laminated list—you know, that list you joke about with your significant other about which five celebrities you’d be allowed to run off with if ever given the chance? And of course since it’ll never happen it doesn’t matter… * Mormon housewife Becky Jack is seven months pregnant with her fourth child when she meets celebrity hearththrob Felix Callahan. Twelve hours, one elevator ride, and one alcohol-free dinner later, something has happened…though nothing has happened. It isn’t sexual. It isn’t even quite love. But a month later Felix shows up in Salt Lake City to visit and before they know what’s hit them, Felix and Becky are best friends. Really. Becky’s husband is pretty cool about it. Her children roll their eyes. Her neighbors gossip endlessly. But Felix and Becky have something special…something unusual, something completely impossible to sustain. Or is it? A magical story, The Actor and the Housewife explores what could happen when your not-so-secret celebrity crush walks right into real life and changes everything.

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    Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story

      Christopher Moore
     Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story

'Twas the night (okay, more like the week) before Christmas, and all through the tiny community of Pine Cove, California, people are busy buying, wrapping, packing, and generally getting into the holiday spirit.But not everybody is feeling the joy. Little Joshua Barker is in desperate need of a holiday miracle. No, he's not on his deathbed; no, his dog hasn't run away from home. But Josh is sure that he saw Santa take a shovel to the head, and now the seven-year-old has only one prayer: Please, Santa, come back from the dead.But hold on! There's an angel waiting in the wings. (Wings, get it?) It's none other than the Archangel Raziel come to Earth seeking a small child with a wish that needs granting. Unfortunately, our angel's not sporting the brightest halo in the bunch, and before you can say "Kris Kringle," he's botched his sacred mission and sent the residents of Pine Cove headlong into Christmas chaos, culminating in the most hilarious and horrifying holiday party the town has ever seen.Move over, Charles Dickens -- it's Christopher Moore time.

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    Persister: Space Funding Crisis I

      Casey Hattrey
     Persister: Space Funding Crisis I

A lot can go wrong in six months of chryosleep, and Dr. Karen Arianne has been under for 153 years. Even worse, the most powerful force in the galaxy, the Central Academic Funding Council Administration, now has application forms so long they come with embedded therapy. But before she can worry about that, Arianne will have to find out why so many cultural evolution researchers are being murderedIn theory, getting funding for research in the 45th century is easy. You just fill in a few thousand forms and send it to the most powerful force in the galaxy - the Central Academic Funding Coucil Administration. However, the bureaucracy induced by the vast distances of outer space mean that decisions take so long that the only sensible solution is chryogenetic freezing. However, Dr. Karen Arianne did not expect to be frozen for 153 years. In that time, all space-hell has broken loose, and she now has as much chance of getting a job as a space wolf in galaxy town. Also, idioms seem to have changed a bit in a century and a half. Come to think of it, so has everyone's language and culture.She has been woken from chryosleep to solve a mystery. Someone is murdering people who study cultural evolution, an important field in a pan-galacitc community where languages change faster than messages take to reach their destinations.Who would want to kill researchers? Can she trust the Administration? What are the mysterious Bloggeration planning? Will she ever get a job?Satire that puts the pace in space opera and the fun in academic funding application. And the itch in hyper-niche.Cover images adapted from:VST images the Lagoon Nebula by ESO/VPHAS+ team https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:VST_images_the_Lagoon_Nebula.jpgEngraved Printing Plate by Edinburgh City of Print https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Engraved_printing_plate.jpg

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    Encounters With Animals

      Gerald Durrell
     Encounters With Animals

'I once travelled back from Africa on a ship with an Irish captain who did not like animals. This was unfortunate, because most of my luggage consisted of about two hundred odd cages of assorted wildlife . . .' Gerald Durrell's accounts of the animals he encountered on his travels were some of the first widely shared descriptions of the world's most extraordinary animals. Moving from the West Coast of Africa to the northern tip of South America - and elsewhere - Durrell observes the courtships, wars and characters of a variety of creatures, from birds of paradise, to ants and anteaters, among others. Told with his trademark charm and humour, Gerald Durrell's Encounters with Animals is a uniquely entertaining exploration of some of the world's most striking landscapes and the wildlife it is home to.

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    Eric

      Terry Pratchett
     Eric

Discworld's only demonology hacker, Eric, is about to make life very difficult for the rest of Ankh-Morpork's denizens. This would-be Faust is very bad. . . at his work, that is. All he wants is to fulfill three little wishes:to live forever, to be master of the universe, and to have a stylin' hot babe. But Eric isn't even good at getting his own way. Instead of a powerful demon, he conjures, well, Rincewind, a wizard whose incompetence is matched only by Eric's. And as if that wasn't bad enough, that lovable travel accessory the Luggage has arrived, too. Accompanied by his best friends, there's only one thing Eric wishes now -- that he'd never been born!

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