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Peter Taylor is well-known as a masterful writer of short stories set in the old South; not the well-explored South of explosive passions, but an urban world of faded gentility and empty custom. In his almost Jamesian evocations of the mannered upper classes in his native Tennessee, he neither romanticizes nor reviles, but meticulously observes, revealing the patterns of social behavior that leave the individual at the mercy of a relentless past. In this, only the second novel of his long career and the winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, Taylor weaves a rich social web in telling the story of one family's stark social decline, symbolized by a move from Nashville to Memphis, and of the consequences through the years and down the generations..
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Law professor Ray Atlee and his prodigal brother, Forrest, are summoned home to Clanton, Mississippi, by their ailing father to discuss his will. But when Ray arrives the judge is already dead, and the one-page document dividing his meager estate between the two sons seems crystal clear. What it doesn't mention, however, is the small fortune in cash Ray discovers hidden in the old man's house--$3 million he can't account for and doesn't mention to brother Forrest, either.

Ray's efforts to keep his find a secret, figure out where it came from, and hide it from a nameless extortioner, who seems to know more about it than he does, culminate in a denouement with an almost biblical twist. It's a slender plot to hang a thriller on, and in truth it's not John Grisham's best in terms of pacing, dramatic tension, and interesting characters (except for Harry Rex, a country lawyer who was the judge's closest friend and in many ways is the father Ray wishes he'd had. He's so vivid he jumps off the page). But Grisham's legions of fans are likely to enjoy The Summons even if it lacks the power of some of his classic earlier books, like The Firm, The Brethren, and The Testament. --Jane Adams.
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The Taurus Reach: a remote interstellar expanse that holds a very old and potentially cataclysmic secret, the truth of which is feared by the Tholians, coveted by the Klingons, and dubiously guarded by the Federation At the center of this intrigue is Vanguard, a Federation starbase populated by an eclectic mix of Starfleet officers and civilians, whose lives are forever altered as they explore the layers of mystery surrounding the Reach and steadily peel them away...one after another.

In the aftermath of Harbinger, Commodore Diego Reyes commands Vanguard while waging an intensely personal struggle, tasked to uncover the true significance of the Taurus Reach while simultaneously concealing that mission from his fellow officers -- and even his closest friends. As the Daedalus-class U.S.S. Lovell brings some of Starfleet's keenest technical minds to help, the U.S.S. Endeavour makes a find that could shed further light on the enigmatic meta-genome that has captured the Federation's interest -- if its crew survives the discovery....

Deep within the Taurus Reach, an ancient and powerful alien mind has awakened prematurely from aeons of hibernation, alerted to the upstart civilizations now daring to encroach upon the worlds in her care. With the stakes for all sides escalating rapidly, the alien lashes out with deadly force against the interlopers, propelling the Vanguard crew on a desperate race to understand the nature of the attacker, and to prevent the Taurus Reach from becoming a war zone..
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Ever notice that the boundary between the supernatural and mundane worlds is very thin in eastern Canada? Tanya Huff made Toronto a vampire territory and hotbed of evil eruptions (Blood Price, Blood Trail, Blood Lines, Blood Pact, Blood Debt). Now she moves to Kingston, Ontario, for Summon the Keeper.

Claire Hansen, the Keeper, is summoned to the Elysian Fields Guest House to reseal a hole in the basement, which is literally an opening to Hell. The owner and monitor of the site disappears, leaving Claire stuck managing the place until the problem is solved. Her new employee, Dean McIssac, is a gorgeous Newfie who cooks, cleans, and lives the Boy Scout oath. Then there's Jacques Labaet: very French Canadian, very sexy, very dead. Jacques is a ghost who wants to be the man in Claire's life. Oh yeah, and there's Austin, a talking cat with attitude: "I barely know you, but I'm assuming you're human. I'm not saying this is a good thing, it's just the way it is."

Huff keeps the plot moving and the quips coming to the very end. Fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series will find this novel light but refreshing. --Nona Vero.
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The Summons
Once Judge Atlee was a powerful figure in Clanton, Mississippi–a pillar of the community who towered over local law and politics for forty years. Now the judge is a shadow of his former self, a sick, lonely old man who has withdrawn to his sprawling ancestral home. Knowing the end is near, Judge Atlee has issued a summons for his two sons to return to Clanton to discuss his estate.
The summons is typed by the judge himself, on his handsome old stationery, and gives the date and time for his sons Ray and Forrest to appear in his study. But the judge dies too soon, and in doing so leaves behind a shocking secret.

The Brethren
They call themselves the Brethren: three disgraced former judges doing time in a Florida federal prison.
Meeting daily in the prison law library, taking exercise walks in their boxer shorts, these judges-turned-felons can reminisce about old court cases, dispense a little jailhouse justice, and contemplate where their lives went wrong.
Or they can use their time in prison to get very rich -- very fast. And so they sit, sprawled in the prison library, furiously writing letters, fine-tuning a wickedly brilliant extortion scam ... while events outside their prison walls begin to erupt..
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In this first full-scale ethnographic study of Yemeni tribal poetry, Steven Caton reveals an astonishingly rich folkloric system where poetry is both a creation of art and a political and social act. Almost always spoken or chanted, Yemeni tribal poetry is cast in an idiom considered colloquial and "ungrammatical," yet admired for its wit and spontaneity. In Yemeni society, the poet has power over people. By eloquence the poet can stir or, if his poetic talents are truly outstanding, motivate an audience to do his bidding. Yemeni tribesmen think, in fact, that poetry's transformative effect is too essential not to use for pressing public issues.
Drawing on his three years of field research in North Yemen, Caton illustrates the significance of poetry in Yemeni society by analyzing three verse genres and their use in weddings, war mediations, and political discourse on the state. Moreover, Caton provides the first anthropology of poetics. Challenging Western cultural assumptions that political poetry can rarely rise above doggerel, Caton develops a model of poetry as cultural practice. To compose a poem is to construct oneself as a peacemaker, as a warrior, as a Muslim. Thus the poet engages in constitutive social practice.
Because of its highly interdisciplinary approach, this book will interest a wide range of readers including anthropologists, linguists, folklorists, literary critics, and scholars of Middle Eastern society, language, and culture..
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Eighteen months ago, Katie Webster lived a life that most people can only dream of. She'd shaken off the shadows of her past. Discovered a faith that sustained her through every obstacle And married Ben Webster owner of the fabled five-star hotel chain, The Hamilton Place, in a whirlwind storybook romance. Life finally seemed so right. And then...everything exploded. Days after Katie and Ben discovered an illegal escort service operating out of their New York City hotel, Ben's car was bombed. His body was never found. Now Katie has stepped into the role of CEO and President of The Hamilton Place. She hopes against all hope that Ben isn't dead...that he'll soon return...that she'll finally be able to tell him the truth about herself. When Katie begins to receive expensive gifts, it seems that Ben is quietly announcing his presence. Or is Katie's shadowy past finally catching up to her? This gripping sequel to SHADOW OF DREAMS is the unforgettable story of one woman's faith and courage in a nightmare of betrayal and revenge..
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Interlude By Madeleine Oh A borrowed cottage, an ancient magic spring, wild erotic dreams and the mysterious Dai Hughes all lure Alex to the wildest side of wild Wales. Life Sentence By Jennifer Dunne Samantha Taylor expected the erotic art book to offer her an escape, not release Master Giacomo. Italian, hunky and a skilled Master, Giacomo is a triple-threat devoted to giving Sam the ultimate pleasure as his submissive. Having let one man control her life, Sam was damned if she'd let another do it, no matter how he made her body burn. But Giacomo is damned, and if he fails, he really will go to Hell. The Cajun By Dominique Adair During a storm in the marshes of Southern Louisiana, Rachel Thierry finds herself seeking shelter in an old cabin, never dreaming a childhood friend now resides there. Etienne Broussard's trip into New Orleans was curtailed and he returns home to find Rachel sound asleep in front of the fireplace. All softness and curves, and with a sexual hunger as deep as his own, Rachel is everything he ever wanted in a woman. Outside the storm rages as Rachel and Etienne push the boundaries of friendship and their passions erupt into a fiery inferno that will forever change their lives..
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