In the brutal, dark world of ancient Europe, a vast hidden treasure could determine the fate of the Roman Empire. Voterix, a Celtic warlord, seeks the lost gold to fund a massive army to overthrow the Roman occupation of Gaul. The stage is set for a bloody Celtic uprising until Jules, a beautiful Galatian slave girl, arrives in Genava. Mysterious Druids and the legions of Rome are on a collision course with Voterix as they desperately race to find the elusive treasure of Cimbrionis. Centuries later, two college roommates receive a mysterious package that sets in motion a deadly hunt for the...

From mom-and-pop general stores to big-box, strip-mall chains, it is impossible to consider the American experience without thinking about the buying-and-selling retail culture: the sales and the stockrooms, the shift managers, and the clock punchers. The Customer Is Always Wrong is a tragicomic and all-too revealing collection of essays by writers who have done their time behind the counter and lived to tell their tales. Jim DeRogatis, author of Let It Blurt, for example, describes hanging out with Al himself at Al Rocky's Music Store, while Colson Whitehead explains how three...

Jeff Martin was born in 1980. Jeff Martin made millions on the stock market. Jeff Martin lost millions on the stock market. Jeff Martin stopped a Chinese tank at Tiananmen Square. Jeff Martin managed Michael Dukakis s 1988 presidential campaign. Jeff Martin co-wrote "Aliens 2: More Aliens" with James Cameron. Jeff Martin had a torrid and brief creative relationship with Disney s animation department. Jeff Martin disguised himself as a midget, joined NASA, and became the first-ever child in space, all in tribute to the "Challenger" space shuttle tragedy.
Such is only a sample of the...

The way we absorb information has changed dramatically. Edison's phonograph has been reincarnated as the iPod. Celluloid went digital. But books, for the most part, have remained the same--until now. And while music and movies have undergone an almost Darwinian evolution, the literary world now faces a revolution, a sudden change in the way we buy, produce, and read books.

Scholars, journalists, and publishers have turned their brains inside out in the effort to predict what lies ahead, but who better to comment on the future of the book than those who are driven to write them?

In...