The Love Machine


Book Description

The spectacular bestseller from the author of VALLEY OF THE DOLLS. In a time when steak, vodka, and Benzedrine were the three main staples of a healthy diet, when high-powered executives called each other “baby” and movie stars wore wigs to bed, network tycoons had a name for the TV set: they called it “the love machine.” But to supermodel Amanda, socialite Judith and journalist Maggie, “the love machine” meant something else: Robin Stone, “a TV-network titan around whom women flutter like so many moths…The novel deals with his rise and fall as he makes the international sex scene (orgying in London, transvestiting in Hamburg), drinks unlimited quantities and checks out the latest Nielsens.”—Newsweek “I READ IT IN ONE GREEDY GULP, ENJOYING EVERY MINUTE.”—Liz Smith “[Susann’s] pulp poetry resonates to this day. WITH HER FORMULA OF SEX, DRUGS, AND SHOW BUSINESS, Susann didn’t so much capture the tenor of her times as she did predict the Zeitgeist of ours.”—Detour




Love Machine


Book Description

A best-friends-to lovers standalone romance from New York Times bestselling author Kendall Ryan. She says she needs some help ... in the bedroom. Come again? No, really come again. Sweet, nerdy, lovable Keaton. She's my best friend and has been for years. Sure she likes numbers and math, and thinks doing other people's taxes is fun. And I like ... none of that stuff. She's obsessed with her cat and reads novels I'll never understand, and yet we just click. There's no one I'd rather share breakfast burritos with or binge watch hours of Netflix. She's my person. And so when she takes off her glasses and asks me to help her improve her skills in the bedroom, I barely have to think about it. Of course I'll help her. There's no one better for the job. I've been there for her through everything, why should this be any different? But what happens when she's ready to take her new-found confidence and move on?




The Wilds


Book Description

"At an obscure South Carolina nursing home, a lost world reemerges as a disabled elderly woman undergoes newfangled brain-restoration procedures and begins to explore her environment with the assistance of strap-on robot legs. At a deluxe medical spa on a nameless Caribbean island, a middle-aged woman hopes to revitalize her fading youth with grotesque rejuvenating therapies that combine cutting-edge medical technologies with holistic approaches and the pseudo-religious dogma of Zen-infused self-help. And in a rinky-dink mill town, an adolescent girl is unexpectedly inspired by the ravings and miraculous levitation of her fundamentalist friend's weird grandmother. These are only a few of the scenarios readers encounter in Julia Elliott's debut collection, The Wilds. In these genre-bending stories, teetering between the ridiculous and the sublime, Elliott's language-driven fiction uses outlandish tropes to capture poignant moments in her humble characters' lives. Without abandoning the tenets of classic storytelling, Elliott revels in lush lyricism, dark humor, and experimental play. "--




The King, Mcqueen and the Love Machine


Book Description

Contains 55 pictures! From 1970 to 1972, Barbara Leigh and Elvis Presley embarked on a torrid love affair from the moment they locked eyes. At the time, Leigh was a world-class model and actress whose looks and beauty embodied the naturalistic seventies and captured the Kings heart at the same time. Add to this mix an affair with the worlds number one box-office attraction, Steve McQueen, and president of MGM studios and the inspiration for Jacqueline Susans The Love Machine, Jim The Smiling Cobra Aubrey, and you have the decades steamiest love triangle. Leigh herself has a legion of fans in Hollywood and abroad. She is legendary among Presley fans and, over the years, has developed a cult following as she was the original Vampirella, a comic book character created by Forrest J. Ackerman. One of six children, Leigh was born Barbara Ann Kish on November 16, 1946, in Ringgold, Georgia. She was raised in a Miami orphanage since her mother could not afford to raise all six children alone. Married at 14 to her sisters ex-boyfriend, and a mother at 17, she moved to Los Angeles and found work as a doctors assistant. Divorced soon after, Leigh was encouraged by a boyfriend to pose for photos, which led to a successful and glamorous modeling career. That soon led to more than 50 national TV commercials and a burgeoning movie career that boasted 10 films, including the cult classic The Student Nurses, Sam Peckinpahs gentle Junior Bonner and Roger Vadims Pretty Maids All In a Row. By the time she turned 21, Barbara Leigh had already lived several lifetimes worth of experiences. Barbara Leigh resides in Los Angeles, California, but spends a good amount of her time traveling around the country, where she frequently appears as a guest at collectors conventions. Leigh currently is working with Marilyn Grabowski, the west coast editor for Playboy for the last 40 years. In her private time, Ms. Leigh is actively involved with Animal Rescue, a passion she takes very seriously. To reach Barbara Leigh, go to www.barbaraleigh.com. Writer Marshall Terrill resides in Mesa, Arizona, and is the author of five books, including the best-selling biography, Steve McQueen: Portrait Of An American Rebel (Donald I. Fine, 1993) Terrill is currently a reporter for Tribune Newspapers as well as a writing teacher at Mesa and Glendale Community Colleges in Phoenix, Arizona.




The Sacred and Profane Love Machine


Book Description

Swinging between his wife and his mistress in the sacred and profane love machine and between the charms of morality and the excitements of sin, the psychotherapist, Blaise Gavender, sometimes wishes he could divide himself in two. Instead, he lets loose misery and confusion and—for the spectators at any rate—a morality play, rich in reflections upon the paradoxes of human life and the nature of the battle between sacred and profane love.




The Love Machine


Book Description

Natasha Morrison was one of the smartest and most profitable smugglers in the galaxy. Everything in her life, so far, had come easy. That was until she got caught transporting a convicted criminal off Earth. Now she's a prisoner herself, at the mercy of one of the most sexy and lethal androids in the galaxy. Maximillian was a killer android on a mission to find and execute Miles Foster and anyone known to have helped him escape. Unfortunately, the smuggler accused of helping his target is a woman whose bold sensuality awakens feelings in Max he's never experienced before. If he can't stay focused on his mission, he's bound to lose his quarry and his heart.




Love Machine


Book Description

Anti-social people hater, Kokuyou is always going in and out of the hospital. Unable to stand it any longer, his friend Seiki gives him a "replica," a boy android named Shiro who can monitor his health and do chores. At first, Kokuyou can't hide his irritation toward the bumbling Shiro, but will Shiro's puppy-like devotion and dogged perseverance be able to win Kokuyou over in the end?




The Demon in the Machine


Book Description

'A gripping new drama in science ... if you want to understand how the concept of life is changing, read this' Professor Andrew Briggs, University of Oxford When Darwin set out to explain the origin of species, he made no attempt to answer the deeper question: what is life? For generations, scientists have struggled to make sense of this fundamental question. Life really does look like magic: even a humble bacterium accomplishes things so dazzling that no human engineer can match it. And yet, huge advances in molecular biology over the past few decades have served only to deepen the mystery. So can life be explained by known physics and chemistry, or do we need something fundamentally new? In this penetrating and wide-ranging new analysis, world-renowned physicist and science communicator Paul Davies searches for answers in a field so new and fast-moving that it lacks a name, a domain where computing, chemistry, quantum physics and nanotechnology intersect. At the heart of these diverse fields, Davies explains, is the concept of information: a quantity with the power to unify biology with physics, transform technology and medicine, and even to illuminate the age-old question of whether we are alone in the universe. From life's murky origins to the microscopic engines that run the cells of our bodies, The Demon in the Machine is a breath-taking journey across the landscape of physics, biology, logic and computing. Weaving together cancer and consciousness, two-headed worms and bird navigation, Davies reveals how biological organisms garner and process information to conjure order out of chaos, opening a window on the secret of life itself.




How to Speak Machine


Book Description

Visionary designer and technologist John Maeda defines the fundamental laws of how computers think, and why you should care even if you aren't a programmer. "Maeda is to design what Warren Buffett is to finance." --Wired John Maeda is one of the world's preeminent interdisciplinary thinkers on technology and design. In How to Speak Machine, he offers a set of simple laws that govern not only the computers of today, but the unimaginable machines of the future. Technology is already more powerful than we can comprehend, and getting more powerful at an exponential pace. Once set in motion, algorithms never tire. And when a program's size, speed, and tirelessness combine with its ability to learn and transform itself, the outcome can be unpredictable and dangerous. Take the seemingly instant transformation of Microsoft's chatbot Tay into a hate-spewing racist, or how crime-predicting algorithms reinforce racial bias. How to Speak Machine provides a coherent framework for today's product designers, business leaders, and policymakers to grasp this brave new world. Drawing on his wide-ranging experience from engineering to computer science to design, Maeda shows how businesses and individuals can identify opportunities afforded by technology to make world-changing and inclusive products--while avoiding the pitfalls inherent to the medium.




Hug Machine


Book Description

Who have YOU hugged today? Open your arms to this delightfully tender, goofy, and sweet book from Scott Campbell. Watch out world, here he comes! The Hug Machine! Whether you are big, or small, or square, or long, or spikey, or soft, no one can resist his unbelievable hugs! HUG ACCOMPLISHED! This endearing story encourages a warm, caring, and buoyantly affectionate approach to life. Everyone deserves a hug—and this book!