The Silent Gondoliers


Book Description

The return of a beloved classic, from the bestselling author of The Princess Bride! “This inventive, offbeat fable has a touch of magic about it.”—Los Angeles Times Once upon a time, the gondoliers of Venice possessed the finest voices in all the world. But, alas, few remember those days—and fewer still were ever blessed to hear such glorious singing. No one since has discovered the secret behind the sudden silence of the golden-voiced gondoliers. No one, it seems, but S. Morgenstern. Now Morgenstern recounts the sad and noble story of the ambitions, frustrations, and eventual triumph of Luigi, the gondolier with the gooney smile. Here, in this brilliantly illustrated exposition of the surprising facts behind this all-but-forgotten mystery, S. Morgenstern reveals the fascinating truths about John the Bastard, Laura Lorenzini, the centenarian Cristaldi the Pickle, Enrico Caruso, Porky XII, the Great Sorrento, the Queen of Corsica—and, of course, the one and only Luigi. His tale will captivate you as much as his song! “Where The Princess Bride was lightheartedly brutal, this story is gently whimsical, well-complemented by Paul Giovanopoulos’s zany drawings.”—San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle




The Silent Gondoliers


Book Description

Recounts the story of Luigi the Gondolier and the secret of the sudden silence of the singing gondoliers of Venice's Grand Canal




The Silent Gondoliers


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The Silent Gondoliers


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The Encyclopedia of Fantasy


Book Description

Like its companion volume, "The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction", this massive reference of 4,000 entries covers all aspects of fantasy, from literature to art.







Boys and Girls Together


Book Description

An “extraordinary” novel of five friends coming of age in 1960s New York City, from a New York Times–bestselling, Academy Award–winning author (The Plain Dealer). William Goldman, the versatile author who gave us classic thrillers like Marathon Man, the immortal comedy of The Princess Bride, and the infamous Hollywood tell-all Adventures in the Screen Trade, offers a beautiful and sweeping novel inspired by his own coming-of-age, set against the backdrop of the New York theater world. In Boys and Girls Together, five friends—each of them young, creative, ambitious, and troubled—make their way to Manhattan in pursuit of their dreams. Aaron, the playwright; Walt, the director; Rudy and Jenny, both actors; and Branch, their producer, all come together to struggle, fight, love, create art, and face the hard truths of life. A popular sensation when it was first published in 1964, Boys and Girls Together remains a masterwork of heartbreaking emotional honesty. This ebook features a biography of William Goldman.




The Silent Showman


Book Description

George Tallis arrived in Australia as a 17-year-old immigrant in 1886, and rose to become head of J.C. Williamson Ltd, the world's largest entertainment organisation. This book is his story, an intriguing view of Australian entertainment between 1886 and 1938.




Marathon Man


Book Description

A Nazi conspiracy in the heart of modern-day Manhattan—the blockbuster New York Times bestseller that became the classic film thriller. At Columbia University, Thomas “Babe” Levy, a postgrad history student and aspiring marathon runner, is working to clear his late father’s name after the scandal of his suicide, triggered by the McCarthy hearings and accusations of Communist affiliations. In Paraguay, Dr. Christian Szell, former Nazi dentist and protégé of Josef Mengele, has been in exile for decades. Infamous as the “White Angel of Auschwitz,” he’s leaving his South American sanctuary to smuggle a fortune in gems out of New York City. Meanwhile, in London’s Kensington Gardens, an international assassin known only as Scylla has completed a hit. A man with too many secrets and twice as many enemies, Scylla has become a target himself, with only one place left to turn. Then, when Babe’s revered older brother, Doc, pays him a fateful and unexpected visit, it sets in motion a chain of events plunging Babe into a paranoid nightmare of family betrayal, international conspiracy, and the dark crimes of history. Now, the marathon man is running for his life, and closer to answering a single cryptic and terrifying question: “Is it safe?” William Goldman’s Marathon Man was adapted by the author for the award-winning 1976 film starring Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier. Upon its publication, the Washington Post called it “one of the best novels of the year,” and it remains a powerful, horrifying read. In the words of #1 New York Times–bestselling author Harlan Coben: “I found myself racing through it. You could have put a gun to my head, and I wouldn’t have been able to put [Marathon Man] down.” This ebook features a biography of William Goldman.




The Kanshou


Book Description

The author of the herstoric and groundbreaking novel Wanderground applies her visionary eye to life in 2087 on the planet Little Blue, in the first of the Earthkeep trilogy of futurist/adventure novels. Drastic environmental changes have affected the gender balance in the human population. With women outnumbering men twelve to one, the world's peacekeeping force, the Kanshoubu, is now almost exclusively female. And the population of violent offenders (or habitantes) confined in global bailiwicks is primarily male. This trilogy examines the nature of violence and peace, its dualism within the human heart regardless of gender, and the manner in which this relationship must be healed by both worldly and otherworldly influences in order to assure the survival of humans, animals, and the very planet itself. -- from Booktopia.com.au