Collection: Adult

This richly imagined novel tells the story behind The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the book that inspired the iconic film, through the eyes of author L. Frank Baum's intrepid wife, Maud.

"A breathtaking read that will transport you over the rainbow and into the heart of one of America's most enduring fairy tales."--Lisa Wingate, author of Before We Were Yours

Hollywood, 1938: As soon as she learns that M-G-M is adapting her late husband's masterpiece for the screen, seventy-seven-year-old Maud Gage Baum sets about trying to finagle her way onto the set. Nineteen years after Frank's passing, Maud is the only person who can help the producers stay true to the spirit of the book--because she's the only one left who knows its secrets.

But the moment she hears Judy Garland rehearsing the first notes of "Over the Rainbow," Maud recognizes the yearning that defined her own life story, from her youth as a suffragette's daughter to her coming of age as one of the first women in the Ivy League, from her blossoming romance with Frank to the hardscrabble prairie years that inspired The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Judy reminds Maud of a young girl she cared for and tried to help in South Dakota, a dreamer who never got her happy ending. Now, with the young actress under pressure from the studio as well as her ambitious stage mother, Maud resolves to protect her--the way she tried so hard to protect the real Dorothy.

The author of two New York Times bestselling nonfiction books, The Eighty-Dollar Champion and The Perfect Horse, Elizabeth Letts is a master at discovering and researching a rich historical story and transforming it into a page-turner. Finding Dorothy is the result of Letts's journey into the amazing lives of Frank and Maud Baum. Written as fiction but based closely on the truth, Elizabeth Letts's new book tells a story of love, loss, inspiration, and perseverance, set in America's heartland.

Praise for Finding Dorothy

"In some ways reminiscent of Jerry Stahl's excellent I, Fatty, Letts' Finding Dorothy combines exhaustive research with expansive imagination, blending history and speculation into a seamless tapestry. . . . It's a testament to Letts' skill that she can capture on the page, without benefit of audio, that same emotion we have all felt sometime over the last 80 years while listening to 'Over the Rainbow.'"--BookPage (starred review)

In World War II-era rural Kentucky, twenty-two-year-old Easter and Anneth, her teenaged sister, lose their parents young, so they must raise each other. Easter finds her life in the Pentecostal Holiness church and its music, while Anneth dances and drinks in less-than-holy honky-tonks. Will the differences in their young lives and in their very natures tear them apart or will the bond of the sisters prevail? In lucid prose with an ear for the voice of the sisters' time and place, Silas House brings readers a rich and moving story of coal country.

This novel was named The Appalachian Book of the Year, and was a finalist for the Southern Book Critics Circle Prize.

Blair brings this novel into a beautiful new paperback edition, along with two other Silas House novels, Clay's Quilt and A Parchment of Leaves. The three novels, which share a common setting and some characters, are companion novels. They may be read individually, in any order, but collectively, they form a rich tableau of life in rural mountain Kentucky in the last century.

From New York Times bestselling author of The Perfect Marriage and You Shouldn't Have Come Here comes a chilling family thriller about the (sometimes literal) skeletons in the closet.

After their mother passes, three estranged siblings reunite to sort out her estate. Beth, the oldest, never left home. She stayed with her mom, caring for her until the very end. Nicole, the middle child, has been kept at arm's length due to her ongoing battle with a serious drug addiction. Michael, the youngest, lives out of state and hasn't been back to their small Wisconsin town since their father ran out on them seven years before.

While going through their parents' belongings, the siblings stumble upon a collection of home videos and decide to revisit those happier memories. However, the nostalgia is cut short when one of the VHS tapes reveals a night back in 1999 that none of them have any recollection of. On screen, their father appears covered in blood. What follows is a dead body and a pact between their parents to get rid of it, before the video abruptly ends.

Beth, Nicole, and Michael must now decide whether to leave the past in the past or uncover the dark secret their mother took to her grave.

The Ultimate Handbook for Success on the Spectrum - Written by and for Autistic People!

I feel like everyone else got a handbook with all the answers, and I never got my copy. This is a common thought among autistic people, because society is built with neurotypical people in mind--but that handbook has finally arrived. Even better, it was written by an autism activist who is on the spectrum himself.

Autistic influencer Daniel M. Jones is an expert on living well on the spectrum. No matter what you're going through as someone with autism, Dan gets it--he's been there. He's here to explain everything he learned, and then some, in this instruction manual and memoir about life as an autistic person. Dan's book is packed with actionable advice that readers can immediately start putting into practice. You'll learn how to navigate common challenges, such as dating on the spectrum, holding down a job, or performing well in school. Best of all, you'll learn to improve your life while also empowering yourself.

Dan's honesty, self-awareness, and sheer knowledge of autism make for a down-to-earth and relatable read that anyone will enjoy. No matter where you are on the spectrum, you'll love this hilarious and comprehensive guide to living an excellent life as an autistic adult.

A stand alone edition of Annie Proulx's beloved story "Brokeback Mountain" (in the collection Close Range)--the basis for the major motion picture directed by Ang Lee, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger, screenplay by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana.Annie Proulx has written some of the most original and brilliant short stories in contemporary literature, and for many readers and reviewers, "Brokeback Mountain" is her masterpiece. Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist, two ranch hands, come together when they're working as sheepherder and camp tender one summer on a range above the tree line. At first, sharing an isolated tent, the attraction is casual, inevitable, but something deeper catches them that summer. Both men work hard, marry, and have kids because that's what cowboys do. But over the course of many years and frequent separations this relationship becomes the most important thing in their lives, and they do anything they can to preserve it. The New Yorker won the National Magazine Award for Fiction for its publication of "Brokeback Mountain," and the story was included in Prize Stories 1998: The O. Henry Awards. In gorgeous and haunting prose, Proulx limns the difficult, dangerous affair between two cowboys that survives everything but the world's violent intolerance.

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER

"Love stories by and about marginalized women . . . The heroines are strong and sure . . . Babalola's writing shines." -- New York Times Book Review

"Absolutely intoxicating." -- Casey McQuiston, New York Times bestselling author of Red, White, and Royal Blue and One Last Stop

A vibrant debut collection of love stories from the bestselling author of Honey and Spice, retelling myths, folktales, and histories from around the world.

A high-born Nigerian goddess, who has been beaten down and unappreciated by her gregarious lover, longs to be truly seen. A young businesswoman attempts a great leap in her company, and an even greater one in her love life. A powerful Ghanaian spokeswoman is forced to decide whether she should uphold her family's politics or be true to her heart.

In her debut collection, internationally acclaimed writer Bolu Babalola retells the most beautiful love stories from history and mythology with incredible new detail and vivacity. Focusing on the magical folktales of West Africa, Babalola also reimagines Greek myths, ancient legends from the Middle East, and stories from long-erased places.

With an eye towards decolonizing tropes inherent in our favorite tales of love, Babalola has created captivating stories that traverse across perspectives, continents, and genres. Love in Color is a celebration of romance in all its many splendid forms.

"I am in love with every single word Bolu Babalola has written. So rarely is love expressed this richly, this vividly, or this artfully." --Candice Carty-Williams, international bestselling author of Queenie

New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice
Philadelphia Inquirer Best Book of the Month
World Literature Today Notable Translation of the Year
CrimeReads: Best International Crime Novel of the Year
Ms. Magazine Most Anticipated Book of the Year
Washington Independent Review of Books Favorite Book of the Year

Parasite meets The Good Son in this piercing psychological portrait of three women haunted by a brutal, unsolved crime.

In the summer of 2002, when Korea is abuzz over hosting the FIFA World Cup, eighteen-year-old Kim Hae-on is killed in what becomes known as the High School Beauty Murder. Two suspects quickly emerge: rich kid Shin Jeongjun, whose car Hae-on was last seen in, and delivery boy Han Manu, who witnessed her there just a few hours before her death. But when Jeongjun's alibi checks out, and no evidence can be pinned on Manu, the case goes cold.

Seventeen years pass without any resolution for those close to Hae-on, and the grief and uncertainty take a cruel toll on her younger sister, Da-on, in particular. Unable to move on with her life, Da-on tries in her own twisted way to recover some of what she's lost, ultimately setting out to find the truth of what happened.

Shifting between the perspectives of Da-on and two of Hae-on's classmates struck in different ways by her otherworldly beauty, Lemon ostensibly takes the shape of a crime novel. But identifying the perpetrator is not the main objective here: Kwon Yeo-sun uses this well-worn form to craft a searing, timely exploration of privilege, jealousy, trauma, and how we live with the wrongs we have endured and inflicted in turn.

In this "riveting, atmospheric thriller that messes with your mind in the best way" (Laini Taylor, New York Times bestselling author), three residents of a secluded, seemingly peaceful commune investigate the disappearances of two outsiders.

Travis Wren has an unusual talent for locating missing people. Often hired by families as a last resort, he takes on the case of Maggie St. James--a well-known author of dark, macabre children's books--and is soon led to a place many believed to be only a legend.

Called Pastoral, this reclusive community was founded in the 1970s by like-minded people searching for a simpler way of life. By all accounts, the commune shouldn't exist anymore and soon after Travis stumbles upon it...he disappears. Just like Maggie St. James.

Years later, Theo, a lifelong member of Pastoral, discovers Travis's abandoned truck beyond the border of the community. No one is allowed in or out, not when there's a risk of bringing a disease--rot--into Pastoral. Unraveling the mystery of what happened reveals secrets that Theo, his wife, Calla, and her sister, Bee, keep from one another. Secrets that prove their perfect, isolated world isn't as safe as they believed--and that darkness takes many forms.

"As spine-chilling as it is beautifully crafted" (Ruth Emmie Lang, author of Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance), A History of Wild Places is a story about fairy tales, our fear of the dark, and losing yourself within the wilderness of your mind.

Lust, Men, and Meth: A Gay Man's Guide to Sex and Recovery provides insight for gay men struggling with the issues of sex and recovery, and for the professionals who work with them. The reader is equipped not only with essential information on the problems of drugs and sexuality, but also with solutions in the form of tools and resources that will support him along his path. The book is unique in its blend of therapeutic perspectives of addiction and sex therapy, from which Dr. Fawcett has integrated the most useful concepts and tools. Additionally, detailed case studies will assist clinicians who, in Dr. Fawcett's many trainings for professionals, have asked for material on substance use, identity, and sexuality in gay-identified men. These insights and tools will be helpful not only in the early stages of sobriety, but for an individual's continuing personal evolution of recovery as well.

The book is divided into three parts to help guide the reader through this multifaceted topic. The first part, "The Perfect Storm," examines how, through the release of dopamine and other neurotransmitters, methamphetamine has phenomenal power to change one's mood and entice the user to ingest ever-increasing amounts of the drug. The role of excitement, risk, and even boredom are explored, along with the vulnerabilities of some gay men who find themselves feeling unattractive, left out, or disconnected and utilize meth to soothe these feelings. Finally, this part of the book explores the unfortunate intersection of meth, the gay community, and the rise of dangerous health concerns such as HIV/AIDS.

The second part, "Exploring the Sexual Universe," provides a sex therapist's perspective on sexual desire and how eroticism develops in the brain, an elaborate world of sexual templates, scripts, and themes that methamphetamine penetrates and distorts. This section also highlights exciting discoveries of neurobiology and the direct impact of the brain's plasticity on the profound problem of the fusion of meth and sex. Dopamine is the central player in the drama of both the feelings produced by drug use and the consequent hijacking of sexual desire. New discoveries about the brain's ability to change and adapt in response to compulsive behaviors shed light both on the harmful consequences of drug use and clues about recovery.

The final part, "Restoring Your Life," explores the process of recovery from this drug in detail, with chapters on specific skills derived from thousands of hours working with clients, managing of feelings, and rethinking perspectives on sex. The reader will find that, with increased distance from the drug, such powerful emotions as vulnerability, anxiety, or shame, which once were buried by meth use, now provide direction to promote emotional transformations that ultimately enrich both the sexual and emotional life. Finally, the reader is guided in rebuilding relationships with himself, his loved ones, and the community as he continues in recovery.

Gay men and their helping professionals will find the information in these pages illuminating and motivating as they create lives of recovery from addiction as well as fulfilling and joyous sexual expression.

"Just plain awesome" -- Brandon Sanderson

Civil unrest cripples the citizens of Adro in the aftermath of the revolution that obliterated the monarchy. Now, Field Marshal Tamas and his lieutenants must confront the true cost of freedom in book one of the Powder Mage Trilogy.

It's a bloody business overthrowing a king. . .

Field Marshal Tamas' coup against his king sent corrupt aristocrats to the guillotine and brought bread to the starving. But it also provoked war with the Nine Nations, internal attacks by royalist fanatics, and the greedy to scramble for money and power by Tamas's supposed allies: the Church, workers unions, and mercenary forces.

It's up to a few. . .

Stretched to his limit, Tamas is relying heavily on his few remaining powder mages, including the embittered Taniel, a brilliant marksman who also happens to be his estranged son, and Adamat, a retired police inspector whose loyalty is being tested by blackmail.

But when gods are involved. . .

Now, as attacks batter them from within and without, the credulous are whispering about omens of death and destruction. Just old peasant legends about the gods waking to walk the earth. No modern educated man believes that sort of thing. But they should. . .

Winner of the David Gemmell Morningstar Award for Best Debut Fantasy.

Enter the dark and sensual realms of the Black Jewels in this sweeping story in the New York Times bestselling fantasy saga of three young women who must navigate life within the powerful SaDiablo family--and come to terms with Witch, the Queen who is still the heart and will of that family.

The Queen's price is to stand against what you know is wrong. To stand and fight, no matter the cost to your court or to yourself. Especially to yourself.

Zoey, a young Queen-in-training at SaDiablo Hall, is wounded...and vulnerable to taunts and criticism. When an opportunity arises to befriend a stranger seeking sanctuary at the Hall, she puts herself and others in danger by ignoring Daemonar Yaslana's warning to back off.

Meanwhile, the witch Jillian's family prepares for her Virgin Night, the rite of passage that assures a woman will retain her power and her Jewels. The trouble is Jillian secretly went through the ceremony already. Now she has to explain the omission of that detail to her powerful and lethal family. And the High Lord of Hell's daughter, Saetien, travels to Scelt to find out about Jaenelle Angelline's sister--and perhaps to discover truths about herself.

With some guidance from Witch, these three young women will learn when to yield because it is right--and when to take a stand, even if they must pay the Queen's price.

A professor of religious studies meticulously documents his insights from 73 high-dose LSD sessions conducted over the course of 20 years

- Chronicles, with unprecedented rigor, the author's systematic journey into a unified field of consciousness that underlies all physical existence

- Makes a powerful case for the value of psychedelically induced spiritual experience and discusses the challenge of integrating these experiences into everyday life

- Shows how psychedelic experience can take you beyond self-transformation into collective transformation and help birth the future of humanity

On November 24, 1979, Christopher M. Bache took the first step on what would become a life-changing journey. Drawing from his training as a philosopher of religion, Bache set out to explore his mind and the mind of the universe as deeply and systematically as possible--with the help of the psychedelic drug LSD. Following protocols established by Stanislav Grof, Bache's 73 high-dose LSD sessions over the course of 20 years drew him into a deepening communion with cosmic consciousness.

Journey alongside professor Bache as he touches the living intelligence of our universe--an intelligence that both embraced and crushed him--and demonstrates how direct experience of the divine can change your perspective on core issues in philosophy and religion. Chronicling his 73 sessions, the author reveals the spiral of death and rebirth that took him through the collective unconscious into the creative intelligence of the universe. Making a powerful case for the value of psychedelically induced spiritual experience, Bache shares his immersion in the fierce love and creative intent of the unified field of consciousness that underlies all physical existence. He describes the incalculable value of embracing the pain and suffering he encountered in his sessions and the challenges he faced integrating his experiences into his everyday life. His journey documents a shift from individual consciousness to collective consciousness, from archetypal reality to Divine Oneness and the Diamond Luminosity that lies outside cyclic existence.

Pushing the boundaries of theory and practice, the author shows how psychedelic experience can take you beyond self-transformation into collective transformation, beyond the present into the future, revealing spirit and matter in perfect balance.

From the award-winning author of the Dreamland series comes a new dark romantic fantasy about a young woman finding hope in her powers of destruction.

The Thief Kingdom is a place hidden within the world of Aadilor. Many whisper of its existence, but few have found this place, where magic and pleasure abound. There, the mysterious Thief King reigns supreme with the help of the Mousai, a trio of revered and feared sorceresses.

Larkyra Bassette may be the youngest of the Mousai, but when she sings her voice has the power to slay monsters. When it's discovered the Duke of Lachlan is siphoning a poisonous drug from the Thief Kingdom and using it to abuse his tenants, Larkyra is offered her first solo mission to stop the duke. Eager to prove herself, Larkyra accepts by posing as the duke's potential bride. But her plans grow complicated when she finds herself drawn to Lord Darius Mekenna, Lachlan's rightful heir. Soon she suspects Darius has his own motivations for ridding Lachlan of the corrupt duke. Larkyra and Darius must learn to trust each other if there is to be any hope of saving the people of Lachlan--and themselves.

Welcome to the world of Aadilor, where lords and ladies can be murderers and thieves, and the most alluring notes are often the deadliest. Dare to listen?

National Book Critics Circle Award Winner, Nonfiction

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2022 BY THE NEW YORKER, TIME MAGAZINE, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, VOX, SALON, LIT HUB, AND VANITY FAIR

"Entertaining and illuminating."--The New Yorker * "Compulsively readable."--New York Times * "Delicious, humane, probing."--Vulture * "The best and most important book about acting I've ever read."--Nathan Lane

The critically acclaimed cultural history of Method acting-an ebullient account of creative discovery and the birth of classic Hollywood.

On stage and screen, we know a great performance when we see it. But how do actors draw from their bodies and minds to turn their selves into art? What is the craft of being an authentic fake? More than a century ago, amid tsarist Russia's crushing repression, one of the most talented actors ever, Konstantin Stanislavski, asked these very questions, reached deep into himself, and emerged with an answer. How his "system" remade itself into the Method and forever transformed American theater and film is an unlikely saga that has never before been fully told.

Now, critic and theater director Isaac Butler chronicles the history of the Method in a narrative that transports readers from Moscow to New York to Los Angeles, from The Seagull to A Streetcar Named Desire to Raging Bull. He traces how a cohort of American mavericks--including Stella Adler, Lee Strasberg, and the storied Group Theatre--refashioned Stanislavski's ideas for a Depression-plagued nation that had yet to find its place as an artistic powerhouse. The Group's feuds and rivalries would, in turn, shape generations of actors who enabled Hollywood to become the global dream-factory it is today. Some of these performers the Method would uplift; others, it would destroy. Long after its midcentury heyday, the Method lives on as one of the most influential--and misunderstood--ideas in American culture.

Studded with marquee names--from Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, and Elia Kazan, to James Baldwin, Ellen Burstyn, and Dustin Hoffman--The Method is a spirited history of ideas and a must-read for any fan of Broadway or American film.

A memoir in essays that expands on the viral sensation "The Crane Wife" with a frank and funny look at love, intimacy, and self in the twenty-first century. From friends and lovers to blood family and chosen family, this "elegant masterpiece" (Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of Hunger) asks what more expansive definitions of love might offer ​us all.

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: TIME, THE GUARDIAN, GARDEN & GUN

"Hauser builds their life's inventory out of deconstructed personal narratives, resulting in a reading experience that's rich like a complicated dessert--not for wolfing down but for savoring in small bites." --The New York Times

"Clever, heartfelt, and wrenching."
--Time

"Brilliant."
--Oprah Daily

Ten days after calling off their wedding, CJ Hauser went on an expedition to Texas to study the whooping crane. After a week wading through the gulf, they realized they'd almost signed up to live someone else's life.

What if you released yourself from traditional narratives of happiness? What if you looked for ways to leave room for the unexpected? In Hauser's case, this meant dissecting pop culture touchstone, from The Philadelphia Story to The X Files, to learn how not to lose yourself in a relationship. They attended a robot convention, contemplated grief at John Belushi's gravesite, and officiated a wedding. Most importantly, they mapped the difference between the stories we're asked to hold versus those we choose to carry.

Told with the late-night barstool directness of your wisest, most bighearted friend, The Crane Wife is a book for everyone whose path doesn't look the way they thought it would; for everyone learning to find joy in the not-knowing and to build a new sort of life story, a new sort of family, a new sort of home to live in.

"A terrific collection of essays - I couldn't put it down"--Kathi Weeks, author, The Problem with Work

"A vibrant and much needed collection - not just for trans people - but the left in general"--Shon Faye, author, The Transgender Issue

The first collection of its kind, Transgender Marxism is a provocative and groundbreaking union of transgender studies and Marxist theory.

Exploring trans lives and movements, the authors delve into the experience of surviving as transgender under capitalism. They explore the pressures, oppression and state persecution faced by trans people living in capitalist societies, their tenuous positions in the workplace and the home, and give a powerful response to right-wing scaremongering against "gender ideology'." Chapters include:

*Trans Work: Employment Trajectories, Labour Discipline and Gender Freedom by Michelle O'Brien
*Judith Butler's Scientific Revolution: Foundations for a Transsexual Marxism by Rosa Lee
*How Do Gender Transitions Happen? By Jules Joanne Gleeson
*A Queer Marxist Transfeminism: Queer and Trans Social Reproduction by Nat Raha
*The Bridge between Gender and Organizing by Farah Thompson
*Transgender and Disabled Bodies - Between Pain and the Imaginary by Zoe Belinsky
*Seizing the Means: Towards a Trans Epistemology by Nathaniel Dickson
*"Why Are We Like This?" The Primacy of Transsexuality by Xandra Metcalfe
*Cosmos Against Nature in the Class Struggle of Proletarian Trans Women by Anja Heisler Weiser Flower
*Afterword: One Utopia, One Dystopia by Jordy Rosenberg

Reflecting on the relations between gender and labor, these essays reveal the structure of antagonisms faced by gender non-conforming people within society. Looking at the history of transgender movements, Marxist interventions into developmental theory, psychoanalysis and workplace ethnography, the authors conclude that for trans liberation, capitalism must be abolished.