Showing results by author "Robert Butler" in All Categories

Carcosa is a fictional land that first appeared in Bierce’s 1886 story “An Inhabitant of Carcosa” (included in this collection), and later is appeared Robert W. Chambers’s The King in Yellow. It has since been used by many other fantasy and horror writers and poets. This collection explores Carcosa and other fictional cities found in nineteenth-century poetry and short stories. The works of these classic and innovative writers are given new life, and a new generation of listeners will have the chance to voyage to Carcosa … and beyond.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Olen Butler tells a magical and humorous contemporary fable that captures the state of humanity at the cusp of a new millennium - as seen through the uniquely sensitive perspective of an empathetic extraterrestrial. An audible.com audio exclusive!

Contains: Boozehounds I: In which Captain Bonny Red encounters humanity for the first time and finds true kindred spirits from across the stars. Boozehounds II: In which a raid reveals a change in the behavior of the Zenti Expanse and the pirates of The Red Spark embark on a rescue. Boozehounds III: Captain Bonny Red and company find themselves trapped on a primitive world and become embroiled in a fight between a group of marauders, and a people who have just begun to settle down. Bonus Content: Previously unpublished shorts and the author's failed attempt at a story's first few chapters.

Join the last vestiges of Humanity and their alien allies (the reptilian Thrynn, the insectoid Velox, and the plant-based Elowan) as they attempt to carve out their own territory in a sector of space filled with wondrous opportunity and deadly threats. Brave explorers seek out new worlds to colonize while merchants cruise from starport to starport, their holds laden with exotic goods. Not all in this futuristic setting have noble intent. For every prospector and trader attempting to make a difference, a dozen pirates, smugglers, and mobsters engage in all manner of criminal enterprise.

Albaer has nothing good in his life, and a whole lot of bad. An outcast in his home town, regarded as 'the seed of evil' because of his father's selfishness and greed, nobody seems to care what is done to him. Indifferent teachers, bullies who think of him only as an easy target for his passive unwillingness to fight back in his desperate attempt to prove his fundamental goodness, the one thing that lets him endure is a video game. The only thing, that is, until an angel and a demon appear in his room, confused, lost, and afraid... their attempt to summon his video game character into their...

Having settled in to living together... and learning of the horrific truth, Raziel and Lialah are confronted with a new and unexpected challenge... but they are not without means. Their magic has grown, their disguises are flawless... nearly. And they are ready for the challenge of a human school, Albaer's living hell, and they're all in it together.

Fiction, poetry, and music come together to create something new: Verb. Original stories and poems you won't find anywhere else, by the best writers in the country, brought to you in an innovative format. Verb is the ancient oral tradition and the venerable literary magazine combined into a fresh new package: the audioquarterly.

A visionary and poignant novel centered around former newspaperman Sam Cunningham as he prepares to die, Late City covers much of the early 20th century, unfurling as a conversation between the dying man and a surprising God. As the two review Sam's life, from his childhood in the American South to his fledgling newspaper career in Chicago in the Roaring Twenties and the decades that follow, snippets of history are brought sharply into focus.

When the color of your skin is the only thing society sees, even being a doctor is not enough. In this compelling book, Dr. Robert Butler shares his experiences growing up Black in America. From his time as a young boy in the Bronx - up until present day - Dr. Butler has experienced racism in all aspects of his life. The incidents will shock you, but his resilience will inspire you!

Set in contemporary New Orleans but working its way back in time, A Small Hotel chronicles the relationship between Michael and Kelly Hayes, who have decided to separate after 20 years of marriage. The book begins on the day that the Hays are to finalize their divorce. Kelly is due to be in court, but instead she drives to New Orleans and checks into the hotel where she and Michael fell in love some 20 years earlier.

What happens to people's lives during times of battle and strife? From the American Revolution to the ongoing war in Iraq, the subject of this collection is how people cope with the dramatic shifts that come with war. Before Independence, a slave fights for freedom by taking up arms for the British; in World War I, a mother goes to the front lines to see her son; and in our time, a teenager in Oregon waits for e-mail from his father in the Middle East.

Robert Quinlan is a 70-year-old historian, teaching at Florida State University, where his wife Darla is also tenured. Their marriage, forged in the fervor of anti-Vietnam War protests, now bears the fractures of time, both personal and historical, with the couple trapped in an existence of morning coffee and solitary jogging and separate offices. For Robert and Darla, the cracks remain under the surface, whereas the divisions in Robert's own family are more apparent: he has almost no relationship with his brother Jimmy.

Varus the Elder Lich wanted nothing more than to spend eternity writing novels. He cared nothing for the fame or money, and never cared much about the total lack of company in his country cottage. He had his characters and that was plenty. Was, plenty. Until a chance interruption to his work brings some unexpected company into his unlife. It would take all his patience, all his wisdom, and more than a little of his sense of humor, to learn that sometimes being interrupted... Isn't so bad.

This is the ideal collection for all lovers of first-rate erotic literature. Edited by Susie Bright, whom the Utne Reader calls "one of the leading thinkers and visionaries of our time", this fourth annual edition of a best-selling series brings together the most outstanding erotic writing of the year, including peculiarly dark and dangerous takes, as well as cutting-edge forays into the world of cybersex.

In a world with no cities, where elves, dwarves, humans, demons, and all others, live in small settled villages or as wandering tribes, the first city to rise is to them what Gods are to ants. Spreading like a flood, only rumors carried by wanderers survive to warn those who are not yet swept away by nightmare, but in a world where nothing ever changes, who would believe it? Who? Until it was too late, nobody. Nobody but the survivors, and Sadrahan is a survivor. The lone adult to escape along with his newborn daughter, it falls to him to build a new life and a new home, one that nobody can...

"Wanting to be called good is the excuse people give for their cowardice in pursuing their ambitions. It's only evil that ever really changes things, and that makes evil the only good in the world." Such is the conviction of elven assassin, Nua Calen Aiwenor, priestess of the Unliving God, and now, warlord. Setting out from her homeland determined to achieve her dreams in the distant land of Mict'aratz, the former slave is out to either gain the throne of an empire for herself, or a grave. And in that chaotic land of conflicting wills, there are plenty of people who would help her to either.

One simple trip. Just take some xaxa fruit from point A to point B, sell it this cheap stuff at the nearest spaceport where they pay a premium for fresh food, then restock the bar of the Red Spark and move on. But for Captain Bonny Red and her crew, life can just never be that simple. Taking a shortcut to reach their destination, they encounter some zenti raiders, and some most unexpected people who will take the merry band of dlamisan space pirates on yet another misadventure that will end with their plans ruined...and an unexpected treasure along the way.

The struggle for power has created challenges that even for all her preparations, Nua could not have planned for. There are always unknowns, always enemies, and sometimes? Sometimes even the strongest of people need to turn to for help. To that end, she welcomes Gottfried Jadara, the firstborn son of the Mother of Terror with a delivery of enchanted equipment meant to give her members of the faith an edge over all others. There are however, levels upon levels, layers upon layers to her motives, as Gottfried represents not only her greatest hope, but also her greatest fear. If her budding ...

Losing everything is a chance to start again, having nothing is a chance to build something. An exile from his home, and an exile within her own tribe, Archos and Ayente stand at a great crossroads in both their lives. When your own betray you, there is no choice but to place your trust in the strangest of strangers and hope for the best.

The rising tide of the House of Aiwenor has swept away some, while others on board with it have seen themselves rise to new heights. But the even floods must ebb and fight against the dams built to bar the way forward. Ahead of Nua, the Red City, fallen Komestra, prepares to rise again, its armies reformed, its power renewed, her promise... all but fulfilled. Her promise though, was not her ambition. To rule one city is good, to rule them all? Better. And so the wars begin, with sides being taken and armies on the march, new strategies are needed, and old allies from home must be introduced...