While bringing in his latest fugitive, Hal's payday is interrupted by the blue boxes that herald Earth's introduction to the System - a galaxy spanning wave of structured mystical energy that...

From the wild and wacky world of favorite funnyman Jean Shepherd, a dozen truer-than-life tales of tailgating on the Jersey Tumpike, infuriating infants, and other everyday catastrophes, defeats, and humiliations that are the familiar fate of Americans everywhere. Jean Shepherd was one of America’s favorite humorists, his most notable achievement being the creation of the indefatigable Ralphie Parker and his quest for a BB gun in the holiday classic A Christmas Story. But he was so much more, a comic Garrison Keillor–like figure whose unique voice transcended the airwaves and affected a whole generation of nostalgic Americans. A Fistful of Fig Newtons is classic Jean Shepherd—sidesplittingly funny and sardonically irreverent. It is a brilliant comic assessment of American life—all of them delivered in Jean Shepherd’s witty, classy, unforgettable style.

Fourteen outstanding authors. Fourteen extraordinary stories. One bestselling universe.It's the Twenty-Second Century. The galaxy has opened up to humanity as a hyperactive beehive of stargates and new technologies, and we suddenly find ourselves in a vast playground of different races, environments, and cultures. There's just one catch: we are pretty much at the bottom of the food chain.Enter the Four Horsemen universe, where only a willingness to fight and die for money separates Humans from the majority of the other races. Enter a galaxy not only of mercenaries, but also of Peacemakers, bounty hunters, and even a strung out junkie in the way of a hired assassin.Edited by bestselling authors and universe creators Mark Wandrey and Chris Kennedy, "A Fistful of Credits" includes all-new stories in the Four Horsemen universe by a variety of bestselling authors--and some you may not have heard of...yet. The fourteen authors take on various aspects of the universe, giving you additional insight into a galaxy that isn't at war...but definitely isn't at peace. There's only one thing for sure--anything's possible for a fistful of credits!Inside you'll find:Foreword by Dr. Charles E. Gannon"The Last Alpha" by Mark Wandrey"Breach of Contract" by Terry Mixon"Paint the Sky" by Jason Cordova"Surf and Turf" by Jon R. Osborne"Stand on It" by Kevin Ikenberry"Lost and Found" by Jon Del Arroz"Gilded Cage" by Kacey Ezell"Legends" by Christopher Woods"With the Eagles" by Doug Dandridge"Dead or Alive" by Paul Corcoran"Hide and Seek" by Christopher Nuttall"Information Overload" by Charity Ayres"Enough" by Chris Kennedy"CASPer's Ghost" by Brad R. Torgersen

The World Changes. Dreams Don't. Mystical towers changed the world twenty years ago. Now, Arthur Chua faces the beginner tower in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, looking to change his destiny. What was once a puzzling mystery has become a necessary part of economic growth. Climbing the Tower is the only form of escape available for one like Arthur, without money or connections. He's not looking to be a hero or famous, just a survivor. Fate, on the other hand, has other plans for him. At long last, the reason for the arrival of the Towers will be revealed, and humanity will once again experience a seismic shift when the truth appears. Of course, Arthur's going to have to survive long enough for that to happen... Climbing the Ranks is a LitRPG Cultivation series set in a tower, similar to the Tower of Gods and Solo Leveling. Written by bestselling author Tao Wong, his other series include the System Apocalypse, A Thousand Li, Hidden Wishes and Adventures on Brad series.

After the breakup of the USSR, it briefly appeared as though Russia's emerging commercial banks might act as engines of growth for a new capitalist economy. However, despite more than a decade of "reforms," Russia's financial system collapsed in 1998. Why had ambitious efforts to decentralize and liberalize the banking industry failed? In A Fistful of Rubles, Juliet Johnson offers the first comprehensive look at how Russia's banks, once expected to revitalize the nation's economy, instead became one of the largest obstacles to its recovery.Drawing on interviews with Russian bankers, policymakers, and entrepreneurs, Johnson traces the evolution of the banking system from 1987 through the aftermath of the 1998 crash. She describes how dysfunctional institutional procedures left over from the Soviet period hindered the subsequent development of sound financial practices. Johnson argues that these legacies, along with misguided, Western-inspired liberalization policies, led to the creation of parasitic banks for which success depended on political connections rather than on investment strategies. Johnson demonstrates that banking reform efforts ultimately did more harm than good, because Russian officials and their international advisers failed to build the corresponding economic, legal, and political institutions upon which modern market behavior depends.

After a century of reinvention and, frequently, reinterpretation, Western movies continue to contribute to the cultural understanding of the United States. And Western archetypes remain as important emblems of the American experience, relating a complex and coded narrative about heroism and morality, masculinity and femininity, westward expansion and technological progress, and assimilation and settlement. In this collection of new essays, 21 contributors from around the globe examine the "cowboy cool" iconography of film and television Westerns--from bounty hunters in buckskin jackets to denizens of seedy saloons and lonely deserts, from Cecil B. DeMille and John Ford to Steve McQueen and Budd Boetticher, Jr.

From the wild and wacky world of favorite funnyman Jean Shepherd, a dozen truer-than-life tales of tailgating on the Jersey Tumpike, infuriating infants, and other everyday catastrophes, defeats, and humiliations that are the familiar fate of Americans everywhere. Jean Shepherd was one of America’s favorite humorists, his most notable achievement being the creation of the indefatigable Ralphie Parker and his quest for a BB gun in the holiday classic A Christmas Story. But he was so much more, a comic Garrison Keillor–like figure whose unique voice transcended the airwaves and affected a whole generation of nostalgic Americans. A Fistful of Fig Newtons is classic Jean Shepherd—sidesplittingly funny and sardonically irreverent. It is a brilliant comic assessment of American life—all of them delivered in Jean Shepherd’s witty, classy, unforgettable style.