The world according to David Ives is a very add place, and his plays constitute a virtual stress test of the English language -- and of the audience's capacity for disorientation and delight. Ives's characters plunge into black holes called "Philadelphias," where the simplest desires are hilariously thwarted. Chimps named Milton, Swift, and Kafka are locked in a room and made to re-create Hamlet. And a con man peddles courses in a dubious language in which "hello" translates as "velcro" and "fraud" comes out as "freud." At once enchanting and perplexing, incisively intelligent and side-splittingly funny, this original paperback edition of Ives's plays includes "Sure Thing," "Words, Words, Words," "The Universal Language," "Variations on the Death of Trotsky," "The Philadelphia," "Long Ago and Far Away," "Foreplay, or The Art of the Fugue," "Seven Menus," "Mere Mortals," "English Made Simple," "A Singular Kinda Guy," "Speed-the-Play," "Ancient History," and "Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread."

A gripping and fascinating tale about a boy who grows up in the rural south and ends up as a heart surgeon and then leader of a major medical center in a big city. Its Doc Hollywood in reverse, and 100% real. An adventure through time and cultures. -Neil Shulman, M.D. Author, Doc Hollywood Associate Professor, Emory University School of Medicine Dr. Charles Hatcher, Jr.s evolution from a rural community in southwest Georgia to the top ranks of the medical fi eld is an encouragement for all physicians. Since 1982, Mercers School of Medicine has been educating physicians and health professionals from similar backgrounds, preparing them for successful careers in Georgia and the Southeast. Dr. Hatchers autobiography is an inspiration to Mercers eager medical students entering the profession that this now-retired physician so profoundly impacted. -William F. Bina III, M.D., MPH Dean, Mercer University School of Medicine Dr. Hatchers esteemed career at Emory has ranged from life-saving surgeon to inspirational leader. A gifted cardiac surgeon, he used his innate talents and passion for saving lives to build an acclaimed heart program at our institution as well as attract the best and brightest in the fi eld to Emory. Under his guidance, Woodruff Health Sciences Center transformed into a major research institution that continues, to this day, to define the future of medicine. His expertise and leadership have left an indelible mark on this organization and helped pave the way for the health care providers of tomorrow. -John T. Fox President & CEO, Emory Healthcare, Inc

Philip Glass... is a parodic musical vignette in trademark Glassian style, with the celebrated composer having a moment of existential crisis in a bakery.

The world according to David Ives is a very add place, and his plays constitute a virtual stress test of the English language -- and of the audience's capacity for disorientation and delight. Ives's characters plunge into black holes called "Philadelphias," where the simplest desires are hilariously thwarted. Chimps named Milton, Swift, and Kafka are locked in a room and made to re-create Hamlet. And a con man peddles courses in a dubious language in which "hello" translates as "velcro" and "fraud" comes out as "freud." At once enchanting and perplexing, incisively intelligent and side-splittingly funny, this original paperback edition of Ives's plays includes "Sure Thing," "Words, Words, Words," "The Universal Language," "Variations on the Death of Trotsky," "The Philadelphia," "Long Ago and Far Away," "Foreplay, or The Art of the Fugue," "Seven Menus," "Mere Mortals," "English Made Simple," "A Singular Kinda Guy," "Speed-the-Play," "Ancient History," and "Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread."

THE STORIES: Act One: In FOREPLAY OR: THE ART OF THE FUGUE, we find Chuck, a self-styled Don Juan, and his girlfriend on a date at the miniature golf course. When they move to the second hole, a slightly older Chuck II appears with another date. Finally

**THE INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER** "An unforgettable—and Hollywood-bound—new thriller... A mix of Hitchcockian suspense, Agatha Christie plotting, and Greek tragedy." —Entertainment Weekly The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive. Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word. Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London. Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....

THE STORY: Paris, 1643. Dorante is a charming young man newly arrived in the capital, and he has but a single flaw: He cannot tell the truth. In quick succession he meets Cliton, a manservant who cannot tell a lie, and falls in love with Clarice, a