After another night of girls, music and booze, seventeen-year-old pop star Darius Zaire falls out of bed and lands on the cruddy floor of his old bedroom. No mansion, no luxury cars, no platinum records. Now he's just ordinary Darren Zegers. Some kind of nightmare has erased everything that happened to change Darren the dweeb into Darius the multimillionaire. Now Darius has to face an ordinary day in the twelfth grade, suffering through remedial English and wondering what happened to the last three years, let alone all his fans and money. He desperately wants to return to his old life, but he is starting to worry that maybe this is reality, and it was his other life that was the dream.

Jock Lewis was supposed to have died in a terrible train crash at Paddington. Minty, his girlfriend, received a letter telling her so. But, curiously, the police haven’t been in touch. And Jock has borrowed all her savings. Zillah also got a letter informing her that her husband, Jerry Leach, was dead. Something about it struck her as suspicious, but she chooses not to mention her doubts to her fiancé, an up-and-coming Conservative Member of Parliament. Fiona, a successful banker, met Jeff Leigh before the Paddington crash. And although he never seemed to have a job, and borrowed money from her, she is utterly devoted to him -- and can’t understand why he suddenly disappeared. As the novel progresses, it slowly becomes apparent how the lives of these women might be connected, and how they may figure into a series of vicious stabbing deaths that have shocked and terrified the citizens of London. With consummate skill, Ruth Rendell pulls the colourful strands of this harrowing story ever tighter, increasing the tension page by page.

Something made me look from the amahs to the frangipani tree in the corner. And there she was—Ying. She was looking up at me. I shivered. Was my fever making me imagine things? I needed to tell Ma and Papa right away, but at this very moment, they were at Bukit Brown Cemetery, tending to Ying’s funeral. Ten-year-old Bee Ling grows up sheltered and privileged in 1940s Singapore, jealous of her beautiful, perfect elder sister, Ying. When the Japanese attack Singapore, Ying is killed in an air raid at school. Shortly afterwards, Singapore is occupied by the Japanese and the family endure the wartime hardship and horrors that ensue. Her sister returns as a spirit to guide, protect and reassure her that she will survive the war. Bee Ling grows to appreciate what she has left and gains an understanding of the bonds of love that exist even in the face of devastating loss. Written with unflinching clarity through the innocent eyes of a child, this coming-of-age novel is an intimate portrait of love, family, resilience, and the power of sisterhood.

"My mother is dead. My grave will be opened six months later. I was born in her grave. I am a ghost." I was born with a yin constitution and was destined to be a Taoist my whole life. Otherwise, I would definitely not live past the age of thirteen. Don't ask me if there are any ghosts in this world. If you want to see a ghost, burn the paper, write down the name of the dead soul in your blood, and I'll have it come straight to you.

Fifteen-year-old Sara Moone, abandonded at birth and shunted from one foster home to another, finds that she cannot remain aloof from her latest family.

Beginning iPhone 4 Development is here! The authors of the bestselling Beginning iPhone 3 Development are back, with the same excellent material completely updated for iOS 4 and written from the ground up using the latest version of Apple's Xcode 3. All source code has been updated to use the latest Xcode templates and current APIs, and all-new screenshots show Xcode 3 in action. Beginning iPhone 4 Development is a complete course in iOS 4 apps development. You’ll master techniques that work on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. We start with the basics, showing you how to download and install the tools you'll need, and how to create your first simple application. Next you’ll learn to integrate all the interface elements iOS users have come to know and love, such as buttons, switches, pickers, toolbars, and sliders. You’ll master a variety of design patterns, from the simplest single view to complex hierarchical drill-downs. The confusing art of table building will be demystified, and you’ll learn techniques to save and retrieve your data using SQLite, iPhone’s built-in database management system and Core Data, the standard for persistence that Apple brought to iOS with the release of SDK 3. And there’s much more! You’ll learn to draw using Quartz 2D and OpenGL ES, add multitouch gestural support (pinches and swipes) to your applications, and work with the camera, photo library, accelerometer, and built-in GPS. You’ll discover the fine points of application preferences and learn how to localize your apps for multiple languages. You'll also learn how to use the new concurrency APIs included in iOS 4, and make robust multithreaded applications using Grand Central Dispatch. The iPhone 4 update to the best-selling and most recommended book for Cocoa touch developers Written in an accessible, easy-to-follow style Full of useful tips and techniques to help you become an iOS pro NOTE: For iPhone 4S or iOS 5 apps development, please instead check out the next edition of this book, Beginning iOS 5 Development - now available.