Aspiring novelists are given advice on writing polishing, and marketing mysteries, suspense tales, Westerns, science fiction, and romances

In this important book, Ken Gelder offers a lively and comprehensive account of popular fiction as a distinctive literary and cultural field, tied directly to the logics and practices of entertainment and industry.

"One of the strangest, most unpredictable, most lyric books I've ever read." -- James Cole, Professor Emeritus, poetry, University of Wyoming For decades, rumors of the "Maze Man" have haunted the Baboquivari Wilderness, a desert land located fifty miles southwest of Tucson, and beneath which runs a vast network of caves that many among the Tohono O'odham natives believe "the portal to hell." When a young Apache man named Jon Silverthorne, a miner, moves into a haunted house directly beneath Baboquivari Peak, he's immediately by his desert neighbors looked upon suspiciously. He's treated with hostility. Yet Jon is not what people think. Solitary, calm, bookish, Jon seems in possession of some immense and powerful secret -- a man perhaps stranger than anyone suspects, or perhaps it's only an illusion. When his half brother Kristopher arrives unannounced, following the death of their mother, and moves in with Jon in his haunted dwelling among the cactus, a sequence of unexpected events is set into motion, and what Jon Silverthorne ultimately discovers within the profoundest recesses of earth's internal circuitry may show the world at last the colossal secrets that nature keeps. Neck Between Two Heads is at once a philosophical mystery story, a lyric ode to the natural world and, perhaps most of all, a deep and devastating examination of all things superstitious and violent. This is Volume 1 in a 2 part series.

An overview of popular literature from the early nineteenth century to the present day from a historical and comparative perspective.

Popular romance fiction constitutes the largest segment of the global book market. Bringing together an international group of scholars, The Routledge Research Companion to Popular Romance Fiction offers a ground-breaking exploration of this global genre and its remarkable readership. In recognition of the diversity of the form, the Companion provides a history of the genre, an overview of disciplinary approaches to studying romance fiction, and critical analyses of important subgenres, themes, and topics. It also highlights new and understudied avenues of inquiry for future research in this vibrant and still-emerging field. The first systematic, comprehensive resource on romance fiction, this Companion will be invaluable to students and scholars, and accessible to romance readers.

#1 New York Times Bestseller Oprah's Book Club Selection The “extraordinary . . . monumental masterpiece” (Booklist) that changed the course of Ken Follett’s already phenomenal career—and begins where its prequel, The Evening and the Morning, ended. “Follett risks all and comes out a clear winner,” extolled Publishers Weekly on the release of The Pillars of the Earth. A departure for the bestselling thriller writer, the historical epic stunned readers and critics alike with its ambitious scope and gripping humanity. Today, it stands as a testament to Follett’s unassailable command of the written word and to his universal appeal. The Pillars of the Earth tells the story of Philip, prior of Kingsbridge, a devout and resourceful monk driven to build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has known . . . of Tom, the mason who becomes his architect—a man divided in his soul . . . of the beautiful, elusive Lady Aliena, haunted by a secret shame . . . and of a struggle between good and evil that will turn church against state and brother against brother. A spellbinding epic tale of ambition, anarchy, and absolute power set against the sprawling medieval canvas of twelfth-century England, this is Ken Follett’s historical masterpiece.

Jayne Erixour believes she knows everything about the universe. As a bounty hunter and assassin, she’s seen the worst dregs of humanity and every sentient species ever spat out of a hell realm. To her, there is no truth outside of her blaster’s recoil and her resolve to let no one get too close. Hadrian Scalera is on the run from the same brutal assassins who slaughtered every member of his family, both birth and foster. He has no refuge and no one he dares to call friend, as it will mean the end of them. He expects no mercy from anyone, until the day one assassin hesitates to pull the trigger. An assassin’s code is simple: Kill or be killed. No prey, no pay. Every life has a price. If Jayne doesn’t fulfill her contract and kill Hadrian, she’ll be the next target on the League’s menu. But as old enemies return to hunt them both, they quickly learn that neither will survive unless they can learn to trust each other. Yet things are never so simple and survival means only one of them can be left standing . . .