Ursula K. Le Guin discusses her fiction, nonfiction, and poetry?both her process and her philosophy?with all the wisdom, profundity, and rigor we expect from one of the great writers of the last century. When the New York Times referred to Ursula K. Le Guin as America’s greatest writer of science fiction, they just might have undersold her legacy. It’s hard to look at her vast body of work?novels and stories across multiple genres, poems, translations, essays, speeches, and criticism?and see anything but one of our greatest writers, period. In a series of interviews with David Naimon (Between the Covers), Le Guin discusses craft, aesthetics, and philosophy in her fiction, poetry, and nonfiction respectively. The discussions provide ample advice and guidance for writers of every level, but also give Le Guin a chance to to sound off on some of her favorite subjects: the genre wars, the patriarchy, the natural world, and what, in her opinion, makes for great writing. With excerpts from her own books and those that she looked to for inspiration, this volume is a treat for Le Guin’s longtime readers, a perfect introduction for those first approaching her writing, and a tribute to her incredible life and work.

The audacious first novel from the award-winning and bestselling author of Boy, Snow, Bird and What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours • “Oyeyemi brilliantly conjures up the raw emotions and playground banter of childhood. . . . A masterly first novel.”–The New York Times Book Review "Remarkable. . . . As original as it is unsettling, The Icarus Girl runs straight at the heart of what it means to belong."– O, The Oprah Magazine Jessamy “Jess” Harrison, age eight, is the child of an English father and a Nigerian mother. Possessed of an extraordinary imagination, she has a hard time fitting in at school. It is only when she visits Nigeria for the first time that she makes a friend who understands her: a ragged little girl named TillyTilly. But soon TillyTilly’s visits become more disturbing, until Jess realizes she doesn’t actually know who her friend is at all. Drawing on Nigerian mythology, Helen Oyeyemi presents a striking variation on the classic literary theme of doubles — both real and spiritual — in this lyrical and bold debut.

There are only, in my humble opinion, two kinds of readers. Readers who love your books. and… Readers who don’t know they love your books yet. But how do you reach those readers in the second category, no matter what kind of writer you are? The answer to that question is… Universal Fantasy Universal Fantasy is why my sales tripled when I “accidentally” wrote three books that landed in the Amazon Top 100. Universal Fantasy is why some authors get gobs of gushing reviews and some authors who write “way better” get crickets. Universal Fantasy is the answer to many of the questions you might have thought were unanswerable or simply up to luck, like… • Will this sell? • Why is that selling? • Why didn’t this sell? • Will readers like what I am writing? • Why do I love the TV shows/books/entertainments I do? • Why did I buy that thing I bought when I didn’t intend to buy it? BE WARNED…once known, Universal Fantasy cannot be undiscovered. Leave this book be if you’re truly satisfied with your current writing life. But if you’re not afraid—if you’re ready to know the secret hidden inside all bestselling stories, open this gift and find out how to use UNIVERSAL FANTASY to write and market books that SELL to ANYONE.

Iris and Steven Finz have the uncanny knack of getting people to talk about intimate details of their sex lives. For more than a decade, they have been interviewing people from all segments of society and, with the permission of their subjects, passing the stories along to their readers. Their books about the sexual experiences and fantasies of real people have become standard night table fare in bedrooms all around the world. Readers use them, not only to put erotic sparks into their own relationships, but also to develop a better understanding of the sexual behavior of others. In Unspoken Desires, the Finzes describe the secret erotic thoughts and practices of people who are unwilling to discuss them with their partners. They relate the story of an architect who dreams of being the prize in a poker game, forced to provide sexual services to the winners each time her husband loses; an office worker who invested two weeks' salary in a complicated sex machine and spends his lunch hours watching women amuse themselves with it; a housewife who has a clandestine lesbian affair with a childhood friend, another who dreams of being a high-priced call girl, and a third who keeps a collection of erotic toys with which to satisfy herself when her military husband fails to do so. They tell of a real estate broker who once auditioned for a role in a porno movie; a computer nerd who sends strangers videotapes he has secretly made of himself and his wife having sex; and a public defender who is happily married, but spends her evenings in mutual masturbation sessions with a female friend. In all, they present a total of 29 stories that are likely to change your ideas about what is normal and what nice people do. "We make passionate love every night, and every time we do, I visualize my husband with my cousin. It's gotten to the point where I don't think I can enjoy our lovemaking without picturing the two of them." -Elizabeth, 28 year old legal secretary "I liked the way they called me 'Slave' and ordered me around. I even liked calling them 'Mistress.' Sometimes, when I'm with my wife, I close my eyes and remember that glorious afternoon when I was a sex slave to three young women, one right after another." -Artie, 42 year old steel worker "I kept my hair cut short and took every possible opportunity to pass myself off as a boy. Even in college, I would take a bus to the next town and walk shirtless in the streets on warm days." -Colleen, 27 year old designer "I still keep the window shades open. I still know that every time Maureen and I are making it the chances are our friends and neighbors are watching every move we make. I still perform for them a little and try to get Maureen into spots that will give them the maximum view." -Karl, 31 year old auto mechanic "Whenever I get one of those basketball players on my table, you can't imagine how magnificent these men look and what effect they have on me. My head is filled with thoughts of all the erotic things I could do if I weren't so inhibited." -Roberta, 48 year old massage therapist

Modern audiovisual media have spawned a 'plague of fantasies', electronically inspired phantasms that cloud the ability to reason and prevent a true understanding of a world increasingly dominated by abstractions-whether those of digital technology or the speculative market. Into this arena, enters Zizek: equipped with an agile wit and the skills of a prodigious scholar, he confidently ranges among a dazzling array of cultural references-explicating Robert Schumann as deftly as he does John Carpenter-to demonstrate how the modern condition blinds us to the ideological basis of our lives.

Picks up on divisions within the area of analytical psychology and explores many of the most hotly contested issues, with a group of leading international Jungian authors contributing papers from contrasting perspectives.