A sorcerer. Nightmares. Secrets. Not the usual components of a love story but Nikolai Gogol’s short horror story follows the love story of Danilo and Katerina as they deal with the presence of an evil sorcerer. When it transpires that the sorcerer is much closer to them than either of them thought, one question remains. Will they be able to defeat the sorcerer and his powers? This gothic tale maps incarnations of evil in everyday life and was one of Gogol’s most successful works, even being adapted into film by Wladyslaw Starewicz in ‘The Terrible Vengeance’ (1913). Considered one of the most prominent figures in Russian literature, Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) was born in Ukraine. Both a writer and a dramatist, he is known for the unconventional nature of his works, so much so that they often touch upon folklore and fantasy. He has been associated with a range of different literary styles, including surrealism and Russian realism. Gogol’s most famous works include the novel "Dead Souls", the horror novella "Viy", as well as the short story collections "Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka" and "Mirgorod". They have inspired numerous stage, film, and television adaptations including the movie "Inspector General" (1949), based loosely on his play with the same name.

The closing phase and the aftermath of World War II saw millions of refugees and displaced persons wandering across Easter Europe in one of the most brutal and chaotic migrations in world history. The genocidal barbarism of the Nazi forces has been well documented. What hitherto has been little known is the fate of fifteen million German civillians who found themselves at the mercy of Soviet armies and on the wrong side of new postwar borders. All over Eastern Europe, the inhabitants of communities that had been established for many centuries were either expelled or killed. Over two million Germans did not survive. Many of these people had supported Hitler, and for the Czechs, Poles, Ukrainians, and surviving Jews, their fate must have seemed just. However, the great majority--East Prussian farmers, Silesian industrial workers, their wives and children--were guiltless. Their fate, sentenced purely by race, remains an appalling legacy of the period. Alfred de Zayas's book describes this horrible retribution. On the basis of extensive research in German and American archives, he outlines the long history of these German communities, scattered from the Baltic to the Danude, and, most movingly, reproduces the testimonies of surviors from the catastrophic exodus that marked the final end to Nazi fantasies of Lebensraum.

The fiction and drama of Gogol, now widely read in English, have delighted, puzzled, and inspired Russian critics for nearly a century and a half. In this anthology, Robert A. Maguire offers to English-speaking readers a selection of the impressive critical achievement that the writings of Gogol have stimulated. Each of the eleven essays is at once a fresh contribution to the study of Gogol and an example of one major school of criticism cultivated in contemporary Russia.

This two-volume edition at last brings all of Gogol's fiction (except his novel Dead Souls) together in paperback. Volume one includes Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka, as well as 'Nevsky Prospekt' and 'Diary of a Madman'.

Using, or rather mimicking, traditional forms of storytelling Gogol created stories that are complete within themselves and only tangentially connected to a meaning or moral. His work belongs to the school of invention, where each twist and turn of the narrative is a surprise unfettered by obligation to an overarching theme. Selected from Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka, Mirgorod, and the Petersburg tales and arranged in order of composition, the thirteen stories in The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogolencompass the breadth of Gogol's literary achievement. From the demon-haunted “St. John's Eve ” to the heartrending humiliations and trials of a titular councilor in “The Overcoat,” Gogol's knack for turning literary conventions on their heads combined with his overt joy in the art of story telling shine through in each of the tales. This translation, by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, is as vigorous and darkly funny as the original Russian. It allows readers to experience anew the unmistakable genius of a writer who paved the way for Dostevsky and Kafka.

Discloses the Israeli plan to assassinate the known terrorist leaders responsible for the Munich massacre of Israeli athletes and chronicles the story of the hit-squad's leader, a man morally destroyed by his mission.

Sir Dan Blackwater, well known businessman and philanthropist is found dead one morning in his home on the Isle of Wight. Pinned to the kitchen table with butcher's knives, he has been castrated in what looks like a gruesome act of revenge. The only other person on the scene is his own PA, Sheena. But when DCI Charlie Trench brings her in for questioning, he discovers that she can't remember a thing about the events of last night - the shock seems to have caused her to lose her memory. Unsure whether to believe Sheena's story, Trench calls in forensic psychologist Karen Taylor to help unblock Sheena's memory. But as Karen begins her investigation, she will discover there is much more to the Blackwaters than ever met the public eye. And as she lifts the lid on a truly scandalous history, she will put herself in more danger than she could possibly imagine.