A vampire meets his match. A porcelain doll that's more than it seems. A dog claiming it's an ambassador for an alien race. These are the characters you meet detouring down the world's backroads or foraging in the alleyways of our lives. Backroads and Alleyways is a collection of stories about the people and things best left in the shadowy deadend alleys or in the forest at the side of the road.

Chinese entrepreneurs have founded more than thirty million private businesses since Beijing instituted economic reforms in the late 1970s. Most of these private ventures, however, have been denied access to official sources of credit. State banks continue to serve state-owned enterprises, yet most private financing remains illegal. How have Chinese entrepreneurs managed to fund their operations? In defiance of the national banking laws, small business owners have created a dizzying variety of informal financing mechanisms, including rotating credit associations and private banks disguised as other types of organizations. Back-Alley Banking includes lively biographical sketches of individual entrepreneurs; telling quotations from official documents, policy statements, and newspaper accounts; and interviews with a wide variety of women and men who give vivid narratives of their daily struggles, accomplishments, and hopes for future prosperity. Kellee S. Tsai's book draws upon her unparalleled fieldwork in China's world of shadow finance to challenge conventional ideas about the political economy of development. Business owners in China, she shows, have mobilized local social and political resources in innovative ways despite the absence of state-directed credit or a well-defined system of private property rights. Entrepreneurs and local officials have been able to draw on the uncertainty of formal political and economic institutions to enhance local prosperity.

THE GREATEST WESTERN WRITERS OF THE 21ST CENTURY From the greatest western storytellers of our time comes a new twist on the legend of notorious outlaw Jesse James—who just might not have died on that fateful April 3, 1882. 1942—Granbury, Texas. A ninety-five-year-old man walks into a recruiting office with the crazy idea to enlist—and an even crazier story. He claims to be the one and only Jesse James, the infamous bank robber allegedly shot by Robert Ford sixty years earlier. Using another man’s corpse to collect the reward, Ford allowed James to slip away and start a new life. Changing his name to Dalton, Jesse worked as a cattle broker in Fort Worth and fathered a pair of twins named Bill and Frank. But when one of the boys turns out to be a chip off the old block—a young outlaw in the making—Jesse has no choice but to school the lad in the fine art of bank robbing so he doesn’t get his fool head blown off. Problem is, once Jesse’s son gets a taste of the outlaw life, he decides it isn’t for him after all. Father Jesse, on the other hand, misses it... So begins the wildest story the West has never known, proving that some legends are bigger than life—and a lot harder to kill...

Pixies are real. They are being hunted. Julia Freeman must protect them. Ruin combines three books into one. In Mystery Spot, Julia Freeman finds out that she is a pixie and must stop a dangerous cult from using her blood to open a portal to Hell. In Into Hell, Julia travels into Hell to rescue a young pixie who was kidnapped by an evil banshee as a gift for the dark lord, Lucifer. In Last Stand, Julia tracks a secret society that wants to use pixie blood to summon a demon to do their bidding, and only Julia and her new apprentice can stop them. However, when their investigation goes south, Julia must survive her most difficult challenge yet; the pits of Hell. If you love dark fantasy, demons, action, and adventure, then pick up Ruin today.

With natives as your guides, this series leads you down the road less traveled. Maryland has so much to offer travelers and residents alike: indulge in exquisite seafood, enjoy recreational and spectator sports, search the beaches for shark’s teeth, trace Civil War troop movements, track the heyday of the railroads, and visit lighthouses that have guided countless boaters through the Chesapeake Bay. All you have to do is jump in the car—and take this book along! Ideas and options are clearly presented for short-trip itineraries to please everybody in your party. About the series: Whether you need to get away for a weekend or longer, want to explore your home state or make plans for free time in an area you don’t know well, take to the road with a Backroads & Byways book. You’ll discover the most interesting places to visit on and off the beaten path. Destinations will appeal to foodies, history buffs, families with kids, couples, adventurers, hikers, bikers—in short, everyone. With itineraries appropriate for visits of differing durations and in different seasons, tips for comfortable accommodations, great food, and good shopping too, look to Backroads & Byways for the most interesting and diverse short trips available.

Eight passengers are on the last train to Margate. It's Christmas Eve and the Southeast of England is caught in a blizzard. The train suddenly stops alongside an abandoned station. One passenger disappears, later found murdered and they discover that every one of them answered an invitation for different reasons. Joanna, a soldier, is an unexpected guest and the one factor the killer hadn't figured on. With her help, can they end this nightmare or will they become victims of their past in this frozen tomb in the dead of night?