"Joe Nickell - once a carnival pitchman, then a magician, private detective, and investigative writer - has pursued sideshow secrets for years and has worked the famous carnival midway at the Canadian National Exhibition. For this book, he interviewed showmen and performers, collected carnival memorabilia, researched published accounts of sideshows and their lore, and even performed some classic sideshow feats, such as eating fire and lying on a bed of nails as a cinderblock was broken on his chest. The result of these varied efforts, Secrets of the Sideshows tells the captivating story of the magic, tricks - real or illusory - and performers of the world's midway shows."--BOOK JACKET.

A Mermaid Drowns in the Midnight Lounge is a lushly lurid, exotically exploitative, sensationally sensual pulp-noir potpourri where star-crossed lovers, sea sirens, monster men, gangsters, porno filmmakers, jazz standards, and an Elvis-spawned zombie apocalypse all intermingle across several parallel dimensions in time and space. This story is unlike anything you've ever read.

Often regarded as her finest and most literary work, Mr. Right Is Dead is Rona Jaffe’s collection of short stories from 1965. Containing five stories and one novella, each story has the savvy and sharp tone that characterize the best of Rona Jaffe’s writing. The title novella centers on a call girl with “a heart of gold,” who acquires lovers and money with her innocent charm, and closes with “Rima The Bird Girl,” about a woman who assumes a new identity each time she has an affair. Each story carries its own unique and engaging voice; altogether they are about women looking for self-fulfillment and salvation through lovers, money, and fleeting worldly pleasures. Mr. Right Is Dead is about those searching desperately for “the best of everything” and learning a great deal about love, and its falsities, along the way.

A history of midway attractions and the showmen who presented them on American midways from the 1870s to World War II, this fantastic, fully illustrated book showcases the manufacturers of the Polly-Moo-Zuke, the Two-Headed Giant and the Devil Fish, as well as stories of hoochie coochie dancing bears, monkeys racing miniature racecars and the strange people who made a living eating snakes. See war criminals, wax out-laws and papier mache torture victims. Learn about illusion on the midway and tricks of the trade in a journey into an age of America's last real showmen.

Dive into this fantasy romance story with our snarky FMC and ever increasing found family vibes by romantasy author Maddox Grey. Revenge always has a cost. Mine was a secret. Everyone knows about the devourers. The wicked monsters that threatened to destroy all the realms until the fae and daemons locked them away. Slight problem. I have devourer magic. It’s only a matter of time before the fae or daemons learn about my abilities. Best case, they bind me to them in service. Worst case... a very excruciating death. I’d prefer neither, which means I need to make some powerful alliances fast. Enter my best friend, who happens to be a high-ranking daemon, with an offer. Go to the fae realms. Find the mysterious kid who is running around with strange, powerful magic. And bring him back safely. Simple enough. Except he’s being hunted by ruthless assassins. And they have magic like mine. I might finally get the answers I’ve wanted my whole life. But what—or who—am I willing to sacrifice for it? A Shift in Fate is the second novel of the Lost Legacies urban fantasy romance series. For fans of LJ Andrews, Raven Kennedy, or Amber V. Nicole, this slow burn romantasy continues to heat up. Enjoy the ride!