Search Worlds Without End

Two cousins, irreversibly damaged by a childhood prank, reunite twenty years later to renovate a medieval castle in Eastern Europe. In an environment of extreme paranoia, cut off from the outside world, the men reenact the signal event of their youth, with even more catastrophic results.

And as the full horror of their predicament unfolds, a prisoner, in jail for an unnamed crime, recounts an unforgettable story that seamlessly brings the crimes of the past and present into piercing relation.

Bennie is an aging former punk rocker and record executive. Sasha is the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Here Jennifer Egan brilliantly reveals their pasts, along with the inner lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs.

The Candy House opens with the staggeringly brilliant Bix Bouton, whose company, Mandala, is so successful that he is "one of those tech demi-gods with whom we're all on a first name basis." Bix is forty, with four kids, restless, and desperate for a new idea, when he stumbles into a conversation group, mostly Columbia professors, one of whom is experimenting with downloading or "externalizing" memory. Within a decade, Bix's new technology, "Own Your Unconscious"--which allows you access to every memory you've ever had, and to share your memories in exchange for access to the memories of others--has seduced multitudes.

In the world of Egan's spectacular imagination, there are "counters" who track and exploit desires and there are "eluders," those who understand the price of taking a bite of the Candy House. Egan introduces these characters in an astonishing array of narrative styles--from omniscient to first person plural to a duet of voices, an epistolary chapter, and a chapter of tweets. Intellectually dazzling, The Candy House is also a moving testament to the tenacity and transcendence of human longing for connection, family, privacy, and love.

ALL THE BETTER TO READ YOU WITH

It's a prick of blood, the bite of an apple, the evil eye, a wedding ring or a pair of red shoes. Curses come in all shapes and sizes, and they can happen to anyone, not just those of us with unpopular stepparents...

Here you'll find unique twists on curses, from fairy tale classics to brand-new hexes of the modern world - expect new monsters and mythologies as well as twists on well-loved fables. Stories to shock and stories of warning, stories of monsters and stories of magic.

Contents:

• Introduction (Cursed) - essay by Paul Kane and Marie O'Regan
• Castle Cursed - short fiction by Jane Yolen
• As Red As Blood, As White As Snow - short fiction by Christina Henry
• Troll Bridge - (1993) - short story by Neil Gaiman (variant of Troll-Bridge)
• At That Age - short fiction by Catriona Ward
• Listen - short fiction by Jen Williams
• Henry and the Snakewood Box - short fiction by Mike Carey [as by M. R. Carey]
• Skin - short fiction by James Brogden
• Faith & Fred - short fiction by Maura McHugh
• The Black Fairy's Curse - (1997) - short story by Karen Joy Fowler
• Wendy, Darling - (2014) - short fiction by Christopher Golden
• Fairy Werewolf vs. Vampire Zombie - (2011) - short story by Charlie Jane Anders
• Look Inside Me - (2013) - short fiction by Michael Marshall Smith
• Little Red - (2009) - short story by Adam Stemple and Jane Yolen
• New Wine - short fiction by Angela Slatter
• Haza and Ghani - short fiction by Lilith Saintcrow
• Hated - (1995) - novelette by Christopher Fowler
• The Merrie Dancers - short fiction by Alison Littlewood
• Again - short fiction by Tim Lebbon
• The Girl From The Hell - short fiction by Margo Lanagan
• Castle Waking - short fiction by Jane Yolen

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

Take a trip to a terrifying carnival and uncover the secrets within, solve a mysterious puzzle box and await your reward, join a travelling circus and witness the strangest ventriloquist act you've ever seen.

In this follow-up to the bestselling Cursed: An Anthology, you'll unearth curses old and new. From a very different take on Snow White, to a new interpretation of The Red Shoes, the best in fantasy spin straw into gold, and invite you into the labyrinth.

Just don't forget to leave your trail of breadcrumbs...

Contents:

• Joanne Harris
• Neil Gaiman
• Joe Hill
• Sarah Pinborough
• Angela Slatter
• M. R. Carey
• Christina Henry
• A. C. Wise
• Laura Purcell
• Katherine Arden
• Adam L. G. Nevill
• Mark Chadbourn
• Helen Grant
• Kelley Armstrong
• A. K. Benedict
• L. L. McKinney

In 1492, Colombus discovered America. In 1992 Claude Regan had to make it happen again! The US needed a shot in the arm as the twentieth century entered the last decade. And a World's fair celebrating five hundred years of American civilisation might just do the trick. Regan was the trickiest, most ruthless promoter in the country. And the first thing he realised was that Earth wasn't big enough to hold the kind of fair he wanted So he built a new world!

Bill Hastings was one in a million. He was the winner of a planet-wide contest, and the prize was a chance to spend a year working at the 1992 World's Fair. For the young xenobiology student, it was the opportunity of a lifetime. Fifty thousand miles above the Earth, a gigantic satellite moved in its elegant orbit. It would be Bill's home for a year, and host to hundreds of thousands of visitors. The 1992 World's Fair was to be an orbital extravaganza, and Bill Hastings thought that his dreams had come true. He had a lot to learn.