Scott Sowers

Taking a new identity after a shoot-out with fellow officers of the L.A.P.D., John Barron fled the country he loved and, as Nicholas Marten, became a landscape architect in the north of England determined to put a life of violence behind him forever. Then suddenly he found himself in Spain ensnared in a massive global conspiracy.

The video stores are dying. But most of you don't care. You've got your Netflix and your Redbox and your DVR, so why deal with VHS tapes or scratched DVDs? Why deal with the grumpy guy at the worn-down independent video store? Well that grumpy guy is Waring Wax, and he's usually too drunk to worry about his declining business at Star Video, let alone his quickly evolving extinction in popular culture. But everything changes in his small college town...

The Great Shark Hunt features Thompson's early writings, which focus on the political and social turbulence of mid-20th-century America. With his signature style, these essays show his evolution from a sports reporter to the outrageous, insightful and always daring creator of Gonzo Journalism.

Alf Brolin, a tall drink of water, guns down innocent victims with the same carelessness with which he quotes classic literature. Federal trooper Zach Thomas, however, lacks any appreciation for Brolin's airs and means to see the outlaw put six feet in the ground.

"Make Something Up is a compilation of 21 stories and one novella (some previously published, some not) that will disturb and delight. The absurdity of both life and death are on full display: In "Zombies," the best and brightest of a high school prep school become tragically addicted to the latest drug craze: electric shocks from cardiac defibrillators. In "Knock, Knock," a son hopes to tell one last off-color joke to a father in his final moments,...