This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death. And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides -- or are chosen. A world in which good rides on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abigail -- and the worst nightmares of evil are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the dark man.
This is the first in the series featuring protagonist Owen Deathstalker and the story of his rebellion against the evil Empire. We meet Owen at a turning point in his life - a historian by profession, he lives the languid life of the lazy aristocracy. However, in a flash all this is stripped from him, for he has been outlawed, which basically means everyone is suddenly looking either to capture or to kill him.
The Age Factor in Second Language Acquisition: A Critical Look at the Critical Period Hypothesis
Assembles a variety of perspectives on the age factor in second language acquistion through all of which runs the common thread of certain scepticism with regard to absolutist version of the idea that there is a particular maturational stage beyond which language learning is no longer possible.
Added by: Kahena | Karma: 11526.37 | Fiction literature | 12 August 2011
1
Puppet
Living a no-strings-attached life in glamorous Palm Beach, beautiful, steely-nerved criminal attorney Amanda Travis knows exactly what she likes: spinning classes, the color black, and one-night stands. Here's what she dislikes: the color pink, nicknames...and memories. Which is why she has shut the door on two ex-husbands, her estranged mother, and her hometown of Toronto. Then comes the news that will shatter Amanda's untouchable world: her mother, who has always held a strange power over everyone she encounters, has shot and killed a complete stranger.
A political thriller raising questions about abortion politics, the gun culture in America, and the degree to which the press should expose the private lives of political leaders.
