Against his better judgment, Hollywood foot soldier Stoney Winston arrives at a flea-bitten desert Hamlet to help Diane LaMotta direct her first feature, a no-budget indie action potboiler titled Cycles from Hell. He finds the production being killed by sabotage that turns into stabbing, near-drowning, and violent death.(Newly proofed and reformatted text) Against his better judgment, Hollywood foot soldier Stoney Winston arrives at a flea-bitten desert Hamlet to help Diane LaMotta direct her first feature, a no-budget indie action potboiler titled Cycles from Hell. The director’s hostile, the cameraman’s drunk, the crew’s rebellious, and the real bikers playing most of the parts perform as bad as they smell. Diane and a biker momma start fighting over Stoney, while the production’s being slowly killed by systematic sabotage that turns into stabbing, near-drowning, and violent death.Stoney’s only weapons are his courage, his movie smarts, and his friend, Scuzzy. Courtly Nathaniel Hawthorne (“Scuzzy”)Fenster supports his Talmudic scholarship by playing heavies in biker films. Since he stands six-six, weighs 300 pounds, and sprouts hair in all directions, the very sight of him would make Attila wet his pants. He works a lot.

“Stoney Winston works the slummy outskirts of the movie business, directing cheap local commercials, writing training films and industrials, and submitting always-rejected feature scripts. Murder and danger dog Stoney’s quest, which ends in a tricky and gut-wrenching climax. A masterful, colorful mystery.” Booklist, starred review.(Newly proofed and reformatted) Ah, the romantic 1980s! No Internet, Facebook, or Twitter. Telephones tied to the wall. Music on vinyl or flimsy cassettes -- and don’t even start on the fashions! Hollywood wandered in the desert between the lush studio days that were gone and our flush modern times full of cable and Netflix. Work for film people was scarce in those days and Stoney Winston just barely scraped by. If the 1980s were romantic, Stoney was far too busy surviving to notice....Desperate for cash, Stoney takes a job tracking a missing daughter whose porno screen test is being used to blackmail the owner of a tiny, failing studio. When he finds the girl murdered, the bad guys responsible start hunting him down, with a similar plan for Stoney. Pursuing his quest (and saving his hide) Stoney tangles with a randy TV evangelist, hired thugs, two lethal fires, and a cold midnight swim off a boat taking him out to sea on a one-way trip with a heavy anchor. All the while, three women offer him aid and comfort, though only one is his live-in lady. In the end, Stoney delivers a rough and ready justice, but all he gets in return is a totaled car. He keeps his lady, though, and that’s more important to him.

Despite all the beauty and virtues expected of faerie tale princesses, Alix labored under a terrible curse: she was too smart, too knowledgeable, too capable. To set herself free, she had to kill the monstrous firedrake; though afterword, they became great friends…(Newly proofed and reformatted) Despite all the beauty and virtues expected of faerie tale princesses, Alix labored under a terrible curse: she was too smart, too knowledgeable, too capable. To set herself free, she had to kill the monstrous firedrake; though afterword, they became great friends…Princess Alix's effortless intelligence so infuriates her father the king that he locks her up in a castle, utterly alone. To free herself, the ruthlessly logical princess must open her skeptical eyes to the magic all around her, beginning with the christening gifts that the faeries gave her as a baby. Only then, with their help and the help of Jack Brambel, an amiable duke-in-training, can Alix free herself, win her deadly battle with the monstrous firedrake, save her country, and revive the love of her father.