Books published by publisher New York: Knopf

Sphere is a novel written by author Michael Crichton that was published in 1987. The novel was adapted into the film Sphere in 1998. The story follows Norman Johnson, a psychologist engaged by the United States Navy, who joins a team of scientists assembled to examine a spacecraft of unknown origin discovered on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. The novel begins as a science fiction story but quickly transforms into a psychological thriller, developing into an exploration of the nature of the human imagination. Crichton began writing the novel in 1967 as a companion piece to The Andromeda Strain. His initial storyline began with American scientists discovering a 300-year-old spaceship underwater with stenciled markings in English. However, Crichton later realized that he "didn't know where to go with it" and put off completing the book until a later date. "The idea of doing a story about contact with superior intelligence, a time honored theme, is that it's very hard if you stop and think about it. Most writers evade the issue by making the aliens recognizably human. It's 9 feet tall with spiky teeth and it wants to eat you. Or its 3 feet tall and it wants to hug you. In either case its humanlike... What's more likely about first contact with an extraterrestrial is that the alien wouldn't look humanlike at all. You might not even be able to see it or detect it. And its behavior would be absolutely inexplicable. Trouble is, it gets hard to dream up a story where at the center there is something inexplicable."

Incubus (from Latin incubare, to lie upon): 1. an evil spirit or demon thought in medieval times to lie on women, seeking sexual intercourse; 2. a nightmare. Succubus: a female demon who preys similarly on sleeping men.The acclaimed author of Sister Wolf ("A powerful haunting tale"--Jean Strouse, Newsweek) and Group Sex ("A rich and original stunner"--Cleveland Plain Dealer) now gives us her most thrilling and beautifully written novel. Surrounded by hills and pasturelands, the town of Dry Falls is a thriving agricultural community. The town itself and St. Anthony's, the local church, are deeply rooted in the natural order--blissfully ordinary and uneventful. But suddenly life in Dry Falls begins to go awry. A heat wave spikes in March; a three-month drought blights farms and gardens; animals give birth to monsters; women complain of sexual persecution. As one uncanny incident follows another, the natural order is disrupted. The townspeople seem to be living under a glass bell: the conditions in Dry Falls extend only as far as its borders--over the town line the weather is seasonable and crops ripen on schedule. Marital discord has reached epidemic proportions. In one-third of the households in town, men have lost sexual desire and the women blame them. Henry Lieber is the rector of St. Anthony's. He is an arch-believer, but his faith in the Christian God is wavering. He seeks proof of the spiritual dimension in any form, and will take it as he finds it. His wife, Cora, an expert cook and gardener, is a self-professed materialist, believing that the natural world is wise and orderly, and that the supernatural is the creation of a morbid mind or the product of wishful thinking. Evidence of the mysterious evil grows. An outline of the incubus experience gradually emerges. Although the attacker of the townswomen is invisible, every victim refers to it as "he." And it is clear to Henry Lieber, the self-appointed chief investigator, that the Dry Falls invader is both one and many. It takes the shape of traditional entities--an incubus demon, a succubus, a Frankenstein monster, an extraterrestrial, the Blessed Virgin. Its complex and absurd intelligence can masquerade as every kind of supernatural phenomenon.What kind of interaction does it want? Why is Dry Falls the target of demonic infestation? How can Henry Lieber, with his limited Christian magic, prevail against it? There is one thing the townspeople of Dry Falls can be certain of: if one invasion is repelled, another will follow . . . Incubus is a novel that lures us into its spellbound world and holds us enthralled.

Ilhéus in 1925 is a booming town with a record cacao crop and aspirations for progress, but the traditional ways prevail. When Colonel Mendonça discovers his wife in bed with a lover, he shoots and kills them both. Political contests, too, can be settled by gunshot... No one imagines that a bedraggled migrant worker who turns up in town–least of all Gabriela herself–will be the agent of change. Nacib Saad has just lost the cook at his popular café and in desperation hires Gabriela. To his surprise she turns out to be a great beauty as well as a wonderful cook and an enchanting boon to his business. But what would people say if Nacib were to marry her? Lusty, satirical and full of intrigue, Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon is a vastly entertaining panorama of small town Brazilian life.