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A region that was the scene of major combat a year ago has been quiet for the past two months, Marines say — thanks in part to a group of local Afghans who act as a sort of an armed neighborhood watch. They identify Taliban fighters and have found caches of IEDs.

Jim Shepard writes what he knows, but he also likes to write what he doesn't know. "I think literature is, in some ways, about the exercise of the empathetic imagination," Shepard says. "I'm always interested in stretching that capacity." You Think That's Bad is his latest collection of short stories.

Scary landscapes and spirit creatures appear in many ghost stories. But author Alan Heathcock knows that for the best of them, only the writings of Algernon Blackwood will do. These spooky tales will have you shivering with fright and delight.

Sometimes you just can't face the world. What to do? Curl up with Joyce Cary's The Horse's Mouth, says author Kate Christensen. This fun, frequently unsavory romp is the perfect escape.

When gold was discovered in Alaska and Canada in the 1890s, thousands packed their bags and headed north, knowing little of the troubles they would face. Howard Blum writes about their adventures in The Floor Of Heaven: A True Tale of the Last Frontier and the Yukon Gold Rush.

For most of the world, Cary Grant was a Hollywood icon, but to Jennifer Grant he was simply Dad. Grant chronicles her close relationship with her father in her new book, Good Stuff.

You've got to get up early — before dawn, even — to really make a killing at a flea market. So says Maureen Stanton, whose new book explores the subculture. It's called Killer Stuff and Tons of Money: Seeking History and Hidden Gems in Flea-Market America.

Few know more about the art of travel than acclaimed writers Paul Theroux and Pico Iyer, who have a combined six decades of experience chronicling their adventures around the world. Theroux and Iyer share their tips for being a traveler rather than a tourist.

Dr. David Ansell's experiences treating patients at Chicago's public hospital for 17 years turned him into a strong advocate for national health care reform. He details what it was like to work with Chicago's uninsured patient population in a new memoir and social history.

Romance comics flourished in the 1940s and '50s, with titles like Was I a Wicked Wife? and Kisses Came Second. Pop culture writer Michael Barson collects some of his favorites in the new anthology, Agonizing Love: The Golden Era of Romance Comics.