It is 1942 and the Jews are being deported from Belgium. Separated from his parents, seven-year-old Joseph must go into hiding. He is taken in the dead of night to an orphanage, the Villa Jaune, where the benign and enigmatic Father Pons presides over a motley assortment of children. With the ever-present threat of the Gestapo growing closer, Joseph learns that the secret of survival is to conceal his Jewish heritage. Soon Joseph also discovers that Father Pons has a secret of his own: he is risking his life not only for the boys in his care, but for the Jewish faith itself. Sensitive, funny and deeply humane, Noah's Child is a simple fable that reveals the complexities of faith, bravery and the human condition.

“I am a changeling–a word that describes within its own name what we are bound and intended to do. We kidnap a human child and replace him or her with one of our own. . . .” The double story of Henry Day begins in 1949, when he is kidnapped at age seven by a band of wild childlike beings who live in an ancient, secret community in the forest. The changelings rename their captive Aniday and he becomes, like them, unaging and stuck in time. They leave one of their own to take his place, an imposter who must try–with varying success–to hide his true identity from the Day family. As the changeling Henry grows up, he is haunted by glimpses of his lost double and by vague memories of his own childhood a century earlier. Narrated in turns by Henry and Aniday, The Stolen Child follows them as their lives converge, driven by their obsessive search for who they were before they changed places in the world. Moving from a realistic setting in small-town America deep into the forest of humankind’s most basic desires and fears, this remarkable novel is a haunting fable about identity and the illusory innocence of childhood.

Edgar Award-winner and internationally bestselling novelist tells of his improbable conversion from agnostic Jewish-intellectual to baptized Christian and of the books that led him there. “Had I stumbled on the hallelujah truth, or just gone mad—or, that is, had I gone mad again?” No one was more surprised than Andrew Klavan when, at the age of fifty, he found himself about to be baptized. Best known for his hard-boiled, white-knuckle thrillers and for the movies made from them—among them True Crime (directed by Clint Eastwood) and Don’t Say a Word (starring Michael Douglas)—Klavan was born in a suburban Jewish enclave outside New York City. He left the faith of his childhood behind to live most of his life as an agnostic in the secular, sophisticated atmosphere of New York, London, and Los Angeles. But his lifelong quest for truth—in his life and in his work—was leading him to a place he never expected. In The Great Good Thing, Klavan tells how his troubled childhood caused him to live inside the stories in his head and grow up to become an alienated young writer whose disconnection and rage devolved into depression and suicidal breakdown. But he also stumbled into a genuine romance, a passionate and committed marriage whose uncommon and enduring devotion convinced him of the reality of love. In those years, Klavan fought to ignore the insistent call of God, a call glimpsed in a childhood Christmas at the home of a beloved babysitter, in a transcendent moment at his daughter’s birth, and in a snippet of a baseball game broadcast that moved him from the brink of suicide. But more than anything, the call of God existed in stories—the stories Klavan loved to read and the stories he loved to write. The Great Good Thing is the dramatic, soul-searching story of a man born into an age of disbelief who had to abandon everything he thought he knew in order to find his way to the truth.

In each of his astounding #1 New York Times bestsellers, Mark R. Levin’s overlying patriotic mission has been to avert a devastating tragedy: The loss of the greatest republic known to mankind. But who stands to lose the most? In modern America, the civil society is being steadily devoured by a ubiquitous federal government. But as the government grows into an increasingly authoritarian and centralized federal Leviathan, many parents continue to tolerate, if not enthusiastically champion, grievous public policies that threaten their children and successive generations with a grim future at the hands of a brazenly expanding and imploding entitlement state poised to burden them with massive debt, mediocre education, waves of immigration, and a deteriorating national defense. Yet tyranny is not inevitable. In Federalist 51, James Madison explained with cautionary insight the essential balance between the civil society and governmental restraint: “In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” This essential new book is, against all odds, a likeminded appeal to reason and audacity—one intended for all Americans but particularly the rising generation. Younger people must find the personal strength and will to break through the cycle of statist manipulation, unrelenting emotional overtures, and the pressure of groupthink, which are humbling, dispiriting, and absorbing them; to stand up against the heavy hand of centralized government, which if left unabated will assuredly condemn them to economic and societal calamity. Levin calls for a new civil rights movement, one that will foster liberty and prosperity and cease the exploitation of young people by statist masterminds. He challenges the rising generation of younger Americans to awaken to the cause of their own salvation, asking: will you acquiesce to a government that overwhelmingly acts without constitutional foundation—or will you stand in your own defense so that yours and future generations can live in freedom?

Chuck Dutton built Music City Salvage with patience and expertise, stripping historic properties and reselling their bones. Inventory is running low, so he's thrilled when Augusta Withrow appears in his office offering salvage rights to her entire property. This could be a gold mine, so he assigns his daughter Dahlia to personally oversee the project. The crew finds a handful of surprises right away. Firstly, the place is in unexpectedly good shape. And then there's the cemetery, about thirty fallen and overgrown graves dating to the early 1900s, Augusta insists that the cemetery is just a fake, a Halloween prank, so the city gives the go-ahead, the bulldozer revs up, and it turns up human remains. Augusta says she doesn't know whose body it is or how many others might be present and refuses to answer any more questions. Then she stops answering the phone. But Dahlia's concerns about the corpse and Augusta's disappearance are overshadowed when she begins to realize that she and her crew are not alone, and they're not welcome at the Withrow estate. They have no idea how much danger they're in, but they're starting to get an idea. On the crew's third night in the house, a storm shuts down the only road to the property. The power goes out. Cell signals are iffy. There's nowhere to go and no one Dahlia can call for help, even if anyone would believe that she and her crew are being stalked by a murderous phantom. Something at the Withrow mansion is angry and lost, and this is its last chance to raise hell before the house is gone forever. And it seems to be seeking permanent company. The Family Plot is a haunted house story for the ages-atmospheric, scary, and strange, with a modern gothic sensibility to keep it fresh and interesting-from Cherie Priest, a modern master of supernatural fiction.

Sunset lives a life of luxury with her beautiful ex-model mum, her world-famous rock star dad and her two little celebrity siblings. But life on the red carpet is no compensation for parents who constantly argue, intensive scrutiny from the media, and and having no real friends.Destiny, on the other hand, is an only child living on a rundown estate with a sickly but devoted mum who constantly tells her that she's really the daughter of a famous rock star . . .When the two girls meet in unlikely circumstances, they are surprised to find in each other something they've been missing all their lives . . .

Set during the misty Middle Ages, when brave knights in shining armor rescued fair maidens and chivalry and honor were prized above all things, this quartet of novellas from some of the genre's best-known writers takes the concept of the vow and spins it into four very different yet thematically linked medieval tales. Lynn Kurland - The Traveller (MacLeod #4)A humorous time travel piece that tosses a modern-day woman back into the life of a 13th century knight who needs to reclaim his inheritance. Patricia Potter - The MinstrelA story of a lord who promises his dying mother he will only marry for love and becomes a traveling musician in order to find a woman who can make his own heart sing. Deborah Simmons - The Bachelor KnightStory of a valiant but lowly born knight who is forced to honor an old vow and marry a lady so that she can retain her holdings, andGlynnis Campbell - The SiegeA romantic tale of a knight and his reluctant intended, unaware of the other's identity and trapped together during an assault on her family's castle.

I had looked at her before; now I cast a sideways critical glance at her. I came out of my moodiness to wonder what type this was. She had good hair good eyes and some charm. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

because she is having a group of friends coming over to her house to hang out. At the game store she chooses the most "unusual" game to buy because the "guy" at the game store talks her into buying this particular game. Fast forward a little - Julian (the guy at the store) is actually from the dark world. He has been watching Jenny for years, from a far and is totally in love with her. He wants her with him in his world. Jenny's boyfriend thinks differently. Any hoo. . . Jenny's friends start the game not knowing that it is a "forbidden game". It turns out that the game is magical. . . and here are the rules - if Julian wins, he gets Jenny - if Jenny and her friends win, they go free. Simple right? - Wrong - because Julian is in charge of the game.

Drafted Into the Army of TimeThe USA's greatest adversary has gone back in time and discovered a source of advanced technology. We have only one chance: send American agents back in time, find the ancient source, and take it down!Drafted Into the Army of TimeThe USA's greatest adversary has gone back in time and discovered a source of advanced technology. We have only one chance: send American agents back in time, find the ancient source, and take it down!

The Lost Naval Papers is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Bennet Copplestone is in the English language, and may not include graphics or images from the original edition. If you enjoy the works of Bennet Copplestone then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection.

Buster “Rant” Casey just may be the most efficient serial killer of our time. A high school rebel, Rant Casey escapes from his small town home for the big city where he becomes the leader of an urban demolition derby called Party Crashing. Rant Casey will die a spectacular highway death, after which his friends gather the testimony needed to build an oral history of his short, violent life.

Change.She longs for it.A murder.She will never be the same.Change.She longs for it.A Murder. She will never be the same.It takes more than a school trip to Washington, D.C. to change Christy’s life. It takes murder. A witness to the brutal slaying of a senator’s aide, Christy finds herself watched not only by the killers and the FBI, but also by two hot guys. She quickly discovers that if she can’t help the FBI, who want to protect her, it will cost her and her new friends their lives.

Edwina Bond of Earth and Ganelyn of the Coven – two different women, or are they? Either way, the sweet lips of the Red Warlock Medeo are enticing. When they change places in the Dark World, a long conflict has a wildcard introduced. Mutants, science and sorcery erupt in the struggle for the sacrifice at Caer Lyr as the rebels face the Coven. A Gender Switch Adventure.loll v. lolled, lolling, lolls—intr. 1. To move, stand, or recline in an indolent or relaxed manner. 2. To hang or droop laxly. loller n. That’s the dictionary definition. A loller is a shirker, a slacker, a goof-off, an idler, a goldbrick, a dirtball, a ne’er-do-well—all of which define Claude Amognes’s behavior quite nicely. He’s lazy and selfish; he gets into trouble taking short-cuts at work at the power company while depending on the union to bail him out; having got his job only because his father was the union president, he is never in danger of working himself to death—in fact, taking advantage of the sick-leave policy his father negotiated years ago, he has no difficulty in using the slightest indisposition to generate a week or two of sick leave where he can recover by fishing and boozing. So he’s a good-time Charlie who smokes and drinks too much and does as little work as necessary; but while all these things are true, he’s also a delightful character and fully human. He loves his daughter Jamie and in his own way also loves his long-suffering wife Joan. He alone makes reading this novel wonderful, rollicking fun. Years ago when he began his career with the electric company as a meter-reader, he’d been attacked by fleas in a basement and had to flee for his life, swatting and scratching up a storm. That incident had earned him the nickname “Bugsy” with his union brothers. Later after a scheme to get full disability and a comfortable annuity fell through when Mr. Schulke, his boss, had video proof he was faking his headaches, this traumatic attack of fleas comes in handy. Delightful in a Falstaffian way as Claude is, he is surrounded by dozens of other fully realized characters who add breadth and depth to this wonderful novel. At one point we even get the point of view of a trout! In short, The Jig of the Union Loller is a page-turner. It offers quite a picture of work in America along with much wit and wisdom about human behavior and the human condition.

There's a certain intimacy about the word "embedded." I don't know who coined it embedded, part of the action, eyewitness news on the front line. Embedded became a term used by the media and military to describe correspondents who were carried to war.If you want the facts, go to the history books, but if you want to know how it felt to report Trafalgar turn the page and read the log.There's a certain intimacy about the word "embedded." I don't know who came up with it, but once it was in common usage, we talked about it endlessly in the pub. Embedded, being there, part of the action, eyewitness news on the front line. Embedded became a term shared by the media and the military to describe correspondents who were carried to war as an extra mural member of a fighting unit, journalist as warrior, and it was hoped, certainly from the military standpoint, that this symbiosis, a new quirk on the old Stockholm syndrome, would rub off on the reporters and ensure that coverage swayed towards the soldiers' point of view. Sure there was huffing and puffing over journalistic integrity and freedom of the press, but if you wanted to go to war there was no better way than embedded.You see the Vietnam War had taught the military a hard lesson. If you have newsmen running around the combat zone, left to their own devices, reporting the kill count as it happens, blood baths like Mi Li Four, then the public appetite for the conflict diminishes in direct proportion to the tv footage of body bags coming home. So if you couldn't muzzle the media, then the next best thing was to get them on board, get them embedded, in the hope that the old adage that it is better to have your critic in the tent pissing out than outside the tent pissing in, would pay dividends.Not that the military were less than sanguine about the prospect, Imagine how it would have been if there had been reporters embedded at The Somme filing eyeball accounts from the trenches of soldiers eating rats to stay alive, and the criminal lunacy of officers ordering troops over the top into machinegun fire.But those kind of considerations didn't cloud the judgement a couple of centuries ago when the spectre of invasion from across the Channel loomed large, and Napoleon Bonaparte summoned the combined naval strength of France and Spain into the largest battle fleet the world had ever seen; when the course of history hung by a thread. When the nation turned to one man, already hailed as a national hero, to save the day. So this is the story. With all the journalistic technique, the breakneck speed of instant communication technology and the clamour for on scene reporting; with every morsel of the action devoured to satisfy the voracious appetite of twenty four seven rolling news I can tell you what transpired when Nelson set sail for the great sea battle off Cape Trafalgar because I was there, embedded with the fleet.My name is John Pretty, naval correspondent of the Daily Chronicle, and with the benefit of hindsight I have collected all my pieces, the news columns, the features, the e-mails, the tapes and scribbled shorthand notes, into a chronological sequence, translated the arcane patois of the eighteenth century tar into the modern idiom to give you a feel of how Trafalgar played in the press. If you want the unalloyed facts, go to the history books, but if you're curious to know how it felt to report Trafalgar then as Mark Twain put it, turn the page, read the log.

Eden is a remote hotel with a sordid past. Two couples brought together by a mutual curiosity stumble upon evidence of the horrific events that have transpired within. The couples have gruesome visions of murders and suicides, pushing them to find the truth behind terrifying stories told by the staff.Eden is a remote hotel with a sordid past. Two couples brought together by a mutual curiosity stumble upon evidence of the horrific events that have transpired within. The couples have gruesome visions of murders and suicides, pushing them to find the truth behind terrifying stories told by the staff. Trapped at the hotel, the couples encounter the ghosts of the many casualties in Eden, unveiling the mysteries of a young girl's specter and her ties to the mysterious deaths. But will they uncover the answers before they become the next ghosts to haunt Eden's halls?

Includes stories aFevera by Sandra Hill, aMan With a Golden Bowa by Nina Bangs, and aSanta Reads Romancea by Dara Joy.

A fever claimed Adelaide’s mother just like a thousand others in Cologne where the dead are dumped in a pit outside the city walls. In an effort to save her mother’s soul, Adelaide’s father obtains a funeral for his wife by bribing a priest, Father Soren. An atrocity at the funeral drives Adelaide toward vengeance, but avenging the mother she lost may cost Adelaide everything she has left.“A…resonant tale set late in the 13th century… with unexpected plot twists. An engaging story of revenge and redemption… An opener to a future series.” - Publisher’s Weekly “Really great story. The author’s style reminds me of many great historical fiction pieces that I’ve read. Strong emotion injected into almost every page.” -The Vine Review “…a unique twist on the Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Part fairy tale retelling, part historical fiction…. The Fairy Tale Keeper is a story of corruption, devotion, and tough decisions.” -Copperfield Review Adelaide’s mother, Katrina, was the finest storyteller in all of Airsbach, a borough in the great city of Cologne, but she left one story untold, that of her daughter, that of Snow White. Snow White was a pet name Adelaide’s mother had given her. It was a name Adelaide hated, until now. Now, she would give anything to hear her mother say it once more. A rampant fever claimed Adelaide’s mother just like a thousand others in Cologne where the people die without last rites and the dead are dumped in a vast pit outside the city walls. In an effort to save Katrina’s soul, Adelaide’s father obtains a secret funeral for his wife by bribing the parish priest, Father Soren. Soren commits an unforgivable atrocity, pushing Adelaide toward vengeance. When Adelaide realizes that the corruption in Cologne reaches far beyond Soren, the cost of settling scores quickly escalates. Avenging the mother she lost may cost Adelaide everything she has left: her father, her friends, her first love, and maybe even her life. Seamlessly weaving historical events and Grimm’s fairytales into a tale of corruption and devotion, The Fairytale Keeper, leaves the reader wondering where fact ends and fiction begins. The novel paints Medieval Cologne accurately and vividly. The story develops a set of dynamic characters, casting the famous villains, heroes, and damsels of Grimm’s fairy tales into believable medieval lives. Though historically set, The Fairytale Keeper brims with timeless themes of love, loyalty, and the struggle for justice. The Fairytale Keeper was a Quarter-Finalist in Amazon's 2013 Breakthrough Novel Contest. It has also won Indie Book of the Day and was a finalist in writing.com's "Hook Us" contest.

The world will end unless two lovers agree to be separated for eternity. This quick read of a little less than 7,000 words by veteran romance writer Florence Witkop deals with what happens when one of those lovers learns the terms... and refuses to abide by them.Kiethara is a descendant from a long line of powerful guardians who have been charged to protect a magical forest since the dawn of time. She prematurely took the place of her mother—the previous guardian—after she was defeated by a man known as Gandador; now, young Kiethara is forced into a position of power and danger. The Spirit of Aaron, the forest's first guardian, awakens to train her legendary powers, all the while hiding unknown truths and secrets of her past. When Gandador returns to destroy the reign of the guardians and rule the forest himself, he brings into the forest a whole new world, and Kiethara must keep in check her overwhelming emotions and experiences in order to control her magic and save the forest.Wickedly dark yet extremely moving, The Guardians of the Forest explores the burdens of responsibility and the prospects of failure. Kiethara must protect the world's source of power while developing her own, but guarding it becomes difficult when she finds herself kidnapped and taken out of the forest she is bound to protect. This YA novel draws true-to-form parallels with a normal fifteen-year-olds life. Readers experience how Kiethara bears the weight of an entire world on her shoulders in a humorously sarcastic tone, relying on the friends she makes and the love she discovers to ease the fear of failure to deliver what she has been born to accomplish.

Meet me at the end of the world ... As civilization comes to an end, Lewis and Karen take their last vacation to the only cold place left on Earth, the remote resort town of Cold Pools. There, they will say goodbye ...The Cold Pools - a short story of 3,000 words.Meet me at the end of the world ... As civilization comes to an end, Lewis and Karen take their last vacation to the only cold place left on Earth, the remote resort town of Cold Pools. There, they will say goodbye ...The Cold Pools - a short story of 3,000 words, is taken from the author's collection Ms Ito's Bird & Other Stories.Chris Ward is the author of the novels The Tube Riders and The Man Who Built the World, available now in ebook and paperback format.