Sharp& young-business executive has a hidden secret... McMasters, renowned for work-excellence; viewed by this thirty year-old as a difficult-trap& the only way-out is through drugs. Years of use, he finally, realizes that he must find new-life... Leaving everything behind he takes mementos of his life with him including A diary of a great-grandmother during the gold-rush...Baumgartner P.McMasters III, is an executive business-man's caveat. Having a large office, a Condo and other riches, only one thing, he is a druggee. He'd sell his blood for a nickel bag. Then one day, he has to make a decision, when his drug-seller threatens to go public for not paying him on time. He decides to cut all ties, and leave it all behind. He shows up, a year-later in worn and tattered-clothes, and sits alone in a diner somewhere in AZ with a nap-sack full of his own old-mementos. Then, he reads.. What will become of him, and what if anything will save him.

A young Elven ranger seeks her rite of passage by hunting down a terrible beast that has been ransacking Halfling villages, but is caught off guard once confronted. Caught in a fight for her life, she must use all of her wits and skills to survive.Includes full colour illustrations. When Queen Beatrice visits the royal family of Norway, she receives a lovely surprise gift, a cute fluffy kitten. She names the kitten Albert and brings him home to live in the palace. As Albert grows up he gets into all kinds of trouble. Albert has many friends at the palace, including Isabelle the Chambermaid, Gerard the Butler, Angus the Chauffeur, Norman the Grenadier Guard, Princess Sophie, Prince Nicholas and his best friend Sergeant Major, the Magpie. Albert travels to lots of lovely places with the Queen, meets lots of nice people and some not so nice. If Albert does not like you, then watch out. His favourite trick is rubbing his paws on the carpet and giving you a nasty electric shock, which can be painful. Albert loves to roll in smelly horse poo and it’s usually left to Isabelle to bath him before the Queen finds out. Life is good at the palace and Albert makes the most of his position as The Queen’s Cat.In this story Albert wonders if the Queen has remembered his first anniversary at the royal palace and he also meets an unfriendly dog.

Nomi Nivag is a teenager who is sent on wild bizarre adventures, this time she travels to the kingdom of Poopoola to end a war between King Poopoola and the Dragon Crows.Look around you. Do you like what you see? Are you satisfied with our political leadership, with the business class, with all those who have their hands on the levers of power? Are you content with the current order of the world? Perhaps you aren't. Perhaps you are quite definitely not satisfied. In fact, when you think about the myriad of serious problems that humanity currently faces-- climate change and the ongoing wholesale destruction of nature, economic stagnation, growing inequality and disenfranchisement, ethnic and social discord, armed conflicts and the nationalistically-fueled threat of greater bloodshed to come-- you are filled with despair, and anger. Despair, because with every passing day these issues seem to be growing more grave, more intractable, more pressing. Anger, because those who are responsible for guiding us toward a better, more sustainable world, for creating the conditions in which justice, prosperity, and opportunity might flourish...are not. Our leaders are failing us, of this can be no doubt. But beyond their failure lies an even greater burden of accountability. Like it or not, this the world we have made. In the future its achievements and missteps will be laid at our doorstep and no one else's. So if we don't care for the direction things seem to be heading in, it is up to us, the people, to change it. That's what this story is about: people taking the reins of the world back into their own hands to create a better society, one strong enough to last our time, and worthy of bequeathing to our children. And yes, the story is also about dragons, as well as a very special kind of magic! Read this tale if you cannot help but feel that somehow,somewhere, civilization-- the whole kit and caboodle-- has taken a wrong turn. Read it if you believe that neither the system we live under now nor its human proxies will ever be capable of putting us back on a truly democratic, sustainable path. And read "The Dragons" if, despite the undeniable gravity of the challenges facing us, you still have hope, and wouldn't mind coming by just a tad more.

In Dark Edge, CIA Agent Corban Dowler refuses a kill order, so is sanctioned for assassination by the agency he's worked with for years. Corban's new relationship with Jesus Christ will possibly cost him everything. In disguise, Corban initiates a rescue in India, and then we join a brainstorming session that reveals the beginnings of C.O.I.L., formed to serve God's people worldwide.* Recipient of the Redemptive Fiction Award of Excellence *In Dark Edge, Prequel to the C.O.I.L. Series, Christian suspense by D.I. Telbat, we find an international thriller providing background to Corban Dowler and the C.O.I.L. Organization. CIA Agent Corban Dowler has refused a kill order, therefore he is sanctioned for assassination by the very agency he has worked with for years. As Corban runs for his life, he must cut all ties and even abandon his wife in order to keep her alive. His new relationship with Jesus Christ may cost him everything . . . But Corban has a plan. He knows God's persecuted need his specialized skills, so he follows a lead to India, though poisonous clutches and a German hit squad are close behind. Disguised as a bearded Muslim weapons smuggler, Corban initiates a rescue in the midst of millions of Hindus participating in the Ganges River bathing festival.We also meet first-recruit ex-Mossad Agent Chloe Azmaveth and her husband as they brainstorm with Corban about a new organization to serve God's people worldwide. With Bonus Chapter One of Dark Liaison, Book One in the C.O.I.L. Series, and cover art by Streetlight Graphics, Dark Edge will not disappoint as you follow the founder of C.O.I.L. to the Edge of darkness. And we learn again, there is no redemption without sacrifice . . .

Strange things are happening when China begins exporting designer athletic shoes to the US that sell for less than cheap canvas shoes. Is there a connection between the shoes and violence that erupts on playgrounds across America?Kermit O’Doyle, a paraplegic, works as an analyst on the China desk of the CIA’s Economic Analysis Unit. He’s tasked with discovering why the Chinese are flooding the US with designer hi-tops that sell for less than canvas sneakers. Everyone wants them and soon they’re outselling America’s top brands. But violence follows the shoes onto the playgrounds across America. Moreover, Kermit and the paraplegics he plays wheelchair basketball with are beset with unusual nervous reactions since switching to the Chinese sneakers. Is there a connection? If so, how to react to China’s ominous economic attack.

In the end, it didn't matter what they thought of you . . . or even what you thought of yourself. In the end, all that mattered was who you were.And you were beautiful.Book ThreeI'm not your child. I was kidnapped and raped. I've been tormented by demons, tortured and cut. I was infested by whisps and forced to murder the one I love most. So don't you dare tell me to trust in the Lord. Maker doesn't live here anymore.The entire world had been conquered. Far-a-mael had bitten off more than a thousand mouths could chew. Their only hope now was to somehow find the key that would allow them to unlock the gates of Hae'Evun. And that task--one so great that every life, both human and otherwise, hung in the balance--Seteal had left to an elf owl.In the end, it didn't matter what they thought of you . . . or even what you thought of yourself. In the end, all that mattered was who you were.

When Hermes is sent to the Oracle of Delphi, he encounters a plot with human imagination itself at stake, and all the power of the gods might not be enough. Message of Fate serves as a prequel to the forthcoming Oracles of Kurnugi Trilogy where the hero will travel across varied realms in a desperate attempt to return home.The citizens of the former pirate freeport may appear to have settled down to their peaceful lives of capitalism once more, but there is a dangerous undercurrent of political anger stirring beneath the calm surface. It is a situation Marcus Jocan has been working hard to diffuse, but his old friend Traetan Daeon has news that threatens to upset their hard earned balance.Meanwhile across the water in Incarnate, Kelsaro begins the arduous task of marshalling a bunch of amateurish wannabes into something resembling a fighting force.Join us now as the final dance begins.Set the Stage - the first instalment of the final book in the Star Plague Journals.

“I am Morning Toill, the daughter of, Geth—the last of his powerful children. Today the Thieves Guild pilot will come to see me, just as I have dreamed--my dreams are always true. He is the one they will call Lazarus, but he will not accept it when I tell him so. The tale of Thad Cochran begins here with me, and I will show him what is coming." Thus begins The Guild Saga.“I am Morning Toill, the daughter of, Geth—the last of his powerful children. Today the Thieves Guild pilot will come to see me, just as I have dreamed--my dreams are always true. He is the one they will call Lazarus, but he will not accept it when I tell him so. The tale of Thad Cochran begins here with me, and I will show him what is coming. A bloodthirsty one he will one day be, and not even his love for Maggie Thorn will keep him forever on the path of peace. One day soon, the Thieves Guild pilot will face his destiny…at a faraway place called, the North Ridge. There the avenger will confront the dreamer, and only the spirits know which one will prevail.”Thus begins The Guild Saga which continues in The Wonk Decelerator, The Late Great Benjamin Bale and The Return of the Crimson Witch.

An itinerant preacher succumbs to alcohol and drug addiction searches for healing.Joe Blaylock is a musically talented son of a famous cardiologist. While his parents want him to become a doctor, as a teen ager Joe chooses instead to become a jazz pianist in a nightclub. When tragedy strikes he succumbs to alcohol and drugs, becomes lost and homeless. A black preacher leads him into recovery and a religious career.

The Indian island of North Sentinel is home to the Sentinelese, one of the world's last uncontacted tribes. On an expedition to the island Dr. Zakir Khan is killed - not with spears and arrows - but with a gun. As investigators attempt to discover who - or what - is inhabiting the island, shocking secrets will be uncovered. Secrets that will rewrite history and endanger the lives of millions.From the deserts of Syria to the favelas of Brazil and the temples of India, an ancient evil is lurking. An evil that aims to alter the course of humanity... Although just thirty miles from the bustling Indian city of Port Blair, North Sentinel Island is one of the remotest places on Earth. Inhabited by the Sentinelese, a Stone-Age tribe that violently resists all outsiders, the island has never been explored.Dr. Zakir Khan hopes to become the first to peacefully contact the Sentinelese. Unsurprisingly, his expedition, like all others, ends in failure. However, instead of being driven off by spears and arrows, Zakir is gunned down.Admiral Vimal Chaudri of the Indian Navy is charged with leading the investigation. As he attempts to discover who - or what - is inhabiting the island, he will uncover shocking secrets. Secrets that may cost the admiral, and millions more, their lives.

The story of Mei Lian. A beautiful girl born in a remote Chinese village, her feet bound from an early age and sold into servitude bound for America a midst the growth pains and civil injustices of a burgeoning new land early in the nineteenth century.When good Southern girls get divorced, they go back home to Mama... Stacey "Strawberry Top" Fields is home again in small town Willowbrook, TN. Divorced, she's already earned her amateur sleuth badge by proving her super rich ex-husband cheated on her (and getting her share of the money per the pre-nup). A prize winning cook and blue ribbon baker, she was a fabulous wife and hostess but now she's starting over. It’s fun to be home with friends and family but even quiet little towns have problems. Secrets and lies make people do desperate things-small towns just hide them better. When someone steals Grammy's precious family recipe book, Stacey must track it down or never hear the end of it. That book means the world to the family and, since cooking is Stacey's future, no one is going to steal her family's culinary heritage and get away with it!

In the short story, Lonely, Lonely, members of a race evolved for war contend for supremacy on a new planet. Can the planet’s native species survive as their home becomes a battlefield? Lonely, Lonely explores one possible endpoint on the trajectory of warfare and how individuals might bridge even the deepest of chasms.In the short story, Lonely, Lonely, members of a race evolved for war contend for supremacy on a new planet. Can the planet’s native species survive as their home becomes a battlefield? Lonely, Lonely explores one possible endpoint on the trajectory of warfare and how individuals might bridge even the deepest of chasms.Tangent review (tangentonline.com, April 2012): “Lonely, Lonely is about a planet whose inhabitants are all mentally linked, and what happens when their planet become a battleground by other forces. This sort of mental interplay is difficult to pull off, but Daniel P. Swenson comes up with a strongly plotted story about sacrifice and victory.”Originally published in science fiction magazine Lore 2.1 (vol. 2, no. 1).

In Testament, the first story in award winning author Adam Lance Garcia’s From the Pen of…, a desperate man literally relates his last words amid a miasma of murder and madness. Writing as the seconds of his life fall away like sands in a busted hour glass, the once confident, happy soul reveals that terror not only has a face and that the Devil may indeed wander through the snow.Pro Se Productions, the home of the Pro Se Single Shot Signature line of digital singles, announces the first of its Signature imprints. From the Pen of Adam Lance Garcia is the company’s first writer focused digital single imprint within its highly successful Pro Se Single Shot Signature line. Featuring stand-alone tales by today’s best writers, From the Pen of… will feature stories of all genres by both up and coming and notable authors.In Testament, the first story in award winning author Adam Lance Garcia’s From the Pen of…, a desperate man literally relates his last words amid a miasma of murder and madness. Writing as the seconds of his life fall away like sands in a busted hour glass, the once confident, happy soul reveals that terror not only has a face and that the Devil may indeed wander through the snow. Testament by Adam Lance Garcia is the first digital single in his author imprint from Pro Se Productions.

Welcome to an amazing world where a fox trots and a leopard changes its spots. But even here, politicians remain incorrigibly corrupt. We try to understand why politicians shed crocodile tears when crying wolf, why dogs of war bark up the wrong tree, why bureaucrats cover up when curiosity kills the cat, and how politicians cleverly mix apples and oranges after upsetting the apple cart.Once upon a time, there were some woods lovely, dark and deep. Here, on an auspicious day, you could see a fox trot or a leopard change its spots. You might see pigs fly and eagles getting high. You would also notice that using on-the-spot thought, or off-the-cuff rebuff, the fly in the ointment, fish out of water, bee in the bonnet, bats in the belfry, moth near a flame, the stuck pig… all these endangered, proverbial personalities escape their inevitable fates.But even in such an amazing world, where members of the animal kingdom show off by vocalizing vociferously or dare to dream by visualizing vividly, there is one group of brute beings that remains stubbornly selfish. That’s right. Our politicians continue to go from bad to barbaric, from corrupt to cockroachy.Politically Panchatantraed is a short-story, tall-tale series, stolen and adapted from the ancient collection of animal fables from India, The Panchatantra. Written around the third century BC in Sanskrit, The Panchatantra has enthralled and entertained countless generations of avid and awed readers, with stories of fine and friendly animals getting along famously with fickle and foolish humans. Over the centuries, The Panchatantra has gone global, with over two hundred versions in over 50 languages. With a youthful, impressionable audience that extends from third world hutholds to ultra urban zip codes, one should not be surprised to see copies of The Panchatantra sitting shyly on splintering slabs in shabby shacks, or stylishly setup on shiny sliding shelves in stately skyscrapers.But all versions, all translations of these folk fables remain true to the original, and no re-teller has been irresponsible enough to disgustingly deform or pathetically parody these tales. Till now. After all, in today’s confusingly complex world, tales of animated animals and their audacious adventures, artistic acumen and altruistic aspirations are not enough.We need to know why politicians shed crocodile tears when crying wolf, why dogs of war usually bark up the wrong tree, why those in power try to cover up when curiosity kills the cat or you smell a rat, how politicians cleverly mix apples and oranges after upsetting the apple cart… This is where Politically Panchatantraed comes into play.Today, the woods have turned lousy, dreadful and depraved. Political predators with insatiable hunger for power and unquenchable thirst for wealth, hunt unscrupulously for bliss, benefit and bounties beyond. Cool, shady foliage has given way to crooked, shady corporations. And the lofty, life lesson morals at the end of folk tales have been forced into retirement due to lack of interest. But despite all those political wolves in cheap clothing trying to pull the wool over our eyes, the power of the people, and their no-nonsense common sense, will hopefully guide society toward a storybook ending. With a little help from a Holy Cow, of course.

This Book which has 50 differently titled Poems , is actually Part 2 of the Book titled - You die; I die - Love Poems ( 1600 pages ) .Poems symbolizing the immortality of love and at times its fickleness. Parekh takes the reader through a paradise naturally embellished with the ingredients of eternal romance and its sporadic failures. As they say life and death are two sides of the coin, similarly with every true anecdote of love there also comes fretful divorce—a thing which has been most sensitively described throughout this great collection of poems for the heart. Written and dipped in each ingredient of his passionate blood, Parekh comes out with startling revelations about the truest of love stories and their failures. Each verse has been delicately intertwined with a boundless aspects of relationships, romance, cheating, betrayal and goes on to prove that Immortal Love towers over every shattered heart. A start to finish with some of the most heart-rendering love poems ever, this makes a great collection for every true lover breathing and desiring to be loved on earth and beyond. This collection of poems aims at perpetually uniting every heart on this Universe in the spirit of Immortal love and friendship. Because these are the two quintessential ingredients to lead life till its last breath. Irrespective of whatever color, faith or religion, it is only the rainbow of love which can transform the ghastliest monsters and perpetrators of humanity into peaceful lovers. Therefore this book inexhaustibly endeavors to speak and preach the language of love even after its last embossed alphabet .

A story of crime and corruption set in the same world as the two previous stories, this time with a cinematic feel.Have a seat before the fire place of old Peter Perry's cabin as he opens the first of seven Journals. The Journals were in an old leather trunk soaked with storm water from a flood that entered his little cabin in Alaska. A young man named Patrick encourages old Peter to restore the wet Journals by retelling the story associated with each one. As old Peter Perry leaned back in his rocking chair he opens his mouth by saying, "it began here in Alaska, it was here where I discovered FAITH ON ICE". Old Peter began his story in San Diego CA as a youth with a hunger and endeavor to be a fisherman as his grandfather. Yet God had something else planned for Peter as he started his journey toward the north, toward the Alaska frontier, it was there where he found the old rugged cross.

**NOW WITH A NEW LOOK CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF NICHOLAS SPARKS!** Adrienne Willis is 45 and has been divorced for three years, abandoned by her husband for a younger woman. The trials of raising her teenage children and caring for her sick father have worn her down, but at the request of a friend and in hopes of respite, she's gone to the coastal village of Rodanthe in North Carolina to tend the local inn for the weekend. With a major storm brewing, the time away doesn't look promising...until a guest named Paul Flanner arrives. At 54, Paul is a successful surgeon, but in the previous six months his life has unraveled into something he doesn't recognize. Estranged from his son and recently divorced, he's sold his practice and his home and has journeyed to this isolated town in hopes of closing a painful chapter in his past. Adrienne and Paul come together as the storm brews over Rodanthe, but what begins between them over the weekend will resonate throughout the rest of their lives, intertwining past and future, love and loss.

*Sometimes, it feels so damn good to be bad...* **From New York Times and #1 International bestselling author J. Kenner, the first in an all new series of fast-paced, provocative novels centering around the ambitious, wealthy, and powerful men who work in the glamorous and exciting world of the Stark International conglomerate … and the sexy and passionate women who bring them to their knees.** On the outside, Lyle Tarpin is a clean-cut Hollywood actor whose star is on the rise. Inside, he’s battling his own demons, shunning relationships and finding solace in the arms of a string of anonymous women paid very well for their discretion. But when he’s photographed in a compromising position by an over-eager reporter, the only way to save his career is to say that the woman he was with is his fiancée. And now Lyle has to play a very public game with the only woman who’s ever managed to get under his skin. Struggling waitress Sugar Laine agrees to spend one night with Lyle—but only because she’s desperate to save her family home. She never expects that a night of passion will turn into a pretend engagement … or that the heat between them will blossom into love. But sometimes love has a price. And now the only question is—can Lyle and Sugar afford to pay it?

"When it comes to love, there are a million theories to explain it. But when it comes to love stories, things are simpler. A love story can never be about full possession. Love stories depend on disappointment, on unequal births and feuding families, on matrimonial boredom and at least one cold heart. Love stories, nearly without exception, give love a bad name.... It is perhaps only in reading a love story (or in writing one) that we can simultaneously partake of the ecstasy and agony of being in love without paying a crippling emotional price. I offer this book, then, as a cure for lovesickness and an antidote to adultery. Read these love stories in the safety of your single bed. Let everybody else suffer." --Jeffrey Eugenides, from the introduction to My Mistress's Sparrow Is Dead All proceeds from My Mistress's Sparrow Is Dead will go directly to fund the free youth writing programs offered by 826 Chicago. 826 Chicago is part of the network of seven writing centers across the United States affiliated with 826 National, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.

First published in 1877, these three stories are dominated by questions of doubt, love, loneliness, and religious experience—together they confirm Flaubert as a master of the short story. "A Simple Heart" relates the story of Félicité, an uneducated serving-woman who retains her Catholic faith despite a life of desolation and loss. "The Legend of Saint Julian Hospitator," inspired by a stained-glass window in Rouen cathedral, describes the fate of a sadistic hunter destined to murder his own parents. The blend of faith and cruelty that dominates this story may also be found in "Herodias," a reworking of the tale of Salome and John the Baptist.

A swashbuckling adventure story that reveals for the first time how Diego de la Vega became the masked man we all know so well Born in southern California late in the eighteenth century, Diego de la Vega is a child of two worlds. His father is an aristocratic Spanish military man turned landowner; his mother, a Shoshone warrior. At the age of sixteen, Diego is sent to Spain, a country chafing under the corruption of Napoleonic rule. He soon joins La Justicia, a secret underground resistance movement devoted to helping the powerless and the poor. Between the New World and the Old, the persona of Zorro is formed, a great hero is born, and the legend begins. After many adventures -- duels at dawn, fierce battles with pirates at sea, and impossible rescues -- Diego de la Vega, a.k.a. Zorro, returns to America to reclaim the hacienda on which he was raised and to seek justice for all who cannot fight for it themselves.