Employees of a waste management company in the States are on strike. Across the globe, young dump scavengers find vital military technology. Bill Gardner hired to track down the missing technology. He is in touch with the US intelligence services. He is pulled into the world of secure waste and crime, and the dangers of stolen technology. A delicate matter and very dangerous mission.Employees of a waste management company in the States are on strike. Across the globe, young dump scavengers in Somalia find vital military technology that should have been destroyed securely. Bill Gardner is a lawyer and ex-marine, hired to help track down the missing technology on behalf of the waste company, so that they can save face. But he is also in touch with the US intelligence services.He is pulled into the world of secure waste, corruption and crime, and the dangers of stolen technology. A delicate, yet simple matter is about to become very dangerous mission. In the midst of these events and a world with different goals rustle political issues and dangerous transactions to global security.

Former Robin and current Nightwing, Dick Grayson, must defeat the villains set loose on Gotham City, but this time, Batman's not around to help him...After the events of "Batman: Arkham Knight," the Batman has died, and the villains that he had captured have escaped. With Robin incapacitated, Gordon unavailable, and Oracle recovering from her kidnapping, it's up to Nightwing to defeat the villains and save Gotham. Spoilers from "Batman: Arkham Knight" ahead.

When his eccentric, cat-loving aunt decides to go out of town for the weekend, she asks her nephew to watch her cat. He's not an animal lover and he especially doesn't like cats. He's also convinced that Bruno the cat does not like him either. As can be predicted, things do not go well for the pair during their weekend together.When his eccentric, cat-loving aunt decides to go out of town for the weekend, she asks her nephew to watch her cat. He's not an animal lover and he especially doesn't like cats. He's also convinced that Bruno the cat does not like him either. As can be predicted, things do not go well for the pair during their weekend together. I got the idea for this story while looking at a website that was advertising job postings. I saw an ad for a 'cat sitter'. I love cats so the main character is not me at all. I thought that it would make for a humourous story to pair someone who doesn't like cats with a cat who was spoiled by his owner for a weekend. There is a little bit of heart and humour but I've tried to stay away from a clichéd happy ending. . For those of us who love cats, this story will just reinforce why we think they're so wonderful and intelligent. And for those who think that cat's are devious little beings, well, you may be right as well.

My parents just didn't understand me. They thought I should settle down, get married, and kick out a couple of grandkids. This despite the vast problems of overpopulation in 2103. But my heart drew me elsewhere. I longed to retreat to the solitude of the Chartreuse order and put my botany skills to good work. Maybe, just maybe, if I studied with an intense focus, I could find a solution ...My parents just didn't understand me. They thought I should settle down, get married, and kick out a couple of grandkids. This despite the vast problems of overpopulation in 2103. But my heart drew me elsewhere. I longed to retreat to the solitude of the Chartreuse order and put my botany skills to good work. Maybe, just maybe, if I studied with an intense focus, I could find a solution to our world's pressing issues.I had no idea what really lay in store for me within those medieval walls ...Chartreuse is part of the Lisa Shea Sci-Fi Short Stories series. Each short story can be read in any order. All author's proceeds from this series benefit battered women's shelters.Lisa's short stories emerge as haiku - as glimpses into lives which amble and turn. She seeks to show how we are all alike in many ways - and yet each of us retains that unique spark that sets us apart. We are flawed creatures, certainly, and yet we continue to strive, to put one foot in front of the other, and to find a place where we can feel comfortable in our own skin.

The case of Marcel, is the second story in a series At the Crossroads. Events presented here are not necessarily true, but almost possible. Everything depends on the imagination of the reader. Those, who do not believe in anything, will not like this book and it is directed not to them.But someone who has at least partially awakened imagination, can understand what is going on.The case of Marcel, is the second story in a series At the Crossroads. Events presented here are not necessarily true, but almost possible. Everything depends on the imagination of the reader. Those, who do not believe in anything, will not like this book and it is directed not to them.But someone who has at least partially awakened imagination, can understand what is going on without asking questions. Such readers I appreciate the most and to them At the Crossroad is dedicated.Stories will appear at least every month until the end of the book, free of charge. I cordially greet all readers.Author

Reynard is a trickster who lives only to sow chaos and sate his basest desires. Solace is a Good Samaritan who constantly strives for society’s betterment. The two of them seem to have nothing in common, yet they do: they’re immortal, and roughly once every thousand years their paths intersect in unpredictable ways and in different remarkable locales in the fantastical world of Eridia.A sweeping, eon-spanning novel set in the world of Eridia.Reynard is a trickster who lives only to sow chaos and sate his basest desires. Solace is a Good Samaritan who strives for society’s betterment. The two of them seem to have nothing in common, yet they do: They’re both immortal, and roughly once every thousand years their paths cross in unexpected ways and in various fantastical locales throughout Eridia, the world that was formed when all realities cataclysmically merged into one. As that world evolves from a brutal, anarchic war-zone to the hub of a peaceful intergalactic civilization, Reynard and Solace’s peculiar relationship likewise evolves in ways the self-serving Reynard never could have imagined.Spanning twelve millennia, with settings ranging from the squalid alleys of a medieval city to an interrogation room in a sleek, high-tech prison satellite, with a motley cast of characters that include elves and vampires, killer robots and shapeshifting whores, Till the Mountains Turn to Dust is a kaleidoscopic tale of time and change and their sometimes beneficial, sometimes devastating impact. 82,000 words.

The Wrong End Of A Gun is a modern day noir mystery short by bestselling novelist R. Barri Flowers. A man meets a beautiful blonde woman and gets more than he bargained for.THE WRONG END OF A GUN is a modern day noir mystery short by bestselling novelist R. Barri Flowers. When a man meets a beautiful blonde woman, his dream turns into a nightmare in which there may be no escape.Includes a bonus short story, NO GOING BACK. A man and his wife must deal with the repercussions after she is raped.Also included is excerpt from the psychological thriller novel, BEFORE HE KILLS AGAIN, by R. Barri Flowers.PRAISE FOR MYSTERY AND THRILLER FICTION BY R. BARRI FLOWERS:“A heart-thumping thriller, this is that rare novel that is downright scary. Pick it up at your peril, because you won't put it down until you've read the last word." -- John Lutz, Edgar Winner and bestselling author of Twist on BEFORE HE KILLS AGAIN“A masterful thriller set in the dark underbelly of Maui, with lots of fine action, down and dirty characters, and the vivid details of police procedure one would expect from an author who is also a top criminologist. A terrific read!" -- Douglas Preston, co-creator of the bestselling Pendergast series of novels on MURDER IN MAUI"An exquisitely rich and masterfully constructed mystery.... A savvy, smooth, and sumptuous read that's as hot as Waikiki beach sand." -- Jon Land, bestselling author of Strong Vengeance on MURDER IN HONOLULU“A model of crime fiction .... Flowers may be a new voice in modern mystery writing, but he is already one of its best voices.”-- Statesman Journal on JUSTICE SERVED"It gets no better than this! R. Barri Flowers has written another thriller guaranteed to hold onto its readers! -- Huntress Reviews on DARK STREETS OF WHITECHAPEL“A gripping and tightly woven tale you won't want to put down. Author Flowers neatly contrasts the natural beauty of a tropical paradise with the ugliness of murder and its aftermath." -- John Lutz, Edgar Winner and bestselling author of Pulse on MURDER IN MAUI"R. Barri Flowers writes with the passion and knowledge of someone who truly knows his craft. A steamy, non-stop thrill-ride through the seamy underbelly of Hawaii." -- Allison Leotta, former federal prosecutor and author of Discretion on MURDER IN MAUI“Flowers once again has written a page-turner legal thriller that begins with a bang and rapidly moves along to its final page.” -- Midwest Book Review on STATE’S EVIDENCE"An excellent look at the jurisprudence system...will appeal to fans of John Grisham and Linda Fairstein." -- Harriet Klausner on PERSUASIVE VIDENCE

A long lost father, a trip to a rugby match during school hours, a new religious cult started by a student. And with the principal out of action, Mr Harris is in charge deciding to run the school like Boot Camp. 9th book in the Mob from TAC series.With the school principal out of action, Mr Harris is now in charge and declares that Te Arawa College is going to be run similar to a boot camp. Meanwhile, Tucker decides to start his own religion... the worship of the Goddess - Vanessa Dante. Speaking of Vanessa, her obsession with Rex is starting to have negative effects, effects which once led her to attempt suicide. Can she pull herself together and will the appearance of her long lost father only complicate matters? Meanwhile Will Ullman plans to skip class with a bunch of guys to see a rugby match and a new junior boy finds that he has run afoul of the wrong people.

Leo Tolstoy began his trilogy, Childhood, Boyhood, Youth, in his early twenties. Although he would in his old age famously dismiss it as an ‘awkward mixture of fact and fiction’, generations of readers have not agreed, finding the novel to be a charming and insightful portrait of inner growth against the background of a world limned with extraordinary clarity, grace and color. Evident too in its brilliant account of a young person’s emerging awareness of the world and of his place within it are many of the stances, techniques and themes that would come to full flower in the immortal War and Peace and Anna Karenina, and in the other great works of Tolstoy’s maturity.

Horror was my familiar. Published the same year as her first novel, Adam Bede, this overlooked work displays the gifts for which George Eliot would become famous—gritty realism, psychological insight, and idealistic moralizing. It is unique from all her other writing, however, in that it represents the only time she ever used a first-person narrator, and it is the only time she wrote about the supernatural. The tale of a man who is incapacitated by visions of the future and the cacophony of overheard thoughts, and yet who can’t help trying to subvert his vividly glimpsed destiny, it is easy to read The Lifted Veil as being autobiographically revealing—of Eliot’s sensitivity to public opinion and her awareness that her days concealed behind a pseudonym were doomed to a tragic unveiling (as indeed came to pass soon after this novella’s publication). But it is easier still to read the story as the exciting and genuine precursor of a moody new form, as well as an absorbing early masterpiece of suspense. **The Art of The Novella Series **Too short to be a novel, too long to be a short story, the novella is generally unrecognized by academics and publishers. Nonetheless, it is a form beloved and practiced by literature's greatest writers. In the Art Of The Novella series, Melville House celebrates this renegade art form and its practitioners with titles that are, in many instances, presented in book form for the first time.

Releasing the same month as the MIDDLE SCHOOL movie, this next installment of James Patterson's hit series has non-stop laughs starring everyone's favorite underdog. It's a dog-eat-dog world, and Rafe Khatchadorian is just trying to live in it. Life in middle school is finally starting to seem bearable-until Rafe spots his grandmother standing on the free-meal line at the local soup kitchen. In order to help bring in more money, Rafe concocts a brilliant plan-a dog-walking business that soon turns into a huge money-making neighborhood empire. He'll even have extra cash to buy his own WormHole Deluxe Multi-Platform GameBox! That is, until two terrible twins launch the Great Dog War by sabotaging Rafe's flyers and stealing his customers. Plus, his bratty kid sister Georgia has skipped a grade-so now she's in all of Rafe's classes. Throw a kid a bone!

See the difference, read Maya Angelou in Large Print About Large Print All Random House Large Print editions are published in a 16-point typeface This wise book is the wonderful continuation of the bestselling Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now. Even the Stars Look Lonesome is Maya Angelou talking of the things she cares about most. In her unique, spellbinding way, she re-creates intimate personal experiences and gives us her wisdom on a wide variety of subjects. She tells us how a house can both hurt its occupants and heal them. She talks about Africa. She gives us a profile of Oprah. She enlightens us about age and sexuality. She confesses to the problems fame brings and shares with us the indelible lessons she has learned about rage and violence. And she sings the praises of sensuality. Even the Stars Look Lonesome imparts the lessons of a lifetime.

Life's a beach . . . and then you're undead? in this must-have collection, five of today's hottest writers—Libba Bray (A Great and Terrible Beauty), Cassandra Clare (City of Bones), Claudia Gray (Evernight), Maureen Johnson (13 Little Blue Envelopes), and Sarah Mlynowski (Bras & Broomsticks)—tell supernatural tales of vacations gone awry. Lost luggage is only mildly unpleasant compared to bunking with a witch who holds a grudge. And a sunburn might be embarrassing and painful, but it doesn't last as long as a curse. Of course, even in the most hellish of situations, love can thrive. . . . From light and funny to dark and creepy, these stories have something for everyone. You definitely won't want to leave this collection at home!

It isn't often you receive a letter from the dead. When Vianne Rocher receives a letter from beyond the grave, she has no choice but to follow the wind that blows her back to Lansquenet, the village in south-west France where, eight years ago, she opened up a chocolate shop. But Vianne is completely unprepared for what she finds there. Women veiled in black, the scent of spices and peppermint tea, and there, on the bank of the river Tannes, facing the square little tower of the church of Saint-Jerome like a piece on a chessboard - slender, bone-white and crowned with a silver crescent moon - a minaret. Nor is it only the incomers from North Africa that have brought big changes to the community. Father Reynaud, Vianne's erstwhile adversary, is now disgraced and under threat. Could it be that Vianne is the only one who can save him?

During a drought, the Logan family shares their well water with all their neighbors, black and white alike. But David and Hammer find it hard to share with Charlie Simms, who torments them because they are black. Hammer's pride and Charlie's meanness are a dangerous mixture, and tensions build and build. Narrated by young David Logan, Cassie's father in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, this extraordinary story is filled with characters and events so real that they're unforgettable."Taylor has used her gift for storytelling and skillful characterization to craft a brief but compelling novel about prejudice and the saving power of human dignity." -- School Library Journal, starred review

In Strange Angels, Dru Anderson has what her grandmother called “the touch.” (Comes in handy when you’re traveling from town to town with your dad, hunting ghosts, suckers, wulfen, and the occasional zombie.) Then her dad turns up dead—but still walking—and Dru knows she’s next. Even worse, she’s got two guys hungry for her affections, and they’re not about to let the fiercely independent Dru go it alone. Will Dru discover just how special she really is before coming face-to-fang with whatever—or whoever— is hunting her?

Two Children, Two Struggles, One Battle... One child is Sam Robbins, a powder monkey aboard HMS Victory, the ship in which Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson will die a hero's death at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The other is Molly Jennings, an English girl transplanted from London to the United States in 2006, fighting a battle of her own against loss and loneliness. This extraordinary time-shifting adventure tells the interwoven stories of Sam and Molly, linked by a mystery. Sam is a farm boy, kidnapped at eleven years old by the "press gang" to serve in the Royal Navy. At first terrified and seasick, Sam is transformed gradually into a sailor. In the rowdy, dangerous world of a hundred-gun warship enduring the Napoleonic Wars, he meets both cruelty and kindness, and survives a fearsome battle whose echoes reach through the years to involve Molly as well. Like Sam, Molly has lost her childhood but will find her future, with help from a very unexpected source. Separate yet together, Sam Robbins and Molly Jennings struggle through fear and excitement to a final ordeal that terrifyingly tests their courage. And the moving climax of the book shows two lives joined forever by the touch of Nelson, one of the greatest sailors of all time.

BEWITCHED, BOTHERED, AND BEWILDERED ... Even fierce Norse warriors have bad days. Holy Thor! 'Twas enough to drive a sane Viking mad, the things Tykir Thorksson was forced to do --- capturing a redheaded virago, putting up with the flock of sheep that followed her everywhere, chasing off her bumbling brothers. But what could a man expect from the sorceress who had put a kink in the King of Norway's most precious body part? If that wasn't bad enough, his own skald was putting Tykir's embarrassing escapades into sagas for all posterity to laugh about. And he was beginning to realize he wasn't at all immune to the enchantment of brash red hair and freckles. But he was not called Tykir the Great for nothing. Perhaps he could reverse the spell and hold her captive, not with his mighty sword, but with a Viking man's greatest magic: a wink and a smile.

Before you knew him as Trent in Ten Tiny Breaths, he was Cole Reynolds—and he had it all. Until one night when he makes a fatal, wrong decision…and loses everything. When a drunken night out at a Michigan State college party results in the death of six people, Cole must come to terms with his part in the tragedy. Normally, he’d be able to lean on his best friends—the ones who have been in his life since he could barely walk. Only, they’re gone. Worse, there’s the shattered body of a sixteen-year-old girl lying somewhere in a hospital bed, her entire life ripped from her because of a case of beer and a set of keys. Everyone assures him that they know it wasn’t intentional, and yet he can’t ignore the weight of their gazes, the whispers behind his back. Nor can he shake the all-consuming guilt he feels every time he thinks of that girl who won’t so much as allow him near her hospital room to apologize. As the months go by and the shame and loneliness festers, Cole begins to lose his grip on what once was important—college, his girlfriend, his future. His life. It’s not until Cole hits rock-bottom that he can begin to see another way out of his personal hell: forgiveness. And there’s only one person who can give that to him…

In Treasure Trouble, Nancy, George, and Bess are headed to Barnacle Beach for a pirate-themed birthday party. But when the treasure chest filled with party favors disappears, playtime is over. With the help of a mysterious treasure map, the Clue Crew needs to reclaim the missing loot before the party’s completely ruined. In Double Take, the Clue Crew has competition—one of their classmates has started a rival sleuthing club! Can Nancy and the girls solve the latest case before the phony detectives do?

At age twenty-five, Elizabeth Deravenel Turner finds herself in a position few women her age could image: the head of Deravenels, a business empire that spans the globe. It’s a company whose reach is wide and whose secrets are deep. Deravenels has roots that go far back in her family’s history—and she knows the price that many had to pay to see it reach the success it is today. Elizabeth is the youngest executive in the company she now leads.  Surrounded by rumors and disloyalty, she is aware that there are many people who would give anything to take down the company—and her with it. With her enemies circling, she finds herself at a crossroad of choices involving her mind, her heart, and her destiny. As scandal surrounds the one man she’s ever loved, Elizabeth discovers how the next move she makes could have deadly and final consequences…