Liberty Beckons

      BeiYin
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A collection of poetry from BeiYin, founder of ‘FalconBlanco’, A Place for Friends, Ibiza, Spain.Being-*The People Whisper*, Founder of Falcon Blanco-A Place for friends since 1975. Inspired Writer & Poet. I am trying to be creative by doing things that make sense to me. I am relating to whatever shows up in my daily life, being convinced that this is exactly what I need to learn, to grow and to heal myself. I see difficult situations and conditions as a challenge to which I am responding the best I am capable, taking self responsibility and being aware of my reactions that are caused.I like to express myself sharing my experiences with others who might be open for it. I have found ways to deal creatively with problems that are part of our life, so that we don’t need to suffer more than necessary to be motivated to doubt our established existence and ask questions, – to find answers that can turn our life into a joyful adventure.I am always ready to help others. I never do anything out of money interests. I do what feels right and is necessary. There is abundance if one is open to receive…I have created a space on the middle of the island Ibiza, in midst of unspoiled nature with many animals and plants. There is food and living space for more than twenty people, who could live together as a group of friends, being creative, expressing themselves in artistic ways and working on themselves and also doing practical things for others and the environment. BeiYinFalconBlanco, Ibiza, Spain

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    The Divinely Chosen

      Mike Donati
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A short story for the Lunch time break about a boy coming to terms with his newly discovered abilities and his religiously fanatical father.Entrapped in a small town where his father is the fanatical preacher of their strange religion, Paulus leads a life of boredom. Till one day he is chosen by the powers of a higher intelligence. He then feels the aura of Jimmy, who has served the others for more than a thousand years and a friendship grows. But Paulus's fanatical father wishes to beat Satan out of him, and things go wrong.

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    The Arches of Orkney County

      Ryan Holden
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Long ago in the county of Orkney there were two towns that faced each other. They were near each other as the crow flies and worlds apart in every other way. Seasons came and went, and each day was as like to the one before as it was to the one after, until because of a child's bauble and a boy's wits and a girl's face it was not so. 25 minute read.Long ago in the county of Orkney there were two towns that faced each other. They were near each other as the crow flies and worlds apart in every other way. Seasons came and went, and each day was as like to the one before as it was to the one after, until because of a child's bauble and a boy's wits and a girl's face it was not so.In this 25 minute read, meet a boy born on the wrong side of the ravine, forced to do something about it, and how Orkney County will never be the same.

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    Tabaniday

      Michael Sellars
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When a weird creature the size of a house appears at the end of Timothy's street, his first instinct is to contact the Department of Incidents and Occurrences, even though Doctor Sheehan told him there was no such government department... Originally published in Morpheus Tales magazine.Timothy didn’t know what it was, the thing at the end of Elbow Street. It was big – bigger than a house, he didn’t doubt, if it were to unfurl to its full height – and it was made of something beginning with ‘c’.He didn’t know what it was, the creature at the end of the street, but he suspected it was there because of him.

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    Seven Threads

      Jason Fischer
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Seven Threads is a mini-collection to introduce new readers to the work of Australian fantasy author Jason Fischer.Seven Threads is a mini-collection to introduce new readers to the work of Australian fantasy author Jason Fischer. Stories in this collection include the Aurealis Award winning novella "Defy the Grey Kings" and "The House of Nameless", winner of the Writers of the Future contest.Follow these seven threads through Fischer's fantastic worlds, through grim futures, through heroics and heartbreak. Described by reviewers as "an impressive talent" and "a strong new voice with a distinctive vision", these stories of Fischer's are a great sampler and a taste of his unpredictable imagination.“If you haven’t been reading Jason Fischer, your literary diet is lacking in zest, zing, and essential vitamins." - Gardner Dozois, multiple Hugo Award winning editor.

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    The Family Business #2

      Mac Flynn
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Georgina “George” Trammel is up to her chubby neck in family trouble, and it isn’t even her own family. Her aspiring fiance Alex Brenton now controls the back room of the Stacy Department Store where she works, but some in the family aren’t too thrilled with the idea. They’ll use any excuse to go through with the merger of the company and fire half the employees, and Alex is giving them plenty of ammunition to shoot George and his hopes of saving the store out of the sky. Now they have to race against time, family and a rival department store to save the future of the company. Can they do it? Will Alex finally convince George to marry him? What are they going to do with an entire shipment of live bees?

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    Elicit

      Rachel Van Dyken
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Cursed, numb, rejected, scorned, wicked, sinister, dark, twisted...my name is Tex Campisi and this is my legacy. I killed my father in cold blood and lost my soul right along with him. I crave war more than peace, and I'm about to take my place in history as the youngest Capo dei Capi in the Cosa Nostra...that is until someone stops me, saves me from myself. But the only person able to do that...is my best friends sister, Mo Abandonato, and she just ripped my heart out and asked me to hold it in my hands while she put bullets through it. Im cursed so I did it. I'm numb so I held it. I'm wicked so I liked it. I used the pain Mo caused as a catalyst to turn into my biggest nightmare--the five families greatest enemy. It's my turn to take a stand, knowing full well I'm going to lose my mind to the madness that is the American Mafia. I've always been told Blood is thicker than life. I wish I would have listened. Because regardless of who you love? You will betray. You will kill. Blood Always Wins. The only way out is death...yours. Welcome to the Dark Side of the Family.

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    Bread and Roses, Too

      Katherine Paterson
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2013 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award Rosa’s mother is singing again, for the first time since Papa died in an accident in the mills. But instead of filling their cramped tenement apartment with Italian lullabies, Mamma is out on the streets singing union songs, and Rosa is terrified that her mother and older sister, Anna, are endangering their lives by marching against the corrupt mill owners. After all, didn’t Miss Finch tell the class that the strikers are nothing but rabble-rousers—an uneducated, violent mob? Suppose Mamma and Anna are jailed or, worse, killed? What will happen to Rosa and little Ricci? When Rosa is sent to Vermont with other children to live with strangers until the strike is over, she fears she will never see her family again. Then, on the train, a boy begs her to pretend that he is her brother. Alone and far from home, she agrees to protect him . . . even though she suspects that he is hiding some terrible secret. From a beloved, award-winning author, here is a moving story based on real events surrounding an infamous 1912 strike.

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    Krapp's Last Tape and Other Dramatic Pieces

      Samuel Beckett
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s/t: All That Fall; Embers; Acts Without Words, I and II; Mimes This collection of Nobel Prize winner Samuel Beckett’s dramatic pieces includes a short stage play, two radio plays, and two pantomimes. The stage play Krapp’s Last Tape evolves a shattering drama out of a monologue of a man who, at age sixty-nine, plays back the autobiographical tape he recorded on his thirty-ninth birthday. The two radio plays were commissioned by the BBC; All That Fall “plumbs the same pessimistic depths [as Waiting for Godot] in what seems a no less despairing search for human dignity” (London Times), and Embers is equally unforgettable theater, born of the ramblings of an old man and his wife. Finally, in the two pantomimes, Beckett takes drama to the point of pure abstraction with his portrayals of, in Act Without Words I, frustrated desired, and in Act Without Words I, corresponding motions of living juxtaposed in the slow despair of one man and the senselessly busy motion of another.

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    Spy Glass

      Maria V. Snyder
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An undercover mission leads to danger, adventure and an impossible choice. * After siphoning her own blood magic in the showdown at Hubal, student glass magician Opal Cowan lost her powers. Immune to the effects of magic, Opal is now an outsider looking in, spying through the glass on those with the powers she once had. Powers that make a difference in the world. Suddenly the beautiful pieces she makes begin to flash in the presence of magic and Opal learns that someone has stolen some of her blood. Finding it might let her regain her powers or discover that they're lost forever...

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    Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns

      Lauren Weisberger
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The hotly-anticipated sequel to The Devil Wears Prada – the million copy bestseller that took the world by storm. Everything’s in place for the season’s hottest launch: Tall latte (with two raw sugars)? Check. Gucci trench (draped over desk)? Check. Outrageous, unreasonable demands? Check. Andy has just turned thirty and is an incredibly successful magazine editor, working closely with her best friend Emily, another Runway survivor. She’s about to get married life’s on track and she’s been careful to stay clear of Miranda Priestly, her dreadful first boss. But Andy’s luck is running out. Miranda Priestly isn’t the kind of woman who hides in the background. She’s back and more devilish than ever.

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    The Lawless

      John Jakes
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In a flourishing post–Civil War America, the Kent family seizes good fortune again—until all is suddenly threatened by one woman’s return The penultimate volume in John Jakes’s stirring Kent Family Chronicles finds America booming in its postwar prosperity. With this newly secured peace comes an opportunity for the Kent family to reconcile and to thrive, both personally and financially. Gideon Kent takes up his father’s vow to reunite the family, but when he brings his father’s widow back into the fold, the repercussions seem insurmountable. Against the backdrop of a recovering nation, the Kents face dramatic challenges and unexpected rifts that could leave the family shattered for years to come. This ebook features an illustrated biography of John Jakes including rare images from the author’s personal collection.

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    The Nightwatch

      Sergei Lukyanenko
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The phenomenal Russian bestseller. A vampire novel set in a richly realized post-Soviet Moscow, The Night Watch has sold across Europe and to 20th Century Fox for huge advances. In The Night Watch, the first of a quartet, and reminiscent of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials in its ambitions and achievement, the setting is contemporary Moscow. A small number of Muscovites with supernatural powers – those who are Other, owing allegiance either to the Dark or the Light – co-exist in an uneasy truce, each side keeping a close eye on the other’s activities around the city. Anton, an Other on the side of the Light, is a night-watchman, patrolling the streets and Metro of the city as he protects ordinary people from the vampires of the Dark. On his rounds, Anton comes across a young woman, Svetlana, whom he realizes is under a curse that threatens the entire city, and a boy, Igor, a young Other, as yet unaware of his own enormous power. Partnered by Olga, an Other who is in the form of an owl, he struggles to remove the curse and thereby save the city, while at the same time prevent Igor from falling into the clutches of the Dark. The Night Watch explores the nature of good and evil and the tensions between the individual and the collective in a gripping narrative that owes as much to The Master and Margarita as it is does to the richly realized worlds of Philip Pullman and Tolkien. From the Trade Paperback edition.

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    The Heart of Betrayal

      Mary E. Pearson
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Held captive in the barbarian kingdom of Venda, Lia and Rafe have little chance of escape . . . and even less of being together. Desperate to save her life, Lia's erstwhile assassin, Kaden, has told the Vendan Komisar that she has a magical gift, and the Komisar's interest in Lia is greater than either Kaden or Lia foresaw. Meanwhile, the foundations of Lia's deeply-held beliefs are crumbling beneath her. Nothing is straightforward: there's Rafe, who lied to her, but has sacrificed his freedom to protect her; Kaden, who meant to assassinate her but has now saved her life; and the Vendans, whom she always believed to be barbarians but whom she now realizes are people who have been terribly brutalized by the kingdoms of Dalbreck and Morrighan. Wrestling with her upbringing, her gift, and her very sense of self, Lia will have to make powerful choices that affect her country, her people . . . and her own destiny.

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    The Wizard Returns

      Danielle Paige
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The Wizard left Oz in a hot air balloon—or did he? This digital original novella is the third installment in the prequel arc to the edgy and exciting New York Times bestseller Dorothy Must Die. Dorothy Gale is back . . . and she's not the sweet little heroine of Oz anymore. She's power-hungry and vicious, and she leaves a trail of destruction beneath her spike-heeled, magical shoes. But she wasn't always in charge. There used to be a different ruler of Oz. Someone who also came from the Other Place, and who stole power for himself. They called him the Wizard. The story goes that when a young Dorothy revealed the Wizard as a fraud, the man behind the curtain fled Oz in his hot air balloon. But in The Wizard Returns, he wakes in a field of poppies to find out that not only had he never left, but that he has no memory of who—or where—he is. As he undergoes a series of tests to uncover his memories, he finds that the very girl who threw him from the Emerald Palace is in control. And that Oz may be his destiny after all. The Wizard Returns by Danielle Paige is a dark and compelling reimagining of a beloved classic and is perfect for fans of Cinder by Marissa Meyer, Beastly by Alex Flinn, and Wicked by Gregory Maguire.

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    Falling for You

      Lisa Schroeder
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Rae's always dreamed of dating a guy like Nathan. He’s nothing like her abusive stepfather—in other words, he’s sweet. But the closer they get, the more Nathan wants of her time, of her love, of her...and the less she wants to give. As Rae’s affection for Nathan turns to fear, she leans on her friend Leo for support. With Leo, she feels lighter, happier. And possessive Nathan becomes jealous. Then a tragedy lands Rae in the ICU. Now, hovering between life and death, Rae must find the light amid the darkness…and the strength to fight for life and the love she deserves.

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    Jessi and the Superbrat

      Ann M. Martin
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Stoneybrook has gone star-crazy! Derek Masters, an eight-year-old regular on a hit TV sitcom, has moved to town. Everyone's wondering what a real-live TV star will be like-will he drive to school in a limo? Jessi can't believe it, but even stars need baby-sitters,and she's the lucky club member to watch Derek Masters. Even though a lot of kids at school call Derek a spoiled brat, Jessi likes him immediately.He rides bikes and eats junk food like a normal kid, but he has exciting stories about Hollywood, too! Pretty soon baby-sitting and ballet are starting to look kind of boring next to TV scripts and cameras. Maybe Jessi would like to be a star, too!

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    Rise and Shine

      Anna Quindlen
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From Anna Quindlen, acclaimed author of Blessings, Black and Blue, and One True Thing, a superb novel about two sisters, the true meaning of success, and the qualities in life that matter most. It’s an otherwise ordinary Monday when Meghan Fitzmaurice’s perfect life hits a wall. A household name as the host of Rise and Shine, the country’s highest-rated morning talk show, Meghan cuts to a commercial break–but not before she mutters two forbidden words into her open mike. In an instant, it’s the end of an era, not only for Meghan, who is unaccustomed to dealing with adversity, but also for her younger sister, Bridget, a social worker in the Bronx who has always lived in Meghan’s long shadow. The effect of Meghan’s on-air truth telling reverberates through both their lives, affecting Meghan’s son, husband, friends, and fans, as well as Bridget’s perception of her sister, their complex childhood, and herself. What follows is a story about how, in very different ways, the Fitzmaurice women adapt, survive, and manage to bring the whole teeming world of New York to heel by dint of their smart mouths, quick wits, and the powerful connection between them that even the worst tragedy cannot shatter. From the Hardcover edition.

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    The Charioteer

      Mary Renault
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Mary Renault’s landmark novel about a wounded soldier who returns from the front and must choose between relationships with two very different men After being wounded at Dunkirk in World War II, Laurie Odell is sent back home to a rural British hospital. Standing out among the orderlies is Andrew, a bright conscientious objector raised as a Quaker. The unspoken romance between the two men is tested when Ralph, a friend of Laurie’s from school, re-enters his life, introducing him into a milieu of jaded, experienced gay men. Will Laurie reconcile himself to Ralph’s embrace, or can he offer Andrew the idealized, Platonic intimacy he yearns for? This novel has been called one of the foundation stones of gay literary fiction, ranking alongside James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room and Gore Vidal’s The City and the Pillar. Celebrated for its literary brilliance and sincere depiction of complex human emotions, The Charioteer is a stirring and beautifully rendered portrayal of love. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Mary Renault including rare images of the author.

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    The Crucible of Time

      John Brunner
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There are some incredibly smart things Brunner does in this novel. The story is told from the perspective of a world of intelligent aliens as they reach out to discover the universe in which they live. They have to do that in ways that are very different from our own history in details (for example, they live under water where access to the night sky is limited, which puts a crimp in early astronomy), but very similar in the abstract. The similarities arise for the simple reason that the universe in which they live is THE universe. The message here is deep & subtle & important: reality is what it is, & no matter what kind of body you have, no matter what specific environmental niche you occupy, if you are smart enough to wonder about the world you live in, & clever enough to discover ways to ask your questions well, you will discover the same immutable facts about the nature of things. Brunner shows this without ever giving a lecture or explicitly making the point. It's a story telling tour de force that really puts the science solidly in the center of science fiction.

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