From the waters of Montauk to the mountains of the Caucasus and Paris in war times, these stories take you on a whirlwind tour that open unexpected vistas and insights. The book contains both memoir and fiction, told in the candid voice of a man who has lived through the 20th century’s major conflagrations, and seen much sadness, without losing his sense of humor .A great, enjoyable read for all.If every person’s life story can fill a book, Redjeb Jordania's can fill a bookshelf. The brilliant stories in this collection are just a small taste of the vast panorama of his experiences.From the waters of Montauk to the mountains of the Caucasus and Paris in war times, these stories take you on a whirlwind tour that open unexpected vistas and insights. The title story refers to Daghestan, a semi-autonomous region of the former Soviet Union, between Chechnya and the Caspian Sea, on the border of the republic of Georgia. Air distance between New York and Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, is 5,572 miles. Nearly 6,000 miles is far enough for an escape, but for Mr. Jordania the trip was actually a return to the land of his ancestors—a land he has never lived in due to its turbulent political history.Mr. Jordania is the son of the first president of pre-soviet Georgia, Noe Jordania, who had to flee the Red Army’s takeover in 1921, after only three years in office. Redjeb Jordania was born and educated in Paris, so that in the short story “A Hunting Trip to Daghestan,” he finds himself “a foreigner … barely able to speak the Georgian language” in the once-again independent republic.The book contains both memoir and fiction, all told in the candid voice of a man who has lived through the 20th century’s major conflagrations, and seen much sadness, without losing his sense of humor. The book is divided into two sections, Part I, subtitled “From far away in time and space,” and Part II, “closer to home.”The autobiographical stories in part one include the moving “Closing the Circle,” in which the author returns to the village where his father’s and grandfather’s house once stood. It is now “a grassy lot where a pair of long-haired black piglets were scurrying, hunting for chestnuts.” The villagers tell him that the family graves have been demolished—but a magnolia tree, planted by Jordania senior, remains, “regal now.”“The Music Lesson” is an account of Mr. Jordania’s early, and lasting, involvement with music, beginning with piano lessons from an eccentric, hard-drinking teacher and going on to a musical evening during World War II in Paris, when an Allied bombardment “offered an astonishing spectacle of son et lumiére.” “Is where they got the idea?” he wonders.In another wartime story, “A Surprise Party,” a group of Resistance fighters hide two British airmen who have managed to parachute into German-occupied France. The students in charge of helping them stay alive disguise the pilots as “Georgians”—because “nobody knows what a Georgian is supposed to look like.” It is a close call when the dreaded “milice” arrive to check everyone’s papers.More upbeat stories from “closer to home” recount adventures on the waters off Long Island—an encounter between the author’s small trimaran and the America Cup race—and a whimsical “Letter from the New World," in which Mr. Jordania recounts his epiphany that “there is no such country as the USA”—it is a joint invention of Madison Avenue and Hollywood!These stories by this multitalented, well-traveled author offer unique personal insights into recent political and social history on both sides of the Atlantic. A must read.

A young American on holiday in Rome attends a mass at the Vatican. When a crippled woman experiences a miraculous cure at his hands, he is elected pope. He then sets out to liberalize the church -- a dangerous course of action considering the Vatican intrigue swirling around him.A young American man named Justin is on holiday in Rome where he attends a mass at the Vatican. He picks up a crippled woman who has fallen in the aisle near his pew, and she seems to undergo a miraculous cure. Is it a sign from above? With the help of a powerful cardinal, Justin is elected pope. Renamed Pope Leo XIV, he sets out to liberalize the church -- a dangerous course of action considering that cardinals, bishops, tradition and even murderers are arrayed against him and his helpmate, an attractive nun.

After Jeremy's caretaker Mrs. Berry died, he soon came to accept the only father figure he would ever know in 'Ratchet', a biker who worked on motorcycles for a living. Jeremy followed Ratchet into a lifestyle that few ever come back from. As a child, Jeremy sang songs of praise. At this point, would he be able to sing a song of redemption?Jeremy Bonds was a bad man. With no parents in the picture when he was young, he turned to a kindly old neighbor in Mrs. Berry, who taught him to sing with the children's choir at church. But after Mrs. Berry died, Jeremy soon came to accept the only father figure he would ever know in 'Ratchet', a biker who worked on motorcycles for a living. Jeremy followed Ratchet into a lifestyle that few ever come back from. As a child, Jeremy sang songs of praise. At this point, would he be able to sing a song of redemption?

Agents 32 and 33 of the hard-to-define entity known as psecret psociety investigate the small North Coast (California, USA) enclave of Manila on Arcata Bay. They soon realize that they may be stranded for fifteen hours. But then, a pair of kind Asian gents accost them and let them know an option for getting to their desired destination. With time on their hands, they head out to the sand dunes ...Agents 32 and 33 of the hard-to-define entity known as psecret psociety investigate the small North Coast (California, USA) enclave of Manila on Arcata Bay. They soon realize that they may be stranded for fifteen hours. But then, a pair of kind Asian gents accost them and let them know an option for getting to their desired destination. With time on their hands, they head out to the sand dunes near the surf. An interesting conversation ensues, comparing big (Philippines) Manila and little (California) Manila, as the much younger lad amazes with his aerial skill. But, there is one more Manila - the other Manila.Approx. 1,800 words. If this little sketch were a movie, it would most likely by rated G (or possibly PG-13).

For as long as she could remember, Jane Stuart and her mother lived with her grandmother in a dreary mansion in Toronto. Jane always believed her father was dead until she accidentally learned he was alive and well and living on Prince Edward Island. When Jane spends the summer at his cottage on Lantern Hill, doing all the wonderful things Grandmother deems unladylike, she dares to dream that there could be such a house back in Toronto...a house where she, Mother, and Father could live together without Grandmother directing their lives -- a house that could be called home.

Arthur Penhaligon has wrested five of the Keys from their immortal guardians, the Trustees of the Will. But gaining the Sixth Key poses a greater challenge than any he has ever faced before. Superior Saturday is not just one of the Trustees, she is also the oldest Denizen and the most powerful and knowledgeable sorcerer within the House. She has tens of thousands of sorcerers at her command - and she has been preparing her forces all along. Everything is all just part of a greater plan she has been hatching for ten thousand years. Arthur can't even find a way into the Upper House, and even if he does, discovering the Sixth Part of the Will and gaining the Sixth Key might not be enough to counter Saturday's sorcerous hordes or stop her bid for ultimate power. Power that means the total destruction of the House and the entire universe beyond...

Oedipus the King is Sophocles' legendary rendition of the myth of the great king Oedipus, perhaps the best known of all of the Greek Tragedies. When an oracle foretells that the young prince Oedipus will grow up to murder his father he is cast out of the kingdom by the king who hopes by doing so that he will avoid his fate. Oedipus grows up and many years later, not knowing his own identity, or the identity of his father, meets him at a crossroad where they argue and the king is killed. The rest of the tale pivots around the unraveling of this tangled family history and the appalling discovery of, not only patricide, but Oedipus' subsequent incest in unwittingly marrying his own mother. Contains Oedipus The King, Oedipus At Colonus, and Antigone.

Another rundown apartment. Another job that pays cash. Every new city it becomes harder to hide but I can't stop running. There are two men after me. One wants to save my soul. The other wants to claim my body. Part of me wants Luca to catch me, even knowing what he's capable of. An enforcer. A fighter. The only language he speaks is violence. How far will he go to find me? What will he do once he does? A wild glance over my shoulder. The shadows are moving. I'm about to find out. TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH can be read as a standalone! It does include characters introduced in Pretty When You Cry - and in fact, Candy and Ivan make an appearance! And characters from the USA Today bestselling Chicago Underground series show up too! It isn't necessary that you've read those books, just a fun surprise if you have.

JAG Special Forces operatives like Golden Claw agent Melissa Overton and her partner, Huntley Anderson, are trained for the most dangerous missions in the harshest environments. These hardened jaguar shifters can handle any variable, even . . . babies? When Huntley and Melissa find two jaguar shifter cubs snoozing in their jungle hut while on assignment, they have to keep the cubs and each other safe from ruthless poachers, bringing these partners closer in ways they never expected...

This thrilling digital prequel novella to Endgame: The Calling follows the lives of four of the twelve Players before they were chosen as the one to save their ancient bloodline—and win Endgame.Before the Calling . . .Marcus must choose between friendship and destiny. Chiyoko fights for what's hers. Kala learns the price of love. And Alice finally understands what she's Playing for.They must shed their normal lives and transform into the Players they were meant to be.They must train, learn, prepare.To Play, survive, and solve.To kill or be killed.Endgame is real.Endgame is coming.And only one can win.

Bertie may be in danger of having his spine severed in five places by that jealous gorilla G. D'Arcy (Stilton) Cheesewright, but, as Jeeves insists, the priorities still have to be observed. And so, thanks to Jeeves, they are throughout this bumper volume, whatever mayhem may be loosed upon the befuddled head and generous heart of Bertram Wilberforce Wooster. Gathered in this volume are three of Wodehouse's hilarious Jeeves and Wooster novels: Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit, Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves and Jeeves in the Offing.

Nancy, Bess and George explore a peculiar house with its fantastically crooked staircase. A bizarre serpent picture, an unpredictable robot, a broken bridge over flaming water and a hidden room with poisoned portraits are among the unusual discoveries found on this strange property. The missing owner, an elusive swindler, is wanted by the police. Nancy is determined to solve the mystery of the weird house and discover its secrets. This book is the original text. A revised text does not exist.

In her remarkable new book, Alison Weir recounts one of the greatest love stories of medieval England. It is the extraordinary tale of an exceptional woman, Katherine Swynford, who became first the mistress and later the wife of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. Katherine Swynford’s charismatic lover was one of the most powerful princes of the 14th century, the effective ruler of England behind the throne of his father Edward III in his declining years, and during the minority of his nephew, Richard II. Katherine herself was enigmatic and intriguing, renowned for her beauty, and regarded by some as dangerous. Her existence was played out against the backdrop of court life at the height of the age of chivalry and she knew most of the great figures of the time — including her brother-in-law, Geoffrey Chaucer. She lived through much of the Hundred Years War, the Black Death, and the Peasants’ Revolt. She knew loss, adversity, and heartbreak, and she survived them all triumphantly. Although Katherine’s story provides unique insights into the life of a medieval woman, she was far from typical in that age. She was an important person in her own right, a woman who had remarkable opportunities, made her own choices, flouted convention, and took control of her own destiny — even of her own public image. Weir brilliantly retrieves Katherine Swynford from the footnotes of history and gives her life and breath again. Perhaps the most dynastically important woman within the English monarchy, she was the mother of the Beauforts and through them the ancestress of the Yorkist kings, the Tudors, the Stuarts, and every other sovereign since — a legacy that has shaped the history of Britain.

In a city divided between opulent luxury in the Light and fierce privations in the Dark, a determined young woman survives by guarding her secrets. Lucie Manette was born in the Dark half of the city, but careful manipulations won her a home in the Light, celebrity status, and a rich, loving boyfriend. Now she just wants to keep her head down, but her boyfriend has a dark secret of his own—one involving an apparent stranger who is destitute and despised. Lucie alone knows of the deadly connection the young men share, and even as the knowledge leads her to make a grave mistake, she can trust no one with the truth. Blood and secrets alike spill out when revolution erupts. With both halves of the city burning, and mercy nowhere to be found, can Lucie save either boy—or herself? Celebrated author Sarah Rees Brennan tells a magical tale of romance and revolution, love and loss.

“A stranger could drive through Miguel Street and just say ‘Slum!’ because he could see no more.” But to its residents this derelict corner of Trinidad’s capital is a complete world, where everybody is quite different from everybody else. There’s Popo the carpenter, who neglects his livelihood to build “the thing without a name.” There’s Man-man, who goes from running for public office to staging his own crucifixion, and the dreaded Big Foot, the bully with glass tear ducts. There’s the lovely Mrs. Hereira, in thrall to her monstrous husband. In this tender, funny early novel, V. S. Naipaul renders their lives (and the legends their neighbors construct around them) with Dickensian verve and Chekhovian compassion. Set during World War II and narrated by an unnamed–but precociously observant–neighborhood boy, Miguel Street is a work of mercurial mood shifts, by turns sweetly melancholy and anarchically funny. It overflows with life on every page. From the Trade Paperback edition.

"The ultimate focus of the rest of my life is to eradicate the use of child soldiers and to eliminate even the thought of the use of children as instruments of war." —Roméo Dallaire In conflicts around the world, there is an increasingly popular weapon system that requires negligible technology, is simple to sustain, has unlimited versatility and incredible capacity for both loyalty and barbarism. In fact, there is no more complete end-to-end weapon system in the inventory of war-machines. What are these cheap, renewable, plentiful, sophisticated and expendable weapons? Children. Roméo Dallaire was first confronted with child soldiers in unnamed villages on the tops of the thousand hills of Rwanda during the genocide of 1994. The dilemma of the adult soldier who faced them is beautifully expressed in his book's title: when children are shooting at you, they are soldiers, but as soon as they are wounded or killed they are children once again. Believing that not one of us should tolerate a child being used in this fashion, Dallaire has made it his mission to end the use of child soldiers. In this book, he provides an intellectually daring and enlightening introduction to the child soldier phenomenon, as well as inspiring and concrete solutions to eradicate it. From the Hardcover edition.

When Hunter and his twin brother, Zack, hear from Sarah Yulefiski that there is going to be a kidnapping in Newfield, they are on high alert. But the more shocking news is yet to come: they figure out that Steadman, their younger brother, is the kidnapper's target. After erecting a rickety lookout tower high in a tree in nearby Werewolf Woods, they discover suspicious activities going on around town: a probably ax murderer is hiding in the cellar of an empty house, Bradley the neighborhood bully is poking at what must be dead bodies in the pond, and a suspicious letter arrives for Mom. Meanwhile, Mom heads to the hospital to give birth to a new sibling whom the boys hope to name Killer Godzilla while hapless Nana tries to hold down the fort at the chaotic Moran family home.

Young Elizabeth O'Connor is the little sister John Brady always longed for. But she wants much more than that from her spiritual mentor. As she blossoms into a beautiful young woman intent on loving John, he must push back the very real attraction he feels for her. His past just won't let him go there. Unfortunately, Lizzie won't let him go anywhere else--until she discovers he is not all that he seems. Can true love survive such revelations? Full of the romance and relationships Lessman readers have come to love, A Passion Denied is the final book in the popular Daughters of Boston series.

My Official Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7gcS... Discount Boxed Set: http://www.amazon.com/Guardians-Illyr... LONDON BOOK FESTIVAL HONORARY MENTION Year 2300 Protea: Capitol of the Eldanarian Isle Two hundred years have passed since the lands of the Outerworld humans were destroyed, save but a handful of rebellious cities. In their ruin, the last gods of Earth, the Illyrians, rose victorious. And ever since, it's with a cruel iron fist they've ruled over their subjects--desperate to keep their thrones. Fast approaching his teens, Ionikus Reaves knows the gods' malevolence all too well, orphaned by them after their call for a military draft on Eldanar, his home island. But when a power once dormant in Ion boils to the surface, he's whisked off to a hidden world of the island, where he comes face-to-face with the mighty Illyrians. For Ion is a Guardian--a reincarnated god bound to serve and protect the pantheon he's so quickly learned to hate. Now torn between his obligations as a Guardian and his hatred of the gods he's to guard, Ion finds himself in the middle of a war within himself. A war that could uncover a dark secret of the gods'...and split the pantheon in two.

A literary discovery: an uproarious tragicomedy of modernization, in its first-ever English translation. Perhaps the greatest Turkish novel of the twentieth century, being discovered around the world only now, more than fifty years after its first publication, The Time Regulation Institute is an antic, freewheeling send-up of the modern bureaucratic state. At its center is Hayri Irdal, an infectiously charming antihero who becomes entangled with an eccentric cast of characters-a television mystic, a pharmacist who dabbles in alchemy, a dignitary from the lost Ottoman Empire, a "clock whisperer"-at the Time Regulation Institute, a vast organization that employs a hilariously intricate system of fines for the purpose of changing all the clocks in Turkey to Western time. Recounted in sessions with his psychoanalyst, the story of Hayri Irdal's absurdist misadventures plays out as a brilliant allegory of the collision of tradition and modernity, of East and West, infused with a poignant blend of hope for the promise of modernity and nostalgia for a simpler time

When a priceless treasure brings together . . . W ealthy and powerful Marcus St. John, the Marquis of Treymount, must recover a lost family heirloom that is in the possession of Miss Honoria Baker-Sneed. All he needs to do is convince her to relinquish his treasure for a reasonable sum. But when he meets Honoria, he's surprised to discover she is as headstrong as she is beautiful.Two unlikely hearts . . . Honoria is astounded when Marcus shows up on her doorstep and arrogantly demands a ring that is rightfully hers. She agrees to return the heirloom, but on one condition: He must sponsor her sister into society--an idea Marcus considers absolutely preposterous.Only love can decide the outcome. W hen a heated argument ensues, they find themselves in a compromising position and are forced to marry. What starts out as a marriage in name only soon becomes much more as Marcus realizes Honoria has stolen his heart. But can...