Abraham Surd invites Margaret Garine to his home to discuss unsolvable puzzles.Abraham Surd approaches mysteries with highly serendipitous deduction. Margaret Garine is calculating and piercing. Abraham challenges Margaret with his current problem while frustrating her skills of observation with petty misdirection.

This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.

The Blunders of a Bashful Man is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Metta Victoria Fuller Victor is in the English language, and may not include graphics or images from the original edition. If you enjoy the works of Metta Victoria Fuller Victor then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection.

There will be moments in life when you feel like a fish in a small bowl of water. Wanting to explore what life has to offer, but being confined by a glass dome. This is my experience of that feeling, my first three years of writing poetry, and the expression of personal emotions and creative energy.The first works of Thomas W. Morris, followed by poetry collections of a negative and positive nature, disconnection, surrealism and love.

Shelley is lost in a World once known as Aeden. The ancient Tree of Life is dying, and deadly Thornmen are hunting her.Someone else has been waiting for Shelley. He asks to be her Guardian on a perilous quest to save Aeden. The Thornmen are closing in as the Girl and the Guardian seek the faery refuge of Urak Tara.In the terrible Valley of Thorns they make a daring - and fateful - pact...Volume I of the 2000-plus page epic fantasy Apples of Aeden, twelve years in the making. Newly edited in October 2012, with many new coloured maps and graphics throughout.This epic isn't for the casual reader! Be warned: this world will draw you in, and you will lose yourself in it, and as with Galadriel's realm, those who visit Aeden do not emerge unchanged. The world of the epic is ageless, esoteric, philosophical, and Romantic, exploring in a vast cycle what an intergalactic civilisation which truly honoured Love, Beauty, Truth, and Freedom might have looked like - and how it might have fallen, and how far...The Narrator, a distracted Oxford history student, finds a cryptic manuscript connected with the Knights Templar which leads him, via a hollow yew tree and a skeleton clutching an artefact not of this world, to Chartres cathedral, and thence to a mysterious antipodean forest containing an ancient Portal.Meanwhile Shelley Arkle of New Zealand has had a very busy 13th birthday. On the way North, summoned by her eccentric grandfather, she learned that she was adopted, her ‘father’ crashed the car, then she was lured into the dangerous forest of the Fairyhill Reserve, and through its Portal into the world of Aeden (sketchily remembered by humans as the Garden of Eden).Waiting there for Shelley is a grim hermit warrior. She flees from him, and is picked up by a sinister black wagon. She is rescued by the wild Boy Raiders, but her glasses are smashed. The Boys deliver her back to the grim warrior: Korman the Outcast. He swears to be her Guardian, and together they flee the Kiraglim Trackers and Wardogs. In the cave of the learned Padrathad, Shelley eats the healing Apples of Aeden, and her eyesight becomes perfect. She learns that Aeden was once the hub of a magical Republic of nine worlds, whose pillars were Love, Beauty, Truth and Freedom, and which once honoured the Balance of the Divine Feminine and Masculine. Shelley realizes that the fate of Earth is linked with that of Aeden. She begins to accept the mysterious call to become the Kortana, or Jewel-caller, and find the lost Heartstone of the Tree of Life. Only thus can Aeden be saved from the fanatical life-denying Aghmaath, or thornmen. Then the lost Balance between the Masculine (Truth and Freedom) and the suppressed Feminine (Love and Beauty) will be restored and the Fifth Age will dawn. But first they must seek the hidden refuge of Urak Tara where Shelley will learn how to become the Kortana. Along the way she meets (to name a few): the rebel Quickblade and his Boy Raiders; the wild Urxura (the origin of our unicorn myths) and their even wilder friends the elusive Evergirls; Ainenia, Lady of Aeden and exiled mistress of Avalon; the boy Rilke who gives her a blue diamond; their shared pet Worriette, a cute orphaned wurrier; the not-so-cute werewurriers; a dragon-snake; a burrow-dwelling gem-hoarding anklebiter called Bootnip (Korman's grumpy pet); the squabbling dwellers of the Bottomless Canyon; swindling agathra fossickers; a colony of poets and artists; Hillgard the rebel Guardian; and the happy Waveriders. She also falls in love twice. Guided by the troubled Korman (and sometimes guiding him) she learns many magical wisdoms, such as Walking in Faery, Guiding the Unfolding, Entering the Dreamweb, and Defence against Mindbolts and Mindwebs. Pursued by the Aghmaath, they are hampered by the fact that Korman long ago vowed not use Arcratine, his mighty firesword. One by one the remnants of the Old Order are being conquered, and they are drawn into battles and seiges as they seek the lost school of Ürak Tara.When a fateful pact with Korman goes wrong, Shelley is left alone on an island on Lake Deadwater, deep in the thornfields. But a strange, forsaken creature from the lake comes to her aid, and together they escape, seeking Ürak Tara. She is now a true Rebel of Aeden - with a price on her head.

What happens when artificial intelligence comes online, only to find itself locked in a room with a madman?

Few know that the Great Chicago Fire was started deliberately, as a genocide of deadly creatures called Shades. Fewer still know that they didn't die, not quite...but one human will confront the truth when an ominous beauty makes him gamble for his life.

Chris Parker has just turned twenty-nine and realises that life hasn’t turned out quite how he had hoped. Trapped in a dead-end job, he is overweight, perennially single and living in the smallest flat in Cardiff, if not the world. In the absence of any meaningful career prospects, Chris decides that the only way he can change his life before his thirtieth birthday is by running a marathon.Chris Parker has just turned twenty-nine and realises that his life hasn’t turned out quite how he had hoped. Trapped in a dead-end job, he is overweight, perennially single and living in the smallest flat in Cardiff, if not the world. In the absence of any meaningful career prospects, Chris decides that the only way he can change his life before his thirtieth birthday is by running a marathon.It seems simple enough, but an undisciplined approach to training, an uncontrolled binge drinking habit and a remarkable incapacity to deal with the administrative aspects of entering a long distance run seem destined to scupper his plans.Nonetheless, armed with little more than a pair of badly scuffed trainers, a misplaced sense of optimism and the alarm function on his Pay-as-you-go mobile phone, Chris begins a new regime that is in truth not that different from his old regime. But it is a little bit different. And maybe that's enough.

All kids have a folklore about their neighbourhood, whether it's an old woman who's really a witch or, in this case, a derelict house that's haunted. Two boys decide to watch an eclipse at the dead of night. -0-The world is full of wonder and meaning yet, today, to understand it we seem to have to choose between science and superstition. I prefer the daydeaming, storytelling way.Samantha and Tracy have been best friends since kindergarten, but now that Tracy has gotten over her shyness and made new friends, Samantha is feeling left out. This is nothing compared to how she feels when a strange girl named Jessica tells Samantha that she’s actually an imaginary friend. Tracy has outgrown Samantha, and it’s time for Samantha to help another child who needs her. But will Samantha be able to move on and fulfill her duty as an imaginary friend?

Karen has made up some white lies to her pen pal Maxie. Now Maxie is coming to visit and Karen is in big trouble.

From the co-creator of the landmark television series Twin Peaks comes a novel that deepens the mysteries of that iconic town in ways that not only enrich the original series but readies fans for the upcoming Showtime episodes.

Compilation of different cases.A top secret military complex far below the city of Glennville is the key That Frank Morgan needs to understand what has happened to his fellow reporter Jimmy. It seems that things are spiraling out of control between the former Soviet Territories and the United States government, and Frank has wondered more than once whether Jimmy's disappearance has something to do with the secret base and the situation in the West. If so, can he get to the bottom of it before someone pushes the button to start World War Three?Earth's Survivors Settlement Earth, begins the saga of a small group of people in the know. A small group of people who understand what is going on in an upstate New York town, and the rest of the people in the world who are going about their day to day lives with no idea of the showdown that is building in the shadows between the West and the East. In the end they will have more in common than they would have ever thought possible if the threat of Nuclear annihilation does become more than just a threat.Joe Miller felt the blade of the knife sink deeply into his chest... Dead, he told himself. But death seemed to hold more than he had known it could.Willie LeFray sat slumped against a wall in an alley off Beechwood Avenue, in Seattle's red light district. He had been dead for over six hours. The money he had stolen, had allowed him to indulge in his habit for over forty six hours with no sleep. The last injection had killed him. But like Joe Miller, he would soon find that death was no escape from life’s problemsIra Pratt had died in the early fifties, yet he stood before God now ready to do as he commanded.5471 Beechwood avenue had been home to Arlene since she had begun her life on the streets. Since things had gone crazy she had locked herself in her apartment with her pistol. Ready to die if she had to, but hoping she would not have to.Follow along in the first book as the world begins to crumble and everyone scrambles to hold onto whatever remains to hold onto and become Earth's Survivors.

On the fine art of sowing chaos in public places, with the assistance of undisciplined dogs.Take a bite out of this science fiction mystery series by reading the first two books. Follow Kat, a woman with no memory call the Pandora Project and Kim, a legal assassin known as the Phoenix as they uncover the mysteries of their past in a world of darkness. Follow them through their shaky partnership as they discover the bonds that bind them to a destiny that will either save or destroy their world.**Shades of Gray #1 Noir, City Shrouded By DarknessNoir was a mega-city plagued by a sun blocking mass called Dry Clouds that had mysteriously appeared three decades earlier. The Dry Clouds covered half the planet and forced those living under them to exist in endless night. On this world, corporations were in charge and breaking your contract with them could mean the termination of your life.Kimberly Griffin, a Life Closer (legal assassin) existed in a world of death. She Closed people for a living. It was a lonely demeaning existence, though she wouldn't admit it. There was nothing to drive her in the bleak reality until one day she ran into Kat.Kat, also known as the Pandora Project, was hunted by bio-mechas called Un-Men. She was an experiment of the Sphinx Corporation, and they were testing her to see if she could be the ultimate weapon. Kat refused to be a killer and tried to discover the truth behind her existence. Could she be a new form of bio-mecha?Kim discovered someone close to her had been murdered. Is Kat the key to finding out who did it? Or will her association with Kat only cause her more grief?Pandora of ancient times opened a box and let all good escape. Would Pandora be the hope the planet needed? Or would she destroy the world?**Shades of Gray #2 From Moscow, With Love bonus first half included.Worlds collide . . .A shaky partnership . . .In the second book of the Shades of Gray series, Kat found herself teamed up with Kim. Together they searched for clues to their past. Their partnership stood on shaky ground though. Kim, a Life Closer (legal assassin) known as the Phoenix, needed Kat for the moment, to help in her search for her mother's murder. Once Kim no longer needed Kat, would the Phoenix go through with eliminating her for knowing she's a Life Closer?A haunting melody . . .A forgotten time . . .Kat had discovered little about her past. Over a year ago, she woke to a world of endless night and had no memory of who she was. A music box, a letter, and a gun were her only clues. Kat discovered the melody the music box plays, put her in a trance and healed her body of any injures. Why? She didn't't know.Betrayal . . .A desperate fight . . .Voice, the one who regulated the Phoenix, had sent the Raven and the Wolf to Close her. Why? Kim didn't't know, only that she must eliminate the two Life Closers before they terminated her.Deception . . .The two women collide again . . .Kat was caught up in the struggle as the Raven and the Wolf were also hired to Close the sister of someone dear to her. Now she must protect the sister and Kim, but the Phoenix was hiding a dark secret that put the sister in an even deadlier predicament. What was Kim hiding?I will protect them all . . .No one will die today . . .Could Kat and Kim defeat the two Closers? Could Kat keep the promise to herself that no one else would die? What would happen in the end when Kat discovered the Phoenix's secret?Look for more of the Shades of Gray series.**Shades of Gray Series**1. Noir, City Shrouded By Darkness2. From Moscow, With Love3. Cerberus Versus Pandora4. Sisters

In the fourth part of Felix's story, continuing his adventures in World War Two, he faces perhaps his greatest challenge - to find hope when he's lost almost everything, including his parents. As Europe goes through the final agonizing stages of the war, Felix struggles to reconcile hatred and healing. He's helped by a new friend, but if he should lose her as well ...

What's it really mean to be rich? Sid's grandfather came with nothing; his baby boomer relatives pit lifestyle against Bible and his cousins' lives are scattered all over the map. Business success, treasure in heaven or take it easy man. Family reunion turns to tales of revelation where the past demands resolution. Sid watches children play in their sandbox and finds a wiser investment portfolio.What's it really mean to be rich? Wealth in gold or richness of spirit, Sid needs to know. Plagued by spiritual voices, Sid sets out on a search for a new investment schema, an improved personal definition of wealth. Inspired by a gym bag toting hitchhiker who says yes I am wealthy and a grandfather’s stories of coming with nothing to the new world, Sid makes a decision to listen more intuitively to relatives at a family reunion. A tragic death in the past has some members missing; Uncle Harry whose busy drinking and Aunt Lola … rumoured rich, yet having run from the family long ago. Uncle Nick, now living in a developing country, speaks of happiness in poverty as well as something elusively appealing even beyond happiness. While religious family members thrash out Biblical teachings about riches, the children, perhaps closest to the One who bids them come, appear to have the greatest freedom. Cousin Ryan just loves to go fishing and leaves all finances to the whim of lottery tickets while his brother Franco, a successful businessman, scoffs at him. Amy, another cousin, follows the blissful glamour of a television idol, while Sid struggles to understand his sister Jo’s choice to live the life of a “starving” artist. After the reunion, Sid is left with a range of new investment options. Over the next five years, Sid hears real world tales of revelation. The drinking uncle comes for a visit, having found the God of AA. Amy tells Sid of her trip to California where she actually visits her television hero’s utopia and their California cousin who lives in the ocean front family home. Travelling to his sister's home, he feels stirred by the perspective of children, especially one no longer living. Ryan recounts his story of a trip to see Uncle Nick in Costa Rica, his discovery of romance and the pura vida way of life. Sid has finally given in to the voices within, and giving up much of what he has to try on a global equity lifestyle, he discovers much of what the voices intended he find. Needing a recap on treasure in heaven, he trails along after the religious family to their church, finding out more about the spiritual side. A second reunion brings the family together once again. Conflicts from family history arise, demanding resolution of past turmoil surrounding the quest unto death, for love, so many years ago. Sid develops a wiser investment portfolio based on children playing in their sandbox.

After Kayden McKenna discovers the body of a fellow climber, she and Jake Westin team up to investigate the death—provoking threats on her entire family.

Story of Love (A Braden Novella)