Grumpy Old Wizards

      John O'Riley
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Fifty years after the Disaster, the world is vastly different from days of old. Wizardry is the norm and magical talent is categorized. Josephine O'Connor, an eighty-four-year-old with a penchant for off-beat antics, is a category six, which means she possesses magical powers as rare as they are unsettling and a talent for psychometry that is so strong and acute that she can read the psychic impressions in a room without touching anything. With her unique physiology, she’s over 80 years of age and still gets carded at R-rated movies. Most of the time it’s flattering but it can sometimes be a nuisance. For the most part, Josephine spends her days like any other retirement community member. She plays cards with friends, attends get-togethers, and occasionally visits the beach until she is called upon by the police to investigate a crime scene left behind by a suspect with powers equal to her own. Now the race is on. Can an out-of-practice wizard marshal her abilities and catch a menace before he becomes so powerful even she can’t stop him? **

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    The Betrayal

      Jerry B. Jenkins
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Detective Boone Drake has just masterminded the most massive sting in Chicago history, bringing down the heads of not only the biggest street gangs in the city but also the old crime syndicate. The story is the biggest in decades, and the Chicago Police Department must protect the key witness at all costs. Despite top secret plans to transfer the witness ahead of his testimony before the grand jury, an attempt is made on his life. And the person suspected of leaking this information may be one of the CPD’s own.

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    Defender

      Graham McNamee
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From the Edgar Award­--winning author of Acceleration comes a mystery about an old murder and new truths, perfect for fans of Barry Lyga, Madeleine Roux, and Michelle Gagnon.They call her Tiny, but Tyne Greer is six foot six, a high school basketball star who is hoping the game will be her ticket out of the slum. She lives in a run-down building called The Zoo, where her father is the superintendent. One day she discovers a crack in the wall of an abandoned basement room. And sealed up in the wall is a girl's body. Horrified, she runs to get her dad. But after he goes to take a look, he comes back and tells Tyne that nothing's there. No girl. No body. He tells her she must be seeing things in the dark.Tyne is sure it was real, though, and when she finds evidence that the body was moved from the hole in the wall, she knows the only one who could have done it is her father. But why? What is he hiding? Tyne's search for answers uncovers a conspiracy...

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    A Semi-Charming Kind of Life

      Suzanne Selfors
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Darling Charming is bored in Damsel-In-Distressing class. She'd much rather be in Hero Training with her brothers. The only thing is, she has secretly been helping her brother Dexter ace the class. If anyone finds out, a scandal would erupt at Ever After High. One of the most prestigious families in town, the Charmings have a reputation to uphold. Darling is destined to be a damsel...but this Rebel may want to decide her own destiny! Why should princes have all the fun?Don't miss the companion activity book, Hero Training!

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    The Blue-Haired Boy

      Courtney C. Stevens
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Set before the events of Courtney C. Stevens's debut novel, Faking Normal, this digital short story focuses on Bodee Lennox, otherwise known as the Kool-Aid Kid.Bodee Lennox has secrets. About where he got the four-inch scar on his leg. About the bruises on his back. About what it's really like to live in the Lennox household. These are things he doesn't share with anyone . . . until he meets Gerry, a girl with bright-green hair and a smile the size of Alaska. When Gerry falls out of a bus in Rickman, Tennessee, and lands at Bodee's feet, she gives Bodee two things he desperately needs: a friend and a chance to leave Rickman behind, even if it's just for a few hours.He joins Gerry on her epic bus trip for as far as his money will take him. And by the end of the day, more of Bodee has changed than just the color of his hair. HarperTeen Impulse is a digital imprint focused on young adult short stories and novellas, with new releases the first Tuesday...

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    The Best Man

      Harold MacGrath
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Transcriber's Note: In addition to the title story ("The Best Man") the original book contained three other stories by the same author, and they are included in this e-book. They are "Two Candidates," first published in the Everybody's Magazine, May, 1905. "The Advent of Mr. 'Shifty' Sullivan," first published in the Ainslee Magazine, November, 1903. "The Girl and the Poet," first published in the Ladies Home Journal, December, 1905.

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    The Valley

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

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    Cupid's Understudy

      Salisbury Field
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This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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    The White Rose of Langley

      Emily Sarah Holt
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The White Rose of Langley - A Story of the Olden Time is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Emily Sarah Holt is in the English language, and may not include graphics or images from the original edition. If you enjoy the works of Emily Sarah Holt then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection.

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    Martha of California: A Story of the California Trail

      George Bird Grinnell
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FOREWORDThe author of this series of stories for children has endeavored simply to show why and how the descendants of the early colonists fought their way through the wilderness in search of new homes. The several narratives deal with the struggles of those adventurous people who forced their way westward, ever westward, whether in hope of gain or in answer to "the call of the wild," and who, in so doing, wrote their names with their blood across this country of ours from the Ohio to the Columbia.To excite in the hearts of the young people of this land a desire to know more regarding the building up of this great nation, and at the same time to entertain in such a manner as may stimulate to noble deeds, is the real aim of these stories. In them there is nothing of romance, but only a careful, truthful record of the part played by children in the great battles with those forces, human as well as natural, which, for so long a time, held a vast portion of this broad land against the advance of home seekers.With the knowledge of what has been done by our own people in our own land, surely there is no reason why one should resort to fiction in order to depict scenes of heroism, daring, and sublime disregard of suffering in nearly every form.A CHANGE OF HOMESIn case one should ask in the years to come how it happened that I, Martha Early, who was born in Ashley, Pike County, in the state of Missouri, and lived there until I was twelve years old, journeyed across the prairies and deserts to California, the question can be answered if I write down what I saw when so many people from our county went to make new homes in that state where gold had been found in such abundance.For my part, I used to wonder why people should be willing to leave Missouri, enduring the many hardships they knew awaited them on the journey of two thousand miles, in order to buy land in a country where nearly all the inhabitants were Spaniards and Mexicans.I suppose the stories told about the wonderful quantity of gold which had suddenly been found in California caused our people to think particularly of that far-off land. When the excitement of getting rich by digging in the earth a few weeks or a few months had in a measure died away,CONTENTSA Change of HomesJoe BowersThe Reasons for MovingMother's AnxietyHow We Were to TravelOur Movable HomeLeaving AshleyEben JordanOn the RoadEben's PredictionsWhat We Heard about CaliforniaThe First EncampmentNight in CampThe Town of IndependenceKansas IndiansLooking into the Future for TroubleA Stormy DayA Lack of FuelMaking Camp in a StormA ThunderstormAnother Company of PikersThe Stock Stray AwayAn Indian VillageI Weary with so much TravelingEben's BoastsSuffering with ThirstIn Search of WaterQuenching our ThirstMaking ButterA Kansas FerryThe Surprise at Soldier CreekBread MakingPrairie PeasEben as a HunterA Herd of BuffaloesExcitement in the CampA Feast of Buffalo MeatCuring the MeatA Wash DayUncomfortable TravelingEllen's Advice regarding the StoryIndians and MosquitoesPrairie DogsColonel Russell's MishapChimney RockAt Fort LaramieCooking in Front of a FireplaceTrappers, Hunters, and IndiansOn the Trail Once MoreIndependence RockArrival at Fort BridgerWith our Faces toward CaliforniaAt Bear RiverThe Coming of WinterUtah IndiansA Dangerous TrailSunflower Seeds and Antelope StewA Forest FireThe Great Salt LakeEben as a FishermanGrasshopper JamA Deserted VillageThe Great Salt DesertPreparing for a Dangerous JourneyBread and Coffee MakingBreaking Camp at MidnightThe Approach to the Salt DesertA Plain of SaltLike a Sea of Frozen MilkSalt DustA Bitter DisappointmentCoffee instead of WaterA Spring of Sweet WaterThe OasisSearching for WaterThe Beautiful ValleySnake IndiansA Scarcity of FoodSprings of Hot WaterIn the Land of PlentyThe Truckee RiverA

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    The Noank's Log: A Privateer of the Revolution

      William Osborn Stoddard
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Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

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    The Lost Hunter

      John Turvill Adams
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Excerpt from The Lost Hunter: "What was to be done? I consoled the afflicted parents as well as I was able, and promised to enter the name in the parish registry and town records as Lucy, which I did; but for all that, the girl's genuine, orthodox name is George Washington!" "I see," said I, paying him for his joke with the expected laugh, "there is something in a name, and we must be cautious in its choice." The result was, that I followed my friend's advice in adopting the one which was finally selected. Soon after the Rev. gentleman took his hat and left me to my meditations. Thereupon I resumed my pen, and vainly endeavored to write a preface. At last, in despair, I could hit upon no better expedient than to explain to you, my dear Public, the circumstances which prevent my doing it now. You will sympathize with my mortification, and forgive my failure for the sake of the honest."

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