Have you ever gone out to buy a Christmas tree because you knew it would cheer you up? Well, young Luke, an introvert, did so and got more than he could have imagined. This story is a bit magical, a bit humorous and a bit romantic.Have you ever gone out to buy a Christmas tree because you knew it would cheer you up? Well, young Luke, an introvert, did so and got more than he could have imagined.The divorce papers had been signed seven weeks earlier and a lonely, shy person like Luke needed some help. He did receive help from a special Christmas tree. He left the security of his home to seek an adventure and awakened his heart along the way with the aid of a most peculiar companion. There is a rural family that takes him in and shares their past experiences with a similar companion. This story is a bit magical, a bit humorous and a bit romantic. The artwork for the cover is a cartoon and conveys the cheer of a Christmas tree story but, the story characters are real humans.

​The reluctant assassin is Riley, a Victorian boy who is suddenly plucked from his own time and whisked into the twenty-first century, accused of murder and on the run. Riley has been pulled into the FBI's covert W.A.R.P. operation (Witness Anonymous Relocation Program). He and young FBI Agent Chevie Savano are forced to flee terrifying assassin-for-hire Albert Garrick, who pursues Riley through time and will not stop until he has hunted him down. Barely staying one step ahead, Riley and Chevie must stay alive and stop Garrick returning to his own time with knowledge and power that could change the world forever.

A collection of essays on America by the author of London Fields, Money and Yellow Dog. At the age of ten, when Martin Amis spent a year in Princeton, New Jersey, he was excited and frightened by America. As an adult he has approached that confusing country from many arresting angles, and interviewed its literati, filmmakers, thinkers, opinion makers, leaders and crackpots with characteristic discernment and wit. Included in a gallery of Great American Novelists are Norman Mailer, Gore Vidal, Truman Capote, Joseph Heller, William Burroughs, Kurt Vonnegut, John Updike, Paul Theroux, Philip Roth and Saul Bellow. Amis also takes us to Dallas, where presidential candidate Ronald Reagan is attempting to liaise with born-again Christians. We glimpse the beau monde of Palm Beach, where each couple tries to out-Gatsby the other, and examine the case of Claus von Bulow. Steven Spielberg gets a visit, as does Brian de Palma, whom Amis asks why his films make no sense, and Hugh Hefner's sybaritic fortress and sanitised image are penetrated. There can be little that escapes the eye of Martin Amis when his curiosity leads him to a subject, and America has found in him a superlative chronicler.

The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1808) by Daniel Defoe

When a rebellious youth named Donovan leaves his home in Europe for a family trip to Australia, he quickly determines another course when he takes advantage of an opportunity to seek out adventure of his own...When a rebellious youth named Donovan leaves his home in Europe for a family trip to Australia, he quickly determines another course when he takes advantage of an opportunity to seek out adventure of his own. While slipping away from the care of his guardian and sister at the airport in Darwin, he decides to take a tour bus to a Crocodile Farm, which inadvertently continues to take him hundreds of miles deeper in the outback and into Kakadu National park. His curiosity continues to get the best of him, when he sets off on foot to explore a trail to a waterfall and plunge pool. One mishap leads to another until he finds himself alone in the dark and unprepared to face the unknown that envelopes his surroundings. Once he discovers that he is lost, he continues to make his way through the bush, but not without its perils. Eventually, he befriends an Aborigine boy named Neji, who is on a journey into manhood. Together they fight against the elements and the mysteries of the dark, with beliefs and rituals as deep as the Dreamtime. All the while, a peculiar stranger continues to shadow them for unknown reasons. Pretty soon, Donovan finds himself on an unexpected course with this deliberate Swagman, with his harsh ways and cruel intentions. Without warning, Donovan is forced to use all that he has learned, in order to survive this downward spiral that seems to be leading him nowhere, with his only hope of making it back to civilization again...

Written in the style of a pulp superhero tale, this short story describes the final encounter between an aging superhero trying to take care of unfinished business and his arch-nemesis who is dealing with some issues of his own.Pat has been exploring the South Sea island of Vitua when he gets a day off. He goes fishing with his girlfriend, the lovely Hinatea from another island, who is an expert at all kinds of fishing. She decides he is the perfect bait to catch a giant octopus. Pat disagrees.A short story with some of the heroes from In Search of Spice, with the Princess Asmara in charge.Culture clash is explored, not just between East and West, but between East and East. This story takes you back five hundred years to the lives and beliefs of the people who lived in the South Seas.

Being half-human ain't so bad, especially when you get to kill demons for a living.Being half human isn't so bad for demon tracker brothers Jake and Cael, especially when their job is keeping unknowing humans safe from every monster and evil thing that crawls out of Hell. So what if the full-blooded Anointed don't think they're up for the task? Jake and Cael have lives to save and beasties to kill and lack of sleep, lack of weapons, and lack of trust from the haughty Anointed demon slayers won't keep them from it.

PART ONE: The Casinos of Haffir (3rd Edit)Ben Grant is hired to find a kidnapped girl. Along with his small team he follows them to the city-continent of Haffir and to one of it's many casinos. But he won't stop there, he can't ignore those behind the trafficking of people and sets his sights on taking down the dreaded Desard Crime Family.Years have passed since an all-out civil war devastated Russia. The last day of that war saw a nuclear exchange that left millions dead. A young survivor returns to the ruins of what had been her home as part of a university team researching the aftermath of the final day and its effect on the environment. But it is not just the environment that has been altered. What they encounter there is something no one could have predicted - something lives in the radioactive ruins, wanting answers, and possibly even revenge. It is down to this one survivor to do something drastic and finally lay to rest the ghosts of the past.

It was all a normal day in the Destitute zone, until the crazy man showed up, pleading for me to follow him. I obey, but I had not a clue what I was getting myself into. That man; that poor man, led me on the adventure, the journey, of a lifetime. I found what was really in myself, what I was really ment to do.2036 was the year that nobody wants to remember. The world was split up into five zones, the authorities zone, the opulent zone, the upper class, the prevalent zone, the middle class, the corrupt, no mans' land, and the destitute zone, where people like me live. It was all a normal day in the Destitute zone, I took the subway to and fro the schoolhouse. On my way home, I came to find that my hut was locked. My guardian usually always came to the door when I knocked the first time. Then the crazy man came dashing towards me, pleading for me to follow him. I do, but bombs are exploding in the sky, so eventually, I lost him. In this time, in all times of sadness, all I have to comfort me in the most time of need, is a compass. A compass. The man's name is Henry. He sends me a letter at an unknown place. It says that my guardian was killed by a man that I must stay away from. I find something throughout a long journey. Not something on the ground or something that I took from someone. I find something, a massive force, within me. I shall kill the man who took everything, the only thing that I have, from me.

The year is 937. England is a nation divided, ruled by minor kings and Viking lords. Each vies for land and power. The Wessex king Æthelstan, grandson of Alfred the Great, readies himself to throw a spear into the north. As would-be kings line up to claim the throne, one man stands in their way. Dunstan, a fatherless child raised by monks on the moors of Glastonbury Tor, has learned that real power comes not from God, but from discovering one's true place on Earth. Fearless in pursuit of his own interests, his ambition will take him from the courts of princes to the fields of battle, from exile to exaltation. For if you cannot be born a king, or made a king, you can still anoint a king. Under Dunstan's hand, England may come together as one country - or fall apart in anarchy . . . From Conn Iggulden, one of our finest historical writers, Dunstan is an intimate portrait of a priest and murderer, liar and visionary, traitor and kingmaker - the man who changed the fate of England.

Dan Wilder is a stickup artist and a thief.While making his getaway from a crime he most certainly did commit, Wilder sees something he most certainly shouldn't have.Now he has a team of hitmen after him and nowhere to run.Among the quirky short stories collected in The Chiropractor’s Assistant readers will find :Epistemology - When Ronda Wickford, the assistant manager of Brandenburg’s ShopRite Supermarket, inadvertently hires a middle-age man with a PhD in philosophy to run the fresh produce department, weird things begin to happen. As events unfold, she learns a thing or two about Wittgenstein’s linguistic theories, common decency and how to fix a leaky faucet.Two Pockets - According to Hasidic tradition, everyone must have two pockets, so they can reach into the one or the other, according to need. In the right pocket are to be the words: ‘For my sake was the world created,’ and in the left: ‘I am dust and ashes.’Leaky Pipes - During an escape weekend on Martha’s Vineyard, Bart Schroeder is accosted by a young girl who claims that the retired plumber visited her in a dream. Not a man of many words, the elderly gentleman finds his own wacky way to help a troubled soul make peace with her inner demons These are just a few of the intriguing stories contained in the collection, The Chiropractor’s Assistant. Mr. Rachin favors traditional story telling techniques where intriguing characters and plot are always center stage.

Nicholas travels to places far beyond even those he has heard talk of, where friendships old and new are revived; wondrous sights are seen, and a whole new history is revealed. Now he has to make the choice to join in the rebellion or stand by as his world changes yet again.After the interest created by his recently published ebook The Onion Peeler,as promised is the first of two volumes of what the author describes as street poetry,after the style of that great Australian Poet Banjo Paterson. Most of these poems are in a humerous vein and a number are love letters to his beloved City of Nottingham and its people,the remaining poems are a reflection of the darker side of life,human nature,and various events.

Sebastian Segovia is nothing like his father, a brave soldier whose treasure-hunting adventures led him to the New World. But when Sebastian sets sail for his new home in Asunción, disaster strikes. How will he face slave-traders, deadly jaguars, and cannibals on his own? Does Arazunú, the young Guarani warrior, have secret plans for revenge, or will he prove a reliable guide through the jungle?Fifteen-year-old Sebastian Segovia is nothing like his father, a brave soldier whose treasure-hunting adventures led him to the New World. But when Sebastian sets sail for his new home in Asunción, disaster strikes. It’s bad enough that the pirates take his entire inheritance, but how will he face slave-traders, deadly jaguars, and cannibals on his own? Does Arazunú, the young Guarani warrior, have secret plans for revenge, or will he prove a reliable guide through the jungle? And will Sebastian ever discover the courage he's heard about his whole life, or will he forever remain a mama's boy?

Period 5 ReadingElderly gentleman Mister Lawrence is grief stricken by the death of his mother. While reminiscing about the good times he had with her, Mister Lawrence could not get over what he regretted most about his relationship with his mom. He wished that he could remember what his mom looks like. He has always had a sense of what she is like from his youth before going blind, but no mental image to hold on to. Not being able to actually know what she looks like is keeping him from getting over her death. Later on, he begins to have this strange dream that allows him to notice where things are. What he experiences in his dream also begins happening while he is awake and causes him a lot of trouble with his day to day activities and with those around him. Many believe that he is going crazy but some believe otherwise. Find out what is going on with Mister Lawrence. Is he losing his mind or is his mind trying to show him something?