What if there were a story that had the magic of E.T., the action of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, the tension of ‘JAWS’, the humor of ‘The Hangover’ plus romance, twists, a man coming of age and a jolting end? After four friends discover a lost island, Mermaids agree to help free one of them captured by neighboring Sirens, but only under certain conditions.What if there were a story that had the magic of E.T., the action of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, the tension of ‘JAWS’, the humor of ‘The Hangover’ plus romance, twists, a man coming of age and a jolting end?Do you believe in Mermaids? People may laugh if you say yes but, deep down, you either do, or want, to believe. You may have even seen one in your past. You weren't sure what it was but you know it had a tail and a woman's face. Mermaids sightings have been reported for centuries and why not?Four lifelong friends from diverse backgrounds set sail on a long planned adventure cruise. Once on the open sea, they don’t heed the warnings after their boat is jarred from underneath. The next morning they encounter a school of dolphins that surround a woman. They follow the dolphins into a fog bank which spawns an instant storm and one of them is washed overboard.As the fog clears, they look upon two uncharted islands. From one comes the singing of the sirens, so mesmerizing the remaining three jump into the water to swim to it. As they slowly sink, they are rescued by mermaids and are taken to Atargatis Island. It is here they learn the wonders of the island and make plans to rescue their friend from the Sirens on the other island.They still face a battle with dead pirate spirits and trying to free their friend from the Island of the Sirens. They are helped by the evil Siren Queen's daughter, Chiron.But it all comes down to an underwater battle between the Mermaids and their dolphins, the Sirens and their sharks. The final battle they face is falling in love. Can a Mermaid and a human be together?Part II begins the story of survival.

After Q and Angela help foil a Ghost Cell plot in San Antonio, they head to Chicago, the next stop on the Match tour. Since they've been busy fighting international terrorism, they're behind on their school assignments. Their parents tell them if they don't get caught up, it's off to boarding school. But who can concentrate on homework when there is a mystery to solve and international terrorism to thwart? Angela is obsessed with finding out more about the mysterious Boone. Q is more interested in not going to boarding school. But when Boone and his SOS crew are ambushed on their way to Chicago, it becomes abundantly clear. Someone inside their inner circle is feeding the Ghost Cell information. As they dig ever deeper to learn the identity of the mole, Angela and Q uncover the Ghost Cell's next plot. And it's much, much worse than a car bomb. They plan to unleash a chemical weapon over the skies of Chicago. And it's up to Angela and Q, along with Boone and Croc, to stop them.

Rhine Toledo lives in a Post-Apocalyptic world of scorching sun and jagged earth. By some miraculous intervention of fate he made it across the endless sand dunes and has arrived in a place no one knew existed: Pillar’s Shadow, a place unlike any he’s seen before.Pillars ShadowRhine Toledo lives in a Post-Apocalyptic world of scorching sun and jagged earth. By some miraculous intervention of fate he made it across the endless sand dunes and has arrived in a place no one knew existed: Pillar’s Shadow, a place unlike any he’s seen before. The people there climb the Pillar: a steep mountain that shoots up from the sand. They climb it to discover the secret of the Pillar and the secret of the mysterious lights that appear at its peak every night. Pillar's Shadow is a post-apocalyptic science fiction story.

Mila was about to learn the hard way that easy money has a price that comes with it. When put in danger, she had to make the choice to give up her lucrative practice or put her friends and family in further danger."Leave by the back door. Weave your way home. Be careful and don't be followed. They are out there but it appears they do not know who you are or where you are at this moment. I got their license plate number. I'll make some calls. I know someone on the force who owes me a favor. Keep in mind that they could find out who you are at any time. It only takes one student to spill the info."Before they left, they each called home and tried to act as if nothing was wrong and to advise their parents that they were downtown and would be home shortly.The trip home took them almost an hour before they felt they it was safe. "Mila, call me if you hear anything, anything at all. This is a nightmare."

Forty Winks for Jonah.The crowd, Twenty-Eight-Stories below, clamors for his death as he pens the story no one believes. It is showdown time for Jonah and the monster that has pursued him for the past eighteen years. From his fifth birthday on, things only got worse.Jonah is not the prophet of the bible but is reluctant and nonetheless at odds with God. His tale, a true tale of horror (that few believe), is told as he sits atop a twenty-eight-story building in Jacksonville, Florida. The crowd below clamors for his death, but he's not worried, for Jonah has bigger FISH to fry. It is showdown time for him and the monster that has pursued him for the past eighteen years.His tale began just days before his fifth birthday, chased by the monster from Ms. Wilkin's Kindergarten Sunday School class. That day’s Bible Story: Jonah's namesake being swallowed by a whale. From there it only got worse.

African Silences is a powerful and sobering account of the cataclysmic depredation of the African landscape and its wildlife. In this critically acclaimed work Peter Matthiessen explores new terrain on a continent he has written about in two previous books, A Tree Where Man Was Born -- nominated for the National Book Award -- and Sand Rivers. Through his eyes we see elephants, white rhinos, gorillas, and other endangered creatures of the wild. We share the drama of the journeys themselves, including a hazardous crossing of the continent in a light plane. And along the way, we learn of the human lives oppressed by bankrupt political regimes and economies, and threatened by the slow ecological catastrophe to which they have only begun to awaken.

Slowly, inexorably, the Striga, a mysterious blue owl from the Middle Kingdoms, gains control over young Coryn's mind. An then the unthinkable happens. The Band is banished from the Great Ga'Hoole Tree. The Striga institutes a harsh new regime that will not stop until learning itself-the very foundation of the tree-becomes suspect and books are consigned to flame. Somehow the Band must open Coryn's eyes to the Striga's malign influence. But how? They are in exile!

The huge tire on the freeway outside town is not an advertisement, as people think, but a vessel from another universe on a sinister mission. Can Amanda and her friends make it back out alive? The fate of the world might hinge on the outcome, or at least Melissa's fancy new bike. Book 3 of the "Time Before Color TV" seriesSheillene, a champion tournament archer, is setting out on her own for the first time and discovers she has other options than the life of an exhibition performer. Follow her as she learns the ups and downs of bounty-hunting and the trade of the bard. Faced with the choice, which profession will she ultimately choose?Also included in this tome are several short stories, some previously published and some new, that take place in the world of Mealth--the world where 'Sheillene', 'Of Maia's Mist', and 'The Nightstone' occur.

Sword Song is the swashbuckling story of Bjarni, a Viking swordsman. Banished from his home, as a boy, for a murder he didn't intend to commit, Bjarni takes up a new life as a mercenary. He journeys to the islands off the west coast of Scotland and there his life is shaped for years to come. A life that will see him fighting among the clan chiefs in feuds as bitter and bloody as can be imagined.This enthralling novel was the last thing Rosemary Sutcliff wrote and was discovered in a drawer after her death. It is published here in paperback for the first time.

In sixty-four days, Senior Chief Brendan O'Reilly will retire after 30-years in the Navy, but today he's working on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. Today, he has to stop daydreaming about visiting National Parks with his lovely wife, Diane, in their new motorhome. Today, Brendan O'Reilly has to keep himself and his shipmates alive.Sixty-four days from now, Senior Chief Brendan O'Reilly will retire after 30-years in the US Navy, but today he's working on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier—the most dangerous 4.5 acres on the planet. Today, he has to stop daydreaming about visiting National Parks with his lovely wife, Diane, in their new motorhome. Today, Brendan O'Reilly has to focus on keeping himself and his shipmates alive.

Twelve-year-old Mack MacAvoy suffers from a serious case of mediumness. Medium looks. Medium grades. Medium parents who barely notice him. With a list of phobias that could make anyone crazy, Mack never would have guessed that he is destined for a more-than-medium life. And then, one day, something incredibly strange happens to Mack. A three-thousand-year-old man named Grimluk appears in the boys' bathroom to deliver some startling news: Mack is one of the Magnificent Twelve, called the Magnifica in ancient times, whatever that means. An evil force is on its way, and it's up to Mack to track down eleven other twelve-year-olds in order to stop it. He must travel across the world to battle the wicked Pale Queen's dangerous daughter, Ereskigal--also known as Risky. But Risky sounds a little scary, and Mack doesn't want to be a hero. Will he answer the call? A laugh-out-loud story filled with excitement and magic, "The Magnificent Twelve: The Call" is the first book in bestselling author Michael Grant's hilarious new fantasy adventure series.

Spain is an immemorial land like no other, one that James A. Michener, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author and celebrated citizen of the world, came to love as his own. Iberia is Michener’s enduring nonfiction tribute to his cherished second home. In the fresh and vivid prose that is his trademark, he not only reveals the celebrated history of bullfighters and warrior kings, painters and processions, cathedrals and olive orchards, he also shares the intimate, often hidden country he came to know, where the congeniality of living souls is thrust against the dark weight of history. Wild, contradictory, passionately beautiful, this is Spain as experienced by a master writer. BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from James A. Michener's Hawaii. Praise for *Iberia  * “From the glories of the Prado to the loneliest stone villages, here is Spain, castle of old dreams and new realities.”—The New York Times  * “Massive, beautiful . . . unquestionably some of the best writing on Spain [and] the best that Mr. Michener has ever done on any subject.”—*The Wall Street Journal  * “A dazzling panorama . . . one of the richest and most satisfying books about Spain in living memory.”—Saturday Review  * “Kaleidoscopic . . . This book will make you fall in love with Spain.”—*The Houston Post*

A short canoeing adventure set in Ontario's Massassauga Provincial Park. With canoes, a bear, a nuke, a B-52 and a guy with a gun.At less than 10,000 words, this is perfect for someone with limited time or a short attention span.Tony just wants to write another travel guide for canoeists. His plans to head into Massasauga Provincial Park alone begin to unravel at the dock when a good-looking woman talks him into taking her with him.He doesn't know about the hungry bear at the campsite, or the man with the rifle and the guy with the B-52 determined to interrupt his plans.

A six-pack sampler of short fiction by Alan Annand: humor, crime and WW2 adventure.A six-pack sampler of short fiction by Alan Annand: humor, crime and WW2 adventure.Bananarama: Reformed meat-eater embarks on a 15-day bananas-and-orange-juice diet, with surprising side effects. The Date Square Killer: Mild-mannered hit man finds love, social justice and the meaning of life in non-random acts of murder.River Girl: Middle-aged bureaucrat takes a detour on his morning jog that leads him to an unexpected rendezvous with Fate.Specimen: A wealthy butterfly collector visits his twin brother, warden of a penal colony, who is building his own unique collection.The Bassman Cometh: My night with Margaret Atwood: Hapless university graduate student in 1975 ruins famous Canadian author's poetry reading.The Naskapi & the U-Boat: A German U-Boat in WW2 visits northern Quebec to install a weather station, but a native family compromises their secret mission.

A history teacher recives a message from a strange man and his past starts to unravel. Can he complete the task his father started so many years before he himself was born.If Today Was Tomorrow is a simple story intended to entertain kids and parents too. But, it also is intended as fuel for the imagination. I encourage kids to take the concept and create ideas of their own based on the simple thought, "If today was tomorrow..." It was intended from the start to be a free book and so it is. You will find the illustrations fit the story well due to my illustrator's, Sue Donze, ability to see what I write better than I do. We hope this little book brings you and your kids pleasure.