In this poignant memoir the New York Times bestselling author of Falling Leaves, Adeline Yen Mah, provides a fascinating window into the history and cultural soul of China. Combining personal reflections, rich historical insights, and proverbs handed down to her by her grandfather, Yen Mah shares the wealth of Chinese civilization with Western readers. Exploring the history behind the proverbs, she delves into the lives of the first and second emperors and the two rebel warriors who changed the course of Chinese life, adding stories from her own life to beautifully illustrate their relevance and influence today.

Poems rising from and returning to Bukowski's personal experiences reflect people, objects, places, and events of the external world, and reflects on them, on their way out and back.

For the first time in history, a Korean rapper is at the top of the world's charts. A YouTube clip launched him into the stratosphere and now the world has gone Gangnam Style. A few months ago you would have thought this was fiction. It's real. This is a look at how a song in Korean is changing the course of history - from a language point of view. Oppa Gangnam Style!‘Lost Lucy’ is a story for the 4 to 7 year old child that tells about a careless girl who is very forgetful. She forgets to do things which are dangerous. She forgets to do things which are unhygienic. She forgets to do things which are inconsiderate. She forgets to do things which are rude and impolite.One day when Lucy arrives home from school, she takes her dog Patch for a walk. While walking, she starts daydreaming and finishes up lost. Then she finds a police station goes in and discovers that she has also forgotten her address and her name.Read about how Lucy finds her name and where she lives again with the help of a gentle policeman. Also read about some of the important things that one should do and not do, if ever one gets lost. The story raises some of the issues concerning ‘Stranger Danger,’ along with other helpful tips.This story was transmitted by the Bradford Radio for Schools on four or five occasions during 2000 and 2005.William Forde

Showing Doris Lessing's writing with the angry compassion of first-hand knowledge to reveal an Africa unknown to most Europeans today, this is an evocation of Africa's sounds and smells, its stark power and savage grandeur and its agony and ultimate tragedy.

Grandpa's Tales is a short collection of bedtime storiesTwo scientists pull an all-nighter, desperate to complete their work before the project is terminated.Garrett was just reaching for the keyboard when the office door flew open and Harris burst in."I've got something!" shouted the scientist, his face flushed. "Quick. Come and see!"Garrett jumped up and ran for the door. Harris was already half-way down the corridor, running flat-out with his white lab coat flapping behind him like a sail in a hurricane.A 2000-word short story by Simon Haynes, author of the Hal Spacejock series.

Two short stories containing magic and angels, or are they demons after all? Perhaps it is all in the mind? But writers have the power to change it all.Heavens Gate a story about a woman on a deserted road where she encounters a man who sends her to hell. Is it real or all in her mind? Is he the devil and she an angel, or are they just people?Writer's Magic is a story about two writing witches. Sisters seeking the man they want, but the men might not be who they took them for. Will they get what they are after, or will they fall prey to forces bigger than the writing magic they possess?

Robin once had promise. Now he has an unfinished thesis in his drawer. Hidden away in his room in Coventry, he writes a sequence of short stories in four notebooks, each an oblique commentary on his circumstances. Then a comical misunderstanding in a public park lands him in serious trouble. Narrated by: Peter Caulfield Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins

Nat Jennings nearly died the night her family was murdered--and spent the next three years wishing she had. Now, she is returning to the sleepy town of Bellerose, Louisiana, where she will team up with a sexy ex-con and hunt for the merciless killer who nearly destroyed them both--and is now preparing to finish them off once and for all.

Caught alone on a dark night, one man reflects on his past mistakes as he feels his life quickly coming to an end. Will one young woman be able to save him and herself from an uncertain fate as their paths and purpose become one and the same?This book contains six of the eighteen fairy tales from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book (1889). The stories have been rewritten sentence by sentence to make them accessible to 21st century American children. The 6 stories include Toads and Diamonds, Beauty and the Beast, Snow-white and Rose-red, Why the Sea is Salty, Felicia and the Pot of Carnations, Hansel and Grettel.The great beauty of Andrew Lang’s Blue Fairy Book, originally published in 1889, is that it brought together many different fairy tale traditions. There are stories written by Charles Perrault and Mme d’Aulnoy, collected by the Grimm brothers and Asbjornsen and Moe, and translated from the Arabian Nights. It is a very rich collection of fairy tales.However, the stories are written in a language that is outdated and in places inaccessible to modern American children (and even their parents). To remedy this problem, I have thoroughly edited half of the stories contained in Lang`s book, keeping the stories as intact as possible, while revising every sentence so the stories can once again be read with pleasure by children.

This collection of short stories by Nicholas Bridgman delves into finding beauty and love in unexpected places, including when young classical musicians develop a passion for jazz and for each other, vacations to the Grand Canyon and Ireland go horribly wrong, a grandfather sends his grandson a gift from beyond the grave, and a man with schizophrenia finds himself incarcerated.This collection of short stories by Nicholas Bridgman delves into finding beauty and love in unexpected places. It begins by following two young classical music proteges who discover their passion for jazz and for each other at a summer music academy, and who meet fifteen years later and have to face the potential relationship they lost. In "No One There to Listen," a family vacation to the Grand Canyon goes horribly wrong, with the family members unable to express their love for each other until it is too late. In "Grandfather's Gift," a man has to lose everything to discover the love behind a gift his grandfather sent him from beyond the grave. In "Lost in the Woods," two American study abroad students in England have a harrowing time lost in a wood on their way home from Dublin, creating an unlikely bond between them. Finally, in "Sleep," a man with schizophrenia traverses the forensic mental health system and finds that sleeping his time away serves as a strangely beautiful coping skill.

Here is my sixth free short ebook of poetry, 36 poems for your perusal and enjoyment. Included in this volume are several brand new poems. There will be two more books to follow. The poems range from the philosophical and introspective to the romantic and exuberant. Hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them! Feel free to review, I would love to hear what you think.Here is my sixth free short ebook of poetry for your consideration and enjoyment, 36 poems for your perusal. Included in this volume are several brand new poems. Please feel free to review my work, I'd love to hear what you think of it. There are two more short books to come, ready for publishing. These poems range from the philosophical and introspective to the romantic and exuberant. Hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them!

The prolific writings of Kahlil Gibran, author of The Prophet, continue to inspire a devoted international following and have transformed modern Arabic literature. In this volume of early writings, Gibran’s simple yet lyrical style crosses from prose to poetry and yields insight into his dedication and inner vision of beauty, including the tale of a strange hermit in “The Tempest,” the discovery of love lost to war in “The Mermaids,” and the long voyage of sea and soul in the prose poem “Between Night and Morn.”

Tennessee Williams’ Collected Stories combines the four short-story volumes published during Williams’ lifetime with previously unpublished or uncollected stories. Arranged chronologically, the forty-nine stories, when taken together with the memoir of his father that serves as a preface, not only establish Williams as a major American fiction writer of the twentieth century, but also, in Gore Vidal’s view, constitute the real autobiography of Williams’ "art and inner life."

Can an atheist be saved? The New York Times bestselling author of Crank and Tricks explores the highly charged landscapes of faith and forgiveness with brilliant sensitivity and emotional resonance. "There is no God, no benevolent ruler of the earth, no omnipotent grand poobah of countless universes. Because if there was ... my little brother would still be fishing or playing basketball instead of fertilizing cemetery vegetation." Matthew Turner doesn't have faith in anything. Not in family—his is a shambles after his younger brother was bullied into suicide. Not in so-called friends who turn their backs when things get tough. Not in some all-powerful creator who lets too much bad stuff happen. And certainly not in some "It Gets Better" psychobabble. No matter what his girlfriend Hayden says about faith and forgiveness, there's no way Matt's letting go of blame. He's decided to "live large and go out with a huge bang," and whatever happens happens. But when a horrific event plunges Matt into a dark, silent place, he hears a rumble … a rumble that wakes him up, calling everything he's ever disbelieved into question.

From the Flying Start author of Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour, a powerful novel about hope in the face of heartbreak. Taylor Edwards’ family might not be the closest-knit—everyone is a little too busy and overscheduled—but for the most part, they get along just fine. Then Taylor’s dad gets devastating news, and her parents decide that the family will spend one last summer all together at their old lake house in the Pocono Mountains. Crammed into a place much smaller and more rustic than they are used to, they begin to get to know each other again. And Taylor discovers that the people she thought she had left behind haven’t actually gone anywhere. Her former best friend is still around, as is her first boyfriend…and he’s much cuter at seventeen than he was at twelve. As the summer progresses and the Edwards become more of a family, they’re more aware than ever that they’re battling a ticking clock. Sometimes, though, there is just enough time to get a second chance—with family, with friends, and with love.