Zach is eighteen. He is bright and articulate. He's also an alcoholic and in rehab instead of high school, but he doesn't remember how he got there. He's not sure he wants to remember. Something bad must have happened. Something really, really bad. Remembering sucks and being alive - well, what's up with that?

Set around the year 2050 when overpopulation is causing food and energy shortages, mass unemployment, social tension and civil conflict. An ex politician and professor of biology talks to a grandson no longer able to cope with life in an overcrowded city. A follow-up to 'The Malthus Pandemic', this hard-hitting short novel is based on original facts and forecasts. Not for the faint hearted.'The Cage' is a hard hitting, well researched and possibly controversial short novel based around the year 2050 when overpopulation in Western cities is causing food and energy shortages, mass unemployment, increasing social tensions and civil conflict. An ex politician and professor of biology, renowned for warnings and predictions about the effects of overpopulation is being held in an open prison. He is visited by his grandson unable to cope with life in the city. 'The Professor' listens sympathetically, but, after a lifetime spent forecasting exactly those effects if world population went unchecked, admits he is unable to offer a solution. Past warnings, he says, went unheeded due to politicians' fears about human sensitivities about population control. 'That is not leadership,' he says, 'But world politicians and religious leaders were weak, scientifically illiterate stage performers, constantly shedding tears of compassion about suffering and poverty for short term popularity and political advantage.' His grandson listens but also provokes him into explaining the reason why he was in prison - because he had helped his aged mother to die believing, just as his mother did, that in a civilised society, quality of life mattered more than its longevity. He objects, he says, to the uncivilised habit of 'abandoning old people to fend for themselves or live together in conditions that, as younger people, they would have found totally abhorrent.' 'Someone once said that you had no place in civilised society.' his grandson continues. But the older man counters again: 'I disagreed, of course, and I remember replying to that Christian bishop that he might like to consider whether he himself had any place in a modern, civilised society. Surely, it is a sign of an advanced civilization to be able to anticipate human disaster before it happens and to act accordingly.' 'A human life that is fulfilling and contented needs to be accompanied by at least some hardship and struggle.' he claims. 'To exist without the need for individual effort weakens the body and the will to fight for survival. Politicians, though, need the apathy that comes with a culture of dependency on the state because it ensures their own survival.'His grandson slowly admits to being drawn into physical conflict with the 'newcomers'. But, 'I do not want to kill anyone, grandfather. They came here to look for a better life. It is not their fault. Some of them are good friends. It is not fair.'"You speak of fairness?' his grandfather asks. 'You speak of things being made fair when thousands are already dying? Like rats in a cage they fought within their own communities for the basic necessities of food, water, jobs and shelter, but there is no fairness and no winners in sectarian conflict and when resources run out.' His grandson finally pleads for a solution but the older man is just as pessimistic. 'Do not expect someone to arrive in your midst, to wave a magic wand and put everything right. It is too late now. If urban fighting spreads, it will be like no other war in history. But that, in my opinion, is when a real decision maker may arrive on the scene. It will be someone just like the ones that have gone before - a self serving individual seeking fame and prestige and with a vision of going down in history as the saviour of the human race. But be aware that this leader may show his ultimate leadership qualities merely because he has the power to press a red button."A follow-up to the author's previous thriller, 'The Malthus Pandemic', this hard-hitting short novel contains facts and forecasts supported by original papers. Not for the faint hearted.

Aphrodite’s Curse is about a dynasty’s fall from grace, unrequited love and retribution.Aphrodite’s Curse is about a dynasty’s fall from grace, unrequited love and retribution.A powerful family is brought to ruin, the consequences unforeseen and irreparable. The trouble begins with King Minos who asks the gods for a bull to be sacrificed so that he may become ruler of Kretos and surrounding lands. Poseidon sends him a gift of a white bull and instead of sacrificing it, King Minos keeps it. Poseidon is angry by his supplicant’s actions and as punishment glamour’s the king’s wife, Pasiphae to lust after the bull.The story is told by Phaedra, Theseus’ wife, who witnesses first-hand, the rise and fall of her family. She grows up in a privileged environment, a princess and daughter of King Minos. From a very early age she knows the power her father wields, but is also aware his actions may have precipitated the misfortunes that followed. She reflects on the different and disturbing events from a detached perspective. Her tone can sometimes be one of a spoilt child, then at other times resigned and on occasion shows an uncanny insight. This retrospective musing comes from her sighting of Hippolytos, her husband’s son from a previous marriage. She falls in love with him and finds it difficult to contain this secret and eventually tells her nurse. Phaedra asks for Aphrodite’s help, even builds a temple, however Hippolytos spurns her advances. Shamed by her actions and by his revulsion, she poisons herself, leaving a letter to her husband writing that Hippolytos had raped her. The story ends with her death.

Twenty Poems written about various subjects. There are relations between them and they come from life experiences from childhood events to the pangs of adulthood. Are they about nothing? Maybe, but then again, maybe not?This small collection of short poetry covers such things as the lust to create to the lust for a woman and down to the events of a childhood bully. It is poems about nothing, but is it? Interconnected in random prose some rhymes and some not, to make you think and ponder meaning. These poems are for everyone who has a heart... and robots too.I am an artist and am trying to raise funds for an art gallery that would also double as a social and community hub as well. The goal is to be able to have a place where new aspiring artist and writers can share their work freely. Purchasing this ebook is a step towards making that happen.

Reece and Sean are sitting on their porch when large hands reach over the fence and kidnap their dog, Bear. The children give chase through the woods and find themselves in a dome-shaped hut normally invisible except the Professor has forgotten to shut the door. After the door closes and reopens, Reece and Sean walk out into a totally confusing world two hundred years before they were born.Reece and Sean are accidentally transported in time by the Professor who has stolen their dog. The children were sitting on their back porch when someone reaches over the fence and kidnaps Bear, their large dog. When Reece and Sean give chase through the woods to rescue Bear, they find themselves in a dome-shaped hut normally invisible except the Professor has forgotten to shut the door. After the door closes and eventually reopens, the children walk out into a totally confusing world two hundred years before they were born. When the Professor is locked in a room by people who are frightened of him, it's up to Reece and Sean to rescue him and their dog. But they must do it without being seen lest they are locked up as well. Even if the children are able to rescue the Professor and Bear from the locked room, there is considerable doubt that the Professor can reprogram his machine to return them home again.

A young man searches for meaning, creates art, and grapples with fame as he traverses the stomping grounds of the Beat Generation—from Mexico City to Manhattan—in Jack Kerouac’s semi-autobiographical novel This urgently paced yet deeply introspective novel closely tracks On the Road author Jack Kerouac’s own life. Jack Duluoz journeys from the Cascade Mountains to San Francisco, Mexico City, New York, and Tangier. While working as a fire lookout on Desolation Peak in the Cascades, Duluoz contemplates his inner void and the distressing isolation brought on by his youthful sense of adventure. In Tangier he suffers a similar feeling of desperation during an opium overdose, and in Mexico City he meets up with a morphine-addicted philosopher and seeks an antidote to his solitude in a whorehouse. As in Kerouac’s other novels, Desolation Angels features a lively cast of pseudonymous versions of his fellow Beat poets, including William S. Burroughs (as Bull Hubbard), Neal Cassady (as Cody Pomeray), and Allen Ginsberg (as Irwin Garden). Duluoz draws readers into the trials and tribulations of these literary iconoclasts—from drug-fueled writing frenzies and alcoholic self-realizations to frenetic international road trips and tumultuous love affairs. Achieving literary success comes with its own consequences though, as Duluoz and his friends must face the scrutiny that comes with rising to the national stage.

When flight attendant Hailey Lane learns the rest of her trip has been cancelled and she can fly straight home to spend her birthday with her boyfriend Michael, she's thrilled. Her early arrival will allow for some additional date night prep time, a definite bonus as she's convinced Michael is about to propose. But when she walks through the door, the surprise that awaits her is not at all what she expected. And as she grabs her bags and flees the scene one thing is clear-her entire future has just been rerouted. So Hailey does the only thing she can: she sets out on a worldwide trip to fix a broken heart. And thanks to free flight passes and long layovers in exotic locales, she finds herself with more options than she could have ever imagined... From New York to Paris, from Puerto Rico to Greece, Alyson Noël's Fly Me to the Moon takes us on a trip filled with mojitos at every layover, outrageous passengers in every seat, and a cute guy at every gate, as Hailey tries to write her own happy ending.

On an evening in late summer, the great financier Harry Wainwright, nearing the end of his life, arrives at a rustic fishing camp in a remote area of Maine. He comes bearing two things: his wish for a day of fishing in a place that has brought him solace for thirty years, and an astonishing bequest that will forever change the lives of those around him. From the battlefields of Italy to the turbulence of the Vietnam era, to the private battles of love and family, The Summer Guest reveals the full history of this final pilgrimage and its meaning for four people: Jordan Patterson, the haunted young man who will guide Harry on his last voyage out; the camp’s owner Joe Crosby, a Vietnam draft evader who has spent a lifetime “trying to learn what it means to be brave”; Joe’s wife, Lucy, the woman Harry has loved for three decades; and Joe and Lucy’s daughter Kate—the spirited young woman who holds the key to the last unopened door to the past. As their stories unfold, secrets are revealed, courage is tested, and the bonds of love are strengthened. And always center stage is the place itself—a magical, forgotten corner of New England where the longings of the human heart are mirrored in the wild beauty of the landscape.

In the aftermath of World War II, Kuki Kyūzō, a Japanese youth raised in the puppet state of Manchuria, struggles to return home to Japan. What follows is a wild journey involving drugs, smuggling, chases, and capture. Kyūzō finally makes his way to the waters off Japan but finds himself unable to disembark. His nation remains inaccessible to him, and now he questions its very existence. Beasts Head for Home is an acute novel of identity, belonging, and the vagaries of human behavior from an exceptional modern Japanese author.

The Discovery of Heaven begins with the meeting of Onno and Max, two complicated individuals whom fate has mysteriously and magically brought together, They share responsibility for the birth of a remarkable and radiant boy who embarks on a mandated quest that takes the reader all over Europe and to the land where all such quests begin and end. Abounding in philosophical, psychological and theological inquiries - yet laced with humour that is as infectious as it is wilful - The Discovery of Heaven convinces us that it just might be possible to bring order into the chaos of the world through a story.

From Publishers WeeklyTake a self-assured Brit with an eye for the ladies, drop him in the middle of Paris with a tenuous grasp of the language and you have Clarke's alter ego, Paul West, who combines the gaffes of Bridget Jones with the boldness of James Bond. Hired to oversee the creation of a French chain of British tearooms, Clarke, aka West, spends nine months—the equivalent of a French business year—stumbling his way through office politics à la française. Clarke's sharp eye for detail and relentless wit make even the most quotidian task seem surreal, from ordering a cup of coffee to picking up a loaf of bread at the boulangerie. Luck is by West's side as he moves into a stunning apartment (with his boss's attractive daughter), but he has to be careful where he steps, as he finds he "began to branch out from literal to metaphorical encounters of the turd kind." Between conspiring colleagues, numerous sexual escapades (he deems French porn "unsexy" since "Being French, they had to talk endlessly before they got down to action") and simply trying to order a normal-sized glass of beer, West quickly learns essential tricks to help him keep his head above the Seine. Originally self-published in Paris, Clarke's first book in a soon-to-be-series is funny and well-written enough to appeal to an audience beyond just Francophiles. Agent, Susanna Lea at Susanna Lea Associates. (May)From BooklistBrit Paul West escapes his homeland to take a job in Paris marketing English tearooms to the French. Over a year's cycle he discovers that the French way of doing business thrives on maneuvering nimbly through a minefield of unique, demanding personalities. An inveterate womanizer, he finds plenty of skirts to chase and conquer. After a comic search for an apartment, he settles in the city's trendy Marais district. Urban stress in general, combined with a need to escape the upstairs family whose every move reverberates to distraction, forces West to escape to a Norman getaway featuring all the bucolic charms and a cast of neighbors and townspeople to rival Peter Mayle's Provencal rustics. West disdains French food for its love of organ meats and its fascination with revoltingly smelly cheeses. Francophobes will find much here to reinforce their prejudices; more balanced observers will find Clarke's caricatures of the French simply very funny reading. Mark KnoblauchCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

The New York Times bestselling Nine Kingdoms Saga continues in a land where light and dark magic vie, and where a reluctant hero and seemingly defenseless stable maid must join forces against an encroaching evil. Acair of Ceangail, youngest bastard son of the worst black mage in history, has followed in his father's footsteps, wreaking havoc throughout the world and leaving powerful enemies in his wake. After a year of reparation, he owes a final bit of penance: twelve months spent working in a barn without using his magic. Léirsinn of Sàraichte understands horses, stable work, and how to judge men's hearts. When she starts seeing shadows where there should only be light, she knows there is evil afoot. Unfortunately, it's something she can't fight on her own. Acair's attempts to aid Léirsinn only draw the notice of dangerous mages against whom he is currently defenseless. With only each other to rely on, Acair...

"Never heard a sound," the younger of the afternoon callers admitted, getting rid of his empty cup and leaning forward in his low chair. "No more tea, thank you, Miss Fairclough. Done splendidly, thanks. No, I went to bed last night soon after eleven—the Colonel had been route marching us all off our legs—and I never awoke until reveille this morning. Sleep of the just, and all that sort of thing, but a jolly sell, all the same! You hear anything of it, sir?" he asked, turning to his companion, who was seated a few feet away.

In the shadow of King Arthur’s Britain, a young mother will need all her courage to save the Queen’s castle from the hands of a traitor... A stand-alone story of Trystan and Isolde featuring a secondary character from the universe of Anna Elliott’s Twilight of Avalon.Dragons, griffins, and BNPs (Bugs of Nightmarish Proportions). Never in their wildest dreams could they have imagined what was in store for them. After learning he had inherited an enormous mansion and a huge tract of land from a reclusive set of relatives, Steve Miller, along with his wife Sarah, decide to take a few days off to investigate their new-found fortune in the quiet resort town of northern Idaho, Coeur d’Alene. While taking inventory of the vast manor, they discover a unique set of doors on the top floor. Mistaking them to be an ornate decoration, the doors are accidentally activated, presenting the two new homeowners with a tantalizing decision: step through or ignore? No harm could possibly befall them by simply walking through an open door, right? Curiosity getting the better of them, they step through and both are sent on a one-way journey to a land of unimagined wonder! Realizing they were now stranded on a world populated with creatures that should exist only in one’s imagination, they enlist the aid of the local king and queen. Their troubles continue to escalate, however, as it is revealed their arrival had been long foretold by an ancient local prophecy, bestowing upon them the status of Royal Bodyguards to the young crown prince. Stuck on a foreign world where mythical creatures abound, trying to avoid being attacked by griffins, and hoping to impress a living, breathing dragon, the newly appointed babysitters must find a way to return home soon before harm could befall the young prince.Some days it didn't pay to get out of bed.