A young Police officer based in country South Australia has an unusual day. Rather than the normal quiet day in Northern South Australia, a rush of jobs get the kilometres adding up quickly. Long km's in the hot outback lead to a dire results.Vermont, picturesque and lovely, attracts visitors from across the country in search for the perfect picture, the perfect fall foliage or perhaps a taste of maple syrup. Stansbury is best known for the odd covered bridge that spans Stansbury Lake and goes nowhere, connecting no roads and serving no known purpose. The locals call it the Lakebridge. Very few know of its mysterious origins and fewer care to know more. Those visiting the town perhaps take a few snapshots and leave, their curiosity quelled by an uneasy feeling that they shouldn’t think on it anymore. The tourists will eventually leave Stansbury, but its residents strangely linger, seemingly held captive by a force they barely recognize. They also do not think about the town’s mysterious artifact much except in passing, all but Gil, his father, Ben, and a few others. They know of the bridge’s dark history and understand that it is responsible for every horror that ever befell the people of Stansbury: the people who fear the bridge but will not speak of it. The bridge makes people do things – bad things – so that it can continue to love and care for them all. Some have tried to destroy the bridge, but as long as the bridge is fed with the lives of the innocents of Stansbury it will go on – loving the people of Stansbury. Lakebridge: Spring is the first of a four book cycle revolving around Stansbury and the Lakebridge.

A collection of poems by Buck Downs, author of Marijuana Softdrink, Recreational Vehicle and more.Set in a fantasy world that is both harsh and beautiful, Grandelyn follows the journey to freedom of an enslaved group of people. Oppressed by an evil dictator, the slaves appear doomed to a lifetime of torture and servitude. But an unlikely leader rises among them and offers a chance for freedom. Ariyah, the beautiful young daughter of a rebellious slave, grows to become a fierce warrior and a reluctant leader in the eyes of the people. Ariyah attempts to lead the slaves out of bondage and into a new life – in a beautiful yet mysterious land called Grandelyn. After years of pain and suffering, Ariyah and her people find that Grandelyn offers the potential for peace and happiness. But Grandelyn has dark secrets that are about to be revealed. Those secrets, and a dictator who is unwilling to relinquish his grip, threaten everything that Ariyah and the others have fought so hard to attain. In effect, Grandelyn is the story of two journeys, and two transformations. One is the journey of an enslaved people struggling to transform themselves to a free people. The other is the journey of a young girl struggling to quickly transform from a child slave to a leader. Both journeys have unexpected and dangerous consequences. All journeys must end. Will both of these journeys end in the peace and prosperity of Grandelyn, or in a dark new world?

Piper always wished for a new life. She never thought she'd actually get it. When she does, she goes through hell just to pick herself up from the ground.As one who's always been ridiculed, she finds it hard to let new people into her life. When she loses her mother, she realizes that sometimes family isn't the best thing for a person.Piper yearned for a new life. School was a disaster, and home offered no comfort. One day, when she finds herself abandoned, it seems she's gotten her wish, but things couldn't be worse. Hopeless and destitute, Piper commits a grand act that, one day, could cost her even more than her unsatisfactory life.After a series of trials, Piper manages to get her life back on track. In a new city and at a new school, she meets friends who help her to be the person she'd always imagined herself to be. In the end, Piper reconciles, in her own way, a destructive relationship between herself and her unstable mother, and then goes on to live a happy life.

The fourth collection of M. Edward McNally's short stories, from beyond the vale of history (AKA: the 1990s).Contents: Flipper the Stripper - You think your job is boring?Justice in Ireland - One of those "metaphoric" titles.The writer served in Vietnam as an eighteen year old marine. He experienced Vietnam at its worst. At such a young age, his experiences were imprinted upon his memory in a way that PTSD will permanently engrave the past forever. His poems are not the run of the mill war poems, but poems of beauty. And you ask, "How can war poems be poems of beauty?"Take a chance and read, and judge for yourself. Experience the raw pain, and experience the healing of the soul. Walk in this marine's boots. Follow the path he has followed for more than forty years. Take the dare.

This is the story of Moses Herzog, a great sufferer, joker, mourner, and charmer. Although his life steadily disintegrates around him - he has failed as a writer and teacher, as a father, and has lost the affection of his wife to his best friend - Herzog sees himself as a survivor, both of his private disasters and those of the age. He writes unsent letters to friends and enemies, colleagues and famous people, revealing his wry perception of the world around him, and the innermost secrets of his heart.

An excerpt from the novel by Robert A. Chapin "Orphans Of The Mourning". The main character is Preston Cunningham assigned to Vietnam as a top secret cryptographer, but is nothing more than a "scrounge".In this episode he has just been rescued. Beaten and bruised he is recovering from his ordeal at a POW hospital in South Vietnam. The exploits continue.He falls in love with his nurse.Preston Cunningham has just been rescued from a group of North Vietnamese Army regulars in Cambodia where his helicopter made an emergency landing in forbidden territory - known as "over the line."Following an operation to repair his broken eye socket, teeth, ribs and third degree burns, he is under the care of Lieutenant Linda Villani who is assigned to Preston for the duration of his (30 day hospitalization).She nurses him back to health, but not before falling in love with him. She suggests that Preston work for her father at his construction company in San Francisco. In the meantime however, Linda is engaged to an engineer in her dad's firm ten years her senior.While recouperating, Preston is informed that he has been considered for The Medal Of Honor based on his conduct as a POW. Preston Cunningham a sergeant, and Linda a lieutenant are prohibited according to military rules from fraternizing. Her commanding officer turns a blind eye and deaf ear to their budding romance.On the day he is to leave the hospital and Lieutenant Villani behind it is a sad departure, but both look forward to fostering their relationship. This author will release additional chapters as short stories from the novel "Orphans Of The Mourning."

This is a collection of very short stories. Each one is intended to be read in a single sitting, with the goal of being entertaining, with the occasional deep thought tossed in. Most of the time, humor reigns.The stories are so short and enticing, that they are great, fun, quick reads and page-turners.This is a collection of very short stories. Each one is intended to be read in a single sitting, with the goal of being entertaining, with the occasional deep thought tossed in. Most of the time, humor reigns.The stories are so short and enticing, that they are great, fun, quick reads and page-turners.If this set of stories is successful, there are dozens more ready to be compiled, with an unlimited stash yet to be created.

Chapters of Life is an anthology of short stories, essays and poetry that explores the poignant moments of life, where events in a life can be like the chapters in a book. The event is over but the thread of continuity remains and goes on.Would life be so meaningful if it weren't for its fatal quality? Is that what makes life so precious?Chapters of Life is a collection of short stories, essays and poems to present a different perspective to the platitude that we are all dying. Like the chapters in a book, the events that occur in our lives, mark us, and then we turn the page, and most of the time, we go on starting a new chapter in our lives.

The traditional version on the life and ministry of Paul the Apostle in chronological order authentic to the Book of Acts.Paul the Apostle set the world aflame with his zeal and passion. Initially he persecuted the early church, hunting down and arresting all those who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. He went from being zealous and passionate about protecting the Jewish customs, traditions and the Law of Moses, to preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ. His zeal and passion was transferred from being a murderer, to a minister of the Gospel to the early church.See his out of the ordinary conversion, when he comes face to face with the Messiah on the Damascus road. So great was his encounter with the Light, that it left him blinded for three days. Go with him on his travels as he journeys with friends to preach the Good News to the ends of the earth. Feel his conviction and passion for his fellow countryman, the Jews. Endure with him during his trials and hardships. Identify with his struggles. Feel his agony and pain as he is beaten, stoned, ship-wrecked and imprisoned. Listen to his teachings and sermons. Hear his heartbeat with every prayer that he prays. Cry tears with him when he is separated from his brothers. Walk with him on his journeys and travel with him to Rome. Watch him face his executioners and discover the Jesus that Paul knew.

LOST & FOUND LONGINGS by Markus Torres is a collections of three short tales that involve the feelings and strengths of interpersonal relationships at different stages. From sudden heartbreak to blossoming attraction, these stories showcase what it means to connect with both professional and personal partners.This book contains the following short tales:"Airing Out" is a story of a young couple encountering the hardships of being newlyweds in a trying situation, learning how to overcome obstacles together. "Mistake Out" is the story of two detectives out on an assignment. What should be an easy payday turns gut-wrenching as they locate their objective. "Wrong Place, Wrong Time, Still Right" will bring you into the middle of a blind date between two strangers, bonding over an immediate shared attraction.

Isabel Allende's first memory of Chile is of a house she never knew. The "large old house" on the Calle Cueto, where her mother was born and which her grandfather evoked so frequently that Isabel felt as if she had lived there, became the protagonist of her first novel, The House of the Spirits. It appears again at the beginning of Allende's playful, seductively compelling memoir My Invented Country, and leads us into this gifted writer's world. Here are the almost mythic figures of a Chilean family -- grandparents and great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends -- with whom readers of Allende's fiction will feel immediately at home. And here, too, is an unforgettable portrait of a charming, idiosyncratic Chilean people with a violent history and an indomitable spirit. Although she claims to have been an outsider in her native land -- "I never fit in anywhere, not into my family, my social class, or the religion fate bestowed on me" -- Isabel Allende carries with her even today the mark of the politics, myth, and magic of her homeland. In My Invented County, she explores the role of memory and nostalgia in shaping her life, her books, and that most intimate connection to her place of origin. Two life-altering events inflect the peripatetic narration of this book: The military coup and violent death of her uncle, Salvador Allende Gossens, on September 11, 1973, sent her into exile and transformed her into a writer. The terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, on her newly adopted homeland, the United States, brought forth from Allende an overdue acknowledgment that she had indeed left home. My Invented Country, whose structure mimics the workings of memory itself, ranges back and forth across that distance accrued between the author's past and present lives. It speaks compellingly to immigrants, and to all of us, who try to retain a coherent inner life in a world full of contradictions.

Political speechwriter Becca Matlock is at the top of her professional game, working for the re-election campaign of New York's popular governor, when she receives the first phone call: "Stop sleeping with the governor or I'll kill him." Though Becca isn't sleeping with the governor, the menacing ultimatums persist. The police suddenly stop believing her, even after the stalker murders an innocent person to prove his point. When the governor is shot in the neck, Becca flees for the safety of coastal Maine, choosing to hide not only from the stalker but also from the authorities. For sanctuary, she goes to Riptide, the home of a college friend--but soon finds herself at even greater risk. FBI agents Savich and Sherlock come to help an old friend of Savich's father, whose relationship to Becca is a surprise.