Nick is indispensable in the machine shop - he's the only one who can fix the junk machinery, and he milks it for all it's worth. He 'help' his manager fix a broken production line, with hilarious consequences... that is if you don't mind the boss getting brained by his own stupidity! Great fun and a great escape from the world...Another Bitesize Read. Men at Work - Episode 2. Read time: ~ 1 hour... lunch time.This is a true story, with only the names changed to protect the innocent... and avoid litigation. The incidents and insanity are from and about real people. Mad as it seems.Another day in the life of the maintenance crew at Bullers – home of the Inflatable Girlfriend and Marital Aids Party Pack. Nick is the only maintenance fitter who knows how to keep the line running and production up. A position that some people would exploit for a comfortable life bating the bosses… and Nick is no exception. Spend a day with the team as they put in another complete hour’s work in between setting up paying work, having the company’s goods away for sale, and bating Badger, the Foreman, and Luigi the OCD Italian fitter who hates them all.Another day in the trenches then, so lots of laughs and little work. No change there.

Everyone knows that the world is flat, and supported on the backs of four elephants. But weren't there supposed to be five? Indeed there were. So where is it?... When duty calls. Commander Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork constabulary answers. Even when he doesn't want to. He's been "invited" to attend a royal function as both detective and diplomat. The one role he relishes; the other requires, well, ruby tights. Of course where cops (even those clad in tights) go, alas, crime follows. An attempted assassination and a theft soon lead to a desperate chase from the low halls of Discworld royalty to the legendary fat mines of Uberwald, where lard is found in underground seams along with tusks and teeth and other precious ivory artifacts. It's up to the dauntless Vimes -- bothered as usual by a familiar cast of Discworld inhabitants (you know, trolls, dwarfs, werewolves, vampires and such) -- to solve the puzzle of the missing pachyderm. Which of course he does. After all, solving mysteries is his job.

Boone's Lick is Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry's return to the kind of story that made him famous -- an enthralling tale of the nineteenth-century west. Like his bestsellers Lonesome Dove, Streets of Laredo, Comanche Moon, and Dead Man's Walk, Boone's Lick transports the reader to the era about which McMurtry writes better and more shrewdly than anyone else. Told with McMurtry's unique blend of historical fact and sheer storytelling genius, the novel follows the Cecil family's arduous journey by riverboat and wagon from Boone's Lick, Missouri, to Fort Phil Kearny in Wyoming. Fifteen-year-old Shay narrates, describing the journey that begins when his Ma, Mary Margaret, decides to hunt down her elusive husband, Dick, to tell him she's leaving him. Without knowing precisely where he is, they set out across the plains in search of him, encountering grizzly bears, stormy weather, and hostile Indians as they go. With them are Shay's siblings, G.T., Neva, and baby Marcy; Shay's uncle, Seth; his Granpa Crackenthorpe; and Mary Margaret's beautiful half-sister, Rose. During their journey they pick up a barefooted priest named Father Villy, and a Snake Indian named Charlie Seven Days, and persuade them to join in their travels. At the heart of the novel, and the adventure, is Mary Margaret, whom we first meet shooting a sheriff's horse out from underneath him in order to feed her family. Forceful, interesting, and determined, she is written with McMurtry's trademark deftness and sympathy for women, and is in every way a match for the worst the west can muster. Boone's Lick abounds with the incidents, the excitements, and the dangers of life on the plains. Its huge cast of characters includes such historical figures as Wild Bill Hickok and the unfortunate Colonel Fetterman (whose arrogance and ineptitude led to one of the U.S. Army's worst and bloodiest defeats at the hands of the Cheyenne and Sioux) as well as the Cecil family (itself based on a real family of nineteenth-century traders and haulers). The story of their trek in pursuit of Dick, and the discovery of his second and third families, is told with brilliance, humor, and overwhelming joie de vivre in a novel that is at once high adventure, a perfect western tale, and a moving love story -- it is, in short, vintage McMurtry, combining his brilliant character portraits, his unerring sense of the west, and his unrivaled eye for the telling detail. Boone's Lick is one of McMurtry's richest works of fiction to date.

Grunt tackles the science behind some of a soldier's most challenging adversaries—panic, exhaustion, heat, noise—and introduces us to the scientists who seek to conquer them. Mary Roach dodges hostile fire with the U.S. Marine Corps Paintball Team as part of a study on hearing loss and survivability in combat. She visits the fashion design studio of U.S. Army Natick Labs and learns why a zipper is a problem for a sniper. She visits a repurposed movie studio where amputee actors help prepare Marine Corps medics for the shock and gore of combat wounds. At Camp Lemmonier, Djibouti, in east Africa, we learn how diarrhea can be a threat to national security. Roach samples caffeinated meat, sniffs an archival sample of a World War II stink bomb, and stays up all night with the crew tending the missiles on the nuclear submarine USS Tennessee. She answers questions not found in any other book on the military: Why is DARPA interested in ducks? How is a wedding gown like a bomb suit? Why are shrimp more dangerous to sailors than sharks? Take a tour of duty with Roach, and you’ll never see our nation’s defenders in the same way again.

The Ministry of Serendipity at Mornington Crescent runs everything. And that is everything. When the Ministry learns of' a spacecraft that crashed four thousand years ago into the Pacific Ocean, it sends Sir John Rimmer and his elite team of' paranormal investigators to recover it. Amongst Sir John's team is Danbury Collins, and Danbury isn't keen. He's seen the movies. He knows how it works: spacecraft is brought up from the depths. Mad alien thaws out. Hell and horror all around. Thousands flee in terror. And bloody big explosion at the end. Danbury knows just what should be done. Nuke it, and nuke it now. But will anybody listen? No! Porrig has Inherited a planet or it might be a bookshop, or it might be a gateway into another world. And Porrig is worried because he has learned a terrible secret. But if he told people all about it, would they listen? No! But perhaps they should, because a spacecraft has been brought up from the depths, a mad alien has thawed out, there is hell and horror all around and thousands are fleeing In terror. And there is every likelihood of there being a bloody big explosion at the end. In this, his eighteenth novel, Robert Rankin takes a classic science fiction theme, turns it inside out and upside down and blends it with horror and humour to produce something all his own.

Guido's dead, but he hasn't lived yet. Will he get a second chance? Or will Satan have his evil way?Dull Guido has kept himself out of trouble (and life) for 34 years 5 months and 14 days, only to die on the night before he finally has his first big adventure, a world cruise. Graham Reader, the Grim Reaper, tries to help him navigate the world 'up above', only for Guido to find out that there are worse things than death.

Jake Barnes, an odd man, is a struggling novelist that makes his living at a publishing house where the owner and the other employees find him too strange to fraternize with. His social life and his writing career change when a mysterious man shows up on his doorstep demanding that Jake hand over the man’s cat. Quirky humor.In A Fool For A Client, Hobie Burrows returns to San Francisco after the conclusion of A Dream Is A Pinhole In Time. Not only does he have to face a future without Keiko, Lott & Pembroke (his old law firm) undermines his plans to practice law as a solo practitioner in San Francisco. Can Tiranoan technology and a wealthy client help him succeed on either account?A Fool For A Client is a story in The Encircling Belts of Tirano Saga. Planet Tirano creates a unique milieu for the series The Encircling Belts of Tirano Saga. Its aristocracy consists only of pureblooded descendants of the leaders of the mother ship that landed two millennia ago. Genetically engineered women, conceived in vitro, control Tirano’s computer network and hyperspace portals. Vhirko, clones of women who died valiantly in battle, guard Tirano’s monarch. Tirano has been at war for decades with a savage alien species that becomes sentient only if mentally linked in groups of four or more.Tirano’s King Mhikhel unleashes fundamental, and uncontrollable, changes to this milieu when he acknowledges as his child an illegitimate son of a commoner and raises the child (Tarnlot) as a prince. Despite the aristocracy’s antagonism, Mhikhel grooms Tarnlot to serve as the Lord Chancellor (the highest governmental post, which is normally held by a member of the aristocracy) when Mhikhel’s heir (Prince Zhun’Mar) assumes the throne.In A Bastard’s Oath Tarnlot must rescue the throne for Zhun’Mar’s by foiling both an aristocrat’s coup d’etat and the aliens’ coup de main. In the series’ second installment, A Dream Is A Pinhole In Time, Tarnlot and Zhun’Mar escape an ambush in deep space by entering a hyperspace fissure that strands them on a planet in an unknown galaxy: present day Earth. The third installment, Outliers of Tirano, begins the stories of Siniastra, Zhun’Mar's daughter. Sibyl of Doom continues the story of Siniastra's quest to serve as Queen of Tirano despite the efforts of Tirano's aristocrats to remove her from the throne.

Coinman is one of life's victims, the receiver of subtle bullying in an office environment and thinly disguised control in his own home, but remains true to his desire to be polite and accepting of how he is treated by everyone. Then an incident at work changes all that. Huffington Post: One of the best literary fiction books of 2016 (Independently Published).

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Supermom Breaks a Nail is a humorous account of one modern mother trying to navigate her way through the avalanche of child-rearing advice as best she can.What happens when a perfectly content, married woman adds children to her orderly world? Chaos and self-doubt reign. The myth of Motherhood and the reality of it are two very different things. Author Kristen Thomas Easley makes it her mission to understand how far apart the two are in her book, Supermom Breaks a Nail.This satirical look at raising children today never tells the reader what to do nor what to think, only occasionally to admit that motherhood is not all it’s cracked up to be. Supermom Breaks a Nail is a humorous account of one modern mother trying to navigate her way through the avalanche of child-rearing advice as best she can. As she faces mother-in-laws, mothers’ groups, seemingly perfect other mothers, she strives for a balance between the standards placed upon her and the simple joy she finds in her not-so-perfect family. “Sometimes motherhood is more about trusting one’s own instincts than subscribing to the actions of others – and always have a bottle of wine at the ready,” says the author.

A time travelling kitty finds itself at the heart of the darkest power plots, devious intrigues and sinister global conspiracies spanning across time and civilisations. Can a clueless adorable fur ball be a match against countless enemies and prevent the impending human extinctions and the inevitable planetary disaster? Can a helpless kitty be a match for all that?Pyramid 76. A research facility, studying one of the most fascinating creatures ever discovered in microbiology. Two scientists are eagerly delving into its secrets, but what will happen when one of them leaps to a dangerous conclusion? More specifically, the one conclusion the people funding the Pyramid facility don’t want anyone to make?

When writer Paul Stewart heads to the idyllic Italian town of Montalcino to finish his already late book, it seems like the perfect escape from stressful city life. Upon landing, however, things quickly take a turn for the worse when he discovers his hired car is nowhere to be found. With no record of any reservation and no other cars available it looks like Paul is stuck at the airport. That is, until an enterprising stranger offers him an unexpected alternative. While there may be no cars available there is something else on offer: a bulldozer. With little choice in the matter, Paul accepts and so begins a series of laugh out loud adventures through the Italian countryside, following in the wake of Paul and his Italian Bulldozer. A story of unexpected circumstance and lesson in making the best of what you have, My Italian Bulldozer is a warm holiday read guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

In this humorous short story, a trip to the pawn shop sends Bob Hanks on an unexpected adventure.A devastating fire has swept through the forest above the ridge, killing Tir’s pack and leaving him captive in the hands of strangers. One of these strangers, Palva the Gatherer, was expecting his arrival; a prophecy warned her of an approaching disaster heralded by the appearance of a swollen orange moon. Palva’s secrecy and cold resolve does not put Tir at ease, but he is determined to create a new life for himself.Meanwhile, in a nearby forest, the renegade wolf Alanki plays both sides of the old game of Hunter and Hunted. Abandoned as a pup for the birth defect of being born a runt, she was taken in by a herd of deer who hold a tremendous respect for the old tales as passed down by designated storytellers. The deer give Alanki her name, A-Lankhi, because she is the daughter of the predator; there is a legend in the herd that any acts of kindness done for their natural enemy will be repaid in kind, when the herd is threatened with destruction.Tensions come to a head as Tir’s new pack begins to hunt the deer and Palva’s fire moon waxes in the sky. Alanki jumps to defend her foster family, but is disturbed to discover the extent of her own brutality. Tir fights to earn and maintain his place in a strange pack where unknown outsiders are mistrusted—for good reasons—and Palva struggles to sort through the threads and knots of resurrected old crimes that threaten to strangle everything she knows. But amidst all the fear and chaos, one thing is clear to all sides: self-preservation may drive some creatures to do terrible things, but most will stop at nothing to protect those that they love.

Brian is a faded rock star, still trying to cash in on his childhood fame. But when he meets former hippie, Rain, he gets more than he bargained for.This story contains content that is not suitable for children.DID YOU KNOW:Sir Balin, the knight who delivered the dolorous stroke, was so stupid half of Camelot assumed it was an act to cover for his witchcraft? Sir Gawaine was a whiny little brat who demanded unlimited special treatment on account of he was King Arthur’s nephew? Arthur only married Guinevere to get his hands on her dowry, the Round Table? Nobody liked Merlin because he was terrible?If you did know all those things, clearly you’ve read Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory, and I pity you. No one should have to slog through that pile of continuity errors and insipid descriptions of jousts. I’ve spent years of my life poring over all twenty-one Books of this foundational work of fantasy literature, dreadful as it is. Here, for your amusement and edification, I recount, dissect, and ruthlessly mock each ridiculous plot contrivance, each self-contradictory anecdote, and each unnamed damsel who runs in from offscreen and dies.Arthur Dies at the End volume 1: Something About a Sword and a Stone? covers Books I through III of Le Morte d’Arthur. Here you’ll find King Arthur’s earliest days, from the hilarious and rape-filled account of his conception to the bit with the sword in the stone we all remember to his first war to his loveless wedding to Guinevere and his nephew Gawaine’s very first quest (he screws it up pretty bad)!ARTHUR DIES AT THE END: I read Le Morte d’Arthur so you don’t have to!

A jilted lover decides to try to take revenge, and winds up learning a valuable lesson in this short fictional comedy.Doctor Horace Brooks has never met a patient he doesn’t like, and he’s careful to go over all the issues with husband and wife before proceeding with gene-therapy and the modern fountain of youth…the only question is whether anyone is listening, trendy country club members Ed and Michelle Newell being a good case in point. Couples should share more before making such a life-changing decision. A science-fiction satire and short story.