One More Time, Pet Project

      David Howells
     One More Time, Pet Project

This is the third installment of the One Time serial. Sam and Elsie have made huge strides to close the doors of their past and open up a new door for them both to walk through. The house is turning out wonderfully, and both agree a pet is in order. That is where agreement ended, and their first hurdle began. Sometimes, the smallest things can cause the biggest rifts.A family pet is a big committment, whether the caregivers are young or old. An elderly couple has additional considerations in considering their own lifespans that might fall short of a pet's, or their ability to meet the physical needs as in providing the exercise the pet needs. These considerations were minor, though, when compared to the differing visions of what a family dog should look like...particularly size. Men tend to prefer larger dogs, while women more often like something that can curl up on their lap. Sam and Elsie are in for their first arguement, something almost every couple will encounter in their relationship development. How they overcome it is worth looking at, for the answer arose from strong love and mutual respect.

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    Nostradamus Ate My Hamster

      Robert Rankin
     Nostradamus Ate My Hamster

DO HOLOGRAMS DREAM OF ELECTRIC CINEMA? He wanted Hollywood. He got Brentford. He wanted Spielberg. He got Fudgepacker. He got who? Fudgepacker. Ernest Fudgepacker. Directed all those weird B-movies back in the Fifties. Whatever happened to him? He retired. Opened Fudgepacker's Emporium, a prop house catering to the more bizarre needs of the film industry. Amazing place. There you could hire anything from shrunken heads to a pickled homunculus. Trouble is, they just don't make that kind of movie any more. Ernie's going bust. In fact, if he can't come up with some big bucks pretty damn quick, he's going to lose the business. It will take a miracle to save him now. Young Master Robert believes in miracles. He has a dream. He wants to star in movies alongside The Greats. The Golden Greats. The dead Golden Greats. He's a boy boffin with computers and he's invented this system that could put the stars of yesteryear right back up there on the screen. Next to him. He's written a script and he's got piles of money (his dad owns the brewery), but Hollywood isn't keen. And Mr Spielberg didn't ring back. The lad needs a director and Ernie needs the dosh, and Ernie only lives up the road. Could this be the perfect partnership? Well, it could be...but then this is Brentford and when you make movies in this neck of the woods, you can be sure of a BIG surprise. And when Brentford takes on Hollywood, then Hollywood had better pack up and head for the hills.

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    The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment

      A. J. Jacobs
     The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment

For his first book, The Know-It-All, A. J. Jacobs read the entire Encyclopædia Britannica from cover to cover in a quest to learn everything in the world. In The Year of Living Biblically, he followed every single rule of the Bible -- from the Ten Commandments right on down to stoning adulterers. Now comes a collection of his most hilarious and thought-provoking experiments yet. In his role as human guinea pig, Jacobs fearlessly takes on a series of life-altering challenges that provides readers with equal parts insight and humor. (And which drives A.J.'s patient wife, Julie, to the brink of insanity.) Among the many adventures: • He outsources his life. A.J. hires a team of people in Bangalore, India, to take care of everything in his life from answering his e-mails to arguing with his spouse. • He spends a month practicing Radical Honesty -- a movement that encourages us to remove the filters between our brains and mouths. (To give you an idea of what happened, the name of the chapter is "I Think You're Fat.") • He goes to the Academy Awards disguised as a movie star to understand the strange and warping effects of fame. • He commits himself to ultimate rationality, using cutting-edge science to make the best decisions possible. It changes the way he makes choices big and small, from what to buy at the grocery store to how to talk to his kids. And his revelations will change how you make decisions, too. • He attempts to follow George Washington's rules of life, uncovering surprising truths about leadership and politics in the twenty-first century. He also spends a lot of time bowing and doffing his hat. • And then there's the month when he followed his wife's every whim -- foot massages, Kate Hudson movies, and all. Depending on your point of view, it's either the best or worst idea in the history of American marriage. A mix of Bill Bryson, George Plimpton, and Malcolm Gladwell, A.J. explores the big issues of our time -- happiness, dating, morality, marriage -- by immersing himself in eye-opening situations. You'll be entertained by these stories -- some of which are new, some of which had their start in Esquire magazine. But you'll also learn to look at life in new ways. The Guinea Pig Diaries is a book packed with both laughs and enlightenment -- and that's a promise we can make with Radical Honesty.

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    We Are Not Vampires

      Zachariah Dracoulis
     We Are Not Vampires

What if our illusion of Vampires is false and they’re simply castaways from somewhere else? A short story made for during the morning break.What if the illusion that we have about Vampires is truly a figment of our imagination, but in reality there are others here, castaways from a different planet who are similar? A flash story to enjoy during break time.

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    Four Short Tales

      Donald Phillips
     Four Short Tales

Don Phillips lives in a part of Spain where you have to speak the language. These four amusing and basically true stories reflect various moments in the last twenty five years he has lived there where this has caused the odd problem.Living abroad can be good and enjoyable, but there are some things that have to be taken into consideration before you go. Firstly the locals will almost definitely talk a different language and it is really up to you to learn enough of it to at least get by. Secondly, you have to accept that the natives will have different values and culture to the one you are used to. Lastly, if you do not accept all this and learn to live with it then you will be at the mercy of others whenever you want to do anything, such as buy or sell a house or query something in your bank statement. These four stories illustrate some of these difficulties in a humorous way.

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    The Last Kind Words Saloon

      Larry McMurtry
     The Last Kind Words Saloon

Larry McMurtry has done more than any other living writer to shape our literary imagination of the American West. With The Last Kind Words Saloon he returns again to the vivid and unsparing portrait of the nineteenth-century and cowboy lifestyle made so memorable in his classic Lonesome Dove. Evoking the greatest characters and legends of the Old Wild West, here McMurtry tells the story of the closing of the American frontier through the travails of two of its most immortal figures: Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. Opening in the settlement of Long Grass, Texas—not quite in Kansas, and nearly New Mexico—we encounter the taciturn Wyatt, whiling away his time in between bottles, and the dentist-turned-gunslinger Doc, more adept at poker than extracting teeth. Now hailed as heroes for their days of subduing drunks in Abilene and Dodge—more often with a mean look than a pistol—Wyatt and Doc are living out the last days of a way of life that is passing into history, two men never more aware of the growing distance between their lives and their legends. Along with Wyatt's wife, Jessie, who runs the titular saloon, we meet Lord Ernle, an English baron; the exotic courtesan San Saba, "the most beautiful whore on the plains"; Charlie Goodnight, the Texas Ranger turned cattle driver last seen in McMurtry's Comanche Moon, and Nellie Courtright, the witty and irrepressible heroine of Telegraph Days. McMurtry traces the rich and varied friendship of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday from the town of Long Grass to Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in Denver, then to Mobetie, Texas, and finally to Tombstone, Arizona, culminating with the famed gunfight at the O.K. Corral, rendered here in McMurtry's stark and peerless prose. With the buffalo herds gone, the Comanche defeated, and vast swaths of the Great Plains being enclosed by cattle ranches, Wyatt and Doc live on, even as the storied West that forged their myths disappears. As harsh and beautiful, and as brutal and captivating as the open range it depicts, The Last Kind Words Saloon celebrates the genius of one of our most original American writers.

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    Put Out More Flags

      Evelyn Waugh
     Put Out More Flags

Upper-class scoundrel Basil Seal, mad, bad, and dangerous to know, creates havoc wherever he goes, much to the despair of the three women in his life-his sister, his mother, and his mistress. When Neville Chamberlain declares war on Germany, it seems the perfect opportunity for more action and adventure. So Basil follows the call to arms and sets forth to enjoy his finest hour-as a war hero. Basil's instincts for self-preservation come to the fore as he insinuates himself into the Ministry of Information and a little-known section of Military Security. With Europe frozen in the "phoney war," when will Basil's big chance to fight finally arrive?

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    I Dream of Jeannie

      Richard Johnson
     I Dream of Jeannie

When you find a magic lamp that contains a Genie, the intelligent person will think before they make a wish.Sometimes, when you find a magic lamp with a Genie inside, you should think hard about what you want before you make that fatal wish. Remember how Paris wished for the most beautiful woman in the world for his bride? He forgot that Helen was married and so his wish started the 10 year Trojan War.

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    The Left Leg

      AlexG9922
     The Left Leg

A short story of a man dealing with his worst enemy, his left leg.Luke dreams of Jessie. Luke falls in love with Jessie on the subway. Luke accompanies her to an Alien Abductees Anonymous meeting. Luke's life changes.(strong language advisory, but that's it - thanks Sherry for the tip on the wonky 'adult content' settings!)

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    Unlucky

      Sean Donner
     Unlucky

Sean was a normal seventeen year old boy. When he found an abandoned Britney Spears poster in the hallway, his life seemed complete. But when his poster was stolen, Sean finds himself embarking on an adventure that will test his will and the truth behind ultimate knowledge. One question remains, will he get the girl?In 2001 a story was written that would change the course of history, or at the very least, the course of about seven minutes a fifth hour Creative Writing class in Waseca High School. Ten years later it was revisited by the author. Based on a true story, you can now enjoy the story, as it didn't actually happen. Sean was a normal seventeen year old boy. When he found an abandoned Britney Spears poster in the hallway, his life seemed complete. But when his poster was stolen, Sean finds himself embarking on an adventure that will test his will and the truth behind ultimate knowledge. One question remains, will he get the girl? There's only one way for you to find out. Read "Unlucky" from cover to cover. Or I guess you could skip to the end and find out that way.And one more thing, the premise of this story is based on actual events, however many of the names have been changed, events have been made up and some characters have been completely fabricated. Relax and enjoy the book for what it is.

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    The Legendary Tale of Nick Nameless, a Tooth Fairy, and a Phoenix called Larry

      Phil Dumas
     The Legendary Tale of Nick Nameless, a Tooth Fairy, and a Phoenix called Larry

A short dry-humoured adult fairy tale based on some well known classics.Arianna Grace liked her boring, Midwestern, teenage life where she ignored the many unanswered questions of her childhood. Why were her parents dead? Why did she not have family? Where was she raised until she was five? When someone offers to explain it all, Arianna thinks she’s just getting answers. Instead, she is thrown into a world of night humans who drink blood.On Arianna's sixteenth birthday, her world is thrown upside down when she changes into a vampire. Night humans, or demons, as some call them, live in normal society. Learning all of the new rules of a world she didn’t know existed might be hard enough, but it's further complicated by two former-friends that now want to help her take her role as the successor to her grandfather. There is a war going on between the night humans. Sides have been taken and lines are not crossed. Four main clans of night humans are struggling for control of the night. Divided into two sides, clans Baku and Tengu have been at war for centuries with the clans Dearg-dul and Lycan. That is, until Arianna Grace finds out the truth; she’s the bridge of peace between the two sides. But not everyone wants peace. With the night humans divided, Arianna is now a pawn in the war between them. She must choose a side—her mother’s family or her father’s—and for once in her life, decide her own fate.---- Early Reviews ---- “The Legend of the Blue Eyes is overall a fantastic read with a new spin on the world of the Night Humans. The story feels natural, not forced, and I think that this series will really develop into something great.” -Bethany@Reading Vixens “Okay! WOW! This novel is amazing!! I’m surprised at just how much I enjoyed reading this novel! The Legend of the Blue Eyes is the first novel in the trilogy and let me tell you, its worth a read! B. Kristin McMichael has a new and original take on Vampires and the Vampire World.” -Ana @SoManyBooksSoLittleTime “Arianna finds herself embroiled in kidnappings, poisonings, and nefarious plotting to undermine current leadership. With little choice but to embrace this new life, Ms. McMichael keeps you interested in Arianna’s rise to glory and pursuit of adjustment and happiness. The story is far from done.” -Carmen@TheReadingCafe

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    Cinnamon Sweat

      Paul Greenway
     Cinnamon Sweat

A no-hit group from the 1970s called Cinnamon Sweat performs at a virtual ghost town for Deb, the band’s original and now only member of its fan club. While the event is being broadcast live online for a reality-style website, the producers focus on Deb’s personal issues rather than The Big Story: what happened to the band's original guitarist during that fateful tour of 1975?A no-hit group from the 1970s called Cinnamon Sweat performs at a virtual ghost town for Deb, the band’s original and now only member of its fan club. While the event is being broadcast live online for a reality-style website, the producers focus on Deb’s personal issues rather than The Big Story: what happened to the band's original guitarist during that fateful tour of 1975? This quirky comedy-drama is set in a (fictitious) one-dog town called Chittingford Dales in rural South Australia. The book incorporates things I know and love, such as 1970s music and my home state; and topics that interest me, such as webcasting and filming. Besides the band members Trevor, Nigel and Cockles, the myriad of whacky characters include Madge, who runs the pub; Arnold, an octogenarian railway conductor; Gladys, a former groupie, now with a Zimmer frame; and Lifeless Cyril. The book is based on a movie script I wrote and is very short (only 70 pages), which is why it's free.

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    Americosis Vol. 1

      Haydn Wilks
     Americosis Vol. 1

A naked man in New Mexico claims to have traveled through time. He says that he's America's savior. A sexually-transmitted infection in New York takes control of people's bodies and burns them out in a drive to infect others. And a Presidential candidate is talking to angels. His aides think he's crazy. The electorate might disagree.It could all be madness. It might be the apocalypse.A naked man arrives in New Mexico claiming to have traveled through time. He says that he's America's savior. A bizarre sexually-transmitted infection in New York takes control of people's bodies and burns them out in an incessant drive to infect others. And a Presidential candidate is conversing with angels. His aides think he's crazy. The electorate might not agree with them. It could all be madness. It might be the apocalypse. Americosis. An epic genre-bending mash-up of sci-fi, horror, thriller & dark comedy. VOLUME 1 This short novella introduces the series. It'll leave you begging for more...

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    The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

      Douglas Adams
     The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

When a passenger check-in desk at London's Heathrow Airport disappears in a ball of orange flame, the explosion is deemed an act of God. But which god, wonders holistic detective Dirk Gently? What god would be hanging around Heathrow trying to catch the 3:37 to Oslo? And what has this to do with Dirk's latest--and late--client, found only this morning with his head revolving atop the hit record "Hot Potato"? Amid the hostile attentions of a stray eagle and the trauma of a very dirty refrigerator, super-sleuth Gently will once again solve the mysteries of the universe.

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