first reads

[close] Until the Deep Water Stills: An Internet-enhanced Novel combines a traditional print novel with a companion web site (www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog). The print novel itself stands on its own and can be read and appreciated as a traditional novel.

The companion web site adds a distinct, three dimensional identity for each of the four main characters. It includes additional plot lines not found in the print novel and features text, photographs and audio recordings. Each chapter in the print novel has a corresponding entry in the companion web site.

Novel Synopsis

For Katherine Orr the words “I love you” are not enough. Only a demonstrative expression of her husband Jayce’s love can rescue their relationship. But Jayce’s personal demons prevent him from giving her this even though he knows she is all that stands between him and a descent into chaos.

Simultaneously, Bryan struggles to repair the breach of love in his life caused by the death of his daughter. But his wife, Jayce’s sister, grows ever more distant. Charismatic social activist Faith, who longs for love but fears she will loose herself in it, unwittingly becomes the catalyst for change in the lives of all four characters.

The paths of these four converge toward a tragic event as each struggles to decipher the intricacies of love lost and love found. Each discovers in their own way that love is the living core of human existence and that how we love defines who we are.
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[close] “Mary Guterson's newest offering has it all: romance, intrigue, revenge, dog-napping... Hilarious, touching, and downright inspiring, Gone to the Dogs is unrestrained good fun and an irresistible read!” --Garth Stein, bestselling author

Gone to the Dogs by Mary Guterson, on sale in July, is a hilarious break-up story. Rena never meant to steal her ex-boyfriend’s dog. She’d just been casually driving by his new house, taking stock of his new life and his new girlfriend, when the dog invited himself into her car. Okay, she stole the dog. But how could a golden retriever as great as this one be happy living with those two very bad people? [close]

[close] Girls, Interrupted meets The Dead Zone in this utterly compelling novel.

It is a June unlike any other before, with temperatures soaring to asphyxiating heights. All across the world, freak weather patterns—and the life-shattering catastrophes they entail—have become the norm. The twenty-first century has entered a new phase.

But Gabrielle Fox’s main concern is a personal one: to rebuild her life after a devastating car accident that has left her disconnected from the world, a prisoner of her own guilt and grief. Determined to make a fresh start, she leaves London for a temporary posting as an art therapist at Oxsmith Adolescent Secure Psychiatric Hospital, home to one hundred of the most dangerous children in the country. Among them: the teenage killer Bethany Krall.

Despite two years of therapy, Bethany is in no way rehabilitated and remains militantly nonchalant about the brutal death she inflicted on her mother. Raised in evangelistic hellfire, the teenager is violent, caustic, unruly, and cruelly intuitive. She is also insistent that her electroshock treatments enable her to foresee natural disasters—a claim which Gabrielle interprets as a symptom of doomsday delusion.

But as Gabrielle delves further into Bethany’s psyche, she begins to note alarming parallels between her patient’s paranoid disaster fantasies and actual incidents of geological and meteorological upheaval—coincidences her professionalism tells her to ignore but that her heart cannot.

With gothic intensity, Liz Jensen conjures the increasingly unnerving relationship between the traumatized therapist and her fascinating, deeply calculating patient. As Bethany’s warnings continue to prove accurate beyond fluke and she begins to offer scientifically precise hints of a final, world-altering cataclysm, Gabrielle is confronted with a series of devastating choices in a world in which belief has become as precious––and as murderous—as life itself.

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[close] HOW MANY PEOPLE WOULD YOU KILL TO LIVE FOREVER?

Imagine a world where soldiers regenerate and continue fighting without pause, where suicide bombers live to strike again and again. This is the dream of Richard Ridley, founder of Manifold Genetics, and he has just discovered the key to eternal life: an ancient artifact buried beneath a Greek-inscribed stone in the Peruvian desert.

When Manifold steals the artifact and abducts archeologist Dr. George Pierce, United States Special Forces Delta operator, Jack Sigler, callsign King, and his “Chess Team” —Queen, Knight, Rook, Bishop and their handler, Deep Blue—give chase. Formed under special order from President Duncan, they are the best of America’s Special Forces tasked with anti-terrorism missions that take them around the world against any threat, ancient, modern and at times, inhuman. With modern weapons, tough-as-nails tactics and keen intellects, they stand alone on the brink, facing the world’s most dangerous threats.

Ridley’s plan to create unstoppable soldiers has just made him threat number one. Tension soars along with the body count as the team faces high-tech security forces, hordes of “regens”, the horrific results of Manifold’s experiments, and a resurrected mythological predator complete with regenerative abilities, seven heads and a savage appetite. The Chess Team races to save Pierce and stop Manifold before they change the face of genetics—and human history—forever.

Heart-pounding action combines with adrenaline-charged suspense in the first of Jeremy Robinson’s smart, sharp series featuring the Chess Team.

**All three copies will be signed by the author. [close]

[close] In anticipation of the September 26, 2009 release of Land Keep, Book 2 in the Farworld YA fantasy series. I am giving away five hardback copies of Water Keep, Book 1 of the Far World series, which came out September 2008. Watch for a giveaway for Land Keep closer to the release date.

Confined to a wheelchair, thirteen-year-old Marcus Kanenas is an outcast and a nobody, but that doesn't stop him from dreaming of a world far away, a world where magic is as common as air, where animals tell jokes and trees beg people to pick their fruit. He even has a name for this place—Farworld.

When Marcus magically travels to Farworld, he meets Kyja, a girl without magic in a world where spells, charms, and potions are everywhere, and Master Therapass, a master wizard who has kept a secret hidden for thirteen years, a secret that could change two worlds.

But the Dark Circle has learned of Master Therapass’s secret and their evil influence and power are growing. Farworld’s only hope is for Marcus and Kyja to find the mythical Elementals—water, land, air, and fire—and convince them to open a drift between Earth and Farworld.

As Kyja and Marcus travel to Water Keep, they must face the worst the evil Dark Circle can throw at them—Summoners, who can call forth armies of the dead; Unmakers, invisible creatures that are the very opposite of reality; and dark mages known as Thrathkin S’Bae.

Along the way, Marcus and Kyja will discover the truth about their own heritage, the strength of their friendship, and the depths of their unique powers [close]

[close] Hi, Folks--

I have two ARCs of this novel to give away to interested readers.
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[close] MONKEY SEE
by Walt Maguire

When asthma research accidentally leads to creation of talking animals, Man must finally confront the question avoided for centuries: How will this affect dinner parties? Ed the Talking Monkey is stuck between two worlds, with only one good pair of pants, living in a world he never made. Who isn’t?

When Ed moves out of his cage at the lab and finds an apartment convenient to public transportation, he has to face not only the stares of confused humans but the snobbiness of the more advanced experiments that follow him into the new social scene.

In the space of a few days, he must decide if his best interests lie with the humans, or with a group of the enhanced apes who think the humans are hogging all the best parking spaces at the malls. Meanwhile, he falls in love with a new young monkey at the lab, both of them unaware that one of the researchers has brought her in for an enhancement that is far beyond what any of them can imagine . . . or want.

This hilarious novel sprawls across the social landscape, trips over the moral ottoman, bangs its knee on the political hutch, and knocks over some cultural knickknacks on its way to a gargantuan climax that reassembles the known world into a map of life in all its forms, from the ridiculous to the broken, from monkey to ape to human and back again, from the selfish to the sacrificing, from sea to shining, lonely, moonlit sea.

It also offers a plethora of helpful, practical advice and how-to instructions on throwing inter-species dinner parties, parenting do’s and don’ts, conducting your own fiendish experiments, taunting caged monsters, and effective last words after the taunting turns out to be a mistake. [close]

[close] Once in a great while a debut novelist comes along who dazzles us with rare eloquence and humanity, who takes us to bold new places and into previously unimaginable lives. Gaile Parkin is just such a talent—and Baking Cakes in Kilgali is just such a novel. This gloriously written tale—set in modern-day Rwanda—introduces one of the most singular and engaging characters in recent fiction: Angel Tungaraza—mother, cake baker, keeper of secrets—a woman living on the edge of chaos, finding ways to transform lives, weave magic, and create hope amid the madness swirling all around her.

In Kigali, Angel runs a bustling business: baking cakes for all occasions—cakes filled with vibrant color, buttery richness, and, most of all, a sense of hope only Angel can deliver.…A CIA agent’s wife seeks the perfect holiday cake but walks away with something far sweeter…a former boy-soldier orders an engagement cake, then, between sips of tea, shares an enthralling story…weary human rights workers…lovesick limo drivers. Amid this cacophony of native tongues, love affairs, and confessions, Angel’s kitchen is an oasis where people tell their secrets, where hope abounds and help awaits.

In this unlikely place, in the heart of Rwanda, unexpected things are beginning to happen: A most unusual wedding is planned…a heartbreaking mystery—involving Angel’s own family—unravels…and extraordinary connections are being made among the men and women who have tasted Angel’s beautiful cakes…as a chain of events unfolds that will change Angel’s life—and the lives of those around her—in the most astonishing ways. [close]

[close] A novel of intrigue, international espionage, mystery and romance.

Even as the world takes gigantic steps in the fields of genetics, artificial intelligence and nanotechnology, Peter Thornton, the hapless hero of One Just Man, drifts farther and farther away from mundane reality. Yet, in spite of himself, he is drawn into the machinations of Solidarity International, the Sino-Indian Block and the American Coalition, competing for World Domination. In truly Stan Law's style, this book is both: a bold exploration of human potential, and an international thriller. As an added bonus, Peter shows us the way to join him in the realm of man's ultimate destiny. [close]

[close] This daughter of a rock star has it all—until murder crashes her world.

The exciting and suspenseful Rayne Tour series features sixteen-year-old Shaley O’Connor, on tour with her mother’s popular band. Shaley lives in a whirlwind of backstage secrets, hotels, and limos. With beauty and fame of her own, Shaley wants for nothing … except the one thing she can’t have.

During a concert, sixteen-year-old Shaley O’Connor stumbles upon the body of a friend backstage. Is Tom Hutchens’ death connected to her?

Frightening messages arrive. Paparazzi stalk Shaley. Her private nightmare is displayed for all to see. Where is God at a time like this?

As the clock runs out, Shaley must find Tom’s killer—before he strikes again. [close]

[close] Summer Reading Giveaway - To celebrate a starred review from Kirkus, a highlighted review from VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates), a second printing, and the joys of summer reading, we're giving away five autographed copies of Clay Carmichael's new novel "Wild Things". [close]

[close] Sam Acquillo is getting to be a lot more
sociable. People are constantly dropping
by, including guys in black outfits with
.45 automatics breaking into his cottage
in the middle of the night.

Though on doctor’s orders to stay clear
of violence and mayhem, Sam does
what’s needed to encourage a candid conversation with the home invader, with
surprising results.

Suddenly Sam’s past reaches out to pull
him back into the world of big money and
even bigger egos, where the term “corporate intrigue” is redundant and ambition
the only virtue.

It seems a person important to the private
life of a very important person has gone
missing in the Hamptons. And it looks
like the best way to get her back is to
extort Sam’s cooperation.

After finally achieving some measure of
peace and contentment on the tip of Oak
Point, overlooking the Little Peconic
Bay, Sam is yet again an accidental
player in other people’s dramas. It takes
him into the world of private security
goons, predatory financiers and lifestyles
of young hedonists, some brave, some
beautiful, all a bit lost.

But this time there’s some added incentive. An opportunity Sam thought he’d
never see again. The chance to get a piece
of his old life back. The only piece he
might actually want.

With lawyer Jackie Swaitkowski and cop
friend Joe Sullivan reluctantly in tow,


and the beautiful Amanda Anselma, fisherman Paul Hodges and mutt Eddie Van
Halen eager to lend a hand, Sam is back
on the quest.

This time with a few ambitions of his
own, which lead him into something all
his battles in the ring and corporate
boardroom could never have prepared
him for. [close]

[close] Kristen Matthews might be any typical Oregon college girl. She studies, works, listens to music, goes to parties, volunteers, and plays in the snow.
She is also a chronic daydreamer.
Kristen allows her mind to carry her far away and revel in new experiences while she battles internally with the desire to daydream and the fear of losing all touch with the real world around her. Her relationships with her father and her friends plunge her further into confusion and doubt as she fights the self-diagnosis of insanity. An alarming apparition that has continuously appeared in her dreams (seemingly of its own free will) begins to take on an ominous role as Kristen finds herself literally struggling for her own life! [close]

[close] From the Depths of a Closet
Full of Dusty Manuscripts…

…comes Milo, author and murderer extraordinaire.

Educated at the School of Dexter, with a major in CSI, Milo emerges from his quiet, SPAM-laced retirement to become an unseen force in the literary world, covertly publishing his novels in another author’s name.

But when Milo’s illicit ghostwriting is nearly exposed on national television, he’s left with only one option: murder. In a world of egotistical, no-talent authors and duplicitous, back-stabbing publishers, he becomes determined to get what he deserves.

Even if it means they all must die. [close]

[close] After Senator Barack Obama delivered his celebrated speech, “A More Perfect Union,” on March 18, 2008, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd noted that only Barack Obama “could alchemize a nuanced 40-minute speech on race into must-see YouTube viewing for 20-year-olds.” Pundits established the speech’s historical eminence with comparisons to Abraham Lincoln’s “A House Divided” and Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have a Dream.” The future president had addressed one of the biggest issues facing his campaign—and our country—with an eloquence and honesty rarely before heard on a national stage.

The Speech brings together a distinguished lineup of writers and thinkers—among them Adam Mansbach, Alice Randall, Connie Schultz, and William Julius Wilson —in a multifaceted exploration of Obama’s address. Their original essays examine every aspect of the speech—literary, political, social, and cultural—and are punctuated by Boston Globe columnist Derrick Z. Jackson’s reportage on the issue of race in the now historic 2008 campaign. The Speech memorializes and gives full due to a speech that propelled Obama toward the White House, and prompted a nation to evaluate our imperfect but hopeful union.
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[close] Much like early homesteaders, Jan and her husband Ed came to Alaska with a dream and little money. Ed had experience as a builder and Jan was a hard worker. Together they found a community and built a network of friends and a home. Part love-story, part adventure, and part natural history, this is a touching and fascinating memoir on life in contemporary Alaska.

For anyone who dreams of life outside an office cubicle or beyond freeway gridlock, Beyond Road’s End offers hope and an immediate escape. Open this book and tag along with two very lovable adventurers as they build a new life on their own terms in rural Alaska.

"Living our dreams didn't require outrageous abilities. Besides, this story's far bigger than us. It's about an entire community, and what working together can achieve."
-from the introduction

Alaska Northwest Books® is an imprint of Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company, which is distributed by Ingram Publisher Services. In 2009 Alaska Northwest Books® is celebrating their 50th anniversary as a leader in Alaskan-feature publishing. [close]

[close] Not 10, but 20 fingers and 20 toes!
The classic guide to parenting twins now completely updated and revised!
Having a baby can cause any parent to feel overwhelmed, and with twins those concerns are multiplied by two. Having twins is a unique experience, and expert Christina Tinglof brings you the fully updated essential guide to help you cope with any issue that can arise from pregnancy through the school years. With multiple pregnancies becoming more common, the second edition of this timely book provides you with the much needed information, practical tips, and strategies for handling the everyday challenges of parenting twins.
[close]

[close] Set against the background of the beautiful Croatian countryside and its simple villages, DESTINY'S DOWRY is the story of a baby taken immediately after birth to a place she did not belong. Here, she is raised to believe she was born to a woman who died giving birth to her.

When the baby becomes a beautiful girl of 15, her brother-in-law attempts to sell her to a Turk.

Her escape leads her on a journey of danger. She is befriended by a Gypsy Queen, loved by a blacksmith's son, adopted by a woman of means and accused of being a witch because of her knowledge of herbal healing.

The Turk appears on an unrelated matter to the house where Katya now lives. She is betrayed by a woman who wants to get rid of her.

There is murder and danger, as Katya once again leaves, searching for a place where she might belong.

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[close] Orphaned, throat slit and left for dead as a child, Orabella struggles to survive with her fellow victim, Rosalyn. She'll grasp at any bit of luck, until it becomes too good to be true.

Mr. Satine is willing to offer his home, heart, and riches over to the beautiful Rosalyn the moment he lays eyes on her. His intentions seem obvious, but become less so when he shows no romantic interest in her, and pure animosity toward Orabella.

Both Orabella and Satine live in their pasts, but what happens when they actually have to confront it? [close]

[close] This is a new fantasy trilogy by David Burrows.

The Prophecy of Kings trilogy is an epic tale of bravery, discovery, intense battles, and oh, of course, Dragons, Dwarves, Demons, and ugly creatures called Krell! These are a few of the fey creatures Kaplyn must battle. His world is periodically plagued by demon attacks and although rare in Kaplyn’s time, they are starting to increase in number. Only the Alvalah know that the time is fast approaching when the void separating the worlds will thin sufficiently for demons to cross over, seeking souls. Vastra knows this also, but he is recklessly ambitious and driven by greed for power. He is the last Narlassar sorcerer and unlike wizards, he seeks power from the demon world. Together they seek an Eldric talisman, one that will guide them to a hidden power. A collision of power will occur that will breach the fabric of space, allowing the shade of a dead emperor to cross, becoming Kaplyn’s shaol and driving him to the very edge of despair.

Have a look at the website for sample chapters, reviews and a synopsis. [close]

[close] In the course of Samartin's work as a psychotherapist, she has been awed by those rare individuals who are not destroyed after having endured unimaginable trauma. They not only survive, but flourish, and are able to
promote the same in those around them. The Vigil is the story of one such woman and the family that she sets her heart on saving.

The Vigil is narrated by Ana, a middle aged woman from El Salvador who is waiting at the deathbed of her husband. While she waits, friends and family members pay their final respects, and as they do, she thinks back on her life and the incredible journey that brought her to her current situation. Ana's story takes her from an orphanage where she lived after surving a civil war in El Salvador, to a convent in the US, and finally to a wealthy California estate where she is employed as the nanny for a dysfunctional family caught
up in the throes of modern decadent life. This is shocking to Ana, but because of her unique strengths she is
able to overcome her personal distress, and keep the family from disintegrating completely. And because of her singular devotion to the individual family members she grows to love, she becomes a source of healing - the heart and soul of the family, and eventually the matriarch as well, which creates painful complications that she must resolve during her vigil. [close]

[close] In her heart of hearts, Latha knows that she was not meant to be a servant. She was born for finer things like
the rose-smelling bars of Lux soap she steals when no one is looking, or the glasses of fresh lime juice she
helps herself to after a particularly trying day. But the hard truth is that Latha’s life is tied to the Vithanages,
the family she has been working for since she was five years old. A Disobedient Girl follows Latha over the
course of thirty years as she works for Thara Vithanage- a girl her own age who is given every luxury and opportunity Latha yearns to have for herself, and believes that she deserves.

Interwoven with Latha’s story is that of Biso, a young mother from a respectable family in Southern Sri
Lanka who has decided to leave her abusive husband. At the beginning of the novel she sets off on a journey
with her three young children, the end of which will bring a surprising twist of events, connecting her life with Latha’s in an unexpected and heartbreaking way.

A Disobedient Girl maps the complexities of class and prejudice against the backdrop of domestic life in a caste-conscious culture as two women journey toward their future, united by a shared history but separated by different fates. [close]

[close] After years as a Ranger’s apprentice, Will is now the protector of his first fief. Not long into his service, everything that can go wrong does: Keren, a renegade knight, has taken over Castle Macindaw, a strategic gateway to the North—poisoning the royal family in the process—and is holding Will’s friend Alyss captive. The situation grows direr when Will uncovers Keren’s secret alliance with the Scotti, who have plans to plunder Araluen. Time is of the essence, and Will must recruit a motley crew to rescue Alyss and reclaim Castle Macindaw—before the Scotti can make it their own.

This New York Times bestselling series maintains its breathless pace in this newest installment. [close]

[close] Who would do something so terrible?

Certainly not someone like Devon—straight-A student, soccer player with Olympic dreams, more mature than her own mother. But desperation and panic drove her to do what most people can’t even imagine. Now Devon ’s in a juvenile detention center charged with attempted murder. If she’s tried as an adult, she faces life in prison. Does Devon deserve that punishment? Your answer depends on whether you believe her story. [close]

[close] n 2004, For Women Only burst onto the scene to rave reviews from women who were thrilled to finally discover the truth of what men are really thinking about. Two years later, For Men Only provided an eye-opening counterpoint, with straightforward revelations for men about the seemingly mysterious ways of the opposite sex.

Since their debut, these fascinating guides to the inner lives of men and women have become perennial bestsellers, selling over 1 million copies. Now the two books are available as a boxed set, the perfect resource to get couples talking together about what they really want and need from each other.

Each book is based on a nationwide survey and more than 1,000 personal interviews. This innovative approach yields candid and surprising answers about the things each gender doesn’t “get” about the other, along with practical ideas for how best to love and support the people they care about.

Ideal for small-group discussions, marriage and premarital counseling, or simply helping a couple grow in intimacy, this boxed set provides fresh and relevant tools for building better relationships. [close]

[close] The last Slanted and Enchanted giveaway was such a success that I decided to do another one. And this one comes with two bonus gifts: 2 copies of the highly collectible Kitchen Sink Magazine, and one mix CD soundtrack of tunes from the book. Sweet.

About the book: Publisher's Weekly says "In this lively and highly literate explication of various American indie scenes and art forms, Oakes argues for the value and importance of a lively, community- based do-it-yourself tradition... as an explanation and excavation of the already fading recent past, it is essential reading." And the San Francisco Chronicle says: "While she relays indie’s development with predictable expertise, she does so with uncommon insight, showing how the many scenes it encompasses (punk rock, riot grrrl, self-publishing and crafting among them) have been originated, reinvented and co-opted over more than 50 years... makes an impassioned, optimistic case for indie’s vitality that doesn’t assume readers are coming to her book already well versed in the subject… It’s a comprehensive approach to a subject that is too often reduced to discrete parts, making Oakes’ conversations with a full cast of indie stalwarts feel fresh and perceptive." [close]

[close] Farah Damji finally tells all in an uncut biography about her life. The story is a journey that starts in Africa, comes to London and New York and finds some answers in India. One reviewer described it, "She spills secrets from the peaks of New York society in the 80s and 90s, and tells the brazen truth about London media-luvvie life in the naughty Noughties. Names are named, tears will be shed and the book has been cleared by leading libel-lawyers. Farah has kept e-mail correspondence from some of the other characters in the book, which authenticate her version of events - very different from that which was widely published." Farah Damji writes beautifully about the exile's desire to belong and the dilemma of being an 'Indian' woman in the western world. It's Jimmy Choo with chutzpah.

Also, the chance to win an exclusive invite to the book's launch party on 14th July at Olyvia Oriental Art Gallery, schmoozing with the finest of the London Media circuit. [close]

[close] To his fans, Cole Dennis is a heavyweight contender with a devastating right hook. To a city being held hostage to chaos and terror, Dennis has a grit and charisma that make him the shining hope for justice--until he is arrested for a brutal murder. Framed for a crime he did not commit, he finds himself captive in a foreboding high-tech superprison whose masters secretly conspire to turn inmates into tomorrow's most terrifying bioweapons--with Cole Dennis as the intended prize specimen. But Dennis is nobody's lab rat. Reborn as a towering engine of destruction, Dennis will prepare for the fight of his life. He will rename himself Ghostface Killah. And his cry of righeous rage will echo beyond the cold steel walls of Cell Block Z. [close]

[close] It touched lives as disparate as those of Frederick Douglass, Franklin Roosevelt, and Mary Todd Lincoln—who once convinced her husband, Abe, to host a séance in the White House. Americans all, they were among the famous figures whose paths intertwined with the mystical and esoteric movement broadly known as the occult. Brought over from the Old World and spread throughout the New by some of the most obscure but gifted men and women of early U.S. history, this “hidden wisdom” transformed the spiritual life of the still-young nation and, through it, much of the Western world.

Yet the story of the American occult has remained largely untold. Now a leading writer on the subject of alternative spirituality brings it out of the shadows. Here is a rich, fascinating, and colorful history of a religious revolution and an epic of offbeat history.

From the meaning of the symbols on the one-dollar bill to the origins of the Ouija board, Occult America briskly sweeps from the nation’s earliest days to the birth of the New Age era and traces many people and episodes, including:

•The spirit medium who became America’s first female religious leader in 1776
•The supernatural passions that marked the career of Mormon prophet Joseph Smith
•The rural Sunday-school teacher whose clairvoyant visions instigated the dawn of the New Age
•The prominence of mind-power mysticism in the black-nationalist politics of Marcus Garvey
•The Idaho druggist whose mail-order mystical religion ranked as the eighth-largest faith in the world during the Great Depression

Here, too, are America’s homegrown religious movements, from transcendentalism to spiritualism to Christian Science to the positive-thinking philosophy that continues to exert such a powerful pull on the public today. A feast for believers in alternative spirituality, an eye-opener for anyone curious about the unknown byroads of American history, Occult America is an engaging, long-overdue portrait of one nation, under many gods, whose revolutionary influence is still being felt in every corner of the globe. [close]

[close] Young Max Ransome watched his father die, killed by marauding phantors as they swept through T'Aragam at the bidding of the evil wizard Zadok. Barely escaping with his own life, Max is thrust into a whirlwind journey as he races against time to save T'Aragam, the world he loves, from a dark dominion. Can Max overcome the horror of his father's death and save T'Aragam from the grasping talons of its enemies?

Woven with a charming mix of zany humor and genuine danger, "T'Aragam" immerses the reader in a world of original characters and tightly-woven plot. Young Max leads the cast and is ably supported by, among others, a faithful medgekin friend named Gramkin, two monster brothers named Doom and Gloom, and an equuraptor named Dresden.

Coupled with quirky supporting characters, such as mercenary Captain Baggywrinkle, Lord Stench, and a perpetually hungry sea serpent named Bob, this cast of characters steps from the pages and pulls the reader into the story. Intended for readers 10+ [close]

[close] Christopher just needed a job to kill time the summer after high school graduation. He didn’t expect it to be in the morgue. Or that he would accidentally discover a murder cover-up.

Or that his discovery would lead him to a full-blown investigation involving bribery, kidnappings, more murders . . . and his best friend. And he certainly could never have predicted that Tina—loud, insanely hot, ambitious newspaper reporter Tina—would be his partner. But all of that did happen. And Christopher’s life will never be the same.

With plenty of plot twists, red herrings, and dry wit, The Morgue and Me is a page-turning modern take on the classic detective genre. [close]

[close] The second book in the award-winning trilogy, Stones of Time by Erin Durante takes readers on a whirlwind adventure through a land overrun by tyranny on their mission to save their people.

Surviving the final battle at Ferrington Pass after her quest to retrieve the fabled Whisper and restore order to her kingdom, Princess Nadia must now accept her new existence as one of the outcast “demons ” and connect with allies old and new to help Andrew take back his place on the throne.

But with the Ordi Ex Machina in control, things get complicated with the sudden rise of technology and growing military threat of the kingdom of Krill in the shadow of the coming war.

In order to bring the surviving kingdoms together, Nadia must help her allies—as well as herself—to abandon their beliefs of society and the world around them, and join forces with the creatures they had originally sworn to destroy.

Deception, adventure, and tests of loyalty and friendship await those few brave enough to stand together against an ominous empire, as well as the truth behind what it really means to be human.

View the author's website at www.enterdamewood.com [close]

[close] Sarah McConnell's husband had been dead three months when she saw him in the grocery store....

So begins the story of a young widow who believes that she is being haunted by her husband's ghost. But David, her husband, disappeared in a kayaking accident and his body was never found.

In a mysterious narrative that follows the holiday seasons from Halloween to Easter, Laura Brodie examines the line between life and death, marriage and divorce, grief and comfort, as her widowed protagonist tries to bring to life her own dormant spirit.

Read the first chapter at http://laurabrodieauthor.com/. [close]

[close] [close] Eff was born a thirteenth child. Her twin brother, Lan, is the seventh son of a seventh son.

This mean she’s supposed to possess amazing talent—and she’s supposed to bring doom to everyone around her. Undeterred, her family moves to the frontier, where her father will be a professor of magic at a school perilously close to the magical divide that protects settlers from the beasts of the wilderness.

Eff and Lan do not know what awaits them in such an unknown place. There are steam dragons that hover in the sky, and strange creatures that could undermine homesteaders’ very existence. Eff is allowed to learn magic with the other students—but there’s always the treat of it going horribly wrong. As a thirteenth child, Eff always feels one short step away from complete ruin.

As Eff and Lan grow older, they face challenges they never could have dreamed of. And then their magic is put to the test in a standoff that will alter their lives forever. [close]

[close] Call of Destiny is a coming-of-age story about four college-age students struggling to find themselves in a very traditional—almost conformist—culture.

To high school senior Michael Gillen, living on Earth in the late twenty-fifth century is a miserable existence. His parents always ride him for lacking discipline and ambition, certainly a result of the long shadow cast over him by his older brother. Even worse, the Gillen family’s well-known and jaded history makes him an easy target for every bully that comes along.

No, Michael can’t wait until graduation so that he can finally flee his wretched life!

That’s when the young man seizes the opportunity to realize his lifelong dream of exploring the stars. Just one problem: the prestigious university offering that chance is a military academy and he is anything but military-minded.

Meanwhile, an evil tyrant has come to power far across the solar system, quickly threatening the peace of Terrae Solaris.

Will the stubborn, free-spirited, and idealistic young man wash out before realizing his dream?

Will his family’s past get the best of him? Can he keep his mind off other, more enticing distractions?

Will he get his chance to set off into the stars before a terrible war breaks out?
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[close] Ray Lilly is living on borrowed time. He's the driver for Annalise Powliss, a high-ranking member of the Twenty Palace Society, a group of sorcerers devoted to hunting down and executing rogue magicians. But because Ray betrayed her once, Annalise is looking for an excuse to kill him—or let someone else do the job.

Unfortunately for both of them, Annalise's next mission goes wrong, leaving her critically injured. With the little magic he controls, Ray must complete her assignment alone. Not only does he have to stop a sorcerer who's sacrificing dozens of innocent lives in exchange for supernatural power, he must also find—and destroy—the source of that inhuman magic. [close]

[close] After fourteen years, New York Times bestselling fantasy master Terry Brooks has returned to the magic kingdom of Landover. The remarkable realm of dragons, demons, wizards, and wonders that wove an irresistible spell in five classic novels throws open its gates at long last for a brand-new adventure featuring a dazzling cast of characters and creatures.

Ben Holiday, Chicago lawyer and mere mortal turned monarch of enchanted Landover, has grappled with scheming barons, fire-breathing beasts, diabolical conjurers, and extremely wicked witches. None of whom have prepared him for the most daunting of challengers–a teenage daughter. Sent by Ben and his beloved sylph bride, Willow, to an exclusive girls’ prep school, headstrong (and half-magical) Mistaya Holiday has found life in the natural world a less than perfect fit. And when her latest rebellious antics get her indefinitely suspended, she’s determined to resume her real education–learning sorcery from court wizard Questor Thews–whether her parents like it or not.

But back home in Landover, Mistaya’s frustrated father is just as determined that the precocious princess learn some responsibility, and he declares her grounded until she successfully refurbishes the long-forsaken royal library. Mortified by the prospect of salvaging a king’s ransom in moldy books–and horrified by word that repulsive local nobleman Lord Laphroig seeks to marry her–Mistaya decides that the only way to run her own life is to run away from home.

So begins an eventful odyssey peppered with a formidable dragon, recalcitrant gnomes, an inscrutable magic cat, a handsome librarian, a sinister sorcerer, and more than a few narrow escapes as fate draws Landover’s intrepid princess to the last place she expected to go, and into the thick of a mystery that will put her mettle to the test–and might bring the kingdom to its knees. [close]

[close] We suffer today from food anxiety, bombarded as we are with confusing messages about how to eat an ethical diet. Should we eat locally? Is organic really better for the environment? Can genetically modified foods be good for you?

JUST FOOD does for fresh food what Fast Food Nation (Houghton Mifflin, 2001) did for fast food, challenging conventional views, and cutting through layers of myth and misinformation. For instance, an imported tomato is more energy-efficient than a local greenhouse-grown tomato. And farm-raised freshwater fish may soon be the most sustainable source of protein.

Informative and surprising, JUST FOOD tells us how to decide what to eat, and how our choices can help save the planet and feed the world.
[close]

[close] Darla McKendrick is nine when she first hears her mother and her aunt Didi secretly discussing their younger sister, Rebecca, speculating about her life in squalor. From the moment Darla asks to know more about her mysterious aunt, she is offered nothing but half-truths, distortions, and evasions.

As Darla grows into her teen years, her life is oddly yet profoundly affected by this woman she has never known. She can’t help but notice that Rebecca seems to exist only in dark corners of conversations and that no one ever wants to talk about her—with Darla. Neither Darla nor her three cousins have a clue about their aunt, yet their respective parents appear to recoil in fear at the sound of her name.

SQUALOR, NEW MEXICO is a coming-of-age story shrouded in family mystery. As the plot takes twists and turns, secrets are revealed not only to Darla but to the “secret keepers” as well. Darla learns that families are only as strong as the truths they hold and as weak as the secrets they keep. [close]

[close] To celebrate the upcoming national release of This Ain't No Hearts and Flowers Love Story Pt 2 I'm giving away Part 1.

Which is worse: to love your mother fiercely only to lose her? Or never to have had a mother at all? Obie and Princess never debated this issue. They were equally motherless; it's what forever binds them. Obie is a former street child and junkie's son; Princess was raised in splendor on Park Avenue. When Princess is three, Obie is her babysitter; when she's thirteen Obie's her best friend and confidant. At eighteen Princess dreams of being an R&B Diva and Obie, whose "Rags-to-Riches" transformation into a music video superstar/director captured America's attention, knows just how to make that dream come true. Their lifelong bond grows into mutual attraction yet Princess isn't satisfied being one of Obie's groupies. Inevitable the two fall head-over-heels in love. Social-class differences, color complexes and being stalked by an ex-boyfriend strain their budding relationship until, on the closing night of her second tour, the ex shows up uninvited and unwanted and Princess disappears with him. But it's when Obie's abandonment issues crash head first into Princess's need for emotional distance that the fireworks really begin. Then the question becomes: Can a motherless child ever truly open his or her heart enough to love someone else? [close]

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Set in the United States after 2008, A Journey, a Reckoning, and a Miracle is informed as much by religion and politics as it is by adventure, magical realism and humor. A Journey, a Reckoning, and a Miracle reaches out to all and follows the stories of three fellow Americans:
Lucy, a seventeen-year-old Rapture believer, is compelled by her changing beliefs to leave her Texas home and travel on a pilgrimage to honor the dead from massacres, such as occurred at Waco and Columbine. As she journeys by foot, motorcycle, horseback, canoe and Swift Boat, she meets other Americans who influence her beliefs and actions, which leads to a miracle.
Judith, a young black soldier severely injured in Iraq, remains well loved both by her boyfriend--whom she met before her injuries occurred—and her family, particularly her Christian but voodoo practicing, feminist grandmother. As Judith recovers, she regains her humor and voice in an age-old tradition, which leads to further healing for her and those who witness her acts.

With his term over, a fictional George Bush plans to relax, have fun and do some fundraising. But his plans go awry when he begins to have nightmares and visions in which he’s visited by a host of ghosts, including zombies, Mother Nature, Machiavelli, Schopenhauer, Alice of “Alice’s Restaurant” and a couple of former presidents. These entities begin to make him understand the magnitude of the atrocities he committed as president and push him towards transformation.

Almost everyone, if old enough, has had to change beliefs with new experiences--both devastating and life-affirming--to acknowledge mistakes, practice forgiveness, and make amends, and, in the face of terrible adversity, to summon the courage and creativity to try something new. As the characters in the story find out, this can happen with a little help from family, friends, history, myth, and higher powers, through the grace of imagination. Dedicated to the great powers of healing, A Journey, a Reckoning, and a Miracle shows that sacrifice can help revive the American dream.

[close]

[close] The Desperate Ones is a genre-crossing, renegade novel: part cyberpunk, part fairy tale, part poetic apocalypse.

Dominion Capital has slated the walled city of Pottersfield for obliteration. Those within must survive or be subsumed. While hackers invent a resistant religion from Dominion Capital’s tech discards, they discover survival rests with one man: Rhubarb Ward, a war veteran and ex-con whose military issue implant holds the key to the future of Pottersfield. Rhubarb is newly released from prison when he meets Lola. Fierce, cunning and addicted to the drug blue, she is the secret to his captive past. While the city’s wealthiest residents are lifted out, the rest are trapped behind. Among them are a history professor obsessively recording his memories as he forgets them, a suburban runaway compelled by the glamor of implosion and a call girl bent on meeting a new god even if it means martyrdom. Their lives intersect with a certainty that only some will survive to see the strange new world that blooms in the exit wound of the disappeared city. [close]

[close] "Powerful, Informative, Heart-tugging" --Dianne Salerni for POD Book Reviews & More

"Superbly written from first page to last" -Midwest Book Review

"This book will not only make you cry, it will make you think." --Merry Weather Book Blog

"A great backdrop for an important debate on health care." --Amazon Top 500 Reviewer

“A very important book, written at a very important time.” --Zibilee at Raging Bibliomania

----------------------------------------

Every day a choice must be made between saving one child and treating thousands.

Galen is a neuroscientist and entrepreneur who loses everything to develop a cure for stroke. Eddy is a devoted father who enters politics on a mission to lower the cost of prescription drugs. Elizabeth is a pharmaceutical industry lawyer who is raising a daughter with a rare and fatal genetic illness.

Their families become forever entwined as the three parents engage in a tug-of-war over a failing system of good intentions. In the wake, heroes are born.

See a preview video at
http://www.goodreads.com/videos/show/236...
[close]

[close] Dusty Waters is a ghost story, a family saga, the history of a haunted house, and a biography of a folksinger. Dusty's friend, Katharine, has volunteered to help her write the official biography, but there is one piece of her life that will not be part of the biography, she can see ghosts; Dusty's ancestral home Tanglewood is filled with them. This inherited sight adds a vexing dimension to her psyche that becomes an uneasy burden.

"Dusty Waters" won Honorable Mention at the 2009 New York Book Festival.
[close]

[close] Kate Burkholder, who grew up in the Amish community of Painters Mill, Ohio, before abandoning their way of life for the outside world and the study of law enforcement, has recently been appointed Chief of Police in her former hometown. Her knowledge of the Amish, their language and customs, makes her the perfect candidate. When the serial killer, whose spree sixteen years before was dubbed The Slaughterhouse Murders, returns with spectacular violence, Kate is determined to catch him. But she is also desperate to keep a secret from her past: the reason she fled the Amish world is that she was the young girl the killer attacked before disappearing—and she killed him in self defense. No one knows, except her Amish father and brother who helped bury the body. So who is behind the current murders? And what is the connection to Kate's past?
[close]

[close] This collection of poems by J. Michael Wahlgren invites the reader to follow an ongoing process of both discovery and reflection for the poet. With a wry, quiet humor and compelling vision, Wahlgren's search for grace and understanding throughout life is wrought with passion, yet his poems remain quietly elegant and straightforward as he discusses sex, heartbreak, marriage and other human experiences. Small pleasures can be found in every poem, from Wahlgren's stimulating language to his thoughtful revelations, the collection depicting the delicate moments of everyday life in a fresh and exquisite manner. [close]

[close] The Last Days of the Lacuna Cabal is an offbeat rites-of-passage novel whose characters live out literature with ferocity and passion. -The girls of the Lacuna Cabal Montreal Young Women's Book Club are at a crossroads. One of their founding members is dead; they've made a few unfortunate compromises to their membership, some of them aren't getting any younger, and they've been stuck on the same weepy tome for six long months. Resident maverick Runner Coghill decides to shake things up by introducing a cherished family heirloom to the group - ten pristine stone tablets, carved in cuneiform, telling the oldest story in the world: The Epic of Gilgamesh. Because their new book is written in an ancient language, the group must take the unprecedented step of allowing Runner to translate the story for them. But Runner's narration is not of a common vein. Before they know it, the Cabalists have been thrust out to sea, on a journey in search of answers that extend halfway across the world to the war-torn land of this oldest story's birth.

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[close] Finally: a book with clear and easy explanations of your most common grammar, usage, and punctuation questions. This book cuts the convoluted terminology and explains things in a way anyone can understand.

The Word Nerd, as the author is affectionately called because of her "Word Nerd Wednesday" blog series, is known for her ability to help even the most frustrated writer.

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[close] In A Child's Heart - Josie LeBlanc

Its another cold frosty day, and, I have to go to the surgery to make another appointment, with another want to be Einstein, I mean the locum. But unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances, I couldn’t go to see him, they me gave a appointment to go and see the minor injuries nurse instead. Always constantly going on how she wants ram (saying it politely, I meant put) some steel object into my crotch and wanting to scrape all of my insides, out. Tears fell faster than rate of noughts at the very thought of it. The nurse called the object a clamp, I call it let me get the feck out of here. Fast. [close]

[close] As a divorcée in 1870 St. Louis, Rosalynn McAllister is a branded woman. When she is presented with the opportunity for a new life with her sister’s family in Peaceful, Minnesota, Rosalynn believes it is what God wants for her. But Rosalynn arrives in Peaceful only to find that her sister Susan has run off, her brother-in-law Mike is dead, and her niece and nephew are in the custody of the town’s minister. Furthermore, Mike’s handsome half-brother, Lone Wolf Larson, who
now owns the family farm, stirs feelings in Rosalynn that both excite
and confuse her.

When Rosalynn and Lone Wolf must marry to obtain custody of the children, Rosalynn assumes it will be a loveless marriage. After all, she believes that no man could love a divorced woman, and experience has taught her that men are not to be trusted. Lone Wolf, persecuted
for his Lakota Sioux heritage, also has trust issues, yet he secretly feels that Rosalynn is his destiny. Will Rosalynn and Lone Wolf put aside their fears and learn to embrace love, hope, and forgiveness? And will their faith see them through seemingly insurmountable trials? [close]

[close] Zipping along life’s highway . . .

Fifty makes you think. Thirty makes you morose, and forty makes you panic, but fifty makes you think. Half a century, and what is my life? Does it resemble anything I dreamed at sixteen, or expected at twenty, or hoped at twenty-five? What am I doing here? . . .
I thought of climbing to the top of a high mountain in Tibet to consult a wise man, but I like vacations where there is indoor plumbing and vegetation.
Since I already attended church, I thought perhaps I could pay closer attention. Maybe I’d been missing a great fundamental truth. Well, come to find out, I had been missing something. . . .

Carol, a middle-aged wife and mother, is pondering the meaning of life. On a trip to the grocery store to find some energizing dark chocolate, she sees a sign asking for volunteers to deliver meals to the elderly. When Carol decides to take a chance and help out, she’s in for a life-changing—and route-altering—experience. [close]

[close] What price would you pay for love? -A Stem full of Thorns, will show you the price its characters are willing to pay for love.

They're back! William, Yvonne, Joann, Robert, Dana, Andrea, and a host of others in this chilling sequel from; Shadows of the Heart. The steaks has raisin and the cost is unbearable for all those who remain connected to William.

Who lives, and who dies changes many events and forces Yvonne to kill her husband of 25 years, but will she. Is her love for William stronger than the commandment of God?

Dana has been bewitched and fights to regain her soul. She knows she needs the guidance of William, but will her love for Kevin force her to end her relationship with William? -And Joann is warned if she keep her faith with William she will lose all that she cherish, or accepts Hells offer.

Lines will be drawn, love will be tested, and blood will be spilled in Lord'Williams soon to be release, A Stem full of Thorns [close]

[close] An arresting story about starting over after a friend’s suicide, from a breakthrough new voice in YA fiction.

dear caitlin, there are so many things that i want so badly to tell you but i just can’t.

Devastating, hopeful, hopeless, playful . . . in words and illustrations, Ingrid left behind a painful farewell in her journal for Caitlin. Now Caitlin is left alone, by loss and by choice, struggling to find renewed hope in the wake of her best friend’s suicide. With the help of family and newfound friends, Caitlin will encounter first love, broaden her horizons, and start to realize that true friendship didn’t die with Ingrid. And the journal which once seemed only to chronicle Ingrid’s descent into depression, becomes the tool by which Caitlin once again reaches out to all those who loved Ingrid—and Caitlin herself. [close]

[close] She is the last of her kind...

It is not a peaceful time in the Dells. In King City, the young King Nash is clinging to the throne, while rebel lords in the north and south build armies to unseat him. War is coming. And the mountains and forest are filled with spies and thieves. This is where Fire lives, a girl whose beauty is impossibly irresistible and who can control the minds of everyone around her.

Exquisitely romantic, this companion to the highly praised Graceling has an entirely new cast of characters, save for one person who plays a pivotal role in both books. You don’t need to have read Graceling to love Fire. But if you haven’t, you’ll be dying to read it next. [close]

[close] Del Miller is a young and talented, up-and-coming executive with one of the nation's largest Health Maintenance Organizations. Blinded by his personal drive to impress the senior management at Premium Health Insurance, Del stumbles upon company documents which initially appear to be fairly innocent. As Del further probes into the details of this situation, clues begin to point toward a possible insider scam eventually leading Del to question everyone's innocence, including his own. The corruption unravels quickly forcing Del to act expeditiously to save his family and his own life. [close]

[close] Take a journey onto a path that winds into a park full of wild and not-so-wild creatures from A to Z. Children can learn the alphabet while identifying more than two hundred animals in twenty-six letter descriptions using an easy to follow ABC's approach. There is even an index for all of the animals in the book!

"Great it is to be the letter G with such fine keepers of this character including a giant Giraffe, a beastly Gorilla, and a genial Guinea Pig."

"An A to Z Walk in the Park is a charming, softcover children's alphabet picturebook featuring colorful illustrations of over 200 zoo animals. The result is a fun way for young animal lovers to learn their ABCs!
—Midwest Book Review

See more at http://www.atozwalk.com [close]

[close] For almost two decades, rumors have swirled around Jim Cassady, the quasi-legendary punk-rock frontman who disappeared without a trace shortly after his girlfriend’s apparent suicide. Though largely written off as dead, some claim to have had brushes with Cassady, now said to be homeless and bumming change on the streets of his native Los Angeles. Intrigued, Jason Maddox, a would-be filmmaker and Cassady fan, decides to investigate. But the man he eventually finds and befriends is damaged in ways he could never have imagined, and Jason’s own life begins to unravel as he tries to save the hapless Jim Cassady from himself.

A mystery wrapped in a love letter to overlooked American rebels, “Banned for Life” has already amassed a cult following in L.A.’s underground music scene, where author D. R. Haney has long been a fixture. Here's what a few early readers have had to say:


“Banned For Life is about punk rock? Sure, just like Moby-Dick is about whales. This is the thrilling story of Jason Maddox, 80s musician turned 90s screenwriter, who embarks on an Ahab-like quest of his own—although the blubbery object of his fascination is a vanished punk-poet. Like Melville, D.R. Haney has created a world so rich in detail, so authentic, so damned cool, you want to take up a harpoon—or, in this case, a guitar—and join the fray. Banned For Life is literary fiction at its best—funny, heartbreaking, hopeful, and every bit as inspiring as the punk music it extols.”

—Greg Olear, author of "Totally Killer"


"Flashing back from the particular flavor of boredom that was late 1990s Los Angeles, "Banned for Life" captures the inchoate brilliance of punk - the 20th century's last social movement - better than any account I've ever read. It's a eulogy to dead friends and those who died trying to transform personal pain into something extraordinary that happens outside the body. It's also pitch-perfect, laugh-out-loud funny and heartrendingly sad. Haney remains faithful to the spookily truthful insights of adolescence while keeping his eye on the big picture. By turns broadly epic and embarrassingly specific, "Banned for Life" is one of those rare books that tells the story of a generation."

- Chris Kraus
Author of "I Love Dick", "Aliens & Anorexia", "Torpor"


"D. R.’s book takes you down all the roads of the seventies and eighties that most people never knew existed. Those who traveled those roads will recognize the tribulations of youth and essence of that time that D. R. captures perfectly. Those that weren't will regret that they never dared. In Jason, D. R.’s lead character, all of us who dared, or, more likely, had no choice but to live on the outside, will see ourselves, not only in light but in shadow. Which in these days of pat, one-dimensional characterizations is not just a relief but something profound."

- Sab Grey
Author of "Skinhead Army" and "Hated and Proud"


"At a party, on a couch, you find yourself next to a man who has survived himself. Twenty-six letters have been arranged and rearranged to describe the goings-on and happenings he has weathered. As he turns away, the pages fall together at your feet, and if you are smart, YOU GRAB IT, TUCK IT UNDER YOUR COAT, AND READ. This is a story that belongs to everyone, but is our best kept secret."

- Jennifer Lynch
Author of "The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer"


""Banned for Life" is a rock ‘n’ roll novel that truly rocks. Not merely is the novel obsessed with hard rock music—it sounds like rock as you read it. Rock music pulses and pounds on every page. Jason, the book’s non-hero, is a disaffected filmmaker and musician who wanders through Los Angeles at the end of the twentieth century only to find himself in Kostunica’s Serbia at the beginning of the twenty-first. An anti-Bildungsroman, Banned for Life takes you on a journey without a terminal point, an in-finite journey in which the road is more vital than the destination. You watch a life unfold across the page; you feel that you are experiencing Jason’s life with him from the inside."

- Joseph Suglia
Author of "Watch Out"


"With his character Peewee, Haney has extracted probably one of the most memorable characters in all of literature. He’s that good."

- Bryan Price
Author of The "First Book of You"


"D. R. Haney is more punk rock than me!"

- George Tabb
Author of "Surfing Armaggedon"



[close]

[close] For Sabre Orin Brown, life is good; she has it all...or would have, if only she could solve the mysterious disappearance of her brother. The search for her brother and her career as a juvenile court attorney collide when she defends a nine-year-old whose father will go to any length to obtain custody.

Sabre finds herself immersed in a case with too many unanswered questions. Her quest for the truth takes her coast to coast and five years into the past. Confronted with mysterious clues and strange occurrences, Sabre is threatened by someone wanting to make her suffer the unbearable anguish of losing everything--including her life.

As Sabre's passion to find the answers intensifies, she discovers a twisted history of desperation, deceit, and revenge. And she discovers how obscure and treacherous the truth can be.
[close]

[close] CULT Fiction is an out-spoken introduction to Chancery Stone's notorious DANNY Quadrilogy, a taste of what's to come - if you're big enough to take it.

Poison Pixie Publishing have six of these fantastic little books to give away to lucky readers, plus winners will all automatically be entered into our own competition to win a signed copy of DANNY (ISBN 978-0954611507)

From the Back Cover:


The DANNY Quadrilogy: Scarlet Magazine, Five stars, Book of the Month two years running: April 2005 & January 2008

Book Description:

The DANNY Quadrilogy - Porn? Romance? Roman noir? Or just a sick foray into family dysfunction, degradation and sleaze? Now's your chance to find out. From profiling the average deviant to the list of definitive DANNY movies, you will find All You Ever Wanted To Know About DANNY But Were Afraid To Ask between these small but dirt-packed pages. Reading may never be the same again........


About the Author:

Chancery Stone lives in a monastery in Greece where she tends llamas and communes with the spirit of Edgar Allan Poe.

"Vulgar, graphic, explicit and in your face objectionable!"

UNSUITABLE for THOSE UNDER 18 YEARS [close]

[close] A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian meets Desperate Housewives in this exploration of the booming business of Russian e-mail-order brides, an industry where love and marriage collide with sex and commerce.

Odessa, Ukraine, is the humor capital of the former Soviet Union, but in an upside-down world where waiters earn more than doctors and Odessans depend on the Mafia for basics like phone service and medical supplies, no one is laughing. After months of job hunting, Daria, a young engineer, finds a plum position at a foreign firm as a secretary. But every plum has a pit. In this case, it’s Mr. Harmon, who makes it clear that sleeping with him is job one. Daria evades Harmon’s advances by recruiting her neighbor, the slippery Olga, to be his mistress. But soon Olga sets her sights on Daria’s job.

Daria begins to moonlight as an interpreter at Soviet Unions(TM), a matchmaking agency that organizes “socials” where lonely American men can meet desperate Odessan women. Her grandmother wants Daria to leave Ukraine for good and pushes her to marry one of the men she meets, but Daria already has feelings for a local. She must choose between her world and America, between Vlad, a sexy, irresponsible mobster, and Tristan, a teacher nearly twice her age. Daria chooses security and America. Only it’s not exactly what she thought it would be…

A wry, tender, and darkly funny look at marriage, the desires we don’t acknowledge, and the aftermath of communism, Moonlight in Odessa is a novel about the choices and sacrifices that people make in the pursuit of love and stability. [close]

[close] For centuries, a fierce war has raged between the mighty Draegon Taymerx and the savages of Dijab Olli-Kax, who has an inordinate lust for blood. The history of war is long and complicated, with periods of relative peace and ones of great warfare. The Draegon Taymerx—with their advances in art, music, literature, medicine, and agriculture—fight to protect their flourishing and prosperous lifestyle, which the Dijab Olli-Kax covet.

Father and son team Aeba and Aebbasen are fighters devoted to the Draegon Taymerx effort with the goal of being assigned to the elite fighting corps, the mighty Aeterna Leqion. But there’s a snag in these plans when Aeba is abducted in an ambush by the Dijab Olli-Kax and taken to Impael Spelunku, a dungeon where unspeakable torture takes place. Aebbasen must navigate the war-ridden land to save his father.

In the midst of warfare, the Secret of Aejution has been rediscovered. The precious knowledge, lost for centuries, details how the people tamed the Draegon beasts and how the nation of Draegon Taymer came to be. Will this secret be revealed before all hope is lost?

check out the author's website at astevezimm.com [close]

[close] From Tom Dolby, the acclaimed author of The Trouble Boy, comes an extraordinary novel -- a sensitive coming of age tale and a compelling work of suspense that explores the price of innocence betrayed and the complexities of personal truth.

When seventeen-year-old Ethan Whitley leaves his home in California for Berkley Academy, a prestigious Massachusetts prep school, he's a blank slate, a shy follower of rules in search of himself. Ethan is given the chance to start over when he is hand-picked by his wealthy, disaffected classmate, Todd Eldon, and a seductive, enigmatic teacher, Hannah McClellan, a free spirit for whom rules were meant to be broken.

Life with Todd and Hannah is a revelation, an invitation to a world of privilege and desire trips to a glittering, gritty New York City with its Fifth Avenue penthouses and artists' lofts; clandestine encounters in the graveyard near Berkley's wooded campus; and private meetings at Hannah's secluded house where they can drink wine and read Rimbaud, testing their limits and temptation in equal measure. Looming over these heady evenings is the disturbing mystery of Hannah's fragmented past, one that Ethan longs desperately to understand.

As secrets are revealed, Ethan is pulled deep into the undertow of Hannah's history and Todd's longings. He learns that every deceit has a price, every lie an ugly truth, and that those he has come to trust are people he doesn't know at all. The most dangerous stories of all, though, may be the ones he has told himself.

For more information, go to http://www.tomdolby.com [close]

[close] In the early 1980s, Brian O'Dea was operating a $100 million a year, 120-man drug smuggling business, and had developed a terrifying cocaine addiction. Under increasing threat from the DEA in 1986 for importing seventy-five tons of marijuana into the United States, he quit the trade - and the drugs - and began working with recovering addicts in Santa Barbara. Despite his life change, the authorities caught up with him years later and O'Dea was arrested, tried, and sentenced to ten years at Terminal Island Federal Penitentiary in Los Angeles Harbor. A born storyteller, O'Dea candidly recounts his incredible experiences from the streets of Bogota with a false-bottomed suitcase lined with cocaine, to the engine compartment of an old DC-6 whose engines were failing over the Caribbean, to the cell blocks overcrowded with small-time dealers who had fallen victim to the justice system's perverse bureaucracy of drug sentencing. Weaving together extracts from his prison diary with the vivid recounting of his outlaw years and the dawning recognition of those things in his life that were worth living for, High tells the remarkable story of a remarkable man in the late- 1980s drug business and why he walked away. [close]

[close] In the small Washington town of Rocket—a summer playground for windsurfers and tourists—a windless season ignites fear, as businesses struggle and residents move away. Rocket’s motel, run by lonely widower Tom Jemmett is hard hit. Swirling around Tom are lives much like his own, townspeople yearning for wind, but also for hope, connection, even love. Charlene, a young mail clerk, helps care for Tom’s troubled daughter while a secret gnaws at her heart…Lauren, the town vet, has fallen for Tom, who barely notices…and newspaper editor Hap is hatching a foolish plan to save his dying town.

Just as time is running out, something like a miracle strikes Tom’s run-down motel. Guests who stay in Room 6 begin experiencing sudden acts of fate, both terrible and great. And now, the world is descending on Tom and the struggling town. But while Rocket shows new signs of life, the truth about Tom’s motel and the death of his wife—as well as the secret hopes and fears of those around him—are exposed, leaving no life unchanged, no heart untouched, and no miracle too wondrous to believe.

At once a mystery, a rumination on love, family and devotion, and a glimpse into the uncanny.
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[close] Take a journey back to early 20th century China in The Concubine’s Daughter. Just as Lisa See captivated readers with Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, and her latest, Shanghai Girls, The Concubine’s Daughter will leave you mesmerized with its passionate tale of love and courage.

From remote mountain refuges to Hong Kong on the eve of World War II, this adventurous tale spanning two generations reveals an amazing cultural journey of a mother and daughter as sweeping changes unfold in 20th century China.

In the bestselling tradition of Memoirs of a Geisha, Concubine’s Daughter is destined to be a reading group favorite, so the back of the book contains extensive bonus content including a conversation with the author, historical perspectives, discussion questions, and more! [close]

[close] Sonia Amundsen looks like a Nordic goddess on the outside, but her heart, soul, and stomach are all Italian. She is also a successful professional who is about to celebrate her 30th birthday. Although friends have been setting her up on blind dates for two years, she never goes out on a second date with any of them because she is still looking for that perfect guy. The problem is that she has very specific criteria as to who Mr. Right is. Sonia is beginning to think that such a man is not out there until.... Set in the late 1980s, Sonia is surrounded by an extended Italian family, a caring, but over-bearing mother, warring aunts who use family funerals to stage full-blow tragedies, and a close friend, whose main goals in life are to get pregnant and to help Sonia find true love. The Second Date explores friendship and love in the heart of the Italian-American community where food is second importance only to love.

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[close] "Without Sin" is a gay YA romance written by J. Tomas. Sixteen-year-old Jacob Smithson has a temper. He's picked on because he likes boys, and fighting gets him kicked out of public school. As a last resort, his parents place him in St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Boarding School for Boys.

At his first mass at St. Thomas he sees Avery Dendritch, a senior who serves as altar boy during the service. When they meet, the attraction between them is hard to deny. The two become fast friends, and as the school year progresses, their friendship deepens until Jacob feels he's found a place where he belongs.

But the other students gossip about their growing relationship. Avery can ignore them; Jacob can't. As the rumors and slurs start up again, can he curb his temper, or will his fighting get him expelled from St. Thomas, too? [close]

[close] Whoever said you can’t choose your family never met Layla. When her husband asks for a divorce, she chooses to keep his family–but he’s not giving them up without a fight.

When Layla Brennan married her high school sweetheart, Brett Foster, she finally got the big, loving family she’d always wanted: his. Now she’s closer to Brett’s parents than he is, partners with his sister in a successful pet-photography business, and confidant to his younger brother. She couldn’t be more of a Foster if she’d been born one. After six years of marriage, all Brett and Layla need to complete this happy picture is a child. There’s just one problem: Brett wants a divorce. Stunned and heartbroken, Layla turns to the Fosters for comfort, only to realize that losing Brett means losing them as well. What else can she do but sue him for the most valuable thing he’s got–namely, his family. As the onetime sweethearts dig in their opposing heels, their furious attempts to curry favor with the Fosters only succeed in driving wedges into the formerly close-knit family. Layla and Brett quickly discover that breaking up is hard to do–and even harder to undo.

Fresh, funny, poignant, and brimming with insight into what makes modern families tick–and what can blow them apart–Family Affair proves that in love and war, everything’s relative.
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[close] A tender chronicle of a boy's coming of age in the Free State village of Verkeerdespruit during the apartheid years of the sixties. The Children's Day captures the essence of growing up in a world fraught with the strange and sometimes violent contradictions of class, race, gender, and language. The widening world of adolescence, in all its allure and confusion, is explored through the eyes of Simon, who struggles to make sense of the adults around him—torn between scorn for his surroundings and a desire to belong. [close]

[close] A puppet is crowned. The true heir remains hidden. A rogue's secret could change everything.

ABOUT THE BOOK
War has come to Melengar. To save her realm, Princess Arista must reach the leader of the Nationalists and convince him to join forces. She turns to two trusted mercenaries to provide escort, but finds the team on the verge of dissolution.

Hadrian is tired of his lecherous profession and longs for a just cause. Royce knows a secret which could provide his partner a life’s purpose greater than anything his friend could imagine…but is it true? Or is an ancient wizard using them as pawns in his own struggle for power? To unravel the truth Royce convinces Hadrian to join him for one last mission—what they discover could change the future for all of Elan.

ABOUT THE SERIES
Nyphron Rising is book three of the multi-book saga: The Riyria Revelations. The series is told through six novels conceived as a single epic tale. Across the entire chronicle, mysteries build, characters evolve, and plots thicken, but each is self-contained and can be read independently of one another. You do not have to read "The Crown Conspiracy" or "Avempartha" to enjoy this third novel.
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[close] For the first time in one collection are the 20 greatest short stories of Leo Tolstoy. Annotations are included of difficult Russian terms and 35 illustrations are provided that give a snapshot of Russia and its people in the late nineteenth century. Here are the stories included: A Candle, After the Dance, Albert, Alyosha the Pot, An Old Acquaintance, Does a Man Need Much Land?, If You Neglect the Fire You Don't Put It Out, Khodinka: An Incident of the Coronation of Nicholas II, Lucerne, Memoirs of a Lunatic, My Dream, Recollections of a Scorer, The Empty Drum, The Long Exile, The Posthumous Papers of the Hermit Fedor Kusmich, The Young Tsar, There Are No Guilty People, Three Deaths, Two Old Men, and What Men Live By. Read the 20 greatest stories of Leo Tolstoy Today! [close]

[close] Chelsea Cain's series featuring Detective Archie Sheridan and serial killer Gretchen Lowell has captivated fans through two nail-biting entries, Heartsick and Sweetheart, both of them multi-week bestsellers in The New York Times, USA Today, and PW. Here Archie and Gretchen return; Gretchen is still on the loose and Archie is struggling to move on after his ploy to catch her went spectacularly wrong. They've entered a detente of sorts--Archie agrees not to kill himself if she agrees not to kill anyone else. But suddenly there's something else to contend with that might be even worse--a copycat, killing people as an homage to the Beauty Killer herself. At least they hope it's someone new, for the prospect of Gretchen on another killing spree is more than Archie can bear... [close]

[close] One woman searches for love—and herself—in a wild land.

Lovely and high-spirited, Lael Click is the daughter of a celebrated frontiersman. Haunted by her father’s ties to the Shawnee Indians and her family’s past, Lael comes of age in the fragile Kentucky settlement her father founded. As she faces the many trials of life on the frontier, Lael draws strength from the rugged land. But the arrival of a handsome doctor threatens her view of her world, her God, and herself. Can the power of grace and redemption break through in this tumultuous place?

This epic novel gives you a glimpse into the simple yet daring lives of the pioneers who first crossed the Appalachians, all through the courageous eyes of a determined young woman who would not be defeated.


“The Frontiersman’s Daughter takes readers along for quite a ride with high-spirited Lael as she searches for love during a time when the world is more savage than civilized, when medicine comes from roots, and when a woman alone needs to keep a gun within reach. Laura Frantz portrays the wild beauty of frontier life, along with its dangers and hardships, in vivid detail.”—Ann H. Gabhart, author of The Outsider
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[close] Will a forbidden love destroy all they know?

Elizabeth Duncan has nowhere to turn. In charge of her younger brother and sister after their parents die, her options are limited: she can give in to the unwanted advances of an odious landowner—or she can flee.

When Elizabeth hears that the Shaker community in the next county takes in orphans, she presents herself and her siblings at Harmony Hill. Despite the hard work and strange new beliefs around her, Elizabeth is relieved to have a roof overhead and food to eat. But life gets complicated when she finds herself attracted to a handsome young Believer named Ethan.

Ethan has never looked on the opposite sex as anything but sisters, but he can’t shake the new feelings that Elizabeth has awakened in him.

Will Elizabeth be forced to leave the village to keep Ethan from stumbling? Or could Ethan’s love for her change their lives forever? [close]

[close] The stakes have never been higher.

FBI Agent Patrick Bowers is used to tracking the country’s most dangerous killers, but now it looks like a killer is tracking him. Bowers faces a race against time to decipher who the next victim will be and to stop the final shocking murder—which he’s beginning to believe might be his own.

Gritty, chilling, and intense, this psychological thriller is guaranteed to keep you up all night.


The Critics Have Spoken

Praise for The Pawn

“Riveting.”—Publishers Weekly

“Fast-paced, crisp writing . . . a satisfying read.”—CBA Retailers

“[An] exceptional psychological thriller.”—Armchair Reviews

“In a word, intense.”—Mysterious Reviews


Praise for The Rook

“A wild ride.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Readers will be on the edge of their seats.”—Romantic Times top pick

“Best story of the year—perfectly executed.”—The Suspense Zone 2008 Reviewers Choice Award [close]

[close] Fight Your Health Insurer and Win: Secrets of the Insurance Warrior

The definitive guide for anyone who has health insurance. Laurie's book demystifies insurance company words, and levels the playing field between you and your health insurer.

Laurie won her own lifesaving appeal in 2005, and has gone on to win forty-four cases for other patients -- all different diseases and conditions, all different insurers, all over the country. She has never lost a case.

This book is a no-nonsense guide to reversing insurance denials -- by preparing a winning appeal.

"All Laurie Todd is doing is telling us how to force insurers to do what is right, and she does a good job with that. We need all the help we can get."

-- Gerry Spence, Trial Lawyer and
author of "How to Argue and
Win Every Time."




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[close] Written by New York Times Bestselling author Cindy Woodsmall, who was recently featured in an ABC Nightline segement about Amish Fiction (http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?...), The Hope of Refuge tells the story of Cara Moore, who was raised in foster care and is now the widowed mother of a little girl. Cara struggles against poverty, fear, and a relentless stalker. When a trail of memories leads Cara and Lori out of New York City toward an Amish community, she follows every lead, eager for answers and a fresh start. She discovers that long-held secrets about her family history ripple beneath the surface of Dry Lake, Pennsylvania, and it’s no place for an outsider. But one Amish man, Ephraim Mast, dares to fulfill the command he believes that he received from God–“Be me to her”– despite how it threatens his way of life.

Completely opposite of the hard, untrusting Cara, Ephraim’s sister Deborah also finds her dreams crumbling when the man she has pledged to build a life with begins withdrawing from Deborah and his community, including his mother, Ada Stoltzfus. Can the run-down house that Ada envisions transforming unite them toward a common purpose–or push Mahlon away forever? While Ephraim is trying to do what he believes is right, will he be shunned and lose everything–including the guarded single mother who simply longs for a better life? [close]

[close] Crazy Circus World is a portal into a different and unique world.
It is a place where imagination is encouraged and vocabularies are expanded.

“Dr. Jayce is a perfect mix of Shel Silverstein & Dr. Seuss! His writing is fun, captivating, and has a positive message that any parent should love.”
-Jennifer Murray, CEO of Geneve Skye

“Refreshing and creative! Not only do my kids love it, but I love it. Crazy Circus World is a great book for the kid in all of us.”
-Carrie Doherty, Teacher, Life Coach, & Mother of Three

“Crazy Circus World is a delightful, quirky tale that reminds us to never settle for life in the shadows but instead embrace a life vibrant with creativity, no matter what others might think.”
-Laura J. Bagby, CBN.com

“Jayce O’Neal is an amazing writer and human being. He is entertaining, amusing, as well as reflective and spiritually profound. I wish everyone could get to know him as their personal friend, and maybe through his writing they can.”
-Tracie Peterson, best-selling author of The Heirs of Montana and Brides of Gallatin County series.

“Dr. Jayce makes reading fun again. Kids and parents will eat Crazy Circus World up.”
-Hannah Goodwyn, CBN.com



For more information visit: Jayceoneal.com [close]

[close] Defending College Heights is an investigation into the murder of a U.S. Army recruiter within a tumultuous and corrupt college community.

The body of U.S Army captain and recruiting commander Kevin Callahan is found in a guardhouse at Hudson Technical University, a small private engineering school located in College Heights. A message left on Callahan's t-shirt reads, "No more lies." The news media and pro-military and anti-war activists believe the murder was committed in opposition to unethical army recruiting.

Angered by the biased media coverage, Callahan's uncle, Philadelphia area urban planner Jack Donnelly, comes to College Heights determined to become involved in the murder investigation. Fearing that Jack's involvement may embarrass the university but desperately needing his help to save her school, Hudson Tech president Martina Tiernan asks him to become special assistant for campus planning.

While Jack believes that Tiernan is trying to buy his silence, he reluctantly comes aboard. He learns that the murder is the lynchpin to a larger scheme that could close Hudson Tech’s doors for good.
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[close] THE TRUE STORY OF THREE TEACHERS IN A LOVE TRIANGLE THAT STUNNED A COMMUNITY

Deeply immersed in the close-knit culture of long-distance running, Pam and Bob Bulik were avid competitors. To all appearances, they were also a happily married couple, devoted to each other and their two young children. Then, Bob made a fateful decision. He began an extramarital affair that led to his wife's tragic death and to one of the most sensationalized and heavily attended trials in Green Bay's history.

Candidly written by Pam's best friend, Run At Destruction exposes the irresistible human passions that make us so vulnerable and the ultimate price we pay for choosing to act on them. You'll relive every detail of the crime and the exhaustive police investigation, and watch the courtroom drama from a front-row seat as a major homicde case unfolds in a small town where everyone knows all the players. Then, when you've heard all the evidence, you can decide for yourself - was Pam Bulik's death a terrible accident, intentional suicide, negligent homicide, or premeditated murder?

This true story takes place during the first running boom in the 70's and 80's. I wrote Run At Destruction to document my memories surrounding my best friend Pamela Bulik’s life and to resolve, for myself, why she actually died. In turn I wanted to pass along this knowledge to others that might be headed along Pam's same path. When I lived through these events, even though I was feeling substantial loss and pain, I was enthralled like the rest of the community. To me, the most unbelievable thing was that the Buliks were integral members of our Fun Run group. It was hard to believe that one of our members could be arrested for planning the murder of another.

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[close] If you were able to choose what form of life you would live, what would you be? The Nine Lives of Clemenza explores the realms of spirituality and reincarnation. It introduces the possibility that as complex souls, we choose our lives, thus giving us the ultimate capability of free will. Clemenza starts out as a new soul in heaven, contemplating what form of life she will take to begin her journey. God grants each new soul nine lives, provided they bring back a moral lesson learned. Clemenza is diverse in her choices, exploring every facet of existence from air to the northern lights to a human being. Roles are reversed and souls intertwine during Clemenza’s many lives, as she learns the meaning and importance of pain, grief, loss, love and passion. [close]

[close] Set in beautiful and decadent Constantinople in the twilight of the Ottoman Empire, this new historical mystery from Tasha Alexander, featuring newlyweds Lady Emily and Colin Hargreaves, diplomats of the British Empire. Looking forward to the joys of connubial bliss, they set out toward Constantinople for an exotic honeymoon. But on their first night in the city, a harem girl is found murdered—strangled in the courtyard of the Sultan’s lavish Topkapi Palace. Sir Richard St. Clare, an Englishman who works at the embassy in Constantinople, is present at the murder site and recognizes the girl as his own daughter who was kidnapped twenty years earlier. Emily and Colin promise the heartbroken father they’ll find her killer. Emily descends into the forbidden world of the harem in this story full of intrigue, treachery and romance. [close]

[close] The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited is a new edition of the definitive handbook on word-of-mouth marketing.

With two-thirds new material and scores of current examples, the book takes readers inside the world of word-of-mouth marketing and explains how and why it works. The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited shows how to:

* Generate genuine buzz both online and off.

* Encourage people to talk about your products and services—and help spread the word among their friends, colleagues, and communities.

* Adapt traditional word-of-mouth strategies in today’s era of Facebook, YouTube, and consumer-generated media. [close]

[close] Deep in Shaman’s Forest, the vampire Valkyrie awakens to find her dhampir son, Anthony, ill with a fever. The sorceress says Anthony must have his father’s blood before the next full moon or else he will die. Valkyrie journeys with Anthony into the city to find a man she has not seen in 15 years. But will Anthony’s fascination with human life and Valkyrie’s need to feed on living blood tear them apart before Anthony’s father can be found?


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[close] Seamus Sullivan never asked to be turned into a werewolf. He also never thought about embarking on a career as a New City police officer. However, Seamus s life detours onto an unexpected path when his childhood dream of becoming middleweight boxing champion of the world is abruptly dashed by the jaws of a frothing lupus, stationed to guard the gates of darkness, deep beneath the bowels of Midtown Gardens Park. One chomp to the heart and seventeen-year-old Seamus is forever ushered into the weird and wacky world of the undead. No training or manual provided. [close]

[close] If you love "The Sound of Music" and "Pride and Prejudice," prepare to be enchanted by "Must've Done Something Good!"

Sylvie O'Rourke, "The Sound of Music" devotee and born procrastinator, is about to die. Well, she thinks she is, anyway, and so attempts a last-ditch bargain with God for her life.

"You guys are my witnesses," she tells her sisters somewhere over Connecticut. "If we get out of this plane alive, I promise to do something good with my life."

Back on firm ground, Kate and Meg won't let their sister forget her promise, and with their years of practice hitting just the right chords of guilt ("What kind of person lies to God?" Meg wants to know), Sylvie finally caves.

A teaching position at the broken-down St. Matthew's High School appears to be Sylvie's perfect opportunity to do some good. That is, until she's snubbed by a fellow teacher on the first day of school.

Whether she's becoming a bit too invested in the students' fall fundraiser or directing the school's sure-fire musical disaster, Sylvie's charmingly irreverent style gets her called down to the principal more often than her students. Can Sylvie keep her promise and make it through the year, dignity and sanity intact? [close]

[close] Snarky Responses to Yahoo! Answers, is a four-month excursion into the bowels of the Internet, otherwise known as Yahoo! Answers.

Comic writer Matthew Cory wastes four months of his life answering questions on Yahoo! Answers with unhelpful but hilarious responses. This book is a collection of those responses.

From helping teenage girls determine what a smile means, to giving baby-naming advice to a parent-to-be, to helping a user who wants to know how to use his zipper, Matthew is quick with a sarcastic response or a clever quip. Every once in a while, Matthew will dispense advice that may actually be useful…but don’t count on it.

Yahoo! Answers is one of the most popular websites on the Internet. The site generates millions of hits per day from users seeking answers from complete strangers to the burning questions of life, such as “Where did emimen grow up? the raper?” This book is required reading for anyone with a sense of humor, a functioning brain, and an Internet connection. [close]

[close] Signed paperback edition of The Glimmer Palace (American edition of The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite) [close]

[close] An aimless youth experieneces a traumatic brain injury that resets his priorities and gets him on the path to discover the educational system, life, and God. This book is based on a true story about a young man who had a bad accident and had to learn life! I hope you will get this opportunity to read this book, but I pray it helps you in your life... [close]

[close] www.reasonreigns.com - Reason Reigns is the April 2009 Book Club Selection of the US Navy Library at Sigonella.

“Heaven on Earth can be achieved when reason reigns.”

Independent thinkers cannot be ruled, so die they must.

Inventor Tony Connor is tied to the stake. Hugo, a healer, faces death. By decree, Governor Rod Gullio Sr. and Rudi Yani imprison innovator Leo Thomas. Builder and publisher Ron Balian is hunted.

The most unexpected of saviors, young beau ideals, rise up.

The thinkers escape to a godforsaken island. Full of conviction that to rule a human being is abhorrent, they enshrine individual rights. They live by the code that a moral man does not rule, nor can he be ruled by men.

But the power-hungry pursue them fiercely. Chief Hunsec unleashes the full might of his empire upon the island. Head-Warlord Imman Kann and the Hunsec armada advance.

The small country, impregnable due to its technology, suffers an unthinkable betrayal. The Hunsec moles exult as the adult islanders lie fallen!

The green of young growth fend off the invaders.

Ruled by reason, the proud, happy, productive heroes achieve heaven on Earth.

But the island is now a dark, backward hole. Mystery surrounds the fate of the heroes and their wondrous creations. The hunt is on. For the truth. For the heroes’ treasures.

Alisa Connor, Ari Hugo, Frank Thomas, and young Ron Balian endeavor to rise. But great is the wrath of the destroyers. Between tyrants who crave to rule and thinkers who cannot be ruled, once again, the battle is joined.


* * *

Reason Reigns depicts independent thinkers and their persecution for using their own minds instead of following traditions or norms. My novel portrays their battles against rulers, power-lusters, socialists, and other tyrants who crave to enslave people.

The characters love and respect themselves - they do not think humility is a virtue. They glorify happiness - they think suffering has no value and that one's own happiness is the purpose of life. They think self-sacrifice is evil. They revere individual rights. They stand for freedom. They cannot be ruled by men because they are ruled by reason.

Reason Reigns honors independent thinkers, science, and technology.

On the book’s front cover is a sculpture of a naked woman triumphantly raising a torch, arms stretched high above her head, body straight and proud, feet firmly atop a skull over a thick book. Showing man’s goodness and efficacy, the sculpture represents the values depicted in Reason Reigns. The woman’s exalted pose is a salute to man’s intellectual and creative power. The sculpture is entitled: The Power of Science over Death. The sculptor, Dr. Jose Rizal, a polymath and polyglot, was executed by tyrants at age 35.

Reason Reigns starts with an oath to uphold the Constitution enshrining the principle that the only purpose of law and of government is the protection of individual rights. The revelry that follows is a total departure from the nation’s tradition of honoring humility, sacrifice, and suffering. Seething with self-righteousness and envy, cabal members scheme to cut down the proud, happy, independent thinkers with one blow, and then seize the legendary heroes’ treasures.

Alisa Connor acts on her convictions at the risk of her life. But defeating evil is not the most difficult battle in Part 1. Young Ron Balian - who thinks reason and faith can coexist, parallel to each other, in the same man - chooses a perfect life of probity over his own life, a child’s, and his beloved’s. To save his daughter, as well as Alisa and Ron, Dr. Ari Hugo must race against time in unraveling the secrets of the underground chambers, a mystery confounding searchers over the decades. [close]

[close] From the back cover:

Even Smoke Runs From the Fire.

Firefighting burns in Aidan O'Neill's blood, but his innate gift for reading flames has made him overconfident and sometimes puts lives in danger. When one call goes horribly wrong and a rookie is hurt, Aidan ends up suspended and finds himself questioning everything.

It couldn't have happened at a worse time.

An arsonist is targeting Reno, leaving a scorched path of destruction. The department needs Aidan back, but his return is troubled. The gift he relied on for so long has gone silent... and it's as though the fires are coming for him, hunting him down. Teaming with a beguiling fire investigator who may know more than she's saying, Aidan must discover where his trust rests as the flames burn ever closer.

An Explosive Blend of Action, Romance, and Danger from a Writer Who's Faced the Flames
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[close] If magic grew on trees would you take a bite?


"Growing up in Devon Grove, kids are used to magic talents. After all, magic grows on trees --- literally. Thirteen-year-old Charlie Parker knows this better than anyone; his father is the caretaker of the Talent Tree, the source of the town's magic. But when his talent is stolen from him and the great Tree falls, killing his father, Charlie and his five companions must embark on a quest to find the mythical Bag of Brakka. The Bag, said to foretell the future, holds the key to Charlie discovering who stole his talent, and why his father died. Friendship, loyalties, and magical abilities are put to the test when the companions discover they in the center of a plot that threatens to destroy the world they live in."


To support the launch of my book, The Seed of Hope, a YA, urban fantasy about 6 kids and a small town where magic grows on trees --- literally, I am giving away 5 free copies of my book.

While you wait for the print version to be published, if you email me, I can send you a free ebook for review.

For sample chapters, and more information please check out http://quintonwall.com [close]

[close] Jack Weaver can’t seem to escape a life of lies. First as a Seal, then as an undercover CIA operative working in the largest drug cartel in Columbia Jack’s entire existence is based on being someone other than who he truly is. While serving as Chief Security Officer to one of the most dangerous men on earth Jack uncovers a plot to assassinate the President-Elect on Inauguration Day. Suddenly things become infinitely worse when his ex-SEAL commander who is now a Deputy Director with the CIA shows up and blows his cover. Forced to kill him, Jack is now on the run not only for his life but he’s the only one who knows about the assassination attempt, other than a mysterious man who calls himself the Emperor and seems to be calling all the shots.

Moreover, Jack is being haunted by terrifying dreams from his past that seem to be connected to this entire conspiracy involving his old SEAL team. Desperate for answers Jack breaks into the home of Vice-President elect Warren Walters, another SEAL teammate, where he is discovered by Warren’s abused wife Caroline. He forces Caroline to go with him with the intentions of letting her go once he gets the information he needs. Overcoming her fear of Jack, Caroline refuses to leave, seeing this as an opportunity to escape her own life of lies. This starts a chain reaction of feelings neither of them is prepared for. The Emperor has seriously underestimated Jack’s determination to find answers and is losing control over all the puppets he has in play. As Jack and Caroline come closer and closer to the answers and each other, will they be able to save the President-elect’s life as well as their own, or will a blast from Jack’s past destroy them all?
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[close] For more information about Eve's books, please visit www.evesilver.net.

SEDUCED BY A STRANGER...

Catherine Weston arrives at Cairncroft Abbey to visit her childhood friend Madeline St. Aubyn whose health seems to deteriorate with each passing day. Even stranger, Madeline appears to grow more nervous whenever she is in the presence of her cousin, Gabriel. But Gabriel has quite a different effect on Catherine-stirring a longing deep within her...

Gabriel St. Aubyn is haunted by the curse that has plagued his family for decades. Living with the constant torment that he too will succumb to it one day, he has resigned himself to a solitary existence.

Yet when he meets Catherine, he cannot resist her company-or his growing desire for her. But when a young woman is found dead, Catherine cannot ignore the link between this horrific crime and Gabriel. Is he the tender, charismatic man she loves-or a sinister stranger waiting to make her his next victim?... [close]

[close] Wind from Danyari

Wind from Danyari is the first book in a saga about the Hennessy family and their sheep station, Walara near Carnarvon in Western Australia.
The book tells the story of Joe Hennessy who falls in love and marries the beautiful Alicia Pennington and takes her to live on Walara. The story follows the fortunes of Joe and his son, Jack, and Jack's two sons up to World War Two.
I enjoyed writing this book and and felt very much involved with my fictional family.
I am now writing the second book, Journey from Walara.

Laurel Lamperd
http://laurel6346.tripod.com
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[close] From John Shors, author of the critically acclaimed novels Beside a Burning Sea and Beneath a Marble Sky, comes an unforgettable story of redemption…

Set in modern-day Vietnam, Dragon House tells the tale of Iris and Noah—two Americans who, as a way of healing their own painful pasts, open a center to house and educate Vietnamese street children.

Iris and Noah find themselves reborn in an exotic land filled with corruption and chaos, sacrifice and beauty. Inspired by the street children she meets, Iris walks in the footsteps of her father, a man whom Vietnam both shattered and saved. Meanwhile, Noah slowly rediscovers himself through the eyes of an unexpected companion.

Resounding with powerful themes of suffering, sacrifice, friendship, and love, Dragon House brings together East and West, war and peace; and celebrates the resilience of the human spirit.

“There is a tenderness in this moving, deeply descriptive novel that brings all those frequently hidden qualities of compassion, purity of mind, and, yes, love—the things we used to call the human spirit—into the foreground of our feeling as readers. This is a beautiful heart speaking to us of the beautiful world we could and should find, even in the darkness that so often floods the world with fear.” – Gregory David Roberts, bestselling author of Shantaram

“A touching story about, among other things, the lingering impacts of the last generation's war on the contemporary landscape and people of Vietnam. In a large cast of appealing characters, the street children are the heart of this book; their talents, friendships, and perils keep you turning the pages.” – Karen Joy Fowler, bestselling author of The Jane Austen Book Club

“Amid the wreckage of what's known in Vietnam as the ‘American War,’ Shors has set his sprawling, vibrant novel. All of his characters--hustlers, humanitarians, street children--carry wounds, visible or otherwise. And in the cacophony of their voices, he asks that most essential question: ‘How can we be better?’” –David Oliver Relin, bestselling author of Three Cups of Tea

“John Shors has written a wonderful novel about two American lives shaped by an encounter with the lives of the Vietnamese people in this present age, decades after that country has faded from the ongoing clamor of news in this country. For that very reason, Shors transcends politics and headlines and finds the timeless and deeply human stories that are the essence of enduring fiction. This is strong, important work from a gifted writer.” – Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize winning author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain

“In Dragon House John Shors paints such a vivid picture of the lives of Vietnamese street children and the tourists they need in order to survive, you would swear it was written by one of them. I loved this book, and cared deeply about the characters brought to life by Shors' clear sensitivity to the plight of the unseen and unwanted in Vietnam.” – Elizabeth Flock, bestselling author of Me & Emma
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[close] "There's no wrong, there's no right, there just is." In Lou Manfredo's powerful debut novel, this is the refrain of Joe Rizzo, a decades-long veteran of the NYPD as he passes on the knowledge of his years of experience to his ambitious new partner, Mike McQueen, over a year of riding together as detectives in the 62nd Precinct in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. They work on several cases, some big, some small, but the lesson is always the same. Whether it's a simple robbery or an attempted assault, Rizzo's saying always seems to bear out. And when they are given the delicate task of finding and returning the runaway daughter of a city councilman who may or may not be more interested in something his daughter has with her than in her safety, something that may or may not be evidence of his wrongdoing, the situation is much more complex. By the end of Rizzo and McQueen's year together, however, McQueen is not surprised to discover that even in those more complicated cases, Rizzo is still right--there's no wrong, there's no right, there just is.
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[close] For Sarah, life has become quite complicated. And after a photograph is taken in an old cemetery things only get worse.
For Emily, life is already over, stolen from her decades ago. All she wants is to find peace.

With a sudden disruption of the spirit world, Sarah and Emily, lifetimes apart, are faced with a desperate challenge - to reveal the truth of Emily's murder. Feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders, Sarah twists and turns through past secrets best left with the dead. Although her friends doubt her sanity, she starts to believe that if she doesn't solve the mystery of Emily's death, she will end up suffering a similar fate.

And in all the maddening chaos, another spirit stirs from the grave, full of rage with a dark and bitter secret of its own.
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[close] When Hannah Reilly steps off the ship on the shores of Ellis Island in 1912 she has no idea that it is not a convent that awaits her. It is a man who finds her far too beautiful to marry God. Madly in love, Hannah and Wade settle in Jacksonville, Florida, where the world holds the promise of sunshine. They have two wonderful children before life changes and Wade insists that Hannah abort her third child. When Hannah refuses, Wade turns to alcohol and other women. Joy turns to darkness after Wade commits his wife to a mental institution where her life ends by her own hand in 1934. Hannah's third child, Vita, flees her aunt's motel where she is forced to work as a cleaning maid and winds up in Miami in Kit Malone's high class brothel. Beautiful and stately, vita becomes a high class prostitute, a millionaire mistress and a Billy Rose showgirl. When Vita meets the love of her life in Manhattan, the charming but naive Julius Clark, life blossoms into something both frightening and titillating. But when Vita gives birth to her daughter, Fanny, it is this shadowy and stormy relationship that alters the course of both of their destinies and defines their future. [close]

[close] In The Failure Six, a group of messengers, who work for a vast bureaucracy, all struggle with the same task - to retell the life story of a woman named Foe who seems to have lost her memory. The irrepressible emotions of the messengers - and Foe's clear need to be left alone in her amnesia - make for a strange, unaccountable, untellable story.

In this town, speech is accomplished through stacks of paper so tall they touch the sky...the floors of a teahouse are built in seconds...and a mysterious character named DH threatens the town with bombs and his "Deliverer" who wields the world's most expensive revolvers. The Failure Six is a mystery grounded in Kafka, Gogol, and human dreams. [close]

[close] Walking through the Valley of the Shadow of Death is a book about one of the most uncomfortable subjects that people will face—death. Specifically, it relates to the anatomy of grief, bereavement and what people around those who have tasted the death of a loved one may be looking for from their friends observing their grief. Written from a Christian perspective, the book delves into what the Bible has to say about grief and what friends of survivors can do to effectively minister to their friends. And it provides practical guidelines to both grievers and those trying to help their bereaved friends and family overcome possibly the greatest loss of their lives. [close]

[close] John, a twelve-year-old boy, travels into a place where he will battle his father (the beast) and rescue Marney, his younger sister, and in the process save the Land from its own demise. John's journey to find his sister and seek ultimate revenge on his abusive father will lead you into a wonderland that happens to also be experiencing the abuses of greed and tyranny, yet on a much grander scale. He and his mother find themselves embroiled in a civil war that threatens both the Land and the World. John's harrowing struggle will embrace the child within you, while challenging the philosophical and spiritual unknowns of those who have GoneAway. Yet, for all of its upheaval, GoneAway ¿ into the Land, will leave you with a feeling of hope, and a yearning for more. [close]