On the morning of September 11, 2001, the phone rings while Rusty is rushing to work. The news is devastating: Rusty's mother has died of a stroke, leaving his brain-damaged older brother Ben alone. This news also saves Rusty's life. He's still at home when two planes hit the World Trade Center--and only one of his friends and colleagues survives. In a single day, the life Rusty built in New York crumbles to the ground. Rusty returns to his tiny hometown and the brother he was more than happy to leave behind. Ben hasn't changed a bit, but the town has. Tensions are running high in the wake of the terrorist attack, while Rusty struggles to put the the past behind him and care for the exasperating brother he loves. He finds refuge drinking coffee in the early morning with beautiful Egyptian-American Anat in her father's bakery. Rusty is beginning to get his life back...until one awful night threatens to take it all away again.

    It was as if it was just yesterday that I was learning how to make a peanut butter sandwich, tie my shoes, and draw endlessly with fat crayons--which I thoroughly believed to be a masterpiece. It had to be yesterday when I was befriending any new person that I met with a dazzling smile. No, those were the years that I was numb--masked from the world and blissfully unaware of the dangers and lingering dark edges of the Chicago city. Life moves fast; terrifyingly fast for some, especially those who try and anchor down each and every day of their existence. For others, it moves drearily slow. I use to be numb, I use to be unaware of the shadows deep within the corners of the earth, the watchful figures around me. I use to draw scribbles, struggle to tie my shoes and fail at doing the simple things, like tying shoes. I use to make friends with anyone I met and kept that friendship over a promise. I use to do a lot of things, actually. But that was when life was a whole lot simpler, safer, and perfect.That was before I knew about Death.That was before he became my frenemy.Forever and always,Faith Williams

    Talking doesn’t always make things happen, however much you want them to."When Cally Fisher sees her dead mother, real as anything, no one believes her. So Cally stops talking – what’s the point if no one is listening?The only other living soul who sees Cally's mum is a mysterious wolfhound who always seems to be there when her mum appears. But without a voice, how will Cally convince anyone that her mum is still with them, and how will she ever persuade her Dad that the huge silver-grey dog is their last link with her?An outstandingly assured debut novel from a sparkling new talent.

    The fourth installment of the DIMBFF series continues the thrilling journey of a young woman, Faith Williams, battling for her life, and the Angel of Death dragging her further into his world.

    Respect and prestige. Decadent wealth. The superrich Barron family is accustomed to getting whatever – and whoever - they desire. They embrace life the same way they do everything: without limits. There are rules for everyone else…and there are rules for a Barron.Since his father died, Lane Barron has been the one to keep watch over the family and manage their sprawling fortune. He and his siblings were taught from an early age that nothing is more important than family… nothing is more important than being a Barron. With this knowledge ingrained deep inside of them from birth, the close knit family embraces life the way they do everything else – without limits.However, after a fatal accident takes one of their own, they’re reminded that they are only human. Their brother, Clinton Barron, was the family’s saving grace, but he was far from perfect. When he and a secret mistress are killed in an automobile accident, the Barron’s are devastated. Clinton leaves behind a wife, two daughters…and a four year old son from the mistress he loved with his last dying breath. His child is now at the center of a tug of war between the Barron family and Miranda Turner, the sister of Clinton’s mistress.Lane is determined the child will be raised the way his brother would’ve no doubt wanted; he’ll be raised a Barron. Even though he knows from past experience that Miranda won’t give up without a fight, the end result is already a foregone conclusion. But someone is determined to take deadly steps to insure they get what they want. By the time all is said and done – another Barron will die.Fast paced drama, red-hot erotica, unforeseen twists and revelations...BEING BARRON (Barron Family Series, Book 1)Warning: This book contains explicit language and sexual contentOther books by SK:The Honey TrapSIN CITY HEAT SERIES~Buried Secrets ( Book 1)Beginning of an Eclipse (Prequel)Twisted Obsessions (Book 2)No Secrets No Lies ( Book 3)Angel's Wrath (Book 4)

    It seems as though everyone in her family has better things to do than pay attention to her: Mom (when she’s not meditating) helps Dad run the family restaurant; Sarah is taking a gap year after high school; and Holden pretends that Mom and Dad and everyone else doesn’t know he’s gay, even as he fends off bullies at school. Then there’s Charlie: three years old, a "surprise" baby, the center of everyone’s world. He’s devoted to Fern, but he’s annoying, too, always getting his way, always dirty, always commanding attention. If it wasn’t for Ran, Fern’s calm and positive best friend, there’d be nowhere to turn. Ran’s mantra, "All will be well," is soothing in a way that nothing else seems to be. And when Ran says it, Fern can almost believe it’s true. But then tragedy strikes- and Fern feels not only more alone than ever, but also responsible for the accident that has wrenched her family apart. All will not be well. Or at least all will never be the same.

    Darker than her previous novels, Susin peoples this novel about the ultimate cost of bullying with a cast of fabulous characters, dark humour, and a lovable, difficult protagonist struggling to come to terms with the horrible crime his brother has committed.

    It doesn't matter that Kai is gay, or that he'll never look at her the way she looks at him. Jem is okay with that. But when Kai is outed online by one of their classmates, he does the unthinkable and commits suicide. Jem is left to pick up the pieces of her broken life. Before he died, Kai left her twelve letters—one for each month of the year—and those letters are all Jem has left. That, and revenge. Although Kai's letters beg her not to investigate what happened, Jem can't let it go. She needs to know who did this, and she'll stop at nothing to find the person responsible for Kai's death. One way or another, someone is going down. Someone is going to pay.

    She knows she’s in trouble when she finds her wallet and keys deep in the refrigerator, smelling of lettuce and forgetfulness. And not even her favorite California red wine can dull the pain of the dreaded diagnosis: Alzheimer’s. As language starts to fail her and words disappear, Lillie Claire is determined to find a way to pass on the lessons she learned as a child on a Southern porch. Surrounded by family and caregivers, she fights to hold on to the details of her life, and to recognize the woman in the mirror for as long as possible.Told from Lillie Claire’s perspective, All the Dancing Birds offers beautiful and terrifying insight into the secret mind of those touched—and ultimately changed—by the mystery of Alzheimer’s disease.

    At the reading of her mother’s will, she’s shocked to learn that she hardly knew Rosamund at all, and that inheriting St Christopher’s hangs on one big – and very inconvenient – condition: Grace must drop everything for two weeks and travel the country with a mysterious stranger – war-weary Royal Marine, Alasdair Finn. Caught in a brief but perfect moment in time, Grace and Alasdair walk in Rosamund’s footsteps and read her letters at each breathtaking new place. As Grace slowly uncovers the truth about her mother’s incredible life story, Alasdair and Grace can’t help but question their own futures. Will Rosamund’s madcap scheme go to plan or will events take an unexpected turn? An emotional, fun-filled journey of a lifetime.

    As he would later write in the first of a series of award-winning columns for "Vanity Fair," he suddenly found himself being deported "from the country of the well across the stark frontier that marks off the land of malady." Over the next eighteen months, until his death in Houston on December 15, 2011, he wrote constantly and brilliantly on politics and culture, astonishing readers with his capacity for superior work even in extremis.Throughout the course of his ordeal battling esophageal cancer, Hitchens adamantly and bravely refused the solace of religion, preferring to confront death with both eyes open. In this account of his affliction, he describes the torments of illness, discusses its taboos, and explores how disease transforms experience and changes our relationship to the world around us. By turns personal and philosophical, Hitchens embraces the full panoply of human emotions as cancer invades his body and compels him to grapple with the enigma of mortality.

    "I've already come to the conclusion that I will probably be parentless by the time I am thirty," Claire writes in her powerful debut.As her mother begins to succumb during Claire's first year of college, Claire hurtles towards loss. She throws herself into the arms of anything she thinks might hold her up: boys, alcohol, traveling, and the anonymity of cities like New York and Los Angeles. Her every choice carries the weight of a young woman's world, and it feels like a solitary place. Words -- books, diaries, letters, family stories -- become Claire's true companions, and provide a glimpse of the future, however foreign.In New York, she studies writing and learns the ways of the world, falling in and out of love with a troubled young man, all the while grappling not only with her own lonelieness and regret but that of her aging father. She joins him in Los Angeles as a novice journalist, and records one last thrilling entry in their nuclear family history in the fields of Eastern Europe in search of his World War II past. When it is time to say good-bye, once more the fragility of life astonishes.Defying a conventional framework, this memoir is told in nonlinear fashion, using the five stages of grief as a window into Claire's experience, at once heartbreaking and uplifting. "Why would anyone want to walk into pain?" Claire asks. "But when I did, I found that it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would."Each step brings her closer to finding the meaning of the rules of inheritance, and how they will shape her future -- as a woman, as a wife, as a mother. As in the very best personal writing, Claire's superbly resonant words render the personal universal.

    We enter a phase of life that we have no preparation for. No one tell us how to live with a life threatening illness or what to expect when cure is no longer possible and we are dealing with the ending of life.The End of Life Guideline Series is a compilation of Barbara Karnes’ four booklets on end of life. Beginning with the guidance A Time To Life offers to a person who has been diagnosed with a life threatening illness. The End of Life Guideline Series progresses to Gone From My Sight , The Hospice Blue Book, which explains the signs of approaching death that begin months before death from disease and leads a family to the moment of death.The Eleventh Hour offers information, ideas and support for a caregiver/family member who are often alone as their loved one is dying, on how to care for a person in the hours to minutes before death and just after.The final section of this complication is an exploration of the normal grieving process. What are the emotions and feelings that will surface as we grieve the loss of someone we care about and how will those emotions show themselves? The aim of this series is to neutralize some of the fear that an unpredictable future may bring. Knowledge of the dying process and it’s natural and normal unfolding can help create a meaningful and comforting experience as a loved one journeys from life. It is written in a simple, direct yet gentle manner. It is a short and valuable read.Following a death we often have questions about the disease progression and concerned memories. The End of Life Guideline Series gives knowledge of the natural, normal process of dying and grief. You can find comfort in it’s knowledge even if someone you care about has died years before.

    Perfect for long-time fans, new readers, and anyone needing a heavy object with which to fend off the walking dead!

    Never one to hold her tongue in the name of keepin' it real, it's no surprise that Unique has not been saved all her life. It's safe to say that Lorain wasn't born on the church pew either. Let the church folk tell it, the apple hasn't fallen too far from the tree when it comes to Unique. Lorain--once known as the tight skirt, V-neck blouse, too much makeup-wearing leader of the New Day Singles Ministry--claims she's there to look out for her daughter and try to keep her in check. But how in the world does Lorain think she can even begin to keep her daughter on the straight and narrow with her own crooked life?Some might say Lorain has failed miserably as a mother when Unique ends up in jail for three counts of murder. One who would agree is the woman who raised Unique while Lorain was out living her life freely. As an all-out war takes place between Unique's birth mother and the woman who raised her, will Unique have any support while she fights for her life behind bars? Will all forsake her while they are too busy with their own agendas? Only God holds the answer to this one.

     It is harder to die in this country than ever before. Statistics show that the vast majority of Americans would prefer to die at home, yet many of us spend our last days fearful and in pain in a healthcare system ruled by high-tech procedures and a philosophy to "fight disease and illness at all cost." Dr. Ira Byock, one of the foremost palliative-care physicians in the country, argues that end-of-life care is among the biggest national crises facing us today. In addressing the crisis, politics has trumped reason. Dr. Byock explains that to ensure the best possible care for those we love-and eventually ourselves- we must not only remake our healthcare system, we must also move past our cultural aversion to talking about death and acknowledge the fact of mortality once and for all. Dr. Byock describes what palliative care really is, and-with a doctor's compassion and insight-puts a human face on the issues by telling richly moving, heart-wrenching, and uplifting stories of real people during the most difficult moments in their lives. Byock takes us inside his busy, cutting-edge academic medical center to show what the best care at the end of life can look like and how doctors and nurses can profoundly shape the way families experience loss. Like books by Atul Gawande and Jerome Groopman, The Best Care Possible is a compelling meditation on medicine and ethics told through page-turning, life or death medical drama. It is passionate and timely, and it has the power to lead a new kind of national conversation.

    Charles McIntyre owns everything and everyone in the lawless, godless mining town of Defiance. When three good, Christian sisters from his beloved South show up stranded, alone, and offering to open a “nice” hotel, he is intrigued enough to let them stay…especially since he sees feisty middle sister Naomi as a possible conquest. But Naomi, angry with God for widowing her, wants no part of Defiance or the saloon-owning, prostitute-keeping Mr. McIntyre. It would seem however, that God has gone to elaborate lengths to bring them together. The question is, “Why?” Does God really have a plan for each and every life? For the rebellious residents of this remote mountain town, the answer will surely be astounding. A Lady in Defiance, loosely based on true events, is set in the majestic San Juan Mountains of Colorado. While a romance, it is also an “ensemble” piece that weaves together the relationships of the three sisters and the rowdy residents of Defiance. With a nod to Pride and Prejudice, the story is filled with surprises, plot twists, and an ending you won’t be able to guess.

    Blessed with a body to die for and the gift for gab, it doesn’t take long for her to snatch up one of the area’s hottest drug lords; Alijah Jackson. Soon she secures a place in his life as his “Bottom Bitch”. She realizes that fairy tales are a mere myth when she comes face to face with Shayna Jackson, the other woman in her man’s life. Shayna is intelligent, sexy and wicked which is total opposite from the persona that she gives off to everyone around her. Her good girl persona goes down the drain the moment she comes face to face with her husband’s mistress. Shayna discovers a mound of secrets and vows to let both her husband and his mistress suffer a fate reserved only for those that betray. As Alijah attempts to maintain both a wife and mistress he’s also dealing with making more money than he will ever be able to spend. While Shayna, Sierra and Alijah go to combat with each other Alijah discovers that young goons are trying to kill him and the feds trying to lock him up for life. He must now figure a way to stay alive and free. With no one to turn to, nowhere to hide, Alijah must rely on his gut instinct of survival and his knowledge of the game while still trying to maintain love in his life. The question is, from whom-- His wife or his bottom bitch? Travel a journey filled with lust, greed and larceny as a triangle of sins goes haywire with no one to blame but each other.

    They’re not like everyone else. They don’t notice if you stare at them and turn away. And if they did notice, it wouldn’t hurt them. They’re not like real people. Or that’s what I used to think. Before I learned . . . .After the car crash that leaves her best friend dead, Jenna is permanently scarred. She struggles to rebuild her life, but every stare in the street, every time she looks in the mirror, makes her want to retreat further from the world. Until she meets Ryan. Ryan's a traveler. When he and his mother moor their narrow boat on the outskirts of a village, she tells him this time it will be different. He doesn't believe her; he can't imagine why this place shouldn't be as unwelcoming as the rest. Until he meets Jenna. But as Jenna and Ryan grow closer, repercussions from the crash continue to reverberate through the community. And then a body is found.

    

    Bullies harass him, the principal is on his case, and the girl he likes doesn't like him back. On top of all that, Vlad is half vampire, and has to struggle with strange cravings and hiding his enlarged fangs. Then Vlad realizes he has a much bigger problem: He's being hunted by a vampire killer who is closing in... fast!Joss McMillan's perfect life is shattered when he witnesses his sister's murder—at the hands of a vampire. He then learns that his family is part of the Slayer Society, a group whose mission is to rid the world of vampires, and he is their newest recruit. As Joss trains, bent on seeking revenge for his sister, he discovers powers that could make him the youngest, strongest Slayer in history....

    Reading this book is like talking to a friend who knows you almost better than you know yourself...it doesn't stop at just helping you through the grief...it will help you find an even deeper connection to your lost loved ones." - Ingrid King, ConsciousCat.net, author of Buckley's Story and Purrs of Wisdom If the loss of a feline friend has hit you particularly hard, know you are not alone.In Soul Comfort for Cat Lovers, you will find validation, coping insights, and practical wisdom conveyed with spiritual warmth.Liz Eastwood, CNC weaves her own experiences with advice from grief experts and stories from cat lovers to help you:process your feelings and recognize them as normal create something positive out of the energy of grief cultivate a continued sense of connection to your cat deal with inconvenient grief strengthen your natural coping chemistry This book also explores evidence of the most soulful of soul comforts: the possibility of the continuation of your loved one's spirit-and your connection to that spirit-after death. This topic is discussed from a perspective of open-minded curiosity, without bringing in any particular dogma or religion.Asserting that you can live wholeheartedly after loss, and that your feline friend would want nothing less for you, Soul Comfort for Cat Lovers is a compassionate handbook for your grief-healing journey.

    Welcome to forever. Brie's life ends at sixteen: Her boyfriend tells her he doesn't love her, and the news breaks her heart—literally. But now that she's D&G (dead and gone), Brie is about to discover that love is way more complicated than she ever imagined. Back in Half Moon Bay, her family has begun to unravel. Her best friend has been keeping a secret about Jacob, the boy she loved and lost—and the truth behind his shattering betrayal. And then there's Patrick, Brie's mysterious new guide and resident Lost Soul . . . who just might hold the key to her forever after. With Patrick's help, Brie will have to pass through the five stages of grief before she's ready to move on. But how do you begin again, when your heart is still in pieces?

    His life was right on course to be successful and fulfilling…until the crash changed everything.Late at night, during a sudden downpour, three young lives are lost and Lucas, the lone survivor, is left to face the consequences. Surrounded by swirling gossip as to what really happened that fateful evening, Lucas now finds himself an outcast. Shunned by former friends, condemned by the people of his small town, and riddled by his own guilt and self-hatred, he struggles to find hope, find peace, and maybe, even find love.

    Lisa Marie Cacho forcefully argues that the demands for personhood for those who, in the eyes of society, have little value, depend on capitalist and heteropatriarchal measures of worth.With poignant case studies, Cacho illustrates that our very understanding of personhood is premised upon the unchallenged devaluation of criminalized populations of color. Hence, the reliance of rights-based politics on notions of who is and is not a deserving member of society inadvertently replicates the logic that creates and normalizes states of social and literal death. Her understanding of inalienable rights and personhood provides us the much-needed comparative analytical and ethical tools to understand the racialized and nationalized tensions between racial groups. Driven by a radical, relentless critique, Social Death challenges us to imagine a heretofore "unthinkable" politics and ethics that do not rest on neoliberal arguments about worth, but rather emerge from the insurgent experiences of those negated persons who do not live by the norms that determine the productive, patriotic, law abiding, and family-oriented subject.

    And yet, eventually everyone dies—and although most Americans say they would prefer to die peacefully at home, more than half of all deaths take place in hospitals or health care facilities.At the End of Life—the latest collaborative book project between the Creative Nonfiction Foundation and the Jewish Healthcare Foundation—tackles this conundrum head on. Featuring twenty-two compelling personal-medical narratives, the collection explores death, dying and palliative care, and highlights current features, flaws and advances in the healthcare system.Here, a poet and former hospice worker reflects on death’s mysteries; a son wanders the halls of his mother’s nursing home, lost in the small absurdities of the place; a grief counselor struggles with losing his own grandfather; a medical intern traces the origins and meaning of time; a mother anguishes over her decision to turn off her daughter’s life support and allow her organs to be harvested; and a nurse remembers many of her former patients.These original, compelling personal narratives reveal the inner workings of hospitals, homes and hospices where patients, their doctors and their loved ones all battle to hang on—and to let go.

    On the brink of total victory, the black horde mysteriously vanished, leaving terrified survivors . . . and rumors. As the centuries passed, the holocaust faded into legend, and finally myth. But death is stalking heroes once more, and the ultimate army has already been unleashed.The only hope lies in destroying the source—before all life is extinguished. Fate has chosen Elseerian for the impossible feat, but as he embarks on the harrowing journey the invasion must be delayed. With time as their only weapon against extinction, the elves issue a desperate call . . . for every race to ally. Facing annihilation, many will realize that survival lies in unity, courage sleeps in ordinary citizens, and average people can turn the tide of war.But even if the world can gather in the name of survival, the best they can last is Seven Days . . .The Second Draeken War is a combined edition of Elseerian, The Gathering, and Seven Days, and marks the first trilogy in The Chronicles of Lumineia.

    It isn't long before the people of Hope are gossiping about the real reason for Ellie's visit and why she broke the heart of golden boy Flynn Quartermaine all those years ago.Soon Ellie and Flynn are thrown back together again, forced to deal with the unresolved emotions between them. For Ellie is not the only one with secrets. Flynn has his own demons to battle, and Matilda is hiding something from her much-loved goddaughter.When all is uncovered, can the ill-fated lovers overcome the wounds of their past? Or is Flynn destined to be jilted again?

    Enter Detective Darnell Jackson. He s determined to track down Pamela s killer, but he s going to need Candace s help. In Darnell, she sees a chance for justice; in Candace, he sees a beautiful, dynamic woman who desperately needs God in her life. As Candace reluctantly opens up about some unsavory aspects of her friend s life, Darnell starts to see disturbing connections between Pamela s killing and Frank s. But the culprit is still out there, and if Candace and Darnell can t put the pieces together soon, they may be the next victims!"

    She's pulled away from her friends, her grades are plummeting . . . it's a problem. The last thing Grace wants is to be dragged into her older sister Regan's plan to train a shelter dog as a service dog. But Grace has no idea how involved she'll get-especially when a mangy mutt named Rex starts talking to her. Has Grace gone off the deep end? Or might this dog be something really special-an angel? A spirit? Either way, he is exactly the therapy that Grace needs.

    When we last left Quita, the last person on earth Flex would suspect, Kim Carmichael, had kidnapped Cordon.Kimi, Cordon's biological mother, had her unreliable cousin Pooh hold Cordon, and his friend Miranda in a motel room until further instructions. But the kids have another agenda, and decide to slip away to face the dangerous streets, and save themselves.To top it all off, Quita must still run her illegal daycare center although most of her friends are being held captive by Flex, and his goons until Cordon is found. Time is of the essence and if Flex does not get Cordon back soon, bodies will continue to drop.Quita's Dayscare Center 2 is sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. Will this be the end of Quita's Dayscare Center or just the beginning?

    All they see is an awkward boy in a baseball cap and baggy pants. Sam’s not thrilled with the idea of hiding her identity, but it’s all part of her older brother’s plan to keep Sam safe from male attention and hidden from the law. Fifteen-year-old Jacob will stop at nothing to protect his sister, including concealing the death of the one person who should have protected them in the first place—their mother.Sam and Jacob try to outrun their past by stealing the family car and traveling from West Virginia to Arizona, but the adult world proves mighty difficult to navigate, especially for two kids on their own. Trusting adults has never been an option; no adult has ever given them a good reason. But when Sam meets “Jesus”—who smells an awful lot like a horse—in the park, life takes a different turn. He saved her once, and may be willing to save Sam and her brother again, if only they admit what took place that fateful day in West Virginia. The problem? Sam doesn’t remember, and Jacob isn’t talking.

    Written in an entertaining, educational and assessible style, this biography is an accurate and well-researched portrayal of the man.

    That’s why Claire Wineland’s memoir, Every Breath I Take, Surviving and Thriving With Cystic Fibrosis, is so important. With her co-author, Chynna Bracha Levin, Claire describes with precision, honesty, and a remarkable sense of humor just what it’s like to live with an illness that is so often fatal. The book is a must read for anyone who feels compassion for a child, a relative, or friend going through an intense or even life-threatening illness. Claire explains exactly what it’s like to live as normal a life as possible while taking care of a condition that requires constant treatment and frequent hospitalization. Yet there’s nothing grim about Claire’s journey as she describes it. Claire finds the sunny side of life and the spirituality of her experiences in ways that captivate and amaze the reader. It’s impossible to come away from the book without a renewed sense of compassion and sensitivity toward anyone suffering from a serious illness. The book is required reading for anyone—adult or child—who wants to understand how it truly is possible to survive and thrive, no matter what.

    He was stoical, and set about his treatment, determined to fight his illness. In the face of difficult decisions he sought always to understand the disease and the various medical options open to him, supported by his wife Gail and their two daughters, Georgia and Grace.In 2010, after two hard years of chemotherapy and surgery, the tests came up clear - Philip appeared to have won the battle. But his work as a key strategist for the Labour party took its toll, and feeling ill six months later, he insisted on one extra, precautionary test, which told him that the cancer had returned. Thus began Philip's long, painful but ultimately optimistic journey towards death, during which time he began to appreciate and make sense of his life, his work and his relationships in a way he had never thought possible. He realized something that he had never heard articulated before: death need not be only negative or painful, it can be life-affirming and revelatory.Written during the last few months of his life, When I Die describes the journey Philip took with his illness, leaving to us what he called his lessons from the death zone. This courageous, profoundly moving and inspiring work is as valuable a legacy to the world as anyone could wish to bestow - hugely uplifting, beautifully written with extraordinary insight.

    Obviously, a mistake has been made. Sixteen-year-old girls don't die. But, when the diagnosis is confirmed, she dives headlong into anger. If she has to die, why should it be of cancer? In fact, anything would be preferable to cancer. Better for her to say when, where, and especially how.Determined to meet death on her own terms, Mia devises scheme after scheme to get the job done. A “fall” down the basement stairs, driving her car off a bridge, and even a dance with a train all end in her survival. And through it all, Mia keeps her family and friends at arms' length with her destructive and hurtful behavior. With each failed suicide attempt and burned relationship, she slowly realizes that it’s not the dying that she’s afraid of, but the life she’ll be leaving behind. Now, that life is in a shambles. As time begins to slip through her fingers and death is upon her, Mia fights to rebuild the bridges she has destroyed, but can she do it before the clock runs out?

    The books can be purchased separately, beginning with Damned (The Pirate Series) or you can read them all here in this Trilogy.DAMNED - BOOK ONEJade know's what it is like to be different. To be alone. She is gifted, special. She can heal others. She is a princess. She is being forced to marry a man she can't stand, she has no way out. Until Jax.Jax is a pirate and he know's how it feels to be betrayed, he has lived a life of betrayal and he trusts no-one. When he meets the princess next door, who threatens to capture his heart, will he run?When the two are faced with gifts, curses, pirates, raw sexual need and a jealous ex-lover; will they get past it? Will Jax break down the barrier that covers his heart? Or will it ruin everything?BETRAYED - BOOK TWOJax is back with a mission. After being away for five years, he finally runs into Jade. He has been searching for her and his daughter. He has a problem though, he has moved on and met another woman… Jade has struggled to move on, to find another lover and forget the pirate that sunk his way into her heart. When he returns, her world is tipped upside down, and he is determined not to let her get away again… With his return, Jax not only brings back old memories and lust, he brings along some drug lords and a pirate after her fathers treasure. When the pirates contact her and tell her they will kill her daughter if she doesn’t bring them the treasure, will she betray Jax’s trust and his crew to save her child?VENGEANCE - BOOK THREEJax has been gone only a mere few months after Jade’s devastating betrayal, and Jade doesn’t know how to cope. She will do anything for her family. She will do anything for her husband. She will fix it.Just when things are looking up, Ben returns with Vengeance. He wants that treasure and he is willing to do whatever it takes to get it back. Jax and Jade have to make a choice, do they fight or run? Jax’s instincts tell him to fight, he is a pirate, his family is in danger. Jade’s instincts tell her to run, she is afraid for her family, she wants to be freed of violence. When tragedy strikes, Jax and Jade will have to make the ultimate decision, do they fight as pirates or do they turn their backs?

    It is based on our true story.When my 34 year old husband died very suddenly and unexpectedly, I turned to books to try and explain to our very young children what had happened, and why Daddy couldn't come back. To my dismay, I couldn't find any such book. Not in the UK, not in my native Germany, not in the US. I decided to write my own.The first conversation with Alex I initiated, after that, all I did was answer his questions - honestly, and in words he could understand. Sometimes that meant saying 'I don't know', and sometimes it meant going beyond what I would previously have thought 'acceptable'. My son was looking for answers; he needed to understand. The worst thing had already happened; the worst thing I could lose now, was my children's trust. This book is the first conversations we had, in Alex's own words.It shows other children that they are not alone, and gives carers the confidence and words to help explain death.Hardback, 32 pages + end papers, full colour throughout, US Letter size, Language: English

    It explores her return to work after a prolonged period of absence, her innermost thoughts and reflections about dying and her continuing interactions with health services. It also portrays her determined attitude to maintain positivity despite her tragic circumstances and her openness about dying. All profits from the sale of the book are being donated to the Yorkshire Cancer Centre.

    Neither tearful memoir nor testament of hope, the essay charts a vivid experience of such a suspended time and discovers an unsuspected intimacy between time and language. Although a life inside this ‘arrested’ time resists being described, it is neither exceptional or pathological; to outlive one’s child is historically common enough. But, because of this felt suspension of the usual flow of time which enables narration, it leaves few literary traces.

    "...Therefore, the most important and most profound question of the Christian faith must be, how and from where did death arise, and why has it become stronger than life? Why has death become so powerful that the world itself has become a kind of global cemetery, a place where a collection of people condemned to death live either in fear or terror, or, in their efforts to forget about death, find themselves rushing around one great big burial plot?"- Alexander Schmemann, Radio Liberty Broadcast In this brief collection, Father Alexander Schmemann does not have the luxury for platitudes and pleasantries on the most difficult of life's ultimate questions. Taking us to the heart of Christian revelation and anthropology, he leads us unequivocally and directly, as only he can, to discole why the apostle Paul calls death the "last enemy" (1 Cor. 15:26) and Christ's decisive answer to this enemy. Father Alexander Schmemann (†1983) was a prolific writer, brilliant lecturer, and dedicated pastor.I: I Believe...

    After the death of his parents, Jake Samuels has enough on his plate—including a fledgling church to lead and a mischievous younger brother to raise. The last thing he needs is a rambunctious woman to contend with. Carin O'Malley is dealing with the death of her brother and a new job as an English teacher at East Ridge Middle School where Corey Samuels reigns as King of Chaos. The last thing she needs is to fall in love with a man...especially a handsome and complicated preacher like Corey’s brother Jake. But when Corey's antics toss Carin and Jake together, the two must draw from God’s wisdom to find refuge in His perfect plan for them.

    Bret was the good son, the obedient public servant, Kim the itinerant wanderer. In this family of two parent teachers, with its intermittent celebration of “talking recklessly,” there was a code of silence about hard things: “Why tell what hurts?” As childhood pleasures ebbed, this reticence took its toll on Bret, unable to reveal his troubles. Against a backdrop of the 1960s — puritan in the summer of love, pacifist in the Vietnam era — Bret became a casualty of his interior war and took his life in 1988. 100 Tricks Every Boy Can Do casts spells in search of the lost brother: climbing the water tower to stand naked under the moon, cowboys and Indians with real bullets, breaking into church to play a serenade for God, struggling for love, and making bail. In this book, through a brother’s devotions, the lost saint teaches us about depression, the tender ancestry of violence, the quest for harmonious relations, and finally the trick of joy.

    Between working at her father’s diner, taking care of her younger siblings, and living in the shadow of her more mature sisters, Edith feels lost in a sea of siblings. When a kind teacher encourages Edith to be a teacher herself one day, Edith sees prospects for a future all her own. Full of joy, pain, humor, and sadness, this novel in verse is a wonderful look at the life of Edith Paul, the author's mother, and is an enduring portrait (complete with family photos and an author's note at the end) of one family's pursuit of the American dream.

    A must read for Zombie Fans! New version includes Free audio book inside and features vivid, full-color layouts with Kindle Text Pop-Up!!!The Zombie-Kids have arrived in this original bestselling title ranked #1 among Amazon's Bestsellers in Children's Color Picture Books and hand selected by the editors at Amazon for the prestigious, "Kindle Daily Deal." Don't miss out on this hilarious bestselling adventure that put Zombie-Kids on the map to rave customer reviews.Did you know that zombies are people that have feelings, too? They like to be loved just like me and like you. Join the zombie-kids as they bowl, dance, skate, and go to the movies in their unique zombie-way. You'll have an eerily good time.And don't miss the sequel, Zombie Kids Go Green, also available on Kindle store.

    And I wonder why he chose her instead of me? Why he went looking for her when I was right there."Tai and Juliet have been best friends forever – since they met at kindy and decided to get married in first grade.They understand each other in the way that only best friends can.They love music, beach walks, energy drinks and, they are slowly discovering, each other.As they dream of adventures beyond the HSC – a future free of homework, curfews and parents, a life together – their plans are suddenly and dramatically derailed.For Tai is sick.And not everything you wish for can come true.A poignant story of first love, hope, grief, family, and the twistedness of life.

    But despite his sacrifices and prayers, he helplessly watched him die. On that day his heart hardened, and he embarked on a path of cynicism, materialism and self-indulgence. Now, at forty-five, he's ready to collect the payoff for selling his soul when he takes Rexsen Labs public. Propelled by the pending FDA approval of CGT, the first genetic cure for leukemia, he's on the verge of becoming Newport Beach's newest billionaire. But his dream suddenly becomes a nightmare when his jet crashes into the Pacific Ocean. While David miraculously survives, he loses control of Rexsen to his ruthless wife, Priscilla, her scheming brother, and her Wall-Street-cover-boy lover. Meanwhile, Rexsen researcher Tori Clarke discovers a fatal flaw in CGT, and becomes the target of a deadly cover-up to save their multi-billion dollar payday. Framed for murder and on the run, David joins forces with Tori to regain control of Rexsen, fix CGT, and save a young girl's life. Trapped between the authorities and the company he helped build, David risks everything to give meaning to his second chance at life and his only chance for love. Genetic Imperfections is a story of redemption uniquely packaged in the thriller genre. It's a story about how the fundamental goodness in one man can be buried by tragedy and replaced with bitterness and greed--and how the path to redemption reveals itself in mysterious ways. According to the National Institute of Health, there are over sixty clinical trials for cancer using gene therapy underway in the US--there are none underway to treat greed.

    

    In the midst of a bloody civil war, Adut is brutally captured and held as a slave for eight years. Sandra, fleeing her life in Canada, travels to South Sudan as an aid worker but soon finds herself unwittingly embroiled in a violent local conflict. When chance brings Adut and Sandra together in a brief but profound moment, their lives change forever.In captivating prose, Melanie Schnell offers imaginative insight into the lives of innocents in a land at war, rendering horrific experiences with exquisite clarity. While The Sun Is Above Us explores the immense power of the imagination, the human desire for connection, and the endurance of hope.“Schnell’s prose is transparent and true, and her voice is haunting, full of emotional clout. Hers are characters made of flesh and blood—they are brave, vulnerable, strong and, ultimately, alive with hope.”—Lisa Moore ”An urgent and powerful story about two women speaking to each other across every imaginable divide. This is a story that needs to be told!”—Buffy Cram, author of Radio Belly

    But six years after their wedding, they learned that Elliot, only 55, had pancreatic cancer - and would be lucky to live for a year or two.With a journalist's eye for intimate detail, Leslie shows how they made the very most of the time they had left together. Told with heart, humor and compelling immediacy, The Last Kiss is a love story about the life-affirming power of a passionate marriage, the importance of loyal friends, and the resilience of children growing up through one of life's harshest trials.This is the most important story she has ever told.

    By reading the story of eleven-year-old Parvana and her struggles living under the terror of the Taliban, young readers came to know the plight of children in Afghanistan.But what has happened to Afghanistan's children since the fall of the Taliban in 2001? In 2011, Deborah Ellis went to Kabul to find out. She interviewed children who spoke about their lives now. They are still living in a country torn apart by war. Violence and oppression still exist, particularly affecting the lives of girls, but the kids are weathering their lives with courage and optimism: "I was incredibly impressed by the sense of urgency these kids have -- needing to get as much education and life experience and fun as they can, because they never know when the boom is going to be lowered on them again."The two dozen or so children featured in the book range in age from ten to seventeen. Many are girls Deb met through projects funded by Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (www.cw4wafghan.ca), the organization that is supported by royalties from The Breadwinner Trilogy. Parvana’s Fund provides grants toward education projects for Afghan women and children, including schools, libraries and literacy programs.All royalties from the sale of Kids of Kabul will also go to Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan.

    However, the reality of the matter remains the same—we are all going to die at some point in time. Written with creativity and honesty, The Last Enemy speaks to Christians facing death or troubled by its inevitability. It brings clarity and hope to the subject of death and dying by exploring our emotions and reactions, the pain imposed by the enemy, and Jesus’ triumph over sin and death. The Last Enemy encourages readers to focus on what matters most and prepare for ultimate victory.

    Readers will follow four children as they learn ways to cope with their own trauma. Sensitive and empowering, the book models therapeutic coping responses and provides children with tools they may use to deal with their own trauma. A Dear Reader introduction is included for the child reader. Also available is an online Note to Parents and Caregivers.

    Love.Kasir is a young kingpin, who has seen and been through more than anyone can imagine. With a crack head for a mother, an unknown father, and a little sister to feed. Kasir was forced into the lifestyle of guns, drugs, killings, disloyalty, and deception, known to most as The Street Life.Tamika is a young business woman who’s looking for a man who’s compatible with her who’s going to respect the fact that she’s out in the world making her own ends meet.Kenneth “Spaz” Spencer is Kasir’s right-hand man and best friend who loves everything The street life has to offer. The money, power, and respect is what’s keeping him in the game. The excitement and unexpected events is what keeps him going, but Spaz soon learns that the street life has no love, or loyalty for anyone but itself. Will he get out before the game turns it’s back on him?Kimberly is a young nurse who has had her fair share of bad relationships, mending from a broken heart, she finds herself falling for yet another man who’s neck deep in the game. Unsure of what her future holds, she tries hiding her feelings and holding back.

    By way of stories from others, Jason Lee learns about his larger-than-life father, who was killed in Vietnam. He longs to become that sort of man, but doesn't believe he has it in him. In The Clock Of Life he learns lessons from the past, and the realities of inequality. He flourishes with the bond of friendship; endures the pain of senseless death; finds the courage to stand up for what he believes is right; and comes to realize he is his father's son. This story explores how two unsettling chapters in American history, the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War, affect the fate of a family, a town, and two boyhood friends.2014 Kindle Book Review Awards, Literary Fiction Writer's Digest Self Published e-Book Awards, 2nd place for Fiction 2013 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Finalist, General Fiction 2013 Readers Favorite Book Awards, Finalist Awesome Indies AIA Recipient BRAG, Book Readers Appreciation Group, Honoree

    Four years after the plane Piper's daddy was piloting disappeared, her mama is remarrying. The way Piper sees it, Mama's being plain disloyal. Besides, who'd want to get stuck with a prison guard for a stepdad and that weenie, Ginger, for a stepsister? But when Piper Lee hatches a foolproof plan to get the wedding called off, it quickly spirals out of control. And by the time Piper realizes what she’s done—and just how much she really cares about her new family—it might be too late. With a perfect blend of heartbreak and humor, this refreshing middle-grade debut explores opening one’s heart and learning to let go.

    Del Barton’s exaggerated aesthetic has given a contemporary feel to a classic fairytale.The theme of ecstatic metamorphosis through song attracted Del Kathryn Barton to this story, where the life of a small bird is offered up for the ideal of love. Barton sees the Nightingale as “the true artist, she gives completely of her deepest essence”.' - Art Gallery of NSW

    Like the exhibition at the Massachusetts Historical Society, this volume showcases the materials in the Society's collection and that of Sarah Nehama, a jeweler and private collector who co-curated the event at the MHS. These elegant and evocative objects are presented in context, including written explanations of the history, use, and meaning of the jewelry, as well as related pieces of material culture, such as broadsides, photographs, portraits, and trade cards. The jewelry included illustrates some of the most exemplary types, from early gold bands with death's head iconography to jeweled brooches and intricately woven hairwork pieces of the Civil War era.Distributed for the Massachusetts Historical Society

    Author Christy Monson guides readers through emotions of fear, sadness, and anger, then lends constructive and practical ideas for how to manage such feelings and seek comfort. Lori Nawyn’s engaging illustrations help young children understand that hope is only a hug away.

    Born on 9/11/2001, it was perhaps no surprise that she harbored aspirations of becoming a politician—thus her presence at the political rally that fateful day in Tucson last January. Congressman Gabrielle Giffords was severely wounded in the gunman’s splay of bullets; six others were killed, including Christina, the youngest of the victims.But this inspirational book recounts far more than the events of “the tragedy of Tucson.” Written by Christina’s mother (with New York Times best-selling biographer Jerry Jenkins), As Good As She Imagined celebrates this little girl’s life, along with the hope that has been born out of a nation’s loss and a family’s grief.

    As their small town mourns his death, Allie is afraid to remember because doing so means delving into what she’s kept hidden for so long: the horrible reality of their abusive relationship. When the police reopen the investigation, it casts suspicion on Allie and her best friend, Blake, especially as their budding romance raises eyebrows around town. Allie knows she must tell the truth. Can she reach deep enough to remember that night so she can finally break free? Debut writer Jennifer Shaw Wolf takes readers on an emotional ride through the murky waters of love, shame, and, ultimately, forgiveness.

    When she was barely in her twenties her adoptive parents died and a pattern of loss was put into motion that would continue for years as, one by one, those she called family were torn from her life. Struggling to deal with the loss of her family of origin and her adoptive parents, she ultimately reunites with members of her birth family–but there is never a reunion with the woman who gave her life and she continues to feel lost, rejected, and disconnected.Two Hearts charts a course through a complex series of relationships stemming from the author’s adoptive family, her maternal and paternal birth families, and an abusive marriage as the author seeks the one thing she so desperately wants: family. Hoye knows she must come to terms with the bitterness she harbors toward her birth mother when she becomes a grandmother and, soon after, faces the loss of the last remaining members of her adoptive family. She makes one final attempt to find something that will give her the sense of rightness that eluded her for so long.This is the story of a strong and courageous woman’s journey through unfathomable grief; of what it takes to go into the abyss of deep-seated wounding, to feel the pain, and to come out the other side, whole, healed, and thankful.

    The book offers insight from fellow members of, in the haunting words of one dad, “this terrible, terrible club,” which consists of men who have experienced the death of a child. This book is a collection of survival stories by men who have survived the worst possible loss and lived to tell the tale. They are real stories that pull no punches and are told with brutal honesty. Men that have shared their deepest and darkest moments. Moments that included thoughts of suicide, self-medication and homelessness. Some of these men have found their way back from the brink while others are still standing there, stuck in their pain. The core message of Grieving Dads is “you’re not alone.” It is a message that desperately needs to be delivered to grieving dads who often grieve in silence due to society’s expectations. Grieving Dads: To the Brink and Back is a book that no grieving dad or anyone who cares for him should be without. As any grieving parent will tell you, there are no words to describe the hell one experiences after the death of a child. Many men have no clue how to deal with or understand the myriad emotional, mental, and physical responses experienced after the death of a child. Stories appearing in the book have been carefully selected to represent a cross-section of fathers, as well as a diverse portrayal of loss. This approach helps reflect the full spectrum of grief, from the early days of shock and trauma to the long view after living with loss for many years. Any bereaved father will find brotherhood in these pages, and will feel that someone understands them. While there is plenty of raw emotion in this book—the stories are not exercises in self-pity nor are they studies in grief. They are survival stories instead. Some are testimonies to hope. Some are gut-wrenching accounts of overwhelming despair. But all of them are real-life stories from real-life grieving dads, and they show that even if one reaches his physical and emotional bottom, it is possible (although not easy) to live through that pain and find one’s way to the other side of grief. Most dads in this book found themselves in a state of physical, mental, and emotional collapse after the death of their child. As if the losses alone weren’t enough to drive these men to the brink, most try to deal with their grief according to the conventional wisdom so many men are brought up with, which perversely, increases their suffering all the more. We all know the party line about how men are “supposed” to deal with loss or even disappointment: toughen up, get back to work, take it like a man, support your wife, don’t talk about your emotions, don’t lose control, and if you must cry—by all means do so in private.

    Alongside each image, extended captions give Metinides' account of the situation depicted--the life and characters of the streets, the criminals, the heroism of emergency workers and the sadness of bereaved families--revealing much of his personality in the process. Thirty of the selected photographs are paired with their original newsprint tearsheets, preserved by Metinides, the typography of which has inspired the design of this book. The images are compiled by Trisha Ziff, a filmmaker and curator who knows Metinides well, and who here contributes an essay about his life, work and personality. The first overview of the photographer in many years, 101 Tragedies is also the only Metinides monograph comprised of images chosen by the photographer himself, and which offers his own account of his life's work.Enrique Metinides (born 1934) worked as a crime photographer for more than 50 years, capturing murders, crashes and catastrophes for Mexico's infamous crime magazines. He has won numerous prizes and received recognition from the Presidency of the Republic, journalists' associations, rescue and judicial corps and Kodak of Mexico. In 1997 he received the "Espejo de Luz" (Mirror of Light) Prize, awarded to the country's most outstanding photographer. His work has been shown at numerous international venues, including The Museum of Modern Art and Anton Kern Gallery, New York; Photographers' Gallery, London; and Les Rencontres d'Arles Photographie, Arles, France.

    In this exciting collection, Brueggemann finds that when we admit we are dust, we can be liberated. Why? Because we are free from acting like God. We are free to choose obedience to the one living, true Sovereign. The idols lose their grip on us and we live faithfully and in authentic joy." --Ronald J. Allen, Christian Theological Seminary "According to Walter Brueggemann, the autonomy, secularity, and individualism that characterize modernity have 'exiled' the contemporary believer. Always concerned with the manner in which one is to live in the world, he argues for a subversive imagination similar to that found in the biblical wisdom writings, the Psalms, and the Prophets. One comes away from this book both energized by the vision presented and challenged to make it a reality." --Dianne Bergant, Catholic Theological Union in Chicago "There is a reason why Walter Brueggemann remains, for preachers and pastors, the most loved and trusted of all biblical scholars--and that is simply because he writes for us. In every season and heartbreak of life and ministry, he writes for us. And over the years, we have come to see that when Brueggemann goes to the text before God, with his signature passion, candor, and ferocious energy, he goes not for our enlightenment or edification, but for our life and for his. Read this book and take off your shoes, because you will enter onto holy ground." --Anna Carter Florence, Columbia Theological Seminary Author Biography: Walter Brueggemann is William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament Emeritus at Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia. He is past President of the Society of Biblical Literature and the author of numerous books, including Truth-telling as Subversive Obedience, David and His Theologian, Praying the Psalms, A Pathway of Interpretation, and Ichabod toward Home.

    Their intention is to conceive another chimera, the legendary paranormal superman of Alaska. What the group didn’t plan for, is the real chimera, Xander, coming to their sacrifice’s rescue.Once in his cave, as Xander cares for Aiyanna’s wounds and shares a little of his rough life, the two find they are life mates. The next step in their lives should be clear. Instead, indecision reigns in this world gone mad, where paranormal creatures who once lived secretly on the fringes of society are currently joining together for evil purposes.As lines are drawn, war ensues, and personal struggles mount. Xander is called to join a Special Activities Division of the CIA. Decisions must be made even as the mystical mayhem continues around them.

    A bright, unusual boy who is disillusioned at a young age, Pip believes that he sees guilt shining in the faces of men wherever he goes. On his picaresque journey, he sweeps through society, revealing the highest and lowest in human nature and only slowly coming to self-understanding. He searches the points of the compass for what will help, groping for a place where he can feel content, certain that he has no place where he belongs and that he rides the rails through a great darkness. His difficult path to collect enough radiance to light his way home is the road of a boy struggling to come to terms with the cruel but sometimes lovely world of Depression-era America.

    But you may choose from one of three options: Live seven more hours, travel back in time and relive seven hours, or accept the inevitable and die now." Professor Dan Blakely has it all . . . until a false accusation leaves him in financial ruin with nothing to fall back on and little hope. In a moment of desperation, he decides to do the unthinkable. But when he loses control of his SUV and careens down the side of a mountain, his plans take another turn. Trapped beneath the frame of his mangled vehicle, Dan is visited by a mysterious stranger who offers him three choices. Filled with regret, Dan makes a decision . . . but little does he know that his troubles have only just begun. The clock is ticking. What will you do with the time you have left?

    It's about their adventures in pizza. It's about them discovering the DIY punk community and starting a record label. It's about a lot of other stuff too."

    Individually, each technique emphasizes creativity and practicality. As a whole, they capture the richness of practices in the field and the innovative approaches that clinicians in diverse settings have developed, in some cases over decades, to effectively address the needs of the bereaved. New professionals and seasoned clinicians will find dozens of ideas that are ready to implement and are packed with useful features, including:Careful discussion of the therapeutic relationship that provides a container for specific procedures An intuitive, thematic organization that makes it easy to find the right technique for a particular situation Detailed explanations of when to use (and when not to use) particular techniques Expert guidance on implementing each technique and tips on avoiding common pitfalls Sample worksheets and activities for use in session and as homework assignments Illustrative case studies and transcripts Recommended readings to learn more about theory, research and practice associated with each technique

    When little Tommy Kelly is murdered in the local quarry, Richie and his friends decide that they are going to bring the killer to justice. Richie grows up fast, experiencing grief, horror and even love, in the the space of a few sweltering hot days. Friendships crumble, families are destroyed, and a romance blossoms from the unlikeliest of sources. From the first page until the last, we are inside Richie's thoughts: Living every second of his terror; knowing every minute of his joy; feeling what it is to be a child again.

    However, the Colonel, founder of the Missouri White Alliance, has devised a genetic weapon capable of devastating dark-skinned peoples globally. He is only weeks, maybe days away from implementing his viral version of racial cleansing’s “final solution.” There’s only one threat to his plan – a hotheaded member of the MWA has become the target of a nationwide police search for murder and the kidnapping of local celebrity Della Winston … and the unwanted attention risks bringing federal scrutiny to the previously unknown white supremacy group.Sarah Wade, MD, has enough stress as a senior Emergency Medicine resident. She never expected that her discovery of a murdered medical student would inadvertently jeopardize her career. Or that the next-day murder of a Nigerian diplomat would lead to the kidnapping of her best friend, Della Winston. The cascade of events pull her – and Seamus O’Connor, the detective assigned to the high-profile medical center murder – into a life-threatening conspiracy of murder, kidnapping, and rising racial tensions.

    "They become home to us, tell us who we are, who we want to be. Over the years, they take on more and more embellishments and adornments until they eclipse the actual memory. They become our past just as a snapshot will, at first, enhance a memory, then replace it."As she remembers it now, Goldman's was an idyllic childhood, charmed even, filled with parental love and sisterly confidences. Growing up in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Judy and her older sister, Brenda, did everything together. Though it was clear from an early age that their personalities were very different (Judy was the "sweet" one, Brenda, the "strong" one), they continued to be fairly inseparable into adulthood.But the love between sisters is complex. Though Judy and Brenda remained close, Goldman recalls struggling to break free of her prescribed role as the agreeable little sister and to assert herself even as she built her own life and started a family.The sisters' relationship became further strained by the illnesses and deaths of their parents, and later, by the discovery that each had tumors in their breasts Judy's benign, Brenda's malignant. The two sisters came back together shortly before the possibility of permanent loss became very real. In her uniquely lyrical and poignant style, Goldman deftly navigates past events and present emotions, drawing readers in as she explores the joys and sorrows of family, friendship, and sisterhood.

    Just ask Harry.--The life of Cyrus Obsidian (Harry Potter) has never been particularly normal or boring. How can it be when he's being hunted by a crazy Dark Lord with delusions of immortality, a barmy old Headmaster who thinks it's his job to save the world, and the odd vampire trolling through the halls at night looking for a midnight snack? A new name and school were supposed to fix things, but instead his life gets even more hectic as he's dragged into vampire politics, werewolf problems, and a non-human's idea of a 'normal' relationship.Thrown into new and unpleasant situations at every turn, Cyrus is forced to adapt in more ways than one. The kiddy gloves stay off at Shikaan because the teachers don't care if you break your leg, another student is trying to kill you, or you're not smart enough to keep up in their class. Going to one of the most prestigious schools in Other Realm probably wasn't the brightest of ideas, but Cyrus knows the lessons taught at Shikaan will prove invaluable to his future.Well... if he survives long enough to graduate.Being a gay 'hero' never sucked so much.

    It is an observant and wry memoir and travelogue, intensely personal yet speaking to universal experiences of love and loss. Along the narrow roads and hairpin turns, the narrative reveals the beauty of the ordinary and the commonplace and asks stark questions about how we fill the empty places that a loved one leaves behind. It is a meditation on the possibility of faith, one that is unflinching, uncompromising, and altogether unsentimental when confronted by the ultimate test of belief. This book is not only a well-told memoir, but a testimony to the truth that love is stronger than death.

    In this powerful and poetic book, Marian Partington, Lucy’s elder sister, reclaims Lucy from the status of “West victim” and charts her own inspiring narrative of healing.Through deep and fierce engagement with her experience, and guided by powerful dreams, Marian finds an authentic and compassionate response. She draws on, but is not limited to, Buddhist and Quaker practices. Her inner work involves a laying bare of what needs to be faced, accepted and transformed, in order to live with less harm in the wake of human atrocity. This ongoing, everyday process of self-exploration and mindful interaction with others leads towards profound inner and outer change, and culminates in ten years of restorative justice work in prisons.With a foreword by Marina Cantacuzino, Founder and Director of The Forgiveness Project, this luminous book offers a way out of our destructive cycles of violence and abuse.

    Jordan details life as an Air Force Mortuary Non Commissioned Officer. In his stunning debut Jordan forces the reader to walk beside him on his journey in this gruesome world. Jordan holds nothing back, and shares in graphic detail how he honored Americas heroes, both at deployed locations and stateside. This book will pry your eyes wide open as you gasp from the sheer horror he faced daily, from dealing with the families of the fallen, to witnessing the embalming and preparations of the deceased. Jordan also shares how this job taxed his mental well being, as he suffered in silence, longing not to care. Jordan is still serving on Active Duty and suffers from the crippling effects of PTSD, his story will enlighten you, it will touch you, and yes, you will cry.

    . . a charmingly sweet romance with warmth and humor that you will enjoy throughout the book." ~5 hearts from Harlequin JunkiePlans For New Beginnings Fall Apart in the Best Way in CHARMED, a Romantic Comedy by Ines Saint-- Autumn Falls, Massachusetts, Present Day –- Jamie Sullivan is determined to make it on her own. A widowed mother of twin five-year-old boys with a penchant for comfort foods and impulsive behavior, Jamie guards a painful secret while emphatically refusing to let any man into their lives.Nick Gray has finally decided to put his own needs first. As the charming and daydream-inducing headmaster of the private elementary school Jamie’s children will attend, he's worked hard to earn his doctorate while single-handedly raising his daughter. He's burned out and looking forward to traveling the world.But after a nearly injurious first meeting and a blazing instant attraction, Nick and Jamie soon question their former convictions. Dogged by meddling matchmakers, old rivalries, and children who can't keep their feet out of their mouths, they fight past fears and angry in-laws to nurture their attraction into love that lasts a lifetime.From The Publisher: A Clean and Wholesome romance sure to make you feel warm-all-over. Fans of Kristan Higgens, Robyn Carr, Marie Force, Bella Andre and Debbie Macomber will not want to miss this humor-filled charming romance."Saint has a unique gift: she is able to create a wonderful sense of family for her characters, and she extends that family to include her readers." ~Author Micah PersellMeet Ines Saint: Born in Zaragoza, Spain and raised in the United States and Puerto Rico, Inés Saint is bilingual and bicultural and knows what it’s like to feel like you belong everywhere, but not quite anywhere. Right now, she is raising her fun, inspiring teens, volunteering for causes she believes in, working on her writing career, and sharing her life with her dream guy. Her greatest joys are spending time with family and close friends, working with kids, reading, and traveling.

    The police officers pulled the body from the track and found no identification. The train’s 425 passengers were transferred to another train and delayed about twenty minutes.” The Guardians is an elegy for Manguso’s friend Harris, two years after he escaped from a psychiatric hospital and jumped under that train. The narrative contemplates with unrelenting clarity their crowded postcollege apartment, Manguso’s fellowship year in Rome, Harris’s death and the year that followed—the year of mourning and the year of Manguso’s marriage. As Harris is revealed both to the reader and to the narrator, the book becomes a monument to their intimacy and inability to express their love to each other properly, and to the reverberating effects of Harris’s presence in and absence from Manguso’s life. There is grief in the book but also humor, as Manguso marvels at the unexpected details that constitute a friendship. The Guardians explores the insufficiency of explanation and the necessity of the imagination in making sense of anything.

    

    Preparing for a move to Mexico, Jordan plans to open a clinic where terminal patients will have affordable access to experimental medication. Despite Ryan’s skepticism on her willingness to bypass the FDA drug approval process, he is intrigued by Jordan’s passion and determination to provide alternative care to terminal patients. But when a violent explosion leaves the small Bahamian island of Exuma on edge, Ryan knows his life has once again been forever altered.Drawn together by circumstance, attraction, and shared ambition, Ryan and Jordan become united in their international quest for the truth. The two embark on an explosive thrill ride ending in Washington, D.C., where the couple unravels the country’s best-kept secret: the government will stop at nothing to maintain the American way of life, with heartbreak and sickness for all.

    Still furious at his escape all those years ago, Fanny takes elaborate revenge through her will. Kenneth inherits her considerable holdings but with strict criteria and a challenge that risks everything if he fails. The alternative to failure or simply walking away, at least in Kenneth's mind, is even worse. Add the people Kenneth left behind when he ran away, the steady decay of the town itself, and what Kenneth views as provincial simplicity of the generation now in charge, and Kenneth finds himself soundly ensnared in Fanny's trap. Grants Ferry's history is long and peppered with local characters, often a touch eccentric, who create a pleasant mix of humor, cruelty, tenderness, and violence.

    They tell stories that help the boy deal with his loss, reminding him of the wonderful memories he has of his grandpa.

    But in the peaceful little town, something evil is slumbering, waiting for its chance to possess what it desires. When Stella and her husband move into the long-empty apartment, they're unaware of what exists in the cupboard upstairs, the entrance to an evil that will threaten both their lives...

    But when she wakes the next morning, Nicole finds herself in bed without a scratch. Perhaps she was more intoxicated than usual, as her mother is giving her the silent treatment and her friends are ignoring her as well. Things take a turn for the weird when Nicole soon discovers she is actually hovering between life and death. Her body is lying in the forest while her spirit is searching for anyone who can hear her. Unfortunately the only person who can is Dale Finnigan, the guy she publicly humiliated with a sharp-tongued insult that has left him branded. Desperate, Nicole has no choice but to haunt Dale and convince the freaked-out senior to help her. Will he find her body before it's too late? Or will the guy who tried to kill her with his car, beat him there and finish her off before anyone finds out?

    He's estranged from his undead family, stuck in a shitty job, and his only friends are ants. Mortimer decides to avoid the rest of living. But it turns out there is much more to avoid after suicide-Eternity in a body-making factory, a soul-hungry ant blob, God and his minions, the Afterlife, and even what lies beyond it. Aided by a sentient pile of dreadlocks, his acquired skills, and dumb luck, Mortimer attempts to avoid everything-and does a miserable job of it. A bizarro adventure story about life, the afterlife, the after-afterlife, and avoiding it all-especially the parts like working as an aglet-biter, or drinking shots of Holy Fuck.

    It's a place no one wants to visit--a place without borders where language is inadequate and pain is constant. It's a place where every morning one awakens to the stark reality that a loved one will never be seen, heard--or embraced--again. This is a place that Armen Bacon and Nancy Miller know all too well, for when they met, both of them had lost a child--a son, Alex, and a daughter, Rachel. Griefland provides an intimate portrait of what tragedy does to the human soul, how it changes one's life, and most important, how it can be survived. With achingly beautiful language, this book explores the acute moment-to-moment experience of grief. But it also transcends that and speaks to the redemptive power of friendship, trust, intimacy, and love. Together they discover a will and desire to move forward, recognizing that life is the ultimate prize for those who survive this excruciating journey.

    Former all-pro linebacker Perry Dawsey awakens to find mysterious welts growing on his body. Soon after, strange voices start whispering, telling him to do horrible things... he is infected. The disease wants something from Perry, something that could alter the fate of the human race.

    Nevertheless, their works have been read as expressions of a desire to transcend time--whether through an epiphany of memory, an immanent moment of being, or a transcendent afterlife. Martin Hagglund takes on these themes but gives them another reading entirely. The fear of time and death does not stem from a desire to transcend time, he argues. On the contrary, it is generated by the investment in temporal life. From this vantage point, Hagglund offers in-depth analyses of Proust's "Recherche," Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway," and Nabokov's "Ada."Through his readings of literary works, Hagglund also sheds new light on topics of broad concern in the humanities, including time consciousness and memory, trauma and survival, the technology of writing and the aesthetic power of art. Finally, he develops an original theory of the relation between time and desire through an engagement with Freud and Lacan, addressing mourning and melancholia, pleasure and pain, attachment and loss. "Dying for Time" opens a new way of reading the dramas of desire as they are staged in both philosophy and literature.

    

    What he lacked were the basic necessities; food, shelter and a family. Kate and Troy’s worlds collide when she moves to Alabama to resume training for a spot on the Olympic Gymnastics Team.

    Her assigned Spirit Guide, Dead Anna, is in charge of tutoring her in the ways of the Neither Realm, named so for it is “neither here…nor there.” As she begins to uncover the ghostly world buried just below the surface of the living, she learns she is to become far more than a mere student. The Emerald Moon has risen, signifying the return of the greatest evil the world have ever known—the Boogey Man. Only the Defender of the Dead can stop his arrival and protect the world from his wicked grasp. Could Thelma be the champion the dead seek? She must piece together all the clues that lay hidden throughout the derelict mansion and master her supernatural abilities in order to save the lives of the dead! Then, maybe she can conquer her greatest challenge…middle school! Join author James Grea and his magical fountain pen, Solomon J. Inkwell, as they introduce you to Thelma Thimblewhistle and the world of the not-so-dead in this action-packed supernatural adventure! Welcome to the Neither Realm…

    How exactly does the animal world deal with the flip side of the life cycle? And what are the lessons, ecological to spiritual, raised by a close look at how the animal world renews itself? Heinrich focuses his wholly original gaze on the fascinating doings of creatures most of us would otherwise turn away from—field mouse burials conducted by carrion beetles; the communication strategies of ravens, “the premier northern undertakers”; and the “inadvertent teamwork” among wolves and large cats, foxes and weasels, bald eagles and nuthatches in cold-weather dispersal of prey. Heinrich reveals, too, how and where humans still play our ancient and important role as scavengers, thereby turning—not dust to dust—but life to life.

    An accident involving her pet chicken, Blue, pushes Blessen into discoveries about faith, death, and her heritage.

    Faryn would rather make shoes. Shoes are predictable. They don't change shape or try to bite him. But when he awakens a feathered serpent inscribed on a golden disc, nearly losing some fingers in the process, he doesn't get a choice. After his uncle-who has a bad habit of dying-is fatally poisoned, Faryn's family packs him off to the King's Seat to learn magic and find his place as his uncle's heir. What he discovers instead is a knack for making magical shoes, that turning a girl into a goose is a bad way to make friends-and dying her bright blue only aggravates matters, sinister apples that enchant all the maidens at court, and a royal edict to undo the apples' magic if he wants to keep his head. As magic propels him onward, Faryn finds himself locked in a dungeon fashioning shoes out of the shadows so he can escape. It is then that Faryn realizes that people severely underestimate the power of shoes, and he must exploit that weakness if he's to save the kingdom.

    But by the time you reach the final tale, "Come to Jesus Meeting", the darkness is all encompassing.Tales of hope, heartache, and horror abound. Come find What the Dark Brings***As an added bonus to new fans, Edward Lorn has included his mini-anthology, Three After, complete and uncut, at the end of this collection. A total of 22 tales of terror coming it at over 40,000 words.***

    Full description

    Ghulam and Firishta, a wealthy couple, move to Kabul, Afghanistan, to begin a new chapter in their lives. Firishta is diagnosed with meningitis and passes away, leaving their six young children motherless. Moving back to Herat, Ghulam and his family discover that their motherland is no longer the same: the Soviet Union has invaded, causing them to seek refuge in Iran. In Iran, Ali, an impoverished, dark-skinned, and plumpish man asks for Maryam's hand in marriage. As Afghans living in Iran, Ali and his family are denied identity, worth, and value. Ali's prayers are answered when he and his family are accepted by Canada as refugees. Jeegareh Ma is a story of courage where love, family, and God are put to the test.

    The poems speak for themselves and to each other, as folk songs and tribal epics sit alongside classical Sanskrit and formal Tamil verse is a companion to contemporary Bengali or Dogri. There is Ghalib in praise of love, Tukaram on religious bigotry, Ksetrayya on divine love through the erotic, Gieve Patel on identity. In Eunice de Souza and Melanie Silgardo’s carefully curated selection, each poem illumines exquisitely the tradition of Indian poetry.

    Join the emotional and physical struggle as they began on the third day after the awakening of Brooks VanReit, as they are recorded from the point of view of Julie, a former pathologist and part-time survivalist.Each entry is geared toward helping those who want to help themselves and maybe give a few that don’t a swift kick in the ass.Join our group of survivors on their journey through these Days with the Undead.