The once-star collegiate football player finds himself fighting for his son’s life. This memoir takes you through the various challenges of raising a family of six kids and balancing a career, all while his son battles to defeat the odds of survival. Both Steve and his high school sweetheart, Savanna, found hope and happiness through the example of their 20-month-old son Hayes.

    As a postgraduate she moved to London and worked as a researcher at Amnesty International among other jobs. She started writing the Harry Potter series during a delayed Manchester to London King’s Cross train journey, and during the next five years, outlined the plots for each book and began writing the first novel.Jo then moved to northern Portugal, where she taught English as a foreign language. She married in October 1992 and gave birth to a daughter in 1993. When the marriage ended, she and Jessica returned to the UK to live in Edinburgh, where Harry Potter & the Philosopher’s Stone was eventually completed. The book was first published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books in June 1997, under the name J K Rowling. The “K”, for Kathleen, her paternal grandmother’s name was added at her publisher’s request who thought that a woman’s name would not appeal to the target audience of young boys.The second title in the series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was published in July 1998 and was No. 1 in the adult hardback bestseller charts for a month after publication. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was published on 8th July 1999 to worldwide acclaim and spent four weeks at No.1 in the UK adult hardback bestseller charts. The fourth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was published on 8th July 2000 with a record first print run of 1 million copies for the UK. It quickly broke all records for the greatest number of books sold on the first day of publication in the UK. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, was published in Britain, the USA, Canada and Australia on 21st June 2003 and broke the records set by Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire as the fastest selling book in history. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was published in the UK, US and other English-speaking countries on 16th July 2005 and also achieved record sales.The seventh and final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was published in the UK, US and other English speaking countries in 2007. J K Rowling has also written two small volumes, which appear as the titles of Harry’s school books within the novels. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through The Ages were published in March 2001 in aid of Comic Relief. In December 2008, The Tales of Beedle the Bard was published in aid of the Children’s High Level Group (now Lumos).As well as an OBE for services to children’s literature, J.K. Rowling is the recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees including the Prince of Asturias Award for Concord, France’s Légion d’Honneur, and the Hans Christian Andersen Award, and she has been a Commencement Speaker at Harvard University USA. She supports a wide number of charitable causes through her charitable trust Volant, and is the founder of Lumos, a charity working to transform the lives of disadvantaged children.J.K. Rowling lives in Edinburgh with her husband and three children.

    

    Here, historian Alexander Ivanov reveals their fears and betrayals, privilege and debauchery, conspiracies and rivalries, love and tragedy as they forged Russia into one of the world's greatest empires. No ruler in history has embodied the oppressive domination of these rulers more vividly than Alexander Ivanov's opening subject, Tsar Ivan IV, the first of all the Russian tsars, known to history as Ivan the Terrible. Although a gifted ruler who did much to unite and improve the conditions in his primitive country, Ivan was also a notorious sadist who delighted in torturing and murdering anyone who displeased him. Ivan's death in 1584 ushered in the Time of Troubles, thirty-five years of famine, plague, and war that crippled the nation. A series of rulers attempted to cope with the devastation, beginning with Ivan's successor Boris Godunov. Finally, grasping for stability, Russia's nobles begged young Michael Romanov, the great-nephew of Ivan's beloved wife Anastasia, to take the throne. Michael successfully united the war-torn and ravaged nation and founded a dynasty that would rule for 300 years. The Romanov line produced Russia's most brilliant yet most unconventional sovereign: Peter the Great, a towering figure of a man whose restless, creative mind led him on an inexorable quest to modernize and civilize the still backward nation. The reforms he enacted so enraged nobles and peasants alike that Peter had to quash a series of rebellions to keep his crown. Ruthlessly stifling dissent and massacring rebels, he ultimately cowed the Russian people into submission, achieving a legacy that nearly equaled his ambitions. It was left to a woman - and a foreigner, at that - to lead the nation further out of the darkness. German princess Sophie Friederike Auguste of Anhalt-Zerbst, known to the world as Catherine the Great, absorbed the principles of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment and applied them to a country built on the backs of millions of serfs. However ineffective some of her policies, in the end, she made Russia a major player on the European stage. Serfdom was finally abolished in the nineteenth century, but it would be decades before Russian peasants could own land of their own and learn to farm it productively. The boyars and tsars clung to power until the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. The sad fate of the last tsar, Nicholas II, and his family, marked the end of the absolute power that Ivan the Terrible had so exploited. The abuses would continue but under a new and drastically different form of government.

    A must-have for fans new to the game world as well as those who have been fascinated with the series since day one.This encyclopedia features new information and amazing artwork, updated content from the upcoming monster Assassin’s Creed III game and upcoming graphic novel Assassin’s Creed: The Chain.Initially intended as an art book, the project gathered so much material that Ubiworkshop decided to expand it into an encyclopedia.Artists like Craig Mullins, Tavis Coburn, 123Klan, Gabz, James NG, David Alvarez and many others were given free reign to draw an Assassin from the period and style of their choice, of which the artworks were included in the Encyclopedia. There was also a "cartes blanches" section that featured artwork by other professional artists and fans of the series.A Black Edition was released with the Animus Edition of Assassin's Creed: Revelations.A White Edition was released through UbiWorkshop and with the Ultimate Edition of Assassin's Creed: Revelations.A Second Edition was released in October 2012 to coincide with the release of Assassin's Creed III. The Second Edition features 120 new pages of content that include information on Assassin's Creed III, Assassin's Creed III: Liberation and Assassin's Creed: The Chain along with new cartes blanches.A Third Edition was released in October 2013 to coincide with the release of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. The Third Edition contains over 390 pages of content revised and updated with information from Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and Assassin's Creed: Brahman.The Assassin's Creed Encyclopedia is divided into four sections:1) Factions2) Story3) Characters4) Places

    The truth is: politics and innuendo clouded that story from the very beginning, with the result that few people really understand who The Duke and Duchess of Windsor were and what forces propelled them to their infamous fate. The Royal W.E. examines the individual and intertwined lives of Wallis and Edward – or “W.E.” as they referred to themselves – and provides readers with unique glimpses of the real people, as opposed to the sensationalized characters, that were The Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Through careful study of more than 75 years of rhetoric and scholarship, Victoria Martínez takes on the most controversial charges lodged against the couple (Was Wallis a hermaphrodite? Were the Duke and Duchess Nazi sympathizers?) with candor and evenhandedness. In analyzing the early lives of Wallis and the ex-king and their later relationships with other members of the Royal Family, her approach is to deal with all parties as human beings, whose true faults – though significant – were far less sinister than history has led us to believe. Ms. Martínez also addresses the ever-popular subject of the Duchess’s jewels, including new research on the famous 1946 Ednam Lodge jewel heist to dispel the long-held rumors that the Duke and Duchess committed jewel theft and insurance fraud. The subjects in this book are not always mainstream, well-known, or even consistent with “popular” opinion, and the objective is not to make anyone “like” the couple. Instead, readers will find refreshingly honest and accurate portrayals of W.E. that will help them understand the real people behind the myth and hype. “Prejudice and preconception are difficult things to set aside, particularly after so many years of negative stories and sordid rumor, but I think readers here will discover an alternative and convincing look at the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. I am sure they would approve and perhaps, just perhaps, the future may be a little bit kinder to Edward and Wallis because of the efforts of people like Ms. Martínez.” -Greg King, author of The Duchess of Windsor: The Uncommon Life of Wallis Simpson

    His commentaries on “All Things Considered” and his radio spots for Motel 6 have delighted millions, but he’s never been funnier than in this, his second collection of casual essays. Here are further musings ont he everyday joys and embarrassments of being a husband, father, citizen, and breadwinner by the author of As Far As You Can Go Without a Passport. Fans will be comforted by the familiarity of this return visit to Bodett country. Those new to his work will discover one of the freshest, friendliest voices among writers of humor today.

    That was before she met a very handsome and somewhat mysterious man named Khaleel who, like Brianna, is an engineering student at Columbia University. Before graduation, however, Brianna's life is turned upside down when she becomes pregnant with Khaleel's baby and is suddenly whisked away to a tiny village in the heart of Saudi Arabia's Empty Quarter. Completely separated from everything she has ever known, Brianna quickly discovers that Khaleel is no longer the man she fell in love with. That man has been replaced by a domineering stranger who wants to control everything, especially Brianna. This revelation is followed by other shocks as Brianna tries to adjust to a world that has suddenly turned into an endless nightmare of abuse, suppression, threats, and isolation. Pregnant and cut off from the outside world, Brianna can focus on only three things now: her own safety, the safety of her unborn child, and, most of all, how to escape from a prison built on hatred.

    

     Every action has a consequence and this is the aftermath. My name is Kara Petersen. I am one of life’s survivors, but my life has not been easy. I am the product of a dysfunctional, broken home and parents who don’t care. Fallen from grace, abandoned and betrayed, I am now alone. Then there was hope. A boy, a saviour. He saved me, empowered me, and gave me the strength and courage to leave. To live. His actions will not be in vain. I will do whatever it takes to survive. My name is Sloan Foster. I am one of life’s failures, but my life has not been fair. I am the product of a loving home, a mother and father who adored each other, until death paved the way for the devil. Trapped inside a world with a gilded façade, I have always felt alone. Then there was hope. A girl, an angel, a beacon of pure light in the dark. She subconsciously called to me, reached deep into my soul, unknowingly claiming a part of myself I had let die years ago. I promised I would do whatever it took to be her protector. My promises were unachievable and futile. I will do whatever it takes to find her again. Please note this is a 36,000 word novella, chronicling the lives of Kara and Sloan and the ‘missing’ eight years. It is not a continuation of the present story, and should be read after Fractured and Tormented.

    YOUNG When the grid goes down and the SHTF Greg knows exactly what to do. ABOUT AUTHOR JERRY D. YOUNG Author Jerry D. Young has been a fixture in the survival and prepping communities for more than twenty years. The author of more than 100 novels and short stories, Jerry’s writing has been a staple for men and women of all ages and from all walks of life that are interested in prepping, survival, and all-around self-sufficiency. Jerry’s books are written with the goal of educating as well as entertaining and generally enjoyed by all who seek to expand their knowledge of prepping and survival topics while enjoying a good book or short story. As daunting as the end of the world, nuclear fallout, World War III, Civil unrest, economic collapse, solar flares, EMP attacks, and other apocalyptic scenarios may be, society has always been interested in the “What If?” of a Post-Apocalyptic World. Jerry’s stories provide interesting and practical perspectives of heroes and villains navigating Post-Apocalyptic scenarios including everything from Mad Max type of events to more relevant plot lines that seem as if they could have come from the headlines of the modern world. Find more about Jerry D. Young at www.CreativeTexts.com.

     Meet Larissa Bradshaw, a strong-willed hardworking girl. After her parents turn their backs on her she closes her heart to love and becomes determined to make something of herself despite her situation. She meets Messiah “Money” Lawson and everything changes. Messiah is an up and coming boss in the streets. He’s a nigga that’s respected and feared by all. From the moment he first sees Larissa he has to have her. The two share an instant connection and can’t seem to get enough of each other. Messiah’s lifestyle and desire for money brings jealousy, temptation, and violence threatening to ruin what he and Larissa are trying to build. Follow Larissa and Messiah on their journey of ups and downs as they fight for the love, loyalty and life they always wanted.

    Until his 6-year-old son utters the four most powerful words in the English language: “Dad, will you coach?”Keep Swinging chronicles the rookie season of an indoorsy TV writer raising two alpha boys whose life turns around when he gets off the sidelines, puts on a jersey that’s three sizes too big and and throws himself into the world of kids sports. An inspiring, funny, at times gut-wrenching tale for every father and son who’ve ever picked up a bat, ball or hockey puck, it’s also a story about marriage, career, surviving life’s slumps and how you’re supposed to make men out of your boys, but they end up making a man out of you. The author of the bestselling memoir Cad: Confessions of a Toxic Bachelor writes his next chapter.

    A woman had wanted to leave him. You're not going anywhere, he told her. Later that day, a police officer reports to the house and finds some human tissue and organs in a bag left out for garbage. The person of interest in the case is a steelworker named Sam Pirrera, who lives in the house. But who is the victim? Sam's current estranged wife, Danielle? It is known that they had a stormy relationship; Sam had assaulted her as his coke addiction returned. Forensic detectives find traces of blood in the basement, and then the entire corpse, dismembered, the parts hidden behind a false wall and packed in boxes, each of the parts wrapped and doused in gasoline. The victim's identity is discovered through prints to be a prostitute named Maggie Karer. The dismemberment, defensive mutilation, is so calculated and deliberate, the detectives wonder, are there more victims? But Pirrera's first wife was named Beverly, and a woman named Lesa Davidson shows up at the police station to say she hasn't heard from her daughter-Beverly-in eight years. And Sam's estranged wife, Danielle, who is in fact alive, tells police that Sam had once told her he had killed his first wife and dumped her parts in a vat of molten steel at a steel plant. Detectives now pursue a double murder case, led by veteran homicide detective Peter Abi-Rashed, who had once chased a young Sam Pirrera on the streets of Hamilton's east end many years before. The outcome is shocking - and a mystery remains.

    He hopes they are dark enough to hide him from the unforgiving neighbors in the small town of his youth. When he drove away years ago, no one understood how he could leave behind his wife, Allyson, and their small son, Alma. After years on a road leading nowhere, Porter has finally started to get his life on track. Hes active in the Church and his business is successful. However, his relationship with his son has deteriorated to annual birthday cards and even less frequent visits. Then came the phone call. Allyson is dead. Now Porter is back in Utah to reclaim his son. However, Alma will leave the only life hes known under one not-so-simple conditionhis broken-down truck must come too. Even if Porter has to push it the entire five hundred miles to Eager, Arizona. Join acclaimed storyteller Alma Yates on a heartwarming journey of faith, redemption, and forgiveness as this father and son come to learn that their relationship, like the old truck, is worth fixing.