She does well in school and mostly keeps to herself. She lives with her father and wonders why they have never visited her grandfather, even though they speak to him every week on the phone.When her grandfather suddenly dies, Ariel and her father must travel to Shadow Grove to settle his affairs. Shadow Grove holds many, many secrets, not the least of which is what really happened to Ariel's mother and why her grandfather left her a powerful amulet before he died. When she finds out she is a witch, Ariel has some decisions to make. But first, who can she trust...the mysterious man who appears in her dreams or the recluse whom her father clearly despises? Scroll up to download and take a trip to Shadow Grove today...

    When her best friend from high school convinces Brynn to attend their ten-year reunion, Brynn hopes she’ll have the chance to reconnect with Troy Richards, the guy who stole her heart back in middle school. Craig Dawson, an attorney in San Diego, is in a relationship that’s going nowhere and wonders why he can’t seem to commit. When he sees Brynn at their reunion, he thinks he might finally understand why. The only problem—she’s still infatuated with Troy what’s-his-name. Will Brynn find the love she seeks with Troy, or will she realize the best kind of love has always been right in front of her?

    The entire process is explained in simple, easy to understand terms, so you can create a great blog without any technical knowledge. First, you will learn the basic process of WordPress blogging, which is the free software your blog will be built with. Once that is done, you will move on to customization of your new blog. The book then ends with chapters on promoting your blog and blogging for profit. In addition, the author offers additional support and updates through his website, free of charge.

    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

    Today, Rails developers and architects need better ways to interface with legacy systems, move into the cloud, and scale to handle higher volumes and greater complexity. In Service-Oriented Design with Ruby and Rails Paul Dix introduces a powerful, services-based design approach geared toward overcoming all these challenges. Using Dix's techniques, readers can leverage the full benefits of both Ruby and Rails, while overcoming the difficulties of working with larger codebases and teams. Dix demonstrates how to integrate multiple components within an enterprise application stack; create services that can easily grow and connect; and design systems that are easier to maintain and upgrade. Key concepts are explained with detailed Ruby code built using open source libraries such as ActiveRecord, Sinatra, Nokogiri, and Typhoeus. The book concludes with coverage of security, scaling, messaging, and interfacing with third-party services. Service-Oriented Design with Ruby and Rails will help you Build highly scalable, Ruby-based service architectures that operate smoothly in the cloud or with legacy systems Scale Rails systems to handle more requests, larger development teams, and more complex code bases Master new best practices for designing and creating services in Ruby Use Ruby to glue together services written in any language Use Ruby libraries to build and consume RESTful Web services Use Ruby JSON parsers to quickly represent resources from HTTP services Write lightweight, well-designed API wrappers around internal or external services Discover powerful non-Rails frameworks that simplify Ruby service implementation Implement standards-based enterprise messaging with Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) Optimize performance with load balancing and caching Provide for security and authentication

     But their numbers are dwindling. With every passing day, more and more Dragonriders are falling under the scourge of the Dark One. The forces of humanity and their allies are desperate. They need a new hero to step up and turn the tide.Myrddin, the resistance’s leader, thinks he might have found that someone…on Earth, of all places.Word has just come from the east that the Dark One is launching his largest assault yet, but there is still time to stop him. If, that is, they can find someone good enough to take him on. Alex Bound just might be the rider they need.But a human has never been accepted as a Dragonrider. Let alone a blind human...Alex isn’t someone to step away from a fight. Not now, not ever, and she has no plans to start—even if she needs to ride a real dragon to make it happen. Included in the completed 13 book Dragon Approved series is:1. The First Human Rider2. Ascent to the Nest3. Defense of the Nest4. Nest Under Siege5. First Mission6. The Descent7. Sacrifices8. Love and Aliens9. An Alien Affair10. Dragons in Space11. The Beginning of the End12. Death of the Mind13. Boundless

    Full of insights, arguments and philosophical perspectives, the book covers an amazing array of topics. Beginning in antiquity with Democritus, it progresses through logic and set theory, computability and complexity theory, quantum computing, cryptography, the information content of quantum states and the interpretation of quantum mechanics. There are also extended discussions about time travel, Newcomb's Paradox, the anthropic principle and the views of Roger Penrose. Aaronson's informal style makes this fascinating book accessible to readers with scientific backgrounds, as well as students and researchers working in physics, computer science, mathematics and philosophy.

    He’s forty-three years old, and still in good shape when something at work happens to put him in wheelchair. He finds his life is over, or at least the one he’d always known. That is, until a research doctor at his own company walks into his hospital room, and offers him a deal that seems too good to be true.Join Ted as he enters a fully immersive online world, and finds that everything isn’t quite how he imagined it to be. He’ll have his new virtual life, access to the real world, and a game world to explore as well. As if three worlds to keep straight wasn’t complicated enough, he has even more surprises coming his way.WARNING: This book is an erotic science fiction novel. If you are offended by explicit sex, do not buy this book. There are MF, FF, and MFF scenes of a sexually explicit nature.NOTE: This novel is told in the third person from Ted's point of view

     Covers the C++ language, featuring a wealth of tested and debugged working programs in C and C++. Explains and analyzes algorithms -- showing step- by-step solutions to real problems. Presents algorithms as intermediaries between English language descriptions and C programs. Covers classes in C++, including function members, inheritance and object orientation, an example of implementing abstract data types in C++, as well as polymorphism.

    It teaches Clojure from the basics to advanced topics using practical, real-world application examples. Blow through the theory and dive into practical matters like unit-testing and environment set-up, all the way through building a scalable web-application using domain-specific languages, Hadoop, HBase, and RabbitMQ. About the TechnologyClojure is a modern Lisp for the JVM, and it has the strengths you'd expect: first-class functions, macros, support for functional programming, and a Lisp-like, clean programming style. About this BookClojure in Action is a practical guide focused on applying Clojure to practical programming challenges. You'll start with a language tutorial written for readers who already know OOP. Then, you'll dive into the use cases where Clojure really shines: state management, safe concurrency and multicore programming, first-class code generation, and Java interop. In each chapter, you'll first explore the unique characteristics of a problem area and then discover how to tackle them using Clojure. Along the way, you'll explore practical matters like architecture, unit testing, and set-up as you build a scalable web application that includes custom DSLs, Hadoop, HBase, and RabbitMQ. What's InsideA fast-paced Clojure tutorial Creating web services with Clojure Scaling through messaging Creating DSLs with Clojure's macro system Test-driven development with Clojure Distributed programming with Clojure, and moreThis book assumes you're familiar with an OO language like Java, C#, or C++ but requires no background in Lisp or Clojure itself.================================== Table of ContentsPART 1 GETTING STARTED Introduction to Clojure A whirlwind tour Building blocks of Clojure Polymorphism with multimethods Clojure and Java interop State and the concurrent world Evolving Clojure through macros PART 2 GETTING REAL Test-driven development and more Data storage with Clojure Clojure and the web Scaling through messaging Data processing with Clojure More on functional programming Protocols, records, and type More macros and DSLs

    Targeting American utility companies, NATO, and electric grids in Eastern Europe, the strikes became ever more brazen, eventually leading to the first-ever blackouts triggered by hackers. They culminated in the summer of 2017 when malware known as NotPetya was unleashed, compromising, disrupting, and paralyzing some of the world's largest companies. At the attack's epicenter in Ukraine, ATMs froze. The railway and postal systems shut down. NotPetya spread around the world, inflicting an unprecedented ten billions of dollars in damage--the largest, most penetrating cyberattack the world had ever seen.The hackers behind these attacks are quickly gaining a reputation as the most dangerous team of cyberwarriors in the internet's history: Sandworm. Believed to be working in the service of Russia's military intelligence agency, they represent a persistent, highly skilled, state-sponsored hacking force, one whose talents are matched by their willingness to launch broad, unrestrained attacks on the most critical infrastructure of their adversaries. They target government and private sector, military and civilians alike.From WIRED senior writer Andy Greenberg comes Sandworm, the true story of the desperate hunt to identify and track those attackers. It considers the danger this force poses to our national stability and security. And as the Kremlin's role in manipulating foreign governments and sparking chaos globally comes into greater focus, Sandworm reveals the realities not just of Russia's global digital offensive, but of an era where warfare ceases to be waged on the battlefield--where the line between digital and physical conflict begins to blur, with world-shaking implications.

    But if you haven't seen the performance improvements you expected, or still don't feel confident enough to use Spark in production, this practical book is for you. Authors Holden Karau and Rachel Warren demonstrate performance optimizations to help your Spark queries run faster and handle larger data sizes, while using fewer resources.Ideal for software engineers, data engineers, developers, and system administrators working with large-scale data applications, this book describes techniques that can reduce data infrastructure costs and developer hours. Not only will you gain a more comprehensive understanding of Spark, you'll also learn how to make it sing.With this book, you'll explore:How Spark SQL's new interfaces improve performance over SQL's RDD data structureThe choice between data joins in Core Spark and Spark SQLTechniques for getting the most out of standard RDD transformationsHow to work around performance issues in Spark's key/value pair paradigmWriting high-performance Spark code without Scala or the JVMHow to test for functionality and performance when applying suggested improvementsUsing Spark MLlib and Spark ML machine learning librariesSpark's Streaming components and external community packages

    This collection of alpha males and strong heroines who tame the beast they’ll love forever is a box set you don’t want to miss. True Loves is available for a limited time. Bake This! – Tasha BlackSexy shifter Will Harkness has always enjoyed being a lone wolf. So when a voluptuous but accident-prone witch shows up for the holidays, Will is surprised to suddenly find that he wants more. If only she can stop breaking things long enough for them to get to know each other better...Protector Wolf - J.K. HarperJace Canagan has a last chance shot at being a Guardian for the Black Mesa Wolf Pack. Then sexy Caitlin Rendall strides into his life with her adorable twin cubs, challenging all his ideas of what it means to be a protector wolf.Black Velvet - Elianne AdamsWith her old pack dead and buried, wolf shifter Joy Sutherland leaves her beloved Akino lands to seek refuge with the Eryma pack of Timmins. When she discovers Warren, her new Alpha, is also a Dom with the skills to handle her, hope flares to life. But if she can't convince the rest of the pack to accept her, she--and her wolf--could lose their mate forever.Kiss Me Cowbear – Liv BrywoodWhen Jessica arrives at the Curvy Bear Ranch with her five-year-old son, she never expects to meet sexy bear shifter Clint Wilson. The ruggedly handsome cowboy is everything she ever wanted in a mate. But with a shattered marriage in her past, she's not sure she'll ever be ready to commit to someone again.Embraced – C.E. BlackLonely and more than a little depressed, Sean finds himself in a small town bar, drinking his sorrows away, knowing the woman he loves will be married the next day to her true mate. But when he meets Sarah, they're both surprised at the intense attraction they share. The night is filled with a passion neither can forget, leaving Sean wondering how he could fall for another woman he cannot have.Seduction – Elle ThorneAstra Evans is a curvy, delicious firebrand who thinks that the only good shifter is a dead shifter. With two exceptions. And Kane Ortiz is not one of those exceptions.Stormchild -Vivian ArendDoctor and shaman for the Pacific water-shifter clans, Matthew Jentry resolved to avoid the sensual temptations of his people. Until the mysterious Laurin Marshall crosses his path, and resistance ignites into a blazing night of sexual fireworks. One night is all they're willing to take, but fate has other plans...The Mighty Hunter – Michelle M. Pillow (previously released story)Caderyn is the sexiest--and perhaps craziest--man Bridget has ever laid eyes on. Sparks fly. Desires heat. But there's one small problem. He claims they're trapped in the lost city of Atlantes, living on a cursed island deep within the ocean.Pisces Phenomenon - Mandy M. Roth (previously released story, non-shifter)Detective Sirius Baron's world is full of magik, power, immortality and egos that tend to cloud better judgments. It's also full of honorable warriors who are sworn to protect the people of the Earth. Sirius is one of these warriors and will stop at nothing to protect the woman he loves.Bear's Touch- Emma AlisynA Healer who can kill with a Touch. An Alpha Bear determined to save his son. Will they clash- or will they accept their bond? When Lea reluctantly travels to a strange Clan in order to heal a dangerously injured young Bear, Alpha Yurii promises he won't try and matebond her to him. But resolve flees when he sees the snarky, curvy female for the first time. Is a fated matebond worth risking freedom- or her life?Fated and Mated - Love at First Site - Harmony RainesCassie is helping Marjorie set up the new website for her shifter online dating agency, Fated and Mated. What she never expected, was to be the first success story. Will things run smoothly? Find out in this paranormal romance, contains smoking hot shifters and a happy ever after!Run Fur Love – Catherine ValeHarley Myers can smell a shifter a mile away. And she can smell trouble, just as easily. And now, both are wrapped up in the drifter at the end of her bar. The drifter with the killer smile is a man of many secrets. If Harley isn't careful she'll find her heart is on the line, along with her life.Cry Wolf – Michele BardsleyFierce Elle wants to escape nightmarish memories. Alpha Xavier wants to claim his destined mate. Together, they must face their fears--and their enemies--to save the future of their wolf pack.V. Vaughn – When Carly's dreams about a hot guy, a bear and a tattoo call her, she answers. With her best friend by her side, Carly goes on the adventure of a lifetime and finds more than the love of her life. She finds the warrior who is ready to come out.

    It starts by explaining how message queuing works, its history, and how RabbitMQ fits in. Then it shows you real-world examples you can apply to your own scalability and interoperability challenges.About the TechnologyThere's a virtual switchboard at the core of most large applications where messages race between servers, programs, and services. RabbitMQ is an efficient and easy-to-deploy queue that handles this message traffic effortlessly in all situations, from web startups to massive enterprise systems.About the BookRabbitMQ in Action teaches you to build and manage scalable applications in multiple languages using the RabbitMQ messaging server. It's a snap to get started. You'll learn how message queuing works and how RabbitMQ fits in. Then, you'll explore practical scalability and interoperability issues through many examples. By the end, you'll know how to make Rabbit run like a well-oiled machine in a 24 x 7 x 365 environment.Written for developers familiar with Python, PHP, Java, .NET, or any other modern programming language. No RabbitMQ experience required. Purchase of the print book comes with an offer of a free PDF, ePub, and Kindle eBook from Manning. Also available is all code from the book. What's InsideLearn fundamental messaging design patternsUse patterns for on-demand scalabilityGlue a PHP frontend to a backend written in anythingImplement a PubSub-alerting service in 30 minutes flatConfigure RabbitMQ's built-in clusteringMonitor, manage, extend, and tune RabbitMQ========================================​====Table of ContentsPulling RabbitMQ out of the hatUnderstanding messagingRunning and administering RabbitSolving problems with Rabbit: coding and patternsClustering and dealing with failureWriting code that survives failureWarrens and Shovels: failover and replicationAdministering RabbitMQ from the WebControlling Rabbit with the REST APIMonitoring: Houston, we have a problemSupercharging and securing your RabbitSmart Rabbits: extending RabbitMQ

    Every piece of the web application stack, from HTTP requests to browser-side scripts, comes with important yet subtle security consequences. To keep users safe, it is essential for developers to confidently navigate this landscape.In The Tangled Web, Michal Zalewski, one of the world's top browser security experts, offers a compelling narrative that explains exactly how browsers work and why they're fundamentally insecure. Rather than dispense simplistic advice on vulnerabilities, Zalewski examines the entire browser security model, revealing weak points and providing crucial information for shoring up web application security. You'll learn how to:Perform common but surprisingly complex tasks such as URL parsing and HTML sanitization Use modern security features like Strict Transport Security, Content Security Policy, and Cross-Origin Resource Sharing Leverage many variants of the same-origin policy to safely compartmentalize complex web applications and protect user credentials in case of XSS bugs Build mashups and embed gadgets without getting stung by the tricky frame navigation policy Embed or host user-supplied content without running into the trap of content sniffing For quick reference, "Security Engineering Cheat Sheets" at the end of each chapter offer ready solutions to problems you're most likely to encounter. With coverage extending as far as planned HTML5 features, The Tangled Web will help you create secure web applications that stand the test of time.