Antonio Gaudí: Master Architect


Juan Bassegoda Nonell - 2000
    The text covers the full range of his oeuvre, describing early assignments in the 1870s as a draftsman for leading architects in Barcelona, the innovative buildings he created for the Güell Palace and Estate, daring new structural solutions at Bellesguard, architecture inspired by nature at the Casa Calvet and in the Park Güell, and the construction of his unfinished masterpiece, the Church of the Sagrada Familia, which occupied him until his death. The author traces all the influences that led to his definitive style, from his fascination with the Orient and neogothicism to his affinity for naturalism and specific geometric forms.Brilliantly illustrated, this incisive overview of Gaudí's visionary work is ideal for those who delight in his architecture as well as those who look forward to traveling to Spain to see his monumental legacy.

The Miscreant


Brock E. Deskins - 2014
    Unable to tolerate his self-destructive ways, his mother sells him into indentured servitude as part of work crew building the King Remiel’s new trade road. When mercenaries sent to disrupt the road’s construction attacks his work camp, Garran discovers an inner power capable of turning him into a warrior of unparalleled ability. Recognizing Garran as being one of the transcended (a fighter able to slip into the swifter currents of time), he is trained as an agent, one of the kingdom’s elite spies. Crude, abrasive, and deeply committed to destroying himself with drugs, alcohol, and debauchery, Garran might be the kingdom’s only hope against falling to The Guild, the powerful trade cartel bent on becoming the true and undisputed power in the land.

The Betania Breed Series: Books 1-4


Jenny Foster - 2018
     Let yourself be carried away to a grandiose SciFi world. With this COMPLETE collection you are holding all four Betania Breed SciFi romance novels in your hands – and mysterious background material is included. In over 800 pages, you will be up close and personal on an adventurous and dramatic voyage through the universe. The Captive Betania Breed Book One I am one of the few people who hasn’t given up the fight against the Sethari yet. I would rather die than surrender to the aliens who have enslaved us humans for more than one hundred years. Then the unthinkable happens: I am awarded to the leader of the aliens, so I can bear him healthy, viable children. I am prepared for anything, except this one thing – that this merciless warrior, with his strange eyes and scaly skin, would awaken feelings in me... The Prey Betania Breed Book Two Johar is the most merciless and successful bounty hunter there is. His reputation is legendary, for he has never let any prey slip through his fingers. His creator’s beautiful daughter hates Johar and lets him feel it every waking minute. But Johar knows something about her that nobody else knows. Not even she herself... The book takes place a few months after the events of book 1. The Human Betania Breed Book Three Talon Delkhari was the mightiest warlord of his people, until he dared to contradict his king. Instead of granting him an honorable death in the fight against their enemies, the king made him his chamberlain. His newest conquest is from Earth. He won her in a game, and Talon is supposed to deliver her safely to his bed. An easy assignment for someone like Talon. That’s what he thought, anyway, until this human woman awakens the predator lurking under his skin… The book takes place a few years after the events of book 2. The Dragon Betania Breed Book Four The fourth volume takes place shortly after the events in book 3. Coran Burke is an elite undercover agent from Earth. The tough and emotionless fighter has never failed. His new mission leads him to Dassuria where he is pursuing a dangerous dragon lord. At the center of his investigation is a woman who has a lot to hide - but despite her entanglement with the dragon lord, Coran can’t get her out of his head... Dark. Powerful. Sexy. This will be a ride you won't want to miss. * * * A SciFi Alien Alpha Romance Collection. Book 1-4 of the Betania Breed Series. * * * Warning: Intended for mature audiences only. Length: Total over 800+ pages

Pawn Power in Chess


Hans Kmoch - 1959
    The proper use of pawns — of paramount importance in chess strategy — sometimes even puzzles experienced players. This profoundly original and stimulating book by an International Master and prolific chess writer offers superb instruction in pawn play by isolating its elements and elaborating on various aspects. After a lucid exposition of the fundamentals and the basic formations of one or two pawns that virtually constitute the keys to winning chess strategy, the reader is shown a multitude of examples demonstrating the paramount significance of elements of pawn manipulation. The author’s masterly explanation makes it perfectly clear to the beginner as well as the advanced player how the fate of a game depends on pawn formation and how pawn power holds the proceedings under its remote control. Over 180 games and diagrams illustrate the author’s theory and make it easy to follow the points made in the text.Hans Kmoch played with distinction in several international tournaments and is the author of a number of books and columns on chess and chess tournaments.“We consider it the best publication on chess strategy since the end of World War II.” — Die Welt.

Chess Bitch: Women in the Ultimate Intellectual Sport


Jennifer Shahade - 2005
    Chess Bitch, written by the 2004 U.S. Woman's Chess Champion, is an eye-opening account of how today's young female chess players are successfully knocking down the doors to this traditionally male game, infiltrating the male-owned sporting subculture of international chess, and giving the phrase "play like a girl" a whole new meaning. Through interviews with and observation of the young globetrotting women chess players who challenge male domination, Chess Bitch shines a harsh light on the game's gender bias. For those who think of chess as two people sitting quietly across a table, Shahade paints a colorful world that most chess fans never knew existed.

Conquer


Aron Stone - 2018
    No pressure. The game is Conquer, played for the king's amusement by the most notorious criminals and ambitious lordlings. Aron Stone, street rat turned commander of the king's First Legion, doesn't have patience for pointless games. But when a series of unfortunate events earns him the king's ire, he is forced to participate. Armed with a ragtag troop of dwarves, a beautiful but short-tempered sorceress, and a doting mistress, Aron must grow his forces, locate valuable weapons and magical artifacts, and win the day. Only complete victory will allow him to escape the arena and get his revenge. Disclaimer: This book has medieval cursing including shite and arse, sex with tavern wenches, drunken dwarves, creatures that want to eat your head off, sex with multiple women on multiple occasions, dark-magic wielding magicians, and more sex with various races including faeries, elves and others of the author's invention. The novel is not meant for people under the age of 18.

Tactics Time! 1001 Chess Tactics from the Games of Everyday Chess Players


Tim Brennan - 2012
    Although it is great to play games for entertainment, many chess players want to take their game to the next level. But that is not that easy. Just playing might improve your chess proficiency, but it does not improve your problem solving skills, as that requires different thinking processes. To develop those processes, you need strategies developed by chess experts.Here is your Chance!Meet Tim and Anthea.They know what it takes to bring chess to the next level, as they have done that for themselves. How? Through the use of chess tactics. And NOW... it is your turn!Let Tim and Anthea assist you in improving your chess game by using their specially developed Chess Tactics ebook. This is not just another tactics books, as Tim and Anthea have perfected their ebook by learning from the mistakes other chess authors made. The great part of Tactics Time! 1001 Chess Tactics from the Games of Everyday Chess Players is that:it is error FREE and double checked!it contains original tactics 100% new;it consists of tactics from real chess players.Many chess books have cool problems and patterns that really are rare and unrealistic, and not needed. Although these are fun to play, they are not really the best way to improve your chess game. That is why this book is different as Tim and Anthea want you to focus on getting good at playing patterns that happen all the time.But that is not all. Tim and Anthea have chosen to make their ebook very easy to read, leaving out unnecessary information or page fillers. You will see one chess problem per page, with the solution presented to you on the next page. No more need to skip back and forth through the whole book to find that brain wrecking solution.If the following applies to you...You want to improve your game to win;You want to enjoy chess tactics from real games;You are frustrated with other chess tactics books;You have a busy life and are looking for a quick and proven way to improve;You enjoy chess and want to teach chess tactics to others,...then Tactics Time! 1001 Chess Tactics is definitely the right chess book for you.Buy Tactics Time! 1001 Chess Tactics from the Games of Everyday Chess Players today to improve your chess game one tactic at a time.

Chess Tactics for Champions: A step-by-step guide to using tactics and combinations the Polgar way


Susan Polgar - 2006
    Her use of tactics, combinations, and strategy during her games gave her the critical advantage she needed against her opponents. In Chess Tactics for Champions, Polgar gives insight into the kind of thinking that chess champions rely on while playing the game, specifically the ability to recognize patterns and combinations. With coauthor Paul Truong, Susan Polgar teaches the tactics she learned from her father, Laszlo Polgar, one of the world's best chess coaches.• Teaches players how to calculate the effect of a move in order to gain an edge over an opponent• For intermediate to advanced chess players of all ages

Capablanca's Best Chess Endings


Irving Chernev - 1978
    José Raúl Capablanca (1888–1942) had no need for isolated artistic theory or compositions — he composed and created chess art as he played. All of his genius — intuitive, tactical, strategic, logical — all of his art shines clearest in his endings, as he himself was proud to declare, advising others to study them carefully. "In order to improve your game," he said, "you must study the endgame before anything else; for whereas the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middle game and the opening must be studied in relation to the endgame."The best way to follow Capablanca's advice is through this — the only book devoted to his great endings, 60 complete games emphasizing the grand finale but annotated throughout.Irving Chernev communicates in his notes the mystery and wonder as well as the delight in discovering again and again the original, fertile mind of chess's greatest born player. "Virtuoso," "exquisite," "profound," "inspired," "elegant," and "fiendish ingenuity" describe match and tournament games and endings against Alekhine, Steiner, Marshall, Nimzowitsch, Lasker, Réti, and others, the best in the contemporary chess world. Capablanca's eleventh game in the 1901 Cuban championship (which he won, aged 12) "surpasses any accomplishment by such other prodigies as Morphy, Reshevsky, and Fischer." From age 12 through the last game in the book (nearly four decades later against Reshevsky at Nottingham, 1936), Capablanca fashions endgames in tense tournament atmosphere that seem like delicate, precise instruments dreamt at leisure.Here then is the essence of Capablanca, analyzed for the instruction of players and the pleasure of chess connoisseurs. Included are indexes of openings, themes in the endings, and opponents, as well as a bibliography and record of tournament and match play. Capablanca: for players, the epitome of the endgame; for readers, a classic chess study.

Truth


Prax Venter - 2019
    He doesn’t know that his mind is purely digital, he doesn’t know he is only a copy of the original, and he certainly doesn’t remember Sasha’s betrayal. When his personal assistant in sex-demon form breaks into the game world, scarred from her own ordeals and professing her remorse, Jezebel has no choice but to make another deal. With Mark still wondering what the hell is going on, they both agree to share him as they explore the new world Jezebel has created to acclimate his human mind to its new existence as pure energy. The Mark 2.0 series contains graphic sex. Length ~ 108,300 words

Psychobitches


Jamie Hawke - 2018
    More like a bounty hunter, but I still put a foot up the @$$ of injustice and bring criminals down. Only, this time things didn't go as planned. This time, as I was delivering my criminals to be placed in the Abaddon Asylum, everything fell apart when an uprising tore down the system and led to my ship exploding before I could get out of there. Now it's up to me and some sexy lady allies (and then some!) I've teamed up with along the way to put things right. But we're not just going to stop the uprising. Our mission goes much deeper than that, into the planet itself where all manner of horrors await. Oh, and we call ourselves the Psychobitches. And yeah, I f@cking own it like a crown. NOTE: Read on, friend, if you're a fan of explosions galore, superpowers and leveling up, monster girls and tiny fairies who are all freaks in the sheets, and crazy ladies who could just as easily slit your throat as bring you to the point of more bliss than you've ever thought possible. Take it, it's yours!

The Westerfield Trilogy


Renee Rose - 2014
    The Westerfield Trilogy includes: The Westerfield Affair Reserved to the point of being aloof, Lord Westerfield never attended balls or even considered taking a wife... until he met Miss Kitty Stanley and his orderly world turned on end. Determined to have the beautiful and animated sister of his friend from the gambling hall, but doubting his ability to effectively court her, Westerfield strikes a bargain with her brother for her hand.When the gentlemen present Kitty with the deal, she is furious with them both for neglecting to consult her, but her brother insists he will withdraw his support if she does not comply. Angry, she acts out at a ball, causing a scandal that mushrooms further when Lord Westerfield drags her unchaperoned to his home for a firm spanking.Upon baring her for chastisement, Westerfield is swept away by desire, and before he can stop himself he has completed the ruin of her reputation. He offers to release her from the betrothal contract, but her brother insists instead on a hasty marriage. As they attempt to recover from the scandal, their marriage is clouded by his shame and her insecurities. Will they have the courage to move past their rough beginning to kindle the passion they both crave? The Reddington Scandal When Phoebe's brother-in-law catches the notorious rake Lord Fenton in his home late at night, half-dressed and obviously attempting escape, he flies into a rage. In a desperate measure to avert bloodshed, Phoebe claims she is Lord Fenton's lover, thereby forcing him to take her as his wife to avoid a scandal.Knowing full well a philanderer like Teddy Fenton could never remain faithful, Phoebe intends to resist his charm rather than fall in love. Her handsome husband respects her request for a marriage in name only, but his marital dominance manifests itself in other ways. She soon learns that while he will not force her to his bed, Teddy is more than willing to take her over his knee and spank her bare bottom when her behavior warrants it.Teddy had never intended to take a wife, but upon having wed Phoebe, he is perplexed to discover that he now wants nothing more than to win the affection of his new bride. But just when it seems he might succeed, secrets from her past threaten to destroy their chance at happiness. Can this couple come to love one another as befits a man and wife, or will their marriage end in scandal after all? The Darlington Incident When spymaster John Andrews receives word that plans are afoot to sell England's secrets to her enemies during the Ides of March ball at the Westerfield Estate, he is determined to bring an end to this treasonous game. Posing as a gentleman by the name of Lord Darlington to stake out the event, he is ready for anything as he mingles with the members of the ton... except falling for his prime suspect, the lovely wallflower Miss Eliza Hunt, in whose trunk the secret documents are soon found.After new evidence leads him to believe Eliza may be innocent, John cannot wait to catch the traitors, clear her of all suspicion, and then ask for her hand. Though he fears he is not the sort of man worth having as a husband, he knows that if he wants Eliza as his own he will need to face the demons of his past and lay claim to the title and the birthright he abandoned long ago.Eliza knows Lord Darlington is not the gentleman he purports to be, but he is the first man to see beyond the birthmark on her face and treat her like a beautiful woman.

Chess for Zebras


Jonathan Rowson - 2003
    This book assists all players in their efforts to improve, and provides fresh insights into the opening and early middlegame.Rowson presents many new ideas on how Black should best combat White's early initiative, and make use of the extra information that he gains as a result of moving second. For instance, he shows that in some cases a situation he calls 'Zugzwang Lite' can arise, where White finds himself lacking any constructive moves. He also takes a close look at the theories of two players who, in differing styles, have specialized in championing Black's cause: Mihai Suba and Andras Adorjan. Readers are also equipped with a 'mental toolkit' that will enable them to handle many typical over-the-board situations with greater success, and avoid a variety of psychological pitfalls.Chess for Zebras offers fresh insights into human idiosyncrasies in all phases of the game. The depth and breadth of this book will therefore help players to appreciate chess at a more profound level, and make steps towards sustained and significant improvement.

Galaxy's Edge, Part III


Jason Anspach - 2018
    But the galaxy is spiraling into all-out war.Captain Chhun's Dark Ops squad is reunited with Wraith. When their mission to deny Goth Sulluss the shipyards he so eagerly desires goes awry, Chhun and Wraith must find a way to stop the Black Fleet's advance - even if it costs them their lives.Meanwhile, an old friend from Nether Ops executes a covert operation that will turn the focus of the Last War of the Republic in a terrible new direction.Following Goth Sullus's ruthless onslaughts against the Republic, a desperate House of Reason searches for scapegoats - and finds one, deserving or not, in Commander Ellek Owens. His sentence is cruel, unjust - and final. Unless Victory Squad has anything to say about it.In the Umnar system, the soulless menace known as the Cybar seeks to break Prisma Maydoon - and to set the stage for the total annihilation of not only the Republic, but all life in the galaxy.

Star Force: Lost Destiny


Aer-ki Jyr - 2016
    Their father was murdered, leaving them sitting in their spaceship waiting for his return. They remember almost nothing from before that time, when two Calavari who were business associates of their father took them in and told them they could never be seen outside their full body armor. They've honored their father's dying wish, living and working on the Calavari's farm while exploring the barren wastelands looking for bits of technological salvage from the time before the great cataclysm. They don't know they're Human, just that they're different and they can't show their skin in pubic. The two siblings have lived almost their entire lives in their self-styled body armor and dream of leaving the farm and doing something that mattered...but there's nowhere to go. Nothing to do. Then one day that all changes and Esna is set forth on a rollercoaster ride of a life she could never have expected once the word 'Human' is once again spoken on the planet...only its a word of rage and fear, with the local aliens trying to kill whoever it is applied to, though they've never seen one before. Regardless, the word is tagged to her and she must run...with a little help. -------------- Excerpt from 'Lost Destiny': “Donovan!” he called out, running towards him with plodding footsteps as his nose picked up the scent of burnt flesh even before he saw the hole in the chest plate of the full body armor the man wore. Whatever race he was his blood flowed a sickly red, a fact that he’d prefer to not have known as he leaned over and gripped the man’s shoulders, prying him up into a sitting position. “What happened?” A shaking hand rose up to the neck of his armor, fumbling for the latch that Yammar finally helped him with. The helmet cracked opened with a hiss and the Calavari helped him pull it off, revealing the pale skin beneath that had alarmingly become even more so, now nearly white. “Gladers,” he said, wincing horribly as he half bent over. “Jumped me from behind. I got two of them, but the third…” “Where’s the latch for the chest piece?” Yammar asked, pulling back the cloak that covered most of the hard plates as he looked, but the man took a death grip on his lower arm and locked eyes with him. “My children. In the ship. You have to…please. I’m all they’ve got. They’re dead without you.” “Where’s the latch?” he repeated, searching around with his other three hands and finally finding something that looked promising. He pressed and turned the small button, being rewarded with another hiss as a crack formed along the side beneath the man’s left arm, but suddenly that arm went straight to Yammar’s giant head and gripped it tightly, forcing him to look into the dying man’s eyes. “Promise me. Promise me…” he said, wincing again. “I don’t know anything about your race,” Yammar said, feeling helpless. “Good…” the man spat in a cough but no blood came out of his mouth, though it was continuing to pour out of his chest and seep down over his waistband plates in spurts every time he jerked in pain. “Good. Don’t ask questions…just…make sure they wear armor…in public. Promise me.” “I promise.