Like Polaroids framing the years of a troubadour and family man afflicted with an excess of self-awareness, these are stories without any clear good guys or bad guys. Instead, in each of these vignettes, you will find dysfunctional humans trying to do their best and bouncing off each other in the process.

    Today, we hear stories of over-worked midwives and short-staffed hospitals, but the truth is that childbirth has never been easier. For our grandmothers, pregnancy was a journey into the unknown. Rather than ponder which pushchair to buy or fret over towelling versus disposable nappies, they worried about what lay ahead. Home births were often lonely affairs with the midwife or doctor only visiting when birth was imminent. During hospital births, medical staff rarely gave explanations and would push and prod with little offer of pain relief let alone sympathy. Standard care in labour was the O.B.E. - Oil, Bath and Enema. Nursing staff gave firm rules on how long to stay in bed, how to lie in bed and even when to go to the toilet. And life didn't get much easier after giving birth. Taking care of a home and baby was hard work when there were few washing machines, no disposable nappies and heating came from coal carried in from the back yard.

    Manipulating the world's most powerful warriors like pawns on a chessboard, can she stave off the coming doom, or will her actions serve as the trigger for the Dragon Apocalypse? DRAGON APOCALYPSE: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION, gathers all four novels of the critically acclaimed series by James Maxey, author of the bestselling BITTERWOOD series. It also includes the novella GREATSHADOW: ORIGINS, the story that provided the inspiration for the novels. GREATSHADOW Infidel is a legendary sword-for-hire, enchanted with impervious skin and the strength of ten men. When her closest companion dies, she decides to retire in style by stealing the treasure horde of the dragon Greatshadow. To do so, she joins an expedition organized by the Church of the Book, who’ve assembled a team of the world’s most dangerous mercenaries to kill the dragon. With half the rogues on the team dreaming of taking the treasure for themselves, can she survive her own companions long enough to fight the dragon? HUSH Infidel must travel to the frozen wastes to fulfill a promise made to a dying friend. When she stumbles across a plot by the Hush, the primal dragon of cold, to murder Glorious, the dragon of the sun, will she be able to save the world from the darkness of an eternal winter? WITCHBREAKER Long ago, Stark Tower, the Witchbreaker, used his hell-forged sword to destroy the kingdom of the witch-queen Avaris. Now, a young woman named Sorrow is on a quest to recover all the lost secrets of witchcraft, and has tapped into the power of Rott, the primal dragon of death, for the might needed to fight her numerous enemies. In the ruins of the land once ruled by Avaris, she discovers a sleeping knight who awakens with no memory of his past, who proves to be a warrior of unmatched skills. They must work together to reach Avaris in her abode in the realms of the dead. But is Sorrow’s new ally secretly her greatest enemy, the long-vanished Witchbreaker? CINDER It’s the end of the world! Twenty years after the attack on Greatshadow, the primal dragon Tempest has torn down the gates of Hell, unleashing an army of the damned onto a world already in ruins from blizzards, floods, and earthquakes. Infidel’s daughter Cinder was born with the power to walk between the realms of the living and the dead. Can she rescue Sorrow and her allies from Hell in time to defend the last stronghold of mankind from the assembled dragons? ‘This one is worth reading right now.' Orson Scott Card on Greatshadow 'Greatshadow's level 30+ adventure is charming, not po-faced, with a group of flawed, quick-witted and oddball adventurers that are equally comfortable with set-piece battle and rapid fire sarcasm.' Pornokitsch on Greatshadow 'A magnificently entertaining romp bursting with charm.' SFX on Greatshadow

    Then, one day, her doctor told her she had malignant melanoma—a cancer that leads to more deaths for women between the age of 25 and 30 than any other—and her life was forever changed. Pale Girl Speaks is the darkly funny story of Fogelson’s neuroses and struggles after her diagnosis with melanoma. In her witty, wisecracking narrative, Fogelson recounts how her battle with cancer brings up other issues in her life that she’s been ignoring, especially her anxieties about her relationship with her husband, her friends, and her parents. The apprehension she feels soon manifests itself in more concrete ways—panic attacks, heavy reliance on alcohol, and a compulsive need to constantly check in with her doctor—but when her father discovers that he has melanoma as well, Fogelson has to learn to lead by example and let go of her fear. A story that will appeal to anyone who has faced adversity and lived to tell jokes about it, Pale Girl Speaks is about one woman who experienced the worst possible fallout of being fair-skinned—and survived with her sense of humor intact.

    Coles. Two orphaned sisters, facing a future of want and loneliness, quarrel when the older sister, responsible for her dependent teenage sibling, repudiates her sister's affair with a political activist--older and unacceptable--she bonds with on the internet. Can adolescent love ever transcend innocently ignored incompatibility to evolve into a valued family relationship in rural southern America? Can a sister forced into a role of a surrogate parent convince her sister to denounce her attraction for a rouge male religiously, socially, and historically unsuited for marriage without a destructive severance of duty and caring?

    A lot of suffering happens in this world, but when it involves a child, it touches everyone all the more and it is tolerated all the less. Empty Cradle is the writer’s personal recollection of the time leading up to and surrounding the abduction of her newborn infant, just days before Christmas. This story is based on a true crime - dates, times, and details were researched from media sources, court documents, and police records. A timeline of the mother and the kidnapper are shown separately, from childhood to adulthood, until the two paths crossed, resulting in a cataclysmic event that will leave the reader anxiously awaiting the final outcome.

    But some sins refuse to stay buried and Kain finds himself fighting not only a ruthless nemesis from his shadowy past, but also the scars on his soul, which are torn open by the arrival of a woman from his past. With its full-auto pace, high-powered action, and raw emotion, The Assassin's Prayer is a relentless tale of redemption for those who know that bullets sometimes speak louder than words.

    Proctor has always done the time-honoured work of generations of upcoast men—hand-logging, fishing, clam digging, repairing boats, beachcombing.But Billy eventually began to notice that the thriving runs of Pacific salmon, oolichans, and herring that he remembers from his early years were vanishing—some to near extinction—and he understood that it was time to take action.Heart of the Raincoast is the fascinating story of Billy Proctor’s life, and the wealth of knowledge and understanding that can only be gained from living in such close proximity to nature. The writing is funny, touching and honest—and offers an engaging insider’s view not only of the salmon, whales, eagles and independent people who populate Canada’s wild and lovely coastal rainforest, but on what we need to do to keep it as nature intended.

    

    

    Something has happened. It's about your country and mine. It's serious-believe me. Come!" Ed Diamond, investigative reporter for "Focus," America's preeminent TV news show, is summoned urgently to Israel by an old friend, Dov Ben-Ami, formerly a top official of Israel's Mossad. But before they can meet, a terrorist bomb blows Dov apart. Determined to discover why the Israeli was killed, Diamond embarks on the most astonishing investigation he's ever undertaken. From the Dead Sea to the Old City of Jerusalem, to Tel Aviv and Paris, Washington and New York, he attempts to unravels an on-going mystery that began with the nefarious links between America's greatest corporations and Hitler's Third Reich. In the end, Ed attempts to thwart a deadly terrorist attack on Manhattan. He's pitted against one of the U.S.'s most powerful families, and a fanatical group of right-wing Israelis, ready to kill to protect a World War II intelligence coup that is still Israel's most potent weapon and most closely guarded secret, "The Watchman's File.

    Drinking wine is fun. Until it isn’t. Jackie refuses to believe she has problem, after all she doesn’t live under a bridge, she is still quite thin (and therefore healthy), and is quite able to function! But Jackie’s “Drunken Magical Thinking” is propelling her towards disaster. Her life is starting to disintegrate. The party really comes to end when Jackie starts to have blackouts. Not “falling down drunk” blackouts, but complete gaps in her memory after drinking only a few glasses. She can’t recall conversations, phone calls, and most nights, she can’t remember going to bed. Jackie’s love affair with Wine must come to an End. 'Sober Ever After' is not a "Dead Drunk in a Ditch" sensational story - it's part memoir, part self help guide from an ordinary woman who fell for the Big Con - that alcohol is not only harmless and fun, but we can't live without it.  'Sober Ever After' is for everyone who has the vague nagging worry that there must be more to life than chardonnay, cable and the couch.

    When she was eight, the spirit of her deceased grandfather helped her escape from a would-be kidnapper. This captivating, powerful memoir is filled with unforgettable scenes: spot-on predictions, countless spirit visits at home and school, menacing paranormal activity, and Kristy's first meeting with two spirit guides who became her constant allies. Born into a strict religious family, Kristy believed she was cursed and hid her psychic abilities for many years. Over time, she learned to use her talent to do good in the world, and now she has decided to share her incredible story. Follow Kristy's emotional journey through a difficult childhood, stormy marriages, conflict with faith, job loss, and illness--and the hard-won lessons that opened her heart to true love and acceptance of her unique gift.

    It has been five long years since his life was turned on its head, but against all odds he continues to cling to life.Every day since the plague has been a battle for survival. With no family and no companion he wanders the empty streets of his desolate home town as a way to pass the lonely days, his familiar surroundings his only reminder of a more normal time. By sticking with little deviation to a daily routine he attempts to retard the erosion of his sanity. Growing used to his new existence, and never expecting change, how would he react if he knew that, just around the corner, another life-shattering change awaits him?

    It follows the author, Seng Ty, from the age of seven as he is plucked from his comfortable, middle-class home in a Phnom Penh suburb, marched along a blistering, black strip of highway into the jungle, and thrust headlong into the unspeakable barbarities of an agricultural labor camp. Seng's mother was worked to death while his siblings succumbed to starvation. His oldest brother was brought back from France and tortured in the secret prison of Tuol Sleng. His family's only survivor and a mere child, Seng was forced to fend for himself, navigating the brainwashing campaigns and random depravities of the Khmer Rouge, determined to survive so he could bear witness to what happened in the camp. The Years of Zero guides the reader through the author's long, desperate periods of harrowing darkness, each chapter a painting of cruelty, caprice, and courage. It follows Seng as he sneaks mice and other living food from the rice paddies where he labors, knowing that the penalty for such defiance is death. It tracks him as he tries to escape into the jungle, only to be dragged back to his camp and severely beaten. Through it all, Seng finds a way to remain whole both in body and in mind. He rallies past torture, betrayal, disease and despair, refusing at every juncture to surrender to the murderers who have stolen everything he had. As The Years of Zero concludes, the reader will have lived what Seng lived, risked what he risked, endured what he endured, and finally celebrate with him his unlikeliest of triumphs.