There, it's said " Maps not only show the world, they help it turn. On an average day, we will consult some form of map approximately a dozen times, often without even noticing: checking the A-Z, the road atlas, or the Sat Nav, scanning the tube or bus map, a quick Google online, or hours wasted flying over a virtual Earth, navigating a way around a shopping center, watching the weather forecast, planning a walk or a trip, catching up on the news, booking a holiday or hotel. Maps pepper logos, advertisements, illustrations, books, web pages, and newspaper and magazine articles: they are a cipher for every area of human existence. At a stroke, they convey precise information about topography, layout, history, politics, and power. They are the unsung heroes of life, and this guide sings their song. There are some fine, dry tomes out there about the history and development of cartography: this is not one of them. This exploration mixes wry observation with hard fact and considerable research, unearthing the offbeat, the unusual, and the downright pedantic in a celebration of all things maps. In "Map Addict," we learn the location of what has officially been named by the OS as the most boring square kilometer in the land; we visit the town fractured into dozens of little parcels of land split between two different countries and trek around many other weird borders of Britain and Europe; we test the theories that the new city of Milton Keynes was built to a pagan alignment and that women can't read maps. Combining history, travel, politics, memoir, and oblique observation in a highly readable, and often very funny, style, Mike Parker confesses how his own impressive map collection was founded on a virulent teenage shoplifting habit, ponders how a good leftie can be so gung-ho about British cartographic imperialism, and wages a one-man war against the moronic blandishments of the Sat Nav age.

    Hard earned Ivy League education? Check.Dream career in New York City? Check.Swoon worthy fiancé, who is heir to billions? Also, check. Until my life collapsed like a clapboard house in a blizzard. I retreat to my small hometown of Holiday Springs, where life is like a snow globe, feeling like all of my failings are on full display. Once I get my bearings straight, I’ll trade my old snow boots for brand new stilettos and strut back to New York City. Nothing seems to go right until I meet a hot, British, single father with an adorable son. He may be too good to be true. As Holiday Springs transforms into a winter wonderland, so does my belief that this Christmas I may receive the greatest gift of all: Love.

     Laurel's New Beginning : Laurel knew true love, and lost it when her fiancé was killed in a riding accident. Now, her younger sister is in love and wants to be married. But, as Laurel is the elder sister, their father refuses to let Priscilla be married first. Out of equal parts loyalty to her sister, and the understanding that she’ll never again know the love she once had, Laurel answers an advertisement in the Matrimonial Times. Now, she’s in a town far from her family with Derek Binder, the handsome, grieving widower, living as his servant and waiting to be his wife.

    FBI Agent Ava James had a difficult entrance into the FBI.After shadowing famed agent Emma Griffin inside the disturbing underbelly of Windsor Island. Ava James is now ready to carve out her own path in the agency.But before she dives into the case awaiting her in Harlan, she receives an invitation to attend a special gala weekend.A gala honoring her aunt who has devoted her life to charity.Although still recovering from the shocking aftermath of the last island she attended.Ava does her best to put her best foot forward for the sake of her aunt.When a strange suicide mars the special event, it’s Ava that starts questioning what she sees. As the secrets of the Foundation start to bubble to the surface, Ava faces the realization that she may be more than just an invited guest.Truth, lies, and consequences.The only way off this island may be death...

    It is about the life of Trip Fisher. Fisher's Light should be read before Worth the Trip***It’s time for me to tell my story.I know I’m a coward for waiting this long to explain my side of things. I know I should have tried long before now to make amends. There’s nothing like staring right at death’s door to put a fire under your ass. I’m going to die with enough regrets to fill ten notebooks and that’s a tough pill to swallow, but when I meet my maker, I want to be able to hold my head high with the knowledge that at least I confronted all of those regrets.The Life and Times of Trip FisherI’m sorry, I love you, please forgive me.

    

    Things are going good until, Derrick is forced to make a tough decision that could change his family's lives forever. He knows the wrong decision could start an all out war with men ten times more powerful than him. With so much on his plate, Derrick has to push his emotions to the side and remember that business is business.

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

    The perfect place for murder... Molly Higgins never expected to be caught up in a murder investigation. All she'd hoped for this year was to work hard, save enough money to open her very own café on the Cornish coast and avoid her ex, Conor Blackstone, who has just arrived back in the village. But when she and Conor discover a body on the cliffside in Port Trevan they are thrown once more together. Molly is keen to leave the mystery to the police, but when she finds herself their top suspect, Molly has no choice but to catch the killer herself - before it is too late.

    Then from it, nearly overnight, emerged one of the world's largest and most iconic cities. The birth and evolution of Los Angeles--its seemingly impossible, meteoric rise--can be attributed largely to three ingenious but deeply flawed people. D.W. Griffith, the early film pioneer who first conceived of feature-length movies, gave Hollywood its industry. Aimee Semple McPherson, a young evangelist and radio preacher, infused the city with its spiritual identity as a hub for reinvention. And William Mulholland, an Irish immigrant turned ditch-digger turned autodidactic engineer, would design the massive aqueduct that made survival in the harsh climate feasible.But while Mulholland, Griffith, and Semple McPherson were all masters of their craft, each would self-destruct in spectacular fashion. D.W. Griffith, led by his ballooning ego, would go on to produce a string of commercial failures; Semple McPherson would be crucified in the tabloids for fabricating an account of her own kidnapping; and a dam designed by Mulholland would fail just hours after he gave it a safety inspection.Spanning from 1904 to 1930, The Mirage Factory is the enthralling tale of an improbable city and the people who willed it into existence by pushing the limits of human engineering and peddling fantasies.

    Hal SpacejockAn incompetent space pilot, a massive debt and a twenty-four hour deadline...Freighter pilot Hal Spacejock has a life to die for: His very own cargo ship, a witty and intelligent flight computer ... and a debt so big it makes the GFC look like a rounding error.Hal's an upright sort of guy, and he won't take jobs from gun runners, drug smugglers or politicians. On the other hand, the finance company's brutal enforcer is on his doorstep, and Hal has barely twenty-four hours to pay him off. Miss the deadline and he - and his ship - will go under. Way, way, under.Faced with an impossible choice, Hal chooses an impossible job ... and gains an impossible new co-pilot into the bargain.Hal Spacejock is the first novel in the Hal Spacejock series (80,000 words, approx 350 pages)2. Hal Spacejock: Second CourseRex Curtis is trying to save his freight company from bankruptcy, and the last thing he needs is a cheeky freelancer stealing his best customers.Hal Spacejock, cheeky freelancer, is fighting for survival in the cut-throat interstellar cargo business. The last thing he needs is a powerful enemy.Two headstrong men on a collision course, in a Galaxy barely room enough for one.Hal Spacejock: Second Course is book two in the Hal Spacejock series. (80,000 words, approx 350 pages)3. Hal Spacejock Just DessertsPlanet Cathua has a proud history where robots are concerned. Their legendary factories produced the best, the fastest, the most efficient robots in the Galaxy ... but no longer.Now they must go cap in hand to neighbouring planets, haggling and bartering for the very  robots they used to be so famous for.One Cathuan patriot is determined to reverse this embarrassing situation, and Hal Spacejock lands in the middle of his sinister plot ...Hal Spacejock: Just Desserts is book three in the Hal Spacejock series. (80,000 words, approx  350 pages)Plus ... Hal Spacejock: VisitHal returns to his ship after a shopping expedition, and finds Clunk in a right old state. Break out the crayons and colouring sheets ... they're booked in for a school visit!Hal and Clunk, stars of the Hal Spacejock comedy series, feature in this 3500-word short story. Visit slots into the series any time after Hal Spacejock (book one), but can be read and enjoyed as a stand-alone.

    My tribe are aqua crew-cut goddesses who smell like samosas. My tribe are neurotic corporate banshees with white knuckles on Goldman Sachs water bottles. My tribe are seven different lineages that all lead to the same destination.’When Alice Williams gets ‘phased out’ of her dream job, all the demons she usually silences with food start to get too loud to ignore. Unemployed and depressed, she makes the ultimate middle-class, white-girl life change: she signs up to become a yoga teacher.Bad Yogi is the ‘healing’ memoir for people who hate healing memoirs, a delightful peek at the life-changing truth that lies behind all the gurus and jargon.

    There are still places on earth that are unknown. Visually stunning and uniquely designed, this wondrous book captures fifty islands that are far away in every sense-from the mainland, from people, from airports, and from holiday brochures. Author Judith Schalansky used historic events and scientific reports as a springboard for each island, providing information on its distance from the mainland, whether its inhabited, its features, and the stories that have shaped its lore. With stunning full-color maps and an air of mysterious adventure, Atlas of Remote Island is perfect for the traveler or romantic in all of us.

    In that time, I’d learned to bake scones without burning them (okay, I still scrape off scorch marks), rescued a kitten trapped in a drainpipe (well, I’d helped), and solved a murder (that one really was me). All things considered, my time on Whisper Island hadn’t been the restful vacation my aunt Noreen had promised, but I’d had a blast.”Meet Maggie Doyle, an ex-cop turned private investigator on a mission to find a slice of paradise in her new home of Whisper Island, Ireland. Too bad wherever Maggie goes dead bodies and mystery seem to follow.Enjoy the first three books in Movie Club Mysteries series in one convenient boxset!With nearly 1,000 pages and 500+ five star reviews, you don’t want to miss this bundle of movies, muffins, and murder.This collection includes:DIAL P FOR POISONAfter the most hated woman on Whisper Island is poisoned at her aunt’s café, can Maggie catch the murderer before they strike again? Or will her terrible baking skills burn down the café first?THE POSTMAN ALWAYS DIES TWICEThe instant Maggie and her friend discover the corpse of Whisper Island’s postman, her plans to chill for the next two months are put on ice.HOW TO MURDER A MILLIONAIREArmed with her newly issued private investigator's license, Maggie is on the case…of a sheep that went missing twenty-two years ago. When she trips over a dead body on the first day of the investigation, she realizes there’s more to this cold case than a fight over lamb chops.***Each story includes a cocktail recipe—minus the deadly ingredients!***

    He's been the town's sheriff even during its formative years, and he's developed quite a reputation as it's tough law-enforcing sheriff. Because of his long tenure, and dedication to his job, he's also developed a very unflattering nickname, at least for him. It's a nickname that's best not said to Sheriff Tex's face. They call him “Lonesome” Tex Wilson. During one night, in particular, one of Brimstone's residents makes the mistake of doing just that. He gets a fist in his face for his trouble, from Tex himself. But the incident makes Tex start to think about his life. He's presided over Brimstone for so long. With the advent of the railroad and Brimstone being a booming mining town, his job will only become even more hectic and dangerous. There's bound to be more outlaws and troublemakers who will try to make a quick buck through a bank robbery, or anything of the sort. Tex realizes that he can't keep doing this forever, and he's not getting any younger. He needs to have something for himself. He hesitantly fills out an application for a mail order bride service. He doesn't put much faith in it but does it anyway. After all, he's got to try something. It's kind of like Tex's message in a bottle, for his heart. Fortunately or Unfortunately for Tex, his application works better than he ever expected. Soon enough, he begins to receive letters from a sweet woman. She looks very attractive in her photograph and writes with sincerity and honesty that seems to jump out of the paper. Her name is Annie Portion. After some letters, Tex is smitten by Annie, and he proposes to her through their correspondences. Annie agrees, and she is soon off to Brimstone to get married to Sheriff Tex. They meet up, and Annie is everything that Tex every wanted and more. They get married, and it seems that everything is going just as Tex wanted. It's a storybook dream, and suddenly, “Lonesome” Tex isn't lonesome anymore. But there's a catch, and not everything is what it seems. Annie Portion is real “Redtail Annie” a mysterious and notorious female outlaw. No one has ever seen her face because it's always covered with a large handkerchief. Annie saw the sheriff's application on the Mail Order Bride service, and she saw it as a great opportunity. She figured her gang could strike with a lot more impunity if she were actually married to the sheriff. It's a bold, long-term plan that could work. It's a great idea that would have been perfect except for one thing; Annie is falling in love with Tex. With their time together, Annie begins to develop feelings for Tex. She starts to develop a real liking for her life with him in Brimstone. But her gang doesn't know this, and they're getting itchy, waiting for her signal to rob the town bank, at the most opportune moment. With the stakes so high, what choice will Annie make? Who will prevail? Annie Portion, the woman who loves Tex Wilson, or “Redtail Annie” the outlaw?