Includes background on the author's life and times, sample tests, term paper suggestions, and a reading list.

    Of late the old lay-sister- Mary Antony- had grown fearful lest she should make mistake in this solemn office of the counting.

    Lotus Feet. He would give his daughter the dainty feet of a courtesan. This would enhance her beauty and her price, making her future shine like a new coin. He smiled to himself, pouring fresh tea. And it would stop her from running away…When the young concubine of an old farmer in rural China gives birth to a daughter called Li-Xia, or “Beautiful One,” the child seems destined to become a concubine herself. Li refuses to submit to her fate, outwitting her father’s orders to bind her feet and escaping the silk farm with an English sea captain. Li takes her first steps toward fulfilling her mother’s dreams of becoming a scholar — but her final triumph must be left to her daughter, Su Sing, “Little Star,” in a journey that will take her from remote mountain refuges to the perils of Hong Kong on the eve of World War II.

    If a man is not eager for adventure at the age of twenty-two, the enticement of romantic possibilities will never come to him.

    Written 16 years before Pearl Harbor, Bywater, a leading naval authority during the period between the two world wars, prophesied: A Japanese surprise-attack attacks U.S. naval forces in the Pacific while negotiations between the two countries are still in progress. Japanese troops simultaneously invade the Philippines and Guam. Recognizing their limits, the Japanese hold off from any attempt to capture Hawaii. Instead, they retire the main body of their battle fleet and establish a nearly invulnerable web of iron in the Western Pacific!Author Biography: Hector C. Bywater was murdered in 1941

    A man sits on a bench in front of his old school remembering the place where one particular day changed his life and those of many others dramatically years earlier.

    Once in a while, you come across someone who had the energy and determination to see it through and you are happy he did. Such is the case with Justin Dwayne Foxworth in his breakout novel, Valerie. I highly recommend you give a new talent a chance and read his work. I'm sure you'll want more of his character development and plots developed into more novels to enjoy... Andrew Neiderman, author of The Devil's Advocate

    Everywhere, the Faith and the West are in decline. Ominously, occult practices have corrupted the elites, the media and powerful men in the Church. The new pontiff faces this unprecedented challenge alone, until an embattled American Cardinal sends his best exorcist to Rome, a young Dominican priest with hard experience combating the Devil -- in Latin -- on America's mean streets. Meanwhile, a US media mogul, an indifferent Catholic targeted for his politics, flees America with his family for the Eternal City. There, they find a despondent society where Italians no longer marry and have children. Indeed, all hope seems lost until a beautiful Roman girl takes a brave stance against the rising tide of despair. Gritty, fascinating and impossible to forget, 'The Devil Hates Latin' sweeps from New England to the Tiber, and ultimately to a Renaissance palazzo nestled in the green hills of Umbria, building to a shattering confrontation as Good summons the courage to face the menace of the gathering forces of Evil. PUBLISHED BY REGINA PRESS

    When Brie discovers that an artist and prominent member of the community has gone missing, she feels compelled to investigate. Drawn into the dangerous web of an island cabal and the pages of a secret journal, Brie is soon caught up in an undercurrent of broken dreams and hidden secrets. Using her keen investigative skills, she uncovers a mystery whose roots stretch back three decades, encompassing shadowy connections to the black market art world, an illegal adoption, and a tragic love story. As a nor'easter bears down on the island, the action accelerates to a bone-chilling climax in which Brie will pit herself against the fury of a ruthless killer.

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

    As an outrageously funny spoof about the ascent of a 40,000-and-a-half-foot peak, many thought it inspired by the 1953 conquest of Everest. But Bowman had drawn on the flavour and tone of earlier adventures, of Bill Tilman and his 1937 account of the Nandi Devi expedition. The book's central and unforgettable character, Binder, is one of the finest creations in comic literature.

    Here, too, are superb, action-packed entries from today's outstanding Western storytellers -- distinguished award winners as well as daring newcomers, including Peter Brandvold · Randy Lee Eickhoff · Marcus Galloway · Ed Gorman · Elmer Kelton · Rod Miller · Robert J. Randisi · James Reasoner · Dusty Richards · Troy D. Smith · L. J. Washburn Edited by renowned author and anthologist Robert J. Randisi, Lone Star Law spans the existence of this elite investigative law enforcement agency. From fending off hostile Comanche to tracking serial killers, from aiming Winchesters and Colt revolvers to firing up laptops and state-of-the-art forensics technology, from targeting rustlers and outlaw gangs to leading harrowing hostage negotiations, the men and women who don the badge and white hat of the Texas Ranger stand as steadfast deliverers of American justice -- the Lone Star way.

    The stranger claims to be the child of a lost Mughal princess, the youngest sister of Akbar's grandfather Babar: Qara Koz, 'Lady Black Eyes', a great beauty believed to possess powers of enchantment and sorcery, who is taken captive first by an Uzbek warlord, then by the Shah of Persia, and finally becomes the lover of a certain Argalia, a Florentine soldier of fortune, commander of the armies of the Ottoman Sultan. When Argalia returns home with his Mughal mistress the city is mesmerized by her presence, and much trouble ensues. The Enchantress of Florence is the story of a woman attempting to command her own destiny in a man's world. It brings together two cities that barely know each other - the hedonistic Mughal capital, in which the brilliant emperor wrestles daily with questions of belief, desire and the treachery of sons, and the equally sensual Florentine world of powerful courtesans, humanist philosophy and inhuman torture, where Argalia's boyhood friend "il Machia" - Niccolo' Machiavelli - is learning, the hard way, about the true brutality of power. These two worlds, so far apart, turn out to be uncannily alike, and the enchantments of women hold sway over them both. But is Mogor's story true? And if so, then what happened to the lost princess? And if he's a liar, must he die?

    . . A beautiful, searing book that leaves an indelible presence in the mind." --Patricia Hampl, author of "The Florist's Daughter "Will Kiehn is seemingly destined for life as a humble farmer in the Midwest when, having felt a call from God, he travels to the vast North China Plain in the early twentieth-century. There he is surprised by love and weds a strong and determined fellow missionary, Katherine. They soon find themselves witnesses to the crumbling of a more than two-thousand-year-old dynasty that plunges the country into decades of civil war. As the couple works to improve the lives of the people of Kuang P'ing Ch'eng-- City of Tranquil Light, a place they come to love--and face incredible hardship, will their faith and relationship be enough to sustain them?Told through Will and Katherine's alternating viewpoints--and inspired by the lives of the author's maternal grandparents--"City of Tranquil Light" is a tender and elegiac portrait of a young marriage set against the backdrop of the shifting face of a beautiful but torn nation. A deeply spiritual book, it shows how those who work to teach others often have the most to learn, and is further evidence that Bo Caldwell writes "vividly and with great historical perspective" ("San Jose Mercury News").

    The novel was so successful that it had earned him a Pulitzer Prize back in 1961. The story of the novel revolves around historical background of American society in the middle of 20th century, prior to the African-American Civil Rights Movement, which was largely led by racism and the cruel regime of white people towards the colored minority. Main character of the novel is a woman nicknamed Scout and her family that, unlike many other white families from that time, raise their voices against the justice system which proclaims racism against African-American people. Read more....