I grew up idolizing those players, and I ached to wear the orange and black, representing my hometown and playing the game I love.But the team doesn’t want me.I’m one of the hottest players in Major League Baseball, but the Baltimore owner thinks I’m too much of a risk. All because I drink too much and might have trashed a hotel room or two in my day.Everybody thinks getting married means you’ve “settled down.”I figure I need a wife if I’m ever gonna have a chance at playing for the Bay Birds.I haven’t been able to stop thinking about that woman who poured hot coffee on me the day we met. Sweet, beautiful, and stable medical school student, Lyric Rivers. Future doctor.Also known as the future Mrs. Brady Keaton.First Pitch Swinging is the first book in a new, steamy sports romance series. No cliffhangers, lots of humor and heart, and a sexy HEA.

    Short on every resource but the intelligence of their personnel, Exploration Command goes where no human has gone before, discovering new worlds, species and civilizations, pushing the boundaries of knowledge, and always on the lookout for new discoveries that could help the Empire in its struggle against the invader. In this volume are three novelettes about Exploration Command, the scientific part of the Fleet. In Retribution, a Command team finds a devastated alien civilization being aided by missionaries from the Empire. Or are they? In Timeless, an ancient derelict is found in a place where no ship should be. Does it hide the secrets to a technology the Empire has sought for over a thousand years? And in They Don't Care, alien species are being wiped out by a renegade race. Can a single two ship team stop them, or will more species go into the long night? For those readers of Exodus: Empires at War, these stories fill in some of the background of the Empire and add to the series. For newcomers, they are a great introduction to the series.

    After running away at age sixteen, Tate Carrin was forced to reinvent herself and build a new life away from everyone and everything she'd ever known. Vowing to never rely on anybody, especially a man, Tate was stunned at her reaction to Cameron, a young major league pitcher. What will shock Tate further is Cameron's connection to her past and who she used to be.

    John Smoltz was one of the greatest Major League pitchers of the late twentieth / early twenty-first century—one of only two in baseball history ever to achieve twenty wins and fifty saves in single seasons—and now he shares the candid, no-holds-barred story of his life, his career, and the game he loves in Starting and Closing.A Cy Young Award-winner, future Baseball Hall of Famer, and currently a broadcaster for his former team, the Atlanta Braves, Smoltz  delivers a powerful memoir with the kind of fascinating insight into game that made Moneyball a runaway bestseller, plus a heartfelt and truly inspiring faith and religious conviction, similar to what illuminates each page of Tim Tebow’s smash hit memoir, Through My Eyes.

    With a repertoire of masterful pitches wielded with impeccable command, he piled up accolades during his 16 major league seasons, the very image of stability and dominance whenever he took the mound. Doc is a celebration and a profound remembrance of a beloved player, friend, and family man. Todd Zolecki traces Halladay's remarkable journey, from garnering the attention of major league scouts as a teenager in Colorado, to Halladay's methodical reinvention and ascent to ace status in Toronto, to the signature no-hitter he authored in his playoff debut with the Philadelphia Phillies. Also examined are Halladay's distinctive, disciplined approach to pitching, his impact as a teammate and community member, and the baseball world's honoring of these qualities in Cooperstown in 2019. Thoroughly and thoughtfully reported, with input and reflections from Halladay's teammates, coaches, competitors, and more, this is an essential biography for baseball fans everywhere.

    The armies of North and South stand on the brink of America’s civil war. Nathanial Starbuck arrives in the capital of the Confederate South, where he enlists in an elite regiment. He is a northern boy fighting for the southern cause. But nothing can prepare him for the shocking violence to follow in the war which broke America in two.COPPERHEADNathanial Starbuck is a Copperhead: a northerner fighting for the rebel South in America’s Civil War. Expelled from the Faulconer Legion, Starbuck must travel a hard road before he can rejoin his comrades. His journey will take him through the savage prisons of Richmond, across the blood-sodden battlefields of Virginia, and into the deadly high command of the northern army.BATTLE FLAGThe epic battle for control of the Confederate capital continues through the hot summer of 1862. It’s a battle that Captain Nate Starbuck, a Yankee fighting for the Southern cause, has to survive and win.THE BLOODY GROUNDIt is late summer 1862 and the Confederacy is invading the United States of America.Nate Starbuck, a northern preacher’s son fighting for the rebel South, is given command of a punishment battalion – a despised unit of shirkers and cowards. His enemies expect it to be his downfall, as Starbuck must lead this ramshackle unit into a battle that will prove to be the bloodiest of the Civil War.

    

    

    Among the cast is Clemency, an old acquaintance of Libby Sarjeant and Fran Wolfe. She is making her return to the professional stage, encouraged by her mother Dame Amanda Knight, whom Libby and Fran met on a previous adventure.But when one objectionable member of the cast is found dead, Dame Amanda and heavyweight of the English Stage, Sir Andrew McColl, call in Libby, Fran and their friends to prevent the wrong person being charged with murder and the Nethergate pantomime from turning into a disastrous melodrama.

    Granted unprecedented access to the team's top management and financial data, Pluto delivers an up-close account of how decisions were made to radically reshape the franchise. Indians fans grew accustomed to winning in the mid-1990s. They had an owner with deep pockets, a brand-new ballpark, and a team of high-priced all stars who delivered a division championship nearly every year. But that glorious ride ended with a jolt of reality after savvy owner Richard Jacobs sold the franchise at the top of the market in 2000. New owners Larry and Paul Dolan and new general manager Mark Shapiro faced a challenge: an aging team, a mounting payroll, and a shrinking budget. First they made mistakes. Then they made bold changes. Stars such as Manny Ramirez, Roberto Alomar, and Jim Thome were gone, replaced with roster of unproven youngsters and veteran rehab projects. Fans were alarmed and dismayed. Then, in 2002, Shapiro boldly predicted that the Indians would return to contend for the playoffs after just three years of rebuilding. Critics scoffed. Yet at the end of the 2005 season, the Indians were indeed back in contention, one tantalizing game away from a return to the playoffs. The core of an exciting young team was beginning to take shape, and Shapiro was voted American League Executive of the Year as his team won an impressive 93 games despite a payroll ranked in baseball's bottom five. How was it done? In his familiar clear writing style, Pluto carefully explains the manyrisky moves made by management and tells which ones have paid off, which ones haven?t, and why. This rare behind-the-scenes look at a modern front office will intrigue fantasy leaguers and fans fascinated by baseball dealmaking. It will be an eye-opener for Indians fans who may still be wondering, What happened to my team?

    Triumph over Failure. Hope over Despair. In Tale of Tala, Henry, a bestselling New York writer is trying to cope with the unexpected death of his mother and the failure of his latest book. His life a triumphant success had collapsed. Flying to Amsterdam to indulge in decadence and depravity, Henry gorges on everything from illicit drugs to vile carnal acts. Wanting more, he heads to Slovenia. Enter Tala - a strikingly beautiful but deceptively cunning prostitute. A Palestinian refugee, her tale of loss and suffering strikes a chord with Henry. The perilous journey between Turkey and Greece; the desperate search for her husband Bilal; kidnapped by human traffickers. Finding himself falling in love, Henry promises to search for the missing Bilal and vows to protect his muse from the perils of life. For a man used to winning, one might wonder how far he will go to help Tala, or will he only go far enough to keep her for himself? Three People. Three Journeys. One Tale. Lies over Truth. Murder over Safety. Crisis over Peace. When a winner loses everything will he become villain or victim? Chaker Khazaal traveled through Europe and the Middle East in 2015 talking to refugees about their different experiences. Inspired by various stories comes a descriptive narrative of the plight of refugees, presented in this romantic thriller novel. The story focuses on the very dark world of displacement - war, human trafficking, terrorism, organ trafficking, and the exploitation of the desperate - while humanizing refugees in this love story.

    When he signs up for Dom Wars, he meets Tara who is naive to the BDSM world. Her reckless dominance and puritan heart fascinate him. But when he discovers the pain in her past, it unleashes his true Dom within. Lucian and Tara make it to round two in the DOM WARS. The challenges now revolve around trust, and while Tara's inhibitions in the world of BDSM are slowly being crushed by Lucian's passion, her deep rooted fears become the real obstacle he must dominate.

    In 1978, he went 25-3 with a 1.74 ERA and won the Cy Young Award as the best pitcher in baseball, helping to bring home the Yankees' second straight World Series championship. A four-time All Star and five-time Golden Glove winner, he played from 1976 to 1988, served as the Yankees' captain in the 1980s, and remains one of the greatest pitchers in Yankee history. In Gator, Guidry takes us inside the clubhouse to tell us what it was like to play amidst the chaos and almost daily confrontations between Billy Martin and George Steinbrenner, Martin's altercations with star slugger Reggie the straw that stirs the drink Jackson. He talks poignantly about the death of Thurman Munson in 1979, and the impact that had on Ron and on the club. He tells stories about players like Lou Pinella, Willie Randolph, Bucky Dent, Catfish Hunter, Chris Chambliss, and Mickey Rivers, and coach Yogi Berra (who in 1984 became the Yankees' manager) and Elston Howard.

    But that’s before she’s reacquainted with one of her former classmates, who is no longer the geek she remembers. And who adds a whole load of extra complications to the mix.

    Thrown out of every unit defending the City, either she takes on a new role, or she will be sent to the Rats, a company of misfits given the perilous tasks beyond the Great Walls.Her new role, if she takes it, will bring her face to face with her deepest fears, for beneath the walls, in a secret and hidden lair, lies a dragon, imprisoned and waiting… This box-set includes the Blade Trilogy - the first three books (complete arc) of The Magelands Eternal Siege, over 1300 paperback pages or 2000 Kindle pages.The Mortal BladeThe Dragon's BladeThe Prince's Blade