Soul-searching and sometimes silly questions reveal what your friends are made of! Little kids are fun or annoying? What did you watch on TV last night? Favorite thing hanging on your room wall? If you could invent something what would it be?

    Who knew Laine Crosby, former marketing executive at The Weather Channel, had the gift of being an Investigative Medium? Not even Laine, that is, until she moved from Atlanta to the property of an eighteenth century Maryland plantation and woke up talking to a former slave buried in her backyard! Investigative Medium - the Awakening, examines the gift that was thrust upon Laine who was at first surprised, and then upset, and over time and through experience, embracing of this new way of life. Laine’s husband, Chris, twins Annie and Caleb, and even her Jack Russell terrier “Steve” have peripheral ghostly involvement, so it is a family affair, although at first an unsettling one.Along Laine’s journey, she meets an unlikely friend, the spirit of Jannette, once nanny to the children on the plantation where she lives. Laine becomes Jannette's voice, bringing her back from the antebellum South to tell the incredible story of her life as a slave, and a tender romance is revealed. Interwoven with Laine’s personal story, are the first hand accounts of former slaves Jannette and Bill, and others.Laine finds similarities in her own life and Jannette's, and with Jannette's friendship, Laine begins her journey down a path of self discovery. Once Laine accepts her gift, it is her mother who, from beyond the grave, helps Laine find a way to surrender, and at long last give up on the life she dreamed of having, in order to have the life she was meant to live. Investigative Medium - the Awakening is first in the Investigative Medium series, a preface to future books about Laine's adventures with law enforcement, historians and archaeologists. It is a fast read and an uplifting and hopeful book for anyone who has lost a loved one. But, put on your seat belts; It's a thriller along the way!Now available as an ebook on Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords. Paperback available July 2013 (ISBN 978-1-940261-00-3)on LaineCrosby.com among other stores.

    He's been dying from cancer for years, but he's not dead yet. He's going down fighting. Forming an unlikely friendship with fellow juvenile delinquent Skeates, the pair stage a break out and set off on a crazy tour across Scotland -- dodging the police, joy riding and extreme partying -- to find Connor's dad, an inmate at Shotts prison. But Connor's left two things behind -- the medication he needs to keep him alive, and the girl who makes living bearable. A fresh and bold debut novel full of heart, guts and raw emotion. Farewell Tour of a Terminal Optimist is a brilliantly funny, thrilling exploration of friendship, identity and mortality populated with witty, sharply drawn characters.

    A story about friendship and growth, love and loss, and life and death. Adam Spencer, a happily married 37 year-old father of two young boys, has everything he wants. A successful business, a beautiful home, two cars in the garage, and a dog. What he doesn't want is to die. But Adam doesn't have a say in the matter. He just found out he has brain cancer.Troubled by his newly-discovered death sentence, Adam joins a support group for the terminally ill. There, he meets six strangers who are struggling to cope with their own impending demises.When one member of the group dies, leaving behind an unfulfilled dream, the others realize just how limited their time is. Now, as the youngest member nears the end of his short life, they become determined to make sure the boy's dream comes true before it's too late. Together, they embark on a road trip that will teach them all what it means to live and to die.

    On one level it is a vivid and evocative account of a remarkable trek - never attempted before - on another it celebrates the uniqueness of the Highlands, the scenery and ecology of 'the last wilderness in Europe'. The challenge Mike Cawthorne set himself was to climb all 135 of Scotland's 1,000-metre peaks, which stretch in an unbroken chain through the heart of the Highlands, from Sutherland to the Eastern Cairngorms, down to Loch Lomond, and west to Glencoe. His route traversed the most spectacular landscape in Scotland, linking every portion of wilderness, and was completed in the midst of the harshest winter conditions imaginable. Acclaimed on its first publication in 2000, this edition contains an epilogue in which Mike Cawthorne reflects on his trek and wonders what has changed since he carried it out. He warns that 'wild land in Scotland has never been under greater threat'. Hell of a Journey is a reminder of what we could so easily lose forever.

    That is, until she found herself dumped, suddenly single, and mystifyingly...mostly attracted to dudes. Like any good comic, she was inspired to investigate, and thus ensued her hilarious, sometimes high-stakes personal research into the world of men, culminating in a beautiful, difficult romance. Featuring insightful interviews with comics and experts like W. Kamau Bell, Margaret Cho, Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber, and Kate’s dad and close friends, this exploration of modern masculinity delves into how to be a good guy and how to be in love with one...and when that isn’t quite enough.

    In “Losing Nora,” she deftly captures the rivalry, mutual respect, and intimacy that made up her relationship with her older sister and frequent writing companion. “Blame It on the Movies” is Ephron’s wry and romantic essay about surviving her disastrous twenties, becoming a writer, and finding a storybook ending. “Bakeries” is both a lighthearted tour through her favorite downtown patisseries and a thoughtful, deeply felt reflection on the dilemma of having it all. From keen observations on modern living, the joy of girlfriends, and best-friendship, to a consideration of the magical madness and miracle of dogs, to haunting recollections of life with her famed screenwriter mother and growing up the child of alcoholics, Ephron’s eloquent style and voice illuminate every page of this superb and singular work.

    Mairi makes no secret of the fact that she would rather be out taking down a wild pig with her childhood friend Iain, the fletcher’s son, than plying a needle with the women. Her mother despairs of her, and never stops comparing her to her beautiful and successfully married sister Una. Her father, tired of her rejection of one suitable match after another, finally presents her with an ultimatum: Marry Alastair Maclean or spend the rest of her life in the priory. Mairi knows that she would never survive in a priory, locked away from her beloved outdoor pursuits. But nor can she endure the thought of a loveless marriage to Alastair, who has never stopped mourning the loss of his adored first wife Madeline in childbed. Left without choices, Mairi becomes Alastair’s wife. Life is every bit as bad as she feared. Alastair’s sister Rhona clearly does not want to see her brother married to the Chisholm wildcat, and Alastair himself is as cold as the frigid wind that blows across the Highlands. Mairi resolves to resign herself to the demands of the marriage bed, and devote her life to raising bairns with the love she was never shown. But one day, she finds herself in more danger than she has ever known… and everything changes.

    The walking wounded. These are the stories of ordinary people.

    At the Battle of Quebec in 1759, only a few years after their defeat at Culloden, the 78th Highlanders faced down the French guns and turned the battle. At Waterloo, High- landers memorably fought alongside the Scots Greys against Napoleon’s feared Old Guard. In the Crimea, the thin red line stood firm against the charging Russian Hussars and saved the day at Balaclava.Yet this story is also one of betrayal. At Quebec, General Wolfe remarked that, despite the Highlanders’ courage, it was “no great mischief if they fall.” At Dunkirk in May 1940, the 51st Regiment was left to defend the SOE evacuation at St Valery; though following D-Day, the Highlanders were at the forefront of the fighting through France. It is all history, now: Over the last decade the historic regiments have been dismantled, despite widespread protest.

    Five other tales describe folk in Britain's lowest professional class between the late-1950s and 60s.

     Detective Sergeant Joe Galbraith starts what seems like one more depressing investigation of the untimely death of a poor unfortunate who was in the wrong place, at the wrong time. As the investigation spreads across Scotland it reaches into a past that Joe has tried to forget, and takes him back to the Hebridean island of Harris, where he spent his childhood. Among the mountains and the stunning landscape of religiously conservative Harris, in the shadow of Ceapabhal, long buried events and a tragic story are slowly uncovered, and the investigation takes on an altogether more sinister aspect. In The Shadow Of The Hill skilfully captures the intricacies and malevolence of the underbelly of Highland and Island life, bringing tragedy and vengeance to the magical beauty of the Outer Hebrides.

    For Kirsty MacLeod, the love of Murdo promises a new life away from the scrape of the land and the repression of the church. But the Great War looms.

    I swore I'd never let my birthmother into my life, but then Mom died of ovarian cancer and my birthmother, Val, found me through my mom's obituary. Hard to argue with fate. Harder still to let go of childhood promises, even when you discover everything you dreamed of being in part of who you are.

    Best-selling novelist David Hewson, author of the ever-popular Writing A Novel with Scrivener, offers a professional insight into how to use this unique app for writing fiction. This ebook covers all the aspects of Ulysses a writer needs to master in order to produce a finished book, from initial planning through to completed ebook, Word file or PDFs for publication, reading and revision. You will learn how to use Ulysses to structure a book into parts and scenes, ways to manage research and ideas and how to develop a novel from a bare outline through to first draft and revisions. Hewson also describes how Ulysses stores work uniquely in its own library, enabling you to work on the same draft manuscript across different machines while on the move. For budding screenwriters there is a section on how to use Ulysses to produce scripts to professional formats that can be edited later in movie apps such as Final Draft. And this release will also include a free upgrade to an updated edition covering the next release of Ulysses and the forthcoming iPad app. David Hewson (www.davidhewson.com) is the author of more than 25 novels published around the world. He adapted the award-winning TV series The Killing into acclaimed novel and recently launched a new crime series set in Amsterdam with The House of Dolls which has been optioned for Dutch TV.