maritime industry hit rock bottom starting in the early 1980's, right around the time the author was graduating from the California Maritime Academy. Even in his yearbook it warned about how bad things were—it was a time of cost cutting, reduced wages, desperate shipping companies and a lack of jobs. Eventually he made his way out to sea as both an able-bodied seaman and as a third mate. He saw first-hand what it was like out there; from the crazy captains to the weary sailors, and from the bad food to the dangerous working conditions. This book covers it all, and while the ships he sailed on were all scrapped long ago, the stories of the industry and what it took to make it on them, are remembered. This is his story.

    If you own a prior version, please go to Manage Your Content & Devices and update. Four former Army Rangers have been prepping for an eventual apocalyptic event for more than two years in the mountains of Tennessee. The four have made a wager on what the event would be, an economic collapse, a worldwide pandemic, a killer asteroid, or the eruption of a caldera in Yellowstone National Park. Nothing the men saw in the horrors of battle in Afghanistan or Iraq could begin to compare to the actual apocalyptic event that happens in their own backyard. The pure devastation and chaos caused by the event is unparalleled, and only the strongest will survive. Would you be able to survive? Join us for discussion on Facebook -- New Madrid Fan Club (@NewMadridBooks) OR if you prefer to be on our mailing list -- email the Author at NewMadridFans@aol.com

     Vengeance. The town of Sundown is in the iron grip of Darby Wicker. A sadistic power-hungry man, Wicker came west after the Confederates were defeated. By the time the Sundown folk realised what a snake he was, it was too late. He had his finger in every pie in town. Not only that, but he murdered the Sheriff in cold blood and appointed the cowardly Sheriff Veldon in his place. Turning his eye to the local ranches, he schemes to buy them all out and cement his monopoly on Sundown. He doesn’t care much if they refuse him – he’ll just burn their ranches to the ground. With Washington convinced the West has been tamed, Wicker knows the US army won’t trouble him and the town will be powerless to stop him. But he doesn’t count on Bret. Hellbent on revenge, Bret’s been hunting Wicker for eight years – and it’s personal. But even he can’t believe how bad things are in Sundown. Sheriff Veldon is as yellow-bellied as they come, letting Wicker’s murderous gunmen do as they please. In fact, the only person Bret trusts in Sundown is Fay Saunders – a singer at the Golden Ace Saloon. For some reason, she wants to see Wicker dead as much as Bret does. Meanwhile, despite Wicker’s attacks on the ranchers, none of the ranches want to form an alliance of sort. It’s a fine mess but Bret knows that if he gives the ranches and decent folk of Sundown some hope that Wicker can be driven away, they’d be on his side. And where better to start cleaning out Wicker’s corruption than on The Streets of Sundown… A classic Western, The Streets of Sundown is a thrilling and gun-toting story.

    Katy’s driving home for Christmas – except an empty, cold caravan hardly seems like home, and it’s not feeling much like Christmas. It wasn’t supposed to be like this: a few months ago she had her dream cottage, a loving fiance, and big plans for a perfect wedding. Now she’s in her car, travelling through the snow along dark, country lanes, heading towards a Christmas spent by herself, with nothing more to look forward to than a frozen turkey dinner and a box of Quality Street. With her friends busy with their guests, her parents on a cruise, and her ex-fiance miles away, the only person Katy is expecting to see at all is Luke, the builder who has been working hard to transform Katy’s cottage before it goes up for sale on the other side of Christmas. Arriving at last in the Holderness village of Weltringham, she’s disappointed to find both the cottage and the caravan in darkness, and Luke nowhere to be seen. It seems everyone in the world has abandoned her to her gloomy fate. Is she doomed to have the worst festive season ever, or is someone about to save Katy’s Christmas? After all, it is the time of miracles … Take a break from those Christmas preparations and curl up by the fire for a couple of hours with this seasonal cosy read.

     Can Ivy survive one attack after another? Or, in the end, will evil finally win out? You can find out by reading the three heart-stopping Ivy Nash thrillers. Break IN The unthinkable happens. And a grandfather grieves. Ivy sees his pain, feels his pain, but she can't connect the dots. How can Ivy possibly locate the missing kids? A community comes together to fight back. Yet, the battle is useless against an invisible foe. But Ivy knows the scent of a predator. Can anything prepare her for the fun house? A terror unlike any other. Is clinging to life worth the hell that she will pay? IN Control Sometimes even the truth can kill. But can murder ever be justified? Kids are plucked from their homes seemingly at random. Is there any way it could all be a ruse? A friend's father asks Ivy to do the unthinkable. Will she turn a blind eye? It's a twisted hairball of kidnappings, betrayals, and cover-ups. How can Ivy separate reality from a smokescreen of falsehoods? With the life of her friend's son hanging in the balance, Ivy can't fail. The clock is ticking… IN The End A generation has lost its way. And no one will sin without retribution. Parents are crushed after their daughter is ripped from their lives. Ivy chases every lead, but the fog of deception is deep. So very deep. For mankind, the end is near. How many sacrifices will it take before the cataclysmic events can't be stopped? It was supposed to be a confession. Instead, it became a statement of conviction -- to Satan. Will Ivy be able to stop a demonic killer? It's one woman's pledge to save a generation from a fanatical psychopath. It's one man's path to claim his destiny. Can Ivy possibly back away from the threat? He believes Ivy has sinned. And it is time for her life to end…just like all the others. Get the next three Ivy Nash novels now!

    

    Sophia had not thought twice about taking up her friend's offer to move to Oregon to help her run the successful general store she had started some years before when faced with a spinster's lot in life. Levi Kirtman was more than irate at being denied his birthright. When his paternal uncle gave him the ultimatum to find a wife in order to get the deeds to the ranch which should by all rights be his after his father's passing, he dug his heels in and refused. He would live without the ranch rather than be pushed into marrying. Then he met the woman his uncle had in mind after reading her advertisement, and he saw her as a pretty enough solution to his many problems. Can a man cure his greed and addiction through deception and cruelty? Was this the life the Lord had intended for a widow and her young son in a strange town? Would Eli find a loving family to finally call his own?

    Now an even larger one has been discovered, following the exact same trajectory as its predecessor. Scientists around the world theorize that this can no longer be passed off as mere coincidence—the new contact must be an artificial construct of some kind.With an ambitious plan to build a spacecraft and attempt a manned landing, a crew is formed. Disgraced astronaut Cassie Voges hopes to get selected for one last chance at redemption. Maverick billionaire Toby Merckx wants to beat his rivals to the extraordinary secrets he believes the object may unlock. And its controversial discoverer, Charles Hudson, seeks to escape his past and be remembered for something better.What they find will change humanity forever.

    Over 800 pages of big love in a small town for readers who love hunky Southern men and the women who make them want to settle down. Big Love in a Small Town features the following three novels: Down A Country Road The very last thing on Grier McAllister’s Someday List is going back to Timbell Creek, Virginia, the town where she grew up. Timbell Creek holds too many bad memories for her, memories finally put to rest with a successful image consultant business in New York City and a hefty therapy bill. When an opportunity to choose a “Jane Austen Girl” for a visiting duke falls in her lap, the only catch that she must be from Grier’s hometown, Grier tells herself she’ll do what she needs to do and then leave it all behind for good. But Grier doesn’t count on finding that her mother is no longer the person she used to be. She certainly doesn’t plan on falling for an old boyfriend’s really hot brother! And it isn’t long before she begins to realize Timbell Creek is not only a part of who she was, but might be a part of who she is as well. Good Guys Love Dogs Desperate father Ian McKinley moves his delinquent teenage son to the small Virginia town of Keeling Creek, a place very unlike the New York City life he has been leading. Love takes him by surprise when he falls for Colby Williams, a woman unlike anyone he has ever been drawn to, a small town vet with a heart for animals and a fierce love for a teenage daughter she is also struggling to raise. But Colby has a secret in her past, a secret she's not sure her daughter will ever forgive her for. And as for Ian McKinley, he seems too good to be true. If she had learned anything from the one time she had thrown her heart fully into love, it was that it didn't last. Truths and Roses When Will Kincaid’s professional football career comes to an abrupt end in a single night, he’s left to figure out what he’s going to do with the rest of his life. He heads home to the small Virginia town where he grew up and crosses paths with Hannah Jacobs, the only girl in high school who had ever rejected him. It’s Hannah who once made him question the choices he had made, and it’s Hannah who’s making him question them all over again. But with the weight of a secret he’s managed to hide from the world his entire adult life hanging over him, he can’t afford to question his choices. Hannah Jacobs had once made the choice to deny her feelings for Will Kincaid, at the time finding it the only possible option for a young girl intent on burying a nightmare she only wanted to forget. The life she’s made for herself as a librarian in Lake Perdue is a quiet one, and she’s hardly prepared for the day when Will rams his fancy Ferrari into her dependable old clunker. But for Hannah, Will Kincaid can only stir up memories she had long ago put away forever. And there’s nothing at all good that can come from bringing them back to life again.

    The pair are the envy of the Dublin social scene and it looks as if Sandy's future is bright. But when her mother's health declines and she has to be hospitalised, Sandy discovers a letter in her mother's personal belongings, which unleashes a long-hidden family secret that forces Sandy to question everything she once took for granted.As Sandy sets out on a voyage of discovery that takes her from Dublin to the Costa del Sol in search of her true identity, nothing can prepare her for what lies in store...

    A stranger, Duncan, seeks her out, claiming to be searching for the apparition who murdered his wife. Duncan, with the aid of gruesome photos and Angus’s diary, makes Elizabeth suspect she may be living with an evil presence.Angus, a nebulous force, finds he must now make himself known in more substantial ways as he tries to convince Elizabeth Duncan is lying. He twists her compassion and friendship into a sexual love that threatens to turn into obsession.Duncan also seeks Elizabeth’s heart and uses every sensual skill at his mortal disposal to steal her love and loyalty, and persuade her to allow an exorcism that would vanquish Angus.Elizabeth finds herself spinning into a vortex of love and lust, lies and deceit. She desires them both, even though Duncan may not be the man he claims to be, and Angus may be a spiritual serial murderer. Elizabeth is unwilling to give up either, until a shocking discovery forces her to choose between them.

    This historical tale has been unread for three millennia and so shakes the rabbi's faith that he kills to keep the object and the tale it tells to himself. So begins a quest to find the real Mount Sinai and a treasure buried within the Mountain of God. The treasure hunt engages the skills of a charming, beautiful but conniving Los Angeles realtor; her lover, an LAPD detective; a young and adventurous Silicon Valley billionaire; and a Harvard Egyptologist. SEEKING SINAI tests the limits of more than one man’s faith and becomes entangled in Middle East turmoil and political intrigue. Uncovering Sinai’s treasures also a presents a conundrum. Finding them would be the greatest archeological discovery of all time; revealing them to the world could jeopardize the moral foundation of the world’s greatest religions. Author Barry Pollack weaves an adventure story that takes you from ancient Egypt to California to the modern Middle East and back again. It’s a journey that weaves Jewish philosophy with the politics of oil and water and the meaning and value of faith.

     More than a decade after leaving home Dawn finds herself stuck in a dead-end job, in a rundown flat, while her sister has it all - the husband, children and prestigious job in sunny Australia. Their mum’s favouritism is palpable, and even as she has a terrible fall leaving Dawn to pick up the pieces, nothing Dawn does can live up to her perfect, absent sister. But still Dawn persists with taking care of her aging and fragile mum, until one day it begins to feel like the only thing standing between Dawn and her happiness is her mother's continued, pitiful existence...

    

    A detective on edge. A community that wants answers. One fateful night when off duty, DI Stewart Gardener intervenes in a street brawl and his wife is shot dead. Trying to come to terms with this, he gradually returns to normal duties policing the streets of Leeds. Finding his wife’s murderer is never far from his mind, but with no leads and a hazy recollection of events, it seems hopeless. Soon he is presented with a shocking case. A man is found dead in a grubby apartment, having been killed in the cruellest of ways. It is not long before another man meets the same fate. The deaths are caused by a rapid and violent disintegration of the victims’ flesh. Pathology cannot ascertain the cause. The only connection between the victims is they both worked seasonally as Santas, dressing up as Father Christmas and entertaining kids in grottos and such like. Who would want to kill such innocuous men as these? The detective is flummoxed. The local community is ruffled. The press is having a field day. The top brass wants answers. Can DI Gardener overcome his grief and solve the case? IMPURITY is the first in a series of six books featuring Leeds based Detective Inspector Stewart Gardener. They are all murder mysteries but as suspenseful as the best thrillers. FREE with Kindle Unlimited. Look out for the next in the series, IMPERFECTION, coming soon on Kindle. If you like crime fiction that has you glued to the page and reading late into the night, this is the book for you!