Usually depicted as the lush and green world of rural quiet and tranquility, the Valley becomes the backdrop for the difficulties these characters confront as they try to maintain hope and independence in the face of isolation. In the title story, a teenage boy learns the consequences of succumbing to the lure of a town outsider; in "Campo," a young farm worker frantically attempts to hide his supervision of a huddle of children from the town police, only to have another young man come to his unexpected rescue; in "The Unimportant Lila Parr," a father must expose his own secrets after his son is found murdered in a highway motel. From conflicts of family and sexuality to the pain of loss and memory, the characters in Zigzagger seek to reconcile themselves with the rural towns of their upbringing—a place that, by nature, is bordered by loneliness.

    This engrossing account traces the crests and dips in the path of Mona Ruiz's life - a life that forced her to assume contradicting roles: gang chola, high school drop-out, battered wife, welfare mother, student, cop, disowned daughter, policewoman and finally success story.No matter how desolate her prospects were, the Santa Ana native always knew a better life could be hers. When she was a child, her father once told her that police officers were "soldiers of Christ" and the image never left her mind. Despite hostility from the local cops who didn't like her looks or background, Mona made her unlikely dream come true. She now wears a badge as well as a gang tattoo. She is now an protector on the same streets where she once ran with the predators. A monument to courage, this compelling story well serve as an example for all women and all youth in crisis.

    It's his first day and one of the school bullies already found him as an easy target. Jason quickly sees how the bullies (a small gang called the Terror Squad) just do whatever they want to whomever they want. Can Anyone Stop Them? Most of the kids in school just accept things the way they are. They don't think anyone can stand up to the bullies. Jason confidently tells his new friend Amy that he believes things will change soon. Amy thinks he's crazy. Kick! Punch! POW! Ninja Kid to the Rescue! Read along and find out what happens when a secret ninja shows up to challenge the bullies! He has two Chinese throwing stars and nunchucks. He's fast as lightning. No one knows where he came from.. Will they back down or just smash Ninja Kid? Action, Adventure, and Ninja Stealth! 12+ Full Color Illustrations Free Membership to the Arnie Lightning Newsletter Scroll up and buy a copy today to find out what Ninja Boy is all about..

    His critically acclaimed collection Woodcuts of Women is now available in paperback and features ten moving and heartbreaking stories of lust, love, and longing among men and women struggling to find their way in the world. Written in Gilb's spare, humid language, each of these haunting stories is crafted with a poetic, aching beauty. At turns powerful and resonant, hopeful and humorous, Woodcuts of Women is a tour de force by one of America's foremost Latino writers. The sheer intensity and bravado of [Gilb's] vision make this collection succeed. -- Jean Thompson, The New York Times Book Review Lonely, tough stories -- stories that force us to confront what's difficult in us, and in the people we love. -- Adrienne Miller, Esquire Gilb's stories read like verbal woodcuts deliberately unrefined and carefully unadorned, clear in their intent but without undue elaboration.... -- Sean Glennon, The Hartford Courant ...Gilb writes of the gritty passions of man for women, grand delusions and tender mercies.... -- Oscar C. Villalon, San Francisco Chronicle

    These stories span characters and emotional states with canny details that touch the depths of your soul. Picturing the complexities of love, misery and mystery, the stories try to gnaw your heart like never before.• What does a flower teach us we often fail to see?• “The belly is an ungrateful wretch.” Is it true?• Ever wondered about the sparseness and illusions in life?• Does death put an end to true love?• Have all the ascetics won over their emotions?With the power of simple language, this book transports the readers to a world scarcely thought of in our bustling lives. The allegories maintain an intense rhythm of life prompting the readers to perceive things from a unique angle.“A whole bookful to make you think, cry, think again and move on.”

    With 12 terrifically spine chilling short stories, this anthology contains contributions from some of the best young horror writing talent out there, and was curated by the editors of the PlayWithDeath.com, the premier destination for online horror entertainment. If you're searching for stories that will frighten you to your very core, look no further. List of Short Story Authors Tom Wortman M. B. Vujačić Manen Lyset Jenny Ashford Kyle Yadlosky G. T. Montgomery Ari Drew Patrick Winters Trevor James Zaple John Teel Dexter Findley Kyle Rader

    Story:Mairead is a botanical artist, gardener and quilter. She leases the flower hunter's cottage in the Scottish Highlands. She plans to get away from the city and finish the floral artwork for her new book along with her quilt designs.As part of the lease agreement she has to take care of the traditional cottage garden while the owner, the flower hunter, is away working abroad, searching for a new species of flower.Mairead arrives at the cottage in January. After settling in, she meets handsome flower grower, Tavion, and Ethel a knitter who spins and dyes her own yarn. While making new friends, Mairead is keen to get on with her artwork and quilting - and get the garden ready for the spring and summer. Romance isn't on her to-do list, but when it comes to love, nothing goes according to plan.The Flower Hunter's Cottage is filled with flowers, artwork, knitting, quilting, baking cakes, gardening and romance.Note:Franklin and Daisy, characters from one of De-ann's other romance books - The Cure For Love, are mentioned in The Flower Hunter's Cottage. The Cure For Love is set in Cornwall and London.

    “Provocative...a tantalizing, beautiful fusion of visions” (Bloomsbury Review).

    . . THE LEGEND BEGINS When the Ridgeway family staked their claim on more than 40,000 acres of land in northwest Texas, they knew they had their work cut out for them. Located on a sharp bend of the treacherous Red River, their new home—the Rocking R Ranch—was just a stone’s throw away from Indian territory. It was as lawless and wild as the West itself, crawling with unsavory characters, cattle rustlers, horse thieves, outlaws, robbers, and worse. But still, the Ridgeways were determined to make the Rocking R a success—and a home—for their four remarkable children: Percy, Eli, Abigail, and Rachel. This is their story. Together, the Ridgeways could endure anything. Floods, tornadoes, Commanche raids in the dead of night. But when one of their own is kidnapped . . . that’s when all hell breaks loose. This is their story. The story of the American West.

    An incident in a Queens housing project hurls highly decorated detective Tommy Galvin not only onto the front pages of the newspapers but also into the crosshairs of the sociopath. The hunter becomes the hunted! Galvin’s actions on a warm spring evening ignite a powder keg of racial tension and civil unrest, capturing national attention which must be dealt with and brought under control by the NYPD. When the two men finally come face to face, Galvin’s life has changed forever, in a way he could have never imagined. The Blue Executions will take you from the eyes of the killer to the investigation charged with taking him down; from the inner workings of a major New York City newspaper that the killer has entrusted, to the behind the scenes politics of the NYPD at the highest levels. All of the while, Galvin’s life is on the line.

    Read it and weep!When George Lopez gives a comic performance, there’s not a dry eye or empty seat in the house, and for six years, millions of viewers tuned in to get their weekly G-Lo fix with ABC’s The George Lopez Show. Now, George is back, and he’s made the switch from prime-time family guy to late-night talk show host. Lopez Tonight combines George’s irreverent and very opinionated humor with spontaneous celebrity interactions to create a party of a show; with George, the audience knows the conversation will be high-energy, low-formality, and 100 percent unpredictable. But while he can make his audiences cry with laughter, Lopez’s own life—before becoming one of America’s most popular Latino personalities—was anything but funny. Abandoned by his California migrant-worker father at the tender age of two months and deserted by his own mother at the age of ten years, Lopez was raised by grandparents who viewed “love” as a different four-letter word. Co-written by Emmy Award-winning writer and sportscaster Armen Keteyian, the darkly funny narrative of Why You Crying? riffs on the importance of family, the stark, often hysterical differences between Chicano and gringo culture, and the inspirational message that anybody can become Somebody. Read it and weep!

    The police claim the death was of natural causes, but the knitters aren't buying it. If the police won't do any investigating, then they will!Get all three adventures of the Gray-Haired Knitting Detectives series in one bundle. The bundle includes Murder, Mystery & Dating Mayhem, Jack Gets His Man, and Love in the Time of Murder.Murder, Mystery & Dating MayhemA middle-aged widow gangs up with her gay best friend and a posse of gray-haired wannabe detectives to solve a murder. Maybe she should have stuck to speed dating? "a lot of fun to read. The characters are a hoot!!" "sweet, light and hilarious and kept you guessing!" "sure to put a smile on your face"Jack Gets His ManJack's life is awesome even if his ex is being a pain, but then his smoking hot new bookkeeper discovers things at his store aren't actually as they seem. Jack's bestie and the Gray-Haired Knitting Detectives jump at the chance to solve Jack's problems. Will Jack catch a thief or find love? "I ate this book up like a grubby little kid." "expertly worded and pretty funny suspense story with a romantic touch."Love in the Time of MurderWhen Dee's ex is murdered, she's the number one suspect. The Gray-Haired Knitting Detectives aren't about to let one of their own get sent to the slammer and jump at the chance to search for the true killer. "totally scrumptious cozy mystery" "This fun and witty whodunit will have you laughing till the very end."Buy now to join the Gray-Haired Knitting Detectives on all of their adventures.

    We shall continue to have Wars; and some day the world is going to have a war to which the present Will serve only as a try-out. When that war comes our country will prob ably have to bear the burden for the western hemisphere. In that war our navy will be our first line of defense; and what we do for our navy now will have much to do with what our navy will be able to do for us then.

    A world of speakeasies and dancing girls where a gambler or bootlegger is perfectly normal and respectable in every way. Those familiar with "Guys and Dolls" know what to expect!

    Crazily enough, it's also packed with truth.”—NPR“The voice of this third book from Bibbins is marked and numbed by the onslaught of American media and politics that saturate the Internet, television, radio, and smartphone: ‘the way things are going, children/ will have to upgrade to more amusing.’ Much like advertisements or news stories vying for viewer’s attention, the book intentionally overwhelms, eschewing sections; the author instead differentiates the poems by repetition, creating a sort of echo chamber, similar to the way viral information cycles through social media platforms.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review"[A] hilarious send-up of contemporary values and an alarm bell of sorts, directing attention to all that is so sinister in our civilization.”—American Poets"Whip-smart and wickedly funny, They Don't Kill You is Bibbins's most authoritative and self-possessed collection to date."—Boston ReviewThe poems in Mark Bibbins's breakthrough third book are formally innovative and socially alert. Roving across the weird human landscape of modern politics, media-exacerbated absurdity, and questionable social conventions, this collection counters dread with wit, chaos with clarity, and reminds us that suffering is "small//compared to what?"Mark Bibbins teaches in the graduate writing programs at The New School and Columbia University, and edits the poetry section of The Awl. He lives in New York City.