The Jailer's Son: The Legend Begins is Book #1 of The Jailer's Son series of action adventure westerns. Maxwell Beck is no average boy. Thanks to his Pa’s insistence, he’s a sharpshooter, sleight of hand artist, acrobat, and cardsharp. These are handy, yet highly unusual skills for the son of a traveling salesman. Even so, Max thinks he's living a normal life, until one fateful day when he inadvertently sets a chain of monumental events in motion. Just days after his Ma dies, Max accidentally shoots his Pa. It's then that Max learns a secret about his past that will change his life forever, and maybe even chase him to the ends of the earth. Max's Pa might be dying, but he's insistent that they reach the Old West town of Deadwood before he leaves this earth. Max does as he asks only to find himself face to face with an uncle he never knew existed. Uncle Chase "Turtle" Beck, the sheriff of Deadwood, is not pleased to see his dying "no good" brother, nor his son. Turtle's displeasure seems to linger even after Max's Pa dies. However, as Max rides out of Deadwood, his uncle intercepts him and offers him a job at his ranch. It isn't clear what Turtle's intentions are -- Max saved him from being shot in the back by two outlaw brothers shortly after riding into Deadwood, or maybe it's because he's kin -- but Max decides to give ranch life a try. His uncle has only one request: that Max keeps his special skill set to himself. It's an easy adjustment for Max. He enjoys the company of the other cowboys, and meets Patience, a sassy-mouthed blond who he believes is destined to be his wife. It turns out this happy time in Max's life is only the quiet before the storm. When an outlaw gang savagely attacks Turtle and threatens to strip Max of all he holds dear, he is forced to break his promise to his uncle. As Max sets out to stop the evil that has the power to destroy all he loves, he tries to put the events his birth mother predicted for him out of his mind -- even as they come true, one by one. The ensuing battle of good against evil gives birth to a legend for the ages: the legend of the jailer’s son. Like westerns with action and intriguing characters? Scroll up and click the BUY button now to begin your adventure!

    Most of its soldiers were immigrant kids with no prior military experience and no intention of serving their country any longer than it took to get a paycheck or college credit. Once a respected all-Irish outfit, the 69th was now a Technicolor mix of Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Colombians, African Americans, Russians, Poles, Koreans, Chinese, and a few token Irish Americans. Their uniforms were incomplete and their equipment was downright derelict. The thought of deploying such a unit was laughable. But that is exactly what happened. With a charismatic mix of irreverent humor and eye-opening honesty, Sean Flynn, himself a member of the 69th, memorably chronicles the transformation of this motley band of amateur soldiers into a battle- hardened troop at work in one of the most lethal quarters of Baghdad: the notorious Airport Road, a blood- soaked strand that grabbed headlines and became a bellwether for progress in postinvasion Iraq. At home on the concrete and asphalt like no other unit in the U.S. Army, Gotham’s Fighting 69th finally brings its own rough justice to this lawless precinct by ignoring army discipline and turning to the street-fighting tactics they grew up with and know best. The Fighting 69th is more than a story about the impact of terrorism, the war on Iraq, or the current administration’s failures. It is the story of how regular citizens come to grips with challenges far starker than what they have been prepared for. Flynn’s dark humor, empathy, and candor make for a fresh look at who our soldiers are and what they do when faced with their toughest challenges.

    IdeaIs There a Good Abstract Idea Underlying the Picture?What Details Could be Eliminated to Strengthen the Composition?Does the Painting “Read”?Could You Finish Any Part of the Painting?ShapesAre the Dominant Shapes as Strong and Simple as Possible?Are the Shapes Too Similar?ValueCould the Value Range be Increased?Could the Number of Values be Reduced?LightIs the Subject Effectively Lit?Is the Light Area Big Enough?Would the Light Look Stronger with a Suggestion of Burnout?Do the Lights Have a Continuous Flow?Is the Light Gradated?ShadowsDo the Shadow Shapes Describe the Form?Are the Shadows Warm Enough?DepthWould the Addition of Foreground Material Deepen the Space?Does the Background Recede Far Enough?Are the Halftones Properly Related to the Background?SolidityIs the underlying Form Being Communicated?Is the Symmetry in Perspective?ColorIs There a Color Strategy?Could a Purer Color Be Used?Do the Whites Have Enough Color in Them?Are the Colors Overblended on the Canvas?Would the Color Look Brighter if it Were Saturated into its Adjacent Area?PaintIs Your Palette Efficiently Organized?Is the Painting Surface Too Absorbent?Are You Using the Palette Knife as Much as You Could?Are You Painting Lines When You Should Be Painting Masses?Are the EdgesDynamic Enough?Is There Enough Variation in the Texture of the Paint?

    After enduring years of exile following the execution of her mother, Anne Boleyn, the twenty-five-year-old Elizabeth inherits a realm divided by religious turmoil and financial collapse. She has already survived her own personal hell, nearly losing her life after her stepfather seduced her at thirteen. The ambitious Lord Admiral left her virginity intact, but took something far more valuable—her dignity and pride. Elizabeth learned a bitter lesson: There’s no place for love in a royal’s heart.   This novel journeys through the first three decades of the reign of Elizabeth I, including her volatile relationship with Lord Robert Dudley. From bedroom intrigues to affairs of state, Elizabeth brings to life the passion and the power, illuminating the woman who, in spite of herself, still yearned for human connection. She found it with Dudley’s successor, the wealthy, dazzlingly attractive Earl of Leicester. Award-winner Evelyn Anthony chronicles the monarch's long battle with her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, for the throne, and advances a fascinating theory about who murdered Lord Robert’s first wife, Amy Dudley.

    His high-flying acrobatics have thrilled fans on every continent. He's been crowned champion of the world's greatest wrestling promotions, from Mexico to the U.S. But he's never revealed the inside story of who he is. Until now. Wrestling fans know him as Rey Mysterio, an American luchador of unparalleled talent, the ultimate proof that good things come in small packages. Now for the first time, Rey adds the personal side to the story: • How he had to fight to get a tryout in the ring • Who he was before Rey Misterio Jr. -- and even before Colibri, usually noted as his first identity • What it was like to wrestle in Mexico -- from the bullrings to the riots • How he fought plans for his unmasking in WCW -- and why he wishes he hadn't succeeded • The inside story of the 619, the West Coast Pop, and his other signature moves • The impact of Eddie Guerrero on his career in WWE • The personal struggle that cost him ring time in 2008 but ultimately made him a stronger man • His real passion in life as husband and father In Rey Mysterio: Behind the Mask, Rey talks candidly about his twenty-plus-year career, from the days of sneaking into bars as a fourteen-year-old to his most recent showdowns in WWE. He speaks of the emotional moments in the ring with his uncle Rey Misterio, and the dark days when he went under the knife to repair his damaged knee. Along the way, Mysterio introduces American audiences to the mysteries of lucha libre, the high-flying, anything-goes Mexican wrestling style that he has done so much to popularize in the U.S. He also talks about the debts he owes to wrestlers such as Konnan, known as the Mexican Hulk Hogan, and dishes some behind-the-scenes dirt on the collapse of WCW at the height of the Monday Night Wars. Mysterio talks tenderly -- but realistically -- of his friend Eddie Guerrero, providing a well-rounded picture of one of the most beloved wrestling figures of recent history. He also details his march toward the Heavyweight Championship, and his mastery of the WWE Triple Crown -- a feat that placed him in an elite group for all time. Behind the Mask is the intimate portrait of one of wrestling's all-time greats, a story wrestling fans of all ages won't want to miss.

    HE THOUGHT HIS FAMILY WAS SAFE. HE WAS WRONG. Five years after a pneumonic plague killed two-thirds of the world’s population, army veteran Marcus Battle is isolated. He’s alone with his guns, his food, and the graves of his wife and child. Unaware of the chaos that’s befallen everything outside of his central Texas ranch land, Marcus lives a Spartan life. If anyone steps onto his property he shoots first and never ask questions. But when a woman in distress, chased by marauders, seeks asylum, Marcus has a decision to make. Does he throw her to the wolves to protect himself or does he help her and leave the shelter and protection of home?BOOK TWO: CANYONHE’S HOMELESS. HE’S ON THE RUN. AND HE WANTS REVENGE. Marcus Battle has left behind his home. Now he’s on a seemingly impossible mission to find a missing child. But can he balance that responsibility with his deep, primal desire to exact revenge on the men who destroyed his solitary existence? The world he discovers on his journey isn’t the one he remembers before a pneumonic plague called The Scourge killed two-thirds of the world’s population. It is lawless, depraved, and far-deadlier than the disease which created it. Battle made a promise to find that child. It’s a promise he regrets more acutely with every step of the journey where he is as much the hunter as he is the hunted.BOOK 3: WALLHE SURVIVED THE SCOURGE. HE ESCAPED THE CARTEL. NOW HE FACES THE WALL. In the chaos of a global plague, evil took hold. Governments fell, the good became servants, and the Cartel rose to power. A wall was built to contain the wasteland and keep the evil at bay. Now an organized resistance wants change. They're willing to fight for it and they've asked Marcus Battle to help. The last thing Battle wants is another war. But if that's what it takes to gain freedom and safe passage to the other side of the wall, he'll take aim and fire.

    Driven by obsession—in particular, obsession with the legendary French poet, Robert Desnos—Muench’s identification with a true self beyond the self’s known truth is startling.—from the introduction by Carol Muske-Dukes“Simone’s poems have a confidence and sophistication of what I like to call intentionality. Also wit, grace, poise, and a relationship to writing beyond self-referential feeling.”—Anne Waldman“Lush, sprouting, sensuous images line-by-line, adopting myth freely, Muench’s poems are volatile explosives, circling beauty.”—James Tate

    Subhas Chandra Bose, 1897-1945, Indian statesman.

     Rowdy Talbot isn't the world's greatest bull rider. Not even close. But he lives by the cowboy code, and he never forgets to take off his cowboy hat during the national anthem. When Rowdy wins the rodeo in Crockett County, Colorado, he celebrates his triumph with two young Frenchwomen he meets in a local bar. The next morning, when he discovers that the two have left for Paris with the championship belt buckle he won, Rowdy does what any true cowboy would: he hops on a plane to the City of Light to retrieve it. What follows is a comic collision of cultures and personalities. In Rowdy in Paris, Tim Sandlin has concocted an unlikely but engaging mélange of characters: disaffected French revolutionaries, a turquoise-peddling CIA operative, and a middle-aged courtesan, all caught in a plot to destroy an American fast-food chain. At the center of the chaos is Rowdy himself, who finds as he searches for the belt buckle that there's another world beyond the back of a bull. By turns smart and satirical, biting and engaging, Rowdy in Paris is a surprisingly moving story about what it means to broaden one's horizons by opening one's heart.

    Now at last here's a feast for them and other verbivores. Eat up!-Barbara WallraffSenior Editor at The Atlantic Monthly and author of Word CourtPraise for A Word a Day"AWADies will be familiar with Anu Garg's refreshing approach to words: words are fun and they have fascinating histories. The people who use them have curious stories to tell too, and this collection incorporates some of the correspondence received by the editors at the AWAD site, from advice on how to outsmart your opponent in a duel (or even a truel) to a cluster of your favorite mondegreens."-John Simpson, Chief Editor, Oxford English Dictionary"A banquet of words! Feast and be nourished!"-Richard Lederer, author of The Miracle of LanguageWritten by the founder of the wildly popular A Word A Day Web site (www.wordsmith.org), this collection of unusual, obscure, and exotic English words will delight writers, scholars, crossword puzzlers, and word buffs of every ilk. The words are grouped in intriguing categories that range from "Portmanteaux" to "Words That Make the Spell-Checker Ineffective." each entry includes a concise definition, etymology, and usage example-and many feature fascinating and hilarious commentaries by A Word A Day subscribers and the authors.

    Miraculously, 1,218 men, women and children survived, but the disaster was catastrophic at home. "Oil and Ice" is the story of one fateful whaling season that illuminates the unprecedented rise and devastating fall of America's first oil economy, and the fate of today's petroleum industry.

    The photobooth was born. Within 20 years there were more than 30,000 in the United States alone, an explosive growth due largely to World War II, as soldiers and loved ones exchanged photos, hoping to cling to memories or moments in a world turned upside down. But by the 1960s the advent of Polaroid photography spelled the doom of the "four strip" that had become a fixture at arcades and drugstores everywhere. The recent resurgence of photo sticker machines has recaptured the fun and intimacy of the photobooth. With no photographer to please, people are at liberty to be whoever they like: brave or sexy, cocksure or wise, without fear of censure or ridicule. Free in the certainty of their solitude, families, couples young and old, best friends, and individual after individual have presented to the camera both real and imagined selves for three-quarters of a century.Photobooth presents over 700 such photographs from the last 75 years, images at turns spontaneous and uninhibited, often goofy, and occasionally touching. It is a fascinating portrait of everyday people and a testament to the ongoing fascination with both the process and the result.

    This exciting biography also clears a lot of misinformation and bogus theories circulating around the late, great, guitar virtuoso Randy Rhoads' life and death. Written by journeyman rock bassist Rudy Sarzo, this is a first hand account of Rudy s experience on the road with Ozzy and his Blizzard of Ozz band.

    He has seen the worst that humanity has to offer, and that was before the sun belched and the power grid failed. In these grim times, the world has turned into a lawless frontier, where people kill for food and water, weapons and shelter. It only took three days – or the absence of nine meals – for anarchy. Shep and Antigone, the girl he rescues, march across the unyielding landscape toward the one place unsullied by the disaster. On their arduous journey, they fight hunger and disease, desperation and death and run from a man who wants nothing more than vengeance.

    When global leaders attempt to take advantage of America's weakened state, the world is plunged into a conflict the likes of which no one could have predicted. Alea Jacta Est is set in the near future and weaves a story of crisis and conflict from Arizona, Florida and Washington, D.C., to Europe, the Middle East and China. It is a story of survival, courage, and terror that tells of just one way America may fall from power, and offers a glimmer of hope that she may yet rise again. As America goes, so goes the world...