Michener was an obscure textbook editor working in New York. Within three years, he was a naval officer stationed in the South Pacific. By the end of the decade, he was an accomplished author, well on the way to worldwide fame. Michener’s first novel, Tales of the South Pacific, won the Pulitzer Prize. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein used it as the basis for the Broadway musical South Pacific, which also won the Pulitzer. How this all came to be is the subject of Stephen May’s Michener’s South Pacific.An award-winning biographer of Michener, May was a featured interviewee on the fiftieth-anniversary DVD release of the film version of the musical. During taping, he realized there was much he didn’t know about how Michener’s experiences in the South Pacific shaped the man and led to his early work.May delves deeply into this formative and turbulent period in Michener’s life and career, using letters, journal entries, and naval records to examine how a reserved, middle-aged lieutenant known as "Prof" to his fellow officers became one of the most successful writers of the twentieth century.

    Now they are both doomed…Leanna Williamson was a dreamer. A young woman passionate for literature, who wouldn't settle for anything less than the heroes she grew up fantasizing about. Yet fate has other plans.When her father announces her engagement to the country's cruelest knight, Leanna has two options: succumb to a living nightmare, or prove that she is brave like her literary idols. And so, she escapes…Kaiden MacNaghten's existence was an eventful one. A man on the run, who invented the most colorful ways to survive. His latest ruse, pretending to be a priest, will cause much more trouble to Kaiden than he could have ever imagined.When he encounters an unprotected young woman on her way to the Highlands, his respectful guise will be her safe harbor, until his own longings will make it almost impossible to keep up with his lie…Who is the mysterious Highlander priest that makes Leanna want to sin? And how will Kaiden be able to protect her, when his presence is the biggest threat for her?She prayed for a savior… He prayed for freedom…

    Yet here he is in SoCal, launching a private investigations firm with two ex-SEAL buddies, settling into a long-term relationship with L.A. county’s hottest assistant district attorney, Avalon Rossi. Figures he’d be the one to flush ZSI’s make-or-break job down the toilet. Now his rich, powerful client’s allegedly unfaithful wife is dead. And the evidence isn’t the only thing with gaping holes in it. Avalon has never seen Zach blow his cool, until the lid blows off this latest can of worms. Her gift for thinking on her feet keeps him out of trouble—for now—though lately she’s wondering if his knee-melting kisses haven’t melted all her good sense. When it turns out one of ZSI’s own is a suspect, it’ll take more than fast talking to keep him from taking the fall. And another victim from landing in the morgue.

    Faithful woman. A lonely child. And a God who answers! Five years ago, on Christmas Eve, Collin Watson lost his two-year-old son when his ex-wife, who was a junkie, took the boy and disappeared. He despairs of ever finding his son but never stops praying for the boy to be safe wherever he is. This year he is praying for a Christmas miracle. Mabel Green is an Elementary School teacher and she doesn’t know why she is drawn to the seven year old boy who just joined her class at the beginning of the year. She is single and longs to find a man who will love her deeply, and she prays that this Christmas she won’t be alone. Taylor Brown has known a lot of pain in his short life and his only respite comes from his teacher, who cares about him, ensuring that he eats at least one good meal a day. He longs to find a good family who will take him in so he can have a wonderful Christmas this year. Three yearning hearts brought together by the magic and love of Christmas.

     Aside from the bipolar hillbillies, unfriendly wild animals, run-ins with the law, a mental breakdown, a bad first date, and a near-death experience . . . things actually went pretty well. Taking plenty of detours along the way, Rob’s contagious and hilarious sense of wanderlust carries him on a whirlwind road trip from the Smoky Mountains in the East, to Yellowstone, the Tetons, and Colorado’s snow-covered peaks in the West. In a refreshing style that brings these incredible wild places to life like no travel guide ever could, on seemingly every page we’re reminded of the one universal truth of travel . . . the best parts of any journey are the adventures we least expect.