This is a manual offering plain-language insight into the everyday mechanics of creating a book from hazy idea to finished manuscript. These real-world challenges - how to approach a manuscript, to manage research, to fix the right point of view - represent important and recurring obstacles every writer, novice or professional, must overcome. This practical user manual is a must-have starting point for anyone facing that challenge. It is not a book on writing technique or how to get published. It's a practical guide to the craft of planning, starting and finishing a novel.

    If I am still alivewhen the events foretold in these pages occur, then I hope that you will find me before it is too late.Roberta Ann SparrowOctober, 1944"

    In this short book, Andrew Culp polemically argues that this once-radical canon of joy has lost its resistance to the present. Concepts created to defeat capitalism have been recycled into business mantras that joyously affirm “Power is vertical; potential is horizontal!” Culp recovers the Deleuze’s forgotten negativity. He unsettles the prevailing interpretation through an underground network of references to conspiracy, cruelty, the terror of the outside, and the shame of being human. Ultimately, he rekindles opposition to what is intolerable about this world. Forerunners is a thought-in-process series of breakthrough digital works. Written between fresh ideas and finished books, Forerunners draws on scholarly work initiated in notable blogs, social media, conference plenaries, journal articles, and the synergy of academic exchange. This is gray literature publishing: where intense thinking, change, and speculation take place in scholarship.

    907 pages. TO TAME A HIGHLAND EARL by Tarah Scott A man torn between two worlds. Both need him… neither wants him. Groomed for a life amongst the English aristocracy, Lord Erroll Rushton is unexpectedly thrust back into his father’s Scottish world when the Englishwoman he compromises refuses to marry him. No gentleman breaks into a lady’s bedchamber...but then, no lady sleeps with a pistol under her pillow. Miss Eve Crenshaw will marry for love or won’t marry at all. When London’s most notorious rakehell breaks into Eve’s bedroom in the dead of night and compromises her beyond repair, she plans a daring elopement that shocks even the earl. HIGHLANDER IN HER BED by Allie Mackay Tour guide Mara MacDougall stops at a London antique shop-and spots perhaps the handsomest bed ever. Then she bumps into the handsomest man ever. Soon Mara can't forget the irresistible-if haughty-Highlander. Not even when she learns that she's inherited a Scottish castle. Spectral Sir Alexander Douglas has hated the Clan MacDougall since he was a medieval knight and they tricked him into a curse-the curse of forever haunting the bed (the very one that Mara now owns) that was once intended for his would-be bride. But Mara makes him feel what no other MacDougall has-a passion that he never knew he'd missed. RESCUED BY THE CELTIC WARRIOR by Amy Jarecki When Hadrian's Wall falls, Valeria's world shatters. Captured by savages, she prays the Romans will find her—but it’s Taran, a Celtic warrior who rides to her rescue. Though the world beyond the Empire is fraught with danger and brutality, the tattooed barbarian ignites an unquenchable flame of passion that cannot be denied. THE DARING HEART by Carmen Caine How can a man even court a lass longer than a fortnight when there are so many pouting lips to kiss? Roaming the courts of Europe, Julian appears to spend his time drinking wine, wagering gold, and dandling willing lasses upon his knee. But no one knows the man behind the mask. No one knows that he is Le Marin—Europe’s most daring and brazen spy. But everything changes the night he finds a dagger pressed against his ribs and an alluring hazel-eyed minx in his bed. Born into the Vindictam, the renowned Venetian family of assassins, Liselle dreams of the day she will be allowed to practice the family craft. And when she is sent to the Scottish court, her dream is finally realized. But is it an honor … or a curse? As the threat of civil war looms over Scotland, and the king's own brother conspires with the English to put himself on the Scottish throne, Julian can’t help but be distracted by the mysterious Venetian beauty and her many secrets. But will it be his undoing? HEART OF THE HIGHLANDS:THE BEAST by April Holthaus Ian MacKay has one mission; to defend the crown no matter the cost. Along with his men, Ian’s mission is to hunt down one of the most dangerous men in the Highlands. But when the daughter of an enemy enters his life, his heart becomes captured instead. Keira Sinclair has lived a life of peace and simplicity until now. With her clan on the verge of losing everything, she is forced to wed a Laird from a neighboring clan to ensure that hers survives. During her travels to her new home, her carriage is attacked and Keira is taken hostage by a ruthless man. Caught in the middle of a war that she does not understand, will Keira's secrets be safe, or will she succumb to the Highland warrior who now threatens to capture her heart?

    TO THE FINLAND STATION is a work of history on a grand scale, at once sweeping, detailed, closely reasoned & passionately argued, that succeeds in painting an unforgettable picture--alive with conspirators, philosophers, utopians & nihilists--of the making of the modern world. 'The 1st thing that strikes us about To the Finland Station is the vastness of its scope...It is easily, equally at home in the philosopher's study, in the prisoner's cell, on the steppes, in the streets, melancholy in great country houses, choking in fetid industrial slums...It can remind us that our history is alive & open & rich with excitement & promise'--NY Times Book Review

     Compared to an arranged marriage to the odious Bernard Regent, a prairie schooner on the Oregon Trail doesn't seem like such a bad trade to Amethyst Kent. When desperate Martha Davis reveals her need for a mother's helper on the trail, Ami decides to up and leave the pampered life she's always known for a land of freedom. But trail life is hardly a tea party, and Ami must draw from the deepest wells of her faith to survive. With the sunset always before her, and Shiloh Talon, a handsome trail scout, guiding the way, she might just make it through.

    In 1997, Graham Harman was an obscure graduate student covering Chicago sporting events for a California website. Unpublished in philosophy at the time, he was already a popular conference speaker on Heidegger and related themes. Little more than a decade later, as the author of stimulating and highly visible books on continental philosophy, he was Associate Vice Provost for Research at the American University in Cairo, and a key member of the Speculative Realist movement along with Ray Brassier, Iain Hamilton Grant, and Quentin Meillassoux. This fascinating collection of eleven essays and lectures from 1997-2009, anchored by Harman's rebellious transformation of Heideggerian philosophy, show the evolution of his object-oriented metaphysics from its early days into an increasingly developed philosophical position. Each chapter is preceded by Harman's delightful and witty scene-setting commentary.

    But something went terribly wrong. By day's end, some would be alive. Others would not. A close-knit community would be devastated, forced to endure. This gripping true story centers on what happened to one courageous and flawed young man who survived, and how his life quickly spiraled out of control in the next two years. It is a story about love, unbreakable friendship, and "king" corn. “There are some forty-five thousand items in the average American supermarket and more than a quarter of them now contain corn,” writes Michael Pollan in The Omnivore’s Dilemma. But as international dependence on the highly subsidized crop for cattle feed, corn syrup and ethanol has surged—so have deaths by corn. Based on three years of reporting and interviews with the people involved and thousands of pages of court documents, transcripts, police reports, journalist Erika Hayasaki brings to life (in narrative nonfiction-style) this world of people who risk and sometimes lose their lives for this powerful commodity. Hayasaki, a former national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, is the author of The Death Class: A True Story About Life (Simon & Schuster 2014), as well as the Kindle Single, Dead or Alive (2012). She is an assistant professor in the Literary Journalism Program at the University of California, Irvine, and a regular contributor to Newsweek and The Atlantic. *Cover design by Kristen RadtkePraise for DROWNED BY CORN:THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE: "The descriptions of the accident are chilling: a blow-by-blow account of the grain pulling the young men under and the dramatic rescue of Will, who survived after being buried past his chest. The piece follows Will as his grief sends him into a downward spiral. "Drowned by Corn" is a gripping narrative of tenderness and horror, friendship and loss." — Megan KirbySAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: "Erika Hayasaki’s suspenseful account of the deaths of Paco and Wyatt and the harrowing rescue of Will is the stuff of nightmares. But what elevates this fine work of investigative journalism is her portrayal of Will in the aftermath: his survival guilt, his struggle with alcohol and drugs, his strained relationships and his eventual discovery of a way to endure his and his town’s unspeakable losses." — Porter Shreve

    Will the solar catastrophe or his fellow man kill him, or can he prevail? The Sun is entering a period of solar activity that makes the famous Carrington event of 1859 pale by comparison. Just that alone will knock out the grid, kill most vehicles and fry electronics. The USA is not prepared for this catastrophe and the entire world will go back 150 years in technology and living standards. Hardened military vehicles and pre electronic vehicles will be the only machines moving not drawn by a horse, mule or camel. People with pacemakers will fall dead, planes will fall out of the sky and transportation will come to a halt. People will starve; riots and looting will start all across the world. 60% of the world’s population will die off the first year. While that sounds bad, unfortunately, a trio of rogue planets has been traveling on a collision course with the Sun for millions of years. US scientists predict that they will strike the sun during this period of intense solar activity and could exacerbate the catastrophe into an E.L.E (Extinction Level Event). They forecast that the impact would eject a massive amount of solar mass, which will become a Coronal Mass Ejection of enormous size. If it approaches the Earth, it could sear the surface and kill all life. Even a near miss would kill all life on the side facing the glob of solar plasma. Does the US government warn the world and start panic in every country? How can the government prepare for an E.LE with only two years notice? Matt Jones became disgusted with his life as a high school teacher, politics and political correctness, which has run amuck in America. He dropped out and took survival courses while learning as much about prepping as possible. He sold his home and business to buy a home in a remote part of the USA and prepare for whatever apocalypse is heading his way. He just wanted to be alone on his property with his two dogs and give the finger to the rest of the world. That is easier said than done. He encounters many good and many evil people as he fights for survival in this post-apocalyptic world. He is able to do what he has to do to stop the criminals, but struggles on how to cope with the good people who will die without help. Matt can’t save the whole world; he first has to save himself and then figure out what to do for the others if anything. What would you do to survive? Read “Alone in the Apocalypse and find out what Matt Jones does to survive.

     Sweet Cowboy Kisses by Stephanie Berget Can two wounded souls find a sweet future together? Bucked Off for Love by Lacey Wolfe What happens when a bull rider seeks physical therapy from the one woman who brings his body to life? Heart Rush by Lisa Huffman When two hearts collide, can anything happen? A Cowboy to Love by D’Ann Lindun Can a women dreaming of a family and a cowboy who is sterile find a way to build a life together?

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    A lot of people today seek ways to retain and improve their memory and there is no better way to improve aside from these exercises. Just as the body needs physical exercises in order to function optimally, the brain needs to be exercised as well to prevent it from becoming sluggish. Get to know these fun and challenging exercises, do them and experience improved brain and memory function.

    This title examines the creeds of religions, alongside the myths and symbols of various cultures.

    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

    We've merely been taught to talk as if it had: as though weather maps were more 'real' than the breath of autumn; as though, for that matter, Reason was really 'cool.' What we're saying whenever we say is a theme this book illumines for anyone attentive." — Hugh Kenner, Johns Hopkins University "In this bold and powerful book, Lakoff and Turner continue their use of metaphor to show how our minds get hold of the world. They have achieved nothing less than a postmodern Understanding Poetry, a new way of reading and teaching that makes poetry again important." — Norman Holland, University of Florida