While not nearly as much in demand today as they were in the days of the Yankee clippers, these skills nevertheless remain important and necessary to today's yachtsmen and owners of smaller pleasure boats.In this excellent handbook on basic shipboard skills, marine expert Hervey Garrett Smith offers boating and yachting enthusiasts a complete course in rigging, working, and maintaining a ship. More than 100 illustrations help the reader grasp the fundamentals and fine points of handling a ship while the author describes in detail a sailor's tools, basic knots, and useful hitches as well as the arts of splicing, handsewing, and canvas work.Other topics equally important to safe, economical, and efficient boat maintenance and management include belaying, coiling, and stowing; towing procedures; how to make a chafing gear; and much more. Easy-to-follow instructions for fashioning decorative knots, ornamental coverings, and nettings, and even how to make a proper bucket round out this engaging and informative guide.Packed with useful "hands-on" information conveyed in a chatty, humorous style, The Arts of the Sailor is the perfect book to keep aboard ship for study and for ready reference when the need arises. It also makes delightful reading for armchair sailors and the legions of landlubbers with an interest in the sea.

    During that time, as this vividly written book by historian Matthew West shows, poverty and oppression prompted many men - and even a few women - to sea in search of treasure, adventure, and sometimes, revenge. The treasure taken in a single trip could net a captain many times the profit an average sailor might expect to gain over a lifetime. The Pirates provides an exciting glimpse into the characters, crimes, and legends created by the buccaneers.

     British privateer, Philip Carruthers, on a secret undertaking for Queen Victoria, has at last found the treasure he’s sought for two years. Unfortunately, he also finds a captive Englishwoman. Duty-bound to rescue her, he risks his ship, his crew, and his cat to return Lady Angsley to her father. In the midst of a dangerous world of pistols and plunder, Captain Carruthers goes from privateer to pirate in order to steal the heart of a lady. A secret royal mission or the life of a lady? Which will he choose?

    - She's a mercenary, a tough lady warrior known as the Lady of the Moon. Samarra le Brecque is hired by the father of a reluctant groom to take his son to the Caves of St. Agnes in Cornwall, where the groom's intended will be waiting. According to local legend, if a man and a woman touch the red stains upon the walls of the cave, said to be left by doomed lovers, then the man and woman shall fall in love forever. But the situation doesn't go as planned. Sir Rhodes de Leybourne is a powerful knight for the Earl of Bristol, Bastian de Russe (BEAST). He wants to choose his own wife, not the woman his father has selected for him, and in his haste to escape he falls right into the trap set by the lady mercenary. Now, a game of wits begins as Rhodes finds himself attracted to this strong, beautiful woman who commands a misfit army of mercenaries. Will Rhodes honor his father's wishes or will he follow his own heart? (Note: this novella was originally published in the Mists and Moonrise collection, released 6/2017, but this novella is the extended version with additional content)

    He goes back home seeking solace, only to find more sorrow – and Esther Barton, his father's hired girl – a woman he holds in contempt.Missteps seal James’s fate. The penance? His child, now in the care of the one he had scorned, suffers abuse and neglect. The woman James judged unacceptable, now judges him. Trapped and helpless, he can only watch in horror.Who will save the Ravens when they cannot save themselves…and at what cost? Their salvation ends with blood on their hands, and they must bury their sins, deep in the Loess Hills of Missouri.

    Weeks. Months. Years. When real life gets too hard Chelsea decides to fly back to Pendle Island, a place she has not been since she was born. She’s looking forward to a vacation, but when she arrives, she’s quickly thrown into mayhem. Her Great Aunt Griselda has died, and Chelsea is needed at the funeral. She’s barely halfway through a stack of breakfast pancakes when her cousin Lizzy drops another bombshell. Chelsea is a witch, and her Great Aunt didn’t just die. She was murdered. Things go from bad to worse when Chelsea and her cousin start to follow the breadcrumbs. Her Great Aunt had been an infamous miser and hated by just about everyone on Pendle Island. Witches don’t get much more wicked than Griselda. After an ancient legal loophole leaves Chelsea as the sole heir of Griselda’s estate, she suddenly finds herself in charge of a haunted house on a hill, home to a mad pirate ghost, a talking cat, and a burly lumberjack with a curious secret. If that wasn’t enough, she’s got a dreamy sheriff to contend with, and a silver-tongued lawyer who is as charming as he is cunning. It’s a lot to process, especially when Chelsea learns about a family curse dangling over her head. The last thing she wants is to end up like her man-eater mother, but it seems she can’t help attracting attention… With a curse to run from, a murder to solve, and a needy cat to please, Chelsea finds her plate fills up very quickly. There’s also the small matter of avoiding death and learning magic, but that’s easy enough. Right? As Witch Would Have It is the first book in the Wicked Witches of Pendle Island mystery series. It’s fast, funny, and may contain a sassy animal or two.

    But her desperate attempts to find help elsewhere are abruptly thwarted by a new outbreak of fighting initiated by an untested government determined to win at any cost. With her husband forced into conscription, her time and options running out, she must make a fateful decision - remain where she is and jeopardize the life of one child, or flee her beloved homeland, leaving her husband and second daughter behind... possibly forever. Relentless is the powerful and inspiring story of an Eritrean woman who faced incredible obstacles, defied a ruthless regime, and became an American immigrant success story, all while never giving up fighting for the only thing that really ever mattered: family. "There is a proverb in my native Tigrinya language,both warning and admonishment.It goes like this:Haki tseraba mot keraba.It means, if you speak the truth, you will gather many enemies." The Dreams of Freedom stories One family, two powerful accounts of love, heartbreak, and determination from one of the world's most isolated and abusive governments in modern history. It's 1991, and a bloody thirty-year conflict with Ethiopia has just ended, earning Eritrea its first taste of freedom in over a century. But peace is a delicate flower, and power is all-too easily corrupting. Soon, the small Horn-of-African nation will find itself at war once again, back in the familiar stranglehold of despotism, except this time it will be at the hands of its own beloved leader and war hero. Families are torn apart, suspicion and desperation grow. Human rights are violated. In the midst of worsening oppression, one man and one woman will risk everything to save their children from this life of violence and give them the future they once imagined for themselves.. ~ Relentless - An Immigrant Story by Wudasi Nayzgi and Kenneth James Howe ~ I Will Not Grow Downward - Memoir Of An Eritrean Refugee by Yikealo Neab and Kenneth James Howe I WILL NOT GROW DOWNWARD - MEMOIR OF AN ERITREAN REFUGEE ONE MAN'S LONG AND PERILOUS FLIGHT FROM AFRICA'S HERMIT KINGDOMTHIRTY YEARS OF BLOODY CONFLICT with a powerful enemy never broke the spirit of the Eritrean people. After winning their freedom from Ethiopia, a young man dreams of starting a new life, building a home, and teaching his children what it means to be the masters of their own fate. But all-too soon, the fighting resumes. Rounded up and forced into conscription, subjected to inhumane treatment, made to serve a despotic leader in an army fighting a war nobody wants, he will have to sacrifice much just for a chance to get back what he lost - his family, his freedom, his birthright. But will it be worth it? Or will he simply lose everything in the end? I Will Not Grow Downward offers an exceedingly rare glimpse inside the highly secretive and brutally repressive regime known as Africa's North Korea.

    Be they straight-up monsters or nightmares behind a human mask, they track us and they kill us. Sometimes, they play with their food, where death would be a kindness. But there is hope. There are those who search out the monsters, those who hunt the hunters. These are their stories. ********* Featuring 13 stories of military horror by some of the best known and emerging writers in the genre. 1. Apex Predator -- N. X. Sharps & Tim Marquitz 2. Two Birds, One Stone -- Evan Dicken 3. Non Zero Sum -- R. P. L. Johnson 4. Only Stones -- Christine Morgan 5. That Old Black Magic -- James A. Moore 6. Ngu Tinh -- D. F. Shultz 7. Warm Bodies -- Kirsten Cross 8. The Bani Protocols -- Rose Blackthorn 9. Hungry Eyes -- Seth Skorkowsky 10. The Secret War -- David W. Amendola 11. Outbreak -- V. E. Battaglia 12. Droch Fhola -- Brad C. Hodson 13. Bonked -- Patrick Freivald

    It takes place during pre-Revolutionary War age, truly a fascinating time in history that has been greatly ignored by other authors. At its heart, it is a tale of prisoners, refugees and society's casts offs all joining together to escape from government tyranny and discover a path to liberty. Find out how a group of oppressed colonists gain the courage to start defying authority and begin planning a revolution from British control. It is a gritty, vivid account of what life was like in the 1700's and is loaded with real, obscure historical events that time erased and buried. Follow the group of freedom seekers as their adventure takes them through Savannah, the Florida Keys, St. Augustine, Charles Towne and Cape Fear, as well as many other towns of the Low Country. Most importantly it is a fun read loaded with action. Please note: There are two versions of this novel, one for adults and one that has been adapted to be the first in a trilogy of novels for young adults. If you spend your booty on this, you're buying the adult version, yarrr.

    Journey with young Jarek and his tiger-warrior companion, Koj, as they team up with pirate princess, Serra, to confront the dread Malesur -- a villain set on devouring the denizens of this magical, patchwork world!Tellos is an all-ages rollercoaster ride of action and adventure, mystery and magic, and good versus evil! The perfect format for the perfect bedtime story -- for children of all ages!

    Evert Haan, grown wealthy on black-market trading, sent to Holland for Annabet. When she arrived racked by rheumatic fever, he ordered her killed. But Annabet lived to recover her health and beauty and to find a dangerous love with an Englishman.

    I've never seen anything close to his work…”—Eddie Yuen, co-editor of Confronting Capitalism“From Belfast to the Bronx and Chiapas to Kurdistan, Ramor Ryan has shown a lifelong commitment to social justice, a questioning mind and an ability to incorporate historical currents into his work.”—Mick McCaughan, Latin American Correspondent to the Irish TimesAn epic debut, Ramor Ryan’s nonfiction tales read like Che Guevara’s The Motorcycle Diaries crossed with Hunter S. Thompson’s wit and flair for the impossible. A shrewd political thinker and philosopher with a knack for ingratiating himself into the thick of any social situation, Ryan has been there and lived to tell about it.As much an adventure story as an unofficial chronicle of modern global resistance movements, Clandestines spirits the reader across the globe, carefully weaving the narrative through illicit encounters and public bacchanals. From the teeming squats of mid-90’s East Berlin, to intrigue in the Zapatista Autonomous Zone, a Croatian Rainbow Gathering on the heels of the G8 protests in Genoa, mutiny on the high seas, the quixotic ambitions of a Kurdish guerilla camp, the contradictions of Cuba, and the neo-liberal nightmare of post-war(s) Central America we see everywhere a world in flux, struggling to be reborn.Ramor Ryan is a rebellious rover and Irish exile who makes his home between New York City and Chiapas.

    And in this four-in-one novel collection, women seek to find life's charm amid some of its deepest pain. When widowed Paula finds love again, will she lose her daughter? Can Kristi help Jack rekindle his faith in God... and in other people? Cassidy has repented of her prodigal teen years, but can she prove she's worthy of love? Can Rachel ever regain custody of her kids and pull her life together? God can bring charm from the chaos! Can God turn chaos into charm? Four contemporary Texas women find that the Lord does move in the midst of the most difficult life situations.

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

    This story isn’t for the feint of heart. It’s not for the sensitive. I know what you’re thinking, reader. You have handled the daring Harry Dresden, the foul-mouthed Nate Temple, the pulpy violence of James Stark. Well… let me tell you something right now… You’re dead wrong if you think you can handle Joseph Labrador Hunter. I’m more of the third, forgotten Winchester brother. In the words of my old pal, Lemony Snicket, “If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book.” He’s not really a pal of mine, more a hero, but the sentiment rings true. My story isn’t one of happiness. It has a sad beginning…In the middle, there’s a lot of violent, sad things that happen…And the end, well, that’s the saddest part. I’m not a hero. I’m not a wizard. I’m not Superman with a wand. If you’re looking for light-hearted fun, go sniff up someone else’s magical staff. I’m a nightmare to my best friends, and a death wish to my worst enemies. And I’m also very melodramatic, and I will sometimes break into a running commentary with my reader… because, it’s the only time anyone will ever listen to me!Grab your favorite drink. You’ll need it if you ever want to forget this story.