Rules for the Unruly: Living an Unconventional Life


Marion Winik - 2001
    Winik's amusing tales of outrageous mistakes, haunting uncertainty, and the never-ending struggle to stay true to her heart strike a powerful chord with creative, impassioned, independent-minded free spirits who know they're different -- and want to stay that way. Winik's seven Rules for the Unruly are: THE PATH IS NOT STRAIGHT · MISTAKES NEED NOT BE FATAL PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN ACHIEVEMENTS OR POSSESSIONS BE GENTLE WITH YOUR PARENTS · NEVER STOP DOING WHAT YOU CARE ABOUT MOST LEARN TO USE A SEMICOLON · YOU WILL FIND LOVE Rules for the Unruly shows us how taking risks, living creatively, and cherishing our inner weirdness can become the secret of our happiness and success, not our downfall.

Take a Seat: One Man, One Tandem and Twenty Thousand Miles of Possibilities


Dominic Gill - 2010
    A highly personal account of a remarkable journey that pushed the author to the brink

I'm Here: Compassionate Communication in Patient Care


Marcus Engel - 2010
    However, the human interaction between patient and care giver is still the essential foundation of healing. “I’m Here” is a personal narrative from the patient’s perspective. Filled with practical advice, packed with humor and overflowing with appreciation, Marcus Engel encourages health care professionals to practice compassionate communications in all its forms.“Marcus’ books and keynote presentation has left an unforgettable impression on our nursing staff. It’s an invaluable reminder of why we do, what we do.”-Dee Evans, Driscoll Children’s Hospital, Corpus Christi, TX“I’m Here” should be required reading for all health practitioners. Marcus’ personal experience of being a patient and his insights into what constitutes compassionate care are marvelous and right on.”-Dr. Norma Stephens Hannigan, Assistant Professor of Clinical Nursing Diplomate of Comprehensive Care, Columbia University in the City of New York. -Professional speaker and author Marcus Engel is considered an expert in communicating the patient’s perspective, and inspiring health care professionals to excellence. Marcus speaks from the heart. After being blinded and suffering catastrophic injuries at the hands of a drunk driver, he endured years of hospitalization, rehab and recovery. Marcus is the author of “After This… An Inspirational Journey for All the Wrong Reasons” and “The Other End of the Stethoscope: 33 Insights for Excellent Patient Care.”

The World and I, Vol. 1: A Woman, Several Suitcases, 65 Countries.


Cassia Meare - 2017
    This is her story... Told with humor and insight into countries where she lived for months, The World and I is comprised of the real adventures of Cassia Meare as she jumps from country to country for work and learns to rely on herself. In the first volume she is sent to Algiers right after being hired and gets a scorpion as a marriage proposal in the Sahara; she travels from glorious St Petersburg all the way to Sakhalin in Russia just as it is emerging from communism -- without forgetting to stop at the casinos of Siberia; she falls in love with Istanbul and meets crazy Sergei and his gun in Kiev; she works with a very handsome man in Vladivostok -- only to travel on with him to stunning Rajasthan. Get an insider's view on Madrid, Rome, Palermo and find out more about Warsaw, Prague and what is in Azerbaijan. There will be information on culture, sights, history -- but most of all there will be the people Meare finds along the way, often the most memorable things about her trips. You'll laugh, discover things about places you might never go to, or which have changed beyond recognition since then. You'll also find out about some of the world's most beautiful spots. Just don't expect this book to teach you how to travel for less...

Beggar's Daughter


Jessica Harris - 2016
     Jessica Harris was 13 years old when she was exposed to pornography. After four years, her use was out of control and when she went to find help, it became apparent that this wasn't a thing many women do. All of the resources were for men, and when she got caught, she was told "Women don't have this problem." That sent her on a downward spiral and nearly landed her in the adult industry. Spoiler alert: that didn't happen. Instead, she found freedom, hope, healing and worth in the love and grace of God. Beggar's Daughter is a candid look into her story, how she struggled and eventually how God set her free. It is a narrative on grace suitable for the women who struggle and those who want to understand them. Through it all, the message is that no woman is ever beyond the grace of God.

The Care Factor


Ailsa Wild - 2021
    As a nurse, her skill is to care. When Covid-19 began to spread across the world in 2020, Sim volunteered to retrain to work in Melbourne’s intensive care units. And as she prepared to go back to ICU and case numbers began climbing, Sim started talking to her friend Ailsa. Through the exhaustion, the confusion, the many tears and the surprising moments of hilarity, Sim kept talking. And Ailsa started writing.  In The  Care Factor, Ailsa walks behind Sim as she faces the realities of the coronavirus. The result is a deeply human account of what the pandemic has really meant, not just for Sim and her fellow health professionals, but also for their patients, their families and friends, and the many who faced life in lockdown. This is a celebration of nursing, of friendship, and of the layers of connection and care that allow us to keep going when it feels impossible.  'This book has single-handedly restored my faith in humanity. Offering a rare and thrilling glimpse into the life of a frontline healthcare worker during the COVID-19 Pandemic, The Care Factor is full to bursting with spirit, guts, empathy and love. It humbled and moved me in so many ways. I can’t recommend it enough!' – Emily Bitto, author of Stella Prize winning novel The Strays

Murder At The Fourth: A Forest Pines Mystery


Duncan Whitehead - 2016
    That is until local businessman, Donald Sands, is found murdered on the local golf course. Young and inexperienced Sheriff, Steve Calder, needs help and turns to Jenny to assist him in his investigation. Suddenly Jenny is plunged into a mystery unlike any other she has encountered and faces a multitude of suspects who all have a reason to rejoice the victim's death. It isn’t going to be as easy as Jenny thought, as she tries to find out who killed the most unpopular man in town. A string of mistresses, a jealous husband, a shady realtor as well as a down on his luck store owner, who couldn't repay a debt, are just some of the suspects as the plot thickens, and twists abound. Meanwhile, skeletons from Jenny's past are rattling their unwelcome bones. The truth contorts to a climax that will leave readers breathless.

Off Script


Marci Ien - 2020
    As a Black female news anchor and, later, the first Black woman in Canada to co-host a national morning show, Marci felt the pressure to stay “on script”—with little room for error. She had to be great. She had to show, every day, that she deserved to be there.When her career veered sharply away from the news, Marci embraced her new role “off script.” With a greater opportunity to speak her mind on the air, Marci now bravely shares experiences from her own life with viewers and pursues more ways to make a difference in her community.In Off Script, Marci shares personal milestones, tales of resilience and kindness, dramatic moments from her career as a journalist and insights from the many unforgettable people that she’s met and interviewed. Living off script means having the courage to speak up, trust your voice and follow your own formula for what matters most.

Riders of the Lone Star: Heck Carson Series Volume 1


John Spiars - 2017
    Johnstone, Best-selling western author, John Spiars has created a timeless hero of the old west. The first novel in the Heck Carson Series, Riders of the Lone Star brings the wild and lawless Texas frontier to life. When the Law ain’t enough… He brings Justice. The year is 1852. Settlers on the Texas frontier are at the mercy of hostile Comanche and vicious outlaws, and the only ones holding the line between life and death are a few brave men, known as Texas Rangers. Outnumbered and outgunned, they bring law and order to the untamed land. They face impossible odds with nothing more than grit, determination, and a fast gun. It is this adventure and excitement that lures sixteen-year-old Jesse “Heck” Carson to leave his families ranch to join the fight. Heck quickly learns that this life comes at a price, the cost of which is hardship, danger, and possibly his own life. The bonds of friendship, loyalty, and duty lead him into epic battles that test his courage and resolve, and along the way he learns what it means to wear the star of the Texas Rangers. Excerpts: As fast as he could, he pulled the hammer back and fired, the first Comanche jerked once and hit the ground. The other warrior was no more than two feet away now. Heck wondered if he had another bullet left. Had he fired five or six shots? He couldn’t remember. Saying a silent prayer, Heck pulled the hammer back and looked at his approaching enemy. The point of the warrior’s lance was inches away from his chest when heck pulled the trigger. The barrel of the Walker was almost touching the chest of the charging Indian. Heck heard no sound, but saw the smoke pour out of the barrel and the big warrior dropped to his knees, and fell on top of the young Ranger. Lieutenant Sutter and Corporal Anderson approached the men on horseback, ready to do what had to be done. Looking at the group of riders, however, Sutter immediately recognized he had made a terrible mistake. These men were not military, not even by Southern standards. They were unkempt, filthy, and armed to the teeth. His heart sank as he noticed that most of the detachment were Mexican and their guns were not in their holsters. “What is going on here?” he said, unable to believe what he was seeing. The lead rider smiled and said, “This was even easier than Senor Cortina said it would be. Thank you.” Without saying another word, the man raised his pistol and fired two quick shots, hitting both Lieutenant Sutter and Corporal Anderson between the eyes. The man wheeled around with his rifle as Heck landed on his back, but it was a fruitless gesture. There was a look of pained surprise on the man’s face as Heck covered his mouth and pulled him to the floor. Heck plunged his knife into the man’s chest several times, as he kept his hand over the man’s mouth. After several seconds his muffled cries were silent. John Spiars is the author of the Heck Carson Series. He is a writer and amateur historian with a passion for the history and myths of the "Old West". His hope is to keep alive the western genre for this generation and all of those to come, while both entertaining and educating readers of all ages. He is a native Texan and lives in North Texas with his wife and four children. When not writing western novels, he maintains a blog and Facebook page about Texas history and travel entitled Under the Lone Star.

The Tenth Island: Finding Joy, Beauty, and Unexpected Love in the Azores


Diana Marcum - 2018
    A long-buried personal sadness is enfolding her—and her career is stalled—when she stumbles upon an unusual group of immigrants living in rural California. She follows them on their annual return to the remote Azorean islands in the Atlantic Ocean, where bulls run down village streets, volcanoes are active, and the people celebrate festas to ease their saudade, a longing so deep that the Portuguese word for it can’t be fully translated.Years later, California is in a terrible drought, the wildfires seem to never end, and Diana finds herself still dreaming of those islands and the chuva—a rain so soft you don’t notice when it begins or ends.With her troublesome Labrador retriever, Murphy, in tow, Diana returns to the islands of her dreams only to discover that there are still things she longs for—and one of them may be a most unexpected love.

Alchemy of the Afterlife: A Memoir


Linda Kinnamon - 2015
    Being a hospice nurse she spends her days caring for and visiting the terminally ill. But in the pre-dawn hours, as her patients near death, they occasionally pay her a visit instead.Whether it's perfume drifting through a room or a touch on the shoulder, the strength of spirit displayed at the end of life is as unique as the individual. Alchemy of the Afterlife is a memoir of life AFTER death based on Linda's childhood as an orphan combined with her adult experiences as a hospice nurse. These encounters reveal both a glimmer of heaven and a flash of hell.This is a child's story about surviving abuse and neglect, only to be comforted by a visit from her mother, a visit that took place four years after her mother's death. It's a nurse's story about patients of all beliefs, and their evolution from life to afterlife minus the harps and halos. Most of all, it's an uplifting and universal story of the golden transformation we will all experience at death, a transformation with the heart of pure love.

Credible Dagger


Gregory M. Acuña - 2013
    Four Belgrade University students are enjoying the time of their lives. Fresh with a wad full of foreign currency and few worries, their innocence is suddenly shaken when Field Marshal Göring’s Luftwaffe bombers strike the city at daybreak in “Operation Punishment.” The four students, Josef Kostinic, Celeste Bowman, Dick Vojovoda, and Penelope Mitchell take refuge and flee the city, only to have their rescue hopes dashed as Axis aircraft strafe the Adriatic coastline, sealing off their exit and forcing them in different directions. Two years later, with the United States formally entered into the war, the four students are unknowingly reunited once again. This time, British and U.S. intelligence services combine forces and infiltrate a team into Yugoslavia to determine the true credibility of Chetnick resistance leader Draza Mihailovich, code named Credible Dagger. The young companions must not only survive the harsh conditions in the field, but also Partisan guerrilla attacks, Communist double agents, and the ruthless tactics of SS counter-intelligence chief Hans Flosberg, who is constantly on their trail. Despite all these challenges, the operatives uncover information so crucial that the Allies keep it a secret for almost sixty years. About the Author: Gregory M. Acuña was a former U.S. Air Force pilot. He grew up in San Diego and now lives in Northern California. This is his second novel and he is currently writing the sequel to The Balkan Network.

West Point to Mexico


Bob Mayer - 2014
     They swore oaths, both personal and professional. They were fighting for country, for a way of life and for family. Classmates carried more than rifles and sabers into battle. They had friendships, memories, children and wives. They had innocence lost, promises broken and glory found. Duty, Honor, Country is history told both epic and personal so we can understand what happened, but more importantly feel the heart-wrenching clash of duty, honor, country and loyalty. And realize that sometimes, the people who changed history, weren’t recorded by it. In the vein of HBO’s Rome miniseries, two fictional characters, Rumble and Cord are standing at many of the major crossroads of our history. Our story starts in 1840, in Benny Havens tavern, just outside post limits of the United States Military Academy. With William Tecumseh Sherman, Rumble, Cord, and Benny Havens’ daughter coming together in a crucible of honor and loyalty. And on post, in the West Point stables, where Ulysses S. Grant and a classmate are preparing to saddle the Hell-Beast, a horse with which Grant would eventually set an academy record, and both make fateful decisions that will change the course of their lives and history. We follow these men forward to the eve of the Mexican War, tracing their steps at West Point and ranging to a plantation at Natchez on the Mississippi, Major Lee at Arlington, and Charleson, SC. We travel aboard the USS Somers and the US Navy mutiny that led to the founding of the Naval Academy at Annapolis. We end with Grant and company in New Orleans, preparing to sale to Mexico and war, and Kit Carson and Fremont at Pilot Peak in Utah during his great expedition west.

Guinness World Records 2013 Bonus Chapter


Guinness World Records - 2012
    Featuring additional content in the form of photographs and record-breaking facts, The Bonus Chapter also provides a behind-the-scenes look at Guinness World Records. The Bonus Chapter is available exclusively as a richly designed eBook and includes our Top 10 Claimants, a 'Day in the Life of an Adjudicator' as well as a special section on the Olympics and a quiz to test your superlative knowledge. A perfect accompaniment to Guinness World Records 2013, The Bonus Chapter is for all those fans who want to learn even more about the ultimate authority on record-breaking.

Hitchhikers


Bernard Poduska - 2013
    Following eviction from their Albuquerque home, the eight-year-old and his impoverished family have joined the ranks of the nation's homeless, and hope is running low. In a bid to outrun Social Services, the Poduskas crisscross the nation, hitching rides to "anywhere else."For the next eighteen years, the semi-literate young man finds refuge in his anger - and atheism. How could there be a God, with such suffering? Yet unbeknownst to Bernard, even in those darkest of days, the Lord walked by his side. And without realizing the path he was on, the unconquerable Bernard Poduska began a miraculous journey toward the peace of the gospel.Brigham Young University professor Bernard Poduska takes readers on an incredible and personal journey in this chain of reminiscences: from his young fight for survival on the streets to his triumphant rise among the ranks of BYU's most distinguished professors. More than just a rags to riches memoir, this unflinchingly candid tale documents one man's incredible transformation from an ardent anti-Christian into a faithful man of God.