The classic bestseller is now available for the first time as an ebookWith an incredible understanding of the nuances of classic mythology, Bernard Evslin brilliantly recounts the most compelling stories of heroes and monsters, light and dark, good and evil. Get to know the iconic gods, heroes, and tragic figures: Zeus, the all-powerful father of the gods; Hera, his cunning and jealous wife; seductive, golden-haired Aphrodite, the goddess of love; King Midas, who greedily loves gold above all else; the sculptor Pygmalion who falls in love with his creation; and many more. With each story, Evslin captures the beauty and power of Greek mythology—and through his funny asides, he gives life to these ancient characters. A perennial staple of curriculums around the world, Evslin's Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths is an invaluable resource. Views: 18
Winning is good. Succumbing is even better… Evasion Recently retired pro MMA fighter Steph Healy is through having rough-and-tumble romps with sexy blue-collar dudes. Unfortunately, Wilinski's Fight Academy has hired an electrician with a body built to make a gal weep. And avoiding some full-body contact is taking all of Steph's self-control. Grapple Carpenter-turned-electrician Patrick Doherty is damn good with his hands. Sure, he's not what Steph is looking for—yet. But he's about to prove that she has seriously underestimated her opponent…. Submission The moment Patrick has her deliciously pinned, Steph knows she's in deep, deep trouble. Because this seemingly mild carpenter has the mastery to give her exactly what she needs…and this is one takedown she's willing to take lying down!About the AuthorBefore becoming a writer, Meg worked as a record store snob, a lousy barista, a decent designer, and an over-enthusiastic penguin handler. Now she loves writing sexy, character-driven stories about strong-willed men and women who keep each other on their toes…and bring one another to their knees. Meg lives north of Boston with her bearded husband. When she's not trapped in her head she can be found in the kitchen, the coffee shop, or jogging around the nearest duck-filled pond. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.Steph paused at the bottom of the steps, gym bag in hand, and gave the space a long study. Wilinski's Fight Academy.It wasn't how she remembered it from her last visit, in November.It looked like a bomb had exploded.The cardio equipment and mats and the boxing and octagonal rings were crowded to one side, the other half overtaken by milling contractors and stacks of cinder block.In the fighters' corner—the sounds of gloves whacking and men grunting, the bass din of the hip-hop that fueled their drills.In the workers' corner—shouted questions and directions, the squeal of a band saw or sander from inside the space that would become a second locker room in a couple weeks' time. A thick sheet of rubber flaps hung over the would-be door, but dust still escaped.Sweat and concrete—the scents of laboring men.Steph had sampled enough of each to last a lifetime. The next time she got close to a guy, she hoped to heck he smelled like a gentleman. Whatever gentlemen smelled like. Cedar, maybe, or citrus or leather, or that stuff from Hermes that she'd bought for her older brother one Christmas. Robbie had taken one sniff and made a face, so she'd snatched it back, promising to get him Bruins tickets instead. Now the bottle lived in her bedside drawer, and occasionally she spritzed it on her pillow and pretended it was evidence of her incredibly urbane boyfriend, out of town in Brussels, attending a convention for surgeons or dignitaries or CIA operatives—any job that came with really sophisticated Christmas parties, so she'd have an excuse to wear heels and curl her hair. Someday. Somehow.For now, here she was in a gym, construction dudes on one side, fighters on the other, a big old buffet of the kinds of guys she used to date. Perfectly nice ones, likely. Good, hardworking men like her dad and brothers and her friends and exes from Worcester. But she was in Boston to start a new chapter, one that might feature a boyfriend with soft, strong hands and a college degree and a knowledge of Scotch.And one who wouldn't be embarrassed to introduce her, saying, "And this is my girlfriend, Steph, the retired cage fighter."Yeah, good luck with that.She toed off her sneakers and tucked them in one of the cubbies by the door. Giving the construction chaos a wide berth, she headed for the workout area, scanning for a familiar face. She found one, its owner busy leading a group in kickboxing drills.Rich Estrada. She'd met him at a big event in Vancouver the previous spring, and she ought to sue him for emotional distress, for hoisting her hopes up to such dangerous heights.The first time she'd laid eyes on him, he'd been dressed for a press thing, sauntering around in a suit. He didn't have a fighter's face—not yet—and she'd been intrigued. The kind of sophisticated guy she never crossed paths with. The event had been held at a huge casino, and she'd assumed he was some jet-set high roller visiting from the Riviera or someplace. She'd been in for a shock the next day when she glanced to her side and found him whacking a heavy bag in the gym. And when they'd spoken—that accent. He sounded like every guy she'd known growing up, dropping all his R's and sticking extra ones where they didn't belong. The most elegant man she'd ever seen, and he winds up being Boston disguised as Barcelona.He called a water break now and she caught his eye, waving."Penny! Hey."She winced. She'd been fighting as Penny for ages, a nickname from when her baby brother hadn't been able to pronounce "Stephanie." It had stuck because her hair was red as copper, and she'd competed as Penny beginning with her preteen karate days. Since then it had followed her through her first true love, judo, then jujitsu, then on to mixed martial arts. It was time she put her foot down. Here and now she'd quit being the person everyone imagined she was, and start being who she wanted to be."I prefer Steph," she reminded Rich."Sorry, I knew that. Steph. Welcome home."She looked around, nodding. "This'll do.""Don't say that. You're here to help us haul this dungeon out of the dark ages. Make Wilinski's into Bahstan's premieh gym for mixed mahtial ahts," he said, making fun of his own accent."I'd have thought that was your job, Mr. Celebrity." She sighed, frowning her commiseration. "Sorry about Rio." He'd lost his title to Vicente Farreira a couple months earlier in Brazil, under suspect circumstances. "If the organization doesn't run a doping investigation on Farreira, they're in for a shit-storm. Nobody's build changes that much—not dropping down a weight class."Rich shrugged. "The controversy's been good for me. Got a match in August with a payday that'll keep me from bitching about pretty much anything. And months to prepare.""Nice." Steph could appreciate how luxurious that must feel. The female side of MMA wasn't nearly as popular, and with fewer major events, she'd often taken offers with less prep time than was ideal, not wanting to miss an opportunity. But now she was retired—from the stress of the road, if not the sport. At the moment she felt relieved, though she knew in time she'd probably miss the focus that came with a match on the horizon. Though not as much as she'd come to miss feeling grounded the past couple years.She'd be thirty in less than three weeks, and was ready to start working toward goals that hadn't mattered until recently—a place of her own, a taste of real dating, a relationship, a family down the road. Her aggressively autonomous twenty-three-year-old self would've laughed, but Steph apparently had a biological clock. And it had begun to tick, if softly. A rough loss and a stress fracture had officially cooled her commitment to the pro life. She'd managed to never break anything worse than her nose and a few toes all these years, and for the first time ever, she realized she might like to keep it that way.Rich whistled to call the members back from their break. "Get in on this, if you want," he told her."Just let me change. Am I still in the lounge?"He nodded."'Fraid so. But until our female membership takes off, you'll practically have that new locker room all to yourself once it's finished. Though I'll warn you, it's tiny. You wouldn't believe the loopholes we had to squeeze through to even get planning permission to retrofit it.""I'm sure it'll do."She crossed to the room beside the gym's office and closed the door. There was no lock, so she pushed her bag against it, rooting through her workout clothes, swapping her winter coat and jeans for warm-ups and a jog bra. She tugged on the latter, untwisting the straps as she dug for a top. Then—bonk.The door was shoved in, whacking her in the nose."Ow, Jesus!"No matter how many times she took a punch there, the startling, white pain of it never got easier. She cupped her hands to the spot as she straightened, suddenly face-to-face with one of the construction guys. His recognition dawned slowly."Oh, sorry. Did I just thump you in the head?""Yes." She drew her fingers away. When his blue eyes widened, she glanced at her palm, covered in blood."Holy shit. I'm sorry. Uh, here.. " He muscled his way through the half-open door, toppling the contents of her gym bag, tools from his canvas belt clattering and clanging against the metal frame He unbuttoned his flannel work shirt, offering it to Steph.Not wanting to drip blood on her own clothes, she wadded it against her nose."Sorry," he said again. "I didn't know anybody'd be in here. I'm supposed to wire your new TV." He nodded to a big box leaning against the wall, splashed with a picture of a flat-screen. "I'm the electrician."Preoccupied with pressing her bridge, scouting for a break, Steph didn't reply."Should I get on with it, or…?"She abandoned her nose, spreading her arms to showcase the rather obvious fact that she was dressed in her bra. "I'm kind of changing, here.""Oh jeez. Sorry.""Never mind." Steph wasn't modest. She'd changed in far less private venues than this, and once a warm-up banished the January chill from her muscles, she'd be back down to her bra for training. "Just shut the door and get on with it."He did, sidestepping the mess he'd made of her clothes. "I won't look," he assured her, busying himself with the box. "Just pretend I'm not here."She checked to make sure the bleeding had stopped, then tugged on a long-sleeved compression top. She cast her hapless assailant a glare as he crouched to organize TV components on the carpet.He looked like every guy she'd taken shop class with in high school, the very epitome of Massachusetts working-class guyhood. Sandy brown hair that managed to look messy despite its short cut, caramel-colored Carhartt pants, work boots, a forest-green tee whose front Steph was positive would bear the logo of a contracting company. The cotton was pulled taut between his broad shoulders, but she was through being seduced by such sights.She knew this guy too well already. He'd have a truck parked along the curb outside with a Sox decal on one side of the rear window, Pats on the other. He grilled a perfect burger and owned a large, happy dog, and played touch football with his buddies on the weekends, come rain or snow. His name was Ryan or Mike or Pat or Brendan. Br... Views: 18
Seven Christmases have passed since Sonia Pettit last heard from her daughter Jody. Since Jody's departure, Sonia's world has been turned upside down. Her husband has died of a broken heart, and her son, bitter over his sister's destructive actions, has become rebellious. Her greatest desire is to have her family together at Christmas, but after what Jody has put them all through, can Sonia truly forgive her daughter? Jody Pettit O'Dair ran away to experience a life of adventure and excitement, but since her departure, her world has been turned upside down. She's been abandoned by the man she met and married, lost her job, and is unable to care for her two children. With nowhere else to turn, this prodigal daughter begins the long journey home and prays she will be welcomed after walking away so long ago. Will Jody find forgiveness in the arms of her family as easily as she received it from God? Views: 18
As a military leader back from the war, and the youngest of his two dominant older brothers, Rafe Steele struggles with a secret. He craves surrender in the bedroom under the controlled hands of a Dominatrix. When his brothers offer him a one-night stand through Madame Eve’s dating service, he jumps at the chance to enact his fantasy. After one experiment, he’s sure he’ll be able to move on. But he never counted on Summer Preston to strip down his walls and make him want more than one night... An elementary school teacher with a girl next door, fresh face, Summer is constantly barraged by men who want to take care of her, but she longs to meet a strong man who can handle her dominant ways in the bedroom. Trapped in her own storybook life, she books a one-night stand with Madame Eve to finally experience her fantasy. But she never counted on Rafe Steele to push her boundaries in both the bedroom...and her heart. Views: 18
Some of Lucy Sinclair's best days were those spent growing up in small town St. Dennis--working at the family inn and enjoying summers filled with swimming, sailing, tennis, and the company of Clay Madison, her best friend. But Lucy's darkest day, the one that shattered her innocence with violence and fear, also happened in St. Dennis. And the town she once loved became the place she gladly left behind--along with the terrible secret she's kept for twenty years. While Lucy headed off for college and a career, Clay remained--more than satisfied with the life St. Dennis had to offer. But now, even after inheriting his family's thriving farm and starting up an organic brewery, he can't help feeling that something's missing. And when Lucy comes back to town to plan a celebrity wedding at the Sinclair family inn, she and Clay reconnect, and find themselves reevaluating their long-sleeping friendship that could blossom into something deeper. Like a bookend to those distant... Views: 18
The Royal Flying Doctor Service is a unique icon of Australian culture. Since its beginnings with the Reverend John Flynn in 1928, the RFDS has helped build our nation. The Flying Doctors, and the remote stations and communities that they serve, have become enduring symbols of what it means to be Australian. The Complete Book of Australian Flying Doctor Stories is a fascinating, moving and often hilarious collection of true stories about the life in the Australian Outback. Hear of those whose very lives depend on the Royal Flying Doctor Service, like the man suffering from extreme burns who rode his motorbike eighteen kilometres back across his property to get help while opening and closing every gate along the way because you ′always leave gates as you find them′. Out here, stoicism and a sense of humour go hand in hand, as in the case of the stockman with a compound leg fracture who, when asked by the Flying Doctor if it hurt, replied, ′Oh, it itches a bit.′Through fog, lightning, thunder, flooding rains and dust storms, the Flying Doctor braves the elements to get to the remote outback landing strips where they′re needed and the tales they live to tell will have you shaking your head in amazement. Views: 18
'The hype is all true' Sunday TelegraphNick McDonell's electrifying novel tells the story of a fictional drug called Twelve and its devastating effects on the beautiful rich and desperate poor of New York City. From page one, this novel pulsates towards its apocalyptic climax. Twelve is cool, cruel and utterly compulsive.'Bret Easton Ellis territory...an extraordinary assured debut' Harper & Queen'McDonell is an authentic talent and, long after the storms of hype have died away, his novel will endure as a snapshot of his generation' Observer'Consistently brilliant... One of the most exciting new writers around' Independent on Sunday'A brilliant satirical debut' Time Out'A compulsive elegy to wasted, privileged youth, lives up to the hype... lean,... Views: 18
In the tradition of Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods and A. J. Jacobs's The Know-It-All, Craig J. Heimbuch takes a wry look at some of our most deeply cherished cultural beliefsCraig J. Heimbuch had never even thought of owning a gun when, in his early thirties, he was given a twelve-gauge Winchester over-under shotgun by his father. The black sheep, so to speak, of his Midwestern family, Craig was possibly the only male Heimbuch never to have taken an animal. But now that he had a shotgun, he figured he might as well try it out, and in so doing, explore the meaning of manhood while getting closer to his hunting-enthusiast dad.And Now We Shall Do Manly Things is the witty, moving, and insightful story of one man's quest to free himself from the shackles of his domesticated suburban lifestyle by immersing himself for one year in the hunting culture his family has always cherished. Along the way Heimbuch learns what putting food... Views: 18
