A Circle on the Surface

It's 1943. Enman and Una Greene are newly married. Each is haunted by their respective pasts, and each harbours secrets. They have hopes of a happy life together—though they have little idea how to create such a life. Enman brings Una to his childhood home in rural Barrein, Nova Scotia, where he hopes they will stay. Una is restless and feeling increasingly trapped, and longs for the city life she once had. Una meets a mysterious man, and then a body washes up on a beach. There are rumours of German sailors roaming the dunes. When the Greenes receive the news they have been waiting for, and that Una is convinced will save her and her marriage, she she begins to unravel in ways neither is prepared for. From critically acclaimed and bestselling author Carol Bruneau comes an achingly honest portrait of a marriage in a time of war—and an examination of how it is that we come to know ourselves.
Views: 487

Joe

John Beach's fourth collection of poetry. This time around, the 20 terzanelle poems included are works of sequential fiction, which revolve around the life of a young boy. After Joe's mother moves half way around the world without him, Joe is transplanted into new surroundings and culture. There, he befriends a pig, and, within an old photograph, discovers what he believes to be a great mysteryJohn Beach's fourth collection of poetry. This time around, the 20 terzanelle poems included are works of sequential fiction, which revolve around the life of a young boy. After Joe's mother moves half way around the world without him, Joe is transplanted into new surroundings and culture. There, he befriends a pig, and, within an old photograph, discovers what he believes to be a great mysteryThe terzanelle is a French/Italian adaptation of the terza rima to the villanelle form. Each terzanelle is meant to be 19 lines long (ten syllables each), composed of five triplets with a concluding quatrain, and are written in iambic pentamater. I don't pay much attention to where my metrical feet are stepping, but I enjoy the puzzle-like nature of this form and the subtlety of the repeating lines, the variations in meaning. I also enjoy breaking the lines and changing punctuation.
Views: 486

Glass Voices

Surviving the Halifax Explosion is one thing, but how do Lucy Caines and her wayward husband, Harry, a couple who lose everything to the event's horrors, make peace with their grief? Rebuilding on the rustic shores of Halifax's Northwest Arm, steps from where the shaft of Mont Blanc's anchor lands that fateful day in 1917. But coping with the disappearance on that day of their infant daughter, they descend into an isolating denial: Lucy through guilt and reticence, and Harry through drinking and gambling. Despite the birth of a treasured son, each faces a future clouded by fear and apprehension. Then, fifty-two years after the catastrophe, Harry suffers a stroke. Lucy confronts the miracle of their survival and their debilitating loss, re-examining the past and her role in its making, and struggling to become the author of her own happiness.
Views: 486

Dead Limbs and Leaves

This is a collection of a variety of short short stories, and essays that may stir and warm your hearts. Although they may be short, they still bring a powerful message and an enduring ending. The stories are fun with plots that takes the reader on a journey of words fulfilling a message unto an enjoyable evening of reading. It is a short book with high hopes.Sophia's Garden is a short story about a young woman's look at life and her possible death. When family members are faced with the unknown, paralized by the inability to do anything but watch a loved one go through painful challenges, how does she teach them to live while looking at her own demise? What this short, poignant story might show you may change your life and those who love you if you are face insurmountable odds.
Views: 481

Mother Dearest

Tom Morrison has just lost his fiance, and then his mother grows incredibly sick. In caring for his mother and missing Trisha, he finds more about his mother than he cared to ever know...a dark and terrible secret. A story of a mother's love gone wrong.Tom Morrison has just lost his fiance, and then his mother grows incredibly sick. In caring for his mother and missing Trisha, he finds more about his mother than he cared to ever know. A story of a mother's love gone wrong.How well do we know the ones we love? How much do they keep hidden from us? If you like this, then please leave a review and spread the word!
Views: 477

Feallengod: The Conflict in the Heavenlies

Domen, cast upon the island Feallengod, schemes against King Ecealdor—unable to vanquish the distant monarch, he sets out to destroy the people the king loves. As the suffering roils, Ecealdor seems disinterested, the tokens of his love becoming hollow idols. Thereby the battle rages, men and women are drawn into choosing sides, and the islanders await some end to the tragedy that engulfs them.To The One I Love depicts twelve letters filled with romantic prose that captures and seals the love between Jonathan and Emily from their first date until their final goodbye.Excerpt:(Part of a letter from Jonathan)The scent of you still lingers about my rooms, distracting my thoughts and teasing my senses. I want you, Emily. I want you so much it verges on insanity. Only your sweet kisses can lure me from the brink.The hours until tonight stretch on endlessly and I catch myself cursing the clock. It mocks…no it punishes me with its constant ticking and hands that move too slowly.
Views: 469

The British Army in Northern Ireland 1975-77

Over the past several years, Ken Wharton, himself a former soldier, has been prolific in his coverage of the Troubles, which spread their tentacles far from the streets, and fields of Northern Ireland. Over 4,000 people died in or as a consequence of them and it cost the lives of over 1,300 British soldiers - a fact which is unacknowledged by the MOD - and the lives of over 300 policemen and women. This is Ken’s sixth book about the period and he draws on meticulous and detailed research, first-hand testimony of the soldiers who trod the same streets as himself, and an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the near 30-year period of murder, violence and civil war. The first-hand accounts help us to understand and examine the fears of the young soldiers who patrolled the dangerous streets of the Ardoyne and New Lodge, of Andersonstown, Turf Lodge and Ballymurphy and of the Creggan in Londonderry and the Derrybeg in Newry. He looks at the Loyalist paramilitaries and treats their sectarianism and mindless murder with the same contempt with which he treats the Republicans. He does not mince words about the Irish-Americans and their political stooges in the US Government, judicial system and the ordinary ‘7th generation Irishmen of the American East Coast.’ This is a book not just for soldiers, but for anyone who wishes to look back and try to understand the madness inflicted upon several generations of innocent Irish and British people. In years to come, historians - both social and military - will reflect on this period of insanity with a greater knowledge than hitherto. If you wish to know how it felt to be an innocent sectarian victim, or an off-duty soldier or policeman or a young lad from Leeds, Liverpool or London hard targeting through the Lower Falls, then this book is a must read.
Views: 466

Troubled Waters

Troubled Waters is a collection of stories that enhance some of the many troubles in our life. We all at some time or another get carried away with life’s tide, allowing it to take us out deeper than we want to go. The enrichment of the stories may calm the waters, to be still, and encourage you in the storms of your life.SHORT CREEK – Thirty years ago there was a random series of murders around Short Creek. One of the victims had disappeared and never heard of again. The other four victims laid in wait for their killer to be revealed. But, the tracks finally lay cold and the murders were turned over to a cold case file. Then one day, out of the blue, Short Creek revealed its hidden secret which opened the case unto a new revealing beginning bringing the haunting truth to the surface.WEB OF DECEIT – Katherine lay to rest her father, Wilson Ward. Her mother had already passed and her brother had drowned a few years earlier, but his body was never found. She inherited the Ward fortune and became a very wealthy woman. Not long after that, she met the man of her dreams (so to speak). After they got married they moved to Judd Island to live at their resort house on the beach. The web of deceit that unfolds takes an unforgettable twist which webbed more and more deceit throughout the story. Katherine’s best friend, Rachel, teams up with her for revenge can be bitter or sweet. But finally in the end one would take the loss and the other the world. (The love of money is the root of all evil.)FOURTEEN NEW SHINY PENNIES – Sometimes we reach out for the stars, but maybe grab the moon. Who really knows? There are times we believe the moon was hung for someone else until our lucky break comes. True, Debra wanted to be a songwriter and live in Nashville. She carried this dream all of her life, since she was a little girl. In time the door opens and she follows her dream along with its hardships and trials. Her struggles would not only bring an untimely burden that would change her life forever. But, it would warm the hearts of many who listened. Set free with her number one hit, she grabbed the moon and ran with it.TABLE FOR THREE – Jimmy Allen and Bobby Joe had grown up together. They were the best of friends. They had just graduated from high school. Jimmy had been drafted to go to Vietnam. Bobby was going off to college. It is amazing how Becky Anne, a new girl in town, had waltzed into their life. In time a table for three would develop into a struggling, unsure friendship. Becky loved them both. Or, did she? But, she could only have but one or none at all. The developing scenario that unravels throughout the story lays a hurtful and tragic ending with a sad twist.THE AUDREY MOORE SCANDAL – Outside Baton Rouge in 1945 the influential politicians had gathered with a big party for Richard Ryan Rodgers. He was up for the position as a State Supreme Court judge who Audrey was deeply in love with. At that time Audrey was at the top of the high class rollers in the political world. She had it all, power and wealth, but not the man of her dreams. She had made Richard what he was today. But, he was married now and what they once had was over. Kenneth Shields, also a friend in the threesome, was in love with Audrey. But, she didn’t know it. Then an unexpected life changing thing happens. Audrey becomes pregnant and because she was not married she was looked down upon by her peers. This took her high profile status with all her political friends. Kenneth reaches out to help her. He’s the only friend she has left. Even her daddy disowned her. But, in the end, love finds a way and victory becomes a sweet song of the heart.
Views: 454

Oberon's Gift

For centuries the Good Fairies of Neverneverland have used their magic to push worthy humans to power and fame. Then, in 1982 they send their emissary, Oberon, to contactGeorge Bertram Potter, a brilliant political science graduate student. What follows is a lighthearted romp though the halls of show business and politics.Readers of Sidney Sheldon, Danielle Steel, James Patterson and Nora Roberts will enjoy this fast-paced international thriller.One spectacular financial scheme. One woman alone against the world. Young, beautiful, and yearning for love, Heather Bancroft meets the "perfect" man...and is lured into a game in which she begins to make more money than she ever imagined. Betrayed by her own innocence, she loses all that is dear to her and discovers that she has been mercilessly used. Defeated and broken, but surviving with sheer persistence and ingenuity, Heather emerges from her trying ordeal, determined to punish the ruthless man who destroyed her life. Her thirst for revenge takes her halfway around the globe, to the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean, where her nemesis secludes himself in obscene wealth that he's gained from the financial ruin of others. Heather is playing for the highest stakes in a lethal game. Only one man loves her - he's handsome, confident, and just as determined as she is. Only one man can stop her - a criminal mastermind who is intent on her destruction.From Jayne Lockwood ReviewsThis is another enormously enjoyable read from Mr. Wells. Heather is young, beautiful, living and working in New York City. There she gets involved in a dangerous game which seems to be the answer to all her financial worries. AND she meets her perfect man. Life is going swimmingly until she loses everything and has to claw it back, pitting her wits against an elusive millionaire whose get rich quick schemes have resulted in the ruination of countless other people. There is intrigue, tension, international travel, glamour, gleaming yachts, designer clothes, beautiful women, peril on the streets of Paris, murder and sex. It's all in there, a luscious mix of Sidney Sheldon and Shirley Conran, updated and fresh enough to stand tall in the 21st century. I could not put this book down. It was a huge amount of fun but more than that, it has stayed with me and is definitely one I will be recommending to anyone who wants a more than just a sexy romp through a millionaire's playground.Reviewed by David Savage, What's Good to Do Magazine A story of money, greed, scams, revenge and love! A 24 year old PR assistant, Heather Bancroft, is one of the people caught up in an elaborate scam. She starts to receive strange emails predicting the outcomes of things she can bet on...and these bets take her around the world to Japan onto Istanbul... A very well-written series of books where the pace does not let up from Book 1 to the final pages of Book 5. Filled with twists and turns that grab your attention and keep you reading...suspense and thrills and keeps you on the edge on your seat wanting more. A highly entertaining read, it has to be one of the best stories I have read in years.
Views: 454

Blood Bond

Roxanna Collins is a Vegas singer waiting for her big break. When a vampire from 1815 brings her back in time, she thinks she's lost her mind. But she manages to get something she didn't have in Vegas – a full-time singing gig. Granted, it's at a gentlemen's club, but at least she's standing on her own two feet and not in jail or shacked up with the first tall, dark, and brooding vampire who walks into her hallucination. So what if he's Darren Andrew Highmore, Earl of Richmond... Her request for a piano player lands her in the company of the very proper, very innocent, Phillip Branham, who can't decide whether he should be polite, disapproving, or...in love. Darren is dangerous, but Roxanna needs the special brand of pain he brings her. Phillip would offer her a future in the light, but she has secrets he doesn't understand. Must she choose or are their destinies intertwined?
Views: 450

The Burning of Moscow

As soon as Napoleon and his Grand Army entered Moscow, on 14 September 1812, the capital erupted in flames that eventually engulfed and destroyed two thirds of the city. The fiery devastation had a profound effect on the Grand Army, but for thirty-five days Napoleon stayed, making increasingly desperate efforts to achieve peace with Russia. Then, in October, almost surrounded by the Russians and with winter fast approaching, he abandoned the capital and embarked on the long, bitter retreat that destroyed his army. The month-long stay in Moscow was a pivotal moment in the war of 1812 – the moment when the initiative swung towards the Tsar’s armies and spelled doom for the invading Grand Army – yet it has rarely been studied in the same depth as the other key events of the campaign. Alexander Mikaberidze, in this third volume of his in-depth reassessment of the war between the French and Russian empires, emphasizes the importance of the Moscow fire and shows how Russian intransigence sealed the fate of the French army. He uses a vast array of French, German, Polish and Russian memoirs, letters and diaries as well as archival material in order to tell the dramatic story of the Moscow fire. Not only does he provide a comprehensive account of events, looking at them from both the French and Russian points of view, but he explores the Russians’ motives for leaving, then burning their capital. Using extensive eyewitness accounts, he paints a vivid picture of the harsh reality of life in the remains of the occupied city and describes military operations around Moscow at this turning point in the campaign.
Views: 449

Tickle Box

Tickle Box is a fun and moving collection from Bobby’s Children’s Stories Collection. It will tickle your fancy and cause your belly to jiggle from a ha, ha, ha and hee, hee, hee. It will definitely make your grin become a smile.Chase Ransom is a high tech garbage man, and proud of it. He should be. Garbage of the future is a valuable commodity, and mining old landfills is big business. But he isn't the only one in the business. One of his mob-connected competitors is getting in his way. Now Chase must teach him a lesson if he wants to stay on top.Also Included in Space and Waste, Anthology #1 (ISBN 9781476008561) and Anthology #3 (ISBN 9781476122038)
Views: 438

Last Assignment

~Free short story from the PbRJV Gallery~ "My name is Dallas Lowe, and the life of a law enforcement officer is never easy, but it is rewarding. Then receiving our gold detective shields and working together fulfills a childhood dream for me and my best friend Brian. We live on top of the world – until the day comes all policemen dread – the day when things go wrong and someone has to die."The old cowboy sat in his chair on the porch of the new cabin. He watched the rim of the desert. How many more days would there be? He knew this was his last hurrah.The hired hand didn't understand, but it didn't matter anymore. It was almost over.Today...thought the old man, it has to be today, I feel it in my bones.He sat on the porch and looked at the sky: the hired hand told him there would be no ride today, bad weather coming.As he watched, the clouds were bizarre, all piled up, shouldering one another for the best place, the big ones black and lowering. The pink air thick but so clear, you could almost see tomorrow."My gawd!" the old man cried as he gazed at the sky, "it's the end of the world!"He wanted to sit on the porch and watch but the hired hand hustled him inside the cabin. The rain turned to hail the size of golf balls. So big they could kill a new born calf.The storm finally passed and the sun came out. The old man, the hired hand and the Indian housekeeper went out and sat on the porch and looked at the fresh new world.The edge of the desert grew hazy; the cloud of dust on the horizon grew bigger. "There they are," shouted the old cowboy, "here they come!"The water crazed herd of range cattle drove for the bloated arroyo, the smell of water making them mad. The bawling cattle elbowing and pushing their way passed the porch. They stamped and bellowed and the dust filled the old man's nostrils and he thought it the sweetest smell.Life coursed through his old bones and he stood and swung his old Stetson in the air and whooped and swore, pleasure flowed through him, and he was young again.But soon they were gone.The old man sat down heavily, age settled back on his shoulders, "I'll finish tomorrow, Ramona," he said to the old Indian housekeeper, "it'll be O.K.".The hired hand watched with foreboding, what will be finished tomorrow?
Views: 435

Thistles and Thorns

Thistles and Thorns is the third collection of stories by Bobby A. Troutt. The stories take you through New Orleans, Charleston, South Carolina, to Windle, Missouri. Each story has its thistles with a pretty bloom along with the thorns of life. Life has its thorns dressed in pretty flowers. Even the prettiest roses have thorns.MASQUERADEWhen a wealthy retired businessman and his wife moved to New Orleans it opens a whole new world for them, some for the better and for the most the worse. From Bourbon Street, Mardi Gras, and the encounters of a call girl turns the story into blackmail and murder. In this twisted and turnabout triangle of a love story and the surprises to come afterward can’t be taken back. As time passes, the story deepens with more secrets and that in the end unlocks the truth with the encounters of suspense that opens hearts unto hope.BAY POINT ISLANDWinfred Scott, a self-made millionaire living off the coast of Georgia, engages a secret of the family that in the end will bring happiness and sorrow to his daughter, Cheryl. The discussion he had made will intrigue another division of the family that will cost them dearly. His actions will lay dormant until the end and the final uncovering of the past of the long ago secret will bring a surprise ending that will unlock another secret from long ago. Secrets sometimes come out and may be deadly. They may get the best of you. WAGES OF SINA serial killer is on the prowl in Charleston, South Carolina. His victims are from the gay community. A driven rage drives the killer in this series of murder. Tormented and driven by his hurt from an abusive childhood he tries to share his pain with others by a killing spree. The gay community is haunted and terrorized by the killing. As the story unravels, the police started to move in. The twisted turns and the surprising new evidence bring the truth out that had been hidden for years. But, by the new awakening of the truth, then end is near with double trouble.THE CAW OF THE CROWBenjamin Morris is a young reporter who has been assigned to write a story on the Legend of the Caw of the Crows. The story takes place in Stonehollow, Tennessee in Carol County in 1953. The mystery opens when three roughneck men, troublemakers, rape and kill a gypsy women and her husband one night not far from town. The moon was full and a dark shadow now hung over the town. The men had been drinking and what started out to be a little fun turned into murder. But as the story unfolds the revenge is bittersweet as the will crows take the revenge for the gypsies on the town and the three murderers. The unexpected haunting of the birds drive the townspeople in fear and death and the death of the three men will be the only hope for a payday. The crows are driven by the scent of the blood of the gypsies and they will not stop until the three men have paid with their lives.WEEPING WATERSIn Windle, Missouri in 1927 in the community of Weeping Waters, Grady Pedigo has received his new mail order bride. He was the happiest man on the face of the earth. Things took off good for them. Everything was fine until his new bride takes up with a traveling salesman name Joseph, a nice looking young man with black wavy hair and dark eyes. The affair, you may say, drove Grady insane. Driving him with rag, fury, and not to mention the haunting of the weeping waters. Rose, his wife, became pregnant and this sort of dampened his fury because he thought it may be his. But, as the wild fire romance continued on, Grady came up with a full proof plan that would free him once and for all. But, his revenge was costly. However, he was willing to pay the price. To this day no one has ever seen Rose of Joseph again. Stories are told and people have talked that she left with Joseph, her lover, and disappeared somewhere. But, did she?
Views: 434

Distant Star: Episode Two - Far Future

Distant Star was an experiment to make a Show like "Twilight Zone" but with absolutely no budget. Now they are published here for anyone to enjoy and do with what they will."Far Future" Considers the possibility of a life after a frozen death, but what will we have to do to earn it?Nankichi Niimi is undoubtedly one of Japan's most highly regarded writers of fantasy fiction. Book 3 of Tales from a Japanese Dreamland is an introduction to Niimi's writing through one of his most famous children's stories. Mama fox only wants the best for her little one, so when the cold winter arrives and her precious boy needs some mittens, then she knows what she must do. The only problem is that she is afraid and her legs won't take her any further. So her son must go on his own. The highlight of this delightful children's story is the beautiful description of the foxes' journey through the snow covered woods during the middle of the night.Buying Mittens is also available in Books 2 & 5 of the series Tales from a Japanese Dreamland.Nankichi Niimi was born Shohachi Watanabe in what is now Handa City, Aichi Prefecture, on July 30, 1913, with the year 2013 marking 100 years since his birth. It was recently estimated that over 60 million people have read Gon the Fox which he penned at just 17 years of age. Although Niimi went on to write a large number of poems and short stories, such as Buying Mittens, Grandpa's Lamp and When the Thieves Came to Hananoki Village before his death from tuberculosis at age 29, Gon the Fox is undoubtedly the most famous and well-loved of all his works, and perhaps the most famous Japanese children's story of all time. About Little J BooksHi, my name is Paul and I started Little J Books because I personally wanted to be able to read more of these kinds of Japanese stories in English, especially in ebook form. By putting these stories into an ebook format they will be available for anyone to access anywhere in the world, forever. If you know of any other Japanese stories like these that it is hard to get your hands on (because they are sold out or just too expensive), please let me know.
Views: 432