It's Valentine's Day, and Noelle has no idea what to get for Hunter. While she's getting her hair cut and tossing around gift ideas, Coralee's long-term boyfriend pops in and declares his undying love via a marriage proposal, breaking rule numero uno of their relationship clause.He's only the first to fall, though. When the men of Keyhole Lake start acting like lovesick lunatics, Noelle and Rae have to put their heads together to figure out what happened before the whole town goes loopy in love, or someone ends up in jail. Views: 235
'So, you cook this same meal every Tuesday, right?''Correct.' I listed the eight major advantages of the Standardised Meal System.1. No need to accumulate recipe books.2. Standard shopping list—hence very efficient shopping.3. Almost zero waste—nothing in the refrigerator or pantry unless required for one of the recipes.4. Diet planned and nutritionally balanced in advance.5. No time wasted wondering what to cook.6. No mistakes, no unpleasant surprises.7. Excellent food, superior to most restaurants at a much lower price (see point 3).8. Minimal cognitive load required.'Cognitive load?''The cooking procedures are in my cerebellum—virtually no conscious effort is required.''Like riding a bike.''Correct.'Here at last, by popular demand, is the weekly system of food preparation that Professor Don Tillman, star of the Rosie trilogy, lives by—everything from his signature lobster salad to the... Views: 234
A haunted house worker must hide her identity from the horror geek she tormented in middle school. But then she starts falling for him.A zombie. A vampire. A witch. Nora Travers is none of these things.But the former mean girl has to hide behind costumes if she wants to scare the pants off Brendan, the horror geek with the power to make or break her haunted house. Because Brendan is the nerd Nora used to torment in middle school. But now he's in college and so scary hot, even her zombie heart starts beating.And he's looking a bit too long at her bloody fishnet stockings.Nora has to be everything she's not this Halloween so she can hide her true self and terrify Brendan. Not to mention protect her heart.Because what happens when he realizes she’s a monster behind the mask?Note: this is a 22,000-word goth rom-com novella. Views: 234
Emily has just moved into her first house and is excited to start her adult life, but every night her American dream becomes a nightmare.In 2036, true artificial intelligence bots (Taibots) live in society and form relationships with humans; they behave like humans in every aspect. However, Olivia thinks Taibots are just a piece of machinery and have no understanding of what they are talking about. In other words, she doesn’t believe artificial consciousness is possible. But things get complicated after Toby enters her life. Despite the fact he seems like a Taibot, Olivia is certain Toby has human consciousness.On the eve of the sixth mass extinction, resulting from anthropogenic climate change, is artificial consciousness the answer to keeping human consciousness—the apex of 4.5 billion years of evolution—sustained in a universe without humans? Is Olivia able to find out why Toby so resembles her boyfriend who died five years earlier? How would the world deal with the imminent global wipe-out?It’s a fast-paced adventure that entails philosophical discussions about consciousness, love, life, the future of humanity and the universe. Views: 234
In the first part of the wildly popular Princess Etheria Chronicles, Etheria accepts the challenge of separating the antlers of two buck deer that have been entwined in a bitter argument for more than a century. Her undertaking begins here, and continues through each of the other books in the series, with the Princess unlocking a little more of her own true magical potential in each adventure.This book is Part 1 of 5 in The Princess Etheria Chronicles.Taken together, the Chronicles form a philosophical fairy tale that takes the wonder of magic from "Harry Potter", mixes it with the law of attraction from "The Secret", and places it in an enchanted forest that is right out of Disney or Narnia.Aimed at an adult audience both young and old, the fairy tale engages the reader's imagination by promising them that, since this particular enchanted forest exists in a world of our collective dreams, it is actually accessible to each and every one of us. In fact, in the introduction the narrator even goes so far as to tell the reader that this forest is different from all other fantasy realms, because it's the only one "...that you've actually visited yourself".In the story, Princess Etheria is confronted with a challenge, that of separating two buck deer whose antlers have become hopelessly entwined by a bitter argument that has spanned centuries.As she works on figuring out how to disentangle the combatants, the Princess must reflect on the lessons that her father, the King, has taught her over the years, and, in so doing, unlock her own true magical potential.In the process, she discovers such things as: - the true nature of magic in the Universe - why we limit ourselves - the reason behind helping others - overcoming guilt - why bad things happen to us - the nature of perfection in a paradoxical UniverseHer solution to the conflict is wholly original. The magic words that she ultimately finds are sure to transform your own life, and change your world as well, just like magic. Views: 234
Jane Austen (16 December 1775 - 18 July 1817) was an English novelist whose works include Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion. Her biting social commentary and masterful use of both free indirect speech and irony eventually made Austen one of the most influential and honored novelists in English Literature. Views: 234
A high fantasy story about a housewife who goes on an adventure to find her lost neighbor and comes in contact with creatures and humans who turn her life topsy-turvy.A woman gets her kids off to school, cleans the house, and then sits down to read the next high fantasy book from her favorite author when a scream from next door interrupts her tranquility. She proceeds to investigate and realizes the neighbor's screaming is emanating from the forest behind her property. She ventures into the forest and finds more than the next door neighbor. This short story of high fantasy is the fifth installment of the author's Ten Random Sentences Series wherein the author crafts a short story that is based on and includes ten random sentences that were submitted by his readers during a contest on his Facebook page. Views: 233
There's been a murder. Allegedly. William de Worde is the Discworld's first investigative journalist. He didn't mean to be - it was just an accident. But, as William fills his pages with reports of local club meetings and pictures of humorously shaped vegetables, dark forces high up in Ankh-Morpork's society are plotting to overthrow the city's ruler, Lord Vetinari. Views: 233
When her mother dies, fifteen-year-old Mari is desperate to avoid being caught up in the foster system....again. And to complicate matters, she is now the only one who can take care of her super-smart and on-the-spectrum nine-year-old stepbrother, Conor. Is there anyone Mari can trust to help them? Certainly not her mother's current boyfriend, Dennis. Not the doctors or her teachers, who would be obliged to call in social services. So in a desperate move, Mari takes Conor and sets out to find their estranged grandmother, hoping to throw themselves at the mercy of the only person who might take them in. On their way to New England, the duo experiences the snarls of LA traffic, the backroads of the Midwest, and a monumental stop in Missouri where they witness the solar eclipse, an event with which Conor is obsessed. Mari also learns about the inner workings of her stepbrother's mind and about her connections to him and to the world...and maybe even a little about her own place in... Views: 232
Greg would love to enjoy a prosperous life, filling his apartment with luxuries, going out with friends, and meeting the girl of his dreams. But there's a problem: He's poor. Even when he makes a valiant effort to work hard for the money, someone or something finds a way to snag his earnings from him. Is it just how life works? Or is it possible for him to give his desires a chance?What is the price of making dreams come true? Can they simply be bought with money, or do they require something different? Greg wants to see his dreams come true -- to furnish his apartment with nice things, to find the perfect girl to share it with, and to ultimately become a bigger success than his father had been -- but life keeps finding ways to alter his plans. Can Greg adapt to life's little wrenches and overcome impoverishing events to bring his dreams to reality? Or will he succumb to the hardships of being twentysomething and accept the life of economic misfortune that hounds him?"Shell Out" is the humorous story of a college student's battle with those pesky opposing forces of nature that plague us all: life and desire, ambition and contentment, dreams and reality. It is the story of any of us who has ever had to fend for ourselves in the real world but weren't sure if we'd ever make it. Greg's farcical journey to tame his wallet and fulfill his dreams takes him through the common struggles of young adulthood, including figuring out how to survive a Friday night on a ten-dollar bill, acquiescing to paying bills in spite of not having a job, taking jobs that only a desperate loon would take, working toward a better life in order to win the heart of a girl, and other crazy situations. The question is, are his efforts worth it, or is he just chasing yesterday's American Dream?For those thirty and older who wish to remember their own crazy experiences as a twentysomething, Greg's strange odyssey of economic survival is a comedy. For those currently living the twentysomething life, or those about to approach it, Greg's journey is a horror story. It's a lot like life: a scary comedy that forces us to question our choices."Shell Out" also comes with previews for some of my upcoming books. Views: 231
A witty and incisive state-of-the-nation novel from the acclaimed author of Number 11, The Rotter's Club andWhat a Carve Up! Set in the Midlands and London over the last eight years, Jonathan Coe follows a brilliantly vivid cast of characters through a time of immense change and disruption in Britain.'Probably the best English novelist of his generation' Nick Hornby'Coe is among the handful of novelists who can tell us something about the temper of our times'Observer'You can't stop reading....I was haunted for days' Independent on 'Number 11' Views: 231
