Harmon’s heart breaks when his dog Tonka turns wild and and buries teeth into his master. The madness overtakes that mighty dog just as Harmon fears the third man drawing close. The third man brings the bullet and the blade. The third man reminds all the old pushers and pimps that the city never forgets. So Harmon hurries to train Tonka’s replacement, and in the end, Harmon succeeds too well.Harmon Fowler fears the past hunts him. Harmon could once count himself as one of the street princes, once as one of the street boss's trusted men, granted the permission to pimp women and peddle dope in the city's underground trade. But then one street boss replaced another, and Harmon was forced to flee the corner he once ruled, stopping only when he found a rural and ruined town in the heartland so forgotten that Harmon believed the village might hide him from the hitmen the new boss would likely one day send on his trail. He transformed himself into a breeder and trainer of fine dogs, and he strove to introduce a new canine line that would cement his fame. Harmon nearly had that goal in hand when the sheriff warned that strangers came to town, strangers who Harmon sensed came from those old street corners he long ago fled. Views: 641
From bestselling author Jon Krakauer, a stark, powerful, meticulously reported narrative about a series of sexual assaults at the University of Montana — stories that illuminate the human drama behind the national plague of campus rape
Missoula, Montana, is a typical college town, with a highly regarded state university, bucolic surroundings, a lively social scene, and an excellent football team — the Grizzlies — with a rabid fan base.
The Department of Justice investigated 350 sexual assaults reported to the Missoula police between January 2008 and May 2012. Few of these assaults were properly handled by either the university or local authorities. In this, Missoula is also typical.
A DOJ report released in December of 2014 estimates 110,000 women between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four are raped each year. Krakauer’s devastating narrative of what happened in Missoula makes clear why rape is so prevalent on American campuses, and why rape victims are so reluctant to report assault.
Acquaintance rape is a crime like no other. Unlike burglary or embezzlement or any other felony, the victim often comes under more suspicion than the alleged perpetrator. This is especially true if the victim is sexually active; if she had been drinking prior to the assault — and if the man she accuses plays on a popular sports team. The vanishingly small but highly publicized incidents of false accusations are often used to dismiss her claims in the press. If the case goes to trial, the woman’s entire personal life becomes fair game for defense attorneys.
This brutal reality goes a long way towards explaining why acquaintance rape is the most underreported crime in America. In addition to physical trauma, its victims often suffer devastating psychological damage that leads to feelings of shame, emotional paralysis and stigmatization. PTSD rates for rape victims are estimated to be 50%, higher than soldiers returning from war.
In Missoula, Krakauer chronicles the searing experiences of several women in Missoula — the nights when they were raped; their fear and self-doubt in the aftermath; the way they were treated by the police, prosecutors, defense attorneys; the public vilification and private anguish; their bravery in pushing forward and what it cost them.
Some of them went to the police. Some declined to go to the police, or to press charges, but sought redress from the university, which has its own, non-criminal judicial process when a student is accused of rape. In two cases the police agreed to press charges and the district attorney agreed to prosecute. One case led to a conviction; one to an acquittal. Those women courageous enough to press charges or to speak publicly about their experiences were attacked in the media, on Grizzly football fan sites, and/or to their faces. The university expelled three of the accused rapists, but one was reinstated by state officials in a secret proceeding. One district attorney testified for an alleged rapist at his university hearing. She later left the prosecutor’s office and successfully defended the Grizzlies’ star quarterback in his rape trial. The horror of being raped, in each woman’s case, was magnified by the mechanics of the justice system and the reaction of the community.
Krakauer’s dispassionate, carefully documented account of what these women endured cuts through the abstract ideological debate about campus rape. College-age women are not raped because they are promiscuous, or drunk, or send mixed signals, or feel guilty about casual sex, or seek attention. They are the victims of a terrible crime and deserving of compassion from society and fairness from a justice system that is clearly broken. Views: 635
Mallory and Mitchell Howard hope a vacation to the woods will help them rediscover their chemistry. If a break from the responsibilities of their everyday lives fails to reignite their old passion, then Mallory and Mitchell hope they might return as changed partners thrilled by new love. Yet the woods hold something sinister, and soon neither Mallory nor Mitchell recognize their own reflections.Though they have settled into routine, Mallory and Mitchell Howard fail to feel content with their lives and marriage. Their passion for one another has faded as both begin to watch one aspiration after another slip beyond their grasp. Thus Mallory and Mitchell flee into the north woods, hoping an unplanned, spontaneous vacation will return some of the carefree splendor of their lost youth. But Mallory wakes in the night at the sound of a pounding at their hotel door and stammers to see a shadow at the foot of her bed. Mallory soon after trembles as she witnesses her face in the mirror transform into a woman she does not know, and fear chokes her as Mallory desperately runs from the reflections that suddenly haunt her. Mallory and Mitchell enter the north woods hoping for change, but neither anticipates the transformation the shadows between the trees deliver. Views: 635
A brand new young fiction series by TV broadcaster and intrepid explorer Ben Fogle, inspired by his real-life animal experiences... Co-written with best-selling children's author Steve Cole When Mr Dog meets a fawn whose forest home is in danger, he know he needs to help... quickly.As Mr Dog joins the search for the fawn's missing mother, trouble lies ahead for the whole herd. Mr Dog has a plan, though, that might just keep them all out of danger... Views: 634
A widower lets a new woman into his heart and his home—but she has her own agenda, in this thriller from the bestselling author of The Girl I Used to Be. Ever since Sophia Saunders was murdered, her husband, Peter, and daughter, Lauren, have been trying to rebuild their lives. Desperate to fill the emotional void, Peter becomes involved with a woman from his grief support group. But as his relationship with Alice progresses, Lauren becomes unsettled. Why can't she find any trace of Alice online? Who is she, really, and what does she want? Lauren is right to be suspicious. But the deeper her investigation of Alice goes, the greater the danger grows . . . Views: 613
Nigel Hightower cannot sleep in a world built upon dreams. The machine has shunned Mr. Hightower, refusing to give him digital manifestations of his dreams. So Mr. Hightower finds solace in crafting replicas of the lost world's wildlife for the children too young for the computer, until a series of updates threatens Mr. Hightower's audience so that none remain to call him “replicant maker.”The world has retreated into the limitless landscapes the computer constructs out of zeros and ones. Every citizen of the machine realizes his or her dreams. Everyone is content. No one lacks for any kind of wealth or pleasure. Everyone except for Nigel Hightower. For the machine has shunned Mr. Hightower by replacing his dream with nightmare. Like a child, Mr. Hightower cannot thrive in the virtual landscape. And so he creates mechanical creatures to stir the imagination of the children, who like himself, find no solace in an electronic world. Now even the children threaten to leave Mr. Hightower as updates tempt their younger minds. Mr. Hightower promises to resist the machine with a final, incredible creation. Views: 612
In April 2018, seasoned adventurer Ben Fogle and Olympic cycling gold medallist Victoria Pendleton, along with mountaineer Kenton Cool, took on their most exhausting challenge yet – climbing Everest for the British Red Cross in an attempt to highlight the environmental challenges mountains face. The expedition was to become the adventure of a lifetime, the culmination of a journey that started with a moment of tragedy years before. For Ben was inspired to take on this challenge by the memory of his son, Willem, who was stillborn in 2014. This is the story of an incredible journey that has for ever changed the lives of those involved. 'The climb from Camp 4 to the summit is like stepping into a parallel universe. One in which life and death become frighteningly close. In places the lines become blurred. There are few places where the margin is so close and visceral. Angels and the grim reaper are bed pals. When you are in the zone, in the moment, you are literally counting by the... Views: 608
The rural community of Owensville has grown old. The glass factory that once gave that town heart has been shuttered for decades. Yet the residents still hope that Mr. Turner will rise from his bed to bring life and industry back to their sleepy streets. Each morning those residents gather at the foot of Mr. Turner's crumbled wall and pray that man's bones provide answers they desperately need.Following the death of her father, Lauren Freeman decides to pay an overdue visit to Owensville, the town of her family’s origins. She travels to the estate of her grandfather, Roscoe Turner, a man who built and managed the great glass factory that long ago provided purpose and means for the families who settled in that rural town. Lauren is shocked to discover that one of the walls to her grandfather’s home has collapsed, and that Grandpa Roscoe’s body sleeps in a bed exposed to wind, sun and rain. Yet cousin Maximillian holds up a hand and tells Lauren that calling for help can no longer do any good, and Lauren must learn what forces Max to keep a family skeleton in the daylight Views: 608
Ben Cane has outlived the world, and so he waits for his ailing grandchild to deliver his execution in the center of that room surrounded by glass walls. Every bone in his body throbs with arthritis. His guts burn after so many rounds of chemotherapy and radiation. And mercy is the last thing Ben desires at the end of the world.Mallory Cane resists the urge to cry as the projectors knit glory all around her. She knows that all of the worlds the vision chamber shows her have long gone extinct. None of the laughing hyenas remain. No more elephants shrill. The eagles no longer soar. Not a single domesticated dog or cat remain to nuzzle with Mallory when her illness brings suffering. She understands that the vision chamber offers only illusion and heartbreak, and yet her father forces her to look upon the color that glowed before the world was wasted. He tells Mallory that she must be made strong, and that she must remember all that has been lost. He tells Mallory that she must prepare herself to punish that generation that did nothing as the world faded to gray. Views: 607
Dr. Zito lives only with his creations, Ernie and Oliver. In Ernie, the doctor has created a universal donor, a clone ready to give Dr. Zito any part should one of the doctor's organs fail. In Oliver, the doctor has created a robotic surgeon, ready to harvest from Ernie any flesh the doctor may need. Only, the doctor never anticipated the friendship that forms between his clone and robot.Ernie lives knowing that his death could fall at any moment. Ernie's mortality is linked to Dr. Zito's health. Only a clone, Ernie can voice no objection when the obese doctor partakes of another bourbon after another rich meal. Ernie has no right to encourage the doctor to seek even a little exercise to help strengthen Dr. Zito's failing heart. Ernie is only a clone, only a commodity, only a closet of organs and parts maintained in the best of health to be ready to save Dr. Zito from the health emergency arriving perhaps next year, next month, or next week. Ernie rebels against the purpose endowed by his creator, however, when he makes a new friend in the world of his online adventure game. Ernie suddenly cares for his tomorrows. Only Ernie must convince the robotic surgeon and guardian named Oliver that a clone deserves an opportunity to at least meet the face behind a game's avatar if a clone does not deserve a future of his own. Views: 595
Naomi guides her spacecraft through the stars in search of the starfly world. Humanity wants revenge for the invasion those aliens launched upon the Earth. It is a daunting quest for Naomi, for there are so many stars to explore. Yet she sacrifices her years and floats through the nothing to chase the tiny hope she might find a way to deliver vengeance to those aliens who sing a song of chimes.Shimmering creatures called the starfly create magnificent relics in honor of their golden spires of crystal. The spires provide that alien race with a common home, a location anchored amid the infinite planes where the starfly can gather to share ideas and love. The starfly fail to notice until it's too late how the pull of those spires tears at their wings, and the time comes when the starfly must throw themselves into the stars in a desperate search for a new world they might call home.Humanity tosses its bravest space captains into the stars to search out the home world of the alien creatures who draped the Earth in a net of crystal and brought the armies of man to their knees. Humanity has no way of knowing what star the starfly planet might orbit. Humanity has no way of knowing if the starfly, in truth, originate from any planet at all. Yet the thirst for revenge is too great, and however small the chances may be of ever taking the war to starfly, humanity tosses itself into the stars.And both races are surprised to discover how dreams bond them together. Views: 593
One day Isaac Newton sat thinking in his garden, when an applefell. Then he realized. The direction the apple fell, along with everyother object on this round earth, was always toward Earth’s center. Itwasn’t just that the apple fell, but that it tried to go to Earth’s center.That was Newton’s Eureka Moment. He realized that Earth had drawnthe apple to it. He realized that every object in theOne day Isaac Newton sat thinking in his garden, when an applefell. Then he realized. The direction the apple fell, along with everyother object on this round earth, was always toward Earth’s center. Itwasn’t just that the apple fell, but that it tried to go to Earth’s center.That was Newton’s Eureka Moment. He realized that Earth had drawnthe apple to it. He realized that every object in the universe draws everyother object—probably in proportion to its mass. Siddhartha sat beneath a sacred fig (Ficus religiosa), known ever after as the Bodhi Tree, and settled into meditation. After countless daysand nights, one day, as the morning star rose in the sky, SiddharthaGautama realized enlightenment and became a Buddha.Mother Nature has given us tremendous inspirations since the advent of man. Philosophers, writers, intellectuals, scholars, scientists,and religious leaders always have a very special relationship with nature—that of profound discoveries and realizations. Nature offers theprecious opportunity even to people who are trapped in their egos ofloving and being loved unconditionally. The author realizes that MotherNature can tell us even more things if you care to know about the hidden messages. Give Yourself completely to the act of listening, observing, and experiencing. There is something greater to be understood.When we get lost in a maze of compelling world problems, we shouldknow where to turn to; when we have forgotten how to be ourselves, tobe where life is in the here and now, we should know where to turn to. Views: 569
Bryce Munson resents the dreams of the automata. The robotic writers have monopolized the publishing industry, and their dull paperbacks lull the reading public to sleep while the world falls to ruin. A frustrated Bryce becomes a keeper of the machines, and through the robots he distributes the words he hopes will change the world. He fails to understand how his story might set his city to flame.Bryce Munson lives a miserable life. The generic paperbacks of the automata offer him no pleasure. Unable to find enjoyment in the neat categories of robotic fiction sold in the bookstations, Bryce scribbles his own stories, but there seems to be no one left in his wasting world who is interested in reading words that are not produced by the publishing world's machines.Yet a new hope visits Bryce after his desperate effort to destroy a writing robot with a little gun fails to spark the rebellion he desires. A beautiful and dark woman teaches Bryce how to become a keeper of the automata, and how his life might find the purpose it requires in the intricate work involved in maintaining the writing machines. As a keeper, Bryce finds a fellowship of writers. And in short time, he shares a love with the woman who offered him meaning within a repair shop.Too much of Bryce, however, still worries for the world. Too much of his pride still resents how his words must be subservient to those imagined within artificial intelligences. Thus Bryce forms a plan to finally spark the rebellion he hopes will save his world, and he puts everything on the line to topple the automata. Views: 568
Sheriff Conrad looks upon the deflated oddity discovered behind a compound of mobile homes and fears the bombs connected to that fallen and decayed balloon will force his community to reappear on the road map. He convenes his neighbors, and the villagers decide the best plan in coping with the bombs' dangers is restoring that balloon so their village might simply return the oddity to the wind.An enemy vanquished over fifty years ago crafted the balloon bomb from streamers and paper. The weapon’s creators simply set the balloon adrift in the wind before praying fortune delivered destruction to their enemy’s homeland. Rural villagers decades later find one such balloon entangled in the swamp bordering their community. The bombs fastened to the balloon threaten peril, but no one wishes to contact the outside world for help, and thus remind the larger world of their aging community hoping to be forgotten. With new paper and paint, with new stitches and hydrogen, that rural community brings the balloon bomb back to life, never stopping their work to wonder if it might be best to let one weapon of a lost age simply fade into ruin. Views: 554
Ralph sticks his tongue between the terminals of a nine-volt battery, and so becomes initiated into the pack of children who assemble to fight the beast lurking in the river, draining their town of life. The monster has stolen precious treasure from each child who pedals his and her bicycle towards the dark to confront the monster, and those young warriors speed out of town to earn their revenge.Ralph's legs burn as he pumps power into his bicycle's pedals to race to the river bottoms to confront the monster Lacy claims lurks in the water to steal life from their fading community of Beckford. Ralph envies the weapons each of his friends bring to wield against the monster, and he fears he possesses nothing with which to combat whatever monstrosity they discover outside of town. Each rider pedaling towards the descending dark feels their childhood slipping for the sorrow the bottom beast has manifested. Thus they have all tasted a nine-volt battery's spark to count themselves among the initiated pack that swears to make that monster return the treasure it has stolen from their families and lives Views: 536
