A Chapter of Verses

The verses I have written over the past fifty years in many forms, and on many occasions.A young boy visits a circus and so begins his tale. Across the night time fields in the company of Clowns.Will they reach the Spinning Stones before the Gassers come?What will happen if Clowns spin?And why must old things pass away? And who is waiting in the village, down the broken railway tracks.... where the White Wolf will not go?
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Star Gods: Book Four of Seeds of a Fallen Empire

In Star Gods, the action returns to an alien home world, where the alien Alessia is raised. Her mentor, Hinev, creates the immortality serum and tests it on his pupil, Alessia, who becomes one of her planet's intergalactic explorers. The explorers eventually visit the Earth of the ancient past on their long journey in space.In Star Gods, the action returns to an alien home world, where the alien Alessia is raised. Her mentor, Hinev, creates the immortality serum and tests it on his pupil, Alessia, who becomes one of her planet's intergalactic explorers. The explorers eventually visit the Earth of the ancient past on their long journey in space. On Earth, they influence the development of our ancient civilizations. Their journey leads them to believe that an ancient progenitor race 'seeded' the galaxy with life cultures that developed into life on several worlds... But where did these mysterious people come from, and where did they go?
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Twin-Bred

Can interspecies diplomacy begin in the womb? After seventy years on Tofarn, the human colonists still know almost nothing about the native Tofa. Misunderstandings breed conflict, and the conflicts are escalating. Scientist Mara Cadell’s radical proposal: that host mothers carry fraternal twins, one human and one Tofa, who might understand each other better. (The sequel, REACH, now available!)Humans have lived on Tofarn, planet of creeks and rivers, for seventy years, but they still don't understand the Tofa. The Tofa are an enigma, from their featureless faces to the four arms that sometimes seem to be five. They take arbitrary umbrage at the simplest human activities, while annoying their human neighbors in seemingly pointless ways. The next infuriating, inexplicable incident may explode into war.Scientist Mara Cadell's radical proposal: that host mothers carry fraternal twins, human and Tofa, in the hope that the bond between twins can bridge the gap between species. Mara knows about the bond between twins: her own twin, Levi, died in utero, but she has secretly kept him alive in her mind as companion and collaborator.Mara succeeds in obtaining governmental backing for her project – but both the human and Tofa establishments have their own agendas. Mara must shepherd the Twin-Bred through dangers she anticipated and others that even the canny Levi could not foresee. Will the Twin-Bred bring peace, war, or something else entirely?... This revised edition removes some unnecessary minor character names, relocates a few scenes into more logical places, and divides chapters that lacked focus as originally organized.*Now available -- Reach: a Twin-Bred novel (the sequel)!*
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Desecration: Antichrist Takes the Throne

His Excellency Global Community Potentate Nicolae Carpathia, no longer pretending to be a pacifist, has ordered every Morale Monitor armed as he prepares to travel along the Via Dolorosa and then onward to the temple, where shocking surprises await. The lines are drawn between good and evil as God inflicts sores upon the flesh of those who have taken the mark. Meanwhile His chosen ones flee to Petra, where they watch anxiously as GC fighter planes appear overhead and bombs begin to fall. A repackage of the ninth book in the "New York Times" best-selling Left Behind series.
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Service: A Navy SEAL at War

Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell returned from his star-crossed mission in Afghanistan with his bones shattered and his heart broken. So many had given their lives to save him-and he would have readily done the same for them. As he recuperated, he wondered why he and others, from America's founding to today, had been willing to sacrifice everything-including themselves-for the sake of family, nation, and freedom. In Service, we follow Marcus Luttrell to Iraq, where he returns to the battlefield as a member of SEAL Team 5 to help take on the most dangerous city in the world: Ramadi, the capital of war-torn Al Anbar Province. There, in six months of high-intensity urban combat, he would be part of what has been called the greatest victory in the history of U.S. Special Operations forces. We also return to Afghanistan and Operation Redwing, where Luttrell offers powerful new details about his miraculous rescue. Throughout, he reflects on what it really means to take on a higher calling, about the men he's seen lose their lives for their country, and the legacy of those who came and bled before. A thrilling war story, Service is also a profoundly moving tribute to the warrior brotherhood, to the belief that nobody goes it alone, and no one will be left behind.
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Miss Gemini’s Homecoming: Zodiac Opposites Meet on a Journey to True North

TV reporter Hermetica Gemini drives north on Lunar Highway in hope of breaking the story of the century: King Jupiter’s illegitimate son.Her mission has karmic repercussions, however: she is cut off from her glamorous life in South Node City and meets the reclusive Athos Sagittarius. As the story gallows on, Hermetica is forced to face her issues regarding love, spirituality and self-worth.TV reporter Hermetica Gemini drives north on Lunar Highway in hope of breaking the story of the century: King Jupiter’s illegitimate son.Her mission has karmic repercussions, however, and as she is cut off from her glamorous life in South Node City, and meets the reclusive Athos Sagittarius, she is forced to face her issues regarding love, spirituality and self-worth.This is the first published story in the Zodiac Stories series.The twelve Zodiac Stories are an entertaining and enjoyable way of getting to know the signs of the Zodiac and the planets of astrology.
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Tyler Smiths: Prom's Night

Tyler Smiths are short stories that run in series. It tells a story of a high school graduating student's love adventures.Tyler broke up with Vanessa on the prom's night against his own wish and at the advice of his friend--- Eric. The night was mixed with ironical emotions as some falls into love while some stepped out...Tyler Smiths are short stories that run in series. It tells a story of a high school graduating student's love adventures.Tyler broke up with Vanessa on the prom's night against his own wish and at the advice of his friend--- Eric. The night was mixed with ironical emotions as some falls into love while some stepped out. Some gained their freedom from being tied to more than one girl and others shunned an admirer for an opera singer... Questions needs to be asked and answers were seeked at the most unique prom's night that ever took place in the school. Tears flows, so does celebration filled the air... All in prom night...
Views: 830

The Grand Design

THE FIRST MAJOR WORK IN NEARLY A DECADE BY ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREAT THINKERS--A MARVELOUSLY CONCISE BOOK WITH NEW ANSWERS TO THE ULTIMATE QUESTIONS OF LIFE When and how did the universe begin? Why are we here? Why is there something rather than nothing? What is the nature of reality? Why are the laws of nature so finely tuned as to allow for the existence of beings like ourselves? And, finally, is the apparent "grand design" of our universe evidence of a benevolent creator who set things in motion--or does science offer another explanation? The most fundamental questions about the origins of the universe and of life itself, once the province of philosophy, now occupy the territory where scientists, philosophers, and theologians meet--if only to disagree. In their new book, Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow present the most recent scientific thinking about the mysteries of the universe, in nontechnical language marked by both brilliance and simplicity. In The Grand Design they explain that according to quantum theory, the cosmos does not have just a single existence or history, but rather that every possible history of the universe exists simultaneously. When applied to the universe as a whole, this idea calls into question the very notion of cause and effect. But the "top-down" approach to cosmology that Hawking and Mlodinow describe would say that the fact that the past takes no definite form means that we create history by observing it, rather than that history creates us. The authors further explain that we ourselves are the product of quantum fluctuations in the very early universe, and show how quantum theory predicts the "multiverse"--the idea that ours is just one of many universes that appeared spontaneously out of nothing, each with different laws of nature. Along the way Hawking and Mlodinow question the conventional concept of reality, posing a "model-dependent" theory of reality as the best we can hope to find. And they conclude with a riveting assessment of M-theory, an explanation of the laws governing us and our universe that is currently the only viable candidate for a complete "theory of everything." If confirmed, they write, it will be the unified theory that Einstein was looking for, and the ultimate triumph of human reason. A succinct, startling, and lavishly illustrated guide to discoveries that are altering our understanding and threatening some of our most cherished belief systems, The Grand Design is a book that will inform--and provoke--like no other.
Views: 828

Dead On

When a scruffy ex-boxer picks up P.I. Deacon Bishop at the south Texas airport, Bishop worries that he's made a long trip for nothing. Because Leon Huggins doesn't look like he could pay a bar tab, let alone a detective's retainer. But Leon isn't the client--not at first, anyway. Leon's brother is supposed to be the client but then Eli Huggins ends up dead. Bishop can't walk away.There are times when honouring a promise can be harder than we expected, but it can be a necessary tool in the healing process.Jesse has always been the epitome of integrity and good judgement, until a tragic event pushes her to the brink of moral bankruptcy. An event she had successfully purged from her memory, or so she had misled herself to believe. Now, nine years later, and mere months after the death of her best friend, she once again finds herself caught up in the steely grip of emotional turmoil. During the final weeks before losing her ten-year-long battle with cancer, Leila had one last request. And now, honour binds Jesse to a promise she wishes she had never made.
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Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

Hagakure ("In the Shadow of Leaves") is a manual for the samurai classes consisting of a series of short anecdotes and reflections that give both insight and instruction-in the philosophy and code of behavior that foster the true spirit of Bushido-the Way of the Warrior. It is not a book of philosophy as most would understand the word: it is a collection of thoughts and sayings recorded over a period of seven years, and as such covers a wide variety of subjects, often in no particular sequence. The work represents an attitude far removed from our modern pragmatism and materialism, and possesses an intuitive rather than rational appeal in its assertion that Bushido is a Way of Dying, and that only a samurai retainer prepared and willing to die at any moment can be totally true to his lord. While Hagakure was for many years a secret text known only to the warrior vassals of the Hizen fief to which the author belonged, it later came to be recognized as a classic exposition of samurai thought and came to influence many subsequent generations, including Yukio Mishima. This translation offers 300 selections that constitute the core texts of the 1,300 present in the original. Hagakure was featured prominently in the film Ghost Dog, by Jim Jarmusch.
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Nighthawk

NUMA crew leaders Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala must beat the clock to stop the world’s most dazzling new technological advance from becoming mankind’s last in this action-packed thriller from the #1 New York Times–bestselling grand master of adventure. When the most advanced aircraft ever designed vanishes over the South Pacific, Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala are drawn into a deadly contest to locate the fallen machine. Russia and China covet the radical technology, but the United States worries about a darker problem. They know what others don’t—that the X-37 is carrying a dangerous secret, a payload of exotic matter, extracted from the upper reaches of the atmosphere and stored at a temperature near absolute zero. As long as it remains frozen, the cargo is inert, but if it thaws, it will unleash a catastrophe of nearly unthinkable proportions.             From the Galapagos Islands to the jungles of South America to an icy mountain lake many believe to be the birthplace of the Inca, the entire NUMA team will risk everything in an effort to avert disaster . . . but they may be caught in a race that no one can win. From the Hardcover edition.
Views: 826

The Other Side of the Marshmallow

'The Other Side of the Marshmallow' is a short story, designed simply to be entertaining.It shows what happens when the real world, meets the world of confectionary and the unlawful.‘Sarah was completely different to the women he'd known since his records started selling. She was real and that made her an exception to the boho posing and tragic gracelessness of everyone else. That was also what made missing her even more terrible. So, most of the time, he avoided thinking about her. It was much easier to silently destroy all the women who could never compare to her…’Scott Drake is alone in a hotel room and there is no escape. He can walk out at any time but there is no getting away from the past, from his guilt, from himself and the fear of losing someone that he loves all over again. ‘Fading Polaroids in Reverse’ is a series of snapshots of moments and memories in Scott’s life, and is the sixth short story in the ‘Diamonds’ Collection that also includes ‘Bewilder’, ‘Heart over Head over Heels’, ‘Bonfire Blues’, ‘Lily Green’, and ‘The Devil eats Coleslaw’.
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On Her Majestys Secret Service

#11) A Lancia Spyder with its hood down tore past him, cut in cheekily across his bonnet and pulled away, the sexy boom of its twin exhausts echoing back at him. It was a girl driving, a girl with a shocking pink scarf tied round her hair. And if there was one thing that set James Bond really moving, it was being passed at speed by a pretty girl. When Bond rescues a beautiful, reckless girl from self-destruction, he finds himself with a lead on one of the most dangerous men in the world—Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the head of SPECTRE. In the snow-bound fastness of his Alpine base, Blofeld is conducting research that could threaten the safety of the world. To thwart the evil genius, Bond must get himself and the vital information he has gathered out of the base and keep away from SPECTRE's agents.
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The Craft of Fiction

Percy Lubbock’s “The Craft of Fiction,” like E. M. Forster\'s "Aspects of the Novel," is an essential work of criticism. Lubbock\'s outlook is an extension of Henry James\'s. More immediately accessible than James, Lubbock illustrates the "craft" by reference to classic novels such as Tolstoy\'s "Anna Karenina," Flaubert\'s "Madame Bovary," Thackeray\'s "Vanity Fair," and of course James\'s own works, particularly "The Ambassadors." Lubbock, Forster, F. R. Leavis\'s "The Great Tradition," and Ian Watt\'s "Rise of the Novel" give you what you need to know if you want to understand the central canon in Anglo-American and European fiction. Lubbock’s book is the one recommended by Graham Greene in his autobiography. Before embarking on his illustrious career, Greene studied “The Craft of Fiction” inside and out before embarking on his illustrious career. Perhaps no other stamp of approval is needed after that. Even if this book doesn’t make a great novelist out of you, it will teach you how to recognize one. If you are interested in how the great novelists ply their trade, Percy Lubbock’s book ranks right up there with the must-reads of novel how-to’s.
Views: 824