"Deux Semaines" is the story of Jay, a middle aged man who decides to seek the advice of a therapist after losing the love of his life. The terror of falling into a mid-life psychosis compels him to reveal his story in it's most intimate detail. The passion that burns within the memories of his concealed pain will take him back to her, and to his friends as if he traveled back in time.The Ruling Elite and Other Stories is a collection of short fantasy from Xina Marie Uhl and Janet Loftis. Here you'll find a slave-mercenary struggling to save the life of his mistress, a palace guard defending his city against the destroyer of prophecy, a wanderer who brings more than just past grief into the lives of four sisters, two men who go on a dangerous hunt to kill the witches destroying their village, an outcast trying to outwit the village oracle and get justice for her murdered mother, and a captain who discovers how high the cost is to return the dead to their rightful homes. Come read stories which fuse fantasy with history and anthropology by two of XC Publishing's most talented writers. Views: 421
More About Dave
A Man Named Dave is the conclusion to a trio of autobiographical books by Dave Pelzer, who to millions of readers of A Child Called "It" and The Lost Boy has become an inspirational figure. A Child Called "It" is the gripping and harrowing account of Pelzer's abuse at the hands of his mother, beginning when he was four years old and continuing until teachers and neighbors were finally able to intervene and he was placed in foster care at age 12. The Lost Boy picks up where A Child Called "It" leaves off and details Pelzer's experiences in foster care and his difficulty navigating the "normal" world with the dark shadows of his abuse and of his mother's actual presence in his life looming over him.
In this installment, Pelzer narrates his life from his enlistment in the Air Force at age 18 to the present day. While all three books show the consequences of profound cruelty with a frank immediacy and gut-wrenching, carefully chosen detail, they are -- as the subtitle of this final installment of the trilogy suggests -- ardently inspirational works. Pelzer's thematic focus is forgiveness and the ability of the human spirit to triumph over adversity. Pelzer demonstrates that it is possible to channel feelings and experiences of trauma into positive energy.
Pelzer includes just enough flashback and summary material that the reader new to his work has a complete grasp of the scope of his mother's abuse and his experiences in foster care. And those fans who have read his previous work will find A Man Named Dave to be an essential, capping complement to A Child Called "It" and The Lost Boy.
A Man Named Dave describes Pelzer's more recent experiences and affords readers access to a more mature, gradually ripening adult perspective during Pelzer's agonizing struggle to confront the demons of his past and conquer them. To read all three works in sequence is, therefore, to experience a voyage from darkness with only a glimmer of hope to full illumination.
Throughout A Man Named Dave, Pelzer carries with him a touchstone memory from his childhood, on which he ruminates and to which he returns in his most acute moments of distress. The memory is from his very early childhood, when he and his father had a tender talk alone during a family outing to the Russian River. This is an immensely precious memory for Pelzer, who has an abiding love for the father who mostly stood by or was absent during the long period of his mother's abuse. This treasured fragment from the past serves as a driving force in Pelzer's adult life -- he dreams of building a house on the Russian River and ultimately, living there with his father.
Sadly, this is not to be. Pelzer joins the Air Force with the intention of becoming a firefighter, which, for a time, was his father's occupation as well, and while there, he writes letter after letter to his father, who responds only once, in a mostly illegible, scrawling letter that includes no return address. Pelzer fears that his father is lost to alcoholism and vagrant wandering. When Pelzer is finally alerted to the fact that his father is near death, he rushes to be with him. Pelzer's dying father is barely able to communicate, but in spending his final days by his father's side, Pelzer is able to begin to confront his childhood and to form a positive, productive link to his traumatic past. One of his father's final actions is to pass his cherished fire department badge on to his son.
The death of Pelzer's father means that he must also confront his mother, who, though she would have little to do with her husband during his decline and death, makes her son feel ostracized and uncomfortable at the funeral. The full-grown Pelzer, an outwardly successful man in an Air Force uniform, must struggle to avoid becoming a craven boy in her presence once again. The narrative is punctuated with such excruciating encounters between Pelzer and his mother.
Despite the fact that his mother no longer has any physical or legal power over him, Pelzer is still dominated by her presence. The scenes provide a telling portrayal of the consequences of childhood trauma and illustrate the almost epic immensity of Pelzer's ultimately successful struggle to overcome the legacy of his mother's abuse.
Essential to this struggle is that Pelzer realizes despite the welling of powerful emotions inside of him, he must do all he can to not hate his mother or wreak vengeance on her in any form. If he is to "break the cycle" of abuse, he must confront his childhood and its effects on his adult life. It is this triumphal will -- to come to grips with his past and somehow transmute its effects on his character into a positive view of himself and the world he inhabits -- that forces Pelzer to seek out and speak with his mother despite his instinct to run from this past and hide it from others.
In his depiction of himself as a young boy, Pelzer showed how he used indomitable spirit to triumph over tyranny. In A Man Named Dave, he will inspire most readers as he makes his voyage to adulthood and a fulfilling life -- all the while struggling with the legacy of his abuse. Part of this legacy is a difficulty with intimacy and attachment. Pelzer hides much of his past from his first wife, Patsy, and is unable to tell her he loves her. His self-doubt contributes to the tumult of their relationship, essentially a mismatch cemented by the discovery that Patsy is pregnant.
Ultimately, the birth of his son, Stephen, is the final key to Pelzer's reconciliation with his past. Stephen is a constant reminder to Pelzer of the preciousness of life and the imperative of breaking the chain of abuse so that Stephen will grow up knowing abundant love. In order to provide this love to Stephen, Pelzer must learn to love himself as well.
In a touching moment near the book's end, Pelzer walks with his son to the very spot where, as a child, he remembers walking with his own father many years ago and sharing in the natural splendor. The cycle of abuse has been broken, and Pelzer shares his quiet triumph not only with his son but also with his readers.
David S. Rosen Views: 417
Most of us take for granted the features of our modern society, from air travel and telecommunications to literacy and obesity. Yet for nearly all of its six million years of existence, human society had none of these things. While the gulf that divides us from our primitive ancestors may seem unbridgeably wide, we can glimpse much of our former lifestyle in those largely traditional societies still or recently in existence. Societies like those of the New Guinea Highlanders remind us that it was only yesterday--in evolutionary time--when everything changed and that we moderns still possess bodies and social practices often better adapted to traditional than to modern conditions.
The World Until Yesterday provides a mesmerizing firsthand picture of the human past as it had been for millions of years--a past that has mostly vanished--and considers what the differences between that past and our present mean for our lives today.
This is Jared Diamond's most personal book to date, as he draws extensively from his decades of field work in the Pacific islands, as well as evidence from Inuit, Amazonian Indians, Kalahari San people, and others. Diamond doesn't romanticize traditional societies--after all, we are shocked by some of their practices--but he finds that their solutions to universal human problems such as child rearing, elder care, dispute resolution, risk, and physical fitness have much to teach us. A characteristically provocative, enlightening, and entertaining book, The World Until Yesterday will be essential and delightful reading. Views: 412
A short story about a vivacious young physicist and mathematician named Kristine, who has devoted her life to science. Hallucinations cause her to seek help from a social worker named Paul and she's terrified when she hears a questionable diagnosis of schizophrenia. Her path leads her to a place where perspective is all that's real, and sanity is nothing more than the limit of what we believe.A short story about a vivacious young physicist and mathematician named Kristine, who has devoted her life to science. Her newly found love for meditation and yoga bring hallucinations that frighten her enough to seek the help of a social worker named Paul Ghent. She fears the worst when she is handed a possible diagnosis of schizophrenia, but the diagnosis as with all things in life, is uncertain. Kristine's scientific mind drives her personal need to find a definite answer that ends in what seems to be the impossible. Taking her therapist on her journey into what could only be her delusion, they both find out the truth about her. It's the lesson that perspective is all that's real, and sanity is nothing more than the limit of what we believe. Views: 398
This is the third in a series of short stories based in the same world as the book series A Life in After World. Instead of telling the life story of one character, these stories tell the story of one day in the life of a person in After World. The stories should be able to stand alone but together they tell of a bigger story.Brach is a thief. He is a petty thief, but he steals a little more than he needs to survive. He is assisted in his chose profession by a unique set of abilities he has. When he concentrates, he can affect the way things move. He has bought 13 meals on the same gold coin and he gets change every time. After he pays, he just calls the coin back to him. He is always seeking a way to get ahead by using his ability. He is also looking for a girl. Views: 393
A "riveting and illuminating" (Yuval Noah Harari) new theory of how and why some nations recover from trauma and others don't, by the Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of the landmark bestsellers Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse.
In his international bestsellers Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse , Jared Diamond transformed our understanding of what makes civilizations rise and fall. Now, in his third book in this monumental trilogy, he reveals how successful nations recover from crises while adopting selective changes -- a coping mechanism more commonly associated with individuals recovering from personal crises.
Diamond compares how six countries have survived recent upheavals -- ranging from the forced opening of Japan by U.S. Commodore Perry's fleet, to the Soviet Union's attack on Finland, to a murderous coup or countercoup in Chile and Indonesia, to the transformations of Germany and Austria after World War Two. Because Diamond has lived and spoken the language in five of these six countries, he can present gut-wrenching histories experienced firsthand. These nations coped, to varying degrees, through mechanisms such as acknowledgment of responsibility, painfully honest self-appraisal, and learning from models of other nations. Looking to the future, Diamond examines whether the United States, Japan, and the whole world are successfully coping with the grave crises they currently face. Can we learn from lessons of the past?
Adding a psychological dimension to the in-depth history, geography, biology, and anthropology that mark all of Diamond's books, Upheaval reveals factors influencing how both whole nations and individual people can respond to big challenges. The result is a book epic in scope, but also his most personal book yet. Views: 391
The Wrong End Of A Gun is a modern day noir mystery short by bestselling novelist R. Barri Flowers. A man meets a beautiful blonde woman and gets more than he bargained for.THE WRONG END OF A GUN is a modern day noir mystery short by bestselling novelist R. Barri Flowers. When a man meets a beautiful blonde woman, his dream turns into a nightmare in which there may be no escape.Includes a bonus short story, NO GOING BACK. A man and his wife must deal with the repercussions after she is raped.Also included is excerpt from the psychological thriller novel, BEFORE HE KILLS AGAIN, by R. Barri Flowers.PRAISE FOR MYSTERY AND THRILLER FICTION BY R. BARRI FLOWERS:“A heart-thumping thriller, this is that rare novel that is downright scary. Pick it up at your peril, because you won't put it down until you've read the last word." -- John Lutz, Edgar Winner and bestselling author of Twist on BEFORE HE KILLS AGAIN“A masterful thriller set in the dark underbelly of Maui, with lots of fine action, down and dirty characters, and the vivid details of police procedure one would expect from an author who is also a top criminologist. A terrific read!" -- Douglas Preston, co-creator of the bestselling Pendergast series of novels on MURDER IN MAUI"An exquisitely rich and masterfully constructed mystery.... A savvy, smooth, and sumptuous read that's as hot as Waikiki beach sand." -- Jon Land, bestselling author of Strong Vengeance on MURDER IN HONOLULU“A model of crime fiction .... Flowers may be a new voice in modern mystery writing, but he is already one of its best voices.”-- Statesman Journal on JUSTICE SERVED"It gets no better than this! R. Barri Flowers has written another thriller guaranteed to hold onto its readers! -- Huntress Reviews on DARK STREETS OF WHITECHAPEL“A gripping and tightly woven tale you won't want to put down. Author Flowers neatly contrasts the natural beauty of a tropical paradise with the ugliness of murder and its aftermath." -- John Lutz, Edgar Winner and bestselling author of Pulse on MURDER IN MAUI"R. Barri Flowers writes with the passion and knowledge of someone who truly knows his craft. A steamy, non-stop thrill-ride through the seamy underbelly of Hawaii." -- Allison Leotta, former federal prosecutor and author of Discretion on MURDER IN MAUI“Flowers once again has written a page-turner legal thriller that begins with a bang and rapidly moves along to its final page.” -- Midwest Book Review on STATE’S EVIDENCE"An excellent look at the jurisprudence system...will appeal to fans of John Grisham and Linda Fairstein." -- Harriet Klausner on PERSUASIVE VIDENCE Views: 381
PS Wright has plagiarized another of Granny Which's tales. This time, a bit of a family tall tale has turned up in the wrong universe.When a couple of youngsters wander along the river, they have an odd encounter and experience some most unusual weather. Lucky for Augustus Deforest, May has brought along her umbrella. The wily old catfish known as grey beard doesn't stand a chance.What you more description of a seven page story? Ok, here it is. PS Wright has gone and plagiarized Granny Which Witch's very own family legend. And if that weren't bad enough, she done added some romancy stuff into it.It's ok though. There's big old blue catfish which folks call a grey beard where we come from. He's a wiley one. Augustus Deforest plans to take that one home for his Gran to cook up for dinner. May and Augustus meet by the riverbank. That's when all sorts of odd stuff starts to happen with the weather that might be all due to the Army Corps of Engineers, or maybe something worse. In any case, May is prepared for whatever might happen. She brought her umbrella. Views: 380
Loss sets the action-filled Bornlord Saga in motion. An expedition returning to Aldar across the desolate grasslands meets a stranger who, unknown to the party, is fleeing the very people Aldar relies on for trade. His presence brings unexpected hardship, and the fighting abilities of the party members are tested beyond measure. Will they make it back to Aldar? What about Aldar's future?Survival for those of Aldar rests on a very thin thread: a long and torturous journey across desolate, searing grasslands that must be undertaken each year by those brave enough to face the trip. Despite the difficulties, the yearly expeditions to trade for coralin medicine have been successful for hundreds of years. Then a new element enters the picture: a renegade Aldaran the expedition meets at a desiccated waterhole out on the plains. Despite the misgivings of the expedition's leader, Banjee, and the decidedly antagonistic behavior of Banjee's rook, the stranger is allowed to join them. After all, no Aldaran would ever desert a person in need. Are the stranger's criticisms of Aldar valid? The stranger seems oblivious to the strengths of his own former people, but does it even matter once battle with the ferociously vindictive Nomers starts? The fighting abilities of the party members are tested beyond measure. Will they be able to get the coralin back to Aldar? And how will this impact Aldar's future? Loss sets the stage for the Bornlord Saga, an action-filled fantasy in which a force of newly graduated armsors gives everything it has to see that Aldar lives on. This book, along with the rest of the series, is quirky, in a new thought sense, in that it balances on the genuine, limitless magic of the human spirit. Views: 369
MAKING SMART CHOICES IN CHALLENGING TIMES
The challenges teens face today are tougher than at any time in history: academic stress, parent communication, media bombardment, dating drama, abuse, bullying, addictions, depression, and peer pressure, just to name a few. And, like it or not, the choices teens make while navigating these challenges can make or break their futures.
In The 6 Most Important Decisions You'll Ever Make, Sean Covey, author of the international bestseller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, gives teens the strong advice they need to make informed and wise decisions.Using real stories from teens around the world, Sean shows teens how to succeed in school, make good friends, get along with parents, wisely handle dating and sex issues, avoid or overcome addictions, build self-esteem, and much more. Jam-packed with original cartoons, inspiring quotes, and fun quizzes, this innovative book will help teens not only survive but thrive during their teen years and beyond.
Building upon the legacy of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, this is an indispensable resource for teens everywhere. Views: 363
This explosive new book challenges many of the long-prevailing assumptions about blacks, about Jews, about Germans, about slavery, and about education. Plainly written, powerfully reasoned, and backed with a startling array of documented facts, Black Rednecks and White Liberals takes on not only the trendy intellectuals of our times but also such historic interpreters of American life as Alexis de Tocqueville and Frederick Law Olmsted. In a series of long essays, this book presents an in-depth look at key beliefs behind many mistaken and dangerous actions, policies, and trends. It presents eye-opening insights into the historical development of the ghetto culture that is today wrongly seen as a unique black identity--a culture cheered on toward self-destruction by white liberals who consider themselves "friends" of blacks. An essay titled "The Real History of Slavery" presents a jolting re-examination of that tragic institution and the narrow and distorted way it is too often seen today. The reasons for the venomous hatred of Jews, and of other groups like them in countries around the world, are explored in an essay that asks, "Are Jews Generic?" Misconceptions of German history in general, and of the Nazi era in particular, are also re-examined. So too are the inspiring achievements and painful tragedies of black education in the United States. "Black Rednecks and White Liberals" is the capstone of decades of outstanding research and writing on racial and cultural issues by Thomas Sowell.From Publishers WeeklyOne of America's foremost black conservative intellectuals returns with this provocative collection of contrarian essays. Hoover Institution Fellow Sowell, author of Ethnic America, argues that "internal" cultural habits of industriousness, thriftiness, family solidarity and reverence for education often play a greater role in the success of ethnic minorities than do civil-rights laws or majority prejudices. The title essay posits a "black redneck" culture inherited from the white redneck culture of the South and characterized by violent machismo, shiftlessness and disdain for schooling. White liberals, gangsta-rap aficionados and others who lionize its ghetto remnants as an authentic black identity, Sowell contends, have their history wrong and help perpetuate cultural pathologies that hold blacks back. Sowell also examines the cultural achievements of such "middleman minorities" as Jews and expatriate Chinese whose frequent persecution, he feels, represents an animus against capitalism. And he defends Western culture itself against charges that it was uniquely culpable for slavery; in fact, he contends, it was uniquely responsible for eradicating slavery. Many of Sowell's arguments-that the 20th-century resegregation of Northern cities was a response to the uncouthness of black rednecks migrating from the South, or that segregated black schools often succeeded by suppressing redneckism with civilized New England puritanism-will arouse controversy, but these vigorously argued essays present a stimulating challenge to the conventional wisdom. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ReviewThomas Sowell is persuasive and provocative and always scintillating. I’ve read all his books and never been even faintly disappointed. -- Fred Barnes, executive editor, The Weekly Standard, and Fox News commentatorTom Sowell is a national treasure, America’s most perceptive, productive, and thoughtful commentator on racial and ethnic issues. -- Stephan Thernstrom and Abigail Thernstrom, authors of America in Black and White Views: 342
In this legal thriller short story, a group of criminal justice practitioners gamble on the jury's verdict. The dramatic ending will shock readers...In this legal thriller short story, a group of criminal justice practitioners gamble on the jury's verdict. The dramatic ending will shock readers...PRAISE FOR R. BARRI FLOWERS:"A police procedure of the highest order, mixing equal parts Sue Grafton and Jeffrey Deaver with a sprinkling of Patricia Cornwall at her best MURDER IN MAUI is Hawaii 5-0 sharpened to a dark edge beneath the brilliant sunshine." — Jon Land, internationally acclaimed, bestselling author of Strong Justice on MURDER IN MAUI"Flowers delivers the goods. An exotic setting, winning characters, and realistic procedural details make MURDER IN MAUI a sure hit with crime-fiction readers." — Bill Crider, Edgar Award winner and bestselling author of Murder in the Air on MURDER IN MAUI"It gets no better than this! R. Barri Flowers has written another thriller guaranteed to hold onto its readers! It was so gripping that I forgot to breathe a couple of times!" — Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews on DARK STREETS OF WHITECHAPEL“Flowers once again has written a page-turner legal thriller that begins with a bang and rapidly moves along to its final page. He has filled the novel with believable characters and situations.” — Midwest Book Review on STATE'S EVIDENCE“Justice Served is a model of crime fiction.... Flowers may be a new voice in modern mystery writing, but he is already one of its best voices.” — Statesman Journal on JUSTICE SERVED Views: 334
This tale is the end. It is the story of the death of a person in After World. Terry and Sylvia have worked together and done a miracle of medical science. They have cloned Terry and transferred his memories. Mess with nature and death soon follows. This is the tale of Terry's death.Seek not pleasure or fancy beyond this point. These stories are not for everyone and I would warn against those that are faint of heart from continuing. The deaths contained in these stories are no pretty, glamorized, or funny. They are detailed and raw.A Death in Afterworld is a short story series that focuses on the death of a person in the After World universe. Pitfalls, deaths, and murder are commonplace and are a means of survival for others.Death is final. Death is abrupt. Death is the end of one’s story. Now these people get their last story told before the book is closed on them. Views: 310
Quad Squad is the story of a group of high school students who fight, make up, mess around, get confused, betray each other, learn, forget, make huge mistakes, pay for them, fall in and out of love, all while hanging around doing nothing much.Quad Squad is the story of a group of high school students who fight, make up, mess around, get confused, betray each other, learn, forget, make huge mistakes, pay for them, fall in and out of love, all while hanging around doing nothing much. Roll call:Andrea: popular, self-centered, but sort of likable. Tim: awkward, angry, truthful. Rachel: good at school but not sure if she should be. Jerry: loyal, friendly, clumsy. Maya: confused by all this change. Mike: new around here and trying to learn how to fit in. Malik: absent, stayed up too late playing video games.Sabrina: sad but trying. Karen: usually stoned. Naeli: always stoned. Vinh: trouble. Views: 293
