From Publishers Weekly: The companionship and unconditional love a dog provides can be of especially great comfort. Bringing together conversations with more than two dozen notable men, including playwrights Edward Albee and Charles Busch, film director Jonathan Caouette and writers Victor J. Banis, Ron Nyswaner and Jay Quinn, this anecdotal anthology shows how dogs have given men love, confidence and support. Fiction author Plakcy and dog breeder Sakson relate their interviews through first-person narratives, stringing together stories ranging from comic to tragic to sappy. The familiar joys and trials of sharing life with a dog are all here, including stories of comfort and "extraordinary lessons in how to cope with loss." The sincerity and warmth that comes through in each of these stories is infectious, and the inter-species relationships they describe provide unique perspective on the interview subjects as human beings. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved “Paws and Reflect is an eloquent, moving testament that this unconditional love has helped form a great emotional and spiritual connection between dogs and their humans that just simply makes our lives healthier and more complete.”—David Frei, co-host of The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, USA Network “Anyone...who has a dog will appreciate these stories of love, trust, caring and commitment.”—The Bark magazine Paws and Reflect explores and celebrates the special and powerful bond between man and dog through twenty-five stories of personal experiences in this well-crafted collection. Touching, powerful, and often humorous, this is a must-read for all dog lovers. The book includes interviews with Edward Albee, Jonathan Caouette, Ron Nyswaner, Charles Busch, and contributions from Jay Quinn, Hal Campbell, and others. Neil Plakcy is the author of the Mahu series of detective novels and the golden retriever mystery In Dog We Trust. He is owned by a golden retriever named Sam. Sharon Sakson is a writer and television producer and the author of Brussels Griffons: A Complete Pet Owner’s Manual and Paws & Effect: The Healing Power of Dogs and Paws to Protect: Dogs Saving Lives and Restoring Hope.

Anna Pigeon, in her career as a National Park Service Ranger, has had to deal with all manner of crimes and misdemeanors, but cyber-bullying and stalking is a new one. The target is Elizabeth, the adopted teenage daughter of her friend Heath Jarrod. Elizabeth is driven to despair by the disgusting rumors spreading online and bullying texts. Until, one day, Heath finds her daughter Elizabeth in the midst of an unsuccessful suicide attempt. And then she calls in the cavalry—-her aunt Gwen and her friend Anna Pigeon. While they try to deal with the fragile state of affairs—-and find the person behind the harassment—-the three adults decide the best thing to do is to remove Elizabeth from the situation. Since Anna is about to start her new post as Acting Chief Ranger at Acadia National Park in Maine, the three will join her and stay at a house on the cliff of a small island near the park, Boar Island.But the move east doesn't solve the problem. The...

A tale of fear from best-selling author Tanya Huff!Scholar of Decay is the story of a man driven by love into the darkest corners of the world. When Aurek Nuiken's wife is attacked and made prisoner by an evil mage, he must search the Domains of Dread for the spell that will allow him to free her. But ultimately his wife's freedom - and his own - lies in the hands of a clan of wererats who are not inclined to assist him. Faced with both his own torment and the monsters of the Ravenloft world, Aurek is pushed to the edge of madness and to a choice that no man should ever have to make.

While secret agent Reid guards Jaxon Powers, a pop star performing for a dangerous dictator, he works toward his own agenda. But when they become trapped in a country where homosexuality is illegal, their attraction could get them killed.

After victory against the Persians, Lysander and the other young warriors from Sparta are weary from battle. But then a messenger brings news that Taras, a distant outpost of the Spartan empire, is under siege. Sparta is in danger of losing a vital trading port to a local uprising. Lysander and his barrack set sail immediately for southern Italy.They quickly discover that the locals will not be easily beaten. In the midst of battle Lysander finds himself in front of the great statue in the main square, and is shocked to see that the figure is wearing the Fire of Ares. Is this Lysander's ancestor? He must find out his connection to this town and its people, and in so doing reveal more of his mysterious heritage, hidden from him for so long.

Alysha Gale's cousin Charlotte is a Wild Power, who allies herself with a family of Selkies in a fight against offshore oil drilling. The oil company has hired another of the Gale family's Wild Powers, the fearsome Auntie Catherine, to steal the Selkies' sealskins. To defeat her, Charlotte will have to learn what born to be Wild really means in the Gale family...

As a teenager, Robert McKinnon left his native Scotland and moved to America. That was sixteen years ago, and Professor McKinnon has never quite settled in his new home or found his place this side of the pond. He might be prematurely old, but he has his cat, and his books, and that's all he needs. Then Chris Ford explodes into Robert's life with a crash of cymbals. The younger man is the polar opposite of Robert's calm civility. Bright tattoos cover his skin, and he wears his hair in a Mohawk and plays drums for a rock band. But he's a shot of color in Robert's black-and-white world, and Robert turns out to be the one thing Chris can count on. Despite all the reasons it shouldn't work, somehow it does. Even if Robert wasn't looking for love—especially not with someone nearly ten years his junior—he can't deny being with Chris is fun. But sometimes Chris's free-spirited nature leaves Robert feeling...

Surrounded by dead crewmates, marooned above an unknown planet, the bridge crew of the Atlas awakens from a crash with extraordinary mental abilities. When their most powerful member jettisons their passengers to the planet below, they have an unprecedented opportunity: they can become gods. Two hundred years later, Lieutenant Cordelia Ross is a paladin serving the Storm Lord, her city’s patron deity. Her faith is absolute until her people are attacked by a native species, harmless creatures turned devious by an unknown hand. Cordelia tries to solve the mystery of their development before they kill anyone else, but the secrets surrounding them are too deep. As orders from the Storm Lord begin to value obedience over integrity, Cordelia wonders whose side her god is really on.