Join Abbie and Bendigo Joules as they explore beyond their own east Texas farm, uncovering a hidden wonder in the neighbors living next door. Price and Pleasure Walker fascinate and beguile the youngsters with sculpture, hospitality and family history, enriching their lives and opening their eyes to a world they've never known.The fifth in a series of fourteen short stories by Abbie Joules, as she chronicles the lives of herself and her deceased brother, Bendigo, growing up on their family farm in east Texas during the 1940's and 1950's. Abbie and Ben set off on a short canoe trip down their local creek, seeing adventure. What they find is a new appreciation for their neighbors, Price and Pleasure Walker, an old black couple who open their eyes to a hidden world on their doorstep. Price's gift of sculptural art fascinates them, and the old couple's personal history introduces them to a world they've never known. Abbie and Ben can never look on their neighbors the same old way again.

"HIGHLY ENTERTAINING...SIT BACK IN THE BUBBLES AND ENJOY." --The Philadelphia Inquirer Brenda Kovner, a Washington columnist, advice dispenser, and amateur psychologist, doesn't consider herself intrusive, just extremely interested in helping. If she knows the answer, she can't shut up--even if no one's listening. Since Brenda knows what's best--for everyone--she secretly decides she must murder her son Wally's prospective father-in-law, before he can get to Wally. She has a foolproof plan. In fact, she has a million of them. But first she's got a few kinky desires of her own to satisfy (. "Viorst keeps us laughing....A serious look at family and cultural issues while still a farce, narrated by a needling Machiavellian who keeps winning us over." --San Francisco Chronicle "A wry look at the follies of superficial urbanites...Enjoy." --The Washington Post Book World "Acerbic and extremely funny...Done with the arch, sardonic flavor familiar to readers of Ms. Viorst." --The Baltimore Sun

Kay Redfield Jamison, award-winning professor and writer, changed the way we think about moods and madness. Now Jamison uses her characteristic honesty, wit and eloquence to look back at her relationship with her husband, Richard Wyatt, a renowned scientist who died of cancer. "Nothing was the Same" is a penetrating psychological study of grief viewed from deep inside the experience itself.

Leland Littlefield thinks he has a happy family. But the cracks are beginning to show. His wife is drifting away and his children are busy handling their own victories and disasters. Leland has always considered himself bisexual, but he has never acted on his attraction to men—that is, until a spontaneous kiss brings to light many of his deepest fears and desires.Leland Littlefield thinks he has a happy family. But the cracks are beginning to show. His wife of twenty-three years, Anna Grace, is distant and drifting further away, his adult children are busy handling their own victories and disasters, and everyone is becoming increasingly alienated from one another.But Leland's struggles run deeper than a troubled home life. When he spends a pleasant evening alone with his son's quirky, bearded piano teacher, Scott, he is forced to grapple with unexpected feelings. Leland has always considered himself bisexual, but he has never acted on his attraction to men—that is, until a spontaneous, awkward kiss with Scott brings to light many of Leland's deepest fears and desires.Leland is torn: Should he be true to himself and pursue a relationship with Scott? Or, would coming out finally push Anna Grace over the edge? Would his kids, so wrapped up in their own romances, careers, and emotional issues, be willing to accept him? Will their family, meant to be a refuge from the world, fall apart?

The Russian Woman is the first book in a series featuring Michael Thorne. Colonel Anya Volkova is a patriot who loves her country. She works in the Russian Ministry of Defense, where she's an important part of Moscow's machinery of war. She's more or less content with her ordered life, until things start to fall apart. Her younger brother is sent to fight in Syria. Her boss wants her for his mistress, and if she doesn't give him what he wants, her career is finished. She discovers a secret plan for a first strike on America. She has to stop it from happening, but what can she do?Michael Thorne is a Specialized Skills Officer with the CIA, an expendable spy. He's fed up with the games played by Langley's chiefs, but there's not a lot he can do about it. Worse, there's a mole at Langley who is about to make his life more complicated. Thorne is assigned to make contact with Anya, but he's not ready for the powerful attraction that ignites between them. As the...

At Coral Tree Prep in Los Angeles, who your parents are can make or break you. Case in point: As the son of Hollywood royalty, Derek Edwards is pretty much prince of the school--not that he deigns to acknowledge many of his loyal subjects. As the daughter of the new principal, Elise Benton isn't exactly on everyone's must-sit-next-to-at-lunch list. When Elise's beautiful sister catches the eye of the prince's best friend, Elise gets to spend a lot of time with Derek, making her the envy of every girl on campus. Except she refuses to fall for any of his rare smiles and instead warms up to his enemy, the surprisingly charming social outcast Webster Grant. But in this hilarious tale of fitting in and flirting, not all snubs are undeserved, not all celebrity brats are bratty, and pride and prejudice can get in the way of true love for only so long.

Bob Benedict is one of the few scientists able to make contact with the invisible, dangerous world of The Thresholders and return - sane! For years he has tried to transport - and receive - matter by transmitting it through the mysterious, parallel Threshold. At first his efforts met only with failure and madness. But now The Thresholders have risen in fury. Somehow Bob Benedict must make one more trip into that land of peril and pacify them before they succeed in hurling his planet - piece by piece - into the oblivion of infinity.

In this fourth in a collection of fourteen short stories by Abbie Joules, her brother Bendigo is befriended by a young calico cat on their east Texas farm. Together they explore an unlikely friendship with a farm pond catfish, a relationship of discovery that enriches and changes Ben's life.The fourth in a series of fourteen short stories by Abbie Joules, chronicling the young lives of her and her brother, Ben Joules, as they grow up on a dairy farm in east Texas during the 1940's and 1950's. In this story, a barnyard calico cat befriends Ben, and together they embark on a journey of discovery about unlikely friendships and deep, unrealized emotions. The cat, which becomes known as Fish-Cat, chooses a farm pond catfish as a companion, and the relationship changes the way Ben views the world.

When Latimer Falls Deputy Sheriff Gabby Grimm receives a call for help from cousin Annette in NYC just before Christmas, she rushes off to uncover the mystery of the Gingerbread house and the missing co-worker. Things get ugly fast. It's up to her to rescue the bossy damsel in distress and bring her to Black Forest Farm for safekeeping, the FBI hot on their heels as they try to make a mob case.Deputy Gabby Grimm, a girl with a gun...A desperate plea for help from Cousin Annette takes Gabby to NYC just before Christmas, to unofficially hunt for a missing co-worker at Frist and Company.The opinionated widow, still not used to life without Paul, a true prince of a husband, isn't having much luck with finding a new guy. It’s been one embarrassment after another, especially after a jealous wife went ballistic on her in front of her co-workers. Annette’s latest office romance? It’s a complete disaster -- the guy has disappeared without a trace. Is he a con man who took a powder on purpose, leaving Annette with egg on her face, or did something more sinister happen?As if that’s not bad enough, Annette's terrified she leaked confidential information to a company competitor -- there will be legal hell to pay if her employers find out. When things get ugly fast, it's up to the experienced deputy from Latimer Falls, Vermont to rescue the bossy damsel in distress, but first Gabby has to sort things out. What is so special about the scale model of the condo development that Annette crafted out of gingerbread? It’s just a Christmas decoration, isn’t it?Her plan to bring Annette to Black Forest Farm for safekeeping goes awry as the FBI, hot on their heels, closes in. The feds want to make a mob case involving possible fraud and dangerous construction practices, so they pin a bull’s eye on Annette, hoping to get her to roll over. Unbeknownst to Annette and the deputy, the FBI had an inside man on the job. Now they’re squeezing him to produce results for the DOJ, but he’s got it bad for Annette, and that ain’t necessarily good. Can Gabby help her cousin navigate her way out of this mess, or is Annette going to find herself behind bars for the holidays? When the heart of the ugly construction fraud surfaces, how far will the real bad guy go to protect his vile scheme? Is he willing to sacrifice Annette to get what he wants?

The 3d in a series of 14 short stories by Abbie Joules as she recounts the exploits of her and her brother, Bendigo, growing up on a farm in east Texas in the early 50's. The story sees Abbie seeking status in her father's eyes, and a pet in the form of a baby raccoon. A cow goes missing, leading to a wild cry in a tree, and Abbie finds herself in deep trouble. See what it takes to get her out!The 3d in a series of 14 short stories by Abbie Joules as she recounts the exploits of her and her brother, Bendigo, growing up on a farm in east Texas in the late 40's. A cow called Two-Banger goes missing, again, and this time it is young Abbie who is sent to retrieve her. Along the way Abbie discovers a nest of baby raccoons in a hollow tree, and unable to resist, she climbs into the tree only to find herself ensnared as the night comes on. Finally discovered by her brother, he and his father go to great and heroic lengths to free her. What would you have done?

�We have watched your plants for millennia.�The creature that spoke was barely three feet tall, with wrinkled gray skin and monstrous eyes . . .�Yours is a war of children. Only children would slaughter each other out of ignorance and fear. Only children would fail again and again to learn the lessons of their foolishness.�It was true. The underground people of Earth were united in terror and desperation against what they considered a frightful threat from the skies. They had sent a mighty armada into space, rushing in lethal orbit toward Mars. The Spacers - still really Earthmen themselves - were poised for the counter-blow. The great fleet at Asteroid Central had sufficient warheads to reduce earth to a cinder.�But we also know the greatness of your spirit, the precious spark which we cannont allow you to extinguish.�Now Ben Trefon understood that in the Black Belt of Power bequeathed to him by his father rested the final hope of the human...

A short story, about 2000 words.Strange is when a passing tornado drops an antique Westinghouse refrigerator in the backyard of your trailer.Stranger still is what is inside when Dad opens it, and what the contents mean for two rambunctious boys who often pay too little attention to their surroundings.John Beach's fifth collection of poetry. The 35 terzanelle poems in this collection are about identity: both the secret identity and the public persona. I have chosen 26 characters from classic literature, theater, the Pulps, comic books, and radio programs, each of whom uses a hidden identity (or identities) for heroic and less-than-heroic purposes. The real question is why they do so, why any of us do.The terzanelle is a French/Italian adaptation of the terza rima to the villanelle form. Each terzanelle is meant to be 19 lines long (ten syllables each), composed of five triplets with a concluding quatrain, and are written in iambic pentamater. I don't pay much attention to where my metrical feet are stepping, but I enjoy the puzzle-like nature of this form and the subtlety of the repeating lines, the variations in meaning. I also enjoy breaking the lines and changing punctuation.