Search results for ""CARE""

The foreign-exchange market is often referred to as the Slaughterhouse where novice traders go to get 'chopped up'. It is one of egos and money, where millions of dollars are won and lost every day and phones are routinely thrown across hectic trading desks. This palpable excitement has led to the explosion of the retail FX market, which has unfortunately spawned a new breed of authors and gurus more than happy to provide misleading and often downright fraudulent information by promising traders riches while making forex trading 'easy'. Well I'll let you in on a little secret: there is nothing easy about trading currencies. If you don't believe me then stop by Warren Buffet's office and ask him how he could lose $850m betting on the dollar or ask George Soros why his short yen bets cost him $600m not once but twice in 1994. What's wrong with these guys, don't they read FX books? In reality, the average client's trading approach combined with the unscrupulous practices of some brokers make spot FX trading more akin to the games found on the Vegas strip than to anything seen on Wall St. The FX market is littered with the remains of day traders and genius 'systems,' and to survive in the long-run traders have to realize that they are playing a game where the cards are clearly stacked against them. Have you ever had your stop hit at a price that turned out to be the low/high for the day? Bad luck perhaps? Maybe. What if it happens more than once? Do you ever feel like the market is out to get you? Well guess what, in this Zero Sum game it absolutely is. Covering the day-to-day mechanics of the FX market and the unsavoury dealings going on, Beat the Forex Dealer offers traders the market-proven trading techniques needed to side-step dealer traps and develop winning trading methods. Learn from an industry insider the truth behind dirty dealer practices including: stop-hunting, price shading, trading against clients and 'no dealing desk' realities. Detailing the dealer-inspired trading techniques developed by MIGFX Inc, consistently ranked among the world's leading currency trading firms, the book helps turn average traders into winning traders; and in a market with a 90% loss rate winning traders are in fact quite rare! More than just a simple manual, Beat the Forex Dealer brings to life the excitement of the FX market by delivering insights into some of the greatest trading triumphs and highlighting legendary disasters; all written in an easy to read style. Make no mistake about it there is a lot of money to be made in currency trading, you just have to know where to look. Sidestepping simple dealer traps is one way of improving your daily p&l, but it is surely not the only one. Successful trading comes down to taking care of the details, which means skipping the theoretical stuff and providing only up-to-date, real-life examples while sharing the FX trading tips that have proved so profitable over the years. By stripping away the theory and getting down to the core of trading, you too will find yourself on the way to beating the forex dealer!

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Provide effective treatment of hip and pelvic disorders! Orthopedic Management of the Hip and Pelvis offers evidence-based information on the care of non-surgical and surgical patients with common pathologies and injuries. Comprehensive guidelines cover a wide range of topics, from anatomy and assessment to strains, tears, and disorders that affect groups such as females, children, dancers, and patients with arthritis. Full-color illustrations and real-life case studies demonstrate how concepts can be applied in clinical practice. Written by physical therapy and orthopedics experts Scott Cheatham and Morey Kolber, this is the first book in the market to focus solely on disorders of the hip and pelvis region. Nearly 300 full-color photos and drawings provide a detailed, realistic view of the anatomy and pathologies of the hip and pelvic region. Case studies apply information to real-life patient scenarios. Anatomy of Lumbopelvic Hip Complex chapter reviews the lumbar spine, pelvis and hip joint with emphasis on the anatomy and biomechanics of each region, providing the background needed to effectively examine and treat common hip and pelvic disorders. Examination of the Hip and Pelvis chapter presents a systematic examination approach that focuses on the primary pathologies related to the pelvis and hip. Hip Pathologies chapter discusses common extra-articular hip pathologies, including snapping hip syndrome, meralgia paresthetica, adductor related groin pain, greater trochanteric pain syndrome, and proximal hamstring injuries - facilitating more accurate diagnosis with information on patient profiles, the clinical exam, differential diagnosis, rehabilitation, and possible surgical interventions. Acetabular Labral Tears and Femoral Acetabular Impingement chapter describes pathomechanical factors, common patient characteristics, and clinical findings relating to non-arthritic hip pain, discussing both conservative and surgical treatment along with considerations for postoperative rehabilitation. Musculoskeletal Sources of Abdominal and Groin Pain chapter focuses on three of the most common dysfunctions leading to lower abdominal or groin pain - abdominal strains, inguinal hernias, and sports hernias/athletic pubalgia - with guidelines to anatomy, presentation, imaging, and treatment. Hip Osteoarthrosis chapter helps you manage degenerative hip disorders with an overview of epidemiological risk factors, pathophysiology, differential diagnosis, and intervention options. The Pediatric and Adolescent Hip chapter focuses on four early disorders of the hip - developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH), congenital femoral deficiency (CFD), slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE), and Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease (LCPD) - exploring the epidemiology, client profile, assessment, common mechanisms, post-surgical considerations, and rehabilitation considerations. The Dancer's Hip chapter addresses the differential diagnosis, evaluation, treatment, and prevention of hip injury in dancers. The Female Hip and Pelvis chapter helps you diagnose and implement treatment plans for gynecologic pelvic organ prolapse as well as pelvic myofascial dysfunction, and also helps you understand the hormonal, physiological, and anatomical changes that females experience with pregnancy, labor and delivery, and menopause. The Influence of Lumbosacral Pathology on Hip Pain chapter presents a reductionist approach to the differential diagnosis of hip pain for patients with a pathology of uncertain etiology, offering a primer for signs and symptoms, evidence-based symptom referral patterns and clinical predictors, and case studies. Traumatic Injuries chapter explores the common types of traumatic injuries of the hip and pelvis, including classification schemes as well as associated causes, complexities, and treatment plans that lead to positive long-term outcomes.

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"In his scathing and deeply reported examination of the U.S. Border Patrol, Todd Miller argues that the agency has gone rogue since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, trampling on the dignity and rights of the undocumented with military-style tactics...Miller's book arrives at a moment when it appears that part of the Homeland Security apparatus is backpedaling by promising to tone down its tactics, maybe prodded by investigative journalism, maybe by the revelations of NSA leaker Edward Snowden...Border Patrol is quite possibly the right book at the right time ..."--Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times "At the start of his unsettling and important new book, Border Patrol Nation, Miller observes that these days 'it is common to see the Border Patrol in places--such as Erie, Pennsylvania; Rochester, New York; or Forks, Washington--where only fifteen years ago it would have seemed far-fetched, if not unfathomable.'"--Barbara Spindel, Christian Science Monitor "Miller's approach in Border Patrol Nation is to offer a glimpse into the secretive operations of the Border Patrol, reporting with a journalist's objectivity and nose for a good story. Miller's book is full of facts, and it's clear he's outraged, but he gives voices to people on every side of the issue...Miller's book is a fascinating read...and bring the work of Susan Orlean to mind."--Amanda Eyre Ward Kirkus Reviews "Todd Miller's invaluable and gripping book, Border Patrol Nation: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Homeland Security is the story of how this country's borders are being transformed into up-armored, heavily militarized zones run by a border-industrial complex. It's an achievement and an eye opener."--Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch "What Jeremy Scahill was to Blackwater, Todd Miller is to the U.S. Border Patrol!"--Tom Miller, author, On the Border: Portraits of America's Southwestern Frontier "Todd Miller has entered a secret world, and he has gone deep...Powerful."--Luis Alberto Urrea, author of The Devil's Highway: A True Story "Journalist Miller tells an alarming story of U.S. Border Patrol and Homeland Security's ever-widening reach into the lives of American citizens and legal immigrants as well as the undocumented. In addition to readers interested in immigration issues, those concerned about the NSA's privacy violations will likely be even more shocked by the actions of Homeland Security."--Publishers Weekly, Starred Review Armed authorities watch from a military-grade surveillance tower as lines of people stream toward the security checkpoint, tickets in hand, anxious and excited to get through the gate. Few seem to notice or care that the US Border Patrol is monitoring the Super Bowl, as they have for years, one of the many ways that forces created to police the borders are now being used, in an increasingly militarized fashion, to survey and monitor the whole of American society. In fast-paced prose, Todd Miller sounds an alarm as he chronicles the changing landscape. Traveling the country--and beyond--to speak with the people most involved with and impacted by the Border Patrol, he combines these first-hand encounters with careful research to expose a vast and booming industry for high-end technology, weapons, surveillance, and prisons. While politicians and corporations reap substantial profits, the experiences of millions of men, women, and children point to staggering humanitarian consequences. Border Patrol Nation shows us in stark relief how the entire country has become a militarized border zone, with consequences that affect us all. Todd Miller has worked on and written about US border issues for over fifteen years.

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This ideal starter text for student nurses in pharmacology is now into its 4th edition. It makes pharmacology less intimidating by focusing on the knowledge needed at pre-registration level in order to safely and competently practice as a newly qualified nurse.Praised for its helpful layout and jargon-free language, this updated edition introduces pharmacology in a friendly, informative way, without assuming previous knowledge or a level of confidence in numeracy. This new edition has been carefully expanded to include new chapters on cardiovascular pharmacology and chemotherapy in cancer nursing. There are more details on drugs used in chronic and long-term conditions applied to nursing competencies and standards. It incorporates the new 2018 NMC standards for nursing education and links to practice guidelines. Additional case scenarios have been added spanning all areas of practice and include adult, elderly care, child, mental health and learning disability applications. This allows nurses to apply their knowledge to a range of different people with varying and complex needs to enhance their application to practice.The book contains:• 120 calculations and 130 multiple choice questions to assist you in assessing your learning as you work through each chapter• Clinical tips boxes linking pharmacology to nursing practice• 50 person centred case scenarios across a range of practice settings• References to key standards and guidelines"The book also emphasises the application of the principles of pharmacology to all areas of practice and includes; drug action, drug interactions, side effects and adverse reactions. It is useful for all pre-registration students and those on post qualifying or continuing professional development courses where pharmacology is a component.Overall, this book is an excellent resource for healthcare students that will support their learning throughout their training and beyond. It covers fundamental concepts of how the major classes of medications exert their therapeutic effect, but also how side effects and adverse reactions can occur. Chapters on legal aspects of medication administration and drug calculations enhance this usefulness of this book – all of which are supported by example questions, calculations and clinical ‘tips’. This book has been fully updated to reflect the 2018 NMC standards and as such provides a one-stop shop for any students studying safe administration of medications."Dr Andy Powell, Physiology Lead for Nursing Birmingham City University"The outlay of the chapters is easily navigated and the level of the knowledge that the book starts at is at a basic level enough for any student nurse from year 1-3 to start with and builds in complexity. They are in lovely bite-size chunks that are easy to read and easily understood. The 10 MCQ’s at the end of a chapter are a very useful method of chapter consolidation and the case studies further reinforce learning."Georgina Cox, Senior Lecturer in Adult Health Middlesex UniversityDeborah Robertson is a lecturer in nursing at the University of Salford. She teaches on the pre-registration nursing curriculum as well as being involved in post qualifying and post graduate education. She is also author of Essentials of Medicines Management for Mental Health Nurses.Paul Barber was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Chester. He is co-author of Further Essentials of Pharmacology for Nurses (2012) and contributor and editor of Medicines Management for Nurses: Case Book (2013), all Open University Press. He is now retired.

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Named one of the best books of 2021 by NPR, The Washington Post, and Financial Times“No one states problems more correctly, more astutely, more amusingly and more uncomfortably than Francine Prose . . . The gift of her work to a reader is to create for us what she creates for her protagonist: the subtle unfolding, the moment-by-moment process of discovery as we read and change, from not knowing and even not wanting to know or care, to seeing what we had not seen and finding our way to the light of the ending.”—Amy Bloom, New York Times Book Review"Depending on the light, it’s either a very funny serious story or a very serious funny story. But no matter how you turn it, The Vixen offers an illuminating reflection on the slippery nature of truth in America, then and now."—Washington PostCritically acclaimed, bestselling author Francine Prose returns with a dazzling new novel set in the glamorous world of 1950s New York publishing, the story of a young man tasked with editing a steamy bodice-ripper based on the recent trial and execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg—an assignment that will reveal the true cost of entering that seductive, dangerous new world. It’s 1953, and Simon Putnam, a recent Harvard graduate newly hired by a distinguished New York publishing firm, has entered a glittering world of three-martini lunches, exclusive literary parties, and old-money aristocrats in exquisitely tailored suits, a far cry from his loving, middle-class Jewish family in Coney Island.But Simon’s first assignment—editing The Vixen, the Patriot and the Fanatic, a lurid bodice-ripper improbably based on the recent trial and execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, a potboiler intended to shore up the firm’s failing finances—makes him question the cost of admission. Because Simon has a secret that, at the height of the Red Scare and the McCarthy hearings, he cannot reveal: his beloved mother was a childhood friend of Ethel Rosenberg’s. His parents mourn Ethel’s death.Simon’s dilemma grows thornier when he meets The Vixen’s author, the startlingly beautiful, reckless, seductive Anya Partridge, ensconced in her opium-scented boudoir in a luxury Hudson River mental asylum. As mysteries deepen, as the confluence of sex, money, politics and power spirals out of Simon’s control, he must face what he’s lost by exchanging the loving safety of his middle-class Jewish parents’ Coney Island apartment for the witty, whiskey-soaked orbit of his charismatic boss, the legendary Warren Landry. Gradually Simon realizes that the people around him are not what they seem, that everyone is keeping secrets, that ordinary events may conceal a diabolical plot—and that these crises may steer him toward a brighter future. At once domestic and political, contemporary and historic, funny and heartbreaking, enlivened by surprising plot turns and passages from Anya’s hilariously bad novel, The Vixen illuminates a period of history with eerily striking similarities to the current moment. Meanwhile it asks timeless questions: How do we balance ambition and conscience? What do social mobility and cultural assimilation require us to sacrifice? How do we develop an authentic self, discover a vocation, and learn to live with the mysteries of love, family, art, life and loss?

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The lives of five strangers collide on a London train carriage, as they become involved in an incident that will change them all forever. A shocking, intensely emotive and wildly original new thriller from Will Carver… ‘Impossibly original, stylish, sinister and heartfelt. The Daves Next Door is so wildly fresh and unmatched, and once again proves that Will Carver has talent and creativity to burn’ Chris Whitaker ‘Once again, Will bends and twists the genre with a novel that is astonishing, profound and hard-hitting’ David Jackson ‘So clever, so dark, so utterly original. Where does Will Carver get his ideas?’ Victoria Selman ‘Stirring. Ambitious. Irreverent. Compassionate. Completely devoid of giveable f*@ks’ Dominic Nolan ___________________________________________________________ A disillusioned nurse suddenly learns how to care. An injured young sportsman wakes up find that he can see only in black and white. A desperate old widower takes too many pills and believes that two angels have arrived to usher him through purgatory. Two agoraphobic men called Dave share the symptoms of a brain tumour, and frequently waken their neighbour with their ongoing rows. Separate lives, running in parallel, destined to collide and then explode. Like the suicide bomber, riding the Circle Line, day after day, waiting for the right time to detonate, waiting for answers to his questions: Am I God? Am I dead? Will I blow up this train? Shocking, intensely emotive and wildly original, Will Carver’s The Daves Next Door is an explosive existential thriller and a piercing examination of what it means to be human … or not. ___________________________________________________________ ‘Will Carver is a thought-provoking and masterful writer of gut-punching fiction ... a powerhouse of a novel. Think Ira Levin at his best’ Michael Wood ‘Will has this uncanny knack of delving into your soul and revealing all the things you really think but are too scared to voice. Absolute GENIUS’ Lisa Hall ‘Another ingenious genre-bender … provocative, twisted and mind-bendingly original’ Sarah Sultoon ‘Sharp, wild and thrilling’ Danielle Louise ‘Completely unpredictable and definitely unputdownable’ Little Miss Book Lover ‘Risk-taking, provocative fiction at its absolute finest … unmissable’ Hair Past a Freckle ‘You don't just read a Will Carver, you experience it. It draws you in and not only entertains, but challenges you’ From Belgium with Booklove Praise for Will Carver ‘One of the most exciting authors in Britain. After this, he’ll have his own cult following’ Daily Express ‘Unlike anything you’ll read this year’ Heat ‘Move the hell over Brett Easton Ellis and Chuck Palahniuk … Will Carver is the new lit prince of 21st-century disenfranchised, pop darkness’ Stephen J. Golds ‘Incredibly dark and very funny’ Harriet Tyce ‘I fell in love with Carver's murderous Maeve. This is an Eleanor Oliphant for crime fans. Carver truly at his best’ Sarah Pinborough ‘A darkly delicious page-turner’ S J Watson ‘One of the most compelling and original voices in crime fiction’ Alex North ‘Weirdly page-turning’ Sunday Times ‘Laying bare our 21st-century weaknesses and dilemmas, Carver has created a highly original state-of-the-nation novel’ Literary Review ‘Arguably the most original crime novel published this year’ Independent ‘This mesmeric novel paints a thought-provoking if depressing picture of modern life’ Guardian ‘This book is most memorable for its unrepentant darkness…’ Telegraph ‘Utterly mesmerising…’ Crime Monthly ‘Will Carver’s most exciting, original, hilarious and freaky outing yet’ Helen FitzGerald ‘Vivid and engaging and completely unexpected’ Lia Middleton

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*** PRE-ORDER THE ONLY SUSPECT NOW, THE NEW CAUTIONARY TALE OF OBSESSION, LOVE, JEALOUSY AND DECEPTION FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF OUR HOUSE AND THE OTHER PASSENGER ***‘Absolutely brilliant… An exceptionally exciting, mysterious book – we both loved it’ Richard & Judy It all happens so quickly. One day you're living the dream, commuting to work by riverbus with your charismatic neighbour Kit in the seat beside you. The next, Kit hasn't turned up for the boat and his wife Melia has reported him missing. When you get off at your stop, the police are waiting. Another passenger saw you and Kit arguing on the boat home the night before and the police say that you had a reason to want him dead. You protest. You and Kit are friends - ask Melia, she'll vouch for you. And who exactly is this other passenger pointing the finger? What do they know about your lives? No, whatever danger followed you home last night, you are innocent, totally innocent.Aren't you?Praise for The Other Passenger: ‘Nobody writes so incisively about couples’ Daily Mail, Books of the Year 2020 ‘Filled with really excellent twists’ Stylist, Best books out in June ‘The queen of the urban thriller returns with her winning blend of whodunit and thoroughly unreliable narrators’ Red 'One of the twistiest plots you'll ever read' Cosmopolitan ‘Cleverly captures the envy zeitgeist’ Stylist ‘Stylish, suspenseful and absorbing’ Best ‘You won’t want to put down this roller coaster read!’ Closer ‘Gripping from start to finish’ Bella ‘Not only is Candlish a terrific storyteller, she has the gift of making you care about unlikable characters’ Guardian ‘I’ll be amazed if we don’t see The Other Passenger on screen before long’ London Evening Standard ‘The layers of plot astound’ Sunday Times Crime Club ‘Another clever tale from the author of Our House’ Prima ‘A chillingly addictive and glamorous thriller' Sunday Post ‘Brilliantly plotted’ Mail on Sunday ‘Louise Candlish helped launch the ‘property noir’ genre with Our House and Those People. In The Other Passenger, she brings murder to the London commute' Observer ‘This author is so good at twisty yet completely believable domestic thrillers’ Good Housekeeping ‘Superior thriller’ Crime Review ‘Suspenseful and utterly absorbing’ Sunday Mirror ‘The suspense is maddening, and the conclusion refreshing’ Press Association ‘An ingenious thriller’ Irish Independent ‘The pacing is first rate, as is the handling of the first-person narration’ Sunday Times ‘Just brilliant; gripping from the first page with an incredible first person narrative and a sense of place that pulls you through the pages fast enough to make your head spin. Louise Candlish just gets better and better, I love her’ Lisa Jewell ‘A gripping read with a brilliant first-person narrative. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. It’s so good!’ BA Paris ‘A must read!’ Lucy Foley 'Louise Candlish is the queen of the sucker-punch twist' Ruth Ware 'Dark and clever and terrific' Nicci French 'I couldn’t put it down!' Shari Lapena ‘A tightly constructed, corkscrewing plot' Sarah Vaughan 'Psychological suspense at its most elegant and sinister' AJ Finn 'Louise is the mistress of the ‘Oh my God, this could be me’ nightmare' Fiona Barton ‘A stunning masterwork of style and suspense’ Jeffery Deaver​ 'Equal parts riveting, twisty, and unsettling' Stephanie Wrobel 'An instant classic' Mark Edwards 'Outstanding' Catherine Isaac

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“Knights had no meaning in this game. It wasn't a game for knights.” – Raymond Chandler In a world of criminals, thugs, con artists, cheats, and swindlers, there must be a man to stand against the powers of darkness and corruption. A man not afraid to walk the mean streets—whether they be those of 1930s Los Angeles, an ancient fantasy realm, or some far-flung planet of a future star empire. He is a man who knows that a “good man” is not always a “nice guy.” But when the chips are down, he understands that a hero does the right thing, even if it means losing everything. He’s a hard man, sure. But an honorable one. He’s a truth-seeker, a score-evener. He is Sam Spade. He is Philip Marlowe. He is Rick Deckard. He is Harry Dresden. He is all these men and more. Now, join Larry Correia and Kacey Ezell as they present all-new stories of fantasy and science fiction with a hardboiled detective bent by today's top authors. Grab the bottle of Scotch from your bottom desk drawer. Light a cigarette. Tilt your fedora back on your head. But don’t forget to watch your back. This is No Game for Knights. Stories by: Laurell K. Hamilton, Larry Correia, Christopher Ruocchio, Michael Haspil, D.J. Butler, Kacey Ezell, Griffin Barber, Robert Buettner, Sharon Shinn, Craig Martelle, Chris Kennedy, S.A. Bailey, G. Scott Huggins, Nicole Givens Kurtz, and Rob Howell. About Noir Fatale, edited by Correia and Ezell: “Marvelous is a good word to describe all of the stories in the book. . . . Noir Fatale is a book that will charm both noir fans, and general science fiction and fantasy readers. Correia and Ezell have created a captivating mix of stories.”—The Galveston County Daily News “[A] wonderfully diverse collection of stories from a broad range of authors and it delivers in spades . . . It is a diverse and exciting slice of Noir and Fatale and a great read.”—SFRevu About Larry Correia and the Monster Hunter International series: “[E]verything I like in fantasy: intense action scenes, evil in horrifying array, good struggling against the darkness, and most of all people—gorgeously flawed human beings faced with horrible moral choices that force them to question and change and grow.”—Jim Butcher “[A] no-holds-barred all-out page turner that is part science fiction, part horror, and an absolute blast to read.”—Bookreporter.com “If you love monsters and action, you’ll love this book. If you love guns, you’ll love this book. If you love fantasy, and especially horror fantasy, you’ll love this book.”—Knotclan.com “A gun person who likes science fiction—or, heck, anyone who likes science fiction—will enjoy [these books] . . . The plotting is excellent, and Correia makes you care about the characters . . . I read both books without putting them down except for work . . . so whaddaya waitin’ for? Go and buy some . . . for yourself and for stocking stuffers.”—Massad Ayoob “This lighthearted, testosterone-soaked sequel to 2009's Monster Hunter International will delight fans of action horror with elaborate weaponry, hand-to-hand combat, disgusting monsters, and an endless stream of blood and body parts.”—Publishers Weekly on Monster Hunter Vendetta About the work of Kacey Ezell: “Gritty, dark and damp. Much like the war itself.” —Michael Z. Williamson, best-selling author of A Long Time Until Now “I loved Minds of Men.” —D.J. Butler, best-selling author of Witchy Eye “A lot of good scifi writers write war, but sometimes forget that it is fought by actual people, and even in the midst of war, you don't stop being people while you fight. If you want a good read that dares you to think about what it is like to go to war when you can't hide behind the masks you learn to wear, check it out.” —John T. Mainer

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For well over a century, Monster Hunter International has kept the world safe from supernatural threats small and large—and in some cases very, very large. Now, join us as MHI opens their archives for the first time. From experienced Hunters on their toughest cases, to total newbies' initial encounters with the supernatural, The Monster Hunter Files reveals the secret history of the world's most elite monster fighting force. Discover what happened when Agent Franks took on the Nazis in World War Two. Uncover how the Vatican’s Combat Exorcists deal with Old Ones in Mexico. And find out exactly what takes place in a turf war between trailer park elves and gnomes. From the most powerful of mystical beings to MHI’s humble janitor, see the world of professional monster hunting like never before. Featuring seventeen all new tales based on Larry Correia’s bestselling series, from New York Times best-selling authors Jim Butcher, John Ringo, Jessica Day George, Jonathan Maberry, Faith Hunter, and many more. Contributors: Larry Correia Jim Butcher Mike Kupari Jessica Day George John C. Wright Maurice Broaddus Brad R. Torgersen Faith Hunter Jody Lynn Nye Quincy J. Allen Alex Shvartsman Kim Mainord Steve Diamond John Ringo Bryan Thomas Schmidt & Julie C. Frost Sarah A. Hoyt Jonathan Maberry About Larry Correia and the Monster Hunter International series: “[E]verything I like in fantasy: intense action scenes, evil in horrifying array, good struggling against the darkness, and most of all people—gorgeously flawed human beings faced with horrible moral choices that force them to question and change and grow.”—Jim Butcher “[A] no-holds-barred all-out page turner that is part science fiction, part horror, and an absolute blast to read.”—Bookreporter.com “If you love monsters and action, you’ll love this book. If you love guns, you’ll love this book. If you love fantasy, and especially horror fantasy, you’ll love this book.”—Knotclan.com “A gun person who likes science fiction—or, heck, anyone who likes science fiction—will enjoy [these books] . . . The plotting is excellent, and Correia makes you care about the characters . . . I read both books without putting them down except for work . . . so whaddaya waitin’ for? Go and buy some . . . for yourself and for stocking stuffers.”—Massad Ayoob “This lighthearted, testosterone-soaked sequel to 2009's Monster Hunter International will delight fans of action horror with elaborate weaponry, hand-to-hand combat, disgusting monsters, and an endless stream of blood and body parts.”—Publishers Weekly on Monster Hunter Vendetta About Mission: Tomorrow, edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt: “This themed anthology . . . will appeal to a wide range of readers, who will appreciate the diversity of stories . . . a solid introduction to a classic genre.”—Kirkus “Editor Schmidt adds grandmasters to a mix of newer established names and balances the tragic with the humorous.”—Publishers Weekly About Shattered Shields, edited by Jennifer Brozek and Bryan Thomas Schmidt: “In this well-built anthology, seventeen original stories cut to the heart of military fantasy, diving directly into the most exciting moments of dramatic bravery, grand battles, and life-changing heroism. . . . Readers who prefer to cut straight to the action, but want more depth than pure hack-and-slash, will find these offerings appealing.”—Publishers Weekly “An inventive and thought-provoking set of tales that capture the bravery and terrors of battle. Carries the banner of military fantasy proudly.”—John Marco, author of The Bronze Knight Series About The Raygun Chronicles, edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt: “Fans of sf should enjoy this stylistically varied homage to a genre as old as the fiction . . . ”—Library Journal The Monster Hunter Memoirs series by Larry Correia and John Ringo: Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge Monster Hunter Memoirs: Sinners The Monster Hunter series by Larry Correia: Monster Hunter International Monster Hunter Vendetta Monster Hunter Alpha Monster Hunter Legion Monster Hunter Nemesis

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Witty, authoritative, comprehensive and fun, Wake Up and Smell the Profit is the ultimate guide to making more money in your coffee business.In this book you'll find the sharpest insights and the best ideas from two of the UK's top Coffee Business Gurus. Together 'The Coffee Boys' have 40 years' experience in how to make money in the coffee selling business. Whether you operate a single site espresso bar, a Michelin starred restaurant or chain of hotels, there is something in this book for everyone.With 52 motivating tips and suggestions (plus an extra bonus idea for good measure), all you need to do is apply one initiative a week for a year and you could have a much more profitable and easier to manage business within twelve months.With this book you'll be able to:* Make more money and work less* Have happier customers who spend more money* Win more customers without spending a fortune* Enjoy running your business more* Create customers who rave about your business and consequently generate more customers through word of mouthWhat are you waiting for?Contents: Introduction; 1. It's all about the money - the good news; 2. It's all about the money - the bad news; 3. It's all about the money - a little story; 4. Focus on coffee for profit; 5. Great coffee (profits) come from great training; 6. Great coffee sales come from one thing - great taste; 7. It's all about the food; 8. There are three ways and only three ways to grow your business; 9. Be brave about your prices; 10. Know your figures and have a plan - a plan that works for you!; 11. Get accountable and know your figures; 12. Know your food cost for every single item; 13. Know your labour/wage cost and stay accountable; 14. It's your fault - get this and then get it again; 15. A coffee shop is all about people - and people need clear rules; 16. Make sure your employees understand the numbers; 17. Every pound is not equal. A pound earned is worth a lot less than a pound saved; 18. View your coffee business as if you were a customer; 19. View the business every day as if you were an employee; 20. Break the whole selling process down and make it better; 21. Keep your toilets spotless; 22. Treat lunch like a restaurant; 23. Create food stories about your star products and sell, sell, sell; 24. Get crafty with your menu and signage; 25. Watch your language; 26. Say hello; 27. Don't point and watch your body language; 28. Nod your head when asking a customer if they would like something; 29. Thank them; 30. The Granny Rule; 31 Keep the kids occupied; 32. Sell more coffee with cake and more cake with coffee Up selling and cross selling; 33. Sell more cold drinks; 34. Get your customer flow right; 35. Make it easy for the customer to buy; 36. Work out your lifetime customer value; 37. Consider the sizes - carefully; 38. Make it accessible and open. Make it all look great; 39 Use your sign wisely. Spend money and make yourshop look obvious; 40. Get creative with signage; 41. Avoid A"sour faced hagsA"; 42. Make the customers feel you care; 43. Use the list -cheapest marketing you'll ever do; 44. Create a catering side to your business; 45. Post the utility bills; 46. Incentives for saving money and making money; 47. Get creative with your marketing and steal ideas from other industries; 48. Create a A"bibleA"; 49. Beware staff attitudes towards business ownership; 50. Make a big deal of the big days; 51. Think wisely before you open your second shop; 52. Give a bit extra; 53. Work A"onA" the business not A"inA"it; And finally; Thanks; More from The Coffee Boys.

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Even the littlest lies can have the biggest consequences… On the night of her mother’s wake, only one thing brings Ruby comfort; the knowledge that her mother’s killer is safely behind bars. But guilt is eating away at fragile younger sister Sophie, who brought their mother’s killer into their lives.This is why Ruby is glad that Sophie is with her supportive boyfriend Ewan, despite Ruby’s doubts about him. He’s been Sophie’s rock, not only taking care of her, but her little kids, too. So what if he doesn’t like talking about his past?But when news of another woman’s murder spreads through their town like wildfire, Ruby is shocked to find herself with reason to suspect Ewan of the crime. And with one good lie driving a wedge between the sisters, it’s hard for Ruby to get Sophie to see what she sees. Ewan is keeping dangerous secrets. But he’s not the only person close to home who has something shocking to hide… A gripping and unputdownable thriller that will keep you reading into the early hours of the morning.Read what everyone is saying about One Good Lie:‘Oh my GOODNESS!! I absolutely loved this… It got to the point where I was suspecting every single character in the book… The ending was twisty, thrilling, scary and, best of all, satisfying. Truly a wonderful psychological thriller that kept me captivated throughout!’ Shalini Boland, author of The Secret Mother, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐‘I can honestly say that this is psychological fiction at its best. Cleverly written and packed full of chilling suspense… With lots of delicious twists and clashes of personality that could set the pages on fire, One Good Lie ticks all the boxes for me. A hugely satisfying read and one I would highly recommend.’ Sheryl Browne, author of My Husband’s Girlfriend, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐‘A clever, creepy and compulsive psychological thriller’ Diane Jeffrey, author of The Silent Friend, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐‘Jane Isaac never lets us down; this is fast-paced storytelling at its best. One Good Lie is a chilling, unputdownable read, packed with menace and suspense… Highly recommended!’ Linda Huber, author of Baby Dear, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐‘One Good Lie had me on the edge of my seat! Every time I thought I had the plot figured out the carpet was pulled from under my feet! Twisty and full of surprises. Highly recommended! 5/5.’ NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐‘An exciting psychological thriller that will appeal to fans of Ruth Ware, Greer Hendricks, and Sarah Pekkanen… Excellently-written, well-plotted… I sped through this book and finished it in a day… If you're a fan of the thriller genre, you won't regret checking out this book’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐‘5 Stars! Highly recommend. It was hard to put this book down. It was a fast-paced story full of suspense. I was hooked from the first chapter… I absolutely loved this story of two sisters.’ NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐‘I was invested straight away; it was fast-paced and I couldn't put it down.’ NetGalley Reviewer,⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐‘Book drought over! Hooked from page one, didn't stop reading until silly o'clock, had a few hours’ sleep, walked the dog then dived back in to finish.’ Goodreads Reviewer ‘Absolutely kept me on the edge of my seat. I couldn’t wait to find out what happened. The ending didn’t disappoint. I highly recommend this one.’ NetGalley Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐‘This is a brilliant read… The characters are likeable, even the villainous ones, and it just shows you can never really trust anyone who you think you know.’ Goodreads Reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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'It is immediately clear why her books stand out from the crowd. Chilling and compelling plots, brilliant characterisation . . . Addictive from start to finish' RACHEL ABBOTTA detective hiding dark secrets, Kim Stone will stop at nothing to protect the innocent. In the darkness of a cold December morning, Detective Kim Stone steps through the doors of Halesowen Police Station. She's about to meet her team for the first time. The victim of her next case is about to meet his killer... When the body of a young man is found beheaded and staked to the ground in a secluded woodland area of the Clent Hills, Kim and her new squad rush to the crime scene. Searching the victim's home, Kim finds a little girl's bedroom and a hidden laptop, but where is the child? And why does the man's own sister seem relieved that he's dead? As Kim begins to unearth the shocking truth about the victim, a disturbing resemblance is spotted with the recent murder of a man found beneath the staircase of Redland Hall with multiple stab wounds. Both these men had dark secrets and Kim discovers a link to a women's shelter. As a child of the care system herself, Kim knows all too well what it means to be vulnerable. Could the shelter be the key to cracking this case? With the killer about to strike again, Kim is in deep water with a rookie squad. Inexperienced Stacey is showing signs of brilliance but struggling to hold her nerve and, while D.S. Bryant is reliable and calm, D.S. Dawson is a liability. With his home life in pieces, his volatile behaviour is already fracturing her fragile new team. Can Kim bring Dawson in line and pull her crew together in time to catch the killer before another life is taken? This time, one of her own could be in terrible danger . . .Discover where it all began for Kim and her team. An absolutely heart-stopping mystery thriller that will keep you glued to the pages, reading late into the night. Perfect for new readers to the million-copy bestselling series, and fans of Val McDemid, Mark Billingham and Karin Slaughter.Read what everyone is saying about First Blood and the Detective Kim Stone series: 'A great introduction to the best crime series on the shelves right now . . . I loved this book from cover to cover . . . A brilliant read which will have people turning the pages at a feverish rate' Nigel Adams Bookworm, five stars'I cannot begin to tell you how god damn good it is. First Blood is so bloody brilliant and so gripping . . . Totally blown my mind...Without a doubt one of my best reads this year leaving me with a book hangover' Baker's Not So Secret Blog, five stars'Superb!!! I love Kim - always have, always will!! . . . Breath-taking, heart-pounding, exciting and thrilling!!! I completely and utterly recommend reading not just this book, but the whole series!! Fab, fab, fab, fab, fab' Stardust Book Reviews, five stars'There is a smile on my face and goosebumps on my arms. Rarely have I been so satisfied with a novel . . . Breath-taking . . . A masterpiece, the star at the top of your Christmas tree . . . Get going with the series if you haven't already' Chocolate 'n' Waffles, five stars'Oh my life. This is the book that all Kim Stone fans have been waiting for and they didn't even know it . . . A dark and deadly case, high on thrills, intrigue, mystery and tension, perfectly pitched on pace and featuring the dry humour and banter we know and love . . . Top stuff - Loved it' Jen Med's Book Reviews, five stars

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'A jaw-dropping investigation' – THE BOOKSELLER 'Succeeds brilliantly in dismantling casual assumptions about the drudgery of cleaning' – THE GUARDIAN 'A great book, well researched, funny and poignant. I loved it.' – KIT DE WAAL Dishing the Dirt tells the jaw-dropping stories of London’s house cleaners for the very first time. We hear from immigrants who clean suburban family homes to butlers who manage the homes of the super wealthy, and from joyful cleaners and entrepreneurs to escaped victims of human trafficking. Then there are women who dust nude and male cleaners who have to fight off wandering hands. And the crime scene cleaners. With the revelation of Maid by Stephanie Land and the cleaning tips of Mrs Hinch's Hinch Yourself Happy, Dishing the Dirt will turn all of your assumptions about cleaners upside down. About the Author Nick Duerden is a writer and journalist whose work has appeared in The Guardian, the Sunday Times, the Daily Telegraph, the i paper, and GQ. His books include Exit Stage Left, Get Well Soon: Adventures in Alternative Healthcare, A Life Less Lonely, and The Smallest Things. He lives in London with his wife and two daughters. Extract Prologue. Clocking On It was as if she were invisible, like she wasn’t even there. Or, perhaps more accurately, like she didn’t really count, not in any tangible sense, this mostly silent domestic cleaner with the broken English whose back was perpetually stooped over the vacuum cleaner, the dustpan and brush, the damp mop; someone who likely knew her way around the utility room better than the homeowners themselves. Today, the wife was away on business, as she frequently was, but the husband wasn’t here alone. The marital bed was not empty. ‘A different woman,’ she says. ‘Younger.’ And he didn’t hide this from you, wasn’t embarrassed, ashamed of parading his affair so brazenly under your nose? She shakes her head, and smiles tightly. ‘No,’ she says. ‘No.’ She was seemingly in his confidence, then, but not through any prior agreement, a finger to the side of the nose, and nor was he paying her for her silence, her implicit complicity. ‘I don’t think he even considered me,’ she says. ‘Or my reaction.’ She was merely part of the furniture, a once-weekly presence in the house who mutely got on with her work as she always did, over three floors, three bedrooms and two bathrooms: the vacuuming, the polishing, the dusting... ... In the 1980s, both husbands and wives were now required to go out to work, to pursue careers. This left little time for domestic upkeep... There was no shortage of willing char ladies. In the 21st Century, we are willing to delegate more, specifically to pay others to do the work we’d rather not do ourselves, even if we cannot really afford it. A wave of cheap immigrant labour entered the UK between 2000 and 2020, especially from the new EU member states in eastern Europe. Better to pay a Magda from Poland, say, £30 a week to run the Hoover around the house for a few hours than to save the money for a rainy day. ... Those that clean for Londoners are a silent army. They bring order to our lives, they put out the bins, and relieve us of at least some of the myriad pressures of modern life. They are privy to our indiscretions, our peculiarities, our curious habits. They put up with us, which isn’t always easy because some of us are complicated souls. But who are the members of these well-drilled regiments? What are their stories? Do they know that we talk about them when we are among ourselves—at dinner parties, at coffee mornings, at the school gates—and how much do we care that they, too, talk about us? If we are the prism through which they view their host nation, what conclusions do they draw? Do we make for decent employers, fair and kind, perhaps even generous? And if we are sometimes cruel, and talk down at them, why do we do that? Do we treat them fairly—or are they being taken advantage of? If we asked them, what would they say? Buy the book to continue reading

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Global warming, pollution, food and water shortage, cyberspace insecurity, over-population, land erosion, and an overburdened health care system are major issues facing the human race and our planet. These challenges have presented a mandate to develop “natural” or “green” technologies using nature and the living system as a guide to rationally design processes, devices, and systems. This approach has given rise to a new paradigm, one in which innovation goes hand-in-hand with less waste, less pollution, and less invasiveness to life on earth. Bioinspiration has also led to the development of technologies that mimic the hierarchical complexity of biological systems, leading to novel highly efficient, more reliable multifunctional materials, devices, and systems that can perform multiple tasks at one time. This multi-volume handbook focuses on the application of biomimetics and bioinspiration in medicine and engineering to produce miniaturized multi-functional materials, devices, and systems to perform complex tasks. Our understanding of complex biological systems at different length scales has increased dramatically as our ability to observe nature has expanded from macro to molecular scale, leading to the rational biologically-driven design to find solution to technological problems in medicine and engineering.The following three-volume set covers the fields of bioinspired materials, electromechanical systems developed from concepts inspired by nature, and tissue models respectively.The first volume focuses on the rational design of nano- and micro-structured hierarchical materials inspired by the relevant characteristics in living systems, such as the self-cleaning ability of lotus leaves and cicadas' wings; the superior walking ability of water striders; the anti-fogging function of mosquitoes' eyes; the water-collecting ability of Namib Desert Beetles and spider silk; the high adhesivity of geckos' feet and rose petals; the high adhesivity of mussels in wet aquatic environments; the anisotropic wetting of butterflies' wings; the anti-reflection capabilities of cicadas' wings; the self-cleaning functionality of fish scales; shape anisotropy of intracellular particles; the dielectric properties of muscles; the light spectral characteristics of plant leaves; the regeneration and self-healing ability of earthworms; the self-repairing ability of lotus leaves; the broadband reflectivity of moths' eyes; the multivalent binding, self-assembly and responsiveness of cellular systems; the biomineral formation in bacteria, plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates; the multi-layer structure of skin; the organization of tissue fibers; DNA structures with metal-mediated artificial base pairs; and the anisotropic microstructure of jellyfish mesogloea. In this volume, sensor and microfluidic technologies combined with surface patterning are explored for the diagnosis and monitoring of diseases. The high throughput combinatorial testing of biomaterials in regenerative medicine is also covered.The second volume presents nature-oriented studies and developments in the field of electromechanical devices and systems. These include actuators and robots based on the movement of muscles, algal antenna and photoreception; the non-imaging light sensing system of sea stars; the optical system of insect ocellus; smart nanochannels and pumps in cell membranes; neuromuscular and sensory devices that mimic the architecture of peripheral nervous system; olfaction-based odor sensing; cilia-mimetic microfluidic systems; the infrared sensory system of pyrophilous insects; ecologically inspired multizone temperature control systems; cochlea and surface acoustic wave resonators; crickets' cercal system and flow sensing abilities; locusts' wings and flapping micro air vehicles; the visual motion sensing of flying insects; hearing aid devices based on the human cochlea; the geometric perception of tortoises and pigeons; the organic matter sensing capability of cats and dogs; and the silent flight of rats. The third volume features engineered models of biological tissues. These include engineered matrices to mimic cancer stem cell niches; in vitro models for bone regeneration; models of muscle tissue that enable the study of cardiac infarction and myopathy; 3D models for the differentiation of embryonic stem cells; bioreactors for in vitro cultivation of mammalian cells; human lung, liver and heart tissue models; topographically-defined cell culture models; ECM mimetic tissue printing; biomimetic constructs for regeneration of soft tissues; and engineered constructs for the regeneration of musculoskeletal and corneal tissue.This three-volume set is a must-have for anyone keen to understand the complexity of biological systems and how that complexity can be mimicked to engineer novel materials, devices and systems to solve pressing technological challenges of the twenty-first century.Key Features:The only handbook that covers all aspects of biomimetics and bioinspiration, including materials, mechanics, signaling and informaticsContains 248 colored figures

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The author of the best-selling Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips and Crazy Sexy Cancer Survivor takes on the crazy sexy subject of what and how we eat, drink, and think. Crazysexydiet.com On the heels of Kris Carr’s best-selling cancer survival guidebooks and her acclaimed TLC documentary comes her new journey into a realm vital to anyone’s health. Infused with her signature sass, wit and advice-from-the-trenches style, Crazy Sexy Diet is a beautifully illustrated resource that puts you on the fast track to vibrant health, happiness and a great ass! Along with help from her posse of experts, Carr lays out the fundamentals of her Crazy Sexy Diet: a low-glycemic, vegetarian program that emphasizes balancing the pH of the body with lush whole and raw foods, nourishing organic green drinks, and scrumptious smoothies. Plus, she shares the steps of her own twenty-one-day cleanse, and simple but delectable sample recipes. In ten chapters with titles such as, “pHabulous,” “Coffee, Cupcakes and Cocktails,” “Make Juice Not War,” and “God-Pod Glow,” Carr empowers readers to move from a state of constant bodily damage control to one of renewal and repair. In addition to debunking common diet myths and sharing vital tips on detoxifying our bodies and psyches—advice that draws both on her personal experience as a cancer survivor and that of experts—she provides helpful hints on natural personal care, how to stretch a dollar, navigate the grocery store, eating well on the run, and working through the inevitable pangs and cravings for your old not-so-healthy life. Crazy Sexy Diet is a must for anyone who seeks to be a confident and sexy wellness warrior. Including contributions by: Dean Ornish, M.D. – author and founder and president of the Preventive Medicine Research InstituteNeal Barnard, M.D. – author, founder of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), author of Food for LifeKathy Freston – author of Quantum Wellness and health advocateAlejandro Junger, M.D. – author of Clean: The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body's Natural Ability to Heal Itself, and director of integrative medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital, NYCRory Freedman – coauthor of Skinny Bitch and health advocateMark Hyman, M.D. – author of The UltraMind Solution and pioneer in functional medicineEmily Deschanel – star of the Fox series Bones and health advocateSharon Gannon – author of Yoga and Vegetarianism, and cofounder of Jivamukti YogaWayne Pacelle – president & CEO, The Humane Society of the United StatesStacy Malkan – author and cofounder of the Campaign for Safe CosmeticsDr. Lilli Link – specialist in raw foods and integrative nutrition Frank Lipman – author of Revive: Stop feeling Spent and Start Living Again and founder of the Eleven Eleven Wellness Center Crazy Sexy tips for optimal healthFlood your body with alkaline nutrients * Flush stored waste products and chemicals * Reduce or eliminate animal products * *Dump sugar, you’re sweet enough * Go gluten-free *Shake your booty * Wrangle the monkeys in your mind and turn down the stress * Install healthy boundaries so you don’t burn out * Kill your television and Detox your In Box (Facebook too!) * Take fun seriously * Build a wellness posse support system *Be a "prevention is hot" cheerleader! Kris Carr’s television appearances have included: - CBS Evening News with Katie Couric- The Early Show- The Today Show- Montel- Access Hollywood- The Mike & Juliet Show- Good Morning America- The Oprah Winfrey Show Do you have any idea what it’s like to feel blissfully whole and comfortable in your skin? You will. The Crazy Sexy Diet and lifestyle will give you the tools to navigate through life with clarity, balance, and flow. Health is more than just the absence of disease; it is the presence of vitality. Health is freedom from obstruction; it’s living in a harmonious way that creates both inner and outer peace. . . . The Crazy Sexy Diet is loaded with wisdom, tips and advice from personal experien ce. If I feel great living and eating this way then you can feel fantastic! What I present to you is what works for me and countless other wellness warriors. This information just might save your life, or at the very least reduce the pesky cellulite. It’s an awakening without the disease, knowledge without the price. Changing your mind is the biggest obstacle you face. But once you do, you’ll realize that you are the one you’ve been waiting for. . . . From the Introduction

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When three people suffer strokes after seeing dazzling lights over Edinburgh, then awake completely recovered, they’re convinced their ordeal is connected to the alien creature discovered on a nearby beach … an adrenaline-soaked, deeply humane, life-affirming first-contact novel from one of Scotland’s most revered authors… **Selected for BBC 2 Between the Covers 2023** ‘All the drive, curiosity and wonder of his crime and mystery novels … science fiction gains a new author’ Derek B Miller ‘If you read one life-affirming book this year, make sure it’s this one’ Nina Pottell, Prima ‘The main characters, their lives and their struggles, are portrayed very vividly. I was straight into this, just like a thriller’ Ivo Graham on Between the Covers –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Connecting will change everything… Lennox is a troubled teenager with no family. Ava is eight months pregnant and fleeing her abusive husband. Heather is a grieving mother and cancer sufferer. They don’t know each other, but when a meteor streaks over Edinburgh, all three suffer instant, catastrophic strokes... ...only to wake up the following day in hospital, miraculously recovered. When news reaches them of an octopus-like creature washed up on the shore near where the meteor came to earth, Lennox senses that some extra-terrestrial force is at play. With the help of Ava, Heather and a journalist, Ewan, he rescues the creature they call 'Sandy' and goes on the run. But they aren’t the only ones with an interest in the alien … close behind are Ava’s husband, the police and a government unit who wants to capture the creature, at all costs. And Sandy’s arrival may have implications beyond anything anyone could imagine… –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ‘This had all the makings of a film … such relatable characters. Writing a story about a mixed-race boy in the care system and two women so brilliantly is so impressive’ Sunetra Sarker on Between the Covers ‘So readable and accessible … I was really rooting for the characters’ Alan Davies on Between the Covers ‘A gateway book to SciFi … I loved it’ Sara Cox on Between the Covers ‘A sci-fi novel that is as moving as it is magical and mysterious. Doug Johnstone has hit it out of the park again’ Mark Billingham ‘A delicious, demanding departure from Doug Johnstone’ Val McDermid ‘Science fiction may be a departure for Johnstone, but he’s approached it like the crime thrillers that made his name, prioritising pace, tension and high stakes … a plea for empathy, compassion and perspective, and a celebration of our capacity to connect with one another, shot through with vivid characters and a sense of wonder’ Herald Scotland ‘An entertaining, fast-paced story of first contact … well told, with relatable characters and important themes making for an emotionally engaging read’ Guardian ‘A gloriously hopeful story and a perfect road trip movie just waiting to be made … I can’t recommend this highly enough’ James Oswald ‘An adrenaline-filled ride of a novel, laced with empathy and understanding for our instinctual need to connect' Rachelle Atalla 'Johnstone's mesmeric story artfully puts Scotland centre stage in a sci-fi drama that is as much about the smallness of mankind and the importance of kinship … Pay attention, Steven Spielberg! This could be your next film’ Marnie Riches ‘A clever and unusual read … I was on a journey with these characters, and completely transfixed’ Susi Holliday ‘Doug Johnstone held me spellbound with this mesmerising tale of wonder and hope’ Marion Todd ‘A heart-warming, fast-paced, often tense look at friendships that surpass all boundaries, and an exploration of the very basic need for connection and a place to belong … divine’ Jen Med’s Book Reviews What readers are saying ***** ‘I wish I could adequately convey how much I loved this book’ ‘A beautiful story … it brought me to tears’ ‘A masterpiece … compassionate, full of love and hope’ ‘An out-of-this-world, mesmerising first-contact story about the striking importance and impact of true connection’ ‘Riveting’ ‘High stakes, high adrenaline and somehow so gentle and moving. This is one of the most beautiful, extraordinary books I’ve ever read’ ‘I don’t think I’ll ever forget these characters’

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Ever wondered what it’s like to be hit by lightning or to lose your sense of smell? Heard about the woman saved by bee stings — or the window cleaner who survived a 400ft fall? Originally written for the Wellcome charity, 16 stories by leading science writers explore the mysteries of the human body. Learn about everything from diets to allergies, hair colour to rare blood, and from allergies to remote surgery. Contents What’s it like to be struck by lightning? - Charlotte Huff Why do we colour hair? - Rebecca Guenard The man with the golden blood - Penny Bailey Why dieters can’t rely on calories - Cynthia Graber 3D printers can now make body parts - Ian Birrell How to fall from a skyscraper and live to tell the tale - Neil Steinberg The quest to explain miscarriages - Holly Cave Can the power of thought outwit ageing? - Jo Marchant Seeking a ‘cure’ for male baldness - Rhodri Marsden How bee stings saved a woman’s life - Christie Wilcox The global trend for ‘kangaroo’ babies - Lena Corner What it means to lose your sense of smell - Emma Young The doctor aiming to end eye pain - Bryn Nelson Could allergies be a defence against noxious chemicals? - Carl Zimmer Why pharma may be going slow on the male pill - Andy Extance How virtual reality headsets aid remote surgery - Jo Marchant Shhh! What exactly is the menopause? - Rose George Extract What it's like to be struck by lightning? Sometimes they’ll keep the clothing, the strips of shirt or trousers that weren’t cut away and discarded by the doctors and nurses. They’ll tell and retell their story at family gatherings and online, sharing pictures and news reports of survivals like their own or far bigger tragedies. The video of a tourist hit on a Brazilian beach or the Texan struck dead while out running. The 65 people killed during four stormy days in Bangladesh. Only by piecing together the bystander reports, the singed clothing and the burnt skin can survivors start to construct their own picture of the possible trajectory of the electrical current, one that can approach 200 million volts and travel at one-third of the speed of light. In this way, Jaime Santana’s family have stitched together some of what happened that Saturday afternoon in April 2016, through his injuries, burnt clothing and, most of all, his shredded broad-brimmed straw hat. “It looks like somebody threw a cannonball through it,” says Sydney Vail, a trauma surgeon in Phoenix, Arizona, who helped care for Jaime after he arrived by ambulance, his heart having been shocked several times along the way as paramedics struggled to stabilise its rhythm. Jaime had been horse-riding with his brother-in-law and two others in the mountains behind his brother-in-law’s home outside Phoenix, a frequent weekend pastime. Dark clouds had formed, heading in their direction, so the group had started back. They had nearly reached the house when it happened, says Alejandro Torres, Jaime’s brother-in-law. He paces out the area involved, the landscape dotted with small creosote bushes just behind his acre of property. In the distance, the desert mountains rise, rippled chocolate-brown peaks against the horizon. The riders had witnessed quite a bit of lightning as they neared Alejandro’s house, enough that they had commented on the dramatic zigzags across the sky. But scarcely a drop of rain had fallen as they approached the horse corrals, just several hundred feet from the back of the property. Alejandro doesn’t think he was knocked out for long. When he regained consciousness, he was lying face down on the ground, sore all over. His horse was gone. The two other riders appeared shaken but unharmed. Alejandro went looking for Jaime, who he found on the other side of his fallen horse. Alejandro brushed against the horse’s legs as he walked passed. They felt hard, like metal, he says, punctuating his English with some Spanish. He reached Jaime: “I see smoke coming up – that’s when I got scared.” Flames were coming off of Jaime’s chest. Buy the book to read on...

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Describes in detail how Mirroring Hands is conducted, and explores the framework of knowledge and understanding that surrounds and supports its therapeutic process. Richard Hill and Ernest L. Rossi's The Practitioner's Guide to Mirroring Hands: A Client-Responsive Therapy that Facilitates Natural Problem-Solving and Mind-Body Healing describes in detail how Mirroring Hands is conducted, and explores the framework of knowledge and understanding that surrounds and supports its therapeutic process. Foreword by Jeffrey K. Zeig, Ph.D. Mirroring Hands is a practical therapeutic technique that can be utilized by all practitioners for the benefit of their clients. With a tranquil state of focused attention as the starting point, the practitioner invites the client to explore an issue by projecting it into their hands; with one hand representing the difficulty or disturbance, the other becomes the natural container for the opposite reflections - resolution, ease and comfort. This enables the client to engage with their deeper therapeutic self - thereby facilitating the shift into a therapeutic consciousness - and connect to the natural flow, cycles and self-organizing emergence that shift the client toward beneficial change. In this instructive and illuminating manual, Hill and Rossi show you how Mirroring Hands enables clients to unlock their natural problem-solving and mind-body healing capacities to arrive at a resolution in a way that many other therapies might not. The authors offer expert guidance as to its client-responsive applications and differentiate seven variations of the technique in order to give the practitioner confidence and comfort in their ability to work within and around the possibilities presented while in session. Furthermore, Hill and Rossi punctuate their detailed description of how Mirroring Hands is conducted with a diverse range of illustrative casebook examples and stage-by-stage snapshots of the therapy in action: providing scripted language prompts and illustrative images of a client's hand movement that demonstrate the processes behind the technique as it takes the client from disruption into the therapeutic; and from there to integration, resolution, and a state of well-being. The Practitioner's Guide to Mirroring Hands begins by tracing the emergence of the Mirroring Hands approach from its origins in Rossi's studies and experiences with Milton H. Erickson and by presenting a transcription of an insightful discussion between Rossi and Hill as they challenge some of the established ways in which we approach psychotherapy, health, and well-being. Building upon this exchange of ideas, the authors define and demystify the nature of complex, non-linear systems and skillfully unpack the three key elements of induction to therapeutic consciousness - focused attention, curiosity, and nascent confidence - in a section dedicated to preparing the client for therapy. Hill and Rossi also supply preparatory guidance for the therapist through explanation of therapeutic dialogue's non-directive language principles, and through exploration of the four-stage cycle - information, incubation, breakthrough and illumination, and verification - that facilitates the client's capacity to access their natural problem-solving and mind-body healing. The authors also take care to advocate Mirroring Hands as not only a therapeutic technique, but also an approach to practice for all practitioners engaged in solution-focused therapy. Through its enquiry into the vital elements of client-cue observation, symptom-scaling, and rapport-building inherent in the therapist-client relationship, The Practitioner's Guide to Mirroring Hands shares a great store of wisdom and insight that will help the practitioner become more attuned to their clients' inner worlds and communication patterns. Hill and Rossi draw on a wealth of up-to-date neuroscientific research and academic theory to help bridge the gap between therapy's intended outcomes and its measured neurological effects, and, towards the book's close, also open the door to the study of quantum field theory to inspire the reader's curiosity in this fascinating topic. An ideal progression for those engaged in mindfulness and meditation, The Practitioner's Guide to Mirroring Hands is the first book on the subject specially written for all mental health practitioners and is suitable for students of counseling, psychotherapy, psychology, and hypnotherapy, as well as anyone in professional practice.

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Three great books, one great price! Ali Katz is an Award Winner in the "Parenting & Family" category of the Best Book Awards, and a Bronze Medal Winner of the Living Now Book Awards This box set includes Ali Katz's Hot Mess to Mindful Mom series: Hot Mess to Mindful Mom, Get the Most Out of Motherhood, and One Minute to Zen--HOT MESS TO MINDFUL MOM: 40 Ways to Find Balance and Joy in Your Every Day-- For any mom who typically runs around with her hair on fire and needs a break! It’s so easy to find yourself constantly overwhelmed or burned out in the hustle and bustle of society today. But it is important to slow down and take a minute to focus on the things that matter most—and the first step is to connect with yourself again. This book will show women that by caring for themselves first, they can better care for everyone they love. In her first book, Ali has woven together a compilation of all the tools she used to transform herself from “hot mess” to “mindful mom,” and is divided helpfully into three parts: Everyday practices Tools used as needed Attitude adjustments made along the way Readers will learn how small tweaks and changes can lead to huge results, and that they too can leave stress behind in favor of calm and peace. With humor, grace, and an extremely relatable manner, Ali gives women the tools to make the same changes in their own lives.--GET THE MOST OUT OF MOTHERHOOD: A Hot Mess to Mindful Mom Parenting Guide-- Slow down and take time for yourself—because a better you is a better mom! The second book in the Hot Mess to Mindful Mom series will help moms create balance, peace, and well-being in their homes, leaving behind their old ways of being constantly stressed-out and frantic. Here Ali will guide women on how to embrace their best selves while parenting so they can strengthen relationships with their children, create systems in their homes that work, and actually enjoy doing it. It is divided into three parts: Mindful mom mindsets: bring your best self to parenting Mindful mom methods: systems for your home that work Mindful mom moments: ways to bond with your kids Easy and accessible, and filled with unique tools and ideas as well as personal examples that readers will relate to, this book will help moms go beyond the basics to build a healthier and happier family unit.--ONE MINUTE TO ZEN: Go From Hot Mess to Mindful Mom in One Minute or Less-- From the political climate to natural disasters, to managing the stress and overwhelm of everyday life, women have more to deal with than ever. Life feels overwhelming and exhausting much of the time. The third in our Hot Mess to Mindful Mom series, One Minute to Zen will provide numerous tools to help deal with stress in one minute, the same amount of time it can take for all hell to break loose! When teaching moms across the country, while giving talks to corporations, and across Ali’s thriving social media channels, people are asking for more tools to use quickly and effectively to help recover from the stress they face in daily life. Here, she's compiled a list of tools that make it possible to recalibrate, achieve balance, and recover from stress quickly and with ease, in order to live a more mindful and joyful life. Known for her authenticity and relatability, Ali shares personal stories and anecdotes to help connect her audience and show how to really put her suggestions to use.

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Imagine you suddenly find yourself in the control room of a vast technological apparatus, sometime in the future, where you are told that science has satisfied all the needs of all living humans. Furthermore, you learn, the next generation of the species will not be produced in the usual way, but instead by this machine, provided only that somebody push a little red button. The catch: you have to give a reason for pushing it. You hesitate: what do you say? Our own world is more like this scenario than we at first may be inclined to admit, not least in the fact that, mutatis mutandis, we seem to be struggling to come up with a good answer. The problem, says Rémi Brague, is fundamentally a metaphysical one. Now, mention of ‘metaphysics’ in decent society these days is likely to elicit a smile or an unimpressed shrug. If there is a shelf with that label on it in your typical bookstore you are as likely to find guides to crystals, chakras, or hemp care there as you are treatises by Aristotle, Aquinas, or Kant. And, in spite of the ongoing revival of academic interest in metaphysics, it remains a rather specialist domain, a marginal sub-discipline in departments of philosophy, be they analytical or continental in cast. If you should take it too seriously, you’ll lose your bearings in the real world, and you’ll go adrift in some ethereal sea of dreams. It is, in a word, irrelevant – right? Wrong, Brague writes. Sustained reflection on the nature of being, undertaken in the hope that something can indeed be said about it, was for millennia considered to be among the most important of intellectual pursuits, and not without reason. With his characteristic combination of erudition and wit, Brague takes us on a sweeping tour of the discipline’s varying fortunes, from its early Athenian practitioners through its Jewish, Muslim, and Christian heirs, to the chorus of critics who in the last few centuries succeeded in putting an end to its dominance. But the questions that metaphysics was asking, Brague shows, did not disappear with its demise, and so, whether implicitly or explicitly, metaphysics itself has resisted relegation to the history books. For the nature of being, and especially our relationship to it, has continued to haunt its triumphant critics. One quintessentially metaphysical claim above all, as Brague suggests, seems to have horrified them: the doctrine that all that is, insofar as it is, is good. And yet, in rejecting the “convertibility” of the “transcendentals” of being and goodness, critics of the old metaphysics – Voltaire, Kant, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Carnap, and Levinas among them – in their own ways offered metaphysical counter-claims, even as they turned increasingly anthropological in their interests. They also raised the stakes. For, whether the denial of the goodness of being can legitimately be attributed some causal responsibility for a world in which our species could rapidly and deliberately ensure its own extinction, this is the world we live in, and that denial does form the basis of the intellectual background from which we tend to begin our speculations. If we need to be able to articulate reasons for our project not to end, then we also need to rethink the rejection that we have come to take for granted. What Brague offers us here is not a narrative of decline, not a Jeremiad, not a nostalgic lament for the thought-world of a bygone era, but a sympathetic outline of some of the major tensions in the philosophical underpinnings of the modernity that we all inhabit. As such, it forms a part of his ongoing effort take modernity “more seriously than it takes itself”, to expose its hidden foundations, and to push it to its logical conclusions. In so doing, he hopes to help clarify where it is that we are going as a species, and to ensure that wherever it is, there is room for us humans in it.

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A New E-Commerce Model is Coming from the East—it is More Advanced and it is Spreading Worldwide China is now the biggest e-commerce market, hardware producer and soon Internet of Things player in the world. Written by a world-recognized expert, this eye-opening treatment allows readers a rare glimpse into how China will shape the global online world for the next decade. Featuring hundreds of interviews, with influential companies and investors such as Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, Xiaomi, Yihaodian, Cogobuy, Rocket Internet, Didi-Kuaidi Taxi, Snapdeal, Tokopedia, DST Global, Credit Suisse, UBS, Qiming Ventures and many more, this ground-breaking guide provides exceptional firsthand accounts of the key considerations to making lucrative investments in this powerful sector. East-Commerce enables you to: Understand how China's e-commerce explosion began and where it is heading See where China is shaping investments and innovation all over the globe Examine why China's model is better suited for developing economies Go in-depth into how and where others are finding opportunity and success The new business models coming out of China offer a variety of new growth opportunities to international companies. Understanding how China's online market operates gives you the edge when building a global strategy. Praise for East-Commerce "I have never read such a penetrating exploration of China's e-commerce scene. Not only does it cover the unique characteristics of China's e-commerce landscape but it also delves into the cultural motivators of the Chinese people who are uniquely passionate about online shopping."—TOM DOCTOROFF, CEO, J Walter Thomson Asia, author of Billions and What Chinese Want "As China now becomes the world's largest e-commerce market, this book provides a timely and insightful analysis for investors looking for opportunities in China." —AMY LO, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive, UBS Hong Kong "East-Commerce is an insightful and entertaining guide to the e-commerce boom in Asia's emerging markets. Filled with interviews and anecdotes from leading entrepreneurs and businesses, Marco Gervasi has written the most comprehensive book on the topic I've seen."—PORTER ERISMAN, former VP, Alibaba; author, Alibaba's World "Inquisitive and well-articulated, East-Commerce describes in a unique way how China is leapfrogging the West in many key online sectors"a must read."—JOHN LINDFORS, Managing Partner and Director, DST Investment Management, former Partner Goldman Sachs "East Commerce provides incredible insight into the technological and cultural changes going on in China. It is especially valuable for multinational companies doing business in China to re-frame their thinking and marketing approach and to build loyalty in this massive market."—CHANDOS QUILL, VP Global Data Solutions, Merkle Inc. "East-Commerce gives an insider's perspective on what it's like to operate in the biggest e-commerce market in the world"each one of my team members has this book on their desk."—BRUNO FELTRACCO, VP and Managing Director, The North Face Asia Pacific "Marco Gervasi delivers crucial insight into the global implications associated with the increasing relevance and reach of the 'East-Commerce' model."—MICHAEL INJAYCHOCK, Sr. Director, Touchpoint Optimization, Eli Lilly and Company "East-Commerce reads more like a novel than a text book as it details the evolution of the Chinese ecommerce marketplace and offers great insight into how to successfully navigate the complicated landscape."—RICHARD RUSSELL, Director Media Strategy, Deckers Outdoor Corporation "Digital disruption is taking place with incredible speed and intensity in China and with it, tremendous innovation and entrepreneurship. Marco Gervasi has chronicled this development with first-hand knowledge and experience in this book. I recommend it to those who care about what is truly changing China and therefore, the world."—EDWARD TSE, author, China's Disruptors

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A sequel to Atlas of Extinct Animals and Atlas of Endangered Animals, this large-format encyclopedia focuses on the world’s largest group of animals—insects. Insects are the most diverse and abundant creatures on Earth, yet we often overlook their critical role in our ecosystem. Insectopia, the third book in the Large Encyclopedias series, invites young readers to explore the fascinating world of insects with expert entomologist Jiří Kolibac and the stunning illustrations of Pavel Dvorsky and his wife Pavla Dvorsky. With 96 pages of engaging content and lifelike full-page illustrations, Insectopia provides an immersive journey into the realm of these tiny creatures, whose behavior, shapes, and colors surprise us with their complexity. Kids will learn about the full range of topics related to insects, including complex rituals of courtship, tender care for offspring, organization of insect states, wars over food sources, and various insect features (scents, colorful wings, sharp mandibles, etc.). Sections include: Anatomy and Body Structure of Insects: How insects have a segmented body with a hard exoskeleton. Orders of Insects: The best-known groups of winged insects and their common and scientific names. Biology and Development of Insects: How insects undergo various metamorphoses. Evolution of Insects: The evolutionary relationships of insects. Evolutionary Tree of Insects: A tree graph showing the evolutionary relationships among different insect groups. Dawn of the Insects: The evolution and diversification of insects during various periods, including the emergence of flight and the extinction of certain insect orders. Diversification of Insects: The development of insect life through different geological periods, including their coevolution with plants and their rise to dominance. Courtship and Nuptial Gifts: How male insects often present a nuptial gift to the female, who chooses the suitor with the largest or most alluring gift. Adapting to Island Life: How isolated islands are home to unique plants and animals, some of which undergo insular gigantism, and are threatened by introduced predators. Fighting for the Female: Insects often engage in contests to produce offspring with a female, with the best-performing male often winning. Flying Acrobats: Dragonflies are ancient predators with exceptional flying abilities. The Short Life of the Mayfly: Mayflies have a brief lifespan of just a few hours to a few days, during which they mate, lay eggs, and die. Insect States: Termites live in large colonies with specialized castes, with worker termites providing food and defense and soldier termites fighting spraying predators. Slave-Makers, Slaves, and Warriors: Ants engage in aggressive behavior and interspecies wars. Courtship in the Hills: Insects gather on the tops of hills to find a mate, with males competing for the most visible spots, and this also attracts insectivorous birds and predators. Life in Darkness: Caves are home to uniquely adapted insects that are fairly different than those that live in the daylight. Farmer Ants: How large ant colonies are complex “state” organizations comprised of workers, soldiers, a queen and her entourage, nurses, foragers, and other occupations. Coexistence: How anthills are places where ants and other insects form complex relationships of mutual benefit or parasitism. In addition to exploring this complex world of insects, young readers will also discover the importance of insects to humankind and all life on our planet. They will learn about how insects are found everywhere, from arid deserts to freshwater pools, and how they play a crucial role in pollination, decomposition, and pest control. Written for children aged 12–15 who are nature lovers, biology enthusiasts, or just curious about the world around us, Insectopia is an essential addition to any young reader’s library. This informative and beautifully illustrated encyclopedia highlights the importance of insects and their contribution to our world. Whether used as a reference for school or as a fun read at home, Insectopia is a must-have resource for any young nature lover.

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Europe has spiraled into chaos. A conspiracy years in the making combined with general unrest lead to upheaval and revolution. In the midst of the murderous disorder, mercenary Michael Valentine is in Europe with a small team of his Exodus personnel trying to track down the evil and highly dangerous Katarina Montalban. She has initiated a mysterious plot to do away with those who stand between her and ultimate power. The team is on their own, with few friends, few resources—and racing against the clock. Both Valentine and Lorenzo will have to risk some dangerous alliances if they're to succeed. Meanwhile, Valentine’s friend, one-time enemy, and sometime partner Hector Lorenzo finds himself in a dungeon owned by Asian drug lord Sala Jihan. He must make a deal that may lead him to cross paths with Valentine again. If two of the most effective killers in existence hunt, even the pandemonium in Europe may be just the first act in an orgy of destruction. About Larry Correia: “[A] no-holds-barred all-out page turner that is part science fiction, part horror, and an absolute blast to read.”—Bookreporter.com “If you love monsters and action, you’ll love this book. If you love guns, you’ll love this book. If you love fantasy, and especially horror fantasy, you’ll love this book.”—Knotclan.com “A gun person who likes science fiction—or, heck, anyone who likes science fiction—will enjoy [these books]. . . The plotting is excellent, and Correia makes you care about the characters…I read both books without putting them down except for work . . . so whaddaya waitin’ for? Go and buy some . . . for yourself and for stocking stuffers.”—Massad Ayoob “This lighthearted, testosterone-soaked sequel to 2009's Monster Hunter International will delight fans of action horror with elaborate weaponry, hand-to-hand combat, disgusting monsters, and an endless stream of blood and body parts.”—Publishers Weekly on Monster Hunter Vendetta About Mike Kupari's exciting SF adventure novel, Her Brother's Keeper: "After cowriting Dead Six and Swords of Exodus with Larry ­Correia, Kupari makes his solo debut with this space opera that is bound to attract fans of Mike ­Shepherd’s Kris Longknife series or Elizabeth Moon’s Vatta’s War books. An excellent choice for both teen and adult sf readers."—Library Journal "[P]age-turning action . . . may be Kupari's best book yet."—Galveston County Daily News About Larry Correia's Son of the Black Sword: "This book has everything I like in fantasy: intense action scenes, evil in horrifying array, good struggling against the darkness, and most of all people—gorgeously flawed human beings faced with horrible moral choices that force them to question and change and grow."—Jim Butcher, creator of the New York Times best-selling Dresden Files "Best-selling fantasy author Correia casts a compelling spell with this India-influenced series opener. . . . Correia skillfully sets in motion this story of plots within plots, revealing complex, sympathetic characters and black-hearted villains with equal detail and insight. Full of action, intrigue, and wry humor, this exciting series launch promises many more thrills to come."—Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Fans who like Correia’s fast-moving style will be pleased with the plethora of action scenes, and epic fantasy readers interested in delving into a new universe should be equally satisfied. A solid choice for admirers of Brent Weeks and Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series."—Library Journal "Correia is, above all, a storyteller, and he weaves a unique and entertaining tale.Without question, his action sequences pop on the page, his magic system has a nice wrinkle, and he has the foundations laid out for some excellent character growth as the series continues. . . . [A] definite hit."—Bookreporter "The lore here is fascinating and well told. I enjoyed learning the history of the world and the legend of Ramrowan. The politics are just complicated enough to feel real without being too difficult to follow. Where the book truly shines, however, is in the characters. All are well drawn and distinctively voiced."—SFCrowsnest

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With Little Savage, Emily Fragos delivers a magnificent collection in the American tradition of Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop. With clean, strongly wrought lines she builds poems that are elegant and powerful. Marie Ponsot calls the collection “remarkable. What separates Fragos from her contemporaries is her amazing ability to empathize with the characters she creates—the misfits, the artists, the children kept in a fifteenth century school, the composer going mad. She convincingly becomes a young girl in the Venetian conservatory for the abandoned: “Sofia del violino. Once I saw myself / in a clear puddle of rain / water. My teeth are very crooked, I / know. We are none of us / startled by the other. We are all / the same. To Heaven.” These moments ache with honesty, humility, and make us wish that every sentiment expressed by Fragos could be true. Deceptively simple poems written by an unostentatiously skilled poet, Little Savage is permeated with a reverence for nature, music, myth and dance—a veritable treasure trove of compassion and grace. Richard Howard's Foreword You are alone in the room, reading her poems. Nothing is happening, nothing wrong, but all at once, say around page 17 or 18, you hear – remember, no one is with you, no one else is there—a sigh. Or a whispered word: someone. You are not alarmed, but you had thought you were alone. Perhaps not. The sensation is what Freud used to call unheimlich, uncanny. That is the effect of the poems of Emily Fragos. Like their maker, her readers are accompanied, and not to their ulterior knowledge. It is not disagreeable to be thus escorted, attended, joined, but we had not expected it. And as Robert Frost used to tell us (“no surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader”), Fragos too has not expected such visitations, as she will call them. This poet—these poems—endure otherness, they are haunted: “I remain, with one of everything.” Even as one is being saved…conjure the army of others” “What would happen to my life when all along there has been nothing but me?” “Did you not see how I was made to feel when you put me among others” “And my body—uninhabited—suffers and wonders: whose hands are these? whose hair?” The poems will reveal whose, though I do not think Emily Fragos herself ever finds out. Inevitably, we recall that old surrealist shibboleth, “Tell me by what you are haunted and I will tell you who you are;” it can be the password to indentity. But this poet has what she calls “luxurious mind” and her ghosts are legion: Alone in my odd-shaped room, I practice Blindness and the world floats close and away. I am uncertain of everything. I must walk slowly, carefully. She is acknowledging, with some uneasiness (“will you please tidy up?”), that it is not only the beloved dead, the proximate departed who are with her, who possess her, but others, any others. The remarkable thing about this poetic consciousness is that the woman’s body is inhabited—sometimes with mere habitude, sometimes joyously, more often with astonishing pain—by the prolixity of the real (and of the ‘unreal’); the poems are instinct with others: How dare you Care for me when all my life I have had this voltage to ignite me, this rhythm to drive me, when something inside your body dares me to touch my hands to yours… And quite as remarkable, of course, is the even tonality of such possession; there is nothing hysterical or even driven about the voice of the poems as it records, as it laments or exults in these unsought attendants. There is merely—merely!—a loving consistency of heedfulness; and one remembers Blake’s beautiful aphorism: unmixed attention is prayer. Of course such poetic staffage is not peculiar to Emily Fragos; like Maeterlinck, like Rilke, she exults in her discovered awareness: “I need the other/the way a virus/needs a host.” Rather, she imbues, she infects all of us with the consciousness that there are no single souls: we are not alone.

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An aspiring TV journalist faces a shattering moral dilemma and the prospect of losing her career and her life, when she joins an impetuous photographer in the Middle East. A shocking, searingly authentic thriller by award-winning ex-CNN news executive Sarah Sultoon.‘Shocking and visceral, this novel deals with the horrors of war … a brave, important and utterly compelling book’ S J Watson ‘Gritty, hard-hitting and often harrowing … a hugely exciting voice in crime fiction’ Victoria Selman‘A powerhouse writer’ Jo Spain––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––An act of mercyOr the ultimate betrayal…Who decides?Samira is an up-and-coming TV journalist, working the nightshift at a major news channel and yearning for greater things. So when she’s offered a trip to the Middle East, with Kris, the station’s brilliant but impetuous star photographer, she leaps at the chanceIn the field together, Sami and Kris feel invincible, shining a light into the darkest of corners … except the newsroom, and the rest of the world, doesn’t seem to care as much as they do. Until Kris takes the photograph.With a single image of young Sudanese mother, injured in a raid on her camp, Sami and the genocide in Darfur are catapulted into the limelight. But everything is not as it seems, and the shots taken by Kris reveal something deeper and much darker … something that puts not only their careers but their lives in mortal danger.Sarah Sultoon brings all her experience as a CNN news executive to bear on this shocking, searingly authentic thriller, which asks immense questions about the world we live in. You'll never look at a news report in the same way again... ‘A powerful story of the brutality of front-line journalism. Authentic, provocative and terrifyingly relevant’ Will Carver ‘A gritty, jarring page-turner’ Peter Hain ‘Passionate, disturbing storytelling at its best’ James Brabazon ‘You won't read another book like this in 2022! Raw, authentic, powerful ... you won't see the end coming!’ E C Scullion ‘Brilliantly conveys both the exhilaration and the unspeakable horror of life on the international news frontline’ Jo Turner ‘Astute and penetrating, evoking feelings that are long lasting and hard to shake off … Sarah Sultoon is a new and welcome voice in what can be a very crowded genre’ Random Things through My Letterbox ‘A masterclass in storytelling and cinematic in scope’ Live & Deadly ‘Brutally honest, extremely thought-provoking, stark and vivid … impossible to put down’ Jen Med’s Book ReviewsPraise for The Source**Winner: Crime Fiction Lover Best Debut Award**‘A brave and thought-provoking debut novel. Sarah Sultoon tackles a challenging and disturbing subject without sensation, and her sensitive handling, tight plotting and authentic storytelling make for a compelling read’ Adam Hamdy‘A taut and thought-provoking book that’s all the more unnerving for how much it echoes the headlines in real life’ CultureFly‘A tense thriller, a remarkable debut, heartbreaking, but ultimately this is a story of resilience and survival’ New Books Magazine‘A powerful, compelling read that doesn’t shy away from some upsetting truths … written with such energy’ Fanny Blake‘Tautly written and compelling, not afraid to shine a spotlight on the darker forces at work in society’ Rupert Wallis‘So authentic and exhilarating … breathtaking pace and relentless ingenuity’ Nick Paton Walsh, CNN‘A powerful, intense whammy of a debut that is both uncomfortable and exhilarating to read … Thought-provoking, tense, and expressive’ LoveReading‘A gripping, dark thriller’ Geoff Hill, ITV‘A cleverly constructed story that offers an authentic view behind the scenes in a British newsroom … an original and wholly engaging debut. Definitely a name to watch’ Crime Fiction Lover‘My heart was racing … fiction to thrill even the most hard-core adrenaline junkies’ Diana Magnay, Sky News ‘Unflinching and sharply observed. A hard-hitting, deftly woven debut’ Ruth Field‘With this gripping, fast-paced debut thriller, it’s easy to see what made Sultoon such a great journalist’ Clarissa Ward, CNN ‘A hard-hitting, myth-busting rollercoaster of a debut’ Eve Smith‘I could picture and feel each scene, all the fear, tension and hope’ Katie Allen For fans of Holly Watt, Sarah Vaughan, Laura Lippman and Karin Slaughter

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Medicinal plants always plaid and important role in the maintenance of health, wellbeing, and everyday life of a population worldwide. During the centuries, plant leaves, stems, flowers, seeds, berries, and roots were used for healing and maintenance of a different pathological conditions, as well as in beauty formulas, massage applications, foods preparations and beverages. This book, which is based on scientific findings and original research, represent a comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to medicinal plants from all over the world, describes their huge economic, and therapeutic potential, and analysing different aspects of their genotoxicity, and importance for human health and homeostasis. The first two chapters are focused on the importance of sustainable agriculture, and a new progressive plants cultivation approach, which is suggested to be used to enhance the farm's economy at large. Both chapters are including an information on use agroecology in cultivation of sustainable agriculture, pointing to an integrated goal of intercropping herbs, as well as discusses some medicinal plants and spices traditionally used in biodynamic and organic agricultural production. A huge potential of medicinal plants in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, as well as an overview of some plants and their families with their applications in drugs discovery, are highlighted in chapter three, which is also including an information on extraction techniques used for the development and creation of a natural products. Even if herbal formulations are generally expected to be safe because they are 'natural', it is crucial to understand that some medicinal plants demonstrate a specific toxicity, which must be considered during the formulation, development and manufacturing of the novel herbal pharmaceuticals, diet supplements, beauty care and other products as well. Chapter four, which is also including the individual case studies, provides valuable overview of bioassays for screening genotoxic potential, as well as description of specific testing examples of chosen medicinal plants. Due to an important role in human health, during the last decades gastrointestinal microbiota is constantly in the spotlight of the scientists and medical professionals. Disbalance in microbiota can lead to a serious pathological conditions', and brain-gut axis is a crucial for human immune system and maintenance of good health and wellbeing. Importance of medicinal plants and its bioactive compounds and their implication on human microbiota, is perfectly highlighted in chapter five, which not only describes the beneficial effects of medicinal plants on human digestion and health in general, but also focused on the powerful role of different bioactive plant metabolites in the host health. Although there is lots of information available on the therapeutic properties of the selected plants and their secondary metabolites, chapters six, seven and eight are demonstrate an opportunity for medicinal plants and their compounds to be used for prevention and maintenance and in the future - an effective treatment of metabolic, neurological, and degenerative diseases. An antioxidant, detoxifying, nutritional, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and other properties of medicinal plants compounds are highlighted, studied, and suggested to be considered as highly useful for prevention, maintenance, and development of the future treatments for affecting a huge population, metabolic, anxiety and degenerative diseases. Biotechnological interventions are an important pathway for future technological advances and plants conservation, but it could be limited towards assess the genetic diversity through molecular markers. Using medicinal plants in biotechnological applications is covered in chapter nine, which represents up to date available information on phytochemistry, diversity and biotechnological advances that have been made so far for medicinal plants. The text of the chapters illustrates plant bio-actives, their molecular constituents, such as flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins, coumarins, lignans, glycosides, and others, based in research and case studies, and describes its potential applications. To summarise, this book is an important contribution to a science and research developments, which helps better understanding of a great potential of medicinal plants. It provides the reader with a great amount of useful and valuable information including research statements, great reading materials, figures, and data tables, as well as extensive lists of the references, which can be helpful for research and new natural products development.

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From #1 New York Times bestselling author and worldwide sensation Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, Book One of the Stormlight Archive, begins an incredible new saga of epic proportion.Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar's niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan's motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.Speak again the ancient oaths:Life before death.Strength before weakness.Journey before Destination.and return to men the Shards they once bore.The Knights Radiant must stand again.Other books by Brandon SandersonThe CosmereThe Stormlight ArchiveThe Way of KingsWords of RadianceEdgedancer (Novella)OathbringerRhythm of WarThe Mistborn trilogyMistborn: The Final EmpireThe Well of AscensionThe Hero of AgesMistborn: The Wax and Wayne seriesAlloy of LawShadows of SelfBands of MourningThe Lost MetalCollectionArcanum UnboundedOther Cosmere novelsElantrisWarbreakerThe Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians seriesAlcatraz vs. the Evil LibrariansThe Scrivener's BonesThe Knights of CrystalliaThe Shattered LensThe Dark TalentThe Rithmatist seriesThe RithmatistOther books by Brandon SandersonThe ReckonersSteelheartFirefightCalamityReaders absolutely love The Way of Kings:'Incredible, impressive or fantastic, all these words are an understatement to the quality this book holds. The Way of Kings is the beginning of a masterpiece series in epic fantasy' Novel Notions'It's multi-POV, action-packed, heartfelt, exciting, thrilling, and I am running out of adjectives' Goodreads Reviewer, Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'The story is mind-blowing, the ideas and thoughts create a world that is believable and intriguing. A strong tale with a well fleshed out world and multidimensional characters that are easy to care about' Goodreads Reviewer, Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'The Way of Kings is a huge opening act to The Stormlight Archive which took every single one of these elements of a good fantasy story and elevated the art of storytelling to a different league' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'Brandon Sanderson is probably the most gifted storyteller of his generation. He's a silent force that strikes you when you least expect it, and with The Way of Kings he introduces a series that will change the history of Fantasy' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐'I've been struck speechless. I've loved Sanderson's books in the past, but this one completely blew me away. I really wish I could give The Way of Kings a sixth star' Goodreads reviewer, ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

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Prose poems and flash fictions revealing the heart-wrenching, absurd, life-changing nature of living through Covid, political chaos, and personal upheaval. Peter Conners’ unique blend of prose poetry, flash fiction, and other spare poetic forms pays witness to the heart-wrenching, absurd, life-changing nature of surviving a global pandemic during one of the most politically and culturally divisive times in American history. As a divorced father living in a blended family with 4 children, navigating a new marriage, and also caring for elderly parents, pandemic restrictions and their attendant scary weirdness hit hard. After a decade of publishing highly regarded nonfiction books about music and counterculture, Conners knew that only poetry could do these strange days justice. The result is Conners’ first prose poetry collection in a dozen years. Moving from raw personal poems like “One of you went” and “My father wanders” to overt political rants “The beaches are filled” and “Welcome to the last” to comically absurd flash fictions like “Superhero” and “Hello, my name is Larry” to meditations on relationships (“A small house;” “The old husband”) and spirituality (“If each martyr;” “Love everyone”), Conners strikes all the rich notes that illustrate our humanity, desire for love and connection, and striving for a rebirth that awaits just beyond the edge suffering.“Part Tao, part surrealist dialogue, Peter Conners has penned a book of precise yet effusive runes from the well-gnawed bones of a man reflecting upon his family and nation at midlife. Here we have poet as citizen, philosopher, father, humorist, husband, we have the pandemic (in actuality and as metaphor), we have passing time, memory, ‘our whole dumb history,’ the theater of self with its ‘copious technical difficulties.’ These are minimalist and thin-trimmed parable-like stories, dialogues, and beautiful confessions that in the end haggle down the price we’ve paid through the last brutal years, encouraging the reader to take our problems and ‘Feed them to the squirrels. Those little fuckers will eat anything.’”—Sean Thomas Dougherty“What you know after reading only a handful of these poems is that they have the ease, and share the privileges, of being loved and cared for by a master — not as common a thing in American poetry as you might think. This is an end-of-days story for precisely our times, presented formally in a fluid blending of at least three distinct genres, managing to celebrate them all to rich effects. These poems capture a litany of almost microscopic moments, resolute in how they are illustrative of our stunningly particular days. I love this book and I want you to read it if you care about looking closely at who we are by looking at who we have been.” —Bruce Weigl “Beyond the Edge of Suffering goes beyond life's edges, and not only in suffering. This brilliant collection by Peter Conners is a genius book of our times, with masks and viruses, nasal sprays, elixirs, diseases, and exams. It is deep and poignant, with lovely and surprising sparks of humor: a tiny porcelain woman, plays in language: bodies, memories, dreams. Diamonds. Martyrs. Prayers and non-prayers. Genesis and ribs. Fathers and mothers and a son and daughter. Crying Superheroes. Weeping willows. Mosquitos and monkeys and the highest house number in America. This collection is so holy-ghostingly good, it will continue to stay with you.”—Kim ChinqueePeter Conners is the author of ten books of poetry, nonfiction and fiction, including the prose poetry collections, Of Whiskey and Winter, and The Crows Were Laughing in Their Trees. He also edited the ground-breaking prose poetry/flash fiction anthology PP/FF: An Anthology, as well as an issue of American Book Review dedicated to prose poetry/flash fiction, and was founding editor of Double Room: A Journal of Prose Poetry and Flash Fiction. In his nonfiction books, he has documented music and countercultural communities in such books as Growing Up Dead: The Hallucinated Confessions of a Teenage Deadhead; JAMerica: The History of the Jam Band and Festival Scene; Cornell ‘77: The Music, The Myth, and the Magnificence of the Grateful Dead’s Concert at Barton Hall; and White Hand Society: The Psychedelic Partnership of Timothy Leary & Allen Ginsberg. His books have been published by White Pine Press, Da Capo Press, City Lights, Cornell University Press, Starcherone Books, and Marick Press. He lives with his family in Rochester, NY where he works as Publisher and Executive Director of the award-winning independent publishing house BOA Editions. His website is: www.peterconners.com

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Pritchard's extensive experience of practice, research and training inform the advice and practical guidance she gives... The book is full of useful photocopiable handouts and proformas that can be helpful as long as the trainer has the necessary background knowledge to use them. The case studies are a joy and contain the diversity of experience and multicultural elements missing from the rest of the book. They will be useful in concocting a range of exercises and discussion points in basic training.'- Social Work Education'The book is written in a clear, conversational style and is both practically-based and very accessible... Pritchard's style is conversational and accessible. Material is introduced in a friendly and informal way.'- Ageing & Society'A training guide covering the setting up of abuse awareness courses through the various stages, looking at selecting a pool of trainers, developing them, evaluation and case studies. It provides guidance for those struggling through the discussions and planning, and point clearly to the need for sensitive and skilled group workers as trainers.'- Community Care'This is the latest of a wide range of adult abuse publications by Jacki Pritchard, now recognised as one of the leaders in the field. In previous works, she has highlighted the need for training at all levels in all agencies concerned with vulnerable adults... The book's purpose is simply to increase the number of people available with the capacity and skills to provide training to others. This cascade approach is seen to be the most effective way of training large numbers of people with limited resources. It is however recognised that different types of training are required for people with different functions. This manual will be used to train trainers at the introductory, basic information level.The manual is set out clearly and provides essential information for potential trainers of trainers. It manages to demystify the art of training and brings it within the scope of most people. The initial sections deal with developing training within organisations, selecting a pool of trainers, and training and supporting trainers, with exercises to help readers through the process.The next section is full of practical advice on how to get ready for your first training session. This leads on to a chapter on possible content of a basic raising awareness course on adult abuse. While giving direction, this section allows some felxibility and choice for the trainer. There are lots of handouts, which can be reproduced as part of a training course.One of the most important sections is on difficult issues for trainers. This includes disclosure of abuse by a course participant or participants being particularly challenged by the subject matter. This is followed by a section on problems for trainers, which offers sound advice on a range of important issues. The final chapters concentrate on evaluation and case studies for use during a training course. English law is referenced in the legal section and this should be substituted with the relevant Scottish equivalents where they apply.This timely and practical manual will help agencies develop effective awareness programmes. It deals with a wide range of issues, offers practical advice and contains numerous exercises and worksheets. An ideal addition to any agency's training resources, it will make a positive contribution to addressing the often unrecognised issue of adult abuse.'- RostrumAgencies working with vulnerable adults are increasingly finding they have to train staff internally to become trainers on the issue of adult abuse and new government legislation means this trend is likely to continue. Based on the author's considerable experience of training practitioners, this timely and practical manual will help agencies develop effective basic awareness programmes. Becoming a Trainer in Adult Abuse Work deals with a comprehensive range of issues including selection of trainers; practicalities such as venue, equipment, refreshments; policy, law and evaluation and difficult issues ranging from disclosure and confidentiality to lack of confidence and time management. As well as this step-by-step advice, the book contains exercises and worksheets, ensuring it is a practical resource as well as a useful reference for those agencies, across all sectors, involved in adult abuse work.

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This series is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy meets The Bad Guys in a funny, visually daring adventure series for reluctant readers, teachers, and librarians alike. This hilarious, visually groundbreaking read is the conclusion to a major series by children's literature legend Jon Scieszka. The book follows a final mission, where AstroWolf, LaserShark, SmartHawk, and StinkBug must find a planet fit for human life after we've finally made Earth unlivable. Time is up for our friends the AstroNuts. In fact, time is up for you, too. If they don't succeed on this mission, Earth is doomed! So when the team finds out they're being sent to a place called "the perfect planet," their mission sounds way too easy. Unfortunately, the second they land, they realize they'll be dealing with the most dangerous species of all time . . . humans. Huh? Where in the universe is this supposedly perfect place? And how will the Nuts manage to convince the humans to risk death . . . for the sake of their lives?! Featuring full-color illustrations throughout, Planet Earth as the narrator, an out-of-this-world gatefold, and how-to-draw pages in the back, eager and reluctant readers alike will be over the moon about this new mission. Full of laugh-out-loud humor with a thoughtful commentary on the reality of climate change at the core of the story, this creatively illustrated, full-color, action-packed space saga is a can't-put-it-down page-turner for readers of all levels and fans ready to blast past Dogman. EXCITING BIG-NAME TALENT: Jon Scieszka is one of the biggest names in children's books. The first National Ambassador of Young People's literature, he and Steven Weinberg toured extensively for this series. They'll continue making their way around the world for Book 3! You might have met them at ALA, the National Book Festival, the Rabbit HOle, the Brooklyn Book Festival, the Illinois Reading Council, the Tween Reads Book Festival, the Texas Book Festival, the NYC Department of Education Fall Conference, the 826 Story Soirée in New York, or NCTE in Baltimore! POPULAR SERIES: MISSIONS 1 and 2 received starred reviews, amazing blurbs, and tons of industry love. MISSION 1 was an Amazon Best Book of the Year! Dav Pilkey, Jennifer Holm, LeUyen Pham, and Gene Luen Yang are all big fans—check out those blurbs! FUN AND SCIENTIFIC: The book incorporates STEM elements in a way that readers will find fun and entertaining, while teachers and librarians will find it clever and original. PERFECT FOR BUDDING GRETA THUNBERGS: This book successfully talks about the effect of climate change and impels its readers to take action, without feeling didactic or message-y at all. TIES TO REAL-WORLD ISSUES: Readers will recognize quite a few dilemmas the AstroNuts face from current events on Earth. Making connections between fiction and non-fiction is a big developmental milestone for young readers, and this book works as an effective allegory for our most dire contemporary concerns. RELUCTANT READER–FRIENDLY: The book is a great vehicle for reluctant readers, featuring cool topics and bright art, and relying on visual literacy and very few words. A CONSTELLATION OF TOPICS: Space, STEM, and talking animals: There's something here for every reader! LOLs FOR DAYS: The book is funny and will delight kids who love books like Wimpy Kid, The 39-Story Treehouse, Dog Man, and Captain Underpants. While it contains serious ideas, it's a quick, easy, and fun visual read. GROUNDBREAKING DESIGN: The hundreds of pages of full-color art are dynamic and engaging—and it doesn't look like anything else out there. Steven Weinberg bases his art on public domain pieces from the Smithsonian museum! Teachers turn to the books for this element of the art and use it in classrooms to talk about collage, idea sourcing, history, and art medium. PERFECT ART PROJECT: On the website, kids can download pages of the "original" art and use it to make their own hybrid animal collages. Perfect for: • Perfect for fans of Dog Man, Big Nate, Wimpy Kid, and Captain Underpants • Families who care about the environment • Grandparents • Teachers and educators who are looking to introduce STEM and environmental topics to children • Librarians

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'Finally, eight decades on, there comes a convincing reason as to how an entire nation was able to swallow and then endorse the warped ideology of Hitler and the Nazis. Not only a brilliantly argued book, Mobilising Hate is also a grimly compelling and utterly absorbing examination of one of the most terrible events in world history. Martin Davidson's meticulous and scholarly research and exquisite writing has provided us with one of the most important books ever written on the subject.' JAMES HOLLAND'A highly readable thesis of how ordinary people were turned into monsters by the malevolent propaganda of Hitler and his henchmen ... A very good book.' SAUL DAVID, TelegraphBy 1942, it was an article of faith that what the Nazis called 'The Jewish Question' had only one answer: the mass extermination of an entire people. Six million European Jews were savagely murdered as a result of this perverted but profoundly held conviction. In this radical new perspective on Hitler's so-called 'Final Solution', Martin Davidson shows that the terrible fate of Europe's Jews was not one Nazi policy amongst many, but the central preoccupation of the regime, one which they were determined to achieve and of which they were most chillingly proud. How were so many people convinced that the Jews deserved such treatment - or were at least persuaded to shrug their shoulders and turn a blind eye? Why did they think Germany could only be reborn with their eradication? That Jewish suffering was not only necessary, but deserved? How were the moral standards of an entire nation so warped and perverted, that the Final Solution came to be regarded as a rational, thrilling, even sacred, element of Nazi state policy? Mobilising Hate examines in detail how Nazi ideologues worked to frame and amplify anti-Jewish feeling in Germany. Davidson explores the origins of radical anti-Jewish polemic in the volcanic upheavals that swept over Germany in the months after the First World War. How it seeded a theory that claimed to explain the truth of the entirety of human history. How that theory would go on to pervert science; corrupt the law; rewrite history; taint art, music and literature; and turn the media into the servant of a brutal and pitiless regime with a single message to communicate: destroying Jews lives was the indispensable first step to making Germany - and indeed, Europe - great again. Davidson goes on to track the way in which Nazi leaders moved from theory to practice, by accident and by design, skilfully dramatising the many twists and turns that would lead to Auschwitz and beyond, many of which are not generally included in conventional accounts. Mobilising Hate is driven by the first-hand accounts of many of those defined by the Nazi genocide; both its architects and perpetrators, as well as its targeted victims. Poignantly too, the book turns the spotlight on the whistle-blowers who saw, recorded and shared accounts of the horrors unfolding across the continent - only to be greeted time and time again, with guarded and non-committal hedging from Allied governments. Many people inside Germany, and across the world, knew, but, it seemed, very few felt they needed to care. As our world once again grapples with the challenges of global mass resentment, economic insecurity and the growing desire to find people - entire populations - at whom to point the finger of blame, the issue of Hitler's Final Solution and the thinking that gave birth to it have worrying new resonance. Rarely has the 'warning from history' been so acute, nor the refrain 'never again', been so heartfelt. Above all, Mobilising Hate is the story of how the Nazis spawned a vision of 'us' and 'them', that taken to its logical conclusion, spelled a death sentence for millions. Hitler may have lacked an early masterplan for the mass extermination of Europe's Jews, but it would be his zealously constructed policies and unflinching determination to see them through to the bitter end that would make it impossible for his Nazi Holocaust not to happen. That the Jews should face total extermination was Hitler's biggest, proudest prophecy, and the one he moved mountains to make come true, no matter the cost.

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It remains a stroke of fortune that in the turbulent times of the 17th century with its numerous cultural and military upheavals the artistic depiction of human life took a similarly rapid and proliferous development. Never before in history had society in all its squalor and splendor been presented in so many pictures of outstanding artistic quality. At the end of the 16th century the Golden Age of Painting began to evolve especially in the Low Countries. Many contemporary paintings also show events from the Eighty Years War, the United Provinces’ struggle for independence from Spain. However, an entire generation of artists also chose to paint events from the great European conflict which erupted at the same time: the Thirty Years War. Born in Antwerp, Pieter Snayers was a fairly typical representative of this generation of painters. From a military historian’s point of view, his works are considered particularly authentic. Many of his paintings showing sieges betray meticulous care in the depiction of the cities and fortresses concerned. Snayers’ topographical and analytical approach remains unsurpassed. Even his paintings of major battles (which rarely occurred) defy any form of profound criticism. Snayers’ rendering of the everyday life of the common people involved is straightforward, graphic and occasionally dramatic. We are thus able to gain insight into the events of his time unimpeded by clichés and historic myth. Pieter Snayers’ works are on display in numerous collections worldwide. With the help of his paintings, many of which are very large in format, this lavishly illustrated book will seek to relate the history of the conflicts depicted. Author Roland Sennewald has compiled a collection of more than 100 of Snayers’ works from all over the world, creating an impressive testimony of his creative talent and relating the story of both the Eighty and Thirty Years Wars, and the times before and after. Pieter Snayers (1592- 1667) Snayers was born in Antwerp where he was baptized on 24 November 1592. His father Lodewijk was the city messenger of Antwerp for Brussels. He was enrolled as a pupil of Sebastiaen Vrancx in Antwerp’s Guild of St. Luke in 1612. Sebastiaen Vrancx was a prominent battle and genre painter. In 1613 Snayers became a master in the Guild. In 1618 Snayers married Anna Schut, a cousin of the painter Cornelis Schut. Their first child Cornelis was baptized on 8 September 1620. Snayers achieved success as an artist. In Antwerp the family lived in luxury and Snayers participated annually in the lavish banquet of the chamber of rhetoric Violieren. Snayers joined the painters‘ guild in Brussels on 16 June 1628. He became a citizen of Brussels at the same time. It is believed he had been working for the Archduke Albert (died in 1621) while living in Antwerp. He had been appointed court painter and ‚domesticq van ‚t Hof” (domestic of the court) by the Archduke. Snayers likely moved to Brussels in order to pursue opportunities at the court of the Archduchess Isabella, the widow of the Archduke and the governess of the Southern Netherlands. After Isabella’s death in 1633, Snayers became court painter to the next two governors, the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria (1634-1641) and the Archduke Leopold (Wilhelm) (1647 to 1656). For them he painted scenes of victorious battles in the tradition of sixteenth-century tapestries. He painted portraits of the aristocracy in Brussels and large landscapes. He also worked for other eminent patrons and the open market. A highlight in his career was a commission for 22 battle paintings by general Ottavio Piccolomini. While working in Brussels he regularly visited his hometown Antwerp but never returned to live there. He collaborated with painters in Antwerp such as Peter Paul Rubens on several occasions, including on the never-finished Life of Henry IV cycle (1628–30) and the Torre de la Parada series (c. 1637–1640). Both during his Antwerp and his Brussels periods, He mingled with the elite of his time. He climbed the social ladder and aspired to live a lifestyle similar to that of the aristocrats of his day. He was thus an example of the 17th century ‚aristocratization‘ of successful citizens. His pupils included Guilliam van Schoor and Adam Frans van der Meulen. The latter became a leading battle painter and court painter to Louis XIV of France. There is no record of when Snayers died but it is believed he died in Brussels in 1667. Quelle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Snayers

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When the University of Notre Dame announced that President Barack Obama would speak at its 2009 Commencement and would receive an honorary doctor of laws degree, the reaction was more than anyone expected. Students, faculty, alumni, and friends of Notre Dame denounced the honoring of Obama, who is the most relentlessly pro-abortion public official in the world. Beyond abortion, Obama has taken steps to withdraw from health-care professionals the right of conscientious objection. Among them are thousands of Notre Dame alumni who will be forced to choose between continuing their profession and participating in activities they view as immoral, including the execution of the unborn. And they will be forced to that choice by the politician upon whom their alma mater confers its highest honors. (Mary Ann Glendon, distinguished Harvard law professor and former ambassador to the Vatican, felt obliged to turn down the prestigious Laetare Medal because of this.) Notre Dame’s honoring of Obama is not merely a “Catholic” thing. Many thousands of citizens with no Catholic or Notre Dame connections have protested it. They see it as a capitulation of faith to expedience and the pursuit of vain prestige. Obama’s record and stated purposes are hostile to the most basic truths of faith and the natural law affirmed by the Catholic Church and by many others. Four decades ago, in 1967, the major “Catholic” universities declared their “autonomy” from the Catholic Church in the Land O’Lakes Declaration. The honoring of Obama reflects the replacement by those universities of the benign authority of the Church with the politically correct standards of the secular academic establishment and, especially, of the government. There is a lesson here for all Americans. Notre Dame fell into relativism and expediency because it rejected the Church as the authentic interpreter of the moral law. In this post-Christian era, American culture is following a similar path by reducing morality to the unguided consensus of individual choices. If no code of right and wrong has moral authority – not even the Ten Commandments – then society is ruled by the conflict of interests, and might makes right. The jurisprudence of such relativism is legal positivism in which no law can be criticized as unjust because no one can know what is “just.” What Happened to Notre Dame? by Charles E. Rice, with an Introduction by Alfred Freddoso – two of Notre Dame’s most distinguished scholars, who together have served the University for over 70 years – first recounts the details of Notre Dame’s honoring of President Obama. It then examines the succession of fall-back excuses offered by the Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins, c.s.c., and University publicists to justify Notre Dame’s defiance of the nation’s bishops and of Catholic teaching. But Rice is not content with mere reportage. What Happened to Notre Dame?diagnoses the problem’s roots by first providing an overview of the Land O’Lakes Declaration, its inception and its aftermath, including the ways in which its false autonomy from the Church has led to an erosion of the Catholic identity of Notre Dame and other Catholic universities. Then, it offers a cure. Christ, who is God, is the author of the divine law and the natural law. The book presents reasons why an acknowledged interpreter of these laws is necessary, and why that interpreter has to be the Pope exercising the Magisterium, or teaching authority of the Church. And it shows why it is so important that we have such a moral interpreter for all citizens and not just for Catholics. The alternative is what Pope Benedict XVI calls the “dictatorship of relativism,” which the book analyzes. Even for those who do not share the Catholic faith, our reason leads us to conclude that the natural law is the only moral code that makes entire sense and points to the conclusion that the Vicar of Christ is uniquely suited to give authoritative interpretation to that law. In the final chapter Rice shows why great good can come out of Notre Dame’s blunder in rendering its highest honors to such an implacable foe. Notre Dame got itself into such a mess because it attempted to be Catholic without the Church and ended up defying the Church and disgracing itself. But good can result from the lesson here that roll-your-own morality is no more tenable than roll-your-own Catholicism. * * * * * Rice shows why what happened to Notre Dame is symptomatic of what’s happening in other Catholic colleges, indeed colleges with non-Catholic religious affiliations. He shows how the abandonment of principle at the college level spills over to the general culture, with devastating effect, as religious standards get pushed out of the public square. And, finally, he shows why people who have never seen the Golden Dome, never rooted for the Fighting Irish, and never graced a Catholic Church, also have a stake in what happened to Notre Dame.

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The war between Almacia and the Empire of Kolakolvia is in its hundredth year. Casualties grow on both sides as the conflict leaves no corner of the world untouched. Illarion Glaskov’s quiet life on the fringes of the empire is thrown into chaos when an impossible tragedy strikes his village. When he is conscripted into the Tsarist military, he is sent to serve in The Wall—an elite regiment that pilots suits of armor made from the husks of dead golems. But the great war is not the only—or even the worst—danger facing Illarion, as he is caught in a millennia-old conflict between two goddesses. He must survive the ravages of trench warfare, horrific monsters from another world, and the treacherous internal politics of the country he serves. About Larry Correia: “Correia piles on the intrigue, action, and cliffhangers in the invigorating second Saga of the Forgotten Warrior epic fantasy. . . . Correia also weaves in elements that question the value of belief and the cost of giving authority to those who find more profit in preying on the weak. . . . Brisk fight scenes, lively characters, and plenty of black humor continue to make this series a real pleasure.” —Publishers Weekly “This book has everything I like in fantasy: intense action scenes, evil in horrifying array, good struggling against the darkness, and most of all people—gorgeously flawed human beings faced with horrible moral choices that force them to question and change and grow.” —Jim Butcher, creator of the New York Times best-selling Dresden Files “Best-selling fantasy author Correia casts a compelling spell with this India-influenced series opener. . . . Correia skillfully sets in motion this story of plots within plots, revealing complex, sympathetic characters and black-hearted villains with equal detail and insight. Full of action, intrigue, and wry humor, this exciting series launch promises many more thrills to come.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “Fans who like Correia’s fast-moving style will be pleased with the plethora of action scenes, and epic fantasy readers interested in delving into a new universe should be equally satisfied. A solid choice for admirers of Brent Weeks and Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series.” —Library Journal “Correia is, above all, a storyteller, and he weaves a unique and entertaining tale. Without question, his action sequences pop on the page, his magic system has a nice wrinkle, and he has the foundations laid out for some excellent character growth as the series continues. . . . [A] definite hit.” —Bookreporter “The lore here is fascinating and well told. I enjoyed learning the history of the world and the legend of Ramrowan. The politics are just complicated enough to feel real without being too difficult to follow. Where the book truly shines, however, is in the characters. All are well drawn and distinctively voiced.” —SFcrowsnest “I loved the book, it was great, fast paced, with wonderful characters, and also a lot of wonderful scenes that screamed to be painted.” —Larry Elmore, legendary award-winning artist and cover artist for Son of the Black Sword “Son of the Black Sword: Saga of the Forgotten Warrior tells of what happens after the war with the gods, when demons were cast out and fell to the world to nearly destroy these unstoppable beasts until the gods sent a hero to save them. Centuries have passed since this event and the people have regulated these events to legend. One Ashok has been chosen to be a protector with a powerful weapon in hand, uncovering those who still practice old ways and are potential dangers to the order—but when he discovers all his efforts have been based on a lie, everything's about to change. A powerful epic fantasy evolves into a solid, compelling read.” —Midwest Book Review “[A] no-holds-barred all-out page-turner that is part science fiction, part horror, and an absolute blast to read.” —Bookreporter.com “A gun person who likes science fiction—or, heck, anyone who likes science fiction—will enjoy [these books] . . . The plotting is excellent, and Correia makes you care about the characters . . . I read both books without putting them down except for work . . . so whaddaya waitin’ for? Go and buy some . . . for yourself and for . . . stocking stuffers.” —Massad Ayoob “This lighthearted, testosterone-soaked sequel to 2009's Monster Hunter International will delight fans of action horror with elaborate weaponry, hand-to-hand combat, disgusting monsters, and an endless stream of blood and body parts.” —Publishers Weekly on Monster Hunter Vendetta About Steve Diamond: ”Residue will scare you—that’s its primary goal—but along the way it will touch you, shock you, make you laugh, make you cheer, and make you think. Horror has been waiting for Steve Diamond.” — Dan Wells

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It would be impossible to tabulate fully the debt modern psychology owes to Sigmund Freud. Freud's theories of the unconscious, the role of parents in personality development, psychological defense mechanisms, psychosomatic symptoms, body image, and sexual behavior patterns, to name just a few, continue to exert a powerful influence on most contemporary schools of psychological thought. So, too, elements of the original psychoanalytic method have become a fixture in the modern psychotherapeutic armamentarium. But, as the authors of this book point out, Freud's approach was more intuitive than scientific, and his work less a rigorous system than a collection of "mini-theories," some of which have stood the test of time and scientific scrutiny, while others have not. For obvious reasons, then, it is important that Freud's theories and methods be periodically reappraised and revised in light of the latest empirical findings, and that they be closely evaluated for their relevance to the contemporary psychological scene. Freud Scientifically Reappraised represents Seymour Fisher and Roger Greenberg's on-going efforts to do precisely that. Like their landmark work of the 1970s, The Scientific Credibility of Freud's Theories and Therapy, it is based on the authors' critical review of all studies conducted over the past decade that either directly or indirectly tested the validity of Freud's theories of psychopathology, personality types, Oedipal dynamics, and the nature of the dream process, or the efficacy of psychoanalytic therapy. While their research focused mainly on sources in social, clinical, cognitive, developmental, physiological, and other psycho-logical schools of thought, it also extended to the recent literature in anthropology, sociology, psychiatry, psychosomatic medicine, and other outside disciplines. OF RELATED INTEREST... PSYCHIATRY AND CRIMINAL CULPABILITY—Ralph Slovenko In this book Ralph Slovenko, a professor of law and psychiatry, explores the cases, origins, links, and requirements of legal insanity tests. Dr. Slovenko addresses a wide range of important topical issues such as the distinction between the defenses of not guilty by reason of insanity, guilty but mentally ill, and diminished capacity. He identifies the types of mental illness that fall under criminal responsibility and explores the role of the mental health professional as an expert character witness. This thought-provoking book will help mental health and legal professionals deal with the controversial question of what makes a person criminally responsible or criminally insane. 1994 (0-471-05425-9) 448 pp. A PERILOUS CALLING: The Hazards of Psychotherapy Practice Edited by Michael B. Sussman Through a series of compelling first-person narratives, this fascinating book takes a revealing look into the private and professional lives of psychotherapists. This candid approach reveals not only the perils of the job, but the effects that dealing with the emotional and mental sufferings of others may have on the psychotherapist. This book will help professionals learn how to take better care of themselves in their professional and private lives and help their patients, friends, and loved ones gain some insight into the psychotherapists' own concerns and conflicts. 1995 PSEUDOSCIENCE IN BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY: Blaming the Body—Colin A. Ross and Alvin Pam Pseudoscience in Biological Psychiatry is a groundbreaking book that explores cutting-edge issues like the historical origins of biological psychiatry, genetics and mental illness, the current state of psychiatric training, psychopharmacology and drug therapy, and more. Instead of limiting the origins of mental illnesses to chemical or physical influences, this book takes into account the possibility of illnesses stemming from outside influences as well. This book alerts the mental health community to the ideological blind spots and conceptual errors in the basic logic and methodology of biological psychiatry and suggests alternative approaches to understanding and treating mental illness. 1994 (0-471-00776-5) 304 pp. As will be apparent to all those versed in Freudian theory, throughout Freud Scientifically Reappraised, the authors scrupulously avoid the common tendency to oversimplify the theories in order to make them easier to test empirically, but instead present them in their full complexity as formulated by Freud. Readers from all backgrounds will appreciate the effort made to relate Freud's concepts and methods to personality and cognitive literature in order to provide a framework for integrating them into contemporary thought and practice. Freud Scientifically Reappraised is must reading for psychologists, psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, and all mental health workers who acknowledge the enduring influence of and debt owed to the "Father of Psychoanalysis." Upon its publication, The Scientific Credibility of Freud's Theories and Therapy was named one of the 10 best books in psychology by Library Journal and one of the "Best Behavioral Science Books" by Psychology Today.

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The Great Extermination has begun.In the Capitol, Grand Inquisitor Omand Vokkan hatches a plot to kill every member of the untouchable caste in all of Lok, down to the last man, woman, and child. As a member of the Order of Inquisition, Vokkan has no official say in the creation of Law, but he has powerful allies willing to do his bidding. Through them, he has convinced the Judges that the genocide will be swift, complete, and without complication. Nothing is farther from the truth.Lord Protector Devedas has sworn to uphold the Law. Once, he and the traitor Ashok Vadal had been like brothers. Now, he hunts Vadal and the Sons of the Black Sword, heretics and rebels who seek to live outside the rule of the Law. All Devedas must do is find and kill his best friend and order will be restored to Lok.The rebels seek the secret kingdom spoken of by the Prophet Thera, a paradise where water is pure and food plentiful, where there are no castes, where the people rule themselves, and are not slaves to the Capitol. Ashok Vadal is not sure he believes in such a Paradise, but he—along with his allies—do seek refuge in the rebellion’s hideout in Akershan. But Vadal, a former High Protector who has turned his back on the corrupt Law, will not merely wait meekly, hoping that fleeing to Akershan will spare the rebellion from the clutches of the Great Extermination. No, if it’s a war the Capitol wants, Vadal, who has faced down gods and demons, will be all too willing to give it to them.About House of Assassins:“Correia piles on the intrigue, action, and cliffhangers in the invigorating second Saga of the Forgotten Warrior epic fantasy. . . . Correia also weaves in elements that question the value of belief and the cost of giving authority to those who find more profit in preying on the weak. . . . Brisk fight scenes, lively characters, and plenty of black humor continue to make this series a real pleasure.”—Publishers WeeklyAbout prequel Son of the Black Sword:"This book has everything I like in fantasy: intense action scenes, evil in horrifying array, good struggling against the darkness, and most of all people—gorgeously flawed human beings faced with horrible moral choices that force them to question and change and grow."—Jim Butcher, creator of the New York Times best-selling Dresden Files"Best-selling fantasy author Correia casts a compelling spell with this India-influenced series opener. . . . Correia skillfully sets in motion this story of plots within plots, revealing complex, sympathetic characters and black-hearted villains with equal detail and insight. Full of action, intrigue, and wry humor, this exciting series launch promises many more thrills to come."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)"Fans who like Correia’s fast-moving style will be pleased with the plethora of action scenes, and epic fantasy readers interested in delving into a new universe should be equally satisfied. A solid choice for admirers of Brent Weeks and Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series."—Library Journal"Correia is, above all, a storyteller, and he weaves a unique and entertaining tale. Without question, his action sequences pop on the page, his magic system has a nice wrinkle, and he has the foundations laid out for some excellent character growth as the series continues. . . . [A] definite hit."—Bookreporter"The lore here is fascinating and well told. I enjoyed learning the history of the world and the legend of Ramrowan. The politics are just complicated enough to feel real without being too difficult to follow. Where the book truly shines, however, is in the characters. All are well drawn and distinctively voiced."—SFCrowsnest“I loved the book, it was great, fast paced, with wonderful characters, and also a lot of wonderful scenes that screamed to be painted.”—Larry Elmore, legendary, award-winning artist, and cover artist for Son of the Black Sword."Son of the Black Sword: Saga of the Forgotten Warrior tells of what happens after the war with the gods, when demons were cast out and fell to the world to nearly destroy these unstoppable beasts until the gods sent a hero to save them. Centuries have passed since this event and the people have regulated these events to legend. One Ashok has been chosen to be a protector with a powerful weapon in hand, uncovering those who still practice old ways and are potential dangers to the order - but when he discovers all his efforts have been based on a lie, everything's about to change. A powerful epic fantasy evolves into a solid, compelling read."—Midwest Book ReviewAbout the Urban Fantasy of Larry Correia:“[A] no-holds-barred all-out page turner that is part science fiction, part horror, and an absolute blast to read.”—Bookreporter.com“A gun person who likes science fiction—or, heck, anyone who likes science fiction—will enjoy [these books]. . . The plotting is excellent, and Correia makes you care about the characters...I read both books without putting them down except for work . . . so whaddaya waitin’ for? Go and buy some . . . for yourself and for stocking stuffers.”—Massad Ayoob“This lighthearted, testosterone-soaked sequel to 2009's Monster Hunter International will delight fans of action horror with elaborate weaponry, hand-to-hand combat, disgusting monsters, and an endless stream of blood and body parts.”—Publishers Weekly on Monster Hunter Vendetta

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The Assassination of the Chief Judge has pushed the Capitol to the Edge. The Great Extermination has spread to all the land. The casteless must be annihilated. Their only hope is the fallen Protector Ashok Vadal. But Vadal is being held prisoner on the island of Fortress. In order to save those who need him most, he must escape and find his way across the demon-infested sea and return to Thera, the prophet of an illegal and forgotten god. It is she who has sent the Sons of the Black Sword to war against the warrior caste, hoping to buy time until Vadal’s return. But as the chaos swirls, Grand Inquisitor Omand Vokkan launches a coup to install Lord Protector Devedas as his puppet king. Devedas has no intention of being anyone’s puppet, but it may not matter. For Vokkan has struck a secret bargain with a demon. Vokkan will destroy the casteless for this ancient being; in exchange, he will be granted the power of the ancient gods. Ashok Vadal, Thera, and the Sons of the Black Sword face foes both human and supernatural, Byzantine political intrigue and bloody hand-to-hand combat, gods and demons alike. But Vadal is a warrior, with a warrior's heart, and woe to those who would stand in his way—man, god, demon, or otherwise! About Destroyer of Worlds: “The inevitable fight scenes are just as epic as fans expect. Packed with action, grit, and Ashok’s own grim sarcasm, Correia’s latest is sure to satisfy.”—Publishers Weekly About House of Assassins: “Correia piles on the intrigue, action, and cliffhangers in the invigorating second Saga of the Forgotten Warrior epic fantasy. . . . Correia also weaves in elements that question the value of belief and the cost of giving authority to those who find more profit in preying on the weak. . . . Brisk fight scenes, lively characters, and plenty of black humor continue to make this series a real pleasure.”—Publishers Weekly About Son of the Black Sword: “This book has everything I like in fantasy: intense action scenes, evil in horrifying array, good struggling against the darkness, and most of all people—gorgeously flawed human beings faced with horrible moral choices that force them to question and change and grow.”—Jim Butcher, creator of the New York Times best-selling Dresden Files “Best-selling fantasy author Correia casts a compelling spell with this India-influenced series opener. . . . Correia skillfully sets in motion this story of plots within plots, revealing complex, sympathetic characters and black-hearted villains with equal detail and insight. Full of action, intrigue, and wry humor, this exciting series launch promises many more thrills to come.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Fans who like Correia’s fast-moving style will be pleased with the plethora of action scenes, and epic fantasy readers interested in delving into a new universe should be equally satisfied. A solid choice for admirers of Brent Weeks and Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series.”—Library Journal “Correia is, above all, a storyteller, and he weaves a unique and entertaining tale. Without question, his action sequences pop on the page, his magic system has a nice wrinkle, and he has the foundations laid out for some excellent character growth as the series continues. . . . [A] definite hit.”—Bookreporter “The lore here is fascinating and well told. I enjoyed learning the history of the world and the legend of Ramrowan. The politics are just complicated enough to feel real without being too difficult to follow. Where the book truly shines, however, is in the characters. All are well drawn and distinctively voiced.”—SFCrowsnest “I loved the book, it was great, fast paced, with wonderful characters, and also a lot of wonderful scenes that screamed to be painted.”—Larry Elmore, legendary, award-winning artist, and cover artist for Son of the Black Sword. “Son of the Black Sword: Saga of the Forgotten Warrior tells of what happens after the war with the gods, when demons were cast out and fell to the world to nearly destroy these unstoppable beasts until the gods sent a hero to save them. Centuries have passed since this event and the people have regulated these events to legend. One Ashok has been chosen to be a protector with a powerful weapon in hand, uncovering those who still practice old ways and are potential dangers to the order—but when he discovers all his efforts have been based on a lie, everything's about to change. A powerful epic fantasy evolves into a solid, compelling read.”—Midwest Book Review About the urban fantasy of Larry Correia: “[A] no-holds-barred all-out page turner that is part science fiction, part horror, and an absolute blast to read.”—Bookreporter.com “A gun person who likes science fiction—or, heck, anyone who likes science fiction—will enjoy [these books]. . . The plotting is excellent, and Correia makes you care about the characters…I read both books without putting them down except for work . . . so whaddaya waitin’ for? Go and buy some . . . for yourself and for stocking stuffers.”—Massad Ayoob “This lighthearted, testosterone-soaked sequel to 2009's Monster Hunter International will delight fans of action horror with elaborate weaponry, hand-to-hand combat, disgusting monsters, and an endless stream of blood and body parts.”—Publishers Weekly on Monster Hunter Vendetta

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From the critically acclaimed author of Bunny comes a horror-tinted, gothic fairy tale about a lonely dress shop clerk whose mother’s unexpected death sends her down a treacherous path in pursuit of youth and beauty. Can she escape her mother’s fate and find a connection that is more than skin deep?A Most Anticipated Book of 2023 in The Guardian, i newspaper, The New York Times, Time, Globe and Mail, Bustle, The Millions, LitHub, TOR, Good Housekeeping, Our Culture Mag, and more! 'You think, “She’s not going to go there…yes, she is.' Margaret Atwood 'The trancelike, rhapsodic language and deepening atmosphere of unreality make for a narrative that oozes with unease.' The Guardian ‘Rouge is a must-read for anyone who has found themselves obsessively, and even dangerously, fixated on self-improvement. [...] Dreamline, hypnotic and enchanting in its language, Rouge proves Awad is a huge talent’ Stylist, Book of the Month ‘A tale of insidious damage of envy and our preoccupation with appearances. Anyone maintaining a ten-step Korean skincare regimen may feel seen. […] Awad ramps up the grand guignol hysteria rather splendidly, chucking in some film noir tropes for good measure as we hurtle towards a demonic denouement’ The Times ‘Rouge is a story in which dreams become nightmares and vice versa. Desire and danger walk hand-in-hand and Awad skilfully manipulates the vertiginous tension between them. The beauty industry is ripe for Awad’s signature treatment: gothic satire, bloody but beautifully done. Much of it is darkly hilarious. […] If you like your fairy tales dark and for adults only, then stick along for the wild ride.’ Daily Telegraph '[D]ark and seductive.' i newspaper 'An edgy fable on the perils of our modern fascination with beauty.' Vogue 'Awad is a genius, preternaturally gifted at creating vicious, hilarious tales about the depravity inside us.' Vulture For as long as she can remember, Belle has been insidiously obsessed with her skin and skincare videos. When her estranged mother Noelle mysteriously dies, Belle finds herself back in Southern California, dealing with her mother’s considerable debts and grappling with lingering questions about her death. The stakes escalate when a strange woman in red appears at the funeral, offering a tantalizing clue about her mother’s demise, followed by a cryptic video about a transformative spa experience. With the help of a pair of red shoes, Belle is lured into the barbed embrace of La Maison de Méduse, the same lavish, culty spa to which her mother was devoted. There, Belle discovers the frightening secret behind her (and her mother’s) obsession with the mirror—and the great shimmering depths (and demons) that lurk on the other side of the glass.Snow White meets Eyes Wide Shut in this surreal descent into the dark side of beauty, envy, grief, and the complicated love between mothers and daughters. With black humor and seductive horror, ROUGE explores the cult-like nature of the beauty industry—as well as the danger of internalizing its pitiless gaze. Brimming with California sunshine and blood-red rose petals, ROUGE holds up a warped mirror to our relationship with mortality, our collective fixation with the surface, and the wondrous, deep longing that might lie beneath. 'A brilliant, biting critique of western beauty standards as well as a soaring, phantasmagoric, Angela Carter-esque fairy tale about trauma and the loss of self. Rouge is deeply unsettling, funny, obsessive, and unlike anything I've read. A truly mesmerizing read.' Paul Tremblay, author of The Cabin at the End of the World 'Rouge is a fever dream—a brilliant, intense, unforgettable horror story about a beauty cult with a deeply moving mother-daughter story at its core. Mona Awad’s signature and singular imagination and black humor and empathy are on full display here, and her wild-ride of a tale is masterfully grounded in the emotional devastation of childhood and grief. I loved every word of this.' Laura Zigman, author of Small World 'There is nobody else like Mona Awad, daring enough to plunge her hands—rings and all—into the viscera of story and discover an unsettling beauty within. ROUGE is her most magnetic work yet, a thrilling dystopian romp that knows that beneath the glossy, aspirational veneer of self-care lurks the same old gothic abyss.' Alexandra Kleeman, author of Something New Under the Sun 'Unsettling, whimsical, and moving, Rouge is an authentic, innovative kind of narrative magic that's both surreal and absolute. A striking novel of incandescence and heart.' Iain Reid, author of I'm Thinking of Ending Things 'Awad’s latest is a dreamy (or perhaps nightmarish) gothic fairy tale about a mother, a daughter, and their shared obsession with their own beauty. Like all of Awad’s novels, it reels you in, shakes your brain until you’re not sure what you’re seeing, and then floats off cackling on a cloud of smoke. Metaphorically, that is. I’d forgive you for not being sure.' Lit Hub (Most Anticipated Books of 2023) 'Mona Awad, I will read everything you ever write. She is a writer of unbelievable talent.' Tor.com '[A] hypnotic tour de force… Awad approaches the increasingly well-trod ground of sinister wellness gurus with aplomb, creating an atmosphere of creeping discomfort and surreality right from the start. This is the stuff of fairy tales—red shoes, ballrooms, mirrors, and thorns but also sincerity, poignancy, and terror.' Kirkus (Starred Review) '[A] delightfully twisted fairy tale… The author’s acerbic wit radiates in this excoriating story of beauty’s ugly side.' Publisher's Weekly

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Ashok Vidal was once a member of the highest caste in all of Lok. As a Protector, he devoted his life to upholding the Law, rooting out those who still practiced the old ways and delivering swift justice with his ancestor blade Angruvadal. None was more merciless than he in stamping out the lingering belief in gods and demons among the casteless. His brutality was legendary and celebrated. But soon Ashok learned that his life to that point had been a lie. He himself, senior member of the Protector Order, was casteless. He had been nothing more than an unwitting pawn in a political game. His world turned upside down and finding himself on the wrong side of the Law, he began a campaign of rebellion, war, and destruction unlike any Lok had ever seen. Thera had been first daughter of Vane. A member of the Warrior Order, she had spent her life training for combat. Until a strange sight in the heavens appeared one day. Thera was struck by lighting and from that day forward she heard the Voice. A reluctant prophet with the power to see into the future, she fought alongside Ashok Vadal and his company of men known as the Sons of the Black Sword until a shapeshifting wizard with designs on her powers of precognition spirited her away. He holds her prisoner in the House of Assassins. Ashok Vadal and the Sons of the Black Sword march to rescue Thera. With his sword Angruvadal, Ashok was unstoppable. But Angruvadal is gone, shattered to pieces on the demon possessed husk of a warrior. Now, Ashok must fight without the aid of the magic blade for the first time. Thera’s life depends on it. But there is much more at risk in the continent of Lok. Strange forces are working behind the scenes. Ashok Vadal and the Sons of the Black Sword are caught up in a game they do not fully understand, with powerful forces allied against them. Ashok no longer knows what to believe. He is beginning to think perhaps the gods really do exist. If so, he’s warned them to stay out of his way. They would do well to listen. About prequel Son of the Black Sword: "This book has everything I like in fantasy: intense action scenes, evil in horrifying array, good struggling against the darkness, and most of all people—gorgeously flawed human beings faced with horrible moral choices that force them to question and change and grow."—Jim Butcher, creator of the New York Times best-selling Dresden Files "Best-selling fantasy author Correia casts a compelling spell with this India-influenced series opener. . . . Correia skillfully sets in motion this story of plots within plots, revealing complex, sympathetic characters and black-hearted villains with equal detail and insight. Full of action, intrigue, and wry humor, this exciting series launch promises many more thrills to come."—Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Fans who like Correia’s fast-moving style will be pleased with the plethora of action scenes, and epic fantasy readers interested in delving into a new universe should be equally satisfied. A solid choice for admirers of Brent Weeks and Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series."—Library Journal "Correia is, above all, a storyteller, and he weaves a unique and entertaining tale.Without question, his action sequences pop on the page, his magic system has a nice wrinkle, and he has the foundations laid out for some excellent character growth as the series continues. . . . [A] definite hit."—Bookreporter "The lore here is fascinating and well told. I enjoyed learning the history of the world and the legend of Ramrowan. The politics are just complicated enough to feel real without being too difficult to follow. Where the book truly shines, however, is in the characters. All are well drawn and distinctively voiced."—SFCrowsnest “I loved the book, it was great, fast paced, with wonderful characters, and also a lot of wonderful scenes that screamed to be painted.”—Larry Elmore, legendary, award-winning artist, and cover artist for Son of the Black Sword. "Son of the Black Sword: Saga of the Forgotten Warrior tells of what happens after the war with the gods, when demons were cast out and fell to the world to nearly destroy these unstoppable beasts until the gods sent a hero to save them. Centuries have passed since this event and the people have regulated these events to legend. One Ashok has been chosen to be a protector with a powerful weapon in hand, uncovering those who still practice old ways and are potential dangers to the order - but when he discovers all his efforts have been based on a lie, everything's about to change. A powerful epic fantasy evolves into a solid, compelling read."—Midwest Book Reivew About the Urban Fantasy of Larry Correia: “[A] no-holds-barred all-out page turner that is part science fiction, part horror, and an absolute blast to read.”—Bookreporter.com “If you love monsters and action, you’ll love this book. If you love guns, you’ll love this book. If you love fantasy, and especially horror fantasy, you’ll love this book.”—Knotclan.com “A gun person who likes science fiction—or, heck, anyone who likes science fiction—will enjoy [these books]. . . The plotting is excellent, and Correia makes you care about the characters…I read both books without putting them down except for work . . . so whaddaya waitin’ for? Go and buy some . . . for yourself and for stocking stuffers.”—Massad Ayoob “This lighthearted, testosterone-soaked sequel to 2009's Monster Hunter International will delight fans of action horror with elaborate weaponry, hand-to-hand combat, disgusting monsters, and an endless stream of blood and body parts.”—Publishers Weekly on Monster Hunter Vendetta

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The Great Extermination has begun. In the Capitol, Grand Inquisitor Omand Vokkan hatches a plot to kill every member of the untouchable caste in all of Lok, down to the last man, woman, and child. As a member of the Order of Inquisition, Vokkan has no official say in the creation of Law, but he has powerful allies willing to do his bidding. Through them, he has convinced the Judges that the genocide will be swift, complete, and without complication. Nothing is further from the truth. Lord Protector Devedas has sworn to uphold the Law. Once, he and the traitor Ashok Vadal had been like brothers. Now, he hunts Vadal and the Sons of the Black Sword, heretics and rebels who seek to live outside the rule of the Law. All Devedas must do is find and kill his best friend and order will be restored to Lok. The rebels seek the secret kingdom spoken of by the Prophet Thera, a paradise where water is pure and food plentiful, where there are no castes, where the people rule themselves, and are not slaves to the Capitol. Ashok Vadal is not sure he believes in such a paradise, but he—along with his allies—do seek refuge in the rebellion’s hideout in Akershan. But Vadal, a former High Protector who has turned his back on the corrupt Law, will not merely wait meekly, hoping that fleeing to Akershan will spare the rebellion from the clutches of the Great Extermination. No, if it’s a war the Capitol wants, Vadal, who has faced down gods and demons, will be all too willing to give it to them. About Destroyer of Worlds: “The inevitable fight scenes are just as epic as fans expect. Packed with action, grit, and Ashok’s own grim sarcasm, Correia’s latest is sure to satisfy.”—Publishers Weekly About House of Assassins: “Correia piles on the intrigue, action, and cliffhangers in the invigorating second Saga of the Forgotten Warrior epic fantasy. . . . Correia also weaves in elements that question the value of belief and the cost of giving authority to those who find more profit in preying on the weak. . . . Brisk fight scenes, lively characters, and plenty of black humor continue to make this series a real pleasure.”—Publishers Weekly About prequel Son of the Black Sword: “This book has everything I like in fantasy: intense action scenes, evil in horrifying array, good struggling against the darkness, and most of all people—gorgeously flawed human beings faced with horrible moral choices that force them to question and change and grow.”—Jim Butcher, creator of the New York Times best-selling Dresden Files “Best-selling fantasy author Correia casts a compelling spell with this India-influenced series opener. . . . Correia skillfully sets in motion this story of plots within plots, revealing complex, sympathetic characters and black-hearted villains with equal detail and insight. Full of action, intrigue, and wry humor, this exciting series launch promises many more thrills to come.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Fans who like Correia’s fast-moving style will be pleased with the plethora of action scenes, and epic fantasy readers interested in delving into a new universe should be equally satisfied. A solid choice for admirers of Brent Weeks and Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series.”—Library Journal “Correia is, above all, a storyteller, and he weaves a unique and entertaining tale. Without question, his action sequences pop on the page, his magic system has a nice wrinkle, and he has the foundations laid out for some excellent character growth as the series continues. . . . [A] definite hit.”—Bookreporter “The lore here is fascinating and well told. I enjoyed learning the history of the world and the legend of Ramrowan. The politics are just complicated enough to feel real without being too difficult to follow. Where the book truly shines, however, is in the characters. All are well drawn and distinctively voiced.”—SFCrowsnest “I loved the book, it was great, fast paced, with wonderful characters, and also a lot of wonderful scenes that screamed to be painted.”—Larry Elmore, legendary, award-winning artist, and cover artist for Son of the Black Sword. “Son of the Black Sword: Saga of the Forgotten Warrior tells of what happens after the war with the gods, when demons were cast out and fell to the world to nearly destroy these unstoppable beasts until the gods sent a hero to save them. Centuries have passed since this event and the people have regulated these events to legend. One Ashok has been chosen to be a protector with a powerful weapon in hand, uncovering those who still practice old ways and are potential dangers to the order—but when he discovers all his efforts have been based on a lie, everything's about to change. A powerful epic fantasy evolves into a solid, compelling read.”—Midwest Book Review About the Urban Fantasy of Larry Correia: “[A] no-holds-barred all-out page turner that is part science fiction, part horror, and an absolute blast to read.”—Bookreporter.com “A gun person who likes science fiction—or, heck, anyone who likes science fiction—will enjoy [these books]. . . The plotting is excellent, and Correia makes you care about the characters…I read both books without putting them down except for work . . . so whaddaya waitin’ for? Go and buy some . . . for yourself and for stocking stuffers.”—Massad Ayoob “This lighthearted, testosterone-soaked sequel to 2009's Monster Hunter International will delight fans of action horror with elaborate weaponry, hand-to-hand combat, disgusting monsters, and an endless stream of blood and body parts.”—Publishers Weekly on Monster Hunter Vendetta

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This innovative new textbook, with a full suite of related resources, has been created to support student development and enhancement of healthy behaviors that influence their lifestyle choices and fitness, health, and wellness. A key feature of this curriculum is the complete integration of physical education and health concepts and skills to maximize student interest, learning, and application. This objective was accomplished by combining the expertise of our author teams from two related textbooks--Fitness for Life, Sixth Edition, and Health for Life. This is not just a health textbook with a few physical education concepts thrown in. School systems that want a single textbook to help them address both physical education and health education standards will find that this book provides them a unique and cost-effective option. Health Opportunities Through Physical Education is available in print and digital formats, including an iBooks interactive version for iPads plus other e-book formats that students can use across a variety of platforms. Part I, Fitness for Life, will help students become physically literate individuals who have the knowledge, skills, and confidence to enjoy a lifetime of healthful physical activity. The book will guide students in becoming informed consumers on matters related to lifelong physical activity and fitness, taking responsibility for setting individualized goals, and making their own plans for active living. To accomplish this overarching goal, they learn a variety of self-management skills, including self-assessment. The program is based on established educational theory, which is outlined in the teacher web resources. And they learn all of this through a combination of classroom and physical activity lessons that meet national, state, and local physical activity guidelines and help instill a love for lifetime fitness activities. Part I also enables students to achieve the following goals: • Meet college and career readiness standards by learning and using critical thinking, decision making, and problem-solving skills • Use the Stairway to Lifetime Fitness concept, created by author Chuck Corbin, to encourage higher-order learning (move from dependence to independence) • Perform self-assessments, including all tests in the Fitnessgram battery and the Presidential Youth Fitness Program Part I includes many features that actively engage students by allowing them to: • Assess their own fitness and other health and wellness factors to determine personal needs and assess progress resulting from healthy lifestyle planning. • Use Taking Charge and Self-Management features to learn self-management skills (e.g., goal setting, self-monitoring, self-planning) for adopting healthy lifestyles. • Learn key concepts and principles, higher-order information, and critical thinking skills that provide the basis for sound decision making and personal planning. • Do reading and writing assignments as well as calculations that foster college and career readiness. • Try out activities that are supported by lesson plans offered in the teacher web resources and that can help students be fit and active throughout their lives. < • Take part in real-life activities that show how new information is generated by using the scientific method. • Become aware of and use technology to learn new information about fitness, health, and wellness and learn to discern fact from fiction. • Use the web and the unique web icon feature to connect to relevant and expanded content for essential topics in the student web resource. • Find Academic Connections that relate fitness topics to other parts of the curriculum such as science, language arts, and math. • Use other features such as fitness quotes, consumer corner, Fit Facts, and special exercise features (including exercise and self-assessment videos) that promote higher-order learning. • Focus their study time by following cues from Lesson Objectives and Lesson Vocabulary elements in every chapter. • Use the chapter-ending review questions to test their understanding of the concepts and use critical thinking and project assignments to meet educational standards, including college and career readiness standards. Part II, Health for Life, teaches high school students the fundamentals of health and wellness, how to avoid destructive habits, and how to choose to live healthy lives. This text covers all aspects of healthy living throughout the life span, including preventing disease and seeking care; embracing the healthy lifestyles choices of nutrition and stress management; avoiding destructive habits; building relationships; and creating healthy and safe communities. Part II also has an abundance of features that help students connect with content: • Lesson Objectives, Lesson Vocabulary, Comprehension Check, and Chapter Review help students prepare to dive in to the material, understand it, and retain it . • Connect feature spurs students to analyze various influences on their health and wellness. • Consumer Corner aids students in exploring consumer health issues. • Healthy Communication gets students to use and expand their interpersonal communication skills as they share their views about various health topics. • Skills for Healthy Living and Making Healthy Decisions help students learn and practice self-management so they can make wise choices related to their health and wellness. • Planning for Healthy Living assists students in applying what they’ve learned as they set goals and establish plans for behavior change. • Self-Assessment offers students the opportunity to evaluate their health habits and monitor improvement in health behaviors. • Find Academic Connections that relate fitness topics to other parts of the curriculum such as science, language arts, and math. • Take It Home and Advocacy in Action prepare students to advocate for health at home and in their communities. • Health Science and Health Technology focus on the roles of science and technology as they relate to health and where science and technology intersect regarding health issues. • Living Well News challenges students to integrate health literacy, math, and language skills to better understand a current health issue.

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THE HEART OF A WARRIOR Once, Jackson Rook was a war hero. Raised from boyhood to pilot an exosuit mech, he’d fought gallantly for the rebellion against the Collectivists. But that was a long time ago, on a world very far away. Now, Jackson Rook is a criminal, a smuggler on board the Multipurpose Supply Vehicle Tar Heel. His latest mission: steal a top-of-the-line mech called the Citadel and deliver it to the far-flung planet Swindle, a world so hostile even the air will kill you. The client: a man known only as the Warlord. Rook has been in the smuggling business long enough to know that it’s best to take the money and not ask questions. But Rook cannot stand by and watch as the Warlord runs roughshod over the citizens of Swindle, the way the Collectivists did on his homeworld. For all his mercenary ways, Rook is not a pirate. And deep within the smuggler, the heart of a warrior still beats. About Larry Correia: “Correia piles on the intrigue, action, and cliffhangers in the invigorating second Saga of the Forgotten Warrior epic fantasy. . . . Correia also weaves in elements that question the value of belief and the cost of giving authority to those who find more profit in preying on the weak. . . . Brisk fight scenes, lively characters, and plenty of black humor continue to make this series a real pleasure.” —Publishers Weekly “This book has everything I like in fantasy: intense action scenes, evil in horrifying array, good struggling against the darkness, and most of all people—gorgeously flawed human beings faced with horrible moral choices that force them to question and change and grow.” —Jim Butcher, creator of the New York Times best-selling Dresden Files “Best-selling fantasy author Correia casts a compelling spell with this India-influenced series opener. . . . Correia skillfully sets in motion this story of plots within plots, revealing complex, sympathetic characters and black-hearted villains with equal detail and insight. Full of action, intrigue, and wry humor, this exciting series launch promises many more thrills to come.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “Fans who like Correia’s fast-moving style will be pleased with the plethora of action scenes, and epic fantasy readers interested in delving into a new universe should be equally satisfied. A solid choice for admirers of Brent Weeks and Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series.” —Library Journal “Correia is, above all, a storyteller, and he weaves a unique and entertaining tale. Without question, his action sequences pop on the page, his magic system has a nice wrinkle, and he has the foundations laid out for some excellent character growth as the series continues. . . . [A] definite hit.” —Bookreporter “The lore here is fascinating and well told. I enjoyed learning the history of the world and the legend of Ramrowan. The politics are just complicated enough to feel real without being too difficult to follow. Where the book truly shines, however, is in the characters. All are well drawn and distinctively voiced.” —SFcrowsnest “I loved the book, it was great, fast paced, with wonderful characters, and also a lot of wonderful scenes that screamed to be painted.” —Larry Elmore, legendary award-winning artist and cover artist for Son of the Black Sword. “Son of the Black Sword: Saga of the Forgotten Warrior tells of what happens after the war with the gods, when demons were cast out and fell to the world to nearly destroy these unstoppable beasts until the gods sent a hero to save them. Centuries have passed since this event and the people have regulated these events to legend. One Ashok has been chosen to be a protector with a powerful weapon in hand, uncovering those who still practice old ways and are potential dangers to the order—but when he discovers all his efforts have been based on a lie, everything's about to change. A powerful epic fantasy evolves into a solid, compelling read.” —Midwest Book Review “[A] no-holds-barred all-out page-turner that is part science fiction, part horror, and an absolute blast to read.” —Bookreporter.com “A gun person who likes science fiction—or, heck, anyone who likes science fiction—will enjoy [these books] . . . The plotting is excellent, and Correia makes you care about the characters . . . I read both books without putting them down except for work . . . so whaddaya waitin’ for? Go and buy some . . . for yourself and for . . . stocking stuffers.” —Massad Ayoob “This lighthearted, testosterone-soaked sequel to 2009's Monster Hunter International will delight fans of action horror with elaborate weaponry, hand-to-hand combat, disgusting monsters, and an endless stream of blood and body parts.” —Publishers Weekly on Monster Hunter Vendetta About John D. Brown: “Servant delivers solid pacing, a great setting, and a smart story that breaks away from genre conventions.”—Brandon Sanderson “A provocative, suspenseful beginning of a new series.” —Booklist “A welcome addition to large-scale fantasy.” —Library Journal, starred review “A book that copies nothing I have read before and which goes its own way brilliantly.” —David Drake “I will say, in utter candor, that Servant is a work that truly stands out from other fantasy books on the market. What makes this book work so well is that it’s a story about family first, and a fantasy adventure second.” —Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show

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Can music really arouse emotions? If so, what emotions, and how? Why do listeners respond with different emotions to the same piece of music? Are emotions to music different from other emotions? Why do we respond to fictional events in art as if they were real, even though we know they're not? What is it that makes a performance of music emotionally expressive? Based on ground-breaking research, Musical Emotions Explained explores how music expresses and arouses emotions, and how it becomes an object of aesthetic judgments. Within the book, Juslin demonstrates how psychological mechanisms from our ancient past engage with meanings in music at multiple levels of the brain to evoke a broad variety of affective states - from startle responses to profound aesthetic emotions. He also explores why these mechanisms respond to music. Written by one of the leading researchers in the field, the book is richly illustrated with music examples from everyday life, and explains with clarity and rigour the manifold ways in which music may engage our emotions. Advance praise Musical Emotions Explained is a magnificent publication that has been painstakingly researched to illuminate the many, varied ways music can express and arouse emotions. It provides the most authoritative single authored text on the topic so far. As a highly readable and informative publication, it superbly unlocks the secrets of musical affect for experienced researchers through to lay readers alike. Gary E. McPherson, Ormond Chair of Music and Director, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, Australia Anyone who wants to understand more about the most essential quality of music - its ability to move us - needs to read this book. Juslin's writing is gripping and thoughtful as he takes us on a journey through the latest research on this most interesting intersection between science and art. Daniel J. Levitin, Author of This Is Your Brain on Music and The World in Six Songs. Music Emotions Explained is a tour de force. In this extraordinary book, written with passion and humor, Patrik Juslin shares insights gleaned from decades of ground-breaking research. Breadth and depth are nicely balanced as grand, over-arching themes are richly supported by systematic and detailed research findings. This book will serve as an inviting introduction to students or interested laypersons but also as a touchstone to which professionals will return frequently for guidance and inspiration. Donald A. Hodges, Professor Emeritus, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA Patrik Juslin here deftly synthesizes several decades of psychological research, much of it his own, on how music both expresses emotion and moves us emotionally, in the course of developing an empirically grounded, evolutionarily based, philosophically informed theory of the phenomenon in question, doing so with style and wit. Musical Emotion Explained is wide ranging, engagingly written, full of arresting claims, and studded with telling anecdotes. It is a book that everyone who has ever marveled at the affective power of music should read. Jerrold Levinson, Distinguished University Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Maryland, USA Musical Emotions Explained is essential reading that sets the new gold standard resource for understanding the delicious pleasures of music experience. Using lucid, witty and compelling arguments, Patrik Juslin illustrates a set of core mechanisms that collectively account for music-evoked emotions. Scholars, general readers and musicians will be inspired by this landmark work, which will stimulate research for decades to come. Bill Thompson, Distinguished Professor, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia It goes without saying that Patrik Juslin is one of the world's top experts on the science of musical emotion. What this book reveals is that he is a hugely persuasive and accessible interlocutor. It really feels as though one is in conversation with a friend who is thinking issues and arguments through with the reader, step by step. Of course all the important literature is covered, but this is far from a dry literature review. Juslin's book should excite and stimulate layreaders and professional colleagues alike to deepen their understanding of what makes music emotional. John Sloboda, Research Professor, Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London, UK The best comprehensive and critically explanatory tome to-date on one of the most fascinating and still poorly understood topics in music research, written by the foremost international expert on music and emotion. A treasure for decades to come. Michael Thaut, Professor of Music, Neuroscience and Rehabilitation Science, University of Toronto, Canada In Musical Emotions Explained, Patrik Juslin probes and proffers many psychological and philosophical concepts of musical emotions toward unpacking numerous mysteries surrounding the arousal and expression of musical affect. The results of his meticulous research have profound implications for experiencing, creating, valuing, and teaching music. Written with great care and passion, this brilliant book is a must-read for anyone who takes a serious interest in the nature and values of music in people's lives. David Elliott, Professor of Music and Music Education, New York University, USA Patrik Juslin has been at the forefront of research into music and emotion for more than 20 years. Adding to what is already an astonishing body of work, this hugely impressive monograph is the culmination of that remarkable programme of research. Witten in an accessible and engaging style, and covering a huge range of perspectives, this is a book that will undoubtedly become a classic in the psychology of music, an indispensable resource for researchers in the field, and a fascinating read for those who may be new to the topic. Eric Clarke FBA, Heather Professor of Music, University of Oxford, UK

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Albert James Pickett’s History of Alabama, and Incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the Earliest Period first appeared in Montgomery bookstores in September 1851. The buyers of his two-volume work paid $3 and the demand caused Charleston publisher Walker and James to issue a second and third edition before year’s end. William Gilmore Simms, the South’s most prolific writer, referred to the publication as "one of the prettiest specimens of book making ever done in America." Newspapers in Alabama and literary journals in New York, Charleston, and New Orleans commended Pickett for his "absolutely enchanting" fresh writing style, for using "great care" throughout his book, and for "his important service to his state." While some reviews questioned his narrative style, his sources, or his focus on facts, others credited Pickett for producing "a very valuable" chronicle for the people of Alabama and urged him to produce a third volume for "rising generations."Pickett opens volume one with Hernando de Soto’s explorations from Florida to Arkansas, encounters with native people, and discovery of the Mississippi River. He shifts from the early chiefdoms of the protohistoric period to the Natchez and smaller tribes in the coastal plain and then to the major Indian nations of the interior into the late eighteenth century. While the struggles of French Louisiana with the Natchez dominate the first volume, Pickett establishes the English presence with the founding of Oglethorpe’s Georgia colony and ends with the surrender of the French forts Tombecbé and Toulouse to the British. In volume two, Pickett traces the English push into present-day Alabama and Mississippi and the Revolutionary War era, the Spanish occupation of East and West Florida, the intrigues of Alexander McGillivray and William Bowles, and Georgia’s Yazoo land sales. He devotes several chapters to the Mississippi Territory, Aaron Burr, and the Indian unrest that led to the massacre at Fort Mims, the Creek War of 1813–14, and Andrew Jackson’s campaigns to destroy the Red Sticks and defeat the British in the Gulf South. Pickett concentrates his final chapters on the emergence of Alabama as a territory and state, including biographical sketches of early state leaders, the state constitutional convention, and Alabama’s first governor, William Wyatt Bibb, who died in 1820.Despite Pickett’s failure use his firsthand knowledge to bring his History chronologically beyond 1820, his work continues to be a relevant study of the state’s protohistory, colonial, territorial and early foundations. His work and his papers in the state archives are cited by all serious scholars who study Alabama’s colonial and territorial eras. While he sought all the available printed primary sources and manuscripts for volume one, his second volume was principally informed by the memoirs, reminiscences, letters, and oral interviews of the participants in the events that shaped the development of Alabama from the pre-Revolutionary era through the 1840s. Although recent literary deconstruction of Pickett and his History has been critical of his motivation and writing, Harper Lee, Alabama’s most consequential writer in the twentieth century, asserted in 1983 that he "deserves a place in American literature" and assessed his History as a "unique treasure" that "should be in every high school library" in Alabama. More recently, historian Leah Rawls Atkins declared Pickett to be the writer made the "most historical contribution to Alabama" in the antebellum period. This new edition is the first to provide general readers and scholars with a readily available hardbound, fully indexed, and annotated version of Pickett’s History.Albert James Pickett’s two-volume History of Alabama, and Incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the Earliest Period first appeared in September 1851. Demand for the $3 set caused Charleston publisher Walker and James to issue a second and third edition before year’s end. William Gilmore Simms, the South’s most prolific writer, called it "one of the prettiest specimens of book making ever done in America." Newspapers and literary journals commended Pickett’s "absolutely enchanting" fresh style and "his important service to his state."Volume one covered De Soto’s explorations from Florida to Arkansas, encounters with native people, and discovery of the Mississippi River. The narrative shifts from the early chiefdoms of the protohistoric period to the Natchez and smaller tribes in the coastal plain and then to the major Indian nations of the interior into the late eighteenth century. While the struggles of French Louisiana with the Natchez dominate the first volume, Pickett establishes the English presence with the founding of Oglethorpe’s Georgia colony and ends with the surrender of the French forts Tombecbé and Toulouse. In volume two, Pickett follows the English into present-day Alabama and Mississippi and the Revolutionary War era, the Spanish occupation of East and West Florida, the intrigues of Alexander McGillivray and William Bowles, and Georgia’s Yazoo land sales. He devotes several chapters to the Mississippi Territory, Aaron Burr, and the Indian unrest that led to the massacre at Fort Mims, the Creek War of 1813–14, and Andrew Jackson’s campaigns to destroy the Red Sticks and defeat the British. Pickett concentrates his final chapters on the emergence of Alabama as a territory and state, including biographical sketches of early state leaders, the state constitutional convention, and Alabama’s first governor, William Wyatt Bibb, who died in 1820.Pickett’s History continues to be a relevant study of the state’s protohistory, colonial, territorial, and early foundations. His work and his papers in the state archives are cited by all serious scholars who study Alabama’s colonial and territorial eras. While he sought all the available printed primary sources and manuscripts for volume one, his second volume was principally informed by the memoirs, reminiscences, letters, and oral interviews of the participants in the events that shaped the development of Alabama from the pre-Revolutionary era through the 1840s.This new edition is the first to provide general readers and scholars with a readily available hardbound, fully indexed, and annotated version of Pickett’s History.— first-ever edition of Pickett’s History that is fully annotated, updated and indexed— first hardcover edition of the work in over 100 years— the release of Pickett’s History coincdes with the 200th anniversary in 2019 of Alabama statehood; heightened interest in early settlement of the state will develop opportunities for book— this new edition will be handsome and easily readable, unlike existing facsimile editions

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THE HEART OF A WARRIOR Once, Jackson Rook was a war hero. Raised from boyhood to pilot an exosuit mech, he’d fought gallantly for the rebellion against the Collectivists. But that was a long time ago, on a world very far away. Now, Jackson Rook is a criminal, a smuggler on board the Multipurpose Supply Vehicle Tar Heel. His latest mission: steal a top-of-the-line mech called the Citadel and deliver it to the far-flung planet Swindle, a world so hostile even the air will kill you. The client: a man known only as the Warlord. Rook has been in the smuggling business long enough to know that it’s best to take the money and not ask questions. But Rook cannot stand by and watch as the Warlord runs roughshod over the citizens of Swindle, the way the Collectivists did on his homeworld. For all his mercenary ways, Rook is not a pirate. And deep within the smuggler, the heart of a warrior still beats. About Gun Runner: “Firearm fans will like the level of detail and the realistic constraints of depending on kinetic weapons against tough beasties and mechanized systems alike. The flavor is high action and classic independent versus big government/corporation. . . the characters here are well constructed and the nature of the conflict is all too human.”—Amazing Stories About Larry Correia: “Correia piles on the intrigue, action, and cliffhangers in the invigorating second Saga of the Forgotten Warrior epic fantasy. . . . Correia also weaves in elements that question the value of belief and the cost of giving authority to those who find more profit in preying on the weak. . . . Brisk fight scenes, lively characters, and plenty of black humor continue to make this series a real pleasure.” —Publishers Weekly “This book has everything I like in fantasy: intense action scenes, evil in horrifying array, good struggling against the darkness, and most of all people—gorgeously flawed human beings faced with horrible moral choices that force them to question and change and grow.” —Jim Butcher, creator of the New York Times best-selling Dresden Files “Best-selling fantasy author Correia casts a compelling spell with this India-influenced series opener. . . . Correia skillfully sets in motion this story of plots within plots, revealing complex, sympathetic characters and black-hearted villains with equal detail and insight. Full of action, intrigue, and wry humor, this exciting series launch promises many more thrills to come.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “Fans who like Correia’s fast-moving style will be pleased with the plethora of action scenes, and epic fantasy readers interested in delving into a new universe should be equally satisfied. A solid choice for admirers of Brent Weeks and Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series.” —Library Journal “Correia is, above all, a storyteller, and he weaves a unique and entertaining tale. Without question, his action sequences pop on the page, his magic system has a nice wrinkle, and he has the foundations laid out for some excellent character growth as the series continues. . . . [A] definite hit.” —Bookreporter “The lore here is fascinating and well told. I enjoyed learning the history of the world and the legend of Ramrowan. The politics are just complicated enough to feel real without being too difficult to follow. Where the book truly shines, however, is in the characters. All are well drawn and distinctively voiced.” —SFcrowsnest “I loved the book, it was great, fast paced, with wonderful characters, and also a lot of wonderful scenes that screamed to be painted.” —Larry Elmore, legendary award-winning artist and cover artist for Son of the Black Sword. “Son of the Black Sword: Saga of the Forgotten Warrior tells of what happens after the war with the gods, when demons were cast out and fell to the world to nearly destroy these unstoppable beasts until the gods sent a hero to save them. Centuries have passed since this event and the people have regulated these events to legend. One Ashok has been chosen to be a protector with a powerful weapon in hand, uncovering those who still practice old ways and are potential dangers to the order—but when he discovers all his efforts have been based on a lie, everything's about to change. A powerful epic fantasy evolves into a solid, compelling read.” —Midwest Book Review “[A] no-holds-barred all-out page-turner that is part science fiction, part horror, and an absolute blast to read.” —Bookreporter.com “A gun person who likes science fiction—or, heck, anyone who likes science fiction—will enjoy [these books] . . . The plotting is excellent, and Correia makes you care about the characters . . . I read both books without putting them down except for work . . . so whaddaya waitin’ for? Go and buy some . . . for yourself and for . . . stocking stuffers.” —Massad Ayoob “This lighthearted, testosterone-soaked sequel to 2009's Monster Hunter International will delight fans of action horror with elaborate weaponry, hand-to-hand combat, disgusting monsters, and an endless stream of blood and body parts.” —Publishers Weekly on Monster Hunter Vendetta About John D. Brown: “Servant delivers solid pacing, a great setting, and a smart story that breaks away from genre conventions.”—Brandon Sanderson “A provocative, suspenseful beginning of a new series.” —Booklist “A welcome addition to large-scale fantasy.” —Library Journal, starred review “A book that copies nothing I have read before and which goes its own way brilliantly.” —David Drake “I will say, in utter candor, that Servant is a work that truly stands out from other fantasy books on the market. What makes this book work so well is that it’s a story about family first, and a fantasy adventure second.” —Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show

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"To those outside the military, and even to those serving, the rank structure can sometimes be over simplified. It appears that we rack and stack everyone in the organization, and the person with the most rank “wins”—he or she is in charge, and everyone else has to follow orders that flow from the top. While there is certainly benefit in adhering to a chain of command, the interaction between the various ranks up and down that chain, officer and enlisted, becomes the connective tissue that creates a cohesive, successful organization inside of which good decisions and high morale thrive. The most senior member of a unit has the responsibility—and the honor—of leading. But to be successful, the planning and decision-making at the top must reflect a thorough understanding of the strengths at every level of the organization, for it is the enlisted leaders who will ultimately execute those plans in battle, and win."—Foreword by General Peter Pace, U.S. Marine Corps, 16th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.This book brings together the stories of six former senior enlisted advisors to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Each tells in their own words how they got their start, how mentors encouraged them along the way, and how they eventually became the highest-ranking enlisted member in their respective service."With invaluable lessons this is a book for junior service members, senior enlisted leaders, officers, but also for those with no connection to the military.“Books on leadership are many, but none are as practical, clear, and proven as Breaching the Summit. Sure to be of value to every level of military leader, it is equally relevant and valuable to leaders in government, in businesses of every size, and in every boardroom. The uniquely experienced, gifted, and tested authors have led, inspired, and mentored thousands in their extraordinary careers of service to our nation. They lived, observed, and led from the most junior ranks to the pinnacle of military service - they walked the talk. This book should be at the very top of every leader’s list, to be read and reread.” — Adm. Gary Roughead, U.S. Navy (retired)Chief of Naval Operations (2007–2011)“Six outstanding American military leaders served our nation admirably and now share their life experiences and the leadership lessons they learned. This book is a must-read for all service members - both enlisted and officer - aspiring to be successful leaders in uniform and beyond. Thank you to each of the authors for selflessly sharing their experiences and insights on leadership and life.” — Gen. Frank J. Grass, U.S. Army (retired), 27th Chief of the National Guard Bureau (2012–2016)“These extraordinary enlisted leaders have ‘walked the talk,’ and we should listen. Senior noncommissioned officers are the backbone of the finest armed forces in the world. This book shows why.” — Adm. Thad W. Allen, U.S. Coast Guard (retired), 23rd Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard (2006–2010)“A collection of personal vignettes that teach practical leadership lessons, Breaching the Summit is a must-read for leaders at all levels. The authors have served as their services’ highest-ranking noncommissioned officers and are the epitome of the U.S. military’s professional, all-volunteer force.” — Gen. Ed Eberhart, U.S. Air Force (retired), Commander, NORAD/USNORTHCOM (2002–2005), CEO, Armed Forces Benefit Association“The stories in this book are riveting, powerful, and, best of all, true. The leaders who share their stories shaped our armed forces to be the greatest in the history of our nation. I had the privilege of working very closely with Jim and Paula Roy for over two years. They represent the very finest examples of great parents, humble and inspirational leaders, and compassionate partners, and they showed us all how to have fun while performing at the very highest levels of command.” — Adm. Timothy J. Keating, U.S. Navy (retired), Commander, NORAD/USNORTHCOM (2004–2007), USPACOM (2007–2009)“This book is a catalyst to renew the reader’s commitment to reach and exceed their potential—personally and professionally—while also taking joy in fulfilling their respective duties and responsibilities.” — Col. Paul H. Atterbury, U.S. Marine Corps (retired), Judge Advocate (1994–2014)“I found this book inspiring, interesting, and instructive. Six remarkably accomplished authors share their powerful personal narratives, and their diverse and compelling stories lift up essential leadership lessons for us all, whether military or civilian. If you are anywhere along the continuum of leadership—from leading yourself to leading organizations—and want to become a better leader, read this book!” — Vice Adm. Manson K. Brown, U.S. Coast Guard (retired), Assistant Secretary of Commerce (2010–2014)“Of all the books I’ve read on military leadership, this is one of the absolute best. It’s a great opportunity to learn from some of our nation’s top enlisted leaders—a must-read for all service members.” — Chief Master Sgt. W. Allen Usry, U.S. Air Force (retired), Command Senior Enlisted Leader, NORAD/USNORTHCOM (2009–2011)“Breaching the Summit is a motivating and inspiring read. The life lessons and stories shared will serve readers from any walk of life. The wisdom of these senior enlisted leaders in our U.S. military, tempered with their great sense of humility, reaffirms what makes our nation great. The advice these remarkable patriots have given has personally and professionally benefited me.” — Chief Master Sgt. James A. Cody, U.S. Air Force (retired), 17th Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force (2013–2017)“Breaching the Summit is a must-read for those in leadership, those striving to become leaders, or those who want to become a better version of themselves. You will learn traits you want to possess, traits you already have and have forgotten, and traits that will guide you through your own leadership. You will connect and reminisce through the stories that helped mold these average individuals to become six of our top enlisted military leaders. Learn from their lessons of leadership as you become familiar with who they were before they became who they are now.” — Pam Swan, Director, Military Relations for Veterans United Home Loans“Brilliantly illustrating the concept ‘grow where you’re planted,’ Breaching the Summit highlights six disparate individuals’ adaptation of the basic tenets of leadership on their journey to the top of their respective services. Whether you are just beginning your own journey, or merely searching for additional inspiration to refine your own leadership style, the principles stressed in these pages provide a solid foundation for success.” — Force Master Chief Johnny Walker, U.S. Navy (retired), Naval Education and Training Command (2007–2009), MCPON Executive Assistant (2009–2011)“Written by proven senior enlisted leaders, Breaching the Summit is a compendium of personal and professional experiences that distills success for all who choose the life of servant leadership in our military.” — Command Sgt. Maj. Mark Ripka, U.S. Army (retired), Command Senior Enlisted Leader, USJFCOM/USAFRICOM (2007–2011)“Breaching the Summit is an insightful, informative walk through the phases of an enlisted career from some of the most successful leaders in modern history. This is a must-read primer for anyone on a journey through the ranks of our glorious military. Read this book. Learn from the real-life lessons that molded some of our greatest enlisted leaders.” — Chief Master Sgt. John M. Harris, U.S. Air National Guard (retired), Command Chief Master Sergeant, Louisiana ANG (2006–2010), President, EANGUS“I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This is not just for the ‘seasoned’ leader - anyone can relate to these lessons, no matter their level of leadership. I felt as though I were sitting in a Leadership 101 symposium!” — Fleet Master Chief April Beldo, U.S. Navy (retired)Manpower, Personnel, Training, and Education Command (2013–2017)“As I’m passing 10 years since I left my own naval service behind, I am amazed at how the leadership truths in this book apply to any industry, not just the military. Making sure everyone knows their individual role in the unit’s success, take the time to get the little things right, coach each other up, down, and all around, and all the other lessons. MCPON West said it best: don’t just take care of your crew, challenge them to grow and be ready to take the reins. This book is not just for practitioners of the art of war—it is for anyone who wants to lead their organization to excellence!” — Capt. Bob Schuetz, U.S. Navy (retired), Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff, COMSUBPAC (2006–2008), Plant GM, Columbia Generating Station“CMSAF Roy’s anecdote of re-digging the water line in Michigan at age 10 was a foretaste of his sense of duty and doing the right things right throughout his AF career. His is a life well lived that resulted in Airmen being well led—including this one.” — Lt. Gen. Loren M. Reno, U.S. Air Force (retired), Deputy Chief of Staff, USAF Logistics, Installations and Mission Support (2009–2012)“MCPOCG Skip Bowen has a truly remarkable legacy of principled leadership built over an incredible career in the Coast Guard. His story, and the stories of the other leaders who reached the top positions in our military, are inspiring examples of linking personal and organizational success from the entry level to the summit. This book is a great read!” — Vice Adm. David P. Pekoske, U.S. Coast Guard (retired), Vice Commandant, USCG (2009–2010), Administrator, TSA“What an amazing opportunity to read about these great leaders! MCPON Rick West’s story shines light onto his sacrifice and compassion for the U.S. Sailor. Mentor, motivator, and total compassion describe MCPON West. His understanding of tactical and strategic level of knowledge provided excellence across the fleet. Most importantly, he is a chief’s chief who connected and continues to connect with the CPO Mess at large.” — Fleet Master Chief Susan Whitman, U.S. Navy (retired), U.S. Pacific Fleet (2015–2018)“This book offers exceptional insight into what has shaped some of the finest senior enlisted leaders in modern history. Through easy-to-follow stories, Breaching the Summit showcases the impact small life events have in developing leaders. This team of authors has captured service-specific leadership challenges that have significance in today’s joint warfighting environment, and I would consider Breaching the Summit a must-read for officers and senior enlisted looking to lead the military into the future.” — Fleet Master Chief Mark Rudes, U.S. Navy (retired), Senior Enlisted Leader, PACOM (2012–2016)“Breaching the Summit is a colorful and compelling look at the formative years, experiences, and philosophies behind our nation’s preeminent senior enlisted leaders. America’s faith in and empowerment of its enlisted corps has long been recognized as our true strategic advantage when it comes to military success at sea, in the air, and on land. Preston, Barrett, West, Roy, Jelinski-Hall, and Bowen show how humble beginnings and solid, consistent principles fueled their journeys and struck a chord with a generation of troops inclined to question the motives and methods of leadership. A must-read for anyone seeking insight on how to get the most out of people, or for anyone who doubts the tenacity of our young men and women wearing the uniform today.” — Command Master Chief Scott Fleming, U.S. Navy (retired), Joint Task Force Guantanamo, MCPON Executive Assistant (2011–2013)“From their humble beginnings to the pinnacle of their careers as the most senior noncommissioned officers of the U.S. Armed Forces, nowhere else will you find a compilation of lessons learned like those included here. These six senior enlisted leaders provide insights from which service members of all ages and ranks can learn, and that can serve as guides to a successful military career. I am proud to have served alongside these fine NCOs.” — Command Sgt. Maj. Richard J. Burch, U.S. Army (retired), 9th Command Sergeant Major of the Army National Guard (2010–2012)“With stories from the lives and experiences of six of our top enlisted military leaders, Breaching the Summit offers the gift of leadership honing. This book is not only a must–read for current and future military leaders, but for those in the civilian sector as well. These warriors allow you to experience their personal stories of highs and lows on their way to the top enlisted leadership billet of each military branch. Though different in the challenges they faced, they are the same in telling the reason for their successes. Patton once said: ‘Your character is defined by how high you bounce when you hit bottom.’ Each chapter illustrates how they took challenges head on and bounced to the pinnacle position of their respective professions. They suffered the pain of discipline to not suffer the pain of regret. I have added this to my professional library of leadership and urge all leaders - present and future - to do the same.” — 1st Sgt. Mark Gordon, U.S. Marine Corps (retired), Subject matter expert for combat profiling, Camp Lejeune“Whenever a new initiative was considered, I knew no one had their finger on the pulse of the fleet like the MCPON and the SGTMAJ of the USMC. The troops see in these senior enlisted leaders a role model, parental figure, and most importantly, their potential best selves. Their hard-earned insights have value for any aspiring leader in any walk of life. HOOYAH!” — Juan Garcia, 17th Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Manpower and Reserve Affairs (2009–2016)“Breaching the Summit is an amazing blend of leadership lessons from six very successful military leaders who started in humble beginnings and advanced to the highest levels of the enlisted corps. Their ability to weave personal and professional insights on their journey to mastering their tradecraft and leadership skills provides a blueprint of success for others. The evolutionary journey of learning leadership, practicing leadership, and then executing leadership is highlighted through their experiences. For those just starting their leadership journey and those who are seasoned leaders, there is much to be learned in this book.” — Chief Master Sgt. Steve McDonald, U.S. Air Force (retired), Command Chief, Air Combat Command (2014–2017)“It has been my pleasure to be associated with CMSAF James Roy for the last 25 years, beginning on the island of Guam, where he led the CE ‘dirt boyz’ in support of that critical infrastructure mission. Chief Roy possessed a keen insight into personal leadership then, which served our squadron well through five typhoon encounters and continued to serve him well throughout his successful military career, culminating as the Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force. I’m proud to have played a small part in such a superb leader’s life.” — Col. D. H. “Scott” Showers, U.S. Air Force (retired), Commander, 36th Civil Engineer Squadron, Andersen AFB, Guam (1994–1996)“Breaching the Summit gives a rare glimpse into the lives of leaders who served in the highest enlisted positions in the U.S. military. A must-read for any leader who’d like to make a difference in their organization—there’s more common ground than you might think! Problem solvers, influencers, getting pushed out of their comfort zones, and passing it along were a few chunks that jumped out at me. Bravo on this collaboration of some AWESOME human beings!” — Chief Master Sgt. Marty Klukas, U.S. Air Force (retired), Command Senior Enlisted Leader, USTRANSCOM (2011-2014)“MCPON Rick West’s leadership style is more than a pillar from which many grew their naval careers—his motivation to challenge yourself is the foundation by which I continue to live and approach complex situations. His ability to build a cohesive, winning team is second to none. HOOYAH COB!” — Machinist’s Mate 1st Class Rich Hawkins, U.S. Navy (retired), Captain, Delta Air Lines“The U.S. military has long been a preeminent organization for producing leaders of exceptional capability and character. The authors of this book are among the best the military has to offer. It comes as no surprise that their thoughts would be insightful and well worth the attention of both aspiring and experienced leaders from all backgrounds and areas of interest.” — Mike Watt, CEO, Scientific Research Corporation

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