Showing results by narrator "J. L." in All Categories

For generations of Americans, the word Antietam - the name of a bucolic stream in western Maryland - held the same sense of horror and carnage that the date 9/11 does for Americans today. But Antietam eclipses even this modern tragedy as America's single bloodiest day, on which 22,000 men became casualties in a war to determine our nation's future.

For many, the dying part is hard. For some, the living part is harder. At 16 years of age, Mathius’ life is focused on scrounging bits of food in the midst of a five-way civil war on the planet Novalis III. Two government factions and three rebel factions are all hell-bent on killing one another, and the civilian population is caught in the middle. If Mathius doesn’t find food, he and his father, mother, and sister will go hungry for the day, a not-so-unusual occurrence.

Digging deep within ourselves can be daunting and divine. Some of us need to find ourselves again, and it doesn't happen by accident. Authentic existence requires vulnerability and accountability. It takes courage to reconnect with our innermost knowing.

An American euthanasist and an Egyptian astrological farmer delve into the evolution of the collective soul, as an extremophile virus targets a select few.

Martial arts master Lin Su Yoshimura is a force to be reckoned with. Now in the US after being shunned as a mixed-race Chinese-Japanese girl, then kidnapped as a teen and sold into the sex-trafficking trade, Lin Su is rescued from an abusive New York pimp by one of the city’s top-level cocaine dealers. Navigating both back alleys and opulent venues with lethal grace, Lin Su finds her way forward through the underbelly of the city, as she wrestles with the horrors of her past.

From Major General Jeffrey Schloesser - former commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division and Regional Command-East - comes a revealing memoir of leadership in the chaos and fog of the Afghanistan War.

Shale gas extraction - commonly known as fracking - is often portrayed as an energy revolution that will transform the American economy and geopolitics. But in greater Williamsport, Pennsylvania, fracking is personal. Up to Heaven and Down to Hell is a vivid and sometimes heartbreaking account of what happens when one of the most momentous decisions about the well-being of our communities and our planet - whether or not to extract shale gas and oil from the land beneath our feet - is largely a private choice that millions of ordinary people make without the public's consent.

US Special Operations Command trains and equips units to undertake select military activities, frequently high-risk missions, often for the purposes of counterterrorism and counterinsurgency. Since 9/11, impelled by an attack on US soil, these forces have been a central instrument of America's military campaign - operating in about 100 countries on any given day. This fight - neither hot war nor cold peace - was launched and executed as a new type of global war in 2001 and has since splintered into a spectrum of regional conflicts.

The birth of a hero is never easy. Clumsy as an elephant in high heels, he is nothing like his legendary scout father. But inside that bull-moose-of-a-body lies the heart of a hero whose moment has arrived! Next, a boy survives alien invasion - but must learn to think and act like his reptilian enemy to exact retribution for slaughter. These and two other tales of coming-of-age-through-peril from the writer who invented the genre, Andre Norton.

The world is awash with economic information. Governments release reports. Pundits give their interpretation on television. And the stock market may go its own way, confusing everyone. How can you better understand what it means for you? Big Picture Economics, a new book by award-winning columnist and futurist Joel Naroff and veteran journalist Ron Scherer, says the thread that ties everything together is "context".

"The Playground": Jack Francis has lost his zest for life. Retirement has left him feeling old, and divorce has left him feeling useless, until one day, he witnesses something extraordinary. "The Crack in the Wall": The old stone wall that runs the length of Hendersonville Road in Milner's Hollow has a strange crack in it. On a beautiful summer's day, two little girls discover the terrifying truth about that crack. "Bossman": Disenchanted with his dead-end job, Eric Pendergrass discovers a strange way to make his boss pay.

In his first book, J. L. Raynor talks about his early years growing up in New York City and his love for the World Trade Center as a child. After September 11 and the weeks that followed, he began watching news reports that identified those responsible for destroying his favorite buildings. He developed a substantial amount of hatred toward not only Muslims, but anyone who resembled Middle Eastern culture.

Someone asked me what the theme of my collection was. I hate those questions. I'm really bad at theme. I don't think about a theme when I'm writing the story. I'm just trying to tell a story that interests me (and hopefully someone else). Most of these stories are about people who have lost something and are trying to find a way to move on with their lives. I hope you enjoy them.

These 15 original stories, donated by authors to help keep local theater alive, are fun, quirky, imaginative, and bold - the perfect way to tide over audiences until local stage curtains can once again rise! Each tale turns the spotlight on some unusual snapshot of life or imagination. Sit back, let us entertain you, and know that your purchase has made a big difference for local artists...while we all wait in the wings.

The year is 1951, and Emily Nelson, a recent graduate of teaching school, has found a dream job in her home town. She has been hired to teach a single six-year-old girl. The girl's father has one steadfast and cruel directive that Emily cannot understand - until she breaks it. Luna is an eerie story that takes you deep inside a mysterious family secret, examining the horror of that secret as well as the innocent little girl at its center.

Sleep is the body’s chance to recuperate, relax, and recharge your mental batteries. Sadly, many people aren’t benefitting fully from the benefits available to all of us from adequate sleep. One in ten people worldwide suffers from chronic insomnia, leading to the Center for Disease Control to classify sleeping disorders as an epidemic. Most people do not realize that even the smallest details count when it comes to enjoying your sleep. The Sleep Guide of Your Dreams provides the knowledge and tools to positively change the way you sleep forever

Here’s the truth: Thousands of businesses are started every hour of every day of every year. Most die, few thrive, and the rest struggle to survive - mainly through enormous effort, force of will, and luck. There is a better way to take the guesswork out of growth: focus on the few areas that make all the difference. Bill Flynn’s keen insights drawn from his personal experience, 30 years of studying business success, and speaking and working with hundreds of CEOs are neatly captured in Further, Faster.

Morgin finds himself living two lives. When he goes to sleep at night he dreams of a life 1,200 years in the past. But it's not like a dream, it's more like another life, for when he goes to sleep in that other life, he awakes again in this one, still a hunted man. In the far past he's a mercenary Benesh'ere warrior hired out to one of the 12 Legions of Angels fighting in the Great Clan Wars. And there he fights alongside, and against, legendary figures from the far past of the Shahot.

Now a Benesh'ere slave, every whiteface in the tribe hungers for Morgin's death. But he is Harriok's property, and while Harriok remains in a coma, a victim of the venom of the sand cat's sixth claw, the warriors wait and bide their time. As Morgin accompanies them on the March, an affinity for steel is slowly awakening within him, and he truly fears the truths his growing knowledge may reveal.

Morgin is trapped in the Kingdom of Dreams, the realm of the Unnamed King. He knows he must somehow get back to the Mortal Plane to save France and Rhianne, and he's frustrated that he doesn't know the way. He decides to find the Unnamed King, for surely His Majesty could show him the way, and maybe even tell him his true name.