Showing results by narrator "Clay" in All Categories

Ten-year-old Trudy loves Papa more than anybody else until she hears him slap Zoe, her mother. She is so angry at him she wishes he'd die. When he accidentally sets fire to the family mansion and dies in the fire, she is not prepared for the shock.

In Prophets, Gurus, and Pundits, author Anna M. Young proposes that the difficulty of bridging the gap between intellectuals and the public is not a failure of ideas; rather, it is an issue of rhetorical strategy. By laying a rhetorical foundation and presenting analytical case studies of contemporary "public intellectuals," Young creates a training manual for intellectuals who seek to connect with a public audience and effect change writ large.

It's six weeks after the shock. The smoke on the horizon has diminished, and Rachel Wheeler and her two traveling companions head toward the mountains where Rachel's grandfather Franklin has built a survivalist compound. However, the strange mutated people known as Zapheads seem to be changing from bloodthirsty killers into a force far more menacing.

Dobyns Chronicles is a captivating celebration of the life of Charlie Dobyns. His life began in Northeast Texas, near Bonham, on the Red River. His Cherokee mother and cowboy father strove to survive on their river valley ranch. Tragedy ended this way of life for Charlie in 1888. Follow him through Chickasaw Territory and on to McAlester in Eastern Oklahoma.

When Mackie Dailey survives a cataclysmic solar storm that wipes out civilization and mutates others into violent killers, he seeks out the one person he cares about most. But when he returns to a college campus looking for Allie, he discovers she is a Zaphead - nearly unrecognizable as the human he once loved. Mackie becomes caught in a power struggle among a small group of survivors who turn the campus into a stronghold against the Zaphead threat.

Colt Ballard is a professional team roper with the talent to go all the way, but the loss of his parents from a car accident during his childhood has him fighting an emotional obstacle that keeps him from reaching the pinnacle of success. After being pushed out by the PRCA, Colt realizes his dilemma and accepts the advice of his late father's friend to take a summer job helping out at a rodeo camp in New Mexico.

Ten-year-old Aderito has been brought from the United States to the banks of a beautiful river in Homoine, Mozambique. There he befriends a young girl named Victoria, and for a brief time their childhood is promising. Soon, the violence that is raging across the country makes its way to Aderito's doorstep, and both children are abducted by rebels and forced to learn the ways of trained killers in a war they barely understand.

The story of a church in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Faced with a dwindling and aging congregation, the church has been forced to shut down the majority of their building and has dismissed much of its staff. With limited funds, they shutter all their ministries and programs, leaving only a couple of adult Sunday school classes and a Sunday morning worship service. When a homeless man freezes to death on the steps of their sanctuary, the church begins to re-examine their mission and priorities.

A massive solar storm erases the world's technological infrastructure and kills billions. While the remaining humans are struggling to adapt and survive, they notice that some among them have...changed. Rachel Wheeler finds herself alone in the city where violent survivors, known as zapheads, roam the streets, killing and destroying. Her only hope is to reach the mountains where her grandfather, a legendary survivalist, established a compound in preparation for doomsday.

In the case of some historical figures, a single event or small span of years is sufficient for understanding the timeliness and extent of their impact upon the world. But others have taken lengthier, more convoluted journeys with broadly-evolved circumstances, intentions and roles to be played, reinventing themselves and playing different roles as times change.

Clementine, an in-demand sketch artist who needs an escape from her hectic, stressful, and busy city life decides to take a much-needed one-year sabbatical. She welcomes the chance to move to a small town in the South and inhabit the old, Victorian mansion that, upon her aunt's recent passing, was willed to her.

Tomek lives a seemingly quiet life as a spacecraft engineer for the interstellar Azten Empire of Federated Worlds. But no one knows that during Tomek's frequent "vacations", he volunteers for his planet's police force, tracking down convicted criminals and delivering them to justice. Known for taking on cases that no other volunteer will touch, Tomek uses the code name Negative Zero in order to protect himself and those he loves.

Nicole Strickly is excited to get out of the city and spend a weekend in the mountains, even if her date is a little sketchy. They aren't far down the road before she realizes her mistake, but there's no turning back, and what awaits her when they arrive at camp is far worse than she could ever have imagined.

For many of us, the compulsion to be with nature is too strong to be ignored. Have you ever felt this message? Have you asked yourself why this is so? Why do we have that feeling that we are not alone? Why do we find ourselves understanding many things that others don't seem to realize?

"Mantrams" and "Aum" are two related essays by William Q. Judge. Mantrams, in short, are the verbalized form of a mantra, and Judge explains their use in his sometimes-familiar Q&A style of writing between the student and the sage. His piece on aum is written in a straightforward manner and examines this often-utilized vowel sound, also known as om, which is a sacred syllable of the Vedas and is used in meditation.

It's 1958 in rural Connecticut, and three boys between 10 and 11 years old - Tommy (from a stable, "normal" family), Jose (Hispanic, Catholic), and Jimmy (underfed child of a poor single alcoholic mother, has a severely retarded sister) - have been pals since first grade. But it's September, and the safe, cozy innocence of elementary school is behind them. Now they must enter the scary, new world of junior high school.

Arthur Fuller is an artist who has made quite a name for himself. In fact there is a good chance he may soon become famous when the world's leading art critic rolls into his tiny town near the woods. The art critic tells Arthur that in order to become famous, he must paint something truly remarkable. Arthur decides to venture into the uncharted woods to chase his dream of becoming the world's most famous artist. In the woods, however, he comes face to face with a certain evil that may ruin his chances of happiness.

Brother Mackey examines the symbolism of the corner-stone as it relates to operative and, perhaps more importantly, speculative masonry. He explores the corner-stone as a symbol for the spiritual aspect of the mason himself, with attention being paid to the northeast corner of the lodge room and the entered apprentice degree. He also discusses the symbol of a square as well as corn, wine, and oil.

If there was one technological group that has been in the news a relentless amount of times, it could be identified as the group dubbed the N.S.A. Technology involves not only software, hard drives, and networks, but also the ethical and moral characteristics intertwined with the use of technology.

A modern-day Aesop's Fables story of how a father readied his son for adulthood using short stories and sayings. Using a sense of humor and a knack for finding ways of using everyday happenings, this story explains how the author's father taught his son real lessons in life.