Books
The Last Adventure of Life : Maria Dancing Heart Hoaglund
The Last Adventure of Life: Inspiring Approaches to Living and Dying
This is a collection of inspirational stories, poetry, scripture, prayers, and resources.
These pieces come from all walks of life to help the reader acknowledge the unity and interconnectedness of all. It has been aptly called “a book for healing and prayer.”
People who may especially appreciate this book are:
- Individuals who are preparing for the mystical and transformational process of death, and their family members and friends
- Hospice workers and volunteers who deal with death and dying on a regular basis
- Bereaved persons dealing with a death, or with any major transitions in their lives
- Those spiritual seekers who are waking up to the fragility of material things and desiring to tune in to their spiritual nature
- Baby boomers with aging parents who live longer but often are dealing with chronic illnesses that debilitate or handicap them
Because Maria’s work in spiritual and bereavement care with hospice honors the interconnectedness of all things, this book has a universal perspective and appeal.
Anyone interested in the mystical Oneness of All could appreciate it; it is also likely to assist those desiring to go deeper spiritually.
This book includes inspirational stories, poetry, scripture, prayers, and guided meditations. It also has chapters on grief and relaxation/healing tools, and a wealth of reference material. It is a “treasure trove of hope and healing,” reframing the experience of death as a new and exciting chapter in life.
Reviews
I loved reading around in your book, The Last Adventure of Life. It is so chock-full of resources and prayers and stories. I am reading things out of order and am currently really enjoying the chapter on Trust. Beautifully written.
— Suzanna McCarthy, LICSW
It is skillful advice from a revered hospice worker who speaks from the deep experience of a true heart.
— Stephen & Ondrea Levine
This is the most genuine, information-rich, readable, and hopeful treasury of reflections on living and dying I have had the pleasure of reading, written by a seasoned hospice counselor with the melodic name of Maria Dancing Heart, whom I suspect is actually two parts angel and one part spiritual counselor & hospice worker. Like the author’s moniker, the poetry, stories, prayers, meditations, resources, sample teachings, inspirational readings, and support for the “last adventure of life” in these pages dance with love and compassion—and always re-framing the experience of death to one of transformation. …
If there were a master manual for living, this book would be first on the required reading list.
— Julie Clayton, New Consciousness Review
As a seasoned Hospice Social Worker, I have read countless textbooks, nonfiction books, references and novels about death and the dying experience. When I picked up Maria Dancing Heart’s book, The Last Adventure of Life, I knew I was meant to read it. It felt good in my hands. Her warmth and support radiated off every page. The volume of compiled wisdom and information that this special book contains will support and serve anyone who lives with death and dying.
As a professional the book sensitized me. As a human being it expanded my faith and offered me comfort. I said to myself “Wouldn’t it be great to meet this author!” Little did I know, when I was a Guest Speaker at a local seminar some time later, the author would be in the audience! She came up to me afterwards and introduced herself. She was just as compassionate, wise and wonderful as the book led me to believe she was. I don’t know if this is a testimonial for her book or for her, but either way she makes life – and the last adventure of it – better. It is a privilege to know Maria Dancing Heart Hoaglund and to have read her book. — Kate McGahan, MSW
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The Felix Chronicles : Freshmen : R.T. Lowe
The Felix Chronicles: Freshmen
Reeling from a terrible accident that claimed the lives of his parents, Felix arrives at Portland College hoping only to survive the experience.
In time, however, his reality star roommate shows him there is more to higher education than just classes, shared bathrooms and bad dorm food, and Felix gradually dares to believe he can put his past behind him.
But a fateful storm looms on the horizon: In the nearby woods, two hikers become the latest victims in a series of gruesome murders; a disfigured giant embarks on a vicious cross-country rampage, killing teenagers who fail his ‘test’; and an ancient society of assassins tasked with eradicating the wielders of a mysterious source of power awakens after a long silence.
Only one man—the school’s groundskeeper—knows that the seemingly unrelated events are connected, and that an eighteen-year-old boy stands in the center of the storm.
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The Wine Hunter : Campbell Mattinson
The Wine Hunter
Australia’s first great winemaker was a Frenchman. As a 24 year old, in 1921, he walked onto a hillside vineyard in the Hunter Valley north-west of Sydney and in a hard, hot climate set about growing and crafting wines that, when finally opened as fifty- and sixty-year-olds, became renowned as Australia’s first great wines.
He made these wines without electricity, with bare bones equipment – his winery, Mount Pleasant never once turned a profit during his 30 year struggle – and with a broken heart. What he achieved out there on that hillside is one of the miracles of wine. This is Maurice O’Shea’s remarkable story.
REVIEWS
James Halliday, The Weekend Australian: “One of the most remarkable wine books to come my way … It will capture anyone who reads it: this is not a wine geek book but an epic.”
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, The Wine Advocate: “Loved The Wine Hunter. A must-read for lovers of Aussie wine.”
Max Allen, The Australian Magazine: “This is the best book on wine to be published in Australia for many, many years”.
Jancis Robinson, jancisrobinson.com: “Campbell Mattinson is arguably Australia’s most literate, and certainly most literary, wine writer. I … admire his monograph on the Hunter Valley pioneer Maurice O’Shea immensely.”
Jeni Port, The Melbourne Age: “Wine Hunter is a breakthrough wine book: an astonishing, cerebral, emotional entanglement of fact and dramatisation, of tender detail and beautiful, expressive words. Has there ever been a wine book written quite this way?”
Paddy Kendlar, Herald-Sun: “I started reading a wine book last weekend and finished it on the Sunday night. Literally couldn’t put it down, except to take a break when the story became somewhat sad … It’s a wonderful story with a perception and sensitivity almost matching that of the subject. The few O’Shea wines that I have tasted – made under the McWilliams Mount Pleasant label – were more than forty years old at the time. They were magnificent. Campbell Mattinson has captured the essence of a great Australian artist. I heartily commend this remarkable book.”
Gary Walsh, Winorama: “I started reading it this morning and finally put the book down late in the afternoon. Finished. It’s really quite brilliant. A captivating, compelling and very moving read written in the unique Mattinson style. A beautiful story first, and a wine book second. I think it has universal appeal.”
Grant Dodd: “This is a genuine call to those of you that love wine and/or love great writing to go out and buy “The Wine Hunter”, by Campbell Mattinson, one of the most inspired pieces of writing in any genre by an Austalian writer for some time. A biopic of sorts on the life of the great but under-appreciated Hunter Valley winemaker Maurice O’Shea, “The Wine Hunter” is a beautifully written, emotive story that somehow infiltrates the ghost of O’Shea and brings his undeniable genius to life. It is a great read, and it deserves to be read.”
Family Caregiver’s Guide : Harriet Hodgson
Family Caregiver’s Guide: How to Care for a Loved One at Home
Caring for a loved one at home. What’s really involved? And what does it mean for your family and future? Tens of millions of Americans have had these questions and more as they prepare for this unsettling yet necessary task.
The Family Caregiver’s Guide fills in the gaps, connecting the dots between research and real life. Drawing on the author’s extensive caregiving experience, this book provides strategies to care for your loved one, inside and out, as well as for yourself–including how to use your natural skills in your new role, and which skills you may need to add.
You’ll discover how to set up your home for caregiving, including a safety checklist, equipment suggestions, and words you should know. For those days that are more than a handful, you’ll find positive affirmations, a section on facing and accepting illness, and Smart Steps at the end of each chapter, in case you need guidance in a hurry.
Caregiving has both rewards and challenges. But through it all, you’ll discover what’s most important–that caregiving is love in action.
Book Links
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How to Grow and Master Your Relationships : Anthony Servadio
How to Grow and Master Your Relationships: 13 Steps for Men
It is no secret that attempting to understand the differences between men and women, especially during modern dating rituals, can be a complex and frustrating process.
But when a man is able to overcome stereotypes and identify the right female companion, he has the potential to forge a loving relationship that can bring years of happiness, fun, romance, and deep-seeded friendship.
In his relationship handbook, Anthony Servadio introduces thirteen fundamental principles that will help young men master their interpersonal relationships with women by learning how to appreciate the nature of women, fully comprehending their behavioral characteristics, and then building a relationship based on love and trust.
Servadio utilizes extensive research and real-life examples to teach single men specifically how to:
- Develop self-awareness and repair a bruised ego
- Navigate through the first date and beyond
- Identify nurturing women seeking committed relationships
- Avoid different types of traps
- End an unhealthy relationship with dignity
How to Grow and Master Your Relationships: Thirteen Steps for Men is a practical guide that offers advice, tips, and empowerment strategies that will help men successfully navigate the evolving world of dating and find the woman of their dreams.
Rampage : Alan Brenham
Rampage
The stakes soar both professionally and personally for Austin PD Detective Jason Scarsdale as he finds himself in a race against time to hunt down a vicious gang hell-bent on murder.
Realizing that his new partner, the attractive divorcee Tatum Harper, could be trouble in more ways than one, he tries to run her out of Homicide.
Will their partnership destroy his romantic relationship with long-time girlfriend Dani Mueller? Will they both survive the harrowing face-off with the increasingly unhinged gang leader?
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The Zombie Truth : Vincent St. Vincent
The Zombie Truth
The Ebook that reveals the Zombie Apocalypse has already begun. With a 100% refund guarantee if you can’t handle the “Truth”.
Nobody will deny that the United States and the rest of the world is currently experiencing a rapid surge in angst and violence. From random street shootings to entire nations bloodily rising up against their governments, something is surely changing in how humanity operates.
Vincent St. Vincent purports to know the actual truth – that the apocalypse has, in fact, already begun and relays this information through story in his novel the Zombie Truth.
Clip clop. Do you hear it now? Clip clop, clip clop. Nearer and nearer, as steady and inexorable as the tick of clock.
Before he hears it, Robert’s life is on track. Despite being an average sort of guy, he seems to have it all: a little apartment near Tampa Bay; a secure, longterm relationship with a charming, talented film major; the shining promise of a career in neuropsychiatry, a field he’s passionate about, once he finishes his doctoral thesis. Everything is going according to plan, and that’s exactly the way that pragmatic, stolid Robert likes things to go. Guarantee
But when the world starts going mad one grisly news headline at a time, Robert’s life begins to fall apart in a relentless series of events ranging from maddening to deadly. His girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend is edging in, putting his formerly rock-solid relationship on suddenly shaky ground. Violent riots are taking over the city. People he knows are beginning to drop like flies, falling victim to or joining the mass insanity. Others are attempting to flee Tampa by the thousands, but as the terror sweeps the nation, no place and no one is safe from the monsters. They are everywhere: on the bus, in the streets…in the mirror.
Meanwhile, Robert must bear the heavy burden of being the only one who really suspects the truth. In an eerie coincidence, his thesis research foretold and parallels the sudden plague of malevolence corrupting society, making him perhaps the world’s premier expert on the topic. Now, instead of merely researching the trend, he finds himself inside of it, fighting for his life and that of the woman he loves in a city that’s rapidly transforming into a hellish landscape out of his worst nightmare.
And Robert knows nightmares. Long ago, something dark and evil shadowed his childhood and ripped his idyllic, small-town family apart, changing the course of his life forever. The twisted secret was locked away long ago, so why is it suddenly haunting him again now, when derangement is spreading through humanity like an unstoppable pestilence?
Poor Robert. It turns out that skeletons can escape their closets. They can hate you. They can hunt you. They can eat you alive.
As his past and present crash together with shocking fury, the explosion imperils everything Robert holds dear. But clues lie in the resulting wreckage…potential keys to unlock the deeper truths that hide buried in every human being’s soul, truths regarding mankind’s chaotic spiral into rabid viciousness. Is he brave enough to unlock them?
Are you? Clip clop. You’re running out of time to decide. They’re coming.
Cab’s Lantern : Jeff Russell
Cab’s Lantern
Cab Marin, owner of a struggling Caribbean dive shop, is helping marine biologist Vicki Jennings collect data for her thesis when they happen upon two amazing sights: an antique ship’s lantern that continues to glow deep underwater and a massive barracuda that appears to be standing guard.
Cab is a scientist at heart and these mysteries renew a passion for discovery that faded away when a previous reach for the stars fell disastrously short. He commits himself to uncovering the lantern’s secret while Vicki abandons her thesis to study the barracuda.
Their intertwined search for the truth endures competing priorities and a budding romance but takes a fateful turn when a local treasure-hunter concludes that they have found the gold-laden El Conquista.
Left with nothing and now an ocean apart, Cab and Vicki must continue their search for rational explanations while finding their way back to each other.
In a world where nature alone makes survival a challenge they learn that life’s most rewarding treasures are found in unexpected places.
Book Links
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Frosted Blood : Larry Pellitteri
Frosted Blood
In the near future where ancient enemies sit on the brink of war, seventeen-year-old Michael Saxon carries a powerful secret inside his DNA that both sides will do anything to acquire.
When he was just seven years old, Michael’s parents, scientists at a private military contractor called Enbright, vanished without a trace and left Michael a small crystal. Haunted by nightmares, Michael is desperate to discover the truth about his parents and is convinced the crystal holds the key.
Following high school, Michael accepts an internship at Enbright, despite his reservations, and puts his spelunking skills to work, helping locate powerful artifacts. Before long, Michael and his young independent and mysterious coworker, Emma, discover two rival ancient societies will stop at nothing to acquire the artifacts for themselves.
As romance blossoms between Michael and Emma, they soon find themselves embroiled in a rousing global adventure full of narrow escapes, traitorous villains, and shocking realities. They must navigate the lies and deceit that lurk around every corner if Michael is to discover the secret of his identity and prevent a world war. But is he ready for the responsibility that comes with knowing the truth?
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The Migrant : Nicholas Sheridan Stanton
The Migrant
Family, say it slowly with me, family… It’s a word and a half word. It rolls off of the tongue easily, yet leaves an after-taste that is both sweet and bitter. It is the common denominator that defines us. We all have one. We’re all linked by birth to at least two others. We spend our lives running to and running from the safety or confines of this uniquely social phenomenon. We live and die for those to whom we are connected within this format. No one is excluded from this formula, not even in death, as we are all related within this family of man.
Meet Tina Lopez who learns early in her young life how large a family can become when there is much to offer, when there are gifts to share. How do you stay humble when you have what no other has?
Then Ethan Kelly who will journey far to discover what he has always known. And KC Littleton who proofs the old adage, “be careful what you wish for.” The path they take on their way into one another’s lives is almost too fantastic for fiction, but then remember, I said almost.
From one coast to the other, to the far side of the globe, the experiences chronicled within these pages will tug hard at your heartstrings. You may come away from this story with a new appreciation for the three ‘F’s,’ faith, forgiveness, and family. In the end, I hope that you feel compelled to pick up the phone and call someone near and dear, just to say you were thinking of them. Share a quiet, or not so quiet moment.
Talk to mom or dad, brother or sister, son or daughter, reconnect, re-enforce, and reassure. The things that we collect in life can be bought or sold. It’s the people in our lives who are the treasures kept safely stored in our heart of hearts…family.
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