Books
It Takes a Village : Leonard M. Alexander and Peter C. Alexander
It Takes a Village – The Integration of the Hillburn School System
Hillburn is a village of approximately 1,000 residents, just 40 miles northwest of New York City and, until 1943, its elementary school children were sent to separate schools, divided by race.
The Hillburn Main School (known locally as the “white school”) was a modern 2-story stucco building with many amenities necessary to foster learning. Brook School (known locally as the “colored school”) was a rundown, small building that looked more like a house than a school and it lacked indoor plumbing, physical education space, or even a library.
The integration of the school system was the result of the efforts of Alexander family patriarch, Thomas Ulysses Alexander, who was the president of the local NAACP chapter, along with representatives of the NAACP legal department, including attorney Thurgood Marshall.
The book tells the story of how these two men, and others, successfully forced the school board to close Brook School in 1943, over a decade before the historic U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education.
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Dark Sweet : Keishi Ando
Dark Sweet – A Collection of Poetry
Love has a dark sweetness. The romantic beauty is sometimes erotic, sometimes egoistical and sometimes painful. It is sometimes sickly sweet and entices, like a poison, the sweetness consumes your entire body and soul, bringing to the surface something… different, sometimes dark.
Maybe it is a natural human instinct, maybe the reasons are contained within the inky blackness of the soul. These things are all the inspirations for this collection of Keishi Ando’s work.
The dark world that is Keishi Ando’s own is portrayed within this poetry. If someone dares to categorize it as an existing genre, it would be a combination of gothic fiction and dark romance with cyberpunk undertones.
Please drink deeply from the well of darkness contained within these pages. Maybe you too will find the sweet center of the shadows…
Poems:
Radiant Night
Bondage Flavor
A Love Recipe
Hey ChouChou
Velocity of Instinct
Supermoon
Frozen Onyx
Vertigo at the Grave
Mask and Kimono
Meow
His Words
Ghost of Romance
Heartmark
Meteor Stream: Woe
Killing Ourselves
Gothic & Dark Fantasy Poetry with Romantic undertones. New-style Poems by an up-and-coming Japanese Poet/Author. Check this out right now!
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The Xerces Factor : Rodney Page
The Xerces Factor
Author Charles Arrington was taken off sedation and told about the explosion. He instinctively knew the motive for the attack. It didn’t make sense, but it was the book, the damn book.
The first draft of The Thieves in the Pentagon…Corruption that Threatens Our National Security was far from complete. Arrington had no proof, just unsubstantiated rumors and conjecture…a lot of unconnected dots. He planned to abandon the project…then the bomb killed his wife and maimed him for life.
The Xerces anti-missile system was the country’s most powerful deterrent in an increasingly hostile world. However, the president had his own radical plans for the system’s deployment. No one could be allowed to obstruct his naïve quest for world peace.
But the president and his loyal minions were not alone. Others had keen interest in Arrington’s book…some to satiate their personal greed, others for far more sinister purposes.
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Mountaintop USA : William Graney
Mountaintop USA
As a comet is about to pass by Earth, the people of who live in Mountaintop learn that their location will be perfect for viewing the icy orb.
The quirky residents gather together with their telescopes to gaze at the comet and have a party. To their surprise, the night will be illuminated by revelations.
The town of Mountaintop is populated with chess players, astronomy enthusiasts, runners, and donut lovers.
Roots run deep in the peculiar town and the stories from the past that helped to form the fabric of the chilly mountain community are shared through chapters that alternate with the America of the early 1990’s.
A tangled web connects experiences from the past with life in the present and as relationships are explored, the town’s undercurrents begin to bubble to the surface.
The Comet Terrapin serves as a purveyor of mystery that exposes The Mountain’s darkest places and brings to light the beauty in those who have been unable to accept their gifts.
Staring into space and feeling the affects of the comet are a donut shop mystic, a Russian immigrant with a longing for her homeland, and a family that has suffered the devastating loss of their matriarch.
Everyone in attendance at the comet party will have an altered perspective after the passing.
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Masturbating With Strangers : Bodhi Alvarez
Masturbating With Strangers
Kevin Saunders did everything right. He had followed the rules, got good grades, and stayed in school like the commercial said. He should have been well on his way to fulfilling the American Dream, but somewhere along the line the dream took a hiatus.
A year out from graduation he was set to join the sea of underemployed masses, while his diploma likely would garner all the pomp and circumstance of a license plate frame. It didn’t take Kevin long to realize he was more likely to live a life of mediocrity than one filled with flashy cars, loose women and white picket fences- so he decided to blow it all up! Leave the American Dream in shambles, leave his student loan companies searching for payment on their bills, and march off into the sunset to build his better tomorrow. All adventures to be paid for by his final living expense disbursement from Financial Aid.
It was time to find his own definition of success buried somewhere deep in a foreign land. Only he wasn’t entirely prepared for all the places his journey would take him…
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Cold Hollow : Emilie J. Howard
Cold Hollow
The Barner family relocates to Cold Hollow, a quaint town nestled in a Vermont mountain range. They find it to be quite charming and the inhabitants endearing, except for a few residents.
Odd laws are enforced, confrontations begin, and insanity reigns as a madman sits upon his imaginary throne, trying to keep the threads of his dream from unraveling. Will Sophia and Angus Barner be able to protect their children from the malevolence that lurks within the small township?
This is the story of Cold Hollow, a place you’ll never want to visit.
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Where Angels Prey : Ramesh S Arunachalam
Where Angels Prey
While the rest of the world reels under a severe financial crisis, India’s microfinance sector enjoys an unprecedented boom. Why on earth are people investing such huge amounts of money in an obscure industry, especially at the time of global recession? And why is Wall Street suddenly so interested in India’s poor?
That is exactly what Robert Bradlee, senior correspondent with The New York Post, sets off to investigate, along with his journalist friend, Chandresh. Little does he know that his search for a scoop would lead him through a complex multi-pronged web of deceit, fraud, manipulation and financial crime, remote controlled from distant lands by an entire chain of financial sector stakeholders.
Gripping, racy and meticulously researched, this financial thriller weaves in and out of the affluent world of high-powered boardrooms and the gruelling poverty of the remotest villages of India, to reveal the devastating truths that often lurk behind “good intentions”.
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Sissi: The Last Empress : Danny Saunders
Sissi: The Last Empress
Nothing preordained Elisabeth of Wittelsbach, known as “Sissi”, to become Empress of Austria at the age of seventeen. It was, in fact, despite herself that the young Bavarian duchess, who had always been somewhat rebellious and untamed, was courted by the Emperor of Austria, one of Europe’s most powerful men, whom she finally accepted to marry.
Attempting by all means to get away from the Imperial Court, this Hungarian queen of legendary beauty will carry the weight of the Crown of the Habsburgs throughout her adult life.
Sissi does not adapt well to the strict etiquette of the imperial life, and the several moments she spends away from her husband are difficult. A romantic liaison with an enemy count will serve as a rare source of comfort for the empress. An unhappy sovereign, Sissi is nevertheless idolized by her people and becomes the main unifying actor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Alone at the head of a kingdom and hounded by her admirers, she will die a tragic death at the hands of a fanatic.
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The Dark Tides : Mark Piggott
The Dark Tides
The Drake family family has known more than its share of tragedy at sea. After the devastating and mysterious loss of their patriarch, Bryan, to a strange storm, his grieving wife and children sail to his last known location to lay a wreath in his honor. They are caught in a storm freakishly similar to the one that took Bryan from them. A funeral becomes a joyous reunion, as they find him alive and well but equally stranded on the mysterious island of Avalon, where the descendents of King Arthur rule a world filled with knights, elves, dwarves . . . and magic!
Lord Bryan MoonDrake-as he is now known-has attained the rank of the Gil-Gamesh, protector of the realm. He helps his wife and two of his children build new lives in a medieval society. His daughter Ashley has returned to Avalon with wonderful news. Bryan sees an opportunity to bring his family back together at last, so they plan a grand Avalonian wedding for Ashley and her true love, Andrew. But all is not well in the kingdom. Dark forces arise to fulfill a prophecy to resurrect Morgana le Fay, the most powerful sorceress in the history of Avalon.
If successful, she will unleash the Dark Tides to destroy the line of Pendragon once and for all. To save his family, his new home, and his king, can the Gil-Gamesh overcome incredible odds and powers beyond his comprehension to rid Avalon of Morgana’s evil forever?
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The Big Wide Calm : Rich Marcello
Paige is a rock star. The world just doesn’t know it yet. She’s got the charisma, the drive, and, of course, the mega-musical skills. All she needs is to make her debut album, one that will change the world, inspire revolutions—and make her galactically famous along the way.
When John Bustin, a former semi-famous singer/songwriter offers to record Paige’s album for free, it feels like destiny, like the next step on her way to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Guitar in hand, Paige sets off to John’s recording compound, ready to unfold her future.
But the ever-elusive John, with his mysterious history, and Paige, a big dreamer but naïve about her footing in life, clash as much as they coalesce. Before they can change the world through Paige’s music, the improbable duo must learn to work together.
A coming of age story and retrospective, The Big Wide Calm focuses on human nature and the complexities of love through the eyes of young and old on the journey of creating the perfect album.
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