Books
Freefall (Vol 1 of the Amalie Noether Chronicles) : Jana Williams
The deep-space transport ship, the Vera Rubin, is light years from Earth when botanist Elle Silver begins to question the use of their space-travel drug, HCH.
Elle notices a growing number of her friends and fellow colonists awaken from their 90-day sleep cycles exhibiting a variety of negative side-effects and she begins to believe the drug is the culprit. Some effects are minor – others are a far bigger concern on a tiny ship packed with colonists. With each sleep cycle completed, more and more colonists awaken both confused and barely concealing a simmering rage – rage that could be a catastrophe on a ship as crowded as the Vera Rubin.
Elle needs proof, but she also needs a plan. If the drug that allows them to travel deep-space is at fault, what then? Elle and her friends Ashok, Achebe and Jin-Hai are pressed to their limits to find a solution to their problem before the ship erupts into chaos… with light years left to travel.
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Frankenstein : AD Wayne
Only one woman can save all time and space.
Let’s go to the 26th Century!
In the year 2510, a 21st Century woman named Frankie becomes the biggest assist on the starship LSS Slicer. In her DNA is the secret to the Greys’ most powerful technology to restore time.
Ultimately, she is the target of the most Dangerous evil force out there.
Her Mission: Stay alive and fight.
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Wild Dreams Publishing
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The Secret to Everything: How to Live More and Suffer Less : Neel Burton
Self-help, with a twist
The Secret to Everything has been known to mystics and scholars for centuries and millennia, and, today, is increasingly being confirmed by both philosophy and science. Socrates certainly knew it, as did the Buddha, and more recently, Albert Einstein, Carl Jung, and Emily Dickinson. It is a secret not because it is hidden as such, but because it is so difficult to see, running counter to so many of our most basic assumptions.
Each of the book’s ten chapters exposes a particular aspect and practical application of the secret, while also keeping it carefully under wraps. On the surface, the chapters may seem to have little in common, but they are all built around the same wisdom. Your challenge, as you read, is to find the common thread that runs through all the chapters. The secret is discussed at the end, but don’t peek or you’ll spoil the fun.
[Neel Burton] draws from religion, philosophy, art, and science, discussing both ancient and modern texts. Now, don’t misunderstand me; this doesn’t feel like reading a heavy text. It isn’t like that at all; it is highly accessible while still being thought-provoking. –Jamie BJ, Amazon.com Top 100 Reviewer
This is a gentle, easy read, arranged around bite-sized chunks to reflect on. I very much enjoyed it and loved the mix of philosophy, ancient wisdom and mental health topics and I appreciated the author’s breadth of knowledge and experience. Now that I’ve finished it, I will be dipping into this book again from time to time, to reflect on further. –Susan Glazier on Amazon.co.uk
About the author
Dr Neel Burton is a psychiatrist, philosopher, and wine-lover who lives and teaches in Oxford, England. He is a Fellow of Green-Templeton College in the University of Oxford, and the recipient of the Society of Authors’ Richard Asher Prize, the British Medical Association’s Young Authors’ Award, the Medical Journalists’ Association Open Book Award, and a Best in the World Gourmand Award. His work has featured in the likes of Aeon, the Spectator, and The Times, and been translated into several languages.
Contents
Introduction
1. How to see
2. How to dream
3. How to be religious
4. How to be wise
5. How to be fearless
6. How to live
7. How to love
8. How to win
9. How to party
10. How to think
The Secret to Everything
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Penance : J C Pereira
The world is changing. Faster than anyone could have possibly imagined. One man and his family, living in the rural countryside are caught up in the cataclysmic events. Without many choices available to them, they flee in the hope of finding help and safety in the cities beyond the mountains. Their journey there is arduous and filled with frightening and life-threatening dangers.
On the way, a child is born who will become the last hope of all humankind. They and a band of misfit companions gathered along the path become his guardians, determined at the risk of their very lives to keep him protected from the rampages of Mother Nature herself.
The outcome is not assured, even under the wise leadership of old Drake, grandfather to the boy, Ezra. With a promise given to his mother, Drake will do and become whatever is necessary to keep Ezra alive and prepared for the new world in the forming.
The hardest thing in this is for humanity to keep its soul – sometimes, survival is not enough.
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The Hanging: A Western Adventure : Linda Thackeray
An innocent woman fearing for her life.
Six mismatched lawmen trying to prevent crime.
The beginning of an unusual family…or an end for them all?
After his wife and children were murdered, all that Kris Jensen wanted was to die and join them. Saved by a sacrificed friendship, he travels from one Territory town to another with a tin star on his black duster, restless, intervening when needed and then quickly moving on…until the town of Mimosa asks him to stay as their Marshal. And he says yes, though he doesn’t know why.
Maybe it’s the five misfits who stood by his side when he needed them most, risked their lives to help him save an innocent man from a mob lynch. Maybe it’s the pretty widow with the eyes like a dove. Maybe he’s starting to care.
And maybe they’re all going to die, for the cattle baron William Cahill isn’t going to forgive Judge Evan Davis for sentencing Cahill’s nephew Carlton to hang. Judge Davis is going to suffer, and so is his widowed daughter-in-law, Holly. The six misfit lawmen? He doesn’t care for the law. He does what he wants. And he wants them all dead.
The new western series filled with friendship and romance starts with The Hanging – if Kris and his friends – his new family – can survive the inevitable shootout. But can they, or are they going to die like his old family did?
The Patient by Linda Thackeray is also on Whizbuzz Books.
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Symbols on the US Dollar : Michael Rizzotti
What They Reveal About How the US Dollar Became the Reserve Currency of the World
The US dollar has come a long way since its introduction in 1792. Over time, it evolved into the world’s reserve currency, holding the highest level of confidence and liquidity, and surpassing all other currencies in circulation.
In times of geopolitical turmoil and a lack of trust in other monetary systems, the US dollar becomes the currency of choice of foreigners and foreign institutions that convert and park their money in US dollars.
When we handle these Federal Reserve Notes, we overlook the symbols that adorn them. They hold some answers to why the US dollar attained its dominant status and is the most recognized currency in the world.
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Once Upon a Time With Grandpa (A Charle Hobbs Adventure) : James L. Rickard
The Forrest Gump of the West is at it again! Can John Wayne, Wyatt Earp, and Butch Cassidy be in the same story? In another semi-true adventure, Charlie Hobbs, the protagonist of Grandpa Wore a Six-Gun, leaps off the page in a continuation of the saga in the action-packed Once Upon a Time With Grandpa!
Working as a journalist with his pal Jobie, Charlie travels west to investigate the legend of Butch Cassidy and to determine, once and for all, what really happened in South America. Along the way, they meet up with John Wayne and Wyatt Earp as well as other characters from the Old West and Hollywood as well. As this cross-country tale unfolds, Charlie and Jobie part company when Charlie is sucked back into a life of crime.
For the soap opera fans, after attempting a robbery, Charlie is forced to make his way back across 1927 America while grappling with the feelings he has for his female companion as well as a neighbor back in Ohio. To make matters worse, his traveling companion is the wife of an outlaw who has been helping him hide from the law! Worse yet, while on the lam, Charlie comes face to face with an intimate acquaintance from his past while traveling from Seattle, Washington back to Ohio.
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Jam Sessions: Sometimes in Middle School, the best you can do is survive : Jerry Harwood
Meet Phillip. His mom relocates him to a new school in the middle of the school year. Things do not go well.
Phillip lands himself a trip to the dean of student’s office when he tries to forge his mother’s signature. Maybe if he spelled her name correctly it would have gone better.
Phillip also finds himself having more and more anxiety. And the song some bullies are singing is certainly not helping: “Phillip Willip, Puddin and Pie. Got a bad grade and made him cry.”
There is one class Phillip has that is going well. It is with Mr. Filter, who starts each day with a writing prompt. These “jam sessions” allow students to be creative and enjoy writing. Phillip writes about being a basketball on a soccer field. Another day he writes about receiving two dragon eggs in the mail, one for himself and one for a particularly cute girl.
But will Phillip ever be able to make his real life go as well as his Jam Sessions?
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Pillar of Salt : Tetchjan Webb Simpson
A collection of stories, commentary and prose written in a style that resonates and sweeps the reader into experiences that are raw and revealing.
It serves as a conversation starter with young adults and those who feel too isolated to seek the comfort of others.
It is a tool for self-reflection, healing and forgiveness.
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Hallelujah Canyon : Richard Lightbody
Expect the unexpected. If you are seeking religious enlightenment, read something else – Hallelujah is more an expression than the route to salvation, although you could argue the whole story is about redemption. That’s not a spoiler. It points to a black comedy with huge shafts of light.
For many of those featured in the book, life is black. They are blind, not bleak. It’s a crime story of sorts, with a romantic subplot, it is travel and sub-sequential trivia. If it were a movie it would be The Truman Show, meets One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest with elements of Some Like It Hot and The Marx Brothers.
Super author Bill Bryson was kind enough to read it. A confession, his thoughtful endorsement and encouragement is that of a friend, but Bill’s a literary genius and doesn’t use words without meaning them. You’d do so much better to buy one of his books, but he’s promised his family a sabbatical.
Circumstantially we might not get the opportunity to travel freely for a while, Hallelujah Canyon was a prolonged writing exercise, but strangely it might be a pointer to what future vacations might contain. Here you can go on an international journey like no other. The characters drawn from life, are disguised. It is a work of fiction, built on facts and experiences.
Today’s world is a complex compilation of cultures. This is a tale about a group of Americans, written by a Brit, from an island nation excluded again from Europe, proudly holding an Irish passport, driving a Japanese car made in England, married to a Dane driving a Korean car designed in Germany, addicted to Indian food, and revealing parts of an old and much-trampled continent like you never imagined, without getting there – confused, excellent, please read on.
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