Mostrando resultados por autor "Barry Clay" en Todas las categorías

Days ago, Endinara Thorson, the only child of the king and queen of Vaniar, arrived in the kingdom of Sylvanlund to seal an arranged marriage to the Sylvanlund heir, Prince Quentin Bregard. But she now lies in a magically-induced coma, having only a short time to live, and without hope unless the Sylvanlund court wizard, Polongrana, can heal her. But to do so, he must have one of the halves of the RavenDisc, a damaged talisman of arcane energies. One half is too far away to retrieve. The other is jealously guarded by Ulava, a sorceress us of great power, who has no intention of using her ...

The Bible unabashedly states that the entire universe was created when an eternal God spoke it into existence. But what about evolution? How does that fit in, or does it? This excerpt from the book "Solid Ground" discusses how the universe and our world began. Thick books have been written on this topic, but Mr. Clay presents this discussion in a "Reader's Digest" version designed for Christians and non-Christians like who lead busy lives and don't have the time for a larger treatment of this subject.

When young Thomas Packer returns from work to his rooms on the third story of his apartment building, he finds the dead body of a woman and becomes the prime suspect in the investigation of her murder. With evidence mounting against him, his only hope seems to be the rough-edged, hard smoking Lt. Browne, who believes him innocent. But with all the clues leading to him, will Lt Browne's opinion be enough to exonerate him from a capital crime? Winner of the 1984 Samuel Freiburg Memorial Award for Mystery. This novelette has also been collected in the anthology "A Little Bit of Everything" by ...

The moon is a very religious place. The year is 2242, and Armstrong City, the largest city on the moon, maintains a precarious balance between the old United States of America and the upstart, self-proclaimed Free States of America that broke away in 2126 in protest of government policies they deemed oppressive. The majority of the population on the moon consists of Christian and cultural conservatives, the former having fled the United States to worship and act out their faith freely and the latter to pursue their own agenda free from centuries of policies that they believed had burdened ...

Given how hard life can be, who couldn't use a dollop of humor? This collection of stories -- inspired by actual events -- provides more than a dollop. Several bushel fulls of humor are contained in its pages. And the stories are all the more amusing because they are slices of actual events -- or nearly so. "The Dip Takes a Plunge" relates just how badly a weekend visit can go... and just how deadly a bowl of avocado dip can be. "My Life of Crime" tells the sordid (but very funny) tale of four normally God-fearing, obedient boys who decide to exact revenge on their own when one of their ...

Almost every Christian denomination practices at least two sacraments: communion and baptism. In this excerpt from the book "Solid Ground", Mr. Clay discusses the different modes of water baptism, and what is important -- and not important -- for the believer to understand. As in all the "Solid Ground" titles, Mr. Clay tackles a difficult topic in a book small enough to be read in one sitting, and yet he discusses the topic thoroughly enough that no other book may be necessary!

"When your children are young and they do things like biting each other, stealing each other’s toys, and attempting to swindle their younger siblings out of their meager life savings, it seems as if they will never become snotty teenagers, much less old enough that your state has decided they are responsible enough to drive. But it happens." And so begins the short Kindle edition of "You Drive me Crazy," true accounts of one family as the adults attempt to teach their four children to drive. And they did it successfully! All four children are now mature, responsible adults who have been ...

Surely, no camping trip could be that bad. Surely. But this novella is inspired by actual events, and the Brooks family little expects just how bad one long weekend at a state park can be. This book has also been collected in the anthology "Molded by Humor" along with other short stories and novelettes that were inspired by actual events.

Melissa Nelson understands that she is being unreasonable. Her husband is no doubt correct when he says that teenage boys, bored in the rural community that is their new home, are moving the scarecrow as a prank on their new city slicker neighbors. But as she looks out in the field of corn and sees the scarecrow looking at her, she can't convince herself that she is being irrational. Is she losing her grip on reality? And then a neighbor informs her that the scarecrow is indeed more than it seems .... This novelette has also been collected in the anthology "Brushes with the Supernatural."

In our day and age, the concept of "sin" is considered gauche and repugnant, but to the Christian, our tendency to sin is a sorrow. In this excerpt from his book, "Solid Ground," Mr. Clay discusses our propensity to sin and the provision God has made for us to help us to walk in a manner pleasing to him. And he wrestles with a topic most Christians assume they know they answer to: do we have to sin?

From the author of The Darkened Village and The Medium of Death comes two new novellas detailing the exploits of the world’s first consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes, and his faithful chronicler, Dr, John H. Watson. In “The Extraordinary Disappearance of the Carstairs Special,” Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard hires Sherlock Holmes to find a train commissioned by a rich man that disappears—along with its passengers and crew—between two railway stations, vanishing without a trace. Someone proposes an unlikely solution to the mystery: Martians. Sherlock Holmes is not amused. ...

It is the early 22nd Century, and Susan Bachman has achieved her goal. She is a CTN - clone tank nurse - a good-paying position matching the needs of people requiring body parts that are harvested from clones grown in tanks. But her world is disturbed when one of the clones opens its eyes and looks at her. She is told that this is a common event and means nothing, but it begins a series of events she cannot control and results in an end she cannot predict. This book combines the novelette "With Whom I Had Been Speaking" and the novella "Knowing with Whom I Had Been Speaking."

It should come as no surprise to hear than God had a plan when He created the world. This excerpt from the book "Solid Ground" discusses that plan. It begins with His temporary plan, Moses and the Old Covenant, and ends with the glorious good news of the Gospel. And we talk about the Man who made it possible to move from animal sacrifice and the Ten Commandments to faith in God, Jesus Christ. If you want to understand Christianity better, do not miss reading this excerpt. This is the central portion of the Christian faith. Everything either leads here or comes from here, and every Christian...

Suspecting that their parents may not approve, seven teenagers decide to consult a Ouija board -- just for fun. The game quickly degenerates into an unexpected encounter with the supernatural in ways they could not have expected, with results that appear as final as they are ambivalent. This novelette is also collected in the anthology "Brushes with the Supernatural".

The Psalmist asked "What is Man that You are mindful of him?" This excerpt from the book, "Solid Ground" explores that topic thoroughly but briefly. Drawing from the statements in the Bible, Mr. Clay reveals how man was created and how man has changed since the day of his creation.

The people of Tyemon's land consider the Antrix a myth -- a story to tell around the fire to frighten children. But Tyemon has discovered that, far from a myth, the Antrix is very real. To his sorrow, he also learns that the stories told of her are not as accurate as he would have liked, and he must now deal with the consequences of approaching her. But correcting his mistake may be impossible. Or is it? This novelette has also been collected in the anthology "Brushes with the Supernatural."

When Fred Dorflinger and his wife Carol visit their friends Alan and Loretta Hostetter and their 10 children, they expect a quiet, calm weekend. What ensues instead is a calamity of unexpected visitors, clumsiness, unforeseen events, and a very dangerous bowl of spinach dip. To say more about this short novelette would be to spoil the surprise. Winner of the 1983 John T. Ruhl Memorial award for humor. "I have seen people howl with laughter when Barry Clay reads this story aloud to his friends, but I really, really wish he would have spared me the acute embarrassment and not printed this for...

Family. Faith. Fantasy. For generations, the kingdoms of Vaniar and Sylvanlund have been at war over the mineral-rich mountainous region between their two kingdoms. Sylvanlund has proposed a marriage between the only children of their monarchs, a marriage that will end the war and the loss of lives it has meant for both kingdoms. The king and queen of Vaniar accept the proposal and begin negotiations, but someone with unknown motives has begun machinations – machinations of incredible sorcery – to prevent the marriage from occurring. Or so it appears. Identical twins Ian and Tad ...

Ten years have passed since the Princess Endinara, now queen of Sylvanlund, was saved from a mystical illness by an unlikely band of men and women, led by Quentin Bregard, the man who is now her husband and joint monarch. Ian and Tad Tomulson have both married, as has their sister, Vanessa. Like Quentin and Endinara, they are raising their children in the relative calm of the two prosperous, peaceful kingdoms in which they live. The sorcerer Dovar and his evil sister, Ulava, are dead, and the RavenDisc halves are safe with the former sorcerer’s apprentice, Mok Halim. Or so they think. For...

In this novelette of the near future, clones are grown for replacement parts. On rare occasions, some clones are even used as new bodies for those influential or rich enough to obtain them. Susan Bachman is a Clone Tank Nurse who, abruptly, is forced by circumstances to reexamine everything she's ever known about clones and the comfortable life she leads. This novelette has also been included in the anthology "A Little Bit of Everything" by Barry Clay and in the book "Speaking".