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The stories in this anthology range from quietly strange to ambitiously speculative. Humans transform into cosmic energy or sentient algae. A man wakes up in a new body in a world with continents cut out, months absent from the calendar year, and souls misplaced. Students at a high school regularly vanish without a trace. A woman descends into the depths of the ocean and encounters all-knowing creatures who may have the answers to her deepest questions.

Have you ever heard a writer say: "Don’t worry about the slow beginning; my real story gets going at around page 30…" or something similar to that phrase? Are you dreading the first five pages? Read all the how to books but can’t seem to figure out your beginning? You need answers and fast. Got fifteen minutes? What about ten? Find out what you’re doing wrong and what you’re doing right. In this book we raise questions that you should consider.

Jackie Swaitkowski investigates the death of a female pilot who had a family tree filled with ex-cons and a passenger list packed with Hamptons high society. Just before Eugenie Conklin's plane took a nosedive, she tossed out a camera case that held an unusual set of photos. While defending Eugenie's husband during the accident investigation, Jackie realizes that she recognizes more than a few of the faces in those pictures.

Olivia's memoir chronicles her personal and medical history from the age of 18, when she was first diagnosed with leprosy in 1930s Honolulu. Olivia reveals herself as she never felt she could about her more than seven decades of life as Hawai'i Department of Health parolee #3306. She writes with passion of her struggles and, by extension, the struggles of thousands of others, against centuries of stigma and fear.

Meet smart-aleck Southampton attorney Jackie Swaitkowski. Her business relies on constant movement of Hamptons' real estate market. After making an odd request to evict his sister-in-law from his home, one of her clients turns up dead. Jackie would have expected that to be the end of it, but an envelope found on the corpse contains an item so unusual that she finds herself working on something bigger, and more dangerous, than real estate.

Raised near New Orleans as one of six children, Dorothy Newton was surrounded by abuse and poverty as she grew up. But she became the first in her family to graduate from college and moved out of poverty. She then began to live out her dreams in Dallas of a better home and life when she married...

Today, my name is Lois Reeves. I have an appointment with my new boss, James Leverett, this morning because my next assignment requires that I assassinate one of the biggest gangsters in the world. This is a suicide mission that is almost guaranteed to get me killed, but I have to accept it. To refuse would mean death - and not just mine. This guy who I'm about to kill is lining up everyone I hold dear, and preparing to take them out one by one. This is every assassin's worst nightmare, and this is the hell within which I now live.

How often do you wake up and ask yourself: “How can I be better today than I was yesterday?" Black Excellence: 20 Stories About Rising from Ordinary to Extraordinary will inspire you to expand and broaden the range of phenomenal goals you want to achieve in life. Author L. Jeff Shafer II celebrates Black culture through interviews, research, and his personal journey to show there are endless examples of Black excellence today in many different industries.

In the sultry depths of Louisiana's most haunted city, where voodoo queens once ruled and the dead refuse to rest, investigative journalist David G. Stone uncovers a terrifying reality: some of New Orleans' most infamous "legends" are actually documented cases with police reports, witness testimonies, and evidence that defies rational explanation.

Teresa Shields Parker knows what it's like to be super morbidly obese. Once weighing 430 pounds, she's been through every magic fix imaginable. The thing she found that worked, really worked, was a key she had available to her all along.

Travel writer Julia Sullivan lives life in fast-forward. She jet sets to Europe and the Caribbean with barely a moment to blink or sleep. But too many mishaps and missed deadlines have Julia on the verge of being fired. She's offered one last chance to rescue her career. Julia embarks on an unlikely journey to the "Heart of Dixie" - Eufaula, Alabama - home to magnificent mansions, sweet tea, and the annual Pilgrimage. Julia arrives and is soon charmed by the lovely city and her handsome host, but her stay is marred by a shocking discovery.

This book gives practical steps to show you how to ditch traditional diets and step into your personal forever lifestyle change plan. Many ask, “Is weight loss possible for me?” Teresa Shields Parker’s answer may surprise you. “It is possible, but only if you don’t go on another diet!” Teresa has lost over 250 pounds and kept it off since 2013. She says lasting change happens when we go through God’s process.

For months, astronomers have predicted the moon will turn purple when the earth passes through the tail of a comet. But no one has predicted the comet will bring germs that attack human hormones. Older teens and adults die within hours of exposure. On a small island off the coast of Maine, Abby Leigh, 13, has to help her brother and sister survive in this new world, but all the while she has a ticking time bomb inside her - adolescence.

In Locked In, San Francisco private eye Sharon McCone was shot in the head and suffered from locked-in syndrome: almost total paralysis but with an alert, conscious mind. Now, as Sharon struggles to regain control over her body, she realizes that it may not be possible to return to her old life. But when Sharon's friend from physical therapy goes missing, she must call upon those closest to her to find out the truth behind the disappearance.

Stabbings, even fatal ones, are not uncommon in Los Angeles. But the stabbing death of Aggie Lasher - a vibrant young woman dedicated to helping others and, it seemed, deeply loved by everyone who knew her - was especially tragic. For almost six years she has been obsessed by the mystery of her best friend's murder: If she had been with Aggie, would the killer have chosen another victim? Will the killer ever be caught?

Buxom motorcycle cop Chastity “Cha-Cha” Rinaldi has a tough reputation to live up to. On her first day as a rookie for the Mobile, Alabama, police department, Cha-Cha pulled over a pickup hauling a trailer with a busted taillight and unwittingly stumbled upon an international human-smuggling ring. But now, the three creeps she put behind bars have busted out of prison. Have they fled the country, or could they be coming for her as they’d vowed upon receiving their life sentences?

A writer Time magazine has said "everybody should read", Sam Lipsyte, author of the New York Times best-selling The Ask, offers up The Fun Parts, a book of bold, hilarious, and deeply felt fiction. A boy eats his way to self-discovery, while another must battle the reality-brandishing monster preying on his fantasy realm. In another story, an aerobics instructor, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, makes the most shocking leap imaginable to save her soul. These are just a few of the tales, some first published in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, and Playboy, that unfold in Lipsyte’s richly imagined world.

In a recent survey, eight out of 10 Americans felt that a lack of respect and courtesy is a serious national problem. Four out of 10 admitted to behaving badly themselves. Do you want to be part of the problem or part of the solution? Don't Take the Last Donut gives you the tools you need to be confident and letter-perfect in any business setting--from pitch to presentation, from networking to contract negotiations, and everything in between.

When David Zetrakis, the producer of a popular soap opera, is found shot to death, Wollie Shelley finds herself caught up in the murder. Zetrakis was one of the many Mr. Wrongs in Wollie's career as a serial dater, and her friend Joey has emerged as the media's prime suspect. A hot-tempered celebrity who had dated Zetrakis and was fired from his show some years ago, Joey has inherited a million-dollar Klimt painting from him. But Joey is not the only potential suspect.

With The Healthy Kidney Handbook, you’ll learn what you can do before your kidney health starts to suffer, including understanding the anatomy of the kidneys and exactly what makes them function, learning good nutrition and how you can upgrade your diet, improving your access to consistent exercise, discovering how current weight-loss drugs and diabetes can affect your kidney health, and so much more.