Hard Land English

At 28, Stephanie Land's dreams of attending a university and becoming a writer quickly dissolved when a summer fling turned into an unplanned pregnancy. Before long, she found herself a single mother, scraping by as a housekeeper to make ends meet. Maid is an emotionally raw, masterful account of Stephanie's years spent in service to upper-middle-class America as a "nameless ghost" who quietly shared in her clients' triumphs, tragedies, and deepest secrets.

Chicago may be the city of broad shoulders, but its political law is "Pay to Play." Money changes hands in the middle of the night, and by morning, buildings and parks are replaced by billion-dollar projects. Chicago PI V. I. Warshawski gets pulled into one of these clandestine deals through her impetuous goddaughter, Bernie Fouchard. Bernie tries to rescue Lydia Zamir, a famed singer-songwriter now living on the streets; Zamir’s life fell apart when her lover was murdered next to her in a mass shooting at an outdoor concert.

Here is a time when the old west became new - the 1930s-50s - as Louis L'Amour witnessed it first-hand in Southern California before and after World War II. Many people think the age of gunmen, scheming land barons, murderous bad guys, and the determined men who stood up against them, went out with the end of the Old West around the 1890s. But, in L’Amour’s own time in the New West, there were far more bad men toting guns and making grabs for far more wealth and valuable land than in the fabled days of the Old West.

Spenser is good at finding things. But this time he has a client out on Cape Cod who is in over his head. Harvey Shepard has lost his pretty wife - and a very pretty quarter million bucks in real estate. Now a loan shark is putting on the bite.

Brought together by fate - or phenomena - heiress Jennifer Quinn, journalist Timika Mars, pilot Alan Young, and ex-Marine Barry Regis are bonded by the incidents they've witnessed, hunted by agents of a wealthy corporate cabal desperate for unimaginable power, and possessed of extraordinary abilities they do not understand, much less control. Now, they're on a mission of their own. As Alan and Barry test the limits of their strange gifts inside the military complex known as Dreamland, Jennifer and Timika begin a quest to locate an ancient tablet that may hold the answers to humanity's greatest question.

Never thought of myself wanting one woman. But there she is, and she’s unlike any other. I had her in my bed once, but then I screwed up. She’s stubborn and refuses to listen to reason. She’s also a fighter. When things happen and I find she’s not exactly who she claims to be, I have to make things right before it's too late. Even if it means getting down and dirty to do it. I’ve no problem getting bloody if it means she survives what’s to come.

As a struggling single mum, determined to keep a roof over her daughter's head, Stephanie Land worked for years as a maid, working long hours in order to provide for her small family. In Maid, she reveals the dark truth of what it takes to survive and thrive in today's inequitable society. As she worked hard to climb her way out of poverty as a single parent, scrubbing the toilets of the wealthy, navigating domestic labour jobs as a cleaner whilst also juggling higher education, assisted housing, and a tangled web of government assistance, Stephanie wrote.

Children of the Stone chronicles Ramzi's journey - from stone thrower to music student to school founder - and shows how through his love of music he created something lasting and beautiful in a land torn by violence and war. This is a story about the power of music, but also about freedom and conflict, determination and vision.

As a fringe drifter, I deliver latest generation nukes into deep space for cache storage. Company algorithms predict when and where the war will go, like chess. By planting weapons for future use they stay four steps ahead of the game, or in this case, four centuries. Needless to say, I miss out on a lot of the drama back home, wherever that may be. I work alone, always. When I am not in the nightmares of hypersleep, I read, think, and meditate, doing my best to stave off the madness that comes with isolation and alienation from earth, the native environment that I have never seen. My next ...

Missouri, 1985: Um vor den Problemen zu Hause zu fliehen, nimmt der fünfzehnjährige Sam einen Ferienjob in einem alten Kino an. Und einen magischen Sommer lang ist alles auf den Kopf gestellt. Er findet Freunde, verliebt sich und entdeckt die Geheimnisse seiner Heimatstadt. Zum ersten Mal ist er kein unscheinbarer Außenseiter mehr. Bis etwas passiert, das ihn zwingt, erwachsen zu werden. Die Geschichte eines Sommers, den man nie mehr vergisst.

Welcome to future-shock. Hold on tight and buckle yourselves in, because the future is on a relentless onslaught, for better or worse. This is a collection of the short speculative fiction of Gabriel Walker Land. Most stories are flash fiction, meaning less than 1000 words. Each contains a story of mystery, action, romance, and suspense.

I thought about my wife and four children, and was filled with a fear I’d never see them again…. For Donald Denihan, it was supposed to be the fishing trip of a lifetime. Instead, it ended up nearly costing him his life in a hard bargain he made with the sea. Near death experiences were nothing new to this successful real estate entrepreneur, though. At the age of sixteen, a hunting accident had nearly cost him his foot. A lengthy hospital stay, followed by an equally lengthy rehabilitation, filled Donald with resilience and made him think he could overcome anything. That is, until he ...

Hope ran deep when Smith left humanity’s first generation ship to lay roots with his wife and son in the open air of a new planet. When the colony ship broke apart on entry, however, countless lives were lost, including Smith’s beloved wife. He now fights to keep his son and his colony alive, all the while fighting off alien-induced hallucinations. Meanwhile, Smith’s apprentice Tashon seeks to discover what happened to his beloved mentor and the colony. He soon learns that the expedition’s leaders are focused on a much more imminent danger.

Blood Land is a gritty, emotional saga set in the Wyoming badlands with both greed and vengeance at its core. When billions of dollars in natural gas rights hang in the balance and the town's top law officer's wife is slain by her own blood, a reluctant hero is forced to battle his own demons and ultimately choose between justice, revenge, and duty.

The 21st century. Europe is divided between the First World bourgeoisie, made rich by nanotechnology and the cheap versatile slave labour of genetically engineered Dolls, and the Fourth World of refugees and homeless displaced by war and economic upheaval. In London, Alex Sharkey is trying to make his mark as a designer of psychoactive viruses whilst staying one step ahead of the police and the Triad gangs.

Astronaut Ted "Shakespeare" Hardiston is setting off on the adventure of a lifetime that will take him the rest of his life. He reluctantly leaves behind his wife, an android/human hybrid, to command the first base on the surface of the moon. Ted and the crew of Space Shuttle Liberty complete their mission, gifting the Moon with gravity and an atmosphere. In doing so, they cause mass destruction on the Earth below.

Hacker-turned-private investigator C.T. Ferguson gets a client he never expected: his police detective cousin Rich. In rural Western Maryland, Rich's old army friend, Jim, died in an apparent suicide. Jim got help from a charity called Land of the Brave. He had a job and a purpose again, and he was happy. Jim's heartbroken widow doesn't believe he killed himself. As C.T. and Rich investigate, they come to doubt the suicide angle but can't prove anything. When C.T. makes a shocking discovery, he and Rich attract the wrong kind of attention.

Title: When All is Lost Set in a distant future on an island planet, a world where "civilization" has regressed to a more primitive state. Are you ready to embark on a thrilling, mind-bending journey across a universe teetering on the brink of destruction? Introducing "When All is Lost" by Marcel Hammond, a spine-chilling science fiction adventure that will capture your imagination and leave you yearning for more. Prepare to be transported to a world unlike any you've ever known, where the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, and where the line between hero and villain becomes blurred. ...

Big crime has come literally crashing down on the small town of Wind River, Wyoming. When a small plane bound for the Canadian border, and carrying money for the Sustantivo Cartel, smashes into the glacial Wind River Mountains, the event brings a heartless evil presence to one of the more remote places on Earth.

Throughout the many long years Geoffrey Giuliano has worked as a rock biographer and became an intimate to many of those of his generation who made the music, he knew the groundbreaking band Cream best. As the author of Ginger Baker’s yet unpublished first autobiography, a close friend of Jack Bruce and a casual acquaintance of Eric Clapton, Giuliano had unique access to the complex relationships which knitted together formed this unexpected, unforgettable trio of musical titans.