The creek behind Elliot's neighborhood was not big enough for boats, and it was not deep enough for swimming. But it was perfect for exploring. It curled through the woods like a ribbon, sometimes narrow and quiet, sometimes wide and chatty, always moving as if it had an important place to be. Elliot loved the creek bed most of all. That was where the rocks lived.Then his eyes caught something different. A smooth gray stone lay half buried near the edge of the pool, as if the creek...

There's a small park in the middle of the busy city. People walk past it every day on their way to school or work. Some stop to eat their lunch under its shady trees. Others come to walk their dogs or read on the benches. To most, it's just another patch of green in a world of tall buildings and noisy cars.But not to Darius and Andien. For them, the park is different. It has always felt alive. They've spent hours playing hide-and-seek among its ancient trees, watching squi...

Who wants to kill Austin Carr? Everybody. After all, he's a stockbroker.About to be ingeniously murdered — snatched off a private fishing yacht by a live, six-hundred-pound giant bluefin — a down-on-his-luck stockbroker recalls the events and bad choices that precipitated his gruesome end. His killer — Mr. Blabbermouth — might be any of a dozen suspects, including a steroid-crazed wrestler angry over Austin's poor investment recommendations, a jealous sales manager often the target...

Having fallen on hard times, disgraced soldier turned private investigator John “Slim” Hardy is hired by rich and enigmatic land owner Oliver Ozgood to uncover the identity of a mysterious blackmailer.The man is demanding a fortune in exchange for his silence. He claims to be Dennis Sharp, a former employee of Ozgood, and threatens to reveal secrets that will soil Ozgood’s family name and send the patriarch to prison.There’s only one problem.Dennis Sharp is dead, ki...

Did you know that an old tradition in Scandinavia tells of a Yule Goat who wanders around villages ensuring people have properly prepared for Christmas and demanding presents from everyone? Or that in 1659 it was illegal to celebrate Christmas in Massachusetts? What on earth is a Turducken? And how many Christmas tree farms are there in America? The answers to all of these questions and more can be found in this excellent quick-read guide to Christmas. Whether you’re Santa himself, or just...

Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a simple, natural method of allowing the mind to go beyond thoughts and gain access to the silent inner field of creativity, energy, peace, and happiness that is our own essential nature, our Self.Widely known and prescribed by physicians for its powerful stress-reducing effects, TM is much more than that. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1918–2008), who brought TM to the West, said that TM offers any individual not only a gateway to the hig...

The Call of the Wild—Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time'To this day Jack London is the most widely read American writer in the world,' E. L. Doctorow wrote in The New York Times Book Review. Generally considered to be London's greatest achievement, The Call of the Wild brought him international acclaim when it was published in 1903. His story of the dog Buck, who learns to survive in the bleak Yukon wilderness...

What does it mean to be human in a universe of shifting, sometimes terrifying realities? Eighteen stories from Jack Skillingstead's second decade of publishing feature intense and surprising explorations of who we are, who we wish to be, and who we can't be.In "The Whole Mess" a genius math professor solves a multiverse equation only to find himself pursued by ancient Masters across the many iterations of his could-have-been lives. "Straconia" gives us a Kafkaesque world where all ...

You may not realize it, but many essential therapeutic techniques can be accessed right in your own kitchen. In Mind over Batter, licensed therapist and master baker Jack Hazan guides you through 75 simple, healing recipes that can help you tap into whatever you might be going through that day.Inspired by the Syrian and Middle Eastern baked goods he grew up with, along with his take on classic American desserts, recipes are organized into themed chapters based on common li...

Honouring strong new voices from around the world, the 2014 Commonwealth Short Story Prize is a global award, open to unpublished as well as published writers, with a truly international judging panel. This global anthology presents the winner of the 2014 Short Story Prize, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s “Let’s Tell This Story Properly,” alongside some of the most promising and original stories entered for the prize during the past three years by emerging writers across the literary landscap...

“Thriller writing at its best... A gripping story that's hard to put down.”--Midwest Book Review, Diane Donovan (re Any Means Necessary)⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐From #1 bestselling and USA Today bestselling author Jack Mars, author of the critically acclaimed Luke Stone and Agent Zero series (with over 5,000 five-star reviews), comes an explosive new action-packed espionage series that takes readers on a wild ride across Europe, America, and the world—perfect for fans of Dan Brown, Dan...

Victoria’s favourite humourist returns with a hilarious collection of observations on Island living.For more than twenty-five years, Jack Knox’s weekly humour column has captured the essence of life in BC’s picturesque capital city, a.k.a. Dysfunction-by-the-Sea. In Fortune Knox Once, as in his previous humour collections, Knox gathers together his favourite Time Colonist pieces that best sum up the absurdity of our times.The subject matter is all over the ...