I pledge allegiance to her and only her.Singer and lead guitarist Nikki Rani will do whatever it takes to keep her mom and her band safe, even if it means keeping secrets about her friend's murder. She failed her loved ones once and won't be taken in again by a ridiculous story.There are no fairy tales in her future—especially not with a broody stranger who's more likely to offer heartache and pain than redemption.D'Angelo Castelli has been raised f...

Bringing together 34 flash fiction stories from 14 authors, SPARK offers a host of stories to thrill, move, and challenge fans of short-short fiction. A woman physically at war with her mother's legacy inside her own body, a young girl given a vision of a utopic past at the end of the world, a man psychically bonded to the living weapon for which he is the failsafe, a harem of "female" androids newly capable of questioning their subservient status—these are a few of the characters you'll m...

"You make me forget to be anxious. You make me feel like I'm enough.""You're not just enough. You're everything."Nineteen-year-old never-been-kissed keyboardist Paisley Kim has gotten good at hiding things, including the panic attacks she experiences before she steps on stage with her high-profile band, The Painted Daisies.To her bandmates, she's still the baby, the one who needs protecting. But to troubled bad boy Jonas Riccoli, sh...

Through a series of penetrating conversations originally published in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Review of Books, Brad Evans and Natasha Lennard talk with a wide range of cutting edge thinkers--including Oliver Stone, Simon Critchley, and Elaine Scarry--to explore the problem of violence in everyday life, politics, culture, media, language, memory, and the environment. "To bring out the best of us," writes Evans, "we have to c...

Metal foams are at the forefront of technological development for the automotive, aerospace, and other weight-dependent industries. They are formed by various methods, but the key facet of their manufacture is the inclusion of air or other gaseous pockets in the metal structure. The fact that gas pockets are present in their structure provides an obvious weight advantage over traditionally cast or machined solid metal components. The unique structure of metal foams also opens up more oppor...

A study of the internal tensions of British imperial rule told through murder and insanity trialsUnsound Empire is a history of criminal responsibility in the nineteenth‑century British Empire told through detailed accounts of homicide cases across three continents. If a defendant in a murder trial was going to hang, he or she had to deserve it. Establishing the mental element of guilt—criminal responsibility—transformed state violence into law. And yet, t...

What happens when cleaning your home becomes something you no longer think about? GEAR Clean takes readers on a journey through the evolution of robotic vacuum and mop machines — from clunky prototypes to sleek companions quietly reshaping daily life. This book is more than a history lesson; it’s a look at how automation transforms our habits, choices, and even values inside the home.With clarity and curiosity, Evan L. Cross explores how engineering, artificial intelligence, and hu...

In Final Apostasy, author Linda L. Evans reveals the relevant steppingstones in history that caused the world to be in its current state. In modern times, we must learn the nature of the beast, its system, the players, and learn of Jesus Christ according to His instruction. Without this information, no substantial evidence or understanding will be realized, and people will stay in their slumber. Throughout her thirty years of prophecy studies, Evans has explored the foundations of the worl...

The authoritative guide to understanding and helping a teenager with depression. While coping with teenage moodiness can be difficult under any circumstances, it can be especially challenging if a teenager has a serious mood disorder. This concise, readable book is the definitive guide to understanding and getting effective help for adolescents with depression, designed for parents and other adults in contact with afflicted teens. It combines the most current scientific ex...

A groundbreaking new look at an American icon, The Wizard of Oz.Finding Oz tells the remarkable tale behind one of the world’s most enduring and best loved stories. Offering profound new insights into the true origins and meaning of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 masterwork, it delves into the personal turmoil and spiritual transformation that fueled Baum’s fantastical parable of the American Dream.Prior to becoming an impresario of children’s adventure tales—the J. K. Rowli...

If your work schedule changes every week, most sleep advice is useless. You can't go to bed at the same time every night. You can't block off two perfect hours for a wind-down. You can't rebuild your whole life around a morning routine you never actually see. This book is built for the messy reality of rotating and night shifts-and for the people holding everything together inside it: nurses, techs, EMTs, firefighters, factory crews, hotel staff, warehouse and logistics teams, and the pare...

Inspired by three true-life SoCal homicide cases, Anatomy of a Killer becomes a labyrinth of shocking crime stories beginning with the disappearance of an Afghanistan Army veteran and the murder of his fiance. This is foillowed by the cold-case tale of an :LAPD lady-cop who brutally murders her lover's wife. The trilogy is completed when a leading movie actor is bludgeoned to death by a pair of hustler-brothers in his Hollywood Hills mansion. Compelling---intriguing---a rich police procedu...