Year after year, in spite of monumental dangers, climbers return to the world's most difficult mountains, whether it's the cliffs of Yosemite or the peaks of the Himalaya. At these places, even the most cautious climber must accept the possibilities of moving unroped to save time, braving terrain vulnerable to rockfall, trusting afternoon thunderstorms to hold off long enough to get below treeline. Mistakes, bad weather and bad luck often lead to death. This collection offers harrowing acc...

'Will keep you on the edge of your seat from its first page to its last page' -Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Guns, Germs, and SteelFrom ancient megalodons to fearsome Great Whites, this book tells the complete, untold story of how sharks emerged as Earth's ultimate survivors, by world-leading paleontologist John Long.Sharks have been fighting for their lives for 500 million years and today are under dire threat. T...

Alexander Cromwell: He is the last of the royal family of the first vampires. Betrayed and left for dead, the centuries have turned him into a heartless creature. He cares for nothing and for no one, with one exception. Boulder: A creature of the earth made entirely of stone is the last of the first and most powerful elementals. He is Cromwells only friend and has waited patiently through the centuries for the vampire to return. Together, they coast through the centuries, revealing themsel...

"Madame Butterfly" is a short story by American lawyer and writer John Luther Long. It is based on the recollections of Long's sister, Jennie Correll, who had been to Japan with her husband—a Methodist missionary. It was published in Century Magazine in 1898, together with some of Long's other short fiction.An American naval officer, Lieutenant Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton, arrives in Japan to take up his duties on a ship docked in Nagasaki. On the suggestion of his friend Sayre, he...

SOVAS 2020 Voice Arts Award winner for Fiction–Best VoiceoverDragula is a tale filled with sensitivity to personal struggle, raucous humor and musical entertainment. Peter, a vulnerable young man, makes the decision to transition, becoming the gender and human being he was meant to be. Unfortunately, Peter’s stage persona of the musical entertainer Dragula draws the judgmental ire of the Right Reverend Bobby Swagger. Reverend Swagger is determined to prove by whatever means necess...

Most of us are possessed of the desire to be somewhere else. Since the dawn of history hordes of men have pressed into new countries. Sometimes the expeditions have been in search of food and plunder, but mixed in with these motives has been the human passion for something better, the hope for sunnier scenes lying over the horizon. Hemmed in by the restrictions of modern business life, people no longer, even in this Western World, move by tribes or companies into new homelands. But the res...

Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite is a risqué tale that explores both human and bedbug daily lives and night-time sexual activities. In alternating chapters between the humans, Marnie and Bob, and the bedbugs, Ukk and Fahh, the tale illustrates the humor, turmoil, and terror that explodes as the tension rises and each couple discovers the existence of the other and their cohabitation spins horrifyingly out of control!

"The Way of the Gods" is set in Japan and follows the story of Sayonara, a young Japanese woman who is deeply devoted to her family and the traditional customs and beliefs of her culture. The novel explores themes of love, duty, and the clash between tradition and modernity in early 20th-century Japan.Sayonara's life is thrown into turmoil when she falls in love with an American missionary named Robert Sanderson, who has come to Japan to spread Christianity. Despite the societal and cultur...

They say that life is a journey. As we travel along, all we can ask for is good manual, a detailed map, and the ability to cherish life's many surprises. No matter our age, gender, religion, or cultural background, each of us lives beneath a common sky and breathe the same air. Our blood runs red and our hearts are slightly to the left. Our world is getting smaller by the day, and yet we continue to build more borders and boundaries. We must remember that Mother Earth is our shared home, a...

A Journey through Governance: A Public Servant's Experience under Six Presidents Among the projects central to Morrill's time in federal government were helping to spearhead healthcare reform in the early 1970s, transforming the telecommunications industries, improving emissions standards under the Clean Air Act, and helping to figure out how many nuclear bombs were needed in the United States. On the local level, Morrill put his problem-solving talents to work in Fairfax County, ...

Dear Sir,We wish to stop at your hotel, we will book in for a week,If you can only grant me, the permission that I seekTo allow my dog to stay with me, each evening, in my room.Though I realise I'm biased, he is well behaved and groomed.He's the only family I have left, we're sad if we're alone.We have planned to leave the thirteenth, can you let me know by phone?He rang back, and said,"Mate, I've run pubs for many years, and ...

Significant research effort has been devoted to the study and realization of autonomous wireless systems for wireless sensor and personal-area networking, the internet of things, and machine-to-machine communications. Low-power RF integrated circuits, an energy harvester and a power management circuit are fundamental elements of these systems. An FM-UWB Transceiver for Autonomous Wireless Systems presents state-of-the-art developments in low-power FM-UWB transceiver realizations. The desig...