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A catastrophe of unimaginable proportions struck in the middle of the twelfth century BC and with a sudden swiftness brought Old World civilizations to an abrupt end. This initiated the world’s longest and deepest known dark age. When the world finally recovered centuries later, new written languages had replaced old ones, a new strategic and useful metal had replaced the old one, and the historical reality of the old civilizations had been replaced by yore and myth invented from fragments passed down through the barrier of the long deep dark age. Some of these fragments, and possibly some references to the catastrophe itself, may be found in the Old Testament and in ancient Greek literature. Out of the fragmented preserved memories, and stories built around them, we became what we are today.
Perhaps a little unsettling, perhaps a little weird, perhaps a little ghastly, perhaps a little scientifically questioning, but easy-to-read entertaining, fun short stories that will charm you while leaving you with time and energy to pursue more serious things in life. The book opens with a story about lonely ghosts in a town in Germany. Another is about the ghost of a Japanese samurai trying a little too hard to get into samurai heaven. One is about a near alien abduction in a small town in the American West. One is about a military scientist who invents a scent that makes people submissive and aids ants in taking over the world, or is it his guilt? Another concerns a spy with multiple sclerosis trying to hide his illness and his encounter in a German town with something from beyond. And one is about a spore that comes to earth in a meteorite impact in Nevada and delivers a timely message to the inhabitants of our small blue planet.
The story of the tempestuous romance between Rhett Butler and Scarlet O'Hara is set amid the drama of the Civil War.
The world shudders when Prime Minister McKenna of British North America is assassinated on November 22, 1963. Inventor Jimmy Keyes and his patent lawyer Marcus Morris find themselves entangled in the event, partly as a result of Keyes invention. As the world political crisis caused by the assassination deepens, and as they are hunted by elements connected to the assassination, they attempt to fire-up the invention, with curious and mixed results.
The Goddess of Love and the Angel of Death revolves around a nude female nightclub stripper, Selina, and a nude male art model, Owen. Conceived of as a modernized "Adam and Eve," gender-reversing Owen tempts Selina with a piece of plastic sculpture. A generation later, their daughter, Lisa, who had been adopted as a baby, learns of them from a psychology professor who had met them while researching pornography in which they peripherally participated. As the story unfolds, Lisa learns that her biological parents were also talented artists. The story itself is a love story of a young black woman, Selina, and an older white man, Owen. If their art and love may be the "good" of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, neo-Nazi racism and drug gang-banging may be the "evil." The underlying theme is a triumph of art and life over pornography. The story's complex ending may bring sorrow and meaning while gladdening the heart.
The author deals with grief and reflects on life and change following the death of his mother in 2006. Her treasure old house and the unintended influence of Arthur Miller are followed through this book.
Preshrunk Ponderings and Rumpled Rememberings is a collection of folksy essays on low-cost housing and its relationship to homelessness, on public transportation and its relationships to independence of movement and quality of life, on artifice and institutionalism in higher education, and on the tinkering mind and creative science. The author draws from his experiences in living life fully from the low-end of the economic scale and offers uncommon perspectives on what readers may find common all around us. Reasonable analyses of problems are intended less toward offerings of solutions than to provoke thought and stimulate discussion. There are no overt polemics or hard-line politics that might stir the dental profession to action from widespread gnashing of teeth. These are just amiable discourses on a few diverse topics to animate some dimension to the prevailing flat dullness and torpor. They are easy reading for a few lazy hours.
End of the Road is a novel drawing from an unpublished manuscript by a 110-year-old man in the year 2050 about his trip around the country in a $200-car in 1995. A group of graduate students in 2050 interview him in his assisted-living apartment for their video oral-history thesis project. The story shifts back and forth between the trip in 1995 and the interviews in 2050. The old man's quaint philosophies and his connection with the past intrigue the students. As the theis project progresses, the old man becomes more than a mere interview subject. As the young people gain a perspective on their past, the old man reconnects with the present. Readers may additionally find looking back at our turn-of-the-century road and automobile culture from a viewpoint of young people living in the year 2050 a delightful experience in itself.
Breath of Lifetells the story of a volunteer ?re?ghters life as an EMT and a ?re?ghter. Author Daniel McVey chronicles the harrowing stories of saving lives and facing death on a daily basis; he also shares stories of the dedication and professionalism of his comrades. He describes the small village on Long Island called Floral Park, where he belonged to the Rescue Company of the Floral Park Fire Department. While they were primarily responsible for medical emergencies; the stories included in Breath of Life provide an intimate view of the dangers these heroes faced as volunteers who also had full-time jobs. Growing up in Floral Park, McVey set his sights on becoming a volunteer ?re?ghter af...