It was interesting this morning, both younger children asked me what I was doing, as they saw me writing. Looking up at them with a goofy look, one my wife dislikes, I said, "I'm writing a book." In today's world someone sitting in a room writing, is perceived as being emotionally disturbed about something, so to put their minds at ease I explained my mission, think of it as a gift from my dad, who sent me that black journal, to my children, so one day they can pick this up and read the id...

The Greatest story ever told - about a Giraffe called Ginny and her friends. "Me!!!! In show bizz - you're kidding me." Ginny. "Let's all sing Smile Ginny Smile." Hopscotch. "It's all a dream." Emily. "I don't like it here - I want to go home." Jessica. "I'm loved - Meeeeee!" theManintheMoon. "A full moon - a night of amazing consequences." Icicle. "I thought you'd never ask." Chrystal. "You only have to look at me... to see that I am the greatest star in the whole universe." Miss Starligh...

What have Adam and Jane discovered in the Parker family boxes that were never reopened after ten years? As they discover the contents, it has far-reaching consequences. Disturbing, hidden secrets come to light in this sequel to 'The Plan', following the lives of three friends. The construction company founded by the late Steve Parker and Mark Baldini has grown from strength to strength. As personal life events arise that have a potential impact on all their futures, what will this mean for...

Adam would never have imagined how life would change for him after he moved in to live with his uncle Steve… At the beginning of this story, we are introduced to three friends Adam, Josh and Jane whose lives are inexorably bound together by a strong friendship. Adam is a young man caught in a web of control and domination. The story includes themes of sexual, emotional and physical abuse. Some of this content is explicit. It confronts the issues of a confused sexuality, loss and grief. Ada...

Tucked away, on the side of a small mountain, was a community of young and old that on any particular day was no different then most small towns except for the recent discovery of an unusual plant. This plant was a cross between two vines that produced a flower with the properties of a hallucinogenic and sexually arousing drug. This magical plant was accidentally mixed up with the Kudzu blossoms when preparing jelly for the local fair. Unbeknownst to a fourteen-year-old girl, she had inadv...

The Closing of Twilight When Kraylen Somersett is paid a small fortune in lieu of journeying to the south to find a missing child, he has no idea of what he is about to discover once he steps through the gates of Lindham Manor. From the moment Lady Louisa Lindham informs him that only he can find her grandson Coren, his suspicious nature heightens. The first night Kraylen hears the cry of the Abiding, he knows it represents more than the mere wail of a wild animal. Somehow, it links him di...

"Powerfully illustrates . . . that this regime determined the character and limits of Sparta's domestic and foreign policy." (Susan D. Collins, The Review of Politics)More than 2500 years ago a confederation of small Greek city-states defeated the invading armies of Persia, the most powerful empire in the world. In this meticulously researched study, historian Paul Rahe argues that Sparta was responsible for the initial establishment of the Hellenic defensive c...

"[A] monumental history . . . explaining . . . how Sparta's early strategic role in the Greek world was inseparable from the uniqueness of its origins and values." (David Hanson, The Hoover Institution, author of The Other Greeks)For centuries, ancient Sparta has been glorified in song, fiction, and popular art. Yet the true nature of a civilization described as a combination of democracy and oligarchy by Aristotle, considered an ideal of liberty in the age...

'As entertaining as it is engrossing' John Banville'Enlightening, delightful' Arthur der Weduwen, author of The LibraryWhy don't eleven and twelve end in –teen? The rest of our counting system sits in neatly arithmetical sets of ten, so why do these two rulebreakers seem so at odds with the numbers that follow them?Admittedly, that's probably a question that might never have occurred to you. But if you're ...

A "provocative, intriguing and cogently argued" exploration of the collapse of the Spartan-Athenian alliance (David Stuttard, Classics for All).During the Persian Wars, Sparta and Athens worked in tandem to defeat what was, in terms of relative resources and power, the greatest empire in human history. For the decade and a half that followed, they continued their collaboration until a rift opened and an intense, strategic rivalry began.

Bienvenue dans la collection Les Fiches de lecture d’UniversalisÉcrite et publiée partiellement sous forme d’articles entre 1935 et 1941, la thèse de doctorat de Paul Anthony Samuelson (1915-2009) – soutenue en 1941 sous le titre Foundations of Analytic Economics – n’est publiée dans son intégralité qu’en 1947 sous le titre Foundations of Economic Analysis.Une fiche de lecture spécialement conçue pour le numérique, pour tout savoir...

From Monte Carlo to Shanghai, Bikini to Samarra, Around the World in 80 Words is a whimsical voyage through the far-flung reaches of the English language.What makes a place so memorable that it survives for ever in a word? In this captivating round-the-world jaunt, Paul Anthony Jones reveals the intriguing stories of how 80 different places came to be immortalised in our language.Beginning in London and heading through Europe, Africa, Asia, Austral...