A finalist for the PEN Center USA Award for NonfictionWelcome to Paradise, Now Go to Hell, is surfer and former war reporter Chas Smith’s wild and unflinching look at the high-stakes world of surfing on Oahu’s North Shore—a riveting, often humorous, account of beauty, greed, danger, and crime.For two months every winter, when Pacific storms make landfall, swarms of mainlanders, Brazilians, Australians, and Europeans flock to Oahu’s paradisiacal North Shore in pursuit of som...

A rollicking true story of Bibles and bank robberies in Southern California, from a talented and highly praised gonzo journalist.NAMED A BEST TRUE CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEWChas Smith grew up deeply enmeshed in the evangelical Christian world that grew out of Southern California in the late 1960s. His family included famous missionaries and megachurch pastors, but his cousin Daniel Courson was Grandma'...

A rollicking true story of Bibles and bank robberies in Southern California, from a talented and highly praised gonzo journalist.Chas Smith grew up deeply enmeshed in the evangelical Christian world that grew out of Southern California in the late 1960s. His family included famous missionaries and megachurch pastors, but his cousin Daniel Courson was Grandma’s favorite. Smith looked up to Cousin Danny. He was handsome, adventurous, and smart, earned a degree from B...

Operational art and the operational level of war became a doctrinal focus for the U.S. Army in the 1980s. This focus led to the development of the elements of operational design. These concepts are not new, and were developed in the interwar period prior to World War II at the staff and war colleges. During this time, however, the military did not doctrinally recognize the operational level or war or operational art. Even though the concepts were not recognized, the intellectual process pe...

A gonzo ride through war-torn Yemen as only Chas Smith, the award-winning author of Welcome to Paradise, Now Go to Hell and Cocaine + Surfing: A Sordid History of Surfing's Greatest Love Affair, could provide. Follow Smith and his misfit band of merrymakers as they search for the true origins of Al Qaeda and endeavor to ride the unsurfed waves of Yemen all while exploring the slim opportunities for fun in the margins of our global war on terror and at any cost—even if it ...

Discover the Primal Energy of Modern ConjureThe Secret Keys of Conjure is a guide to the tricks and enchantments of Hoodoo, rootwork, and other American folk traditions. Written by a sought-after Conjure doctor, this book shares recipes for magical oils, baths, powders, mojo bags, and more. With more than 35 tricks and 50 recipes, The Secret Keys of Conjure is an invitation to join a powerful current of magic and explore practices that have been p...

In the heart of a forgotten realm, where dreams take flight and reality blurs, lies The Garden of Dreams. Enter a world where the boundaries of imagination dissolve, and the impossible becomes tangible. Follow the enigmatic Anya as she stumbles upon this ethereal paradise, a sanctuary where her deepest desires and darkest fears intertwine. As she ventures deeper into the garden's labyrinthine paths, she encounters a cast of extraordinary characters, each with their own secrets and longings...

Planet Stories was an American pulp science fiction magazine, published between 1939 and 1955. It featured interplanetary adventures, both in space and on other planets, and managed to obtain work from well-known names, including Isaac Asimov and Clifford Simak.In 1952 Planet published Philip K. Dick's first sale, and went on to print more of his stories over the next years.This Super Pack features 31 of the very best stories from the magazine, and is guaran...

p>On a remote world, a hard-worked battalion of space marines still follows orders handed down from a vanished empire. Life is crude, discipline is old-fashioned, and most of the men no longer understand the technology they are sworn to maintain. When an impulsive young soldier discovers more than he should, he stumbles into a crisis that reaches far beyond his isolated garrison.Across the stars, a failing regime hunts enemies both real and imagined while its machines, ships, and l...

Here for your reading delectation, are 25 outre tales of crime. Since history has proven that there is nothing unusual or unexpected about the human (or inhuman) drive to break the law, it should come as no surprise that the weird, the strange, the supernatural, and the just plain odd often, in fictional form, manifest themselves allayed to the criminal element. Included are:INTRODUCTION, by Shawn GarrettTHE WINDOW OF HORRORS, by H.L. MenckenTHE FOOTSTEPS ON THE STAIR...

Fantastic Universe' started publishing in 1953 and continued until March 1960. It was one of the better magazines to launch during the boom in science fiction magazines publishing. It published many important stories' by some of the fields best known writers. Collected in this over sized edition are more than 175,000 words of science fiction and fantasy. Escape back to the golden age of science fiction! 'Exile from Space' by Judith Merril 'Cogito, Ergo Sum' by John Foster West 'Grove of th...

The Serapis Classics edition of The Science Fiction Omnibus #1! A smashing, kick-butt collection of some of the best sci-fi ever written: GENESIS, by H. Beam Piper FARMER, by Mack Reynolds EARTHSMITH, by Milton Lesser WHERE THE WORLD IS QUIET, by C.H. Liddell WARNING FROM THE STARS, by Ron Cocking THY NAME IS WOMAN, by Kenneth O'Hara THE SWORD, by Frank Quattrocchi THE YILLIAN WAY, by Keith Laumer OPERATION EARTHWORM, by Joe Archibald THE LAST LETTER, by Fritz Leiber THE BACK OF OUR HEADS,...