Stumps and Smokes: The stories are true. Down in the bush, dark things are at play.Thomas Alan was born and raised in the dry, Australian heat. He graduated the University of Queensland with a major in creative writing and a graduation gown ruined by pit stains. His writing looks at Australian adolescence and magnifies the condition of a society that never truly comes-of-age. When he's not outside working as a carpenter, he's inside basking in the air-conditioning, hopefully writin...

When U.S. Marshal Sam Begay first discovered the wolf hair clues, he never expected they would lead him to a string of murders. The Reservation deaths appeared accidental, random, and unrelated until he found a connection in an old High School yearbook. An ancient, Spanish gold coin he carried was part of the mystery, and it put his own life in danger as it drew him closer to an evil, malignant being called a skinwalker.

Arizona is proud to have one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World'the Grand Canyon. With the arrival of the Santa Fe and Union Pacific Railroad in the early 20th century, the development of the canyon began in earnest. The railroads, along with the Santa Fe's business partner, the Fred Harvey Company, greatly promoted the Grand Canyon as a tourist destination through books, pamphlets, and magazine advertisements. On February 26, 1919, Congress established the Grand Canyon National Par...

The Trojan Horse in the Tribal Classroom: How Culture Wars are Waged and Won on the Front Lines of EducationBy: Thomas Alan TobinAll three hundred thirty million of us are immersed in culture wars at every turn. It’s one of the great disadvantages of diversity. One such “warfare” has been hidden from all of us despite the fact that we had to face it almost daily in our formative years. The battleground for this most common cultural conflict is where we all spent at least 40...

Throw off your chains; set yourself free.Remember the Quantum Field Master,you were born to be!Excerpt from A Wake Up Call to the Kids of the World.Thomas Alan BergGovernment defined me as a citizen who must fitin and follow the rules. Religion defined me as a sinner who must repent and suffer to gain grace. Darwin defi ned me as a lump of human flesh that evolved from the apes. Capitalism defined me as a laborer, customer and/or consumer. But it wasnt ...

Sam Begay had left his job as a Navajo Law and Order officer with no regrets. He had just closed the biggest case to ever hit the reservation, and what did it get him; a reprimand for his stubborn tenacity and willingness to step on a few toes. Now that he had quit, he was going to finish the job as a civilian. How had a mythical creature from tribal legends come to life to stalk the reservation in the first place? When reports of brutal killings came in again, regardless of the danger, he...

In July of 1935, the mangled, partially devoured bodies of an old Navajo and his granddaughter are found on a reservation in New Mexico. As rumors circulate that both victims were eaten by an animal, a federal Indian officer begins his investigation. Sam Begay suspects the clues point to Ye’iitsoh, a mythical monster from ancient tribal legends. No one believes him except Dan Yazzie, the girl’s ex-convict father. Driven by his compassion for the grief-stricken man, Sam helps him prepare to...

Frank Furness (1839-1912) has remained a curiosity to architectural historians and critics, somewhere between an icon and an enigma, whose importance and impact have yet to be properly evaluated or appreciated. To some, his work pushed pattern and proportion to extremes, undermining or forcing together the historic styles he referenced in such eclectic buildings as the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the University of Pennsylvania Library. To others, he was merely a regional mann...

Frank Furness (1839-1912) has remained a curiosity to architectural historians and critics, somewhere between an icon and an enigma, whose importance and impact have yet to be properly evaluated or appreciated. To some, his work pushed pattern and proportion to extremes, undermining or forcing together the historic styles he referenced in such eclectic buildings as the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the University of Pennsylvania Library. To others, he was merely a regional mann...

A collection of three stories to mark the Leap Year by Laura Marney, Ruth Thomas and Alan Spence.The Leap Year Tales are:'Aw Wrong' by Laura MarneyFacing the imminent birth of their first child, a couple take steps to try to influence the course of nature.Read by Gabriel Quigley.'February Alone' by Ruth ThomasAn intended romantic lunch goes strangely awry. Will a gift of lingerie help save the hour?Read b...

In the first systematic study of the philosophy of Thomas Nagel, Alan Thomas discusses Nagel's contrast between the "subjective" and the "objective" points of view throughout the various areas of his wide ranging philosophy. Nagel's original and distinctive contrast between the subjective view and our aspiration to a "view from nowhere" within metaphysics structures the chapters of the book. A "new Humean" in epistemology, Nagel takes philosophical scepticism to be both irrefutable and yet...

Envy is a vicious and shameful response to the good fortune of others, one that ruins friendships and plagues societies—or so the common thinking goes, shaped by millennia of religious and cultural condemnation. Envy’s bad reputation is not completely unwarranted; envy can indeed motivate malicious and counterproductive behavior and may strain or even tear apart relations between people. However, that is not always the case. Investigating the complex nature of this emotion reveals that it ...