Remember when you were a child and incessantly asked your parents "Why?" You still had that childhood gift of wondering about everything from the simple "Why can't I touch the stove eye when it's red?" to the most profound questions people can ask "Why can't I see God if He's real?"A common perception of philosophers is of the wizened old guru, sitting on a mountain top contemplating his navel; or worse, a stodgy, boring intellectual that everyone avoids at parties. But philosophy, ...

Restored to her former state of health (and determination) Lady Cecelia goes in search of fresh bloodstock—she's had enough of politics. But once again she manages to put herself—and Heris Serrano—at the point where lightning will strike. This time it's invasion from the neighboring empire: The Benignity of the Compassionate Hand. Heris is only a civilian now, with a space yacht—what can she do in the face of a full-scale fleet of warships? But she is also a Serrano—born to lead.

A young boy. An old man. And a journey of the heart.My fraternal twin, Michael, died two hours after birth, drowning from fluid in his lungs. When I was two, my Mom and Dad were killed in a head-on collision with a tractor-trailer. I was reared by Granddaddy and Granny, who had lived with my folks in the same rented home. I remembered neither my parents' lives nor their deaths. I suppose that's a blessing and a curse. My grandparents had provided details my young mind could underst...

Horror poems should invade the ordinariness of the day and allow the reader to sense the chill of the uncanny. They should form dream images that haunt during sleep. This broad collection of horror poetry ranges in subject matter from death to ghosts, from dark corners of the human psyche and human behavior to Lovecraftian monsters. They will haunt and they will cling to the mind like an ancient beast's tentacles. Be careful looking over your shoulder if you feel fingers touch it--you may ...

When Summer Ends, The Dark Days BeginWhosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. - Matthew 12:32Jeffrey Conley sits beside Aunt Jenny at Sunday evening service, the hard wooden bench serving as security in the midst of chaos. He has come home - to a land of loss. Parents, dead. Grandparents, dead. Twin brother, dea...

It is a lazy summer day in the Appalachian foothills of Tennessee; much like the day before, and the day before that. Everything seems normal - at least on the surface; like an idyllic, pastoral painting; the sky dyed with pastels of blue and white, the ground carpeted with dark green fescue and bluegrass, a clapboard farmhouse resting on top of a hill, sugar maples, oaks and Eastern red cedars providing welcome shade from the heat of a Tennessee summer sun. You can almost see moving image...

Slipknot and Other Dark Poems has a few "horror poems," but the poetry is mainly literary poetry covering dark subjects--death, infedility, war, etc. From the small disappointments of everyday life to the inevitable horror of death, these poems bring those events and fears to life. Although the style is different from John Updike's poetry or Raymond Carver's prose or David Lynch's films, the subject matter is similar. A poem in this book may give the reader frisson, or it may carr...

When his magical multistring duar snaps in half, Jon-Tom the spellsinger sets out on a journey that will take him all the way back to...America!Jon-Tom has been trapped in a strange land of talking owls and wizarding turtles for a year now, his sole consolation that in this universe his musical abilities have inadvertently made him something of a sorcerer. But when an encounter with some burglars leads to him snapping the magical duar that channels his power, he finds himself an or...

After questing through the sidhe realms with her ex-hellhound lover, Nathan, Kai Tallman Michalski has finally returned home. But she knows Nathan will eventually be called back to serve his queen—and Kai will have to decide whether to enter her majesty's service as well. Sure, the job comes with great bennies, but there's one big downside: she would have to swear absolute fealty to the Queen of Winter.For now, though, Kai is glad to be home, and glad that Nathan completed his miss...

Organizations value insights from reflexive, iterative processes of designing interactive environments that reflect user experience. “I really like this definition of experience architecture, which requires that we understand ecosystems of activity, rather than simply considering single-task scenarios.”—Donald Norman (The Design of Everyday Things)

Sunderland is largely a product of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, when coalmining and shipbuilding fuelled rapid expansion and development. Once known as the 'largest shipbuilding town in the world', Sunderland's proud and distinctive identity is embodied in its historic buildings and in its changing urban form. The Architecture of Sunderland, 1700-1914 examines the city's architectural history during the highpoint of its growth and prosperity. Exploring...

Guns 360 takes a comprehensive and common-sense approach to some of the most difficult issues facing not only the criminal justice system but also society as a whole: firearm possession, regulation, and control. Issues related to firearms cut across all dimensions of society and are a concern to everyone from the members of the general public, law enforcement, academics, politicians, public health agencies, and the media. An interdisciplinary approach is needed to fully understand...