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Julia Cloud, the oldest--and most responsible--child of her family, helped raise her four siblings due to their mother's long-time illness and father's death. After faithfully nursing two ill brothers (who died), she then cared for her invalid mother for many years. When Julia's mother passes on, her only surviving sibling Ellen fully expects--and nearly demands--that her spinster sister come live with her family. But to earn her keep, Julia must be their live-in housekeeper and babysitter for Ellen's four children. But Julia's college-age niece and nephew arrive unexpectedly from California and offer Aunt Cloudy Jewel a surprise opportunity she never expected in her wildest dreams. (Summary by Joy Easton)...

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Fiction, Religion

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My name is Mary Cary. I live in the Yorkburg Female Orphan Asylum. You may think nothing happens in an Orphan Asylum. It does. The orphans are sure enough children, and real much like the kind that have Mothers and Fathers; and that’s why I am going to write this story. So begins Mary’s diary, which she fills with her various doings and misadventures at the Asylum in Virginia and her sharp observations about life and human nature. She loathes Miss Bray, the head of the Asylum, who is not above telling bald-faced lies to the Board to further her own selfish ends. She loves Miss Katherine, the Asylum’s resident nurse, who has befriended Mary and serves as a gentle role model for the child. As for Martha, she is Mary’s other self who speaks out—and sometimes acts out—in spite of Mary’s better nature. When she unexpectedly discovers her family background, Mary writes a letter to her uncle that leads to some surprising results on the way to a happy ending. The Chicago Record-Herald of March 12, 1910 stated, Let’s be glad for books like Mary Cary. It isn’t so much what Mary Cary does, however, as what she is, bless her! that warms the coc...

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Fiction, Teen/Young adult

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Albert Payson Terhune, perhaps best known for his book Lad, a Dog (later turned into a popular movie), was also a breeder of collies and a journalist. Some of his collie lines survive to this day. His Dog is a story about Link Ferris who finds an injured dog on his way home one evening. Knowing nothing about dogs, Link nurses the dog back to health and the two form a bond such as only can be formed between human and canine. Unable to locate the collie's owner, Link christens his dog 'Chum' who becomes invaluable in tending to the daily needs of his meager farm. Unknown to Ferris however, Chum's original owners have been looking for their lost collie, and the story finds Link torn between that which he knows is morally right and his love for what he believes has become his dog . (Summary by Roger Melin)...

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Fiction, Animals

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In this early detective novel, the detective is Hilda Wade. She is a very capable nurse, but there is something mysterious about her from the moment she arrives at the hospital. Upon meeting her, Dr. Hubert Cumberledge greatly admires her and becomes a devoted friend. It turns out that Hilda has one purpose in life, and in pursuit of that purpose she will travel across the world, from London to South Africa, Rhodesia, India, Nepaul, Tibet and back. With Cumberledge's support, her extraordinary logic and clear thinking lead her on through deadly perils. But will that be enough to accomplish the secret purpose which has driven her so long and so far? (Summary by Mary Ann Spiegel)....

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Mystery

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The Rosary is a beautiful love story. Gareth Dalmain falls in love with the Honorable Jane Champion. She loves him back, but does not trust his love, as is known to be a great lover of beauty, and she - alas - is very plain. Just as she decides to trust him, she receives news that he has been blinded in a hunting accident. She wants to go visit him, but he will not receive her, as he wants only her love - not her pity. With the help of their mutual friend and doctor, she gets the position as his nurse under a presumed name, and thereby gets to know the 'new' Gareth. (Summary by Maria Elmvang)...

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Romance

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The Princess and the Goblin is an enthralling fantasy tale written by George MacDonald. Her nurse Lootie raises the princess Irene in a house on a mountain, it is here that she meets her mysterious great-great-grandmother, and her friend the minor boy Curdie. Things are peaceful for Irene until the hideous race of goblins that live beneath the mountain start planning something big… Through his writing George MacDonald has influenced such writers as J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. (Summary by Lizzie Driver)...

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Fantasy

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The Pagan Madonna, one of Harold MacGrath's numerous novels, set in Shanghai, tells a story of intrigue, murder, and illicit art “collecting.” The paths of Jean Norman, a Red Cross nurse from the United States, Ling Foo, a shifty pawn shop keeper, and Anthony Cleigh, millionaire art collector, cross and recross in growing intrigue over a string of beads. It is a world where “. . . every move you make is governed by Chance--the Blind Madonna of the Pagan . . . .” (Introduction by Don Jenkins)...

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Mystery

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"The Legendary Graduate" is the most addictive book of poetry in the world, written by accomplished autistic poet and author, Joseph D. Smith! The book was written in honor of his own private graduation ceremony, held in his honor by the county Judge and the county Sheriff! The book features over 40 of his own original poems, each with their own story, and each are a rare look inside the mind of an autistic individual....

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The Legendary Graduation: You are probably wondering why my graduation was legendary. Well, I will explain; when I was little a nurse told my dad that I wouldn't ever make it through school, she said it would be a living nightmare. It was a living nightmare, but I proved that nurse wrong when I actually did graduate! I didn't want to graduate at the school, so my friend, the Hon. Philip Patton held a graduation ceremony for me, and he had a medal made for me, which the Sheriff Chris Eaton presented to me. I also wanted my little sister Wendy to come, who is autistic, and can't handle big crowds. I'm just glad she got to come! That is how my graduation was so legendary. On the back of my medal it reads: "To Joseph from those who believed you could", so thats where the dedication "From Joseph: To those who believed I could" came from. The middle part of the medal spins around, which I can do a spin-a- roo with! Thank you so much for reading this book! May this book bring you ever-lasting joy! ~Joseph D. Smith, The Legendary Graduate....

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Title: Pg. I Copyright: Pg. 1 Photo: Pg. 2 Dedications: Pg. 3 Poems: Pg's 4-43 The Legendary Graduation: Pg. 44

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Excerpt: Sir, it may probably occur to you that we have met, and visited, and conversed; on my side, with interest. You may remember that you have done me several courtesies, for which I was prepared to be grateful. But there are duties which come before gratitude, and offences which justly divide friends, far more acquaintances. Your letter to the Reverend H.B. Gage is a document which, in my sight, if you had filled me with bread when I was starving, if you had sat up to nurse my father when he lay a-dying, would yet absolve me from the bonds of gratitude....

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The White Linen Nurse is a hysterical story of an exhausted nurse who comes to regret her profession and then somehow finds herself caring for the invalid daughter of the Senior Surgeon. The unexpected events which lead her there and also those which take her forward from that point are sure to evoke laughter and tears - a never to be forgotten story that will send a warm glow to your heart. (Summary by Kehinde)...

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Comedy, Humor, Fiction

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Excerpt: This publication of William Blake?s Songs of Innocence.

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Table of Contents 5 ?Introduction 6 ?The Shepherd 7 ?Infant Joy 7 ?On Another?s Sorrow 8 ?The School Boy 10 ?Holy Thursday 11 ?Nurse?s Song 11 ?Laughing Song 12 ?The Little Black Boy 13 ?The Voice of the Ancient Bard 13 ?Ecchoing Green 15 ?The Chimney Sweeper 16 ?The Divine Image...

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Excerpt: Chapter 1. Mother Bunch. There was once a wonderful fortnight in little Lucy?s life. One evening she went to bed very tired and cross and hot, and in the morning when she looked at her arms and legs they were all covered with red spots, rather pretty to look at, only they were dry and prickly. Nurse was frightened when she looked at them. She turned all the little sisters out of the night nursery, covered Lucy up close, and ordered her not to stir, certainly not to go into her bath. Then there was a whispering and a running about, and Lucy was half alarmed, but more pleased at being so important, for she did not feel at all ill, and quite enjoyed the tea and toast that Nurse brought up to her. Just as she was beginning to think it rather tiresome to lie there with nothing to do, except to watch the flies buzzing about, there was a step on the stairs and up came the doctor....

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And now, mamma, until your tea is ready, we know what you must do, said the children, in a breath. Tell us a story—a 'real, truly' fairy tale, about a giant and a dwarf, lots and lots of fairies, a prince and a beautiful princess with hair to her very feet, a champion with a magic sword, a dragon-chariot, a witch dressed in snake-skin—and, if you can, an ogre. Don't punish anybody but the witch and the ogre; and please don't have any moral, only let everybody 'live in peace and die in a pot of grease,' at the end of it. To be sure, we know most of mamma's stories by heart, said the sage elder of nine. If she could only make up some new ones that aren't in any of our books! Or else, mamma, tell us something you heard a little bit of, long, long ago, from your nurse, and then make up the rest. But whatever one you tell, we'll be sure to like it anyhow. The stories told, the mother fell to musing, and the result is the little book here presented to the judgment of children other than her own—a few new fairy tales, on the old, old pattern! (Summary by Constance Cary Harrison (in her Introduction))...

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Fairy tales, Children

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Ten-year old Peggy Clayton and her two younger brothers, Teddy and Harry, live with their father, Dr. Clayton, and Nurse, a woman who has taken care of them since the death of their mother when Peggy was five. Peggy is a sweet and kind little girl with a big imagination and a great sense of fun. Peggy's Trial follows her adventures with her friends at school, the mischief she and her brothers cause poor old Nurse, and even Peggy’s being chased by a bull. But nothing can prepare Peggy, Teddy and Harry when they fear they may lose their beloved father to a stepmother. (Summary by Lee Ann Howlett.)...

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Children, Fantasy

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Once upon a time there lived in a small house built underneath the ground two curious little folk, with their father, their mother, their uncle and Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy. Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy was the nurse, hired girl and cook, all in one, and the reason she had such a funny name was because she was a funny cook. She had long hair, a sharp nose, a very long tail and the brightest eyes you ever saw. She could stay under water a long time, and was a fine swimmer. In fact, Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy was a big muskrat, and the family she worked for was almost as strange as she was. (excerpt from text)...

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Children, Animals

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Throughout three years of school, Rae Malgregor had been perfectly pliant, perfectly compliant to all the demands placed on her. But now, on the eve of graduation, she couldn’t go on with the mask of artificiality and the air of perfection. She had been chasing this nursing job three whole years, but there was just no wag to it! The Superintendent was stunned. Her best student! The Senior Surgeon was all grey granite business and livid that his time was being taken up with a hysterical nurse! And yet, though he wouldn’t have admitted it to anyone, especially himself, his interest was piqued. (Introduction by MaryAnn)...

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Fiction, Romance, Humor

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Excerpt: Chapter 1. The Levins had been three months in Moscow. The date had long passed on which, according to the most trustworthy calculations of people learned in such matters, Kitty should have been confined. But she was still about, and there was nothing to show that her time was any nearer than two months ago. The doctor, the monthly nurse, and Dolly and her mother, and most of all Levin, who could not think of the approaching event without terror, began to be impatient and uneasy. Kitty was the only person who felt perfectly calm and happy....

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The Crimson Fairy Book contains thirty-six stories collected from around the world and edited by Andrew Lang. Many tales in this book are translated, or adapted, from those told by mothers and nurses in Hungary; others are familiar to Russian nurseries; the Servians are responsible for some; a rather peculiarly fanciful set of stories are adapted from the Roumanians; others are from the Baltic shores; others from sunny Sicily; a few are from Finland, and Iceland, and Japan, and Tunis, and Portugal. No doubt many children will like to look out these places on the map, and study their mountains, rivers, soil, products, and fiscal policies, in the geography books. The peoples who tell the stories differ in colour; language, religion, and almost everything else; but they all love a nursery tale. The stories have mainly been adapted or translated by Mrs. Lang, a few by Miss Lang and Miss Blackley. (Summary from the preface)...

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Fairy tales, Children

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Introduction by Cosey Fanni Tutti, legendary performance artist and founding member of Throbbing Gristle ​ Nightmares never seem to make sense when we try to describe them. Neil's genius is that he's written a book in a way that puts you back in that mindset by tapping into the primeval in all of us as a kind of catalyst for the telling of this story. This is a story told in the way that we live out life changing events - it's full of movement. It steps us back, sideways, takes us into seeming irrelevance - maybe as a means of escapism, and all by unpunctuated expertly crafted emotionally evocative (and) beautiful sequences of words. It's akin to poetry, or song lyrics at times. Words are used rather like musical notes, arranged in a sensitive, sometimes aggressive ways, constructing and deconstructing, effectively facilitating your own unique 'nightmare reading' of this story. The words are a means to an end, elements which collectively create a composition, the purpose of which is intrinsic to its completeness.  You should approach this book by abandoning any established preconceptions of the role of narrative or role...

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...  The awful shadow of some unseen Power Floats though unseen among us,—visiting This various world with as inconstant wing As summer winds that creep from flower to flower —Percy Bysshe Shelley ​ it is dark all around listen I say can you hear that she is gone I hear Firefly move uncomfortably in his bed across the room no he says that’s the sound of knives I cannot say he doesn’t hear that it’s not what I hear  Firefly is sleeping that is falling in and out of sleep so many of the people we have known are dead we have not seen each other since I left I’ve ignored him while considering what to do about meeting them and before them a hundred other thems he is caught in a trembling he can’t ascend out of and he lies there cursing resting smelling of illness which is the smell of neglect calling someone every couple minutes to fix or adjust what is wrong in him or what he needs in him what consumes him is unnatural rebuke beg whimper like collecting into a tear that never fully falls as he settles again into a nauseated waiting a concentrated breathing and an occasional ironic chuckle after every stroke my dad threw ...

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A Book of Nightmares About the Author Also from William Ralph Press

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A complete collection of the poems of William Blake. Blake (1757-1827) was an English poet, engraver, and painter. Early in his life, his unique and deceptively simple poems marked the beginning of Romanticism, particularly those from his volumes Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794). Later work evolved into long mythological pieces informed by visions Blake claimed to have throughout his life. This volume collects all his poetic output, including those unfinished fragments in manuscript form....

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The Tyger Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night: What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?   In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes! On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand, dare seize the fire?   And what shoulder, & what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? & what dread feet?   What the hammer? what the chain, In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp, Dare its deadly terrors clasp?   When the stars threw down their spears And water’d heaven with their tears: Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?   Tyger, Tyger burning bright, In the forests of the night: What immortal hand or eye, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?...

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Introduction POETICAL SKETCHES To Spring To Summer To Autumn To Winter To the Evening Star To Morning Fair Elenor Song (How sweet I roam'd...) Song (My silks and fine array...) Song (Love and harmony combine...) Song (I love the jocund dance...) Song (Memory, hither come...) Mad Song Song (Fresh from the dewy hill...) Song (When early morn walks forth...) To the Muses Gwin, King of Norway An Imitation of Spenser Blind Man’s Buff King Edward the Third Prologue, Intended for a Dramatic Piece of King Edward the Fourth Prologue to King John A War Song to Englishmen The Couch of Death Contemplation Samson Song 1st by a Young Shepherd Song 2nd by a Young Shepherd Song by an Old Shepherd AN ISLAND IN THE MOON SONG OF INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE Songs of Innocence: Introduction The Shepherd The Ecchoing Green The Lamb The Little Black Boy The Blossom The Chimney Sweeper The Little Boy Lost The Little Boy Found Laughing Song A Cradle Song The Divine Image Holy Thursday Night Spring Nurse’s Song Infant Joy A Dream On Anothers Sorrow Songs of Experience: Introduction Earth’s Answer The Clod & ...

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A selection of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's essential poems. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) was an English poet, critic, and philosopher. His Lyrical Ballads, published in 1798 with co-author William Wordsworth, marked the beginning for all intents and purposes of English Romanticism and included “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Other notable poems include "This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison," “Christabel” and “Kubla Khan.” Volume 2 in The Reader's Library Series, ISBN: 978-1-932023-44-2. https://www.facebook.com/williamralpheditions...

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Kubla Khan Or, a vision in a dream. A Fragment.   In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree: Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea. So twice five miles of fertile ground With walls and towers were girdled round; And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills, Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree; And here were forests ancient as the hills, Enfolding sunny spots of greenery. But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover! A savage place! as holy and enchanted As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted By woman wailing for her demon-lover! And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething, As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing, A mighty fountain momently was forced: Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail, Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s flail: And mid these dancing rocks at once and ever It flung up momently the sacred river. Five miles meandering with a mazy motion Through wood and dale the sacred river ran, Then rea...

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Contents Introduction Sonnet: To the Autumnal Moon A Mathematical Problem To the Rev. George Coleridge I II III IV Sonnet: On Quitting School for College Sonnet: To the River Otter On a Discovery Made Too Late The Eolian Harp Lines in the Manner of Spenser Reflections on Having Left a Place of Retirement Sonnet: Composed on a Journey Homeward; the Author Having Received Intelligence of the Birth of a Son, Sept. 20, 1796 Sonnet: On Receiving a Letter Informing Me of the Birth of a Son Sonnet: To A Friend Who Asked How I Felt When the Nurse First Presented My Infant to Me This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Argument Part I Part II Part III Part IV Part V Part VI Part VII Fire, Famine, and Slaughter A War Eclogue Frost at Midnight Kubla Khan Fears in Solitude The Nightingale The Wanderings of Cain Prefatory Note The Wanderings of Cain The Devil's Thoughts I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV XVI XVII Christabel Preface Part I Part II Dejection: An Ode [Written April 4, 1802] I II III IV V VI VII VIII The Language of Birds T...

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Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest is a narration of his life story by Abel, a Venezuelan, to a comrade. Once a wealthy young man, he meddled in politics to the extent of provoking a revolution... which failed. Escaping into the tropical forests of Guyana Abel takes up gold hunting, then journal-writing, and fails at both. Now with no aim for his life, he drifts until he takes up residence with a remote Indian tribe. Soon he learns of a wood the Indians avoid, as it is inhabited by a dangerous Daughter of the Didi, who, they say, slew one of them with magic. The fellow was in fact hit with a poisoned dart by accident, but his dying belief that she had caught the dart and hurled it at him survived him. Intrigued, Abel visits the wood repeatedly, and eventually encounters Rima. She indeed is something magical. She seems to have a pact with nature: animals don't molest her, she speaks in a melodious birdsong (as well as Spanish), and she even makes her garments of spider silk. When Abel is bitten by a venomous snake that acts protective of her, she and her grandfather Nuflo nurse Abel back to health. Both Abel and Rima ar...

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Romance

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It is an intriguing tale and shows the cold business attitude of the drug dealers who plague our streets. The story captivated me immediately, many of the characters appear familiar I would not be at all surprised if some were my neighbours - they appear so normal George Burnson An amazing adventure – one fraught with danger and showing a darker side of life that many do not believe exists. The desire for money and power that the dealers crave is shown in this novel - and the lengths people are prepared to go to obtain it. Mr S. Ansenn ...

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Chapter One Nicola looked down at the mess on the floor; torn cigarette papers, sweet wrappers, shopping receipts and what looks like dirt is now spread out on the floor where Stef, her boyfriend, has emptied his pockets out. Nicola feels her face flushing with anger as she had only cleaned and dusted the whole flat twenty minutes ago! “Stef!!” Nicola shouts. “What ya want?” answers Stef from the other room in a ‘do not bother’ me tone of voice. Stef has a light-hearted outlook to life; he knows his put-on tone of voice will upset Nicola and feels she takes life too seriously. “Get in here; now!” shouts an angrier Nicola as Stef’s attitude does infuriate her. Stef stomps his feet as he walks into the room; “What’s the matter with you now?” “Look at the mess you have made; you complain to me that I do not keep this place clean enough, how can I with you around?” Stef looks down at the floor; “Nothing to do with me.” he answers in a bored voice and starts to turn away. “Stay right where you are, how dare you say that to me?” screams Nicola. Stef turns and looks at Nicola’s red face; “You wanna learn how to t...

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Table of Contents The Author Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve ...

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‘Time To Think’ is a collection of eight short tales about how to cope with such things as unwelcome evangelists, visitors, praise, sexual attention, living in a nursing home, relations, genetic modification and sexual urges....

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Spreading the Word Sebastian gazed unseeing from the verandah into the sun filled garden. As usual a zillion thoughts jostled aside all attempts to attain a state of Zen-like relaxation. With an impatient sigh he sat up, dusted a few crumbs from the divan, rearranged the pillows then lay back with his hands at his side. Yogic breathing—that would do the trick. He managed to hold his mind still for at least three seconds before a large spider constructing an intricate web among the rafters caught his attention. He was already on his feet to get a broom when he remembered, and slumped back. ‘Your tendons will never repair if you're always on the go,’ the slim young doctor had snapped only an hour before. ‘Why can’t you just lie back and relax?’ ‘Because it’s not my nature,’ Sebastian had answered with a fetching sigh. ‘Perhaps if you were to massage me...?’ ‘And risk Reginald’s wrath? Not bloody likely.’ ‘Wouldn’t it be worth a broken arm?’ Sebastian grinned. ‘Not even you are worth that, Sebastian. Shut up and let the sounds of nature lull you to somnolence.’ But Sebastian couldn’t. Time plodded. He began to fidget. Struggled to...

Table of Contents Details
•‘Spreading the Word’ • ‘Time to Think’ • ‘Free Will’ •‘A Misunderstanding’ •‘Useless Things’ • ‘I Arrived a Week Early’ • ‘Poisoned Chalice’ •‘Mens Sana in Corpore Sano’ ...

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Description Two bank employees, one married male and the other unmarried female happened to mark affinity for self in the other. This unmarried person was the boss of the other one. In view of the mutual affinity, this boss visited the other’s residence for delivering in person the `invite` on the occasion of her marriage with an NRI doctor. In a couple of years, the marriage of both these persons reached the stage of irretrievable breakdown, as both were feeling suffocated with the behaviour and attitude of their spouses. By the by, they happen to divulge to each other the emotional injuries suffered at the hands of their respective callous spouses. However, they happen to be neighbours by virtue of the flat allotted to them by their bank under the self-financing scheme for its employees envisaged to reach them a surprise bonanza in a unique `no profit, no lost` basis. The events at the inlaws family in the case of both of thembrought them physically closer, with the blessings of their parents. Thus, they happen to be `a circumstantially evolved couple`. ...

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Excerpts: “It appears to me that almost every religion tends to circumscribe the reasoning potentials of its followers. The self-styled custodian of the religious beliefs would not take it upon himself as a duty to seek the explanations of the `deviating folk`, unless an explosive situation emerges,” Nidhi expresses her opinion in the presence of the lone listener … She says, “Even at this moment, some kuchcha structure is visible. A notice board is also clearly visible from here. I think, let’s move towards that hut, to check, if that hermit is still using that hutment even after a period of fifty five years has gone by.” He looks undecided, but his wife almost drags him towards that sign-board. It reads the same contents. The door seems to have been bolted from inside. They move away awfully, lest they disturb the hermit’s peace. …. Nidhi often happens to recall her days when she had once heard from Anirudh that Smriti’s father is a doctor in a government dispensary and has been living an ostentatious type of life. It had resulted in his daughter always complaining of the total absence of modern amenities for leading `a...

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AGAINST THE WAR follows the intertwined lives of four friends, rowing team mates, who graduate from college at the height of the Vietnam War and struggle to make decisions about the war and the military draft. Two become involved in the war, one as a combat pilot and one as a medic. The other two of the four friends, in trying to avoid the war, become involved in the “war on poverty,” the anti-war movement, and the counterculture that arises from the anti-war movement. In the course of the four and a half years covered in the novel, the four men also meet and court the women who become their eventual spouses. These women become part of the story as they position themselves with respect to the war and the women's liberation movement. In the course of this, also, the eight young people of the novel find themselves within an ever growing phenomenon involving thousands of American youths like themselves reacting to the same far-reaching dynamics of the counterculture and the war. "Menge's book reminds me of both Theodore Dreiser and John Dos Passos. It's a vast panorama with enormous attention to detail." David Willson, Vietnam War F...

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234. Morris is relocated from Sam Neua to a Lao village From Sam Neua, the group that included prisoner of war James Morris headed southwest, so far as he could determine from occasional glimpses of the sun through the canopy of leaves above the road on which the caravan was traveling. Then the shield of leaves dropped away briefly and Morris saw that the wagon was moving along on a road about 400 feet above a town with narrow streets and Chinese-style pagoda roofs. Some of the buildings were demolished and others were in flame. “That is Sam Neua, the actual town,” the third passenger informed. “Where was the camp then?” “Place called Xanthon. Just a few miles away.” “The damage here is from bombing?” “Yes, American planes.” “You’re a soldier?” Morris asked. The man was an American, Morris had already decided, based on the easy informality that he had learned set Americans off from other English-speaking people overseas. “No, I’m a clergyman. Catholic priest.” “Is that so?” “Yes. I’ve been working up in the mountains north of Long Thiueu for about five years. My name is Leonard Blair.” “Well, pleased to meet you, Father....

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PART I: UP AGAINST THE DRAFT 1. Steward brings his 1-A letter to the boat club 2. Brandt and Morris argue about the Vietnam war 3. O’Rourke steps in to bring the crew on task 4. Morris offers Steward a way out of the draft 5. Brandt asks about his dad’s experience in World War Two 6. Brandt struggles to accommodate to Mary Kass’s cultural interests 7. Brandt leaves Mary behind to avoid an audience discussion 8. Mary goes after Matt; they come upon Morris in uniform 9. Brandt rescues Morris in a fight with an antiwar demonstrator 10. Steward gets some heartfelt advice from Barbara Carpenter 11. Steward visits his draft board to ask about his status 12. Steward bores Mary’s sister, Ellen; she winds up with Morris 13. Matt and Mary discuss their relationship and make a commitment 14. VISTA trainee Brandt learns about social problems, meets Dennis Kelly 15. Steward starts Air Force ROTC camp with roommate Orin Brown 16. Steward gives the Air Force camp his sincere best effort 17. Steward “orientates” with Air Force social worker Gary Hansard 18. Brandt arrives at his assigned VISTA worksite in Crabtree, Kentucky 19. B...