The most interesting and important event for the boys of the old, already semi-derelict school of the small town was going to the movies and the following discussion of the new film. But most had rarely the opportunity to go to the cinema and everyone who was lucky to see a new film retold for days again and again the contents until all the others knew the whole movie by heart without seeing it themselves. Especially the younger pupils lacked the money, but even the older ones had often not enough to by a ticket. Because for a ticket one had to pay twenty kopeks, otherwise one could not enter the cinema....

The book keeper of the hospital of a small provincial town came one day home very tired. He had not the least desire to have dinner and so he decided to lay down at once and to sleep. In recent years it often happened, that he, after coming home in the evening, had dinner and immediately went to bed without a word to his already grown up children or his wife. She became more and more grumpy in view of his seclusion. He only wanted to sleep, to sleep soundly till daybreak of the next and probably again undesirably day which he always impatiently anticipated, only to immerse again in his coma. For any reason he remembered this evening his childhood in a state between vigil and slumber....

An intriguing short story about solving the mystery of the cosmos and the metaphorical identity of Kafka's and Shakespeare's mistress.

Ronnie is a young man barely out of his teens experiencing the appalling conditions of the average Bomber Command Gunner on missions over Nazi Germany in 1944. Battling to survive in a surreal world of death and fire Ronnie is however tormented by an even greater evil - a ghastly secret of a crime so vile he is sure his life is in even greater danger. Fast forward to the present day and we meet Mark. Also barely out of his teens Mark has made the bold decision to leave his homeland of Australia and venture across the seas to rural England to meet his long time no see Father. His quest leads to a life far removed and different from his own. In the lush fields of Lincolnshire Mark discovers the derelict remains of RAF East Wigram, a bomber command base long since abandoned to the elements. Out of misguided curiosity he ventures into a strange and dark building where the ghosts of the past are ready to engulf his mind and unleash the hideous secrets of the past upon his soul. This Building is - The Chamber....

A series of poems written during 2015.

With strong focus in history, this books presents my travels to Europe, Asia, Canada and Australia.

"Time is of the essence. And on a timeline of this journey, specific dates have been drawn. As great distances have been covered, it has taken a long time for this book to be written. Snapshots started as a diary, but evolved over time into a book. Dynamic in its own right, at the end of each traverse, another begins anew and is recorded in the travelogue. "...

Introduction Chapter 1 Europe Musings of the Muses: Italy Rome Florence Venice La Ville-Lumiere: France Paris Chateau De Versailles Divonne-les-Bains Chiming clocks: Geneva To be or not to be: England London Brighton Moors’ Last Sigh: Spain Granada Wien on Vespa: Austria Vienna Medieval Magyars: Hungary Budapest Chapter 2 North America Maple Crunch: Canada Bolton, Ontario Niagara, Ontario Montreal Quebec City Calgary Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Chapter 3 Flying kangaroo: Australia Sydney Brisbane Cairns Chapter 4 Asia Rainbow nation: Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Where east meets the west: Singapore The land of entwined rivers: Bangladesh Dhaka city Azimpura Dayera Sharif Bogra Chittagong Patenga sea beach Cox’s Bazaar Rangamati Byzid Bostami Sylhet Khulna Jessore Luminous Lumbini: India Kolkata Conclusion...

The setting of this novel is Nicaragua in the 1970's, a Central American country impoverished by a cruel dictatorship and a devastating earthquake that destroyed Managua, the capital city. A young teenager, whose parents perished during the earthquake, moves to a rural community to rebuild her life, helping a Christian peasant community....

Dedicated to Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, William Faulkner and James Joyce, this new novel (2016) has been praised by many readers as a post-modern 21st century classic. Structured as a triptych (a painting with Three Panels), it is an intriguing novel about an English Literature teacher being locked up by a sculptor and the strange events of their lives. It is rich in metaphors and filled with symbolic significance on the meaning of life and the importance of the Arts. It has been positively compared to the best writings of Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, William Faulkner and James Joyce. Acclaimed by teachers of literature as a 21st century classic treasured by lovers of literature and the arts for years to come....

In 1999 in Valentina, California, a young man named Will Herrera, whose inability to control his methamphetamine use leads him to join a recovery program, there befriends Rodney Toth, an older recovering addict with a similar history. When Will and Rodney learn that Keiko Tsuhara, a young woman with whom Will is infatuated, is being battered by her boyfriend, their well-intended plot to avenge her goes awfully wrong. In five chapters, the novel explores the minds and histories of the characters, particularly Will’s, as they seek to understand how to know, and do, what is right....

Join us for Volume 1 of Pillbug. In this book Warren R. Smith trundles down the path of flash fiction and short stories. Among other anecdotal excursions, you’ll find within; the story of a Taxi driver who must come to terms with the truth depth of his daughter’s independence. Read the Speckled Egg, magic realism wherein two children, in saving their lives, must change shape. In Jack-O’-Lantern and old woman invites herself to be haunted. In Pillbug, the story is about the risks of day labor. In Purple Hippo, a Hippo decides it's time to shake the world up. Jack and the Magpies is written in defense of a worthy appetite. Contemporary mainstream and humorously literary, you’ll find this collection chock-full of five-minute wisdoms and imagination....

Yes, it was a crazy season for rabbits. Everywhere they hopped and nibbled — even in the office. Daily I had to sweep them off the desk before I could get a thing done — and I leaned into the task with the whole of my arm and an imprecating grunt because sometimes that’s all there was....

Introduction The Red Paint Flaking English As A 2nd Language Like Caffeine Sweet Nothings Individually Wrapped The Speckled Egg Troder of the Mish'dee Orb Dotting Tigers Jack-O'-Lantern Candy-Corn Angel On Religion Pillbug A Walking Tour Paused Purple Hippo No Man Left Behind Laundromat The Last Thing A Memory Without Name The Girl With the Sheep Animal Magic Jack and the Magpies About The Author...

One would expect a young man whose single mother skipped town a couple of hours after his birth, to have a few problems, but Mortaumal [Mort] doesn’t seem to, thanks to his grandfather. However, when that support is gone and foster parents fail, and there are nasty people demanding he do evil deeds...things begin to look pretty desperate. From the age of ten to eighteen Mort lives with and meets an extraordinary variety of people, gets himself into and out of very hot water, sees rather too many people die, learns to defend himself both physically and mentally, and ends up unimpressed with humanity in general, while loving the few who come up to scratch. This is a light-hearted, not too serious tale about death and dying, affection and callous indifference, independence and love somewhere in tropical Queensland. There’s sentiment but not sentimentality, social criticism, excitement, fun and a bit of everything else in a fast paced yarn that suggests ways to live that are more interesting and natural than those we see on our screens. ...

1 Mortaumal According to his grandfather, Mortaumal was a smart kid. According to Mortaumal, Simon was a brainless bully. So why wasn’t it Simon lying on his belly, face pressed into the dust, scarcely able to breathe? Surely twice as big should be beaten by twice as clever? Obviously not, or Mortaumal wouldn’t have had his head flushed in a toilet bowl yesterday, and he wouldn’t have had to endure six months of increasingly unpleasant torment. On this relentlessly sunny afternoon, Simon had ambushed Mortaumal from behind a billboard advertising the benefits of ‘Jezebel’s Gymnasium for Fabulous Fitness’, dragged the object of his unwanted attention behind it, thrown him on his face in the dust and sat on his legs. When fruitless flailing of arms failed to free him, Mortaumal had just decided to humiliate himself by screaming for help when Simon dragged his shorts down. Shocked, or perhaps excited at the absence of underpants, the bully allowed his grip to slacken enough for his victim to slither away and tear down the street, school bag flying, shorts barely back in their usual place when he was stopped by a busy road. A q...

Table of Contents 1 Mortaumal 2 Leon 3 Shrude Aywun 4 Confidences 5 Death 6 Mrs. Pettie 7 Dying 8 The lawyer. 9 Self Defence. 10 Pissed Off 11 Leon and Hugh 12 Family life 13 Fystie 14 A day at the river 15 School 16 School work 17 Mr. Brawn on Women 18 A visit 19 Beach Bully 20 Debriefing 21 Abuse 22 Rescue 23 Marshall on Childhood 24 Paying for It 25 Fystie Returns 26 Life with a lawyer 27 Further Education 28 Sergei 29 Zoltan’s Mother 30 The God Question 31 On Top of the Mountain 32 Marshall meets Angelo 33 Perdita 34 The Beach 35 Bullies 36 Ultimatum 37 Farewells 38 A Change of plans 39 Impersonation 40 Julian 41 The Truth 42 Elbert 43 A Social Occasion 44 A Room With a View 45 School 46 Mr. Preggy 47 The Basement Flat 48 The cop 49 Miss Bussty 50 Brawl 51 Perdita’s present 52 Stefan 53 Perdita Perdue...

A revolution replaces the Queensland government with a coalition of religious fundamentalists who have strong ideas on how their subjects ought to live, and how to enforce compliance with their draconian laws. Readers have asked what happened to Robert and Bart, the heroes of Rough Justice. They thought I had left them in a bad place…and so I had. Others wanted to know what happened to Sebastian and Jarek between the end of Jarek and the beginning of NumbaCruncha. A good question that requires an answer because what happened could all too easily be the political future for us. So, Fidel is a prequel to NumbaCruncha, and a sequel to my other five novels—Rough Justice, Dome of Death, Sebastian, Jarek and Mortaumal. Fidel is fifteen when the story begins sometime in the near future. He’s running away from home to the big city where he falls into trouble, then miraculously falls out again, and grows into a sturdy, well-liked young man. Like most people he is too busy living to notice that a relatively quiet revolution is taking place, replacing the government with a coalition of religious fundamentalists who have strong id...

1 Fidel Fidel was scared. Shit scared. He felt like throwing up and probably would have if he'd had any breakfast. He had to stop thinking about it or he’d chicken out. His whole life had been one long worry that he’d done something wrong and would be punished…but this was sharper, more urgent, more exciting too if he could only stop thinking about all the possible consequences. Taking a deep breath he shouldered the backpack that had been hidden in a corner for weeks, let himself out of the shed, crossed the back lawn and tapped on his brother’s open window. Hylas appeared, rubbing at sleepy eyes. ‘Fidel! What’s the matter?’ ‘I’m off.’ ‘Now? But you…’ ‘Shhh! You'll wake Mum. I just wanted to say goodbye and tell you I love you.’ ‘Where are you going? I love you too! Will you write?’ ‘Brisbane. Of course I’ll write. Don’t tell Mum anything. Pretend to be surprised I've gone.’ With a cheery wave that even Hylas knew was fake, Fidel adjusted his pack and ran off before his courage ran out. Twenty minutes later he was sticking out his thumb on the David Low Way. Almost immediately an elderly couple in a battered T...

Contents 1 Fidel 2 City Centre 3 The Karims 4 What to do? 5 Bart’s enterprise 6 Arnold Jurgenz 7 Bart and Robert 8 Lance 9 Luck 10 Arnold’s Gym 11 Natural Fitness 12 Hylas 13 Brothers in Brisbane 14 Hylas Meets Natural Fitness 15 And Hylas Makes Five 16 JECHIS 17 Lance Returns 18 Disintegration 19 Inspection 20 Plans 21 The Administrator 22 Ciao Natural Fitness 23 Peter and Jon 24 A Forest Retreat 25 On The Run 26 Unpleasantness 27 Travelling On 28 A Meeting 29 Justice 30 F.N.Q. 31 Protectors 32 A Blast From The Past 33 Oasis 34 Tests 35 Developments 36 Job Interview 37 The Vote and After 38 Sanity – Insanity 39 Nothing Lasts Forever 40 Decisions 41 Ciao Oasis 42 Research 43 Solutions 44 The Institute 45 Settling In 46 Endgame ...

A savage race whose main source of food is humans are fast running out of supplies and so must attack their rival race, who they believe are the cause of their growing food shortages....

It was late at night, I held firm with such tight grip the weapon I carried then I heard screams and as I looked around, all I could see was a burning bush; the entire place licked up by flames, the moon light blocked by a thick smoke that mantled the surroundings. All of a sudden, about three of them ran out of the bush with their body enshrouded with fire, something burst in the flames like big drums accompanied by a hissing sound which irrupted. The smell of sulphur and burning flesh took my nose hostage but for some reason, I stood and watched the horror with my feet grounded defensively. The invaders took siege of the bush holding their torches as they continued to set it ablaze. I went round and saw people being butchered by the invaders, anyone that jumped out of the burning bush was instantly killed. The sight was awful and it seemed there was nothing I could do. I also noticed the invaders were bigger in size compared to the ones that were being hunted, burnt and killed. The sound of their voices and cries in the fire weakened my heart. I could not fathom why I was there or why I could not do anything. The attack was...

Acknowledgments Dedication I am Buga The dead Purican prince The brides Head on a platter The sun sets on the Redicans Tempest The guardian Friends and foes ...

NumbaCruncha begins with a chilling peek into the near future, when Sebastian and Jarek, now in their eighties, confront a particularly vile religious autocrat, whose reign of terror has led to the destruction of their laboratories, but not their secret weapon. We then take a thousand year leap to a future city state in which the human aptitude for duplicitous and unjust social schemes has reached its logical culmination in Oasis, a flesh-crawlingly evil dystopia ruled by the most unpleasant gang of conmen and women you're ever likely to encounter. A couple of young scientists who have recently invented a new means of transport, begin to question the morality of the Oasis social order, and decide to do something about it. Meanwhile, back in the forest, Sebastian and Jarek’s secret weapon is waiting. NumbaCruncha is a thoughtful, perhaps shocking, certainly controversial, at times amusing, and always cheeky assessment of the apparently intractable problems facing humanity. Although the future for life on planet Earth seems hopelessly bleak to people who care about the destruction of the natural world in which Homo sapiens ...

1: Somewhere in Far North Queensland Towards the End of the Twenty-first Century. ‘Make sure there’s nothing left to salvage, or tomorrow there’ll be nothing left of you.’ The priest’s twisted smile, more venomous than his customary frown, underlined the threat. Ignoring the nervous nods of his sweating acolytes, he turned, raised an imperial finger in warning and waddled back to his limousine, slashing the air with his stick to ward off mute offers of assistance from heavily armed bodyguards. After passing silently through the gates the black car stopped to allow the priest to gaze back through tinted windows. Impassive, he watched as the splendid old buildings exploded in a gigantic fireball that briefly rivalled the sun. This wasn’t the first such establishment he’d had the pleasure of demolishing, and wouldn’t be the last. Releasing a wheezy sigh of satisfaction he nodded slightly and chewed thoughtfully on his bottom lip. There were few pleasures to match erasing the stench of Roman Catholic blasphemy, nonconformist freethinking tolerance, and secretive research by ungodly intellectuals bent on disrupting God’s plans. He t...

Table of Contents 1: Somewhere in Far North Queensland Towards the End of the Twenty-First Century 2: About a Thousand Years Later 3: A Demonstration 4: Peteru & Uretep Show How It’s Done 5: The Mages Do It 6: Breakfast with the Mages 7: Peteru and Uretep Learn About Oasis 8: Problems 9: Production Gets Underway 10: How the Other Half Live 11: Plans Progress Apace 12: New Oasis 13: The Forest 14: Where the Men Live 15: The Mages Remain True to Type 16: The Royal Couple 17: The Men Tell All 18: More Information 19: NumbaCruncha is Unveiled 20: The Trap is Set 21: Dinner with the Mages 22: The Best Laid Plans ...

Hahn reflects on the world as it existed in 2076, before the war, and how the devastation unleashed by the war shaped the lives of the survivors. Hahn is keen that the school boy, Eugene, grasps that, while there were huge changes in technology before and after the war, the most important change was in people, and their attitude towards each other and the planet on which they lived....

Eugene’s brow furrowed. ‘You mean you could choose who died?’ ‘Oh yes.’ Hahn’s tone was matter of fact. ‘But now I venture onto the territory of state secrets! Not only were we implanted with health chips, those of us who thought we were important were implanted with tags that identified our status. This was updated in real time. So if my car was in an accident with another, and there was a possibility that one car would be so badly damaged its passengers would die, one of the decisions taken by the cars’ on-board computers would be which passenger was higher status and should have the higher chance of survival.’ Eugene looked astonished, ‘But how could that happen?’ ‘You have to remember that our computers worked at a phenomenal speed and there was plenty of time for them to check which car carried the higher status individual and redirect that car to minimize impact on them. That might involve a far worse collision for the other car and its passengers.’ Eugene shook his head. ‘Weren’t people outraged at this?’ ‘That’s where the state secret came in. No one knew this happened, apart from the agency that monitored status, and t...

A pamphlet of 20 pages of poetry.

Iridescent blues flash in fiery sunset: swallows flying like crossbows.

This series is arranged in levels of reading difficulty ranging from 1 to 5. The easiest is level 1, the hardest level 5. All these books are royalty free and can be copied used printed and distributed, scrawled on walls, acted out in plays and told (very slowly) to your pet dog, if you don’t have a dog a cat will do, but hamsters do not listen as they only speak Spanish. They are designed to be easily read on a computer and can be printed on standard A4 size paper (landscape format) There is no bad language or offensive words anywhere in these books....

Alfi was at the seaside on holiday with his parents and had got up especially early to go down to the beach to see the sea. Podd his dog was also down on the beach with him but was now only a small blob in the distance....

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 loss` basis. The events at the inlaws family in the case of both of them brought them physically closer, with the blessings of their parents. Thus, they happen to be `a circumstantially evolved couple`. ...

“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 moderately c...

Join the adventures of Mark Prior, a twenty two year old Brit, in an incredible journey across Europe as he uncovers, alongside his friends, a hidden and primeval power. Follow the story of the four friends as they release the blue lightning, trapped inside a forgotten relic from a time long lost, and witness their change from young university graduates to beings of extraordinary power....

Chapters 1-15

A little book to his father by a third grader on Father's Day, 2007.

If I were a car, toolbox, flashlight, computer, monkey, solar panel, goat, or tow truck.

If I Were A Car If I Were A Toolbox If I Were A Flashlight If I Were A Computer If I Were A Monkey If I Were A Solar Panel If I Were A Goat If I Were A Tow Truck I Am Your Son...