Second in the Fluke Family series, Fluke Family Hero explores Maynerd Fluke Dumsted's career as the sheriff of his hometown. King Kryan Kruke now rules the Kingdom of Gnat, but he is still up to his old tricks. He schemes to rule the four lands of Gnaught by capitalizing on Maynerd's relationship to the long dead hero, Richard the Brave. The King hopes to springboard that fame to his advantage by transforming Maynerd into the new national hero. The chance arrivals of bad luck Fata Morgana and a young felon named Blacky further complicates Maynerd's efforts to keep the peace, but Fata may hold the keys to his heart. Dumsted town falls into turmoil when the local banker plots to fix the elections for Mayor and Sheriff by kidnapping the incumbents. He intends to sell them to the notorious bandits, the Moola Rude, but the plan goes awry. With Maynerd's only supporters locked in jail, his fate seems sealed. King Kruke has vanished and Scarface, the leader of the Moola Rude, sits on the throne of Gnat. Oh, where is a hero when a kingdom is in such grave need? Maynerd must save his friends and the Kingdom of Gnat from certain destruction by King Scarface or lose everything.

First in the Fluke Family series, Fluke Family Fortune sets the stage for the comical misadventures of Maynerd Fluke Dumsted. To afford the love of the beautiful but shrewish Sue Tue, Maynerd Dumsted sets out to follow the clues to the family fortune hidden somewhere in the cursed kingdom of Gnat. A sometimes well-intentioned ghost gnome tags along for laughs, but his selfish machinations often mean more trouble for Maynerd. Other friends join the fun, such as the lovable fire-year-old orphan, Dandy May, who cavorts with dandelion fairies; the head-bashing ogress, Grissel who hates songs sung about her; an ineffectual thousand-year-old madman; a retired clodhopper named Sam Simple and his fun loving mule, Jazibell. A family curse and the grandiose scheme of the brigand King Kryan Kruke to transform him into the new national hero, in order to reunite the four scattered kingdoms of the land of Gnaught, further complicates Maynerd's plans to find the family fortune.

Young adult readers have special needs and concerns, and librarians have become increasingly interested in selecting books suitable for them. This reference provides information about 290 books for young adults. These books received major awards between 1997 and 2001, reflect the voices of 242 different authors, and range from new to familiar themes. Included are nearly 750 alphabetically arranged entries for individual works, authors, characters, and settings. Many of these books were originally written for adults but have become popular among younger readers. Entries for works provide plot summaries and critical assessments, while author entries focus on those aspects of the writers' lives most relevant to literature for young people. The reference is a valuable selection tool for librarians and teachers and a useful guide for students.

Dana Loesch believes in Christianity, patriotism, traditional marriage, and the right to bear arms, among other “quaint” ideas. For the elites in DC, Los Angeles, New York, and Silicon Valley, that makes her as bizarre as a three-headed dog. Loesch is alarmed that America is fracturing into two countries—not North and South, but Coastal and Flyover. Worse, the people in charge don’t understand the first thing about how most of the country thinks and lives. Consider a few examples . . . • In Flyover America, people believe criminals should be punished. Coastal America focuses on “rehabilitation.” • Flyovers think the Declaration of Independence was crystal clear: “All men are created equal.” For Coastals, Black Lives Matter—but anyone who adds that all lives matter must be a racist. • Coastals think they understand firearms because they watched a TV movie about Columbine. Fly- overs get a deer rifle for their thirteenth birthday. • Coastals talk about blue-collar workers in the abstract. Flyovers have a relative who works the night shift in a granola bar factory, where the big perk is taking home a bag full of granola bars every Friday. • Coastals think every problem—from hurt feelings to the cost of birth control—requires government intervention and huge federal spending. Flyovers know that money isn’t magic fairy dust, and many problems can be solved only by individual character and hard work. It would all be funny—if Coastals weren’t winning on most of today’s big issues. As Loesch writes, “Most of these pinkies-out, cocktail- drinking-appletini fans selfishly entertain grandiose plans of economic equality without realizing the negative impact their plans would have on the very people they pride themselves on helping. That’s the true class warfare.” Loesch shines the light of truth on everything from feminism to gun violence to abortion. She reveals the damage done by elitists who flat-out don’t get the lives and values of people in the heart of the country. And she asks commonsense questions such as: How can you be angry at Walmart if you’ve never shopped in one? How can you hate the police if you’ve never needed help from a cop? How can you attack Christians if you don’t have a single friend who goes to church? In other words, how can you run a country you’ve never been to? And how much could our politics improve if Coastals would actually listen to their fellow Americans? This book is a rallying cry for anyone who wants our leaders to understand and respect the culture that made America exceptional in the first place.

The legacy of a master of horror lives on in this fully authorized biography James Herbert was an enduringly popular author whose books sell in the hundreds of thousands across the world and are made into films. He broke away from the cut-and-thrust populist horror novels of the 1970s and 1980s to create more thought-provoking works, featuring the scientific reasoning behind the manifestations of the ghosts and spirits in which he truly believed. Yet despite his worldwide fan base, surprisingly little is known about the man himself. Before his recent death, James Herbert granted his friend and confidant Craig Cabell more than a dozen exclusive candid interviews. The result is an incredibly frank and revealing portrait of one of the giants of contemporary popular fiction, shedding light on his personal demons that drove the boy from London's East End to become the preeminent horror writer of his generation. Cabell shares personal correspondence and reminiscences, including one of Herbert's previously unpublished pieces, entitled To Ye All. In addition to this, James granted the author full access to his photographic archives, making this a title that no James Herbert fan can be without.

'a wonderful book ... a great read' Daily Mail 'a fascinating book ... I really enjoyed it' Piers Morgan, Good Morning Britain 'a heart-warming, funny and insightful read. Perfect for a rainy day by the fire.' FourFourTwo magazine One of the Guardian's 'Biggest Books of Autumn 2020' 'A beautiful book about football, family, friendship and finding out who you really are.' JACK WHITEHALL 'One of the best books I've ever read about what it takes to become a pro.' FRANK LAMPARD For the Redknapp clan, football is a family concern; it's the family business. Me, Family and the Making of a Footballer is a deeply moving, heartfelt and beautifully personal account of growing up as the second son of Harry Redknapp, and also an enchanting love letter to football. "I'm Jamie Redknapp. Chances are my surname rings a bell. I want to introduce you to a colourful cast of characters from my formative years. Growing up, Dad and grandad 'Pop' told us tall stories from London's East End, but there was no artistic licence needed when I was actually kicking a ball about with legends like George Best, Bobby Moore, and Geoff Hurst. This book is the story of my childhood and adolescence. Like many others, I guess it's a pretty typical mix of caravans and lollies, sweaty T-shirts and paper rounds, cheese sandwiches and Glacier Mints, The A Team, E.T. and Chinese takeaways. But this is also the story of a journey through an extraordinary childhood obsession with football. One minute it was all about Shoot! magazine, endless keepy-ups and countless impromptu kickabouts. The next, I'm playing for Bournemouth Reserves against terrifying, fully-grown men. Then I got my move to Kenny Dalglish's Liverpool. I might've been living off gristly sausages and Smash potato in my dingy digs up on Merseyside, but I was living the dream. I was desperately hoping it was the start of something special. Writing Me, Family and the Making of a Footballer has helped me discover so much about myself. This book is my way of explaining who and what have made me ... well, me."

Navy SEAL sniper and New York Times bestselling author Brandon Webb’s personal account of eight of his friends and fellow SEALs who made the ultimate sacrifice. “Knowing these great men—who they were, how they lived, and what they stood for—has changed my life. We can’t let them be forgotten. We’ve mourned their deaths. Let’s celebrate their lives.”—Brandon Webb As a Navy SEAL, Brandon Webb rose to the top of the world’s most elite sniper corps, experiencing years of punishing training and combat missions from the Persian Gulf to Afghanistan. Along the way, Webb served beside, trained, and supported men he came to know not just as fellow warriors, but as friends and, eventually, as heroes. This is his personal account of eight extraordinary SEALs who gave all for their comrades and their country with remarkable valor and abiding humanity: Matt “Axe” Axelson, who perished on Afghanistan’s Lone Survivor mission; Chris Campbell, Heath Robinson, and JT Tumilson, who were among the casualties of Extortion 17; Glen Doherty, Webb’s best friend, killed while helping secure the successful rescue and extraction of American CIA and State Department diplomats in Benghazi; and other close friends, classmates, and fellow warriors. These are men who left behind powerfully instructive examples of what it means to be alive—and what it truly means to be a hero. INCLUDES PHOTOGRAPHS

What is the American thriller? Has it developed over time? What was it like in the past? This is a book about thrillers and gaining knowledge of what American thrillers were like in a specific period - the 1970s. Analysing seventies texts about crime, police, detectives, corruption, paranoia and revenge, The American Thriller aims to open debates on genre in the light of audience theory, literary history and the place of popular fiction at the moment of its production.

Charles Mack examines the evolving context of Renaissance art while offering fresh insight into the meaning of the Renaissance.

We live in a time of certainty and extremes where questions must be answered and spiritual salvation is centered on a single moment. By drawing on the writings of St. Maximos the Confessor (580-662 CE), this book seeks to introduce the reader to a new, albeit old, way of following Jesus of Nazareth into the darkness of the unknown by embracing the mystery of uncertainty as a way of life in which each person's journey is different. Interwoven together, the concepts of the Mystery, the Way, and the Journey provide a way forward through the uncertainty of the future by following the path set forth by the ancient church while understanding that we are part of something bigger and older than modern American Christianity.