Miles of Stare explores the problem of nineteenth-century American literary vision: the strange conflation of visible reality and poetic language that emerges repeatedly in the metaphors and literary creations of American transcendentalists. The strangeness of nineteenth-century poetic vision is exemplified most famously by Emerson’s transparent eyeball. That disembodied, omniscient seer is able to shed its body and transcend sight paradoxically in order to see—not to create—poetic language “manifest” on the American landscape. In Miles of Stare, Michelle Kohler explores the question of why, given American transcendentalism’s anti-empiricism, the movement’s central trope becomes an eye purged of imagination. And why, furthermore, she asks, despite its insistent empiricism, is this notorious eye also so decidedly not an eye? What are the ethics of casting a boldly equivocal metaphor as the source of a national literature amidst a national landscape fraught with slavery, genocide, poverty, and war? Miles of Stare explores these questions first by tracing the historical emergence of the metaphor of poetic vision as the transcendentalists assimilated European precedents and wrestled with America’s troubling rhetoric of manifest destiny and national identity. These questions are central to the work of many nineteenth-century authors writing in the wake of transcendentalism, and Kohler offers examples from the writings of Douglass, Hawthorne, Dickinson, Howells, and Jewett that form a cascade of new visual metaphors that address the irreconcilable contradictions within the transcendentalist metaphor and pursue their own efforts to produce an American literature. Douglass’s doomed witness to slavery, Hawthorne’s reluctantly omniscient narrator, and Dickinson’s empty “miles of Stare” variously skewer the authority of Emerson’s all-seeing poetic eyeball while attributing new authority to the limitations that mark their own literary gazes. Tracing this metaphorical conflict across genres from the 1830s through the 1880s, Miles of Stare illuminates the divergent, contentious fates of American literary vision as nineteenth-century writers wrestle with the commanding conflation of vision and language that lies at the center of American transcendentalism—and at the core of American national identity.

After purchasing a house that needs tender loving care, a successful songwriter and band leader named Miles is puzzled. Why did he purchase the runaEUR"down house when he already had a nice condo? At night, he just can't stay away from the house. And every time Miles drives in front of the house at night, the lights inside would come on. Miles parks his car and walks up to the front, and as usual, the door opens. To Miles's surprise, no one is standing in the doorway. However, this shouldn't surprise Miles because after entering the house the first night before he purchased this house, the same thing happened. Both shocked and amazed every time he enters this house, he knows that something wonderful and amazing happens once he closes the front door. So what is this amazing thing that keeps on happening? Ladies and gentlemen, "Image If."

Book 1 – The Secretary's Seduction (A Standalone Billionaire Boss and Secretary Love Story) The funeral was short. Laurel was surprised that she cried during the service. It had been small, primarily populated by Laurel and her husband’s family. He didn’t have many friends and she had no family to speak of so the service was short and sweet. The sky was unbearably bright and they held the service in the late afternoon. Maybe not a sweet funeral, but it was short. Richard Ericson had died at the age of thirty five of a massive heart attack. He had grown larger during the last five years of his life and made no effort to remain healthy despite the fact that he nagged at Laurel constantly to maintain her beauty for him. Richard and Laurel had lived quietly side by side, she kept the house and he went to his office job from eight to six. He came home and she had dinner ready. They never had children. There was little love in the marriage. Because there was such little love Laurel was surprised when a few tears slipped out as Richard was lowered into the ground. Her mother-in-law patted her briskly on the shoulder. The woman’s face was tight and devoid of emotion as she gave her a stiff hug. Without another word she walked to where her husband stood, a somber man. The two made a lovely emotionless pair. Her mother and father-in-law were silent and shed few tears. There was little love in the family as well. Book 2 – Saved by the Billionaire (A Standalone Billionaire's Second Chance Love Story) The sun was rising, gently pouring into my bedroom. I stretched out in the sheets, feeling them beneath my fingertips. They felt better this morning – softer and nicer. I had met a boy. It sounded silly but I had. Not my type either. There was no way around the fact he was a dork. A nerd. Silly and flustered when he spoke to me, trying to make eye contact but failing because I was a cheerleader. And I loved it. He was so adorable that I couldn’t stand it. On a whim and three drinks later, I had given him my number in hopes he’d contact me. Book 3 – Second Chance with the Billionaire (A Standalone Billionaire Romance Short Story) Breanna and Josh are two college students who are madly in love. Sarah is Breanna’s best friend and roommate. Josh is a computer science student and Breanna is a cheerleader on a scholarship, Josh is the valedictorian as well. The three of them graduate together and start their new lives. All goes well for Josh and Breanna in their new life, until the unexpected happens. They thought they had forever but when Josh gets something that he always wanted, something he needs, a hard decision has to be made. Book 4 – The Actress (A Standalone Billionaire and Actress Erotic Romance Novel) As Jan looked up the address of the hotel nearest LAX, LA's airport. A casting call looking for young female leads had caught her attention from the back of a literary magazine. She was going out on a limb, and it hit her now more than ever how much she was putting on the line to come out LA on the last of her savings as the plane touched down with the sound of squealing tires. When the landing lurched her forward she knew it wasn't just the excitement of a bumpy ride that was making her chest thump. Deep breathes and focused thoughts were something Jan used a lot of the time when she got anxious, it was something that she'd learned back many years ago. Cheerleading had taught Jane a lot, and often times her minds drifted back to the life lessons. Teamwork was something that few people in high school seemed to understand, besides maybe a few of the all star athletes. Jane learned it took others to really excel. She still believed that the individual was important, but she saw them as cogs in a larger framework of other cogs. WARNING: This collection which contains some very steamy love scenes. It is only appropriate for mature readers age 18+.

New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins serves up a deliciously royal romance, perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen and Huntley Fitzpatrick. Meet Daisy Winters. She's an offbeat sixteen-year-old Floridian with mermaid-red hair; a part time job at a bootleg Walmart, and a perfect older sister who's nearly engaged to the Crown Prince of Scotland. Daisy has no desire to live in the spotlight, but relentless tabloid attention forces her join Ellie at the relative seclusion of the castle across the pond. While the dashing young Miles has been appointed to teach Daisy the ropes of being regal, the prince's roguish younger brother kicks up scandal wherever he goes, and tries his best to take Daisy along for the ride. The crown--and the intriguing Miles--might be trying to make Daisy into a lady . . . but Daisy may just rewrite the royal rulebook to suit herself. New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins brings her signature humor, love of Americana, and flair for romance to this page-turning Princess Diaries turned-upside-down story.

Facing a military court martial for the murder of a Vietnamese soldier, Army Sergeant John L. Coletrane is offered a plea bargain if he agrees to return to South Vietnam for one final combat mission. The agreement would save him from the gallows but the near suicidal mission could cost him his life. Suppressing his prejudices, he is ordered to team up with another Vietnamese soldier and required to use all his jungle knowledge and skills to defy the odds, reach the objective and complete the mission after discovering a secret that forces a soldier to make one of the most difficult decisions of his life. This is a bold story of courage, loyalty and honor.

I always thought when the apocalypse finally began I would be swinging my baseball bat at the zombies with the best of them. I was prepped and ready to smash in some undead heads if the need ever arose. The problem is—no one ever warned me that I would have to dread the humans even more. The ones who still remember their names and how to put a gun to your temple when they want something. Do not fear the Withered Ones. Fear the ones still human. This is an omnibus edition featuring the first three books in The Withered series: Wither, Resurrect and Affliction. Wither After an epidemic swept across the nation, the government foolishly rushed the creation of a vaccine—but what was meant to bring salvation instead brought damnation. Human mutations birthed a new species, but Avery Whitlock soon learned that the top threat against her survival was not the Withered Ones—but the ones still human. Resurrect After enduring a kidnapping, brutal gang attacks and the death of the man she loved, Avery Whitlock believed she could survive anything—until she discovered that she was being hunted. The Withered had mutated and she had reason to believe that evolution couldn’t be stopped—especially when it was genetically engineered. Affliction No longer fully human, but unwilling to accept her fate as a flesh-eating zombie, Avery Whitlock abandoned the only place she could call home in order to save the man she loved from herself. Driven to prevent anyone else from suffering her fate, she stalked the doctor's responsible for the mutations—but with each life she took, her cravings amplified and her grip on humanity slipped.

LOVE IS . . . A MYTH? That's the belief of Frida McKenzie, devoted member of The Love Delusion movement, determined to cure humans of our ridiculous obsession with love. But there's something she's forgotten... When Frida finds a mysterious picture of herself with a man she barely knows, the certainties she has about her world begin to unravel. What are the sinister roots of the cult that seems to have gripped humanity? Why can't she remember anything about her life before - including the strange(ly attractive) man in that picture? And just when exactly did she take up fantasy role play? As a battle approaches that's been millennia in the making, it's beginning to look like there's only one question that really matters: if love conquers all, what happens when it's gone? Praise for The Gods of Love 'A proper page-turner! Suspenseful, mysterious, spooky and witty - and great fun' Justin Myers, author of The Last Romeo 'Adventurous, magical, and very, very funny!' Emma Jane Unsworth, author of Animals

Penn & Teller impart their priceless secrets for conning, scamming, and fooling your closest personal friends. And even they're suprised how many copies of this we've sold: 120,000 to-date.

"The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D." (1791) is a biography of Dr. Samuel Johnson written by James Boswell. It is regarded as an important stage in the development of the modern genre of biography; many have claimed it as the greatest biography written in English. While Boswell's personal acquaintance with his subject only began in 1763, when Johnson was 54 years old, Boswell covered the entirety of Johnson's life by means of additional research. The biography takes many critical liberties with Johnson's life, as Boswell makes various changes to Johnson's quotations and even censors many comments. Regardless of these actions, modern biographers have found Boswell's biography as an important source of information. The work was popular among early audiences and with modern critics, but some of the modern critics believe that the work cannot be considered a proper biography. James Boswell (1740–1795) was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson, which the modern Johnsonian critic Harold Bloom has claimed is the greatest biography written in the English language.