Great natural imagery from rural Wisconsin. Touching human and nature connections. Outstanding references to the pastoral life in the supreme rural Wisconsin wilds.

The Chicago Tribune has called Richard Burgin “among our finest artists of love at its most desperate,” a critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer dubbed him “one of America’s most distinctive storytellers . . . I can think of no one else of his generation who reports the contemporary war between the sexes with more devastating wit and accuracy.” Through an extraordinarily vivid and variegated set of characters, The Conference on Beautiful Moments, Burgin’s sixth collection of stories, continues his daringly dark yet often humorous exploration of these themes, as well as our mysterious quest for truth, success, and identity. In the gently satiric “Jonathan and Lillian,” a movie star throws a dinner party with very different meanings for her biographer, her butler and ex-lover, and herself. In “Cruise,” an aging straight man befriends a young gay man. Together they meet on their cruise ship’s deck to confess to each other “the worst thing they have ever done.” In the title story, a journalist sent to investigate a conference formerly devoted to discussing beauty in the arts discovers it has turned into something considerably more sinister. In The Conference on Beautiful Moments, Burgin writes with equal compassion and insight about the homeless and the wealthy, prostitutes and businessmen, an autistic child and an art forger. His characters are masterfully illuminated by their interior narratives, which burst sharply into conversations at once intimate and calculated.

A spellbinding historical debut for fans of The Night Circus and The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue. ‘This is the magic circus book that I have been looking for all my life' – Seanan McGuire, author of the Wayward Children series When darkness descends, expect sparks. After the First World War, a select few wake up with frightening magical abilities. Rin can jump through time. Her wife, Odette, can heal the unhealable. And their friend, Mauve, sees what others can’t. Alone, afraid and exiled from regular society, the trio create a haven for Sparks – people like them – a circus housing those who are powerful and lost. Now it’s 1926 and Rin runs the Circus of the Fantasticals. It travels across the States, spreading enchantment and joy to those who need it. Rin hopes their performances leave the world brighter than before. But new threats loom that even circus lights can’t vanquish. Another devastating war is barrelling across the world. Worse still, Rin’s past creeps closer every day, a malevolent shadow she can’t fully escape. This takes the form of a rival circus, with tents as black as midnight. Its leader has dark powers and even darker desires as the Sparks have something he wants – and Rin knows he won’t stop until he has it. ‘A masterpiece of the fantastical and the human’ – Freya Marske, author of A Marvellous Light *Longlisted for Best Novel at the British Science Fiction Association Awards 2023*

The instant New York Times bestseller and “inspiring and vulnerable” (Trevor Noah) memoir from Bobby Hall, the multiplatinum recording artist known as Logic and the #1 bestselling author of Supermarket. This Bright Future is a raw and unfiltered journey into the life and mind of Bobby Hall, who emerged from the wreckage of a horrifically abusive childhood to become an era-defining artist of our tumultuous age. A self-described orphan with parents, Bobby Hall began life as Sir Robert Bryson Hall II, the only child of an alcoholic, mentally ill mother on welfare and an absent, crack-addicted father. After enduring seventeen years of abuse and neglect, Bobby ran away from home and—with nothing more than a discarded laptop and a ninth-grade education—he found his voice in the world of hip-hop and a new home in a place he never expected: the untamed and uncharted wilderness of the social media age. In the message boards and livestreams of this brave new world, Bobby became Logic, transforming a childhood of violence, anger, and trauma into music that spread a resilient message of peace, love, and positivity. His songs would touch the lives of millions, taking him to dizzying heights of success, where the wounds of his childhood and the perils of Internet fame would nearly be his undoing. A landmark achievement in an already remarkable career, This Bright Future “is just like the author—fearless, funny, and full of heart” (Ernest Cline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Ready Player One) and looks back on Bobby’s extraordinary life with lacerating humor and fearless honesty. Heart-wrenching yet ultimately uplifting, this book completes the incredible true story and transformation of a human being who, against all odds, refused to be broken.

Most of us often wait for that right moment to be happy. Whereas every moment is a wonderful possibility to be happy. This book contains the tools through which you acan love this moment totally and completely and not postpone the happiness for tomorrow.

A man hell-bent on revenge for the death of his friend, in battle! Seeking revenge for the death of a friend ten long years ago, Major Jake Nanden has pursued his own personal demons with an almost religious fervour through life and through battle. He is a soldier so highly decorated that his fame reaches far beyond the desolate moon Io where he is stationed. His victories in the Jupiter Wars are hollow though, for he is a man scared of his own soul. His life seems to be a trap from which he cannot escape. His is the Replicant Company, and replicants are despised by all. Likened to a cross between Blade Runner and Paths of Glory, you simply must read this beautifully constructed, intensely dark and powerful Science Fiction tale-with-a-twist if you love Phillip K. Dick and Isaac Asimov. Paperback on Amazon If you love character-driven science fiction, you will love the twist at the end. Character interview with Jake Nanden, star of the Iron Series. Name (s): Jake Nanden Age: 34 Please tell us a little about yourself. I am 5'11', dark hair, short - Army cut, slightly curly. Green eyes. Describe your appearance in 10 words or less. Getting middle aged, slightly paunchy with drying skin - like paper in places - except my mech arm. That's synthetic skin on there and as smooth and supple as the day it was sprayed on. I even had mine tattooed but don't tell anyone. Would you kill for those you love?I kill every day - most days - to keep my culture intact. I would say that is killing for those I love. Of course there is a moral code... And as a soldier the moral code is almost everything. After a while... killing... it sometimes seems to be the only thing you have left. Family are too far away. Do you like animals? I love animals. Their love is unconditional. You can never quite be sure with humans, can you? Do you have a family? Ha! Ha! Yes. A test-tube. No seriously my mother - Mary, my sister Justine and a dog - a collie called Frisky. My adoptive dad was the famous robotics designer Robert R. Nanden but he's dead. My mother was his assistant and pretty accomplished at that! Can you remember something from your childhood which influences your behaviour? I am not sure about any of my childhood memories. They are probably all implanted. I am a replicant. The first memory I am sure about is playing on the grass with my adoptive mother watching me playing cricket. She shouted out, "Jake! You are such a talented cyborg!" Even at my tender age, I knew a replicant was not the same thing as a cyborg and I knew that she should know, as her first husband had been a famous robot designer. Her words had always stuck in my head. But anyway, adoptive parents of replicant children are always told to create some vivid experience for their kid in the first few days so that the imprinting takes properly. So it's probably not significant. Do you have any phobias? Mirrors. Can't stand them. They make me sweat and... well, I'm very nervous around them. I avoid them. Please give us an interesting and unusual fact about yourself. I write books - well, I am writing my first; a detective thriller. It's kind of Raymond Chandler-ish. I call it Chandleresque, but I guess that's bad English. My adoptive parents are first generation J5 - that's a space station - so they kinda inherited a USAC - United States of America and Canada - accent. Anyway, I am rambling. Does your world have different races of people? We are more concerned with Ischians - aliens. Races? I don't think anybody notices any more. Still a stigma to being a replicant though. Keywords: scifi, dystopia, thriller, war, Io, Jupiter, iron, cross, android, robot, cyborg, valour, gallant, Greg Bear, lost starship, pods, tanks, armour, military, assault, starship troopers, blade runner, Clarke, Asimov, medal, mechanical arm, first contact, violent ,dog-like, replicants, genes, manipulation, aliens, Anubis, jackal, paths of glory, gears of war, dystopia, clones, ancient egypt novels, ancient history fiction, black holes and time warps, wormhole books, Anubis book

WHEN THE LIGHTS ARE BRIGHT AGAIN: LETTERS AND IMAGES OF LOSS, HOPE AND RESILIENCE FROM THE THEATER COMMUNITY

My life, through 40 years of songs! Emotions, feelings, memories, Time, Love...

Phenomenological analysis of beauty and art across various aspects of lived experience and culture. Through a careful analysis of concrete examples taken from everyday experience and culture, Beautiful, Bright, and Blinding develops a straightforward and powerful aesthetic methodology founded on a phenomenological approach to experience—one that investigates how consciousness engages with the world and thus what it means to take such things as tastes, images, sounds, and even a life itself as art. H. Peter Steeves begins by exploring what it means to see, and considers how disruptions of sight can help us rethink how perception works. Engaging the work of Derrida, Heidegger, and Husserl, he uses these insights about “seeing” to undertake a systematic phenomenological investigation of how we perceive and process a range of aesthetic objects, including the paintings of Arshile Gorky, the films of Michael Haneke, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, zombie films, The Simpsons, the performance art of Rachel Rosenthal and Andy Kaufman, and even vegan hot dogs. Refusing hierarchical distinctions between high and low art, Steeves argues that we must conceptualize the whole of human experience as aesthetic: art is lived, and living is an art. “This is a brilliant new contribution by our preeminent phenomenologist of culture. It’s extremely accessible, illuminating, original, and sophisticated while being philosophically probing.” — David Wood, author of The Step Back: Ethics and Politics after Deconstruction

The story revolves about how the people meet each other at different phases of life and how they grow together and enjoy the small pleasures of life. It takes the reader through various stages of life from childhood to old age, from a village life through international travels, from hardships to luxury and choiceswe make in life. It revolves around island life and the pleasures of enjoying nature, at its best and being prepared for the fury of nature. It covers various occasions to celebrate and leaves behind important points to take away from each occasion.