This is a funny and poignant account of the life of a rogue of sorts. The crazy escapades and sad moments of a life lived on the brink and a character that never held back. It is ultimately the search for a love lost many years before and a search for the essence of unspoiled youth.

Reach for the stars Stargazing is the practice of observing the night sky and its contents - from constellations through to planets and galaxies. Stars and other night sky objects can be seen with the naked eye, or seen in greater numbers and in more detail with binoculars or a telescope. Stargazing For Dummies offers you the chance to explore the night sky, providing a detailed guide to the main constellations and also offering advice on viewing other night sky objects such as planets and nebulae. It's a great introduction to a fun new hobby, and even provides a fun way to get the kids outside while doing something educational! Gives you an introduction to looking at the sky with binoculars or a telescope Offers advice on photographing the night sky Without needing to get your head around mind-bending theories, you can take part in some practical physics If you're looking for easy-to-follow guidance on getting to know the night sky, Stargazing For Dummies has you covered.

When the little slave girl was born, plantation owner John Penrose bestowed the name Cassiopeia for the small birthmark placed low on her neck identical to that of the chair in the constellation Cassiopeia, named for an Ethiopian queen. Growing up as a house slave on Roselawn Plantation, Cassie Omoru dreams of being free and helping her people. But when her well-being is threatened by Enoch Penrose, the depraved son of the plantation owner, she is whisked away to St. Benedict's Monastery on Skidaway Island, Georgia. Enoch swears he won't give up until Cassie is his. Meanwhile, under the loving guidance of Sister Bernadette, Cassie blossoms into an intelligent and accomplished young woman. When the French army arrives to aid the Americans in their attempt to free Savannah from the British, they recruit her as an interpreter, and she falls in love with a French-Haitian soldier, Andre Dupre. But even as the battle subsides, danger looms for Cassie as Enoch pursues her and Andre through the sea islands of Georgia as they seek sanctuary in Spanish Florida. She prays that her namesake in the sky can protect her from evil.

A crisis has arisen. On their first mission as a team, Pretorius and his Dead Enders kidnapped the real General Michkag and substituted a clone who had been raised and trained in the Democracy. But now they find that the clone likes being the most powerful man in the hundred-world Traanskei Coalititon—and having been raised on Earth, he knows how humans think and react. This becomes a many-layered problem for Pretorius and what is left of his Dead Enders. As the only humans on a totally militarized alien world, they must first find where the best-guarded member of the enemy's military - Michkag - is hiding and how many aliens, or regiments, or divisions, are guarding him, and then they must find a way past all his lines of defense to kill or capture him.

For everyone who has looked up at the stars on a clear night and longed to know more about them, here is the perfect introduction and guide to discovering the stars. Discover the Stars leads you on a tour of all the stars and constellations visible with the naked eye and introduces you to deep-sky objects that can be seen with binoculars or a simple telescope. The tour is conducted by the editor of Astronomy magazine, Richard Berry, whose two-color, computer-plotted sky maps and clear instructions make stargazing fun and productive from your first night out. The heart of Discover the Stars is two sections of big, beautiful sky maps and charts. The first section features twelve maps that show the entire sky overhead as it appears during each month of the year. These outline all the constellations visible anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, and the accompanying text reveals the rich ancient mythology that surrounds the star groups. The second section is made up of twenty-three star charts that depict smaller regions of the sky in great detail. These charts give the names of key stars and lead you to fascinating features such as stars with unusual colors, double stars, variable stars, nebulae, and galaxies. Separate chapters cover basics, such as how the stars move through the sky, how to find your way around the moon and the planets, making an astronomer's flashlight, and choosing and using a telescope -- all in terms that are easy to grasp and remember. Discover the Stars is the perfect introduction to the heavens, simple enough to be useful if you're just starting out but packed with enough information to keep you learning and enjoying the stars for years to come. From the Trade Paperback edition.

**Best Books of August ~ Apple Books** “Coauthors Steve Berry and M.J. Rose take lots of hairpin turns, making for an intense, suspenseful, and action-packed read. The Lake of Learning is the kind of page-turner that makes you crave a big bowl of popcorn—we just wanted it to keep on going.”~ Apple Books For over a decade Cassiopeia Vitt has been building an authentic French castle, using only materials and techniques from the 13th century. But when a treasure is unearthed at the construction site—an ancient Book of Hours—a multitude of questions are raised, all pointing to an ancient and forgotten religious sect. Once the Cathars existed all across southern France, challenging Rome and attracting the faithful by the tens of thousands. Eventually, in 1208, the Pope declared them heretics and ordered a crusade—the first where Christians killed Christians—and thousands were slaughtered, the Cathars all but exterminated. Now a piece of that past has re-emerged, one that holds the key to the hiding place of the most precious object the Cathars possessed. And when more than one person becomes interested in that secret, in particular a thief and a billionaire, the race is on. From the medieval walled city of Carcassonne, to the crest of mysterious Montségur, to a forgotten cavern beneath the Pyrenees, Cassiopeia is drawn deeper and deeper into a civil war between two people obsessed with revenge and murder.

The time has come for Cassiopeia Vitt to sell her ancestral home. It sits on a Spanish bluff by the Mediterranean Sea, and bears the name Casa de Hace Mucho Tiempo, House of Long Ago. Trapped inside its walls are memories from a time when Cassiopeia was growing from a rebellious adolescent into a thoughtful young woman—regretful times when she often found herself estranged from her parents. Also inside are fifteen paintings, each one a masterpiece, together representing an investment in the tens of millions of euros—her father’s private art collection—which she intends to donate to museums. But when an art expert declares all fifteen paintings fake, and suggests that her father may have been involved with something illegal, she embarks on a quest to find answers. From a secret repository in Andorra, to a mysterious yacht in the Mediterranean, then finally onto the streets of Paris and a horrific reminder from World War II, Cassiopeia must battle every step of the way to stay alive—a fight that will finally bring her face to face with the truth about the House of Long Ago.

Cassiopeia Vitt takes center stage in this exciting novella from New York Times bestsellers M.J. Rose and Steve Berry. In the French mountain village of Eze, Cassiopeia visits an old friend who owns and operates the fabled Museum of Mysteries, a secretive place of the odd and arcane. When a robbery occurs at the museum, Cassiopeia gives chase to the thief and is plunged into a firestorm. Through a mix of modern day intrigue and ancient alchemy, Cassiopeia is propelled back and forth through time, the inexplicable journeys leading her into a hotly contested French presidential election. Both candidates harbor secrets they would prefer to keep quiet, but an ancient potion could make that impossible. With intrigue that begins in southern France and ends in a chase across the streets of Paris, this magical, fast-paced, hold-your-breath thriller is all you’ve come to expect from M.J. Rose and Steve Berry.

Young woman trying to lead a normal life in spite of obstacles in her way. Setting: 1980s, orchestra, Chicago; references to work at Interpol and United Kingdom intelligence services, and to family history in England and Switzerland. Use of British English and American English. Point of View: Omniscient Author couched between two chapters of First Person. Fiction. Completed, Polished "Draft". Some action, romance, spy. Flags: some language, some implied sex, some drug use, some violence.