Allow me to make some introductions. My name is Carl Prichard. I would like you to meet Silent Agony, the first of three novels dealing with the fictional crime lords of my hometown Detroit, Michigan. The forces that drive corruption seem hell bent on bringing together powerful men committed to destroy each other. Monkey Sharpe, the ex-con looking for stability by creating a chosen lifestyle in the trafficking of narcotics; The Ghost, a cold-blooded killer whose chosen profession allowed him to wear a peacekeeper's badge; Amps, the sick degenerate who collects his victim's ears to decorate his apartment; Sledgehammer, the ex-professional boxer and ex-con who contracted to kill; and Wee Willie Witchum, whose personal demons tormented him until he finally does the unthinkable to preserve his arch enemy in silent agony. The action is fast paced, the romance is steamy, and the characters are believable enough to be feared. Silent Agony serves up a man-sized story that will keep you up reading all night, and looking over your shoulder all day.

This book consists of quotes and poetries which deals with the situation when the mind clashes with the heart. This mainly occurs when we are in love and we find ourselves between choosing the mind and the heart. We try every time to decide independently whatever we like to but this heart is selfless, everytime it cares for others benefit. We hope that this book will be able to create a deeper impact on the lives of our dear readers and they will be able to shower us with their unconditional love and feedback.

Papers presented at the International Seminar on Psycho Dynamics of Women in the Postmodern Literature of the East and West, held at Visakhapatnam during 25-26 February 2006.

The Agony And The Glory Of Muted Silence is the last novel that I had completed the day before his second visit to my place of abode and is, therefore, dedicated to Abraham Oki for all the things that we both have been through from 1974 to present time. And it is also for the time that I have pinned to specific moments and, in particular, for the things that he said about me that I myself did not know before he spoke them nor would have not known if he did not. But he had decided instead to tow the path of the agony or the glory of muted silence with my poor gratitude to him and prayer to God for his continued favors in his life. The novel is, finally, as usual and as always, dedicated to God Almighty for making me the way that Abraham Oki says that I am. It’s with my adoration, thanks, and love for him forever.

I acknowledge the contribution of my mother and father for their blessings and my careful nurture and of my brothers for their intellectual companionship. I also acknowledge hereditary contribution of my grandfather whom I have never seen but whose stories as “pioneer and the first English Teacher” still prevail as folklore in my hometown. I am grateful to my wife and children for their support in writing. Also I am grateful to ShriRajenderKrishan and Ms AparnaChatterjee from Boloji.com for building my confidence on writing poems and to ShriRamaraoVadapalli for his kind remarks.I acknowledge the contribution of my mother and father for their blessings and my careful nurture and of my brothers for their intellectual companionship. I also acknowledge hereditary contribution of my grandfather whom I have never seen but whose stories as “pioneer and the first English Teacher” still prevail as folklore in my hometown. I am grateful to my wife and children for their support in writing. Also I am grateful to ShriRajenderKrishan and Ms AparnaChatterjee from Boloji.com for building my confidence on writing poems and to ShriRamaraoVadapalli for his kind remarks.

Glory and Agony is the first history of the shifting attitudes toward national sacrifice in Hebrew culture over the last century. Its point of departure is Zionism's obsessive preoccupation with its haunting "primal scene" of sacrifice, the near-sacrifice of Isaac, as evidenced in wide-ranging sources from the domains of literature, art, psychology, philosophy, and politics. By placing these sources in conversation with twentieth-century thinking on human sacrifice, violence, and martyrdom, this study draws a complex picture that provides multiple, sometimes contradictory insights into the genesis and gender of national sacrifice. Extending back over two millennia, this study unearths retellings of biblical and classical narratives of sacrifice, both enacted and aborted, voluntary and violent, male and female—Isaac, Ishmael, Jephthah's daughter, Iphigenia, Jesus. Glory and Agony traces the birth of national sacrifice out of the ruins of religious martyrdom, exposing the sacred underside of Western secularism in Israel as elsewhere.