Bundled together for the first time! Over 1200 pages of riveting vampiric urban fantasy. Harsh Line My very existence is under attack. I’ve kept a low profile, told myself the craziness sweeping the world would pass me by. Yeah, it was wishful thinking, actually an outright lie, but it’s kept me sane. I’ve been hiding out forever in one guise or another. Currently, I run a nightclub. Ascent is an “ask me no questions, and I’ll tell you no lies” haven. For everybody. I’m a Vampire. Far be it from me to judge. My closest ally is a shapeshifting dire wolf. I adopted him when he was a scrawny puppy, but I’m getting ahead of my tale. The fragile détente between supernaturals and humans has crashed and burned. I can’t avoid the truth any longer. Lucky for me, mortals don’t know exactly what I am. When I moved to Seattle, some vampiric sixth sense urged me to play my cards close to my vest, but I’m done burying my secrets. And my power. Warped Line I chose stasis—a long sleep—for me and two of mine. Hard to time these things, but we woke in the eye of a cyclone. When I went to sleep—to avoid being drained of magic and blood by dark Sorcerers—Vampires weren’t exactly on the endangered species list, but not many of us are left. No one ever accepted us. Not mortals and not others with power, either. At least one of those dams has developed a few cracks. Supernaturals aren’t quite welcoming, but they’ll take help from any quarter. Mortals have declared war on magic, and they won’t rest until we’re all sitting in iron-clad prisons. What a bunch of cowards. If they weren’t hiding behind false humanitarian walls, they’d be honest about their intentions and do their damnedest to kill us outright. Cracked Line Vampires don’t fall in love. Except I did. Not the best decision of my long life. I definitely cracked an unspoken line, but Ariana trounced me as far as line-crossing went. Very few acts constitute crimes in Vampire circles. Hers was the worst. I fled to the Old Country to buy myself thinking time. I still loved her, but what she’d done was so vile I couldn’t set it aside. We face huge problems, but I’m tackling them one by one. I’ll return to Ariana’s side, but perhaps only as her comrade-in-arms. Time will tell if we can be more to each other. Time and circumstances. In a world without magic, Vampires will wither along with every other magic-wielder. I cannot let that happen. Broken Line In all my years as a Vampire, hundreds of them, I never imagined humans would be anything other than food. Rich, pure, delectable blood. Prey that fought back never posed a problem. Mortals couldn’t stand against those of us with supernatural ability. That world still exists, but it’s taken a backseat to humans who’ve joined forces with turncoat mages. Mortals were never meant to wield power. Over the long haul, they’re sure to be very sorry for the choices they’ve made. Maybe someday I’ll be a humble innkeeper again, but it’s so far in the future I can’t even think about it. Nope. For now, all I see is blood. Rivers of it, and not running down my gullet, either. On the plus side, I have good friends, powerful allies, and a Vampire who loves me. We have to come through this unscathed. Have to. I’m Ariana Hawke, and I take care of what’s mine.

My Journey as a WWII Marine tells the personal story of lived experiences as an enlisted Marine who very quickly continued his tour of duty in the leadership role as 2nd Lieutenant. The author wanted to write a book to provide a glimpse of what it was like as a Marine to live through one of the most important wars of our country. John was assigned to a specialty area of service that required him and his men to be on the field of battle to provide those services in the Pacific. “We had to be prepared to do anything that was needed, especially as we were taking small islands to put down the Japanese”. Throughout the book, John guides the reader to experience what it was like through his eyes as a WWII Marine.

In this personal account, one man details how he discovered the fact of reincarnation and explores what he did in his prior lives. More people than you would believe have prior life memories. In his new spiritual memoir "My Journey down the Reincarnation Highway: The True Story of a Man who found nine of His Past Lives" author and businessman Frank Mares tells how he acquired psychic ability in his middle age. With this new gift, he recovered facts about nine of his prior lives, most of which involved violent, bloody deaths. The most recent life was that of a young German Wehrmacht sergeant who was ambushed and killed by Russians during the night of May 1, 1944 in a dark Estonian farmhouse. Not being satisfied with just discovering his past lives, Mares goes on a spiritual mission to find out why he kept dying violently. The answers do not come easily, but by using a team of three world class psychics he eventually tracks down the shocking reason for all his brutal deaths. The psychic team finds that within the soul of this normal small businessman resides a brutal, stone cold killer from the 1600's who surprisingly was the revered founder of a gentile noble family.As part of his soul's continuing quest for redemption, Mares hopes to salvage the dark time in his soul's past into something that could help others today. His experiences show that death is only a transition phase, and that it should not be feared. His book also reveals that reincarnation is actually a well designed, organized system that allows souls to learn personalized life lessons over a surprising number of lives. If you read this book, you will never look at life (and death) in the same way again.

I did it! I’m free. Well sort of. Freedom isn’t as cut and dried as the word implies. In this case, I’m at the top of Death’s Worst Reaper Ever list. What it signifies remains to be seen. I broke free from Death because there wasn’t any other way out of Reaping Vampires. She refused to let me off the hook or consider other arrangements. I’d have been content leaving it at that, but word about my choice got out. Other Reapers clamored for independence too. Death’s fury expanded another notch with every defection until nowhere is far enough away for me to run to. If I was only fighting her, it might be manageable. Toss in Vampires who hate my guts, a phalanx of dark gods who want my hide, and a bunch of bigoted mortals who’ve decided magic is holding them back. Pah. Humans are their own worst enemy, but they’re the least of my problems. It’s been a rocky journey. Along the way I’ve uncovered allies and even a man who loves me. Will we be enough to slam the gates and send darkness packing? We have to be. No prisoners. No choices.

A compelling series of insightful biographical sketches of the men and women of the York County Bar commencing eleven years before the start of the Civil War as recounted by contemporaries and colleagues. Candid, sincere, honest, and on occasion with a touch of comic relief, these memorial minutes are tributes to those who have made their rendezvous with mortality. Found within these volumes is the venerable Jeremiah S. Black who walked the corridors of national recognition during the Civil War era; the urbane and brilliant Herbert B. Cohen who wielded substantial political power throughout the commonwealth and rose to become an associate justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court; and the charismatic Harvey Gross whose superb advocacy in the third Hex trial and subsequent twenty-year tenure on the York County Orphans’ Court placed him in the forefront of the princes of Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence. This “callout” of the giants in no way diminishes the significance, commitment, and integrity of the many other remarkable individuals who came after and counseled and inspired others to live honestly, to exercise compassion, and to act with prudence and diligence, and above all else made their contribution to the vast and diverse panorama of our humanity. Not a typical memoir or story, these memorial minutes constitute the defining epic of the York County Bar. More than history, more than recitals of character and personality, and more than delightful encounters and more somber content, they are about individuals remembered for the richness and power of their hopes, achievements, and commitments to the timeless values of the life of the law.

This book tackles the phenomenon of limited learning on campuses by approaching it from the point of view of the author, an educator who writes about the experience of being, simultaneously, a college student and a college professor. The author lays out her experience as a student struggling in an introductory linguistics class, framing her struggles as sites ripe for autoethnographic interrogation. Throughout the book, the author melds her personal narratives with the extant research on college student learning, college readiness, and the interconnectedness of affect, intellect, and socio-cultural contexts. This book poses a challenge to the current binary metanarrative that circles the college student learning conundrum, which highlights either the faculty or student perspective, and unfolds this unnecessary binary into a rich, nuanced, and polyvocal set of perspectives.

When author Kevin LaChapelle begins his career as a police officer in El Cajon, California, he fulfills a lifelong dream. But the dream soon turns into a nightmare when he discovers corruption within the ranks of the El Cajon Police Department. Please God, Don't Let My Badge Tarnish is the story of LaChapelle's struggle to work in the department after his shocking discovery. Rather than turn his back on the scandal and save his career, LaChapelle begins a courageous fight to bring the officers to justice. At the same time, he earns awards for his work in helping young people turn away from gangs and violence. In 1994, at the urging of his fellow citizens, LaChapelle runs for the local school board. Soon he is engaged in a new battle after he uncovers major financial problems in the district and discovers that greedy officials are siphoning money intended to fund school programs. In the wake of these two major battles, LaChapelle founds the Special Investigations Agency, which is dedicated to helping communities nationwide fight corruption in their local government officials and uncover scams against citizens, particularly the elderly and disadvantaged minorities. His fight for justice continues today.