“Yuan” or loosely translates to fate or destiny. But I don’t think that’s quite accurate. Yuan suggests that every encounter is meant to touch your life in a way that is meaningful, no matter how briefly. Even if it’s a raindrop brushing over the tip of your nose. Isn’t it beautiful? To think that everything in this world is connected by waves of intentions. There’s a pool of possibilities. I want to take a moment to thank all the Yuan in my life. Every person and everything that has happened to help me write. This is a collection of my poems and journals from my teenage years to current days. The photos in this book are all captured by either my camera or generations of iPhones I’ve used in the last decade. I hope you will enjoy my writing or the little things in life as viewed through my lenses. Thank you again for picking up this book. I hope it will be worth your while.

The World Space Organization (WSO) has taken over NASA and its ill-fated and under-funded space station program. Adhering to the ambitious goals of the WSO, the Mayflower Project becomes an epic journey into deep space with the purpose of colonizing a planet in the star system, Tau Ceti. However, in order to send man’s living DNA through this vastness of time and space, the crew must make one supreme and morally corrupt sacrifice. Those aboard will have to reproduce across hundreds of generations, whereby all descendants must bow to the will of their ancestors in order to fulfill the Project. Culminating in the discovery of the long-forgotten truths about Earth, generation 216’s findings ultimately threaten the Mayflower Project. Breaking from traditional forms of science fiction, this strikingly original story embraces the limitations of today’s technology, proposing what might happen if we embarked on such a mission today. Departing from the norm of aliens and intergalactic warfare, The Mayflower Project takes inspiration from the human drama implicit to the journey, while being a cautionary tale of man’s inhumanity towards his fellow man.

Leading into the 400th anniversary of the voyage of the Mayflower, Martyn Whittock examines the lives of the “saints” (members of the Separatist puritan congregations) and “strangers” (economic migrants) on the original ship who collectively became known to history as “the Pilgrims.”The story of the Pilgrims has taken on a life of its own as one of our founding national myths—their escape from religious persecution, the dangerous transatlantic journey, that brutal first winter. Throughout the narrative, we meet characters already familiar to us through Thanksgiving folklore—Captain Jones, Myles Standish, and Tisquantum (Squanto)—as well as new ones.There is Mary Chilton, the first woman to set foot on shore, and asylum seeker William Bradford. We meet fur trapper John Howland and little Mary More, who was brought as an indentured servant. Then there is Stephen Hopkins, who had already survived one shipwreck and was the only Mayflower passenger with any prior Amer- ican experience. Decidedly un-puritanical, he kept a tavern and was frequently chastised for allowing drinking on Sundays.Epic and intimate, Mayflower Lives is a rich and rewarding book that promises to enthrall readers of early American history.

Naval Commander Cort Sanford returns to the US after a mission in France that saw his wife, Julie, brutally murdered by a ruthless double agent, a former lover who is on a personal vendetta to settle a grudge. Cort returns home to try to forget the pain he suffers from the loss of his beloved wife and to honor their promise to grieve only briefly and then move on, should one depart life first. But he only finds himself pursued by the ruthless, vindictive, and sadistic Anna Karina Shastapova, a.k.a. Annabelle Lee, who will stop at nothing to have her revenge. Cort, with friends and associates from the French encounter at the Château de Candé, find themselves in a cat and mouse game with Anna—a game that takes them from Lexington, Virginia, to Charleston, South Carolina, and then to the dramatic events at a rendezvous at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC. Twists and turns along with many surprises fill this story, with eclectic characters and a stunningly surprising ending, Readers should brace for an interesting, suspense-filled, and timely adventure.

Deep inside the common house, William Bradford coughed and wheezed. His face was as gray as the smoke from the fire. His right hand tried to roll a large barrel of gunpowder toward the door while his left hand pressed against the wall for support. Pieces of smoldering straw fell down from the roof, landing on him and the barrel. Thou art too sick to move that barrel. Let us help thee. Before, during, and after the 1620 voyage on the Mayflower, the Pilgrims experienced a common house fire, other challenges, and many accomplishments. Their journey is explored by Rose Hopkins when she travels backward in time and meets her ancestors through Mayflower Dreams. Within her reality and dreams, Rose finds that her modern life connects to Pilgrim history and culture. In her reality, Rose has problems living in the present. She is often late and is separated from her husband. She connects to her ancestors as she uses a sampler to look for a watch. Her journey includes visiting Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth Rock, Plimoth Plantation, and the Mayflower II. In her dreams, Rose uses lucid dreaming techniques to create a dream story. She meets many Pilgrims, including John Robinson, the pastor of the Puritans. The Pilgrim history, lifestyle, dialogue, and dreams of religious freedom are realistically displayed within Roses dream story.

When Tona’s husband dies at sea she is left alone to fend for both herself and her sons. She opens a tavern and attempts to live a normal life, even finding another handsome man to fall in love with. It seems that for Tona, however, it never just rains, but pours. She is soon faced with yet another cruel disappointment. ‘Mayflower’ and its vivid descriptions tell the tale of one woman’s misfortune, her courage, and the strength of the human spirit. One of Vicente Blasco Ibáñez’s most famous novels for a reason, the true-to-life nature of his writing reflect his own experiences with a life of hardships. Vicente Blasco Ibáñez (1867 - 1928) was born in Valencia, Spain. Despite being best known for his work as a novelist, he was also a respected journalist and politician. He reflects his own experiences moving in these circles through his work, as his characters often seem to fall victim to less than favorable social and environmental conditions. Among his most important works are "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse", "Our Sea", "La Bodega", and "Mayflower".

"Vivid and remarkably fresh...Philbrick has recast the Pilgrims for the ages."--The New York Times Book Review Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History New York Times Book Review Top Ten books of the Year With a new preface marking the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower. How did America begin? That simple question launches the acclaimed author of In the Hurricane's Eye and Valiant Ambition on an extraordinary journey to understand the truth behind our most sacred national myth: the voyage of the Mayflower and the settlement of Plymouth Colony. As Philbrick reveals in this electrifying history of the Pilgrims, the story of Plymouth Colony was a fifty-five year epic that began in peril and ended in war. New England erupted into a bloody conflict that nearly wiped out the English colonists and natives alike. These events shaped the existing communites and the country that would grow from them.