"Baba and the Crew is a candid story of Bill Davis' challenges and triumphs as a single dad raising four children ages 3, 5, 7, and 9. Despite the naysayers who believed children belong with their mother, Bill demonstrates that love, compassion, and structure will produce well-rounded, socially conscious, responsible adults. Readers meet each member of the Crew and hear in their own words what it was like growing up in the strict, family-first, Davis household. With help from "the village," Sekou, Toussaint, Imani, and Naeemah are accomplished, socially-conscious adults, and continue to make Baba proud. "What makes Baba and the Crew special is that it dispels the myth of the absent Black father. It goes against the erroneous stereotypical notion that single-parent families, headed by Black fathers, can hold a family together." It shows the Black father has love, cares for, and has hopes and dreams for his family as much as any other culture." Bruce S. Morgan1st VP New Jersey State Conference NAACP "In our cultural climate of African American inequality, mass incarceration, and racism, Baba and The Crew is a great example to eradicate the myth of absentee or deadbeat African American fathers. Bill Davis has taken on his role as Baba, the Swahili term for father, with love, courage, and determination to raise and equip his children with the knowledge, compassion, and tools to thrive in society. Bill's story is one that needs to be highlighted more often in mass media." Dr. Randal Pinkett Chairman and CEO, BCT Partners and Co-author, Black Faces in White Places "In this revealing memoir, "Baba" Bill shares not only his parenthood journey, but he also demonstrates the extent to which childhood experiences, and the way we are parented, shape the way we decide to parent. Without rancor, recrimination, or braggadocio, Bill assesses, with great objectivity-and clarity, the generational parenting behaviors in his family he chose to emulate while rearing his own children. Bill did not elect single fatherhood, but when life dealt him those cards, he took up the "Baba" challenge with a loving, willing determination to do everything in his power to make sure he had a winning hand. While this memoir looks back at family history and moves forward toward the family's future, it is grounded solidly in the present lives of Baba and his Crew. This is not a parenting primer or "how-to" guide from an "expert" but rather an unflinchingly honest, self-effacing, and sometimes humorous, behind-the-scenes look at how this single father raised four children to be culturally centered, kind, aspirational, compassionate, critical thinking, self-reliant adults." Virginia DeBerry, NY Times Best-selling Author "I strongly endorse Prof. Bill Davis' book. He was my former undergraduate student at Rutgers College, and I had the great pleasure of calling him Bill "Black" Davis. He was a very good student and became an outstanding father and single parent to high achieving children. I remember seeing him, with his children, on the television show-Reading Rainbow, as he represented a strong role model as a Black father and single parent." Dr. Leonard L. Bethel, Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University, NJ "What always impressed me about Bill was his ability to advocate for others, and maintain his love and guidance for his five children. That balance is a role model for all single fathers." Ronald E. Bolandi Former Piscataway Twp. Superintendent of Schools "Bill Davis' story stands in stark contrast to the dominant narrative around black fathers. This book is an inspiration for all parents, and the advice that Brother Bill provides will help you raise your children to become strong adults." LeDerick Horne, Poet, Disability Activist

"In Bound and Gagged in Hollywood: Edmund L. Hartmann, Screenwriter and Producer, film scholar Donald W. McCaffrey reviews the long and varied career of this talented man. Drawing on more than fifty interviews, McCaffrey creates a profile of a man whose success in film extended to television triumphs. He also examines Hartmann's tenure in the 1950s as president of the western branch of the Writers Guild, as he and his fellow screenwriters endured investigations by the House Un-American Activities Committee." "In this intimate portrait, McCaffrey provides an analysis of Hartmann's work on both the large and small screens, covering a span of more than forty years. Hartman himself adds spice to the narrative with anecdotes and an insider's view of the creative process. This book is a fitting tribute to a man whose legacy lives on in both television and cinema."--BOOK JACKET.

The biography of the Avatar of the Age Meher Baba updated as of 22 October 2024

A teenage boy, an intelligent reptile and a pirate captain with uncommonly blue eyes walk into a bar... This is no joke but the beginning of a voyage of rebellion on the high seas, bringing together a motley collection of larger than life characters to take on a king whose brutality and thirst for magical power know no bounds. As James uncovers the secrets of the legendary pirate ship Chameleon and her crew he stumbles upon truths that have been hidden from the world for a very long time. The Magus King has suppressed the technologies of steam and powder but now, Gods willing, his stranglehold on the world may be challenged. Prepare to repel boarders!

No mortal has ever sailed to the end of the world and returned to tell the tale. Legend says that the southern seas are full of monsters, lethal storms, and monstrous entities even the gods cannot conceive. Only a brave hero or a reckless fool would ever willingly venture into these deadly waters. Prince Tojas Malock travels to the southern seas in response to the summons from a goddess he has never met. To conquer these seas, Malock recruits the finest crew money can buy: An intelligent but haughty mage, an old fisherman with a mysterious past, a young female assassin, and a woman who knows far more than she lets on. With his ragtag crew of sailors behind him, Malock heads to the end of the world, ready for whatever the seas have to throw at him. But with mortal-eating gods, murderous pirates, and a traitor within the crew itself, Malock's voyage may end in tragedy. KEYWORDS: epic fantasy adventure series, epic fantasy dragons, epic fantasy magic, epic fantasy sword and sorcery, sword and sorcery adult fantasy, sword and sorcery series, sword and sorcery series magic, free epic fantasy, free sword and sorcery

CRAZY is a Crime Thriller novella by Adam Stone. The city streets are flooded with a new narcotic, driving users to the brink of insanity... and then just a little further. The police are desperate to maintain control. The judicial system is falling apart and every aspect of society is being affected as madness runs wild. In the midst of all the gibbering, twitching, frothing madness is one very sinister individual. Calling himself simply 'Crazy, ' he claims to be the source of the insanity. This is his story. "...I am the crazy of a whole generation, I am the voices in thousands of heads, I am a wave of laughter and the sound of a mirror shattering around broken, bleeding knuckles. I'm mumbling, I'm gibbering fear, I'm visions, hallucinations, paranoia and even love. I am everything that is crazy in this city. I am crazy. I need this city and maybe when this city falls I too will find my end. I fervently hope so... Oh yes, we mustn't forget fervent hope... I'm that too..."

China, the greatest empire the world had ever known, is weak and divided after a series of humiliating defeats in the Opium Wars, and the divine Empress' court harbours many who deeply resent the westerners who inflicted and now take advantage of these losses. Japan, on the other hand, has embraced the West with open arms. After centuries of isolation the Japanese now march forwards and accept technologies that, a few decades before, would have been regarded as witchcraft. Possessed of the East's most modern army, Japan now looks avariciously towards its neighbours. The next decade will decide whether the ancient empires of the East survive or are washed away, and every one of the Great Powers wants their slice.