I’m at the height of my powers, but I have nothing. My selfless wife sacrificed her life to prevent a catastrophe. Now I’m left with the flimsy promise of her return and a dubious mission. As newly minted ruler of the elemental world, I’m in charge of tremors and quakes for the entire Earth. It’s a big change—I’ve spent centuries looking out for number one—but my humanity erodes with every disaster. When a former student returns to spread fiery destruction over my turf, it’s my duty to squash the offender. Fires spring up faster than I can smother them. When I’m framed for arson, police cut the last tethers of my feeble human existence. I’m on the run, without home, paying job, or lover. There’s nothing left for me. I need to snuff out this pyromaniac and focus on my elemental reign. Is my humanity worth saving? Or should I embrace the elemental life once and for all? I am Merlin—now and forever.

"After Pat and Jen saved Bomby, their cat Cloud, and one hundred friendly zombies from the clutches of Evil Jen and brought them home from the underworld, they thought their adventuring days were over. But ever since their return, more mysterious new holes have started appearing--and more and more of their friends have started disappearing! After Jen stumbles into one and Pat rushes after her, they find themselves trapped in a dark, dank boomium mine. Now Pat and Jen need to free their friends, figure out who's behind this evil plot, and find a way to get back home--before it's too late."--Amazon.

Collected humorous stories from the iconic American writer’s newspaper column, featuring his most memorable and spirited fictional character. In 1940, Langston Hughes introduced Jesse B. Semple, or “Simple,” to readers in his Chicago Defender column, “From Here to Yonder.” From his familiar perch in a fictional Harlem bar, Simple held forth on a variety of subjects—low wages, interracial marriage, birth control, race riots, the police—then central to black life in urban America. More than fifty years later, Simple’s concerns are, startlingly, still ours, and his voice, ringing with poetic wisdom and humor, reminds us of the rich African American folk tradition Langston Hughes helped to revive. This brilliantly edited collection by Akiba Sullivan Harper brings together the best stories from a number of Simple volumes long out of print and a few never before published. Its feel is so contemporary and relevant to American life one must marvel at Hughes’s ability to pass through the barrier of time. Praise for The Return of Simple “A glorious revelation . . . a chance for fairweather Hughes fans to acquaint themselves with something other than his poems and plays. This is the author as loquacious unleashed social commentator, who—prompted by ‘just one more beer, my friend’—holds up a mirror and shows us the world, which hasn’t changed very much, not in all this time.” —Boston Globe “Hughes’s slices of urban black life belong also to the larger continuum of great American humor, from Mark Twain to Armistead Maupin. Quite simply, an indispensable part of our cultural heritage.” —Kirkus Reviews

Bo Wafford is an avid hunter, fisherman, father, and grandfather, with five great-grandchildren. After living and traveling over much of the world during his life, he now spends his days in Mt. Vernon, Texas, within four miles of where he was born. He grew up in Northeast Texas, the son of a farmer, spending as much time picking cotton as in school. A desire to find adventure in his life led him to enlist in the Air Force. Bo served twenty-one years in the United States Air Force, retiring in 1974. The next phase of life led him to a career as a hunting guide. He guided and hunted all over the world, including Australia, Uruguay, Alaska, and many more locations. He still guides occasionally at the world famous Y.O. Ranch, Mountain Home, Texas, where he guided throughout his career. Among hunters he has guided over the years, Bo is known as The Legend. “From First Life to the Last Hunt” chronicles the hardships of his early years and a life full of adventures. Bo guarantees every story to be true and authentic, most of the time.