The invaders are one enemy. Political correctness is the other.We were defenceless. The invaders could take the planet without a shot being fired. Not that the government would try to defend us. Not on your life. They were in a centuries-long state of denial. They were so blinded by political correctness, they called the invaders "visitors" and named the destructive beams "cultural displays." For a Navy guy like me, it was heartbreaking. I was ready to fight. But the military had been reduced to nothing but a stage for social experiments. Half the personnel couldn't fire a weapon. Only a few of could actually hit anything. Not that they wanted to. But then the "visitors" did something strange. Parked up there beside the moon, they ignored all requests for "cultural exchange." Instead, they demanded a meeting with just four people. One of the people was me, Lieutenant Alex Burns. Until then, I'd languished on shore leave, without prospects. All of a sudden, I was on my way to the moon and the "friend ship" itself. But I was also headed for trouble so bad, I can't describe it, not without ditching the government protocol.So, you better let me explain in my own words.

"Constance Merritt is a poet to defeat categories, to oppose 'the tyranny of names' with a poetry that sets its own terms of encounter, its 'protocols of touch'--tender and austere, formal and intimate at once. Hers is a voice with many musics, sufficiently rich, nuanced and various to express, maintain poise and wrest meaning from the powerful cross-currents in which the heart is torn. I have seldom seen intelligence equal to such a scorching degree of intensity, or mastery of form so equal to passion's contradictory occasions. Merritt's prosodic range is prodigious--she moves in poetic forms as naturally as a body moves in its skin, even as her lines ring with the cadenced authority of a gifted and schooled ear. Here, in her words, the iambic ground bass is in its vital questioning mode: "The heart's insistent undersong: how live?/how live? How live?" this poetry serves no lesser necesssity than to ask that."--Eleanor Wilner Between us, how we wrestle over words Strain to wring some blessing from the silence, Deliverance from violence, its fear, its lure, The tyranny of names: night day, Sable and alabaster, flint shale, Steel and lace. Who among us can afford To speak the language--any language--rightly? As if it weren't enough to bear one heart Eternally divided in its chambers? We stand close enough to touch. We do Not touch. Between us burns a sword of fire, A rusted turnstile glinting in the sun.

The story of Ben's regression as an infant into the world of autism, and his journey toward recovery as a young adult.

AT THE GALAXY'S EDGE LIES A GLIMMER OF HOPE. Year 250. The Accord of Nations Era. Things couldn't be worse for the people of the Accord. Octavia has landed her invasion force. The politically correct government has welcomed them in the names of tolerance and harmony. In their delusion, they have even offered Octavia a leadership role. All is lost and destruction, if not annihilation, is at hand. For Lieutenant Burns, the chance to fight back is almost gone. He languishes in a navy prison, half-mad from the Accord's attempts to 're-orient' him. In his future lies a show trial and decades in jail. That's if the earth lasts that long. That's if his sanity doesn't break. But when all seems lost, help comes from the most unlikely source imaginable, and Lieutenant Burns suddenly finds himself aboard an alien ship crossing the galaxy to a dusty planet the size of the sun. There he finds a curious, glittering metal that could change everything. If only he can find his way back. If you loved the adventure of 'Fifty Degrees South,' and seethed with outrage at the future world of 'Protocol,' you must read 'SHALE,' the story of the Burns family's fightback against invasion and political correctness gone mad. Click 'BUY' to download your copy now, while they still let you.

Mary's nightmare began when her seven-year-old adopted son inexplicably screamed before dinner one night. From that point on, her son's struggle became her struggle. Mental and physical illness, along with drug addiction, turned her life upside down. The love Mary had for her son, though, never waned as she desperately tried to save him from his demons. "Wonderfully written and moving. I can't recommend this book enough to any family who shares the experience of adoption or a struggle with a child's unpredictable, often violent mental health, along with the journey alongside an addiction." * -- Annie Highwater, "Unhooked" "A meaningful exploration of mental illness and addiction - two present-day tragedies." * -- Charles Rubin, "Don't Let Your Kids Kill You"

One of the country's leading experts on modern information management searches the biology of the brain, the behavior of groups, and the structure of organizations for practical answers to the problem of virtual truth.

Designed as a first step into the world of TCP/IP networking, this reader-friendly guide employs real-world practices to help readers understand the practical benefits of the TCP/IP suite. Includes information on the concept of packetized data transfer, open networking, reference models, and standards bodies.