Sex and skateboards and surfing on the California coast. What more could anyone want? Alden McKenna has spent her entire life not growing up. Being an adult is tedious, not to mention totally boring. And requires less skateboarding. So why bother? Moving to a small beach town seems like an awesome idea. The skateboarding is good, the sun is always shining, and no one moves very fast. She even meets a hot chick like five minutes after moving there. Life is good. Except young Weston Duvall has already grown up and her reasons for doing so surprise Alden even more because she didn't see them coming. Weston can't trust Alden, and Alden isn't sure she wants to be trusted. So why can't they seem to stay away from each other?

Every culture has a creation myth, and skateboarding is no different. The Ollie forged a new identity for skateboarding after its invention in the 1970s, and it lies at the root of nearly every significant move in street skating today. This groundbreaking no-handed aerial has also affected the evolution of surfing and snowboarding, and has left a permanent impression upon popular culture and language. This, then, is the story of the Ollie, the history and technology that set the stage for its creation, the pioneers who made it happen, and the skaters who used it to start a revolution.

This book explores the ways in which religion is observed, performed, and organised in skateboard culture. Drawing on scholarship from the sociology of religion and the cultural politics of lifestyle sports, this work combines ethnographic research with media analysis to argue that the rituals of skateboarding provide participants with a rich cultural canvas for emotional and spiritual engagement. Paul O’Connor contends that religious identification in skateboarding is set to increase as participants pursue ways to both control and engage meaningfully with an activity that has become an increasingly mainstream and institutionalised sport. Religion is explored through the themes of myth, celebrity, iconography, pilgrimage, evangelism, cults, and self-help.

One-hundred-and-three-year-old nursing home resident Ruth Brookes holds the key to an unsolved series of murders, and what she knows has never been more important. A psychotic killer is once again stalking gay men in the streets of Austin.Meanwhile, Matt Bell has finally decided to break out of the social isolation he's lived in since being shot by the still-at-large killer, and meets the handsome, broody, and shy Thatcher. Both men are fighting their own demons as the killings start again. Soon the body count is rising and their friends are dropping like flies.Will Ruth give up her secrets in time to stop the madman before Matt and Thatcher find themselves in the crosshairs of his rifle? Only Ruth knows for sure, because life is seldom black and whiteÑmore often it is just shades of blue.

Is it possible to overcome a lifetime of barriers and finally take a chance on love? Jamie Callahan handles her job as an investment analyst, her distant relationship with her niece, and her romantic liaisons with a cool head and unaffected heart. Until she meets Kate Brown, a woman who threatens to push aside Jamie’s protective defenses and uncover the emotions hiding underneath. Kate has a mask for every occasion. She wears them to please her parents, to move ahead in her career, to fit in the right social circles. She meets with Jamie because she needs funding for an Olympic-caliber horse, but instead she finds someone who sees beyond the image Kate projects and brings out her true desires. From the boardroom to the show ring in Portland, Oregon, Jamie and Kate routinely face uncertainty and challenge in their careers but never in romance. As their growing attraction threatens to expose vulnerabilities both try to hide, will they decide the stakes are too high or that love is worth the risk?

No risk is too high. No adventure too daunting. Emery Lawson reinvents herself after another near-death experience prompts a thorough reevaluation of her priorities. Empowered to live a life of no regrets, she casts aside all that is familiar to face her fears and chase her dreams. But as she heads for the wilds of Alaska, romance is definitely not on her agenda, because she's convinced she's incapable of falling in love. Pasha Dunn has learned to expect the unexpected in her job with an adventure outfitter in the remote Alaskan interior. Adaptability is essential in such a savage and unforgiving landscape. But she's woefully unprepared when her infallible intuition tells her that client Emery Lawson is the soul mate she's been waiting for all her life. Emery is clearly determined to remain unattached, and her high-risk vagabond lifestyle is too far outside Pasha's comfort zone. All that they think they want and know will be challenged when they are thrust into a nightmare of survival and endurance high above the Arctic Circle.

Notorious pirate and mercenary Weiss Kyakh works as a reluctant double-agent for the Supreme Constellations. Her mission is to infiltrate a cutthroat band of space pirates along with a sentient bio-android, Madisyn Pimm. Pimm’s sole purpose is to bring pirates to justice. The sophisticated android looks human, but Weiss soon realizes that Madisyn has her own heartbreaking secrets. As war rages in the Realm, Weiss longs to escape from both the pirates and SC forces, but her growing affection for Madisyn makes her delay her plans. With thousands of lives in the balance as the final endgame approaches, will her delay cost them their lives? Book Four in the Supreme Constellations romantic sci-fi adventure series.