Too often, the demands of pastoral ministry in a small community can bury a person's soul under the rubble of countless needs and not enough solutions. These stories, taken from thirty years of ministry in an isolated, desert community with a diverse population, offer points of hope in the middle of struggle for those in similar situations. Although the details of life are random, there is a connection across the stories where grace and mercy brought hope and renewed eyes rested by time in the community. This is no step-by-step program for improvement-just a simple trek alongside others encountering grace and mercy together. Along with sadness there is joy. Coupled with laughter there are points of mourning. Throughout the book is the story unfolds of a pastor who learned to stay and be changed by grace. "Dane Miller wrote the most rewarding and enriching account of a desert oasis in Rest Stop! I learned the idea of reciprocity of confession and forgiveness. This is real living without pretense! It ought to be celebrated by all!" -Isaac M. Kikawada, retired, Near Eastern Studies, University of California, Berkeley "On the Back Side of Nowhere meets life head-on-life that could be described as 'theology with calluses.' It is unscripted, off-key, and covered with spiritual warts. It is pastor-shepherd and a flock of unruly sheep at their most honest." -Nik Ripken, author of The Insanity of God and The Insanity of Obedience, has lived most of the last thirty years overseas with his family.

Ashlin had been climbing Mt Timbrini for more than a decade. Scaling the huge, befogged escarpment he liked to gaze down upon the city of Emera glittering below like a thousand multicoloured moons. But when horrifying visions of gaps in the fabric of sky above the mountain began to plague his nights, and the mysterious appearance of a woman on a section of the heights he knew to be unreachable baffled his daytime ascents, his motivation for climbing began to change. He did not realise that his newly motivated enterprise would not bring him peace of mind, but a dire and dangerous battle for the peace of a world!

Linked together from a bygone time - kept apart by their own misguided fate – a love that will reach across the years…through different lives – and on through the changing eras… She was born as Elexia – reborn as Evie - then as Eleanor. He is Parquin - destined to follow her - a wandering soul fated to remain on the outer rim, neither of this world or the next – he reaches out to her in dreams, guiding her to the very edge of her earthly limitations - it is there she will remember - and there she will yearn once again… Follow them both as they try to unravel the mystery of their past – the reason behind their penance – and of a love denied.

DIVTwo short novels from a master of hard-boiled storytelling/div DIVSimon Crane is an ex-cop with a bad leg, a small pension, and a former lover, Joanne, who works for Sal Aiello, undisputed crime boss of a dusty southwestern city. When Aiello and his millions disappear, the city’s underworld whips into a frenzy that could get Joanne killed. To save her life, Crane must find the dead mobster’s cash before anyone else does. Somebody put a hit out on Aiello, and if Crane can’t find out who, he will be taking the bullet himself./divDIV /divDIVIn this special edition ebook, The Hit is paired with The Marksman, a tense novella about a combat veteran caught up in criminal dealings far more violent than anything he saw in the Middle East. Garfield’s prose is spare and his storytelling is electric from page one. Both novellas overflow with grim, relentless action./div

He was big . . . the biggest of the litter . . . big enough to wrestle bears, and he did, two, maybe more; but he killed many. When he woke up in that black inky night he couldn’t see, thought he was blind, and had a massive hangover from his Daddy’s Cherry Jump moonshine. A buzzard had died in his mouth and with it came rotten dog breath. A headache like someone had hit him with a pole axe made him feel like he was dead, dead as four-o’clock. And did he smell! Wow! His torn bib overalls were soaked in sour mash. Other than not knowing where he was, he still thought he was alright, and that too was a problem. Was there any hope or any salvation? Luckily, he had been weather hardened by war. He stood up and he tired to walk, but ran into something. It knocked him down. When he fell, he heard something rattle. It was a trace chain attached to a leather dog collar around his neck. But in the inky dark he couldn’t see his hand in front of him. He got up again and found the trace chain wrapped around a tree, and locked. Shocked, he screamed out, “Goddamn! I’m chained to a tree,” then screamed louder, “They have chained me to a tree like a wild cur dog!” Now mad as hornet with his stinger busted, he felt around and found something else about the tree. This time he screamed even louder, “Son of a bitch! It’s my goddamn tree! Who in the hell would chain me to my own tree?” He sat back down against the family tree stunned, and then realized; “It’s got to be my . . . family. Chained me like a goddamn cur dog to a tree. But which one of them would have the nerve to do this . . . to ME?” Then he realized it could be only one person. He stood up and screamed, “Mama! Then he fell down again, pounded the ground, cried like his heart tore out. He got up off the ground, went into a wild-man’s rage then fainted with exhaustion. Then he got sick, tried to walk, but threw up all over himself. And the chain snatched him back and down into his vomit; it was all over him like those bugs. He pounded the ground with his fist, wondering how in the world he had gotten here and where he was. Again and again, he got up. Each time he tried to walk in another direction, but the chain snatched him off his feet and back down on the ground and into his rotten vomit. It didn’t matter what direction he walked. Finally exhausted, he couldn’t get back on his feet. Still he kept asking himself, “Where in the hell am I, and who in the hell put this collar on me?” All night he shouted and wallowed in his vomit like an itchy, old, fat hog taking a bath in new mud. He heard no one come in the dark, silent, black night. Thank God! His vomit smell finally ran the goddamn bugs off his body and away. AUTHOR REVIEWS "Another one of the best of the best; has an eye for writing more good novels. Just Great! What can a person do when they read a story like this one? You have the knack for telling stories from the Blue Ridge Mountains. Just keep it up and I’ll keep looking for another book." -Hyway94, Everywhere, USA- "I like the back-story (flash back) that leads in. Very well written and has great flow about something I know nothing about." - Isle of Travey, Auckland 1172 New Zealand- "Another highly written book, written in your unique style, and I loved the antics in this one. You are so gifted to have such a unique spelling ability." -rivki1111, USA- "This is the very best chapter (#54) of your novel. Of course, I am so glad the villain got his come up-ins. Dredd reminded me of one of my ex-husbands. You’ve got a great book here." -Oatmeal (Camille Whitman), USA- "You have a talent for realistic character, engaging dialogs