Marijuana turned a Florida teen into a millionaire fugitive

One Got Away is a collection of eleven short stories, originally planned as twelve; however, one got away. The collection features gripping stories of people stuck in the Quick Sands of Times from an unusual observer’s perspective. The title is a reflection of the compilation, in that the common strain of the stories is the complex environment of ambiguity, insecurity and uncertainty, which we as civil people weave around ourselves. Society has quintessentially imposed on its membership diktats and conventions, which lodge themselves in the subconscious, only to play merry hell with the mind and the body. Resultantly, a person is forever at war within and faces multiple battles without. Was this the mission statement when we set out to create civil society?

Rue McClanahan, best known for her portrayal of Blanche Devereaux on the Emmy-award winning series The Golden Girls reveals her life in and out of the spotlight in a laugh-out-loud funny memoir about love, marriage, men, and getting older that is every bit as colorful as the characters she played. Raised in small-town Oklahoma in a house “thirteen telephone poles past the standpipe north of town,” Rue developed her two great passions—theater and men—at an early age. She arrived in New York City in 1957 with two-weeks worth of money in her pocket, hustled her way into a class with the legendary Uta Hagen, and began working her way up in the acting world against the vibrant, free-spirited backdrop of the sixties. That’s when she met and married Husband #1—a handsome rogue of an aspiring actor who quickly left her with a young son. Still, she was determined to make it on the stage and screen—and in the years that followed, rose to the top of the entertainment world with a host of adventures (and husbands) along the way. From her roles on Broadway opposite Dustin Hoffman and Brad Davis, to her first television appearances on Maude and All in the Family, to the Golden Girls era and beyond, My First Five Husbands is the irresistible story of one woman’s quest to find herself. Rue is proof that many things can and do get better with age—and that, if she keeps her wits about her, even a small-town girl can make it big. People always ask me if I'm like Blanche. And I say, 'Well, Blanche was an oversexed, self-involved, man-crazy, vain Southern Belle from Atlanta—and I'm not from Atlanta!’” —Rue McClanahan

On the eve of the Great Mississippi River Flood of 1993, Terri Zimmerman returns to her childhood home in South St. Louis, and her life is changed forever. When she was growing up, Terri lived with her parents above the Zimmerman Bakery, which is now a tavern named the Stag Club. Terri becomes friends with Dinty Smith, the proprietor of the Stag Club. She also gets reacquainted with Glen Wunsch, a childhood friend who is the last member of a once-prominent St. Louis brewing family. Glen's grandmother is Anna Grosse, the infamous Lavender Lady who once dominated St. Louis high society and who again finds herself in the spotlight as the namesake of a new floating casino called the Belle of Calhoun. Terri sells perfume at the Famous-Barr store in Crestwood Plaza, and one of her customers is Barbara Grogan, who does a television program about the sport of fishing. Barbara is known as the Happy Hooker. Terri and Barbara become friends, but they eventually have a falling out. Terri's best friend is a girl from the Philippines named Paz Militante. The two girls work together behind the Estée Lauder counter at Famous-Barr. This is a lighthearted, humorous, romantic story that moves dramatically to the cataclysmic conclusion as the great flood sweeps through South St. Louis, destroying everything in its path.

Aspiring to be the fastest sprinter on his elite middle school's track team, gifted runner Ghost finds his goal challenged by a tragic past with a violent father.

Melissa Pimentel delivers smart, funny, and modern retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion, where a young woman comes face-to-face with a lost love, proving that the one that got away is sometimes the one you get back. Ruby and Ethan were perfect for each other. Until the day they suddenly weren't. Ten years later, Ruby's single, having spent the last decade focusing on her demanding career and hectic life in Manhattan. There's barely time for a trip to England for her little sister's wedding. And there's certainly not time to think about seeing Ethan there for the first time in years. But as the family frantically prepare for the big day, Ruby can't help but wonder if she made the right choice all those years ago? Because there's nothing like a wedding for stirring up the past . . .