The classic account of growing up gay in America. "The best little boy in the world never had wet dreams or masturbated; he always topped his class, honored mom and dad, deferred to elders and excelled in sports . . . . The best little boy in the world was . . . the model IBM exec . . . The best little boy in the world was a closet case who 'never read anything about homosexuality.' . . . John Reid comes out slowly, hilariously, brilliantly. One reads this utterly honest account with the shock of recognition." The New York Times "The quality of this book is fantastic because it comes of equal parts honesty and logic and humor. It is far from being the story of a Gay crusader, nor is it the story of a closet queen. It is the story of a normal boy growing into maturity without managing to get raped into, or taunted because of, his homosexuality. . . . He is bright enough to be aware of his hangups and the reasons for them. And he writes well enough that he doesn't resort to sensationalism . . . ." San Francisco Bay Area Reporter

From the famed publisher and poet, author of the million-copy-selling collection A Coney Island of the Mind, his literary last will and testament -- part autobiography, part summing up, part Beat-inflected torrent of language and feeling, and all magical. "A volcanic explosion of personal memories, political rants, social commentary, environmental jeremiads and cultural analysis all tangled together in one breathless sentence that would make James Joyce proud. . ." —Ron Charles, The Washington Post In this unapologetically unclassifiable work Lawrence Ferlinghetti lets loose an exhilarating rush of language to craft what might be termed a closing statement about his highly significant and productive 99 years on this planet. The "Little Boy" of the title is Ferlinghetti himself as a child, shuffled from his overburdened mother to his French aunt to foster childhood with a rich Bronxville family. Service in World War Two (including the D-Day landing), graduate work, and a scholar gypsy's vagabond life in Paris followed. These biographical reminiscences are interweaved with Allen Ginsberg-esque high energy bursts of raw emotion, rumination, reflection, reminiscence and prognostication on what we may face as a species on Planet Earth in the future. Little Boy is a magical font of literary lore with allusions galore, a final repository of hard-earned and durable wisdom, a compositional high wire act without a net (or all that much punctuation) and just a gas and an inspiration to read.

A collection of short stories and essays on family and fatherhood from a Christian household.

THE HEADLINES ARE REAL, ONLY WORSE THAN YOU IMAGINED...Eight years ago, in a single day, some extraordinary events took place. A little boy was born. An idea was unleashed. The fate of the entire planet was decided.Joshua Chisom is a happy third-grader in rural Oklahoma. Like most families, his parents work hard to make ends meet. Yet unseen forces are at work which will soon threaten their very existence, along with every other person on the planet.During the early days of the internet, a mysterious computer virus named "Sleeper" assaults the global network with a strange series of riddles, which the media mostly dismisses as a bad joke. When Joshua's health suddenly begins to decline from a mysterious illness, his parents are forced to search for answers. Meanwhile, a master plan has been unleashed to cleanse the earth of human corruption. Sleeper is not joke. It's a global plague.Before anyone realizes the truth, it is too late. Across the planet, people begin slipping into comas and dying at an alarming rate. At the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Stu Baker labors mightily to counteract the spreading plague. Yet even with all the power and technology of modern medicine, however, the fate of the human race will come down to the courage of a rather ordinary eight year old boy. A boy with an amazing gift, and the heart of a hero."The kind of fiction this world desperately needs....a gripping read stuffed with emotion. This one you will remember for years."- NYT bestselling author TED DEKKER, Hacker, Water Walker, Circle series"A master of metaphor and imagery, Briggs takes us into a world of biological terror and weaves a heart-rending tale of redemption and sacrifice."- THOMAS WILLIAMS, author of The Crown of Eden and The Devil's Mouth

Compilation of poems and short stories telling about various people's love of their pets