Although her J. B. Starr fans were eagerly awaiting her next best-selling novel, author Pippa Weldon was staring at pages of her characters stubbornly refusing to cooperate with her storyline. When all else fails, travel was guaranteed to refresh her imagination and teach her capricious characters a lesson. A quick call her travel agent provides the perfect solution to her problem. A Caribbean cruise. Not just any cruise but one featuring a world renown psychic, Joseph Luck. For years, her imagination has flirted with the gift in her futuristic novels. Not only would meeting Joseph Luck provide an opportunity to extend her research but it was just the thing to break the spell of boredom that had taken the edge from her writing. On her plane trip to the port of call for the cruise ship, Pippa finds more than psychic information on her mind. Always on the look-out for a new look for her imaginary characters, Pippa finds a fellow passenger intriguing. He was male-model handsome with a walk that warned anyone with the smallest intelligence to tread carefully in his presence. This was a MAN in capital letters, a forceful, decisive individual who reluctantly agreed to her exchanging places with his seatmate for the duration of the flight. Pippa enjoyed her time with a very alpha male who parried her questions with skill and power. Discovering her very interesting prototype’s name was Joshua Luck sharpened her interest. What were the odds? It would have been so easy to simply ask whether they would be sharing the cruise. Instead, she chose silence. She did so love a mystery. Joshua has come on the cruise to reconnect with his estranged brother, Joseph. After years spent cutting a wide swath on the path of success, Joshua realized that his high-pressure world has demanded a high personal price. He hadn’t expected Pippa, a silver-haired siren with a laser sharp mind that keeps him balanced precariously on the edge of wringing her neck or kissing her senseless. She’s all wrong for him, definitely not his type. Or is she?

The year is 2108, and the North American Commonwealth is bursting at the seams. For welfare rats like Andrew Grayson, there are only two ways out of the crime-ridden and filthy welfare tenements: You can hope to win the lottery and draw a ticket on a colony ship settling off-world, or you can join the service. Andrew chooses to enlist in the armed forces. But as he starts a career of supposed privilege, he soon learns that good food and decent health care come at a steep price.

Lucky 13?! by Franz Kratschmer This book begins with a short journey through the meaning of the number "13" in human societies, religions, and cultures. Then this is followed by some historic dates on which certain things happened on the thirteenth day. As the number "13" has played an important role in Franz Kratschmer's life, he decided to start his personal history with his grandfather, who sailed the world in the late nineteenth century. Some of the countries his grandfather visited would later be part of Franz's journeys. This included Brazil, Africa, Indonesia, and Australia. The reader will be taken on a voyage that started off during the Austro-Hungarian Empire, passing both World Wars, the liberation of the Austrian capital of Vienna on April 13, 1945, and the author's birth four years later. His career in the Austrian military was followed by becoming a civilian peacekeeper of the United Nations in the Middle East and East Timor (Timor-Leste) for more than twenty-three years. About the Author The author is married and has two sons. His wife, Vera Lucia Ataide, and youngest son, Karl, were born in Brazil. Franz and his firstborn son, Francisco, are Viennese (Austrians). The latter is also an Australian citizen. Mr. Kratschmer's main areas of interest are the Chinese economic expansion and the European Union. As a former peacekeeper of the United Nations, he believes that the traditional peacekeeping operations need to be reviewed and redesigned, with a view to enforcing humanitarian missions under the protection of UN forces.

On the first night of Halloween, what does your mummy give you? A bright, shiny Skeleton Key, of course! In fact, for each of the thirteen nights leading up to the big night, your mummy is ready with gifts that include everything from singing skulls to demons dancing to icky eyeballs. The spookier and slimier, the better! From debut author-illustrator Guy Vasilovich comes a picture book that is sure to inspire even the youngest readers to start the creepy countdown to Halloween. Sing along to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” as you get ready for the scariest—and silliest—night of the year.

Sequel to Lucky Break Sometimes, bad luck can’t be thwarted, Renny’s mother once said. You give it what it wants, and then pick up the pieces. Two broken mirrors. A fourteen-year curse. After a series of unfortunate events, Renny gave it what it wanted. He and Waz took a break, though they never stopped loving one another. When those fourteen years are finally over, what happens next? In Renny’s superstitious world, he needs a sign from fate before moving forward. Renny’s sister recalls a scavenger hunt their mother sent her seven years after she broke a mirror. Seven good luck charms had to be found and collected before the bad luck would officially end. Since Renny and Waz’s hex was doubled, Renny feels they must find fourteen. Will they succeed even if they slightly bend the rules? Is their love strong enough to fight bad fortune this time? Will Renny get his sign?

"A minor classic in its laconic, spare, compelling evocation by a participant of the shifting moods and maneuvers of the most dangerous moment in human history." —Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. During the thirteen days in October 1962 when the United States confronted the Soviet Union over its installation of missiles in Cuba, few people shared the behind-the-scenes story as it is told here by the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy. In this unique account, he describes each of the participants during the sometimes hour-to-hour negotiations, with particular attention to the actions and views of his brother, President John F. Kennedy. In a new foreword, the distinguished historian and Kennedy adviser Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., discusses the book's enduring importance and the significance of new information about the crisis that has come to light, especially from the Soviet Union.

Mary-Lou (Ma) Jordan, is a tough, ambitious frontierswoman with a paranoid hatred of Indians. When the story opens, in 1869, Mary-Lou and her two daughters, Ellie-May and Sara-Jane are alone on their small Texas ranch, the Circle J. The ranch is attacked by the Anderson gang, on the run following an abortive bank raid in Fort Worth. Mary-Lou outmanoeuvres them and the Anderson brothers are badly wounded and captured. Meanwhile, Jim, her husband, returns from a cattle drive to Fort Worth with the news that Mary-Lou has inherited a huge ranch (the Flying W) in Arizona. Determined to grasp the opportunity, Mary-Lou persuades her husband to consider moving, while she and Hardy, their second son, set out to look the ranch over. Along the way they fight off outlaws and Indians and meet up with Clay Wallace, a young Easterner gripped by gambling fever. Hardy decides to stay on in Arizona and straighten out the ranch, while Mary-Lou returns to Texas. After hearing his wifes views, Jim Jordan reluctantly agrees to sell the Circle J to Dunc Patterson, an ambitious local rancher. The story concludes with the Jordans, complete with wagons, remuda and trail herd, setting out for Arizona