Doris Peery has been writing this book for sixty years. Now she has collected all her writings into these intriguing stories and poems reflecting a lifetime of experiences. Her poetry and prose together make for inspirational reading as well as humorous takes on life. * Who is the better sister to be: the cute one or the beautiful one? * What if your husband tells you not to get religion? * What special place does a neighborhood store have in a community? * Would you put a Victory Bell in your church? Doris Peery was born and raised in Emporia, Kansas. After graduating from Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kansas, she taught in elementary schools in Kansas and Virginia. She and Ken, her husband of 55 years, have two sons, five grandchildren and two great grandsons. The Peerys live in Topeka, Kansas.

Situated at the junction of the North Platte and South Platte rivers, North Platte has a long history as an important stopping point in the westward migration of from the days of the California gold rush to the building of the transcontinental railroad and beyond. The Oregon Trail to the gold rush followed the South Platte River, and the Mormon Trail followed the North Platte River. In 1866 the building of the Union Pacific railroad stopped at North Platte for the winter. The railroad brought the town of North Platte to life. In 1869 the Union Pacific built a huge depot and hotel which stood until destroyed by fire in 1915. It entertained many famous visitors including William F. Cody, George Armstrong Custer, Bat Masterson, and Teddy Roosevelt. Since the 1920s North Platte has grown considerably, helped by the transcontinental Lincoln Highway which still runs through town. North Platte also had the first lighted runway in the United States, used for the air mail planes of the 1920s.

Farro Fescu is the proud and observant concierge of Echo Terrace, a condominium in New York City. Passing through his lobby at all hours is an exotic cross-section of the world's population: an Egyptian-born plastic surgeon who specializes in gender reassignment, a fighter pilot who flew for Nazi Germany during World War II, an Iraqi spice merchant and the world-famous quilter with whom he's having an affair, the adulterer's son who dreams of becoming an undertaker, and the widow whose apartment is a jungle Eden filled with a menagerie of specimens. Farro Fescu knows them all, knows all their secrets. Yet he does not know what is in his own heart -- why, after a long, hard life, he is still alive, and still alone. Nor does he know what he will be capable of in the face of sudden, overwhelming tragedy. This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

At the sun-drenched dawn of human history, in the great plain between the two great rivers, are the cities of men. And each city is ruled by its god. But the god of the city of Gibil is lazy and has let the men of his city develop the habit of thinking for themselves. Now the men of Gibil have begun to devise arithmetic, and commerce, and are sending expeditions to trade with other lands. They're starting to think that perhaps men needn't always be subject to the whims of gods. This has the other god worried. And well they might be...because human cleverness, once awakened, isn't likely to be easily squelched.

This world is far, far from all there is. Ethan Weiss knows that. At the age of ten, Ethan enjoys imagining the endless possibilities of infinite parallel universes--worlds with one moon or maybe three moons instead of two, or worlds where dinosaurs survived the Great Plague of the Middle Ages and continue to roam the land. Even worlds where his father is still alive. Ethan lives on Jane Street with his mother and grandfather in a neighborhood called West Bohemia. In Ethan's world, people fondly recall the first woman president, Eleanor Roosevelt. Peafowl roam everywhere, causing a nuisance. Marvelous winged flying machines called pterosoars dock at the mast of the Empire State Building. And a rare and wondrous yellow-naped Amazon parrot named Churchill squawks an ominous phrase: "Enslave the city! Enslave the city!" Where did Churchill learn this, and what exactly does it mean? As darkness approaches and evil spreads through the streets, Ethan finds himself smack in the middle of a war nobody saw coming, and the liberation of his city ultimately rests with him. While history unfolds around him, Ethan slowly comes to terms with the death of his father. The journey he takes proves greater than his personal grief as he learns that, like all fatherless boys, he can grow beyond his own heartbreaking loss.

How an Hispano community maintained its identity over four centuries Located in Albuquerque’s south valley, Atrisco is a vibrant community that predates the city, harking back to a land grant awarded in 1692. Joseph P. Sánchez explores the evolution of this parcel over the four centuries since the first Spanish settlers arrived. He tracks its transformation from an individual to a community grant, peeling away the layers of historical events that have made Atrisco the last piece of undeveloped real estate in a growing metropolitan area. Sánchez examines the creation of Atrisco as a frontier community during the Spanish and Mexican periods and shows how it maintained its identity and land ownership into the American era. He describes the historical processes of colonization, land tenures and transfers, and social and economic activity. He also assesses the transfer of the land grant to a private corporation and its subsequent fate, and considers Atrisco’s role in the future of Albuquerque. Today more than 30,000 New Mexicans are descended from the early settlers of Atrisco; and because few places in the United States have retained their Spanish and Mexican influences as have the New Mexican land grants, the history of Atrisco offers a unique perspective. Sánchez’s study preserves Atrisco’s origins as part of that area’s Hispano heritage, depicting people who learned to defend their culture against outside challenges and embedding local history in a larger regional saga.