The tragedy of September 11, 2001 left us each trying to fill a uniquely unfamiliar void in our spirit with something that will make us whole again. Somehow we need to feel the experience in a way that following the news coverage just doesn't accomplish. Brian W. Vaszily found a way, and shares it with us in this brilliant anthology of thoughts, feelings, desires and dreams that were cut short on that terrible Tuesday. Through imagined characters he does what no news story or survivor's account can?he brings us into the lives of the departed?people so much like our friends, our families, and ourselves?as their final minutes play out. This uplifting work gently guides the reader beyond the tragedy of stone and steel to reaffirm what is truly important about being alive.

The story begins Norway in the year 1000AD. After Training and a voyage across the North Atlantic, two young After Training and a voyage across the North Atlantic, two young Norsemen, one a Chieftain of a village in Greenland and his best friend a Viking Medicine Man fi nd themselves stranded on the Northeast coast of North America, in what is now the New England States of the United States.

When Paul Keppel learns that his fanatical, fire-and-brimstone-preaching grandfather is dying from brain cancer, he sees his own chronic headaches as a sign from above that he too has a very short time to live. Driven by pain, a nightmare about work boots, and a sense of impending doom, Paul soon finds himself losing control over his words and actions, to disastrous and comical effect. In order to save his marriage, avenge his sister, and preserve his sanity, he must face the memory of the summer when he was twenty-one, when a tragic steel plant accident sent his life spinning off course. But in the process, Paul begins to suspect that the history he has written in his head may not be as accurate as he once believed.

Magic is gone from the world. Lost. It is an age of science and technology. In the early 21st century, magic has been consigned to myth and legend. Not since the time of King Arthur had men and women known the secrets of how to wield magic. But that is about to change. The magical seal at Stonehenge that has protected the world for 1,500 years has been broken. An age-old enemy is free again. This time, only total conquest will suffice. Men will need magic once more. And their old alliances. Camron has a past he does not know about. A forgotten promise made centuries before which he must now try and keep. With his grandmother’s help, he must rediscover who he is and the vow he made to protect the world. Their only hope is for him to lead a small group of unlikely heroes on a quest to find the only magic powerful enough to defeat the enemy. But finding it is just the beginning…

An interim report on how the human problems of the British coal industry are handled under nationalization, this book makes clear why the future progress of the industry will depend on the solution of specific labor problems regardless of the system of ownership or which political party may control the government or the Coal Board.