Born without magic, Mackenzie Little has few prospects. In a futile attempt to break her out of the null caste, her mother ropes her into participating in a charity auction, where anything can be bought with enough money. She never expected her ex-boss would buy her company. For a day, she lives a fairy tale. Nine months later, despite their precautions, Mackenzie’s little miracle is born. Armed with Texas pride and New York viciousness, Mackenzie must fight through hell or high water to protect her family of two from a society obsessed with the magic they lack.

The year is 2090. Earth is a dystopian nightmare filled with lonely people seeking connection in virtual worlds while corporate conglomerates profit from war and secretly run every country's government. So, nothing's changed. Except there are more robots! Like the one the slovenly Null Lasker (he's your hero, unfortunately) controls from the comfort of his living room in order to fight for SKIRM® in a distant warzone. Think of SKIRM® as like Uber for war, except there are less benefits and the pay is somehow worse. Everything goes well until Null pushes the system too far and finds himself in a world of trouble — and on the run from his employer. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, the George Orwell estate, Olive Garden... these are just a few of the potential plaintiffs in lawsuits that could come from this book. Oh, and Uber now. One last thing: 10% of all book sales go to shatterproof.org — forever. For all time. Contributing to a charity was a huge part of this project and it goes towards a cause we're very passionate about. Enjoy.

“When Tadpole was born, I spent a sleepless night on the maternity ward gazing intently into her inky, newborn eyes, grappling to come to terms with the indisputable fact that this was an actual person looking back at me, not just a version of Mr. Frog, or me, or both, in miniature. From the outset she seemed to know what she wanted, and I realized I could have no inkling of the paths she would choose to follow. But if I watch her life unfold carefully enough, perhaps I will see clear signposts pointing to who or what she will become. Because when I look backward, ransacking my own past for clues with the clarity that only hindsight can bring, a series of defining moments do stand out. Moments charged with significance; snapshots of myself which, if I join the dots together, lead me unswervingly to where I stand today: from French, to France, to Paris, and to Petite Anglaise.” [ed. note - excerpted from Petite Anglaise, p.4] Catherine Sanderson has a beautiful bilingual daughter, an authentic French boyfriend, and a Paris apartment with bohemian charm. She has what she has always wanted — a life in France. Growing up in Yorkshire amidst a traditional family, Catherine had set her sights on a different life — a life that would immerse her in an exotic language and culture. From grammar school French lessons to teaching English in Normandy and finally to a permanent job in Paris, she was determined that France would be the place she would call home. But now that she does, things are not so idyllic. Catherine wonders just when her life in Paris turned from wine to vinegar: She’s stuck in a dead-end administrative job, her relationship with her boyfriend has settled into a dreary routine, and the birth of their daughter has not helped to reignite the dying fire of her relationship. The remedy to her dissatisfaction arrives in the morning headlines. While scanning the news of the day, Catherine becomes intrigued by a story profiling an internet diarist. After exploring one blog after another, and in one exhilarating moment, Catherine decides to create her own online persona, her jardin secret. At that moment, she is transformed from Catherine to Petite Anglaise, her boyfriend to Mr. Frog, her daughter to Tadpole, and her life to something she could never have predicted. What begins as a lighthearted diversion, a place to discuss the fish-out-of water challenges of ex-pat life in Paris, soon gives way to a raw forum for her to bare her most intimate secrets and impulsive desires. Thousands of readers log-on to the blog and are witness to the ever-widening gulf between Petite Anglaise and Mr. Frog. Those public revelations of her growing frustrations, which play out in each successive post, begin to surreptitiously yet irrevocably erode their relationship.

This book presents, for the first time, all the available information on the maneuvers which preceded the condemnation by the bull Apostolicae Curae. For Roman Catholics it is disturbing reading. -- Dust jacket

Covers all the published and all the important unpublished decisions and opinions of the Department of the Interior ...