Debut author and artist Vince Volpert's first collection of short stories, The Artist's Rant: Crazy Things Happen!, entails eleven stories, including the story about the narrator, V.V., and the paintings linked to the stories. Published for the enthusiastic, sci-fi, horror, noir, mystery, and fantasy readers alike, these short stories have: love, hate, darkness, happiness, lust, fear, danger, sorrow, anger, deceit, honesty, life, and death. In "Chew, Chew, Chew," experience a man confronted by a storyteller with a fantastic tale about surviving a town full of zombies; in "Heave and Hell, I Do," listen to a woman's tale about how heaven and hell raged war, and how the world ended; in "A Sexy Death," witness two women's "girl's night out," being more than what they bargained for; and in "Reaper's Death," experience a man taking over the grimmest job that has ever existed. These stories, along with the others, will make you question morality, rules, and life itself. The Artist's Rant: Crazy Things Happen! will make you glad that your reality is nothing like the stories you will read.

Buster “Rant” Casey just may be the most efficient serial killer of our time. A high school rebel, Rant Casey escapes from his small town home for the big city where he becomes the leader of an urban demolition derby called Party Crashing. Rant Casey will die a spectacular highway death, after which his friends gather the testimony needed to build an oral history of his short, violent life. With hilarity, horror, and blazing insight, Rant is a mind-bending vision of the future, as only Chuck Palahniuk could ever imagine.

There were no surprises in Gatlin County. We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere. At least, that's what I thought. Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong. There was a curse. There was a girl. And in the end, there was a grave. Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever. Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them. In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

Life Without the BS is a humorous look at life, marriage, kids, education, and a few other bugaboos including politics, religion, and sex and dating. If you've got an axe to grind against the Obama, Hillary, Rush, or Anne Coulter--we've got you covered there, too. I don't want to give away the farm, but here a few tastes of what you'll find inside. Let me warn--It's finger licking good. Once you start reading you won't want to stop. On people - As Americans, we're guaranteed the right to ""life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."" Only problem is what gets my rocks off doesn't even register on the happiness scale for some crazy ass bastards out there. Believe it or not, people are different, some a little more so than others.

*A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND INDIE NEXT PICK* Writer and performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers Amber Ruffin writes with her sister Lacey Lamar with humor and heart to share absurd anecdotes about everyday experiences of racism. Now a writer and performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers and host of The Amber Ruffin Show, Amber Ruffin lives in New York, where she is no one's First Black Friend and everyone is, as she puts it, "stark raving normal." But Amber's sister Lacey? She's still living in their home state of Nebraska, and trust us, you'll never believe what happened to Lacey. From racist donut shops to strangers putting their whole hand in her hair, from being mistaken for a prostitute to being mistaken for Harriet Tubman, Lacey is a lightning rod for hilariously ridiculous yet all-too-real anecdotes. She's the perfect mix of polite, beautiful, petite, and Black that apparently makes people think "I can say whatever I want to this woman." And now, Amber and Lacey share these entertainingly horrifying stories through their laugh-out-loud sisterly banter. Painfully relatable or shockingly eye-opening (depending on how often you have personally been followed by security at department stores), this book tackles modern-day racism with the perfect balance of levity and gravity.

The all-inclusive reference to starting and operating a landscape architecture firm The Professional Practice of Landscape Architecture, Second Edition is completely revised to keep up with the latest developments driving the day-to-day operation of a successful private-practice landscape architecture office. Whether helping a landscape architecture student identify a career track, providing direction on starting a new office, guiding an owner seeking to jumpstart a stagnant or fledgling business, or assisting a landscape architect-in-training study for the national Landscape Architecture Registration Exam (LARE), this single-source blueprint is the key to prospering in this dynamic field. This new edition features: Indispensible information for practicing landscape architects, including professional ethics, finances, office administration, marketing and promotion, and project management An updated look at government regulatory laws, federal tax administration, sustainable design, and LEED certification Strategies for using the Internet, computer software, and technology to market and manage a firm Examples of professional contract templates Case study profiles of landscape architecture firms Requirements for professional registration and criteria for taking the national exam This comprehensive and practical reference combines real-world experience with the highest professional standards to instruct the reader on business concepts. Expertly organized and easy to follow, The Professional Practice of Landscape Architecture, Second Edition continues to be the one source that landscape architects need to direct all facets of their practice.

At last: Self-help for procrastinators. (The secret: acceptance!) Filled with charm, tongue-in-cheek wit, and the insights of a lifelong introspective dawdler, The Art of Procrastination is a philosophical self-help program for every reader who suffers the pangs of being a procrastinator. John Perry celebrates this nearly universal character flaw by pointing out how often procrastinators are, paradoxically, doers. They may not be accomplishing everything on their to-do lists, but that doesn’t make them slackers. It just indicates a need to rethink the to-do list. He also introduces the philosophical notion of akrasia (the mystery of why we often choose to act against our better judgement), examines the torturous relationship between procrastination and perfectionism, and shows how to give yourself permission to do an imperfect but, in fact, perfectly good job. These are strategies—task triage, horizontal organization. Underlying causes—right-parenthesis deficit disorder. Anecdotes and ideas. But above all, an attitude of acceptance. Pat yourself on the back for what you manage to get done—but don’t stop enjoying that time you waste, too. Who knows where daydreams will lead?