Stories of old were communicated interpersonally, conveying information necessary to our survival. This extraordinary power led to mankind’s dominion over the world. Today, our stories are largely fed to us by way of our devices, our black boxes, which are incredible tools for spreading that same knowledge and wisdom globally. However, in the wrong hands, they are terrible weapons of misdirection, encouraging those under their influence to indulge selfish appetites and glorify victimhood, leading them to make the same mistakes that inspired those ancient stories in the first place. These stories shape the human mind to the same degree that we are what we eat, influencing the behavior of individuals and societies alike. Our shared stories, fantastical or otherwise, either reflect eternal truth and wisdom of the ages, or they do not, instead perpetuating a foolishly idealized form of reality. Put another way, they either prepare us for the inevitable obstacles of life, or they lead us to ruin. Such is the cunning of progressivism, an egregiously duplicitous philosophy that at first glance appears benevolent, but leads to devastating personal and societal consequences when put into practice. This book stands as a grand indictment of the illusion of progress, exploring how the seductive draw of its promises is nothing more than a trojan horse, a devil in disguise that threatens mankind’s hard-won order over a chaotic world.

Bank Information Technology expert Evan Adonis works at the nexus of the bank's communications and data networks. Discovering executive corruption, lies, and abuse, Adonis suffers threats and retaliation. In the internally corrupt world of modern banking, the I.T. expert is both the most powerful asset and the most hunted liability.

When he can no longer control what is real and what is imagined, Deveraux Parker realizes that his dream has become reality. Discovering a box that has been buried for two centuries, he finds himself on a quest for Lafitte's treasure through modern day New Orleans. Since moving to the Big Easy, Parker has had a hard time fitting in and finding friends, but as events unravel, he makes some unsavory pals and begins an unexpected adventure taking him to the oldest and most mysterious places in old New Orleans. The past and present collide as he tries to escape from his dream before he becomes part of the past. A lifelong resident of Louisiana, Jake Webber enjoys researching and studying history. He attended Louisiana State University and is a graduate of the University of Louisiana at Monroe. His professional background is in the medical field. He is married and lives in Baton Rouge with his wife and two children.

Every bullet tells a story - Detective Harry Bosch searches for a killer who thinks he's been safe for twenty years.

Jim Thompson's classic The Grifters is one of the best novels ever written about the art of the con, an ingeniously crafted story of deception and betrayal that was the basis for the critically acclaimed film by Stephen Frears and Martin Scorcese. To his friends, to his coworkers, and even to his mistress Moira, Roy Dillon is an honest hardworking salesman. He lives in a cheap hotel just within his pay bracket. He goes to work every day. He has hundreds of friends and associates who could attest to his good character. Yet, hidden behind three gaudy clown paintings in Roy's pallid hotel room, sits fifty-two thousand dollars — the money Roy makes from his short cons, his "grifting." For years, Roy has effortlessly maintained control over his house-of-cards life — until the simplest con goes wrong, and he finds himself critically injured and at the mercy of the most dangerous woman he ever met: his own mother.

"You're in luck, Alfred," he declared. "That's the most interesting man in New York-one of the most interesting in the world. That's Sanford Quest." "Who's he?" "You haven't heard of Sanford Quest?" "Never in my life." The young man whose privilege it was to have been born and lived all his days in New York, drank half a glassful of wine and leaned back in his chair. Words, for a few moments, were an impossibility. "Sanford Quest," he pronounced at last, "is the greatest master in criminology the world has ever known. He is a magician, a scientist, the Pierpont Morgan of his profession." "Say, do you mean that he is a detective?" The New Yorker steadied himself with an effort. Such ignorance was hard to realise-harder still to deal with. "Yes," he said simply, "you could call him that-just in the same way you could call Napoleon a soldier or Lincoln a statesman..."