An easy to read book that contains practical advice mixed in with some humorous and true "Dumb Gringo" stories. It's a must-read for anyone interested or involved in missions. (Christian Religion)

The West hath no fury like a woman scorned… On the outside, Cross Peak, Texas, is a clean and friendly city—so friendly, in fact, that Skye Fargo is literally welcomed with open arms by the local ladies. But one sweet little thing wants something more from Fargo than a roll in the hay. Callie Bates is a vixen in sheep’s clothing. The double-crossing daughter of a famous bank robber, she’ll do anything to find out where dear old daddy stashed his loot before getting tossed in the hoosegow. And she’s brazen enough to try pulling the wool over the eyes of the Trailsman himself…

In February, 1848, the war with Mexico ended. Terms of that treaty ceded most of the southwest of the North American continent to the United States. Shortly after, rumors of gold in California began to filter back to the United States. Many of the men who fought in the Mexican War began to drift south with dreams of fabulous wealth. Many of them came along the Gila River Trail from Texas Most came to work hard. Others decided to capitalize on the hard work of others. Still others brought west with them quarrels from the east that could only end in violence and death.

* Time Out New York's #1 Best Book of 2008 * ForeWord Magazine Gold Medal for Literary Fiction Rudolph Wurlitzer’s first novel in nearly 25 years is an epic adventure that explores the truth and temptations of the American myth. Beginning in the savage wilds of Colorado in the waning days of the fur trade, the story follows Zebulon Shook, a mountain man who has a curse placed on him by a mysterious Native American woman whose lover he murdered, to “drift like a blind man between the worlds, not knowing if you’re dead or alive, of if the unseen world exists, or if you’re dreaming.” Zebulon sets out on the trail from Colorado, venturing to the remote reaches of the Northwest, a journey that traverses the Gulf of Mexico to Panama, and up the coast of California to San Francisco and the gold fields, bringing him face-to-face with mystics and outlaws, politically-minded prison wardens and Russian Counts, each hungry to stake their claim on the American dream. A novel of breathtaking scope and beauty, The Drop Edge of Yonder reveals one of America’s most transcendant writers at the top of his form.

After a not-so-brief absence from South America, I returned and picked-up exactly where I had left off, exactly where I’d begun originally: in smoggy Lima. Only this second time, I angled north: for the equator. The north of Peru is strikingly different from the south and yet again, like once before, I struck-up the most interesting acquaintanceships in a Plaza de Armas. Ecuador came next: there I discovered the whole continent in miniature, but nothing except tourist gimmicks to delay me. I crossed the next border with rare trepidation because the land of coffee, cartels, and cocaine -Colombia- was enjoying such an unsavory reputation. But it proved one of the most extraordinary countries that I've ever set-foot-in. My heart had never felt so heavy as when I took the first step into Venezuela. There I could have lingered longer, visited more places, but a strike paralyzed the cities and it had seemed prudent to leave while I could. Panama: getting in was a lot more exciting than being in. Nicaragua: tiny islands half-lost far-off at sea. Honduras: good roads and donuts. El Salvador: a tragic country whose people have suffered through everything yet refuse to give-in to despair. Guatemala, everybody’s favorite corner of Latin American: Antigua, Chichicastenango and El Mirador. Big Mama on Caye Culker, Belize. Mexico: too many kilometers on too many buses in too few days. Travelogue02 swings through every country south of the Rio Grande, eighteen in all, except the Guianas.    The author is nobody special — he’s just of a new breed of travel writers. And his Travelogues are for a new breed of readers — normal contemporary sorts of people like and my neighbor Tom, feeding their curiosity for curiosity’s sake, taking armchair voyages through countries that until a few years ago were virtually unknown to the outside word. While bookshop shelves tend to sag under the weight of stories about places, not journeys, the latter are far more fascinating. Few books today capture the essence of what it is like to travel. Having established himself with the original bold “what’s it really like Out There” anthology, the author does exactly that. Each Travelogue offers its reader more than the old tired travel diary. Just like each one of the author’s trips turned out most unusual, these books —too— are out of the ordinary. They’re collections of short stories, each capturing a particular moment: some are funny, some emotional, some suspenseful, some downright silly... and each one is very different from every other. They are snapshots of people and places and adventures that had been recorded in words rather than by multicolored pixels of a digital point-and-shoot. What makes them unreal is that all these stories are 100% true... Seriously, you couldn't make this stuff up even if you wanted to. None of it is this normal cut-and-dry stuff. Every story offers a fresh insight, a totally different perspective. On the beaten path... and off of it, against the backdrop of the exotic, anything can happen: and it usually does. More often than not, these stories are set in villages kilometers apart, but there’s never telling what might happen next. The author doesn't care where the journey might take him — it’s all about the experience of being Out There. He’s simply following his passion for discovering and exploring. For Travelogues’ readers, the books are a jaunt into the unknown. It’s the journey and not the destination that matters.

The second installment of this saga of gangland lore follows gregarious gangster, Michael Hardy, further down his twisted criminal path. The Last Jewish Gangster, The Middle Years, starts in 1968 with Hardy sentenced to twelve years in the world’s most dangerous prison in Mexico after taking the rap for his mother’s counterfeiting scheme, hoping to have finally earned her love and respect. Once he’s released from prison, Hardy returns to Brooklyn and tries to go straight, but drifts back into a world of crime. He gets Sammy “the Bull” Gravano to join his crew to pull major heists like kidnapping drug lords for million-dollar ransoms, and robbing cop bag men. To evade the law, he goes to Europe and ends up in Israel where he works on a Kibbutz, touching the hem of his Jewish heritage. Hardy devolves further into a gangster’s life when he returns to Brooklyn, running a finger of the Mob’s Five-Fingers International Car Theft Ring, participating in a stolen airline ticket scam, and doing fourteen hits for the Mob, still hoping his mother will take notice. When she gets busted for the car theft ring, she turns him in to reduce her time. Crushed by his mother’s callous self-interest, Hardy ends up cutting a deal with Rudy Giuliani to nab a dirty cop to reduce his time and negotiate his place in the witness protection program. Relocating to LA under an alias, it doesn’t take long for Hardy to land a gig as muscle for a Hollywood studio and meet his future wife, a sex worker who stole from his mother. The lines between love and revenge begin to blur.

Michael Sommers is an expert on Brazilian life—he's lived there for 13 years. In Moon Living Abroad in Brazil, he provides firsthand tips on everything from climate to culture, all in an easy-to-understand manner. Moon Living Abroad in Brazil is packed with essential information and must-have details on setting up daily life, including obtaining visas, arranging finances, gaining employment, choosing schools, and finding health care—plus practical suggestions for how to rent or buy a home for a variety of needs and budgets, whether you're moving to a metropolis or a more rural location. With color and black and white photos, illustrations, and maps to help you find your way, Moon Living Abroad in Brazil will help you tackle the big move with confidence. This ebook and its features are best experienced on iOS or Android devices and the Kindle Fire.