An astonishing novel of epic ambition, Vandal Love—winner of the prestigious Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for best first book in 2007—follows generations of a unique French-Canadian family across North America and through the twentieth century. A family curse—a genetic trick resulting from centuries of hardship—causes the Hervé children to be born either giants or runts. Book One follows the giants’ line, exploring Jude Hervé’s career as a boxer in Georgia and Louisiana in the 1960s, his escape from that brutal life alone with his baby daughter Isa, and her eventual decision to enter into a strange, chaste marriage with a much older man. Book Two traces a different kind of life entirely, as the runts of the family discover that their power lies in a kind of unifying love. François seeks the identity of his missing father for years, while his own son, Harvey, flees from modern society into spiritual quests. But none of the Hervés can abandon their longing for a place where they might find others like themselves. In assured and mystically powerful prose, Deni Y. Béchard tells a wide-ranging, spellbinding story of a family trying to create an identity in an unwelcoming landscape. Imbued throughout with a deep sensitivity to the physical world, Vandal Love is a breathtaking literary debut about the power of love to create and destroy—in our lives, and in our history.

An astonishing novel, Vandal Love follows generations of a unique French-Canadian family across North America, and through the twentieth century, as they struggle to find their place in the world. A family curse – a genetic trick resulting from centuries of hardship – causes the Hervé children to be born either giants or runts. Book I of Vandal Love follows the giants’ line, exploring Jude Hervé’s career as a boxer in Georgia and Louisiana in the 1960s, his escape from that brutal life alone with his baby daughter Isa, and her eventual decision to enter into a strange, chaste marriage with a much older man. Book II traces a different kind of life entirely, as the runts of the family discover that their power lies in a kind of unifying love. François searches for years for his missing father; his own son, Harvey, flees from modern society into spiritual quests. But none of the Hervés can abandon their longing for a place where they might find others like themselves. In assured and almost mystically powerful prose, D.Y. Béchard tells a wide-ranging, spellbinding story of a family trying to create an identity in an unwelcoming North America. Political, poetic, and philosophically searching, and imbued throughout with a deep sensitivity to the physical world, Vandal Love is a breathtaking literary debut about the power of love to create and destroy – in our lives, and in our history.

A bad boy billionaire, his good-hearted best friend, and the curvy woman of their dreams fall into an unforgettable MMF bisexual romance when a fake relationship leads to, friends becoming lovers, sizzling encounters, and longtime best friends giving in to their heart-aching passion. HART When Hart saw two of his kindergarten students teasing another, he stepped in. When he found out that the kid was being teased because he had two dads, Hart had the kid’s imagine how they would treat him, their teacher, if Hart had a husband. Who would have known that one of the kids would misinterpret it and tell his conservative parents… who would then complain to the school’s conservative board… who would then go to his principal to get Hart fired? Luckily the principle put her own job on the line to protect his. And all Hart has to do to save both of their jobs is to invite his “respectable” husband to meet the school board. Too bad Hart doesn’t have a husband and the only one he had who would pretend was Vandal, his reckless childhood friend with more money than sense. IVY As principal, Ivy was surprised to learn that her favorite kindergarten teacher had a husband. Hadn’t their night out together been a date? No matter, she wasn’t going to allow the school’s board to fire him just because he was gay. But, the question was, how was her heart-thumping work-crush married to her drool-worthy celebrity crush, Vandal Scott. And when the three of them are forced together by a school retreat and the bad boy billionaire makes things complicated, what is Ivy supposed to do considering how tired she is of having more respectability than sex? VANDAL It’s hard being drop dead gorgeous and born filthy rich, but Vandal Scott struggled through. But, seriously, what was genuinely hard was the boredom. So, when his childhood best friend asks him to play the role of his dutiful husband, Vandal throws himself into the part. Who would have guessed that his pretend relationship would spark real feelings? And that the object of his affection would already have feelings for a beautiful principal who was a much better match for Hart than Vandal was? Falling in love for the first time and having a billion dollars at his disposal, how will Vandal win the heart of his long time best friend? Desperate to have the life he didn’t even know he wanted, how many lives was Vandal willing to wreck to get it? ‘Reckless Vandal’ is a steamy bisexual romance with as many laughs as twists and turns. Loaded with enough MM, MFM, and MMF scenes to make your toes curl, it will leave you satisfied with its not-to-be-missed HEA ending. * Reckless Vandal’ is a standalone which includes appearances of the characters from ‘Hurricane Laine’ and ‘Burning Blaze’.

A “poignant but rigorously unsentimental” memoir of one man’s search for the truth about his father’s dark past, and how it shaped his own life (Kirkus Reviews). Growing up in rural British Columbia, Deni Béchard had no idea his family was extraordinary. He took pleasure in typical boyish activities: salmon fishing with his father, a daring man with a penchant for brawling, and reading with his mother, who was interested in health food and the otherworldly. Assigned to complete a family tree in school, Deni begins to wonder why he doesn’t know more about his father’s side of the family. His mother is from Pittsburgh, and there’s a vague sense that his father is from Quebec, but why the mystery? When his mother leaves Deni’s father and decamps with her children to Virginia, his curiosity only grows. Who is this man, why do the police seem so interested in him, and why is his mother so afraid of him? And when his mother begrudgingly tells Deni that his father was once a bank robber, his imagination is set on fire. Boyish rebelliousness soon gives way to fantasies of a life of crime, and a deep drive for experience leads him to a number of adventures: hitching to Memphis and stealing a motorcycle; fighting classmates and kissing girls. Before long, young Deni is imagining himself as a character in one of his father’s stories, or in the novels he devours. Both attracted and repelled, Deni can’t escape the sense that his father’s life holds the key to understanding himself. Eventually he moves back to Canada, only to find himself snared in the controlling impulses of his mysterious father, and increasingly obsessed by his father’s own muted recollections of the Quebecois childhood he’d fled long ago. “Powerful and haunting . . . a must-read for anyone who has ever struggled to uncover their identity within the shadow of a parent.” —Claire Bidwell Smith, author of The Rules of Inheritance “Cures for Hunger is a poignant adventure story with a mystery . . . But it is also, perhaps even more so, the story of an artist coming of age.” —The Plain Dealer “This darkly comic and lyrical memoir demonstrates the shaping of its author, who suffers the wreckage of his father’s life, yet manages to salvage all the beauty of its desperate freedoms. Béchard’s poetic gifts give voice to the outsiders of society, and make them glow with humanity and love.” —Elizabeth McKenzie, author of The Portable Veblen

“A riveting mystery-thriller that also probes deeper into the nature of war and the ways in which it attracts and transforms some people.”—David Abrams, author of Fobbit When a car explodes in a crowded part of Kabul ten years after 9/11, a Japanese-American journalist is shocked to discover that the passengers were acquaintances—three fellow ex-pats who had formed an unlikely love triangle. Alexandra was a human rights lawyer for imprisoned Afghan women. Justin was a born-again Christian who taught at a local school. Clay was an ex-soldier who worked as a private contractor. The car’s driver, Idris, was one of Justin’s most promising pupils—and he is missing. Drawn to the secrets of these strangers, and increasingly convinced the events that led to the fatal explosion weren’t random, the journalist follows a trail that leads from Kabul to Louisiana, Maine, Québec, and Dubai. In the process, the tortured narratives of these individuals become inseparable from the larger story of America’s imperial misadventures. In this monumental novel, Deni Ellis Béchard draws “a ferociously intelligent and intensely gripping portrait of the expatriate community in Kabul,” indelibly capturing these journalists, mercenaries, idealists, and aid workers (Phil Klay, National Book Award-winning author). More importantly, Béchard vividly brings to life the city of Kabul itself, along with the people who live there: the hungry, determined, and resourceful locals who are just as willing as their occupiers to reinvent themselves to survive. “Béchard is the rare writer who knows the secret to telling the true story.”—Marlon James, Man Booker Prize-winning author “Béchard makes me think of Graham Greene and Robert Stone, which is heady company, indeed.”—Richard Ford, Pulitzer Prize-winning author

The New York Times called this famous guide to a more rewarding life “sound and solid, the product of a richly furnished mind, a book of wisdom.” Written by one of America’s most distinguished psychiatrists, Dr. Smiley Blanton, it has already found its way into some 200,000 American homes. Hundreds of readers have written to the author saying they were helped, inspired—and wanted more. In response to these letters, Dr. Blanton added an enormously valuable new section showing how men and women of all ages can give themselves as second chance at happiness—this section, titled “On Making a Fresh Start,” is included in this Expanded Edition, which was first published in 1957. “I believe that it is possible to achieve an emotional change with the insight developed through books. Books can make a change in one’s philosophy and attitude toward life. That is why so many books of the world are so deeply cherished. “It is in this hope that I write, in an effort to bring to people the hard-won truths of my observation over many years of life and during more than forty years of practice in psychiatry.”—Dr. Smiley Blanton, Introduction

A bad boy billionaire, an angsty ex-football player with a mysterious past, and the curvy woman who uncovers secrets, fall into an MMF bisexual romance when a fake relationship leads to, a first time gay relationship, sizzling encounters, and longtime best friends giving in to their heart-aching passion. DANI Everything else in her life might be a mess, but Dani Spelling is the best investigative reporter you’ll ever meet. Her father-figure editor wants her to take over his job when he retires. But the billionaire owner of the company wants to give it to Jax Watt, the brooding sports reporter who turns her into a schoolgirl with a crush every time he speaks. She can’t let her editor down, though. So when the billionaire asks her to pretend to be his girlfriend for an evening, she sees her way in. Is it? Or, is there something deeper going on between the drool-worthy men? Is there a story there? And, does the story end with the two gorgeous men naked in her bed? HEET Heet Ray had no interest in inheriting his father’s billion dollar media empire. The only thing he was interested in was Jax Watt, his college best friend. Heet might not have figured out his feelings for Jax, but he does know that he will go anywhere and spend anything to have Jax by his side. So, what will happen when Jax falls for a beautiful reporter who is intent on keeping them apart? It starts with Heet asking her to pretend to be his girlfriend for an evening. What will happen next? Only Heet knows. JAX After eight years as a professional football player, an injury turned Jax Watt into someone who reported the sports instead of playing it. But that wasn’t what turned him into the moody, brooding man he became. That was because of the mountain of secrets he was guarding. Did those secrets involve the way he felt about Heet, his college best friend and now boss? Did they involve Dani, the curvy co-worker he desperately wanted in his bed? Or, did Jax’s secrets revolve around something from his past that threatened to destroy his life and the lives of everyone around him? Maybe he shouldn’t get into a complicated, mixed up love triangle with his best friend and a reporter who will stop at nothing to get promoted. There is no way a relationship like that could end well… Or, is that exactly what they all need to live happily ever after? ‘Searing Heet’ is a steamy bisexual romance with twists, turns and heat. Loaded with enough MM, MFM, and MMF scenes to make your toes curl, it will leave you satisfied with its not-to-be-missed HEA ending.