A Seal Pup in My Bath

A Seal Pup in My Bath

Author: Steve Greenhalgh

Publisher: Constable

Published: 2011-05-26

Total Pages: 197

ISBN-13: 184901891X

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Not many people can say that a mouse got them a discount on a hotel room. Very few people have joined a police raid on a quail-fighting ring. Hardly anyone has managed to gas himself with chloroform while driving a van . . . and survived. Having worked as an RSPCA inspector since the early 1970s, Steve Greenhalgh (it's pronounced Greenhalsh but he's come to accept that Greenhall, Greenharg and Greenhouse will do at a push) has been through all of the above as well as exposing cats that impersonate each other, splinting magpies' broken legs and wrestling swans in the high street traffic. He has even ventured out on to a fast-flowing river in a boat with only one oar to save a cat while Rolf Harris provided a running commentary for Animal Hospital. Not all of Steve's experiences as an inspector have been a bundle of laughs, but sharing some of his adventures from the past four decades helps us to see the vital work undertaken by the RSPCA and the huge impact that they have on the lives of ordinary people. Just don't ask him to deal with an angry four-foot snake in a flimsy budgie cage ever again . .


Pretend It's My Body

Pretend It's My Body

Author: Luke Dani Blue

Publisher: Feminist Press at CUNY

Published: 2022-10-18

Total Pages: 173

ISBN-13: 1952177782

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Informed by the author’s experience in and between genders, this debut story collection blurs fantasy and reality, excavating new meanings from our varied dysphorias. Misfit mothers, prodigal "undaughters," con artists, and middle-aged runaways populate these ten short stories that blur the lives we wish for with the ones we actually lead. A tornado survivor grapples with a new identity, a trans teen psychic can read only indecisive minds, and a woman informs her family of her plans to upload her consciousness and abandon her body. Luke Dani Blue invites the reader into a world of outlier lives made central and magical thinking made real. Surreal, darkly humorous, and always deeply felt, Pretend It’s My Body is bound together by the act of searching—for a spark of recognition and a story of one's own.


The Pirates!: In an Adventure with the Romantics

The Pirates!: In an Adventure with the Romantics

Author: Gideon Defoe

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2012-08-21

Total Pages: 174

ISBN-13: 0345802918

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In Gideon Defoe’s fifth Pirates! adventure, the dashing Pirate Captain and his intrepid crew encounter perhaps the most swashbuckling poets in history: Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Shelley’s fiancée, Mary Godwin. While visiting the shores of Lake Geneva to restore their spirits and their finances, the Pirate Captain and his crew encounter some surprising fellow adventurers, literary giants of their age: the swaggering Lord Byron, the oddly shifty Percy Shelley, and his smart, quite attractive fiancée, Mary. Together the poets and pirates embark upon a journey that leads from the curiously adventureless Switzerland into the darkest bowels of Oxford, and finally to the forbidding heart of eastern Europe. Amidst haunted castles and early feminism, the Pirate Captain will confront some important questions, namely: What is the secret behind his mysterious belly tattoo? Is “Zombuloid, the corpse-beast” a better name for a monster than “Gorgo: Half-man, half-seaweed?” And, most importantly, what happens when a pirate finally falls in love?


Claiming Noah

Claiming Noah

Author: Amanda Ortlepp

Publisher: Center Street

Published: 2016-07-05

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 1455565970

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This riveting debut novel of psychological suspense explores the dilemmas that arise when motherhood and science collide. Catriona Sinclair has always had a well-developed sense of independence--in fact the one sore point in her otherwise happy marriage is her husband James's desire to take care of her. As she's often tried to explain to him, she took care of herself before she met him, and did a good job of it. But James has been especially attentive lately as they struggle to have a baby. They succeed at last through in vitro fertilization, but unwilling to risk the heartbreak of another miscarriage, they decide to make their "spare" frozen embryo available to another family. Diana and Liam Simmons are desperate for a child. Unable to conceive, they are overjoyed to learn that as the closest genetic match to the Sinclairs they are the recipients of the embryo donation. Diana's only concern is her mother's disapproval of IVF, but any doubts raised are quickly eclipsed by Diana's joy of being pregnant. As Diana is finding delight in every aspect of motherhood, Catriona keeps waiting for the rush of adoration she knows she is supposed to feel, but instead slips into a deep depression. Just as Catriona begins to find her way back to normalcy, one of the babies is kidnapped. Suddenly, all of their lives begin to unravel and intertwine, and none of them will ever be the same.


The Murmurings

The Murmurings

Author: Carly Anne West

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2013-03-05

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 144244181X

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A teen starts hearing the same voices that drove her sister to commit suicide in this “atmospheric, paranormal chiller (that) will appeal to fans of Stephen King” (VOYA). The voices in her head are not her own... Everyone thinks Sophie’s sister, Nell, went crazy. After all, she heard strange voices that drove her to commit suicide. But Sophie doesn’t believe that Nell would take her own life, and she’s convinced that Nell’s doctor knows more than he’s letting on. As Sophie starts to piece together Nell’s last days, every lead ends in a web of lies. And the deeper Sophie digs, the more danger she’s in—because now she’s hearing the same haunting whispers. Sophie’s starting to think she’s going crazy too. Or worse, that maybe she’s not… “Heart-thumping.” —Kirkus Reviews “Satisfyingly disturbing.” —BCCB “The perfect mix of horror and psychological thriller. Jaw-dropping.” —Shelf Awareness


Good Naked

Good Naked

Author: Joni B. Cole

Publisher: University of New Mexico Press

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 0826364365

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Cole offers more stories, strategies, tips on craft, and exercises to serve new and seasoned writers from the first draft to the final edit.