Join Chris as he embarks on the adventure of his life. Touching twenty countries and travelling close to 30 000 km over 8 months, all the way from the southern tip of Africa to the shamrock fields of Ireland. The journey was a publicity stunt creating media opportunities for paediatric healthcare service providers. And, of course, Chris relished the opportunity to taste his very first Guinness at the source. But was the trip all the way to Dublin worth it? Battling ill health and broken friendships this rollercoaster ride eventually cost Chris his eyesight. He relays the story of his adventures on the road, medical trauma and recovery with passion and good humour. After his devastating prognosis as a blind man, Chris thought that sight loss would cause his adventures to end but it has rather ignited his curiosity. Chris’ inspirational scooter ride and journey to recovery and how he has overcome the obstacles he has faced has not slowed down his adventurous spirit! #BlindManCan
From Brazil's most distinguished and important Jewish writer comes this anthology comprised of six collections: in The Carnival of the Animals, Scliar uses political allegory to convey what was normally censored during the height of repression under Brazil's military regime. These tragicomic stories reveal Scliar's interest in issues of oppression, persecution, holocaust, mutability, and the interplay between good and evil. The Ballad of the False Messiah develops the theme of postponement in the sense that for Jews redemption is always postponed in a vain wait for the Messiah. In The Tremulous Earth Scliar explores cruelty and violence in the tenuous lives of his characters, but his experience as a medical doctor informs his compassion for human frailty. Scliar expands his use of fantasy and magical realism in The Dwarf in the Television Set in topics that range from Jewish prophets to marital revenge. The Enigmatic Eye has been described as a masterpiece evoking the enigmas of art and life, and in Van Gogh's Ear, Scliar uses dark and subtle humor in a collection of biblical parables. Here witchcraft, magic, conundrums, and labyrinths are shown to be part of everyday life. A final autobiographical piece ties the collections together in which Scliar discusses his membership in Jewish, medical, gaucho, and Brazilian "tribes." These powerful stories, individually humorous, bleak, or haunting, together bring a compelling voice of the Jewish Diaspora to the wide readership it deserves.
An irreverent but hilarious spoof on Disney World and the people who love it. Dave Jevik wasn’t too happy to hear that his wife had scheduled a family vacation to Snodgrass World Resort with the Zandanels. Loudmouth Vinnie is hard to put up with for an hour, let alone a week. But when Vinnie spots wheelchair-bound George Van Morrison in first class on the flight to Florida, the dreaded trip takes on a sense of purpose. Van Morrison claims he was injured at a restaurant owned by a friend back home and the lawsuit has already been filed. Dave and Vinnie just know he’s faking it and they have a week at Snodgrass World to save the restaurant by proving it. They’ll have to dodge fleets of wheel chairs and scooters long enough to expose him. Vinnie’s sharp-elbowed wife is indispensable as she leads the way past line-cutters, other people’s obnoxious children and the maniac driving the scooter with the on-board colostomy bag. When they befriend a crotchety bartender back at the hotel, Dave and Vinnie unexpectedly tap an inside source that just might help them get their man. Anybody who’s ever taken a trip to Disney World will recognize the people and places in Snodgrass Vacation, a hilarious and irreverent satire of theme park life. "This book was hilarious! I could relate to it on so many levels I felt the author was writing about me! From actually investigating worker's comp claims, to being stuck on vacations with obnoxious friends, to experiencing scouts and worms, I'm experienced it all first hand! It's hard to categorize this book as fiction! It was an absolute joy to read, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who has ever had the opportunity of being subjected to the antics of a theme park!" -- Amazon review "I loved this book, anyone who has been to Disney will see & identify with the characters in this story. It did have me laugh out loud several times." -- Smashwords review
Tess Neeley knew at an early age that not everyone could tell when a person had lied or was walking into danger and not everyone could see events after and sometimes before they happened. She learned to keep her thoughts to herself. Bold headlines one morning read that Doctor Spence, world-renowned heart surgeon, had murdered his wife. Tess knew different. She'd seen the killer's heartless brown eyes in a vision, seen him raise the knife and slash. But who would believe her? Certainly not Leo Lakowski, Harris County's assistant DA and prosecutor of the case. Leo didn't know what to make of the journalist who hounds him relentlessly about the doctor's innocence. Even when his nephew is accused of murder, Leo doesn't believe that Tess saw what had really happened, unconvinced that she has the rare gift of sight. It isn't until they join forces on the dangerous journey to find his nephew's killer, not until Tess's life is on the line, do they realize that the murders are more diabolical than they imagined. When Tess's predictions prove true, he comes to believe in them and in her. With her rare insight and their mutual attraction, how could they help but fall in love? Will they share a future? Or will the killer succeed in his plan to kill anyone who stands in his way?
How do Asian cultures construct queer genders, sexualities, and eroticism? Gay and Lesbian Asia demonstrates the astonishing diversity of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered identities in countries including Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, China, India, Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines. Although many Asian cultures borrow the language of the West when discussing queerness, the attitudes, relationships, and roles described are quite different. Gay and Lesbian Asia discusses cultural issues as well as the unique political position of gays in Asian societies. For example, the Thai concept of phet--eroticized gender--is quite different from the Western view that classifies people by the sex of the partners they desire, not by their level of masculine or feminine traits. Similarly, some gay and lesbian Chinese people “come home” rather than “come out.” By bringing their partners into the extended family, they can maintain the filial relationships that define them while being able to love whom they choose. The essays in Gay and Lesbian Asia cover a broad range of approaches and subjects: globalization theory exploring the political and cultural ramifications of the Western gay identity movement Foucauldian discourse on sexuality and sharply distinct erotic cultures political and cultural analyses of gay and lesbian comradeship and filial relationships in Chinese societies research on the “T” and “po” lesbians (similar to butch and femme) in Malaysian bars the formation of gay cybercommunities in Asia the effects of class distinctions on Jakarta lesbians studies of local historical forms of homoeroticism and transgenderism Gay and Lesbian Asia continues Haworth's landmark series of books on gay and lesbian issues in Asia and Australia. Along with Tongzhi: Politics of Same-Sex Eroticism in Chinese Societies; Queer Asian Cinema; Multicultural Queer: Australian Narratives; Gays and Lesbians in Asia and the Pacific; and Lady Boys, Tom Boys, Rent Boys: Male and Female Homosexualities in Contemporary Thailand, this book presents some of the most original, powerful current thought available on cultural, political, sexual, and gender issues for queer subcultures within Asian cultures.
How to survive in Prague. The path of exemplary orphan Ivan begins at a children’s institution in the 1950s, leading him to a seminary, madhouse and philosophical faculty, before culminating at a Mexican Embassy in the 1990s. Along the way, he encounters secret agents, a foolish actress, mysterious handwritten texts, and even his own stomach. Will he find his father? Or the Father Almighty? Will he find himself? Detective story turned inside out, or picaresque tale?
A work of great intrigue, Memoirs Of An Ordinary Guy shares the journey of one man’s extraordinary experiences across multiple continents and throughout various cultures with unique encounters and escapades at every turn. Some moments are routine, others hilarious, some deep and painful, and then there are those so unbelievably crazy you would think they were straight out of a movie. Confronting honestly with intense expression, the reader is able to form a personal attachment, enabling them to empathize and experience the highs and the lows along the way. A poignant, well connected, emotional journey from beginning to end, this story offers adventure, romance, mystery and suspense with each chapter building upon the other and each concluding with a “Lesson Learned” giving greater insight into the authors perspective of life in which readers can relate and connect to, in a personal way.
All things found. All things fixed. Jude Demarco will take any job in the station-city of Nicodemia, so long as it doesn't involve art or religion. People care too much about art and religion, and where there's passion, life gets messy. Then Charlotte Beck walks into his life with a lit cigarette and a lousy deal. She needs him to track down a stolen painting--one that's sought after by art collectors, criminal masterminds, and the Catholic Church. To find it, she needs to locate the men who stole it. She won't take no for an answer. In a city where crime lords are saints and good deeds are a commodity, Demarco soon discovers that if he wants the truth about his own dangerous past, then he's going to need to bend some rules. And life is going to get messy.
Jan Berry, leader of the music duo Jan & Dean from the late 1950s to mid-1960s, was an intense character who experienced more in his first 25 years than many do in a lifetime. As an architect of the West Coast sound, he was one of rock 'n' roll's original rebels--brilliant, charismatic, reckless, and flawed. As a songwriter, music arranger, and record producer for Nevin-Kirshner Associates and Screen Gems-Columbia Music, Berry was one of the pioneering self-produced artists of his era in Hollywood. He lived a dual life, reaching the top of the charts with Jan & Dean while transitioning from college student to medical student, until an automobile accident in 1966 changed his trajectory forever. Suffering from brain damage and partial paralysis, Jan spent the rest of his life trying to come back from Dead Man's Curve. His story is told here in-depth for the first time, based on extensive primary source documentation and supplemented by the stories and memories of Jan's family members, friends, music industry colleagues, and contemporaries. From the birth of rock to the bitter end, Berry's life story is thrilling, humorous, unsettling, and disturbing, yet ultimately uplifting.
How does a Christian, whose faith has been shaken by a highly secularized world, find his way back to faith? This book traces the autobiographical journey of one man’s search for God and then attempts to help other Christians who have lost their way, find their way back to the Father.
