Sisters Cheta and Zam's paths to break free of their oppressive home diverge wildly--one moves into an aunt's luxurious home and the other struggles to survive on her wits alone--and when they finally reunite, Zam realizes how far Cheta has fallen, leaving Cheta's fate in Zam's hands.
"Linnet waited with her eyes closed for the door to open and her mother to peek in. Waited for her to touch Linnet's shoulder blades lightly...Linnet knew that touch in her bones, as if it had happened every night of her life. An imprint, a memory of the skin itself." So begins this startling first novel about an eleven-year-old girl who suddenly begins to grow wings -- wings with soft auburn feathers, which only at first can be hidden with long hair and loose clothes. Funny, sad, and hopeful, this remarkable story captures a girl's shock at feeling alone in life, as it follows her journey to answer a most important question: how can a girl with wings ever fit into the world?
Grenadian Experience Shines Like a Caribbean Jewel in this Book of Personal History John Jakasal poetically presents the soul of Grenada and how it can survive and prosper as world renowned "Isle of Spice" with his life as an example. USA, The Caribbean & Globally Grenadian writer and author John Jakasal weaves "the cobweb that hides two paths in life" in the eminently readable memoir Grow Your Wings, Fly Away And Build Your Nest. Sharing his family background and life story, he spins illuminating connections to Grenadian history through the colonial phase and compares it to the modern, complex fruit of that history to rekindle the island's spicy reputation and agricultural foundation that has seemingly lost its colors diminished by the annual hurricanes. He discusses what it means to be a Grenadian American as chief Technologist, Professor in the school of Radiology Technology and Clinical Instructor. His kind finds itself readily accepted in New York City, a place known for its homogenous international culture. His story may be unusual to many, but it is given serious consideration in this eye-opening memoir of a young man from humble beginnings who worked hard, left his parents' home, never forgetting from where he came, became independent, owes not a single man, and now comfortably retired. Author John Jakasal's textual path dances on the light of his spider's web, and the dance of the spider as he weaves a vision of home, of a place to live and make a living in an agricultural safety net. Yet the delicate nature of Grenada's present is also present in the proceedings. The spider's web is a delicate, gossamer beauty and it is Jakasal's brilliant poetic view of his mother island; little Grenada swamped by waves modernism and highwood. In Jakasal, as well as in the strong moral heart of his book, lie all things Grenadian: The island beauty and its blessed clime, the physical points of national identity that are still remarkably untouched despite the onslaught of modernity. This is further refined into an appreciation of how America is a place of opportunity for anyone willing. A place where a Grenadian's native qualities can shine. Jakasal gives readers the taste of native Grenadian stew in this work, and it is an experience both filling and a taste everyone of his readers will remember with an appreciation of the nation and the people that made it.
Elizabeth Keene encounters aliens, ghosts and ancient dinosaurs in her quest to prevent an invading alien army from taking over the Earth. She discovers that the leader of the Evil Empire is using a massive computer system called the ONE machine to send all kinds of horrible creatures and machines against the planet. With her fellow agent from the Office of Scientific Investigations, Maureen, she uses the special powers that she has been endowed with as a cloned being, to track down and hopefully bring to justice, the culprit who is causing all the problems. She has a big surprise coming when she encounters the leader of the alien army. Desperately, she uses all her powers and resources to bring the alien enemy to an end.
Classic stories, legends, and fairy tales, including groups of Christmas stories, Greek legends, American Indian legends, and Hallowe'en and mystery stories.
2032-LeAnn Bethany "Beth" Connors, appears to be a normal, twelve-year-old girl. But on the inside, Beth is a special child, an accidental mutant with incredible intelligence, amazing strength, and a gift that allows her to communicate with machines. She loves karate, soccer, music, and hanging out with her friends. But more than anything, Beth wants to be free after years of isolation and captivity in Arizona. After other mutated children suffer heart conditions from a defective gene, Beth's superior knowledge is called upon to help save their lives. Years of testing and training have gone into developing these children into the next generation of humans, but an errant pilot stumbles upon the testing area and is killed by one of the more aggressive mutants. Her captors-the same scientists who trained her to kill, heal, and operate almost every piece of military hardware our country has to offer-have been ordered to terminate Beth and all others like her. But Beth's amazing abilities allow her to escape in a specially designed Hummer outfitted with the latest in technology. Beth searches for others like her in order to save lives and eventually finds a community of people who understand her-through them she finds friendship and acceptance. But when Beth learns her former captors want to destroy this species of humans, she must use everything she has learned to survive.
Get an inside perspective on life as a disabled gay man! Queer Crips: Disabled Gay Men and Their Stories reverberates with the sound of “cripgay” voices rising to be heard above the din of indifference and bias, oppression and ignorance. This unique collection of compelling first-person narratives is at once assertive, bold, and groundbreaking, filled with characters—and character. Through the intimacy of one-on-one storytelling, gay men with mobility and neuromuscular disorders, spinal cord injury, deafness, blindness, and AIDS, fight isolation from society—and each other—to establish a public identity and a common culture. Queer Crips features more than 30 first-hand accounts from a variety of perspectives, illuminating the reality of the everyday struggle disabled gay men face in a culture obsessed with conformist good looks. Themes include rejection, love, sex, dating rituals, gaycrip married life, and the profound difference between growing up queer and disabled, and suffering a life-altering injury or illness in adulthood. Co-edited by Bob Guter, creator and editor of the webzine BENT: A Journal of Cripgay Voices, the book includes: two performance pieces from acclaimed author and actor Greg Walloch poetry from Chris Hewitt, Joel S. Riche, Raymond Luczak, Mark Moody, and co-editor John Killacky essays from BENT contributors Blaine Waterman, Raymond J. Aguilera, Danny Kodmur, Thomas Metz, Max Verga, and Eli Clare interviews with community activist Gordon Elkins and Alan Sable, one of the first self-identified gay psychotherapists in the United States and much more! Queer Crips is a forum for neglected cripgay voices speaking words that are candid, edgy, bold, dreamy, challenging, and sexy. The book is essential reading for academics and students working in lesbian and gay studies, and disability studies, and for anyone who's ever visited the place where queerness and disability meet.
Being away defines what and where home is. Connecting Flights: Filipinos Write From Elsewhere straps in the words of talented contemporary Filipino writers as they set off for places known and unknown, where the dream destinations beckon and the traveller never stops moving.