Nolan Kennedy is a young American teaching English in Istanbul and hanging out with his alcoholic friend Don Darius. Don might also be the greatest living American novelist judging by the script Kennedy finds in Don's trash. But Don has left town and Kennedy had better find him and persuade him to get serious about the book before Don decides to get serious about the vodka. The catalyst Don thinks will help is finding the woman he met on the LAIKONIK EXPRESS. Kennedy and Don embark on a journey to find her in back-of-beyond Central Europe but en route find much more than a mysterious woman.
In A Blue Coast Mystery: Almost Solved, a London nurse narrates the story of a drifter she latches onto in a public hospital. Henri is in permanent recovery, not only from his heroin addiction but from the 1960s, a decade that invited the unwary to the biggest party in history then discarded them. She is curious about his past life on the Côte d’Azur with a French countess, hanging out with the Rolling Stones in their exile. Henri dismisses that story; it’s an old one. Instead, he tells her about a couple he knew in Nice, the man an Armenian with the convenient name Armen, and his wife, Luciana, originally from Bessarabia, a forgotten battleground of Europe, subsumed into the bigger countries around it. They are gamblers who continually made and lost small fortunes. They are also genocide survivors – a word Henri understands for the first time when he hears them utter it – Armen escaping the Smyrna conflagration in 1922, and Luciana surviving the totalitarian powers that scourged Europe in the Second World War. Both are from places that no longer exist. Henri’s affinity with them becomes friendship, even as their troubles multiply when Luciana falls prey to a wasting disease. When a series of catastrophes robs Henri of his friends and his countess, his days on the Blue Coast are numbered, and soon he is back in his native England, in and out of London’s hospitals. There are signs that his luck has not been all bad: Henri may have salvaged some of the fortune his friends lost, and the narrator feels close to a solution to a final mystery from his time on the Blue Coast when she deduces that he is not as adrift as he seems. Nick Sweeney is a freelance writer and musician living on the English coast. His fascination with East European history and culture will become apparent to readers of A Blue Coast Mystery: Almost Solved. Nick’s other books include the Poland-set Laikonik Express and The Exploding Elephant.
In A Blue Coast Mystery: Almost Solved, a London nurse narrates the story of a drifter she latches onto in a public hospital. Henri is in permanent recovery, not only from his heroin addiction, but from the 1960s, a decade that invited the unwary to the biggest party in history, then discarded them. She is curious about his past life on the Côte d'Azur with a French countess, hanging out with the Rolling Stones in their exile.Henri dismisses that story; it's an old one. Instead, he tells her about a couple he knew in Nice, the man an Armenian with the convenient name Armen, and his wife, Luciana, originally from Bessarabia, a forgotten battleground of Europe, subsumed into the bigger countries around it. They are gamblers who continually made and lost small fortunes. They are also genocide survivors - a word Henri understands for the first time when he hears them utter it - Armen escaping the Smyrna conflagration in 1922, and Luciana surviving the totalitarian powers that scourged Europe in the Second World War. Both are from places that no longer exist. Henri's affinity with them becomes friendship, even as their troubles multiply when Luciana falls prey to a wasting disease.Their story comes ends when they disappear one winter evening; their fate sealed when their bodies turn up in the spring, victims of misadventure. Henri's world tumbles further into chaos with the loss of his countess to a familiar junkie fate. His days on the Blue Coast are numbered, and soon he is back in his native England, in and out of London's hospitals. There are signs that his luck has not been all bad: Henri may have salvaged some of the fortune his friends lost, and the narrator feels close to a solution to a final mystery from his time on the Blue Coast when she deduces that he is not as adrift as he seems.Nick Sweeney is a freelance writer and musician living on the English coast. His fascination with East European history and culture will become apparent to readers of A Blue Coast Mystery; Almost Solved. Nick's other books include Laikonik Express and The Exploding Elephant.
A stunning, mind-bending warning against the danger of joining gangs, Paul Kavanagh's debut novel is a James Joyce-esque romp through the life of anti-hero Henry, lover of beauty, literature and drinking, an unforgettable journey into and out of one man's consciousness. Linguistically rich and unapologetically experimental, The Killing of a Bank Manager is a true original. It is the perfect antidote to beach reading.
When their father is critically wounded in World War II, the four Harrison children take the famous Santa Fe Chief to stay with an uncle in California. Worried about their father and less than enthusiastic about a summer with their boring uncle, the four soon discover that this is no ordinary train trip. In rushing to get off of the train, a passenger whom they have barely met asks them to deliver a message to someone they will meet at one of the train stops-a message critical to the allied effort. Then, by accident, they blunder into a private car where they meet the beautiful and mysterious Celeste. She shows an usual interest in the youngest, Grace. When the train breaks down in the desert, Celeste lures them to her car. Her plans become clear. She wants to send Grace on a quest to find a crystal holding water from the beginning of time, water set aside for the healing of the earth. Celeste says it will heal their father, but they suspect that she wants it for herself. In trying to escape her, they leap from the train only to discover themselves in the prehistoric West. Their only hope of return is to find the crystal. But to do so, they have to cross thousands of miles of wilderness. They have nothing but each other, their wits, and a map than only Grace can read.
One of the most successful pop stars of the 80s, his face adorning posters on teenager's walls from Acton to Akron, Adam Ant was a phenomenon. Now in this frank and revealing autobiography, he tells the full story of his amazing life from his dysfunctional childhood to his key role in the punk movement and creation of a unique musical style that brought him a string of hits (both singles and albums). At one point he was so famous other stars sought his company and advice - even Michael Jackson called in the dead of night to ask about music and clothes. His many girlfriends included Jamie Lee Curtis and Heather Graham and for a time he lived in LA, acting in fifteen films. Adam also writes honestly about his life-long battle with manic depression. His first episodes were triggered by the stress of living with a violent, alcoholic father, and he tried to commit suicide when he was at art school. A gruelling episode with a stalker in LA precipitated a mental breakdown, and a stalker in London led to his well-publicised arrest and hospitalization in 2001. At times funny and at other times tragic, this is gripping account of the turbulent life and times of one of music's most fascinating figures. 'A whirlwind story of sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, suicide attempts and deranged stalkers' Time Out 'With plenty of lessons to be learned about fame's downside, [this] is an intriguing tale, well and honestly told' Q Magazine
Curtailing military spending, soldiers dying in futile wars, exclusive rights of publication, cohesion among union members, and mass transit solutions to traffic problems will always be essential in negotiations. Triton Among Minnows is four short stories about individuals that are pieces of music intended for vocal expression, illustrated by beautiful and at times outstanding photographs. Four self-appointed doers of justice, conciliatory and propriety people gifts to the world, deep in faith, caretakers who couldnat bear to live out their lives on a farm somewhere in the Midwest while inadequacy and apathy run amuck. Thus they become evil, to combat evil. aFor those who can not receive human help, wait on the Holy One, for the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.a HABAKKUK2: 3
From the author of #futureboard and creator of the popular blog Thoughts.Stories.Life., comes a book that proves that anyone can change their life, achieve success, and live their dream. As a single mom living on food stamps, Sarah completely changed her life of poverty to enable her to live her dream in just eighteen months. Sarah discovered the tools to change her life after her husband abandoned her and their three small children in 2008. Her story has impacted hundreds of thousands worldwide through her simple eight-step plan for achieving success known as the #HBRMethod. Centrella features fifty-one inspiring stories of people who believe in Sarah’s message, each of whom she interviewed for this book. They include: NFL star running back Jonathan Stewart; NBA power forward Anthony Tolliver; Famed artist Victor Matthews; Bestselling author Laura Munson Middle weight world boxing champion Daniel Jacobs CEO Ryan Blair Morgan Stanley executive director Kimberley Hatchett Among many others. Hustle Believe Receive shows how these stories are connected, and how Sarah, a single mom from Oregon, manages to bring them all together in the most unlikely way. It offers true tales of how real people are living the impossible. This book answers the question of “How did they do that?” and, more importantly, how you can, too.
