Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The year 2021. Major Royale has been posted to Sidney as the new Liaison Officer, as the war for Canada slowly winds down. Although the war may have been won, the battles continue. Islamic terrorists, military traitors, suicide bombers and the threat of nuclear destruction provide the backdrop for this second and final book in the Rita Royale series. Toss in a homeless teenaged artist, a harlot in the heat wave, the suspected Antichrist, a dash or two of romance, and you have a recipe for an exciting read. The Beach House does not disappoint. Life will never be the same for the residents living close to the now thirty-six year old Special Forces major.
A three and a half year glimpse into the world of Rita Royale, an instinctive thirty-one year old unmarried, half Jewish, professional poker player. Free spirited mentally, physically and sexually. A woman entirely unconcerned with labels and purposely detached from any and all political worlds until a phone call from her sister changes everything. Within six months of taking power, Canada's majority left wing coalition government has voted overwhelmingly for Sharia law as the new law of the land. A backlash leading to a civil war erupts in Western Canada almost immediately and the Albertan woman who had ignored the world for so long is drawn straight into the heart of the whirlwind. From a private in the Western Militia to a major in Badger Troop, a special forces unit in the new Free Canadian Army, the beautiful Rita rises quickly in rank while guided by an eagle spirit and an unseen general with plans to retake and reshape his country. A serious and sometimes humorous look into the life and times of Rita Royale as she juggles love in its many variations, fights for women's freedom in a war of no surrender, and strives to fathom the mind of the military and the crazies alike.
The melody of death... Down at the edge of Mexican town, where the pavement gives out and the yellow dust drifts ankle deep over the hard packed adobe, a radio is moaning a dreamy beat into the night. It is the kind of music that needs two people, but only one is listening—a long legged blonde who keeps time to the music while brushing her glistening hair... She drops the brush and reaches for the tall glass that stands on the dressing table—and then she hesitates, peering into the blackness of the room beyond. There is no doubt about the sound... “Frank?” She stands up and moves through the doorway, the name still on her lips. And then she dies...horribly.
"Why don't you come up and see me sometime?" Mae West invited and promptly captured the imagination of generations. Even today, years after her death, the actress and author is still regarded as the pop archetype of sexual wantonness and ribald humor. But who was this saucy starlet, a woman who was controversial enough to be jailed, pursued by film censors and banned from the airwaves for the revolutionary content of her work, and yet would ascend to the status of film legend? Sifting through previously untapped sources, author Jill Watts unravels the enigmatic life of Mae West, tracing her early years spent in the Brooklyn subculture of boxers and underworld figures, and follows her journey through burlesque, vaudeville, Broadway and, finally, Hollywood, where she quickly became one of the big screen's most popular--and colorful--stars. Exploring West's penchant for contradiction and her carefully perpetuated paradoxes, Watts convincingly argues that Mae West borrowed heavily from African American culture, music, dance and humor, creating a subversive voice for herself by which she artfully challenged society and its assumptions regarding race, class and gender. Viewing West as a trickster, Watts demonstrates that by appropriating for her character the black tradition of double-speak and "signifying," West also may have hinted at her own African-American ancestry and the phenomenon of a black woman passing for white. This absolutely fascinating study is the first comprehensive, interpretive account of Mae West's life and work. It reveals a beloved icon as a radically subversive artist consciously creating her own complex image.
While many fans remember The Lone Ranger, Ace Drummond and others, fewer focus on the facts that serials had their roots in silent film and that many foreign studios also produced serials, though few made it to the United States. The 471 serials and 100 series (continuing productions without the cliffhanger endings) from the United States and 136 serials and 37 series from other countries are included in this comprehensive reference work. Each entry includes title, country of origin, year, studio, number of episodes, running time or number of reels, episode titles, cast, production credits, and a plot synopsis.
Interest in these plants, in addition to their effectiveness against numerous pests, is also because commercial pyrethrum and rotenone insecticides derived from these plants are also comparatively nontoxic to man and other warm-blooded animals. They may be used with safety in the household, for livestock dips and sprays, and on garden vegetables, fruits and canning crops.
