Journalist Aaron Smith never planned to go to India before he had a contract put on his life by a drug dealer, when suddenly India seemed like the perfect place to get lost. In the process, he ended up finding himself, as well as encountering a dead body or two, witnessing the tragic death of a friend, dodging terrorist attacks and a revolution, and befriending a colorful cast of characters. Pulling no punches, this Gonzo-styled, page-turning Indian adventure has pathos, self-deprecation, and a wicked sense of humor. It provides a raw, honest, and amusing appraisal of traveling through contemporary India.
Fleeing his shady Australian past, Aaron Smith travels to India and encounters a murder mystery, witnesses the tragic death of a friend, dodges terrorist attacks and a revolution and befriends a colourful cast of fellow characters fit for a Bollywood flick. More than just a funny and warm 'coming of (middle) age' travel adventure Shanti Bloody Shanti allows the reader to sink into the paradox and beauty of India without drowning in sentiment.
As fans of the Vampirates series know, nothing is quite as it seems when Vampirates and pirates are involved, so twins Connor and Grace have to keep up their guards. But with every new challenge pulling them farther apart, it seems that the time has finally come for the twins to explore their separate fates. Grace, unable to forget the blindness she caused her Vampirate friend Lorcan, chooses to journey with him to see if his sight can be restored. As for Connor, he must endure the latest addition to the Diablo crew: Captain Wrathe's awful nephew, who seems to dislike him from the very start. Will both twins find success, and what will it take to bring them back together?
Vampirates Book 3 - Grace journeys with Lorcan Furey to Sanctuary, the mountaintop retreat run by Mosh Zu Kamal, which offers healing for troubled Vampirates. At Sanctuary, Grace discovers amazing new powers but falls prey to fresh dangers and temptations - including charismatic "e;Vaquero Vampirate"e; Johnny Desperado.Back on The Diablo, Connor is caught up in plans for a daring heist, devised by pirate brothers Molucco and Barbarro Wrathe. Connor is assigned the role of protector of Molucco's wayward nephew, Moonshine Wrathe. Moonshine proves a loose cannon and Connor is forced to commit an act of violence, which shocks him to his core.Meanwhile, newly sired Vampirate Stukeley finds himself wrestling between the life he has left behind and the dark realm opening up before him.
Get ready for a risk-taking rollercoaster ride through the favelas of Rio Di Janeiro and the wayside towns and jungles of South America in search of the secrets of shamans and ayahuasca – the vine of the soul. Aaron Smith’s often hilarious chronicle of love, danger and enlightenment, set in the one of most vibrant places on earth, is a true delight. Whether Aaron is being held at gunpoint in Rio, stranded on the Amazon River; interviewing musician Peter Gabriel for The Iquitos Times, dancing the samba at Carnival with the 60 Minutes team, undergoing initiation as a Matsés warrior, tripping the light fantastic, or falling in love with his beautiful Brazilian wife-to-be, you are bound to ‘experience’, along with him, more than a glimmer of gold. Like William Burroughs before him, Smith is on a journey to save his soul, but instead falls headfirst into the rich kaleidoscope of South American culture and ultimately discovers the truth that lies deep in the jungle or, sometimes, even closer to home.
Kel is sitting on a beach enjoying a beer, minding his own business. A beautiful woman approaches him and spins him a tale that she has travelled back through time to find him. They need his help. Kel thinks it all a huge practical joke until presented with technology way beyond his time. Within minutes he is in love, and soon after on a spacecraft on his way to a distant planet. There he must confront the most evil side of himself, in the form of a singularity. To achieve this his hosts must enlighten him, though the odds are stacked against him. A cross between Blade Runner and the Ten Commandments. An epic tale of a modern day St. George.
Drawing on historical and ethnographic research on tuberculosis in India, Bharat Jayram Venkat explores what it means to be cured and what it means for a cure to be partial, temporary, or selectively effective.
An Edgar Award finalist A gripping and unforgettable story of survival after life in a cult, inspired by the survivors of the Branch Davidian siege in Waco, Texas, 1993 The things I've seen are burned into me, like scars that refuse to fade. Before, she lived inside a fence with her family. After, she's trapped, now in a federal facility. Before, she was never allowed to leave the property, never allowed to talk to Outsiders, never allowed to speak her mind. After, there are too many people asking questions, wanting to know what happened to her, trying to find out who she really is. Before, she thought she was being protected from something. After, people are telling her that now she's finally safe. She isn't sure what's better, before or after, all she knows is that there are questions she can't answer, and if everything she's been told is a lie, how can she know who's telling the truth now? Suspenseful and moving, After the Fire is perfect for readers looking for cult books and stories young adult historical fiction binge-worthy teen thrillers an intense, ripped-from-the-headlines plot compulsively readable books that keep you hooked until the very end Praise for After the Fire: "Genuinely different...thrilling and spellbinding!"—Patrick Ness, #1 New York Times bestselling author "The gripping story of survival and escape...It will keep you up late until you get to the very end."—Maureen Johnson, New York Times bestselling author of Truly Devious "A heartrending portrait of a young girl's struggle to survive a domineering religious sect and the resilience of the human spirit; this belongs on every YA shelf." —School Library Journal
Anandmath is an extraordinary political novel. The plot, with its epical dimensions, is based on the sanyasi rebellion in Bengal in the late 18th century. The sanyasis fought the British against all odds, whom they regarded as an arch enemy of the country, and responsible for the terrible famine of 1772.
Meet the four misfits living in one HDB flat. One is a Malay–Jew who is trying to get his father to come back as a ghost. Cantona is a promising Bangladeshi artist on the run from a construction company. Tights is a Chinese illegal immigrant with a Forrest Gump obsession. And Shanti is a gifted Indian lab technician hiding from her abusive husband. When a forlorn pontianak begins haunting them, the four friends find themselves embroiled in a surreal showdown that may just upend the world, or at least Singapore. Written in Suffian Hakim's trademark humour, The Minorities is a novel about those living on the edges of society and their soulful bond.
