Foreign-sponsored terrorist attacks aimed at conquering American communities and US territory have not yet become a reality. Such attacks, though not probable, are unfortunately not impossible. Actual events and even fictional stories about terrorism, both domestic and foreign, are often far removed from American communities and the reality of most people's everyday lives. The Ghosts of Gaylord challenges that reality by dropping the devastation of such attacks onto an otherwise normal, peaceful American community. This troubling narrative is told through the actions of people--active military and veterans, law enforcement, and civilian groups--who unite and fight to preserve their way of life, all while reaffirming their belief in freedom.
Gaylord Brewer's ninth collection of poetry, Country of Ghost, is by turns harrowing, haunted, and darkly humorous, and always deeply felt. When the figure Ghost appears--crossing a bridge in Spain, beside a river of the dead in France, across a midnight lake in Finland--our speaker follows into a ravenous geography of longing and regret. In this astounding sequence of poems, who has summonsed whom? Brewer's folie à deux explores both the worlds of the living and of the dead, worlds alternately aching and tender, and of the spirits caught between them.
The chaotic Pentecost home is thrown into further turmoil by the arrival of three young visitors. Then, without warning, a threat from outside enters their lives. The idyllic countryside surrounding the Pentecost's home holds an unknown danger as fear takes a grip.
Who won the first Daytona 500? Fans still debate whether it was midwestern champion Johnny Beauchamp, declared the victor at the finish line, or longtime NASCAR driver Lee Petty, declared the official winner a few days after the race. The Ghosts of NASCAR puts the controversial finish under a microscope. Author John Havick interviewed scores of people, analyzed film of the race, and pored over newspaper accounts of the event. He uses this information and his deep knowledge of the sport as it worked then to determine what probably happened. But he also tells a much bigger story: the story of how Johnny Beauchamp—and his Harlan, Iowa, compatriots, mechanic Dale Swanson and driver Tiny Lund—ended up in Florida driving in the 1959 Daytona race. The Ghosts of NASCAR details how the Harlan Boys turned to racing cars to have fun and to escape the limited opportunities for poor boys in rural southwestern Iowa. As auto racing became more popular and better organized in the 1950s, Swanson, Lund, and Beauchamp battled dozens of rivals and came to dominate the sport in the Midwest. By the later part of the decade, the three men were ready to take on the competition in the South’s growing NASCAR circuit. One of the top mechanics of the day, Swanson literally wrote the book on race cars at Chevrolet’s clandestine racing shop in Atlanta, Georgia, while Beauchamp and Lund proved themselves worthy competitors. It all came to a head on the brand-new Daytona track in 1959. The Harlan Boys’ long careers and midwestern racing in general have largely faded from memory. The Ghosts of NASCAR recaptures it all: how they negotiated the corners on dirt tracks and passed or spun out their opponents; how officials tore down cars after races to make sure they conformed to track rules; the mix of violence and camaraderie among fierce competitors; and the struggles to organize and regulate the sport. One of very few accounts of 1950s midwestern stock car racing, The Ghosts of NASCAR is told by a man who was there during the sport’s earliest days.
A collection of ghost stories and narration unique to the state of Kansas. The stories are a blend of mystery and menace. The ghosts are shown are to notoriously linked to a specific structure or landscape, whether it be an 18th century mansion or a bottomless pool.
It's 1903. Harry Houdini, the great escape artist, seeks the help of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, to discredit Maximillian Cairo, an infamous occultist and the most debauched man in London. But the two men get more than they bargained for when they interrupt a magic ritual. That night, they set something loose - something no one can face and stay sane. Something that runs amok, spreading death and madness throughout an unsuspecting Edwardian London. Both men are tortured by self-doubt for the first time in their lives. Have their logical minds been tainted by this brush with frenzy? Their sole hope to understand what is happening to them lies with the only witness to the first murder. But the man refuses to reveal what he's seen, even to save his life. All Houdini's talents and all Conan Doyle's powers of deduction combined may not be enough to save them from what they have unleashed on the world.
A mix of mystery and history, Gourmet Ghosts is a unique guide to more than 40 haunted bars and restaurants in Los Angeles. Including new and previously-unpublished stories, photographs and eyewitness accounts, this book also digs into the newspaper archives to find out if there's any truth to the tales - and offers tips on the best food, drink and Happy Hours. From Downtown to Hollywood and from West Hollywood to the Westside, you can find out which booth to choose if you want to dine with a ghost, read about ""The Night Watchman"" at the Spring Arts Tower, walk in the steps of ""Glover's Ghost"" at Yamashiro or examine the strange pictures from the Queen Mary and the Mandrake Bar. Your table is ready!
The Japanese military has turned the once-thriving Chinese city of Nencheng into a reeking pile of blood and ash. And now the Japanese Rising Sun threatens to scorch the ancient—and oil-rich—Kingdom of the Silver Lake. Can the Chinese survive the onslaught? Do they have a prayer? The answer is about to fall out of the sky. He is The Falcon Killer. China's ace fighter pilot and scourge of the Japanese air force, he is, in fact, Bill Gaylord, an American orphaned and self-reliant—a man without a country and without fear. Like William Holden, he's the guy every man wants to be ... and every woman wants to be with. Shot down over Nencheng, Gaylord parachutes into the arms of the one woman who can give him reason to live ... and to rejoin the fight against Japan—as he squares off against their top spy. His prey is in his sights, and catching it will change everything ... for The Falcon Killer. As a young man, Hubbard visited Manchuria, where his closest friend headed up British intelligence in northern China. Hubbard gained a unique insight into the intelligence operations and spy-craft in the region as well as the hostile political climate between China and Japan—a knowledge that informs stories like The Falcon Killer.
In this chilling Shirley Jackson Award-nominated novel, a small, quiet Midwestern town is unremarkable save for one fact: when the teenagers reach a certain age, they run wild. When Lumen Fowler looks back on her childhood, she wouldn't have guessed she would become a kind suburban wife, a devoted mother. In fact, she never thought she would escape her small and peculiar hometown. When We Were Animals is Lumen's confessional: as a well-behaved and over-achieving teenager, she fell beneath the sway of her community's darkest, strangest secret. For one year, beginning at puberty, every resident "breaches" during the full moon. On these nights, adolescents run wild, destroying everything in their path. Lumen resists. Promising her father she will never breach, she investigates the mystery of her community's traditions and the stories erased from the town record. But the more we learn about the town's past, the more we realize that Lumen's memories are harboring secrets of their own. A gothic coming-of-age tale for modern times, When We Were Animals is a dark, provocative journey into the American heartland. Nominated for the 2015 Shirley Jackson Award for Best Novel
