A local Civil War hero, admired by the townspeople, is found dead in the cold, swirling waters under the Federal Street pier. An accident or a murder? Nearly a hundred years later, three little boys with a yen for adventure and their indefatigable Grampa stumble upon an old grave and The Legend of Three-Finger Willie comes to life. Laced with the intrigues and insecurities that war brings in its aftermath, the true story behind the ghost haunting the streets of Belfast seeking forgiveness from his embittered sister is at last revealed. T.O. McFarland was born in Camden, a small town on the coast of Maine. His formative years were during the nineteen fifties when a kid's imagination was not influenced by television or computers. He is now living in Texas recording the adventures he had with his brothers and cousins and sharing them through his stories.
Front cover: A book of rhymes, games, jokes, stories, secret languages, beliefs and camp legends, for parents, grandparents, teachers, counselors and all adults who were once children.
WINNER of the 2003 Ignatz Award for Best Graphic Novel! ". . . a single-minded obsession with animation history informs this work even as its creator twists and tears that history into a new, hideous, and hilarious form. There's a little bit of Roger Rabbit and a whole lot of Spinal Tap at work here. Twisted and dark, funny and frightening, this is a deliciously evil toon history that demands attention." -- Alan David Doane Top Shelf is proud to present a very unique comics project. Through a series of never-before-seen interviews and rare photos, documentary-maker Rich Koslowski reveals the horrifying true story behind the Cartoon industry and our most celebrated cartoon actors -- the story that Hollywood doesn't want you to see. Told in the same style as a Ken Burns documentary, with interviews of 'toon stars today as well as historical "file footage"of the "early years,"this work of fiction will forever change the way you think of those beloved characters in the white gloves. ... Rich Koslowski has worked in the Animation and Comic Book industry for the past 12 years. Best known for his three-time, Eisner-nominated work on his self-published parody title "The 3 Geeks,"this ground-breaking graphic novel is sure to appeal to everyone.
Blood on the Thistle is an examination of the life and times of a remarkable Scottish family, the Cranstons of Haddington, East Lothian. It focuses on a period from about 1880, when the young, hard-working parents, Alec and Lizzie Cranston, arrived in Haddington, through to 1920, when the family they had produced, torn apart by the effects of the Great War, broke up as its surviving members pursued separate lives around the globe.Out of seven sons who served in the First World War, four died and two more were horrifically wounded; only one, the youngest, returned home physically unscathed. This book explores the effects of this extreme sacrifice on the sons themselves as well as the loved ones they left behind, particularly their mother, Lizzie, who mourned them for the rest of her days.This is the tale of how a once proud and aspirational Scottish family was devastated by war, and how the effects continued to ripple through time and generations. Until, a century later, the threads of this remarkable family finally begin to be drawn together again, in a book that is at once a superb documentary account and a moving tribute to a generation.
The story of Willie Mays's rookie year with the Negro American League's Birmingham Black Barons, the Last Negro World Series, and the making of a baseball legend Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays is one of baseball's endearing greats, a tremendously talented and charismatic center fielder who hit 660 career homeruns, collected 3,283 hits, knocked in 1,903 runs, won 12 Gold Glove Awards and appeared in 24 All-Star games. But before Mays was the "Say Hey Kid", he was just a boy. Willie's Boys is the story of his remarkable 1948 rookie season with the Negro American League's Birmingham Black Barons, who took a risk on a raw but gifted 16-year-old and gave him the experience, confidence, and connections to escape Birmingham's segregation, navigate baseball's institutional racism, and sign with the New York Giants. Willie's Boys offers a character-rich narrative of the apprenticeship Mays had at the hands of a diverse group of savvy veterans who taught him the ways of the game and the world. Sheds new light on the virtually unknown beginnings of a baseball great, not available in other books Captures the first incredible steps of a baseball superstar in his first season with the Negro League's Birmingham Black Barons Introduces the veteran group of Negro League players, including Piper Davis, who gave Mays an incredible apprenticeship season Illuminates the Negro League's last days, drawing on in-depth research and interviews with remaining players Explores the heated rivalry between Mays's Black Barons and Buck O'Neil's Kansas City Monarchs , culminating in the last Negro League World Series Breaks new historical ground on what led the New York Giants to acquire Mays, and why he didn't sign with the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Yankees, or Boston Red Sox Packed with stories and insights, Willie's Boys takes you inside an important part of baseball history and the development of one of the all-time greats ever to play the game.
Completion of this project was something Richard T. (Dick) Miller had thought about for a number of years. The recounting of his experiences, his lifestyle as a member of French Hill, the French Canadian Catholic Community in Nashua, New Hampshire, as a young man gives the reader an insight of what this little known way of life was like. His college years and adventures as a tank platoon leader in the U.S. Army as well as a test pilot and a combat pilot in Vietnam round out this interesting account of The Adventures of Young Victor Huber.
Puckwudgie: Legend of Sunset Hill by Ralph S. Hutchinson In the woods of New Hampshire live a species of shape-shifting creatures, called Puckwudgie. Known to be general trouble-makers, the Puckwudgie are known for exploiting the fallibility of human thinking. Skeptics are invited to follow one man’s journey from adolescence to adulthood, as he chronicles his life’s encounters with these, as well as other mystical creatures – Little Foot, Big Foot, the Moth Man, and the Black Bird of Doom – which make their homes in the wilderness of New Hampshire.
My manuscript is a historical fiction novel. The story line follows a young Minnesota farm boy into the army after the outbreak of the war. It follows him through basic training, jump school, and then on into the war. The book covers the Normandy Invasionthe battle known as The Bridgeto far up into Holland and finally, the Battle of the Bulge. Throughout the book, I take the reader back to Minnesota so they may see how war affects family and friends on the home front. All the characters are fictional. However, all the military bases in the US and Europe are factual. Each battle my characters are involved in are accurate by timeline and locations. Anyone who is a student of the war or readers who love this genre should appreciate those facts. However, as the novel is a fictional work, I have taken literary license to add drama and hold-your-breath scenes throughout the story.
Nelson, self-proclaimed "outlaw'' of country music, is depicted from many angles in this rambling account of his trajectory into celebrity. Written with freelancer Shrake in salty and sometimes vulgar language, Nelson's reflections on his three wives, children, his country music peers and others in his large, floating entourage reveal a hard-living man. The singer toiled in the fields as a child during the Depression, was left by his teenage parents with grandparents who raised him and his sister in Texas. The experience was pivotal to his career: "My desire to escape from manual labor started in the cotton fields of my childhood and cannot be overstated.'' Nelson began his road life as "an itinerant singer and guitar picker'' on trips punctuated with alcohol, drugs and sex as he climbed to eminence in the world of country music. Now "crossed over,'' popular with national audiences, Nelson notes that he enjoys all the personal perquisites of his success. Among his revelations here, the singer recalls smoking pot on the roof of the White House after entertaining at a Carter state dinner. Photos not seen by PW. BOMC and QPBC alternates; first serial to Texas Monthly and Golf Digest; paperback rights to Pocket Books. (October) - Publishers Weekly.
