Smarak Swain is a graduate in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur and a post graduate in business and taxation law from NALSAR University, Hyderabad. He is the author of three works of non-fiction. Genetics, cosmology, international law and financial forensics are some of his areas of interest. Since writing does not support him full-time yet, he wages himself with the Indian Revenue Service as a deputy commissioner of income tax.
Outperform, outsmart, and outrun your competition with this comprehensive and fun management handbook starring Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner! Concerned about the changing business climate? Learn how to adapt with this easy-to-understand manual, where the cartoon characters of Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner act as metaphors for business managers seeking marketplace victories.
A sly debut story collection that conjures the experience of adolescence through the eyes of Chinese American girls growing up in New York City—for readers of Zadie Smith and Helen Oyeyemi. Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize • Winner of the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction • Finalist for the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New Yorker • NPR • O: The Oprah Magazine • The Guardian • Esquire • New York • BuzzFeed A fresh new voice emerges with the arrival of Sour Heart, establishing Jenny Zhang as a frank and subversive interpreter of the immigrant experience in America. Her stories cut across generations and continents, moving from the fraught halls of a public school in Flushing, Queens, to the tumultuous streets of Shanghai, China, during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s. In the absence of grown-ups, latchkey kids experiment on each other until one day the experiments turn violent; an overbearing mother abandons her artistic aspirations to come to America but relives her glory days through karaoke; and a shy loner struggles to master English so she can speak to God. Narrated by the daughters of Chinese immigrants who fled imperiled lives as artists back home only to struggle to stay afloat—dumpster diving for food and scamming Atlantic City casino buses to make a buck—these seven stories showcase Zhang’s compassion, moral courage, and a perverse sense of humor reminiscent of Portnoy’s Complaint. A darkly funny and intimate rendering of girlhood, Sour Heart examines what it means to belong to a family, to find your home, leave it, reject it, and return again. Praise for Sour Heart “[Jenny Zhang’s] coming-of-age tales are coarse and funny, sweet and sour, told in language that’s rough-hewn yet pulsating with energy.”—USA Today “One of the knockout fiction debuts of the year.”—New York “Compelling writing about what it means to be a teenager . . . It’s brilliant, it’s dark, but it’s also humorous and filled with love.”—Isaac Fitzgerald, Today “[A] combustible collection . . . in a class of its own.”—Booklist (starred review) “Gorgeous and grotesque . . . [a] tremendous debut.”—Slate
Meet space-school attendee Bob and his alien bestie Beep in this start to an outrageously funny and action-packed chapter book series that’s great for “kids who love funny stories but may be too young for books like Diary of a Wimpy Kid” (School Library Journal) from debut author Jonathan Roth! Astro Elementary is a school near Saturn attended by the bravest, brightest, most elite kids in the galaxy…and Bob. Bob never wanted to go to fourth grade in dark, dangerous space. He even tried to fail the admissions test by bubbling in “C” for every answer—and turned out to be the only kid on Earth to get a perfect score! Bob feels he couldn’t be more misplaced at his school—until he meets Beep. Beep is an alien from the planet Orth who was kicked off his home world for being too small. The instant Bob finds him, Beep adopts Bob as his new mother. Soon Bob can’t turn around without bumping into Beep’s squishy little body. Together, they make the perfect team. And Bob logs their adventures on his space blog, or SPLOG, with Beep providing the illustrations. In their first adventure, Bob is humiliated on a field trip to Pluto when his tongue gets stuck to the ice. Not even Beep can keep Bob from becoming the laughing stock of the school. Bob has to find a way to completely change his personality, just in time for their next treacherous field trip—to the gaping mouth of a super massive black hole!
Turn the shaped pages and join in with all the noises the car makes as it travels through town, along the busy road, over the zebra crossing, and down the hill to Granny's house.
There are some people who can never come straight to a point. If you ask them a simple question like what is the time? They would probably reply, “Time! This is the most horrible time of my life. My father is not sending me more money, I can’t understand any damn thing in the lectures, no girl ever seems to be interested in me and the hostel food is pathetic. It is the worst time of my life.” In short, this book is like a ‘handbook of everyday humour’. It is based on observation of funny tendencies in people and then creating fictional caricatures and anecdotes around them. The tendency of beating around the mulberry bush has been converted into a fictional character called ‘Simon Satellite’. And yes, there are many more such characters and anecdotes, served With a Pinch of Salt...
A SOLDIER'S GUIDE TO LEARNING THE TRICKS OF THE TRADE The original "no bullshit" soldier's handbooks, loaded with tips, tricks and ideas on how to live, thrive and stay comfortable in a military outdoor environment through field expedient know-how. From how to take a dump in the woods, improvise/modify or improve military and civilian outdoor gear, combat survival techniques, reducing field boredom, leadership tips, jokes and much more. NEWLY REVISED and UPDATED 2012 EDITION This is the first of two collections that compile all the original 9 volumes into a new 'Complete and Newly Revised Edition'. NOT your typical boring military field manual, these volumes contain info that will keep you one step ahead of your average soldier. Rangers lead the way! This newly revised edition of the first five of nine volumes, adds updated equipment info, new suppliers (now with web links) and much more. "As a former US Army Ranger, Drill Instructor and Advisor/Trainer to the Bosnia & Herzegovina Army (1996-97) under the US State Department "Train & Equip Program". I have always enjoyed sharing with soldiers my personal experiences, tips, tricks and ideas in how to survive & thrive in the outdoors. And although I've been retired from the United States Army since January 1993, I am still doing what I like best - teaching & training soldiers. But not in a class room but through a series of books called THE RANGER DIGESTS. Now before I decided to self-publish these books I use to forward all my tips, tricks and ideas to the Department of the Army. But the only thing I ever received back were letters saying, "...sorry, not feasible for military outdoor field conditions." Well since the Army wasn't interested in my ideas, I then decided to write a book about my tips & tricks and try to market them to the troops myself. After all, when it comes to "common sense" and "field craft ingenuity" the troops know more about this stuff than some "chair-borne" colonel or general sitting behind his nice cozy desk at the Pentagon."
My Truck Is Stuck. Rotten luck. Can't go! My truck is stuck. Tug and tow. Two engines roar. But the truck won't go. Not one inch more. Does anyone know how to make my stuck truck go? In this lyrical read-aloud, young drivers are introduced to the ins and outs of hauling, beeping, and repairing -- get ready for a fun ride!
“A poignant story.” —School Library Journal “An unforgettable, life-affirming tale.” —Booklist The Graveyard Book meets Hatchet in this eerie novel about a boy who is stranded on a mysterious beach, from debut author Samantha M. Clark. A boy washes up on a mysterious, seemingly uninhabited beach. Who is he? How did he get there? The boy can’t remember. When he sees a light shining over the foreboding wall of trees that surrounds the shore, he decides to follow it, in the hopes that it will lead him to answers. The boy’s journey is a struggle for survival and a search for the truth—a terrifying truth that once uncovered, will force him to face his greatest fear of all if he is to go home. This gripping adventure will have readers hooked until its jaw-dropping and moving conclusion. Samantha M. Clark’s first novel heralds the arrival of an exciting new voice.
Reality TV can be murder in the Jersey Shore mysteries from the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of the Mr. Lemoncello’s Library series. What if a reality TV show like Jersey Shore set up production in the fictional seaside resort Sea Haven? What if hitting the gym, tanning, and doing a little laundry aren’t the only things the contestants get into? By-the-book officer John Ceepak and his wisecracking young partner, Danny Boyle, have to babysit the buff and boozy kids partying it up in a Jersey shore rental house for TV’s summertime hit Fun House while simultaneously trying to stop the rowdy kids from breaking the law up and down the beach. But even Ceepak and Danny can’t stop one young cast member from being murdered—and others from being threatened with the same fate.
