Linda Olson and her husband, Dave Hodgens, were young doctors whose story had all the makings of a fairy tale. But then, while they were vacationing in Germany, a train hit their van, shattering their lives—and Linda’s body. When Linda saw Dave for the first time after losing her right arm and both of her legs, she told him she would understand if he left. His response: “I didn’t marry your arms or your legs. If you can do it, I can do it.” In order to protect their loved ones, they decided to hide the truth about what really happened on those train tracks, and they kept their secret for thirty-five years. As a triple amputee, Linda learned to walk with prostheses and change diapers and insert IVs with one hand. She finished her residency while pregnant and living on her own. And she and Dave went on to pursue their dream careers, raise two children, and travel the world. Inspiring and deeply moving, Gone asks readers to find not only courage but also laughter in the unexpected challenges we all face. The day of the accident, no one envied Linda and Dave. Today, many do.
Inception meets True Detective in this science fiction thriller of spellbinding tension and staggering scope that follows a special agent into a savage murder case with grave implications for the fate of mankind.... “I promise you have never read a story like this.”—Blake Crouch, New York Times bestselling author of Dark Matter Shannon Moss is part of a clandestine division within the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. In western Pennsylvania, 1997, she is assigned to solve the murder of a Navy SEAL's family—and to locate his vanished teenage daughter. Though she can't share the information with conventional law enforcement, Moss discovers that the missing SEAL was an astronaut aboard the spaceship U.S.S. Libra—a ship assumed lost to the currents of Deep Time. Moss knows first-hand the mental trauma of time-travel and believes the SEAL's experience with the future has triggered this violence. Determined to find the missing girl and driven by a troubling connection from her own past, Moss travels ahead in time to explore possible versions of the future, seeking evidence to crack the present-day case. To her horror, the future reveals that it's not only the fate of a family that hinges on her work, for what she witnesses rising over time's horizon and hurtling toward the present is the Terminus: the terrifying and cataclysmic end of humanity itself. Luminous and unsettling, The Gone World bristles with world-shattering ideas yet remains at its heart an intensely human story.
The spellbinding memoir of a violin virtuoso who loses the instrument that had defined her both on stage and off -- and who discovers, beyond the violin, the music of her own voice Her first violin was tiny, harsh, factory-made; her first piece was “Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star.” But from the very beginning, Min Kym knew that music was the element in which she could swim and dive and soar. At seven years old, she was a prodigy, the youngest ever student at the famed Purcell School. At eleven, she won her first international prize; at eighteen, violinist great Ruggiero Ricci called her “the most talented violinist I’ve ever taught.” And at twenty-one, she found “the one,” the violin she would play as a soloist: a rare 1696 Stradivarius. Her career took off. She recorded the Brahms concerto and a world tour was planned. Then, in a London café, her violin was stolen. She felt as though she had lost her soulmate, and with it her sense of who she was. Overnight she became unable to play or function, stunned into silence. In this lucid and transfixing memoir, Kym reckons with the space left by her violin’s absence. She sees with new eyes her past as a child prodigy, with its isolation and crushing expectations; her combustible relationships with teachers and with a domineering boyfriend; and her navigation of two very different worlds, her traditional Korean family and her music. And in the stark yet clarifying light of her loss, she rediscovers her voice and herself.
A hilarious, action-packed look at the apocalypse that combines a touching tale of friendship, a thrilling war story, and an all out kung-fu infused mission to save the world. “A flat-out ferociously good novel.... Reads like a surrealist smashup of Pynchon and Pratchett, Vonnegut and Heller.” —Austin Chronicle Gonzo Lubitch and his best friend have been inseparable since birth. They grew up together, they studied kung-fu together, they rebelled in college together, and they fought in the Go Away War together. Now, with the world in shambles and dark, nightmarish clouds billowing over the wastelands, they have been tapped for an incredibly perilous mission. But they quickly realize that this assignment is more complex than it seems, and before it is over they will have encountered everything from mimes, ninjas, and pirates to one ultra-sinister mastermind, whose only goal is world domination.
"Girl Online" meets "Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging" in novel for ages 12-15 that delves into the world of social media with an accessible heroine and a memorable cast of characters.
'Undoubtedly the most powerful and immediate book to emerge from the Balkan horror of ethnic civil war' Antony Beevor, Daily Telegraph In 1993, Anthony Loyd hitchhiked to the Balkans hoping to become a journalist. Leaving behind him the legends of a distinguished military family, he wanted to see 'a real war' for himself. In Bosnia he found one. The cruelty and chaos of the conflict both appalled and embraced him; the adrenalin lure of the action perhaps the loudest siren call of all. In the midst of the daily life-and-death struggle among Bosnia's Serbs, Croats and Muslims, Loyd was inspired by the extraordinary human fortitude he discovered. But returning home he found the void of peacetime too painful to bear, and so began a longstanding personal battle with drug abuse. This harrowing account shows humanity at its worst and best. It is a breathtaking feat of reportage; an uncompromising look at the terrifyingly seductive power of war. 'As good as reporting gets. I have nowhere read a more vivid account of frontline fear and survival. Forget the strategic overview. All war is local' Martin Bell, The Times
Jerry was recruited by Gonzaga University during the summer of 1951. His thirty-year run as a basketball player, coach, and diversified educator in Washington State began in September of that year. The new coach, Hank Anderson, led the team on a long march to becoming the great nationally recognized basketball program that exists at Gonzaga University today. Jerrys memoirs show his enormous appreciation for Gonzaga University and his pride in being a part of that beginning greatness. Jerry started as a freshman on the first Anderson team. During four years of competition, he amassed an incredible 1,670 rebounds. Sixty years later, that record still stands! Unbelievably, the next-closest player is 760 behind. This is a record that might never be broken! He is still in the top ten in scoring and a member of the over-forty-point club. At one time, he held all the scoring records. His standing jump was 11'1''. For those who dont know, thats 13 inches above the rim. At 6'4'', he jumped center for Gonzaga in over one hundred games and controlled 90 percent of them! The many great players who came later, including John Stockton and Frank Burgess, chipped away at his early records. Describing the why, when, where, and how of his lifes chronicle fulfills a family need. Additionally, the players, students, and professionals Jerry met along his journey will be pleased to know more about his voyage. During an evening visit to his son-in-laws home, Jerry discovered an inspirational force that set in motion an autobiographical explication dedicated to his family. Todd Harrison, Jerrys son-in-law, showed him a brief composition written by Todds grandfather that described his life and the settling of a Mormon family in early Utah. The manuscript is cherished by Todd and his family because it recounts the hardships, experiences, and successes of their ancestor. It became obvious to Jerry that such a composition would be an ideal way to share parts of his boyhood and professional life more intimately with family. For whatever reasons, Jerry felt that he had not been able to fully share his life experiences with his family. He has stated, I just didnt talk much to the kids about other experiences in my life while they were growing up. When Jerry began composing this book, the missed stories flowed effortlessly from his memory. In this text, he recounts personal stories about the conflicts, hardships, and successes he experienced while growing up and describes how he overcame a lifelong debilitating handicap. With sincerity and subtle humor, he recounts boyhood lessons learned and the gripping stories of peers known, players coached, professionals met, and experiences lived.
We are living in a day when countless multitudes have lost their way both morally and spiritually. Like a ship without anchor, this last day's generation is being tossed to and fro by a flood of deception and wrong influences that is tragically causing people to lose their moorings. What should we do to make sure we don't get...
Find your way through the mess to embrace the fulfilling life you've always dreamed of. Join New York Times bestselling author John Eldredge as he shares practical, simple, and refreshing tips with you for living fully. How would you say you are doing these days? Are you happy most of the time? Do you feel deeply loved? Are you excited about your future? How often do you feel lighthearted? These questions almost seem unfair. Life is so hard on all of us, rough on our humanity. We live in soul-scorching times. The mad pace of it all, the number of demands on our time and energy, and the overwhelming torrent of information coming at us 24-7 have left us all ragged, wrung-out, and emptied. This isn't the life we want, but how do we get off the roller coaster? In Get Your Life Back, John Eldredge shows you how to move forward into the life you so desperately need. By incorporating a few simple practices—what John calls "graces"—you can begin to recover your soul, disentangle from the tragedies of this broken world, and discover the restorative power of beauty. These simple practices are yours for the taking. You don't need to abandon your life to get it back--in fact, John shares that you can start restoring your life here and now. Get Your Life Back will give you the tools you need to: Learn how to insert the One Minute Pause into your day Begin practicing "benevolent detachment" and truly let it all go Offer kindness toward yourself in the choices you make Drink in the simple beauty available to you every day Take realistic steps to unplug from technology overload God wants to strengthen and renew your soul, and Jesus longs to give you more of himself. The world may be harsh, but God is gentle; he knows what your daily life is like. All we need to do is put ourselves in places that allow us to receive his help. You can live freely and lightly. Let Get Your Life Back show you how. Your soul will thank you for it.
?Scream or yell and I kill you now.? The masked man said in a deep and gruff voice. I wasn't sure who it was, but I knew it was a male by his voice. He held a knife at my throat and was on top of me. ?You can make this easy or you can make this hard. That is up to you.? He undid my slacks that I was wearing and pulled them down around my ankles. He then grabbed my panties and ripped them off. I am sure he tossed them somewhere, he wasn't too worried about where they had landed. I felt a surge of fear come over me when I realized what was happening and about to happen to me. I was going to be a rape victim! I didn't want to struggle for fear of him stabbing me with the knife he held, either by accident or on purpose. I couldn't scream for fear he might kill me. All I could do was hope that a passerby would see us, but I knew that wouldn't be possible. He had pulled me deep into the ally where it was dark. I heard some trash cans rattling and I was hoping that maybe it was a homeless person looking for food and saw what was happening. But my hopes were dashed when I realized it was a couple of alley cats that began to fight with each other. The irony of it was that it was a male cat trying to have sex with a female cat and she was putting up a fight. Probably a better one than I was I bet. Two potential rapes in one alley. How ironic is that? I found myself getting lost in my own thoughts when suddenly the man on top of me went limp. No, not his male part, I mean his whole body. Then someone rolled him off of me. It was too dark to make out who it was, but a street light lit up his face, it was Douglas! The knife went flying to one side and Douglas and Mrs. James? son were soon in a scuffle. I didn't know where my panties were, but I was able to pull up my pants. My purse was nowhere to be found, which had my cell phone in it.
