This first-person account describes the vivid and compelling World War II experiences of Jack Goetz, who flew twenty-five missions with the 544th Squadron, 384th Bomb Group based at Grafton Underwood, England, in the early stages of the air war over Europe from mid-1943 to early 1944. During his combat tour, he flew on B-17 bombers over German-occupied Europe as a gunner. These were hazardous missions that resulted in high casualty rates among B-17 flight crews. Jack had his share of close calls, including a crash landing in a crippled bomber and a ditching in the English Channel, which resulted in the death of a close friend and crewmate. After completing his combat tour, he volunteered to be a member of the flight crew that took a group of combat correspondents to the Pacific to cover the end of the war in that theater. His B-17 was the second American aircraft to land in Japan just as the war ended, and he was among the first Americans to visit the atomic bomb-blasted city of Hiroshima.
BLOW is the unlikely story of George Jung's roller coaster ride from middle-class high school football hero to the heart of Pable Escobar's Medellin cartel-- the largest importer of the United States cocaine supply in the 1980s. Jung's early business of flying marijuana into the United States from the mountains of Mexico took a dramatic turn when he met Carlos Lehder, a young Colombian car thief with connections to the then newly born cocaine operation in his native land. Together they created a new model for selling cocaine, turning a drug used primarily by the entertainment elite into a massive and unimaginably lucrative enterprise-- one whose earnings, if legal, would have ranked the cocaine business as the sixth largest private enterprise in the Fortune 500. The ride came to a screeching halt when DEA agents and Florida police busted Jung with three hundred kilos of coke, effectively unraveling his fortune. But George wasn't about to go down alone. He planned to bring down with him one of the biggest cartel figures ever caught. With a riveting insider account of the lurid world of international drug smuggling and a super-charged drama of one man's meteoric rise and desperate fall, Bruce Porter chronicles Jung's life using unprecedented eyewitness sources in this critically acclaimed true crime classic.
Fresh out of high school, Babe Vogel should be thrilled to have the whole summer at her fingertips. She loves living in her lighthouse home in the sleepy Maine beach town of Oar’s Rest and being a barista at the Busy Bean, but she’s totally freaking out about how her life will change when her two best friends go to college in the fall. And when a reckless kiss causes all three of them to break up, she may lose them a lot sooner. On top of that, her ex-girlfriend is back in town, bringing with her a slew of memories, both good and bad. And then there’s Levi Keller, the cute artist who’s spending all his free time at the coffee shop where she works. Levi’s from out of town, and even though Babe knows better than to fall for a tourist who will leave when summer ends, she can’t stop herself from wanting to know him. Can Babe keep her distance, or will she break the one rule she’s always had - to never fall for a summer boy?
In the summer of 1962, the peripatetic and irrepressible Pete Gill was hired on a whim to coach basketball at tiny Ireland High School. There he would accomplish, against enormous odds, one of the great small-town feats in Indiana basketball history. With no starters taller than 5'10", few wins were predicted for the Spuds. Yet, after inflicting brutal preseason conditioning, employing a variety of unconventional motivational tactics, and overcoming fierce opposition, Gill molded the Spuds into a winning team that brought home the town's first and only sectional and regional titles. Relying on narrative strategies of creative nonfiction rather than strict historical rendering, Mike Roos brings to life a colorful and varied cast of characters and provides a compelling account of their struggles, wide-ranging emotions, and triumphs throughout the season.
For a third generation Italian-American boy life takes on a number of twists and turns as he matures from a child into a teenager. He must cope with the pressures imposed by a strict dad and a younger brother whose antics are intolerable. In his journey into adulthood Nicholas D'Napoli encounters a number of bizzarre people and episodes that will leave you laughing or crying. The characters are hilarious. In this walk down memory lane you'll witness the escapades and pranks of people that defy normalcy, like the transvestite who dresses like Greta Garbo, or the voyeur who plays peek-a-boo while hiding in the neighbor's bushes. Through Nick we're reminded of our first kiss or the embarrassment of blowing that special moment with the love of our dreams. D'Napoli guides us through our own youths; old friends, the bully in the schoolyard, first loves and broken hearts.
As Mat progresses through his teens, he explores the bustling city, develops friendships, nurtures a growing interest in art and music, and goes on a date with "the hottest girl in Ipoh."
When Liberty Watkins delivers flowers to the local auto shop owned by the Truax boys, who does she run into? Blade Truax. She hasn’t seen Blade in years, mainly because he’s been in prison serving a sentence based solely on the testimony of Libby’s sister, Mariam. Yes, Libby and Blade have history. In fact, that summer, right before he’d been charged with sexually assaulting her sister, Libby and Blade had been meeting secretly almost every day. And Libby had felt something for him—something major. She thought he’d felt it too. Was that why she still questioned her sister’s testimony, because she wanted so badly to believe in Blade? Or was it something else? Blade doesn’t trust women anymore, for obvious reasons, but he particularly doesn’t trust women with the last name Watkins. So, when Libby Watkins shows up at his family business, he isn’t happy. How dare she stand there pretending there had been nothing between them. Did she even remember that it was her he’d been waiting to meet that fateful night when his entire life went down the toilet? They should not be together. There is way too much pain down that road for any kind of redemption. But it looks like fate has other plans when, despite Blade’s objections, Libby is hired to be the auto shop’s new office assistant. The Small Town Boy's Redemption is the first book in the Small Town Boys series by award-winning author and Kindle All-Star, Jessie Gussman. Grab your copy today! Reviews for The Small Town Boy's Redemption: ★★★★★ "Yep, this book was amazing —from the first chapter to the epilogue. Libby and Blade’s story had me in a melted puddle." - Forevermooremom ★★★★★ "I stalk this author for her releases so I guess it's the good and approved kind of stalking. I always love her characters and the story and I get a welcome relief from all of the bedroom details other authors feel they need to make their stories work.” – Teri ★★★★★ “With an engaging plot and complex characters, it was a sweet, at times heartbreaking story about life, redemption, hope, new beginnings and the possibility of finding true love.” - Yvonne ★★★★★ "What a great story. I enjoyed the characters and how trials, bitterness, forgiveness and love are worked out in a really believable story line." - Kindle Customer ★★★★★ "The story is sometimes light & funny, then thought provoking...no matter where you are, it pulls you deeper & won't let you walk away." - Norma Books in The Small Town Boys series: The Small Town Boy's Redemption The Small Town Boy's Secret Romance The Small Town Boy's Second Chance
BLOW is the unlikely story of George Jung's roller coaster ride from middle-class high school football hero to the heart of Pablo Escobar's Medellin cartel-- the largest importer of the United States cocaine supply in the 1980s. Jung's early business of flying marijuana into the United States from the mountains of Mexico took a dramatic turn when he met Carlos Lehder, a young Colombian car thief with connections to the then newly born cocaine operation in his native land. Together they created a new model for selling cocaine, turning a drug used primarily by the entertainment elite into a massive and unimaginably lucrative enterprise-- one whose earnings, if legal, would have ranked the cocaine business as the sixth largest private enterprise in the Fortune 500. The ride came to a screeching halt when DEA agents and Florida police busted Jung with three hundred kilos of coke, effectively unraveling his fortune. But George wasn't about to go down alone. He planned to bring down with him one of the biggest cartel figures ever caught. With a riveting insider account of the lurid world of international drug smuggling and a super-charged drama of one man's meteoric rise and desperate fall, Bruce Porter chronicles Jung's life using unprecedented eyewitness sources in this critically acclaimed true crime classic.
