Newlywed Serena Jackson has finally married the man of her dreams. Life is great, broken relationships are on the mend, and serving in ministry is better than ever before. Serena believes that even greater things are on the horizon for her, until her life makes a detour down an unexpected road. Her dream of having the perfect life with what God has blessed her with soon becomes a blur. Everything Serena holds dear to her heart is being snatched away from her. Silenced by her pain and betrayed by the love of her life, Serena's own life-altering decisions will rock her family to the core. She questions whether the God she's served most of her life is really for her. Was everything she worked for all in vain?
“The sustained comedy in this hilarious novel is equaled only by its heart, and the myriad ways there are for it to break. I love this book. Michael Poore writes like an angel.” —Daniel Wallace, author of Big Fish John Scratch, the Devil himself, is the protagonist in this stunningly imaginative, sharp, funny, and tender novel, as he tricks, teases, and prods America to greatness in the hope of luring his lost love back down to Earth from Heaven. Up Pops the Devil is fiction with humor and heart, the kind of hilarious, off-beat, and original reading experience that fans of Chris Moore, Joe Hill, Chuck Palahniuk, and Jim Shepard would sell their souls for—a brilliant blending of the occult and the outrageous starring the anti-hero of anti-heroes, the one and only Prince of Darkness.
Two hard years in prison have changed Wilford "Preacher" Winters for the better. He did his time, now he's going to "do the right thing." But the women in his life have other ideas. Tanya, the sleek and sexy mother of his two kids, is much too comfortable with her pearls-and-Porsche lifestyle, and she'll do whatever it takes to maintain it...His sister, Loretta, kept "the business" running smoothly while Preacher was inside, and she can't believe he'd trade Easy Street bling for a nickel-and-dime dead-end job... His one-time girlfriend Serena, now married to his main man Barnard, is hiding a secret—and if past sins come to light, they'll ruin several lives and a very new, very precious friendship between Preacher and Barnard's beautiful-inside-and-out sister, Natalie. With his world about to explode all around him, Preacher's going to need every ounce of his new-found faith to remain strong. Because it takes a lot to become a new man, sometimes even a miracle.
Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett wrote the screenplays for some of America's most treasured movies, including It's a Wonderful Life, The Thin Man, Easter Parade, Father of the Bride, Naughty Marietta, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Legendary films, indeed, but writing both the play and screenplay for The Diary of Anne Frank was their crowning achievement. Controlled chaos best describes their writing method. They discussed a scene at length, sometimes acting it out. Afterwards, they each wrote a draft, which they exchanged. "Then," Frances said, "began 'free criticism'--which sometimes erupted into screaming matches." Noisy and contentious, the method worked splendidly. Enormously successful and remarkably prolific, Goodrich and Hackett began their thirty-four-year collaboration in 1928. Married after the first of their five plays became a hit, they were in many ways an unlikely pair. Frances, the privileged daughter of well-to-do parents, graduated from Vassar, then played minor parts on Broadway. Albert's mother put him on stage at age five, when his father died, to help pay the bills, and he became a highly paid comedian. The Hacketts were known for their wit and high spirits and the pleasure of their Bel Air dinner parties. They waged memorable battles with their powerful bosses and were key activists in the stressful creation of the Screen Writers Guild. Once they had created Nick and Nora Charles, The Thin Man's bright, charming, sophisticated lead couple, played memorably by William Powell and Myrna Loy, many people saw a strong resemblance, and the Hacketts acknowledged that they "put themselves into" Nick and Nora. The Real Nick and Nora is a dazzling assemblage of anecdotes featuring some of the most talented writers and the brightest lights of American stage and screen. The work was arduous, the parties luminous. On any given night the guests singing and acting out scripts at a party might include F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sheilah Graham, S. J. Perelman, Oscar Levant, Ogden Nash, Judy Garland, Abe Burrows, Hoagy Carmichael, Johnny Mercer, Ira Gershwin, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Pat O'Brien, Dick Powell and June Allyson, Dashiell Hammett, Lillian Hellman, James Cagney, and Dorothy Parker.
"The entire field of film historians awaits the AFI volumes with eagerness."--Eileen Bowser, Museum of Modern Art Film Department Comments on previous volumes: "The source of last resort for finding socially valuable . . . films that received such scant attention that they seem 'lost' until discovered in the AFI Catalog."--Thomas Cripps "Endlessly absorbing as an excursion into cultural history and national memory."--Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
Why is backward Millstone village, squeezed in a valley of New Mexicos Sacramento Mountains, ostracized from neighbor towns? Why do villagers stare like mummies doomed to mindless terror? Why do they shun stunning Silver Lake gorged with trout? Are ghastly rumors products of superstition and ignorance, or is a diabolical recluse linked to sinister crimes? Such questions haunt three vacationing college freshmen and test their integrity. Events emotionally, mystically, and dangerously bind them to a mysterious loner whom they gallantly, perhaps foolishly, strive to vindicate. In their struggle they uncover the truth, hidden behind a fog of mystical power and hatred, and become entangled in a snare of sinister events and confusing leads. They must consider the emotional instability and supernatural powers of the old recluse. They must consider the motives of a beautiful Apache woman who seems to match the paranormal abilities and apparent, generous nature of the loner. They cannot ignore a shifty sheriff who bends the law and covers evil deeds. They cannot overlook the remnants of a dissolved cult in the old fishing lodge where they are staying, nor can they disregard old Stella who uses her status and magicians tricks to wield power over Millstone folk. In their struggle to redeem good, the three friends honor, faith, and courage are severely tried by subversive evil. The dichotomous clash escalates from sorrow, to betrayal, to tragedy, to ultimate triumph.
