Ain T Life A Hoot

"'There ain't no mourners on Boot Hill.'" Humorous, frank, painful, overcoming, revealing...just a few ingredients in this tale of one man's journey into victorious living. "The Good," "The Bad," and "The Ugly" are three distinct sections in this author's life, but they all come together in the fourth, showing God's magnificent power. "Hit the floor," says the author, "then stand up and get ready to fly! For God brings you out of your darkest cave and onto the center stage of lights, all for the accomplishing of his eternal purpose. This book is for you if you need... - hope of conquering another's bullying, - instructions for winning over codependency and depression, - more proof God is standing by and ready to make you a winner, - or a jolt to conquer complaining and start encouraging. It's the fire that will ignite new choices and make you too...an overcomer! Larry West is the author, public speaker, radio personality, and Christian leader of an evangelism movement called We Care Ministries. He is the father of Missy Robertson of A&E's successful reality show Duck Dynasty. "It's all a matter of better choices," says the author. "Each must choose!"

Shaken by her parents' divorce and discouraged by the growing chasm between herself and her serious boyfriend, Nikki Werner seeks solace at her uncle's farm in a small Missouri hamlet. She'll spend the summer there, picking up the pieces of her shattered present so she can plan a better future. But what awaits her at the ancestral farm is a past she barely knows. Among her late grandmother's belongings, Nikki finds an old notebook filled with handwritten German recipes and wise sayings pulled from the book of Proverbs. With each recipe she makes, she invites locals to the family table to hear their stories about the town's history, her ancestors--and her estranged father. What started as a cathartic way to connect to her heritage soon becomes the means through which she learns how the women before her endured--with the help of their cooking prowess. Nikki realizes how delicious streusel with a healthy dollop of faith can serve as a guide to heal wounds of the past.

Situated between two mountain ridges, the New England town of Franklin Notch celebrates its history and the characters who have forged it. The cornerstone of its heritage is Talbert's Treaty, an eighteenth-century agreement between the original settlers and the Sagaweh Indian nation---as discovered by local historian Wes Moffatt, ex-host of a regionally famous kiddie TV show. The Comfort of Our Kind is narrated by Daniel "Boone" Moffatt, Wes's oldest son and local chief of police, who describes life with his sister, Veronica, a misanthropic nurse with a weakness for Xanax; his brother, Reggie, a disgraced sportscaster who has been living undetected in Cinderella's Castle; his mother, a mystic ex-nun (who everyone still calls "Sister"); and his father, who has just been accused of inventing bad history by concocting Talbert's Treaty and most of the local lore. As children, Boone, Veronica, and Reggie were trained by their mother's puzzling bedtime stories to serve in God's Army of Saints and "fight for Goodness on earth." Now, as adults, they search for their gifts of Faith, Hope, and Grace in a parade of life-altering adventures while struggling with the presence of evil in the world. Along the way, they collide with a collection of characters, including a serial killer, a Zenlike naturalist doctor, a genius Mafia princess, phony Native Americans, and the Devil himself in various incarnations of human vanity. Against the deadline of Wes and Sister's fiftieth wedding anniversary and Boone's apocalyptic seventh visit from the Devil, the Moffatt family struggles to unite as a force of goodness and to reclaim the respect of their neighbors and friends. Reminiscent of Lake Wobegon Days and The Witches of Eastwick, The Comfort of Our Kind is an unpredictable, quirky tale in which each character's spirituality is tested in the overlay between earthy mysticism and raucous fantasy. Praise for The Comfort of Our Kind: "This fun debut novel by story writer Stoner chronicles the tribulations of a family caught in a war between good and evil in Franklin Notch, N.H. Stoner's storytelling has a lot of Wes Anderson elements and should find a readership among those into the folksy, absurd and poignant." --Publishers Weekly "A comic tale of a New England family battling personal weakness and the Devil....Stoner's characters are appealing, and the multiple subplots will hold readers' interest...amicable mix of comedy, mysticism and earnest spirituality." --Kirkus Reviews

I always hate reading the description on the back of a book; usually it reveals way too much of the plot. I mean what is the sense of finding out all of the plot twists ahead of time? Doesn't that remove too much of the suspense? But I guess some people (you know who you are) like to know what a book is about before they plunk down their hard earned currency. I prefer to just judge a book by it's cover. However some people find that idea distasteful, so for them and them alone I have encapsulated my entire text in three short sentences, enjoy. George is an ordinary man until something extraordinary happens to him. He must overcome this new challenge and the problems it brings. In the end he learns a valuable life lesson. If you want to read more cool stuff in a nearly interactive format on a rarely updated website visit www.AxealX.com

Love and laughter ease the way to overcoming the odds in this duet of quirky contemporary romances by Eva Shaw. Games of the Heart: Pastor Jane Angieski isn’t your usual clergywoman—she’s just as at home in Victoria’s Secret as she is behind the altar. When her curious nature and love of dark chocolate lead her into a world of sex slaves, black-market babies, cheatin’ preachers, and an assortment of lowlifes, she never expects to also find her soul mate. It’s a madcap adventure that proves love is the most powerful state of all. Doubts of the Heart: FBI consultant and recent breast cancer survivor Nica Dobson is trying to regain her spirit and accept the changes in her body and mind. So helping a friend in Hawaii find a paternity connection during Nica’s medical leave seems like the best way to redefine herself…until an old flame and ancient secrets challenge her to embrace love, too. Sensuality Level: Behind Closed Doors

This collection of five award-winning plays by Charles Smith includes Jelly Belly, Free Man of Color, Pudd’nhead Wilson, Knock Me a Kiss, and The Gospel According to James. Powerful, provocative, and entertaining, these plays have been produced by professional theater companies across the country and abroad. Four of the plays are based on historical people and events from W.E.B. Du Bois and Countee Cullen to the Harlem Renaissance. Accurate in the way they capture the political and cultural milieu of their historical settings, and courageous in the way they grapple with difficult questions such as race, education, religion, and social class, these plays jump off the page just as powerfully as they come to life on stage. This first-ever collection from one of the nation’s leading African American playwrights is a journey down the complex road of race and history.

Sometimes even good girls need to be a little bad . . . Marla Jean Bandy might be down, but she's not out. Even though her no-good ex-husband left her for another woman-a Bookmobile-driving librarian twenty years her senior-Marla Jean won't settle for another lonely night. She's not ready for Mr. Right, but why not have a little fun with Mr. Right Now? The only wrench in her plan is her childhood crush, Jake-and the memory of the one toe-curling kiss they shared on a hot summer night years ago . . . One look at Marla Jean is enough to make any red-blooded man sit up and take notice-especially the kind of man nice girls should avoid. Jake knows he should let her make her own mistakes, but he owes it to her brother to look after her. Trouble is, the harder he tries to do the right thing, the harder it is to resist Marla Jean. She needs a man to make her believe love will last, and for once in his life, Jake wonders if that could be him.

A color-illustrated introduction to the basic principles of visual language that every content creator and consumer needs to know The right images capture attention, pique curiosity, and inspire viewers to stick around long enough to read any accompanying text. Nearly everyone today needs to use or understand images in communications of all kinds, from the most formal professional publication to the most casual social media post, and knowing the basics of visual language is essential for content creators and consumers alike. However, most people aren’t taught visual grammar unless they go into art- or design-related fields. The Elements of Visual Grammar explains image use in any media in practical terms for writers, scholars, and other professionals. Award-winning art director and design professor Angela Riechers offers a flexible set of principles and best practices for selecting images that work—and using them in the most persuasive way. The result is an indispensable guide for anyone who wants to learn how to work more successfully with images and words. Features more than 200 color illustrations—drawn from a wide range of styles, media, and eras—that demonstrate the principles of visual grammar and how images can support and enhance written content Defines and illustrates the basic elements of images, describes how images function within text regardless of media, and explains how to choose images and integrate them with text Introduces the practical, cultural, conceptual, and scientific factors that influence image use Analyzes images by function and describes ways to employ symbolism, synecdoche, allegory, metaphor, analogy, and iconography