Chasing Rumor

A blip of prosperity at the turn of the 20th century brought American trout to Patagonia, then for a half-century they were forgotten to fight wars and build a nation. Rediscovered by fishermen a half-century later, the fish had grown to epic proportions. In Chasing Rumor, Cameron Chambers chronicles his modern-day pilgrimage to the rivers of Patagonia in pursuit of these legendary 20-pound trout. What started as a trip focused on catching fish became a love affair with the Patagonian landscape, environment, and, mostly, the people. From a business mogul turned B&B owner to a kid determined to save a local trout population, Chasing Rumor is at times the story of a handful of fishermen, and at other times a tale of enormous trout.

Are the denominations really dying? Two experienced church "watchers" who have lived the question on a daily basis provide statistics, insights, and hope that the rumor is premature.

Chase and Leah, a young and ambitious couple, form a union and take a journey down the path of marital bliss with hopes of making it last forever. Conflicts arise when secrets from the past invade the couples intimate relationship. The drama unfolds and marriage suddenly seems anything but blissful. With the support of family and friends, Chase and Leah struggle with many challenges to maintain balance in a deteriorating relationship. As time evolves, the couple hits a wall. They realize that their chase for forever is quickly disintegrating and their marriage has come to the point of being another statistical disaster.

When DC is leveled by a nuclear attack and the President is assassinated, former CIA op Beck Casey rises from the ashes to bring terrorists to justice . . . “Washington . . . gone.” Ominous words uttered on an Israeli submarine stationed in the Gulf of Oman moments before a torpedo destroys that vessel as well. A nuclear strike has rendered the American capital a radioactive wasteland. But that’s just the beginning of a vast, coordinated terrorist attack. The President falls next. Lone wolf shootings erupt throughout the heartland. Computer viruses take down systems and disable grids across the country. The stakes have never been higher, as former CIA agent Beck Casey joins forces with an international task force to neutralize a seemingly unstoppable enemy. They’ve got three days to save the world . . . or die trying.

La Florida explores a Spanish thread to early American history that is unfamiliar or even unknown to most Americans. As this book uncovers, it was Spanish influence, and not English, which drove America’s early history. By focusing on America’s Spanish heritage, this collection of stories complicates and sometimes challenges how Americans view their past, which author Kevin Kokomoor refers to as “the country’s founding mythology.” Dig deeper into Hispanic and Caribbean history, and how important happenings elsewhere in the Spanish colonial world influenced the discovery and colonization of the American Southeast. Follow Spanish sailors discovering the edges of a new continent and greedy, violent conquistadors quickly moving in to find riches, along with Catholic missionaries on their search for religious converts. Learn how Spanish colonialism in Florida sparked the British’s plans for colonization of the continent and influenced some of the most enduring traditions of the larger Southeast. The key history presented in the book will challenge the general assumption that whatever is important or interesting about this country is a product of its English past.

The #MeToo movement created more opportunities for women to speak up about sexual assault. But we are also living in a time when “fake news” and “alternative facts” call into question the very nature of truth. This troubling paradox is at the heart of this compelling book. The convergence of #MeToo and the crisis of post-truth is used to explore the experiences of women and people of color whose claims around issues of sexual violence are often held in doubt. Banet-Weiser and Higgins investigate how the gendered and racialized logics of “believability” are defined and contested within media culture, proposing that a mediated “economy of believability” is the context in which public bids for truth about sexual violence are made, negotiated, and authorized today.