Everybody Here Is Kin

On Boneyard Island, Georgia, where everyone’s weirdly kin, 13-year-old Lucille is marooned when her mother goes AWOL with an old flame, leaving Lucille with only her father’s ashes, two half-siblings, and Will, the misanthropic manager of the island’s only motel. The abandonment kills hope of Lucille’s promised snorkeling trip to the Florida Reef before ocean heat kills the coral and illusions she’s harbored about her mother’s sanity. Everybody Here Is Kin explores the lives of this sinking family, the island community, and fears of exposing wounds, old and new, when natural disaster forces them to trust, and depend on, strangers.

Junaluska is one of the oldest African American communities in western North Carolina and one of the few surviving today. After Emancipation, many former slaves in Watauga County became sharecroppers, were allowed to clear land and to keep a portion, or bought property outright, all in the segregated neighborhood on the hill overlooking the town of Boone, North Carolina. Land and home ownership have been crucial to the survival of this community, whose residents are closely interconnected as extended families and neighbors. Missionized by white Krimmer Mennonites in the early twentieth century, their church is one of a handful of African American Mennonite Brethren churches in the United States, and it provides one of the few avenues for leadership in the local black community. Susan Keefe has worked closely with members of the community in editing this book, which is based on three decades of participatory research. These life history narratives adapted from interviews with residents (born between 1885 and 1993) offer a people's history of the black experience in the southern mountains. Their stories provide a unique glimpse into the lives of African Americans in Appalachia during the 20th century--and a community determined to survive through the next.

Florida has been called "The State Without A Soul." The people that moved to Florida left their roots at the place they came from. This history of the long ago features people with their roots who were born here, walked the sands of time and will be buried here at the Cedars of Lebanon Cemetery. Their headstones already mark the spot where their roots will remain for eternity. Dessie Smith Prescott, whose picture is in the "Women's Hall of Fame" in Tallahassee said, "If you find yourself on a back road, get off and walk the main road." Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings is also in the Hall of Fame because Dessie helped her to survive long enough to write "The Yearling" and many other Florida books. Some of the history tells of the memories and roots that people brought to this area to build "The State With A Soul." This book is written so that the old stories don't get lost. It links the threads together of the Soul or Spirit of Florida.

Success as a warrior is one of the few paths to advancement in early medieval Britain and Stefan, a young Saxon peasant, has fought his way up to the rank of captain, serving under an earl who in turn serves the king of Atheldom. Returning from a series of hard-won battles, he hopes for further promotion. Instead, his command is taken from him and given to a better-born rival, while he is sent off to serve as the sheriff of an impoverished shire in the furthest corner of the kingdom. Stefan arrives in Codswallow to learn that, between marauding brigands, corrupt local officials, and a hostile populace, no sheriff has stayed longer than a single season. Determined to defeat the outlaws and gain control over the shire, Stefan forms an alliance with the keeper of the shire’s inn, a Briton with a mysterious past, but is frustrated to find that even with that clandestine aid his efforts are stymied. When he is summoned to join the search for Princess Aleswina, the betrothed bride of the king of a neighboring realm, he jumps at what he sees as his chance to get an army command back—only to be drawn into the web of intrigue that lies behind the princess’s disappearance.

The greatest conquerors do not ride horses and wield swords; picture neither do they acquire victories by any physical force. The 10-1-2009 magnanimous souls who were the patterns for the characters 339 of this story overcame daunting obstacles by a higher power; then celebrated their victories in song. The 1930s and early 1940s were the meanest of hard times. People everywhere were desperate for a thread of hope. After the Great Depression began to lift from some areas, its effects were still strangling the Ozarks which was considered to be among the most desperate regions of the nation. Yet, people like the Harps and Boyers, their young families and neighbors, through faith, were enabled to find and maintain hope. The entire community pulled together to lovingly encourage and help all its members. Not only did they survive their terrible hardship; they lived with joy and a song, and they bestowed priceless treasures upon their progeny. They were "more than conquerors through Him that loved us." The story that Geneva Emerson presents of her childhood in the Ozark foothills during the depression is reminiscent of those occasionally heard from the old timers. However, as this older generation disappears, we are losing the history of the struggles that occurred with the poverty and hard labor in this area just to find daily survival. We need to retain as much of this history as possible to remind us of what it took to populate and develop this frontier Dr. Earl Belcher, Historian

This book of poetry and musings is a passionate reminder of the beauty and pain that we face in life. It also reminds us that we must keep our faith in our destiny as we embrace love, family, and the simplest of tasks that we forget along the way. This book of poetry will give the reader food for the soul and comfort in knowing that we are not alone as we move toward our destiny.

With the raid on Onigashima in sight, Kanjuro’s betrayal is revealed. He’s kidnapped Momonosuke! While the samurai are in shock, Luffy, Law and Kid work together to bring a ray of hope. It’s time to take on Kaido and save Wano!! -- VIZ Media

Nathan Dale is a cavalry sergeant demobilized after the Civil War. He and his army buddies sign on as Indian fighters for a wagon train from Independence, Missouri to San Francisco. He has spent four years of his life in the army and knows nothing about women. The wagon master is killed and young Nathan finds himself in charge of a thirty-wagon train, Indians he can handle but women baffle him completely.