The Fire Watchers

Winner of six Nebula and five Hugo awards, Connie Willis is one of the most acclaimed and imaginative authors of our time. Her startling and powerful works have redefined the boundaries of contemporary science fiction. Here in one volume are twelve of her greatest stories, including double award-winner "Fire Watch," set in the universe of Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog, in which a time-traveling student learns one of history's hardest lessons. In "A Letter from the Clearys," a routine message from distant friends shatters the fragile world of a beleaguered family. In "The Sidon in the Mirror," a mutant with the unconscious urge to become other people finds himself becoming both killer and victim. Disturbing, revealing, and provocative, this remarkable collection of short fiction brings together some of the best work of an incomparable writer whose ability to amaze, confound, and enlighten never fails.

Read the story of Jake Adams, a janitor at a decommissioned nuclear power plant, who is one day forced to confront the mistakes of his past and embark on an emotional and spiritual journey that will take him to the edge of insanity and back.

December 1940, London: Christopher Larkham finds an ancient Roman ring inscribed with a phoenix. As he takes shelter from the firestorm of the Blitz, the ring glows, and pushing open a door, he finds himself in 1666 and facing the Great Fire of London. Fire-and-brimstone preacher, Brother Blowbladder, and his men of the Righteous Temple have prayed for the ancient gods of fire to bring flames down upon London, a city of sin. Could Christopher be their messenger? Or was it the strange girl on the quay who drew him back in time? Why do the Righteous men wear the same phoenix symbol as the engraving on Christophers ring? The Fire Watcher trilogy follows Christopher and his new friends race to untangle the truth of the phoenix ring, and face the greatest fires in the citys history.

Im going to piss you off, hopefully, in a good way so you can use the energy creatively and help me fight the fire that has been growing ever so steadily in our nation. The title of this book, The Fire Watchers is a metaphor referencing the lack of continuum of care for our mentally ill and substance-addled folks, often one and the same person. Much of my focus is on the veterans returning from harms way in various parts of the world. They have a high rate of mental illnessPTSD (Post- [delayed, sometimes for months or years] traumatic stress disorder} and other maladies like major depression, bi-polar affective disorder, and TBI (traumatic brain injuries). There are many effective treatments for these issues that are not being used as frequently or as effectively as they should. Why not? I will document and discuss major reasons why much of our treatment services delivery system is flawed and, in many places, broken. We need a major effort in this country to repair whats broken. I will take us through, step by step, ways in which we can all work together to provide an efficient, less costly, and model system that rivals any in the world.

A page-turning memoir about a young woman's grueling, revelatory summers working alone in a remote lookout tower and her eyewitness account of the increasingly unpredictable nature of wildfire in the Canadian north. While growing up in Peace River, Alberta, Trina Moyles heard many stories of Lookout Observers--strange, eccentric types who spent five-month summers alone, climbing 100-foot high towers and watching for signs of fire in the surrounding boreal forest. How could you isolate yourself for that long? she wondered. "I could never do it," she told herself. Craving a deeper sense of purpose, she left northern Alberta to pursue a decade-long career in global humanitarian work. After three years in East Africa, and newly engaged, Trina returned to Peace River with a plan to sponsor her fiance, Akello's, immigration to Canada. Despite her fear of being alone in the woods, she applied for a seasonal lookout position and got the job. Thus begins Trina's first summer as one of a handful of lookouts scattered throughout Alberta, with only a farm dog, Holly--labeled "a domesticated wolf" by her former owners--to keep her company. While searching for smoke, Trina unravels under the pressure of a long-distance relationship--and a dawning awareness of the environmental crisis that climate change is producing in the boreal. Through megafires, lightning storms, and stunning encounters with wildlife, she learns to survive at the fire tower by forging deep connections with nature and with an extraordinary community of people dedicated to wildfire detection and combat. In isolation, she discovers a kind of self-awareness--and freedom--that only solitude can deliver. Lookout is a riveting story of loss, transformation, and belonging to oneself, layered with an eyewitness account of the destructive and regenerative power of wildfire in our northern forests.

No more watch-glancing or yawning by audience members! Business presentations, speeches, sermons - even educational instruction will never be the same.

What if a happier life was only a few simple choices away? A successful entrepreneur living in Southern California, Scott Rieckens had built a “dream life”: a happy marriage, a two-year-old daughter, a membership to a boat club, and a BMW in the driveway. But underneath the surface, Scott was creatively stifled, depressed, and overworked trying to help pay for his family’s beach-town lifestyle. Then one day, Scott listened to a podcast interview that changed everything. Five months later, he had quit his job, convinced his family to leave their home, and cut their expenses in half. Follow Scott and his family as they devote everything to FIRE (financial independence retire early), a subculture obsessed with maximizing wealth and happiness. Filled with inspiring case studies and powerful advice, Playing with FIRE is one family’s journey to acquire the one thing that money can’t buy: a simpler — and happier — life. Based on the documentary