The Florians

They call them the "rat-catchers." They're the crew of the spaceship Daedalus, which an economically destitute Earth has dispatched on a mission to re-establish contact with its far-flung, long-lost space colonies. Alex Alexander, ship's biologist, must help solve the mysteries of human and alien ecosystems that he encounters light-years from home. The planet Floria initially appears to be one of the few Earth colonies that's actually prospered since its initial settlement. But underneath the surface of the society, the "Planners" keep a strict, repressive rule over the Florians, while the police are apparently attempting to assert their own authority. But is either group actually what they seem? Daedalus Mission, Book One.

The Sleeper is awake...the future is his to make. Set in the year 749 of the New Age of Earth, eighteen year-old Anthony Kyser awakens from the slumber of obscurity to find himself thrust into manhood, growing up in a hurry, he meets with challenges and danger, as his fate becomes a race against time while he crosses moral highways, lifes twists and turns that will define him as a man a King, fighting for his birthright-his destiny- that was stolen away from him by an evil Queen.

On the other side of the galaxy, in the interior arm, a calamity has arisen. Threat of a catastrophic war emerges when two major intergalactic empires threaten peace in the region, which might spread into the environment of surrounding star systems and other associations of planets. There is only one being in these regions of the galaxy they trust who might save the day, the Earth's space agent; Commodore B.

Tired of the same old tourist traps? Whether you're a visitor or a local looking for something different, Connecticut Off the Beaten Path shows you the Nutmeg State with new perspectives on timeless destinations and introduces you to cultural attractions you never knew existed.

After a turbulent childhood in Communist Czechoslovakia, Milan Kroupa turned his back on a promising career in soccer and fled the country of his birth. He arrived in Canada as a refugee in 1968 at the age of twenty-five, with a new wife, and a new baby. He had little more in his pocket than good advice from his father, who taught him that there are as many opportunities in the world as there are stars in the sky, and that the secret is to grasp the star that attracts you and never let it go. Following that advice, Kroupa quickly learned English, then threaded his way through the jungle of the business world, side-stepping scammers and gaining valuable experience from a series of enlightened bosses who taught him the ropes and gave him room to advance. By 1977, he was ready to go into business for himself. The company he founded on a shoe-string, United Cleaning Services, quickly expanded into a multi-million dollar, country-wide enterprise that now employs almost 5,000 people, many of whom are immigrants like himself. Throughout all this, Kroupa has remained a modest, down-to-earth man who doesn’t see himself as extraordinary at all. Extraordinary or not, his story makes fascinating reading, and will be an inspiration to everyone, and particularly to the countless new arrivals whose most valuable asset, to themselves and to the country, is their hope for the future and their determination to succeed.

An Open Access edition of this book is available on the Liverpool University Press website and the OAPEN library. This book, designed as a resource for scholars, educators, activists and non-specialist readers, presents the results of new research on the role of Romani groups in European culture and society since the nineteenth century. Its specific focus is on the ways in which Romani actors, in their interactions with non-Romanies, have contributed to shaping Europe’s public spaces. Twelve chapters recount the experiences and accomplishments of individuals and families, from across Europe (England, France, Spain, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Finland) and Canada. All based on new research, and maintaining a focus on the real lives and activities of Romani people rather than on the perspective of the majority societies, these studies exemplify the creative presence of Romani people in the fields of politics, economics and culture. We see them as writers, artists and performers, political activists and resistance fighters, traders and entrepreneurs, circus and cinema managers and purveyors of popular science. Sensitive to the ambivalent position from which Roma act, the cases are linked and contextualized by a general introduction and by section introductions written by leading scholars of Romani studies with expertise in history, ethnography, musicology, literary and discourse studies and visual culture. The volume is richly illustrated, including many images that have never been published before, and includes an extensive bibliography / guide to further reading. Contributors to the volume: Begoña Barrera, Beatriz Carrillo de los Reyes, Malte Gasche, Paweł Lechowski, Anna G. Piotrowska, Laurence Prempain, Juan Pro, Eve Rosenhaft, Carolina García Sanz, María Sierra, and Tamara West.