The Only Life That Mattered

Fed up with an outlaw existence, Calico Jack Rackam swears off the pirate life, until he meets Anne Bonny, a woman who would as soon stab a man as give him a good tumble—that is, unless he's a pirate. Soon Jack finds himself out on the high seas, with Anne by his side and his men spoiling for action.

Sex isn't love. Love isn't sex. And friendship is neither. The son of a French Olympic skier and a Malaysian fashion designer, Ronin Alexander has lived the life of a nomad, traveling the world to find his next adventure. Life takes a dramatic turn when he meets Evelyn, a beautiful scientist who owns a bath shop in Aspen, Colorado. They defy all the rules of relationships, falling hard and quickly in love. Their world intertwines with Evelyn's two best friends, the Governor and his soon-to-be wife. The four become close-very close. When tragedy strikes, things from their pasts are unveiled-unimaginable truths and the grim realization that life will never be the same. Jewel E. Ann steps into another dimension with this mind-bending thriller, a provocative story that pushes boundaries and tests the true meaning of love.

Even though he’s only ten years old, there are lots of things Arthur Williams knows for sure. He knows all about trilobites, and bridge, and that he doesn’t want to be Victoria Brown’s boyfriend, and that tapping maple trees causes them excruciating pain. He knows his real dad is probably flying a hot-air balloon across the Pacific, or paving a city with moss. And he knows that Simon, the guy who pretends to be his dad, does absolutely nothing interesting. But when Arthur finds a weather-worn notebook in the woods behind his house, all he has are questions. Why was its author, Phil, so sad, and why does it end on Page 43? Suddenly, there are other questions too: Why do people abandon people? Why do they abandon themselves? Arthur embarks on a top-secret investigation to find out who Phil is, or was. But getting straight answers from grown-ups is impossible - and before long, the only thing he knows for sure is that everything he thought he knew about life is probably wrong, and that what he has to do is ten times bigger than what he can do. Told through a trio of voices: the wildly imaginative and perpetually awkward Arthur, Phil’s manic journal, and the forest which watches them both, Ben Stephenson’s debut novel is a heartbreaking story of love, death, and the unspeakable pain of being small. A Matter of Life and Death Or Something marks the exciting debut of an inventive and gifted storyteller.

The choice to live an ordinary life is no longer an option! Greatness-lasting greatness-is a desire built into every human heart. For the believer in Christ, it is not only possible, but expected. How will your life matter? God wants your life to count for eternity. He wants you to join the team of rescuers He is sending into a desperate world.

Seven Key Ways to Live a Life That Matters We live in a culture that permits everything, surrounded by people skimming the surface of life, trying to piece together meaning from ever-shifting truths and fleeting fads. But in a world that stands for nothing, you can choose to stand for Something. With warmth and wisdom that only comes from weathering the storms of life, Dennis Rainey shares seven ways to not only build a strong foundation, but to choose to live the life of purpose and potential you were created for. When the winds of culture blow, you will be able to stand firm on the Truth. You will be able to choose a life that matters. A life that makes a difference in the here and now--a life that echoes into eternity. You are at a crossroads of culture and Christianity. Which way will you choose to live?

In this inspiring, uplifting and timely book, Harold Kushner addresses our craving for significance, the need to know that our lives and choices mean something. We sometimes confuse power, wealth and fame with true achievement. We can do great things, and occasionally terrible things, to reassure ourselves that we matter to the world. We need to think of ourselves as good people and are troubled when we compromise our integrity to be successful and important. In Living a Life That Matters, Rabbi Kushner suggests that the path to a truly successful and significant life lies in friendship, family, acts of generosity and self-sacrifice, as well as in God's forgiving nature. He describes how, in changing the life of even one person in a positive way, we make a difference in the world, give our lives meaning, and prove that we do, in fact, matter.

Discover what it means for the journey--your journey, my journey, our journey--to mean something.

Anne Bonny, a pampered Southern belle, hungers for a life more exciting and dangerous than she knows keeping her father's household together. When she convinces a hapless sailor boy to marry her and take her to Nassau, that seething cauldron of piracy, prostitution and all things wicked, she alters the course of her life forever. . . Calico Jack Rackham, a devious pirate, returns to Nassau with hopes of accepting the governor's pardon and leaving the sweet trade. When he first lays eyes on Anne Bonny, however, he realizes that she is the one woman who could convince him to put aside his fear of the noose and take up the trade again, no matter what the consequences. And Mary Read, a sensible Englishwoman who has been living as a man and earning her livelihood as a merchant sailor, must make a decision when her ship is overtaken by Calico Jack and she is invited to join the band of thieves. When she tastes the freedom of a pirate's life, she realizes what she has been missing during all her years of toil... and when she joins forces with Anne, they form a union that will carry them to the ends of the earth, through births, deaths, and battles more exciting than even Anne Bonny could have dreamed.