![]() ![]() Shōgun uses straightforward storytelling techniques to keep readers riveted as they imagine themselves in the position of the English pilot. ![]() Instead, the pilot becomes embroiled in Japanese politics as Lord Toranaga Yoshi employs him as his secret weapon. ![]() Shōgun tells the story of an English pilot, John Blackthorne, in charge of five Dutch ships whose purpose is to break the Portuguese monopoly on Japanese trade. In addition to penning a good book to curl up with, Clavell built a bridge of understanding from West to East by fictionalizing a historical encounter between them. Clavell's survival of a Japanese death camp gave him unique insight into human behavior and cultural differences, enabling him to produce a truly gripping story. Such features make Clavell an "oldfashioned storyteller" who spins captivating yarns rather than an artiste like Virginia Woolf or Thomas Pynchon. ![]() The novel contains war, trade disputes, cultural clash, passion, death, and descriptions of beauty that have kept readers up until dawn. Although not considered great literature by most critics, Shōgun: A Novel of Japan made its author, James du Maresq Clavell, one of the most widely read twentieth-century novelists. ![]()
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![]() The world is full of dueling spies, assassins, and mercenaries who are all for sale to the highest bidder. The Agent G series is set in a pre-cyberpunk world in the far off future of 2018. In the midst of all the violence, subterfuge, and deceit, he’ll need to keep his wits about him and trust sparingly.Īfter all if an organization will kill for money, what would they do to keep the truth hidden? They’ve given up their families and their memories for ten years of service with the promise of a life of luxury awaiting them.Īgent G is one of these “Letters,” but clues to his past are starting to emerge while he’s on a dangerous mission to infiltrate the Society’s most dangerous competitor. The International Refugee Society has twenty-six cybernetically enhanced “Letters,” and for the right price, they’ll eliminate anyone. “Black Technology has made murder a billion dollar industry.” What is Agent G about? Well, let’s share it’s blurb. Jeffrey Kafer will, once more, be doing the voice work for my series and I can tell you it’s probably his best work yet. We’ve got a lot of faith in this story and we’ll be doing a simultaneous release on Audible, Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and in paperback form for those who want to check it out. ![]() My science fiction assassin series, AGENT G, is now available for Pre-Order from. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Another conflict, which is internal, involves Luling. Ruth tries to distinguish truth from fiction by translating a manuscript written by LuLing that describes her life in China. In a trip to the doctor, Luling tells the doctor she was born in 1916 instead of 1921, as Ruth believes. In Ruth’s childhood, Ruth’s mother, who grows up in China, often goes into fits of rages, threatens to commit suicide, and is very harsh on Ruth.Īs LuLing grows older, her memory falters and she is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Ruth, who is born in the United States, struggles to understand her mother and her mother’s actions toward her. One conflict is between Ruth and her mother LuLing. The book’s settings include San Francisco, California, in the years 19, Immortal Heart, China, from 1916 to 1938, and Hong Kong, China, in 1939.Ģ. The main characters in The Bonesetter’s Daughter are Ruth LuYi Young, LuLing Liu Young, “Precious Auntie” or Liu Xin Gu, GaoLing Young, and Art Kamen. ![]() ![]() ![]() "Fans of Gregory's works and of historicals in general will delight in this page-turning tale" ( Library Journal, starred review) that is "superb. "This is Gregory par excellence" ( Kirkus Reviews). This is the time of witch-mania, and if the villagers discover the truth, they could take matters into their own hands. ![]() They have always whispered about the sinister power of Alinor's beauty, but the secrets they don't know about her and James are far more damning. ![]() Alinor's suspicious neighbors are watching each other for any sign that someone might be disloyal to the new parliament, and Alinor's ambition and determination mark her as a woman who doesn't follow the rules. England is in the grip of a bloody civil war that reaches into the most remote parts of the kingdom. She shows him the secret ways across the treacherous marshy landscape of the Tidelands, not knowing she is leading a spy and an enemy into her life. Instead she meets James, a young man on the run. Until she can, she is neither maiden nor wife nor widow, living in a perilous limbo. A country at warĪ woman with a dangerous secret On Midsummer's Eve, Alinor waits in the church graveyard, hoping to encounter the ghost of her missing husband and thus confirm his death. This New York Times bestseller from "one of the great storytellers of our time" ( San Francisco Book Review) turns from the glamour of the royal courts to tell the story of an ordinary woman, Alinor, living in a dangerous time for a woman to be different. ![]() ![]() We breathe in and out all day, but we are not aware that we are breathing in and breathing out. ![]() Instead of allowing yourself to think of the future, you might like to pay attention to your breath and come home to the present moment. When you sit in your car on the way to work, you might like to use that time to come home to yourself and touch the wonders of life. Peace is every step By Thich Nhat Hanh Thich Nhat Hanh, in his 2003 address to congress, says that only deep listening, mindfulness, and gentle communication can remove the wrong perceptions that are the foundation of violence.ĭistinguished members of Congress, ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, it is my pleasure to have this opportunity to talk with you about how we can share our insight, our compassion and our understanding in order to better serve those we want to serve and help heal the wounds that have divided our nation and the world. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() With a ruling council scheming to gain power, Carys and Andreus are faced with only one option-to take part in a Trial of Succession that will determine which one of them is worthy of ruling the kingdom.Īs sister and brother, Carys and Andreus have always kept each other safe-from their secrets, from the court, and from the monsters lurking in the mountains beyond the kingdom’s wall. ![]() When Eden’s king and crown prince are killed by assassins, Eden desperately needs a monarch, but the line of succession is no longer clear. With their older brother next in line to inherit the throne, the future of the kingdom was secure.īut appearances-and rivals-can be deceiving. Twins Carys and Andreus were never destined to rule Eden. Synopsis for Dividing Eden (from Goodreads): Series Review: Is this series worth your time? Does it get better as the novels progress? Or does it get worse? Find out below: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() While some false tales produce new knowledge (like Columbus's discovery of America) and others create nothing but horror and shame (the Rosicrucian story wound up fueling European anti-Semitism) they are all powerfully persuasive. The fictions that grew up around the cults of the Rosicrucians and Knights Templar were the result of a letter from a mysterious Prester John - undoubtedly a hoax - that provided fertile ground for a series of delusions and conspiracy theories based on religious, ethnic, and racial prejudices. Exploring the Force of the False, Eco uncovers layers of mistakes that have shaped human history, such as Columbus's assumption that the world was much smaller than it is, leading him to seek out a quick route to the East via the West and thus fortuitously discovering America. Summary: "Umberto Eco's latest work unlocks the riddles of history in an exploration of the linguistics of the lunatic, stories told by scholars, scientists, poets, fanatics, and ordinary people in order to make sense of the world. ![]() ![]() ![]() Yet the poem bears a troubling logic for Arjie. Indeed, he is singled out as a candidate for the performance due to his effusive reading of the poem in class. An expressive boy, prone to melodrama, Arjie acts out fantasies with his siblings, performs in a community production of The King and I, and basks in any hint of admiration granted him. At first glance, Selvadurai’s protagonist, Arjie, seems equipped for this task. ![]() The function of the child, as such, is to perform nostalgia. One poem, “The Best School of All,” is meant to help the audience reminisce about their own school days and to rouse sufficient sentiment to back a rescue of the school from government restructuring. I n the culminating chapter of Shyam Selvadurai’s novel, Funny Boy, are all the necessary ingredients for a possible rescue fantasy: a principal asks a student to read two British poems about the golden days of yesteryear at a school recital. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Atkins and his brother were sent there to live with his grandmother after his grades dropped in Detroit, in the hopes of removing him from the city's violence. It just brought home to me the thing about Detroit-in any other city you have a buzzing, thriving downtown."īut the true beginnings of techno took place a half hour's drive to the southwest in Belleville, Michigan, a small town near an interstate leading to Detroit's central city. I was looking at this building and I see the faded imprint of American Airline, the shadow after they took the sign down. ![]() Atkins himself shared his impressions of Detroit's desolate core with techno historian Dan Sicko: "I was smack in the middle of downtown, on Griswold. Fans worldwide associate the music with Detroit's often bleak landscape, littered with abandoned buildings and other relics of the roaring 1920s and the golden age of the automobile. Techno music originated in Detroit, Michigan, and it was there that Atkins was born on September 12, 1962. Despite recognition in the form of an exhibition at the Detroit Historical Museum, he remains among the most obscure of modern musical pioneers. Yet except for followers of electronic dance music, few music fans recognize his name. ![]() His novel electronic soundscapes influenced nearly every genre of music that came after. Juan Atkins is recognized as one of the creators of techno music, which spawned a whole group of genres now known as electronica, and he was the first person to apply the word "techno" to music. ![]() ![]() Grace's married sister cared for Marilyn during a transitional period. When Gladys was institutionalized, she appointed her friend Grace Goddard as Marilyn's guardian. Marilyn then came to live with Gladys, who bought a black piano for Marilyn. TRUTH: Marilyn lived with the Bollender family until she was seven years old, when her mother Gladys was able to buy a house. MTYH: Marilyn was shuffled among countless foster homes. ![]() Marilyn was born with beautiful blue eyes. (This section is decicated to student researchers, with great appreciation.) Larry did eventually broadcast a correction. In the meantime, we did a mass mailing to friends and relatives. ![]() ![]() We asked Larry to broadcast a correction. On a caller to LARRY KING LIVE asked, "How are Marilyn's sister and niece? We don't hear much about them." Larry directed the question to guest Jim Dougherty, who replied, (obviously ailing, thinking of Bebe Goddard, the stepdaughter of Grace Goddard), "Bebe passed away last year from smoking too many cigarettes." Larry left the remark uncorrected, in spite of having invited Berniece and me to appear on LARRY KING LIVE two weeks earlier. Berniece wants everyone to know she never smoked cigarettes. ![]() |