The Brazen Altar


Book Description

Welcome to the City. In this place of peace and plenty, with no disease, no suffering, and no want, people find meaning in service to their gods. They know the gods were created by humans, of course. But the gods protect and provide for the people, so why wouldn't the people serve the gods? In a Utopian society, what better way to express service than through pleasure and faith? For Kheema and her seven fellow Potentials, that means entering the temple of the Sun God to undergo months of training and practice to determine which of them will be chosen as Sacrifice. On the day of the summer Solstice, the one chosen as Sacrifice must recite the entire litany from atop the temple, while enduring nonstop forced orgasms from dawn 'til dusk. For Terlyn, service means becoming part of the Garden, bound naked and asleep while worshippers help themselves to her body. Terlyn wakes in ecstasy over and over, only to fall asleep again. The experience changes her, and her relationship with her friend and lover Donvin, who visits her while she is part of the Garden. Ashi's service to the god known as the Wild entails competing with other worshippers in a forest that appears overnight to demonstrate her resilience and will, so that she might become part of a ritual involving an altar, a long row of cages, and the complete abandonment of the self. The three stories brush against each other, revealing the heart of the City, as the people of the City serve, or ask for enlightenment from, multiple gods at once.




Cover to Cover


Book Description

"Irreverent." "Funny." "Essential." Read this book before you publish your book. You just wrote your first book. And there you are. Stark naked. Vulnerable. Wondering what to do next to get your masterpiece published. This is the one book you need to read and follow if you're writing a book for the first time. Why? Because you've never written a book before. This is new territory. To write a successful book, you need to find and work with an editor who shares your passion for your work and your message and who will help you make your book sing. And sing a smash hit. A blockbuster of a message, clearly and carefully constructed so readers love you and your work and leave you five-star Amazon reviews only because they don't have more stars to give. This is a toolkit for tinkering under the hood of your working manuscript so you, the author, can take your work as far as you can before an edit and production such as cover design and not dump a half-baked chocolate cake on some poor schlub of an editor to "fix." Don't make first-time author mistakes. No matter what you think, you do need an edit. Not the English teacher next door. You can't self-edit either. A professional editor knows how to navigate those thorny commas and can solve your organizational questions. An editor can guide you through the murky waters of modifiers and passive sentences, correct typos, and get your book manuscript polished and on its way to production. Even if you slept through English class, never turned in book reports, and don't know a thing about publishing the book of your dreams, your name is on the cover and you don't want to be embarrassed. Turn your vulnerability into confidence with these insider secrets to publishing success when working with an editor. No, this is not a grammar book (ick) or a guide to self-editing (can't be done well). This is not a dry, boring book about usage or sentence structure. Although the author, a veteran nonfiction editor, specializes in memoir, true crime, business/leadership, and self-help, her advice holds true for fiction writers as well. Get your questions answered (and more): Why do I need an editor? How do I find an editor? What do editors do? And how much do they cost? What are the levels of edit? Developmental? Line edit? Copy edit? Proofreading? How do I know what level of editing my manuscript needs? Will an editor tell me if my manuscript sucks? Why do words make a difference? Which words do I overuse? Which words should I never use? How do I know when I'm done writing? How can I work with a cover designer and audiobook engineer? Can my local bookstore help me? Do I need beta readers? BONUS Checklist for Authors to Fine-Tune a Manuscript before Editing Begins BUY a copy today, because you need to know these insider secrets to successfully work with an editor on your way to publishing success.




Christmas at Gilly Downs (The White Sails Series Book 4)


Book Description

As the fourth, and final, novella in The White Sails Series, CHRISTMAS AT GILLY DOWNS jumps forward ten years to see what the beloved characters from The White Sails Series are up to as they prepare to reunite for Christmas at Gilly Downs. Seamus Fitzwilliam musters the fortitude to persuade Grace to allow Edwin to leave Sydney for London, so that the boy can learn about managing the Elias Shipping Company across two continents. But will she cut the apron strings? Toby Hicks celebrates the birth of his second child with Erin, but a dire warning from Dr Billy Sykes dampens the happy occasion. Billy Sykes, now retired from naval life, has bought the local apothecary in Sydney Town. Delivery of a medicinal package to a patient has unforeseen consequences that has the potential to smear his good name. Adelia Shyling’s marriage to Victor Shyling is stronger than ever, as is the success of the sheep station, Gilly Downs. A perpetual social butterfly, she is looking forward to gathering her friends and family on Christmas Day, until a horrific accident threatens to ruin the whole event. Emily Fitzwilliam, at twenty-one, is an accomplished seamstress in Sydney Town’s most esteemed dress shop. Mrs Moore, her employer, is a hard but fair task master—that is until Emily catches her son’s eye. Jim Buchanan could not be prouder of his nephew Nevin. The lad has grown into a hard-working man fit to carry on the family name. However, more than anything, Jim desires a child of his own … Will this latest fruitless effort with his Pearl finally tear them apart? Wee Granny Mac refuses to age gracefully! How she and Old Quill haven't killed one another over the years is anyone's guess—though, he still hasn't stopped asking for her hand in marriage … Grace Fitzwilliam thought she would miss her life at sea more, but surrounded by family and friends, she is a woman content. As a second mother to Adelia’s red-headed rabble, Grace feels obligated to pluck eldest daughter, Ruthie, from the middle of a rivalrous love triangle unfolding on Gilly Downs before the young girl has her heart crushed. This Christmas novella links The White Sails Series and The Gold Hills Series (coming soon), which continues the Fitzwilliam family saga in Emily Fitzwilliam’s footsteps.




How to Write with a Collaborator


Book Description

Write a book with a co-author, become a ghost writer (or hire one) and break into publishing this year. Many best-selling books are produced this way every year, making millions for their authors. Learn all the secrets for success, in an easy, step-by-step format. Thousands of writers are already using this sure-fire method.




Married Roommates


Book Description

Are You Married but Living Like Roommates? Do you sleep back-to-back or even separately? Do you feel lonely, bored, and sexually frustrated in your marriage? Have you, in fact, become just roommates? Millions of couples live empty parallel lives and wonder, “Is this all there is?” Talia and Allen Wagner, marriage and family therapists, have illuminated this sadly familiar, silent epidemic of Married Roommates. They give couples a new way to bring back the spark in their marriage with tools and strategies to learn how to talk to and with your spouse, not to mention how to get away from the tit for tats and the constant feeling of walking and talking on eggshells. This book helps you reclaim your marriage by learning how to: - Communicate effectively without assumptions and misinterpretations - Resolve conflict by avoiding fighting or escalation - Maintain attraction, intimacy, and sex - Prioritize one another and work as a team - Gain the tools to stop the fighting, disrespect, jabs, and low blows - Create new routines and reinvigorate the stale parts of your relationship




Black Iron


Book Description

It's 1855, but not as we know it. The schism between the One True French Catholic Church and the heretical Italian Catholic Church has stoked three centuries of conflict, imploding the dream of European ascendancy. Thousands flee the Spanish Inquisition for havens in Germany, France, Britain and the colonies of the New World. The face and character of London has been indelibly altered by generations of refugees. Tasked with keeping order and preserving the ecumenical vision of the Holy French Catholic Church in the face of throngs clamoring for traditional British values, the London police find themselves in an awkward position. And nobody is quite sure how to deal with the technological innovation of animates: mindless laborers crafted from the body parts of the dead. A murderous plot with far-reaching implications casts a city torn between renaissance and tyranny as the unwitting catalyst for unspeakable global calamity. The fate of this world lies, as it often does, in the hands of a motley and disparate crew brought together by inglorious serendipity. Ironworks and iron fists will take London, and the Old World with it, to the cutting edge of a treacherous new century.




The Game Changer


Book Description

To make an open marriage work, Franklin and Celeste knew they needed to make sure no one ever came between them. That meant no overnights, no falling in love, and either one of them could ask the other to end an outside relationship if it became too much to deal with. It worked for nearly two decades--and their relentless focus on their own relationship let them turn a blind eye to the emotional wreckage they were leaving behind.




Qualitative Research for Quantitative Researchers


Book Description

This book equips any quantitative researcher, at any level, who finds they need to use qualitative methods, with the necessary theoretical and practical skills they need to leverage their quantitative background into successful qualitative research.




The Invention of Miracles


Book Description

A revelatory revisionist biography of Alexander Graham Bell — renowned inventor of the telephone and powerful enemy of the deaf community. When Alexander Graham Bell first unveiled his telephone to the world, it was considered miraculous. But few people know that it was inspired by another supposed miracle: his work teaching the deaf to speak. The son of one deaf woman and husband to another, he was motivated by a desire to empower deaf people by integrating them into the hearing world, but he ended up becoming their most powerful enemy, waging a war against sign language and deaf culture that still rages today. The Invention of Miracles tells the dual stories of Bell’s remarkable, world-changing invention and his dangerous ethnocide of deaf culture and language. It also charts the rise of deaf activism and tells the triumphant tale of a community reclaiming a once-forbidden language. Katie Booth has researched this story for over a decade, poring over Bell’s papers, Library of Congress archives, and the records of deaf schools around America. Witnessing the damaging impact of Bell’s legacy on her deaf family set her on a path that upturned everything she thought she knew about language, power, deafness, and technology.




Private Berlin


Book Description

An investigator in Berlin is on the brink of a terrifying discovery that could throw Europe into chaos in this tense thriller-perfect for fans of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Chris Schneider is a superstar agent at Private Berlin, Germany headquarters for the world's most powerful investigation firm. He keeps his methods secret as he tackles Private's most high-profile cases-and when Chris suddenly disappears, he becomes Private Berlin's most dangerous investigation yet. Mattie Engel is another top agent at Private Berlin, gorgeous and ruthlessly determined-and she's also Chris's ex. Mattie throws herself headfirst into finding Chris, following leads to the three people Chris was investigating when he vanished: a billionaire suspected of cheating on his wife, a soccer star accused of throwing games, and a nightclub owner with ties to the Russian mob. Any one of them would surely want Chris gone-and one of them is evil enough to want him dead. James Patterson has taken the European thriller to a masterful new level with Private Berlin, an adrenaline-charged and sexy novel with unforgettable characters of dark and complex depths. Private Berlinproves why Patterson is truly the world's #1 bestselling author.