The Pros & Cons of Dragon-Slaying


Book Description

This collection shows us the battles—fought, lost and won—when we strive to live life to the fullest. In the fabled adventures in both this world and the next, there are many quests to be embarked on, with countless clashes with dragons—seen and unseen. In The Pros & Cons of Dragon-Slaying, the characters struggle with the bewildering aspects of existence and try to prevail against the forces that are arrayed against them, or that are besieging them from within. Despite their multiple points of view, which range from the farce to the surreal, these crusade stories all speak in harmony, as they reveal life’s stunning surprises and twisted ironies. The tales also speak for life against death, for love against apathy, and for the human spirit against all forms of oppression. But as you weigh the pros and cons of dragon-slaying, take care to watch out for the tempters and demons of inwardness. Beware the dragons of the mind.




The Blessing of the Bikes & Other Life-Cycles


Book Description

The Blessing of the Bikes & Other LifeCycles is a themed collection in three parts that catalogues and values urban life. It chronicles the way we imagine and reimagine the city. In so doing, the poems become urban praise songs. What would we miss if it were all to go missing? Even if we left the place behind for new cities (or the wilderness), what would always remain dear to us? What would our lives be without the places we have known, including public and private spaces? These poems measure and chart the value of our neighbourhoods and the spirit of the city that we wish to preserve. By meditating on our storied past, the poems in The Bless of the Bikes & Other LifeCycles measure and chart the value of where we live and consider pathways to the city’s future.




Sun Dogs


Book Description

These poems fly from Earth to Jupiter and back, but one can feel the sweat on the skin for the whole trip. Lenses, including those of our eyes, let the sky-watcher chart the trip of the time-traveler from beginning to end. We are all star-children, born into the universe, where we must wander from place to place and time to time in search of our own bliss. The trip also takes us to “inner space.” In three parts, Sun Dogs, as a themed collection, attempts to capture moments of wonder, loss and healing: 1. Planetarium, 2. Jealous Planet, and 3. Cosmic Therapies. The poems speak of the human journey – the odyssey of experience in a galaxy filled with legends and natural phenomena. Yet, the collection promises “cosmic therapy” – a time for something great.




Poor Love & Other Stories


Book Description

These stories, in all their narrative voicings, deal with sorrow and still seek to find life’s joys. Despite conflicts, contradictions, sacrifices, surprises and ironies, the haunted and hunted characters try to comprehend death in detail. In so doing, the human spirit rises up and triumphs against the incomprehensible and bewildering aspects of life, love and death.




Birds and Arrows


Book Description

Birds and Arrows is a poetry collection centering on the spirituality of desire. As verbal designs, these poems reflect the shape and movement of birds and arrows in flight. Each sequence in counterpoint traces the arc of a journey, a quest with joys and sorrows, a sense of delight, and feelings of grief. The quester is an archer contending with the mystifying forces of life and love. Faced with the bewildering and mysterious aspects of the world, the archer yearns for the visible and the divine. The road leads to an apprehension of a love greater than the one once imagined. The archer yearns for the perfect arrow that will hit the target of understanding. The seeker longs to find the self-surrendering of love as a way forward in the world. The mystic archer is wounded in battle in the face of life's dangers, but still strives for mystical experiences in the real world. The poems in Birds and Arrows aim at such a target in the belief that the quest is real and true. Voices fly past, like arrows and birds in flight, and the reader senses their whirring sound, their call and cry.




Dragon Slayer: The Complete Chronicles


Book Description

IN THIS WORLD, THERE IS NO SAINT GEORGE! When Rimsey Stolworth is chosen to the annual sacrifice to appease the village dragon, she knows that there's no one coming to help her. The only things that will keep her from the dragon's belly are her own courage, wit, and a book about dragons. For most people, that would be a death sentence. For Rimsey, it's the start of a career. Dragon Slayer: The Complete Chronicles is made up of 13 linked short stories. Full of action and adventure, they follow Rimsey as she learns to kill the most dangerous predators ever - dragons!







The Dragon of Prali


Book Description

For years, the inhabitants of Prali, a small Italian mountain town near the French border, lived in peace. They believed that danger would never come to them. However, deep within a mountain cave, a one-of-a-kind dragon feasts on rats and mice living within the cave. While he grows, he discovers this is not enough. He craves the taste of cow, oxen, and humans. The last of his kind, the dragon launches a brutal attack on the people of Prali. After the terrorizing havoc of the dragon. Bernard, a young Franciscan monk; Mary, a misplaced English girl; and the arrogant knight Leonardo. Join forces to eliminate the dragon and bring peace to the people of Prali. Only the courage and strength of the three dragon hunters will save the world from destruction. As they travel through the mysterious forests, and deep caverns of the region. They discover the secrets of the hidden lair and an underworld that time has forgotten. They journey to the farthest reaches of the dragons lair to face their ultimate destiny.




The Dragon Slayer


Book Description




Slaying the Dragon: The History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America


Book Description

"This is the remarkable story of America's personal and instituional responses to alcoholism and other addictions. It is the story of mutual aid societies: the Washingtonians, the Blue Ribbon Reform Clubs, the Ollapod Club, the United Order of Ex-Boozers, the Jacoby Club, Alcoholics Anonymous and Women for Sobriety. It is a story of addiction treatment institutions from the inebriate asylums and Keeley Institutes to Hazelden and Parkside. It is the story of evolving treatment interventions that range from water cures and mandatory sterilization to aversion therapies and methadone maintenance. William White has provided a sweeping and engaging history of one of America's most enduring problems and the profession that was birthed to respond to it" -- BACK COVER.