Cameras don’t catch all of the action… Porter Hale is a sex god—The Prince of Porn with dreams of grandeur. When he meets Holly Nash, the biggest casting director in Hollywood, the doors to his future are thrown open. Just one problem: She loathes porn. Porter is walking into Holly’s world and the price of admission is higher than either of them could have guessed. As sparks fly and passions blaze into something wild, they are forced to accept that someone will have to sacrifice their dreams or risk their lover’s heart. When dreams collide, the aftermath can be messy.**

"Make the reader think the evil, make him think it for himself . . . " -Henry James This first collection of tales by Rosalie Parker contains eight stories that explore the uncanny in the modern world. As Glen Cavaliero observes in his introduction, "like all good stories of the preternatural, these in The Old Knowledge have a subversive effect." In them, "the world of logical, predictable reality is seen to be at risk from rejected modes of knowledge which can thwart the materialist and victimise those innocents who stumble into another order of reality." In "The Rain", Geraldine heads to the North for a holiday she hopes will provide a welcome break from her busy city life, only to suffer a complicated and enigmatic distortion of her usual world-view. The narrator of "In the Garden" strays into new pastures while explaining her theory of gardening. In "Chanctonbury Ring", the well-meaning protagonist, helping a lady in distress, gets rather more than he bargained for. The temporary schoolteacher in "The Supply-Teacher" elicits altruism from her class, whilst, in "The Old Knowledge", a group of archaeologists called in to excavate a prehistoric round barrow have to negotiate local interventions. In "The Cook's Story" a Gothic country house provides the setting for a modern tale of mystery. Do not expect blood-and-guts, wraiths or revenants: these stories hold a different kind of terror. "Their unostentatious magic is of an insidious kind; and like the protagonist of the title story, is liable to exert itself in disconcerting ways." Contents Introduction by Glen Cavaliero The Rain Spirit Solutions In the Garden Chanctonbury Ring The Supply Teacher The Old Knowledge The Cook's Story The Picture Acknowledgements Rosalie Parker was born and grew up on a farm in Buckinghamshire, but has lived subsequently in Stockholm, Oxford, Dorset, Somerset, Sheffield and Sussex. She took degrees in English Literature and History, and Archaeology, working first as an archaeologist before returning to her first love of books. Rosalie is co-proprietor and editor of the independent publishing house, Tartarus Press, and lives in the Yorkshire Dales with her partner, the writer and publisher Ray Russell, their son and two cats. Visit her website at: www.tartaruspress.com/rmp1.htm

Joseph, a man in his late thirties, awakens disoriented and uneasy in a place he doesn't recognize. Several people are near him when he opens his eyes, all strangers. All of them seem perfectly friendly, but none of them can explain to him how he got there. They offer him a delicious meal and pleasant conversation in a beautifully decorated room. This would be a very nice experience if not for one thing: Joseph doesn't know where he is and he has no way to contact his wife, who he is sure is worried sick over him. Thanking the people for their hospitality, he leaves to make his way back home. The only problem is that whatever happened to him has stripped him of most of his memories. He knows he needs to get back to his wife, but he doesn't know how to find her. He sets out on a journey to find his home with no sense of where he's going and only the precious, indelible vision of the woman he loves to guide him.Antoinette is an elderly woman in an assisted living facility. She’s spent the last six years there since her husband died, and most of those years have been happy. She enjoys the company of others in her situation and her son comes to visit often. But in recent months, she’s had a tougher and tougher time leaving her room. Her friends seem different to her and the world seems increasingly confusing. She spends an escalating amount of time on a journey inside her head. There, her body and mind haven’t betrayed her. There, she’s a young newlywed with a husband who dotes on her and an entire life of dreams to live. There, she is truly home.Warren, Antoinette’s son, is a man in his early forties going through the toughest year of his life. His marriage ended, he lost his job, and in the past few months, his mother has gone from hale to increasingly hazy. Having trouble finding work, he spends more and more time by his mother’s bedside. But her lack of lucidity both frustrates and frightens him. With far too much time on his hands, he decides to try to recreate his memories of home by attempting to cook his mother’s greatest dishes using the rudimentary appliances available in her room. He finds the challenge surprisingly rewarding, especially because the only time he feels his mother is truly with him anymore is when she is eating the meals he prepares for her. Joseph, Antoinette, and Warren are three people on different searches for home. How they find it, and how they connect with one another at this critical stage in each of their lives, is the foundation for a profound and deeply moving story. Review"This is a great family drama with a delightful spiritual twist. Readers will want to join the cast on aptly title Journey Home to learn how the diverse subplots connect the dots." --Genre Go Round Reviews"Mr. Baron treks the reader through an unforgettable contemporary romance. Hauntingly poignant and beautifully moving, this well-written piece takes the reader on their own journey. This is a touchingly tender story full of emotions that I will definitely recommend to family and friends." --Coffee Time Romance"A story that is real and will touch you in many different facets. Michael Baron has a gift. He has penned such an emotional and memorable tale that will stay with you long after the last page. Simply beautiful." --Minding Spot"Michael Baron has a way with families - though this book is only 176 pages, the characters danced in my head and the story jumped off the page and into my soul. The Journey Home is a main dish of love, with a side of laughter, a pinch of kindness, and a dash of hope. It left me reliving moments in my life I had long since forgotten about, revealing a love story that I witnessed while growing up, a love story I had forgotten, and for that, Michael Baron has my sincere thanks!" --Book Crazy"Nicholas Sparks fans will love this heartwarming read." --Book Loons"The Journey Home is a main dish of love, with a side of laughter, a pinch of kindness, and a dash of hope. It left me reliving moments in my life I had long since forgotten about, revealing a love story that I witnessed while growing up, a love story I had forgotten, and for that, Michael Baron has my sincere thanks!" --Book Crazy"The Journey Home touches the heart in so many ways. The joys, sorrows, hopes, fears, and gentle living make it a compelling story that reminds one that there is a time and a season for all things. GOOD READING!" --Long and Short Reviews"I didn't think he could get any better after reading When You Went Away but I was wrong. Michael Baron has gone on my list as a favorite author. You will fall in love with all of the characters in this story, just as I did.... The Journey Home will make you long for home. The ending will have you in awe." --Cheryl's Book Nook"Michael Baron delivers again !! Another heart tugging, thought provoking, tender and emotional story written only the way Michael Baron can." --CMash Loves to Read"Great read. A keeper." --Between the Pages About the AuthorMichael Baron is the pseudonym for a successful nonfiction writer. He is the author of two previous novels, When You Went Away (Story Plant, October 2009) and Crossing the Bridge (Story Plant, January 2010). His next novel, Leaves will come in the fall of 2010. A more extensive bio from the author is available at his site, www.MichaelBaronBooks.com.

War built the Kisian Empire and war will tear it down. And as an empire falls, three warriors rise.Caught in a foreign war, Captain Rah e'Torin and his exiled warriors will have to fight or die. Their honour code is all they have left until orders from within stress them to breaking point, and the very bonds that hold them together will be ripped apart.Cassandra wants the voice in her head to go away. Willing to do anything for peace, the ageing whore takes an assassination contract that promises answers, only the true price may be everyone and everything she knows.A prisoner in her own castle, Princess Miko doesn't dream of freedom but of the power to fight for her empire. As the daughter of a traitor the path to redemption could as easily tear it, and her family, asunder.As an empire dies they will have to ride the storm or drown in its blood. 

The brilliant new book from bestselling author Jacqueline Wilson, set in the children's ward of a 1950s hospital.It's 1953, the year Elizabeth is to be crowned Queen of England. Elsie Kettle can't wait to go to London to see the celebrations on Coronation Day. Elsie lives with her Nan - her mum works as a showgirl, so she's not around very often. Spirited and imaginative, but often lonely, Elsie longs for a best friend. Luckily, she and Nan are very close; Elsie just wishes she was allowed a cat to keep her company sometimes.Then tragedy strikes. Nan and Elsie both fall ill with tuberculosis, and Elsie finds herself whisked away to the children's ward of the hospital. Confined to bed for months on end, Elsie finds it very hard to adapt to the hospital's strict regime. But she invents astonishing ways of entertaining the other children on the ward, and for the first time finds herself surrounded by true friends - including Queenie, the hospital's...

Canny and ferocious, with the power of an ancient Goddess in her belly, Rowan Summerwaite is the only person who can renegotiate the fragile Treaty between the Vampire Nation and the Hunter Corporation, the last line of defense for humanity. A meeting of this Joint Tribunal, as well as her new status as Liaison, sends Rowan straight to the last place on earth she wants to be, the childhood home she’d escaped so many years before—The First’s Keep. Raised at the knee of The First—the oldest Vampire and leader of the Vampire Nation—honed into a weapon by the Hunter Corporation, wielding ancient knowledge from the Goddess within, Rowan must navigate bloodthirsty Vampires and Hunters alike. And she’s got to do it while managing a politically awkward but undeniably deepened romance with Scion Clive Stewart. Failure in her role as Liaison could mean all-out war, with humankind in the crosshairs. No pressure. Walking the path between her two lives has already made Rowan a pariah. The choices she’ll have to make will mean she becomes something even more Other and as a result she may lose those last shreds of home she has left.

SUMMARY: "Polar exploration is at once the cleanest and most isolated way of having a bad time that has ever been devised," wrote Apsley Cherry-Garrard in a deceptively jaunty introduction to this classic story of bravery and fortitude first published in 1922. The story he relates is of Scott's last expedition to the Antarctic, from its departure from England in 1910 to its arrival in New Zealand in 1913; it is one of the most famous and tragic in the annals of exploration. Driven by an obsession for scientific knowledge, these brave polar explorers embarked on a journey into the unknown, testing their endurance by pushing themselves to the ultimate physical and mental limits as they surveyed the striking and mammoth land that lies far to the south.Cherry-Garrard was himself a member of the expedition that had two goals: to discover as much as was scientifically possible about the terrain and habitat of Antarctica, and to be the first to reach the South Pole. The party was plagued by bad luck, weather conditions of unanticipated ferocity, and the physical deterioration of the party on the last part of the journey. Confronted by the shattering knowledge that Roald Amundsen had reached the South Pole a month before them, Scott's party then had to negotiate the last, heroic part of their journey, a doomed attempt which has entered modern mythology.The Worst Journey in the World is the inside story of this most famous of journeys and is truly one of the best and most moving books of travel ever written. Join Scott's expedition as he and his team venture deep into the frozen unknown. This volume is the second in the continuing series of Explorers Club books.

Jack Spratt is a policeman on the door of Number Ten. When the Prime Minister decides that the only way to get closer to the men and women on the street is to travel around the country incognito and find out what they really think, he enlists Jack’s help. Leaving his high-powered, ambitious wife to hold the fort, he and Jack set out. But neither can foresee how their extraordinary odyssey will impact on world affairs. Or their own lives.