Real life is the birthplace of the best stories. The tales related in Lines From the Times are drawn from real life. Lacking the length of a short story, these tales are pithy reflections on life as it is encountered by the author. From a little girl's conversation on a park bench, a grown man flying a kite in the church yard, a daughter's attempts to rein in an indulgent grandfather, a homeless man or a drug-influenced woman seeking direction, an adventure getting children off to school, strangers passed along life's journey, all combine to entertain and delight. These are not sermons by any means, but hey are parables of life where one finds a lesson taught, a prejudice challenged or a value uplifted. Lines From the Times is a mirror held up to our age reflecting our beauty and our blemishes. There's love in these pages; there's sadness for love not shown. There's acceptance here; there's rejection. We can find ourselves tucked inside the stories, ourselves at our best and at our worse.

What happens when you take genuine Facebook quotes, gather them together, and try to connect them? You get a heated confrontation between rival time-travelers. You get the untold romance of chess-champion computer Deep Blue. You get a secret society of comedians bent on world domination, not to mention vital, brutally untrue information about international politics, artificial sweetener, cyborgs, the lifestyle of the modern geek, the meaning of your dreams, and other issues of equally tremendous importance. The Jumping-Off Point weaves from one quote to another, generating a picture of a world you never knew existed...because it doesn't.

Hoot is an uplifting, hilarious, feel-good look at life through a mother's eyes, taken from letters, notes and cards she left behind.

1975 Kenny fell in love with motorcycles; it was his gateway to freedom. Motorcycles were a big part of his life, and in 2008 a near fatal motorcycle vs car accident changed his life forever. This book details the events of his life and struggles with rehabilitation.

AK-47 in a Wild Why World is a collection of essays on political and socio-economic condition of the Modern Africa, humour and poetry with a nationalistic touch. The approach, very blunt and sometimes acerbic. The book argues about an unknown fear trapped in the heart of every black African with a vicious grip on 3 out of every 5; the thought of a life wasted under economic hardship, a scary and degenerating environmental nightmare, the scare from an imaginary superior powers chained in a grander fear of losing political and vain physical relevance, the fear of a hell, a hell of poverty and misery influenced by ignorance, greed and crass illiteracy. According to the author, to run away from this fear, a great conflict ensued, a conflict of the soul and self in the midst of a society gone wild with itself. In the madness of this self induced conflict emerges a great run that has set every black African on a race out of motherland to cold places of comfort - A spider web comfort. The book states categorically that unless the black African sit down and address the myriads of problems plaguing the entire continent, and build a positive cultural and economic system the great Africa will spiral into further darkness. The idea of humour laced into this frank discussion according to the author is only to remind us that we are living in a world that is getting hostile every minute of the day, unintelligent arguments, misunderstandings, strife and things that are insane to ever imagine we could do to each other. Humour is that idea that reminds us that all the struggles leads nowhere but more struggles and stress. The only way to prove that vanity of life is to find time to share some joy.

Author BiographyEveryone's heard of the 'Good Old Boys' in the Deep South. This is about one J. Carroll Barnhill who likes to say, "seven twenty seven and thirty three and I've been here a while as you can see." Born, bred and raised in Bradenton-Manatee County, Florida, he attended all Manatee schools, receiving a Distinguished Achievement award in Junior High. In Manatee High School, he received the Outstanding Senior Award, football, track, President of the Florida Future Farmers of America, National Honor Society, Best Physique, football scholarship, a Boy Scout and an Assistant Scoutmaster.Carroll has five children: three boys, two girls, nine grandchildren and four great grandchildren. He worked at a dairy farm from age 12 to 20, and had a 29-year career at Florida Power and Light Company.He won many horseshow trophies and championships, also judged and helped organize two horseshow circuits. He traded his first cow for a Pinto mare and raised its foal, "Rocket," featured in a book about famous horses of all breeds, entitled "Hoof Prints in Time."He went to Chicago and brought back the thoroughbred stallion, 'Springside, ' grandson of 'Man O'War, ' thus beginning his lifelong ambition to breed, train and race thoroughbred racehorses, winning over 400 races, several stake races and set track records. He was also voted "Outstanding Performer" by the Turf Writers.He will tell you a horse bucked him off in 2004 which finally lined up his brain cells and then wrote his first poem. He is always surprised when people like his "silly little poems" and tell him he is "blessed, talented and gifted." His reply is, "I just do it for fun and to make people happy."Carroll's football coach, Wheeler Leeth always said, "Stay in your own pond." So here Carroll remains in Manatee County.

With the intent of educating and sparking discussion among younger generations, Willie Lattimore shares an intriguing insight into life in rural America during the 1960s and beyond in his memoir. In this time, the Lattimore family endured hardship, shared joys, and expanded the roots of the family tree. Willie begins with a retelling of his childhood growing up in Louisville, Alabama, where he enjoyed eating cornbread pancakes, horseback riding, fishing at the Blue Hole, and watching his logger father play on a Negro League baseball team. As he details his unique coming-of-age journey, Willie shares an entertaining glimpse into what life was like during a time when racism was prevalent, food was preserved in unusual ways, corporal punishment was the norm, and castor oil was the preferred remedy for every ailment under the sun. Throughout his narrative, which continues through his military career, Willie demonstrates how he relied on his church teachings and moral upbringing to make good choices and overcome challenges. Never Forget... combines humor, photographs, and real-life adventures with the goal of preserving the wonderful history of the Lattimore family for generations to come.

Liz Lally didn't know that Tom was a cartoon character when she agreed to marry him-but their honeymoon, more than forty years ago, was a good first indicator. Liz's groom had neglected to make reservations and ended up taking her to a run-down hotel with prostitutes prancing at the front door.

That was just the beginning of Tom's morph from Liz's Prince Charming into the goofball cartoon character everyone knows him to be today.

Here, Liz delivers laugh-out-loud, true tales about sharing a home and raising a family with a quirky man who lives by a logic all his own. Wives everywhere will commiserate when Liz awaits an intimate anniversary celebration for two as her husband coordinates a golf trip for twenty, yearns for the handyman-husband who walked through their new house decades ago and planned all the remodeling projects he'd accomplish (Tom's first, the "playroom," is still under construction; never mind that the "kids" are all grown and out of the house), and tries valiantly to parent three children with a man who can barely care for himself.

These are the sometimes perplexing, usually hilarious, always endearing antics of a true American character-and the wife who loves him anyway.

It has long been a government secret in the UK that Manchester is the home of man made weather. In neighbouring Salford, cloud machines are manufactured, and their owners are registered and certificated. Cirrus Cumulus and Percival White are two respectable, certified cloud machine operators, working together on a machine called the Nimbus. Down on the ground, they share a home in the Lancashire village of Slaidburn. Cirrus' reserved nature is perfectly partnered with Percival's rather bawdy behaviour. Operating out of Wythenshawe Weather Centre, they make a great team, taking on search and rescue, fundraising, foreign aid, and some more unusual projects. As crew of the Nimbus, they are occasionally called upon to fight criminal cloud activity. Other weather tasks are of vital importance, while some are just bizarre. In this collection of short stories, the crew of the Nimbus weaves magic in the sky but also in the hearts of colleagues and friends alike.