LIFE-LIFE IS THE ADVENTURE The physical world-the magnificent illusion-that's the game. The Shell is where the dice are rolled. Where the wheel is spun. Where the cards are shuffled and dealt. Life is where the hand is played. You can see why it's so important that we forget it's all an illusion. If we remembered, every time we held a hand that didn't suit our fancy, we'd fold and request a new deal. What would that do to the game, to the other players? Every hand can't be a winner, right? Sometimes we draw garbage, sometimes we get a pair. Maybe some-one else has a higher pair. Somebody gets three-of-a-kind. A straight. A full house. Once in a while someone draws a royal flush. Get it? Once in a while. Not every player. Not every hand. That's how the game works. Life is about playing the hand you're dealt, to the best of your ability. If you're a really good player, maybe you can win the pot without holding so much as a pair. Sometimes starting out with that royal flush can be a disadvantage. Think of the royals throughout history who inherited their kingdoms. Never had to work for them. Never had to learn, develop muscles, grow strong. One day they discover they're not up to the new challenges, and they wind up leaving their heads on the block. And the guy sharpening the guillotine is the one who began life with low numbers and no face cards.

IN MORE THAN seventeen years of investigative reporting for magazines and newspapers, Anthony Pignataro has written numerous essays about life in the underbellies of seemingly upscale communities: Orange County and Sacramento in California, and on the tropical island paradise of Maui, Hawaii, where he has made his home since 2003 and is editor of the alternative weekly newspaper MauiTime. Pignataro's steamy Charley Ridgway novels of hardboiled action and noir intrigue, Small Island and The Dead Season (published in 2011 and 2012 by Event Horizon Press), have made their mark with lovers of dark adventures. Stealing Cars With The Pros collects thirty-three true stories that helped inspire his suspenseful fiction writing.

Has evolution made humans into big babies? Can a grown man be toppled with a straw and a newt? Is salamander spit the newest weapon of mass destruction? The answers lie Somewhere Upriver. Douglas Mortimer, just beginning graduate school, is on his way to fulfilling his lifelong dream of becoming a great scientist. But when Douglas hires an eccentric old herpetologist as a research assistant, his plans for a successful future are derailed. He enters a world of toxic salamanders, quirky characters and government conspiracies, where the outlandish becomes amazingly believable. "A memorable mind-altering venture of wildlife biologists exploring Washington's rainforests, forging hilarious new trails beyond the beaten track, revealing secrets hidden beneath the skin of salamanders." -Diana Somerville author of Inside Out Down Under: Stories from a Spiritual Sabbatical ..". wonderful characters, action, humor, a little sex, and a vivid picture of one of the last American rainforests. It's great testimony that I really cared how the characters fared. And oh, yeah; I almost forgot the toads. We learn a lot about toads, too "-Terence Kuch author of The Seventh Effect and See/Saw ..". packed with laughs and intrigue in which the hero meets his tests of courage with renegade herpetologist Peter Vernon and a cast of characters living on the fringe of society who help, hinder and educate Douglas. It's a story of homemade beer, homemade tofu, gourd banjos, living underground, alien encounters, salamanders, rainforests, and field biologists who tramp through streams in search of new species ... with a court trial and renegade FBI agents to round out this delightful story." - Barbora Holan Cowles author of Why wasn't my teacher in school today?

The Carl Barks Fan Club Pictorial is a quarterly publication of the international Carl Barks Fan Club, featuring pictorial articles regarding the amazing worldwide influence of Carl's stories and artwork on literature, the arts, education and literacy. For seven decades the work of Carl Barks has been translated into every major language, published by the millions, and enjoyed by billions of adults and children of all cultures. The characters he created have become household names, his stories treasured works of literature. Yet it was not until his retirement in the 1960s that Carl's name was made known to the public, for during the twenty-three years of his comic book cartooning career, his work was presented to the public as that of Walt Disney-specifically, that of The Walt Disney Company. An American of humble beginnings from rural Oregon, Carl Barks became the single most prolific, most published, most read author and most viewed artist in history. This series of pictorial books explores every aspect of his work and its ongoing global impact. Today Carl's oil paintings of scenes featuring the characters he created and wrote about are eminently collectible, selling at auction for very high prices."

The Carl Barks Fan Club Pictorial is a quarterly publication of the international Carl Barks Fan Club, featuring pictorial articles regarding the amazing worldwide influence of Carl's stories and artwork on literature, the arts, education and literacy. For seven decades the work of Carl Barks has been translated into every major language, published by the millions, and enjoyed by billions of adults and children of all cultures. The characters he created have become household names, his stories treasured works of literature. Yet it was not until his retirement in the 1960s that Carl's name was made known to the public, for during the twenty-three years of his career, his work was presented to the public as that of Walt Disney-specifically, that of The Walt Disney Company. An American of humble beginnings from rural Oregon, Carl Barks became the single most prolific, most published, most read author in history. This series of pictorial books explores every aspect of his work and its ongoing global impact.

HIS BEST BUDDY IS KILLED IN ACTION and Charley Ridgway has only the man's knife to remind him of their friendship. Now the knife has been stolen by a beautiful young woman connected to a violent murder, and the former soldier wants the weapon back. Hot on the trail of the thief, Charley's die-hard principles propel him through underworld intrigues, police troubles, and into the arms of the girl's seductive mother. Sequel to Anthony Pignataro's SMALL ISLAND, the action-packed Maui novel that first introduced readers to the savvy resort bartender, THE DEAD SEASON likewise presents surprising glimpses of the island paradise ... a darker side seldom known to vacationers and other outsiders.

ALEC MYERS is smart, good looking, rich ... and dead. After an accident, he winds up on "the other side," where he must face some unpleasant truths about himself. Just as he's about to get a second chance, his ex-wife donates his heart for transplant, complicating his return to life, his search for a lost romance, and his redemption in a daring act of courage.

A SOLID WALL OF FIRE hundreds of feet high rages toward your home, turning each dry leaf, twig and blade of grass into a roaring blaze so hot that everything in its path literally explodes into flame Within moments your property is engulfed and destroyed by a horrific inferno in which the very air seems to be burning. This scenario is not something out of a summer blockbuster movie. It is a situation that is all too real, all too terrifying, and is repeated worldwide many hundreds of times every year as raging wildfires in urban wildland areas destroy property and shatter lives. Yet always, with every such firestorm, one or two homes survive unscathed while all around become blackened cinders. A quirk of fate? A shift in the wind? No. Simply planning ahead. As a professional firefighter, author Ron Harmon has seen over and over that by taking a few simple precautions-BY PLANNING NOW for that absolutely certain to arrive day when the searing brush fire WILL come racing across the fields, up the hills and through the canyons-you can stop that wall of flame cold in its tracks, turning away certain destruction, saving the lives of your family and pets as well as your home property. FIRESTORM tells you step-by-step the what, where, when, why and how of fire prevention that you must use to stop the coming conflagration. Read this vital information and follow the easy guidelines, so you will be able to beat the odds and escape disaster. Initially published for the City of Los Angeles, California, which has a long history of catastrophic brush fires that have claimed many lives and resulted in extensive property loss, FIRESTORM will assist residents in any community where there is an "urban-wildland interface" to understand the importance of brush fire safety and prevention.

Authorized biography of Jeraldine Saunders, author of the book Love Boats and creator of The Love Boat television series.

RECALLING CARL by Joseph Robert Cowles, is a compilation of essays, articles and images regarding the work of the world's most prolific best-selling storyteller and master cartoonist, Carl Barks. For some twenty-three years, Carl wrote and drew Disney comic book stories of Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge (whom he created) and other denizens of his mythical Duckburg, USA. These stories have been reprinted many times in every major language worldwide, making Donald and his fellow waterfowl the best known and perhaps most loved fictional characters of all time. However, Carl Barks was an unknown name throughout most of his career, as his work was attributed to Walt Disney. It was not until he retired from cartooning and with permission of the Disney organization turned his talents to creating oil paintings of the Disney-owned characters (based primarily on scenes from his comic book stories), that Carl was able to sign his own name to his work. Joseph Robert Cowles, author of REMEMBERING CARL, is one of the several young "Duck Fans" who were privileged to meet "The Good Artist" while he was still producing comic book stories. This dissertation springs from recollections of the friendship that developed between Barks and Cowles, insights regarding his craft that the old master shared with his young fan, and the potential for the work of "The Good Artist" to become the most valuable motion picture franchise of all time.