Lila, a talented pianist and wife to Rob, has decided she cannot passively follow a score someone else has written-in her musical career and her marriage. As she struggles in her role as daughter to a mother who is dying of cancer, Lila finds that Kevin, a violinist and Lila's musical partner, helps to keep her love of music in tune through trying times. Lila's husband Rob has his own demons to conquer. A cynical history professor, Rob has been accused of harassment by his own department head. With each chapter told from the point of view of one of the three major characters, "Blue Duets" is a meditation on life at middle age and the consequence of compromise. As the narrators' voices move from harmony to discord, we learn to appreciate the different perspectives in the story. Lila, puzzled yet rational, uses what she understands of art and music to pilot her present life struggles. Kevin is comic and transparent in his observations of Lila's existential dilemma. Rob's penchant for gourmet cooking disguises his inability to reflect. In "Blue Duets," enjoy a novel about perspective and learning to trust one's intuition.

In Kansas and Missouri, the War Between the States started long before Fort Sumter. Daniel Fitzgerald, a Southerner who tries to settle Kansas and leave behind his tormented Louisiana roots, soon finds that in Kansas Territory you have to take sides or die. Taking sides doesn't lessen the chances of a violent death, it just determines who is going to try and kill you. For Massachusetts-born Rebecca Styles, who comes to Kansas to insure freedom for slaves, the choice is easy. Or is it? When she meets Daniel, she is forced to take a new look at all the ideas she took for granted, like all Southerners are evil and all abolitionists are good. Daniel's half-brother and former slave, Andre, knows his first loyalty belongs to his friends and family, not a lofty ideal, but he can't sit by and do nothing when injustice stares him in the face. Throw into the mix all the larger-than-life characters who played a part in the sectional violence which led the nation into its bloodiest war and you have a novel with all the drama of the era. You'll meet James Lane, John Brown, JEB Stuart, Robert E. Lee, Joseph Shelby, Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, and the other men and women who have shaped this nation into what it is today. You will never look at any of them as just characters in a history book again. This is a historical novel unlike any you have ever read before. It is a blend of history, action and romance. Facts read like fiction, and fiction could have been fact. It is a story of a time that changed a nation and a handful of people who lived and died in our nation's most colorful era.

Georgia's turbulent history has been a natural breeding round for ghost stories and legends. The last of the thirteen original colonies, its heroes and villains have been larger than life characters. From Revolutionary soldiers to Confederate officers, from southern belles to wicked witches, from spirit cats to howling prehistoric dogs, Georgia has some of the most unique ghosts anywhere. Combine that with warm climate, Victorian and Antebellum mansions, stir in a generous helping of southern hospitality and you have a sure fire recipe for ghost hunting travel, southern style. This second edition has even more fun and haunted places to visit in the Peach State. So what are you waiting for. Discover Georgia's Ghostly Getaways

Florida! The land of sunshine and wide-open beaches. But even the Sunshine State has its dark secrets. Places where centuries old spirits remain tied to earth. Beneath the facade of fun and make believe lurks the real Florida. Settled by often cruel conquistadors, Florida was Europe's first stronghold in the New World. The blood of Spanish, French, English and Native American had stained its verdant woodlands and sandy beaches long before it became part of the United States. Even then, greedy land barons and simple settlers battled the heat, hurricanes, insects and snakes to create the paradise we know as modern Florida. Is it any wonder that unexplainable tales and strange phenomena still remain just below the surface? It is still a great state for explorers of the modern persuasion. But if you want to enjoy it to the fullest, it helps to have some background and history before you begin your voyage of discovery. I have given you the bare bones of each place where I found spirits lurking. I have also included places to stay, great eateries, fun attractions and, most important, a ghostly preview. I have divided the state according to its natural geographic areas. Now it's up to you. Join me as we go about Finding Florida's Phantoms.

After a painful divorce, Casey returns to the haven of her childhood, great grandmother Weesie's tiny log cabin. Nestled in the Appalachian Mountains of North Georgia, the cabin rekindles memories of her happiest years as a young child enjoying Granny Weesie's tales of treasure. Casey seeks a peaceful refuge she will share only with her cat, Smokey. However, much more than early memories await Casey in Bluejay, Georgia. Weesie's childhood diary turns up in the cabin. The scrawled pages transport Casey back into the late nineteenth century. Far from finding the peaceful time she expects there, she uncovers a web of adultery, murder and intrigue that threatens to entangle Casey's twenty first century life. That life threatens to become more complex when her new neighbor turns out to be a handsome victim of his own marital disaster. Velma Lou seldom does anything altruistic. Hiring her cousin, Casey, as a reporter for her newspaper, The Bluejay Bugle, is no exception.. Like the voracious vine, Velma Lou has learned the hard way to use her beauty to trap and ensnare. As Casey is drawn deeper into Weesie's life and times, her "real" life becomes more complicated. by her growing attraction to Lee. Some strange occurrences happen in the cabin mirrored by tales of ghostly sightings in her family history. As she travels back to 1879, she meets an intriguing cast of characters. Donald Stuart, Lillith's faithful lover, David, his evil hearted twin brother, Ma and Da Garrett, Louisa's parents and her own direct ancestors, Louisa's brothers and the inhabitants of early Bluejay. When Casey becomes involved with a battered wife as she followers the case for the paper, she incurs the ire of an abusivehusband, Zeke. Zeke believes he has every right to chastise his own wife and child. Casey begins to take hie irate threats seriously when her car is sabotaged. Even Casey has to believe the number of life threatening happenings is no coincidence.

Visible Cities captures moments of joy and sadness that occur each day on city streets, exploring the humble triumphs and mundane tragedies of urban life. Photographs taken in locales from Regina to Venice, from Ottawa to Paris, inspire poems that reveal the unexpected beauty of the everyday experiences shaped by the cities we inhabit. Veronica Geminder's photographs peer into back lanes, admire people absorbed in public art, and consider those ruminating on their own reflections in the glass expanses of office buildings. Kathleen Wall's poems delve for the story behind the photograph, nurturing the moments that would otherwise quickly pass us by. Lose yourself in Visible Cities and uncover the vitality and complexity of urban life.