Talents Universe 5 Maisie has returned from her visit to Tellus (Earth). Maisie is reaping the results of her foolishness. How can she teach class and be the Emperor’s Emissary on a “First Contact” Mission? How can she put off any public announcement about her relationship with Olef? Though the last part of the Maisie Trilogy (The Apprentice’s Talent, The Journeyman’s Talent) and book 5 of the “Talent’s Universe”, it’s best read after “The Solar Alliance” and “Starship Chief”. Summer 2024 revision. About 114,850 words.
Talents Universe 3 As a result of the visit of the alien starship, the Intergal One, Earth has diverted all military, aerospace and technical research budgets into building fusion power stations and starships. Major Governments have avoided the UN by creating the Solar Alliance to manage this. Earth has now cracked the problem of fusion power and has the secret of how a Jump drive for a starship works. But what does the shadowy New World Order conspiracy want? Who is controlling the Solar Alliance and will the Valkyries be used to attack Caemoria or kidnap Talents? Summer 2024 revision. All persons are imaginary. The cover is a photo-montage by Michael Watterson. About 136,850 words.
Talent Universe Series 6 Maisie finally has to do the Legal training suggested some years earlier. Why is there a sudden urgency? Is it because someone shot at a delegation from Morglun? The start of this story is set almost three years after “The Master’s Talent”. With a nod to Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and also Ursula Le Guin. The photo montage is “Capitol by Night”. Summer 2024 revision. About 53,700 words.
Celtic Otherworld XII Who is the mysterious Marianne that’s started in Upper Sixth form after the Christmas holidays? What killed the two girls last term? The cover is based on “The Wanderer above the Sea of Fog” by Caspar David Friedrich. About 88,500 words.
Talents Universe 1 Mei Zhen Kelly is a twenty-three year old computer programmer from Belfast working in Dublin for nearly three years. She’s talented and very dedicated to her work. People think she’ll go far, now that she’s had her second major promotion. Only her Chinese mother called her Mei Zhen, her official name. Her parents died while she was at university and now everyone calls her Maisie. Wrapped up in her personal issues, she doesn’t pay a huge amount of attention to the news of the alien starship appearing at the edge of the Solar system. About 160,450 words
Talents Universe 7 This novel is set about four years after the events of “The Legal Talent.” Maisie has just returned from Morglun yet has to assemble an unusual “First Contact” mission to Andromeda with the support of the Arch Chancellor and the Military. The cover image is a photomontage. About 80,100 words
Celtic Otherworld X Marion’s Detective Agency has had some clients, but why does the visitor wait till Detective Nossie has gone home? It’s nearly a year since the Fay and the Empress foisted the Irish twins on her. This is the third of six “Marion and the Rooks” books. The cover is based on “Artists Sketching in the White Mountains” by Homer Winslow. This is the corrected Spring 2024 edition. About 46,550 words.
Ray Hansen grew up in Depression Nebraska. At the age of seventeen during World War II, he enlisted in the Navy and served with the Seabees on Guam. Immediately after returning home, he entered the University of Nebraska, studied journalism while working nights on the Lincoln Star. He graduated in three years, on D-Day 1949. His career took him promptly to Washington, DC, where he worked ten years and saved $10,000. With that money, he went to Wisconsin, bought his first newspaper, and learned to print it with hot metal via Linotype and a flatbed press. He paid off the mortgage in five years and sold the paper for more than twice what he paid for it. Then came the offset revolution, publishing cold type via new expensive web presses. During those years, he married, raised a family, and bought and sold three more newspapers in Kansas and Arkansas. He concluded his career in upstate New York on the cusp of the twenty-first century. He witnessed the growth and skirmishes of community newspapers over seven decades. Now in his ninety-second year, he has many interesting tales to tell and relates them with flair and honesty in 30—My Newspaper Life.
On April 4, 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., arrived in Indiana to campaign for the Indiana Democratic presidential primary. As Kennedy prepared to fly from an appearance in Muncie to Indianapolis, he learned that civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had been shot outside his hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. Before his plane landed in Indianapolis, Kennedy heard the news that King had died. Despite warnings from Indianapolis police that they could not guarantee his safety, and brushing off concerns from his own staff, Kennedy decided to proceed with plans to address an outdoor rally to be held in the heart of the city's African American community. On that cold and windy evening, Kennedy broke the news of King's death in an impassioned, extemporaneous speech on the need for compassion in the face of violence. It has proven to be one of the great speeches in American political history. Marking the 40th anniversary of Kennedy's Indianapolis speech, this book explains what brought the politician to Indiana that day, and explores the characters and events of the 1968 Indiana Democratic presidential primary in which Kennedy, who was an underdog, had a decisive victory.
A definitive collection of interviews with one of America's most famous writers, covering his life, faith, friends, politics, and visions of the future. Ray Bradbury, the poetic and visionary author of such classics as Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man, is one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. From Mikhail Gorbachev to Alfred Hitchcock to David Bowie, Bradbury’s sway on contemporary culture is towering. Acclaimed biographer and Bradbury scholar Sam Weller has spent more than a decade interviewing the author; the fascinating conversations that emerge cast a high-definition portrait of a creative genius and a futurist who longs for yesterday. Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews is the definitive collection of interviews with an American icon.
From the Roman Praetorian Guard to the English shire-reeve to the U.S. marshals, lawmen have a long and varied history. At first, such groups were often corrupt, guilty of advancing a political agenda rather than protecting citizens. It was about the turn of the twentieth century that police officers as we know them came into being. At this time, a number of police reforms such as civil service and police unions were developed. Citizen committees were formed to oversee police function. About this same time, the technology of motion pictures was being advanced. Movies evolved from silent films with a limited budget and short running time to films with sound whose budget was ever rising and whose audience demanded longer, more complex story lines. From the infancy of moviemaking, lawmen of various types were popular subjects. Bounty hunters, sheriffs, private eyes, detectives and street officers--often portrayed by some of Hollywood's biggest names--have been depicted in every conceivable way. Compiled from a comprehensive examination of the material in question, this volume provides a critical-historical analysis of law enforcement in American cinema. From High Noon to The Empire Strikes Back, it examines the police in their many incarnations with emphasis on the ways in which lawmen are portrayed and how this portrayal changes over time. Each film discussed reveals something about society, subtly commenting on social conditions, racial issues and government interventions. Major historical events such as the Great Depression, World War II and the McCarthy trials find their way into many of these films. Significant film genres from science fiction to spaghetti western are represented. Films examined include Easy Street (1917), a nominal comedy starring Charlie Chaplin; Star Packer, a 1934 John Wayne film; The Maltese Falcon (1941) with Humphrey Bogart; Dirty Harry, a 1971 Clint Eastwood classic; Leslie Nielsen's spoof Naked Gun (1988); and 1993's Tombstone featuring Kurt Russell. The filmography contains a synopsis along with information on director, screenplay, starring actors and year of production. Photographs and an index are also included.
All these many years down the road, Lou Gehrig's reputation still holds up as does Ray Robinson's elegant biography." –Bob Costas Lou Gehrig will go down in history as one of the best ballplayers of all time; he was elected to the Hall of Fame and played in a record-setting 2,130 consecutive games. ALS known today as "Lou Gehrig's Disease" robbed him of his physical skills at a relatively young age, and he died in 1941. Ray Robinson re-creates the life of this legendary ballplayer and also provides an insightful look at baseball, including all the great players of that era: Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, and more.
During the 1940s and 1950s, one name, John Bartlow Martin, dominated the pages of the "big slicks," the Saturday Evening Post, LIFE, Harper's, Look, and Collier's. A former reporter for the Indianapolis Times, Martin was one of a handful of freelance writers able to survive solely on this writing. Over a career that spanned nearly fifty years, his peers lauded him as "the best living reporter," the "ablest crime reporter in America," and "one of America's premier seekers of fact." His deep and abiding concern for the working class, perhaps a result of his upbringing, set him apart from other reporters. Martin was a key speechwriter and adviser to the presidential campaigns of many prominent Democrats from 1950 into the 1970s, including those of Adlai Stevenson, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert F. Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, and George McGovern. He served as U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic during the Kennedy administration and earned a small measure of fame when FCC Chairman Newton Minow introduced his description of television as "a vast wasteland" into the nation's vocabulary.
An episodic history of the revolutionary effect of television news reporting on politics, current events and the print media over the past four decades combines research and analysis with personal as well as professional experiences.
The two most powerful words in the world are, “I AM,” for anything we say after, I AM, we will believe and make come true, as we truly are whatever we say we are. If we say we are victors over this virus, we will prove it by conquering it with the faith and wisdom God gives us. Four other words that are as powerful as “I AM,” are, “I believe in you.” These four words have helped shepherd boys bring down giants and dreamers to shape history. What we believe about ourselves and each other is what is going to get us through this crisis. We have been commanded by God to speak to the mountain we want moved out of our way. This is a book that speaks to the warrior in every man, woman and child that is threatened by the Coronavirus or any other stealer of life. In times of trouble and darkness a standard must always be raised up to lead the people in battle. I perceive this book as being a beacon to guide us safely through this storm. No enemy prevails over the wall of our faith, for as he tries to scale its walls, we raise our faith to a higher level, forever determined to not let him supersede it. For every attack of the enemy we have a defense under the cover of God’s wing, which holds us as close to Him as He is to us. The right words at the right time can always spark a new hope and outlook for anyone who is being tried by adversity. This book may not stop this pandemic but I believe it can give us a reason to believe that it will be brought to an end soon enough. Just as we have gathered around the camp fire and fireplace in the past while the vigil candle burned in the window, we can gather around the words of this book to draw comfort and encouragement from people who know what it is to be tried by fire without being consumed. This is a small book but the inspiring quotes and mediations in it are big, they can do the soul good like a medicine if we take them with a little a faith in the strength they offer.
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