"Our people prefer boys, because a girl's life is difficult. It's difficult in every sore of family and among all nationalities. A girl's life is not like a man's life. She has no assurance of being happy in her marriage. And her main purpose in life is to marry and to have children. A girl's and a woman's lives are a trial whatever happens. I don't know why."—Om Gad Their stories are fresh and vivid, recording the various roles of being co-wife in a polygamous marriage, the complications of divorce, the rituals of female circumcision and marriage, the loss of children, life-long hate and its source, the position of witchcraft and superstition in their daily lives, primitive health practices, and managing a family's meager resources, including the gold or silver khul-khaal anklets worn by married women. These self-portraits are fascinating reading and a mine of information for anyone interested in understanding contemporary Egyptian life. A foreword by anthropologist Andrea Rugh and photographs by Asma el-Bakry are included.

Would you travel to another planet on the off chance of finding your soulmate? Alien Tails is a set of three MM romance novellas about tail-waving aliens who travel through space and find their human destined mates in the most unlikely of places. But once they've found them, will they be able to convince their mates to see past their differences and accept that they're meant to be? Contains the stories: There Will Be Aliens: Carlo is having a bad day, and now he’s seeing aliens too. After a futile struggle, he finds himself on a spaceship leaving Earth. Zenon doesn’t know what it is about the earthling male. They’re to get females, but he’s claiming the male as his payment for the mission. Can he keep Carlo safe from all the dangers lurking along the trip? He has to because Carlo is his, and he’s not letting him go. How to Soothe a Dragon: Long before Derek was born, the planet was taken over by a mind-controlling alien race, and everyone is affected except for him. Ocren is obsessed with his human neighbor, but four years of chasing him up the stairs in their apartment building has Derek refusing to speak to him. Until he accuses him of having broken into his apartment. How will Ocren make Derek believe it wasn’t him? The Devil Will Care: What would you do if the devil claimed you were his destined mate? Khaal isn't really the devil. He's a red-skinned, horn-wearing, tail-waving, eight feet tall alien who claims Azrail is his mate. Azrail has read about mates, but it can't apply to him. He's human. But when Khaal plans to escape, Azrail is ready to go. Being mated to the devil can't be worse than being locked up in prison, can it?

What would you do if the devil claimed you were his destined mate? Khaal Lupehell isn't really the devil, but he's a red-skinned, horn-wearing, tail-waving, eight feet tall alien who claims Azrail Crow is his mate. For eight months, Azrail has been in an intergalactic prison, and for the most part, he's managed to keep his head down and melt into the interior. That all changes when he runs into Khaal. Khaal has to get out of prison. He'd planned to escape even before he met Azrail, but now he has to find a way out. He can't live with his mate in a prison cell. It's out of the question. So he'll steal a ship, take Azrail, and they'll run for their lives. It'll work out fine. Hopefully. Azrail has read stories about destined mates, but surely it can't apply to him. He's human, and humans don't have mates. But when Khaal talks about escaping, Azrail wants to come with him. Being mated to the devil can't be worse than being locked up in prison, can it?

The warlord doesn’t believe in magic until he meets a very special lady. Something evil is lurking in the mountains and Kormac doesn’t know how to fight an enemy that can’t be seen or touched. While a warlord hates asking for aid, he can’t allow his pride to get in the way. He requests assistance from the witch queen—in secret, of course, because magic isn’t real. Or wasn’t in his corner of the world, until now. Fionna, the witch who arrives to evaluate the situation, is unlike anyone he’s ever met. Bold. Fearless. Beautiful… He didn’t count on how much she would test his patience—and his control. As they work to squash the danger spreading from the mountains, and she impresses him with her skill and courage, he starts to wonder if she’s the lady he’s been waiting for. His mother certainly doesn’t think so, but Kormac didn’t become warlord by allowing others to make decisions for him. However, taking her as his wife will depend on them surviving the machinations of the evil entity that’s returned to take its vengeance. An epic romantic fantasy packed with action, adventure and magic as they embark on a quest to save their realm from an ancient evil.

Originally published in French: Toulon, France, Editions Soleil, 2011-

Lao is the national language of Laos, and is also spoken widely in Thailand and Cambodia. It is a tone language of the Tai-Kadai family (Southwestern Tai branch). Lao is an extreme example of the isolating, analytic language type. This book is the most comprehensive grammatical description of Lao to date. It describes and analyses the important structures of the language, including classifiers, sentence-final particles, and serial verb constructions. Special attention is paid to grammatical topics from a semantic, pragmatic, and typological perspective.