“A delicious daydream of a book.” —Elin Hilderbrand, New York Times bestselling author of 28 Summers “With lyrical writing and a page-turning plot, this sun-dappled book has it all: heart, smarts, and an irresistible musical beat.” —Karen Dukess, author of The Last Book Party ONE ICONIC FAMILY. ONE SUMMER OF SECRETS. THE DAZZLING SPIRIT OF 1970S CALIFORNIA. For Jackie Pierce, everything changed the summer of 1979, when she spent three months of infinite freedom at her bohemian uncle’s sprawling estate on the California coast. As musicians, artists, and free spirits gathered at The Sandcastle for the season in pursuit of inspiration and communal living, Jackie and her cousin Willa fell into a fast friendship, testing their limits along the rocky beach and in the wild woods... until the summer abruptly ended in tragedy, and Willa silently slipped away into the night. Twenty years later, Jackie unexpectedly inherits The Sandcastle and returns to the iconic estate for a short visit to ready it for sale. But she reluctantly extends her stay when she learns that, before her death, her estranged aunt had promised an up-and-coming producer he could record a tribute album to her late uncle at the property’s studio. As her musical guests bring the place to life again with their sun-drenched beach days and late-night bonfires, Jackie begins to notice startling parallels to that summer long ago. And when a piece of the past resurfaces and sparks new questions about Willa’s disappearance, Jackie must discover if the dark secret she’s kept ever since is even the truth at all. “An engrossing tale of secrets, memory, music, and the people and places you can never outrun. A fantastic summer read.” —Laura Dave, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me “This book is gorgeous. A gold-drenched, nostalgic dream with a fierce female friendship at its heart.” —Marisa de los Santos, New York Times bestselling author of I'll Be Your Blue Sky

Anthony Taylor's poems and songs offer a range of topics and emotions as varied as life itself - from the warm-hearted humour of The Hugging Song and the playful but touching romanticism of I'd Like To Be The Morning Sun to the despairing voices of Russian Roulette and Commuter's Lament; from the tenderness of Dream Of Me Tonight to the indictments of war in First Moustache and Gorillas Hearing Gunfire; from celebrations of natural beauty in Winter Sun Over Aberystwyth and Samothrace to the grief of The Daffodils Outside My Mother's Window and Skeleton House; from the joyful assurance of Sailboats In The Sky to the ominous note sounded in Dead Hedgehog; from the contentment of Canals to the sad solitariness of Alone Eighty and Missing. In between, the verse takes in such diverse subjects as music, summers and sand, commuting, snow, rugby, busking, faith, cruelty to animals and world conflict and peace. Through all there shines a love of and concern for life and living things.

There are many kinds of mothers today—birth, adoptive, grandmothers and mothers of necessity. In this collection of mothering stories, Lana Skauge retells some of her favourites. Six stories about life’s lessons using metaphors and simple truths. They are based on her interactive performance pieces, bound by a tradition of storytelling (that ancient way of remembering through spiritual heartspeak) and told here by a straight shooting prairie girl! Back copy: Reworked from her live performances, these stories are “life lessons” told through metaphor and simple truths. Meant to be read aloud they focus on the renewal brought about by Spring and Motherhood. All six stories presented are told in an ancient storyteller tradition where each vignett, through spiritual-heart-speak and motherly-instinct, tugs at the heart strings of hope, happiness and heritage. Introduction: It is a Mother’s load, one that we accept without hesitation. Whether we are—birth mothers, adoptive mothers, grandmothers or mothers of necessity our children will one day tell our stories. What a responsibility! My life lessons are best told using metaphor and simple truths. They have rewarded me with a motherlode that I never expected. Reworked from my performances, the following pieces are bound by the tradition of storytelling, that ancient way of remembering through spiritual heartspeak and instinct that, for me, comes from a straight shooter prairie girl who has always listened to her motherland. Stories: Whale Sounds – For my brother, Denny. Matta’s Wish – For Judith Mercer, who walks in grace. The Fool and the Storyteller – Part of the sky, sweet Mom, I still feel you. Motherload - For all Mothers. Grandma’s Hands - For Grandmothers When the Sky Got Bigger - For Artie and Holly.

“Di Filippo clowns his way through this transdimensional travelogue cut from the same cloth as Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” —Publishers Weekly At forty-five-years-old, Paul Girard is a self-loathing clerk at an independent bookstore, having finally killed his dream of being a writer by throwing out his rejected manuscripts. Drowning in existential angst, Paul can’t envision much of a future for himself—until he meets Hans. Hans is one of the Mind Children, an artificial race that has succeeded humanity. If Paul allows Hans to copy his human essence, the key to Superspace and its infinite number of universes will be his. And even though said key is a yo-yo, Paul agrees. Desperate to escape his banal reality, Paul flings the yo-yo and winds up in the singularity that preceded the Big Bang . . . a matriarchal society of women warriors . . . a realm populated by TV characters from his childhood. But Paul’s frantic travels only prove one thing: wherever he goes in the multiverse, there he is. Now how does he get home? “It’s like Tom Robbins’s classic Even Cowgirls Get the Blues recast in the hands of gonzo mathematician Rudy Rucker as a kind of ontological day trip.” —Locus “Frothing with ideas, Fuzzy Dice is one more reason Di Filippo is one of the most imaginative (and underappreciated) writers working today. . . . If humorously intelligent science fiction far beyond the madding crowd is your cup of tea, then this novel (and Di Filippo in general) cannot disappoint. . . . Great fun, great read—almost as much as Sheckley’s Dimension of Miracles.” —Speculiction

Endor the Wizard shows the beginning of our hero's adventure. It lays out the foundations of the inner workings of Greysmire and its people. Endor shows his true colors as the head wizard in a land where problems are simply an opportunity to use his craft to do good for the sake of others. Troubles lurk all over, but our heroes know what to do.