'FASCINATING' Daily Mail 'FULL OF AMAZING FACTS' The QI Elves Each of the United Kingdom's 124 postcode areas has a story to tell, an unexpected nugget to dust off and treasure. Mark Mason has embarked on a tour of the country, immersing himself in Britain's history on a roundabout journey from AB to ZE. On the lookout for interesting place names and unusual monuments, along the way he discovers what the Queen keeps in her handbag, why the Jack Russell has a white coat and how Jimi Hendrix got confused by the M1. At the same time Mason paints an affectionate portrait of Britain in the 21st century, from aggressive seagulls in Blackpool to 'seasoned' drinkers in Surrey. And his travels offer the perfect opportunity to delve into the history of the Royal Mail, complete with pillar boxes, posties and Penny Reds - plus Oscar Wilde's unconventional method of posting a letter. A playful mix of fact, anecdote and overheard conversation, MAIL OBSESSION pays homage to Britain's wonderful past and its curious present.

Four wealthy Manhattan teenagers find love and adventure in the Mediterranean when they join an Ocean Term cruise.

Many modern Christians yearn for a deeper spiritual life, a relevant relationship with a God who still matters and who thinks we still matter. However, Dallas Brauninger tells us, we are not good at listening and talking with God. What we are good at is hurling questions at the Almighty -- and Brauninger says that questions are what we are all about if we are to continue to grow spiritually. And so is confession. We doubt. We fear. We stretch to the limits of our patience. We wonder if tenacity will prevail or if we will sink. We have moments of bliss and ponder anew the mystery of God. We wonder and grieve about the world. Brauninger believes that question and confession are two forms of our prayer -- and for many of us, these conversations with God are as brief and instant as an e-mail. In Holy E-Mail, she inventively casts fourteen sermons based on Cycle A lectionary epistle texts in the form of extended e-mail messages to God. It's as if congregations and pastors were privy to someone's private ponderings that reflect our own spiritual roaming. This volume is not only a creative resource for preachers; it's also directed to the everyday person in the pew. Crafted to help hearers connect with God and each other, these sermons address universal queries of the human soul. By uniting sermon with prayer, they're excellent for use as readings for personal meditation. Brauninger takes the reader on a spiritual journey from the beginning of Advent through the Transfiguration of our Lord.... This book offers much food for thought as you prepare sermons... not only will your mind be stretched, your soul will be inspired as you read. (from the Introduction) Clarence M. "Clip" Higgins Former Conference Minister, Nebraska and Ohio Conferences United Church of Christ Dallas Brauninger writes with the discernment of a saint and the ear of a poet.... These sermons are a joy to read. They are a joy because they are crafted by one who is a master with language. They are a joy because they track life carefully. They are a joy because they expose deep recesses of the soul that light seldom reaches. They are a joy because they prompt each of us to reflect on our own faith pilgrimage. Most of all, they are a joy because they affirm God who offers joy not just to some, but to all. Dr. George S. Worcester Conference Minister, Nebraska Conference United Church of Christ To me the hallmark of a good sermon has always been the new pathways of thought and insight which it opens up for me long after hearing or reading it. These are GOOD sermons. Rachel S. Scott Bemidji, Minnesota Dallas A. Brauninger, a cum laude graduate of Albion College, received her Master of Divinity degree and an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Chicago Theological Seminary. A full-time writer, she has served churches in Colorado and Nebraska. She and her husband, both ordained ministers in the United Church of Christ, live in Friend, Nebraska.

The Book of Seconds reveals the exciting, intriguing and heroic runners-up who until now have been kept in the shadow of the firsts. Did you know that the winner of the second Tour de France rode 25 miles on two flat tyres? Or that the second crew to land on the Moon danced to a pop song in zero gravity? Step forward all the nearly-men and nearly-women, the nearly skyscrapers, nearly-LPs and nearly deserts. Your time in the spotlight has come at last.

Will Self is one of the most important British novelists of his generation, and he is as acclaimed in the UK for his outstanding, daring journalism as he is for his fiction. Now finally available in America, Junk Mail is an original selection of pieces from Self's nonfiction and journalism that will introduce American readers to Self as a literary journalist par excellence. Animated by the scathing brilliance and unflinching determination to walk the road less traveled, Junk Mail is an often irreverent trawl through a landscape of drugs, culture, art, literature, and current events — topics Self illuminates with a keen and entirely original eye. We follow Self into the operation of an upstanding crack dealer, behind the myth of the "pragmatist" approach to drug legalization on the streets of Amsterdam, and to lunch with Indian author Salman Rushdie. Whether he is writing about bad boy British artist Damien Hirst, how literary renegade William Burroughs has changed our outlook on art and intoxication, or what the current state of transsexuality has to say about gender for all of us, this is a lively and necessary anthology from one of the defining voices of our times.

From an exciting new literary voice: a memoir that explores grief, Blackness, and recovery after the death of a dear friend. After an unexpected phone call on an early morning in 2018, writer and model Eirinie Carson learned of her best friend Larissa’s death. In the wake of her shock, Eirinie attempts to make sense of the events leading up to Larissa’s death and uncovers startling secrets about her life in the process. THE DEAD ARE GODS is Eirinie’s striking, intimate, and profoundly moving depiction of life after a sudden loss. Amid navigating moments of intense grief, Eirinie is overwhelmed by her love for Larissa. She finds power in pulling moments of joy from the depths of her emotion. Eirinie’s portrayal of what love feels like after death bursts from the page alongside a timely, honest, and personal exploration of Black love and Black life. Perhaps, Eirinie proposes, “The only way out is through.”

Whoever heard of raising $1,000 gifts (not to mention $3,000, $4,000 and $5,000 gifts) by mail? That's the realm of face-to-face fundraising, right?Not exclusively, says Mal Warwick, in his book, The Mercifully Brief, Real World Guide to Raising $1,000 Gifts by Mail.And Warwick should know. He's spent the last decade perfecting the art of high dollar direct mail.Take just one mailing Warwick cites (he has scores of them to draw from). Nearly $150,000 was raised from just 2,400 people, many of whom had never given more than $100 to the cause.Just as remarkable, the final fundraising cost for this effort was eight cents! per dollar raised.How do you do this? Must you tap a professional firm or be a prizewinning writer?Absolutely not. Warwick touts self-reliance. He shows you - with carefully selected examples and illustrations - how to succeed on your own, walking you step by step through the process of identifying your prospects, crafting the right letter, the right brochure, the right response device, and the right envelope. In this admirably slim book, Warwick convinces even the most doubting Thomas. Commit to the strategies he outlines, and you'll be startled, if not astounded, by the results.

"This is about a society of isolates who all communicate with one another from terminal sites. This is about being disembodied, distanced, distinct, and that sort of boundary-thing. It is not about being present. It is not about being there. It is not about a shared history, or a shared meal, or a shared story, or any kind of mutuality. It is about contact between virtual strangers. . . . It happens when you feel that you are so alone that you need anybody to talk to—anybody at all—because you believe that your connections have failed you. This kind of connection leaves you cold and dead inside, because it lacks history and a language of belonging." In this daring, postmodern autobiography, S. Paige Baty recounts her search for love and community on the Internet. Taking Jack Kerouac's On the Road as a point of departure, Baty describes both an actual road trip to meet the object of an e-mail romance and the cyber-search for connection that draws so many people into the matrix of the Internet. Writing in a bold, experimental style that freely mixes e-mails, poems, fragments of quotations, and puns into expository text, she convincingly links e-mail trouble with "female trouble" in the displacement of embodied love and accountable human relationships to opaque screens and alienated identities. Her book stands as a vivid feminist critique of our culture's love affair with technology and its dehumanizing effect on personal relationships.

Sea monkeys. 3-D specs. Hypno-coins. Ant farms. Kryptonite rocks. Miniature submarines made from cardboard. All available for a buck or less from the back page of comic books. And we blew our weekly allowance on these rip-offs, only to be disappointed when they turned out to be total crap. But what if these bogus products had side effects not advertised? In horror master Hunter Shea’s MAIL ORDER MASSACRE, sometimes you do get more than you paid for . . . JUST ADD WATER It’s been years since David and Patrick flushed away the dead Sea Serpents they got in the mail. After thriving in the toxic stew of pollution, strange, slimy creatures now rise from the sewers. Once the screaming starts, David and Patrick realize that their childhood pets really did come to life. With a vengeance. They’re massive monsters. . . and ravenous for human flesh! OPTICAL DELUSION Martin punishes his son for wasting his allowance on a pair of cardboard X-ray specs. But when Martin tries them on, he’s stunned to see through walls and clothes. But the novelty becomes a waking nightmare when the glasses burn into his face and he starts seeing horrifying apocalyptic visions no mortal man was ever meant to see. Images that turn him from a husband and father to a bloodthirsty homicidal maniac . . . MONEY BACK GUARANTEE With her son’s heart set on piloting his own nuclear submarine, Rosemary orders the craft advertised on the back of a comic book. But when her son nearly drowns in the swimming pool, an enraged Rosemary complains to the Better Business Bureau. The company’s customer service center retaliates with threatening phone calls. Then her son and husband disappear. Now it’s all-out war and Rosemary wants her $1.99 back! Praise for Hunter Shea “A lot of splattery fun.”—Publishers Weekly