Many different beings live on the tiny but magical Island of the Sun, unknown to humans. Some were created at sea and others on land. Owley, the wise owl of the island, built a holiday resort so all of them can live together in harmony, while having fun on the same beach. But Starfizz, a human-like starfish who is full of ideas and loves building things, unwittingly drags sweet Shelly and tiny Magna Alga into a wild adventure across the sea on Shell Island, where the legendary Sand Games are being held... Will our friends emerge victorious and find a way back home?

"I like you Laine. But you remind me of my sister." Every date New York attorney Laine Gerson goes on ends with those words. Apparently, all those nice, smart Jewish boys she grew up with, the ones just like her brother Michael, have no interest in her, at least romantically. Guided by her wit, not to mention astrophysics and salsa dancing, Laine sets out to rescue her love life. When love finally comes knocking, she faces a gut-wrenching decision. Should she cast aside tradition and open the door for a man far outside her world? Or should she continue to play by the rules? Wicked smart and very funny, "The Sand Game" takes a fresh look at how one sassy single tries to dig herself out of a romantic rut and put a lifelong sibling rivalry to rest. Scroll up and grab "The Sand Game" today! Excerpt. (c) All rights reserved. Chapter One: The Sand Game At five thirty-six in the morning on the first Sunday of every July, Elaina and Michael Gerson try to bury each other alive. Armed with faded lemon-yellow plastic mini-shovels and fueled by the insatiable need to win no matter how ridiculous the contest, they lie down on the beach outside their parents' summer house and cover each other with billion year-old silica. They start with the toes. They slowly work their way up, taking care not to throw the sand at each other lest they violate the cardinal rule of the game: Any sand in the mouth or other bodily orifice of your opponent and you're disqualified. They take their time, lovingly placing the sand on top of each other's shins, thighs, hips, abdomens, and so on until all that remains uncovered is the hand closest to each other and, of course, their heads. Like a pair of Trappist monks, they wait in silence for dawn to break. Only after the first rays have slithered across the blue-gray Atlantic and the cool damp sands of the Jersey shore have begun to warm, does Elaina turn her head to face her brother's ear. And into this aural orifice of his she whispers: "Spiiiiiillll." Magically, mystically, this word spill casts an annual spell over Michael. He begins to talk. And talk. And talk. His sentences include subjects and verbs--parts of speech he usually can't be bothered with. His vocabulary includes multisyllabic words, probably picked up in some S.A.T. course long, long ago. What turns Michael Gerson into such a rabid conversationalist during The Sand Game might be considered one of the seventh wonders of the world, but for the obvious: The first person to get up from the sand loses. That's the game. Since he can't go anywhere or do anything, he might as well talk to his sister, who, firmly entrenched in the sand, is the very definition of a captive audience. But it is not that simple. And that is because the game's inventor, Elaina Beth Gerson, is not that simple. Laine, as she likes to be called, is ferociously smart and fiercely competitive, which, to the casual observer, makes the outcome of The Sand Game even more perplexing than the contest itself. Every year, Laine loses. Scroll up and grab "The Sand Game" today!

Sand and Golf: How Terrain Shapes the Game explores what makes golf, and golf course architecture, so special on sandy terrain. Golf was born on sandy ground and the features of the game are a direct product of that terrain. Fairways and greens were derived from the naturally occurring areas of short grass found among the coastal dunes of Scotland. The original sand traps were areas of bare sand that can be found scattered throughout any dune landscape. As the game spread beyond the coastal dunes it took these features with it, and while they have been incorporated into a variety of landscapes they have always fit best on sandy ground. For this reason each major expansion in golf has begun with new courses on sandy ground. Even the best courses of the modern era are products of sandy terrain. The reason golf works so well on sandy ground is that it quite literally belongs there. This book explores the unique features of sandy ground that make it so suitable for golf, studying the similarities and differences among sandy courses in a wide variety of environments. The courses of Melbourne's Sandbelt may not bear much resemblance to the fantastic sandy courses of America's Great Plains, but they actually have a great deal in common. The firm turf that is a product of free draining soils, rugged bunkers carved directly into the sandy soils, and a style of play suited to firm, often windy sites. Golf on sandy sites is a game played as much along the ground as through the air, and creative shotmaking is required to deal with the challenges of sandy terrain. The creativity required to succeed when golfing on sandy ground is a big part of the enduring popularity of these courses and the reason why people travel around the world to seek them out. Golf on sandy terrain is something special because golf itself is a product of that terrain. Sand and Golf looks at all aspects of the relationship between sand and golf, from golf's earliest days to the spread of the sport across the globe. Golf and golf course architecture on sandy sites is explored in every detail, using examples and illustrations from the best sandy courses in the world.FEATURED GOLF COURSES: United States of America 1. Bandon Trails Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Bandon, Oregon 2. Chambers Bay University Place, Washington 3. Cypress Point GC Monterey, California 4. Friars Head GC Baiting Hollow, New York 5. Garden City GC Garden City, New York 6. The Maidstone Club East Hampton, New York 7. The National Golf Links of America Southampton, New York 8. Pacific Dunes Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Bandon, Oregon 9. Pacific Grove Municipal Golf Links Pacific Grove, California 10. Pinehurst Number 2 Pinehurst, North Carolina 11. Pine Valley GC Clementon, New Jersey 12. Sand Hills GC Mullen, Nebraska 13. Sebonack GC Southampton, New York 14. Shinnecock Hills GC Southampton, New York 15. Streamsong Golf Resort Streamsong, Florida 16. Wild Horse GC Gothenburg, Nebraska 17. Yeamans Hall Club Hanahan, South Carolina Great Britain, Ireland, and Europe 18. Ballybunion Golf Club Ballybunion, Ireland 19. Carnoustie Golf Links Carnoustie, Scotland 20. Cruden Bay GC Cruden Bay, Scotland 21. Falsterbo GC Falsterbo, Sweden 22. Ganton GC Scarborough, England 23. Lahinch GC Lahinch, Ireland 24. Machrihanish GC Campbeltown, Scotland 25. Muirfield Gullane, Scotland 26. North Berwick (West Links) North Berwick, Scotland 27. The Old Course at St. Andrews St. Andrews, Scotland 28. Pennard GC Swansea, Wales 29. Prestwick GC Prestwick, Scotland 30. The Renaissance Club at Archerfield Dirleton, Scotland 31. Rosapenna Golf Resort Downings, Ireland 32. Royal Cinque Ports (Deal) Deal, England 33. Royal County Down Newcastle, Northern Ireland 34. Royal Dornoch Dornoch, Scotland 35. Royal North Devon (Westward Ho!) Bideford, England 36. Royal Portrush Portrush, Northern Ireland 37. Royal St. George's Sandwich, England 38. Royal Troon Troon, Scotland 39. Rye GC Rye, England 40. St. George's Hill GC St George's Hill, England 41. Sunningdale GC Sunningdale, England 42. Swinley Forest GC Ascot, England Australia 43. Barnbougle Dunes Bridport, Tasmania 44. Kingston Heath GC Melbourne, Australia 45. Royal Melbourne Melbourne, Australia

"The hottest instructor in golf" (Sports Illustrated) takes on old-school gurus with a far more accessible, intuitive, and innovative approach to those essential chip shots, pitches, and bunker rescues. Veteran golfers know that the secret to a lower score is a solid short game, but mastering those small strokes can be maddening—even for the pros. One of golf's most revered instructors, Stan Utley now reveals the step-by-step tactics behind his revolutionary short-game techniques in The Art of the Short Game. After introducing readers to his groundbreaking philosophy that explains why most players don't see all the shots available to them near the green, Utley moves on to shatter conventional wisdom about stance, grip, and ball position. From choosing the right clubs (including a checklist of must-haves that should always be in your bag) to spin reduction during chipping and fearless sand play, The Art of the Short Game demystifies the most aggravating shots on the links. Though Utley's primer features a full set of drills, accompanied by more than seventy-five photos, his approach is far removed from the monotonous, mechanical instruction of yesteryear. Giving a time-tested secret weapon to every golfer at every level, Utley's short-game methods turn trouble shots into triumph.

A young girl leaves the farm life she grew up in to seek a better life. Remembering her few vacations at the seashore, the lure of those memories draws her to the New Jersey shore. Elizabeth Downs finds out about romance, the wonders of real love, the horrors of war and the meaning of true friendship.

"Leave nothing on earth; bring nothing back but memories." These were Sirah's instructions when she left Nimbus to explore Earth; now her Earth body yearns for the love she found with Wynn. Their child must live on Earth; the wind will carry her whispers to him...

Longlisted for the National Book Award "Mind-blowing." —Kim Gordon DEADPAN, EPIC, AND SEARINGLY CHARISMATIC, A Sand Book chronicles climate change and climate grief, gun violence and bystanderism, state violence and complicity, mourning and ecstasy, sex and love, and the transcendent shock of prophecy, tracking new dimensions of consciousness for our strange and desperate times.

There is a bonus attached to Mr. Villarreal’s new book of poetry: a one-act play which deals with seeing only what one wants to see to the detriment of a birthing consciousness. The novella deals with the would-be world the protagonist/narrator moves through, a not too pleasant one. As always, life is a format ever in the works in a Villarrealean piece!

Chris and his fellow adventurers are back from a wild, four-month stretch of world travel. Together, they climbed Mount Sinai, rode donkeys through the Valley of Kings, and partied every step of the way. The young men have become addicted to travel, and it isn't long before they are plotting their next trip this time to Timbuktu, a place of seemingly mythical proportions in the West African country of Mali. Before long, their group gets larger in number, and soon, a small army of nine is making plans to head to Africa. They don't know what to expect, but then again, they don't care. Once in Africa, they will need to navigate the desert, deal with corrupt officials, and stomach extreme images of hardship and poverty. Along the way, they find quite a bit of adventure but also quite a bit of trouble. Through it all, this group of adventure junkies finds out that the perfect place to quench their thirst for excitement is Somewhere in the Sand.

This is the story of a teacher's work in a preschool in South Africa, where millions of children still live in poverty, deprivation and violence. Dolores attempts to help her students to overcome educational disadvantages ensuing from generations of discrimination. She emerges as a courageous and feisty character whose personal philosophy of life makes her a charming and effective agent for change within her school. She is forced to search deep within herself to find the strength to carry on working in the township when events shatter her belief in her ability to change the lives of her students.