December 21, 2012 is fast approaching. Youve heard the date, you know what it means: The End of Days, the fall of mankind, the end of the world, Armageddon. December 21st 2012, the Mayan Long Count Calendar ticks off its final day triggering the colossal battle between the forces of good and evil. Meanwhile, just months removed from averting death and disaster while recovering a massive haul of gold and silver from a long lost Spanish treasure ship, part time undercover operative Bear Mayne and his appallingly inappropriate brother lead a team of wondrously beautiful women as they become embroiled in a doomsday prophesy a thousand years in the making. While coming to the aid of a beautiful and mysterious coworker, Bear and his elite team of professionally amateur operatives learn the truth behind the myths and legends surrounding the Mayan civilization and their infamous long count calendar. Journeying from St. Augustine to the Mexican Yucatan and back, Bear and his team battle snipers, Nazi zombies, wild animals, poison dart shooting warriors, primitive and blood thirsty mobs as well as a score Mayan priests who just cant wait to offer up gringo blood to the dark gods of the cosmos. Along the way Bear inadvertently discovers clues to an unrelated Templar mystery and even has the occasion to participate in a sacred death match Mayan ballgame. With the skill born of hundreds of incursions behind enemy lines, Bear Mayne somehow steers his team through this maze of bizarre and unexpected dangers only to come face to face with the celestial firestorm that marks the beginning of the final battle between good and evil.

Nominated Best Nonfiction Book for 2004 —Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters On August 17, 1969, Hurricane Camille roared out of the Gulf of Mexico and smashed into Mississippi's twenty-six miles of coastline. Winds were clocked at more than 200 miles per hour, tidal waves surged to nearly 35 feet, and the barometric pressure of 26.85 inches neared an all-time low. Survivors of the killer storm date events as BC and AC—Before Camille and After Camille. The history of Hurricane Camille is told here through the eyes and the memories of those who survived the traumatic winds and tides. Their firsthand accounts, compiled a decade after the storm and archived at the University of Southern Mississippi, form the core of this book. Property damage exceeded $1.5 billion, $48.6 billion in today's dollars. Fashionable beachfront homes, holiday hotels, marinas, night clubs, and souvenir shops were devastated. The death toll in the state's three coastal counties—Harrison, Hancock, and Jackson—reached 131, with another 41 persons never found. The rampaging storm then moved north through Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia and sparked flash floods that killed more than 100 in Virginia before moving into the Atlantic. Camille is one of only three Category 5 hurricanes ever to hit the U.S. mainland. Along the Coast today, vacant lots, slabs of concrete, and mysterious staircases and driveways leading to nowhere are Camille's eerie reminders. The ruins that remain, however, are overshadowed by the dazzle and fun at the dozen casinos and high-rise hotels that dominate the modern beachfront. Once more the seashore is thriving. Rambling homes, the neon lights of motels and family restaurants, and the nets and masts of shrimp boats mark the skyline. For the Mississippi Coast, a historic retreat between New Orleans on the west and Mobile on the east—these are the best of times. This gripping story of the Coast's most devastating storm recounts what happened on a terrifying night more than three decades ago. It reminds, too, what can happen again.

The Great Hurricane of 1780, also known as Hurricane San Calixto II, is one of the most powerful and deadliest North Atlantic hurricanes on record. Often regarded as a cataclysmic hurricane, the storm's worst effects were experienced on October 10, 1780. In The Great Hurricane of 1780, author Wayne Neely chronicles the chaos and destruction it brought to the Caribbean. This storm was likely generated in the mid Atlantic, not far from the equator; it was first felt in Barbados, where just about every tree and house on the island was blown down. The storm passed through the Lesser Antilles and a small portion of the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean between October 10 and October 16 of 1780.Because the storm hit several of the most populous islands in the Caribbean, the death toll was very high. The official death toll was approximately 22,000 people but some historians have put the death toll as high as 27,500. Specifics on the hurricane's track and strength are unclear since the official North Atlantic hurricane database only goes back as far as 1851. Even so, it is a fact that this hurricane had a tremendous impact on economies in the Caribbean and parts of North America, and perhaps also played a major role in the outcome of the American Revolution. This thoroughly researched history considers the intense storm and its aftermath, offering an exploration of an important historical weather event that has been neglected in previous study.

Every year, hurricanes seem to be increasingly severe and unpredictable, ensuring that they remain one of the most frequent topics of conversation in our everyday lives. The Great Bahamian Hurricanes of 1926 provides the perfect introduction to the complexities and dynamics of hurricanes. It focuses on how they develop, what causes them to be so powerful, the history behind them and how hurricanes affect us all. Wayne Neely tells the story of three of the worst natural catastrophes in the history of the Bahamas. However, this is not just the story of three big storms, but also of the many Bahamians who had to endure them. The individual stories of heroism and cowardice; tragedy and redemption vividly bring these storms to life. Each hurricane season brings with it a reminder that we are constantly subject to natural occurrences over which we have no control. Through unique historical photographs of actual damages from these three storms, this book shows the widespread devastation that these storms inflicted on the Bahamas. Drawing upon many newspaper accounts, ship reports and Family Island Commissioners reports from throughout the Bahamas, the author provides a fascinating glimpse of these hurricanes as they devastated the Bahamas.

"This book is an enduring resource for our times. Journey here and discover your own strength." —Chip Conley, New York Times bestselling author and founder of the Modern Elder Academy In Surviving Storms, bestselling author and spiritual teacher Mark Nepo explores the art and practice of meeting adversity by using the timeless teachings of the heart. We live in a turbulent time. Storms are everywhere, of every size and shape. And like every generation before us, we must learn the art of surviving them, so we can help each other endure. In order to stand firm against life’s unavoidable storms, we need to know our true self, deepening our roots and solidifying our connection to all Spirit and all life. Then we, like a firmly rooted tree, can endure the force of trials and heartbreak. A profoundly timely resource, Surviving Storms describes the heart’s process of renewal and connection with insight and accuracy. Though we must each map the territories of our souls for ourselves, this spiritually practical book is an indispensable guide, bringing us to common passages and paths and urging us forward on the journey. Once the rubble clears, we, like those before us, are inevitably called to build the world one more time, admitting that we need each other.

Xibalba, home of torture and sacrifice, is the kingdom of the lord of death. He stalked the night in the guise of a putrefied corpse, with the head of an owl and adorned with a necklace of disembodied eyes that hung from nerve cords. He commanded legions of shapeshifting creatures, spectral shamans, and corpses hungry for the flesh of the living. The Mayans feared him and his realm of horror. He sat atop his pyramid temple surrounded by his demon kings and demanded sacrifices of blood and beating hearts as tribute to him and his ghostly world. These legends, along with those that lived in fear of them, have been dead and gone for centuries. Yet now, a doorway has been opened in Georgia. A group of college students seek their missing professor, a man who has secretly uncovered the answer to one of history’s greatest mysteries. However, what they find is more than the evidence of a hidden civilization. It’s also a gateway to a world of living nightmares.

Breath and Smoke explores the uses of tobacco among the Maya of Central America, revealing tobacco as a key topic in pre-Columbian art, iconography, and hieroglyphics.