The search for meaning and the importance of our life is one constant thought that always crosses everyone’s mind. It is not meaning that the individual searches for in their life, but at the ground level, what the person is seeking is hope, life-lessons, the truth and a dash of motivation every now and then. All this search makes one feel a sense of fulfilment in their life. Learning is a part of life and man’s quest for life-lessons will never cease until death. Presenting you a collection of short stories, which is an attempt to make you see life and its subtle messages through a different lens.

Palm Springs, long a desert hideaway for celebrities, has a history as unique and varied as its residents. From the original Cahuilla inhabitants of the area, to the settlers who were drawn to the therapeutic waters of the original hot springs, you will get to know the people and stories that made Palm Springs famous.

Welcome to the desert. Welcome home. This visually stunning tour of the world’s most amazing desert homes will inspire you to create an oasis with “desert vibes” wherever you are. Creatives are drawn in by the extreme landscapes and limited resources of the desert; in fact, they’re inspired by them, and the homes they’ve built here prove the power of an oasis. From renovated Airstreams to sprawling, modern stucco, desert has become the new beachfront. In Oasis, artist iO Tillett Wright captures the best of this specific culture that emphasizes living simply, beautifully, and in connection with the earth. He highlights the homes that define this desert mindset, featuring the classics like Georgia O’Keefe’s in Abiquiu, New Mexico, alongside more modern homes such as Michael Barnard’s Solar House in Marfa, Texas. With Casey Dunn’s stunning photography, Oasis will transport you to these relaxing refuges, where you’ll learn what elements create the balance of intentionality, ease, style, and function that these homes exude.

In this young adult thriller for fans of Lost and The Twilight Zone, a group of teens are saved when they come across a mysterious oasis. But who will save them from the oasis? Alif had exciting summer plans: working on her father’s archeological dig site in the desert with four close friends ... and a very cute research assistant. Then the sandstorm hit. Their camp wiped away, Alif and the others find themselves lost on the sands, seemingly doomed ... until they find the oasis. It has everything they need: food, water, and shade—and mysterious ruins that hide a deadly secret. As reality begins to shift around them, they question what’s real and what’s a mirage. The answers turn Alif and her friends against each other, and they begin to wonder if they’ve truly been saved. And while it was easy to walk into the oasis, it may be impossible to leave ... An Imprint Book “Will stick to readers’ skin long after the final page is turned.” —Booklist (starred review) “de Becerra successfully builds a fraught tension throughout the book that mirrors the characters’ feelings as reality leaves them behind . . . well worth the payoff.” —The Bulletin

Exiled from an impoverished Russian childhood by her desperate mother in order to give her a new life, Lili is sold to become a wife-in-training - ultimately purchased by a Moroccan man for whom she feels nothing but hatred. When their treacherous relationship explodes on a remote road in the conflict-torn Sahara, Lili pitches herself into what she hopes will be the end of this miserable life - only to reemerge into an oasis of inscrutable characters that is desired by hostile forces for the secrets buried under its sand. Blistered and barefoot in her torn gown, Lili brazenly stands six-feet tall in front of her rescuers, who can only assume that she is either an angel or the mythical djenni, come to destroy their haven. But Midhat, the putative owner of the oasis sees her for what she is: a commodity worth owning long enough to use for his own advancement. As Lili slowly pieces together the events and personalities flying around her, she also mulls over her past misfortunes and yearns for what she calls her "third death, " the one that will erase for good the creature she has become at the hands of Madame Mer, a cunning flesh monger. As the daily intrigues and secret betrayals of her tiny outpost of humanity become clearer, Lili discovers that the only way out is to find a way back into the world through these similarly fractured souls.

BARTLE BULL Author of the White Rhino Hote land A Café on the Nile Continuing the epic African adventures of the characters memorably cast in The White Rhino Hotel and A Cafe on the Nile. All the treacherous intrigue of cosmopolitan Cairo and fiery drama of Rommel's desert war in Africa come vibrantly to life in this novel of historical adventure and romance. It is 1942, and civilization as the world knows it teeters on its edge. Nazi Germany stands at the height of its power. In North Africa the brilliant General Rommel's panzers threaten the Suez Canal, the oil fields of the Middle East, and the trade route to Asia. To win Egypt, though, Rommel must first take the port of Tobruk and destroy the British fortress of Bir Hakeim. There, against the massive force of Rommel's Afrika Korps, a young English hussar named Wellington Rider fights beside the French Foreign Legion. Rider's father, Anton—the professional hunter who strides so dynamically through A Cafe on the Nile—is now a desert commando engaged in obliterating Nazi air bases and petrol dumps. Not only has Anton's old friend Ernst von Decken, a German soldier of fortune, meanwhile become the enemy, but also Anton's estranged wife has entered into an affair with a Frenchman who supports Rommel's campaign. Alliances shift, loyalties deceive, espionage thrives, and danger lies as much in the dark corners of Cairo as it does in the desert night. And at a barge on the Nile, at the Cataract Cafe, under the watchful eye of its proprietor, the enigmatic Goan dwarf Olivio Alavedo, Egypt frames its destiny. “Romantic and eventful . . . a satisfying dose of wartime action, private revenge, and seething passion.”—Richard Bernstein, The New York Times “A World War II page-turner that’s part Masterpiece Theater, part Raiders of the Lost Ark, part Casablanca.”—The Washington Post

Shocking secrets of the sands When she gave herself to Sheikh Salman in Paris five years ago, Jamilah Moreau fantasized about wedding dresses and happy endings. But Salman was driven by desire, not diamond solitaires.... Now, sheikh of a desert kingdom, Salman can have anything he wants--and, as Jamilah discovers when he spirits her off to a desert oasis, it's still her However, time has wrought changes, and their lovemaking is no longer enough. Something happened back in Paris that had everlasting consequences for both of them....

Does Bolaño's masterpiece hint at his own life, or is the author himself a literary invention? Literary Nonfiction. After Devouring 2666 by Roberto Bola�o on the New York City subway, Jonathan Russell Clark does what any good literary critic would do�he reads everything by Bola�o he can get his hands on. But the more he learns about the writer's unlikely life, the less it makes sense. Bola�o cultivated ambiguities and false identities, almost as if he were laying a trap for his future biographers. Clark's investigation into Bola�o's magnum opus is a stumble through a labyrinth where fiction and self-mythologizing converge. This book is part of a new series from Fiction Advocate called Afterwords. "A Sontag-worthy encapsulation of another writer."--Christopher Wood, The Quarterly Conversation "If you have read 2666 and loved it, like most people who've read 2666, then AN OASIS OF HORROR IN A DESERT OF BOREDOM is something of a must-read."--D. F. Lovett

Winner of the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year (UK) "William Atkins is an erudite writer with a wonderful wit and gaze and this is a new and exciting beast of a travel book."—Joy Williams In the classic literary tradition of Bruce Chatwin and Geoff Dyer, a rich and exquisitely written account of travels in eight deserts on five continents that evokes the timeless allure of these remote and forbidding places. One-third of the earth's surface is classified as desert. Restless, unhappy in love, and intrigued by the Desert Fathers who forged Christian monasticism in the Egyptian desert, William Atkins decided to travel in eight of the world's driest, hottest places: the Empty Quarter of Oman, the Gobi Desert and Taklamakan deserts of northwest China, the Great Victoria Desert of Australia, the man-made desert of the Aral Sea in Kazkahstan, the Black Rock and Sonoran Deserts of the American Southwest, and Egypt's Eastern Desert. Each of his travel narratives effortlessly weaves aspects of natural history, historical background, and present-day reportage into a compelling tapestry that reveals the human appeal of these often inhuman landscapes.