The Town That Died is a moving and detailed account of the greatest human-made explosion before Hiroshima known as the Halifax Explosion. It is told from the personal experiences of survivors, to accurately chronicle the tragic events that led to the ill-fated collision in the harbour narrows and the dreadful consequences.

On Thursday, December 6th 1917, a French freighter loaded with over 2,500 tons of high explosives collided with another vessel in the harbour of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and caught fire. At exactly 9.06am she blew up. The explosions, which was seen and heard fifty-two miles away, unleashed a man-made destructive force unequalled in power until the first atomic bomb. It levelled the Halifax waterfront, wiped out a square mile of the city from the face of the earth and sent an enormous wave crashing over the piers to tear ocean-going ships from their moorings. The Town That Died tells in full the whole story of this appalling disaster, which led to thousands of deaths and injuries while the homeless numbered in tens of thousands. Set against the background of the lives of many of the people involved, it tells exactly what happened on that morning, of the cruel twist of fate that meant it was impossible to rescue many of the people trapped in their burning homes and the bitter legal battle that was fought to establish who was to blame for the catastrophe. Michael Bird spent over a year researching this book, travelling over 7,000 miles to piece together the incredible story by interviewing survivors, discovering contemporary letters, diaries and newspapers and official documents and reports that had not been previously available. There is much that will shock in this study of human behaviour at a time when men and women were tested to breaking point. Predominantly, this is the story of the great courage, endurance and self-sacrifice shown by thousands of ordinary people when they found themselves caught up in the horror of The Town That Died.

Written by Charles C. Jones, Jr., the 19th century's foremost historian of Georgia and former mayor of Savannah, The Dead Towns of Georgia is an insightful look into the history of Georgia through a detailed examination of towns that flourished and then faded away. With specific emphasis on the colonial period, the work explores the role Georgia's settlers played in conflicts with Spanish and British colonial powers, as well as the economic and social factors that caused these towns to thrive, but ultimately not to survive. Specific focus is given to the towns of Old Ebenezer (1733) on the Savannah River, Frederica (1735) on St. Simon's Island, Abercorn (1733) on a tributary of the Savannah, Sunbury (1758) on the Medway River, and Hardwick (1755) on the Ogeechee River, but the communities of Petersburg, Jacksonborough, and Francisville, among others, are also mentioned. With extensive citations and footnotes, as well as maps of several of the communities, this is a valuable resource to anyone interested in the history of the South or in the development and dissolution of towns'Ķwhat makes a town survive and thrive, or what makes people move on elsewhere.

Kees Madden, a young writer steeped in film history, suddenly finds himself living in the Hollywood he always imagined existed just beyond the shadows, an alternate Hollywood of malicious ghosts and the famous phantoms of filmland's past. The city has the power to shift time and space and is capable of ironic response when confronted by Madden's overactive imagination. It is also the city's perverse pleasure to confront him with a diverse cadre of Hollywood ghosts. Although enthralled by this bizarre new world, Madden finds himself eager to escape, while the unseen forces behind Dead Hollywood have other plans. In pursuit of the city's boundaries and arcane secrets, Madden encounters three enigmatic humans: a clever, sinister man and two intriguing, beautiful women. As they lead him through a fantastic dream/maze of Hollywood past and present, Madden is severely tempted by the two ladies. Although they seem to be polar opposites, could Madden be capable of falling in love with them both? Or are they only malevolent ghosts, eager to imprison Madden in their depraved Hollywood hells? Peter Beckman grew up in the northern California town of Carmichael where, at age 11, he became an actor in local theatre and college productions. In his early twenties, he attended the California Institute of the Arts, where he studied screenwriting with legendary director Alexander Mackendrick ("The Man In The White Suit," "The Sweet Smell Of Success"). Beckman has also appeared in films as varied as "Echo Park," "C.H.U.D. II" and Orson Welles' still-unreleased masterwork, "The Other Side Of The Wind." Beckman lives in Los Angeles where, under the pseudonym Anthony Landor, he currently provides voices for many of the world's most popular videogames, including "Street Fighter IV" (Zangief) and "Dissidia: Final Fantasy" (Golbez). He can also be heard as the voice of General Wolf in the Sci-Fi Channel's hit anime series "Monster." Dead Hollywood is his first novel."