Eight complex stories illustrative of the author's belief that "a story must tell itself," highlighted by the high art style of the famous title novella.From the Trade Paperback edition.

The Conquest of Happiness is Bertrand Russell's recipe for good living. First published in 1930, it pre-dates the current obsession with self-help by decades. Leading the reader step by step through the causes of unhappiness and the personal choices, compromises and sacrifices that (may) lead to the final, affirmative conclusion of 'The Happy Man', this is popular philosophy, or even self-help, as it should be written.

It's time for hearts to bleed. And the first heart on the butcher's block? Chi's. You'd think she'd have time to rest after her last break-neck adventure. Wrong. Chi is dragged into the case of Fagen. Fagen is collecting hearts - and no, not the romantic kind. When a string of grisly crimes spreads through the city, Chi is pulled in to help. But she's the one who'll need help when she becomes number one on Fagen's wish list. He doesn't send her flowers to win her heart. Nope, he sends a hit team. Running for her life, she's thrust further into Max's accommodating embrace. But there's a problem there, too. Max has a secret - one that spans centuries, and one he'll do anything to hide. **

Together for the first time, classic essays on how and when to disobey the government from two of the greatest thinkers in our literatureAs we grapple with how to respond to emerging threats against democracy, Library of America brings together for the first time two seminal essays about the duties of citizenship and the imperatives of conscience.In “Resistance to Civil Government” (1849), Henry David Thoreau recounts the story of a night he spent in jail for refusing to pay poll taxes, which he believed supported the Mexican American War and the expansion of slavery. His larger aim was to articulate a view of individual conscience as a force in American politics. No writer has made a more persuasive case for obedience to a “higher law.”  In “Civil Disobedience” (1970), Hannah Arendt offers a stern rebuttal to Thoreau. For Arendt, Thoreau stands in willful opposition to the public and collective...

Franz Kafka's letters to his one-time muse, Milena Jesenska - an intimate window into the desires and hopes of the twentieth-century's most prophetic and important writerKafka first made the acquaintance of Milena Jesenska in 1920 when she was translating his early short prose into Czech, and their relationship quickly developed into a deep attachment. Such was his feeling for her that Kafka showed her his diaries and, in doing so, laid bare his heart and his conscience. While at times Milena's 'genius for living' gave Kafka new life, it ultimately exhausted him, and their relationship was to last little over two years. In 1924 Kafka died in a sanatorium near Vienna, and Milena died in 1944 at the hands of the Nazis, leaving these letters as a moving record of their relationship.

A biography of a Jewish woman, a writer who hosted a literary and political salon in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Germany, written by one of the twentieth century's most prominent intellectuals, Hannah Arendt.Rahel Varnhagen: The Life of a Jewish Woman was Hannah Arendt’s first book, largely completed when she went into exile from Germany in 1933, though not published until the 1950s. It is the biography of a remarkable, complicated, passionate woman, and an important figure in German romanticism. Rahel Varnhagen also bore the burdens of being an unusual woman in a man’s world and an assimilated Jew in Germany.She was, Arendt writes, “neither beautiful nor attractive . . . and possessed no talents with which to employ her extraordinary intelligence and passionate originality.” Arendt sets out to tell the story of Rahel’s life as Rahel might have told it and, in doing so, to reveal the way in which...

This is the story of two prodigal sons. Henry returns from a self-imposed exile in America to an unforeseen inheritance of wealth and land in England and to his mother. His friend Cato is struggling with two passions, one for a God who may or may not exist, the other for a petty criminal who may or may not be capable of salvation. Cato's father and sister Colette wait anxiously to welcome Cato back to sanity.

Animals, strange beasts, bureaucrats, businessmen, and nightmares populate this collection of stories by Franz Kafka. These matchless short works, all unpublished during Kafka’s lifetime, range from the gleeful dialogue between a cat and a mouse in “Little Fable” to the absurd humor of “Investigations of a Dog,” from the elaborate waking nightmare of “Building the Great Wall of China” to the creeping unease of “The Burrow,” where a nameless creature’s labyrinthine hiding place turns into a trap of fear and paranoia.

Internal Security wanted a secret weapon. They didn't want witnesses. They abducted the student they thought had made a discovery and bombed the university physics lab. That didn't work well, either. The student they'd abducted was convicted of attempting to murder the others. It was standard procedure.No one got out of Horgen Field prison alive, but if Bard was right, there was a way.Science FictionContains both Pyramid Knights novels:Consensus RebellionUnder the Pall305,000 wordsParanormal elementContains relationships which may offend some readersIn Animal Farm, Orwell iterated the predictability of an elitist oligarchy in an isolated society, if all external communication and asset trade is controlled by a comparatively small group, with a perceived social difference. And that control is one.Gradeload:Internal Security wanted a secret weapon. They didn't want any witnesses. They abducted the student they thought had made a discovery and bombed the university physics lab. That didn't work well, either. IS was very displeased. The student they'd abducted was convicted of attempting to murder the others. It was standard procedure.No one got out of Horgen Field prison alive, but if Bard was right, there was a way. The six, who IS had intended to kill, began to search for what he was sure existed. The assassin could teach him to stay alive.Read as fast as you can to get the story. Read it again to see and hear them speak.

Revelation awaits, as you journey from the beginning of time, taking in a fresh and exciting new perspective, unlike anything you have ever read.Gain intimate knowledge of a heavenly creator, who's actions and intentions are revealed in a way you've never seen before.Be inspired as you are in essence introduced to a loving God, that has your best interests at Heart.In the Beginning He already existed, He was One! Triune in excellent splendor. For He was the First and He was also the Last, the rank supreme power. All of creation was in perfect submission to His rule and most supreme majesty. Not only in Heaven, but all of Creation was in perfect harmony to His Kingly dominion, rule and reign. The most grandeur design was yet to unfold even before the first tick of time was ever put in place or ever recorded.He was Perfect! No fault nor blemish was to be found in Him! He was Holy. He was also Love! Love in itself in its perfect nature and form was impossible to be retained, yes! Even by love Himself. He was perfect love, He did not create love, love was His Heart. This most powerful force of Life could no longer be contained.

"I Conquered" By Harold Titus A young man is kicked out of his wealthy parents home and told he can return when he stops drinking and turns his life around. He decides to travel as far as his funds will take him and ends up on a train to Colt, Colorado. Life as a ranch hand is tougher than he imagined but Jed, a seasoned rancher, sees something in the boy and takes him under his wing.

A love story between a Catholic boy and a Muslim girl.Sarah is given Aisha's diary right before her mysterious death. Being reluctant at first, Sarah decides to read her diary, to figure out the truth, of what might have lead to her sisters death.. She discovers another world, of love, religion and cultures. Can the power of Love unite those who are of different religions?

Bernhard Schlink brings to these seven superbly crafted stories the same sleek concision and moral acuity that made The Reader an international bestseller. His characters–men with importunate appetites and unfortunate habits of deception–are uneasily suspended between the desire for love and the impulse toward flight.A young boy's fascination with an eerily erotic painting gradually leads him into the labyrinth of his family's secrets. The friendship between a West Berliner and an idealistic young couple from the East founders amid the prosperity and revelations that follow the collapse of communism. An acrobatic philanderer (one wife and two mistresses, all apparently quite happy) begins to crack under the weight of his abundance. By turns brooding and comic, and filled with the suspense that comes from the inexorable unfolding of character, Flights of Love is nothing less than masterful

Part seven of the 'Light & Darkness' series, with songs from end of summer and fall of 2012.ChiarOscuro Episode Two The Winds (Words 5,734)The City of Lemekia, right on the Eastern border of Aludin, faces the tides of war of an old enemy. The city is evacuating with only a few citizens left as tensions rise and soldiers start to strengthen the city. Meanwhile a small group embark on a small mission...SERIESChiarOscuro is an ongoing online fantasy series being published at https://chiaroscuroseries.wordpress.com/. Taking place in an alternate world where humanity is just discovering it's full potential after nearly being brought to extinction five millenia ago, the darkness that once threatened humanity has returned, seemingly with the intention to finish what they failed to do 5,000 years ago.ChiarOscuro is made up of 'Books' each one containing an Episode (these normally span a week or two) and a chapter is released throughout the duration of an episode. The official site will be the first place to find the newly released chapters at first, as well as extra pieces that delve deeper into the lore, world and characters of ChiarOscuro and once the Episode has concluded, it will be shortly be available as a single 'Book' to read in full.So follow a small select few in this time where the world's and humanity's certain is uncertain and travel with them to meet many different cultures, people, beliefs, customs through deserts, mountains, the city of nine walls and even the parts of the world the human eye cannot see...SERIES SUMMARYTaking place in a world where at the dawn of human civilisation, a catastrophe struck nearly bringing humanity to extinction and close to forever changing the world as we know it.They called them Demons, twisted, ruthless creatures with no seemingly other drive than to conquer all those weaker than them as they were the strongest and fittest and Earth seemed close to falling into the hands of these strange beings, who came to our world with no warning and legends speak of skies literally tearing open as Demons invaded our world.However, humanity as it always seems to do, fought back and though most of the people living at that time were forever lost, the Demons were defeated, the remaining leaving this world or scattered as they fled the humans only hours before they had been slaughtering mercilessly.It’s been 5,000 years since those events, though many dismiss the tale as legend and humanity has only recently started picking up again, there have been some strange reports recently across Aludin and with the mysterious Decabia to the east, the era of peace may soon be coming to the end and new heroes will have to answer the call to defend humanity’s flame once again, as they did so 5,000 years ago.