Book appropriate for ages 14 and up.

In a time before cell phones and helicopter parents, there was a time of freedom and adventure.
When Freddy O’Brian’s mother finally marries her Hispanic boyfriend Ronaldo, the family moves into Ronaldo’s home in the Union City barrio of Decoto.  Despite some trepidation, Freddy quickly makes friends, and a best friend, Mike. Freddy soon learns that a barrio is just like any other neighborhood. The story takes place over three years of high school or three seasons of wrestling, where Freddy has established a place and an identity for himself. Freddy grows up at a slower pace than his friend Mike while Mike works his way through a series of girlfriends and keeps forgetting about his best friend Freddy.  Decoto Kids is a funny and touching story of friendship, identity, loss, and wrestling. Amazon Listing for 2020 edition.

This book is dedicated to those who would like to decode the hymns of Rig-Veda and understand the scientific principles hidden. The Rishis, in a state of super-consciousness, observed the laws of nature and its underlying scientific principles. They presented the observations in hymns with simple words but deep in meaning. "We knew the world would not be the same. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince to do his duty, and to impress him taken on his multi-armed form and says, “if the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be the splendor of the mighty one. Now I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” I suppose we all thought that, one way or another."— Oppenheimer after the success of the Trinity test   

Author and genealogist Tom Lowe traces his maternal side of the family in this book, with his roots originating in northern and western Europe, and Iroquois American Indian roots originating along the New York-Pennsylvania border. Color and black/white photos

This book is a detailed account of Tom's ancestors’ settlement of America beginning in the 17th Century, who first settled along the Eastern Seaboard, eventually winding up in the foothills and mountains of West Virginia and Southwest Pennsylvania. Lowe incorporates historical detail into the biographies of his pioneering and salt-of-the-earth ancestors. Contained in these pages are stories of New Sweden, Revolutionary War soldiers, Seneca Indians, Quaker settlers along the Delaware Valley and German settlers in German Valley, N.J., Scots-Irish farmers, log cabins, Daniel Boone, and Civil War soldiers, not to mention murderers, burglars, and other social misfits who add spice to the mix. 

Steps to Help Someone at the End-of-Life Die with Peace and Dignity…
While Providing Guidance and Reassurance to Everyone Else.

This book contains simple steps that anyone can use to help a person at the end-of-life die with peace and
dignity, while at the same time, providing guidance and reassurance to everyone else. And since the subject of death is the other side of life, learning how to help someone else pass away peacefully will transfer to a deeper awareness of yourself and your own existence now.

The Evolution of Parks and Park Rangers in America

Parks and park agencies face a huge challenge from a growing population and a society that is becoming out of touch with nature. Tom Smith is a former Chair of the Park Management Department at West Valley College in Saratoga, California, and a long time seasonal Yosemite and regional park ranger. In this book he explores the origin of parks in America, the problems parks and park agencies will face in the future, and how rangers are adapting to deal with this changing culture.

In 1886, the surviving men, women and children of the Chiricahua and Warm Springs Apaches were exiled
from their homeland in Arizona and spent the next 27 years as prisoners of war of the United States in Florida, Alabama and Oklahoma.

This book follows their history from the first treaty they made with the Americans in 1851 to 1960, including
this period of detention, with attention to change and persistence in their traditional culture.

This book includes new poetry plus selected poems from Alan's two previous books
Said or Unsaid and Words Together, Words Alone.

Short Stories

Over the last 27 years John has written at least 100 stories and the book has grown to 80 or 90 pages. He has selected some of his favorites to make up “One Man’s Journey.” Many of the stories are true, the rest are a figment of his imagination.

A year ago this book would have been important; today it is essential reading. For the past year, it seems, not a day has gone by without a new investigation being announced: in government, in business, in schools, even in churches.

Every company has a culture, its leaders have a choice: let that culture happen by accident, or help shape it to fit their needs and vision. As for outside the company, it’s very clear by now that business today is global in nature, companies do a great deal of business in other countries, often even own facilities in them. And just as every company has a culture, so does every country, which means organizations would do well to understand other countries’ cultures and accommodate them, the better to do business in them. Bottom line: this book will help you shape your own culture and deal with that of other countries.

Like the ray of sun her name projects, SuRay’s memoir engages and inspires. This book shares 19 letters from home she received while hitchhiking through Europe, exactly as they were written between June and September 1966. The letters chronicle daily life that reflects the steady course her parents set for their family from the time of their courtship. 50 years later, the author reflects upon the letters’ impact on her then and now, exploring their meaning in a timeless tale of love, loss and healing. Readers will encounter their own family dynamics as they travel with SuRay from the personal to the planetary.

Poetry by Poet Laureates of Santa Clara, four poets in love with the world.

Galway Kinnell said all good writing has a certain quality in common, “a tenderness toward existence.” Coleman Barks adds, “[Poets] will never finish noticing what is going on.”

The Languages of Poetry ~ I’ve read somewhere that poets have three languages, the language general to all poetry, the language particular to the age the poet born in, and the language that is uniquely the poet’s own. In the last eighty years, our language has changed almost as fast as the technology that passes it along. Interestingly, there is a generation, roughly twenty years, between each of the first three Poets Laureate of Santa Clara County. Robert Frost said poets get their knowledge not deliberately, but by letting what will – “stick like burrs” as they “walk in the fields.”

The third language, the one that is uniquely our own, is in part made up the bodies we were born to, the physical voices we were given, and the history of our struggles to make ourselves heard by the world around us beginning surely with parents and teachers. I think you will enjoy the talk gathered in this small volume. ~ Nils Peterson

In The Last Chapter is Missing we have a successful novelist, who has disappeared 33 days before his new novel goes to press. Worse than that, he has “gone missing” before turning in the Last Chapter of this current, going-to-press-soon novel. What to do? Well, the publisher has an idea to send his assistant editor to the novelist’s apartment, and even though it’s against the law, to find that Last Chapter. Now.

       …and the path to the Missing Chapter leads us to Windsor, Canada, as the adventurous search continues.

Challenge Yourself to Live BIG, BOLD, and BAD Again

Engage yourself in this self-guided coaching journey to revitalize your purpose, ignite your passions and step into your unstoppable power. Experience your own personal transformation. Each chapter is designed with exercises and methods for applying and reinforcing the chapter’s information and your insights.

Learn and apply these fundamental insights to find your personal power and bring that energy back into your life, full throttle.

This book gives hope, encouragement, fortitude to anyone who has a loved one who is dyslexic, labeled as an ‘overly creative child’ or having a ‘learning disability or disorder.’ Henshel’s playful illustrations and presentation of handwritten words translate her understanding of neuroplasticity into a delightful story for readers as she reminds us ‘not all of us are going to experience life the same way.’

Six Short Stories.

The individuals in these stories emerge from cathartic events, more certain of who they are, and their place in their world. At times there is no direct route to the understanding of oneself, but rather a more circuitous path to identity is required.

Lost Love and New Love, Clouded by Misunderstandings, Sweep up Two Generations Under the Burden of an Unexpected Inheritance.

Ursula H. Meier’s beautifully written fourth novel reveals what happens when Chadwick Greene, a wealthy English widower, inherits a Victorian mansion in Germany’s Hartz Mountains. Once the home of his first love, the bequest brings forth long suppressed memories.

How a group of committed volunteers led by a retired aerospace engineerbuilt a homeless shelter in a gold rush community and how the power and financial elite closed it down.

“How do you build a homeless shelter that works and is acceptable to the entire community with donations only?” This book tells the story of one Sierra community’s effort to answer this question and how its success proved that it could be done, however its success also turned the city’s power establishment against it.

From the author who gave you Dancing in my Nightgown
and The Home for the Friendless

A day after their wedding in 1949, Denny whisks his new bride, Betty, to the boys’ dorm on a college campus in Nebraska, where they are to serve as houseparents and role models. The strict church-based campus prompts the young wife to act smarter than she thinks she is and holier than she knows she is. Coming from a down-to-earth family that indulged in much of what is forbidden by the Christian college (including drinking, smoking, cussing, and dancing) requires that she smooth out a lot of rough edges. In the process, Betty learns lessons as a surrogate mother to eleven high-spirited young men that will prepare her for the real thing.

We first met the likeable Los Gatos P.I., Grady Prescott, in Hobo Ashes, as he struggled to quit the bottle, regain his self-confidence, and resolve a long-standing murder case. Now Grady runs a fast-paced race toward resolving a complicated set of crimes that stack on top of each other with the plot and character twists that begin and end near the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. Grady’s fiancée, Hazel, sticks right by his side through murder and muggings—or does she?

Veteran writer, Steve Sporleder, once again drawing on his extensive knowledge of Los Gatos and environs, infuses his story with local flavor and historical tidbits, and keeps us on the edge of our seat.

In this book you will read about many inspiring, and dedicated leaders working in the American educational system. Some are just starting their careers, while others have been in the trenches for many years and have lots of experience and tips to pass on to our next generation of emerging leaders. We hope by presenting each of these wonderful vignettes, it will perpetuate the kind of leadership in others that is needed in the 2lst century.

This book addresses the challenges and offers tools to help talented counselors remain in the addiction counseling profession.

When I see counselors relapse or abruptly leave a career they trained to enter I always wonder about the triggers they faced that they couldn’t manage without imploding. Our clients and co-workers can put their finger on our unhealed wounds on a regular basis due to our ability to identify with them. In fact, our identification is a mixed blessing. I can draw compassion from my ability to identify. I can also step into my own blind spots and reactivity that may go unchecked without proper support and awareness.

Follow Darrel Pittman’s life story as he grows up in California and Arizona. He then joins the United States Air Force, becomes an air traffic controller and works across the United States.

Darrel is a a member of the North Dakota Aviation Council and the President of the North Dakota Pilots Association. He also writes articles for the “Aviation Quarterly” a periodical for the NDAC.

I did not have financial transactions
with that man...

When Sullivan was re-assigned he realized his career was over. He decided to take action by suing, which ended in a courtroom battle. A captain, a military-intelligence operative, and a brilliant army lawyer recognized Sullivan had been seriously wronged and secretly worked together to resolve his predicament.

True Love and Sacrifice

It was inevitable that Mary Day would one day fall in love with her handsome young neighbor, Link Harvey.  Mary graduated from Mills, then was hired as silent film actress in Southern California. Link graduated from Cal. With WWI in the offing, the draft board sent Link to join the Army. 

Link went off to war, a war so terrible, so murderous and so despicable that men shuddered and women wept at the very thought of it.  When the war was over Link came home, and married his Mary. But for some of the soldiers it wasn’t over; a nation’s promise had been broken, and again soldiers were dying—but this time on US soil—and Link left Mary again, to help as best he could.

An American Zen Buddhist Woman’s Solo Pilgrimage Through SE Asia

Ellen Warburton dashed headlong into Asia (at the age of fifty-two) with an open mind and a budget that prompted 3 vows:
* She would follow where the way seemed to lead
* She would take the cheapest accommodations she could find
* She would travel like a local as much as she could — no taxis unless absolutely necessary.

That was to set the style of her travel — trusting that she would have help when she needed it, and believing in the friendliness of people everywhere.

The story takes place between the politically turbulent years of 1962 and 1963.

It took unique characters to bring this tale to life... Spencer Helms and a squirrel named Dell. Spencer, an only child, was born with a malady which caused him to be unable to speak. He and Dell develop a magical telepathic way of communicating. Together, Spencer and Dell’s world is filled with the dramatic events occurring historically, as well as, the unexpected life experiences of their neighbors, some of which are very disturbing.

The story of a war hero who returns home and is faced with a choice between what he believes is moral on the one hand, and his job, his family and the security of his country on the other.

Steve Pritchard was a World War II fighter pilot hero who returned from England in 1945 to his home in Los Angeles. He was a double ace with twelve downed Messerschmitt ME-109’s to his credit. Steve had married his high school sweetheart, the prettiest girl in town, went to work at Western Aircraft Company, the largest aircraft company in Southern California and moved into a new home with swimming pool on the Palos Verdes peninsula. Steve and Ellen quickly had three children and settled down to a comfortable post-war life.

At one time or another some people wonder if life is worth living. Trent’s search for meaning will have you pulling for him until he finds the answer.

A third-generation San Franciscan, Trent Martin had it all… a loving wife, a beautiful daughter, a lucrative law firm, a real estate dynasty and political clout with City Hall. Through a heart-breaking turn of events he loses everything, short of losing his sanity. He descends into a pit of complete absence of self until he begins to take notice of people other than himself.

First Lieutenant John F. Day Jr. was a 30-year-old Reserve Army Officer when he was called to active duty in November 1940. On December 7, 1941, Day found himself aboard a troop ship in the mid-Pacific in route to the Philippine Islands. The USS Republic, a ship in the Pensacola Convoy, was eight-days out of Pearl Harbor sailing to re-enforce Gen. Douglas MacArthur. The Japanese attack altered the voyage and changed Day’s life.

"Many years ago I began a compilation of selected notable aphorisms and sayings for use in publications and lectures. That compilation evolved with inclusion of more general philosophical principles and quotations which are published in this small volume.

"While this material reflects my general philosophy, hopefully it can be used to enhance perspective and philosophy of others, especially students who may have had limited historical background." —John Edward Greenleaf

Have you ever dreamt of having a harmonious menstrual cycle free of pain? Did you ever feel that there was a deeper purpose and meaning to your monthly cycle?

This workbook is designed to be a guide to assist a wombyn of any age to find her path so that she may flow in harmony with lunar wisdom and create moontime order so she can experience a healthy, harmonious and sacred menstrual cycle or moontime.It is a menstrual roadmap designed to help a wombyn create both inner and outer moontime balance.

Now is the time to come home to yourself and reconnect with the deeper meaning of the Blood Mysteries. This journal is a start. It is designed to be a guide to assist a wombym of any age to find her path so that she may flow in harmony with lunar wisdom and create moontime order so she can experience a healthy, harmonious and Sacred menstrual cycle or moontime. It is a menstrual guide designed to help a wombyn create both inner and outer moontime balance. It includes a calendar to chart your needs and a series of questions to help navigate one’s moontime journey so that you can discover your own moontime rhythms and how they connect to the phases of Sister Moon. When you do, you flow in harmony not only with your self, but with the Divine Feminine and Goddess within, the heart of gift of the Blood Mysteries.

A federal civil servant by day and college professor of history by night, Don Anderson has spent nearly four decades exploring the southern Sierra mountains next to his hometown of Fresno, California.

In Whitewater Journals he chronicles over twenty years of rafting trips down various rivers in the Western United States. The author and his companions travel from the Cascades of the Pacific Northwest to the deserts of the American Southwest to journey rivers both famous (Salmon) and obscure (South Fork of the Owyhee). Along the way they encounter rain and snow, thunderstorms and sandstorms, flash floods, and even earthquakes. Within these pages lies proof that in the 20th century ordinary people can experience extraordinary adventures.

Enjoy a book for teachers and parents that embraces and enhances mindfulness

Teachers will acquire tools to discover if students truly understood a lesson, if a major unit of study achieved its goals, and, if a classroom system causes more pain than joy, how to analyze it and improve it.

Parents will discover that the same tools teachers can employ to improve their classrooms, will work beautifully in their homes. These tools for awareness and improvement weave around the true story of two non-reading third graders and their teacher’s efforts to help them grow into successful readers.

Insightful quotes are drawn from individuals ranging from Steve Jobs to Virginia Satir to Ghand and commentary linking these valuable insights to our work as counselors is provided by Mary Crocker Cook. This book of daily reflections is destined to become a recovery classic!

The Work Goes On follows up Welcome to My World and offers another peek into substance abuse counseling as we continue to follow Janet and her team through their week. Meet another set of clients who challenge the team as they struggle to assist clients to make sense of their addiction through counseling groups and personal counseling. Ricardo has a new life change, we learn the back stories for Keisha and Jorge, and the Clinical Director continues to offer his ham-handed advice! The week roles out with the same silliness and poignancy that the first week offered. Join us!

It was an unspeakable crime that tore her family apart, but the courageous young girl stood fast, convinced that neither shame nor blame could ever reveal her awful secret.

Kathy Fahey was only ten when she fell in love with a handsome priest. When her father discovered the affair, he soon moved with his family from the city to a small town he felt was safe. Since he was the only attorney in the county, Frank Fahey was well received in town. All thoughts of the priest were forgotten...until...

Beautiful color photographs by Sally Issa

A Woman’s Soul Reflections is a selection of Maria’s poems that tell the story of her life, marriage, and motherhood; the ups and downs, the joys and struggles that are part of every woman’s journey.

Maria's poems are paired with photographs that Sally Issa took during her travels around the world.

This story is told by a soldier who was a part of the bloody war in Burma, the executive officer of a rugged group of American jungle fighters. He tells us in great detail what the war did to him and how he feels about taking another man’s life even to protect his own as he searches for meaning in it all.

This is a story of all Jerry’s travels, from a farm rural Lakota, North Dakota, to around the world, while serving his beloved country. All the while he kept his deep North Dakota values taught to him by his mother and father. Sergeant Schmidt retired from the Army National Guard, North Dakota after 31 years.

Reconnect With Your Passion!

Becoming a therapist is a lot of work! Inspiration is the fuel that keeps the fires stoked. In dark moments when I question myself on this long and arduous journey, inspiration revives and renews me. It gets me back on track to where I need to be. This book is the café latte that reawakens your passion. It reminds you why you chose this path in the first place. These are fresh points of view for therapists of all ages and all developmental stages. Every therapist (or therapist to be) should read this book, it will serve you well.

Don’t Leave!!!! Codependency and Attachment was written as a “lay-person” version of Awakening Hope. A Developmental, Behavioral, Biological Approach to Codependence. Awakening Hope is used as a textbook in Alcohol and Drug programs in the United States.

This is the “fun” version, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

A cozy mystery thriller

An early morning knock on a motel door is often a harbinger of bad news. After nine futile years of playing professional baseball, Dean the Dream Mason learns his career has come to an end. Worse yet, Dean’s only living relative was found dead in a nursing home, and the inheritance he is due, which is seven times greater than current President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s annual salary, is no longer his. But Dean’s troubles only worsen. If he can’t track down the person who murdered his aunt, he will lose his last remaining asset: his life.

An agent of the State Security Service, in an all-female nation defects and leads partisan fighters to form a new nation in the wilderness.

The author, James Dennis Wiseman, was born and raised in London, and grew up there during the Great Depression and World War II; experiencing as a child the wartime life of that city. Much of his career was spent working in diverse countries. He has been an Industrial Engineer in England, a Chief of Mission for U.N. projects in Ghana and Nigeria, a Management Consultant for an oil company in Khuzestan, Iran, a CEO of an airline in Australia, a Small Business Consultant in Canada, and an Executive in Silicon Valley.

The Solar Phoenix: How America Can Rise from the Ashes of Solyndra to World Leadership in Solar 2.0 explains why solar is fundamental to the world’s energy future, and how the industry has passed a cost tipping point. It provides a set of detailed roadmaps of how, when and where the solar energy revolution will take place. And it challenges the United States to take its rightful place as the world’s solar superpower. America was the pioneer of Solar 1.0. Now it must lead in the Solar 2.0 era.

Dr. Hoban has arranged a scatter of apparently separate essays, short stories, poems and sayings in a book meant to do something as well as say something. Together they constitute and reflect a coherent whole. Amusing and intellectually provocative, these stories are intended to benefit readers in their daily lives by providing hidden frameworks for future understanding of the people and circumstances in their lives.

Welcome to My World was written by psychotherapist and chemical dependency counselor, Mary Crocker Cook, to answer the question, “What really happens in rehab?” from a counselor’s perspective. A veteran of multiple substance abuse program staffs, Mary has created an engaging and realistic cast of characters; a composite of chemical dependency counselors she has respected and loved over the years. While quirky and challenged by their own issues, the clinical work and interventions reveal a solid and realistic approach to addiction treatment that is both ethical and effective.

As a young airman in the US Navy, I volunteered for an expedition to Antarctica
on an icebreaker in the late 1950’s.
Come, join me on my five month journey exploring this frozen jewel!

My tour of duty took me across the South Pacific, New Zealand and to Antarctica, the least visited continent for one of the largest scientific studies ever undertaken.  There I experienced adventure and the unspoiled grandeur of nature, as well as crushing tragedy.

This workbook is designed to create a sense of competence for new and experienced substance abuse counselors. It provides information about approaches to facilitation, addressing difficult client behaviors in group, cognitive challenges in early recovery, and is filled with 14 group exercises that the new counselor can adopt immediately.

Death Is The Ultimte Military Sacrafice. And for veterans who live on guilt can dominate their lives.

This book, written by a Vietnam war veteran, gives hope to others by offering inspiring words to help free them from guilts curse.

In 1944 as World War II came to its final stages the desperate need of the Allies and the Axis was for manpower. Casualties were heavy in the last months of the war on both sides. Both sought anyone they could find capable of fighting.

Carl Heintze suddenly found himself  reclassified from limited service (as a “tailor”) to general service, (as a rifleman, basic). He was given the briefest training and sent to Europe as an infantry replacement: a body to fill a gap in ranks left by death or wounds. This is the story of how he succeeded in fulfilling that challenge, of how he made it through seven and a half months of combat, of how he shared in victory, of the men with whom he fought and what happened to them, told as he remembered it eight years later. It is a story rife with pain and endurance, the lot of the infantryman, a 745.

This book is ideal for anyone who is searching for a job, from those who have already been in the workforce to recent college graduates. No-nonsense and results-driven, this book will give you the information and inspiration you need to become the master of your own destiny and the architect of your own resume. It’s required reading for anyone who is committed to creating a gratifying career, one plum job at a time.

In today’s job market, landing a great employment opportunity can seem brutal. However, no matter what the current economy may indicate, the chance of becoming employed is well within your reach. That is, if you have a effective plan in motion. Now, seasoned senior executive, Bob Braham, draws from decades of experience in both the hiring and job hunting process to give you the roadmap that will lead to a highly desirable position.

While the authentic mystical path is full of difficulties and demands great discipline, we do have the grace, given to us by God, of a direct and gracious relationship with the Angels. This is known in all the mystical traditions. In Jenny D’Angelo we have someone who has experienced this grace directly and is being transformed by it.

"This book will offer you three things: profound hope amidst the despair of our time, the deep joy of knowing yourself companioned by an Ambassador of God, and direct and luminous practices that will help you sustain the connection through everything." —Andrew Harvey author of The Hope and Light the Flame

Four Dozen Minus Three Geezerhood Poems

Bruce Shelly enjoyed the traditional writer’s zig-zag career. Chronologically, it included pre-adolescent paper route, scout camp lifeguard, hobo, college football scholarship, college dropout, cub reporter, radio writer, newspaper editor, Korean War soldier, Congressman’s chief of staff, advertising Executive, and thirty years as a Hollywood Screenwriter. His writings include newspaper columns, magazine short stories and articles, political speeches ads, children’s books, a mystery novel, number one television shows, and hundreds more that weren’t number one, tv movies, a theatrical film, animated series, greeting cards, and bumper stickers.

All proceeds of this book will be donated to NCEFT: National Center for Equine Facilitated Therapy

Cricket was dubbed “the Sentinel of the Road.” This swaybacked mare was there every day, on the same curvy road to the Mother Lode Country and Yosemite National Park, until she died at the age of 38. Cricket broke up the boredom for daily commuters as they drove home.
I have written Cricket’s story to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of her passing. — Rita

“Horses, Hope and Healing”

The poems were gathered from more than one hundred others Carl has saved over the years and those which he wished people to read. He stopped writing poetry in my fifties... He is proud of one or two, but less enthused by others. Carl does not know why he stopped writing poetry, but clearly it was in part because he no longer needed it as a means of expression. Nevertheless, he thinks it worth saving these poems, if only because they are a record of the past.

• Is Codependency experienced differently by men
• What role does gender play in the way Codependency ‘looks’ for men?
• Should Codependency treatment be different for men?

This book utilizes stories, self-evaluation tools and practical strategies to interrupt and heal patterns that have derailed many men’s relationships and recovery attempts for years. Here, at last, is a comprehensive understanding of Codependency specifically for men.

The story goes through many twists and turns and the reader is continuously pulled along. It concerns an extremely remorseful evil one who, after plotting against God’s plan of enhancing the universe, finally realizes his disastrous error. To be forgiven, the devil is provided the opportunity of living five lives over 1200 years to experience five types of alcoholism with a view towards eventually obtaining the means of overcoming this dreaded disease. “A little heavy on sex, nevertheless, very intriguing.” —Gordon Pynes, retired journalist.

Regenerating an Ancient European Dog Breed
Francois and Helene Picault arrived from France with five little white dogs. The breed had been registered in France for many generations and it was thought that the Bichons would readily be accepted for registration by the American Kennel Club. This was not to be. There would be a long road ahead as there were rules and regulations to follow. It was the meeting of Azalea Gascoigne in Wisconsin and Gertrude Fournier in San Diego, California that made the difference, each with the same goal for the breed. They worked together with other dog fanciers to form a national breed club, THE BICHON FRISE CLUB of AMERICA, INC.

Memoirs of a NASA Physiologist

Greenleaf worked as a research physiologist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administrations (NASA) Ames Research Center (ARC) at Moffett Field, California (near Palo Alto) from October 1963 to June 2002. In 1966-1967 he was awarded a Swedish Medical Research Council Senior Post-Doctoral Fellowship to study at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology III in the Karolinska Institut, Stockholm.

On Kauai Wilson meets an Irish-American pediatrician. He later runs into her at the mainland hospital, where his device is being tested. Difficulties with the device persist. Just as it is about to be tested again Wilson is called back to Kauai, because of his father’s illness, leaving his pediatrician friend to stand by her patient alone. Read how Wilson resolves this impasse and reaches a decision about how his life will evolve.

Take a journey with Detective Grady Prescott, who is hell-bound to solve a murder that is close to his heart. In this historical murder mystery, Sporleder draws on his experience as a fifth-generation Los Gatan to infuse his writing with a local flavor and history that includes meeting post World War II hobos in Los Gatos and along the California coast. They lived by their own well-mannered code, picking up jobs from local homes and merchants, all for a chance to ride the rails with a freedom few can imagine. But unexpected violence erupts, and over the next few decades we watch Grady play cat and mouse with a maniacal foe.

A thriller that balances the conflict of good versus evil, right versus wrong,
and sanity versus madness on a fine grey line.

Morgan Proffitt’s cardiologist gives him life’s two-minute warning. The diagnosis prompts an unusual reaction from the highly-principled Proffitt. In the hours he has left, Proffitt is dead set on killing the despicable person responsible for his daughter’s death. Is it worth an eternity of damnation? Hell yes. Proffitt’s motivation isn’t fueled by revenge. He can’t bring his daughter back. But he can save other sons and daughters from a similar fate, and you will root that Proffitt’s heart has enough ticks left to accomplish his mission.

A young girl raised in poverty in rural Kentucky finds she has one gift to connect her to the world. That gift is her ability to sing. For the next five decades, performing on stages across the country and in a variety of venues, she observes life at its best and worst. Rita’s humble beginnings, strong work ethic, and solid family ties keep her head on straight while those around her are losing theirs. The author’s road stories are not empty tales, but lessons learned about life through the medium of music.

Collaboration in action. The 16 chapters (by 16 contributors) draw on research, theory and the work experiences of leaders, university faculty and doctoral students. To help emerging leaders, team members, team leaders and team consultants understand what they can do to foster collaboration for peak performance, this book begins with a discussion of collaboration- a must for success and ends with how inner and outer fulfillment will lead to self-awareness- a must for collaboration. Regardless of your position, the size of your organization, or the kind of customers you serve, this book is a must read!

Mentoring in Higher Education: Best Practices focuses on models of effective mentoring that can be used for staff development and also what administrators and faculty can do to work effectively with diverse student populations in order to promote high levels of student academic success. This book describes the significance of best mentoring practices in academic institutions and is designed as a resource for boards and presidents, chancellors, faculty, affirmative action officers, administrators of mentoring programs, academic affairs officers, student counselors, and participants in mentoring programs.

Chopstix: Healing My Heart in the Heart of China is the true story of a modern woman’s two year journey of self-discovery and recovery while in China after having lost the Great American dream. JoAn finds a new name and her true identity after coming full circle; reinventing herself through courage and curiosity, and discovering that, yes, there is life after divorce.

978-1-9935125-56-3

Price: 17.95, 180 pages

Beverly talks about Love, Life, Death, Grief, and Moving on. In the short span of nine months, the same time period required for birth, Beverly Kalinin nurses her sick husband and attends him lovingly in his dying. Painful mourning follows and she discovers a startling fact—that people grieve as they have lived. And the rate of successful healing is determined by the experience and quality of one’s journey. Alone on the Yellow Brick Road is a sensitively written memoir of love, life, death, grief, and moving on. 

This is a book of short stories: • For young Marines who are just starting their tour of duty.• For families who have members in the Marines.• To keep the memories of a tour of duty alive. “The stories in this book are about my life as a ground pounding mud sucking grunt. They might make you laugh, cry, and at times leave you wondering. To those who have given everything for this great country and asked for nothing in return, I SALUTE YOU.” ~ Joe C. Noriega Jr.  
Our Men will be home when the job is done... Not a minute before... not a minute after.

All proceeds from this book are donated to Bridging the Gap Africa.org
Kathryn’s Crossing takes you on a poetic journey into one of the most remote regions of Kenya. West Pokot is an area barely touched by the print of modern man, where the people live as their ancestors did for eons. This story begins with the love of two people, sweethearts from their youth, adventurers from their souls with a relentless quiet inward call that beckons them to reach out to others. They came to Africa to help build a bridge—one of many. You won’t have to buy a ticket or pack a suitcase, for Lynn’s writing will transport you into the world of Africa; her descriptions paint the scene.

From My Window in Paris is an inspiring and funny book about the author’s move to Paris—a brave adventure for a single woman traveling alone, with no knowledge of the language! Esther's story takes place over a period of one year and focuses on her life in transition after the death of her husband— her struggles adapting to the French way of life: plumbing problems in her tiny apartment, hilarious communication issues, the threat of possible spies, her encounters with French men, and "oh my goodness, the pastries!" Esther’s adaptation to France and the general excitement of day-to-day living in a new culture combines frustration, surprise, tears, and laughter—and culminates in a peak cosmic experience, with a self-realization she never dreamed possible.

Band of Brothers? (Stories based on actual events) They were the dregs, the last manpower left to fight the closing days of World War II. They were the cast-offs of service commands, the Air Force rejects, the college boys the Army had hoarded until then in the Army Specialized Training Program, the 18-year-olds just old enough to be drafted, but not to buy a drink. With inadequate and hasty training these infantry replacements were rushed overseas to fill the gaps in the frontline left by unexpected casualties.These boys learned quickly, and if they didn’t, they became casualties themselves. And by their presence they brought the war in Europe to a close; they created a peace, they began a new world—a world bright with hope yet stained by the past.

A Childhood Interrupted by WWII   ~  In 1940, German troops invade France. Overnight, ten-year old Pierre’s life is turned upside down. Optimistic by nature, he believes the occupation of his country won’t last. However, as time goes by and the situation worsens, he must adjust to reality. With resilience, he learns to live as normally as possible within his close-knit family, surrounded by the havoc of war. In difficult times, people show their best or worst behavior. Friendships are made, strained, or lost. Pierre experiences all these, but never loses hope during the four long years separating the first day of invasion to the day of liberation.

"This book is based on actual experiences during month-long vacations in the South of France. In our search for the perfect place we discovered, purely by accident, that there are numerous affordable villas for rent in the hills along the Mediterranean coast..."  A humorous account of an American husband and wife who stumble upon the perfect "Enchanted April" villa on the French Riviera near St-Tropez. But knowing little of the language and even less of the culture, will they find bliss—or the Bastille—as they attempt to live among the French? A must read for those of you interested in the pros and cons of villa rentals—whether your preference is Provence, Tuscany, or any other destination. 

Senior citizen Jim Sullivan, aka “The Wanderer,” spent 3 years traveling and working throughout Africa (from January 2001 to February 2004), where he visited 22 countries while existing on an extremely limited budget. His mode of travel consisted of whatever was available (broken-down buses, ships that should have been junked years prior, backs of motor-bikes, and just plain backpacking). A man of wit and perception, he brings to life the people of Africa, the wide gaps between poverty and wealth, and gives vivid descriptions of cities, jungles and wild animals he viewed on his great adventure. Note: All profits from the sale of this book are being donated to charities.

A Life of Memories and Surprises...  Margaret enjoyed writing this book because it helped her live her life a second time around. It brought back so many memories, the good ones and even the bad ones. She is thankful that the good Lord blessed her with so many wonderful people in her life. She learned through her mistakes. She shared many happy years with loved ones who will always hold a special place in her heart....

"Go West, young man. Go West and grow up with the country." LaVerne's ancestors were doing this long before Horace Greeley wrote his oft quoted words in the 1840s. LaVerne Brookover Uhte's story begins with her ancestor's 17 week voyage in 1754 from Europe to the British colonies in America. When the ship that carried Jacob Brookover from the land of his birth sailed into Chesapeake Bay, he found himself alone in a strange land at the age of sixteen. LaVerne tells how succeeding generations spread out in all directions from the eastern seaboard to the Pacific Ocean, and goes on to write about her eighty-five years, living through a time of accelerated cultural changes.

Sheila White shows by example how any woman can fight for her rights in the workplace. She describes what her life was like working in the railroad yards of Tennessee, how she learned to stand up for herself and how she helped the legal system defend her from the discrimination, retaliation, and humiliation she experienced over the years. We must not take this type of abuse in the workplace or anywhere else!  Throughout the process Sheila shows us that taking charge is not easy nor a fast process; it takes a lot of patience, but it can be done. After reading this book you will understand how she defended herself and in the process helped open the door for all working women.

A Novel of Forbidden Love and Political Intrigue. A Night in Odessa tells the riveting story of Erika, a young German woman, and Michael, a Russian cardiologist, and their prohibited love in former East Germany. What would be a light-hearted love story under democracy turns into a dangerous and chilling tale under communism. We meet the evil Chief of Police and Frieda, his police matron, and learn of Erika’s secret past. The young lovers’ quest for freedom takes them across the Iron Curtain, toiling through snow-covered mountains, slipping between mines, hiding from guards. California, Odessa, and Dubrovnik are colorful stopovers in this fascinating, fast-paced novel. Award winning author, Ursula H. Meier, weaves a tale full of plot twists that surprise, enthrall, and delight.

~True Tales Inspired by an Enchanted Lake
This collection of short stories and whimsical drawings inspire the reader to discover meaning amid the loves and losses of growing up, growing old, and all the events in between. By taking this book in hand, you will create time for a personal retreat with the exquisite beauty of nature as you host. The reward, the splendor of grateful living, is priceless. Woven of Water immerses the reader in a mirrored landscape of inner and outer beauty. Luisa Adams' years of retreating for a month of solitude at an enchanted lake have yielded a sensitive collection of compelling stories and deep reflective insights. Her commitment inspires the reader to connect to nature, time, and daily life with fresh eyes and refreshed perspective on what truly matters.