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When you dive into Mark Twain’s (Samuel Clemens’) The Innocents Abroad, you have to be ready to learn more about the unadorned, ungilded reality of 19th century “touring” than you might think you want to learn. This is a tough, literary journey. It was tough for Twain and his fellow “pilgrims”, both religious and otherwise. They set out, on a June day in 1867, to visit major tourist sites in Europe and the near east, including Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, “the Holy Land”, and Egypt. What Twain records, in often humorous, sometimes grotesque but always fascinating detail, are the day-to-day ups and downs of discovering the truth about people and places. The truths they learn are often far different than their education and rumor have made them preconceive. This is a voyage of discovery. It’s long and, in places, tiresome. But it’s revelatory about so much. As with some of his other works, Twain includes popular prejudices of his time, which are today considered socially unacceptable. His references to “Indians”, “Negroes” and “infidels” come to mind. Beyond the lows, though, there are the highs of Twain’s cutting wit and insight a...

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Adventure, Memoirs

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Britain won the Moon Race! Decades before Neal Armstrong took his giant leap for mankind two intrepid adventurers from Lympne, England, journeyed there using not a rocket, but an antigravity coating.Mr. Bedford, who narrates the tale, tells of how he fell in with eccentric inventor Mr. Cavor, grew to believe in his researches, helped him build a sphere for traveling in space, and then partnered with him in an expedition to the Moon.What they found was fantastic! There was not only air and water, but the Moon was honeycombed with caverns and tunnels in which lived an advanced civilization of insect-like beings. While Bedford is frightened by them and bolts home, Cavor stays and is treated with great respect.So why didn't Armstrong and later astronauts find the evidence of all this? Well, according to broadcasts by Cavor over the newly-discovered radio technology, he told the Selenites too much about mankind, and apparently, they removed the welcome mat! (Summary by Mark)...

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Adventure, Science fiction, Teen/Young adult

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Few things, even in literature, can really be said to be unique — but Moby Dick is truly unlike anything written before or since. The novel is nominally about the obsessive hunt by the crazed Captain Ahab of the book’s eponymous white whale. But interspersed in that story are digressions, paradoxes, philosophical riffs on whaling and life, and a display of techniques so advanced for its time that some have referred to the 1851 Moby Dick as the first “modern” novel. (Summary by Stewart Wills)...

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Adventure, Sea stories

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Tom Swift is the young protagonist in a series of juvenile adventure novels which began in the early twentieth century and continue to the present. Tom Swift is a genius inventor whose breakthroughs in technology (especially transport technology) drive the plots of the novels, placing them in a genre sometimes called invention fiction or Edisonade. This book is the 20th in the original series published from 1910 -1942, written by a ghost writer using the name of Victor Appleton. This adventure takes Tom and his cohorts to Honduras in search of a Mayan idol of gold. (K. McAsh adapted from information found on Wikipedia)...

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Children, Adventure, Teen/Young adult

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Bruno and Waldo Gillespie are orphaned brothers living with the extremely eccentric Professor Phaeton Featherwit. One day they set off in one of the professor's machines to investigate a tornado at close range and accidentally get sucked into it! They are then transported by the tornado and find themselves in a barren, uncharted wasteland wherein lies a city-- a long lost Aztec city! Find out what happens next to the brothers and the professor in this harrowing and exhilarating adventure! Description by Kehinde...

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Adventure, Children, Fiction

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Thoroughly engaging, at times even harrowing, adventure tale set in the San Francisco gold rush. Detailed depiction of its time and place, complete with everything from mining techniques to societal attitudes. You'll feel like you're in the diggings. (Summary by Lee Elliott)...

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Adventure, Westerns

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Chief Inspector Strock gets the tough cases. When a volcano suddenly appears to threaten mountain towns of North Carolina amid the non-volcanic Blue Ridge Mountains, Strock is posted to determine the danger. When an automobile race in Wisconsin is interrupted by the unexpected appearance of a vehicle traveling at multiples of the top speed of the entrants, Strock is consulted. When an odd-shaped boat is sighted moving at impossible speeds off the New England coast, Stock and his boss begin to wonder if the incidents are related. And when Strock gets a hand-lettered note warning him to abandon his investigation, on pain of death, he is intrigued rather than deterred. Set in a period when gasoline engines were in their infancy and automobiles were rare, and when even Chief Inspectors had to engage a carriage and horses to move about, the appearance of a vehicle that can move at astounding speeds on land, on water - and as later revealed, underwater and through the air - marks a technological advance far beyond the reach of nations. It is technology invented by and for the sole benefit of a man who styles himself (with some justificati...

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Science fiction, Adventure, Mystery

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Obsession with genetic engineering segregated humanity into the perfected and defective. Dictated by science and technology, the search for immortality near destroyed the human race. What remains of mankind, struggles to survive in barbaric clans suppressed by Masters and false doctrine. Known as Project Noah, an underground community seeks to restore civilization by rehabilitating those snatched from the surface. An enemy from the past is out to re-establish a plan to cleanse the earth. Assaults on both the surface and underground survivors reveal devastating truths regarding their sanctuary and savours....

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Among the great wars of history there are few, if any, instances of so long and successfully sustained a struggle, against enormous odds, as that of the Seven Years' War, maintained by Prussia--then a small and comparatively insignificant kingdom--against Russia, Austria, and France simultaneously, who were aided also by the forces of most of the minor principalities of Germany. The population of Prussia was not more than five millions, while that of the Allies considerably exceeded a hundred millions. Prussia could put, with the greatest efforts, but a hundred and fifty thousand men into the field, and as these were exhausted she had but small reserves to draw upon; while the Allies could, with comparatively little difficulty, put five hundred thousand men into the field, and replenish them as there was occasion. That the struggle was successfully carried on, for seven years, was due chiefly to the military genius of the king; to his indomitable perseverance; and to a resolution that no disaster could shake, no situation, although apparently hopeless, appall. Something was due also, at the commencement of the war, to the splendid d...

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Adventure, Historical Fiction, War stories

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This is a fictional account of events leading up to the violent overthrow of today’s liberal media institutions. The novel is not written from the perspective of the messengers, but the real reasons for the media’s behavior and one sidedness: the puppet masters, those at the top who are really calling the shots. The Brian Williams(s), the Diane Sawyer(s), the Walter Cronkite(s); those are, or were, simply the mouthpieces, the talking heads, the emissaries, the window dressing, the lipstick for the otherwise ugly pig those at the top had turned into roses for millions of Americans over the past century. The publishers, the CEOs, those lurking behind the scenes, hidden from view, not noticed by the public, but making damn sure their ideas, theories and beliefs become a permanent part of Americana. For what purpose? Power...power to influence elections, power to put like-minded minions into public office, the power to cover up the truth, or make certain the truth never saw the light of day. Power to safeguard those they consider friendly, those they consider allies, those who will do their bidding...all without being seen...a good...

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Review by: Frank Lee on July 22, 2014 : Great book! Even though the author classifies this is as fiction, make no mistake. There are facts in here. Also there are familiar players in here (renamed of course). Barack Obama, Hitlery Clinton, Bill Clinton, George Bush, and even John McCain... all present and accounted for. What is fiction is what happens... very enjoyable read! It should be a wake up call for dum dums who still think US News sources like CNN and MSNBC are "unbiased". ...

Table of Contents Details
Acknowledgements Prologue Day of Reckoning Four Years Earlier The Capitalists Coming Storm CPAC Rescue Operation Future President Another Mission First Logical Steps Getting Grilled Campaign Begins Plan is Discovered The Mole Election Approaches Publishers Threatened Martinez Wins! McKinley’s Last Order Last Mission as Americans D-Day Future Partners Meet Saving His Team Going Rogue Assassinations Unlikely Partners Breaking Scandal Fallout of Election It’s a Go Chatter Unthinkable Occurs The Hours Following The Days Following Epilogue About the Author Other books by Frank Thompson Connect with the Author Excerpt From: Frank B. Thompson, III. “RTF LIARS Violent Overthrow Smashwords June 23, 2014.” iBooks....

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Danny Firoth is a middle school student in the 8th grade, struggling with the common stressors plaguing a boy of his age: bullies, homework and his mother. Sabrina Drake, the new girl, is beautiful but she harbors a fantastic secret. “You’re… You’re a dragon!” Danny exclaims at the beginning of their epic journey. “I am a drake,” Sabrina corrects him, after a fierce battle with an ancient Shadow. Danny learns that a simple card game, designed to pit the forces of the Light against those of the Dark, is more than simply a game. Accepted into a school for young Squires, destined to become Knights of the Light and battle the forces of the Dark with magical weapons called Bondeds, Danny and his friends are trained in the techniques of blade work and educated by a colorful assortment of professors. But there is a traitor in the Order of Light, and now Danny and his friends must use their new powers to try and save themselves and each other....

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"Oh," said Danny, pausing for a moment while thumbing the engraved symbol of Light upon the scabbard of the dagger, a solid white chain interlinked with a black chain of seeping dark flames. "What does the symbol of Light stand for?" he was mesmerized by the emblem. Tyramear followed Danny's captivated gaze down to the small sheath. "At the core, the symbol is meant to represent a balance of a sort, a union between both good and evil." Glancing at the road and then at Danny, he continued. "You see… good cannot exist without evil and vice versa. The white chain represents the Light, the forces of good, while the black chain represents evil, the forces of the Dark. The white chain is solid and pure because we of the Light acknowledge the presence of the Dark and strive to maintain the proper balance. However, the black chain, warped with escaping tendrils of dark flame, symbolizes the Dark's desire to overthrow that balance. Evil does not know boundaries, Danny. The forces of the Dark will work tirelessly to unravel everything, even at the risk of their own destruction." "I see," said Danny, tracing his pointer finger aroun...

Table of Contents Details
Cover Purchase a print copy of this book Light & Dark Series Chapter 1 - A New Face Chapter 2 - Trigger of Power Chapter 3 - A Date with the Dark Chapter 4 - Becoming Friends with a Drake Chapter 5 - Into the Light Chapter 6 - The Gift of Sight Chapter 7 - The Trials of a Knight Chapter 8 - Departing on the Wings of a Dragon Chapter 9 - Arrival Chapter 10 - The Forces of the Grey Chapter 11 - Casting Off on the Radiance Chapter 12 - The Turbulence before the Storm Chapter 13 - The White Rock Academy of Illumination Chapter 14 - Looking the Part of a Squire Chapter 15 - A Banquet with the King Chapter 16 - The First Day of Training Chapter 17 - The Way of the Sword Chapter 18 - Mastering the Power Within Chapter 19 - A Test of Strategy Chapter 20 - A Well-Deserved Rest Chapter 21 - A Bonded Named Rose Chapter 22 - Preparations before Battle Chapter 23 - A Duel of Squires Chapter 24 - A Night with Calador Chapter 25 - The Truth among Friends Chapter 26 - Problem Solved Chapter 27 - Spying on Sir Syndil Chapter 28 - Putting the Pieces Together Chapter 29 - Research Chapter 30 - Describing a Dark Object ...

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The Titus Brothers Contractors company have won a government contract in Peru to blast a tunnel through a mountain and connect two isolated railroad lines. The deadline is approaching, and the contractors have hit a literal wall: excessively hard rock which defies conventional blasting techniques. The company is under pressure to finish, or else the contract will default to their rivals, Blakeson & Grinder. Mr. Job Titus has heard of Tom Swift and Tom's giant cannon, which is used in protecting the Panama Canal, and wants to hire Tom to develop a special blasting powder to help them finish the excavation. Mr. Damon, Tom's very good friend, arrives in the middle of this conversation, and is unaware of the situation. By coincidence, Mr. Damon is invested in a business which procures cinchona bark from Peru, but production has all but ceased, prompting Mr. Damon to invite Tom to accompany him to Peru and discover the source of the problem. Tom, Mr. Damon and Mr. Titus (along with Koku, Tom's giant) embark for Peru. On the way, they encounter Professor Swyington Bumper, who is on a life-long quest to locate the lost city of Pelone. Prof...

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Adventure, Teen/Young adult, Fiction