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Join us for Volume 1 of Pillbug. In this book Warren R. Smith trundles down the path of flash fiction and short stories. Among other anecdotal excursions, you’ll find within; the story of a Taxi driver who must come to terms with the truth depth of his daughter’s independence. Read the Speckled Egg, magic realism wherein two children, in saving their lives, must change shape. In Jack-O’-Lantern and old woman invites herself to be haunted. In Pillbug, the story is about the risks of day labor. In Purple Hippo, a Hippo decides it's time to shake the world up. Jack and the Magpies is written in defense of a worthy appetite. Contemporary mainstream and humorously literary, you’ll find this collection chock-full of five-minute wisdoms and imagination....

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Yes, it was a crazy season for rabbits. Everywhere they hopped and nibbled — even in the office. Daily I had to sweep them off the desk before I could get a thing done — and I leaned into the task with the whole of my arm and an imprecating grunt because sometimes that’s all there was....

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Introduction The Red Paint Flaking English As A 2nd Language Like Caffeine Sweet Nothings Individually Wrapped The Speckled Egg Troder of the Mish'dee Orb Dotting Tigers Jack-O'-Lantern Candy-Corn Angel On Religion Pillbug A Walking Tour Paused Purple Hippo No Man Left Behind Laundromat The Last Thing A Memory Without Name The Girl With the Sheep Animal Magic Jack and the Magpies About The Author...

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One would expect a young man whose single mother skipped town a couple of hours after his birth, to have a few problems, but Mortaumal [Mort] doesn’t seem to, thanks to his grandfather. However, when that support is gone and foster parents fail, and there are nasty people demanding he do evil deeds...things begin to look pretty desperate. From the age of ten to eighteen Mort lives with and meets an extraordinary variety of people, gets himself into and out of very hot water, sees rather too many people die, learns to defend himself both physically and mentally, and ends up unimpressed with humanity in general, while loving the few who come up to scratch. This is a light-hearted, not too serious tale about death and dying, affection and callous indifference, independence and love somewhere in tropical Queensland. There’s sentiment but not sentimentality, social criticism, excitement, fun and a bit of everything else in a fast paced yarn that suggests ways to live that are more interesting and natural than those we see on our screens. ...

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1 Mortaumal According to his grandfather, Mortaumal was a smart kid. According to Mortaumal, Simon was a brainless bully. So why wasn’t it Simon lying on his belly, face pressed into the dust, scarcely able to breathe? Surely twice as big should be beaten by twice as clever? Obviously not, or Mortaumal wouldn’t have had his head flushed in a toilet bowl yesterday, and he wouldn’t have had to endure six months of increasingly unpleasant torment. On this relentlessly sunny afternoon, Simon had ambushed Mortaumal from behind a billboard advertising the benefits of ‘Jezebel’s Gymnasium for Fabulous Fitness’, dragged the object of his unwanted attention behind it, thrown him on his face in the dust and sat on his legs. When fruitless flailing of arms failed to free him, Mortaumal had just decided to humiliate himself by screaming for help when Simon dragged his shorts down. Shocked, or perhaps excited at the absence of underpants, the bully allowed his grip to slacken enough for his victim to slither away and tear down the street, school bag flying, shorts barely back in their usual place when he was stopped by a busy road. A q...

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Table of Contents 1 Mortaumal 2 Leon 3 Shrude Aywun 4 Confidences 5 Death 6 Mrs. Pettie 7 Dying 8 The lawyer. 9 Self Defence. 10 Pissed Off 11 Leon and Hugh 12 Family life 13 Fystie 14 A day at the river 15 School 16 School work 17 Mr. Brawn on Women 18 A visit 19 Beach Bully 20 Debriefing 21 Abuse 22 Rescue 23 Marshall on Childhood 24 Paying for It 25 Fystie Returns 26 Life with a lawyer 27 Further Education 28 Sergei 29 Zoltan’s Mother 30 The God Question 31 On Top of the Mountain 32 Marshall meets Angelo 33 Perdita 34 The Beach 35 Bullies 36 Ultimatum 37 Farewells 38 A Change of plans 39 Impersonation 40 Julian 41 The Truth 42 Elbert 43 A Social Occasion 44 A Room With a View 45 School 46 Mr. Preggy 47 The Basement Flat 48 The cop 49 Miss Bussty 50 Brawl 51 Perdita’s present 52 Stefan 53 Perdita Perdue...

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A revolution replaces the Queensland government with a coalition of religious fundamentalists who have strong ideas on how their subjects ought to live, and how to enforce compliance with their draconian laws. Readers have asked what happened to Robert and Bart, the heroes of Rough Justice. They thought I had left them in a bad place…and so I had. Others wanted to know what happened to Sebastian and Jarek between the end of Jarek and the beginning of NumbaCruncha. A good question that requires an answer because what happened could all too easily be the political future for us. So, Fidel is a prequel to NumbaCruncha, and a sequel to my other five novels—Rough Justice, Dome of Death, Sebastian, Jarek and Mortaumal. Fidel is fifteen when the story begins sometime in the near future. He’s running away from home to the big city where he falls into trouble, then miraculously falls out again, and grows into a sturdy, well-liked young man. Like most people he is too busy living to notice that a relatively quiet revolution is taking place, replacing the government with a coalition of religious fundamentalists who have strong id...

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1 Fidel Fidel was scared. Shit scared. He felt like throwing up and probably would have if he'd had any breakfast. He had to stop thinking about it or he’d chicken out. His whole life had been one long worry that he’d done something wrong and would be punished…but this was sharper, more urgent, more exciting too if he could only stop thinking about all the possible consequences. Taking a deep breath he shouldered the backpack that had been hidden in a corner for weeks, let himself out of the shed, crossed the back lawn and tapped on his brother’s open window. Hylas appeared, rubbing at sleepy eyes. ‘Fidel! What’s the matter?’ ‘I’m off.’ ‘Now? But you…’ ‘Shhh! You'll wake Mum. I just wanted to say goodbye and tell you I love you.’ ‘Where are you going? I love you too! Will you write?’ ‘Brisbane. Of course I’ll write. Don’t tell Mum anything. Pretend to be surprised I've gone.’ With a cheery wave that even Hylas knew was fake, Fidel adjusted his pack and ran off before his courage ran out. Twenty minutes later he was sticking out his thumb on the David Low Way. Almost immediately an elderly couple in a battered T...

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Contents 1 Fidel 2 City Centre 3 The Karims 4 What to do? 5 Bart’s enterprise 6 Arnold Jurgenz 7 Bart and Robert 8 Lance 9 Luck 10 Arnold’s Gym 11 Natural Fitness 12 Hylas 13 Brothers in Brisbane 14 Hylas Meets Natural Fitness 15 And Hylas Makes Five 16 JECHIS 17 Lance Returns 18 Disintegration 19 Inspection 20 Plans 21 The Administrator 22 Ciao Natural Fitness 23 Peter and Jon 24 A Forest Retreat 25 On The Run 26 Unpleasantness 27 Travelling On 28 A Meeting 29 Justice 30 F.N.Q. 31 Protectors 32 A Blast From The Past 33 Oasis 34 Tests 35 Developments 36 Job Interview 37 The Vote and After 38 Sanity – Insanity 39 Nothing Lasts Forever 40 Decisions 41 Ciao Oasis 42 Research 43 Solutions 44 The Institute 45 Settling In 46 Endgame ...

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A savage race whose main source of food is humans are fast running out of supplies and so must attack their rival race, who they believe are the cause of their growing food shortages....

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It was late at night, I held firm with such tight grip the weapon I carried then I heard screams and as I looked around, all I could see was a burning bush; the entire place licked up by flames, the moon light blocked by a thick smoke that mantled the surroundings. All of a sudden, about three of them ran out of the bush with their body enshrouded with fire, something burst in the flames like big drums accompanied by a hissing sound which irrupted. The smell of sulphur and burning flesh took my nose hostage but for some reason, I stood and watched the horror with my feet grounded defensively. The invaders took siege of the bush holding their torches as they continued to set it ablaze. I went round and saw people being butchered by the invaders, anyone that jumped out of the burning bush was instantly killed. The sight was awful and it seemed there was nothing I could do. I also noticed the invaders were bigger in size compared to the ones that were being hunted, burnt and killed. The sound of their voices and cries in the fire weakened my heart. I could not fathom why I was there or why I could not do anything. The attack was...

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Acknowledgments Dedication I am Buga The dead Purican prince The brides Head on a platter The sun sets on the Redicans Tempest The guardian Friends and foes ...

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NumbaCruncha begins with a chilling peek into the near future, when Sebastian and Jarek, now in their eighties, confront a particularly vile religious autocrat, whose reign of terror has led to the destruction of their laboratories, but not their secret weapon. We then take a thousand year leap to a future city state in which the human aptitude for duplicitous and unjust social schemes has reached its logical culmination in Oasis, a flesh-crawlingly evil dystopia ruled by the most unpleasant gang of conmen and women you're ever likely to encounter. A couple of young scientists who have recently invented a new means of transport, begin to question the morality of the Oasis social order, and decide to do something about it. Meanwhile, back in the forest, Sebastian and Jarek’s secret weapon is waiting. NumbaCruncha is a thoughtful, perhaps shocking, certainly controversial, at times amusing, and always cheeky assessment of the apparently intractable problems facing humanity. Although the future for life on planet Earth seems hopelessly bleak to people who care about the destruction of the natural world in which Homo sapiens ...

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1: Somewhere in Far North Queensland Towards the End of the Twenty-first Century. ‘Make sure there’s nothing left to salvage, or tomorrow there’ll be nothing left of you.’ The priest’s twisted smile, more venomous than his customary frown, underlined the threat. Ignoring the nervous nods of his sweating acolytes, he turned, raised an imperial finger in warning and waddled back to his limousine, slashing the air with his stick to ward off mute offers of assistance from heavily armed bodyguards. After passing silently through the gates the black car stopped to allow the priest to gaze back through tinted windows. Impassive, he watched as the splendid old buildings exploded in a gigantic fireball that briefly rivalled the sun. This wasn’t the first such establishment he’d had the pleasure of demolishing, and wouldn’t be the last. Releasing a wheezy sigh of satisfaction he nodded slightly and chewed thoughtfully on his bottom lip. There were few pleasures to match erasing the stench of Roman Catholic blasphemy, nonconformist freethinking tolerance, and secretive research by ungodly intellectuals bent on disrupting God’s plans. He t...

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Table of Contents 1: Somewhere in Far North Queensland Towards the End of the Twenty-First Century 2: About a Thousand Years Later 3: A Demonstration 4: Peteru & Uretep Show How It’s Done 5: The Mages Do It 6: Breakfast with the Mages 7: Peteru and Uretep Learn About Oasis 8: Problems 9: Production Gets Underway 10: How the Other Half Live 11: Plans Progress Apace 12: New Oasis 13: The Forest 14: Where the Men Live 15: The Mages Remain True to Type 16: The Royal Couple 17: The Men Tell All 18: More Information 19: NumbaCruncha is Unveiled 20: The Trap is Set 21: Dinner with the Mages 22: The Best Laid Plans ...

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Hahn reflects on the world as it existed in 2076, before the war, and how the devastation unleashed by the war shaped the lives of the survivors. Hahn is keen that the school boy, Eugene, grasps that, while there were huge changes in technology before and after the war, the most important change was in people, and their attitude towards each other and the planet on which they lived....

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Eugene’s brow furrowed. ‘You mean you could choose who died?’ ‘Oh yes.’ Hahn’s tone was matter of fact. ‘But now I venture onto the territory of state secrets! Not only were we implanted with health chips, those of us who thought we were important were implanted with tags that identified our status. This was updated in real time. So if my car was in an accident with another, and there was a possibility that one car would be so badly damaged its passengers would die, one of the decisions taken by the cars’ on-board computers would be which passenger was higher status and should have the higher chance of survival.’ Eugene looked astonished, ‘But how could that happen?’ ‘You have to remember that our computers worked at a phenomenal speed and there was plenty of time for them to check which car carried the higher status individual and redirect that car to minimize impact on them. That might involve a far worse collision for the other car and its passengers.’ Eugene shook his head. ‘Weren’t people outraged at this?’ ‘That’s where the state secret came in. No one knew this happened, apart from the agency that monitored status, and t...

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A pamphlet of 20 pages of poetry.

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Iridescent blues flash in fiery sunset: swallows flying like crossbows.

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This series is arranged in levels of reading difficulty ranging from 1 to 5. The easiest is level 1, the hardest level 5. All these books are royalty free and can be copied used printed and distributed, scrawled on walls, acted out in plays and told (very slowly) to your pet dog, if you don’t have a dog a cat will do, but hamsters do not listen as they only speak Spanish. They are designed to be easily read on a computer and can be printed on standard A4 size paper (landscape format) There is no bad language or offensive words anywhere in these books....

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Alfi was at the seaside on holiday with his parents and had got up especially early to go down to the beach to see the sea. Podd his dog was also down on the beach with him but was now only a small blob in the distance....

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Two bank employees, one married male and the other unmarried female happened to mark affinity for self in the other. This unmarried person was the boss of the other one. In view of the mutual affinity, this boss visited the other’s residence for delivering in person the `invite` on the occasion of her marriage with an NRI doctor. In a couple of years, the marriage of both these persons reached the stage of irretrievable breakdown, as both were feeling suffocated with the behaviour and attitude of their spouses. By the by, they happen to divulge to each other the emotional injuries suffered at the hands of their respective callous spouses. However, they happen to be neighbours by virtue of the flat allotted to them by their bank under the self-financing scheme for its employees envisaged to reach them a surprise bonanza in a unique `no profit, no loss` basis. The events at the inlaws family in the case of both of them brought them physically closer, with the blessings of their parents. Thus, they happen to be `a circumstantially evolved couple`. ...

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“It appears to me that almost every religion tends to circumscribe the reasoning potentials of its followers. The self-styled custodian of the religious beliefs would not take it upon himself as a duty to seek the explanations of the `deviating folk`, unless an explosive situation emerges,” Nidhi expresses her opinion in the presence of the lone listener … She says, “Even at this moment, some kuchcha structure is visible. A notice board is also clearly visible from here. I think, let’s move towards that hut, to check, if that hermit is still using that hutment even after a period of fifty five years has gone by.” He looks undecided, but his wife almost drags him towards that sign-board. It reads the same contents. The door seems to have been bolted from inside. They move away awfully, lest they disturb the hermit’s peace. …. Nidhi often happens to recall her days when she had once heard from Anirudh that Smriti’s father is a doctor in a government dispensary and has been living an ostentatious type of life. It had resulted in his daughter always complaining of the total absence of modern amenities for leading `a moderately c...

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Un anciano que escribe una carta a los Reyes Magos, un viudo que pasa las horas con las cenizas de su mujer, una señora madura que redescubre el erotismo a bordo del autobús que la lleva al trabajo: son algunos de los personajes que nos miran desde los relatos en miniatura de El cielo en ruinas. A lo largo de sus páginas, el autor nos somete en una mirada implacable a las heridas y cicatrices a las que nos enfrentamos cada día, pero no deja de tener un guiño cómplice y una palabra de aliento para todos los que las padecemos. Cada relato nos traslada a este mundo caótico que hace tiempo dejó de ser el paraíso, pero en el que, como destellos, siguen vislumbrándose el amor, el perdón y la solidaridad, el anhelo de querer y ser queridos. La ilusión más allá de la muerte, los desengaños del deseo, esas sutiles ironías del destino que hacen que la vida valga la pena… Ángel Fabregat nos invita a recomponer nuestro propio cielo en ruinas a través de estas páginas que son también puertas a la risa y a la felicidad. Con sus reflexiones agridulces y la belleza destilada de las palabras justas, este libro está destinado a ser un amigo de...

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Microrrelatos Cantos de sirena, es una historia que le habría encantado a James Joyce. Parafraseando a Shakespeare diríamos que estamos hechos de idéntica tela que los cuentos. Este libro lo confirma....

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CONTENIDO LA MARIPOSA.......................................................................1 LA BATALLA...........................................................................2 LA MONA LISA......................................................................3 LA LÁMPARA ALADINA......................................................4 TRASCENDER......................................................................5 EMOTIVA DESPEDIDA.........................................................6 LA MERIENDA......................................................................7 LA REALIDAD.......................................................................8 PRIMER APRENDIZAJE......................................................9 EL TABACO MATA.............................................................. 10 DIARIO DE INVIERNO..................................................... 11 GUERRA MODERNA........................................................ 12 EL UNIVERSO..................................................................... 13 LA PRIMERA VEZ.............................................................. 14 EL A...

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Πρόκειται για μία νουβέλα της Ιταλίδας συγγραφέως Ματίλντε Σεράο (1856-1927). It's a novel by the Italian author Matilde Serao (1856-1927), with the title "Giovannino or Death"....

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Πρόκειται για μία σύντομη συγκριτική μελέτη μεταξύ του ιταλικού και ρωσικού λογοτεχνικού φουτουρισμού καθώς και μία συγκριτική ανάλυση ενός ποιήματος του Μαρινέτι και ενός του Μαγιακόβσκι. This is a brief comparative study on Ιtalian and Russian literary futurism as well as a comparative analysis of a Marinetti's poem and of a Mayakovsky's one....

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-Εισαγωγή (Intoduction) -Οι ευρωπαϊκές πρωτοπορίες στην αρχή του 20ου αιώνα (The European avant-gardes at the beginning of 20th sentury) -Ο ιταλικός φουτουρισμός (Italian futurism) -O ρωσικός φουτουρισμός (Russian futurism) -Σύγκριση ανάμεσα στους δύο φουτουρισμούς (A comparison between both futurisms) -Δύο εξεγερμένοι φουτουριστές ποιητές (Two revolting futurist poets) -Συμπέρασμα (Conclusion) -Παράρτημα (Annex) ...

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Join the adventures of Mark Prior, a twenty two year old Brit, in an incredible journey across Europe as he uncovers, alongside his friends, a hidden and primeval power. Follow the story of the four friends as they release the blue lightning, trapped inside a forgotten relic from a time long lost, and witness their change from young university graduates to beings of extraordinary power....

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Chapters 1-15

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A little book to his father by a third grader on Father's Day, 2007.

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If I were a car, toolbox, flashlight, computer, monkey, solar panel, goat, or tow truck.

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If I Were A Car If I Were A Toolbox If I Were A Flashlight If I Were A Computer If I Were A Monkey If I Were A Solar Panel If I Were A Goat If I Were A Tow Truck I Am Your Son...

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A little book to her father by a third grader on Father's Day, 2004.

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If I were a firefly, bee, hummingbird, puppy, wolf, kitten, hammer, or pencil.

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If I Were A Firefly If I Were A Bee If I Were A Hummingbird If I Were A Puppy If I Were A Wolf If I Were A Kitten If I Were A Hammer If I Were A Pencil I Am Your Daughter ...

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In the cold grip of death and high alert, stands the silent land of the Lost Winds. Moral degradation has triggered a mass exodus. Those who were at great risk and in imminent danger have fled the atrocities of the regime by a boat called the Blue Moon to seek protection in a new land. Battling over the high seas through many violent tempests, their sea unworthy vessel, Blue Moon sailed for days until one evening it was spotted under the roaming beam of the light house on murky waters. The boat has finally reached the shores of Draviland. In the meantime, unfathomable pondering rage in Nalia’s head in Lost Winds, as she explores the chaotic, dark fate of her mates. Unpredictable times have created such people, deemed as riders of the howling seas....

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"The presence of the paradoxical absence of the ONE, and His selective random process as to who won and who didn’t was one of those many unresolved puzzles. However, His existence was as immutable as the law of gravity to the faithful. P. 131."...

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Red Tempests Ash Woodlands Black Streams Orange Soils White Vines Purple Waves Gold Foliage Turquoise Roots Emerald Luminosities Sapphire Skies Crimson Fields Pink Honeycombs...

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Chapbook of poems made in past few months. Randomly selected. I hope that you would enjoy in them. Cheers.

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This book was written after having an epiphany. I literally woke up from a dream and began writing. This story is appropriate for any reader age 9 and above. You'll find no gratuitous violence, foul language or nightmarish scenes. What you will discover on these pages is an adventure unlike anything I had ever dreamed about before; a fantasy tale worthy of reading aloud and a cast of characters that could only have come from deep within a creative mind. In The Hero's Chamber, two young men take a reluctant journey to find something that hasn't existed in thousands of years. Their guide may not be trustworthy, their fate is almost certain death but without this effort their world, the original Earth, will die. Our adventurers are led by a young woman who must remain unseen, she is forbidden to speak and yet without her there can be no success. Join this unforgettable group as they struggle through an epic journey that none of them expected, none of them asked for and none of them may survive....

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In the early morning hours of July 5th 2006, I woke up from a dream. Since then, I’ve tried to write down what I experienced; to express what I saw, to tell the story of my dream. The reason for my effort and the purpose of this book is to get the images, the story, the characters, and the emotions out of my head. With my dream finally down on paper, at least the first half of it, I know that I will be able to put aside the unreasonably detailed visions that have danced through my head for years. After you read it, I hope you understand why I had to write it down. ...

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FRAYED EDGES FRIENDS MR. MILLER THE KINGDOM AS IT WAS FIRST STEPS AN EARLY DEPARTURE THE WASTELANDS HEAVY BURDENS DAYS TURN TO WEEKS KNOWLEDGE AND PERSPECTIVE CONSEQUENCES FIRST IMPRESSIONS EASY TRAVELING BASE CAMP A SLIPPERY SLOPE THE HERO’S CHAMBER STRANGE ATTRACTORS THE WANDERER’S WAY PROMISES FULFILLED UNEXPECTED GIFTS SUNRISE 275 THE CALL WISDOM 292 ...

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"o principio" é um livro de poemas, ideal para quem gosta de ler e também mostrar-lhe que a poesia nos transporta para um universo maravilhoso de sonhos e fantasias, além de possuir certa musicalidade......

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“As melhores e mais bonitos coisas no mundo não podem ser vistas, ouvidas, ou mesmo tocadas. Elas devem ser sentidas pelo coração.”

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1. Agradeço a ti meu Deus …….……………..…………………………………… 5 2. De manhã ……………………………….……………………………………… 6 3. Esta noite ………………………….…………………………………………… 7 4. Estou de volta …………………………………………….……………………. 8 5. Para o meu amor ………………………………………………..……………… 9 6. Somente escrever ……………………………………………………………... 10 7. Só queria escrever …………………………………………………………….. 11 8. Amor-perfeito …………………..……………………………..……………… 12 9. Desespero ………………………………...…………………………………… 13 10. Lamento de volta ………………………………….………………………….. 14 11. Foi o que eu senti ………………………………………...…………………… 15 12. Superação ………………………………………………………….………….. 16 13. Angola …………………………………………………………………..……. 17 14. O teu abraço ……………………………...…………………………………… 18 15. Por amar-te tanto ……………………………………………………………... 19 16. O principio ………..…………………………………………………………... 20 ...

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The Silk Roads are the trade routes that connect Asia with Europe and Africa since the ancient times. Due to their importance of the Silk Roads for trade there were many wars for their control over the centuries. The following chapters refer to some of these wars. Each chapter is and independent essay, which was written at different date, and therefore the booklet’s chapters can be written in any order....