Daily Archives: December 18, 2020

The Last Empress: A Novelby Anchee Min

“Admirers of Empress Orchid will be interested in this sequel. Others may find the introduction to relatively modern Chinese history a revelation” (Rocky Mountain News).

During the tumultuous end of the nineteenth century in China, the only constant was the power wielded by one person: the resilient, ever-resourceful Tzu Hsi, Lady Yehonala–or Empress Orchid–as readers came to know her in Anchee Min’s critically acclaimed novel covering the first part of her life.

In The Last Empress, Orchid moves from the intimacy of the concubine quarters into the spotlight of the world stage. Devastating personal losses take their toll, leaving her yearning to step aside, but only she–allied with the progressives, but loyal to the conservative Manchu clan of her dynasty–can hold the nation’s rival factions together.

Anchee Min offers a powerful revisionist portrait based on extensive research of one of the most important figures in Chinese history. Viciously maligned by the western press of the time as the “Dragon Lady,” a manipulative, blood-thirsty woman who held onto power at all costs, the woman Min gives us is a compelling, very human leader who assumed power reluctantly, and who sacrificed all she had to protect those she loved and an empire that was doomed to die.

“The vision of an empress who very nearly had it all: vulnerability and strength, motherhood and power, earthiness and dignity, compassion and ambition.” —The Washington Post

“Invokes the intrigue and opulence of nineteenth-century China while telling the story of its improbably dominant ruler.” —Los Angeles Times

Windcatcher (Dragon I): Book I of the Stone War Chroniclesby A.J. Norfield

The Stone King rises and he wants his dragon! Take to the skies in this NA epic fantasy.
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Far away from home, under the command of his brother, Raylan and his squad must retrieve an ancient relic stolen from their kingdom’s trading partner–the Tiankong Empire.

Traveling deep into unknown enemy territory to complete their mission, Raylan learns that the ancient relic holds unexpected life; a creature buried in legends. But life is not always easy and neither is starting it, even if you are blessed with wings and claws.

Unable to fly and with their enemies closing in, the newly-hatched Galirras will have to put his trust in Raylan and his friends as they desperately search for a safe way home. Danger lurks around every corner: Warriors larger than any man, predators stalking them through the night and soldiers determined to hunt them down.

Their group has little choice, except to keep moving; strategically plotting and fighting their way back to those awaiting their return. But will they make it? After all, the Stone King is ruthless and he wants his dragon…

A Little White Casket: Accepting the Grief and Loss of the Present, Confronting the Truth of the Past, and Reframing Towards the Futureby Gary Howell

Everyone experiences grief, pains and loss on this journey of life. For some it serves as a catalyst for growth and for others it becomes an impassable obstacle. This book not only shares my personal experience with grief and loss but also contains case studies of several types of pain and loss. When we acknowledge that we have been affected in many ways by the painful experiences, we then must become intentional Amit seeking hope and healing. This book will share some possibilities on implementing your own hope and healing strategies, as well as supply some tools to take control of how you thing and respond to future grief, pain and loss.

The Upstream Model: Hidden Secrets to Building a Massive Referral Business While Crushing Big Tech Competitorsby Justin Stoddart

Your future as a well-paid professional within a service-based industry is in serious jeopardy. Whether it be real estate, mortgage, insurance, wealth
management, or similar, it is time to pay attention to what is happening. Little by little, your customers are warming up to the easy, safe, convenient and non-committal benefits of your complete or partial replacement by ever-advancing technology offerings.

An unwillingness or inability to grow and adapt accordingly will lead to one of the following undesirable outcomes:
1. You own an unprofitable business that pays you subsistence wages to work around the clock while you wear out your health and your relationships.
2. You become a lower-paid functionary/sales and service representative of one of these disruptive technology companies.
3. You are forced out of your industry altogether.

While traditional cold-market and warm-market methods are failing us, I introduce to you a new, or alternative method, The Upstream Model, which allows you to leverage the pros of cold-market (scalability) with the pros of warm-market (relationships).

The Upstream Model allows you to create endless streams of warm referrals. Rather than focusing on large databases of the wrong people to eek out a few sales or referrals a year, this model allows you to get more business from fewer relationships by focusing your value proposition on professionals in different industries that know that a transaction is coming in your industry before these future customers talk to anyone in your industry.

Solstice Shadows: A VanOps Thrillerby Avanti Centrae

DA VINCI CODE meets TOMB RAIDER in this multi-award-winning and #1 bestselling thriller that combines intrigue, history, science, and mystery into pulse-pounding action.
 
A computer-app designer. An encrypted relic. Can she and the VanOps team decipher the dangerous code before extremists trigger a high-tech apocalypse?
 
Broad-shouldered marine turned covert agent named Bear Thorenson wants his girlfriend, Maddy Marshall, to join VanOps, but the software expert and aikido black belt isn’t sure she’s ready for a hazardous dark-operations role that might risk the life of AJ, the nine-year-old boy she wants to adopt. Things change when an armed Russian thief escapes over a wrought-iron fire escape carrying her ancient star chart. She chooses to join Bear in the pursuit, because if her royal family legends are true, the mysterious chart leads to a superconductive meteor capable of powering the ultimate quantum computer. Upon learning the lightning-fast machine would be used by fringe members of the Russian government to spark a global war, and those same extremists kidnapped AJ once before, Maddy’s heart drops and Bear’s arctic-blue eyes turn to ice.
 
Setting off on a mad dash to uncover the chart’s celestial secrets at a Mexican archeoastronomy site, the VanOps team unearths a clue dating back to biblical times. As they race across the globe through the dangerous bazaars of Morocco, fallen Turkish temples, and Egypt’s perilous Valley of the Kings, they must fight to stay even a half-step ahead of sinister assassins. Worse, the place Maddy sent AJ for refuge becomes the enemy’s testing ground, where hungry gangs roam darkened streets.
 
With millions of lives on the line, can Maddy and Bear rescue the boy and crack the chart’s secret code?
 
SOLSTICE SHADOWS is the second novel in the fast-paced, multi-award-winning VanOps thriller series. A standalone, it follows THE LOST POWER (“A masterwork of international intrigue.” – #1 NYT bestselling author James Rollins). If you enjoy smart edge-of-your-seat suspense by James Rollins, Dan Brown, Steve Berry, or Clive Cussler, you’ll stay up late turning the pages of Avanti Centrae’s “rousing sequel.” Kirkus Reviews.

The Foundation Game, Beginningby Brenda Kempster

The Foundation Game. A global web of political and financial deceptive activities concealed under the auspices of a nonprofit, or “third sector” foundation, highlighting the conflicts between the public good and personal quest for wealth and power.

The first book Beginning introduces the characters Margo Maxwell and her nemesis Jonathan Ross in a fast-moving thriller about criminal and unethical behavior involving Silicon Valley players, Interpol, FBI and a US Senator.

Third Eye Lucidityby Jerald Albritton

You enter the universe through thought, a manifested portal, and each time you enter, it’s the same place but a new journey.

The answers you seek you will not find, yet a new power will arise that you never could fathom, one that can’t be found but unlocked. Open your gift and show the present the true essence of who you are. Third Eye Lucidity is a collection of poetry and prose that promotes living positively and imparts balance and perspective for a tranquil and virtuous spirit. Volumes are created to take the reader on a spiritual journey, a voyage that they sail through life using the currents of the words on each page. Enter the void and untether yourself from worldly desires and unnatural aspects of the physical realm. Awaken the third eye that has been hibernating this entire time.