A Fire Eater Remembers

Some people called Robert Barnwell Rhett the Father of Secession. This book illuminates Rhett's role in secession's time and passage. It tells of Rhett's interest in secession doctrine as early as 1828 and his outspoken support of disunion fully a quarter-century before 1861.

Bobby Burns knows he’s a lucky lad. Growing up in sleepy Keely Bay, Bobby is exposed to all manner of wondrous things: stars reflecting off the icy sea, a friend that can heal injured fawns with her dreams, a man who can eat fire. But darkness seems to be approaching Bobby’s life from all sides. Bobby’s new school is a cold, cruel place. His father is suffering from a mysterious illness that threatens to tear his family apart. And the USA and USSR are testing nuclear missiles and creeping closer and closer to a world-engulfing war. Together with his wonder-working friend, Ailsa Spink, and the fire-eating illusionist McNulty, Bobby will learn to believe in miracles that will save the people and place he loves.

Surreal, playful, and always poignant, the prose poems in Jose Hernandez Diaz’s masterful debut chapbook introduce us to a mime, a skeleton, and the man in the Pink Floyd t-shirt, all of whom explore their inner selves in Hernandez Diaz’s startling and spare style. With nods to Russell Edson and the surrealists, Hernandez Diaz explores the ordinary and the not-so-ordinary occurrences of life, set against the backdrop of the moon, and the poet’s native Los Angeles. The TRP Chapbook Series

The first book that compares the Confederate South and Southern Italy in two contemporaneous civil wars during 1861-1865.

There he was, below the bridge, half-naked, eyes blazing. He had a pair of burning torches. He ran them back and forth across his skin. He sipped from a bottle, breathed across a torch, and fire and fumes leapt from his lips. The air was filled with the scent of paraffin. He breathed again, a great high spreading flag of fire. He glared. He roared like an animal. That summer, life had seemed perfect for Bobby Burns. But now it's autumn and the winds of change are blowing hard. Bobby's dad is mysteriously ill. His new school is a cold and cruel place. And worse: nuclear war may be about to start. But Bobby has a wonder-working friend called Ailsa Spink. And he's found the fire-eater, a devil called McNulty. What can they do together on Bobby's beach? Is it possible to work miracles? Will they be able to transform the world? A stunning novel from the author of the modern children's classic Skellig - winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Children's Book Award. David Almond is also winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen award.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you will kindly give me your attention for a few moments I will be happy to introduce to your favorable notice an entertainer of world-wide fame who will, I am sure, not only mystify you but, at the same time, interest you. You ha

The time has come for a serial killer to strike—and they’re aiming for the Black Horse Campground—in the series from the author of At the Crossroad. With the campground already a crime-scene curiosity, Corrie takes a weekend break from the business just as J. D. Wilder makes his return to the village of Bonney from his home turf of Houston. With Corrie on vacation, he turns his attention to the cold cases they thought were long-solved. Something isn’t adding up. Even though his corrupt former partner is suspected to have killed three local women over the past fifteen years, J. D. can account for the man’s whereabouts during the third murder. And with a fourth grave already dug, he’s convinced that the real serial killer is still at large. A deep dive into Corrie’s and her friends pasts uncovers clues that point to a horrifying possibility: the danger isn’t coming from outside of Bonney, but straight from inside its dark and twisted heart . . .

When Gastón and Valeria’s eyes meet, a new reality is awakened. Gaston forgets, but the look exchanged between them strips everything bare in the face of eternity and he begins to retrace his steps along the path of remembrance. Meanwhile, Juan is searching, although no one, not even Juan himself, knows what he is looking for, yet he has become a master of the art of looking. Valeria, in turn, looks at the world and at Juan and Gastón and finds herself living two realities. One, her everyday world with a boyfriend and with friends like any other group of young women. Her other world is a memory, a Bohemian rhapsody performed by cicadas and narrated by a poet, or an inner voice that sometimes says uncomfortable things and other times penetrates to the essence of the soul. This story features an unusual square in a city that might be any city or might be Córdoba, a blind aunt who can see truth, and ants, many ants. And there is a canine revolution that takes over the city with fleas and dog smell and humping. There’s a birthday party, and there are further paradigms of the ephemeral in this story of true love that extends beyond the boundaries of time and space. Gastón Forgets is in turns tender, dreamlike, enigmatical, painterly, earthy, shocking, grotesque, obscene, thoughtful and lyrical. A parable peopled by metaphorical characters who are perhaps more real than those of the real world, Gastón Forgets will linger like a light in the shadows of your memory, moving you to ponder life, love, time, art, dogs and more, long after you have finished reading it. Warning: Contains strong language and shocking content that some readers may find offensive or disturbing. Warning: Contains philosophy and poetry that may provoke some readers to fall in love, or to think deeply.

On Nov. 28, 1858, a ship called the Wanderer slipped silently into a coastal channel and unloaded a cargo of over 400 African slaves onto Jekyll Island, Georgia, fifty years after the African slave trade had been made illegal. It was the last ship ever to bring a cargo of African slaves to American soil. The Wanderer began life as a luxury racing yacht, but within a year was secretly converted into a slave ship, and--using the pennant of the New York Yacht Club as a diversion--sailed off to Africa. More than a slaving venture, her journey defied the federal government and hurried the nation's descent into civil war. The New York Times first reported the story as a hoax; as groups of Africans began to appear in the small towns surrounding Savannah, however, the story of the Wanderer began to leak out, igniting a fire of protest and debate that made headlines throughout the nation and across the Atlantic. As the story shifts from New York City to Charleston, to the Congo River, Jekyll Island and finally Savannah, the Wanderer's tale is played out in the slave markets of Africa, the offices of the New York Times, heated Southern courtrooms, The White House, and some of the most charming homes Southern royalty had to offer. In a gripping account of the high seas and the high life in New York and Savannah, Erik Calonius brings to light one of the most important and little remembered stories of the Civil War period.