When mystery author D. B. Ziegler is late delivering her book, Abi Schore steps in to help. Surely she can give her favorite author moral support over the holiday break and get the manuscript to her boss at Tea & Sympathy Publishing in time for the new year. When Abi shows up on Ms. Ziegler’s doorstep bearing holiday treats, she’s met by the author’s handsome grandson Dov, who reveals a startling plot twist. His grandmother isn’t able to finish the book and Dov promised he’d complete it so fans won’t be disappointed—a task that’s harder than he ever imagined.

Two little girls stand with their heads bowed in my living room. I’m told they’re my granddaughters. Daisy is nine, and Alice seven. Daisy is the spitting image of her mother. This is the first time I’ve met them since my daughter and I fell out after she married that waste of space, Vince. They’ve come to live with me because their mother — my daughter — was murdered. In her own home while they slept close by. I think Vince killed her. But the police can’t prove it. I’ve always known he was no good. He treated my daughter like dirt. I said he’d cheat on her — but she wouldn’t listen.

There's no place like home for the holidays ... especially for Lesley Carver. Life in the big city just wasn't her jam and now she's back in Hickory Falls, working at the family diner and helping her mom after she took a tumble. Lesley longs to build a life here, working at the cafe, selling her handmade ornaments and ... er, apparently reviving her high school crush on her best friend’s older brother. Only one problem, her mom wants her to leave Hickory Falls far behind.

Tilly Farriday isn’t feeling very jolly this season. Recently divorced and broke, she’s squatting in one of her rental agency’s properties until her new home is ready. The sprinkles on top of the burnt Christmas cookie that is her life? The new owner shows up early, forcing Tilly to hide in the attic to save her job…and what remains of her dignity.

First published in 1843, it tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a mean and unpleasant man who dislikes people generally and Christmas especially. One Christmas Eve he is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come and given a glimpse of the many homes and lives which Scrooge has touched in his wretched life to date. After their visits, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.

It’s 1984, and life has changed beyond recognition. Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, is a place where Big Brother is always watching, and nobody can hide. Except, perhaps, for Winston Smith. Whilst working at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history, he secretly dreams of freedom. And in a world where love and sex are forbidden, where it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe, he meets Julia and O’Brien and vows to rebel.

Clark Griswold was onto something...at least with his annual holiday meltdown. And since the last three weeks of my life have been riddled with humbug—another breakup, a broken toe, an office promotion I deserved and didn’t get—I’m not at all in the mood to celebrate nor have the happ, happ, happiest Christmas EVER.

My fiancé brought me tea and scrambled eggs in bed that morning, and we snuggled together, talking about buying our rings, and about our perfect wedding next year. Then we headed into town. He held my hand and gazed at the ring I liked best, a smile spreading slowly over his face. Then a glass of bubbly to celebrate. I felt flushed, excited and ready for the rest of my life with the man I loved. We race to get on the train home. It screams to a halt and I run towards its open doors. Made it. I think he’s right behind me — but when I turn around, he’s gone.

Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things: video games, wine, and pad thai. Peanuts are a must! Other people? Not so much. Why complicate things when he’s happy alone? Then one day the apartment board, a vexing trio of authority, rings his doorbell. And Lucas’s solitude takes a startling hike. They demand to see his frying pan. Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of removing the errant object, as Lucas suggests, they insist on finding the guilty party. But their plan backfires. Colossally.

Johnnie Rico never really intended to join up—and definitely not the infantry. But now that he’s in the thick of it, trying to get through combat training harder than anything he could have imagined, he knows everyone in his unit is one bad move away from buying the farm in the interstellar war the Terran Federation is waging against the Arachnids. Because everyone in the Mobile Infantry fights. And if the training doesn’t kill you, the Bugs are more than ready to finish the job.

Each soldier in Vietnam fought his own war. For some it was a war with loneliness, boredom, and endless fatigue. For others it was a war with unyielding jungle, mountains, and disease. For still others it was a war with terror and death and all of the above. And then there was the secret war fought mostly by Army Special Forces and Navy Seals. For these secret warriors, the war was seldom boring and always dangerous. The mountains and jungles of Laos and Cambodia were their playground, and disease, terror, and death stalked them on every mission. Sergeant First Class Ed Potter, returning ...

True story of the 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division's small, ragtag "provisional" long range patrol platoon that was so effective it became the official model for 1st and 2nd Field Force MACV LRRP's covering the whole country, authorized by General Westmoreland. The 2nd Brigade LRRP's made history.

The true story of Lieutenant Steve Joyner, who carried all the traits of a "perfect Marine" - character, compassion, determination, patriotism . . . an All-American football star. But then came the harsh and unforgiving realities of combat in Vietnam. How the two worlds he inhabited both connected and conflicted reveals the character of an extraordinary man gone far too soon. "Promise Lost is a touching, crisply rendered account of a Marine lieutenant who fell heroically in the final, bloody days of the 1968 battle for Khe Sanh while leading a counterattack into the teeth of an overwhelming...

In the U.S. Marine Corps, the most dangerous job in combat is that of the sniper. With no backup and little communication with the outside world, these men disappear for weeks on end in the wilderness with nothing but intellect and iron will to protect them - as they watch, wait, and finally strike. But of all of the snipers who ever hunted human prey, one man stands above the rest as the most legendary fighting man to ever pull a trigger. That man is Carlos Hathcock.

This is a collection of short stories of missions I flew during my two years in Vietnam in 1968-1970, or stories about men I flew with in Vietnam. Most are non-fiction and two are fiction based on real life events.

Newly promoted Master Gunnery Sergeant Richard Rhodes returns to Vietnam after thirty days leave in Hong Kong and three months training in the states to take over as Operations Chief for the Third Recon Battalion in Dong Ha. Master Guns Rhodes was expecting a tour on the operation staff after an eighteen month extended tour in I-Corps with 3rd Battalion 4th Marines. He had served as Charlie Company Gunny as a Master Sergeant for most of eighteen months, and his nerves were nearly shot. Charlie Company Skipper, now a Major and S3 for 3rd Recon Battalion, had talked Rhodes into waving his ...

THE SCREAMING EAGLES IN VIETNAM 1970: the Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne have been in combat against the elusive Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army for nearly seven years. In this memoir, author John G. Roberts tells the story of the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, the "Widow Makers" of the 101st Divisions' 1st Brigade. Written in the often crude language of the combat infantryman, Roberts describes what it was like to confront the enemy during close combat in the triple-canopied jungles of I Corps, west of the Song Bo River. As part of Operation Texas Star, the 502nd ...

John Launer, a United States Army Combat Infantryman in the Vietnam War, details his horrific experiences during that time. Setting the record straight that soldiers were not drug addicts, murderers, and baby killers, Launer documents that American media bias led to the public misunderstanding of the war. The action within is violent, bloody, and never ending, leading many veterans to devastating physical and psychological trauma upon their return home to the USA.

Fred Tomasello Jr. served three years as an officer in the U. S. Marine Corps. He earned two Purple Hearts, five Air Medals and a heavy dose of Post Traumatic Stress. Born and raised in West Tampa, Florida, Fred graduated from the University of South Florida and worked 27 years at the Tampa Postal Service. Retiring in 1999, he and his wife Kathy Blair sold their home, bought a truck and trailer, and traveled cross-country for five years as full-time RV'ers before settling in Cheektowaga, NY, a suburb of Buffalo. Soon after September 11, 2001 Fred started writing and discovered the spiritual...

The United States Army drafted Steve in 1969. Like many young men, he was unaware of the consequences of being drafted until being sent to Vietnam. Although his father was also drafted into the Armed Forces for World War II, nothing could have prepared Steve for the year of duty to come. Growing up in a large family, he developed a talent early on for storytelling. His accounts of Vietnam will have you imagining him sitting across a campfire telling his story.