Showing results by author "Von Collins" in All Categories

The Earth Space Force Military has a huge problem. The massive alien Ogre that they had earlier fought was only an immature little one. The full-grown ones had found some derelict starships and were about to find one with an FTL drive. Keith and his crew were tasked to sneak in and destroy the derelict that contained an FTL drive before the Ogres could find it. To do that, the Meduala sent them a living weapon to assist with the battle. One that the Meduala has spent thousands of years trying to deal with. Is the new weapon more of a problem than the Ogres? The Ghost Ships that contacted ...

I thought I'd escaped being given to an alien warrior. I was wrong. I was one hour away from washing out of the Alien Bride Games. None of the Khanavai warriors had chosen me, and I was scheduled on the next shuttle off the filming station. Then, a bright red alien passed me in a hallway—and the next thing I knew, we were all over each other. Bad enough that my name had been drawn in the Bride Lottery. Now, even though they're supposedly over, I'm back in the Games. And not the usual ones, either—a whole new set of challenges, just for me. Guess it'll make for good television back home.

In The Power Trip you will meet Aleksandr Kasianenko, a billionaire Russian oligarch, as he sets sail on The Bianca. You'll meet his sexy supermodel girlfriend, whom The Bianca is named after, and five dynamic, powerful, and famous couples invited on the yacht's maiden voyage: Hammond Patterson, a driven Senator, and his lovely but unhappy wife, Sierra; Cliff Baxter, a charming, never-married movie star, and his ex-waitress girlfriend, Lori; Taye Sherwin, a famous black UK footballer and his interior designer wife, Ashley; Luca Perez, a male Latin singing sensation with his older boyfriend.

Every famous love song has been written by an alpha for an omega. As a beta, I've never expected to be anyone's muse. I'm happy to stick in the background—and with a past like mine, it's simply safer avoiding the spotlight. That changes the day I learn my long-lost brother is Stix Rain, the drummer for one of the biggest rock bands in the world. We lost touch when we went into foster care. He ran away, I stayed, and I still carry the scars from growing up alone. I have so many questions for him—until I discover he died three months ago.

An enthralling blend of oral history and Gail Collins' keen research, this definitive look at 50 years of feminist progress shimmers with the amusing, down-to-earth liberal tone that is this New York Times columnist's trademark.

Jake’s commute home takes an unexpected detour, leaving him stranded on a completely different planet. He soon finds himself in a high-tech hospital in a world populated by strange alien races. However, the new world is not your standard Isekai story. These are not the cliché cute monster girls or the generic characters that look like they were borrowed from a video game. In this world, he is the primitive, has no magic or cheat abilities, and has no clue what will happen. Jake tries to learn to live in the new world but discovers that not everything is what it seems.

The USCIS Naturalization Test Book for 2023 and 2024 is a comprehensive study guide designed to aid individuals in successfully passing the United States Naturalization English and Civics Tests. With the exam being particularly challenging, thorough test preparation is essential for success. Our guide offers practice test questions accompanied by detailed answer explanations, tips and strategies to boost test performance, and a complete review of all citizenship test sections, including English Reading and Writing, Civics, American Government, American History, and more.

In The Great Dechurching, Jim Davis and Michael Graham along with renowned sociologist Dr. Ryan Burge examine the largest and most comprehensive study of dechurching—the largest and fastest religious shift in US history—to drill down to exactly why people are dechurching with respect to beliefs, behavior, and belonging.

Present day. As a love affair comes to an end, and with it her dreams for her future, artist Selena needs a retreat. The picture-postcard Sloe Cottage in the Somerset village of Ashcombe promises to be the perfect place to forget her problems, and Selena settles into her new home as spring arrives. 1682: Grace Cotter longs for nothing more than a husband and family of her own. Separated by three hundred years, two women are drawn together by a home bathed in blood and magic.

Mrs Zant has recently lost her beloved husband, and while walking in the Kensington Gardens, the spot where she and her deceased husband declared their love for each other, she feels his presence trying to warn her of some coming danger. Mr Rayburn witnesses it all, and he'll have to fight his own incredulity regarding the supernatural and his gut feeling that the disturbed young woman is telling the truth.

Kristy Shen retired with a million dollars at the age of 31, and she did it without hitting a home run on the stock market, starting the next Snapchat in her garage, or investing in hot real estate. Learn how to cut down on spending without decreasing your quality of life, build a million-dollar portfolio, fortify your investments to survive bear markets and black-swan events, and use the four percent rule and the Yield Shield - so you can quit the rat race forever.

When Mayor Cermak’s “Hoodlum Squad” brings Heller along on a raid with no instructions but to keep his mouth shut and his gun handy, he becomes an unwitting, unwilling part of a hit on Al Capone’s successor, Frank Nitti. As a result, Heller quits the force to become a private eye. His first job: head off a nation-shaking political assassination in Miami Beach. With the Chicago World’s Fair as a backdrop, Heller encounters a ragtag array of crooks and clients, including Al Capone, George Raft, “Dutch” Reagan, and FDR himself.

The beautiful Miss Amelia Snowe is not accustomed to being snubbed by the gentlemen of the ton. But when her mother dies unexpectedly, forcing Amelia to take employment as companion to a wealthy cit's daughter, she quickly learns to play down her looks or risk losing her position. When her employers, the Smithsons, decide to throw a country house party, she is determined to fade into the background. But how can she when the Smithson's guest of honor is Lord Quentin Fortescue, the old friend who stole her heart?

All of London is abuzz with the scandalous case of Frannie Langton, accused of the double murder of her employers, renowned scientist George Benham and his eccentric French wife, Marguerite. Crowds pack the courtroom, eagerly following every twist, while the newspapers print lurid theories about the killings and the mysterious woman being tried at the Old Bailey. The testimonies against Frannie are damning. She is a seductress, a witch, a master manipulator, a whore. But Frannie claims she cannot recall what happened that fateful evening, even if remembering could save her life.

Once upon a time Orla was: a woman, a painter, a lover. Now she is a mother and a wife, and when her husband Nick suggests that their city apartment has grown too small for their lives, she agrees, in part because she does agree, and in part because she is too tired to think about what she really does want. She agrees again when Nick announces with pride that he has found an antiquated Georgian house on the Dorset cliffs—a good house for children, he says, tons of space and gorgeous grounds. But as the family settles into the mansion—Orla finds herself unsettled.

Nathan Heller is Chicago’s most celebrated private detective, hobnobbing with Hugh Hefner, getting written up in Life magazine, enjoying the fruits of a long career that began in a one-room office and now is a coast-to-coast agency. When he does a small favor for a friend - who handles PR for the Teamsters - Heller runs into an old West Side mob crony, a small-time hustler named Jack Ruby. And when that friend is found dead, warning signals start to flash. Suddenly Jimmy Hoffa wants to talk to Nate...and so does Hoffa’s arch enemy, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.

Mike Hammer, the toughest PI of all, draws a seemingly routine assignment—playing bodyguard to diva Rita Vance on the eve of her big Broadway comeback. But Rita is an old flame of Hammer’s, and when their romance is rekindled, the detective finds the actress facing death threats and himself the target of one hit man after another. When the actress disappears, the show must go on, which, with Mike Hammer, means swift, violent retaliation.

Built at the end of the last ice age, the mysterious stone temple complex of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey is one of the greatest challenges to 21st century archaeology. As much as 7,000 years older than the Great Pyramid and Stonehenge, its strange buildings and rings of T-shaped monoliths - built with stones weighing from 10 to 15 tons - show a level of sophistication and artistic achievement unmatched until the rise of the great civilizations of the ancient world, Sumer, Egypt, and Babylon.

Anyone who has struggled with sex addiction knows that living with constant sexual compulsions can be extremely difficult. But summoning the courage to find help for this condition can be even more of a challenge. If addictions to pornography, strip clubs, massage parlors, prostitutes, phone sex, or chat rooms have made you feel trapped, this book can help you find a way to break free.

From the former Poet Laureate of the United States and New York Times bestselling author of Aimless Love comes a wondrous new collection of poems focused on the joys and mysteries of daily life.