The Image Maker

In 1860, just a year after Drake’s historic first oil well, photographer John Mather arrived in Titusville, Pennsylvania, determined to capture the burgeoning oilfields, one glass negative at a time. From his makeshift darkrooms – one on a creek barge, another strapped to his wagon – he risked life and limb to preserve the history of the nascent petroleum industry.

General Charles Miller, alongside his wife, Adelaide, tirelessly cultivated relationships with the titans of this new era, becoming a major player himself. Even Andrew Carnegie took notice, only to withdraw when Miller’s personal indiscretions threatened his reputation.

Former cavalryman Patrick Boyle, a natural storyteller, chronicled the region’s explosive growth as editor of the Oil City Derrick. His experience as a roustabout in the oil fields and later as a daring oil scout after the Civil War made him uniquely suited to report on this worldwide source of oil production statistics and news.

Through the eyes of John, Patrick, and Charles – their families and their stories – a vivid portrait emerges of the oil boom and life in late 19th-century America. This is the story of how a rough-and-tumble stretch of Oil Creek in rural Pennsylvania fueled the world’s oil lamps, machinery, trains, and, eventually, automobiles.

Johnny Yesno

There are certain people in life who cannot be denied success, regardless of the conditions of their birth or the circumstances of their upbringing. They just seem to rise to the top of whatever they are doing, somehow defying the odds and using their innate skills as a pathway to success. They also have the ability to utilize the fortuitous circumstances that they find themselves in to their advantage. All in all, such people just seem destined to rise to the top.

This book is about one of these people named Johnny Yesno. While the name Johnny Yesno may not be identifiable among movie buffs, his life is nonetheless worthy of wider recognition. Johnny Yesno went on to star in several movies, most notably the Walt Disney classic King of the Grizzlies; hosted a popular radio program on CBC Radio entitled Our Native Land; and, among other distinctions, was awarded the Order of Canada in 1976.

Long Ago Last Summer

Long Ago Last Summer is a Southern Gothic gumbo part Flannery O’Connor, part Tennessee Williams with a dash of Delta blues. An array of unforgettable characters come alive on the page: village idiots, eccentric aunts, beloved dogs, and at least one serial killer, Donald ‘Pee Wee’ Gaskins. Moore’s memoir embodies the profound paradoxes of Southern culture against a landscape dotted with antebellum plantations, shotgun shacks, suburban subdivisions, Pentecostal churches, and juke joints.

Praise for Wesley Moore’s writing:

“Long Ago, Last Summer is, like life, sometimes hilarious, sometimes tragic, full of unforgettable characters whose power to hurt rivals their power to love. Wesley Moore is a child of the complicated South, and it’s a joy to ‘grow up and grow old’ with this terrific writer. This collection is a ‘guided tour of the haunted houses and cobwebbed attics’ of his youth, but it’s also the story of a man who discovers, through tragedy, that ‘the world is a marvelous place, full of good, compassionate people.”

– Lee Robinson, author of Lawyer for the Dog and Lawyer for the Cat.

“I found in these pages something of what Faulkner meant when he wrote, ‘The past is never dead. It is not even the past.’ Reading this book was like walking in the wind or swimming. I was touched at all points and conscious everywhere. I was also reminded of Huck Finn’s raw wisdom when he said about his adventures, ‘All of this is true and most of it happened.’”

– Chuck Sullivan, author of Zen Matchbox and The Juggler on the Radio.

Monty and the Rabbit: The Albino

Julia Montgomery (Monty) and Paddy Assenfeld (Rabbit) are reunited after a period apart following their previous adventures with a mafia crime family. In the meantime, Julia has become connected with another criminal organization led by Nikolas Bucher, a Swiss-born man known as The Albino, The Butcher, and the White Monster (the latter two nicknames originating from events during his teenage years in Switzerland). Julia introduces Paddy to Nikolas; although Paddy becomes friends with him, he is reluctantly drawn deep into various criminal enterprises. Meanwhile, The Albino lives alone in his castle, hiding from the sun.

The Taking of the M.V. Acamar

In 1964, Andrew Morrison joined a crew sent to Greece to retrieve the latest addition to his father’s shipping company, the motor vessel Acamar.

While transiting the Gulf of Aden, the ship was hijacked by attackers seeking to recover weapons hidden in one of the cargo holds. The entire crew was murdered, except for Morrison, who managed to escape on a liferaft, hoping to drift towards his island home thousands of miles away in the Indian Ocean.

Will a miracle save his life once again, or will fate decide otherwise?

52 Seconds

For a kid who’s afraid of heights, the idea of going up Niagara Falls’ tallest tower feels impossible. But with his dad’s guidance and a few brave steps, Champion learns that sometimes, courage starts with a single goal.

When his family plans dinner at the top of the Skylon Tower, Champion feels the familiar knot of fear. With knees wobbling and heart racing, he’s ready to give up. Then Dad suggests a simple plan: make a list of tiny goals to tackle one by one. Champion eventually confronts his biggest fear, a 52-second ride up the 800-foot elevator to reach the top of the tower.

52 Seconds is a tale about overcoming the fear of heights, showing young readers that courage isn’t about never being scared—it’s about taking each step one brave second at a time and finding joy in what’s waiting at the top.

Hannah Backwards

Seven-year-old Hannah Daniels has a puzzling problem. Will she figure it out in time to make it to school, or is she in for the worst day ever?Join Hannah on this exciting and amusing adventure as she navigates an unexpected challenge and discovers a valuable lesson along the way.

Un Crimen que solo el Cielo Puede Perdonar

Una rica empresaria de la industria farmacéutica aparece envenenada en el dormitorio
de su casa de Madrid, donde vive con sus cuatro hijos y su yerno. Todos ellos han
podido cometer el crimen. La investigación se cierra en torno a estos personajes con
un profundo retrato psicológico de la naturaleza de cada uno de ellos. La imagen
despiadada que transmiten de su madre los tres hijos pequeños, que va aflorando en
los sucesivos interrogatorios a los que son sometidos, contrasta con la estampa
afectuosa que presenta de ella la hija mayor, en un diario que escribe paralelamente al
desarrollo de la investigación. A la vez que se van desenterrando emociones familiares
ocultas, el policía encargado del caso va descubriendo hechos insólitos sobre cada
uno de los hijos, que hace pasar las sospechas de uno a otro. Una novela psicológica,
al más puro estilo de Agatha Christie, con una trama adictiva y un giro final
inesperado.

Never Been Kissed

What do you do when all you have is your work to keep you going?

Christina Bell is a professional therapist with no social life to speak of. Her only vice is drinking. Her bartender is her closest friend. Her mother is the only one who ever calls. Christina has never thought of herself as lonely – maybe a workaholic, but never lonely. Still, something feels missing, and she can’t quite figure out what it is.

When two men suddenly enter her life and express interest in her, she’s caught off guard. She doesn’t want to be alone, but she’s also afraid of losing the routine and identity she has built around her work.

This is a story of self-discovery, of learning to listen to the heart and finding strength where she least expects it. Christina must face her fears, test her limits, and decide what kind of love – if any – she is willing to fight for.

Is it true that love comes and goes? Or is it something that stays with us, even when the person doesn’t? Because no matter how deeply you love someone, it doesn’t always make them stay.

Life moves on, with or without a happily ever after. So, in the meantime, let’s just enjoy the ride. Who knows, maybe something good will come of it.

From Lady Ralston's Kitchen

Lady Carolyne Lederer-Ralston is a creative cook by nature. She rarely uses cookbooks, preferring to develop her own original, no-waste recipes inspired by diverse sources and cultures, particularly European foodstuffs. Documenting her process with meticulous handwritten notes, some dating back decades, she recreates dishes later in her ‘spirit-filled kitchen’. She keeps copious handwritten notes while she cooks so she can return to the notes promptly to recreate the recipe in proper printed form. Some of her original recipes go back to the 1970s, long before “Gourmet” became the buzzword it is today.

A natural multi-tasker, she balanced a demanding full-time career with preparing full homemade meals daily. Planning and organization (mise en place) are vital to her approach, as is a well-stocked pantry. She includes practical hints within her recipes, and readers often say they feel she’s right there with them in the kitchen – a compliment Lady Ralston cherishes.

Challenge Alzheimer

Therese Truninger (1948) worked as an Activating Therapist in an old people’s home when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in December 2004, at the age of 56. Her husband Kaspar (1945) worked as a sales director for an international company. They got married in 1970 and have two adult daughters and six grandchildren.

In August 2005 Kaspar had to quit his job and started to take care of his love as a caring-husband at their long-time home apartment in Augst, Switzerland. He became a house man and took this new challenge as his own responsibility. In December 2010, the Memory Clinic in Basel, Switzerland concluded that home care for Mrs. Truninger was ‘just about tolerable/possible’.

In view of possible alternatives, the couple had already travelled several times to Thailand for longer periods of time and they had consistently had good experiences with the friendly people (the Land of Smiles) and the moderate cost of living. In January 2011, they emigrated from their home country Switzerland to Thailand.

With the help of a competent housekeeper and a most caring caregiver for Therese, they can still live on their own in their private environment.

Mackenzie's Deer Trouble!

Where are displaced animals supposed to live? Because their natural habitats are disappearing, they are sharing our yards and parks more every day.

For the last several years, we have encountered wild animals in our yard on almost a daily basis. That made it necessary to learn how to interact with these animals. We have had individual deer, does with fawns, and little groups of five or six deer in our yard looking for food and water. They come all year long, no matter the season.

The deer are adorable, look harmless, and do not seem to fear humans. You can take photographs of them and enjoy watching their little ones at play. They seem to tolerate our presence if we do not get too close to them or try to touch them.

But, for the safety of our children, they need to understand the difference between a wild animal and a pet.