Creature Comforts at Your Fingertips

To Children: Can making playful shapes with your hands – shapes that look like your favorite furry animal friends – really help you relax? Yes, they can! Creature Comforts at Your Fingertips invites you to use your own hands to mimic animals in the wild, turning simple movements into a fun and calming adventure.

By imitating animal shapes and gestures, you’ll learn how to focus, feel better when you’re upset, and discover just how powerful your imagination can be. When you care for yourself in this way, you unlock your very own superpowers! These feel-good emotions are like little gifts from nature, waiting to be unwrapped. Come play, learn, and fall in love with your own good nature.

To Parents, Teachers, and Caregivers: Creature Comforts at Your Fingertips introduces children to self-soothing techniques through imaginative play. By mimicking animal shapes using simple hand poses (mudras), children activate acupressure points that help release tension and difficult emotions.

These playful hand movements are paired with descriptive, child-friendly visualizations that encourage emotional awareness, focus, and resilience. Through this process, children build emotional intelligence, develop empowered self-care skills, and nurture a healthy relationship with themselves and others.

This book offers a unique and accessible approach to well-being, encouraging children to explore the natural world and their inner world through the joyful language of movement, imagination, and self-kindness.

Deception

Shapeshifters…

Blood Drinkers…

Demons…

The people of Shoyendo share an inhuman power. Survival and strength mean everything. Each moment of their lives is a test to prove themselves superior.

The people of Earth share an interest. Expansion and conquest are second nature. Each second is a competition to gain anything and everything within their grasp.

For untold millennia, demons and humans have crossed the boundary between their worlds, uncertain how to return. New cultures, new technologies, and new legends develop and spread: yet on Earth, legends are all that remain. Few humans remember Shoyendo’s existence, and they have taken charge of ensuring the rest of Earth remains ignorant.

But with knowledge comes opportunity.

Hands in the dark pull at the strings of fate, each moving for their own interests: demons blinded by pride, humans blinded by greed. Can there be peaceful coexistence, or will their differences prove too great?

Doketo: The 1960s Story of a Thoroughbred Racehorse

This story is about a thoroughbred racehorse named Doketo, who was owned and trained by the person telling the story. Doketo was a good racehorse, though not exceptional as he might have you believe. However, as the racetrack saying goes, he was better than an empty stall.

Life is like that. Friends and associates may not be exactly what you want, but in a very real sense, they can still be better than an empty stall. Doketo’s eventual owner learned this lesson as a 20-year-old boxer competing in the fiercely contested featherweight division of the 1954 Golden Gloves, where winners qualified for the Pan American Games.

The late veteran boxing judge Billy Oaths believed the young fighter had a strong chance of winning his division. His confidence came from the boxer’s previous bout, a stunning televised victory over a top-ranked U.S. featherweight in the opponent’s hometown just three months earlier. As the young boxer climbed the steps to the ring for his first Golden Gloves match before a large crowd, Billy called out, ‘C’mon, let’s get the ball rolling!’ The boxer, full of confidence, shouted back, ‘Don’t worry, Billy. This won’t last long.’

And it didn’t.

The referee stopped the fight in the first round, awarding a TKO win to the boxer’s opponent. While disappointed, Billy would likely have summed it up with the same racetrack wisdom: his boxer and Doketo were both better than an empty stall.

Seven Recipes for Success in Business – 2nd Edition

Quality customer service is not a difficult concept to understand. In fact, when applied correctly, it is one of the simplest and most effective aspects of business.

How many times have you asked yourself what went wrong with a customer interaction? Have you ever felt frustrated by the size of your commission or the lack of referrals? Many so-called customer service professionals fail every day when dealing with the public, often because they lack essential customer service skills.

Within these pages, through the fictional lives of Eric, Jamie, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Sternhaven, you will embark on a journey that highlights both the good and bad sides of customer service. The story reveals what happens when professionals lose focus on what truly matters for success.

We all strive to be the best at what we do, but in the process, we sometimes forget why we are there. Losing sight of the most important factor, the customer, weakens our ability to build lasting relationships. When we prioritize the customer’s needs, we reshape how they perceive us and increase their willingness to do business with us.

If you are ready to take your customer service skills to the next level, your journey starts here. Are you ready to begin?

Strangers and Friends

He was called a rhymer the first time he stood at an open mic.

Not mockingly – that was simply who he was and what he mistakenly believed was every poet’s way. But rhymers were rare then, and they remain so today.

Gentry’s only argument against free verse is that it has become the dominant voice, leaving few to march to a different beat. In this collection, he invites you to join him as he rhymes and meters against the tide, weaving tales where strangers are stranger than they seem, and true friends are all too few.

Black Swan Shock

Marla Case, an elite Olympic-bound athlete, finds her devotion to competition fading and chooses to step away. She considers becoming a medical responder and learns about the profession from a paramedic friend. Before committing to the rescue service, Marla accompanies her mother on an academic tour that ends abruptly when a massive earthquake strikes. The athlete reacts to save victims with her physical skills and newly acquired understanding of some emergency medical actions. She becomes a beacon of hope for the citizens of St. Louis, Missouri. However, personal tragedy affects Marla, as well, and she struggles to find catharsis herself. Black Swan Shock is the second book in Vettori’s Black Swan trilogy, although each of the three books can be read independently.

The first novel, Black Swan Impact, is a sci-fi political thriller that takes place in 2113. Having recovered from the devastation of World War III and reaching new scientific advancements, people believe only prosperity lies ahead until an emerging deadly pandemic threatens all of humanity. Dr. Syia (Sī-yuh) Case, National Institutes of Health Director of Epidemiology, is invited to advise US President Daniel Piper and the White House Crisis Action Team to try to mitigate the threat. Actions required to protect US citizens from the lethal virus become increasingly challenging. However, when Piper steers the country toward questionable courses, Dr. Case and the strident voices on the task force find there is more than a virulent virus to fight.

Black Swan Terror will round out the series.

The Squirrel and the Acorns

In this heartening Clarke Fable, your child will learn that courage reaps rewards. One little baby squirrel remains in the nest. As the story unfolds, the young squirrel must learn to overcome his fear of leaving the safety of his snug home. Will he have the courage? What might be his reward? Find out as you read this sweet tale. Be sure to look for the blue jay that appears on each page.

Broken Contract

In a future where Earth’s natural balance has been shattered, humanity teeters between ecological collapse and an uncertain life in space. Broken Contract unfolds across three interconnected worlds: the rainforests of the Amazon, the mineral-rich landscapes of Transylvania, and 3STAR Alpha, an artificial habitat orbiting Earth. As scientists, corporate interests, and indigenous communities struggle over dwindling resources, the fate of an entire species – one whose survival is bound to humanity’s own – hangs in the balance. The last remaining bees, hidden deep in the jungle, hold a secret that could alter the course of history. But will humanity recognize its own mistakes before it is too late?

Told through the eyes of researchers, industrialists, and those fighting to protect the land, this novel explores the fragile connections between human ambition and the natural world. Against a backdrop of technological ingenuity and environmental devastation, Broken Contract challenges us to reconsider what we owe to the planet and to future generations. As those in power push forward with a new frontier beyond Earth, one question remains: can humanity escape the consequences of its own recklessness, or will the final cost be paid in silence?

Gorman Ponds

This book is a stunning debut collection of versatility, authenticity, and intense expression alongside wondrous nature, hope, light, and indomitable human spirit. It captivates the reader as the emotion that drives the work is deeply evocative and transportive in the informality, simplicity, and spontaneity of the authorial voice. The authorial voice is transfixing, as it offers a unique perspective through the haiku format, and it remains tenacious to tackle the topics that most profoundly strike at the core of what it means to be human. Each layer of the collection further engrosses the reader, and each poem builds upon the other to create a tumultuous, poignant, and restorative narrative. This book stands out with its empowering, unfiltered, contemplative perspective and attests to the unceasing beauty and simple truth embodied by nature.

Every Bad Thing

This dark and deeply moving novel from Shannon Gill Burnett follows the life of Danielle Smith, a woman from Green Bay, Wisconsin. From her childhood through her college years at Northwestern, to marriage, motherhood, and eventually a suicide attempt, Danielle's story is both heart-wrenching and raw.

After her attempt to take her life fails, Danielle is faced with a powerful revelation. Why should she be the one to go, when she has done nothing wrong? Her husband of twenty years announces he is leaving her to start a new life with his pregnant paralegal. Danielle, who gave up her career, her dreams, her figure, and her identity for her family, is left with nothing but questions.

Every Bad Thing explores what happens when a woman, hanging on by a thread, finally reaches her breaking point. What happens to any of us when we simply cannot hold on any longer?

The novel takes an unflinching look at revenge, mania, and the final act of desperation. It explores the complexity of human decisions, asking who is right, who is wrong, and what truly drives people to the edge.

Written with compassion and psychological insight, Every Bad Thing delves into the debate of nature versus nurture and the origins of our darkest choices. Through Danielle’s unraveling and her unexpected path of violence, the story brings her full circle to a place she never imagined she could reach.

Take a gripping and emotional journey with Danielle Smith. You may be terrified in one moment and cheering for her in the next. Discover the brutal beauty and haunting truth at the heart of Every Bad Thing.

A Secret No More

His mother dead, 16 years old, Clay Trent knew he had to run away when he shot the plantation’s overseer and then his cruel father. His half-brother, Luke, ran with him.From Georgia, months later, hungry and in their ragged clothes, they end up in Arizona where they meet Dan Driver, owner of Double D Ranch. Dan hires them, but Clay needs to confess his crime to Dan. Now, only three people knew his secret: Clay, Luke, and Dan. Still, the secret stayed with Clay, who was unable to forget.Clay and Luke became exemplary cowboys, honored and trusted, fast with a gun, yet they never abused the privilege. Then it happened. Clay’s past was suddenly exposed for all to hear and see. Shamed, Clay did the only thing he could. He had no other choice.

Texas Church Camp

Have you ever been to a summer camp? Christian, Sports, Relationship Strengthening, Handicapped, Military, Grandparents Camp, another Themed Camp, etc. Summer camps are an opportunity to meet people from all walks of life. There is also the opportunity to be introduced to a variety of insects and critters, which can spice up any interactions.One summer Scott Big Bear is an important counselor for TCC (Texas Church Camp), and his assignment is to be sure all trails up the hills and beside the river are safe for hiking.He is the first indigenous Native American counselor for TCC. His regular job, ever since he was able to independently leave his village, was to help ranchers in Texas and nearby states keep predators and other menacing animals away from their herds of cattle. He is wise beyond his age, a very large, muscular, handsome man.Jesse, the year-round camp leader, is grateful for Big Bear's outdoor expertise, even though he has to diffuse one unorthodox event after another. The surprising events are usually initiated by neighboring camps. A murder, a love interest, a plane crash, and a tornado also add to Jesse's challenges.Jump into Texas Church Camp, if you dare, and experience vicariously and intensely a unique summer camping experience.Ever onward, Beverly Blackman