Southern High

On May 17, 1980, on the eve of Peru's presidential election, five masked men stormed a small town. They set election ballots ablaze and vanished, but not before planting a red hammer-and-sickle banner in the town square. The lone man arrested the next morning later swore allegiance to a group called Shining Path. Described by a US State Department cable as "cold-blooded and bestial", Shining Path orchestrated bombings, assassinations, and massacres across the cities, countryside, and jungles of Peru in a murderous campaign to seize power and impose a Communist government.

Should we still read William Faulkner in this new century? What can his works tell us about the legacy of slavery and the Civil War, that central quarrel in our nation's history? These are the provocative questions that Michael Gorra asks in this historic portrait of the novelist and his world.

In July 1776 a pair of Franciscan friars, Francisco Atanasio Dominguez and Silvestre Velez de Escalante, were charged by the governor of New Mexico with discovering a route across the unknown Southwest to the new Spanish colony in California. They had other goals as well, some of them secret: converting the indigenous natives along the way to the true faith, discovering a semi-mythical paradise known as Teguayo, hunting for sources of gold and silver, and paving the way for Spanish settlements from Santa Fe to Monterey. In strict terms, the expedition failed.

Newlyweds Celestial and Roy are the embodiment of both the American Dream and the New South. He is a young executive, and she is an artist on the brink of an exciting career. But as they settle into the routine of their life together, they are ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined. Roy is arrested and sentenced to 12 years for a crime Celestial knows he didn't commit. Though fiercely independent, Celestial finds herself bereft and unmoored, taking comfort in Andre, her childhood friend, and best man at their wedding.

In the heart of Blue, a small town with big secrets, Ladybug faces the unimaginable. Her world shatters when her mother, the vibrant and loving Sophie, is found lifeless on the side of the road, leaving behind whispers of scandal and a family torn apart by grief. “Ladybug” by Crystal Senter-Brown is a poignant tale of loss, identity, and the search for truth. As Ladybug grapples with her mother’s sudden death, she must navigate the complexities of her own self-image, the weight of community judgment, and the mystery surrounding her father’s actions on that fateful night. With a ...

For nearly 80 years, a huge portion of coastal South Africa was closed off to the public. With many of its pits now deemed "overmined" and abandoned, American journalist Matthew Gavin Frank sets out across the infamous Diamond Coast to investigate an illicit trade that supplies a global market. Immediately, he became intrigued by the ingenious methods used in facilitating smuggling - particularly, the illegal act of sneaking carrier pigeons onto mine property, affixing diamonds to their feet, and sending them into the air.

Building on her critically acclaimed novel The Last Days of California and her biting collection Always Happy Hour, Miller slyly transports listeners to her unapologetic corner of the South - this time, Biloxi, Mississippi, home to 63-year-old Louis McDonald, Jr. His wife of 37 years left him, his father has passed - and he has impulsively retired from his job in anticipation of an inheritance check that may not come. One day, he stops at a house advertising free dogs and meets overweight mixed-breed Layla.

♥The Bakery Romance Series ♥ He's blind... She's a victim... Blind since birth, Carl Warner is devastated after his girlfriend rejects his marriage proposal. As he struggles to deal with his pain he encounters Miriam Beech via a local food ministry. A victim, Miriam is healing from a recent trauma. She finds solace working in her bakery. She’s determined to raise her teenaged daughter, Jessica, in a wholesome environment. When problems with Jessica arise Miriam asks God for direction. Jessica deals with her pain best as she can. Unattractive, she's always felt insufficient when ...

Ask any self-respecting Louisianan who makes the best gumbo and the answer is universal: "Momma." The product of a melting pot of culinary influences, gumbo, in fact, reflects the diversity of the people who cooked it up: French aristocrats, West Africans in bondage, Cajun refugees, German settlers, Native Americans-all had a hand in the pot. What is it about gumbo that continues to delight and nourish so many? And what explains its spread around the world? A seasoned journalist, Ken Wells sleuths out the answers.

Not long after his mother’s unexpected death, seventeen-year-old Bentley Frazier is witness to a horrifying electrical-related incident. And it doesn’t take long for the pair of traumatic events to take their toll. Over Fall Break, Bentley decides to join his friends on a fun weekend getaway to the mountains. He believes the old abandoned campground will give him the distraction he needs. But soon it becomes apparent that someone else is there. What began as a series of shocking pranks quickly evolves into something far more serious . . . and deadly. As the ultimate motive reveals ...

K.T. Tomb introduces three new heroines: bounty hunters Roberta, Riley, and Ricki Vaughan. All sisters. And all tough as nails. When a new client hires the streetwise Vaughan sisters to find and recover a stolen diamond that’s worth millions, the recovery fee alone could save their struggling business. However, their new client refuses to call the police, so the sisters have to keep this case on the down low. And when the prime suspect turns up dead, things really start to heat up in the Deep South. When an unexpected event threatens more than the recovery of the one-of-a-kind gem, all ...

A Backwards Glance is a collection of stories from the extraordinary life of an exceptional man. Follow Sid Mickle from his small-town Alabama childhood to a 40-year professional career that allowed him to travel far from home without ever forgetting its lessons. This book is more than a memoir. There is success and failure, joy and tragedy, setbacks and triumphs. These stories include vivid recollections of childhood struggles to understand his polar-opposite parents, race relations, and the culture and politics of the era of Vietnam and civil rights. They also feature reflections of a far...

A collection of 20 short "flash fiction" romance stories by Ruby South. Do you remember your first kiss? The rush of emotions, the anticipation, the fear of getting it wrong? It's a moment you never forget. In this collection, we explore the unforgettable experiences of teens and young adults as they navigate the ups and downs of falling in love. From awkward encounters to unforgettable romance, these stories will make you laugh, cry, and remember the heart-pounding thrill of a first kiss. Love and Allergies Aiden and Hannah attend their school dance as friends, but Aiden longs for ...

As the truth wrecks what she’d thought was her happily ever after, can Abbie open her heart to her destiny? Abbie Dayton loves her small town roots, but the dating options are limited. At least until the new in town super handsome gym owner asks her out. This might be the excitement she needs. A diversion from her boring analyst job is always welcome. And it looks like Cody just might be The One. Robert Seymour loves his Georgia home town, though his memories are clouded by poverty and need. Growing up poor drove him to strive for more – to help himself and his family. He’s far ...

Gunslinger tells Brett Favre's full, definitive story for the first time, drawing on more than 500 interviews, including many from the people closest to Favre. Jeff Pearlman charts Favre's journey, from his rough rural childhood and lackluster high school football career to landing the last roster spot at Southern Mississippi to a late-night car accident that nearly took his life. Favre clawed back, getting drafted into the NFL, first to Atlanta, then to Green Bay, where he restored the Packers to greatness and inspired a fan base as passionate as any in the game.

They are buddies, not sweethearts. In this sweet Southern love story, the job of an airline stewardess beckons Joyce Williams with its offer of travel and mobility. She would return to her hometown in East Tennessee only if her best friend Wayne Mahan lived there instead of in Nashville. Then she receives an invitation to their ten-year high school reunion. Wayne Mahan has always loved his next-door neighbor, Joyce Williams. Because they both cherish their best friend status, Wayne has never mentioned his feelings to Joyce. When he receives his invitation to their ten-year high school ...

After her student was murdered for his grandfather's 1885 diary, a Professor of Archeology works with a Texas Ranger to find the killer and recover gold from a lost mine. They have a copy of the diary given to her by the deceased student. Their quest is complicated by the cryptic nature of the diary and the changes in the referenced landmarks since 1885.

Things are going along okay with Dennis' gig at the Tishomingo Lodge & Casino in Tunica, Mississippi, "the Casino Capital of the South", until the day he looks down from the high-dive platform and witnesses a mob hit, Dixie style.

Here's a sly, dry, hilarious collection of essays, his first in more than 10 years, from the writer who, according to The New York Times Book Review, is "in serious contention for the title of America's most cherished humorist". This time Blount focuses on his own dueling loyalties across the great American divide, North vs. South.

The unlikely man at the roiling center of this intrigue was Robert Bunch, an American-born Englishman who had maneuvered his way to the position of British consul in Charleston, South Carolina, and grew to loathe slavery and the righteousness of its practitioners. Bunch used his unique perch and boundless ambition to become a key player, sending reams of dispatches to the home government and eventually becoming the Crown's best secret source on the Confederacy.