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Ray Gordon loves to scare his younger brother, Brandon. It's not hard considering Brandon is terrified of everything—loud noises, roller coasters, and especially the wooden dummy, Slappy, that Ray got from Jonathan Chiller's HorrorLand gift shop. In order to throw his big New Year's Even party, Ray's parents make him promise to leave Brandon alone. But strange, mean-spirited things keep happening to his little brother, and Slappy always seems to be around for it. Could those words Ray read out loud actually have brought the dummy to life?

While camping near Indian Creek, Matt and his best friend, Parker, get up early to see if they can spot a blue heron. Instead, they find the body of a dead man floating in the clear water. Parker is sure that George Evans, the smooth-talking local antiques dealer, must somehow be connected to the dead man. Matt isn’t so sure - but then, on Halloween night, while snooping around Evans’s antique shop, the boys make another shocking discovery that puts their own lives in danger. There are murderous grownups who would do anything to keep what the boys found in the shop a secret....

This is Jim Hart's story: how he survived a violent childhood home, how he overcame obsessive dependencies, and how he finally found the strength to be his true self. A master at building relationships, Jim is charming, funny, and a great listener. His success in life and business was based on his ability to connect with others, from people recovering in 12-step groups in upstate New York to those living in the rarefied air of Martha's Vineyard.

The Harpers have lost one of their own, a legendary adventurer named Artus Cimber, keeper of the artifact known as the Ring of Winter. They've hired you to travel to the jungle-clad land of Chult to find him. Hopefully, you can manage to find Cimber before the frost giants do - or the zombies that infest the land get you first. You're in the jungle now, cleric. Welcome to the Forgotten Realms Endless Quest.

Four years after the devastating invasion by agents of Lon-Ser, Tobyn-Ser's Order of Mages and Masters is riven by conflict and paralyzed by inaction. From the outlander, Baram, they have learned much about their neighbor to the west: unlike Tobyn-Ser, which is served by the Mage-Craft of the Children of Amarid, Lon-Ser is devoid of magic; instead, it possesses a dazzling and deadly technology that shapes every aspect of its people's daily life. Frustrated by the Order's inability to act, Orris, a young, rebellious mage, takes it upon himself to prevent further attacks on his homeland.

You know the protocol. You've completed countless drills. Yet nothing can truly prepare you for what’s coming. No one is ever ready for zombie season . . . Joule refuses to evacuate with her mom. She can't leave town while her dad's still missing. He's out there, somewhere, and Joule is going to find him. But what if he's not just lost? What if he's become what she most fears?

Buster's in big trouble. He's been dragged to Dog Court for breaking one of the most sacred of all dog rules: Never ever talk to a human, or let a human know how smart you really are. But he swears he had a good reason! The boy he's been taking care of, Tonio, needed his help in a big way. You see, Tonio is afraid all the time - afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing, afraid of making a fool of himself or (even worse) hurting someone else's feelings.

The worst thing that ever happened to Craig is also the best: Amy. Amy and Craig never should've gotten together - Craig is an awkward Dungeons & Dragons-playing geek, and Amy is the beautiful, fiercely intelligent student-body president of their high school. Yet somehow they did - until Amy dumped him. Then got back together with him. Then dumped him again. Then got back together with him again. Over and over and over. Unfolding over their senior year, Amy and Craig's relationship is a kaleidoscope of joy, pain, and laughter as an uncertain future looms on the horizon.

Today's media and political landscapes are littered with untrustworthy sources and the dangerous concept of fake news. This accessible guide helps you fight this deeply troubling trend and ensure that truth is not a permanent casualty. Written by Capitol Hill veteran and author Bruce Bartlett, The Truth Matters presents actionable tips and tricks for consuming news critically, judging sources, using fact-checking sites, avoiding confirmation bias, identifying trustworthy experts, and more.

Great horned owl Rufus is eight months old and still can’t hunt. When his mother is hit by a car, he discovers just how dangerous the forest can be. Reenie has given up on adults and learned how to care for herself - which is a good thing since she’s been sent to live with an aunt she’s never met. Yet this aunt has a wonderful secret: She’s a falconer who agrees to help Reenie catch an injured passage hawk in the wild and rehabilitate it. When Reenie traps bedraggled Rufus, his eyes lock onto her heart, and they form a powerful friendship.

Seven years have passed since Orris, a mage of Tobyn-Ser’s Order, returned from the violent chaos of Bragor-Nal. The threat of attack from Lon-Ser has been eliminated, but the establishment of trade between Tobyn-Ser and its western neighbor has brought new and disturbing changes to the land. Large tracts of woodland have been logged and sold off in exchange for more of Lon-Ser’s “advanced goods.” The Order and the League continue their struggle for supremacy, and a new force, a “People’s Movement”, has allied itself with so-called independent mages.

On January 22, 2003, four men stepped onto a stage in Brooklyn and did something no one else was doing at that time, in that place. They played rock 'n' roll: old-fashioned rock 'n' roll with skyscraping riffs and sloppy solos, topped with extraordinary lyrics about an out-of-focus America, blurred by pills and powders, of crime and fear and desperation and redemption. Twenty years later, The Hold Steady are one of America's most beloved rock bands. To mark those twenty years, The Hold Steady tell their full story.

Sidney Gottlieb was the CIA’s most cunning chemist. As head of the infamous MKULTRA project, he oversaw an assortment of dangerous—even deadly—experiments. Among them: dosing unwitting strangers with mind-bending drugs, torturing mental patients through sensory deprivation, and steering the movements of animals via electrodes implanted into their brains. His goal was to develop methods of mind control that could turn someone into a real-life “Manchurian candidate.”

When German troops moved into Austria in 1938, Jägerstätter was the only man in his village to vote against the Anschluss (Annexation of Austria). Although he was not involved in any political organization and did, in fact, undergo one brief period of military training, he remained openly anti-Nazi and declared he would not fight in Hitler's war. This 20th century martyr, a husband and father of three, was beheaded for his refusal to serve a ruler his conscience could not accept.

Forget the gold medals, the championships, and the undefeated seasons. When all-star athletes were growing up, they had regular-kid problems just like you. Baseball legend Babe Ruth was such a troublemaker that his family sent him to reform school. Race-car champion Danica Patrick fended off bullies who told her “girls can’t drive”. And football superstar Peyton Manning was forced to dance the tango in his school play.

Brother David Steindl-Rast takes us on a journey to discover the wisdom preserved in common-sense sayings that have been passed down through generations. These timeless words reflect the shared values cherished by people all over the world. "When you drink from a stream", says one Chinese proverb, "remember the spring". From these simple words, we are reminded to be grateful for even the smallest graces that we receive.

Jonathan Chiller has had a plan all along. Nothing is free in HorrorLand, especially his rare souvenirs. Now it's time for the six kids who visited his shop to pay up. And Chiller knows exactly what he wants--players for his deadly game. Andy, Sam, Jessica, Meg, Marco, and Ray are trapped by Chiller's evil plot. Who is the madman? He's made sure that there is only one way to escape from HorrorLand. But are they willing to pay for it...with their lives?

Written in seclusion following the intense negative public reaction to the publication of his novel Pierre, The Piazza Tales is Herman Melville's accessible and entertaining collection of short stories and novellas concerning love, labor, and loss. The collection includes his three most important achievements in the genre of short fiction: the short story "Bartleby, the Scrivener" and the novellas Benito Cereno and The Encantadas.

Declan has commitment issues. He’s been an office temp for literally years now, and his friends delight in telling people that he left his last boyfriend at the altar. And that’s all true. But he’s starting to think that maybe it’s time to start working on his issues. When Declan meets Sidney - a popular nonbinary YouTuber with an advice show - an opportunity presents itself: as part of The Love Study, Declan will go on a series of dates arranged by Sidney and report back on how the date went in the next episode. The dates are…sort of blah.

Every activist started out as a kid‚ and in some cases, they were kids when their activism began! But even the world's greatest champions of civil liberties had relatable interests and problems‚ often in the middle of extraordinary circumstances. Martin Luther King, Jr., loved fashion and argued with his dad about whether or not dancing was a sin. Harvey Milk had a passion for listening to opera music in different languages. Dolores Huerta was once wrongly accused of plagiarizing in school.