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The setting of this novel is Nicaragua in the 1970's, a Central American country impoverished by a cruel dictatorship and a devastating earthquake that destroyed Managua, the capital city. A young teenager, whose parents perished during the earthquake, moves to a rural community to rebuild her life, helping a Christian peasant community....

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The most interesting and important event for the boys of the old, already semi-derelict school of the small town was going to the movies and the following discussion of the new film. But most had rarely the opportunity to go to the cinema and everyone who was lucky to see a new film retold for days again and again the contents until all the others knew the whole movie by heart without seeing it themselves. Especially the younger pupils lacked the money, but even the older ones had often not enough to by a ticket. Because for a ticket one had to pay twenty kopeks, otherwise one could not enter the cinema....

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Join us for Volume 1 of Pillbug. In this book Warren R. Smith trundles down the path of flash fiction and short stories. Among other anecdotal excursions, you’ll find within; the story of a Taxi driver who must come to terms with the truth depth of his daughter’s independence. Read the Speckled Egg, magic realism wherein two children, in saving their lives, must change shape. In Jack-O’-Lantern and old woman invites herself to be haunted. In Pillbug, the story is about the risks of day labor. In Purple Hippo, a Hippo decides it's time to shake the world up. Jack and the Magpies is written in defense of a worthy appetite. Contemporary mainstream and humorously literary, you’ll find this collection chock-full of five-minute wisdoms and imagination....

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Yes, it was a crazy season for rabbits. Everywhere they hopped and nibbled — even in the office. Daily I had to sweep them off the desk before I could get a thing done — and I leaned into the task with the whole of my arm and an imprecating grunt because sometimes that’s all there was....

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Introduction The Red Paint Flaking English As A 2nd Language Like Caffeine Sweet Nothings Individually Wrapped The Speckled Egg Troder of the Mish'dee Orb Dotting Tigers Jack-O'-Lantern Candy-Corn Angel On Religion Pillbug A Walking Tour Paused Purple Hippo No Man Left Behind Laundromat The Last Thing A Memory Without Name The Girl With the Sheep Animal Magic Jack and the Magpies About The Author...

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The book keeper of the hospital of a small provincial town came one day home very tired. He had not the least desire to have dinner and so he decided to lay down at once and to sleep. In recent years it often happened, that he, after coming home in the evening, had dinner and immediately went to bed without a word to his already grown up children or his wife. She became more and more grumpy in view of his seclusion. He only wanted to sleep, to sleep soundly till daybreak of the next and probably again undesirably day which he always impatiently anticipated, only to immerse again in his coma. For any reason he remembered this evening his childhood in a state between vigil and slumber....

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Two bank employees, one married male and the other unmarried female happened to mark affinity for self in the other. This unmarried person was the boss of the other one. In view of the mutual affinity, this boss visited the other’s residence for delivering in person the `invite` on the occasion of her marriage with an NRI doctor. In a couple of years, the marriage of both these persons reached the stage of irretrievable breakdown, as both were feeling suffocated with the behaviour and attitude of their spouses. By the by, they happen to divulge to each other the emotional injuries suffered at the hands of their respective callous spouses. However, they happen to be neighbours by virtue of the flat allotted to them by their bank under the self-financing scheme for its employees envisaged to reach them a surprise bonanza in a unique `no profit, no loss` basis. The events at the inlaws family in the case of both of them brought them physically closer, with the blessings of their parents. Thus, they happen to be `a circumstantially evolved couple`. ...

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“It appears to me that almost every religion tends to circumscribe the reasoning potentials of its followers. The self-styled custodian of the religious beliefs would not take it upon himself as a duty to seek the explanations of the `deviating folk`, unless an explosive situation emerges,” Nidhi expresses her opinion in the presence of the lone listener … She says, “Even at this moment, some kuchcha structure is visible. A notice board is also clearly visible from here. I think, let’s move towards that hut, to check, if that hermit is still using that hutment even after a period of fifty five years has gone by.” He looks undecided, but his wife almost drags him towards that sign-board. It reads the same contents. The door seems to have been bolted from inside. They move away awfully, lest they disturb the hermit’s peace. …. Nidhi often happens to recall her days when she had once heard from Anirudh that Smriti’s father is a doctor in a government dispensary and has been living an ostentatious type of life. It had resulted in his daughter always complaining of the total absence of modern amenities for leading `a moderately c...

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An intriguing short story about solving the mystery of the cosmos and the metaphorical identity of Kafka's and Shakespeare's mistress.

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Twenty-eight year-old Jesse Caldwell is painfully shy, lives at home and hates his moronic life. Miranda Huffington suffers from a gimpy leg and equally stunted personality. This is not your standard Harlequin romance....

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Marie Augustin, an Haitian nurses aide, is blindsided when one of her elderly clients, Peter Marsoubian, asks her to accompany him on a trip to hear the Boston Symphony Orchestra perform in Tanglewood. Does the green-card immigrant, who witnessed first hand the endemic violence in her native country, follow agency protocol or bend rules to accommodate the absurd whim of a dying man?...

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Ripe with literary and current-culture allusions, this book combines elements of world history, science fiction, political science, and satire. It's at once a brutally-serious and bitingly-humorous novel that, as one early reviewer noted: "Demands a lot from the reader, is a wonderfully-wild ride, and is well worth the time and energy invested."...

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Jake's Diner Saturday, July 13, 2024 Even though it was only 8:15, the intense Minnesota morning sun dumped waves of shimmering heat upon the thirsty wilted corn...unquenched by expensive center-pivot irrigation systems. A loosely-organized row of aggressive-looking pickup trucks--drearily-colored, indeterminate in age, manfully backed into position, and universally-equipped with locking tool boxes giving purpose to otherwise empty beds--had formed a defensive line on the torrid gravel in front of Jake's. By day a respectable diner and by night a bar that promised totally exotic dancing--whatever that meant, since no local dared investigate--Jake's was the social epicenter of Blue Earth...an ever-diminishing farming town that might as well have been located in Iowa for all the difference the unrelentingly-flat, hot, and wind-ravaged prairie landscape made. Although it had been decades since smoking had been banned in public places--with the exception of those wastefully-expensive new mobile home parks--the lingering smell of tobacco still clung to the tables, chairs, and walls…adding to Jake's unfinished-plywood, grease-en...

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This book is written in a diary format without chapters. Author's Foreword Dedication Text Appendix Image Attributions

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Includes an opening summary page in all major regional languages (English, Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Malaysia, Burmese, Filipino, Khmer, Lao, Thai Vietnamese and Chinese. Beginning with the common origins of Southeast Asia’s peoples and languages, their shared heritage is emphasized through agricultural, archeological, cultural, geographical, historical, linguistic, religious and technological fields. Perennially defined by rice, stability and commerce, Southeast Asia has evolved a common trading ethic and morality influenced by China and India long before a short European colonial interlude. Historically known as a Golden Land, the region exudes a resilience founded in millennium-long traditions that are today expressed through local adaptations of world religions. ...

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Summary Overview: in English v in Bahasa Indonesia vi in Bahasa Malaysia vii in Burmese viii in Filipino x in Khmer xi in Lao xii in Thai xiv in Vietnamese xvi in Chinese xvii if you would know me … xviii Author’s Note xix Chapters 1. One Common Region 1 2. Defining Southeast Asia 7 3. From Trade to Civilization 17 4. Commercial and Technology 25 5. Adapting to New Overlords 33 6. Rice and Culture 39 7. United by Commerce 45 8. 18th Century Consolidation 53 9. British-led Resurgence 57 10. Transition to 20th Century 63 11. Pendulum of Commerce 67 12. Emerging 1930s States 73 13. War and Independence 79 14. Marching to Statehood 83 15. Emerging Leadership 91 16. States to Nations to Region 99 17. Remote Peoples 105 18. Beliefs Systems 113 19. Evolving Syncretism 121 20. Religious Rebellions 129 21. Religion within Politics 137 22. Trade and Worldviews 143 23. Conclusion: Uniting Commonalities 147 Bibliography & Endnotes 155 Index 162 ...