Each adventure is a memorable and sometimes dangerous excursion, told with compelling narrative and light-hearted commentary. Whether it's by canoe, foot, car, kayak, aircraft or rail, every chapter reveals a surprise: a Canadian river that mysteriously rises several feet a day, the mystical Charleena who magically alters Chilean Patagonia's stormy weather, the consequences of driving in a tiny rental car into the rugged Cordillera Mountains of the Philippines, or the masquerade used to enter Vietnam before relations with the United States were normalized. No matter where or how Helminiak visits, a fascinating assortment of individuals gravitate his way. Nothing Routine is a collection of travel essays that span four continents and five different methods of travel. As important, it is a book for anybody who rebels against mainstream tourism and commonplace lifestyles! "Jon Helminiak's narrative voice in Nothing Routine has a philosophical lyricism, humor, sagacity, and unselfconsciousness which allows him to reflect on certain experiences as an 'everyman,' but with a distinct and accomplished literary voice. The subtleties in his narrative are extraordinary, and make it apparent that his work is that of a natural." -K.J. Wetherholt, Producer/Writer/Director and Chairman of Manitou Films, LLC, New York and London "In Nothing Routine you feel as if you are right there with the author. The storylines are compelling and often harrowing, and the work has a wonderful blend of humor, insight, self-deprecation, and reflection." -Carolyn Kott Washburne, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of English, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Nothing Routine

Travel

Helminiak, Jon

Travel Writing

Seaboard Pr

Here is a new kind of World War II memoir- a family narrative that relates the exploits of a low-ranking but resourceful nonconformist whose talents were lost on the military bureaucracy. In the spring of 1944 Ben Green enlisted in the Marine Corps with the intent of assisting the war effort as an officer in combat intelligence. He was 35 years old and left behind a wife and two small children. The vagaries of war, however, did not result in his anticipated officer training. Instead, Ben Green found himself training in the Marine infantry along with tough, angry kids, half his age. Back home, Ben's family coped with economics, emotional stress, and fear of the unthinkable as they waited in terror for the news of Ben's assignment to the next island invasion. But, a half-a-world away, like Luther Billis in Michener's Tales of the South Pacific, Ben used his maturity and experience to adapt to both the absurdities and opportunities of military life. He learned how to work the "system"-to save his skin for his family's sake-and to eke meaningful service to his country out of his chaotic situation. It is a story that, like war itself, reveals both the universal and the intensely person elements of survival, love, and sacrifice while serving self, family, and country in ways and circumstances that none involved had ever dreamed possible. This book is a chronicle of discovery in the World War II experiences of Ben Green, but creating it was also a journey of discovery for the author, Through the experience of writing and researching this book, Ben's son learned that a father he had respected but never fully understood, nor knew how to love, had, indeed, been his mentor and his best friend. Based on the letters and writings of the author's parents, two talented journalists who wrote each other daily, as filtered through his own family experience, this narrative describes one family's struggle when swept along in the tides of the world's biggest war. The book is further documented by his mother's biographical script for a 48th "This Is Your Life" surprise birthday party for Ben. Also included are six humorous, short sketches, worthy of Mac Hyman's No Time for Sergeants, entitled, My War with the United States Marines, that Ben Green wrote and presented to the Chicago Literary Club in 1965. It is also viewed, first by the author as a six-year-old, and then from his contemporary perspective as a survivor of the mayhem. The book is illustrated with Ben's own drawings, included in his letters home. Part of Our American Voices Series

Dad's War with the United States Marines

Biographies & Memoirs

Peter H. Green

Historical

What are those white metal things in the basement or utility room? Wherever. Learn that these items are the washer and dryer. The dials look complicated. I still think they are even after using them. But learning new things is supposed to help prevent Alzheimer's. Your wife can teach you. You can learn the correct amount of soap and bleach to use and which settings to dial. Remember, though, if you don't pay attention, you may "suds" the entire area. Learn about separating colors and whites. Don't wash the dog towels with your dishtowels. Don't wash either one with your bath and face towels. So You're Retiring: A Guy's Guide to Being at Home is a much-needed instruction book for the retiree and his partner. It is humorous, irreverent and practical. Many wives will welcome the help provided. It is a perfect gift for anyone who is retired or is about the retire. Enjoy! William J. Cone is a retired (unemployed) Ob/Gyn physician. He has had essays, critiques and profiles published in several magazines. He enjoys writing, reading, gardening, playing tennis and collecting first editions.

So You're Retiring . . . a Guy's Guide to Being at Home

Humor & Entertainment

Cone, William J.

Humor

A collection of award winning bons mots and belles lettres on Maine rural life.

A View from the Corner

Lew-Ellyn Hughes

Any parent who has shuddered at the thought of navigating an adolescent through the teen years will benefit from this book. Gale Dreas, a real-life Mom as well as a professional, shares her own stories, experiences and life-lessons while she and her husband navigate their two teenage boys through "typical" teenage situations including friendships, sibling rivalry, sexuality, drinking, driving, money, trouble with the police, teenage fights, parties and relationships. The author walks readers through both the parental "thinking process" as well as the "how to handle it" process for raising adolescents. Each section in this book provides a complete "short story" concerning real-life situations which the author has experienced. A "Tools Used" section concludes each story, summarizing specific and general lessons learned and suggestions for improvement. When serious problems occur, she brings the reader right along by sharing her thoughts, anxieties,confusion, fears and finally, her solutions.This practical arrangement moves readers through the chapters at a comfortable pace as each section is easily read in one sitting.The author combines humor, insight and practicality to create a rich toolbox of skills for the novice as well as the more seasoned parents of teenagers. Gale Dreas has been a Clinical Social Worker for twenty-four years and a parent for twenty-one years. Earlier in her career, she worked for Lutheran Social Services of Illinois and specialized in the area of substance abuse/addiction. She was the Director of Outpatient Services for the Women's Residence of Lutheran Social Services and subsequently went into Private Practice, where she has been working for the past twenty years. Prior to becoming a Social Worker, she worked as a police officer where she learned how to appreciate, value andstrive for the "normal" aspects of life

Toolbox Parenting: The Most Practical Guide to Raising Teenage Boys You'll Ever Read

Parenting & Relationships

Dreas, Gale A.

Parenting

I Will Survive

Cookbooks, Food & Wine

Laboon, Corinne

Special Diet

Sophia does not want her newborn son to face the same bleak fate as those who dwell in the Glen of Sorrow, for they are fraught with sorrow, old age, and death. Having heard rumors about a Valley of the Sun at the end of world, said to be inhabited by great White Ones who serve as emissaries to the Lord of the Worlds, she makes the decision to risk her life and take her child to be raised by them. Although these twelve emissaries know the secrets of the universe, they do not how to raise a human child. The Lord of the Worlds, however, has willed that the mother's wish be fulfilled. Neither she, nor the emissaries, knows that an incredible adventure awaits Maya Sangh, for he will attempt to climb the great Silver Mountain one day in order to obtain the Crown of Immortality. To win he must combat the Prince of Darkness who has challenged the Lord for the boy's soul. Should Maya Sangh lose, he must return to darkness and unknowing. This is a book that will  deeply touch the human heart. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Starting a public speaking career at the age of five, Elizabeth has traveled internationally, conducting lectures, seminars and classes in many countries. Listed in Who's Who in America, she has been the guest on hundreds of radio and television shows. Elizabeth is a published author in fiction, non-fiction and poetry, and has won numerous awards.  Her search for the reality of God led her on a remarkable mystical adventure, ultimately fusing her mind with the creative consciousness of the universe. Elizabeth's subsequent training by an Angelic Master permeates the story of Maya Sangh and the Valley of the White Ones.

Maya Sangh and the Valley of the White Ones

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Burrows, Elizabeth MacDonald

Fantasy

This comprehensive and generously illustrated collection is a lively and loving history celebrating the richness of America's traveling salesman tradition and the ways that the men and women of the road profoundly affected the American way of life through both word and deed. Composed of hundreds of tales, anecdotes, quotes, stories and thumbnail biographies, the author has compiled an entertaining historical pageant that has been more than 300 years in the making. Learn about the great and the infamous, their pitches and scams, successes and failures, and the humor both by and about them. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ronald Solberg grew up as the son of a Fuller Brush Man. He went on to become a door-to-door salesman, himself, working his way through college by selling brushes, brooms, and waxes during the summer months on the sidewalks and roads of southern Minnesota. Although Solberg would become a high school English and journalism teacher, the salesman bug remained firmly planted. Later, he switched careers, and moved into Chicago-area association and corporate public relations, marketing, and advertising positions. Coincidentally, two of the associations-the Million Dollar Round Table and Institute of Real Estate Management-brought him in touch with some of the most successful salesmen in the world. Today, Solberg is a social studies and history teacher at a suburban Chicago private school for gifted children. That position would, however, reintroduce him to his salesman "self." In 2002 he was commissioned by the Newberry Library to prepare lesson plans on a Chicago turn-of-the-century labor movement. Because Chicago has been an important center for merchandising and retail activity, Solberg chose to focus on the salesman-probably not quite the "labor" activity the Newberry had in mind. While researching the topic, he came to realize that he was actually fulfilling a life-long dream-to compile the details and history of America's traveling salesmen, thus creating a portrait that exemplifies the country's best spirit of industry, sunny optimism and faith.

The Whizbangs of Oohs and Ahs: America's Salesmen: Their Lore, Lives and Laughs

Business & Money

Solberg, Ronald

Marketing & Sales

From the Book This is a story about chairs on front porches and smiles in gas stations, about looking America in the face and having it look back. It's about seeing states that were once nothing but colored squares on a map. It's about being unafraid to travel solo and let the folks out there know that you came alone and in peace; that you just dropped by to see what they had to offer. It's about bragging rights and strutting biker attitudes-some real and most imagined. It's about missing what we have and having what we miss. It's about every paradox in life. It's about being alone in a room full of friends and, later, being surrounded by voices 100 miles from the nearest human sound. It is about being afraid-for no other reason than fear exists on the edge of the unknown-no matter how close and familiar everything appears on the surface. It's about time; about having too much and doing too little or having too little and trying too much This is a story about the directions in which we run and what we find when we get there. It's about the past and the future and how they touch the present. It's about having a damn good time doing nothing but observing, listening to others and being grateful about the wonderful events that fall into the lives of others and spill over into yours. It's about living dreams that I didn't know I had because I was too busy to look. It's about being still in God's world and about God still being in ours. It's about not knowing when to get out of the rain or how I got into it in the first place. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Fred O'Brien was raised in Burlington, Vermont. In 1964, after graduating from High School, he joined the U.S. Navy to see the world and escape his small part of it. In 1968, he returned to Vermont, where he worked as a truck driver while attending night classes. He took his first full-time computer job that summer and in 1974 he moved to Houston, Texas, where he worked as a Systems Analyst for 30 years. In 1995, he returned to motorcycle riding after a 20-year hiatus from the road.

Chrome Horse Chronicles: One Man's Motorcycle Travels Through North America

Engineering & Transportation

O'Brien, Fred

Automotive

Open-field Running is the driving metaphor from football which defines the run to the goal line: uncertain, winding, and confusing, yet exhilarating, passionate, and courageous. Brad Catherman shares with us his sprint to sell a screenplay to Hollywood while brushing up against the famous and infamous as he tries for his big break. During his 18-year quest to sell a screenplay, he writes nine scripts, wins awards in six screenwriting competitions, sells three screenplay Options (for $1 each), hires and fires four agents, fills four filing cabinets with rejection letters, maintains an award-winning marketing career in spite of numerous corporate downsizings, faces the challenges and blessings of being a single dad, and finally lands a studio development deal. He takes us on a roller coaster ride as he develops story ideas, pitches ten Hollywood producers in a single weekend, gains endorsements from a United States Senator and a monastery, and networks with everyone and anyone. Brad encounters other wannabe Hollywood players on his trip, including a furniture heiress who promotes wrestlers, a home builder who is obsessed with having Bruce Willis play the lead in his movie, and a movie-producing dentist preoccupied with constructing unique golf clubs. Through it all, he remains grounded in his faith and values learned from his parents and as an athlete. You will share his laughter and tears, but be unmistakably inspired to run toward your own goal. AAOBUT THE AUTHOR: Brad Catherman has written screenplays which have won numerous awards in screenwriting competition. He takes us on an 18-year comical and introspective romp through Hollywood that ends with his first screenplay development deal. Brad lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his son Andy

Open-Field Running: The Adventure of Selling A Screenplay

Catherman, Brad

Arts & Literature

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