New Book Release: Handy Texas

The Handy Texas Answer Book by James L. Haley

Texas is the country's second largest state by size and population. It has a unique and varied history, having been ruled by a succession of nations—from which the term “six flags over Texas” sprang—before becoming an independent republic. From its traditional oil, cattle, and cotton industries to the modern energy, electronics, computer, aerospace, and biomedical industries, Texas has become an economic powerhouse. It’s known for its low taxes, diverse population, thriving universities, and art scenes. Exploring the state’s fascinating history, people, myths, culture, and trivia, The Handy Texas Answer Book takes an in-depth look at this fascinating and diverse state with the bigger-than-life personality.

Learn about the original Indigenous peoples, the Spanish, French, and Mexican colonizations, the independence from Mexico, the ties to the Confederacy and United States, devastating hurricanes, football culture, fast-growing cities and urban sprawl, food, attitude, and much, much more. Tour landmarks from the Alamo and cattle ranches to the Rio Grande and the state capital. Learn about famous sons and daughters, including Lyndon Johnson, Sam Houston, Howard Hughes, Janis Joplin, and Renée Zellweger. Sports (both college and professional) are illuminated. The government, parks, and cultural institutions are all packed into this comprehensive guide to the state of Texas. Find answers to more than 850 questions, including: 

• What is the origin of “Howdy?”

• Where in Texas can you find all three kinds of dinosaur tracks in one place?

• Where can gold be found in Texas?

• How did we come to have “Dr. Pepper”?

• Is it true that Texas’s annexation to the United States was never really legal?

• How did Texas women get to vote a year before women in the rest of the United States?

• What Texan became the most-decorated soldier in World War II?

• Is it true that the only Texas governor to die in office expired in the arms of his mistress?

• How did Texas transform from solidly Democratic to solidly Republican?

• How did the discovery of Texas oil change the face of American business?

• How did rodeos originate?

• What was the University of Texas mascot before there was Bevo the Longhorn?

• What was the slightly dishonest secret of UT’s early success in baseball?

• What is so special about the television show Austin City Limits?

• What are the “Marfa Lights”?

• How many Texas convicts have been freed after proving their innocence with DNA?

• What is the Cuero Turkey Trot?

Illustrating the unique character of the state through a combination of facts, stats, and history, as well as the unusual and quirky, The Handy Texas Answer Book answers intriguing questions about people, places, events, government, and places of interest. This informative book also includes a helpful bibliography and an extensive index, adding to its usefulness.

New Book Release: Spelled in Blue

Spelled in Blue by Crymsyn Hart

Amanda moved to Ravensfield for a fresh start, but before that can happen she needs a handyman to fix a few things around the house. While searching for one in town, she falls victim to a town conspiracy. Someone is out to get her and the memebers of the town council. But that isn't the only thing. The town's residents aren't what they seem.

With everyone being a suspect, Amanda isn't sure who to trust. Although Simon, the handyman, helps her out in a pinch. Just when she thinks she might be safe, everything turns on its head and Amanda doesn't know who to turn to. The danger grows. The death toll rises. If the killer isn't found soon, then she might be next. 

New Book Release: Haunted

Haunted: Malevolent Ghosts, Night Terrors, and Threatening Phantoms by Brad Steiger

Bringing forth the spirits, touching on near-death experiences and parallel universes, and presenting the full range of ghostly manifestations, Haunted: Malevolent Ghosts, Night Terrors, and Threatening Phantoms pulls back the curtains on the hidden and frightening world of supernatural spirits, malevolent phantoms, menacing beings, paranormal encounters, spectral apparitions, threatening poltergeists, and sinister hauntings.

Plunked into the middle of the action, master storyteller, Brad Steiger shares true accounts of ghostly encounters in the ancient world; horrors and hauntings in the forests and fields; possessed houses and homes; night terrors, poltergeists, and malevolent spirits; speaking to spirits; near-death experiences and out-of-body visits; visitations from dead loved ones; and much, much more. Nearly 300 hair-raising tales found everywhere, including...

• The devil rider of Chisholm Hollow

• The ghosts of Sandy’s Restaurant, Ventura, CA

• The exorcism of Joan Crawford’s former house

• A ghostly encounter at Beverly Hill’s Greystone Mansion

• How to identify a poltergeist

• Shamanic spirit guides 

• The medium Daniel Dunglas’s Home and his clients Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Mark Twain, Napoleon III, the Empress Eugenie, Tolstoy, and other notables

• The Bell Witch legend

• The Jersey Devil that haunts the Pine Barrens

Building on his decades of research into the paranormal, mystical, and supernatural, Brad Steiger brings the history, theories, and influences of these mysterious visitors to life. Tracing the perplexing and lasting effects of these ghostly beings, he looks at the scars left and the fallout on the people who’ve lived through a host of alarming, horrifying—and horrifyingly real—encounters.

New Book Release: Disaster Survival Guide

The Disaster Survival Guide: How to Prepare For and Survive Floods, Fires, Earthquakes and More by Marie Jones

Hurricanes. Tornadoes. Floods. Wildfires. Earthquakes. Epidemics. Droughts. Landslides. Trillions of dollars in damages. Billions of people affected. Terrorist attacks. Gas explosions. Bridge collapses. Car, train, and plane crashes. These sudden and unexpected events make it feel as if chaos rules the world, but expecting the unexpected can mitigate the damage and loss to you and your loved ones. It pays to be prepared. When catastrophe strikes, no matter how big or small, being ready and knowing how to respond can be the difference between the loss of life and survival. 

The Disaster Survival Guide: How to Prepare For and Surviving Floods, Fires, Earthquakes and More shows how to prepare and respond to any crisis, man-made or natural, wherever it might occur and however small or large it might be. Using what has been learned from previous disasters, this indispensable book illustrates how others survived past crises. Just as important as learning how to survive the worst is learning how to survive everyday emergencies ranging from bee stings, snakebites, and allergic reactions to house fires, gas explosions, and more. It’s all important, and it’s all in this comprehensive guide.

Covering the basics needs from food, water and first aid to shelter, security, and self-defense, this informative guide walks readers through the steps it takes to create their own personal emergency action plan. It provides a catalog of the skills, tools, and items needed to endure and overcome a variety of situations and circumstances. It pinpoints hazards unique to different terrains, locations, situations, and settings, too, and it helps identify and understand possible threats. 

Furthermore, the guide provides insights into how to react and respond when disaster does strike. Critical decisions faced during an emergency are considered: whether to stay or to go, where to go, how to stay informed, and more. Truly essential, this comprehensive guide takes a clear-eyed look at what to do should the worst happen.

New Book Release: Handy Forensic Science

The Handy Forensic Science Answer Book: Reading Clues at the Crime Scene, Crime Lab and in Court by Patricia Barnes-Svarney and Thomas Svarney

Covering the fundamentals, science, history, and analysis of clues, The Handy Forensic Science Answer Book: Reading Clues at the Crime Scene, Crime Lab and in Court provides detailed information on crime scene investigations, techniques, laboratory finding, the latest research, and controversies. It looks at the science of law enforcement, how evidence is gathered, processed, analyzed, and viewed in the courtroom, and more. From the cause, manner, time of a death, and autopsies to blood, toxicology, DNA typing, fingerprints, ballistics, tool marks, tread impressions, and trace evidence, it takes the reader through the many sides of a death investigation. Arson, accidents, computer crimes, criminal profiling, and much, much more are also addressed. 

The Handy Forensic Science Answer Book gives real-world examples and looks at what Hollywood gets right and wrong. It provides the history of the science, and it introduces the scientists behind breakthroughs. An easy-to-use and informative reference, it brings the complexity of a criminal investigation into focus and provides well-researched answers to over 950 common questions, such as…

• What is the difference between cause of death and manner of death?
• How did a person’s skull fit into criminal evidence in the early 1800s?
• When were fingerprints first used to identify a criminal?
• How is the approximate time of death of a crime scene victim determined?
• What is forensic serology?
• What is the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System?
• Can a forensics expert look at skeletal remains and tell whether the person was obese?
• How can a simple knot analyzed in the crime lab be used as evidence?
• Can fingerprints be permanently changed or destroyed?
• How fast does a bullet travel?
• How was a chemical analysis of ink important in the conviction of Martha Stewart?
• What types of data are often retrieved from a crime scene cellphone?
• Can analyses similar to those used in forensics be used to uncover doping in athletics?
• What is the Personality Assessment Inventory?
• What are some motives that cause an arsonist to start a fire?
• What state no longer allows bite marks as admissible evidence in a trial?
• What is the Innocence Project?
• Why are eyewitness accounts not always reliable? 
• Who was “Jack the Ripper”?

Providing the facts, stats, history, and science, The Handy Forensic Science Answer Book answers intriguing questions about criminal investigations. This informative book also includes a helpful bibliography, glossary of terms, and an extensive index, adding to its usefulness.

New Book Release: Shulchan Aruch English Vol. 6: Hilchot Shabbat

Shulchan Aruch English Vol. 6: Hilchot Shabbat, Part 3 by R. Eliyahu Touger, ed.

The laws regarding Shabbos: the 4 domains, prohibited transfers, making eruvin, and issur techumim.

New Book Release: Handy Literature

The Handy Literature Answer Book: An Engaging Guide to Unraveling Symbols, Signs and Meanings in Great Works by Daniel Burt and Deborah Felder

From the epic of Gilgamesh to Aristotle and Cicero, and from Shakespeare and the King James Bible to Wuthering Heights, War and Peace, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the Nobel-winning lyrics of Bob Dylan, the world of literature is an integral part of our lives. Great literature can shape and form thoughts and opinions as well as influence politics and predict the future. Reading can truly enrich our lives, but it can sometimes be daunting to get the most out of a great work of literature.

The Handy Literature Answer Book: Understand and Enjoy Meanings, Symbolism, and Signs in Great Works is an engaging, easy-to-read look at literature basics such as themes, symbols, context, and other literary devices. Different literary forms, including novels, poems, plays, short stories, memoirs, and literary nonfiction are analyzed. Hundreds of important stories and great works are used as illustrative examples. Learn about the five basic questions for any work of literature, including “What is the significance of a title?” “What is conflict?” “What is character development?” “What is point of view?” “How does a setting affect a story?” “What are the different schools of literary criticism?” and many more.

Bringing the most out of the reading experience, The Handy Literature Answer Book deciphers and analyzes stories, novels, and verses through insightful in-depth answers to nearly 400 common questions. You will also read about such fascinating tidbits as …

• What are the key components of literature?

• How is reading literature different from other kinds of reading?

• Why is artful reading so hard?

• What do poems do?

• How should a poem be read for its comparisons—metaphors and similes?

• What, according to Poe, should be the method of the short story writer?

• How do you recognize the difference between story and plot in a short story?

• How can you recognize a symbol?

• What are the defining characteristics of the novel?

• How did the novel evolve from a popular literary entertainment to the modern novel?

• What is the difference between drama and theater?

• What is the best way to understand and appreciate Shakespearean drama?

• What approaches should you take in reading an essay?

• What are characteristics of a memoir?

handy primer also includes a glossary of essential literary terms, a timeline, a helpful bibliography, and an extensive index, adding to its usefulness. Making reading more enriching, rewarding, and enjoyable, The Handy Literature Answer Bookis a wonderful, eye-opening read!