New Book Release: St. Mark's Church in Ortega

St. Mark's Church in Ortega: The First One Hundred Years 1922-2022

For the last century, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church has served Jacksonville’s Ortega neighborhood and its generations of members. While the spiritual roots of the church go back to the nineteenth century, it wasn’t until November 1919, when a lanky, young clergyman pedaled his bicycle across the St. John’s River to embrace a new assignment. Douglas Bagwell Leatherbury climbed the steps of a small wooden building known in the neighborhood as “The Little Brown Church.” This is the story of those 100 years. It’s the story of how St. Mark’s Episcopal Church has evolved and how it has grown into a multi-generational neighborhood church on an expansive and gorgeous campus. It’s also the story of St. Mark’s embracing change and preparing to embrace the next century.

This book offers something for everyone. Perhaps, it’s simply browsing all seventy-two carefully curated pages to enjoy and explore archival memoirs and historical snapshots. Everyone will marvel at stunning, artistic images vividly captured in St. Mark’s extraordinary stained-glass murals, and others may fully immerse themselves in a century old historical journey.

New Book Release: Originals! Black Women Breaking Barriers

 Originals! Black Women Breaking Barriers by Jessie Carney Smith

Discover and celebrate the achievements of some of America’s most inspiring women!

The first female. African American vice president, first U.S. senator, the 83rd U.S. Attorney General, and first black state legislator in Alaska. The first time a black woman and a white band shared the same stage; the first black woman writer to win a Pulitzer Prize; and the first black prima ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera Company. Black women have accomplished incredible things throughout American history.

An important book, Originals! Barrier-breaking Black Women profiles the lives and successes of such notable and iconic women as abolitionist Harriet Tubman, Olympic gold medalist Wilma Rudolph, mathematician Katherine Johnson, organizer and politician Stacy Adams Stacey Abrams, astronaut Mae Jemison, jazz legend Billie Holiday, ballerina Misty Copeland, Vice President Kamala Harris, and also the accomplishments of hundreds of less-famous and lesser-known women. This fascinating read recounts 1,400 achievements, including …  

Gail Fisher, the first black actress to receive an Emmy Award.

Tina Sloan-Green, the first black American woman to compete on the U.S. National Lacrosse team.

Sarah J. (Smith Thompson) Garnet, the first black female principal in the New York City public school system.

Ruth Carol Taylor, the first flight attendant to smash the color barrier.

Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler, the first black woman awarded a medical degree in the United States.

Camilla Ella Williams, the first black woman to sing with the New York City Opera.

Altha Stewart, the first African American president of The American Psychiatric Association.

Jessie Carney Smith, the first black national president of Beta Phi Mu, the honor society for persons with graduate degrees in library science.

Gwendolyn Brooks, the author of Annie Allen, a book of poetry that won the first Pulitzer Prize awarded to an African American.

Jeanine McIntosh-Menze, the first African American female aviator in the U.S. Coast Guard’s 215-year history.

The story of black women in America is one of struggle and obstacles overcome. It’s a story of great achievement and soaring heights. Let Originals! inspire and educate you as it shares the stories and breakthroughs of hundreds of black women in American history!! With more than 210 photos and illustrations, this enlightening book also includes a helpful bibliography and an extensive index, adding to its usefulness.

New Book Release: Eco Bible, Volume 2

Eco Bible, Volume 2: An Ecological Commentary on Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy by Rabbi Yonatan Neril and Leo Dee

What can the Bible say about ecology? As people worldwide face huge ecological challenges—including growing hurricanes, floods, droughts, forest fires, and plastic pollution—the groundbreaking Eco Bible dives into this question. Drawing on 3,500 years of religious ethics and teaching, the book shows how the Bible itself and its great scholars embrace care for God's creation as a fundamental and living message. Eco Bible both informs readers and inspires spiritual commitment and action to protect all of God’s creation.

Eco Bible has been a #1 bestseller on multiple Amazon Kindle categories. This “Earth Bible” is a great read for those interested in Jewish and Christian social issues. It also represents an important contribution to eco theology, and to the spiritual ecology movement. Publishers Weekly called the book an "insightful analysis" which "will inspire contemplation on how to live in harmony with nature and the power of conservation. Ecologically minded readers interested in the Hebrew Bible will love this."

Eco Bible Volume 2 explores the books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Eco Bible Volumes 1 and 2 together cover 400 verses in the Five Books of Moses / Pentateuch / Old Testament. By linking faith and science, Eco Bible connects religion with contemporary scientific thought regarding human health, biodiversity, the environment, and clean air, land, and water. It also contains hundreds of practical action items. Eco Bible can be read individually, in faith and community groups, and used for teaching in both faith and environmental education settings.

Professor Bill Brown, Professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary, calls Eco Bible “a rich repository of insights…for people of faith to move forward with wisdom, inspiration, and hope, all for the sake of God’s good creation.” Applying Biblical wisdom to stewardship, conservation, and creation care is essential for a future where we live in balance and thrive on a planet that remains viable for all life. At a time of both ecological and spiritual crisis, an ecological reading of the Bible can have profound impact on human behavior, since billions of people worldwide consider it a holy book. Eco Bible uniquely explores the Bible’s deep inspiration for fulfilling the blessing of all life, changing course to preserve God’s creation, and sustaining human life in harmony with nature and all God’s creatures.

New Book Release: Toxin Nation

Toxin Nation: The Poisoning of Our Air, Water, Food, and Bodies by Marie D. Jones

Should we really trust the government, Big Pharma, agribusinesses, factory farms, or the fossil-fuel industry with our safety?

We live in a world filled with plastics, heavy metals, food preservatives, processed foods, genetically modified organisms, drugs, ointments, medications, electromagnetic frequencies, radiation, treated water and all manner of substances alleged to make our modern lives easier. But are the chemicals we encounter, ingest, and breathe necessarily harmless?

From the millions of premature deaths caused by unchecked environmental pollution and weak government oversight of the safety of our food supply to chemtrails, 5G fears, fluoride in our water supply, and various conspiracy theories, Toxin Nation: The Poisoning of Our Air, Water, Food, and Bodies looks at the truth and the schemes to allow toxins, poisons, and unproven substances to potentially harm our health. It looks at the huge profits that corporations make by selling unsafe products and the corrupting influence of money on politicians, government bureaucrats, others tasked with protecting our safety.

The disturbing―and illuminating―exposé shows how the government and industries affect our health, and how the choices we make and the products we purchase contribute to harming our bodies. Its unmasks …

how unproven substances affect chronic obesity and cancer

how to avoid toxic foods, drinks, and other products

stories of corrupt politicians, corporate CEOs, and regulators trading safety for money

the widespread toxicity of indoor air pollution

the perniciousness of cancer-causing chemicals

the influences of 5G and EMF from cell phones and gadgets upon the human immune system

Big Pharma, agribusiness, and fossil fuel industry gaslighting

secret government tests of toxins on human beings

the harm from pesticides and food additives

research and scientific studies on the effects of chemicals on human physiology

and much more.

Knowledge is power, and the more you know, the safer and healthier you can become. Toxin Nation is eye-opening and informative. Filled with photos and other graphics, this important book is richly illustrated. Its helpful bibliography and extensive index add to its usefulness.

New Book Release: Time Travel

 Time Travel: The Science and Science Fiction by Nick Redfern

Fact or fiction? Real or impossible? Movement through time explored, examined and explained!

Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity postulates, and scientists have proven, that the faster you travel, the slower time moves. Clocks on airplanes, satellites and rockets are slower than clocks on Earth, and time travel is indeed real. Can time machines, time-tunnel wormholes or tales of fictional time-traveling heroes be so far-fetched? Covering the history of time travel in both reality and fiction, Time Travel: The Science and Science Fiction investigates the long history, myths, science and stories of movement from the present to the past and into the future.

Timely in its telling, Time Travel chronicles more than 30 instances, accounts, stories and famous examples of time slips, such as …

The theory of relativity showing the link between time and space

H.G. Wells’ epic novel of 1895: The Time Machine

British physicist Stephen Hawking’s famous paradoxes surrounding time travel

Charlton Heston’s character Taylor in the Planet of the Apes discovering that he is home, 2,000 years in the future

Wormholes, the shortcuts through both space and time

And many more!

The idea of time travel fascinates because it offers the possibility, however remote, of revisiting and recapturing moments from our youth. And if travelers of the future have secretly visited us―well, that proves that our future is secure. Stories of time travel abound in books and film, and it’s been a source of endless fascination―and speculation―surrounding UFO sightings and conspiracy theories. This richly researched reference ripples with fascinating information. With more than 120 photos and graphics, this tome is nicely illustrated. Time Travel also includes a helpful bibliography and an extensive index, adding to its usefulness. Time will fly by as you ponder the possibilities. Don’t hesitate. There’s no time like the present. Get your copy today. The future is waiting!

New Book Release: The Vampire Almanac

The Vampire Almanac: The Complete History by J. Gordon Melton

Grab a stake, a fistful of garlic, a crucifix and holy water as you enter the dark, blood-curdling world of the original pain in the neck in this ultimate collection of vampire facts and fiction!

What accounts for the undying fascination people have for vampires? How did encounters with death create centuries-old myths and folklore in virtually every culture in the world? When did the early literary vampires―as pictured by Goethe, Coleridge, Shelly, Polidori, Byron, and Nodier as the personifications of man’s darker side―transform from villains into today’s cultural rebels?

Showing how vampire-like creatures organically formed in virtually every part of the world, The Vampire Almanac: The Complete History by renowned religion expert and fearless vampire authority J. Gordon Melton, Ph.D., examines the historic, societal, and psychological role the vampire has played―and continues to play―in understanding death, man’s deepest desires, and human pathologies. It analyzes humanity’s lusts, fears, and longing for power and the forbidden!

Today, the vampire serves as a powerful symbol for the darker parts of the human condition, touching on death, immortality, forbidden sexuality, sexual power and surrender, intimacy, alienation, rebellion, violence, and a fascination with the mysterious. The vampire is often portrayed as a symbolic leader advocating an outrageous alternative to the demands of conformity. Vampires can also be tools for scapegoating such as when women are called “vamps” and bosses are described as “bloodsuckers.”

Meet all of the villains, anti-heroes, and heroes of myths, legends, books, films, and television series across cultures and today’s pop culture in The Vampire Almanac. It assembles and analyzes hundreds of vampiric characters, people, and creatures, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Vlad the Impaler, Edward Cullen and The Twilight Saga, Bram Stoker, Lestat De Lioncourt and The Vampire Chronicles, Lon Chaney, True Blood, Bela Lugosi, Dracula, Dark Shadows, Lilith, Vampire Weekend, Batman, Nosferatu, and so many more.

There is a lot to sink your teeth into with this deep exhumation of the undead. Quench your thirst for facts, histories, biographies, definitions, analysis, immortality, and more! This gruesomely thorough book of vampire facts also has a helpful bibliography, an extensive index, and numerous photos, adding to its usefulness.

New Book Release: The Big Book of Facts

The Big Book of Facts: Adventures in Science and History by Terri Schlichenmeyer

Strange science facts! Hilarious history facts! Informative and Fun! A treat of science and history stories and trivia that will inform and entertain anyone curious about the world!

From astonishing, amazing and surprising science and history facts to the little-known stories hidden inside bigger events, The Big Book of Facts is a fascinating tour through our weird and interesting world. You’ll learn about the earth and its history through absorbing stories and interesting tidbits. Did you know …

Babies start laughing at just a few weeks old; there are ten discernible types of laughter; and laughter spurs our appetite for food?

Like fingerprints, every tongue on Earth has a unique print?

The history of the U.S. Postal Service, including the Pony Express, … and the short-lived (but legal) practice of mailing children?

Hand washing was not always common through history; toilet paper was invented in the 1400s, and Sir John Harington invented the flushable toilet for Queen Elizabeth I?

Though they are all differently shaped by virtue of being an assembly of water droplets, there are ten basic kinds of clouds?

A basic and quick history of cash in America, including Alexander Hamilton and the Bank of the United States, Benjamin Franklin’s efforts to thwart counterfeiting, $100,000 bills, and the fact that more than 85% of the world’s money is digital only?

Though Shakespeare mentioned Valentine’s Day in “Hamlet,” sending paper cards to a beloved wasn’t a fad until the eighteenth century, and by the 1840s, insulting Valentine cards also became common?

Government agencies in the U.S. and France both agree that the measure of a second is determined by how long it takes a cesium atom to vibrate just over nine billion times?

The history of children’s games such as hide-and-seek, blindman's bluff, and jacks that date back to the ancient Greeks and Romans?

And much, much more.

Engrossing, engaging, and enlightening, The Big Book of Facts lets you discover the fun oddities that make up our world. Wide-ranging and fact-filled with nearly 160 illustrations, this information-rich tome also includes a helpful bibliography and an extensive index for those scrambling for more information.