New Releases by Alan Armstrong

People are not Edward''s forte, but despite his best efforts, people are unavoidable. An autistic adult, Edward finds his routine life disrupted by events that force him to face uncomfortable changes. First, he receives an unusual job assignment that requires him to make monthly visits to a cantankerous old man. Then his widowed mother''s stroke forces Edward to become her caregiver. When the old man overcomes his drug addiction, he tries to make Edward his friend, and Edward is forced to learn to interact. The old man''s recently divorced daughter comes to live with him, and Edward experiences his first romantic infatuation. His crush blossoms into love, which he struggles to express with his limited emotional intelligence. More changes tear Edward out of his routine existence as the old man, now his friend, develops cancer and passes away. He comes to grips with a world of changes and leaves the safety of the old man''s porch to enter the doorway to love and a new life.

This is my personal statement of conversion to Jesus Christ as my Savior and Redeemer within the context of my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was baptized when I was fifteen years old. I came from what I would call a pseudo-Christian background. I knew the stories of Christmas and Easter and assumed they represented real events, but I had no relationship with Christ, no prayer life, and no knowledge of the Bible. I was converted initially not to Christ but to Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. My search for and conversion to Christ did not come until later in my life. I recount in the book how my recognition of my need for a Savior and of Jesus as that Savior came about. The structure of the book follows the chronology of the Gospel of Matthew. My focus is not on the sermons and preaching of Jesus, but on his actions. I believe every act of Christ was intentional and designed to reinforce his teachings. Rather than discuss Jesus''s parables, I discuss His life as a series of informative, living parables. I then relate incidents in my life where those living parables have played a role in bringing me to Jesus.

This fast-moving, hard-hitting novel is based on fact. It is told by an active participant in and witness to the fall of the Khmer Republic to Pol Pot and his murderous Khmer Rouge forces. It challenges the reader to confront the actions of the Nixon Administration and contemplate those of the Trump era.

Biography of bagpipe composer and author John Grant (1876-1961) based on his own writings and received letters.

All my life I have heard people say that the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament is impenetrable, enigmatic, and indecipherable. Yet some of the most sublime and oft-quoted prophecies of the Messiah came from the quill of Isaiah, If it is so full of powerful prophecies and promises of hope that should cause us to rejoice, why do people say it is so hard to understand? Why would the Lord hide His greatest statements in a book that no one wants to read? I finally decided I wanted to know for myself what was contained in this mysterious collection of writings. I determined to rea Isaiah in the LDS Church edition of the King James Version word for word, verse for verse, and see for myself what it had to say. This is not a scholarly work in the tradition sense. The reader will find no footnotes or endnotes to corroborate my musings and conclusions. My intent in undertaking this study was not to learn what others had to say about Isaiah, but to learn for myself throuugh the instrumentality of the Holy Ghost what Isaiah''s message is to me personally.--Back cover.

Ancient Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature contains soteriological narratives of human transformation that qualify as examples of deification in antiquity. One widely exemplified type of deification in ancient Jewish apocalypses and apocalyptic literature focuses first on the analogy between priests and angels, and then the gradual assimilation of the former to the identity of the latter. In much apocalyptic thought, God resides in a celestial sanctuary in heaven where angels serve a heavenly liturgy of worship and praise, and it is this reality which the earthly priesthood, temple, and cult mimic and extend into the human world, which led to speculation that human priests would become angels either at death or in the eschaton. This narrative of transformation also accords with what Martha Himmelfarb calls a “democratization” of the priesthood to include righteous individuals who otherwise would not enjoy such privileges. The Book of Revelation, as an apocalypse written by a Christian Jew, makes use of this traditional Jewish soteriology in a uniquely Christian framework, by appropriating its imagery and logic in the context of an early Christian participatory model of deification, the communicatio idiomatum, or “exchange of attributions.” Through participation in the angelomorphic, priestly Christ, the priestly saints are also guaranteed a share in angelic, divine glory. The study adds Revelation to an ongoing scholarly conversation about the trajectory of early Christian soteriological development.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival Actors: Telling the Story is a significant achievement in documenting the preparation of stellar performances of a group of talented actors who have worked within this renowned, Tony-Award-winning repertory company. The authors have interviewed these artists about their early training and mentors and their methods of character creation. The result is detailed commentary about the roles they have played as well as information about the act of performance in the theater spaces at the Festival. What emerges is a personal history and memoir of each actor''s work that is eminently readable for theater patrons, experienced and novice actors, and educators who teach Shakespeare.

This volume presents the results of the long-term co-operation of archaeologists from the University of Ghent and the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago to establish the ceramic chronology for Mesopotamia in the second millennium B.C. Drawing only upon pottery found in good context in well-conducted excavations, going back to the 1930s, but relying especially on the collaboration of other excavators who were working in southern Iraq from the 1960s onward, James Armstrong and Hermann Gasche, with the participation of cuneiformist Steven Cole and ceramic specialists Abraham Van As and Loe Jacobs, have created a typology of all major forms, showing the subtle changes that occurred in individual shapes through time at one site and at related sites. It also shows regional variations in shapes. Their graphic presention of the forms makes visible a centuries-long break in occupation of numerous sites in southern Iraq beginning in the time of Samsuiluna, the successor to Hammurabi of Babylon, and another break at the end of the millennium. There are detailed discussions of the forms and their geograhical distribution, as well as a treatment of the historical implications of the evidence.

An adventurous new work from Newbery Honor-Winning author, Alan Armstrong. In the spring of 1947, outer space was an unexplored realm. But eleven year-old Alexis (Alex) Heart and her impulsive brother, Chuck, believe that the stars are within reach. In the midst of building their own rocket, Alex befriends Captain Ebbs, and an army scientist who is working to create food for future space travelers, and who is also a descendent of Captain John Smith. Alex soon introduces Chuck to her new friend, and the trio''s shared interest in space travel sets off a series of adventures that the three will never forget. From meeting pioneering German rocket scientist Dr. Wenher von Braun, and a thrilling sailing trip down the Potomac to an island on the Chesapeake where a top secret rocket launch is about to take place, Alex and Chuck are about to have their lives forever changed.

The long awaited and much demanded follow up to Untimely Events. She was back in the comfort zones of Lonsdale Village. Her husband Burt Armstrong, the local vicar, was immensely proud of his new wife and all she had achieved as a former employee of Sawyer''s Farm. Holly''s reaction to the quiet but mundane lifestyle she had now inherited as a bastion of local society was anything but satisfactory. Time had left unfulfilled gaps. A longing for world-wide adventure that could quench the lingering thirst acquired from previous soul mates was an injection she urgently sought. The corridors of power that had been so intertwined with her role as coordinator for an immensely rich drugs cartel beckoned for attention. Holly was to experience change. This change would once again propel her onto the world stage and satisfy all the equations. World travel, adventures with high financiers, and violence of unprecedented levels will keep her adrenaline levels high and generate excitement beyond her wildest of dreams.

A death triggered a sequence of events that led to Catharine Ann Chandler''s abduction. A distraught father finds her in a nomadic Berber camp where he discovers values that remain hidden to the Western way of life. Every page lifts the veil from reader''s eyes to show a world full of values that we have lost. Morgan Chandler lived his business life in a selfish and ruthless way until life stopped him in the fast lane. The death of Ramsay McGowan''s son triggered a sequence of events that led to Catharine Ann Chandler''s abduction from the university town of Durham. Contact with forces, not of this world, led a distraught father to the Atlas Mountains. Ways of life unknown, and alien to western civilisations, were encountered and studied. The networking of Moroccan families gave the path of discovery to a rehabilitated daughter. Learn of a culture, and beliefs, that have been retained for many hundreds of years. Read of spirit intervention, and a death bed confession, that gave direction and hope against impossible odds. Absorb the atmosphere of a mixed blood marriage that creates for the recipients a life to be desired and cherished. Allow yourself to be placed in a position of unique choices for the lost daughter rediscovered. Compare countries that have great divides. Be prepared for self examination of all that you hold dear? Reaffirm the sanctity of your personal life and daily existence! Re-evaluate the meaning of life on earth!

Tinged with violence on an unprecedented level this novel touches the heart and mind with shock waves of human depravity. The remoteness of an isolated village in the Derbyshire Peak District forms the nucleus of a business built on the misery of drug dependant souls. Holly was content with her village life in the slow lane until she was held captive and seduced by a dangerous criminal. He evokes feelings of an intense sexual nature in her. Suddenly the world becomes a different place to her as this humble woman becomes a kingpin in a multi- million pound drugs operation. The book graphically describes the roller coaster ride created when all aspects of human misery congeal on a trade of goods that dictate force, murder and mayhem to all who stand in the cartel''s path. Experience the extremes of cruelty that only man can inflict on fellow man. Be aware of the power men can generate when protecting a lucrative business. If you want to look into a world that is violent, highly sexually charged and extremely dangerous, you will not be disappointed!

Newbery Honor–winning author Alan Armstrong’s latest book! Eleven-year-old Mark''s anthropologist father has disappeared in the Gobi desert while tracing Marco Polo’s ancient route from Venice to China. His mother decides they must go to Venice to petition the agency that sent Mark’s father to send out a search party. Anxious about his father and upset about spending Christmas away from home, Mark gets a bad asthma attack in the middle of the night. That’s when Doc Hornaday, an old friend of Mark’s father, makes a house call, along with a massive black Tibetan mastiff called Boss. To distract Mark from his wheezing and to pass the long Venetian night, the Doc starts to spin for Mark the tale of Marco Polo. Doc describes Marco’s travels and the boy finds himself falling under the spell of the story that has transfixed the world for centuries. Marco’s journey bolsters Mark’s courage and whets his appetite for risk and adventure, and for exposure to life in all its immense and fascinating variety.

ANDREW HAS grown up near the Plymouth docks hearing the sailors talk about America. Knowing that Andrew''s heart is set on going to the new world, his father sends him up to London to serve as page in the house of Walter Raleigh. In Queen Elizabeth''s court, Raleigh''s the strongest voice in favor of fighting with Spain for a position in the New World, and everyone knows that it''s just a matter of time before Her Majesty agrees to an expedition. Can Andrew prove himself fit to go on an expedition to the New World? Meticulously researched and brilliantly crafted, combining fictional characters with historical, Andrew''s tale offers up a vivid look at the cloakand- dagger politics of the time and a genuine feel for what it must have been like for the first Europeans to set foot on the beautiful, bountiful, savage shores of America.

This Newbery-Honor winning tale introduces Whittington, a roughneck Tom who arrives one day at a barn full of rescued animals and asks for a place there. He spins for the animals—as well as for Ben and Abby, the kids whose grandfather does the rescuing—a yarn about his ancestor, the nameless cat who brought Dick Whittington to the heights of wealth and power in 16th-century England. This is an unforgettable tale about the healing, transcendent power of storytelling, and how learning to read saves one little boy.

The untold story of a plan that would have prevented Pearl Harbor--and perhaps World War II

Maori Games and Haka is a popular and much loved guide to haka and action songs, poi, stick games, powhiri, haka weapons and much more. First published in 1964, it is still in demand as an informative and comprehensive resource. It includes the Maori words for songs and a guide to pronunciation, as well as to concert presentation. The many drawings in the book illustrate the actions. This new edition has a revised introduction and clear layout.

Letters from a dog in France to his pen pal in Massachusetts.