New Releases by Paul Collins

Beyond Priests contends that the requirements of the clerical priesthood of the Catholic Church—that all priests must be male, and that all priests must be celibate—is a gross distortion of scripture and the church’s early history that must be changed. While the roots of the modern priesthood go back to the fourth century and even more remotely to the presbyters or elders who advised local bishops in the early church, the contemporary priestly model is very much the product of seventeenth-century French reformers acting to apply a 1563 decree on the priesthood of the Council of Trent. The present-day priestly model has increasingly become harmful, even toxic, not only to priests themselves, but to the ministry and the Catholic community. Based on the historical analysis, Beyond Priests outlines a whole new way of approaching ministry and leadership that is in tune with contemporary needs, is inclusive of women and men, and is more authentically derived from the New Testament and the early church.

In The Adventures of Troyt: The Nexus Beyond, Troyt, the daring young alien with an unstoppable spirit, embarks on his greatest journey yet. Equipped with his ingenious Stellar Kart and boundless curiosity, Troyt sets his sights on the Nexus—a radiant, ancient structure at the heart of the galaxy that holds the key to the Balance of the cosmic network. But all is not as it seems. The Nexus is under siege by the lingering tendrils of the Void, a shadowy force that seeks to unravel the harmony of the network. As Troyt races across breathtaking star systems and navigates the mysteries of the Nexus, he uncovers secrets about the network’s origins and his vital role in preserving its legacy. Joined by his loyal companions and guided by the echoes of the Architects, Troyt must harness the power of the crystalline shards and confront the growing threat of the Whisperer. With courage, cleverness, and the unshakable belief that even the smallest explorer can make the biggest difference, Troyt faces challenges that test his resolve and ingenuity. Full of interstellar wonder, vivid worlds, and pulse-pounding adventure, The Nexus Beyond is a journey of discovery and bravery. It’s a story that will leave readers inspired to explore the unknown and protect the bonds that connect us all.

In a galaxy where the Balance binds the stars, a curious alien named Troyt sets out from his humble home on Proxima b to uncover the mysteries of the universe. Armed with a homemade space billy cart and an unyielding determination, Troyt answers the call of a mysterious signal that leads him to a vast network of interconnected shards—fragments of an ancient system designed to unite the cosmos. But all is not as it seems. As Troyt journeys across breathtaking worlds, from glowing crystalline forests to desolate rogue planets, he discovers the remnants of a dark force: the Whisperer, a shadow of chaos determined to consume the network and unravel the Balance. Joined by a diverse band of Watchers—guardians drawn from across the galaxy—Troyt faces relentless challenges to restore harmony to the network. Together, they confront corruption, repair fractured shards, and battle the Whisperer in its lair. An epic tale of resilience, unity, and courage, The Adventures of Troyt and the Network blends cosmic wonder with heartfelt adventure. Follow Troyt as he rises from a humble tinkerer to a legendary protector of the stars, proving that even the smallest spark of curiosity can illuminate the universe.

An accessible guide to the history of the Assyrian empire from the perspective of its powerful elites. At the height of its power near 660 BC, the Assyrian empire, centered in northern Iraq, wielded dominance from Egypt to Iran. This vast region was ruled by a series of kings who demonstrated their power with magnificent palaces adorned by sculptures depicting rituals, battles, and hunts. Established by military might, the empire thrived under the guidance of scholars who interpreted divine will and administrators who relocated tens of thousands of people to serve the state. This book relates the history of Assyria through the lens of its royal family and the officials who commissioned its buildings, art, and literature—each a critical part of the foundation for the later Babylonian and Persian empires.

5 Stars * * * * * "...characters leap off the pages. I cared about them...their triumphs and sorrows."—Lucinda E. Clarke, award winning, best-selling author 5 Stars * * * * * "Collins demonstrates remarkable skill in bringing historical America to vivid life through meticulous attention to detail and rich, evocative prose." —K.C. Finn, Amazon and USA Today best-selling author 4 Stars * * * * "If we only knew how much our grandchildren would treasure such a thing, we would all do this." —Susie Helme, The Genizah Codex This gripping fact-based fictional account, composed of three personal journals written as if by Collins'' ancestors nearly two hundred years ago, contains their intimate, emotional stories, firsthand experiences, and traditions of old-world craftsmanship in a world being overtaken by technology. Based on the legacies of two Boston Irish and Italian families, it is a perfect story for fans of historical Irish fiction by authors like Jean Grainger, Andrew Wareham, and Daisy O''Shea, fans of historical Italian fiction by Daniela Sacerdoti and Kate Quinn, and fans of historical biographical fiction and family sagas by writers like Mark Sullivan and Marie Benedict. Forgotten by Time, Rediscovered by Fate "A century after her birth, Jessie (Ambrosini) Collins is laid to rest beside her husband, Joseph Cornelius Collins, in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Milford, Massachusetts. Weeks later, while settling her estate, her children and grandchildren discover an old hope chest filled with the artifacts and memories of her life. Among the curiosities and treasures is a tied bundle containing three handwritten journals, previously unknown to the family. In time, they would come to realize that what they held in their hands was the family legacy—pictures of life passed down by those who lived before—of how it was with them in their time." The Odyssey of Cornelius Collins It is 1845 the first year of the Great Famine in Ireland when fourteen-year-old Cornelius Collins begins a harrowing seven-year struggle for survival. At twenty, he escapes to Liverpool, England, securing a one-way third-class passage aboard a "coffin ship" bound for America. Against all odds, he survives the forty-one-day Atlantic crossing on the packet ship Clara Wheeler, landing in Boston, Massachusetts. There, he is processed and released into the streets alone to face the "land sharks" eager to take what little he possesses, including his life. Fate intervenes, and an Irish American welfare society helps him find work as a bootmaker in the town of Milford. Determined, Cornelius vows to save every penny and send it back to Ireland to support his family. Of Leather & Stone As the decades pass, a highly prized pink granite is discovered in Milford triggering a "granite rush" attracting skilled stonecutters from around the world, including Giuseppe Ambrosini, a master stonecutter from Lombardy, Italy, a region renowned for its stone craftsmen. He comes to America seeking his fortune in the pink granite quarries of Milford. Generations of their two families live through the most radical shift in industrial technology in the history of civilization, the disastrous effects of the American Civil War, widespread labor upheavals, the total collapse of the American economy, and the Irish Rebellion. These events profoundly affect them and their American-born children, who unite their two families in marriage at the height of the Roaring Twenties and in the aftermath of ‘the war to end all wars.’ The Remembering There will be no great fortunes or inheritance, no monumental works of art or science left for future generations. Instead, there will be profound life lessons learned from a lifetime of cutting and shaping leather and stone in Milford’s workshops and quarries. "Theirs is the common fate of common people: living their lives without fanfare, known only to those who worked with them and those who loved them, then forgotten by time—until one day, when they are remembered, and their names are spoken again by the living in THE REMEMBERING."

“Hearteningly strange . . . Collins exhumes little-known figures [and] recounts their perversely inspiring battles against the more logical ways of the world.” —The Onion Here are thirteen unforgettable portraits of forgotten people: men and women who might have claimed their share of renown but who, whether from ill timing, skullduggery, monomania, the tinge of madness, or plain bad luck—or perhaps some combination of them all—leapt straight from life into thankless obscurity. Collins brings them back to glorious life. John Banvard was an artist whose colossal panoramic canvasses (one behemoth depiction of the entire eastern shore of the Mississippi River was simply known as “The Three Mile Painting”) made him the richest and most famous artist of his day . . . before he decided to go head to head with P. T. Barnum. René Blondot was a distinguished French physicist whose celebrated discovery of a new form of radiation, called the N-Ray, went terribly awry. At the tender age of seventeen, William Henry Ireland signed “William Shakespeare” to a book and launched a short but meteoric career as a forger of undiscovered works by the Bard—until he pushed his luck too far. Collins’ love for what he calls the “forgotten ephemera of genius” give his portraits of these figures and the other ten men and women in Banvard’s Folly sympathetic depth and poignant relevance. Their effect is not to make us sneer or revel in schadenfreude; here are no cautionary tales. Rather, here are brief introductions—acts of excavation and reclamation—to people whom history may have forgotten, but whom now we cannot.

The citizens of the world as we know it currently feel more lost, confused, hopeless, helpless, and angry than they have ever felt in remembrance of time past. Many have no idea what is going on with the occurrence of catastrophe after a catastrophe that is plaguing the nations of the earth, from wars, droughts, food shortages, and newly emerging diseases, and most have an expectation that things are only going to get worse from this point moving forward, both in the short-term and long-term. Consequently, an undertone of apprehension, uncertainty, and a healthy fear of what may be coming next upon the earth have all left the populations of our world rightly on edge. In A Prisoner''s Cry: Look Up, Your Redemption Draws Near!, Minister Johnny Paul Collins provides us with a biblically sound and evidence-based explanation for the seven sorrows that are currently distressing mankind, and he warns of the additional sufferings for many that are on the way. Through the biblical--time-specific--promise of our Lord, hope is provided for the saved, and forewarning is given for those unbelieving and wicked inhabitants of the earth who continue to resist and oppose God.

Amassing wisdom from as early as the 5th century B.C.E. to the modern day has produced an intensely profound, yet simple and straight to the point collection of quotes from the greatest minds all over the world: from speakers, philosophers, authors, entrepreneurs, scientists, and more. It is like having an entire library of wisdom contained within a single book. Below are just a few of the great minds included in this collection: Aristotle, Theodore Roosevelt, Confucius, Albert Einstein, Oscar Wilde, Kahlil Gibran, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Maya Angelou, Leo Tolstoy, H. Jackson Brown, Jr., Benjamin Franklin, James Earl Jones, Horace, Winston Churchill, Voltaire, Benjamin Disraeli, Henry David Thoreau, Marcus Aurelius, Helen Keller, and Seneca. A Selection Of Three Quotes From The Book: “Never believe anything that requires you to hate people who do not believe it.” -Robert Brault “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” Louis B. Smedes “A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.” -Danish Proverb This collection presents an opportunity to seek and meditate upon the advice from the greatest counselors who ever lived, to receive teaching from the most venerated philosophers, and a passage for listening to those who have long since passed away. Drawing from an extremely careful and meticulous search of quotes, more focused yet more profound than any source ever made, this compilation is designed to permanently improve the reader’s mindset in every aspect of their life, creating an active and living asset for positive change in the world.

Ming Lee - The Chinese Dragon - is the unbeaten, undisputed queen of virtual martial arts. Until she meets James Gong, fresh from his starring role in Ham Solo: Revenge of the Fist. Can their combined skill, grace and teamwork defeat everything the virtso world throws at them? Do they take down the mobsters? The bully? And just where does ''the gymnast'' fit into all of this?

The Sumerians are widely believed to have created the world’s earliest civilization on the fertile floodplains of southern Iraq from about 3500 to 2000 BCE. They have been credited with the invention of nothing less than cities, writing, and the wheel, and therefore hold an ancient mirror to our own urban, literate world. But is this picture correct? Paul Collins reveals how the idea of a Sumerian people was assembled from the archaeological and textual evidence uncovered in Iraq and Syria over the last one hundred fifty years. Reconstructed through the biases of those who unearthed them, the Sumerians were never simply lost and found, but reinvented a number of times, both in antiquity and in the more recent past.

Clara lives in her balanced world where everything is perfect. Her glasshouse is free of bugs, her prized pumpkins free blemishes. But then one day a boy walks into her life and slowly Clara realises that her world is not perfect at all. paranoia spreads and she loses all her customers. Finally, she must face up to the realisation that her world is not perfect, and she must make allowances and compromise if she is to survive.

James Gong is training for his black belt in taekwondo. One night a camera crew turns up at training for an episode of My Life. James is sparring a white belt who gets carried away and hammers James'' foot. Sparks fly in James'' brain and he gasps – all caught on national TV. James responds with a jumping spinning sidekick which obliterates his opponent. This is the beginning of James'' woes at the club, for he has disgraced Mr Cho, the head instructor. Hollywood Productions just loves James'' jumping , spinning sidekick. They decide to star him in their small budget flick, Big Action in Little Town. Unbeknown to James, Hollywood Productions is a scam company that basically produces B grade ‘loser’ movies to offset huge tax bills. Meanwhile James, who lusts after his sister Caitlin’s best friend, Amber, thinks his sudden film career will curry favour. Not so. If anything, Amber shuns him even more. Determined to win the love of his life, James tries to learn how to skate, because he knows that Amber fancies a local skater named Spiros. He only succeeds in showing himself up, but James is pathetically immune to the irony and subtleties of life. He figures that all is well with the world and that he’s making vast progress. To Hollywood Productions’ great horror the flick is so bad that it’s good. People have queued at the premiere and national TV stations have got wind of the huge success of this little budget movie. Big Action in Little Town is going to be a blockbuster!

Tehran was well known to American businessman Jack Devlin until the day everything changed. When radical Islamic students stormed the US embassy on November 4, 1979, Jack narrowly escaped the revolutionary chaos, leaving behind 80 percent of his business and 100 percent of his heart. To get his beautiful girlfriend, Farideh, out of Iran, Jack accepts a devil’s bargain with the CIA and MI6. He must slip back into Tehran, where the militant students are holding dozens of Americans hostage in their own embassy. His part of the bargain is to steal the coveted client ledger of the world’s most powerful arms dealer, Mustafa Khaki, Farideh’s father. Surprised by an additional assignment, Jack is also ordered to strip a KGB defector of details on Russian collusion with Iran and their plan to eliminate the American hostages while infiltrating the highest levels of Ayatollah Khomeini’s government. From the damp cellars of KGB headquarters to the cold chill of British espionage to the blistering heat of the Kuwaiti desert, readers will learn, in an erroneous twist, that not all the turncoats are Russians.

An ice-cream-eating dinosaur, a big, bad smell, a lifesaving dog, zombies playing soccer, a ghost in the garden, pets who get lost and found again, trouble with losing a tooth, seven helpful robots, a knight-slaying dragon, and much, much more in this collection of six-minute stories.

In a galaxy of cutthroat companies, shadowy clans and a million agendas, spy agency RIM barely wields enough control to keep order. Maximus Black is RIM''s star cadet. But he has a problem. One of RIM''s best agents, Anneke Longshadow, knows there''s a mole in the organisation. And Maximus has a lot to hide.

“Well-researched and beautifully written.…Collins knows how to build suspense.” —San Francisco Chronicle On November 23rd of 1849, in the heart of Boston, one of the city’s richest men simply vanished. Dr. George Parkman, a Brahmin who owned much of Boston’s West End, was last seen that afternoon visiting his alma mater, Harvard Medical School. Police scoured city tenements and the harbor, and leads put the elusive Dr. Parkman at sea or hiding in Manhattan. But one Harvard janitor held a much darker suspicion: that their ruthless benefactor had never left the Medical School building alive. His shocking discoveries in a chemistry professor’s laboratory engulfed America in one of its most infamous trials: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. John White Webster. A baffling case of red herrings, grave robbery, and dismemberment, it became a landmark case in the use of medical forensics and the meaning of reasonable doubt. Paul Collins brings nineteenth-century Boston back to life in vivid detail, weaving together newspaper accounts, letters, journals, court transcripts, and memoirs from this groundbreaking case. Rich in characters and evocative in atmosphere, Blood & Ivy explores the fatal entanglement of new science and old money in one of America’s greatest murder mysteries.

The sensational story of the last two centuries of the papacy, its most influential pontiffs, troubling doctrines, and rise in global authority In 1799, the papacy was at rock bottom: The Papal States had been swept away and Rome seized by the revolutionary French armies. With cardinals scattered across Europe and the next papal election uncertain, even if Catholicism survived, it seemed the papacy was finished. In this gripping narrative of religious and political history, Paul Collins tells the improbable success story of the last 220 years of the papacy, from the unexalted death of Pope Pius VI in 1799 to the celebrity of Pope Francis today. In a strange contradiction, as the papacy has lost its physical power -- its armies and states -- and remained stubbornly opposed to the currents of social and scientific consensus, it has only increased its influence and political authority in the world.

The concept of stylus phantasticus (or ?fantastic style?) as it was expressed in free keyboard music of the north German Baroque forms the focus of this book. Exploring both the theoretical background to the style and its application by composers and performers, Paul Collins surveys the development of Athanasius Kircher?s original concept and its influence on music theorists such as Brossard, Janovka, Mattheson, and Walther. Turning specifically to fantasist composers of keyboard works, the book examines the keyboard toccatas of Merulo, Fresobaldi, Rossi and Froberger and their influence on north German organists Tunder, Weckmann, Reincken, Buxtehude, Bruhns, Lubeck, Bohm, and Leyding. The free keyboard music of this distinguished group highlights the intriguing relationship at this time between composition and performance, the concept of fantasy, and the understanding of originality and individuality in seventeenth-century culture.

A haunted house, trouble at the zoo, a girl who gets zapped into a computer game, homework-stealing aliens, a pirate war, the loudest kid alive, a princess under a magic spell, racing snails, a family of monsters and much, much more in this collection of seven-minute stories.

Calbaras has knowledge that the dragons of Dracondas desperately want. As payment, they are willing to grant him his wish to become the greatest warlock of all time. But can Calbaras handle this power? Or will it ultimately destroy him?

It''s hard to save the world when you are in jail. Dantar and Velza, children of the warlock Calbaras, need to escape from jails six hundred miles apart to stop their father unleashing a catastrophically dangerous spell. Both will soon learn that they are not just special, they are also very dangerous.

Not since Garth Nix and Sean Williams joined forces has there been such a great collaboration! The warlock Calbaras wants to revive the ancient, forbidden magic of dragons, and his son Dantar is vital to his plans. Dantar is on the run in an enemy kingdom, unaware that he is so important. Worse, his sister Velza is now working for the enemy king.

When two of Australia’s most popular fantasy authors collaborate, The Warlock’s Child weaves a new and exciting brand of magic. The Invincible has been attacked, and all seems lost. Dantar’s only escape from his enemies is through the foul-smelling sewers of Savaria. Velza’s plans to save him are soon thwarted by three enormous dragons threatening to set fire to the city. Can Dantar and Velza deliver the city from danger?

Earth Mysteries Calendar 2015 Dedicated to all citizens of the planet and their great interest in Earth''s mysteries.

Continue, and individual motives arise: revenge, greed, overblown pride ...

A view into the tumultuous and creative life of Edgar Allan Poe.

The remarkable true story of a turn-of-the-19th century murder and the trial that ensued—a showdown in which iconic political rivals Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr joined forces to make sure justice was served—from bestselling author of the Edgar finalist, Murder of the Century. In the closing days of 1799, the United States was still a young republic. Waging a fierce battle for its uncertain future were two political parties: the well-moneyed Federalists, led by Alexander Hamilton, and the populist Republicans, led by Aaron Burr. The two finest lawyers in New York, Burr and Hamilton were bitter rivals both in and out of the courtroom, and as the next election approached, their animosity reached a crescendo. But everything changed when a young Quaker woman, Elma Sands, was found dead in Burr''s newly constructed Manhattan Well. The horrific crime quickly gripped the nation, and before long accusations settled on one of Elma’s suitors: a handsome young carpenter named Levi Weeks. As the enraged city demanded a noose be draped around his neck, Week''s only hope was to hire a legal dream team. And thus it was that New York’s most bitter political rivals and greatest attorneys did the unthinkable—they teamed up. Our nation’s longest running cold case, Duel with the Devil delivers the first substantial break in the case in over 200 years. At once an absorbing legal thriller and an expertly crafted portrait of the United States in the time of the Founding Fathers, Duel with the Devil is a masterpiece of narrative nonfiction.

A narrative history of the origins of Western civilization argues that Europe was transformed in the tenth century from a continent rife with violence and ignorance to a continent on the rise.

Quentaris is at war with Tolrush, draining the city of every able bodied fighter. Famous Quentaran rift guide, Rad de La?rel, is shocked to discover that his beloved city has been left wide open to attack by vampires. Other cities have already fallen to the scourge and Quentaris is next in line. Rad prepares Quentaris for its greatest onslaught yet. But how can a ragtag army stop vampires who suck the souls from their victims, leaving zombie-like remains? Quentaris is fast filling up with the walking dead ...