Sleezy the Fox: Story One - Sleezy Gets a Second Chance

Sleezy the Fox: Story One - Sleezy Gets a Second Chance

William Forde

Psychology / Music

Each of us shall experience or perpetrate some wrong in our lives. At the critical stage of reconciliation and healing, it is vitally important that we are able to give others and ourselves the benefit of a ‘second chance’. And if you are like I used to be growing up, you may need to receive a ‘second chance’ many times before you eventually get it right.As a growing child, the one thing that I experienced in abundance was ‘second chances.’ In fact, I’d go as far as to say that without having had my fair share of second chances, my life would have taken a much different course. Second chances were my life saver!Not surprisingly, one of my favourite books was Victor Hugo’s ‘Les Misērables,’ a story that was chiefly responsible for transforming me from ‘Thief’ to that of ‘Probation Officer’ in later life. I was also fascinated by the bible story of Christ telling His followers to ‘turn the other cheek’ in circumstances where it seemed more natural to ‘strike back.’ I eventually came to understand that the instruction of Christ to turn the other cheek wasn’t so that the offender might strike you once more, but to afford him/her ‘a second chance’ not to strike you again.Wherever the fault lies, whatever the character trait requiring changing happens to be or however the behaviour needs improvement, being provided with ‘a second chance’ is essential to one’s overall sense of well being. It may be that losing weight is what is required to getting a second chance at life or giving up smoking or abstaining from alcohol or drugs. One may need to address one’s inappropriate behaviour of aggression, distrust, bullying, dishonesty, name calling or anything which adversely affects one’s life and image. Whatever the unhappy state of being, ‘a second chance’ may be what one requires to either give or receive.‘Sleezy the Fox’ is a book of four stories about the overarching theme of ‘second chances’. On the surface it deals with the immigration of a married couple and their seven children into a strange country, the bullying of neighbours, the ostracizing of offenders from the community as a whole and the alienation that often exists between man and wild beast and beast and wild man!Each of us shall experience or perpetrate some wrong in our lives. At the critical stage of reconciliation and healing, it is vitally important that we are able to give others and ourselves the benefit of a ‘second chance’. And if you are like I used to be growing up, you may need to receive a ‘second chance’ many times before you eventually get it right.
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The Stockholm Manifesto

The Stockholm Manifesto

Steven Hager

Art / History / Music

A peek inside the mind of an American refugee stranded penniless in Sweden during the height of the Vietnam War.After burning most of my bridges in the States, I fled to Sweden in the winter of 1972 to avoid the draft. I had just enough money to buy an old used typewriter and was heavily influenced by Louis-Ferdinand Celine when I wrote this story. The American deserter community had recently been decimated by drug arrests and the remnants that remained seemed to be under surveillance from a variety of intelligence agencies.
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Drums:  a Novel

Drums: a Novel

Brad Henderson

Music

Told from a drummer's point of view, Drums: a Novel chronicles a small-time 80s rock band's run at making it big-time. The story moves from San Luis Obispo to Lake Tahoe, where the band chases the ultimate gig. Drums celebrates those musicians who achieve commercial success, as well as the 99.99% who give it their all, only to fall short from attaining mega record deals and glitz-glam fame.Boone is a lone wolf and bounty hunter living day to day and paycheck to paycheck. Boone lives for the money and the chase. He just wants to capture his prey, the most heinous of criminals; rapists, serial killers, etc., collect the reward and return to his secluded cabin in the mountains before the next full moon. Forced to team up with his biggest competition, a beautiful and captivating female bounty hunter with her own secrets, Boone is lured into a world he cannot escape. As he learns more about himself and who his father is, he can never turn back. His secret is revealed but who can he trust?
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Something New # aka Something Fresh

Something New # aka Something Fresh

P. G. Wodehouse

Fiction / Humor / Music

A Blandings novelThis is the first Blandings novel, in which P.G. Wodehouse introduces us to the delightfully dotty Lord Emsworth, his bone-headed younger son, the Hon. Freddie Threepwood, his long-suffering secretary, the Efficient Baxter, and Beach the Blandings butler. As Wodehouse wrote, 'without at least one impostor on the premises, Blandings Castle is never itself'. In ISomething Fresh/I there are two, each with an eye on a valuable scarab which Lord Emsworth has acquired without quite realizing how it came into his pocket. But of course things get a lot more complicated than this.Early Wodehouse work follows Ashe Marson into the drafty halls of Blandings Castle, where he will try to make 'something new' of his life by purloining a rare Egyptian scarab—all for the best motives, of course. The resultant hilarious romp through a stately English country home in search of the missing piece also introduces other characters who recur throughout the author's Blandings Castle Saga.
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The Predator of the Meadow

The Predator of the Meadow

Stephen Cote

Music / Plays / Fantasy

Vincent Wagner is a soldier for the Panthera Corporation. His mind has been chemically and behaviorally altered to make him a more effective soldier. Soldiers for the Panthera Corporation have no memories of what transpired during their duty. For Vincent, his duty leaves him with the impression that he is a lion in a vast meadow, moving and fighting with perfect ferocity and no long-term memory.Vincent Wagner is a soldier for the Panthera Corporation. His mind has been chemically and behaviorally altered to make him a more effective soldier. Soldiers for the Panthera Corporation have no memories of what transpired during their duty. For Vincent, his duty leaves him with the impression that he is a lion in a vast meadow, moving and fighting with perfect ferocity and no long-term memory. But then he wakes up.
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Nothing Serious

Nothing Serious

P. G. Wodehouse

Fiction / Humor / Music

Nothing Serious is Wodehouse's famous collection of ten stories in which many old friends reappear in deliciously absurd situations. Two lovers are united by their hatred of cricket. Bingo Little, editor of Wee Tots and husband of romantic novelist Rosie M. Banks, finds new solutions to his financial problems. Lord Emsworth becomes an encyclopedia salesman for a day. Rodney Spelvin, bad poet turned enthusiastic golfer, shows signs of reverting to type. And Ukridge for once emerges triumphant from the struggle with his fearsome Aunt Julia.
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Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit

Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit

P. G. Wodehouse

Fiction / Humor / Music

A Jeeves and Wooster novel The beefy 'Stilton' Cheesewright has drawn Bertie Wooster as red-hot favourite in the Drones club annual darts tournament - which is lucky for Bertie because otherwise Stilton would have beaten him to a pulp and buttered the lawn with him. Stilton does not, after all like men who he thinks are trifling with his fiancée's affections. Meanwhile Bertie has committed a more heinous offence by growing a moustache, and Jeeves strongly disapproves - which is unfortunate, because Jeeves's feudal spirit is desperately needed. Bertie's Aunt Dahlia is trying to sell her magazine Milady's Boudoir to the Trotter Empire and still keep her amazing chef Anatole out of Lady Trotter's clutches. And Bertie? Bertie simply has to try to hold onto his moustache and hope he gets to the end in one piece.
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Lost Lucy

Lost Lucy

William Forde

Psychology / Music

‘Lost Lucy’ is a story for the 4 to 7 year old that tells about a careless girl who is very forgetful. She forgets to do things which are dangerous. She forgets to do things which are unhygienic. She forgets to do things which are inconsiderate. She forgets to do things which are rude and impolite. One day she gets lost and forgets her name and address. Stranger danger issue also dealt with.‘Lost Lucy’ is a story for the 4 to 7 year old child that tells about a careless girl who is very forgetful. She forgets to do things which are dangerous. She forgets to do things which are unhygienic. She forgets to do things which are inconsiderate. She forgets to do things which are rude and impolite.One day when Lucy arrives home from school, she takes her dog Patch for a walk. While walking, she starts daydreaming and finishes up lost. Then she finds a police station goes in and discovers that she has also forgotten her address and her name.Read about how Lucy finds her name and where she lives again with the help of a gentle policeman. Also read about some of the important things that one should do and not do, if ever one gets lost. The story raises some of the issues concerning ‘Stranger Danger,’ along with other helpful tips.This story was transmitted by the Bradford Radio for Schools on four or five occasions during 2000 and 2005.William Forde
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