Curtis Books

This story will tell us about Quinn finally get marry. she will marry cam not adam because adam is old. read this book to find out how Cam can able to marry Quinn.. it is filled with surprises and joy in the end.. Quinn got her wish and she won everything in the way she wanted to happen..

Cam's Quest is the sequel to Dian Curtis Regan's Princess Nevermore. Cam's Quest follows Princess Quinn, aka Princess Nevermore, and Cam, the former Wizard's Apprentice, as they each seek their destiny. Quinn and Cam have both been raised in the underground kingdom of Mandria, one in which both magical and Medieval customs dominate.

Quinn, in particular, is bound by custom and expectation. As the story begins, she is under considerable pressure to select a suitor, because she must wed on her 16th birthday. She struggles mightily with the decision, and eventually flees the kingdom. Meanwhile Cam, who has been in love with Quinn since childhood, ventures into the aboveground world to learn more about his own mysterious background. Alternating chapters follow the two teens on their respective adventures. The alternating narrative format, replete with cliffhangers, is sure to keep fans turning the pages.

As with the previous book, my favorite parts were those in which a person from a different world (Cam), is baffled by aspects of our own, modern-day society. Here's an example, in which Cam watches a young woman named Sarah with her baby, Hannah:

"Sarah placed Hannah in a strange contraption that held her captive on all four sides, so she could not crawl more than a few knee-lengths in any direction. Hannah immediately wailed, wanting out. Cam did not blame her. (Chapter 14)"

I think what I like about this is the fresh perspective on ordinary objects and behaviors. Shaking hands seems odd to Cam, and he initially shakes left to right, instead of up and down. Why do we shake hands up and down? Why do we shake hands at all? I would have liked to see more of this Mandra/real world juxtaposition in this installment, but alas, Cam's visit to the upper world is relatively brief.

I also like Quinn. She's a strong female character, one who pushes against the limitations of her existence. She's occasionally autocratic, but this feels realistic, given that she's been raised as a Princess. She also craves human contact (Princesses are not supposed to be touched in Mandria). Here's an example of Quinn's thoughts, as she prepares for her friend's wedding:

"After tonight, there would be a respite from her royal obligation to smile, say polite things, and most of all, try to develop a fondness for one lad or another. They all seemed to blur into a hazy line of eager bumbleness. Eager dull bumbleness, she thought, recalling the sameness of the questions asked by the noble lads (Chapter 6)"

I love the phrase "eager bumbleness". It's both descriptive and poetic.

Fans of the previous book are sure to find this sequel (and apparent conclusion) satisfying. There are no major surprises, but the story is well-written and engaging. Cam and Quinn both show themselves to be brave and loyal, surmounting the obstacles in their path and achieving triumph.

This book review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on April 7, 2007.

Cam's Quest is a delightful read! Cam's Quest starts right where Princess Nevermore left off. Cam, the apprentice of the famous underground wizard Melikar, has no idea who he is. He has had unanswered questions from his past for as long as he can remember, but no one to answer them.

Cam is suddenly replaced by someone else as Melikar's apprentice which leaves Cam free to explore his past in hopes that he might have a future. But where will Cam's journey lead him? Will it lead him away from Quinn and from the home that he knows? Will Quinn have to marry one of the endless array of suitors that her father has chosen for her? Or will she find out that Adam is her only suitor.

Cam's Quest left me on the edge of my seat, and it is a real page turner. I could not put it down. If you are looking for excitement in a magical world and the chance to visit Mandria and Outer Earth once more, or would love to discover it then this is the book for you! I recommend this book to kids of all ages even the adults who are still kids at heart. Dian Curtis Regan has written so many twists and excitement into Cam's Quest that it is sure to fill the reader with delight. Don't forget about Princess Nevermore the 2007 Expanded and Updated edition to go along with this wonderful book.

I first saw this book in the library and was so impressed with it that I just had to purchase a copy for myself. David Curtis has a truly wonderful ability to paint beach scenes with such startling clarity that I enjoy looking at them all so much. His work with oils is brilliant and this book has to be in any painter's collection.

I admire Mr. Curtis mastery of outdoor painting, and it wasn't long before I decided to get this book. Strong compositional sense and an incredible ability to convey the light and mood of the subject in a realistic yet painterly manner would define his style. He paints "on the spot" but may occasionally complete a painting in the studio, while still retaining a spontaneous quality.

With the title "Capturing the Moment in Oils" one would expect a book about alla prima painting and indeed, the instruction has a lot to do with different plein-air settings and the "one-hit" brushstroke approach (with no subsequent modification) that Curtis shares with other Masters like Richard Schmid. The downside is that the author doesn't go much into detail about the fundamentals (values, edges, color...well, mileage is important too) that are needed to get this "one-hit brushstroke" right. And you must be warned: this book has little information about how a beginner can get started, nor does it feature any picture of the artist materials or him while painting. Just his paintings, mostly landscapes and seascapes ones, which IMO gives the book a nice sober look. It's quite short of step-by-steps too. If you rely on the product description from the publisher, you may be in for a surprise.

The text still has a lot of useful and interesting insights; it features a nice discussion about how to start a painting and it even deals with glazing, which the artist considers as an additional tool to succeed in achieving the results you're aiming for. I do enjoy benefiting from Curtis expert guidance and read about his own ways of approaching things; you just need to know that the instruction is not as focused and thorough as it could have been...no big deal; still very useful as I said before. Overall, this is a good practical guide about David Curtis equipment and how he uses it in the course of a painting. In fact, this book reminds me a lot of his watercolor book, which I also recommend nonetheless for its gorgeous gallery of moody watercolors.

To sum up, I would say that the Art generously displayed in this book is masterful and highly inspirational but if you are completely new to painting, you may need a more thorough basic instruction. Anyway, the book is very pleasant to flip through and is worth buying solely for the artwork. It is a great addition to the serious landscape painter library.

Capturing the Moment in Oils....by David Curtis is a lush, lovely book depicting the painter's beautifully executed oils. Certainly he knows his stuff when it comes to painting, but this book, unlike his previous one, is woefully short on showing the painting process and long on descriptions of place and thinking. I was truly disappointed that there weren't demonstrations and sequential photos of at least a few of the paintings in progress. Buyers should know that this is more of a coffee table book than a treatise for the artist.

This is a step by step guide if you want to get started with Coldfusion. I didnt have any experience in Coldfusion and this book gave me confidence that I would be able to learn it quickly. I have brought it for a month now and it looks good. I also brought ColdFusion 7 book by Ben Forta as another reference. I will start with Apress book first and then the Forta as I believe it will cover more topics and would be helpful if I knew the basics first. Good book, handy for starters in Coldfusion using Dreamweaver as their dev tool. Amazon service was good. Reached me in time. Would buy again from here for sure.

The title of this book is a straight-forward description of the contents - a book designed to meet the needs of new ColdFusion developers who are learning CFMX 6.1 by using Dreamweaver MX (DMX) 2004.

Compared to the CFMX "bible" - Web Application Construction Kit, this book is lean, comfortable, and informal. The basics of working with databases, writing in ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML), using conditional logic, and form processing are covered in the first half of the book. The topics are covered briefly with simple examples. If you don't grasp the concepts and usages presented, you may need a second reference for more detailed information.

You'll definitely need a database-specific reference if you're not familiar with Structure Query Language (SQL) or your datasource is something other than MS Access. The authors' hints about writing queries and CFML code suggest best practices for making easy to read, reusable code. Queries are designed using the built-in DMX 2004 panels and tools. This gives a developer coming from the webmaster side of the internet assistance in composing SQL with filters and sorts, then allows you to view the generated SQL.

The authors list the most useful tags to know with simple, clear explanations of what they do. Practical examples are used to display both code and the resulting browser output. Be warned though, there are typos and odd phrasing in some spots.

More advanced chapters cover topics like maintaining state by storing information in persistent variables, exception handling for error management, and code reuse through User-Defined Functions (UDF), custom tags and CF components (CFC's). Topics are limited to a few pages each, so there is not a lot of in-depth coverage. A full chapter is devoted to working with XML and another to Flash MX 2004 and web services.

A nice feature of the book is the last chapter which pulls it all together into a web site featuring an image gallery, login administration and content management. Overall, it's a good book for a fast learner, although you may need more in-depth coverage as you grow in your development.

This book starts out slowly if you already know ColdFusion, but then it jumps quickly into dynamic Web development using ColdFusion MX 6.1 in conjunction with Dreamweaver MX 2004. Most other Dreamweaver books usually try to do too much by also covering ASP, PHP, or JSP. Such books have failed where this one succeeds in giving the reader a comprehensive and well illustrated guide to one technology, rather than gloss over several at the same time. In addition to the bread and butter things you can or should do in ColdFusion for a Web site, the book devotes two whole chapters XML and Web Services, and the last chapter gives a case study of a complete ColdFusion-based Web site. Yet, despite having six authors, it comes in below 500 pages and does not look at all like those bloated volumes which try to explain everything under the information technology sun. If you are looking for a reference book covering all the details on ColdFusion or Dreamweaver, look elsewhere. If you want a book you can read and use in your day to day work, this is definitely it.

I use this book at work all the time for projects where we are adding DB2 to old COBOL programs. I have a little bit of SQL experience, so I generally use this book as a reference. It also helps me use a variety of DB2 features to make the queries simpler and do what I really want.

This is an excellent resource for all those baffled programmers who need to learn DB2 fast. Thos book provides clear-cut examples, syntax, and the results of the various SQL commands that are most likely to be needed by any programmer. All the basics from simple SELECT statements are covered all the way up to ORDER BY clauses, joins and so on. A special chapter on using SPUFI was also a big help. The emphasis here is on the COBOL language and mainframe computers, but it is an excellent learning tool for anyone. The book teaches by example and can be finished easily within a week (The example programs are what make it look so big). A must-read for anyone interested in relationall databases.

Buy this book!!! ... I wanted
to refresh my basic DB2/COBOL skills, so I ordered a copy of this book.
"DB2 for the COBOL Programmer" is written in a clear and concise fashion
which even a novice programmer can start using immediately. SQL theory and
application are presented in a way that can only be described as inspired.
Curtis Garvin and Steve Eckols have done an outstanding job taking the
reader from zero to competent professional in this book. I only wish that
more 'techie' books were written like this one (and it's companion, Part 2).

I was excited to review Dirty Dancing At The Prom. As a mother of three daughters, the oldest being [...], I admit I need all the help I can get. Especially, when my oldest is already dealing with "freak dancing" and friends who are having sex. Being a parent is a scary job, especially when you have made so many mistakes yourself. I knew that I could use a little encouragement and Barbara Curtis delivers.

Interestingly enough, a lot of the book didn't really appeal to me. I know that doesn't make sense considering what I wrote in the previous paragraph, but I will explain. My children are facing problems that, according to the book, Barbara's children didn't have to deal with at such an early age. Her children were in their late teens. Where I live, "freak dancing" is all too common and ten year old children are doing it every weekend at parties hosted by their parents. Sex ... my next door neighbor's daughter is already sneaking out of the house and meeting boys for sex and she is only twelve. She lost her virginity when she was eleven. And, this is a child that my daughter has been friends with since she was two years old. Which, left me wondering if I was going to find some value in Dirty Dancing At The Prom, especially after I had already read a few chapters and was feeling like I wish life was as easy, and teaching my kids what God has for them was as simple, as Barbara made it sound.

Then I read Chapter Six. I cried through the whole chapter, thanking God that not only was the author willing to admit her mistakes, but that she shared how she dealt with that when it came to her kids. It is hard to raise children in today's world. It is even harder to actively raise them, keep tabs on them, know who their friends are, what they are doing ... especially when there are so many more parents who treat you like you are some kind of alien for trying to raise your children right. And, it only makes it harder when you have failed in so many areas of your own life. It makes you feel like some kind of hypocrite to tell your children not to do things you, yourself, have done ... even when you know they shouldn't do those things. Barbara helped me get past that and showed me a way that I could do so in humility and obedience to God, while showing my kids how much I love and value them. She also showed me how I can deal with their mistakes in the spirit of Christ. I so appreciate it.

Honestly, that one chapter alone makes this book worth the read ... though I am sure you will find value in the rest of the book as well. While I sometimes felt the author was a little out of touch, she still delivers a solid message. And, I happen to agree with her. She definitely has her own little spot on the "how to be a better parent" shelf. I thank God for her spot. Dirty Dancing At The Prom gave me some much needed insight that I was praying for.

As a parent of a twenty-something and a former youth leader and Sunday school teacher, I've read more than my share of books on raising teens. Some lean toward academic and theological perspectives, while others present purely anecdotal experiences. Barbara Curtis' book, Dirty Dancing at the Prom, weaves together the spiritual, practical, and scientific, creating a rich tapestry of wisdom for parents of teens everywhere.

Written in a practical, easy-to-read format, readers can finish this book in just one or two sittings or can chew on bite-size pieces over the course of several days. The chapters are short and include practical, ready-to-apply takeaways sprinkled in sidebars throughout each chapter: Get Involved, What Does God Say, Discussion Starters, and The Bottom Line for Parents. Barbara also goes directly to the source--she speaks to teens themselves, which serves as a lesson in and of itself. Their responses give her book an authenticity that other books on the topic lack.

But best of all, reading Barbara's book is like sitting down with a friend. She speaks with gentleness and humility and with the quiet confidence of someone who has been there. She is a gifted communicator, and I highly recommend her book.

This book was amazing and extremely helpful for me. The battlefield
our kids face in high school seems to be the same throughout the country. I am saddened by the experiences that so many of these teens seem to face in the areas of sexuality and lost innocence. This book empowers me as a parent to know what I can do help my kids navigate this tough time. Since I still have a younger child at home, too, I now know what I can do at her young age to help her deal with high school. Barbara Curtis is an inspiring author. Her honesty with her past and what she reveals about her own family's struggles made me want to read the book all at once. Thank you!

This book was excellently written through the many battle scenes that were depicted to the coming of age of Ossian Fitz Roderick Cambel, son of the Laird of Lochnell. This book starts in the grim streets of Edinbourgh, Scotland, to the Bahamas, to the Americas. You will really enjoy this book!!!... I did!!...

Just completed reading this novel. Hard to put the book down. The inter-relationships among the characters is quite intense.

Easy reading, very interesting, drawing the reader into each action-filled episode. The Main character,Ossian, coming of age through many trials and tribulations, was well developed.

Enjoyed the journey back into history with a main character brought to life.

Reminds me of the mini-series Roots, with the depth of the characters. A screen-play would definitely bring the story to real-life.

I found this to be a highly engaging historical novel. The characters are well-developed and consistent. The historical references and period military tactics were obviously researched in detail, are described clearly and succinctly, and tie in nicely with the story. There are no loose ends. It illustrates the latter part of the American Revolution from multiple perspectives. It's also a gripping tale of a boy becoming a man under exceptional circumstances. A great read.

Tactical data links are the key elements for the evolution of EW systems performances inside a battlefield. "Dynamic libraries" of passive and active EW systems make those systems, "adaptive" to the threat environment, the variations of which run according to the INFORMATION playing in "real time".

This book brings the reader up to date on almost every aspect of modern Electronic Warfare, and is well worth reading.

But I must add two caveats. First, Schleher covers so much ground in one volume that a great deal of background material is necessarily left out. The reader needs to be reasonably familiar with military electronics and the relevant aspects of physics to understand a lot of the material presented here. Indeed,in a few places, such as the discussion in Section 8.1.1 of high-power microwave weapons, so much has been left out that I doubt whether anybody who lacks specialized knowledge of that particular topic can infer the implications of what Schleher says.

My second caveat is that, perhaps because of space limitations, the book contains essentially no material relating the great mass of technical information it provides to operational doctrine and the tactical implications of operational doctrine. Given that it's impossible to put all of the very latest-and-greatest technical innovations into every weapon and every platform (because it would cost too much, add too much weight, take up too much space, and make maintenance inordinately difficult) the choice of what to use where has to be made on the basis of how the platform or weapon is to be used, and that can only be determined by considering operational doctrine. Many engineers, and even some military personnel, tend to overlook this, so in a book like Schleher's it would be invaluable to have this relationship discussed. But it isn't.

However, I found the book fascinating and informative.

This is a good place to expanded your knowledge on the Electronic warfare side of a battle. The ins and outs of using Radio, Radar, TV to fight a modern 21st centruy battle. This book cover subjects such as how Command and Control works to how people using Signal intelligence(Sigint) and Electronic Intelligence (Elint) to find thier opponets Headquarters. As before this is a good book to expand your knowledge. Maybe not start, but at least to expand any knowledge you have

Aiden "Spider" Rodas is the third wildland firefighter to have a story.
Yup! she used him as a stud to sire her child. Great line for the "9 months later" series.

Becca Thomas, like so many misguided women, puts her desire to have a child on hold, to further her career. Now she is getting desperate. She cruises the night clubs and bars looking for a man who wants no commitments to a family life.
That way the baby will be all hers. Like so many, she forgets that a child needs a father for his own identity.

Spider is another dedicated wildland firefighter, and is a swinging bachelor, just about 30 years old. Becca is 38.
Aiden has a problem with the thought of fatherhood as his own father left him and his mother. But we learn of a problem with Abulita.

Jackson "Golden" Garrett, and Logan "Tin Man" McCall and many others from the Silver Bend firefighting team are called into Montana to help with a sleeper fire.

It seems like only Becca is slowly becoming aware of the dangers of this fire. She is training a gal called Julia who doesn't want to go out into the field. There are more mangement problems.
And "Roadhouse" shows up to agravate Spider. All Roadhouse wants is to get to know Spider.

Well, I never did find out what Sirus's problem was but it seems like NIFC is not sending in the help that the Montana teams needed. Only after some close calls with the burn overs.
[I will certainly add these wonderful men to my prayers - meaning the real ones.]

Great story as Spider slowly adjusts to the idea of becoming a father - falling in love with an older woman - and takes on the responsibilities of heading up the Hot Shot team in a dangerous fire.
Don't forget to injoy the inclusion of bits of more story of Cole "Chainsaw" Hudson -- his story is coming up next in March of 2006.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - great set of stories - definitely keepers.

Nearing forty, National Interagency Fire Center Fire Behavior Analyst Becca Thomas decided to become pregnant though she is not married. She researched whom she thought would provide good genes and decided that Hot Shot Aiden Rodas is perfect. She seduced the hotshot and became pregnant, but hid her delicate condition from the man she has since avoided like he has the plague.

However, her success at eluding Aidan ends when they are forced to work a dangerous Montana blaze together. He takes one look at her belly, does some quick mental calculations and profiling Becca as someone who would not sleep around, he concludes she is carrying his baby. He demands a major role in raising their child expected to be born in under two months.

The protagonists are an intriguing duo as Becca has no explanation that is acceptable by the responsible playboy who impregnated her without his knowledge. His demands cramp her thoughts more than the fetus she carries. However, in spite of a fabulous pairing of a likable couple, the star of Melinda Curtis' deep thriller is the fires as she interweaves into the plot the danger and the modern techniques in battling an inferno.

Harriet Klausner

EXPECTANT FATHER by Melinda Curtis
October 1, 2005

Amazon rating 3.5/5

"Melinda Curtis's Expectant Father takes the reader into the world of firefighters who work with controlled blazes in the Montana forests of Flathead National Park. Becca Thomas, a 38-year old expert in fire analysis, works with a team that includes the father of her unborn baby. However, no one knows that Spider Aidan Rodas has anything to do with Becca, socially or otherwise. It's Becca's secret, one that she hopes to keep, so that she can have her baby and live her life without the hassle of dealing with a relationship. The story takes place in a short span of a few days, revealing the leads' backgrounds and what makes them tick.

Spider is the type of man who doesn't like to be tied down. When he and Becca had their one-night stand in Vegas, Spider had no idea that her main goal was to get pregnant by a man who wasn't looking for a commitment. As the two work together to tame a fire that is getting out of control, Spider eventually recognizes her - but instead of thinking that the baby is his, he believes that Becca is pregnant with her husband's child, and was cheating on said husband with Spider." Complete review at BookLoons - M Lofton.

Great story, but felt it was a bit bogged down in the beginning with too many characters being introduced at once, and too much technical jargon thrown in as well. Otherwise, interesting love story of a woman whose sole focus was to have a baby, not a husband.

I love this book, it's easy to read and understand even for an artistic type. The book is spangled with pictures, and visual guides. I use this for my beginning motion graphics class and all kinds of students are able to understand it.
AND above all it is not horribly expensive like all other software books!
Great starter book if you want to get familiar with After Effects!

As an artist with a lot of 2d experience in animation who needs to absorb several new animation programs quickly, I find this book very easy to read and well organized.
There is one major problem though (actually, perhaps two).
Key components of the book are the 'downloadable' files located at the publishers' site online (rather than on CD as with other computer books). Many of these files seem to be corrupted or do not open in a newer version of AI. In addition there appears to be no 'help' page or resource for this problem from the publishers. I am unsure how much I'll be able to learn here without being able to perform many of the examples and lessons featured in the book.
I really want to like this book a lot more than I feel I am able.

After Effects is an amazing program, so powerful, so intuitive. People that are already committed to taking it on will be better off with the excellent but very dense Trish Meyers books. People that have gentler goals and less technical experience will be overwhelmed by them, and probably quit before they really crack AE, so that's where this book comes in.

AE is potentially a radical tool; with it anyone with a computer and a DVD burner is a film and animation studio. Far more people could learn it, and to that end this book is a useful thing: it isn't as thorough as the Meyers books or the also-excellent H.O.T. book, but as a quick spin through the essentials, a teaser to get you excited and briefed so you'll be ready to take on heavier selections, it's a good choice.

This book proved itself very useful for out weekend drive up the coast. Naturally, there are many places to stay or dine, but you can't list them all (in this "portable" book). However, we did need to purchase a Maine Highway Map for better directions. I wish I'd gotten the book BEFORE I made Hotel reservations!

I read a lot of travel books of all sizes, and I've traveled to Maine quite a bit. This little Frommer's guide is the best I've found for those who want an introduction to the Maine coast that they can carry around with them on their trip. On my first trip to Maine, I used it in tandem with a larger, more comprehensive book (Maine: An Explorer's Guide), which I consulted ahead of time and left at home because it was too cumbersome to carry around. (The larger book also tended to list lots of activities and places but lacked many of the pertinent details that are included in the Frommer's Guide.) The authors of the Frommer's Guide pack a lot of good information into a small volume, selecting their details carefully and reliably -- I found that all of their descriptions were on the mark, and all of their suggestions were well taken. (Without this book, for instance, I might have bypassed the spectacular Harpswell Peninsula.) You can't include everything in a little volume -- and for readers who want more, there are bigger, more comprehensive books out there. But I find myself returning again and again to this little guide every time I plan a trip to the Maine coast -- its focus is more on quality than quantity and it's extremely well organized, well written, and easy to use. It's also great at pinpointing places that are a little unusual and not overrun by tourists. Highly recommended!

This book is not quite as comprehensive as I had hoped. At approximately 200 pages, it tries to cover the most popular areas of the Maine coast. It does list prices and reviews hotels - perhaps the best feature of all. The print is also quite small in this little guide. It is indeed portable/pocket size, but you may need other guides to help supplement the information given in this book.