Grant Books

This unique work features over 150 pages of detailed text, some vintage photos and various period illustrations showing the richness and variety of English home interiors during the Victorian period. A treasured history that sadly is now out of print.

This book is simple, practical, and easy to read--but at the same time life-changing. It focuses on how to ask the right questions in prayer and how to listen for answers. I've gone back to it more than once for inspiration and guidance. It's a wonderful guide to making one's prayers more effective.

Flash fiction is categorized as a short story under one thousand words. Once it was synonymous with prose-poetry, short bits of text, that were too poetic to be prose, but not formatted like poetry. Poetry-prose evolved into flash fiction, a medium that has blossomed in the ezine market, as well as the traditional print magazines.

You might ask, how hard can it be to pop out a few hundred words? Well, it's harder than you might think. Consider that the writer of flash fiction must create believable characters, scene and plot for each of these micro fictions. Think of that. In Raymond Grant's slim book "Don't be Impatient, Read a Short Story," he has created fifty-four individual worlds. Each is a complete story with well developed characters and plots, not obscure poetry-prose that leave you wondering, "huh?" Raymond Grant tells a story with each title, in clear prose, with believable dialogue and descriptions.

You might also ask, what's the point of such a short story? They're fun, for one thing, and they're satisfying. Reading them at night is like a lime sorbet for your mind; they cleanse away the taste of the day's thoughts and give you something fresh to ponder for your dreams. The only problem is I couldn't read just one. Because they are so short I found myself eager to read the next and then the next after that. Highly addictive stuff.

Raymond Grant themes run the gammit: love, revenge, coming-of-age. Some are set in modern times, others in the far past or future. This collection isn't so much "Between the Cracks" as it rather covers all the cracks. There is something for everyone inside these covers.

In "My Sister's Treasures," a little boy wonders if the girls in Playboy are as smart as they look. In "Transition" a father gets a rare glimpse of his daughter's special moment, when the little girl becomes a woman. Some of my favorites were unique character sketches like "Gary's First Law." Gary's voice is unique and unforgettable. "Nothing moves unless I move it," says Gary. "Nothing makes noise. I know where everything is...Funny how some things hurt and other things don't."

Other stories are full, detailed plots. "Revelation" is the journey of a boy to a man, reflected in his thoughts about his parents. "Follow Me" is a frightening tale of retribution that spans a thousand years in about six hundred words. Like all good fantasy, "Follow Me" comments on themes that are relevant to us today. Here's a taste of "Follow Me."

The Chosen One whipped the crowd to a frenzy again and left them to destroy the property of the unworthy. The crowd turned their focus to the outsiders. They broke glass. They pillaged. They burned. They murdered. It was so easy to destroy what others had worked hard and long to create.

Those in distant lands seemed unconcerned. After all, this was a minority of fanatics, radicals, fundamentalists. The followers of the Chosen One would be placated - replaced - eliminated - one way or another. They, who watched from afar, did not worry. Their politicians would worry for them.
The longest story in this collection is five pages. The shortest is nineteen words, including the title. Some are heavy with meaning, like "Follow Me." Most are lighthearted and fun, often with a twist ending like "It's the Damn Snake!" Eve says: My new green snakeskin booths with matching purse go well with my palm frond skirt. Maybe, this gig outside of Eden won't be so bad after all!

So "Don't be Impatient, Read a Short Story!"

Ray is an award-winning author of short stories and poems. His work has appeared in
Yarnspinner & Wordweavers Newsletter, The Fiction Flyer, Apollo's Lyre Writers and
Readers eZine, Flash Tales Magazine, Coffee Cramp Magazine, Flashshot eZine,
Quiction on Line, and The Muse Marquee.

He is a Tri- Studio author, Moderator of the MuseItUp Club, member of Publishers and
Writers of San Diego and Zoetrope Virtual Studio. His short romantic story, Music
Lovers, received a top ten award in the 2006 Preditors & Editors Readers Poll. His
poem, The Ship, and his flash fiction story, A Strange Feeling, each received a top ten
award in the 2005 Preditors & Editors Readers Poll. He co-edits and contributes articles
and stories to The Fiction Flyer Magazine, which received a top ten award in the 2006
Preditors & Editors Readers Poll.

This is my favorite board book to read to my 9-month-old. Unlike with others, I never get sick of reading this one-- it's fun to read and not too repetitive or cloying. Amusing sounds and dialogue to act out. And the pictures are very cute and colorful. My book is shaped different from the one shown in the picture, though-- it's shaped like Posy's head and the cover has no mention of the author or illustrator (for shame! I had to turn to the back cover to read the copyright note to figure out who wrote and illustrated it).

It also happens to be the one book I can read through without my daughter getting distracted and trying to eat the pages. ;) And every time we get to the "Oomph!," she cracks up.

Here it is, the high-water mark of Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol run. The behind-the-scenes teasers in earlier issues have stoked the reader's anticipation and teased him/her with their tantalizing glimpses of the creatures inside and under the Pentagon. Now the Doom Patrol must confront the government conspiracy, team with Flex Mentallo to rescue his creator, Wallace Sage, and stop the mysterious evil being at the heart of the White Abyss, buried deep inside the Ant Farm, the horrible "City Where No One Goes".

Prepare your mind, because this is where Grant really lets loose his awesome imagination. Breaking comic book conventions as easily as Cliff Steele breaks heads, Morrison thrusts the reader into climax after climax, until all secrets are laid bare in one last fateful encounter. And, after the final battle is over and the final page turned, you'll rush back here to check if volume 5 has been released yet!

Five stars!

I think this is a good textbook for a class. The lessons cover a little cultural information, new information, and some review exercises. The white classwork pages are separated from the blue homework pages which are separate from the yellow-bordered vocab pages. The homework pages have the answers in the back so you don't have to wait for the teacher to review your work. The vocab is comprehensive so break out your notecards!

The examples use people from all over the Spanish speaking world in different circumstances (eg. One of the families is a Peruvian-Japanese family whose parents are divorced). Plus, the book is not condescending nor is it too basic.

I have used this book in Espanol clase 1,2, and soon, 3. The workbook is pretty good too.

Part of the Crystal Productions "Dropping In On..." series for school and community libraries, Dropping In On Grant Wood by Pamela Geiger Stephens is nicely enhanced with full color illustrations from Jim McNeill and provides young readers with an informative, insightful, and entertaining exploration of the life and work of famed American artist Grant Wood. Following Puffer and Wood through an easy and thoroughly "kid friendly" tour of Wood's most accomplished works and focusing on certain aspects of each painting profiled, Dropping In On Grant Wood deftly captivates the attention young readers with an informed appreciation of this accomplished painter's finest work. Dropping In On Grant Wood is very strongly recommended for all young readers with high interest in art and art history for its deft combination of articulate authorship and wonderful illustrations. Also available and highly recommended is an accompanying VHS (CP-1931-1) and a DVD (CP-1980-1) formatted edition of Dropping In On Grant Wood ($29.95 each).

Here we have a Victorian Duchess who is a bit wilful and almost innocent, Sarah Challoner, Duchess of Malvern.
Queen Victoria wants her, no insists, to marry an older Duke.
Instead of taking a European Grand Tour as most male nobility do she insists on visiting the Great American Wild West.

Ah, but someone is trying to kill her, she is saved by the outlaw desperado, Morgan Calhoun. Actually he turns out to be a very honorable man with dark secrets.

After several close brushes with death, Morgan agrees to take the Duchess to her secret beloved, Thierry, a French count in Santa Fe of the New Mexican Territory.

Of course, all hormones break lose when they spend some time with the Apache tribe of Naiche, the brave Morgan and Sarah rescue from some scumbags. I forgot to mention that Morgan drilled Sarah in handling a gun.

Morgan and Sarah stole away from her Uncle and her entourage to hit the trail with her bay thoroughbred mare, Trafalgar and his pinto stallion, Rio. Of course there is going to be a foal. [grin - just mentioning this because of the way it fits into the story]

Needless to say, that Morgan get caught by the law and Sarah insists on traveling the next 900 miles to Texas, she intends to reward Morgan by hiring the best lawyer possible. And by now she wants to see the ranch that Morgan grew up on and got stolen from him.

Really enjoyable story - we get to make the wild trip with great characters - of course the mystery was not hard to solve but the conclusion worked out a bit differently than expected.

Highly Recommended --M ----- you may want to read it again?

This is a great book. It makes in seem so simple to use! My friend has this book and he loves it. Definitly a good book. The only problem is sometimes it can be a small bit complicated.

Neuro-psychiatrist Dr. J.M.J.J. Watson first saw his newest patient Creighton Dumbstruck in Clara's Coffee Emporium in the historical district of Charleston, South Carolina. They sat at adjoining tables where they began a discussion on geography. Watson quickly realized that Dumbstruck was the perfect specimen as the retired military man preaches on anything and everything claiming in each case to be the world's greatest authority (Professor Irwin Corey aside), but never gets it quite right. The psychiatrist plans to use Dumbstruck's musings as the basis of a book on mental disorder that will make him renowned and wealthy.

Since both of them love geography they agree to do a walking tour of the South Carolina barrier islands. However, as Watson dreams of grandiose fame on a level of Freud, Dumbstruck continues his dissertation on whatever strikes his fancy. However, Watson becomes dumbstruck when his patient introduces him to M. Hirsute and the members of the American Lycanthropic Association who are holding their annual convention nearby. Dumbstruck explains that their family histories intertwine with his. While Watson fears being the main course at the gala, Dumbstruck explains how the lycanthrope are misunderstood by the normals. As they move on, the psychiatrist wonders how to explain what he has seen, but the tour has just begun as Dumbstruck is an author of note amongst those living outside what Watson can perceive and accept.

This is an interesting, entertaining but not easy book to read as the character driven plot lives up to the cover statement that "sanity is not all its cracked up to be." Readers will wonder just who is crazier as the doctor and patient tour together while also deciding whether the various "people" they meet are real or imaginary. Fans who want something wildly different will want to peruse David Grant's satirical paradox look at sanity from an insane focus.

Harriet Klausner