Miller Books

Dead Man's Hand is set at the same time as the events of Ace In the Hole, during the 1988 Democratic National Convetion.

Chrysalis, a club owner and information broker, has been murdered. She also happened to be a joker with invisible skin.

One time lover Yeoman sets out to find the killer, and so does Jay 'Popinjay' Ackroyd, a classic rumpled private investigator, who also happens to be an ace with teleportation powers.

It is a twisting, turning ride to finally get to the murderer.

Wild Cards 7, written by George R. R. Martin and John J. Miller is one of the best Wild Cards books so far. Eventhough I don't generally like the mosaic novels, this is a prime example on how it should be done.

It's possible that it is so succesful because there are only two writers, which clearly helps the pace. And ofcourse, the fact that half the book is written by my favorite writer George R. R. Martin, speaks for itself.

Dead Man's Hand is a 'parallel novel' to Wild Cards VI: Ace in the Hole. It follows a plotline that was mentioned in WC6, but not exploared - Chrysalis's murder, and the attempts by Martin's Jay 'Popinjay' Acroyd and Miller's 'Yeoman' Brennan to find the killer.

Popinjay, previously meerely a secondary character, proves to be a classic Martin hero - witty, clever and seemingly superficial, there is more to him than meets the eye, although that is only revealed slowly. I must admit I was disappointed that we won't see the Turtle in this story, but Jay was a suitable compensation.

Yeoman was a different story. Although I have allways liked him, his new love affair with Jennifer 'Wraith' Maloy, is not only unlikely but uninteresting, unlike his past relation with Chrysalis. Now Brennan is little but your average action hero running aroung beating people up and delivering one liners.

As a mystery, the novel works rather well. Certainly the identity of the killer is unexpected. On the other hand, the authors don't quite let you feel this is a Mystery novel - you're too focused on the action/thrilelr plots resolving the story of T-Malice, the master that enslaved so many Wild Cards characters, and the Shadow Fist gang - who try to benefit from Chrysalis's murder.

One of the things I liked best about this novel was the focus on jokers. Although the heros are an ace and a nat, there are more Jokers active in this Wild Cards novel than in any other, many of them showing strength and courage. The Wild Cards series tends to focus on Aces, but I personnaly like the Jokers at least as much, and quite possibly more. The dark side of the Virus, so to speak, can be more fascinating than the more obvious Superhero stuff.

Overall Dead Man's Hand is a thrilling ride, filled with action, advanture, cool ideas, and an extremely powerful climax, in which there is a confrontation between several major characters. The confrontation at the end is one of the Wild Cards' strongest moments, and this novel certainly holds up there with DOWN AND DIRTY, as the best of the Wild Cards so far.

This book is hilarious! Anyone who has lost many a nights sleep due to an obnoxious, loud neighbor would love this book. First, the protagonist tries to be nice. When that doesn't work she gives it another go. Eventually, though, she begins to walk that fine line between divine retribution and madness. Well done!!

"Dear Neighbor" is a delight for anyone who has ever sent "just a little reminder" to anyone about anything. We can all identify with not wanting to step on anyone's toes. As a situation escalates, you wind up wanting to feed those same toes into a tree shredder. Read this book and satisfy those desires.

I purchased this book after I received the CD on recovering after surgery from a friend. The CD helped me recover from Open Heart Surgery so quickly I wanted to understand the principles beneath the wonderful CD. This book explains how deep healing actually works. It explains how the mind, body, spirit and emotional connections can help us heal ourselves. It is filled with case studies and meditation techniques that a lay person can understand and use. I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did.

This book will be an eye opener for those who put all their faith in drugs and underestimate the power of the mind and heart to heal. Dr. Miller discusses effective techniques (relaxation, guided imagery, etc.) for tapping our inner resources to bring about psychological as well as physical changes that support healing. He also explains clearly in layman's terms, the rationale behind his methods. The stories that led to the development of mind-body medicine are told with warmth and humor. This is the kind of book to read over and over again--with each reading, new insights come to mind. It has changed my approach to health and to life by giving me a sense of empowerment, by teaching me to use my mind in new and positive ways. It will probably do the same for anyone who reads it.

"The Deliverance of Dancing Bears" tells the story ofan unnamed bear that is taken every day by its "owner" to amarket square in a mountain village of eastern Turkey and set to dance on its hind legs for hours. Elizabeth Stanley's prose makes clear to young readers that this is not really dancing. "Around and around the poor bear turned on her two back legs, her head pulled from side to side by the chain which Haluk jangled to the clatter of his tambourine... The performance continued relentlessly for many hours until day began to fade [and] Haluk led the bear back to her cage and lock[ed] the door." Stanley's pastel illustrations in purple, blue, gold, scarlet and indigo evoke the liveliness of Turkish village life as people go about their ordinary business of shopping, eating and paying the bearkeeper to see dancing bear. The overall effect of these village scenes, however, is depressing. The heavily textured paper to which the pastels are applied seems to drain the light out of these sad market scenes, in which no-one seems to smile.

The power of the book, however, comes from the scenes that depict the dreams of the chained bear. The scenes that show her fishing in mountain streams with her mate or lying lazily with her babies in the sun are full of shimmering light and vibrant energy.

And thankfully, the bear's dreams come true. An old man named Yusuf buys the bear from Haluk, takes it with him to his house by a stream and slowly reintroduces it to the wild. And that is just the beginning of this eloquently written and superbly illustrated book dedicated to relieving the suffering of captive bears.

Stanley saw her first "dancing bear" in 1979 in Athens and decided then to write a book to challenge the assumption that men could cruelly use wild animals to make money. In 1992 she took her written text to Turkey to take photos and to make sketches for the artwork. In the same year The World Society for the Protection of Animals effected the release and the return to the wild of all chained bears in Turkey. Today there are no dancing bears in Greece or Turkey.

But a recent WISPA report has revealed that the trade in dancing bears is still alive and well in India. It says that "60-70% of cubs taken from the wild die before they even begin their brutal training. Dehydration, starvation and trauma are all reasons [for their dying]. Should the cub be lucky enough to live, a punishing regime of starvation and beating will begin to condition it to perform. The piercing of the cub's sensitive muzzle with a rope for control is the next ordeal. It is held down without anaesthetic while a crude iron needle is heated in a coal fire and plunged in with a group of men holding the squealing cub tight. The investigators also found that the site of the nose piercing was invariably infected in all the seventeen cases observed. 'The cub would the have to suffer a second piercing before the first was healed, compounding his agony,' explained Geete Seshamani. 'The tug of this rope, along with an intense fear of the strike of a heavy stick, motivates the bear to lift its legs in turn and 'dance'.'"

The WISPA site also provides gory and even more gruesome details of bearbaiting in Pakistan and of the farming of bears for bear bile in China.

WISPA has done and will continue to provide facts about animal mistreatment and about campaigns and projects to challenge these abuses. Whilst it is important for the thinking public to have access to information like that on the WISPA site, I believe that Elizabeth Stanley's "The Deliverance of Dancing Bears" is one of the best books for introducing pre-school, elementary and junior high school aged children to these issues.

While not so sparsely written as Anthony Browne's "Gorilla", the prose is tight. The illustrations are similar to and as powerful as those in Brian Wildsmith's animal books. The interleaving of reality and dream is reminiscent of Shirley Hughes' "Stay Away from the Water Shirley" or of the more recently published "Magic Beach" by Alison Lester. All in all, this is an ideal book to get the young and the not-so-young thinking about animal rights issues. It is a beautiful book that can help us all to realise the epigraph that Stanley has taken from Aristotle: "Hope is a waking dream."

Named an honor book of The Children's Book Council of Australia, The Deliverance Of Dancing Bears is a wonderful picture book story written by Elizabeth Stanley for young readers having intermediate level reading skills. This very highly recommended account is about a captive bear who forced to dance, and who clings to hope, even though the degradations of her daily life cause her spirit to ebb. It is a kind-hearted peasant who liberates the bear and who reminds all of those watching of an important moral lesson about dignity and life. Elizabeth Stanley's touching and emotional color artwork highlights and enhances her original and involving parable.

This is a terrific book for people who lived through the war and for those who are too young to remember it. It's not violent, or horrific, but it gives a real flavor of what it was like to be an ordinary young grad student from Missouri who, by various twists and turns, ended up flying the very first flag over Japan at the end of World War II. Miller is a plain-speaking but deeply thoughtful writer, and he relies on his diary entries and letters to paint the scene and the ordinary people he worked with and give the reader a real sense of having been there too.

Having served 4 years in the states and including 2 years in Italy I found this a very interesting and revealing view of what the war was like in the Pacific theater. Of course, this was the experience of one person, but what a tale it is.
It is necessary reading. I heartly recommend it.

This book includes a great amount of detail for designers. Covers winding, materials, magnetics, thermal considerations, etc. Has plenty of equations that are required for design. Both authors are well known and fellows of the IEEE.

The book lacks details of motor construction, which I have not found anywhere yet. Also wish it came with a software tutorial or something. But the best book on motors I have found yet, and I've looked (and bought) a number of them.

I have read and thoroughly enjoyed this book. It helped us a lot in designing our smoovy micro motors. Technically first class and well written, recommended to anybody who needs a good understanding of motor design issues.

If you like Hillerman's characters, than you will probably like Miller's. She has captured the dry, honest character of the Arizona world and has a scientists eye for her surroundings. The stories just keep getting better! Thanks Ms. Miller and keep Frankie digging.

I could not put down this book. I found it exciting, fast moving, educational, terrorizing and just plain kept me on the edge of my seat. I didn't want it to end and I can't wait for book three to come out. Write fast, Susan!!!

I was first introduced to this series, The Westminster Bible Companion in college. Since graduating I have become well on my way to completing the entire collection. I definitely recommend all of the books.

Each book in the series seems to have a different author (or set of authors) and so adds a different flavor. The interprations seem to be based on the consensus of most modern scholars and lend a more thorough understanding of the bible then you would get from simply reading it. Due to the age of the bible and distinct culture that it was written in, there can be parts of it that are hard for the modern reader to understand. This leads to frustration and ultimately ignorance of the profound message contained within. These books are a treasure and I believe them to be within reach of anyone, be they a member of clergy or a layman.

Advanced. Moderately critical commentary. Not for the passive student.

The book arrived in a timely fashion and was in excellent condition. What more can one ask for?

This book is wonderful when working within the DBT model with teenaged clients. It addressed issues specific to the adolescent population.

This is one of the few books I've read that, if I were an unbeliever in God through Jesus Christ, would start me thinking in new directions towards believing. The theme remains constant: that it is impossible to not be involved in spiritual warfare, a topic that is the whole of all life. There is no neutral place in which to hide from both good and evil spiritual forces, no place of perfect indifference (a belief of itself is an evil tactic!). It is also one of the few books about spiritual warfare that is strongly anchored in the Bible, not just the author's opinions. While I disagree on a few points (e.g., that demons lead people to buy lottery tickets, but can I prove that they don't?), Miller and Peterson's work is in good alignment with the Scriptures. It is the closest thing I have found to date that wasn't somewhere out in space. It is a perfect start for new believers as well as would-be believers, and is strongly reinforced by the author's pastoral experience. I'm glad to see other writers who are not afraid to mention the sonship of Jesus Christ, rather than just the generic use of the word "God." Some of the topics discussed in this book take some Christian maturity to fully grasp, challenging some parts of different beliefs, but the overall tone is sincere, candid and sober. "Disarming the darkness" is one of the few perfect books that the enemy (the devil) prefers not to be promulgated. The enemy savors thoughts of his non-existence by people on earth, so books like this-like real believers-are the salt in his wounds. This is one enemy, the authors indirectly point out, who is beyond mercy and for whom we should not feel the least bit sorry. Merely acknowledging the enemy's existence is half the battle (to a greater spiritual understanding); the other half is "disarming" his three favorite tactics: misuse of money, sex and power. I'm glad I found this book. I am very critical of "religious" (more importantly: spiritual) books, as I am with myself when it comes to these matters. Miller and Peterson's book offers reassurance that believers are tuned to the same frequency before we get off the sinking ship. I found it surprisingly short, only 160 pages, wishing the book was longer. I hunger for words like this. I look forward to a second edition. "Disarming the Darkness" should be required reading for all Christians, and also for those who are considering conversion in the slightest. Get it, read it!

This book, like many of Miller's works, blends imagination and 'humanness' with the wonderfully liberating foundation of the Word. There are so many off-the-wall presentations dealing with the influence of evil in our lives, this book is a joy to experience. Without underestimating the power and presence of the Evil One in the world, Miller clearly puts the proper perspective on the Christians stand. For Miller, the operative word here is Christian. If you are not fully given to Christ and open to the protection and leading of the Holy Spirit, you can expect problems and pain. If, on the other hand, we are true vessels for Him ... there is no fear and no risk. Calvin Miller is an expert in practicality and scripture ... a perfect blend.