The beautiful young Assyrian queen, Septimia Zenobia, has a brief affair with the new Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius. When her husband and oldest son are murdered, an imperial sword is found near the bodies. Convinced she has been betrayed by Rome, Zenobia swears revenge on her lover. While Aurelian battles with his legions to protect Italy from invaders, she conquers the entire eastern Roman Empire. She proclaims her remaining son emperor, and herself Augusta. But when Aurelian marches back into Assyria to regain his lost territories, can Zenobia hold on to what she has gained? And, if she can, is it worth the price?
What if you had powers that were ... well, like a witch? You know, moving things around without touching them, starting fires without a match, making plants grow from a seed-little things like that. At first, learning the family secret is fun and exciting for soon-to-be fourteen Miranda Hutton. But what if her ability to control the elements around her suddenly becomes a matter of survival? And what if-horrors -the complete extent of her powers depends on her knowledge of science?
Tommy Lerner is seven years old and struggling to cope with the craziness of school, Little League Baseball, uncomprehending peers, and incomprehensible adults. Growing up in a small Arizona town during the 1950s can be tough, but Tommy's challenges are compounded by his innate intelligence and uncontrollable temper. Although small and thin, he is always ready to fight.Fortunately, his family is loving and supportive. Also an orphan from the age of nine, Frank Lerner had to drop out of school to literally fight for survival. Complicating Frank's efforts to give advice is the fact that he must hide a deep, dark secret from everyone related to Tommy's real parents. Maria Lerner is a very devoted and devout woman, but only graduated from high school. Maria's widowed mother, Abuela, offers Tommy as much advice as he will allow, drawing on her background as a teacher in Mexico.As Tommy struggles with school, racism, bullies and himself, he gradually learns to think before reacting. Ultimately, the young man must come to grips alone with the knowledge of how totally Frank Lerner affected his life, for better or for worse. Success against the odds requires courage, determination and faith. And love - lots of love.
Rufus Ruggio, sports editor of The New York Chronicle, can't stand the way Georg Rockburner, millionaire owner of the local professional football team, runs his operation. In the mid-1950s, during the days before the NFL became a mega-corporation, franchise fees and player salaries were very low. Rufus and the other members of the Poker Pack, his regular Saturday night buddies who drink, swap sports stories and play poker badly, decide to start their own team.After twenty-four years in the sports news business, Rufus knows that professional sports is all about entertainment, and embraces all shady deals, crazy promotions and low-budget tactics to field a franchise. Can the motley group of former players and future wannabes overcome their own ineptitude, not to mention the playing conditions, racial discrimination and lack of public interest during that era to survive, let alone win a few games? THE JERSEY JUPITERS give it their best shot.
