Books with author Christopher Michaud

The Giant Rat of Sumatra A Sherlock Holmes Fan Fiction By Christopher Milner "... the giant rat of Sumatra, a story for which the world is not yet prepared." So said Sherlock Holmes to Dr. Watson in the story The Adventure of The Sussex Vampire. Is the world finally ready in the 2nd decade of the 21st Century? Well ready or not, here it comes. In Mr. Milner's telling of the story which is part mystery, part thriller, part sci-fi fantasy and part romance, be prepared for a roller coaster ride on a 19th Century English circus carnival fair ground when roller coasters hadn't even been invented yet. From the ship Matilda Briggs where a cabin boy's recreation of a Vincent Van Gogh still life painting leads to disaster for one of the ship's steam engines to the town of Stamford in Lincolnshire, England where cats are disappearing under mysterious circumstances. At times humourous and extremely comical to other times sinisterly horrifying and downright diabolical, Milner's story runs a gamut of emotions. From the eccentric Captain Heelander of the Matilda Briggs (a man a century and twenty years before his time) to a sinister stage magician who never takes off the masks he wears (sometimes a golden mask of Greek tragedy and other times a golden mask of Greek comedy), a torrid romance between a traveling hairbrush salesman and a Royal Navy officer's wife is thrown in for good measure against a background of exotic animals from the island of Sumatra and a living organism that appears as a giant dark cloud that terrorizes the cobblestone alleys of Stamford and is called the "Devil incarnate" by the town's Scottish maker of meat pies. In place of Dr. Watson as Holmes' companion for this adventure is the veterinarian Fred Clegg (who is the author Christopher Milner's actual great-grandfather) - an appropriate doctor for a tale involving animals from exotic Sumatra. And then there's Vittoria Donna Gina - the lovely singer, former lion tamer and now magician's stage assistant who seems to have caught the eye (and possibly the heart?) of Sherlock Holmes. For Irene Adler, she could just possibly be "the other woman".

The anti-Communist government of South Vietnam sought American aid, and this grew steadily from technical support, weapons, and equipment, to the initial limited involvement of US forces to protect American interests. This opened the floodgates, and by the mid-1960s ever-larger numbers of US troops poured into South Vietnam as US air power struck at North Vietnam. Each title in this series contains color photos throughout, and back matter including: an index, further reading lists for books and internet resources, and a timeline. Key Icons appear throughout the books in this series in an effort to encourage library readers to build knowledge, gain awareness, explore possibilities and expand their viewpoints through our content rich non-fiction books. Key Icons in this series are as follows: Words to Understand are shown at the front of each chapter with definitions. These words are set in boldfaced type in that chapter, so that readers are able to reference back to the definitions--building their vocabulary and enhancing their reading comprehension. Sidebars are highlighted graphics with content rich material within that allows readers to build knowledge and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives. Educational Videos are offered at the end of each book through the use of a QR code, that when scanned, takes the student to an online video showing a video relating to The Vietnam War. This gives the readers additional content to supplement the text. Text Dependent Questions are placed at the end of each chapter. They challenge the readers comprehension of the chapter they have just read, while sending the reader back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented there. Research Projects are

World War II was a global conflict that split the majority of the worlds nations into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. In Europe, World War II is deemed to have begun in Europe in 1939 with the German invasion of Poland, resulting in the British and the French declaration of war. Each title in this series contains photos throughout, and back matter including: an index, further reading lists for books and internet resources, and a timeline. Key Icons appear throughout the books in this series in an effort to encourage library readers to build knowledge, gain awareness, explore possibilities and expand their viewpoints through our content rich non-fiction books. Key Icons in this series are as follows: Words to Understand are shown at the front of each chapter with definitions. These words are set in boldfaced type in that chapter, so that readers are able to reference back to the definitions--building their vocabulary and enhancing their reading comprehension. Sidebars are highlighted graphics with content rich material within that allows readers to build knowledge and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives. Educational Videos are offered at the end of each book through the use of a QR code, that when scanned, takes the student to an online video showing a video relating to World War II. This gives the readers additional content to supplement the text. Text Dependent Questions are placed at the end of each chapter. They challenge the readers comprehension of the chapter they have just read, while sending the reader back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented there. Research Projects are provided at the end of each chapter as well and provide readers