Books with author David Moss

Sheppard’s Inn was a quiet senior-living facility where people spent the remainder of their golden years relaxing as they socialized, watched television, played checkers, or read a good book. Some of the young at heart spent their time reminiscing about “the good old days.” Others would just lie in soft, comfortable chairs dreaming of the future when they would join their spouses who had passed over to a place of peace, tranquility, and painless existence.All things were good at Sheppard’s Inn until everything began to change. At first, the events were subtle. The building’s heater struggled to keep up with the sudden chills that passed through the hallways. A sickening smell would seep through every nook and cranny. The lights would flicker off and on, and the televisions would go blank. But nothing was worse than the screeching sounds heard during the night—sounds not normally created in the world of the living!Adam Simmons, his father (a former police detective), and his mother (a high school drama teacher) were trying to live under the radar. They had been forced to disappear from Huntingdon Valley because of the arrest of Philadelphia’s biggest mobster. They’d had no idea what would happen when they secured jobs at Sheppard’s Inn. They certainly weren’t expecting something even more sinister and dangerous than the mob. Strange, supernatural events shook their beliefs. Items were disappearing, and people were getting sick.Adam had to push back his fears and help his parents solve this dilemma before someone got seriously hurt. If there was a ghost haunting Sheppard’s Inn, Adam would do whatever it took to expose it. Once again, he would prove that everything is not always as it seems.

Sailing ships dominated naval warfare from the early sixteenth century to the mid nineteenth century. The first capital ships were intended as flagships, flying the banner of an admiral and acting as a lead vessel. By the end of the 1500s, however, the maritime countries of Europe realized they could project power around the globe with well-designed fighting ships of every size and type. What followed was three centuries of big-gun sailing warships, before steam power took over. Arranged in chronological order, The Golden Age of Sail provides concise coverage of some of the most famous sailing ships, including San Martin, the flagship of the Spanish Armada; Le Soleil Royal, symbol of the power and prestige of the ‘Sun King’, Louis XIV; HMS Victory, Bucentaure and Santissima Trinidad, which fought at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805; the steam frigate USS Powhatan, aboard which Commodore Matthew Perry negotiated the United States’ first trade treaty with Japan in 1854; the first steam-and-sail ironclad capital ships, the French Gloire and British Victoria; and Herzogin Cecilie, a German four-mast barque that was one of the fastest merchant sailing ships of the early twentieth century. Filled with colorful artworks, expertly-written background text and useful specifications of 100 sailing ships, The Golden Age of Sail is a visually sumptuous guide to sailing ships of every type from 1514 to 1930.

Allison Briscoe is your average fifteen-year-old-until someone tries to kill her. Shot in the head, her doctors and family think she is in a coma, but in fact, though she cannot move, she can think, she can hear, and she can dream. Each night, Allison lives vicariously through her pioneer ancestors, experiencing their adventures through their eyes. First, she enters the world of Rebecca Haun, a fifteen-year-old rebel who lived in Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary War. To prove a friend innocent of murder, Rebecca betrays her Mennonite beliefs and joins the Women's Brigade with George Washington's rag-tag army at Valley Forge. And each day, Allison struggles to find a way to show her family that she is awake - a goal that becomes increasingly desperate when she realizes that whoever shot her has come back to finish the job.

Roused from his sleep, fourteen-year-old Adam Simmons is forced into a nightmare of reality. Without explanation, his father hastily packs a bag with the bare essentials and demands that Adam leave immediately through his bedroom window. Glancing back to see his father waving goodbye, Adam watches as his house suddenly explodes, apparently killing his parents. Instantaneously, Adam’s world ceases to exist. With his hockey bag and a face full of tears, he must continue his journey into this nightmare. Armed only with his ingenuity, Adam searches for answers. Discovering that he is being stalked by some very dangerous people, Adam becomes desperate and seeks the assistance of his closest friends, which proves to be disastrous: one by one, they are kidnapped. Feeling responsible, Adam persists through the arduous tasks of finding his friends and solving the puzzle that has become his life. With the aid of some odd newfound acquaintances and using skills he never knew he possessed, Adam learns that even nightmares can have a happy ending—and, yes, there is a Santa Claus!

On 9 May 1912 the first airplane take-off from a ship was made from the deck of the HMS Hibernia. In July 1918, seven Sopwith Camels launched from the converted battlecruiser HMS Furious damaged the German airbase at Tønder and destroyed two zeppelins. The age of the carrier was born. In the interwar years the Lexington, Akagi and Courageous class carriers were developed, but it was only during World War II that the aircraft carrier finally came into its own. Fleet carriers carrying 30–40 aircraft allowed the Japanese and US navies to project air power across the vast Pacific Ocean, with the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor presaging a new kind of warfare. With the sinking of hundreds of ships during World War II, including the German battleship Bismarck in 1941, by the end of the war carriers ruled the waves and the era of the battleship had passed.The World’s Greatest Aircraft Carriers features 52 of the most significant flat tops and amphibious assault ships built since the 1920s until the present day, from the USS Yorktown, which survived direct hits during the battle of Midway (1942), through the Falklands War veteran HMS Invincible, to the mighty Nimitz class, the core of the US Navy’s carrier battle groups today. Also included are significant amphibious assault ships, such as the USS Tarawa and French Mistral. Each entry includes a brief description of the ship’s development and history, a color profile view or cutaway, key features and specifications. Packed with more than 200 artworks and photographs, The World’s Greatest Aircraft Carriers is a colorful guide for the naval warfare enthusiast.