Books with author Joel Simpson

A moving account of two friends’ difficult, terrifying and heartbreaking journey in the Peruvian Andes. Touching the Void is the heart-stopping account of Joe Simpson's terrifying adventure in the Peruvian Andes. He and his climbing partner, Simon, reached the summit of the remote Siula Grande in June 1995. A few days later, Simon staggered into Base Camp, exhausted and frost-bitten, with news that that Joe was dead. What happened to Joe, and how the pair dealt with the psychological traumas that resulted when Simon was forced into the appalling decision to cut the rope, makes not only an epic of survival but a compelling testament of friendship.VINTAGE VOYAGES: A world of journeys, from the tallest mountains to the depths of the mind

Tackling the unclimbed west face of the remote Siula Grande in the Andes, Joe Simpson and his partner Simon Yates achieved the summit before disaster struck. A few days later, an exhausted Simon staggered into base camp to tell their non-climbing companion that Joe was dead. For three days he wrestled with guilt as they prepared to return home. Then a cry in the night took them out, where they found Joe, badly injured, crawling through the snowstorm. Far from causing Joe’s death, Simon had saved his friend’s life when he was forced into the appalling decision to cut the rope.

Joe Simpson and Simon Yates were descending a 21,000-foot peak in the Andes when Simpson fell off an ice ledge, breaking his leg. In a desperate struggle to get his friend off the mountain, Yates lowered Simpson over a 3,000-foot cliff. When his belay collapsed, Yates was forced to cut the ropes just seconds before he would have been pulled to his own death. Simpson fell away into the dark, leaving Yates to assume his partner was dead. After a search, Yates returned to base. Four days later, and in a tremendous feat of endurance, Simpson crawled into camp, half dead. An epic chronicle of suffering and survival, and of the triumph of the human spirit. "Simpson touches a nerve of the mountaineering community and the hearts of others." (Los Angeles Times)

Do you believe in ghosts? Travel with a young reporter, Jen Barnes, on her first big assignment to cover the glamorous, annual event known as Carnevale in Venice. Experience the magic of a gondola ride down the Grand Canal. Take in the majesty of the Romaneque architecture. Attend the most elaborate costume ball in the world and then as the clock on the tower in Piazza San Marco strikes eleven, watch, along with her as she witnesses a murder that no one else believes took place. Jen Barnes is traumatized by her experience in Venice. Returning to New York, she struggles to distinguish between reality and dreams and soon finds herself facing an even more daunting task. A rambunctious ghost in search of justice has followed her home. And, to her horror, begins to make his presence known.

Fourteen year old Archie and his sister, twelve year old Penny, are dropped off for a weekend with their grandfather. He knows all the stories they love. They soon learn that the stories are real, told of a land just beyond the trees in his backyard. A passage where he is a gatekeeper. To their great surprise, they find themselves summoned to the kingdom to rescue Queen Cinderella and Princess Lyre from the fire breathing dragon Xenix. He has challenged Quicksilver, the white knight to a rematch. The first encounter left him with one eye. And after the fight, Quicksilver mysteriously disappeared. Along the way they meet up with the wizard Fieldstone in hopes of finding Quicksilver. There are lessons to be learned by all, all by the rules of the Storyteller.