Books with author Roy W Russell

One week to grieve. One week to make final preparations. One week to celebrate a life.Angie grew up in the busy city of Vancouver unaware of the rich culture of her people. After the divorce of her parents she now finds herself adapting to the quiet village of Gitsegukla in northern British Columbia. Every day she learns a little more about her heritage, the Gitksan language spoken by her elders, and the traditions practiced since time immemorial. On a cold November morning life is put on hold by the blaring of the fire hall sirens signifying the death of a community member. Angie just learned the heartbreaking news one of her best friends passed away the night before.For one week a small northern village in British Columbia give strength to a family in need. The people of Gitsegukla come together practicing ancient traditions passed down from generation to generation in this one of a kind story, written by a member of the Bisteh Clan.Join Angie as she witnesses the Gitksan way of saying goodbye. You are invited to the Feast.

One week to grieve. One week to make final preparations. One week to celebrate a life.Angie grew up in the busy city of Vancouver unaware of the rich culture of her people. After the divorce of her parents she now finds herself adapting to the quiet village of Gitsegukla in northern British Columbia. Every day she learns a little more about her heritage, the Gitksan language spoken by her elders, and the traditions practiced since time immemorial. On a cold November morning life is put on hold by the blaring of the fire hall sirens signifying the death of a community member. Angie just learned the heartbreaking news one of her best friends passed away the night before.For one week a small northern village in British Columbia give strength to a family in need. The people of Gitsegukla come together practicing ancient traditions passed down from generation to generation in this one of a kind story, written by a member of the Bisteh Clan.Join Angie as she witnesses the Gitksan way of saying goodbye. You are invited to the Feast.

One week to grieve. One week to make final preparations. One week to celebrate a life.Angie grew up in the busy city of Vancouver unaware of the rich culture of her people. After the divorce of her parents she now finds herself adapting to the quiet village of Gitsegukla in northern British Columbia. Every day she learns a little more about her heritage, the Gitksan language spoken by her elders, and the traditions practiced since time immemorial. On a cold November morning life is put on hold by the blaring of the fire hall sirens signifying the death of a community member. Angie just learned the heartbreaking news one of her best friends passed away the night before.For one week a small northern village in British Columbia give strength to a family in need. The people of Gitsegukla come together practicing ancient traditions passed down from generation to generation in this one of a kind story, written by a member of the Bisteh Clan.Join Angie as she witnesses the Gitksan way of saying goodbye. You are invited to the Feast.

For most people, home is a place with four walls. It's a place to eat, sleep, rest, and live. For a refugee, the concept of home is ever-changing, ever-moving, ever-wavering. And often, it doesn't have any walls at all.Eleven-year-old Lam escapes from Vietnam with Dee Dee during the Vietnamese Boat People Exodus in 1979, when people from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fled their homelands for safety. For a refugee, the trip is a long and perilous one, filled with dangerous encounters with pirates and greedy sailors, a lack of food and water, and even the stench of a dead body onboard. When they finally arrive at a refugee camp, Lam befriends Dao, a girl her age who becomes like a sister-a welcome glimmer of happiness after a terrifying journey. Readers will feel as close to Lam as the jade pendant she wears around her neck, sticking by her side throughout her journey as she experiences fear, crushing loss, boredom, and some small moments of joy along the way. Written in verse, this is a heartfelt story that is sure to build empathy and compassion for refugees around the world escaping oppression.

Deep in the heart of a mist-shrouded island, an impossible secret is about to be discovered. Twig is used to feeling unwanted. Sent to live on a pony ranch for "troubled" girls on a misty, haunted island, Twig is about to discover the impossible -- someone who needs her. Jolted awake from a bad dream, Twig follows the desperate whinny of a terrified horse out to the stables. There in the straw is a bleating little scrap of moonbeam. A silver-white filly with cloven hooves and a tiny, spiraling horn. A baby unicorn. Now Twig knows what secret is hiding in the island's mist: the last free unicorn herd. And a mysterious boy named Ben who insists that this impossible creature is now Twig's to care for. That she needs Twig's love and protection. Because there's something out there in the deep, dense shadows that's hunting for them... "R. R. Russell's Wonder Light dares to explore a world where unicorns are creatures of wonder and power, and girls can find both strength and courage to be themselves." -Robin Hobb, International bestselling author

Deep in the heart of a mist-shrouded island, an impossible secret is about to be discovered.Twig is used to feeling unwanted. Sent to live on a pony ranch for "troubled" girls on a misty, haunted island, Twig is about to discover the impossible--someone who needs her.Jolted awake from a bad dream, Twig follows the desperate whinny of a terrified horse out to the stables. There in the straw is a bleating little scrap of moonbeam. A silver-white filly with cloven hooves and a tiny, spiraling horn.A baby unicorn.Now Twig knows what secret is hiding in the island's mist: the last free unicorn herd. And a mysterious boy named Ben who insists that this impossible creature is now Twig's to care for. That she needs Twig's love and protection. Because there's something out there in the deep, dense shadows that's hunting for them..."R. R. Russell's Wonder Light dares to explore a world where unicorns are creatures of wonder and power, and girls can find both strength and courage to be themselves." ~ Robin Hobb, International bestselling author

Danger lurks in the mist. Twig and Ben are unicorn riders--guardians whose job it is to keep the last free unicorn herd safe. But a new danger is threatening the beautiful, mysterious creatures of Lonehorn Island. A thief from Terracornus has snuck onto the misty island and stolen Ben's loyal unicorn, Indy. There's only one path for Ben and Twig--straight into the secret, shadowy heart of the island and through the passage to Terracornus. But their rescue mission is unexpectedly complicated by a secret Ben has been hiding. A secret about the Queen of Terracornus who has enslaved all the unicorns of Ben's homeland. A secret that could save them all--or start a war.

Danger lurks in the mist. Twig and Ben are unicorn riders--guardians whose job it is to keep the last free unicorn herd safe. But a new danger is threatening the beautiful, mysterious creatures of Lonehorn Island. A thief from Terracornus has snuck onto the misty island and stolen Ben's loyal unicorn, Indy. There's only one path for Ben and Twig--straight into the secret, shadowy heart of the island and through the passage to Terracornus. But their rescue mission is unexpectedly complicated by a secret Ben has been hiding. A secret about the Queen of Terracornus who has enslaved all the unicorns of Ben's homeland. A secret that could save them all--or start a war.

After passing Lordsburgh, a desolate spot in the desert, there appeared a beautiful mirage. The sand became a sheet of water, waveless and mirror-like, and in it we saw reflected in trenchant outline the mountain range beyond. "It must be water! it is water!" exclaimed an unbelieving director. And, lo! as he spoke the "dust devils" rose and danced along the face of the sea; in another minute the vision was gone; the dazzling sand, white, blank and dull, mocked our senses. This was near Stein's Pass, up which the train of nine carriages was climbing—"the heaviest train that has gone over yet," said the triumphant conductor. "But we thought we'd try it." Each waggon weighed 30 tons. The Pass is three miles long, and we were working at a grade of 74 feet with a 19-inch cylinder engine.Between Pyramid Station and San Simon (stant nomina umbrarum—the names of mere shadows of stations) the western border of New Mexico is crossed, and we enter the great Territory of Arizona, which lies between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada.It is bounded by New Mexico on the east, by Mexico on the south, by Utah and Nevada on the north and north-west, and by California in continuation of the western boundary. It is as large as New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and Delaware together. Whom it belonged to first, so far as occupation constitutes possession, I know not; but the Spaniards owned and neglected it for more than three centuries before the Americans possessed it. In 1848 and 1853 the regions now forming Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada were ceded by the descendants of the Spanish conquerors to the conquering Anglo-American. It would need weeks of assiduous travel to explore the portion of Arizona where the most interesting ruins in America, the cities of the Zoltecs or the Aztecs—for the experts differ respecting their origin—are to be found. The weight of authority and of recent investigation leads one to believe that the Aztecs were not the builders of these ruined cities. Humboldt, indeed, believed that they were; but, as Mr. Hinton remarks, in his capital little handbook, which I recommend to prospectors, emigrants, tourists, and travellers, "to suppose such an utter abandonment of settled habitations, it will be necessary to suppose some strange impelling reasons, either in climate or other causes, that must have amounted to a catastrophe. An hypothesis which would leave a whole race able to conquer an empire, and to preserve power enough to abandon without destruction their old homes, implies conditions and forces without a known historical parallel." The conclusion that many native cities were flourishing when the Spaniards arrived in America may, perhaps, be questioned. There is a distinctive character about them, differing from that of the Mississippi mounds, the Central American pyramids, or the ruined cities of Yucatan.

On the 16th of April last, in pursuance of an arrangement to that effect which was entered into some months earlier with the Duke of Sutherland, a small party of gentlemen and one lady left Liverpool in the Cunard Company's steamer "Gallia," with the object of making a tour in the United States. Previous to their departure, Mr. Henry Crosfield, the Auditor of the London and North-Western Railway Company, had been in communication with friends in America, and had in concert with them sketched out a general scheme to enable the visitors to traverse the Atlantic States, to extend their journey westwards and to obtain the best possible view of the country in the limited space of time at their disposal. Although all were "on pleasure bent," those of the tourists who had interests in railways on this side of the world were naturally anxious to study the modes of management which were practised on the principal lines as closely as such a hurried journey would allow them; but the main object of the travellers was "to see the States"—to behold with their own eyes the natural features of the vast continent which is exercising a rapidly increasing influence on Great Britain and Europe itself, and to view the manners and customs of the great nation which even in its present enormous development gives only the indications of a lusty youth, promising a manhood of irresistible vigour and strength in time to come if the body politic fulfils its early hope. To be sure, the inspection could not be very close, minute, or protracted. Shooting flying is not an art given to all people, and the contemplation of man at a hotel or in a street, as one looks around in the dining-room or out of a railway train, does not afford satisfactory foundation for solid knowledge or comfortable conviction. But we had to do the best we could. There were for most of us the attractions in the journey which novelty possesses. There were pleasures in anticipation in the sight of the wonderful cities which man has made and of the grand natural spectacles which God has created, and these pleasures were, I may say now, enjoyed most fully. For my own part, having no railway interests except those I share with so many others in being carried safely, swiftly, and cheaply, by the lines to which I entrust myself for conveyance, and having formerly been in the United States, my chief desire was to revive, if not the pleasures of memory, at least the recollections of a country in which I had spent many months of the deepest interest and excitement, and where I made friends whose affection and support were of invaluable assistance and comfort to me when I much needed them at a period of terrible trial. I was also eager to observe what changes had been effected since the close of the Civil War, of one great incident of which I had an unfortunate experience, and to revisit scenes the chief features of which had not been effaced from my recollection by the lapse of nigh twenty years. The expedition was undertaken under excellent auspices. From all quarters of the United States, as soon as our intention was made known, there had come not only expressions of satisfaction and offers of assistance, but an actual competition in good offices, and amid the friendly requests of the great Railway Corporations on the other side of the Atlantic that the visitors would avail themselves of the resources of their Companies the only difficulty lay in the choice of contending routes. Tenders of palace cars and special trains, of receptions and banquets, poured in on all sides; but the programme for our journey was drawn up with a due regard to the number of hours at the disposal of the travellers, and ere they set out from England, the very day of their return from New York had been determined.

Deep in the heart of a mist-shrouded island, an impossible secret is about to be discovered. Twig is used to feeling unwanted. Sent to live on a pony ranch for "troubled" girls on a misty, haunted island, Twig is about to discover the impossible — someone who needs her. Jolted awake from a bad dream, Twig follows the desperate whinny of a terrified horse out to the stables. There in the straw is a bleating little scrap of moonbeam. A silver-white filly with cloven hooves and a tiny, spiraling horn. A baby unicorn. Now Twig knows what secret is hiding in the island's mist: the last free unicorn herd. And a mysterious boy named Ben who insists that this impossible creature is now Twig's to care for. That she needs Twig's love and protection. Because there's something out there in the deep, dense shadows that's hunting for them... "R. R. Russell's Wonder Light dares to explore a world where unicorns are creatures of wonder and power, and girls can find both strength and courage to be themselves." -Robin Hobb, International bestselling author

At 17, Samuel has known only abuse at home and a lack of purpose in the world. When a pretty classmate asks him to kill her groping uncle in exchange for an hour of her affection, he accepts. Clumsy but successful, Samuel emerges feeling empowered. Leaving Tucson for south Phoenix, he develops himself into muscle for hire, dealing out beatings with regularity. He is introduced to Nate, an older businessman who develops and employs professional hitmen. During his training, Samuel meets the beautiful Rica and a brash former SAS commando known as Scrote. Rica is impeccably efficient. Scrote is excessively brutal. Over time, Samuel becomes a blend of the two. Hounded by run-ins with rival hitters, confusion over his growing feelings for Rica, and wondering where he belongs in life, Samuel’s struggles are constant. Through violent events that test his very sanity, Samuel is eventually granted that most elusive of gifts: he comes to understand the value of life, and what it means to find closure.