Books published by publisher ZING Communications, Inc.

This book chronicles the unforgettable account of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. It is the story of Dave Pelzer, who was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games--games that left him nearly dead. He had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive because she no longer considered him a son, but a slave; and no longer a boy, but an "it." Dave's bed was an old army cot in the basement, and his clothes were torn and raunchy. When his mother allowed him the luxury of food, it was nothing more than spoiled scraps that even the dogs refused to eat. The outside world knew nothing of his living nightmare. He had nothing or no one to turn to, but his dreams kept him alive--dreams of someone taking care of him, loving him and calling him their son.

A Magical Key to Unlock Your Creative WizardAre you writing a novel, but having trouble getting your first draft written? You’ve heard of “outlining,” but that sounds too rigid for you. You’ve heard of “organic writing,” but that seems a bit squishy to you. Take a look at the wildly popular Snowflake Method—a battle-tested series of ten steps that jump-start your creativity and help you quickly map out your story. All around the world, novelists are using the Snowflake Method right now to ignite their imaginations and get their first drafts down on paper. In this book, you’ll follow the story of a fictitious novelist as she learns to tap into the amazing power of the Snowflake Method. Almost magically, she finds her story growing from a simple idea into a deep and powerful novel. And she finds her novel changing her—turning her into a stronger, more courageous person.Zany, Over the Top, and Just Plain FunHow to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method is a “business parable”—a how-to guide written in story form. It’s zany. It’s over the top. It’s just plain fun. Most important, it’s effective, because it shows you, rather than telling you.You’ll learn by example how to grow your story idea into a sizzling first draft. You’ll discover:How to define your “target audience” the right way, so you know exactly how your ideal readers think and feel. Forget what the experts tell you about “demographics.”How to create a dynamite selling tool that will instantly tell people whether they’ll love your story or hate it. And you want them to either love it or hate it.How to get inside the skin of every one of your characters—even your villain. Especially your villain.How to find a deep, emotively powerful theme for your story. Do you know the one best point in your novel to unveil your theme—when your reader is most eager to hear it?How to know when to backtrack, and why backtracking is essential to writing great fiction.How to fire-test each scene to guarantee it’ll be high-impact—before you write it.Excerpt from Chapter 1Goldilocks had always wanted to write a novel. She learned to read before she went to kindergarten. In grade school, she always had her nose in a book. In junior high, the other kids thought she was weird, because she actually liked reading those dusty old novels in literature class. All through high school, Goldilocks dreamed of writing a book of her own someday.But when she went to college, her parents persuaded her to study something practical. Goldilocks hated practical, and secretly she kept reading novels. But she was a very obedient girl, so she did what her parents told her. She got a very practical degree in marketing. After college, she got a job that bored her to tears—but at least it was practical.Then she got married, and within a few years, she had two children, a girl and then a boy. She quit her job to devote full time to them. As the children grew, Goldilocks took great joy in introducing them to the stories she had loved as a child. When her son went off to kindergarten, Goldilocks thought about looking for a job. But her resume now had a seven-year hole in it, and her practical skills were long out of date. The only jobs Goldilocks could qualify for were minimum wage.She suddenly realized that being practical had made her horribly unhappy. On a whim, Goldilocks decided to do the one thing she had always wanted more than anything else—she was finally going to write a novel.She didn’t care if it was impractical.She didn’t care if nobody would ever read her novel.She was going to do it just because she wanted to.For the first time in years, she was going to do something

A WWII naval thriller in the tradition of the Hornblower series ...October, 1942. The United States and the Empire of Japan are at war. Charlie Harrison, a young and ambitious lieutenant, reports for duty aboard the S-55, a worn-out WWI-era submarine. While the Battle of Guadalcanal rages on land, air, and sea, the captain plans a daring attack against Rabaul, the heart of Japanese power in the South Pacific. There, the hunter will become the hunted.With a foreword by John Dixon, author of Phoenix Island.

A magical key to unlock your creative wizard Are you writing a novel, but having trouble getting your first draft written? You've heard of "outlining", but that sounds too rigid for you. You've heard of "organic writing", but that seems a bit squishy to you. Take a look at the wildly popular Snowflake Method - a battle-tested series of 10 steps that jump-start your creativity and help you quickly map out your story. All around the world, novelists are using the Snowflake Method right now to ignite their imaginations and get their first drafts down on paper. In this book, you'll follow the story of a fictitious novelist as she learns to tap into the amazing power of the Snowflake Method. Almost magically, she finds her story growing from a simple idea into a deep and powerful novel. And she finds her novel changing her - turning her into a stronger, more courageous person. Zany, over the top, and just plain fun How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method is a "business parable" - a how-to guide written in story form. It's zany. It's over the top. It's just plain fun. Most important, it's effective, because it shows you, rather than telling you. You'll learn by example how to grow your story idea into a sizzling first draft. You'll discover: How to define your "target audience" the right way, so you know exactly how your ideal listeners think and feel. Forget what the experts tell you about "demographics." How to create a dynamite selling tool that will instantly tell people whether they'll love your story or hate it. And you want them to either love it or hate it. How to get inside the skin of every one of your characters - even your villain. Especially your villain. How to find a deep, emotively powerful theme for your story. Do you know the one best point in your novel to unveil your theme - when your listener is most eager to hear it? Why backtracking is good, even essential.

All your life, you dreamed about the City of God.But you never thought you’d ever actually go there. Until now. Your name is Rivka Meyers, and you are a total misfit. You are a Messianic Jew, studying at UC Berkeley. Misfit. You are a woman getting your PhD in archaeology—a man’s field. Misfit. You are in Israel working on an archaeological dig, pretending to be someone you’re not. Misfit. Your Israeli co-worker on the dig tries to set you up with his cousin, Ari Kazan. Disaster. Because Ari likes you. And you haven’t told him you’re Messianic. Ari is a theoretical physicist who wrote some crazy paper on time travel. Somehow, an experimental physicist, Damien West, thought it was a good idea.Damien came all the way from the US to try to build a wormhole to test Ari’s crazy theory. Damien is obsessed with safety, which seems a little weird. But he has a personal reason for wanting time travel to be real, and it’s a lot weird. Only he’s not telling anyone that reason. Damien wants to go back in time and kill the apostle Paul. Somehow, Damien gets the wormhole working, sort of.Somehow, he tricks you into going through the wormhole, without telling you where you’re going, or when. Somehow, you find yourself in Jerusalem, AD 57, completely unprepared and completely bedazzled. This is where you always wanted to visit. It would be dumb to leave without looking around. But too late, you realize it’s even dumber to stay. Because you’re the worst possible misfit in the City of God. You didn’t come dressed for a place and time where women are required to cover their bodies. Where women don’t talk to men. Where women are property, not people. Where violating the rules could get you killed. Back in the lab, Damien isn’t worried about you. He packs his gun, sets a timer to shut down the wormhole, and walks through into ancient Jerusalem. If he calculated the dates right, he’ll be lining up the apostle Paul in his gunsights next Tuesday. And you can’t stop him, even if you figure out what he’s up to.There’s a loose cannon in this picture.Ari Kazan. The guy who has a weird, crazy, stupid crush on you.The guy who’s mad at you for not telling him you’re a Messianic.The guy who just found out Damien West has made a fool of him. What’s Ari going to do? About The BookTransgression is a time-travel suspense novel that mixes science, history, religion, romance, and suspense. It’s about learning to stand up for yourself, when you just want to be let alone. It’s about making hard decisions. It’s about asking whether life has meaning and whether God exists — and becoming a badass fighter for justice, even if you don’t have the answers. Transgression won the 2001 Christy award for best futuristic novel in Christian fiction. Transgression will take you on a wretched, miserable, dangerous adventure through the filthy, bandit-ridden streets of first-century Jerusalem. Transgression is the first novel in the City of God series:Book 1: Transgression (A.D. 57)Book 2: Premonition (A.D. 57-62)Book 3: Retribution (A.D. 62-66)

Hidden far from sight, deep in the thick underbrush of the North Florida woods are the ghostly graves of more than thirty unidentified bodies, some of which are thought to be children who were beaten to death at the old Florida Industrial School for Boys at Marianna. It is suspected that many more bodies will be found in the fields and swamplands surrounding the institution. Investigations into the unmarked graves have compelled many grown men to come forward and share their stories of the abuses they endured and the atrocities they witnessed in the 1950s and 1960s at the institution. The White House Boys: An American Tragedy is the true story of the horrors recalled by Roger Dean Kiser, one of the boys incarcerated at the facility in the late fifties for the crime of being a confused, unwanted, and wayward child. In a style reminiscent of the works of Mark Twain, Kiser recollects the horrifying verbal, sexual, and physical abuse he and other innocent young boys endured at the hands of their "caretakers." Questions remain unanswered and theories abound, but Roger and the other 'White House Boys' are determined to learn the truth and see justice served.

From the moment they met, Marjie's heart has belonged to handsome Captain Stanley Jonquil, younger brother of the Earl of Lampton. But six long months ago, when Stanley's sense of honor required that he do as he had sworn and return to the Continent to fight in defense of King and country, neither Stanley nor Marjie could have dreamed what the cost of his service would be. It has been ages since Stanley last wrote, and Marjie and the Jonquil family are plagued by his unknown fate—until the day he unexpectedly reappears. Marjie's joy, however, is quickly shadowed by confusion—the aloof, battle-worn soldier before her is not the man he once was. In the wake of Stanley's blatant disinterest in renewing their acquaintance, Marjie's devastation turns to determination as she vows to help him find peace. But his scars run far deeper than anyone realizes. Despite his feelings for her, Stanley believes Marjie deserves a man whose hands are not stained with the violence of battlefields and whose mind and heart are not haunted by the horrors he has seen. Honor requires Stanley to return once more to the life he has grown to despise, one he knows will destroy him in the end, even as his heart beckons him to stay with Marjie, the only woman he could ever love, and the promise, at last, of redemption.

Five years after being reunited in Las Vegas, Lexi and Leo have settled into domestic bliss.Or have they?Lexi would never dream of keeping anything from Leo, but she has a secret that’s too painful to share even with the man she loves. When that secret threatens to come between them, will Lexi be able to share her devastating truth, or will she bear the pain alone?Leo would do anything for his family, including leaving his career behind and moving to the remote Canadian Rockies. When he’s presented with an offer that’s too good to be true, he can’t turn it down. Even when it means deceiving those he loves the most.While Lexi and Leo discovered that Nothing Stays in Vegas, the only thing that can bring their love back together again, is a…Return to Vegas.

Death is not the end of our existence just a change in our being. It is something that has been partially experienced and thoroughly documented by many individuals around the world. In this inspiring look at near-death experiences, authors Brent and Wendy Top illustrate how numerous recorded accounts of near-death experiences relate to Latter-day Saint teachings. More than just a collection of interesting near-death stories, this book is rich with scripture as well as commentary from Latter-day prophets, creating a doctrinal lens through which to view the near-death events shared by various people from differing cultural and religious backgrounds. From the amazing characteristics of our spirit bodies to the incredible love and learning that will take place, you ll find encouragement and peace regarding that next step we will all eventually take, which is, in reality, the beginning of a beautiful new phase of life. You will be fascinated with reports from those who have seen the other side of the veil: a being of light who greeted them in the spirit world; a sense of having a perfect, vitalized spirit body; the rapid, graphic review of one s mortal life; meeting with loved ones; communication by thought transference; spirits in radiant white robes; travel at phenomenal speeds; expanded comprehension and memory powers; gorgeous scenery and vegetation;and an all-encompassing, overwhelming light and love. While emphasizing how we must critically examine these accounts, the authors say, We were amazed at the similarities and consistencies between near-death accounts and the doctrines of the restored gospel. God lives and loves each and every one of us, and what is waiting for us is inexpressibly amazing and wonderful.