The Soul of an Arsonist

The Soul of an Arsonist
Author: Austin McCawley
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Total Pages: 112
Release: 2022-02-24
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1669812073

This is a story about the crime of arson and the search for one particular arsonist, who set a series of fires in churches of different denominations. The search tears apart a small community in New England. When the arsonist is exposed, the inquiry extends to his psychology, his motivation, his purpose. Is there a logical explanation for abhorrent behavior? It is a story about the community affected by the arson and how it reacts. And the members of that community whose lives are damaged. One of them is a psychiatrist, and his patients are drawn into the web. It is a story about how people destroy themselves. It is a story about group hysteria, prejudice and generosity, courage and resilience. About human nature.

American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land

American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land
Author: Monica Hesse
Publisher: Liveright Publishing
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2017-07-11
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1631490524

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year A Washington Post Notable Book of the Year One of Amazon’s 20 Best Books of the Year Named one of the Best Books of the Year by Buzzfeed, Bustle, NPR, NYLON, and Thrillist Finalist for the Goodreads Book Award (Nonfiction) Finalist for the Edgar Award (Best Fact Crime) A Book of the Month Club Selection A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Selection “A brisk, captivating and expertly crafted reconstruction of a community living through a time of fear.... Masterful.” —Washington Post The arsons started on a cold November midnight and didn’t stop for months. Night after night, the people of Accomack County waited to see which building would burn down next, regarding each other at first with compassion, and later suspicion. Vigilante groups sprang up, patrolling the rural Virginia coast with cameras and camouflage. Volunteer firefighters slept at their stations. The arsonist seemed to target abandoned buildings, but local police were stretched too thin to surveil them all. Accomack was desolate—there were hundreds of abandoned buildings. And by the dozen they were burning. “One of the year’s best and most unusual true-crime books” (Christian Science Monitor), American Fire brings to vivid life the reeling county of Accomack. “Ace reporter” (Entertainment Weekly) Monica Hesse spent years investigating the story, emerging with breathtaking portraits of the arsonists—troubled addict Charlie Smith and his girlfriend, Tonya Bundick. Tracing the shift in their relationship from true love to crime spree, Hesse also conjures the once-thriving coastal community, decimated by a punishing economy and increasingly suspicious of their neighbors as the culprits remained at large. Weaving the story into the history of arson in the United States, the critically acclaimed American Fire re-creates the anguished nights this quiet county lit up in flames, evoking a microcosm of rural America—a land half-gutted before the fires began.

The Arsonists' City

The Arsonists' City
Author: Hala Alyan
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Total Pages: 467
Release: 2021
Genre: Domestic fiction
ISBN: 035812655X

"The Arsonists' City delivers all the pleasures of a good old-fashioned saga, but in Alyan's hands, one family's tale becomes the story of a nation--Lebanon and Syria, yes, but also the United States. It's the kind of book we are lucky to have."--Rumaan Alam A rich family story, a personal look at the legacy of war in the Middle East, and an indelible rendering of how we hold on to the people and places we call home The Nasr family is spread across the globe--Beirut, Brooklyn, Austin, the California desert. A Syrian mother, a Lebanese father, and three American children: all have lived a life of migration. Still, they've always had their ancestral home in Beirut--a constant touchstone--and the complicated, messy family love that binds them. But following his father's recent death, Idris, the family's new patriarch, has decided to sell. The decision brings the family to Beirut, where everyone unites against Idris in a fight to save the house. They all have secrets--lost loves, bitter jealousies, abandoned passions, deep-set shame--that distance has helped smother. But in a city smoldering with the legacy of war, an ongoing flow of refugees, religious tension, and political protest, those secrets ignite, imperiling the fragile ties that hold this family together. In a novel teeming with wisdom, warmth, and characters born of remarkable human insight, award-winning author Hala Alyan shows us again that "fiction is often the best filter for the real world around us" (NPR).

The Divine Arsonist

The Divine Arsonist
Author: Jacob Nordby
Publisher:
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2012-02-06
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781469964089

excerpt from page 299 "...burn this book!" Why would author, Jacob Nordby, ask you to read his new novel, then burn it? This is no ordinary book. Fact and fiction weave together in this autobiographical tale of spiritual awakening. The main character is a burned-out businessman who takes an unplanned retreat to his cabin in the mountains of Idaho.On the first evening of his getaway, a mysterious stranger appears beside his campfire and delivers a summons: “Drop everything and attend a rendezvous of destiny…the fate of the world may depend upon it.” He is confronted with a terrifying choice: believe this stranger and take a journey into the unknown, or ignore the whole thing and perhaps miss his call of destiny? Mystical and deeply personal to the author, this story is rich with symbolism but framed in modern language. Join the main character on an adventure of the spirit. With him, you will meet a cast of divine helpers, shaman monks and ragged teachers who will captivate your imagination. Like the hero in this tale of awakening, you may never see life the same way again. Rich with insights, quotations and teachings of sources ranging from ancient to modern, this book is a breath of fresh air for the soul.

Embers

Embers
Author: Laura Bickle
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 372
Release: 2010-03-30
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1439167672

The first book in the thrilling fantasy series about arson investigator Anya Kalinczyk, the fires she fights and the demons she hunts. Truth burns. Unemployment, despair, anger—visible and invisible unrest feed the undercurrent of Detroit’s unease. A city increasingly invaded by phantoms now faces a malevolent force that further stokes fear and chaos throughout the city. Anya Kalinczyk spends her days as an arson investigator with the Detroit Fire Department, and her nights pursuing malicious spirits with a team of eccentric ghost hunters. Anya—who is the rarest type of psychic medium, a Lantern—suspects a supernatural arsonist is setting blazes to summon a fiery ancient entity that will leave the city in cinders. By Devil’s Night, the spell will be complete, unless Anya—with the help of her salamander familiar and the paranormal investigating team—can stop it. Anya’s accustomed to danger and believes herself inured to loneliness and loss. But this time she’s risking everything: her city, her soul, and a man who sees and accepts her for everything she is. Keeping all three safe will be the biggest challenge she’s ever faced.

The Arsonist's Handbook

The Arsonist's Handbook
Author: L a Detwiler
Publisher: L.A. Detwiler
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2021-03-28
Genre:
ISBN:

From USA Today Bestseller L.A. Detwiler comes a twisted psychological thriller burning with secrets. "Let him burn. Let them burn. Let it all burn." A disturbing family business passed down... At sixteen, Jameson Wills has never known his father. When he finds an old journal in the attic, though, he discovers some malicious truths about the man who disappeared long ago. As he reads about his father's secret addiction to arson, Jameson begins to wonder if the desire to burn is in his blood. But searching for a connection to his father might lead him down a path of no return. A grief-stricken businessman looking for vengeance... Pete Andrews' infant son has just died in a fire. When the police deem it the work of an arsonist, Pete decides he will stop at nothing to find justice for his son. But as his sinister past emerges, will he go too far in his quest for revenge? Two men. One arsonist. Choices that will change their lives forever. The Arsonist's Handbook is a dark, standalone psychological thriller that will haunt you long after the last page.

The Library Book

The Library Book
Author: Susan Orlean
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2019-10-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1476740194

Susan Orlean’s bestseller and New York Times Notable Book is “a sheer delight…as rich in insight and as varied as the treasures contained on the shelves in any local library” (USA TODAY)—a dazzling love letter to a beloved institution and an investigation into one of its greatest mysteries. “Everybody who loves books should check out The Library Book” (The Washington Post). On the morning of April 28, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. The fire was disastrous: it reached two thousand degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed four hundred thousand books and damaged seven hundred thousand more. Investigators descended on the scene, but more than thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so, who? Weaving her lifelong love of books and reading into an investigation of the fire, award-winning New Yorker reporter and New York Times bestselling author Susan Orlean delivers a “delightful…reflection on the past, present, and future of libraries in America” (New York magazine) that manages to tell the broader story of libraries and librarians in a way that has never been done before. In the “exquisitely written, consistently entertaining” (The New York Times) The Library Book, Orlean chronicles the LAPL fire and its aftermath to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives; delves into the evolution of libraries; brings each department of the library to vivid life; studies arson and attempts to burn a copy of a book herself; and reexamines the case of Harry Peak, the blond-haired actor long suspected of setting fire to the LAPL more than thirty years ago. “A book lover’s dream…an ambitiously researched, elegantly written book that serves as a portal into a place of history, drama, culture, and stories” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis), Susan Orlean’s thrilling journey through the stacks reveals how these beloved institutions provide much more than just books—and why they remain an essential part of the heart, mind, and soul of our country.

An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England

An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England
Author: Brock Clarke
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Total Pages: 335
Release: 2008-09-02
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1565126386

"Funny, profound . . . a seductive book with a payoff on every page."—People A lot of remarkable things have happened in the life of Sam Pulsifer, the hapless hero of this incendiary novel, beginning with the ten years he spent in prison for accidentally burning down Emily Dickinson's house and unwittingly killing two people. emerging at age twenty-eight, he creates a new life and identity as a husband and father. But when the homes of other famous New England writers suddenly go up in smoke, he must prove his innocence by uncovering the identity of this literary-minded arsonist. In the league of such contemporary classics as A Confederacy of Dunces and The World According to Garp, An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England is an utterly original story about truth and honesty, life and the imagination.

Fire on the Mountain

Fire on the Mountain
Author: Dale A. Johnson
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 148
Release: 2008-08-28
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1435739922

Biography of experiences by an American living in Southeast Turkey and Northern Iraq during and after the first Gulf War.

Start Now!

Start Now!
Author: Rudolf Steiner
Publisher: SteinerBooks
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2004
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 9780880105262

Start Now! offers an extensive and representative sample of Steiner's spiritual instructions and meditative practices, including meditation instructions; mantric verses; daily, weekly and monthly practices for the development of soul qualities; karmic exercises and meditations for working with the dead, the angelic hierarchies and our guardian angel.