Agent Books

Everybody Comes to the Nightside, by Simon R. Green is actually a Science Fiction Book Club 3-in-1 book including originally published: Something From the Nightside, Agents of Light and Darkness, and Nightingale's Lament.

The Nightside books center on John Taylor, a private investigator who has special abilities that help him find things in a dark, magical place called the Nightside. My favorite passage that pretty much sums it up is from the forward in Nightingale's Lament:
"My name is John Taylor. I've made that a name to be respected and feared, but it's also made me a target my whole life.
I operate as a private eye, in a world where gods and monsters are real. The Nightside: the sick, secret magical heart of London. A place where dreams come true, whether you want them to or not. It's not easy to find a way in, and it can be even harder to find a way out.
I can find anything, solve any mystery. Except the answers to the dark and deadly secrets of my own past.
My name is John Taylor. And if you've come looking for me, either you're in trouble, or you're bound to be."

In the first book, Something From the Nightside, a woman comes to John to ask him to find her daughter. They must travel to the dark and magical world of the Nightside, from where John has fled. The story incorporates dark humor, suspense, and horror, all wrapped up in an eerie mystery. This is my favorite in the series so far, simply because the Nightside is such a mystery and the slow reveal is great because it's such a new and different place.

In the second book, Agents of Light and Darkness, the Nightside is already exposed to us, so Green can concentrate more on the plot, meanwhile still introducing new, creepy places within the city. A mysterious monk comes to John to ask him to find the Unholy Grail. Angels, demons, and everyone else dangerous seems to be searching for it as well. John teams up with Shotgun Suzie, a deadly assassin who once tried to kill him, for this disturbing tale.

In Nightingale's Lament, the third book, Taylor is hired to find a famous singer in the Nightside whose audience seems to be committing suicide after her shows. Many more creepy (and yet fun) characters are introduced in this story that either aid or try to kill Taylor along the way.

I love how these are written in a sort of classic pulp fiction detective novel, yet very fresh and fun.

Larry Wansley depicts some of his most fascinating cases in vivid detail. He began as a police officer when meeting a friend, not even planning to take the test. Wansley passed the test, his friend didn't. Thus began his law enforcement career. Wansley was one of the first undercover agents to go deep undercover. That is, he would go on undercover assignments for months at a time, whereas previous cases would have agents get in, collect intel, and get out. His telling of the many adventures he had are beyond exciting. Excellent for those interested in the FBI and undercover work and the risks they take.

This compact volume makes a good read and a great gift to any thinking person. A series of transcribed lectures, Fearless Speech introduces the notion of parrhesia - roughly "telling of the unvarnished truth" - as it has developed from Greek thought onwards. Foucault, acting here as the master historian of ideas, is precise and erudite, his language is clear, and his story inspires. The discussion begins with the origins of the word in early Greek thought and its use by Euripides in tragedy, and then moves on to discuss the place of parrhesia in democratic institutions, and ultimately its practices and its games.

Parrhesia is a type of speech that is neither rhetoric nor dialectic, though it has historically occupied an important space among both - forming perhaps a trialectic. Parrhesia is a species of truth that mandates its own telling, in a quasi-spiritual fashion if need be: the parrhesiastes, or truth-teller, is one who puts him- or herself at considerable risk, including the risk of death, with his or her words. It can easily be seen that parrhesia is an essential antecedent to criticism and critical theory, but it is also ubiquitous in many forms of discourse. The Jeremiads of prophetic speech, the jokes of court jesters, Che's formative travelogues around South America, Taussig's defacing messages to the academy, and the best-selling literature of Rushdie that was in the 1990s so ill-received by the Muslim community - all of these are examples of this powerful discourse-form at work and play.

I first ran across the term in Arpad Szakolczai's excellent volume on Weber and Foucault, "Parallel Life-Works." After reading FS, I was frankly amazed that the idea is not more widely discussed in university rhetoric classes. The concept is extremely fruitful, first of all, for anyone interested in rhetoric, dialectic, philosophy, and law. Moreover, for anyone studying Foucault's life or epistemic universe (orders of discourse, manifestation, dispositifs, and so on), parrhesia needs to be on the list of terms. For those interested in neo-Enlightenment thinkiers like Habermas and the communicative ethics thinkers like Benhabib and Miller, Rorty and the pragmatists, or the large and diverse group of scholars studying ideology (such as Teun van Dijk) within Critical Discouse Analysis, it's also a very worthwhile read.

Most of all, though, the book shows everyone - and not just the intellectual - that parrhesia needs to be incorporated within our everyday modes of thinking and speaking. To what extent are "we" speaking, and to what extent is ideology speaking through us? What power does our speech reproduce, and what might it transform? Is our speech emancipatory? Does it contribute to the complexity of thought? Does it leave more questions open than closed? Do we break new ground, or just re-hash the useless play of words? This is a book that will fuel the mind and inspire questions like these like few others I've recently read. If you're tired of reading about the "end of history" and post-post-everything thought, try this slim volume. Highly recommended.

This book describes the plight of a single practice doctor, and how he attempted to provide cheaper prescription coverage to patients. It showed, with documentation how every attempt was made to silence the doctor and eliminate cheaper coverage. Excellent saga with unfortunate endings. A must read for everyone.

Anne Arundel County, Maryland is not a place where one would expect female real estate agents to take a self defense course for their own personal protection. However, someone has threatened many of the woman and one has been found brutally murdered while showing a prospective client an exclusive home.

Eve Elliott works as an agent in her elderly aunt's real estate office. While starting to develop a thriving business, Eve still has doubts that selling houses is what she wants to do for the rest of her life. Even with a handsome lover, Eve wonders if she should quit and return to the Big Apple where she once was a rising advertising guru. However, a second killing occurs of a colleague in which Eve finds the body. Eve knows that if she decides to stay, she needs to uncover the identity of the killer.

FINAL CLOSING is the second entry in the brilliantly written Eve Elliot series. Like the first novel (DEATH IN STILL WATERS), this book is a marvelous murder mystery due to a scintillating who-done-it populated by an intriguing cast, especially Eve. Barbara Lee is rapidly rising to the top of the sub-genre as readers will want more Eve Elliott novels.

Harriet Klausner

Excellent resource. The author is sincere and knowledgeable - I even called him and he was very responsive to my questions. Not to mention the book being a complete page-turner. But it also has a personal touch, which is sorely missed in many real estate resources these days.

Theortical research into intumescent is rather under developing area in spite that state-of-the-art technology is considerably developed in industry. It will helpful reading this book to those who are interested in research and development of flame retardant system or application of it to polymeric material or textiles.

this book is very informative. i will be taking the Florida state exam soon and i now feel more confident that i will pass on my first attempt.
thanks.

When Mel, Lola, and Reuben are sent to the medievals where there is a kid called Stephen trying to get to Jeresalim with thousands of other kids, a De Winter man comes and offers them a "free ride to Jeresalim" buit they are actually planning to sell them as slaves. Then, against the Agency's wishes, Mel, Lola and Reuben dive into the future where bad-boy Brice, Mel's fallen-angel worst enemy is posing as good guy dave to protect his little brother, Dom, who has re-invented the time machine. Only,Dom wants to send his evil rellies (the de winters) into the future. Its awesome. I read it like five times and its still amazing!

I had a persuasive paper to write for my Business communication class and this book helped me cite statistics and argue in favor of hiring a Corporate Travel Manager.