Tarnished and Torn

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Juliet Blackwell

Lily Ivory hopes to score some great vintage fashions when she buys an antique trunk full of old clothes. But she may have gotten more than she bargained for.... As soon as Lily opens the trunk, she feels strange vibrations emanating from a mysterious velvet cloak. When she tries it on, Lily sees awful visions from the past. And when the antiques dealer who sold her the cape is killed, Lily suspects a supernatural force might be behind his death. Then Lily's familiar, Oscar the potbellied pig, disappears. Lily will do anything to get him back -- including battling the spirit of a powerful witch reaching out from the past. But even with the aid of her grandmother, unmasking a killer and saving Oscar might be more than one well-intentioned sorceress can handle.

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Brian Komar, Ronald Beekelaar, and Joern Wettern

What an amazing world we live in! Almost anything you can imagine can be researched, compared, admired, studied, and in many cases, bought, with the click of a mouse. The Internet has changed our lives, putting a world of opportunity before us. Unfortunately, it has also put a world of opportunity into the hands of those whose motives are less than honorable. A firewall, a piece of software or hardware that erects a barrier between your computer and those who might like to invade it, is one solution. If you've been using the Internet for any length of time, you've probably received some unsavory and unsolicited e-mail. If you run a business, you may be worried about the security of your data and your customers' privacy. At home, you want to protect your personal information from identity thieves and other shady characters. Firewalls For Dummies® will give you the lowdown on firewalls, then guide you through choosing, installing, and con...

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Edward Ugel

In his wry and funny memoir, Edward Ugel tells the story of America's addiction to the lottery from an astonishing angle.At age twenty–six, Ed found himself broke, knee–deep in gambling debt, and moving back into his parents' basement. It all changed, however, when he serendipitously landed a job as a salesman for The Firm – a company that offered up–front cash to lottery winners in exchange for their prize money, often paid in agonizingly small annual payments, some lasting up to twenty–five years. For the better part of the ensuing decade, Ed spent his time closing deals with lottery winners, making a lucrative and legitimate – if sometimes not–so–nice – living by taking advantage of their weaknesses... weaknesses he knew all too well.Ed met hundreds of lottery winners and saw up–close the often hilarious, sometime sad outcome when great wealth is dropped on ordinary people. Once lottery winners realized their "dream–come–true" multimillion jackpots were not all that they were cracked up to be, Ed would knock on their door, offering them the cash they wanted–and often desperately need. This cash sometimes came at a high price, but winners were rarely in a position to walk the other way. As Ed learned, few of them had the financial savvy to keep up with the lottery–winner lifestyle. In fact, some just wanted their old lives back.A charmingly neurotic gambler, Ed traveled deep into the heart of the country where he discovered the American Dream looks a lot like a day at the casino. And Ed knows casinos. In fact, his own taste for gambling gave him a unique insight into lottery winners: he intimately understood their mindset, making it that much easier to relate to them. And like lottery winners, Ed struggled to find balance in his own life as his increasing success earned him a bigger and bigger salary. Even as he relished his accomplishments, he grappled with the question: "If you are good at something that is bad for some people, does that make you a bad person?"Ed Ugel takes the readers inside the captivating world of lottery winners and shows us how lotteries and gambling have become deeply inscribed in every aspect of American life shaping our image of success and good fortune. Money for Nothing is a witty, wise, and often outrageously funny account of high expectations and easy money.

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Christine Rae and Jan Saunders Maresh

Want to have homebuyers knocking down your door? Home Staging For Dummies delivers all the secrets to making your home stand out, sell faster, and bring in more money! It shows you how to make improvements room by room and generate a higher profit in the most cost- and time-effective way. Featuring eight full-color pages of instructive before-and-after photos, this completely practical guide demonstrates how and why to eliminate clutter, make repairs, arrange furnishings, and pave the way for buyers to make an emotional connection to your house. You'll get a handle on what buyers want and how to show it to them, find plenty of do-it-yourself tasks that add real value to your home, and get tips on producing photos of your home that will have buyers craving to see more! Discover how to: See your home as prospective buyers will see it Know what needs doing and what doesn't Master the three-step home staging process Add real value to your home without breaking the bank Decide whether to DIY or call in the pros Create curb appeal Make a great first impression with a beautiful entryway Spruce up your kitchen, bathroom, living, and dining rooms Turn your bedrooms into a buyer's dream Whip your mechanicals into top shape Avoid staging nightmares Get top dollar for your home -- all you need is a little help from Home Staging For Dummies!