Books Forsu

Because astrological readings can be a chapter in a book alone, for the purposes of this article we're going to do a very simple and stripped down reading. However, this will give you a good foundation for really getting into depth when doing your own reading.The first thing you have to do is get the subject's birth info. We need the date, time and place of birth. For the purposes of this reading, we'll just pull some info out of thin air. Let's take April 15, 1984, at 8:00 AM in the town of Newark, New Jersey.We take this information and throw it into our favorite astrological computer program. For this example we'll use Astro123, which is actually a shareware program with some very powerful...

In my previous article, "Writing: It's a Crowded, Lonely Business" we discussed briefly what POD, or print-on-demand is, and what to look for in a POD publisher. In this article we will look at the pros and cons of POD publishing. To state it briefly, print-on-demand's strengths are also print-on-demand's weaknesses. Let me show you what I mean... Anyone can be published -- even idiots and crackpots. In the world of POD publishing, the rule of the day is caveat emptor, or "buyer beware." Because POD allows just about anyone to print just about anything, the books offered by POD publishers are a mixed bag. Some POD sites offer user ratings and reviews with their books, and that's a definite plus...

In 1934, when Walt Disney called for a meeting among his artists, a rumor had spread that he was going to shut the studio down and they would all be left unemployed during the great depression. Instead he personally told them in his own spellbinding way the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which he intended to make into his first feature length film. It was a risk unlike any other he had taken before. The film would cost a million and a half dollars at a time Disney was spending anywhere from ten to thirty thousand on his short cartoons. Doubts came from his wife Lillian and his brother and business partner Roy, who were sure they would be in debt for most of the rest of the lives. Also...

Many kids are so dependent on electronics - television, games, CDs, and videos - they are lost when these things are unavailable. A power failure or loss of television privileges causes some kids to have an emotional meltdown.Loving kids doesn't mean we have to entertain them every minute. When we provide nonstop entertainment for kids we are actually harming them. Kids need down time, lazy, quiet moments when they can listen to their thoughts and let their imaginations run free. We can help kids learn how to beat the boredom blues.First, we can give kids suggestions, and that's what this article is about. Second, we can stock up on supplies like school glue, markers, colored paper, and craft...

Non-fiction articles are based on research, interviews, experiences and opinion. Look around your home and bookstore and you'll find non-fiction writing opportunities in every bookshelf and on every table. Newspapers also look for feature articles and news stories. Your next feature article could be about a place (amusement park), person (blue ribbon winner for pickles), or event (state fair).How many magazines do you subscribe to? We subscribe to 13 magazines. Some of these are professional magazines: "The Writer," "Saveur" (I'm a food writer), and "Society of Professional Journalists" (my husband is a journalist).Some are for fun and hobbies: "Disney's Adventures" and "YM," "Family Handyman...

You've arrived just in time! You're here, so I assume you're wanting to better yourself and expand your mind -- and not through drugs, but through reading. I'm so excited for you! I'll do the best I can to help you buy your Dummy Book, and I'll be extra careful to use simple words and letters from the alphabet.The first thing you have to do is decide on what you'd like to learn about. It's an important first step in choosing your Dummy Book. If you go into a store, secure in the knowledge that you already know what you'd like to learn about, it will give you a feeling of confidence. You'll be able to pick out a book in under fifteen minutes, lift it off the shelf with your right or left hand, walk...

You need to be prepared for the saturation of wholesale video games distributor phenomena that is going to take place and start appearing on the Internet in the following weeks when the Playstation 3 hits the stores in the first weeks of November of this year. Right now there are many buyers taking advantage of the eBay craze of selling Playstation 3 consoles at almost three times the current retail price that is due in launch day. The price of the Playstation 3 will be $600 for the premium package- can you believe what will happen when those PS3 consoles hit the market the hungriness that it will leave for many small based business online?What I am trying to warn you about is that there will be...

Are you an avid reader? Are you trying to instill a love of reading in your children?My whole family loves to read! Right before bedtime every night, every one of us can be found with our nose in a book!It would be very easy for us to spend a fortune every month on books. But, since we don't have a fortune to spend every month, over the years I've found several ways to get good books and never pay full price!1. Garage and yard sales are a prime source for both hardback and paperback books. There are people who will buy a book, read it once, and they're ready to get rid of it. I pick up lots of books at yard sales and never pay more than 50 cents each.2. Used bookstores are another place to find good...

Multi-unit investors are the bread and butter clients of experienced and successful real estate agents. 1031 exchanges are one of the many options for landlords-to-be. After the closing or escrow though is when the real work begins and offering ways to smooth the operational transition for new or repeat owners of rental properties, can be a great source of future referrals for real estate agents. A new book released in 2006 should be a required closing gift from the selling agent to the buyer of any multi-unit building or complex, with two or a thousand units.Every Landlords Guide to Finding Great Tenants by Attorney Janet Portman, Nolo, 2006, ISBN 1-4133-0413-3, Paperback, 455 Pages is designed in...

In every national budget, there is a part called "Public Procurement". This is the portion of the budget allocated to purchasing services and goods for the various ministries, authorities and other arms of the executive branch. It was the famous management consultant, Parkinson, who once wrote that government officials are likely to approve a multi-billion dollar nuclear power plant much more speedily that they are likely to authorize a hundred dollar expenditure on a bicycle parking device. This is because everyone came across 100 dollar situations in real life - but precious few had the fortune to expend with billions of USD.This, precisely, is the problem with public procurement: people are too...

If you visit any comic book fan forum on the net, I guarantee there will be one particularly debate raging. The exact books and characters referred to change, but the basic argument remains the same. This person is written out of character because back in issue #154987 so and so said blah blah blah.I'm exaggerating of course. I don't think any comic has an issue #154987. But it does serve to illustrate the dilemma that comic book publishes frequently find themselves in.The Continuity Conundrum In essence, the problem is that most comic book universes (and I'm thinking primarily of DC and Marvel here) are built around the concept of continuity. All their characters interact to a greater or lesser...

Listen. This is vitally important. If you do not listen then your track will be very poor indeed. Listening is what most musicians have forgot to do and that is why we do not hear from them again. They have lost their roots, what ultimately made them famous. Trying to move away from your group roots is very risky. The Prodigy made fantastic rave and deep techno, then starting to go into a rock phase. It didn't work out too well, now they are trying to get back into their old territory but its hard. Their fan-base has shrunk as new groups have come up. The Prodigy are now releasing their classic hits to try and re-energise themselves to grab back their old fans, telling them "remember this, you liked...

Coming on strong after the success of his Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond's new book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed is a tome of intriguing insight to the other side of the coin. While Guns, Germs and Steel examined how some societies thrived, due to their respective geographic and environmental endowments, this book examines why ancient societies have collapsed so often in the past, in part for the same reasons. To support this thesis, the book delves into a variety of past civilizations, including the Anasazi of the American Southwest, the Maya and the Viking colonies of Greenland to illustrate that collapse of a society is no respecter of...

Everybody knows writing a story is not easy. Like the drama or the poem, it is imaginative literature that should appeal to the emotions of the readers. Since it communicates the writer's interpretation of reality, there must be an artistic use of language to signify human experience. But how do we write a great short story? What are the things to keep in mind in order to come up with a short story that works? Here's a quick guide to get you started:1. ReadReading is essential to anyone who wants to write. In order to be able to write a good short story, you must read other short stories first. This will not only give you the motivation and inspiration for your own story, but it will also help you...

Welcome the new 2006 Honda Accord. This vehicle is a family sedan that holds four doors. It has the maximum passenger capacity of holding five people. It also comes available in 17 various trims that ranges from the VP 5 Spd MT to the EX V6 5 Spd AT with Nav System and XM Radio. Standard for all trim levels is a 5 speed automatic transmission system with overdrive. This vehicle is freshened for 2006.This vehicle is considered to be the best midsize car in the United States at present. The 2006 Honda Accord has been redesigned and totally reengineered. Because of this very fact, this car has now become one of the best selling midsize cars. It comes with a combination and concoction of high technology...

Yesterday began as a cold rainy Friday for me when I got out of bed hungering for, of all things, a Hershey bar. It must have been the sudden intense craving for that yummy chocolate taste that caused me to get quickly dressed, grab my wallet, and, with an umbrella, walk the oft-beaten one block route to the neighborhood convenience store. There I found the traditional black and white packaged candy displayed prominently among its many rivals crying out, "buy me, buy me." So I grabbed one and rushed hungrily to the checkout counter to discover that the small bit of chocolate for which I, as a child, paid 5 cents was now 79 cents. But as I was suddenly exasperated by the retail price of the item...

Welcome the new 2006 Honda Accord. This vehicle is a family sedan that holds four doors. It has the maximum passenger capacity of holding five people. It also comes available in 17 various trims that ranges from the VP 5 Spd MT to the EX V6 5 Spd AT with Nav System and XM Radio. Standard for all trim levels is a 5 speed automatic transmission system with overdrive. This vehicle is freshened for 2006.This vehicle is considered to be the best midsize car in the United States at present. The 2006 Honda Accord has been redesigned and totally reengineered. Because of this very fact, this car has now become one of the best selling midsize cars. It comes with a combination and concoction of high technology...

Here's everything I know about improving your writing, publishing it electronically and in print, and promoting it after the sale.Two questions you should ask:(1) What will it cost me?(2) What does this Michael LaRocca guy know about it?Answer #1 -- It won't cost you a thing. The single most important bit of advice I can give you, and I say it often, is don't pay for publication.My successes have come from investing time. Some of it was well spent, but most of it was wasted. It costs me nothing to share what I've learned. It costs you nothing to read it except some of your time.Answer #2 -- "Michael LaRocca has been researching the publishing field for over ten years."This quote, from an...

There are people who take pleasure in actual reading. There are more people who actually take pleasure from listening to what is read. Perhaps, this has got to do with childhood rituals when parents will take the time to read bedtime stories to their children. The advent of books on tape, audio books, and aural literature seems like a way of going back, to a time and place where everything was much simpler. Where stories were read and people take time to listen. But this did not happen; in fact, the books on tape, audio books, and aural literature added to people's hunger for mobility. Even in listening, people are distracted; the pleasure of listening to stories are driven away.There is still a...

I've learned that when a person starts thinking about telling their life story, they tend to overthink it. They get caught up in worrying about things such as what others will think and who would publish it. The whole thought process results in paralysis so they can't even figure out how to get started. But if you do your thinking in a more focused way, and then follow it up with specific actions, you'll have your completed pages done before you know it! Here's how to get going.Who is the Book For?Before sitting down at your desk, decide who you are writing for. Are you writing for a wider audience (the general public)? Are you writing for your children and grandchildren? Answering this question...

I'm sure that a lot of young people today are beginning to discover written science fiction, as opposed to movie and TV SF, much as I did when I was a teenager. They may not be aware of an interesting and endearing phenomenon people my age experienced in the 1950s and '60s, that of the specialty press publisher of science fiction.I started buying Astounding SF in 1957, and before long I was seeing ads for books from Gnome Press, Shasta Publishers, Fantasy Press, etc. I think the names themselves clued me in to the fact that they were uniquely oriented to the SF field, but I had no idea that most of them were one or two-man operations.No idea, that is, until I ordered something that was out of...

Once you obtain your new-fangled digital camera, a reasonable chance is you're not fairly sure how to use it. For this reason a digital photography guide can be practical when you're learning about your new-fangled toy. If you want a digital photography guide, here are some options you have:Internet - the essential sourceThis days, the Internet is efficient as the central source for any query, trouble or interest you may have. If you are sprouting an interest in digital photography, the Net is a superior way to find what you need in a matter of seconds. Simply types in the words digital photography guide in any search engine, and you will be redirected to a number of websites that can help you with...

I spent the better part of 17 years in and out of higher education. Eleven of those years were invested in taking classes and pursuing degrees. In the process of having to read a lot of books and articles that I didn't really have time to read, I began asking myself, "Isn't there a more effective way to do this?" Like many of you, I had a life outside of the academic world. I had a family, jobs, responsibilities, and the desire to enjoy some portion of each week. Reading was necessary, but it wasn't something I always enjoyed.One day as I was sitting at my cubicle in the library, I glanced over at the three stacks of books I had accumulated. These books represented the precedent literature I needed...

QUESTION: While I was listing a chemistry textbook for sale on Amazon Marketplace, I noticed that new copies were available for $20.22, while a used copy in "good" condition was listed at $1,346.00! Why would a seller list their book at such an exorbitant price?ANSWER: My hunch is this seller is trying to make a fast buck without really doing anything. This has been going on at Amazon ever since I started selling there in 2001, although it's a lot less common now.It's possible this seller made a typo when they listed their book for sale, or while editing their listing. Maybe they meant to enter a price of $13.46 instead of $1,346.00. I've made mistakes like this a few times, so I don't want to...

Local author J. Peter Yakel has released a hilarious fiction tale with roots to a number of localities and landmarks about New York's Capitaland area. Notable places mentioned in the comedy adventure include the towns of Berne, Knox, Westerlo, Cambridge, Cobleskill and Greenville, as well as Albany and Schoharie counties. In addition, the well-worn paths of Delaware Turnpike and Route 85, the fine hunting grounds of Partridge Run, and the prominent 'stone wall' of Westerlo weave their way into the pages of the book as well. Says the author, "People write about what they know. My capital district roots are deep and they stretch back more than 150 years, so choosing to include parts of our local...

Your manuscript is finally written. You breathe a great sigh of relief. But hold on; you aren't done yet. Use your spell-checker, grammar, and style checking program to catch obvious flaws and flag overly long sentences, for example.You also may have learned to type on a typewriter and thus put two spaces at the end of a sentence. In the computer age one space is preferable. Otherwise, it looks awkward when typeset. No problem, though. Simply do a search and replace, and change the two spaces to one.Even the best writers can benefit from good editors working behind them. Editing is a special skill the average author doesn't perform well. And since, in spite of their expertise, editors are...

The Big IdeaOkay. So youve figured out that you would like to write for magazines, newspapers, and e-zines. Unfortunately, so have about eight gazillion other people on this planet. Therefore, you have to stand out from the crowd. You have to sparkle. How do you do this? Simple. It all starts with The Big Idea. The first secret you must learn in this funny business is that you dont actually have to write the whole article to get a job. In fact, only bright green novices attempt to write the whole thing before selling it. What you do need, however, is the IDEA for the great story. You will use this great idea to convince editors to pay you exorbitant amounts of money via a proposal letter...

With a great number of city people living in condos, with no possibility to grill outside, Raichlen's latest book, "Indoor! Grilling" covers a topic of large interest, especially that grilling is a tradition in America, some sort of a national custom. So, this theme surely relieves a lot of frustration for the part of audience that had been previously left out!Steven Raichlen is a cooking teacher, lecturer, author, journalist and TV host. He founded the Carribean cooking school Cooking in Paradise. Raichlen's TV show, Barbecue University debuted in 2003 on public television. The same year he was named the "cooking teacher of the year" by Bon Appetit magazine.Participating in a "barbecue battle" on...

In the old days, choosing a video game system for children wasn't all that hard. After all, parents didn't have to worry about games carried by systems like Atari (there was nothing threatening about Pac-Man or Space Invaders). Today, however, with the proliferation of games with mature content available on games supported by the major system manufacturers, parents want to know which system carries the most kid-friendly games, ones that the young ones will enjoy and one that parents will not regret spending money on.Let's start with the Sony PlayStation 2, the best-selling game console on the market today. There are literally thousands of titles available for this system, which cater to every age...

"E-Book" is short for Electronic Book---an organized set of content delivered in an electronic format. There are many different types of e-books including packaged executables, PDF, and formats for the handheld computer.As with so many of the original e-books, your e-book doesn't have to be about Making Money or Internet Marketing---people are interested in many other things. What makes an e-book valuable to a wide audience is that it provides information that people cannot easily find elsewhere.Over the years, I've had the pleasure of writing numerous printed books and working on several electronic publications. From what I've seen, the e-book medium supports the greatest creative flexibility...

Did you know that 52% of all books are not sold in bookstores? This is just the tip of the iceberg! If you want to take your business to another level, there are many other venues for selling books and tapes. Let's do some "out of the box" thinking and explore these avenues:Catalogs. There are more than 15,000 consumer and business-to-business catalogs that cover every imaginable subject. Find the ones that already have your customer base and convince them about the value of carrying your book. You can do this online or via the library, which will have various directories. Catalogs have three wonderful advantages: they never return books; they pay promptly; and they order month after month, year...

Publicity is crucial to book sales. Unfortunately, many publishers are cutting back on marketing. Your book may be the best thing since sliced bread, but I guarantee that sliced bread will get more publicity. What can you do if you don't have the money to hire a marking firm? Here are some ideas to get your book and name noticed.GO THE COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY ROUTE. Colleges and universities are always looking for speakers. It there is a college or university in your town contact the Library Director and offer to speak. Follow-up by delivering an information packet about your book to the library.CONTACT THE PUBLIC LIBRARY. Public libraries offer free presentations and seminars to the public...

From Niagara Falls to the Catskills to a little city with the Big Apple nickname, New York is truly the Empire State. New York real estate prices reflect this lofty nickname.New YorkWhile New York City gets a lot of publicity, New York is a state with a lot more to offer...

How many times have you heard or read, "Our employees are our greatest asset"?What are the chances of any company surviving if it cannot find the right employees - or find enough of them? In 2003 Roger Herman, Tom Olivio, and Joyce Gioia wrote in Impending Crisis that by the year 2010 the U.S. economy will support 10 million more jobs than there will be people in the work force to fill them.This future scenario could make the late 1990's volatile job market look like it was relatively stable compared to what we may soon experience.Is your company currently at risk of finding enough good people? Can you predict whether or not your top employees are planning to leave? In this era of information on...

The Covenant with Black America is the brainchild of Tavis Smiley. For the past seven years, the talk show host has had his own "State of the Black Union" symposium. Seeing that simply exchanging opinions with the nation's top black leaders was not sufficient, he decided to chart a course for the African American Community. To provide a structured blueprint, The Covenant with Black America have assembled a scholarly collection of 10 short essays by esteemed experts in various disciplines to address the devastating social, political and economic disparities facing many African Americans.Each chapter or "covenant" looks at one pivotal issue and supplies the reader with a list of resources and...

In the old days, choosing a video game system for children wasn't all that hard. After all, parents didn't have to worry about games carried by systems like Atari (there was nothing threatening about Pac-Man or Space Invaders). Today, however, with the proliferation of games with mature content available on games supported by the major system manufacturers, parents want to know which system carries the most kid-friendly games, ones that the young ones will enjoy and one that parents will not regret spending money on.Let's start with the Sony PlayStation 2, the best-selling game console on the market today. There are literally thousands of titles available for this system, which cater to every age...

Enter the Dragon You stumble through a maze of mirrors, placed methodically so that the camera filming you doesn't film itself... you have hot pink fluids smeared over your arms and torso as an obscure, esoteric reference to human blood... there is a chinese actor chasing you with an over-sized rabbit's foot with marshmallow roasters attached to the fingers as an obscure esoteric reference to a bear-claw-esque weapon (which will henceforth be reverenced in the form of a mouth-watering innamon/frosting medley pastry).Is this the freakiest haunted carnival fun house ever? Is it a story Spielberg, Coppola, Lucas, and the like tell over a campfire to try to scare each other sleepless? None of the...

Some of my best memories of parenting consist of recollections of my son curled up against me while I was reading him a story or while racing one another on word puzzler-type books. His whole experience of learning to read was not painful at all, but was more an experience of bonding with mom while bonding with printed type. There was laughter and hugs and encouragement, which should always be part of early learning at its best.Some people object to the idea of parents teaching their children "too young". Other people feel unqualified to do what they perceive as the singular job of schools. However, the teaching is secondary to the sharing that goes on, the interaction between the child's mind...

Every now and then, I get an email that reads something like this one:"I want to learn how to memorize the whole Bible. I read your description of your program and I am still unsure whether it is all that you say it is or some scheme. I was wondering if there are any other details that you can give me to help me?"Is It Really Possible To Memorize The Whole Bible?As you undoubtably know, memorizing the whole Bible is an enormous task. However, I do believe it is possible! In fact, William Walker Atkinson says, in his book "Memory, How To Develop, Train and Use It":In India, in the past, the sacred books were committed to memory, and handed down from teacher to student, for ages.And even today it is...

A Managing Director of a prominent City investment bank in London e-mailed me the other day: "I am doing a morning of graduate interviews for salespeople; all high quality guys but one guy mentioned that he liked Google as a stock so I quizzed him based on the DMH blog view and he left the meeting saying he thought the stock was a sell!"He later revealed to me the competitiveness of the interview process and how little margin for error there was: out of the sixteen short-listed candidates, they were only allowed to pick two. When I asked him what the criteria was, he told me; "It's really the depth of the candidates that makes all the difference. We had one Lebanese guy, for example, with loads of...

Video game backup software packages help you backup video games in CDs and DVDs. Video game backup software is mostly used in personal computers. These software packages require small storage capacity as compared to others. Many video game backup programs provide such high-quality copies that you do not see any difference between an original and a copy.Video game backup software enables you to copy a variety of video games such as Xbox, Playstation, PSP, PSX, PS2, and Dreamcast. The important thing about software that copies or backs up video games is their speed: some take hours to copy a DVD, but some others take less than forty-five minutes. Most video game backup software companies offer online...

1. Use Logic: Check for External PressuresAre you under physical or emotional stress? Is your diet lacking? Do you need more sleep, or more restful sleep? Would a visit to the doctor be in order before you start beating yourself up about your inability to concentrate?2. Start brainstormingJot down all the possible plot permutations you can think of. At first, these will be fairly logical. Then, as you run out of options, you'll find that you start to come up with more off-the- wall ideas. These might be just what you need to get you going again.3. Ease into your writingStart your writing session with something that's 'easy' - a letter, a shopping list, a recipe, a 'to do' list. Then move on to a...

Have you ever wondered what would it take to compete successfully with the "big guys" like Simon & Schuster and even get to the top of the heap? If there is such thing as a magic formula for success, then the story of Geela, the author of the bestseller book THE AMERICAN DREAM can certainly make a believer out of you too. Mastering the art of the possible is at the heart of Geela's brand new book where her message is that the possible always exceeds the impossible.It's a sobering fact that no one not even the "big guys" (the large publishing houses) are immune to the risk of failing and even going out of business and not so much because of lack of resources but rather lack of innovation...

First, prioritize the sales by time and potential for good items. An ad that includes antiques or collectibles in the wording would have more potential than one that has baby toys and clothes.Moving sales are sometimes the best sales since the seller is more motivated to get rid of their items or they may be desperate to get rid of some things that they can't take with them.Get there early! The early bird gets the worm. Many dealers and buyers get to the best sales very early, sometimes an hour before the sale is supposed to start. They do this not only to be the first ones in to buy, but to also potentially look at or even make a deal before the sale even starts. They are also hoping that, by...

In this article we're going to review some of the most memorable telephone moments in TV and movie history.The telephone plays a very important part in our lives. Without it we wouldn't be able to communicate with people outside of shouting distance from our bedroom window. But the telephone has played a very important role in TV and the movies as well. Some of the most memorable scenes in movie history have revolved around the telephone.In the movie Casablanca just towards the end, Rick says his farewell to the girl he left behind and sends her on her way with her husband to America. After they leave, Major Strassa of the Gestapo arrives to find out that Victor Lazlo and his wife are on the...

So you've read the book - Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. Or at least heard about it.Full of myths and goddesses, cyphers and secret symbols, gothic horror, legend and fantasy masquerading as history, the Da Vinci Code has sold in the millions.And Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland is where the climatic scenes are played out.For most readers, Brown's description of Rosslyn Chapel is as close as they will get to the Chapel, at least until May 2006, when the film version of the Da Vinci Code is released.Tom Hanks and the crew have recently finished shooting at Rosslyn Chapel, so you can look forward to some great location shots.But what does a real visitor to Rosslyn Chapel feel?Is it as mysterious...

In the film "Kinsey," when someone suggests a movie of Dr. Alfred Kinsey's book, he replies, tongue in-cheek in-joke, "I can't think of anything more boring." He's almost right. Kinsey was an academic, a pedant, and perhaps that's why "Kinsey" is so monotone and almost sterile in its approach to such an explosive subject.Explosive? In the Paris Hilton/Desperate Housewives/"red state/blue state" era? Isn't our DAILY discourse already oversatiated with sex?Yes and no.There are still "don't go there" areas--the Michael Jackson case proves that. The debate over gay marriage. Our furor over Monica Lewinsky. On the other hand, we have gotten more permissive: "Closer," an exploration of infidelity...

What are five universal words for students, sales and marketing developers, planners, and writers of any kind that will help you write better and probably study better too? If you could learn five words that would help you study better, plan better, or write better, would you take the time to learn them? What are the five universal words? Well, let's start of by considering some points that will help you decide if you can benefit from this article. After each point there are a series of questions. If you can answer yes to more than one of these questions, the five universal words will probably help you. Heck, I'll even answer a question for you! Point #1. Who would be...

I'm sure that a lot of young people today are beginning to discover written science fiction, as opposed to movie and TV SF, much as I did when I was a teenager. They may not be aware of an interesting and endearing phenomenon people my age experienced in the 1950s and '60s, that of the specialty press publisher of science fiction.I started buying Astounding SF in 1957, and before long I was seeing ads for books from Gnome Press, Shasta Publishers, Fantasy Press, etc. I think the names themselves clued me in to the fact that they were uniquely oriented to the SF field, but I had no idea that most of them were one or two-man operations.No idea, that is, until I ordered something that was out of...