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1. What Makes Me Tic: Living With Tourette Syndrome by Chris Mason

   

   About What Makes Me Tic: Living With Tourette Syndrome by Chris Mason

   What is Tourette Syndrome? To people who do not have it, it is probably not what they think. To fully understand this baffling disorder you must be afflicted with it. There is no other way. Even then, there are no guarantees. The everyday feelings and urges to perform the tics that are symptoms of TS are unlike any that a person without TS could imagine. There are as many cases of TS as there are people who have it. No two cases are exactly alike. This book was put together in order to raise awareness for TS. After reading them you will not totally understand TS. That is a given. It is my hope that the readers will understand it just a little bit better. Even if just one person learns more about TS or gains a greater understanding of TS as a result of reading this book, it will be well-worth the time and effort it took to write it.

   Tourette’s Syndrome is an often, misunderstood neurological disorder. The main symptoms are what are called “tics”. A tic is defined as an involuntary, sudden, rapid, repetitive, unbalanced, motor movement or vocalization. The tics occur many times a day, nearly every day.

   The most common motor tics are rapid eye blinking, shoulder shrugging, squinting, and facial grimacing. Some of the less common tics include grinding teeth, neck jerking, flailing arms, biting nails, and toe curling.The most common vocal tics are throat clearing, sniffing, grunting, coughing, and stuttering or stammering.

   There are a few important facts about TS that are important know. Up to one in 100 schoolboys have some form of TS. Three to four males have it for every female. The diagnosis is often missed. TS symptoms usually decrease with age. TS is an inherited disorder. Learning disorders, panic attacks, school phobias, speech problems, and sleeping problems are common too.
   People with TS usually also have either ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). Many people with Tourette’s have both of these accompanying disorders.

   When most people think of TS they think of the disorder where people with it swear uncontrollably and profusely. This symptom of TS (coprolalia) is the easiest symptom to recognize, but it is also the rarest. It is important to remember that coprolalia is present in less than thirty percent of TS patients.

   Most people with TS, when describing a tic, say that they feel a sudden tension building up that must be relieved by performing the tic. Tics are suppressible for varying lengths of time. The longer the tics are suppressed the more the tension builds up and the more there is a need to release them.

   Another major characteristic of TS is a waxing and waning of the symptoms. This includes both a change from one tic to another, to the complete disappearance of symptoms for varying periods of time.

   The tics usually begin during the ages of five through nine, but symptoms can start as late as twenty years of age.
   While motor and vocal tics are the main symptoms used to make a diagnosis, and they are what are most identified with TS, there are many other problems that can be associated with it, the main of which are behavior related.

   The people with TS who suffer from these behaviors are often angry, argumentative, and confrontational. Everything has to be their way or is someone else’s fault. One minute they’ll be fine and the next minute they’ll be in a rage. They tease their siblings relentlessly. They have a short temper, smart mouth, talk back, throw temper tantrums over nothing, and won’t take “no” for an answer. Many of them lie and steal too. Of course it is difficult to tell if a person’s TS is causing these behaviors or something else is, but many studies of TS patients have shown that these behaviors are much more common in them than in people without it.

   Very few people with TS have symptoms that require medication. Medication is usually only prescribed when a person’s symptoms prevent them from doing routine activities. Just like no two TS patients cases are the same, either are the treatments. Medication must be carefully monitored and doctors’ instructions must be followed precisely to benefit from the medications. Almost all of the medications have side effects, some of them many and some of them major. Many TS patients decide to live with their many symptoms, and stop taking medication, because living with the side effects is more than they can bear.

   This book will probably make you laugh. It will probably also make you cry. I have told my story in a brutally honest way. Even though there is almost no chance of you walking in my shoes I have told my story the best way I know how to help you understand what people like me go through every day of our lives. I am proud to present to you my book about what makes me “tic.

   Get The Book From Amazon.

   What Makes Me Tic: Living With Tourette Syndrome by Chris Mason is a post from Awesome Gang

2. Rookie Privateer

   About Rookie Privateer:

   When you are old enough to finally become an Earth Mars citizen, everything should be perfect. Right? Not for Liam Hoffen. He’s stuck on a mining asteroid called Colony 40, helping his father work a claim that is never going to pay out. His best friend, Nick James is set for life in James’ Rental business and Liam just discovered that the girl he’s known forever thinks he’s pretty great and now she’s leaving for the Mars Naval Academy.

   Liam dreams of sailing the stars. Whenever he gets the chance, he jets into space and floats, wishing to be free of the asteroid that has claimed him. What he doesn’t realize is that fate is about to change everything.

   Sometimes you have to lose parts of yourself to gain the stars, and Liam discovers that while it isn’t easy to literally lose parts of yourself to the pirates who attacked your home, gaining the stars is worth everything.

   Learn more about the author, buy the book, or follow them on social media:
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   Author Bio:
   Jamie McFarlane has been writing short stories and telling tall tales for several decades. With a focus that only a bill collector could inspire, Jamie has finally relented to recording some of his most often requested stories.

   During the day Jamie can be found at his home, writing in front of a neglected fire, with his two cats both conveniently named Dragon. When not writing Jamie can be found at the local pub sharing his stories with any who will listen.

   Rookie Privateer is a post from Awesome Gang

3. His to Claim #1: No Strings by Opal Carew

   About His to Claim #1: No Strings by Opal Carew:

   The first scintillating installment in the erotic serial novel His to Claim, later to be made available as a complete book featuring special bonus material.

   She’s his to claim–he just doesn’t know it.
   Rafe is a rock musician by night and head of a multi-million dollar family business during the day. Melanie is his former assistant, a wallflower who’s harbored a secret crush on him for years. Someone he’d never even consider sleeping with. But when Melanie decides to leave behind her shy exterior and live out her own sexy bucket list, the two of them are thrown together in a whirlwind affair that pushes both their boundaries.

   Learn more about the author, buy the book, or follow them on social media:
   Visit the Author’s Website.
   Buy the Book On Amazon.

   Author Bio:
   Hi. I’m Opal Carew and I write erotic romance for St. Martin’s Press.
   I’ve been writing since 1993, though originally I wrote futuristic, urban fantasy, science fiction, paranormal and contemporary romance. These stories are set in the present, future, or alternate realities and most of my stories are steamy. I am now republishing these under the name Amber Carew.
   As Opal Carew, I write erotic romances which always have a romance and a happy ending.
   So why do I like writing erotic romance? I like being able to push beyond traditional boundaries. I like dealing with a woman who is growing and evolving – questioning her sexual boundaries and pushing past them. I have been writing stories that involve multiple characters and it’s fascinating to work with the interactions between them. What fun to write a heroine choosing between two equally appealing heroes? My current project involves a group of several people who interact sexually and I find the scenario an enjoyable challenge.
   I try to keep my characters real. I like to have a heroine with whom the reader can empathize. These aren’t women who just jump into bed with anyone. They find themselves in an unusual situation – something exciting and erotic – but a situation where they have to push themselves beyond their comfort level. As a result, they grow as a person. So often fear holds us back – of what others will think of us, of what we will think about ourselves – and we don’t follow our hearts. These women push past that fear.

   His to Claim #1: No Strings by Opal Carew is a post from Awesome Gang

4. His to Claim #1: No Strings by Opal Carew

   About His to Claim #1: No Strings by Opal Carew:

   The first scintillating installment in the erotic serial novel His to Claim, later to be made available as a complete book featuring special bonus material.

   She’s his to claim–he just doesn’t know it.

   Rafe is a rock musician by night and head of a multi-million dollar family business during the day. Melanie is his former assistant, a wallflower who’s harbored a secret crush on him for years. Someone he’d never even consider sleeping with. But when Melanie decides to leave behind her shy exterior and live out her own sexy bucket list, the two of them are thrown together in a whirlwind affair that pushes both their boundaries.

   Learn more about the author, buy the book, or follow them on social media:
   Visit the Author’s Website.
   Buy the Book On Amazon.
   Visit the Facebook Fan Page.

   Author Bio:
   Hi. I’m Opal Carew and I write erotic romance for St. Martin’s Press.

   I’ve been writing since 1993, though originally I wrote futuristic, urban fantasy, science fiction, paranormal and contemporary romance. These stories are set in the present, future, or alternate realities and most of my stories are steamy. I am now republishing these under the name Amber Carew.

   As Opal Carew, I write erotic romances which always have a romance and a happy ending.

   So why do I like writing erotic romance? I like being able to push beyond traditional boundaries. I like dealing with a woman who is growing and evolving – questioning her sexual boundaries and pushing past them. I have been writing stories that involve multiple characters and it’s fascinating to work with the interactions between them. What fun to write a heroine choosing between two equally appealing heroes? My current project involves a group of several people who interact sexually and I find the scenario an enjoyable challenge.

   I try to keep my characters real. I like to have a heroine with whom the reader can empathize. These aren’t women who just jump into bed with anyone. They find themselves in an unusual situation – something exciting and erotic – but a situation where they have to push themselves beyond their comfort level. As a result, they grow as a person. So often fear holds us back – of what others will think of us, of what we will think about ourselves – and we don’t follow our hearts. These women push past that fear.

   His to Claim #1: No Strings by Opal Carew is a post from Awesome Gang

5. Rapture of the Deep

   

   About Rapture of the Deep:

   In the middle of the night, the doorbell rings, and Jennifer Johnson is pulled from a deep sleep. Outside her front door stand two police officers, messengers bearing tragic news. Joe, Jen’s recently estranged husband, is missing, the victim of a scuba diving accident.

   Joe “Puck” Johnson is a master carpenter. He is quiet, thoughtful, and passionately loves his deeply scarred wife. Their separation, unwanted, painful, and immersed in unfinished business, is now punctuated by this unfathomable loss.

   Tom Hyden is a high profile banker. He has the perfect home, the perfect wife, the perfect child, the perfect everything; yet beneath the surface of his well manicured life Tom carries a dark and shameful secret.

   Born and raised in the small Iowa town of Lake Pulaski, these two men cannot remember a time before their friendship. It is a bond most recently sealed by their mutual love of scuba diving. Beneath the waves diving provides a peaceful respite. However on the surface, their worlds are reeling and the peace they so desire is being torn asunder. Both men find their families disintegrating and their lives twisting apart, the result of events they cannot talk about, even with each other.

   So Tom and Joe are lost, and they must now take a journey that for one will lead to tragedy and the other redemption…

   Learn more about the author, buy the book, or follow them on social media:
   Visit the Author’s Website.
   Buy the Book On Amazon.
   Visit the Facebook Fan Page.
   Goodreads Profile Page

   Author Bio:
   David Grindberg is a writer, college instructor, husband, father, grandfather, pheasant hunter, scuba diver, and now a novelist. Rapture of the Deep, his first major work, is contemporary fiction and is published by IndianGrass Books. A native Iowan, Dave and his wife, Jill, are the parents of four children and call Fort Dodge, Iowa their home.

   Rapture of the Deep is a post from Awesome Gang

6. Apocalypse Atlanta

   About Apocalypse Atlanta:

   We’ve all seen it on the news every year. A hurricane, a tornado, a tsunami, a flood. A BAD thing happens, and all hell breaks loose.

   Some people are caught in the chaos, others are victims, some run, others wait for help, most sit at home watching for everything to be fixed for them, and a few dive in to do whatever they can.

   The thing about a zombie apocalypse is whether or not you’re in that initial wave of people who get hungry and start snacking. And where you are as few turn to many. As we all know, when it’s zombies, soon many turns to most. And it’s over when most become all.

   Apocalypse Atlanta follows three people as the zombies start eating and bring the world down around them a bite at a time.

   One is a retired Marine. The second is a widowed single mother. And the third is a biker.

   Are there right or wrong answers when zombies are involved? Do things like morality and decency matter? Is it better to be alive to feel guilty, or dead and honorable? Who decides who’s right or wrong when a single mistake can make you dinner for a ravenous horde of the undead?

   The follow-up, Apocalypse Aftermath, is now available and continues the story.

   Learn more about the author, buy the book, or follow them on social media:
   Buy the Book On Amazon.

   Author Bio:
   David Rogers has been an Atlanta resident for over twenty-five years, and a life-long reader and science-fiction fan for nearly forty. When not buried in a book or movie, he enjoys gaming and writing. As far as he’s concerned, most stories are better when told against a backdrop of the strange and exciting realm of SF; something the audience can’t go out their own front door and experience directly. That’s the point of escapism; to escape the normal.

   Apocalypse Atlanta is a post from Awesome Gang

7. The Ghost of Sherwood by Wilson Harp

   About The Ghost of Sherwood by Wilson Harp:

   Behind every legend lies the truth. Behind the truth lies the lie.

   Upon the sudden and violent death of King Richard, Robert Brewer fears for his future as the Sheriff of Nottingham. Knowing that King John will replace him, the scheming Sheriff decides that stealing from the rich—the King’s taxes—will provide him a comfortable retirement. But when the new King, enraged over the thefts from a band of outlaws—an imaginary group invented by none other than the Sheriff himself—dispatches the cunning Sir Guy to hunt them down, the Sheriff must play both sides of a coin that takes one dangerous turn after another as Sir Guy leads him on the trail of a ghost … the Ghost of Sherwood.

   Learn more about the author, buy the book, or follow them on social media:
   Visit the Author’s Website.
   Buy the Book On Amazon.
   Visit the Facebook Fan Page.
   Goodreads Profile Page

   Author Bio:
   Wilson Harp is a writer based out of the American Midwest. As a military brat, he traveled and met people from many cultures and backgrounds. Exposure to so many different views has led him to an appreciation of an eclectic collection of music, film and literature.

   His sense of wonder at stories and folklore started young and continues to this day, often affecting the themes and ideas in his writing. In his works you will find the old fashioned ideas of virtue and honor as the lifeline that pulls many of his characters through the situations they often find themselves.

   The Ghost of Sherwood by Wilson Harp is a post from Awesome Gang

8. King of the Mekong

   About King of the Mekong:

   The adventure of a lifetime might just be their last.

   Filled with curiosity about the jungles of Vietnam from his father’s war stories, Mick and a group of friends set out on an adventure trip near the Cambodian border countries. But the brochures had neglected to mention the bandit groups who plied their slave trade around the region. With most of the group taken captive Mick escapes and with the help of a local farmer he makes a dash for Ho Chi Minh City to find help. Only once there he discovers he is being hunted by the police as well.

   With both sides closing in on him Mick soon realises he has become embroiled in a local drugs war where nobody is to be trusted.

   King of The Mekong is a racing adventure through the jungles of Vietnam, a race against time and last desperate stand against a relentless enemy.

   Learn more about the author, buy the book, or follow them on social media:
   Visit the Author’s Website.
   Buy the Book On Amazon.
   Visit the Facebook Fan Page.
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   Author Bio:
   Damian Magnay is a marine engineer and author of action/adventure novels. Originally from regional South Australia, he spent many years working in various parts of Australia as a Diesel mechanic before switching to marine and heading to sea. The long nights away were spent studying creative writing and novel writing. ‘King of the Mekong’ was started during one of these courses.

   His spare time is spent either completing further studies in writing or penning another story.

   King of the Mekong is a post from Awesome Gang

9. The Big Bend by Gary Showalter

   

   About The Big Bend by Gary Showalter

   Terry Rankin, sole proprietor of Rankin Personal Security Services in Orlando, Florida, accepts a private meeting with a potential client. Sheila Adamson is looking for a bodyguard to protect her from her abusive husband, but Rankin refuses to take the job until she begins divorce proceedings. Moments later, Mrs. Adamson is dead and Rankin is buried beneath the rubble of his house, knocked flat by a car bomb planted in the dead woman’s Jaguar. When he’s questioned by the local police, Rankin learns that Adamson’s attorney has also turned up dead, his Cadillac riddled with bullets. Suspecting there is more to these murders than a domestic dispute, he teams up with Orlando cop Cathy Diamond for a thrilling—and treacherous—adventure that will lead them deep into the heart of the Everglades and hot on the trail of a dangerous criminal. In Rankin’s sardonic bodyguard-turned-investigator, Gary Showalter has created a new hero for fans of hardboiled mysteries.

   “The Big Bend” is followed by “Hog Valley”, “Twisted Key” and “Lonesome Cove”. The fifth novel in the series, “Standing Wave”, is due for release in October, 2014.

   Get the book from Amazon.

   The Big Bend by Gary Showalter is a post from Awesome Gang

10. Welcome to Antioch College by Mitch Goth

    About Welcome to Antioch College by Mitch Goth:

    Welcome to Antioch College is the first installment of a short story serial series.

    After many years of vacancy, Antioch College is coming back to life. Through renovation and restructuring done by its new president, this small liberal arts school calls in its first class in several years. But this isn’t good news for some. Evan Morgan, an antisocial and anxious young man, arrives for his first day of orientation. Drawn in by several unheard of perks as well as the school’s size, Evan is quickly taken off guard by the eccentricity of both the new student body and the staff members. As his first day goes by, Evan can’t help but wonder what exactly he’s gotten himself into.

    Learn more about the author, buy the book, or follow them on social media:
    Visit the Author’s Website.
    Buy the Book On Amazon.
    Visit the Facebook Fan Page.

    Author Bio:
    Mitch Goth currently resides in Yellow Springs, Ohio, where he attends Antioch College. When not writing, he spends his time investigating the paranormal and indulging in a good book or movie. To date, he has published 13 books and hopes to put out many more in the future.

    Welcome to Antioch College by Mitch Goth is a post from Awesome Gang

11. Lady Hellgate

    About Lady Hellgate:

    Helga ATE was a regular soldier, whose only aspirations were to do well in her military career and make her parents proud. When she and a group of men were sent to defend a settlement of refugees on a distant moon, she discovered a terrible secret that lead to her questioning the very military that she swore her life to. From this confusion and anger came a military career that was nothing short of legendary. Helga ATE is remembered as a warrior, an ace pilot, and a legend in the alliance, but to the Geralos she was remembered for one thing and one thing alone. GENOCIDE.

    Lady Hellgate details the life of Helga ATE before the events of the Sixth Expanse and will explain how a tiny woman became the greatest pilot in the Anstractor galaxy.

    Learn more about the author, buy the book, or follow them on social media:
    Buy the Book On Amazon.
    Visit the Facebook Fan Page.
    Goodreads Profile Page

    Author Bio:
    Greg Dragon hails from sunny South Florida and has worked in the creative field for several years. He has written extensively on the web with articles on gaming and lifestyle improvement and continues to do so on several websites today.

    With a background in martial arts, military history, and computer programming, Greg’s varied and unique background has aided his imagination in developing wonderful worlds in the realm of gaming and short stories. Being a reader himself, Greg’s influence comes from many authors not limited to Frank Herbert, George Orwell, and Stephen King. Greg believes that Science Fiction should do as much teaching as it does entertaining and that the best books leave a mark on it’s reader.

    Greg writes daily for a series of blogs (or on his books), and does monthly interviews on various podcasts and radio stations where his expertise on relationships and being a modern Gentleman are utilized.

    Lady Hellgate is a post from Awesome Gang