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Postcards from Ed: Dispatches and Salvos from an American Iconoclast

This book features a series of postcards, each accompanied by a short essay, providing a unique perspective on American life and its complexities. Ed Ruscha's distinctive style and wit are evident throughout, offering readers a glimpse into the mind of an influential artist and cultural critic. more

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Edward Abbey
Edward Abbey

Edward Abbey was an American author known for his naturalist works and advocacy for environmental protection. His writings often take the desolate wilderness of the American Southwest as a backdrop, profoundly revealing the relationship between humans and nature. Abbey's writing style is unique, filled with humor and satire, and has had a profound impact on later generations. more

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“Stop being cruel." "The world is cruel. This world is, anyway. Tell me, Your Ladyship, what's it like in your fairy-tale land?" She snatched the shilling from his hand. As he looked on in irritation, she stood, cocked her arm, and winged the coin with all her strength. He pushed to his feet. "You just tossed away a perfectly good shilling. I can't imagine a better example of your pampered existence. That's a day's wages for a workingman." "You have millions of shillings, as you're so fond of telling everyone." "Yes, but I never forget that I came from far less. I couldn't forget that, even if I tried." "I have tried to forget. To forget where I came from, to deny the past. You don't know how I've tried." Her voice crumbled at the edges. "I may not have known poverty, but that doesn't mean I haven't known pain." Gabe pushed a hand through his hair. He recognized the ring of truth in her voice. She was being honest, and he was being an ass. Her character was finally coming into focus. He didn't know who or what had hurt her, but the blade had sunk deep. The world didn't hold enough kittens to fill that wound- but that hadn't stopped her from trying.”

ConfessionOld WoundsPenelope Campion
Book:The Wallflower Wager
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“Outside, Her Ladyship coaxed her dog back toward the house, lifting both dog and cart up the few steps to her door. Gabe turned away from the window, rubbing his temples. "The situation is untenable, and that makes the house unsellable. No one wants to live next to a barnyard. I've tried reasoning with her, but when it comes to those animals, she's surprisingly tenacious." Tenacious, indeed. And sufficiently reckless to trespass in a house after midnight and recover a parrot from a near-naked stranger's shoulder. However, even that degree of tenacity had poor odds against sheer ruthlessness. Lady Penelope Campion had a softness for animals.”

TenaciousAnimal LoverPenelope Campion
Book:The Wallflower Wager
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“He was on his second plate of steaming-hot kidney pie by the time his chewing slowed. And that's when he heard it. The faintest sounds escaping her room, sweeping across the antechamber, and sliding under the door to him. The sounds of bathing. A splash. A trickle. A faint series of drips. It all added up to torture. Pure, liquid torture. He pushed his plate away, propped his elbows on the table, and buried his face in his hands with a groan. Even plugging his ears didn't help. When he closed his eyes, he could picture her. Naked in a shallow tub. Her feet dangling over the lip at one end, and her head reclined against the other. And all that water embracing her with heat, lapping at her nakedness, pouring over her most secret curves and furrows. He was immediately, startlingly hard.”

EroticBathingPenelope CampionAsmr
Book:The Wallflower Wager
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“She pushed the door open further, revealing herself to be clad in nothing but a Grecian-inspired arrangement of draped bed linens. The graceful angles of her bared shoulders and arms stood bright against the darkness. Her knot of steam-dampened hair could be so easily undone. A flick of his wrist would send it spilling free, flowing like molten gold between his fingers. And those bed linens... a single tug, and they'd be a puddle on the floor.”

Penelope CampionHalf Naked
Book:The Wallflower Wager
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“How on earth was this woman a spinster? She was an earl's daughter, surely possessed of a large dowry. If none of the title-hungry, debt-ridden layabouts in Mayfair had seen fit to propose marriage, simple logic dictated there must be something remarkably off-putting about her. An unbearably grating voice, perhaps. A snaggletooth, or poor personal hygiene. But she displayed none of those features. She was young and pretty, with no detectable odor. Her teeth were a string of pearls, and she had a voice like sunshine. There was nothing off-putting about her whatsoever. She was... on-putting, in every way.”

Feminine BeautyPenelope Campion
Book:The Wallflower Wager
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“Penny smoothed her gloved hands along the sheer silk netting that overlaid an underdress of ivory satin. The gauzy fabric was patterned with tiny pink roses connected by curling tendrils of green. The cap sleeves were fashioned from satin petals layered over creamy lace. A wide band of green velvet cinched her waist, and the daring neckline revealed the perfect amount of cleavage. "Emma works miracles," she said. "The beauty is all in the wearer," Emma said graciously.”

DressPenelope Campion
Book:The Wallflower Wager
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“Penny wasn't unused to men, but there was a difference between friendly acquaintance and a close-range confrontation with sheer masculine physicality. It felt like someone had taken a mallet to a gong of femininity hidden deep in her belly, and now the vibrations traveled through her bones, summoning an ancient, primal force. Penny could think of only one name for it: lust. It made no sense. She'd always been a romantic. She cheered on her friends' unlikely matches. She believed in destiny, soul mates, love at first sight. Penny didn't want any of those things from Gabriel Duke. She wanted to tear off his clothes and look at him- all of him- the way she had last night.”

LustPenelope Campion
Book:The Wallflower Wager
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