Learn how to survive in the wilds of Boulder City, Nevada. Protect yourself against coyote attacks, find food, locate water and more. Adventurer Justin demonstrates the proper methods for extreme desert survival.

TITLE: Naked Came the Manatee

AUTHOR: Brian Antoni, Dave Barry, Edna Buchanan, Tananarive Due, John Dufresne, James W. Hall, Vicki Hendricks, Carl Hiaasen, Carolina Hospital, Elmore Leonard, Paul Levine, Evelyn Mayorson, Les Standiford

PUBLISHER: Ballantine Books

LENGTH: Novel

GENRE: Humorous mystery

COST: $12.95

Off the coast of Miami, a manatee named Booger collides with a pair of would-be criminals and fouls up their delivery of a severed head that looks alarmingly like Fidel Castro. From there, however, things only get weirder, as twelve other Florida writers construct this mystery round-robin style...

TITLE: A Cotillion Country Christmas

AUTHORS: Carolynn Carey, Amy Corwin, Barbara Miller, Cynthia Moore

PUBLISHER: Cerridwen Press

LENGTH: Anthology (roughly 70k)

GENRE: Historical romance

COST: $7.99

A collection of four romance novellas within the holiday period, set in the Regency English countryside...

I have to admit upfront, historicals are not my genre of choice. I’m not a history buff, and the periods that do intrigue me are very specific. The period of English history as specified in this anthology isn’t of any particular interest to me, but I was a fan of one of the authors and bought this specifically to read her work. It’s hard to admit, then, that the anthology as a whole, including the novella I was highly anticipating, is a rather disappointing presentation.

We’ve all gotten them—the scratchy gloves, the lumpy scarves, the sweaters with one arm longer than the other. In our family, my grandmother was notorious for starting Christmas presents and then giving them to us unfinished. To this day, incomplete Christmas gifts are called Nana presents, even though my kids never got any from her.

If this is what you think of when you hear “knitting”, though, it’s time to move your crafting sensibilities into the twenty-first century.

Cuban Christmas Eve Dinner.

Christmas in Cuba has had its ups and downs over the last few decades. What was long one of the most festive days of the year for the Cuban people went underground in 1962, when Cuba officially became an atheist country, and Christmas was no longer celebrated as an official holiday. For many years, public displays of Christmas decorations were banned. However, President Castro restored the holiday in 1997, in honor of a visit from Pope John Paul II, and it is now becoming a joyous and festive holiday once again.

Christmas Eve is the important day of celebration for the Cuban people, and one of the most cherished traditions in Cuba is Christmas Eve dinner, which has a very specific menu, prepared by Cubans everywhere. After dinner, many go to Midnight Mass and exchange gifts. My father in law was born and raised in Cuba, and Christmas Eve dinner was one tradition that he made sure to pass on to the next, American generation of his family. He is no longer with us, but we continue to enjoy this delicious meal every Christmas Eve.