A man infatuated with ivy. A woman pining for lost love. In a Turkish square, ancient buildings lament a devastating explosion. An unlikely friendship struck up with a homeless person. A journey to a magical place that once visited can never be found again. The camaraderie between the patients in a cancer ward. A writer who has lost his muse. A tragedy that leads to dementia. These are just a few of seventy individual tales set in locations straddling continents, which portray war, love, hate, hope, greed, revenge, despair, humour, mystical happenings, fantasy, and so much more. Like ripples expanding on the surface of a pond to reach its banks, they converge in this anthology of flash fiction and short stories by Sebnem E. Sanders in her debut release.

Identical twins Dorian and Daniel Sloane grow up inseparable, sharing the same tubes of toothpaste as children and their lives as adults. Loyalty proven many times, they have been saving each other since the day Dorian rescued Daniel from drowning in Opperman's Pond. Now, with Dorian as head of a multinational pharmaceutical company and Daniel as an innovative cardiologist volunteering in Africa, the brothers come together once again. A devastating midair collision on the basketball court during a Celtics/Pacers game sets falling dominoes in motion. After NBA legend Randy Jackson sustains a career-changing ankle injury, Daniel and Dorian partner together to try and heal him. A brilliant chemist has created a miracle arthritis drug that they hope will cure the star and also save Dorian's pharmaceutical company teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. Celebrations ensue when the Pacers' star returns to full glory-and then tragedy suddenly strikes during a casual pickup game, threatening to destroy Daniel's career as he faces a devastating malpractice suit, the possible loss of his medical license, and even a voodoo curse by the athlete's widow. In this high-stakes thriller set in the world of big-money medicine, a chain of unanticipated events culminates in a life-or-death decision two brothers never thought they would have to make.

Even the smallest acts of kindness can make a difference. Ripples in the Water is a heartwarming story about a loving grandfather who shares a valuable lesson of kindness with his grandson. The grandson takes this lesson to heart, living a life full of kindness. Years later, he shares the wisdom his grandfather instilled in him with his own son. This story illuminates the importance of inspiring kindness in each generation. We don't always see the effects of our actions, but every action has a ripple effect. "Always be the kindest person you can be, and watch as your kindness spreads to others like ripples in the water."

My mother taught me that whatever one says or does it affects others . . . It has a ripple effect . . .

Notwithstanding the importance of modern technology, fieldwork remains vital, not least through helping to inspire and educate the next generation. Fieldwork has the ingredients of intellectual curiosity, passion, rigour and engagement with the outdoor world - to name just a few. You may be simply noting what you see around you, making detailed records, or carrying out an experiment; all of this and much more amounts to fieldwork. Being curious, you think about the world around you, and through patient observation develop and test ideas. Forty contributors capture the excitement and importance of fieldwork through a wide variety of examples, from urban graffiti to the Great Barrier Reef. Outdoor learning is for life: people have the greatest respect and care for their world when they have first-hand experience of it. The Editors are donating all royalties due to them to the environmental charity, The Field Studies Council, to support student fieldwork at the Council's field centres.

Emigration is a psychological process of transitional change. It filters through everything, ripples across your world - often a devastating experience, but also a soul-searching journey where you may find that your destination does not necessarily lie in the city in which you will have arrived, but at a place much more personal, somewhere deep within you. This unique, timely and thought-provoking book looks at what and why emigration works for some, but not for others. It highlights the meaning of your endless yearning for loved ones back home, the intensity of loss experienced on various levels of your life, and the interaction between the different cycles, with their unique phases that run parallel, overlap, lapse and relapse. There are your own developmental phases, those of your family members individually, those of families as units going through their own cycles of development and change, and those of the family who had to stay behind. How do these different, but so similar, entities come together in the emigration melting pot, especially when you are exposed to the impact of culture shock? The book explains the link between the psychological, neurological and immunological aspects when you experience the intensity of emigration stress and its impact on you. It helps you to identify those issues beneath the surface that you have never realized exist, and you learn how to cope in order to make it work in the new country. You will understand the powerful role of social, emotional and spiritual intelligence in shaping your new life. It suggests new and effective ways of coping and it motivates you towards greater understanding of living as being a mindset. A powerful book for the emigrant, his/her family back home, and the professional alike - comprehensively written by Christa de Vries, an immigrant and professional herself.