Prometheus Books

Fear is a universal emotion and is typically depicted as a despicable one. While fear is regarded as nature?s imperfect wisdom, often undesirable, and a sign of weakness, its role in maintaining human life is overlooked. In the middle of ubiquitous repulsion against fear, there is minuscule literature on the beneficial effects of fear and the consequences of fearlessness. Recent research has thrown light into the unconscious processing of fear. In sharp contrast to the existing literature, this book argues that fear, overriding all other emotions, operates relentlessly in the unconscious mind as a motivating force and renders life compatible with survival. Fear appeals can bring healthy behavioral changes; the stronger the appeal, the more persuasive it is. Moderate anxiety can improve performance that involves dominant responses. Social anxiety is regarded as the root cause of conscientiousness. This hypothesis is supported by the latest research that reveals impaired fear processing in patients with psychopathy, a condition that is associated with crimes. This book expands the concept of eustress, a positive reaction to stress, and describes the beneficial aspects of fear. The book gives a twist to the conventional view of fear as an unwanted emotion and draws a new hypothesis that fear is the primary emotion and a constant psychological operative, a lack of which poses dangerous consequences.

Spring is in full bloom in Pike Place Market, where Pepper is celebrating lavender''s culinary uses and planning a festival she hopes will become an annual event. When her friend Lavender Liz offers to share tips for promoting the much-loved-and occasionally maligned-herb, Pepper makes a trek to the charming town of Salmon Falls. But someone has badly damaged Liz''s greenhouse, throwing a wrench in the feisty grower''s plans for expansion. Suspicions quickly focus on an employee who''s taken to the hills, though Liz herself is not convinced. Then Liz is found dead among her precious plants, stabbed by a pruning knife. In Salmon Falls, there''s one in every pocket. Pepper digs in, untangling the tensions between Liz and a local restaurateur with eyes on a picturesque but neglected farm, a jealous ex-boyfriend determined to profit from Liz''s success, and a local growers'' cooperative. She''s also hot on the scent of a trail of her own, sniffing out the history of her sweet dog, Arf. As Pepper''s questions threaten to unearth secrets others desperately want to keep buried, danger creeps closer to her and those she loves. Can Pepper root out the killer, before someone nips her in the bud? Includes delicious recipes!

Paris, 1941. At the height of World War II, young and headstrong Josephine Portier is the protege of a wealthy family in the highest echelons of Paris society. When she meets the arrogant but handsome Gabriel, she wants nothing to do with him - until he reveals a shocking secret about her adoptive family that puts her in grave danger. With her life turned upside down and the Nazi forces ever advancing, Josephine finds a new calling when she joins the French underground Resistance. Her dislike for Gabriel soon flourishes into love, but their romance is short lived as she sacrifices her own freedom to allow his escape. Alone, she must brave the secret missions and Gestapo interrogations of a 1940s Parisian resistance girl. In a city ravaged by war, Josephine is drawn into a dangerous game of survival, in which losing is simply not an option.

Munich, 1945. Max Fischer cannot remember anything from his life before the concentration camp. Not his family, not his occupation, not even his own name. All he is left with is the sickening, maniacal laugh that echoes in his head. More than haunting his every waking moment, the laugh is Max''s only connection to his lost past. For a holocaust survivor, recalling the past comes with a heavy toll. Just months after the allied forces liberated the camp that interned him, Max is introduced to the beautiful and wealthy Alexandra Brecholdt. The former Berlin actress seems adamant on taking Max into her care, but there is something she is too ashamed, or too afraid to tell him. The secret of her fortune, her survival and her son. As Max''s memories begin to unravel, it becomes clear that the laugh is the key to his lost past. Restless, Max takes it upon himself to uncover its origins as Alexandra vows to protect him from the horrible truths it hides. Their mutual hunger for life shows them the true meaning of courage, love, and hope and the ultimate secret behind the laugh.