title: Over Sand and Sea: A Traveler's Tales
author:  Patrick Pfister 
description: Inveterate traveler Pfister recounts a series of journeys that spans both the globe and the inner recesses of his own psyche. A born wanderer, he traverses the ancient trade route of the Silk Road, meanders far off the beaten path in order to attend the Pushkar Camel Fair in India, and meditates in the ancient Carmelite monastery that once housed St. Teresa of Avila. Closer to home, adventures are to be found in Florida, California, and Kalamazoo, Michigan. No matter how exotic or prosaic the locale, he describes each expedition in vivid detail, investing his experiences with the uniquely spiritual imprint of a voyager certain that the reward is in the journey rather than in the destination. Ending on a somber note, he comes full circle, traveling home to say goodbye to his dying brother. This luminous travelogue will appeal to both dedicated wayfarers and armchair tourists. <i>Margaret Flanagan</i><br /><i>Copyright  American Library Association. All rights reserved</i>
zlib_text: First Man
  Copyright © 2014 AVA MARTELL
  
  All rights reserved.
  THIS BOOK IS A WORK OF FICTION. ALL CHARACTERS ARE PRODUCTS OF THE AUTHOR'S IMAGINATION AND ANY RESEMBLANCE TO YOUR ACTUAL LIFE IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL.
  Ava Martell
  msavamartell@gmail.com
  
  This book is dedicated to my friends, readers and fellow authors who helped bring my
  dream to life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support!
  Ava
  
  There is no sensation quite like sand slipping through your fingers. Boulders, millennia old,
  worn down into a thousand thousand grains, sliding through your hands like water, like dust. Every
  grain has a story, trod upon by goat herders and spice traders, scholars and priests.
  I don’t remember a time before the sand. Years after I left Cairo, I tried to reclaim the peace
  in beaches. Months on Santorini and Mykonos gave me nothing. I hid from the world behind the white
  domes of the church of Panagia Episkopi. I watched the daughters of fishermen with their eyes of
  driftwood and seawe