Some problems just don't seem to go away. Another season goes by, and you're still behind the same desk, even though the promotion you wanted didn't come through again. Month after month, you and your spouse quarrel about the same old issues. And you still haven't lost the weight you wanted to lose, or kept up that exercise program. You make resolutions, or promise yourself you'll think of a plan. Time passes, and nothing happens. You're right back where you were, and nothing has changed.

Something inside you stands in the way. Maybe you tell yourself you just don t deserve to get...

In 1879 Mark Twain meets the young painter John Singer Sargent aboard a steamer from the Sandwich Islands to San Francisco. But it is not our San Francisco, our California, or our 1879. In this universe, everything south of the Russian River is an independent Spanish-speaking country called Alta California. Everything north of the river is Rossland, ruled by Imperial Russia. These powerful states are flush with Sierra gold, while the United States is just a weak neighbor on the other side of the Mississippi. Mark Twain is supplementing the meager royalties from Tom Sawyer by lecturing on "Our...

In 1879 Mark Twain meets the young painter John Singer Sargent aboard a steamer from the Sandwich Islands to San Francisco. But it is not our San Francisco, our California, or our 1879. In this universe, everything south of the Russian River is an independent Spanish-speaking country called Alta California. Everything north of the river is Rossland, ruled by Imperial Russia. These powerful states are flush with Sierra gold, while the United States is just a weak neighbor on the other side of the Mississippi. Mark Twain is supplementing the meager royalties from Tom Sawyer by lecturing on "Our...