Inspired by the natural self-healing properties that exist in living organisms―for example, the regenerative ability of humans to heal from cuts and broken bones―interest in self-healing materials is gaining more and more attention. Addressing the broad advances being made in this emerging science, Self-Healing Polymers and Polymer Composites incorporates fundamentals, theory, design, fabrication, characterization, and application of self-healing polymers and polymer composites to describe how to prepare self-healing polymeric materials, how to increase the speed of crack repair below room temperature, and how to broaden the spectrum of healing agent species.

April Michelle Davis copyedited the manuscript in the month leading to publication. This entailed April Michelle working directly with the publisher and ensuring consistency in the publisher’s house style and grammar throughout the manuscript.

 

Years of disappointment, infertility, and miscarriage behind them, John and Suzanne Henkels finally found bliss. A family began when they joyfully adopted Zach from Russia and was completed when Suzanne gave birth to twins, Jacob and Samuel, two years later.

That ecstasy was shattered when Sammy was given just a 50 percent chance of surviving a rare and brutal disease. The months of treatment – chemotherapy, bone marrow transplant, and devastating complications – put unimaginable pressure on the family. As Sammy struggled for survival, John and Suzanne were frequently separated from their sons, from their home – and from each other.

With rare candor, John writes in Samuel’s Mission of his doubts, fears, and anger – and his search for lost faith. Marriages have been destroyed by far less than what this couple endured. But he and Suzanne learned the meaning of extravagant love and grace – from their family, from the medical professionals, from the children fighting for life, and most importantly, from Sammy – which ultimately opened the
doorway to a life of joy.

April Michelle Davis proofread this manuscript in the weeks before publication. Proofreading is usually performed on a manuscript that has already been through developmental or copyediting and has already been laid out by a designer into page proofs.

 

Tragedy buried the life story of Royal C. Moore, an early Minnesota business giant, until the relatively recent raising and restoration of the Minnehaha, a 1906 Moore-designed and constructed streetcar boat. For lovers of vintage wooden boats, Royal C. Moore: The Man Who Built the Streetcar Boats rings to the forefront one of the Midwest’s most prolific wooden-boat builders.

For lovers of lakes and boats of all stripes, the volume reveals a deeper layer of understanding of the US heartland’s nautical history. The book provides never before seen photographs, and narratives of people, life, and business on the shores of Lake Minnetonka in the half century between 1879 and 1930. The chronicle of Moore Boat Works’ ambitious owner, the hundreds of boats he imagined, designed, and manufactured, and his drive to push ahead in spite of adversity will cause you to probe your long-held beliefs about the hopes, dreams, and motivations of generations past.

April Michelle Davis wrote the index for this book. In the index, she included names of people and important events that were within the pages of this book. Writing an index is something that a professional indexer needs to do, not a computer, because the computer cannot examine the context to determine what should be included in the index and then write it in such a way to be user friendly.

 

For over thirty years, World War II veteran and author Burt Hall assessed accountability in government and national security. Now, this seasoned, professional analyst delivers a tough account of what went wrong in our politics and system of government over the past two decades and what we can do about it.

The right wing (not to be confused with Conservatism) has hijacked the Republican Party and wreaked havoc on our nation. It exploited basic flaws in our system to gain power and a series of major setbacks and a weakened democracy have followed.

The Right-Wing Threat to Democracy lays out clearly what the basic flaws in our system are and how they can be fixed. The danger is that an ongoing shift of political power to the very wealthy and suppression of voting rights is silencing the voice of the average citizen.

If elected officials do not fix the basic flaws, the American people have alternatives in our democracy and must take matters into their own hands.

April Michelle Davis copyedited this manuscript, preparing it for publication for the author. The manuscript was reviewed at the clause level, checking thematic organization at paragraph and sentence levels and checking for consistencies, errors, and omissions.

When seventeen-year-old pop sensation, Ethan Carter, drives drunk and almost kills a man, his livid mother pulls the plug on all things celebrity. Banished to his granny’s house on the Alabama coastline, Ethan is subjected to an extreme dose of normal.

In Redemption Song, Ethan views normal as a synonym for boring, but things take a turn when he meets Alaina, the spunky Christian from Granny’s church. With her brutal honesty and complete disregard for his rock-star status, Alaina is beautifully different, and for the first time, Ethan is finding it very difficult to get what he wants.

The closer Ethan and Alaina become, the more obstacles seem to come between them. And as Ethan’s punishment draws to a close, he knows that a decision is inevitable. He can return to the life of his dreams, or he can leave it all behind for Alaina. Maybe normal’s not so boring, after all.