All Laurell Pittman knows is that an ungovernable need surges through her body whenever Axiom is near. Who is this godlike stranger who appears out of nowhere to steal her away from home? She ought to be terrified; instead, his kiss awakens unimaginable feelings.
In the land of darkness lives a shaggy but lovable creature. He is pining away because he has lost his home and has lived in the dark ever since. One day, the shaggy creature is overcome with curiosity and ventures out to the edge of the darkness. There, bathed in sunlight and bright colors, lives a very different and gentle creature. The two inhabitants of these different world become friends, and with his new friend, the shaggy creature overcomes his loss and finds his way back to the world of color. A quietly poetic story, told by Kerstin Hau, which gives hope and courage in difficult times. With contrasting imagery by Julie Völk, this book shows that life can be light, colorful, black, grey, and everything in between.
I always knew I was different. From a young age, my mind has been plagued with things only I could see. Some hauntingly beautiful, others completely terrifying. Never knowing if these visions were real or just hallucinations, I learned how to lock them down and ignore them. I learned to take solace in the relative anonymity of city life and find peace in the rainy days my city of Seattle is known for. But just when I think my life is getting on track and my dreams are achievable, a moment of weakness causes me to learn a hard and fast lesson. My entire existence has been a lie. Now I’m faced with a new reality that’s as implausible as it is fantastical. Filled with realms and veils, light and dark, fae and daemons, gods and angels—things I don’t understand but am forced to acknowledge. It doesn’t help that the man teaching me about my unique gifts is the gorgeously handsome Carrick Byrne, one of Seattle’s richest and most powerful men. He intimidates, annoys, and intrigues me all at the same time. I don’t trust him and yet there’s no one else to help me. No longer certain who to put my faith in, what to believe, or how I fit into it all, one revelation is clear… The world as I know it will never be the same again. The Revelation of Light and Dark is book one of the Chronicles of the Stone Veil series and is best enjoyed if read in series order.
To the eyes of the average person and the trained scientist, the night sky is dark, even though the universe is populated by myriads of bright galaxies. Why this happens is a question commonly called Olbers' Paradox, and dates from at least 1823. How dark is the night sky is a question which preoccupies astrophysicists at the present. The answer to both questions tells us about the origin of the universe and the nature of its contents ? luminous galaxies like the Milky Way, plus the dark matter between them and the mysterious dark energy which appears to be pushing everything apart. In this book, the fascinating history of Olbers' Paradox is reviewed, and the intricate physics of the light/dark universe is examined in detail. The fact that the night sky is dark (a basic astronomical observation that anybody can make) turns out to be connected with the finite age of the universe, thereby confirming some event like the Big Bang. But the space between the galaxies is not perfectly black, and data on its murkiness at various wavelengths can be used to constrain and identify its unseen constituents.
My first memory was of a slap, hard across the face: the sting on my cheek and the jarring of my bones as I slammed back into my bed. It was my dad who had hit me. I had been four. Most of my memories were much of the same and no one ever saw, no one ever fought to help, no one ever cared. Then we moved. My new neighbor cared, rescued the twelve-year-old I had been from a beating. Always thought I'd suffer the nightmare alone, I was wrong. Mace Donati saved me that day in all the ways a person could be saved. And his daughter, Mia, she became the friend I had always wanted, my conscience when my own faltered, the light that led me home when I had lost my way. The girl who grew into the only woman I would ever love. But when you realize you're more like your father than the good people who took you in and gave you a home, the only way to return their kindness is to let them go. I let them go, got so far lost in the shadows I couldn't remember who I was anymore. Mia never gave up on me. She fought for me, kept the light on so I'd find my way back. And when I did, life threw us a curveball. I had to hurt Mia in order to save her. But when my past comes back to haunt me and I almost lose her, I'm ready to fight for her...fight to find a way back into her heart while keeping the demons from my past from finishing what they started. Cole Campbell
Allan Drummond's classic tale unlocks the intriguing story that hides deep within one of the most distinctive and iconic china patterns ever created: the willow pattern.
What will become of us in these trying times? How will we pass the time that we have on earth? In gorgeously rendered graphic form, Light in Dark Times invites readers to consider these questions by exploring the political catastrophes and moral disasters of the past and present, revealing issues that beg to be studied, understood, confronted, and resisted. A profound work of anthropology and art, this book is for anyone yearning to understand the darkness and hoping to hold onto the light. It is a powerful story of encounters with writers, philosophers, activists, and anthropologists whose words are as meaningful today as they were during the times in which they were written. This book is at once a lament over the darkness of our times, an affirmation of the value of knowledge and introspection, and a consideration of truth, lies, and the dangers of the trivial. In a time when many of us struggle with the feeling that we cannot do enough to change the course of the future, this book is a call to action, asking us to envision and create an alternative world from the one in which we now live. Light in Dark Times is beautiful to look at and to hold – an exquisite work of art that is lively, informative, enlightening, deeply moving, and inspiring.
Everything is a struggle for Karina after she took over her mother's role as the next heir in Engkantasia-she faces lukewarm reception from the royal guild who doubts her capability to rule the kingdom well, she yearns for the family she left in the human world, and she has to beat the daughter of one of the council leaders who challenged her for the throne. Feeling lost, she wanders around the kingdom and stumbles upon the mysterious Untraveled Forest, where she soon finds herself in the midst of a secret plot to take over the two worlds. Now she must find a way to save Engkantasia and the human world from the clutches of the Dark Clans.