A contemporary mix of Ayn Rand’s Anthem and George Orwell’s 1984, this is the story of one character’s struggle to survive within a twisted version of oppression. No more than a child, this martyr is born into a futuristic society dominated by an unforgiving dictator known as the General. Trapped inside a backward utopia and locked in a life-threatening battle between individualism and conformity, an unconventional hero will learn what it means to live, to love, and to lose.
In a world where sun and moon are myths, dawn is coming. No sun ever rose, no moon ever waxed or waned, no stars ever danced a rhythmic pattern across the night sky. Only faerie crystals brightening and dimming according to one man’s will signaled dawn and dusk, month and season. Long ago, the faerie queen Morgan Unseelie cast a veil between heaven and earth, obscuring all heaven’s lights, for the pleasure and power of a mortal man, who then fashioned himself the Rí Am, the Time King. From all other mortals, she took away knowledge of time and direction and skill of navigation. Man was dependent on the Rí Am’s automaton navigators for travel and trade and thought the sun a myth and the faerie queen a benevolent goddess. Those few who kept the true faith—belief in the celestial lights and their Maker—called themselves Sky Keepers and refused to pay homage to the queen and her time king, often at great cost. But when airship captain Marianna Bowditch and Sky Keeper Bertram Orren stumble upon ancient books on navigation while trapped in an abandoned faerie court, everything starts to change. THE STAR CLOCK CHRONICLES is a collection of five novelette- to novella-length tales of adventure and clean romance in steampunk world and tells of the defeat of the Time King and the coming of dawn. This is the complete collection and includes Dawn Bringer, Star Veil, Sky Keeper, Moon Song, and Dusk Crier.
Airship captain Kingsley Bowditch is dead. So the world thinks. A slave in the mines where the automaton navigators’ crystals grow, he’s doomed to labor for the Time King, the man he’d hoped to overthrow. But then Sky Keeper smuggler Caroline Lockley sneaks into the mines and asks for his help to find the crystal that will guide the Sky Keepers to the Star Veil to destroy it—before the Time King arrives for it. Getting the crystal might be easy, but getting it out—with guards, gates, and stray fey creatures between them and the sky—might not. Dusk is coming for the Time King’s rule or for the hopes of the Sky Keepers in this exciting conclusion to the steampunk adventure-romance series The Star Clock Chronicles.
How could he be a good boy and a bad boy at the same time? The TRUTH is what is. FICTION is not reality—but it can help us to see the TRUTH through stories, e.g., The Boy Who Cried Wolf. LIES deceive, for evil purposes, and for good purposes. But what happens when what we think is the TRUTH turns out to be a LIE? In his ninth decade, the author, who has spent his life creating FICTION to examine TRUTH, decided to write the story of his life, truthfully. But, in the process of examining his life—his prayers, works, joys and sufferings—he discovers it becomes more and more difficult to distinguish the TRUTH from the LIES. And the chief insights into the reality of a life he thought noble, his FICTION—often in the form of dreams—reveals his true nature as a failure in his professed faith—until a good woman shows him the way out of his dark forest.
It is the summer of 1972: the Vietnam War is still raging, the Cold War is still hot and WWII is still a lurking memory. This legal thriller travels from the Canadian bush to the Australian outback; from courtroom battles to barroom brawls. Old Bill has died. He lived alone in a one room shack along the Blue River in Saskatchewan. His was a simple life; he needed little. But in death, he leaves an estate potentially worth millions of dollars. In his handwritten will, he gives all to the wife and daughter of an Australian airman, who was killed in a prisoner of war camp at Niigata, Japan in 1945. To his surviving brother, he leaves ‘absolutely nothing’. Josef Manne, a young criminal lawyer, is charged with carrying out the old man’s wishes. The brother challenges the will. If it is overturned, he inherits all. Josef’s biggest problem is the will itself. Why would Old Bill leave everything to the wife and daughter of this deceased Australian airman? Makes no sense. Josef needs to find out the why. What happened at Niigata in 1945? First, Josef needs to find the wife and daughter. If both are dead, the will lapses, and the estate goes to the brother. The wife has died leaving the daughter, Rebecca, the sole beneficiary. Josef travels to Goondiwindi, Queensland in search of her. Little does he know that others are searching for Rebecca as well – to kill her. Josef has to keep Rebecca alive.
Fred Beckey's 100 Favorite North American Climbs is the magnum opus of the greatest American climber of the past century. Fred’s intimate, detailed knowledge of the mountains and climbs he chronicles here create an unparalleled guidebook and must-have for every climber’s bookshelf – as well as a great read for any armchair adventurer. Filled with hand-drawn climbing topos, photos, narrative description, side notes and 40 extra climbs of note in each of the eight geographical regions. This is the guide for every climber’s bookshelf.
The Six Pillars of Calculus: Biology Edition is a conceptual and practical introduction to differential and integral calculus for use in a one- or two-semester course. By boiling calculus down to six common-sense ideas, the text invites students to make calculus an integral part of how they view the world. Each pillar is introduced by tackling and solving a challenging, realistic problem. This engaging process of discovery encourages students to wrestle with the material and understand the reasoning behind the techniques they are learning—to focus on when and why to use the tools of calculus, not just on how to apply formulas. Modeling and differential equations are front and center. Solutions begin with numerical approximations; derivatives and integrals emerge naturally as refinements of those approximations. Students use and modify computer programs to reinforce their understanding of each algorithm. The Biology Edition of the Six Pillars series has been extensively field-tested at the University of Texas. It features hundreds of examples and problems specifically designed for students in the life sciences. The core ideas are introduced by modeling the spread of disease, tracking changes in the amount of $mathrm{CO}_{2}$ in the atmosphere, and optimizing blood flow in the body. Along the way, students learn about optimal drug delivery, population dynamics, chemical equilibria, and probability.
