Is youth really wasted on the young? Epik team learns the answer the hard way. With their bonded dragons, the American team Epik stands up to the challenges of a world on the brink of war like no one has ever seen. Enemies abound within and without as they face each challenge brought on by allies and enemies. No one ever told them being young was so much work!
Humanity has reached an era of peace and prosperity thanks to the discovery of energy crystals from another dimension called Crystal Prime, a land of magic and mythological creatures. When this peace is threatened, worldwide political conglomerates race to train teams to keep humankind safe. Although things look bleak, a program offers a few chosen names a slender hope. Five American retirement-age people from differing backgrounds hold the key to victory. They transfer to Crystal Prime in a desperate attempt to save humanity from its mysterious enemy. The new team, code-named Epik, must adjust to the youthful bodies received in the transfer process, learn martial abilities and magic in a different dimension, and work among races of elves, dwarves, and dragons. They also face assassins, a hostile environment, traitorous friends, and raging hormones. In this novel, a team of retirees receives new bodies and works together in another dimension to protect humanity.
The Hellake have withdrawn and humanity licks their wounds. The threat is still out there rebuilding. Epik has been called to end the Hellake menace once and for all. Can they end the Hellake scourge as well as manage to save their children? Follow the members of team Epik from the American Conglomerate as they struggle to overcome challenges from without and within as the Epik Adventure continues.
The many adventures of the "epic" in modern times are fascinating topics in themselves. The Romantics claimed that every self-respecting nation should, at some time, have had one and they set out to reconstruct these epics for political as well as cultural reasons. Such epics represented earlier stages in the development of nation-states and in this modern world they were, for a long time, hard to appreciate. The introduction of tape recorders, however, brought the epic back in the limelight. It became fashionable for scholars to record long oral narratives, and to present them as long written poems that reflected deeply ingrained ideas. Because of this technology, the idea of the epic was revitalized. This volume presents critical analyses of epics in Sub-Saharan Africa, the former Soviet Union, South-East Asia, Medieval Europe, and America and discusses the process of revitalization, sometimes even invention, of epics in particular historical, political, and academic contexts. Jan Jansen is a member of the Department of Anthropology of the University of Leiden, Netherlands. Henk M.J. Maier is professor in the Department of Languages and Cultures of Southeast Asia and Oceania of the University of Leiden, Netherlands.
You are the mighty Greek hero Odysseus. The Trojan War has made you a hero. But now you must return home to your island of Ithaca. The journey back will not be easy. Deadly sea monsters, cunning witches, and giant Cyclopes stand in your way. Do you have what it takes to survive and make it back home? Full-page illustrations, interactive stories, and multiple endings transport you back to ancient Greece and into Odysseus' adventures from Greek mythology.
Every fantasy adventure needs an adventurer! Readers only need choose whether they want an Amazonian heroine, an intrepid swordsman, or another beautifully rendered character to star in their next illustrated masterpiece. Young illustrators will appreciate the step-by-step process that makes each figure an achievable depiction, whether they're beginners or seasoned artists. After mastering the characters, they'll be guided in making a final dramatic scene in which their heroes will face certain doom. Drawing techniques and tips from the pros make this volume a must for every artist's collection.
The Marvel Universe's most exciting action heroes continue their adventures! Black Widow discovers a deadly plot that spans the entire globe! Captain Marvel sets out to find the real reason behind the resettlement of Rocket Girl's people! Ms. Marvel discovers a secret about her new powers as she investigates the Inventor! She-Hulk's client, Kristoff Vernard, has been kidnapped by his father: Doctor Doom! The new Thor is adjusting to being a hero, but the original Odinson wants his hammer back! And the fi nal showdown between Squirrel Girl and Galactus is here! COLLECTING: BLACK WIDOW (2014) #4, CAPTAIN MARVEL (2014) #4, MS. MARVEL (2014) #4, SHE-HULK (2014) #4, THOR (2014) #4, UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL (2015) #4.
This imaginative approach to the era in which Western civilization was born is a thorough--and thoroughly accessible--synthesis of the Greek, Roman, and Etruscan worlds, spanning the period from Late Geometric Greece in around 700 b.c., to the rule of Constantine in the early 4th century a.d. The authors incorporate important developments in recent scholarship, including ideas of gender, war and pacifism, imperialism and dissent, political propaganda, economy, cultural identity, racism, hygiene and diet, and public and private uses of space. The book highlights the modern relevance of classical antiquity, from its influence on contemporary politics to the representation of the female body in Western art, and concludes by charting the history of classical civilization. The extensive reference section includes biographies, an introduction to classical mythology, a glossary of technical terms and vase shapes, as well as a timeline, map, bibliography, and index.
As you should have guessed by the title, this is not the standard bedtime story with a princess and a prince and an evil stepparent and some sort of magic spell. Not one castle, nor trolls, not even an enchanted forest is tucked with loving care into this bedtime story. To be totally honest about the whole shebang, its not so much a bedtime story as a bedtime epic event. An explanation may be in order right about now. There are 30 Adventures in this saga, to be read in order as bedtime stories. No skipping around, mind you, because it will make even less sense if you do that, so when you get to the Temple of the Belchmonkeys and your mind is not totally prepared for it, well, thats a whole different bucket of pickles altogether. And you could rip through more than one story in a night, but that might just make your kids loopy. 30 Adventures, 30 nights, so youre pretty much covered for a month. Now, somebodys going to screech that some months have 31 days (thanks, May and October and you other troublemakers for screwing this up) and so you have a day left over. And theres some real hollering going on about the February problem, and how if you read this story during that month, even during a leap year, you still have extra story left over. The thing is, the story is 30 nights long because its a nice round number (unlike 31, which is prime, for crying out loud) and thats how long the story takes to tell. So there. The important idea is that this is an interactive story. Not a passive story where your kid lays there like an unfortunate lump on the mattress and you yammer on until you bore the poor child to sleep. This story has a narrator reading the action lines (thats you, sport). There are also 21 different voices in the tale, all of which youll have fun doing. Even better, let your child read along and read a voice or two. The full list of voices is on the next few pages, plus what we think they sound like, although you can change them pretty much any way you want. Its not like were keeping score. Also, you will find action lines sprinkled throughout. Youll recognize these because theyre in italics so they look like theyre in motion, hence we call them action lines and they instruct you or your offspring to do certain things. Be nice and gentle, since youll have to start a pillow fight in Adventure 1. Remember, youre bigger. Play nice.
