A poetry collection that celebrates Black culture, creativity, and memory. From Kendrick to Kanye, to a Sunday in Oakland with Frank Ocean's falsetto in the foreground, Mausoleum of Flowers is still life set against the backdrop of demise. Daniel Summerhill's sophomore collection grabs fate by the throat and confronts it. What does it mean to continue living when your friends are dying beside you? This collection melds an exploration of spirituality and rebellion with Black tradition. Summerhill's poems invite the reader near in order to self-excavate and explore tones of loss, love, and light.
In Mausoleum, Baltimore Detective Max Bently and his partner race to capture a serial killer. Eight people have gone missing from the community of Dundalk, Maryland, and the latest victim is Max Bently's sister. Max has the handsome physique of a professional football player. He also has the sensitivity of a man coming to terms with the death of his infant son, and the more recent death of his father. Separated from his wife, Max struggles to find balance in his life, while dealing with the horrific crimes now engulfing the community where he grew up. For almost a year, young people have been disappearing from Dundalk, but no one has paid much attention until a prominent doctor's daughter goes missing. No bodies have ever been recovered, just bags containing the victim's belongings. Police discover that the killer is using a newly built Mausoleum to torture and kill his victims. From the blue-collar community of Dundalk to the blue-blooded world of northern Baltimore County, the killer is sought. When Max sustains a serious head injury, he ends up in a coma, during which he hears strange voices and awakens to shocking news. The surprise ending will shock everyone!
Get ready for the adventure of a lifetime! Enter the fantasy world of the Mausoleum and the intrigue found in the passageways within the Labyrinth below. Join Knox Butler as he ventures into the Labyrinth of tunnels to find pieces of an amulet, the only thing that will save his grandmother. Knox, traveling into the past, present, and future is joined by his friend and romantic interest Jade Schmidt. Little does Knox know, this quest is going to get much more complicated and very DANGEROUS! Powerful forces of evil are out to stop him or kill him if necessary. His friend Jade is in mortal danger! They travel together to wondrous places, discover a terrible secret, and a mysterious old woman keeps showing up at the most peculiar times. Who is this stranger? Can Knox rescue Jade and his grandmother from certain death? You will find yourself postulating how the various plot twists will turn out. Can you solve these mysteries? Can Knox stay one step ahead of the terrible evil creatures that are after him? Who can help him in his quest? Is the amazing technology he uses enough to fight evil and keep the ones he loves safe? Join Knox Butler as he unlocks the mysteries of the Mausoleum!
The Constitution may guarantee it. But religious freedom in America is, in fact, impossible. So argues this timely and iconoclastic work by law and religion scholar Winnifred Sullivan. Sullivan uses as the backdrop for the book the trial of Warner vs. Boca Raton, a recent case concerning the laws that protect the free exercise of religion in America. The trial, for which the author served as an expert witness, concerned regulations banning certain memorials from a multiconfessional nondenominational cemetery in Boca Raton, Florida. The book portrays the unsuccessful struggle of Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish families in Boca Raton to preserve the practice of placing such religious artifacts as crosses and stars of David on the graves of the city-owned burial ground. Sullivan demonstrates how, during the course of the proceeding, citizens from all walks of life and religious backgrounds were harassed to define just what their religion is. She argues that their plight points up a shocking truth: religion cannot be coherently defined for the purposes of American law, because everyone has different definitions of what religion is. Indeed, while religious freedom as a political idea was arguably once a force for tolerance, it has now become a force for intolerance, she maintains. A clear-eyed look at the laws created to protect religious freedom, this vigorously argued book offers a new take on a right deemed by many to be necessary for a free democratic society. It will have broad appeal not only for religion scholars, but also for anyone interested in law and the Constitution. Featuring a new preface by the author, The Impossibility of Religious Freedom offers a new take on a right deemed by many to be necessary for a free democratic society.
