When Sergeant Dave Wilkes and his constable, John Campbell, are called out to a remote island, it is to investigate a simple case of sheep worrying, what they think is a routine job. But upon arrival at Leita, they find the community to be empty, the shops and houses lying quiet. Before too long, they find disturbing evidence of violence and mayhem. They get some of the story when they find three survivors holed up in a farmhouse, but the tale they tell is almost unbelievable—a grisly story of ritual cannibalism, blood sacrifice, and a ram's skull that makes its wearer both invincible and irresistible. Soon they are in a fight for their lives, as the ram takes control of the island. Can they stop it and prevent it from spreading? Or will the ancient magic of the ram prevail and take its bloody promises to the mainland, and to the town that is waiting to be shown its glory?
For more than a century, Ghost Ranch has attracted people of enormous energy and creativity to the high desert of northern New Mexico. Occupying twenty-two thousand acres of the Piedra Lumbre basin, this fabled place was the love of artist Georgia O’Keeffe’s life, and her depictions of the landscape catapulted Ghost Ranch to international recognition. Building on the history of the Abiquiu region that she told in Valley of Shining Stone, Ghost Ranch historian Lesley Poling-Kempes now unfolds the story of this celebrated retreat. She traces its transformation from el Rancho de los Brujos, a hideout for legendary outlaws, to a renowned cultural mecca and one of the Southwest’s premier conference centers. First a dude ranch, Ghost Ranch became a magical sanctuary where the veil between heaven and earth seemed almost transparent. Focusing on those who visited from the 1920s and ’30s until the 1990s, Poling-Kempes tells how O’Keeffe and others—from Boston Brahmin Carol Bishop Stanley to paleontologist Edwin H. Colbert, Los Alamos physicists to movie stars—created a unique community that evolved into the institution that is Ghost Ranch today. For this book, Poling-Kempes has drawn on information not available when Valley of Shining Stone was written. The biography of Juan de Dios Gallegos has been enhanced and definitively corrected. The Robert Wood Johnson (of Johnson & Johnson) years at Ghost Ranch are recounted with reminiscences from family members. And the memories of David McAlpin Jr. shed light on how the Princeton circle that included the Packs, the Johnson brothers, the Rockefellers, and the McAlpins ended up as summer neighbors on the high desert of New Mexico. After Arthur Pack’s gift of the ranch to the Presbyterian Church in 1955, Ghost Ranch became a spiritual home for thousands of people still awestruck by the landscape that O’Keeffe so lovingly committed to canvas; yet the care taken to protect Ghost Ranch’s land and character has preserved its sense of intimacy. By relating its remarkable story, Poling-Kempes invites all visitors to better appreciate its place as an honored wilderness—and to help safeguard its future.
It's a case of espionage, skullduggery and serious unpleasantness And it's also Gerald's first official government assignment. He's hunting down a deadly saboteur, and time is quickly running out. Old enemies and new combine forces to thwart him. Once again, innocent lives are on the line. He needs his friends. He can't do this alone. But Princess Melissande and Reg have troubles of their own. With the help of Monk Markham's brilliant, beautiful sister, they've opened a one-stop-shop witching locum agency, where magical problems are solved for a price. Problem is, the girls are struggling to keep the business afloat. Things are looking grim for Witches Incorporated -- and that's before they accidentally cross paths with Gerald's saboteur. Suddenly everybody's lives are on the line and Gerald realizes, too late, that there's a reason government agents aren't supposed to have friends . . . Witches Incorperated is the second novel in the Rogue Agent trilogy, from one of fantasy's newest stars.
One of a series of more than 20 volumes resulting from the World Archaeological Congress, September 1986, which brought together archaeologists and anthropologists from many parts of the world, academics from contingent disciplines, and non-academics from a wide range of cultural backgrounds. This book considers prehistoric and more recent manifestations of human hunting behaviour, with a general emphasis on communal hunting. It demonstrates that the combination of archaeological, ethnographic and ethnohistorical approaches provides a researched basis for consideration of the topic on worldwide, regional, and local scales. It includes theoretical and methodological issues, within a context of enquiry, original data presentation, and discussion. It is of interest to archaeologists, anthropologists and ethnohistorians.
Art Encounters brings the work of famous artists to life through thrilling and evocative stories that reflect the individual paintings featured. This new series of historical fiction introduces young readers to the styles, methods, techniques, and influences of great painters. History and fiction merge in this uplifting novel about a boy whose artistic talent awaits a great mind to uncover it. A child of the Depression, Parker begins his relationship with O'Keeffe by stealing her property, notably a camera. She is prepared to let him rot in jail when she develops the photos he has taken with the stolen camera and recognizes the boy's raw ability. Set against the backdrop of New Mexico's stark beauty, Parker's struggle to find his artistic vision clashes with O'Keeffe's fierce independence and private nature. Parker tries to connect with his surroundings through the use of a camera, while O'Keeffe uses it as an aid for finding points of view otherwise difficult to obtain. This book is a literary interpretation of O'Keeffe's painting Ram's Skull with Brown Leaves, as well as an intimate look at the artist's fame, her relationship with Alfred Stieglitz, and her creative process. Georgia O'Keeffe in New Mexico Georgia O'Keeffe's single greatest inspiration was the New Mexican desert. She went "half mad with love for the place." There O'Keeffe collected the dry, white animal bones scattered over the desert, and painted her first "bone" paintings, including Ram's Skull with Brown Leaves. After 1934, she returned to New Mexico every summer, moving there permanently after the death of her husband, the art impresario Alfred Stieglitz. When O'Keeffe visited the Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico, she knew immediately that she wanted to live there. Later, she bought and restored an abandoned hacienda nearby. Although failing eyesight forced her to stop painting with oil in the 70's, she continued to use pencil and watercolor. Active long into her later years, O'Keeffe died in 1986 at the age of 98. • For readers ages 12 and up • The first book in the new Art Encounters series • The story is based around O'Keeffe's painting Ram's Skull with Brown Leaves (Roswell Museum and Art Center, Roswell, NM) • Georgia O'Keeffe is one of the top five most studied artists in American schools
BOOK 1: THE ACCIDENTAL SORCERER Gerald Dunwoody is a wizard. Just not a particularly good one. He's blown up a factory, lost his job, and there's a chance that he's not really a Third Grade wizard after all. So it's off to New Ottosland to be the new Court Wizard for King Lional. It's a shame that King Lional isn't the vain, self-centered young man he appeared to be. With a Princess in danger, a talking bird who can't stay out of trouble, and a kingdom to save, Gerald soon suspects that he might be out of his depth. And if he can't keep this job, how will he ever become the wizard he was destined to be. . . BOOK 2: WITCHES INCORPORATED It's a case of espionage, skullduggery and serious unpleasantness And it's also Gerald's first official government assignment. He's hunting down a deadly saboteur, and time is quickly running out. Old enemies and new combine forces to thwart him. Once again, innocent lives are on the line. He needs his friends. He can't do this alone. But Princess Melissande and Reg have troubles of their own. With the help of Monk Markham's brilliant, beautiful sister, they've opened a one-stop-shop witching locum agency, where magical problems are solved for a price. Problem is, the girls are struggling to keep the business afloat. Things are looking grim for Witches Incorporated -- and that's before they accidentally cross paths with Gerald's saboteur. Suddenly everybody's lives are on the line and Gerald realizes, too late, that there's a reason government agents aren't supposed to have friends. . . BOOK 3: Wizard Squared When the staff of Witches Incorporated receive a visitor from an alternate reality, they are shocked to learn that life in the parallel world next door is anything but a bed of roses. . . and it's all because of Gerald Dunwoody. At a crucial moment in time, their Gerald turned left. . . but the alternate reality Gerald turned right. Now the parallel world next door is in the grip of terror, staring down the barrel of a thaumaturgical war -- a war that threatens to spill across the dimensions and plunge every reality into a nightmare. The only person who can stop a rogue wizard gone mad is another rogue wizard. But what do you do when another rogue wizard can't be found?
