As he tackles the "god-tier" game Shangri-La Frontier, Sunraku is thoroughly trashed by the powerful boss Lycaon. Even worse, now he's cursed and can't equip anything on his body or legs—but with Ellym, the vorpal bunny he recruited as part of a rare side quest, he's now storming his way through the game! He's doing so well, in fact, that his exploits are attracting the attention of certain very powerful players...but with the help of some old friends, Sunraku may just manage to live another day!
As Sunraku and Cazzo grind levels like crazy to prepare for taking on in-game "Colossus" Wezaemon the Tombguard, Pencilgon introduces them to Setsuna. She tells them about her and Wezaemon's regrets, and the vestiges of the game's age of Divinity...and after promising to help her, the party sets off to take down the boss! Can they be the first to defeat one of the Seven Colossi and achieve a feat nobody in Shangri-La Online's accomplished before?!
In 2001 the Chinese government announced that the precise location of Shangrila�a place that previously had existed only in fiction�had been identified in Zhongdian County, Yunnan. Since then, Sino-Tibetan borderlands in Yunnan, Sichuan, Gansu, Qinghai, and the Tibet Autonomous Region have been the sites of numerous state projects of tourism development and nature conservation, which have in turn attracted throngs of backpackers, environmentalists, and entrepreneurs who seek to experience, protect, and profit from the region�s landscapes. Mapping Shangrila advances a view of landscapes as media of governance, representation, and resistance, examining how they are reshaping cultural economies, political ecologies of resource use, subjectivities, and interethnic relations. Chapters illuminate topics such as the role of Han and Tibetan literary representations of border landscapes in the formation of ethnic identities; the remaking of Chinese national geographic imaginaries through tourism in the Yading Nature Reserve; the role of The Nature Conservancy and other transnational environmental organizations in struggles over culture and environmental governance; the way in which matsutake mushroom and caterpillar fungus commodity chains are reshaping montane landscapes; and contestations over the changing roles of mountain deities and their mediums as both interact with increasingly intensive nature conservation and state-sponsored capitalism.
The battle against Wezaemon the Tombguard reaches its climax! As Sunraku taps all his equipment and breaks out everything he can, Wezaemon enters his third form, one that breaks him down even as it unleashes all of his powers as a Colossus! "As long as you cannot surpass my ultimate form, this body shall never perish..." The undefeated hero is about to give this party of explorers their toughest trial yet, as the myth ends and the legend begins!
Geronimo's adventurous sister Thea narrates this fabulous adventure that's packed with action, mystery, and friendship!Thea's friends the Thea Sisters take off for Australia to solve a mystery. A flock of sheep at Nicky's family's ranch is losing all its wool, and the ranch depends on the wool to stay afloat! Maybe the sheep's cure lies in an Aboriginal medicine containing a strange root. The five mouselings set off on a tour of the whole country to find out. It's a truly memorable outback adventure!
For an 11-year-old, Yuzu’s got a lot on her plate. When her mom gets sick, Yuzu goes to live with her uncle who runs the local animal hospital. She used to be scared of animals, but now she knows each patient is a fluffy friend in the making! This time, Yuzu learns about hardworking service dogs, rabbit care, the wonderful world of adoption, and the power pets have to bring families together.
"Bishop's engrossing and readable account provides us with a fascinating picture of European myths concerning the Land of the Snows and of the role these myths played in shaping perceptions of the Orient. Bishop's riveting portrait of European conceptions is an important and exceptionally well written contribution to an understanding of Western attitudes toward Tibet and all of East Asia."--Morris Rossabi, author of Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times
“A lost world, man-eating tribesmen, lush andimpenetrable jungles, stranded American fliers (one of them a dame withgreat gams, for heaven's sake), a startling rescue mission. . . . This is atrue story made in heaven for a writer as talented as Mitchell Zuckoff. Whew—what an utterly compelling and deeplysatisfying read!" —Simon Winchester, author of Atlantic Award-winning former Boston Globe reporter Mitchell Zuckoffunleashes the exhilarating, untold story of an extraordinary World War IIrescue mission, where a plane crash in the South Pacific plunged a trio of U.S.military personnel into a land that time forgot. Fans of Hampton Sides’ Ghost Soldiers, Marcus Luttrell’s Lone Survivor, and David Grann’s The Lost Cityof Z will be captivated by Zuckoff’s masterfullyrecounted, all-true story of danger, daring, determination, and discovery injungle-clad New Guinea during the final days of WWII.
A straight man takes a job at a gay brothel that has a firm rule of no falling in love. What could go wrong? Apollo takes on a rather odd job at a brothel as a way to make some fast cash, but when one of the male prostitutes takes an interest in him, his days of gainful employment seem numbered. A paradise of sensuality, Shangri-La is a male brothel celebrating the glories of gay sex—not somewhere you’d expect a straight man to seek employment. Apollo trains as a teaser under the tutelage of Phi, one of the brothel’s famous "birds," and the glimpses of insecurity Apollo sees in him pique his curiosity. One night, a distraught Phi, not wanting to be alone, begs Apollo to stay, but a "just this time" turns into more, and the two break one of the cardinal rules all teasers must follow!
Sunraku's got Ctarnidd of the Deep, one of the Seven Colossi, in his sights-and only when he reaches the depths of the undersea city it rules over does he realize what it's truly capable of. The Colossus has the power to alter the very rules of the world around it, transforming them to do its bidding. Is this despotic ruler at all conquerable?! Meanwhile, back in reality, Rakuro accepts an invite from Kei to join him at the GGC esports tournament. The game they'll play uses the S.L.F. engine, and they're due to play one of the world's biggest stars in the pro gaming scene!
