The 1996 discovery, near Kennewick, Washington, of a 9,000-year-old Caucasoid skeleton brought more to the surface than bones. The explosive controversy and resulting lawsuit also raised a far more fundamental question: Who owns history? Many Indians see archeologists as desecrators of tribal rites and traditions; archeologists see their livelihoods and science threatened by the 1990 Federal reparation law, which gives tribes control over remains in their traditional territories. In this new work, Thomas charts the riveting story of this lawsuit, the archeologists' deteriorating relations with American Indians, and the rise of scientific archeology. His telling of the tale gains extra credence from his own reputation as a leader in building cooperation between the two sides.
Fact: Five thousand years ago, the Mayans carved thirteen crystal skulls. Fact: To protect humankind, they sent them to the four corners of the globe. Fact: They gave a precise date for when they thought the world would end: 21 December 2012. Fact: They said that this time the destruction will be of man's making. Fact: Only when all thirteen skulls are reunited can the world be saved from its fate. For the last 500 years one skull has been missing. Now it's about to be found ...
A man with no known past and no name as been dispatched to the deserts, ghost towns, and underbelly of drug-infested Arizona to uncover a secret that could forever change the scope and teachings of Christianity. A DEA agent has written that he possesses the unmistakable and undeniable proof that Christ did indeed return to earth again and walk the land of the Aztecs almost fifteen hundred years after his crucifixion on the cross. But has the agent found a relic? An artifact? A long lost manuscript of the written Word? No one knows, and the agent dies before he can smuggle the secret out of an empty grave. Andrews St. Aubin can't dig past the charred fragments of his memory, but he must unravel the legend of Quetzalcoatl, the white-skinned, blue-eyed, god figure whose sixteenth century ministry, death, resurrection, and mystical promise to return someday to gather up his people closely parallels the Biblical story of the man called Christ. Is Quetzalcoatl merely a myth, or was he Christ himself? In St. Aubin's quest to find the answers, he becomes involved in a rogue CIA plot to invade Mexico and wage an unholy war on drugs. He finds himself pursued by the same mysterious assassin who struck down the DEA agent. Does the artifact actually exist? Who possesses it now? St. Aubin battles an unseen and unknown enemy in an effort to survive long enough to discover the truth. If he doesn't, he knows that death awaits him on the desert sands of a land held sacred for centuries by the mysterious and holy ones.
There are some things deep within the belly of the earth that should never be disturbed. Which is exactly why Alfred wants to stay at home. When a vision foretells a cataclysmic battle between the "Sons of Light" and the "Sons of Darkness", Alfred is called into action. Whoever finds the fabled 13th skull of Merlin, will have in his hands the power to usher in a new Dark Age ... and the Apocalypse. And so the race is on to find the skull, which rests at the bottom of an abyss called Krubera - a place so terrifying it nearly drove Alfred's mentor, Op-Nine, insane...
Jeanne Les Flambeaux-you know, the famous Flambeaux clan, the great chefs and restaurateurs of the Southwest-is the black sheep of her very accomplished family. She has a few problems. Like, for one, she can't cook. And she hears voices for another. And she screws up everything she touches for a third. No one, including herself, ever expected her to amount to anything, so she hasn't; she thinks of herself as an idiot savant--if you drop the savant part. When her parents take a much-needed vacation, leaving her in charge of the family's ancient, prized possessions--a crystal skull and a priceless ruby scepter--she wakes up the next morning to find that her lover, Johnny (what is she doing with that loser?), has stolen the scepter. This propels her on a wild and wacky journey across the Great American Southwest, trying to catch up to Johnny and the scepter. To complicate matters, single women start mysteriously disappearing throughout the southwestern. The police and the FBI have few clues--and Jeanne, as she stalks Johnny, is herself being stalked by someone or something. Fortunately--or unfortunately, Jeanne can't quite figure it out--she's aided in her impossible task by the crystal skull . . . now a talking crystal skull, which, of course, speaks only to her. The crystal skull, who calls himself Crane, leads Jeanne (who is rapidly becoming an actual heroine) through the casinos of Las Vegas, the mysteries of Kitt Peak, desert cults in Arizona, and finally to a wild climax that outdoes Tom Robbins . . . and maybe even gives Carlos Castaneda a run for his pesos. Light and sexy, filled with imaginative characters and situations, and some of the hottest secret recipes from the Flambeaux recipe drawer, Coyote Cowgirl will leave you laughing and begging for a sequel.
Thirteen Skulls & Other Tales is a collection of eleven stories that span four years of the reign of Arka-Dal, the legendary Emperor of Thule. The Emperor and his friends encounter vengeful witches, demonic armies, undead pirates, dragons and invading armies. To make things even more interesting, they have to contend with magical powers run amok, explore the Haunted Ruins and search for a mythical lost continent. Along the way, Arka-Dal picks up two new wives, sires four children and makes a couple of unusual allies. Thirteen Skulls & Other Tales is one of the best-written collections of short adventure stories of all time. It adds new dimensions to the Thulian Chronicles and proves beyond a doubt that Art Wiederhold is the best fantasy writer on the planet!
The darkness holds many surprises. In this collection of thirty stories of horror and the bizarre, we shall explore some of those surprises. Even though I’ve been extolling the virtues of darkness, I do encourage you to read this book with the lights on. Light does have its practical applications, you know. You have to see the words.
