Of all the stranger souls I've met none are stranger than these, & none stranger than me. The thing is all these selves ...are me That say's it all. Stranger Souls is the fragmentation of a personality, mine. I am the killer, the vampire, the drunk, the lover, the star. As are you. The farther I go in, the further I reach out. At this point most authors might give a synopsis or an overview of the stories, tell you his favorite ones, or the genesis of each. Stranger Souls is a pastiche of genre's, science fiction, sword and sorcery are represented as well as traditional fiction to create a whole. Each story is a crossroads, where the characters meet to try and understand the strategies each employs to avoid the void, as it were, to fill the hole we all feel within ourselves. The world presented may resemble a world you think you're familiar with, but it isn't. The whole being created is a replication of the known world to explore a truth of life. There are two 'cycles' within the stories. The first cycle takes place in neighborhood bar from the perspective of its different customers. There's also the Hollywood cycle, that attempts to study fame and the seeking of fame and how it affects the people involved. Stranger Souls is a journey from the darker aspects of life and ourselves, to the light, and trying to reconcile that darkness with happiness.
DEATH OF A DRAGON... Dunkelzahn the dragon's election as President of the United Canadian American States promised the dawn of a new era. But the hopes of a nation disintegrate with the powerful explosion that assassinates him. On that same fateful evening, Dunkelzahn's most trusted special agent, Ryan Mercury, is on a secret mission of great urgency involving dangerous magic. And only a miracle can save the world from total destruction... In this first book of the Dragon Heart Saga, Dunkelzahn's murder shocks the Awakened world. Rumors and suspicions run rampant as shadowrunners, Secret Service agents, and megacorp execs scramble for the reins of power. Open these pages to see the story behind the great dragon's death and the beginning of a new adventure...
This volume explores the ways in which representatives of different monotheistic traditions experienced themselves as “the other” or were perceived and described as such by their contemporaries. This central category – which includes not only those of different religions, but also converts, foreigners, sectarians, and women – is studied from various perspectives in a range of texts composed by Jewish, Christian, and Muslim authors during late antique and mediaeval times. Conceptualizations of such “others” are often intrinsically related to the idea of exile, another important category that is analysed in this work.
The glittering tradition of sword-and-sorcery sweeps into the sands of ancient Arabia with the heart-stopping speed of a whirling dervish in this thrilling debut novel from new talent Howard Andrew Jones In 8th century Baghdad, a stranger pleads with the vizier to safeguard the bejeweled tablet he carries, but he is murdered before he can explain. Charged with solving the puzzle, the scholar Dabir soon realizes that the tablet may unlock secrets hidden within the lost city of Ubar, the Atlantis of the sands. When the tablet is stolen from his care, Dabir and Captain Asim are sent after it, and into a life and death chase through the ancient Middle East. Stopping the thieves—a cunning Greek spy and a fire wizard of the Magi—requires a desperate journey into the desert, but first Dabir and Asim must find the lost ruins of Ubar and contend with a mythic, sorcerous being that has traded wisdom for the souls of men since the dawn of time. But against all these hazards there is one more that may be too great even for Dabir to overcome... Advance Praise for THE DESERT OF SOULS: "The Desert of Souls is filled with adventure, magic, compelling characters and twists that are twisty. This is seriously cool stuff." -- Steven Brust, New York Times bestselling author of the Vlad Taltos series "A grand and wonderful adventure filled with exotic magic and colorful places — like a cross between Sinbad and Indiana Jones." -- Kevin J. Anderson, New York Times bestselling author of The Map of All Things "Like the genie of the lamp, Howard Jones has granted this reader's wish for a fresh, exciting take on the venerable genre of sword-and-sorcery!" -- Richard A. Knaak, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Legends of the Dragonrealm "Howard Andrew Jones spins an exciting and suspenseful tale in his historical fantasy debut. A rich, detailed tapestry -- part Arthur Conan Doyle, part Robert E. Howard, and part Omar Khayyam, woven in the magical thread of One Thousand And One Nights." -- E.E. Knight, Author of the bestselling Vampire Earth "An entertaining and enjoyable journey into a world of djinns and magic far darker than expected, yet one that ends with hope, both for the characters... and that there will be yet another book." -- L. E. Modesitt, Jr, author of the Recluse Saga, the Imager Portfolio, and the Corean Chronicles "A modern iteration of old school storytelling. Highly recommended to anyone in search of a fun run through strange lands and times." -- Glen Cook, author of The Black Company Series "Howard Jones wields magic like a subtle blade and action like a mighty cleaver in his scimitars and sorcery tale, weaving together Arabian myth, history, and some honest-to-gosh surprises to create a unique story that you'll not soon forget." -- Monte Cook, author of The Dungeon Masters Guide, 3rd Edition "A rousing tale of swords against sorcery. Howard Jones writes with wit and flair. His world is involving, authentic and skilfully evoked. The best fantasy novel I have read all year." -- William King, Author of the Space Wolf trilogy and creator of Gotrek and Felix "A whirlwind tale of deserts, djinn and doors to other worlds, told in a voice perfectly pitched for the style and setting." -- Nathan Long, author of Bloodborn and Shamanslayer "An Arabian Nights adventure as written by Robert E Howard. It is exciting, inventive, and most of all fun." -- Dave Drake, author of The Legion of Fire
The Soul Is a Stranger in This World is a timely examination of some of the best modern and contemporary poets and a trenchant defense of poetry as a narrative, musical, and theological art. While it is common today to view the poet as a revolutionary, who breaks old forms in the name of aesthetic and political freedom, this volume begins with the classical view of the poet “as a man speaking to men,” as Wordsworth put it. Poetry may challenge and shock, but it also consoles, probing the contours of the human soul in a broken world. Collected from essays and reviews first published in The Wall Street Journal, The New Criterion, Books and Culture, First Things, and other outlets, the volume traces these concerns in the work of modern masters such as Rilke and Eliot, avant-garde exemplars like André du Bouchet and Basil Bunting, and contemporary writers such as Dana Gioia and Franz Wright.
How vividly Steven Schwartz describes his characters and how cunningly he wields the knife edge of suspense. I loved entering each of the worlds he creates - a grandfather fighting for his grandchildren, a man misled by a hippie couple, a woman who falls asleep at the airport, a teacher who holds his class hostage. - cover page.
The Statesman is a difficult and puzzling Platonic dialogue. In A Stranger's Knowledge Marquez argues that Plato abandons here the classic idea, prominent in the Republic, that the philosopher, qua philosopher, is qualified to rule. Instead, the dialogue presents the statesman as different from the philosopher, the possessor of a specialist expertise that cannot be reduced to philosophy. The expertise is of how to make a city resilient against internal and external conflict in light of the imperfect sociality of human beings and the poverty of their reason. This expertise, however, cannot be produced on demand: one cannot train statesmen like one might train carpenters. Worse, it cannot be made acceptable to the citizens, or operate in ways that are not deeply destructive to the city's stability. Even as the political community requires his knowledge for its preservation, the genuine statesman must remain a stranger to the city.Marquez shows how this impasse is the key to understanding the ambiguous reevaluation of the rule of law that is the most striking feature of the political philosophy of the Statesman. The law appears here as a mere approximation of the expertise of the inevitably absent statesman, dim images and static snapshots of the clear and dynamic expertise required to steer the ship of state across the storms of the political world. Yet such laws, even when they are not created by genuine statesmen, can often provide the city with a limited form of cognitive capital that enables it to preserve itself in the long run, so long as citizens, and especially leaders, retain a "e;philosophical"e; attitude towards them. It is only when rulers know that they do not know better than the laws what is just or good (and yet want to know what is just and good) that the city can be preserved. The dialogue is thus, in a sense, the vindication of the philosopher-king in the absence of genuine political knowledge.
Inside a world collapsed by greed, power and lies over and over again, countries immerse in chaos have taken over the vision of the world. However, this time the secret might come out as a mystery is barely unfolding through the eyes of eight Elemental Seed carriers seeking for answers, friendship, love and revenge. Unfolding their powers, Dolos, Molay, Miranda and Celleste, may think is just a strike of chance, but now they are struggling with their own feelings, school and complicated family relationships. An ancient power that balanced the earth has been awaken again, every time is a different outcome, maybe too much power to control and envy to bear. All the Elemental Souls must gather to revile their true destiny.
