With the human race gone, mythical creatures roam ... Lysandra, mermaid princess of the sea, loves all things human. It's why she can't resist helping a dragon who claims to be one. Sixteenth-century duke, Virginio Ormani II, is cursed to walk as a dragon in daylight, and he's stumbled into the twenty-sixth century. Dragging her elven warrior boyfriend, Cyali, along for the ride, Lysandra and her friends will face conjurers, harpies, and overgrown rats on their journey across the western lands. And that's the least of their worries. When a cabal of witches plans to bring back the human race no matter what the cost, Lysandra is torn between doing right by the humans and doing right by everyone she's ever met. A tale of magic, betrayal, and time travel, The Dragon and the Double-Edged Sword is for all fans of YA fantasy.
Moving from Genesis through the Hebrew prophets, McKenzie has produced a moving picture of Hebrew religion produced by divine revelation. Throughout the work he confronts biblical ideas with modern thought and modern thought with biblical ideas. Themes include the Hebrew view of history, the backdrop of ancient Near Eastern religions and literary forms, and the unique role of Israel as a society governed immediately by the will of God. In short, McKenzie offers an engaging interpretation of the Old Testament which will challenge scholars and delightfully instruct the general reader.
In Mikkyo—Japanese esoteric Buddhism—the dragon Kurikara symbolizes the internal energy developed through sword practice. Kurikara is a manifestation of the fierce bodhisattva Fudo Myo O, the patron of ascetics and warriors in Japan, who uses his sword to destroy delusions and sever attachments. Fudo’s sword represents the gaining of discriminative power and decisiveness—the ability to cut through illusion and attachment. This leads to the development of an inner energy that allows one to “burn up” all obstacles to spiritual freedom. Kurikara: The Sword and the Serpent sets out the eight basic principles of swordsmanship common to all Japanese sword schools, emphasizing the cultivation of power and mental focus. Accomplished martial artist John Evans provides practical examples from his experience with the sword arts as well as Mikkyo and shugendo (mountain asceticism). The first foreign student to train with Nakamura Taisaburo sensei—widely acknowledged as the master of the sword art battodo—Evans clearly explains how skill such as Nakamurua sensei’s can be systematically developed through tanren, exercises that meld “inner” and “outer” power. Filled with fascinating anecdotes from Evans’s training in Japan, Kurikara is a useful, inspiring guide to Japanese sword practice and its spiritual underpinnings.
A compilation of books 7-9 in the Left Behind series: The Indwelling--It's the midpoint of the seven-year Tribulation. A renowned man is dead, and the world mourns. In heaven, the battle for the ages continues to rage until it spills to earth and hell breaks loose. The Mark--Nicolae Carpathia is back, resurrected and indwelt by the devil himself. Terror comes to the believers in Greece as they are among the first to face a GC loyalty mark application site and its hideous death contraption. Desecration--Believers in Jerusalem must flee or take the mark of the beast. Carpathia has ordered every Morale Monitor armed as he travels along the Via Dolorosa and on to the temple. God inflicts the first Bowl Judgment.
Dragons are amongst the most feared creatures in the paranormal world, nigh unbeatable and barely controllable. Every year, countless men and women with dragon potential are kidnapped and changed, their former lives lost forever. They are drugged to compliance and trained to fight in the notorious Pits for the profit of the crime lords who breed them. Blaze has been a pit fighter all his life, and it is a life he hates. The only thing that keeps him going is that if he stops, he risks losing the only thing that matters to him: his dragon Erie. Though pit rules say it's a bad idea to get too close to the dragons, Blaze has never been able to help it. He'll do anything to protect Erie. Ken and his dragon Nevada were once victims of the pits, stolen from their normal lives and forced to fight. Now, they work to bring down the pits they despise, though the battle seems futile. Everyone who has ever tried has wound up dead. Stopping the pit fights once and for all will take a miracle—or a legend.
Nineteen fiery dragon stories from the world’s best fantasy writers Whether portrayed as fire-breathing reptilian beasts at war with humanity or as noble creatures capable of speech and mystically bonded to the warriors who ride them, dragons have been found in nearly every culture's mythology. In modern times, they can be found far from their medieval settings in locales as mundane as suburbia or as barren as post-apocalyptic landscapes - and in THE DRAGON BOOK, today's greatest fantasists reignite the fire with legendary tales that will consume readers' imaginations.With stories by NEW YORK TIMES bestselling authors Jonathan Stroud, Gregory Maguire, Garth Nix, Diana Gabaldon, Tamora Pierce, Harry Turtledove, Sean Williams and Tad Williams as well as tales by Naomi Novik, Peter Beagle, Jane Yolen, Adam Stemple, Cecelia Holland, Kage Baker, Samuel Sykes, Diana Wynne Jones, Mary Rosenblum, Tanith Lee, Andy Duncan and Bruce Coville.
The Dragon's Hidden Wings is the first comprehensive study on China's use of soft power. Sheng Ding provides the reader with an insightful empirical study that details China's economic and political rise on the global scene over the course of the last three decades. This book not only endeavors to examine the connections between the ongoing rise of China and what Joseph Nye defines as soft power, but also attempts to give readers a more complete understanding of China's national power and modernization process. The main questions addressed are: What are the theoretical and empirical connections between the soft power concept and the rise of China? What are China's own soft power resources? How has Beijing used soft power to become a major player in the world? What opportunities and challenges does the use of soft power present to China? This study is essential reading for scholars of Chinese politics and foreign policy, and for scholars of international relation interested in the concept and application of soft power.
Secret of the Dragon's Wing is the final installment in the adventures of Gavin Kane, Emily Scott, and Bunty Digby, seventeen-year-olds who struggle with their daily lives in England during the pivotal year of 1945. The war in Europe is drawing to a close, as the German military begins to collapse. The Allies are closing in on Berlin and the Japanese have lost almost all of the land they conquered four years earlier. The Cornish teenagers have repeatedly defeated the forces of evil, but are faced with the last desperate gasp of sick and deranged minds within the collapsing fortress inside Nazi Germany.
Meet the unsung heroes of the supernatural. Demon hunters, evil angels, and one very angry Queen of Hell. Can Paul learn the ways of the Walker in time to save humanity, or will all the worlds burn in hellfire? 700+ pages of supernatural battle, prophecies come true, and a match made in Hell. BOOK I: DEMONS & ANGELS Dark thoughts feed our demons... A week ago Paul didn't even believe in demons. Now he sees them everywhere. They ride around on heavy human shoulders, whispering hateful silence to their hosts. In the wake of a tragic accident, Paul finds it hard to take the demons seriously. He is too caught up in mourning the loss of his best friend Kris. Whatever responsibility that comes with seeing demons is of no interest to him. Paul just wants his life back. Except Kris is haunting Paul. The demons are starting to notice him watching them. Also, he seems to have developed some pretty incredible abilities beyond seeing demons. A new life needs to take shape if Paul wishes to survive, but the cost may be his old life falling apart. BOOK II: RISE OF THE WALKER KING The Walking Between Worlds story continues... The way of the demon hunter is finally beginning to make sense to Paul, as is the art of walking between worlds. He is forced to shoulder the heavy burden of leading this mighty army of immortals if they are to continue their vital secret work. Just when he needs her most, his love has been torn from his grasp. Rather than turn to his trusted Guide and best friend in his time of need, Paul turns away from him. Kris is left to wonder if the fire burning inside the new king will drive him to victory or madness War takes the army to Hell, and pits their forces against a sea of displaced demons. Lines are crossed, lives are lost, and the battles take heavy tolls on both sides. As light looms at the end of the treacherous tunnel leading to victory, the army emerges to a shaking realization: the light is dragon fire, and the war has only just begun. BOOK III: FALL OF THE WALKER KING The explosive end to the Walking Between Worlds trilogy. Heaven is in turmoil over the war being waged below. Hell is a ravaged wasteland, its beauty lost to all but ancient memory. Earth is trapped between, unaware of the army of supernaturals battling for their souls. A champion emerges to lead them, and to search for their lost king. His new student sees the timeless art of dealing with demons in an astonishingly unique way; it makes William question everything he is supposed to be teaching the warrior apprentice, while battling day and night to save the way of the Walker. Ruling from their lofty perches, the angels have long since lost their way. They want control of everything, and will stop at nothing to get it. Barely an army, the remaining demon hunters dodge plots from above and fire from below in their hopes to secretly save the worlds they walk between once more. The dragons that reign in Hell have grown more brutal over long centuries; when one queen fell, a more fearsome dragon took her place. It will take more than one miracle to stop her from setting all the worlds aflame forever.
