A seventeen-year-old has found a huge heart of gold hidden beneath a lake high in the Sierra Nevada. It is the mother lode. But can he keep it? Dain King is a ruthless killer who captures Petr and sends him down the river in an old Indian canoe to scare him into revealing the location of his gold. The canoe goes over a waterfall where Petr is rescued by Paiutes. He falls in love with the Indian medicine woman, Minoah. A bad Indian kidnaps Petrs little sister and uses her to lure Dain King and his men into a trap. The Indians are killed, including Minoahs father. Now love turns to hatred, and Petr ventures to San Francisco to make a beautiful gift, the Falcon Heart, for Minoah. There, he will remember the secrets of gold shaping. There, he will discover the terrible price of finding gold.
This mesmerizing fantasy features two narrators--an outcast princess and a rebellious storyteller---set in a convincing and beautifully realized world featuring elements of Celtic folklore.
Explore twenty-four imaginative tales crafted by some of today’s best writers of science fiction and fantasy, all guests on the Aurora Award-winning podcast The Worldshapers during its second year, and including several international bestsellers and winners of every major award in the field, as well as newer authors just beginning what promise to be stellar careers. A woman seeking the power to see the evil hiding within others regrets receiving it. Letters written by a wizard in the past threaten a queen’s reign in the present. Competing for Earth, a human wrestler faces an alien shapeshifter in an interstellar tournament. A guide in Tibet must weigh the good of his people when asked to lead a westerner to the fabled realm of Shangri. An activist imprisoned for illegal genetic modification works with the materials at hand and the threads of the multiverse to make the world—a world, at least—a better place. A demonic agent sent to help a human turns the tables on his summoner. Like the “cabinets of curiosities” created by collectors of the sixteenth century, Shapers of Worlds Volume II displays a varied array of thought-provoking delights: tales of humour and sorrow, darkness and light, and hope and despair that are full of adventure, full of life, and sometimes full of regret. There are stories set in alternate histories, in possible futures, near and far, and in the here-and-now, taking place on Earth, on distant planets, or in fantastic realms. All arise from the innate need of human beings to create, to imagine . . . to shape worlds. Praise for Shapers of Worlds Volume I: “One of the most wide-ranging volumes I’ve encountered in terms of sub-genre. It’s rather like a speculative fiction buffet, offering steampunk, fantasy, military fiction, magic, space opera, post-apocalyptic, hard science fiction, and others . . . Inventive and varied, the collection has a lot to offer for those seeking an interesting, entertaining, and thought-provoking read.” – Lisa Timpf, The Future Fire
This is an epic story (four books) about a boy in Gold Rush California who finds the entrance beneath a lake to a vast motherlode of gold followed by the devastating results of sudden wealth. His dreams of doing good--building his father a steam-powered lumber mill, a beautiful white house with blue shutters for his mother, and a fine speedy horse for his little sister--all are shattered when the king of the mountains comes after him demanding a kings share of the gold. Rumors of California gold ran wild. Rivers of solid gold lay hidden in mountain valleys and could be harvested with a pick and shovel. Indians would trade chunks of gold for a pretty scarf or a few beads. Somewhere is a secret lake of gold. On his seventeenth birthday Petr Valory finds Gold Lake high and hidden in a valley protected by the Indians for centuries, a place that is a test of courage, a sacred place for dreaming. Far beneath the lake is a hidden chamber and a pharaohs wildest dreams of gold. Petr finds a fortune and his life turns into chaos. No man should see what lies beneath Gold Lake.
Long to feel less overwhelmed? Wish for clarity in your decision making? Looking for lucidity in your thinking? Seeking confidence in your communication? The simple solution is at your fingertips. Paper and pen. In this guide, Brandy Agerbeck reveals drawing as your best thinking tool, making visual thinking attainable and enjoyable through a set of twenty-four Idea Shapers. Each concept combines fine art and facilitation to turn abstract ideas into concrete drawing that help you do great things.
“For fans of The Matrix and Memento, a twisty, exciting adventure!”—Diana Gabaldon, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Outlander series The basis for the major motion picture Infinite Discovered as three notebooks in an antique store in Rome at the turn of the millennium, The Reincarnationist Papers offers a tantalizing glimpse into the Cognomina, a secret society of people who possess total recall of their past lives. Evan Michaels struggles with being different, with having the complete memories of two other people who lived sequentially before him. He fights loneliness and believes he is unique until he meets Poppy. She recognizes his struggle because she is like him, except that she is much older, remembering seven consecutive lives. But there is something else she must share with Evan—she is a member of the secretive Cognomina. They are, in effect, immortals—compiling experiences and skills over lifetimes into near superhuman abilities that they have used to drive history over centuries. Poppy invites Evan into the Cognomina, but he must face their tests before entering this mysterious society as their equal.
Moving personal account of frontier women left behind in Minnesota when their husbands went west to prospect for gold in Colorado and Montana in the mid-1800s.
THE SHAPER EXILE, VOLUME II Exiled from Earth for their radical experiments in the biogenetics, the Venn scientists took their illegal craft to a new world they called Llia. Here the immortal Venn redesigned mankind into races unlike anything their accusers could have imagined, then watched and manipulated as their inventions began fashioning societies fit for themselves. Nearly six hundred years later, the shape-shifting Llanis and the ingenious Ganus have forged a truce. Together, despite the Venn's meddling, they are becoming one people, becoming Llian. But Rhodaru warriors -- men rumored to possess the truth-sense and to be able to see in the dark -- have camped in the hills on Ganu land. Superstitious and ignorant of their origins, Rhodarus know only one way to unite Llia ... war.
A Golden Kite Honor Book: A boy grieving the loss of his dog meets a man who can transform the lives of animals—and people Chad Holloway feels estranged from his entire family. His tantrum-throwing older sister, Julia, and baby brother, Sky, drive him crazy. His parents don’t understand him at all. And ever since his grandfather shot Chad’s dog Shep, they haven’t been speaking to each other, even though Jeep says it was a mercy killing. Queenie, the new puppy Jeep bought to make amends, will never replace Shep. Not even close. Chad has no idea how he’s going to get through this summer. Then he meets his new neighbor. David Burton is a shaper—a dog trainer who changes animals’ behavior using positive reinforcement. He hires Chad as his assistant and suddenly, things start to happen. Chad uses Queenie as a guinea pig to try out David’s techniques. Except Chad starts to feel like he’s the one being shaped. And he really likes David’s daughter Louise, a dancer who’s a year older than Chad. They’re helping him to heal and believe in life’s wonderful possibilities. Will he be able to forgive his grandfather and find a place in his eccentric family?
