Two boys discover a series of caverns underneath their moon colony home in this futuristic story from the author of the Tripods series. Marty and Steve may live on the moon, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to get away every once in a while. So when Steve makes the suggestion to skip school and take a lunar car out to explore the moon’s surface like real astronauts, Marty thinks it’s a great idea. But the fun quickly ends when the lunar car crashes, stranding Marty and Steve beneath the moon’s surface. There, in a bizarre, cave, Marty and Steve find the unexpected: a world filled with various plants, food, and life…including a man who supposedly went missing more than one hundred years before. The boys think that they’ve found the most wonderful place in the galaxy…but they soon learn that the joy comes with a price. The strange creature that is keeping them alive also wants to control them, and when Marty and Steve decide that they want to leave, the creature might have something else in mind.
Drawing on art historical, epigraphical, and textual evidence, this book is the first full-scale reconstruction of medieval Jain artistic and devotional practices at the rock-cut site of Ellora in Maharashtra, India. Created during the ninth and tenth centuries, Ellora's Jain caves are among the best-preserved examples of medieval Jain art in India. While this book briefly addresses traditional art historical issues of date and iconography, it primarily considers the articulation of sacred space within the caves and the role of imagery in shaping devotional practices. Building upon scholarship that examines Jainism within its larger South Asian context, this book also explores connections between the Jain monuments and their Hindu and Buddhist counterparts to reveal a lived religious world at Ellora.
In the Retro Hugo Award–nominated novel that inspired the Syfy miniseries, alien invaders bring peace to Earth—at a grave price: “A first-rate tour de force” (The New York Times). In the near future, enormous silver spaceships appear without warning over mankind’s largest cities. They belong to the Overlords, an alien race far superior to humanity in technological development. Their purpose is to dominate Earth. Their demands, however, are surprisingly benevolent: end war, poverty, and cruelty. Their presence, rather than signaling the end of humanity, ushers in a golden age . . . or so it seems. Without conflict, human culture and progress stagnate. As the years pass, it becomes clear that the Overlords have a hidden agenda for the evolution of the human race that may not be as benevolent as it seems. “Frighteningly logical, believable, and grimly prophetic . . . Clarke is a master.” —Los Angeles Times
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
The book is the volume of “The History of Religion of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasty” among a series of books of “Deep into China Histories”. The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC) and the Bamboo Annals (296 BC) describe a Xia dynasty (c. 2070–1600 BC) before the Shang, but no writing is known from the period The Shang ruled in the Yellow River valley, which is commonly held to be the cradle of Chinese civilization. However, Neolithic civilizations originated at various cultural centers along both the Yellow River and Yangtze River. These Yellow River and Yangtze civilizations arose millennia before the Shang. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest civilizations, and is regarded as one of the cradles of civilization.The Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC) supplanted the Shang and introduced the concept of the Mandate of Heaven to justify their rule. The central Zhou government began to weaken due to external and internal pressures in the 8th century BC, and the country eventually splintered into smaller states during the Spring and Autumn period. These states became independent and warred with one another in the following Warring States period. Much of traditional Chinese culture, literature and philosophy first developed during those troubled times.In 221 BC Qin Shi Huang conquered the various warring states and created for himself the title of Huangdi or "emperor" of the Qin, marking the beginning of imperial China. However, the oppressive government fell soon after his death, and was supplanted by the longer-lived Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD). Successive dynasties developed bureaucratic systems that enabled the emperor to control vast territories directly. In the 21 centuries from 206 BC until AD 1912, routine administrative tasks were handled by a special elite of scholar-officials. Young men, well-versed in calligraphy, history, literature, and philosophy, were carefully selected through difficult government examinations. China's last dynasty was the Qing (1644–1912), which was replaced by the Republic of China in 1912, and in the mainland by the People's Republic of China in 1949.Chinese history has alternated between periods of political unity and peace, and periods of war and failed statehood – the most recent being the Chinese Civil War (1927–1949). China was occasionally dominated by steppe peoples, most of whom were eventually assimilated into the Han Chinese culture and population. Between eras of multiple kingdoms and warlordism, Chinese dynasties have ruled parts or all of China; in some eras control stretched as far as Xinjiang and Tibet, as at present. Traditional culture, and influences from other parts of Asia and the Western world (carried by waves of immigration, cultural assimilation, expansion, and foreign contact), form the basis of the modern culture of China.
NEWBERY MEDAL WINNER • TIME MAGAZINE’S 100 BEST FANTASY BOOKS OF ALL TIME • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM DISNEY Read the ground-breaking science fiction and fantasy classic that has delighted children for over 60 years! "A Wrinkle in Time is one of my favorite books of all time. I've read it so often, I know it by heart." —Meg Cabot Late one night, three otherworldly creatures appear and sweep Meg Murry, her brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin O'Keefe away on a mission to save Mr. Murray, who has gone missing while doing top-secret work for the government. They travel via tesseract--a wrinkle that transports one across space and time--to the planet Camazotz, where Mr. Murray is being held captive. There they discover a dark force that threatens not only Mr. Murray but the safety of the whole universe. A Wrinkle in Time is the first book in Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet.
This is an epic tale; a fantasy replete with grand romances and countless avenues leading to divine love. Venture through diverse time perspectives and complex mythologies of the Gods in this multi-dimensional drama, inspired by ancient Asian principles. The Gold Lotus is a dance in written form; a saga with a rhythmic delivery that will transport you through intricate plots, legendary wars, unsettling separations, and passionate love, unbound. Manifested in a time of darkness and war, the celestial being Kānu prepares for a journey brought on by Muniji, the minstrel saint, to face a destiny that stands between destruction and salvation. Weaving through the ways of love and power, the almighty Kānu will learn to become the saviour of his heavenly kingdom while discovering the deepest desires of the heart and defeating evil - both within and without. As the heavenly kingdom yearns for its saviour, a formidable and broken God of War comes to battle with an unpredictable foe that has bested the mightiest of warriors before him: finding the lost love capable of fulfilling the void in his heart. What (or who) he finds as the answer proves to be a riddle never before encountered by the revered warrior. Alongside Kānu and a kingdom of mystical beings that oversee the forces of existence, the celestial war for balance is far from won and the stakes grow higher with every heartbeat.
