Eveningstar Macaw lives in a glorious Mayan city in the ninth century. When the king falls ill and dies, the city begins to crumble. An evil high priest, Great Skull Zero, orders the sacrifice of those who might become king, including Eveningstar's beloved brother. Suspicious of the High Priest's motives, Eveningstar attempts to save her brother, thus becoming an acknowledged enemy of the High Priest. Condemned to be thrown into the Well of Sacrifice, Eveningstar must find a way not only to save her own life but to rescue her family and her city from the tyrannical grasp of Great Skull Zero. Set against the vivid background of everyday life at the height of the Mayan golden age and illustrated with striking black-and-white paintings, Eveningstar's candid, gripping, and not-for-the-faint-of-heart account of the last days of a great city will have readers at the edge of their seats. Afterword.
Chichén Itzá ("mouth of the well of the Itza") was one of the great centers of civilization in prehistoric America, serving between the eighth and twelfth centuries A.D. as a religious, economic, social, and political capital on the Yucatán Peninsula. Within the ancient city there were many natural wells or cenotes. One, within the ceremonial heart of the city, is an impressive natural feature with vertical limestone walls enclosing a deep pool of jade green water some eighty feet below ground level. This cenote, which gave the city its name, became a sacred shrine of Maya pilgrimage, described by one post-Conquest observer as similar to Jerusalem and Rome. Here, during the city's ascendancy and for centuries after its decline, the peoples of Yucatán consulted their gods and made ritual offerings of precious objects and living victims who were thought to receive prophecies. Although the well was described by Bishop Diego de Landa in the late sixteenth century, its contents were not known until the early 1900s when revealed by the work of Edward H. Thompson. Conducting excavations for the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, Thompson recovered almost thirty thousand artifacts, most ceremonially broken and many beautifully preserved by burial in the deep silt at the bottom of the well. The materials were sent to the Peabody Museum, where they remained, unexhibited, for over seventy years. In 1984, for the first time, nearly three hundred objects of gold, jade, copper, pottery, wood, copal, textile, and other materials from the collection were gathered into a traveling interpretive exhibition. No other archaeological exhibition had previously given this glimpse into Maya ritual life because no other collection had objects such as those found in the Sacred Cenote. Moreover, the objects from the Cenote come from throughout Mesoamerica and lower Central America, representing many artistic traditions. The exhibit and this, its accompanying catalog, marked the first time all of the different kinds of offerings have ever been displayed together, and the first time many have been published. Essays by Gordon R. Willey and Linnea H. Wren place the Cenote of Sacrifice and the great Maya city of Chichén Itzá within the larger context of Maya archaeology and history. The catalog entries, written by Clemency Chase Coggins, describe the objects displayed in the traveling exhibition. Some entries are brief descriptive statements; others develop short scholarly themes bearing on the function and interpretation of specific objects. Coggins' introductory essay describes how the objects were collected by Thompson and how the exhibition collection has been studied to reveal the periods of Cenote ritual and the changing practices of offering to the Sacred Cenote.
There would be many more human sacrifices-of that Char was sure. It never occurs to him that he or Quel might become one of those victims who meet their fate at the hands of the cruel warrior-priests! The Maya youth spots something unusual in the Sacred Well of Sacrifice and must satisfy his curiosity. After he goads his friend into helping him commit a forbidden and foolish act-secretly entering the Well-a series of calamities is unleashed on Chichen Itza. He's been in trouble with the priests before. If they find out, the gods (or is it the priests?) will only be satisfied with the removal of his beating heart atop the Pyramid of Kukulcan. Skullman, the high priest, has worries of his own-drought, war, unrest among the people, Screaming Jaguar and Sharp Claw scheming to overthrow him. Perhaps the offering of an innocent youth would appease the gods and bring peace and harmony to the city. The boys' only desire is for calm and prosperity to return to their land. Their actions may determine not only their own fate, but also that of the entire community.
Choose wisely! Alana wasn’t ready to forfeit her carefree life as a village maiden, but the Great Tree chose her to be its honored woodsinger. Now, she communes daily with the Tree, conveying its ancient wisdom to her people on the Headland of Slaughter. Alas, even the Tree fails to recognize the threat when Duke Coren arrives from the mainland. Soon, two innocent children are kidnapped, carried off to distant Smithcourt for reasons unknown. Alana wastes no time provisioning a rescue party, giving them a treasured woodstar so she can observe and guide their progress. But a trio of fishermen is no match for a wily inland noble—especially one capable of manipulating the captured twins’ emotions until they no longer want to be saved. What must Alana—and others—sacrifice to bring the children home? If you like fantasy novels with magic, mystical trees, kidnapping of innocents, children in danger, sword and sorcery, epic stories, sagas, power, intrigue, and betrayal, then this is the book for you! 011823mfm
A new chapter in the War of the Spider Queen saga begins in this spin-off series featuring priestess Halisstra Melarn Goddesses vie for the souls of people. Halisstra Melarn—former companion of Quenthel Baenre and convert to the cause of the goddess Eilistraee—was sent to the deepest depths of the Outer Planes to kill the demon goddess she once worshiped: Lolth, the Queen of the Demonweb Pits, the Spider Queen. Instead, Halisstra was transformed into a hideous creature bent to the vengeful will of her former mistress. Lolth not only survived her Silence but evolved into something greater than she was before—something that no longer needs to share the domain she calls her own. Could it be that the War of the Spider Queen has only now just begun?
The shocking and affecting memoir from a gold-star widow searching for the truth behind her Green Beret husband's death, this book bears witness to the true sacrifices made by military families. When Green Beret Bryan Black was killed in an ambush in Niger in 2017, his wife Michelle saw her worst nightmare become a reality. She was left alone with her grief and with two young sons to raise. But what followed Bryan's death was an even more difficult journey for the young widow. After receiving very few details about the attack that took her husband's life, it was up to Michelle to find answers. It became her mission to learn the truth about that day in Niger--and Sacrifice is the result of that mission. In this heartbreaking and revelatory memoir, Michelle uses exclusive interviews with the survivors of her husband's unit, research into the military leadership and accountability, and her own unique vantage point as a gold-star widow to tell a previously unknown story. Sacrifice is both an honest, emotional look inside a military marriage and a searing investigation of the people and decisions at the heart of the US military.
An Apsaalooka (Crow) Indian girl has lived her life as a despised loner, overshadowed by her dead twin brother, who, it was prophesied at their birth, would become a "Great One" among his people. One night, she sets off on a forbidden journey to prove to her village, and her brother's spirit, that she is the one destined to become the true Great One. Her trek over the plains and into the mysterious region of modern-day Yellowstone National Park is a disaster, culminating in her eventual capture by a tribe of Pawnee. Strangely, these foreigners treat her with an unfamiliar respect, and the girl starts to let down her guard. But when it is suddenly revealed that she has been kept alive in order to be killed in a ritual harvest-season sacrifice, the girl is thrown back into her desperate battle for survival...in Diane Matcheck's The Sacrifice.
Born into a distinguished military family, Fitz John Porter (1822-1901) was educated at West Point and breveted for bravery in the war with Mexico. Already a well-respected officer at the outset of the Civil War, as a general in the Union army he became a favorite of George B. McClellan, who chose him to command the Fifth Corps of the Army of the Potomac. Porter and his troops fought heroically and well at Gaines's Mill and Malvern Hill. His devotion to the Union cause seemed unquestionable until fellow Union generals John Pope and Irvin McDowell blamed him for their own battlefield failures at Second Bull Run. As a confidant of the Democrat and limited-war proponent McClellan, Porter found himself targeted by Radical Republicans intent on turning the conflict to the cause of emancipation. He made the perfect scapegoat, and a court-martial packed with compliant officers dismissed him for disobedience of orders and misconduct before the enemy. Porter tenaciously pursued vindication after the war, and in 1879 an army commission finally reviewed his case, completely exonerating him. Obstinately partisan resistance from old Republican enemies still denied him even nominal reinstatement for six more years. This revealing new biography by William Marvel cuts through received wisdom to show Fitz John Porter as he was: a respected commander whose distinguished career was ruined by political machinations within Lincoln's administration. Marvel lifts the cloud that shadowed Porter over the last four decades of his life, exposing the spiteful Radical Republicans who refused to restore his rank long after his exoneration and never restored his benefits. Reexamining the relevant primary evidence from the full arc of Porter's life and career, Marvel offers significant insights into the intersections of politics, war, and memory.
The TROJAN WAR SONG OF PRINCES, Book One of the Homeric Chronicles Sing Muse. Sing of the shining citadel of Troy rising from the hot sands of Asia. Sing of the Greek palaces ascending from their rocky hilltops. Sing of one woman's dream heralding the madness of men and the murder of innocents. From bull dancing rings and wild meadows, the Forgotten Prince must choose between love and a golden crown. From seclusion and safety, the Golden Warrior must choose between his honor and his life. From behind the Great Wall, the Golden Prince must choose between his family and his city. And from a rugged realm on the far side of Greece, the Warrior King must choose between his son's life and certain exile. Here shepherds and princes, warriors and kings, and seers and lovers seek to conquer their passions, outwit destiny or surrender to it. PARIS, the FORGOTTEN PRINCE. ACHILLES, the GOLDEN WARRIOR. HEKTOR, the GOLDEN PRINCE. ODYSSEUS, the WARRIOR KING. Where did their legends begin before their lives converged at Troy in one of the most famous battles of all time? The HOMERIC CHRONICLES tell the stories of Paris, Achilles, Hektor, and Odysseus in one chronological tale, beginning before the ILIAD and ending long after the ODYSSEY. Blending both history and myth, the Homeric Chronicles will satisfy your love of Greek mythology, while paying homage to the original storyteller, Homer. SONGS OF PRINCES begins with the birth of Paris and Achilles, and introduces us to a young Hektor and Odysseus. The journey of the princes begins... Fall in love with Greek mythology for the first time or all over again. ...READ THEM ALL... #songofprinces #riseofprinces #returnofkings #homericchronicles THE BIRTH OF PARIS The labor began with the pull of the full moon. Hecuba's eyes opened. She recognized the familiar dull ache. The squeeze tightened down her lower back and wrapped itself around her lower hips and belly like a merciless snake. It begins, she thought. The child whose destiny she'd agonized over these many weeks pressed his entrance into a hostile world. She rolled onto her side to ease the progressing pains. She knew precious little time remained before she would be forced to call Tessa to fetch the midwife. Hecuba planned to endure as much pain as she could bear buying time with her unwelcomed son...unwelcomed by all, except for her. She loved the child despite the prophecy. Tears filled her eyes for the child pushing his way to the light. Hecuba wept into her pillow. His innocence would be her life's burden. She would never know the burn of the first milk passing to her breasts as his little mouth suckled for the first time. She would not know the smell of his baby skin. She would not feel the weight of him in her arms as she cradled him to sleep, or the weight of his little body as it grew to fill the circle of her arms, making them ache with his increasing size. She would not know him at all. He would be stolen away from her and lost forever. With each new tug on her body, she clenched her teeth and tried to breathe as quietly as possible. In between the pains, she shifted to the opposite side to keep the mounting pressure from making her cry out. As the moonlight shifted past the high window, the birthing process accelerated. A piercing pain below Hecuba's pelvis forced a shrill scream into the stillness shattering the silver calm. The warm sticky wetness washed down her thighs. Eleithyia wasted no time bringing the child along. Why goddess? Let him stay with me a while longer, I beg you. Her plea hung unheeded in that space between earth and sky.
