Expressway to an Uncharted Sphere "Theyre about!" the woman whispered, and Crane abruptly saw a strange light shining through the heavy black curtains that shrouded the house. He crossed to the window and before anyone could stop him he drew the curtain back. At first he did not understand what he saw: a round gleaming, colour-running orb stared unwinkingly back into his face. It was an eye. An immense sad eye staring at him through the chink of the curtains, an eye surrounded by a living whorl of flame that he had last seen engulfing poor Barney in the parking lot. At least three others had disappeared into the strange world from which those aliens had come, and a girl had been driven insane by them. And before Crane's quest to unravel the secret of the Map Country was complete, the fate of two worlds would hang in the balance.
Land Beyond Maps wonFinalist, 2010 Lambda Literary Foundation, Lesbian Debut FictionWinner, 2009 New Mexico Book Award, Gay/LesbianFinalist, 2009 New Mexico Book Award, Historical FictionWinner, 2010 Arizona Book Publishing Award, Gay/LesbianFinalist, 2010 Arizona Book Publishing Award, MulticulturalFinalist, 2010 Golden Crown Literary Society, Dramatic/General FictionWinner, 2000 Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation Full-Length Lesbian/Gay Historical Fiction CompetitionMaida Tilchen won Honorable Mention, 2007 Astraea Foundation Lesbian Writers Award, Fiction."Crafts a mosaic of women's journeys to achieve their dreams as artists, naturalists, and entrepreneurs ... quickly moving... creates a vivid, realistic picture of life in Santa Fe and on the reservation." --New Mexico Magazine, April, 2009"Readers interested in American history, Southwest and Native American cultures, and women's history will find much to enjoy while reading Land beyond Maps." --Reading New Mexico, by Victoria Erhart, 02/09"Deserves to be a Finalist for the Debut Fiction Lammy...every person we meet is interesting...offers relief from the fears about money and survival that are not unlike those most of us feel today." --Lesbian News, Los Angeles, May, 2010Land Beyond Maps tells of midlife lesbians and their friends in Santa Fe and the Navajolands through the boom and bust of 1929, closely based on the true story of a landscape photographer Laura Gilpin (1891-1979), who is considered America's most distinguished woman landscape photographer. Ambitious archaeologists, zealous missionaries, quietly forceful Navajo women, and overeager tourists intensify this fast-paced story.Based on extensive research, Land Beyond Maps is a novel of women's history, travel, biography, and adventure, drawing the reader into the lives of women who find new adventures, new careers, and new passions later in life. It depicts a romantic era not previously portrayed in contemporary fiction, despite the current interest in books about the Southwest and women's history.As one reader described it, "Instead of frolicking about adobe mansions, we sleep in the straw of a stable loft and work in a modest photographer's studio. We see the tourist trade from behind the wheel of a tourbus, and we labor in the dirt in a low status vis-à-vis archaeologists from the Eastern Ivy schools."Ann Bannon, author of The Beebo Brinker Chronicles, described Land Beyond Maps: "A time-the early 20th Century; and a place-the American Southwest-cast a net of enchantment around an intriguing cast. Here is fiercely shielded Navajo treasure, the interweaving of distant cultures, religious hellfire, and all the delicate and explosive power of forbidden love. Historical characters move through the rooms of story to mingle with the singular humans whom Maida Tilchen infuses with vivid life. Spellbinding people, enmeshed in the stark beauty of a Land Beyond Maps.""Maida Tilchen's wonderful debut novel reads like an exciting adventure story of the early twentieth century West, but has at its core a moving and vital reclamation of an all but forgotten feminist past that startles us with its emotional vibrancy and deeply felt commitment to historical truth. The women characters live and breathe on every page. This is the heart of Tilchen's vision: the uncovering and documentation of a forgotten woman's world of love and bonding that exists within and far beyond this historical moment." -- Michael Bronski, author of Pulp Friction: Uncovering the Golden Age of Gay Male Pulps"Land Beyond Maps joins a deep knowledge of New Mexico's landscape and history with the story of women who act against the cultural restraints of their time" -Summer Wood, author of "Arroyo""Knows and lovingly portrays the locales. With some homage to Willa Cather, this book takes its place in the literature of the Southwest." -- Miriam Sagan, author of "Map of the Lost"
New islands are under construction or emerging because of climate change. Eccentric enclaves and fantastic utopian experiments are multiplying. Once-secret fantasy gardens are cracking open their doors to outsiders. Our world is becoming stranger by the day—and Alastair Bonnett observes and captures every fascinating change. In Beyond the Map, Bonnett presents stories of the world’s most extraordinary spaces—many unmarked on any official map—all of which challenge our assumptions about what we know—or think we know—about our world. As cultural, religious and political boundaries ebb and flow with each passing day, traditional maps unravel and fragment. With the same adventurous spirit he effused in the acclaimed Unruly Places, Bonnett takes us to thirty-nine incredible spots around the globe to explore these changing boundaries and stimulate our geographical imagination. Some are tied to disruptive contemporary political turbulence, such as the rise of ISIL, Russia’s incursions into Ukraine and the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom. Others explore the secret places not shown on Google Earth or reflect fast-changing landscapes. Beyond the Map journeys out into a world of mysterious, daunting and magical spaces. It is a world of hidden cultures and ghostly memories, of uncountable new islands and curious stabs at paradise. From the phantom tunnels of the Tokyo subway to a stunning movie-set re-creation of 1950s-era Moscow; from the caliphate of the Islamic State to virtual cybertopias—this book serves as an imaginative guide to the farthest fringes of geography.
Geography is getting stranger. Out there, fleets of new islands are under construction and micro-nations are struggling into the light. As new borders and boundaries ebb and flow with increasing speed, it feels as if our old maps are being discarded, redrawn or torn up. Alastair Bonnett uncovers the stories of thirty-nine extraordinary places, each of which challenges us to re-imagine the world around us. From emerging islands, disruptive enclaves and bold utopian visions to uncanny ruins, ghostly tunnels and hidden landscapes – these are destinations that lie beyond ordinary coordinates. A follow on from the critically acclaimed Off the Map, this is a timely and fascinating discussion of place, ownership and ideas of state.
This set of papers by European and North American archaeologists explore the interface between new spatial technologies and areas of theoretical concern in spatial archaeology. Differing aspects of landscape, such as vision, perception and movement, are explored through a series of case studies that focus on how spatial technologies can influence archaeological interpretation and to what extent these new technologies can be manipulated to take us beyond 2-dimensional maps. Individual site-based analyses and new applications of predictive modelling are also presented and assessed together with the wider questions of spatial technologies within heritage management.
Alastair Bonnett explores extraordinary, off-grid, offbeat places including micro-nations, moving villages, secret cities, and no man's lands. Consider Sealand, an abandoned gun platform off the English coast that a British citizen claimed as his own sovereign nation, issuing passports and making his wife a princess. Or Baarle, a patchwork city of Dutch and Flemish enclaves where crossing the street can involve traversing national borders. Or Sandy Island, which appeared on maps well into 2012 despite the fact it never existed.
The second dazzling installment in Patrick Carman's masterful Land of Elyon trilogy!Alexa thought her troubles were over when she defeated the man who had threatened to bring down Bridewell from within. But now that the walls around her land have fallen, a new, unexpected threat has risen from outside. Suddenly, Alexa is involved in a battle much, much larger than her own life . . . a battle in which she is destined to play a key role. In order to help good defeat evil, Alexa and her friends must venture farther than they've ever gone before -- confronting giants, bats, ravenous dogs, and a particularly ghoulish mastermind in order to bring back peace.
All Mattie Bott and Trevor Karington have ever known were unusually happy, stable lives until Mattie begins to see into the future and witnesses historical events appearing on particles of light. She is also able to talk to the dead, move at lightning speed, and shift her body through solid walls. Mattie and Trevor must learn how to apply their new abilities to stop the Interloper, an illicit time traveler from the future whose goal is to rule time by capturing the rings of Prather Mendell from Mattie's dowry.
