Financial advisor Tony Clark never knows whos going to walk into his Southwest Florida office. Its usually older folks with the balance of their lives behind them and an investment portfolio in dire need of attention. Finances are personal, and Clark often endures lengthy descriptions of ailments, family problems, and bitter life stories as part of the job. Then Donald OBrien walks into his office, gradually opens up about his story and pulls the young advisor into another world. Yes, hes an honorable World War II veteran, and Clark loves hearing those stories and helping heroes in their closing years, but OBrien was something more. After heroically flying night missions and battling the Nazis, he came home to begin a more startling occupation: master jewel thief. The doddering old man revealed a remarkable transition from ace pilot to the top of the FBIs most wanted jewel thieves list. Little did Clark realize hed soon have to make his own transition as hes inextricably woven into the dangerous world of accomplices, treasure, violence, and regret.
(Paranormal fantasy with witches, demons, vampires, werewolves, fairies, dragons) Unwelcome Fate The air of the chamber whispered behind me and an accustomed power touched mine. Anger rose against her as I felt my jaw tighten on its own in response to her arrival. The last time I’d seen her she’d betrayed me. I didn’t get up, didn’t even look at her as Fate waited for my attention. “Zoe,” I said, voice rough. “I was wondering when you’d show up.” Syd’s back home and it’s business as usual as she, her son and the drach leader do their best to track down the rest of Creator’s statue before it’s too late. But, when Max reveals to Syd doing so might not be in the Universe’s best interest after all, she’s confronted with a choice: continue on or become the Doombringer everyone believes she is. The only problem? In order to proceed with her task she must finally face the terror that haunts her—Dark Brother and his powerful army. KEYWORDS: paranormal series, paranormal books, paranormal fantasy, witches, witch, witch books, magical realism, witch fantasy, magical fantasy, vampire series, vampire books, shifter books, shifter series, werewolf series, werewolf books, vampire book
Khelben Arunsun, Chosen of Mystra, Archmage of Waterdeep, is as close to a demigod as you're likely to meet on the streets of Faerûn's mightiest city. But when the skies rain lightning and a long-forgotten city arises from the earth, he can seem like just another wizard.
The Definitive Edition includes the original, award-winning novel “Myracles in the Void” and a 27-chapter bonus story called “The Intervening” About Myracles in the Void: This is the story of the Izz Family from the forgotten, floating port town of Hop. The family's home, and indeed all of Hop, is made from repurposed ships, signs, barrels and boxes. The eldest child, Gai, is known for his ability to fix things, and he uses his talent to create a fiddle for his sister Lynd's thirteenth birthday. Lynd, on the other hand, is known to have objects suddenly break around her as if by magic. When Lynd suddenly disappears in a flash of destructive fury, all of Hop turns against the Izz family, accusing them of being cursed. Their father, Stav, had disappeared under strange circumstances as well. In his desperation, Gai discovers he can do more than just fix things with his hands, he also has a certain magic — one that seems to bring things back together. He also learns more about his father's disappearance and an ‘illness’ he had before he left. He worries for his sister, wondering if the same thing plagued her. With the help of a giant turtle named Emilie, Gai sets out from Hop to clear his family’s name, vowing to bring them all back together. Along his journey across the sea, he encounters a tech-city of gnomes, a Pocket Realm inside a beautiful painting, a tree that grants everlasting youth at a price, and of course answers to the nature of his powers — and his sister’s. They are not the only ones. In the world of Esa, all hearts posses a magic called myra that either bonds or breaks, creates or destroys. The use of this power, called a myracle, can be used to manipulate reality, such as creating or destroying objects, healing injuries, or altering the environment. However, they are not without their consequences; using the destructive power, called Ruin, can eventually turn that person into a Void — a monster with an unstoppable appetite for destruction that will engulf the entire world. Will Gai be able to find the source of the Ruin that has torn his family apart and save his sister and father before it’s too late? Massachusetts Center for the Book Must-Read List, 2023 Eric Hoffer Awards Science Fiction/Fantasy Winner, 2023 Forward INDIES Book of the Year Award Nominee, Fantasy, 2023 About The Intervening: Lynd, Kal, Kabbage are all back in this exciting set of interweaving stories from Esa! After you’ve read the original Myracles in the Void, dive right back into the action with more epic battles, more twists, more wild myracles, and of course new friends and new enemies. Set during the intervening years we didn’t get to see in the original story, witness the rise of a new Commandress of Carpè and the war that started it all; come inside the sacred and secretive ceremony of the Safar, the terrifying final test to becoming a true Heartbrand; experience the exhilarating Myracles Akademy sport called “Conjua!” where students create creatures from their wildest imaginations and battle them in an arena of shifting elements; and get on the streets of Electri City with Kabbage in a hilarious adventure to become the ultimate Thinker.
For the first time in her life, Spark has friends and has cobbled together something that’s starting to look like a family in her new home under the dragon city. But she’s never felt more alone. Or under more pressure. It’s only a matter of time before Loch and the ice dragons take revenge and attack the dragon city again. Spark throws herself into spellcraft as the dragons’ only hope. But there’s no way she can do it alone. And then there’s the matter of having mere days to rescue a stolen dragon egg. In order to save the dragons, she needs her mother and her grandmother at her side. First, Spark must delve into the most dangerous kind of magic while learning that rebuilding a family isn’t easy. While this book is about grief and isolation and loneliness, it’s also about queer joy in the darkness. It’s about family and trust and healing. It’s about being the light that drives away darkness. It’s also the most like HTTYD of the entire series.
Alex, a young girl, is haunted by recurring nightmares that feel entirely too real. Now she has learned that everything thing she has ever known to be true, might be different than what she remembers. Will she resolve these haunting nightmares? What will it take to find out the truth about herself? Should she let herself believe what is before her eyes? Dare to embark on a magical adventure with Alex and some of her newly acquired friends, as they discover new worlds, exciting magic, and what it truly means to be a hero. Alex is put to the test encountering strange beings and challenging worlds. The Sparkling Gardens is the first in the Harmonia series to venture out of the hallway. Is your mind open enough?
This two-volume set examines dreams and dreaming from a variety of angles—biological, psychological, and sociocultural—in order to provide readers with a holistic introduction to this fascinating subject. Whether good or bad and whether we remember them or not, each night every one of us dreams. But what biological or psychological function do dreams serve? What do these vivid images and strange storylines mean? How have psychologists, religions, and society at large interpreted dreams, and how can a closer examination of our dreams provide useful insights? Dreams: Understanding Biology, Psychology, and Culture presents a holistic view of dreams and the dreaming experience that answers these and many other questions. Divided thematically, this two-volume book examines the complex and often misunderstood subject of dreaming through a variety of lenses. This collection is written by a large and diverse team of experts and edited by leading members of the International Association for the Study of Dreams (IASD) but remains an approachable and accessible introduction to this captivating topic for all readers.
From the brilliant mind of New York Times bestselling author David Yoon comes a lightning-fast and scorchingly observant thriller about how we can save ourselves from the very real perils of a virtual world. Max, a data whiz at the social media company Wren, has gotten a firsthand glimpse of the dark side of big tech. When he questions what his company does with the data they collect, he's fired...then black-balled across Silicon Valley. With time on his hands and revenge on his mind, Max and his longtime friend (and secretly the love of his life) Akiko, decide to get even by rebooting the internet. After all, in order to fix things, sometimes you have to break them. But when Max and Akiko join forces with a reclusive tech baron, they learn that breaking things can have unintended--and catastrophic--consequences.
A “heroic” and “fascinating” biography of John Cage showing how his work, and that of countless American artists, was transformed by Zen Buddhism (The New York Times) Where the Heart Beats is the story of the tremendous changes sweeping through American culture following the Second World War, a time when the arts in America broke away from centuries of tradition and reinvented themselves. Painters converted their canvases into arenas for action and gesture, dancers embraced pure movement over narrative, performance artists staged “happenings” in which anything could happen, poets wrote words determined by chance. In this tumultuous period, a composer of experimental music began a spiritual quest to know himself better. His earnest inquiry touched thousands of lives and created controversies that are ongoing. He devised unique concerts—consisting of notes chosen by chance, randomly tuned radios, and silence—in the service of his absolute conviction that art and life are one inseparable truth, a seamless web of creation divided only by illusory thoughts. What empowered John Cage to compose his incredible music—and what allowed him to inspire tremendous transformations in the lives of his fellow artists—was Cage’s improbable conversion to Zen Buddhism. This is the story of how Zen saved Cage from himself. Where the Heart Beats is the first book to address the phenomenal importance of Zen Buddhism to John Cage’s life and to the artistic avant-garde of the 1950s and 1960s. Zen’s power to transform Cage’s troubled mind—by showing him his own enlightened nature—liberated Cage from an acute personal crisis that threatened everything he most deeply cared abouthis life, his music, and his relationship with his life partner, Merce Cunningham. Caught in a society that rejected his art, his politics, and his sexual orientation, Cage was transformed by Zen from an overlooked and marginal musician into the absolute epicenter of the avant-garde. Using Cage’s life as a starting point, Where the Heart Beats looks beyond to the individuals Cage influenced and the art he inspired. His creative genius touched Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, Alan Kaprow, Morton Feldman, and Leo Castelli, who all went on to revolutionize their respective disciplines. As Cage’s story progresses, as his collaborators’ trajectories unfurl, Where the Heart Beats shows the blossoming of Zen in the very heart of American culture.
