Download or read book Playlist for the Apocalypse written by Rita Dove and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2021-08-17 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Finalist for the 2022 Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the 2021 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Poetry A piercing, unflinching new volume offers necessary music for our tumultuous present, from “perhaps the best public poet we have” (Boston Globe). In her first volume of new poems in twelve years, Rita Dove investigates the vacillating moral compass guiding America’s, and the world’s, experiments in democracy. Whether depicting the first Jewish ghetto in sixteenth-century Venice or the contemporary efforts of Black Lives Matter, a girls’ night clubbing in the shadow of World War II or the doomed nobility of Muhammad Ali’s conscious objector stance, this extraordinary poet never fails to connect history’s grand exploits to the triumphs and tragedies of individual lives. Meticulously orchestrated and musical in its forms, Playlist for the Apocalypse collects a dazzling array of voices: an elevator operator simmers with resentment, an octogenarian dances an exuberant mambo, a spring cricket philosophizes with mordant humor on hip hop, critics, and Valentine’s Day. Calamity turns all too personal in the book’s final section, “Little Book of Woe,” which charts a journey from terror to hope as Dove learns to cope with debilitating chronic illness. At turns audaciously playful and grave, alternating poignant meditations on mortality and acerbic observations of injustice, Playlist for the Apocalypse takes us from the smallest moments of redemption to catastrophic failures of the human soul. Listen up, the poet says, speaking truth to power; what you’ll hear in return is “a lifetime of song.”

Download or read book Notes from an Apocalypse written by Mark O'Connell and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2020-04-14 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • An absorbing, deeply felt book about our anxious present tense—and coming to grips with the future, by the author of the award-winning To Be a Machine. “Deeply funny and life-affirming, with a warm, generous outlook even on the most challenging of subjects.” —Esquire We’re alive in a time of worst-case scenarios: The weather has gone uncanny. A pandemic draws our global community to a halt. Everywhere you look there’s an omen, a joke whose punchline is the end of the world. How is a person supposed to live in the shadow of such a grim future? What might it be like to live through the worst? And what on earth is anybody doing about it? Dublin-based writer Mark O’Connell is consumed by these questions—and, as the father of two young children, he finds them increasingly urgent. In Notes from an Apocalypse, he crosses the globe in pursuit of answers. He tours survival bunkers in South Dakota. He ventures to New Zealand, a favored retreat of billionaires banking on civilization’s collapse. He engages with would-be Mars colonists, preppers, right-wing conspiracists. And he bears witness to places, like Chernobyl, that the future has already visited—real-life portraits of the end of the world as we know it. What emerges is an absorbing, funny, and deeply felt book about our anxious present tense—and coming to grips with what’s ahead.

Download or read book The Apocalypse Codex written by Charles Stross and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-06-25 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For outstanding heroism in the field (despite himself), computational demonologist Bob Howard is on the fast track for promotion to management within the Laundry, the supersecret British government agency tasked with defending the realm from occult threats. Assigned to External Assets, Bob discovers the company (unofficially) employs freelance agents to deal with sensitive situations that may embarrass Queen and Country. So when Ray Schiller—an American televangelist with the uncanny ability to miraculously heal the ill—becomes uncomfortably close to the Prime Minister, External Assets dispatches the brilliant, beautiful, and entirely unpredictable Persephone Hazard to infiltrate the Golden Promise Ministries and discover why the preacher is so interested in British politics. And it’s Bob’s job to make sure Persephone doesn’t cause an international incident. But it’s a supernatural incident that Bob needs to worry about—a global threat even the Laundry may be unable to clean up…

Download or read book The Queen of the Tearling written by Erika Johansen and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2014-07-08 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Call it The Hunger Games of Thrones. Erika Johansen’s debut novel is a genre mashup: medieval fantasy meets dystopian future. . . . The setting, combined with Johansen’s deft hand with character and plotting, really does work. . . . An addictive and enjoyable adventure. . . . The Tear is just as easy to get sucked into as Westeros or Hogwarts or Panem.” —USA Today Magic, adventure, mystery, and romance combine in this epic debut in which a young princess must reclaim her dead mother’s throne, learn to be a ruler—and defeat the Red Queen, a powerful and malevolent sorceress determined to destroy her. On her nineteenth birthday, Princess Kelsea Raleigh Glynn, raised in exile, sets out on a perilous journey back to the castle of her birth to ascend her rightful throne. Plain and serious, a girl who loves books and learning, Kelsea bears little resemblance to her mother, the vain and frivolous Queen Elyssa. But though she may be inexperienced and sheltered, Kelsea is not defenseless: Around her neck hangs the Tearling sapphire, a jewel of immense magical power; and accompanying her is the Queen’s Guard, a cadre of brave knights led by the enigmatic and dedicated Lazarus. Kelsea will need them all to survive a cabal of enemies who will use every weapon—from crimson-caped assassins to the darkest blood magic—to prevent her from wearing the crown. Despite her royal blood, Kelsea feels like nothing so much as an insecure girl, a child called upon to lead a people and a kingdom about which she knows almost nothing. But what she discovers in the capital will change everything, confronting her with horrors she never imagined. An act of singular daring will throw Kelsea’s kingdom into tumult, unleashing the vengeance of the tyrannical ruler of neighboring Mortmesne: the Red Queen, a sorceress possessed of the darkest magic. Now Kelsea will begin to discover whom among the servants, aristocracy, and her own guard she can trust. But the quest to save her kingdom and meet her destiny has only just begun—a wondrous journey of self-discovery and a trial by fire that will make her a legend . . . if she can survive.

Download or read book A Feminist Companion to the Apocalypse of John written by Amy-Jill Levine and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2010-05-05 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The thirteenth volume in this landmark series examines the Revelation of John through the categories of post-colonial thought, deconstruction, ethics, Roman social discourse, masculinization, virginity, and violence. The reach of this volume therefore goes beyond that of most feminist studies of Revelation, which frequently focus on the female imagery: the Thyatiran prophet called 'Jezebel', the 'Woman Clothed with the Sun', the 'Whore of Babylon', and the 'Bride'/the 'Heavenly Jerusalem'. The symbols of Revelation remain open and interpetations continue. Some readers will refuse to rejoice at the dismemberment of the Woman-who-is-Babylon; they will resist the (masochistic? infantile?) self-abasement before this imperial Deity who rules by patriarchal domination. Others will conclude that these descriptions are 'only' metaphors, separate form from substance, and worship the transcendent to which the metaphors imperfectly point. Some readers will understand, if not fully condone, John's rhetoric by seeking his political and social location; others will condone, if not fully understand, how the Apocalypse can provide comfort to those undergoing persecution or deprivation. Some readers may reject the coercive aspects of a choice between spending eternity in praise of the divine or being 'tortured' with fire and sulfer; others may rejoice in their own salvation while believing that those being tortured deserve every pain inflicting upon them; still others may use mimicry or parody or anachronistic analogy to challenge, defang, or replace John's message. What we find behind the veil may be beautiful, or terrifying, or both, but we cannot avert our eyes: John's vision is too influential today, in our own political climate, not to look for ourselves. The Feminist Companion to the Apocalypse of John includes contributions by David L. Barr, Mary Ann Beavis, Greg Carey, Adela Yarbro Collins, Lynn R. Huber, Catherine Keller, John Marshall, Stephen Moore, Jorunn Økland, Hanna Stenström, Pamela Thimmes, and Carolyn Vander Stichele. There is an introduction by Amy-Jill Levine and a comprehensive bibliography.

Download or read book The Trade of Queens written by Charles Stross and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2011-03 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stross's Merchant Princes series reaches a spectacular climax in this sixth volume. Praised by Nobel laureate Paul Krugman as great fun, this is state-of-the-art, cutting-edge science fiction at its best.

Download or read book A Not So Christmas Duet written by Lark Anderson and published by Lark Anderson. This book was released on 2024-11-06 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ho, Ho, Ho, it’s off to work we go! Welcome to A Not So Christmas Duet! Inside you will find: Fake fiancées, workplace romances, grinch-y bosses, and just the right amount of spice… Not So Jolly: A Fake Fiancé Romance (A Cutler Family Christmas Book 1) There are few things my workaholic god of a boss Roman Cutler enjoys more than making my life miserable, and one is just out of his reach, thanks to his dear, sweet mom—firing me. What’s worse than losing the files to your boss’s pet project? Finding out your ex-best friend is marrying your ex-boyfriend. Single and unemployed is not how I’d expected to spend the holidays, so I stick around the office in a sea of tissues and self regret. But when an unlikely turn of events leads to my boss’s interest in securing an insta-fiancé, it turns out he still has a use for me. That’s right—my tall, muscular, obnoxiously sexy boss asked me to marry him. Now, I’m fake engaged to one of the world’s most eligible bachelors, showing up in supermarket tabloids and at premiere restaurants. It’s a match made in desperation, but I can’t deny it’s genius, and thanks to this fiasco, I don’t look like such a loser to my exes. He’s smooth as fine wine as I bumble for the cameras. I offer an endless stream of apologies, but it turns out my carelessness plays straight into Roman’s plan. But as calculating as he is, neither of us could have foreseen the consequences of our coupling—what happens when fake feelings turn real? Not So Merry: An Enemies to Lovers Holiday Romance (A Cutler Family Christmas Book 2) When a disgruntled department store elf wages war against a too sexy for the suit Santa, sparks fly. Going into the holiday season, I thought my life couldn't get much worse. My mom is sick, I'm broke, and I have to don elf ears and leggings for a paycheck. Then, a new Santa came to town. One with washboard abs and enough arrogance to make me want to kick him back to the North Pole. To top it all off, I'm pretty sure he shows up to work drunk. At best, he'll make my job harder than it has to be. At worst, he'll ruin Christmas for the town's children. So excuse me for saying bah-freakin'-humbug. But when a few unexplainable acts of kindness happen throughout my tiny town, I find out there's more to Jolly Old Saint Nick than what meets the eye. Drinks turn into a date and kisses are exchanged on my doorstep, but when I discover the real reason for his holiday gig, I find out his heart really is made of coal. Now the only question is: do I give him another chance, or is he doomed to stay on my naughty list? HEA guaranteed!

Download or read book Bracing for the Apocalypse written by Anna Maria Bounds and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-06-04 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Increasing American fear about terrorism, environmental catastrophes, pandemics, and economic crises has fueled interest in "prepping": confronting disaster by mastering survivalist skills. This trend of self-reliance is not merely evidence of the American belief in the power of the individual; rather, this pragmatic shift away from expecting government aid during a disaster reflects a weakened belief in the bond between government and its citizens during a time of crisis. This ethnographic study explores the rise of the urban preppers' subculture in New York City, shedding light on the distinctive approach of city dwellers in preparing for disaster. With attention to the role of factors such as class, race, gender and one’s expectations of government, it shows that how one imagines Doomsday affects how one prepares for it. Drawing on participant observation, the author explores preppers’ views on the central question of whether to "bug out" or "hunker down" in the event of disaster, and examines the ways in which the prepper economy increases revenue by targeting concerns over developing skills, building networks, securing equipment and arranging a safe locale. A rich qualitative study, Bracing for the Apocalypse will appeal to scholars of sociology and anthropology with interests in urban studies, ethnography and subcultures.

Download or read book Political Church written by Jonathan Leeman and published by SPCK. This book was released on 2016-03-17 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The church is political. Theologians have been debating this claim for years. Liberationists, Anabaptists, Augustinians, neo-Calvinists, Radical Orthodox and others continue to discuss the matter. What do we mean by politics and the political? What are the limits of the church’s political reach? What is the nature of the church as an institution? How do we establish these claims theologically? Jonathan Leeman sets out to address these questions in this significant work. Drawing on covenantal theology and the ‘new institutionalism’ in political science, Leeman critiques political liberalism and explores how the biblical canon informs an account of the local church as an embassy of Christ’s kingdom. Political Church heralds a new era in political theology.

Download or read book Queens of the Conquest written by Alison Weir and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2017-09-26 with total page 723 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the first volume of an exciting new series, bestselling author Alison Weir brings the dramatic reigns of England’s medieval queens to life. The lives of England’s medieval queens were packed with incident—love, intrigue, betrayal, adultery, and warfare—but their stories have been largely obscured by centuries of myth and omission. Now esteemed biographer Alison Weir provides a fresh perspective and restores these women to their rightful place in history. Spanning the years from the Norman conquest in 1066 to the dawn of a new era in 1154, when Henry II succeeded to the throne and Eleanor of Aquitaine, the first Plantagenet queen, was crowned, this epic book brings to vivid life five women, including: Matilda of Flanders, wife of William the Conqueror, the first Norman king; Matilda of Scotland, revered as “the common mother of all England”; and Empress Maud, England’s first female ruler, whose son King Henry II would go on to found the Plantagenet dynasty. More than those who came before or after them, these Norman consorts were recognized as equal sharers in sovereignty. Without the support of their wives, the Norman kings could not have ruled their disparate dominions as effectively. Drawing from the most reliable contemporary sources, Weir skillfully strips away centuries of romantic lore to share a balanced and authentic take on the importance of these female monarchs. What emerges is a seamless royal saga, an all-encompassing portrait of English medieval queenship, and a sweeping panorama of British history. Praise for Queens of the Conquest “Best-selling author [Alison] Weir pens another readable, well-researched English history, the first in a proposed four-volume series on England’s medieval queens. . . . Weir’s research skills and storytelling ability combine beautifully to tell a fascinating story supported by excellent historical research. Fans of her fiction and nonfiction will enjoy this latest work.”—Library Journal (starred review) “Another sound feminist resurrection by a seasoned historian . . . Though Norman queens were largely unknowable, leave it to this prolific historical biographer to bring them to life. . . . As usual, Weir is meticulous in her research.”—Kirkus Reviews

Download or read book Queen of All That Dies Hardcover written by Laura Thalassa and published by Fallen World. This book was released on 2021-07 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the future, the world is at war. For the last decade, King Lazuli of the Eastern Empire has systematically taken over the world. No one knows much about him other than a series of impossible facts: he cannot die, he has not aged since the conflict began, and he wants to rule the world. All Serenity Freeman has known is bloodshed. War has taken away her mother, her home, her safety. As the future emissary of the Western United Nations, the last autonomous region of the globe, she is responsible for forging alliances where she can. Surrender is on the horizon. The king can taste it; Serenity feels it deep within her bones. There is no other option. Now the two must come face to face. For Serenity, that means confronting the man who's taken everything from her. For the king, it means meeting the one woman he can't conquer. But when they meet, something happens. Cruelty finds redemption. Only in war, everything comes with a price. Especially love.

Download or read book Becoming Kings Queens of the Gentiles written by Avraham Gileadi and published by . This book was released on 2019-08 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Apocalypse Paradigm written by José Hermann Cuadros and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2013-07-29 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 1. The Revelation of John exerts an almost irresistible attraction to those who are intrigued by its intricate and complex structure (JPR, p. vi). 2. Despite its name, appears to cancel as much as it reveals, disclosing its mysteries only to those patient enough to pore diligently over its every word, its every peculiar turn of phrase (JPR, p. vi) 3. The Book of Revelation is written now, in our own history and in our own city, in our own lives and in the lives of our children and our descendants in the pervasive emotional shadow of our failed responsibility and in the dependency of the evil acting on our behalf. The time for the Book of Revelation is "always"; the site for it is "everywhere"; the understanding of it is "impossible"; the feelings are overwhelming (Introduction). 4. A conflicted world of realities and an allegorical world of mental fantasies, like a popular TV reality show, are offering a kaleidoscopic framework of paradoxes: Chaos and order, helplessness and hope, destruction and justice, war and peace, insane devilish actions and healthy, spiritual goodness, unbalanced lives of people with mental and physical disabilities and their care providers, and the expression and context of the devil and the good- all these are the text and context of the Book of Revelation, the Apocalypse (Introduction) 5. The Book of Revelation, more than a strategy and form of communication, is a paradigm: It attends not only logical needs of comprehension but also structural human needs that are essential for interactions within a social and human context (p. 4). 6. The negative forces of the spirit fight against the positive forces within the same human individual in the struggle of eternal life. In fact, the earthly proximity of good and evil reverses the reality and frequently darkens the conscience and moral understanding. The essence of good is absurdly assaulted by the unscrupulous immoral acts of evil, an assault that leads our mind to the apocalyptical abysm of absolute failure and profound sickness, reflected in the confrontational experience of spiritual brightness versus material darkness, rational versus absurd behaviors, a natural saintly rapture of living versus a vulgarly immoral rupture of life, the functional beauty of sex versus the psychopathic abuse of lust. No religious institution and no sacred name is free of the human behaviors frequently possessed by the beast, such as within the Legionaries of Christ and the Holy See when both were profaned by the universal plague... pointing to... (the) spiritual massacre of many children through continual sexual abuse (p.14). 7. Evil reverses the world of reality, without reason and justice. Evil establishes an imaginary court with its own judgment and summary punishment in a realm of an obscure frame of racism and discrimination (p. 14) 8. The Apocalypse appears to be the framework of the paradoxical struggle between death and life, chaos and order, suffering and love, helplessness and hope. The transformative struggle is clearly illustrated in political history (15). 9. The consequences of this convoluted Johannine world... extends into the future (p.16). 10. The book is an attempt to connect in many trials humanity with God within a context of social, political, and cultural events in a history tinted with suffering and oppression. The scenes and motives complete the final step of the redemptive covenant and assure a human future that rewards the faithful worshippers of God with His heavenly presence (p.27).

Download or read book The Apocalypse Troll written by David Weber and published by Baen Publishing Enterprises. This book was released on 2000-01-01 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There he was in his sailboat in the middle of the Atlantic, all alone and loving it. Well, there was a US Navy carrier group on his southern horizon, but he was a Navy guy himself, so he didn't mind. Then came the UFOs, hurtling in from the Outer Black to overfly the carriers at Mach 17. Their impossible aerobatics were bad enough¾but then they started shooting at each other. And at the Navy. With nukes. Little ones at first, but winding up with a 500 megatonner at 90 miles that fried every piece of electronics within line-of-sight. Richard Ashton thought he was just a ringside observer to these now over-the-horizon events. Until the crippled alien lifeboat came drifting down and homed in on his sailboat; suddenly he has his hands full of an unconscious, critically wounded and impossibly human alien warrior who also happens to be a gorgeous female. That's when things got interesting. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). "... a particular delight, offering nonstop action that's both well executed and emotionally satisfying." ¾Publishers Weekly "It's a rollicking fun tale that's impossible to put down." ¾Philadelphia Weekly Press "... the best work (Weber] has done ... the rewards are ample ... recommended...." ¾Starlog

Download or read book The Dead Queens Club written by Hannah Capin and published by Harlequin. This book was released on 2019-01-29 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If your school’s homecoming king had a little too much in common with Henry VIII, would you survive with your head still attached? You’d think being the new girl in a tiny town would equal one very boring senior year. But if you’re me—Annie Marck, alias Cleves—and you accidentally transform into teenage royalty by entering Lancaster High on the arm of the king himself? Life becomes the exact opposite of boring. Henry has it all: he’s the jock, the genius and the brooding bad boy all in one. Which sort of explains why he’s on his sixth girlfriend in two years. What it doesn’t explain is why two of them—two of us—are dead. My best friend thinks it’s Henry’s fault, which is obviously ridiculous. My nemesis says we shouldn’t talk about it, which is straight-up sketchy. But as the resident nosy new girl, I’m determined to find out what really happened to Lancaster’s dead queens…ideally before history repeats itself.

Download or read book Queens Matter in Early Modern Studies written by Anna Riehl Bertolet and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-11-08 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essays in this book traverse two centuries of queens and their afterlives—historical, mythological, and literary. They speak of the significant and subtle ways that queens leave their mark on the culture they inhabit, focusing on gender, marriage, national identity, diplomacy, and representations of queens in literature. Elizabeth I looms large in this volume, but the interrogation of queenship extends from Elizabeth's historical counterparts, such as Anne Boleyn and Catherine de Medici, to her fictional echoes in the pages of John Lyly, Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, Mary Wroth, John Milton, and Margaret Cavendish. Celebrating and building on the renowned scholarship of Carole Levin, Queens Matter in Early Modern Studies exemplifies a range of innovative approaches to examining women and power in the early modern period.

Download or read book The Reluctant Queen written by Sarah Beth Durst and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2017-07-04 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Filled with political intrigue, violent magic, and malevolent spirits, the mesmerizing second book in Sarah Beth Durst’s Queens of Renthia epic fantasy trilogy that started with the award-winning The Queen of Blood. Everything has a spirit: the willow tree with leaves that kiss the pond, the stream that feeds the river, the wind that exhales fresh snow . . . And those spirits want to kill you. It’s the first lesson that every Renthian learns. Not long ago, Daleina used her strength and skill to survive those spirits and assume the royal throne. Since then, the new queen has kept the peace and protected the humans of her land. But now for all her power, she is hiding a terrible secret: she is dying. And if she leaves the world before a new heir is ready, the spirits that inhabit her beloved realm will run wild, destroying her cities and slaughtering her people. Naelin is one such person, and she couldn’t be further removed from the Queen—and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Her world is her two children, her husband, and the remote village tucked deep in the forest that is her home, and that’s all she needs. But when Ven, the Queens champion, passes through the village, Naelin’s ambitious husband proudly tells him of his wife’s ability to control spirits—magic that Naelin fervently denies. She knows that if the truth of her abilities is known, it will bring only death and separation from those she loves. But Ven has a single task: to find the best possible candidate to protect the people of Aratay. He did it once when he discovered Daleina, and he’s certain he’s done it again. Yet for all his appeals to duty, Naelin is a mother, and she knows her duty is to her children first and foremost. Only as the Queen’s power begins to wane and the spirits become emboldened—even as ominous rumors trickle down from the north—does she realize that the best way to keep her son and daughter safe is to risk everything. Sarah Beth Durst established a place of dark wonder in The Queen of Blood, and now the stakes are even higher as the threat to the Queen and her people grows both from within and beyond the borders of Aratay in this riveting second novel of the Queens of Renthia series.