Download or read book Sorcery in Alpara written by Judith Starkston and published by Tesha. This book was released on 2019-09-05 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A curse that consumes armies, a court full of traitors, a clutch of angry concubines and fantastical creatures who offer help but hate mankind. Tesha's about to become queen of a kingdom under assault from all sides, but she has powerful allies: her strategist husband, his crafty second-in-command, and her brilliant blind sister. But betrayal strips her of them all. To save her marriage and her world, she will have to grapple with the serpentine plot against her and unleash the goddess Ishana's uncontrollable magic-without destroying herself.

Download or read book The Last King of Lydia written by Tim Leach and published by Atlantic Books. This book was released on 2014-08-01 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A defeated king stands on top of a pyre. His conqueror, the Persian ruler Cyrus, signals to his guards; they step forward and touch flaming torches to the dry wood. Croesus, once the wealthiest man of the ancient world, is to be burned alive. As he watches the flames catch, Croesus thinks back over his life. He remembers the time he asked the old Athenian philosopher, Solon, who was the happiest man in the world. Croesus used to think it was him. But then all his riches could not remove the spear from his dying elder son's chest; could not bring his mute younger son to speak; could not make him as wise as his own chief slave; could not bring his wife's love back; could not prevent his army from being torn apart and his kingdom lost. As the old philosopher had replied, a man's happiness can only be measured when he is dead. The first coils of smoke wrap around Croesus' neck like a noose...

Download or read book The Moon in the Palace written by Weina Dai Randel and published by Sourcebooks, Inc.. This book was released on 2016-03-01 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Randel's gorgeous debut novel seductively pulls back the curtain to reveal the heartbreaking world of...China."—Stephanie Dray, NYT bestselling Author of America's First Daughter A thrilling work of historical fiction, bringing romance, intrigue, and the unexpected rise of an Empress to intoxicating life under the inscrutable moon. In Tang Dynasty China, a concubine at the palace learns quickly that there are many ways to capture the Emperor's attention. Many hope to lure in the One Above All with their beauty. Some present him with fantastic gifts, such as jade pendants and scrolls of calligraphy, while others rely on their knowledge of seduction to draw his interest. Young Mei knows nothing of these womanly arts, yet she will give the Emperor a gift he can never forget. Mei's intelligence and curiosity, the same traits that make her an outcast among the other concubines, impress the Emperor. But just as she is in a position to seduce the most powerful man in China, divided loyalties split the palace in two, culminating in a perilous battle that Mei can only hope to survive. In the breakthrough first volume in the Empress of Bright Moon duology, Weina Dai Randel paints a vibrant portrait of the Emperor's Palace—where love, ambition, and loyalty can spell life or death—and the woman who came to rule all of ancient China. "I absolutely loved The Moon in the Palace... A rare and beautiful treasure."—Elizabeth Chadwick, NYT bestselling author Winner of RWA RITA® Award 2017 Recommended by Texas Library Association's 2017 Lariat Reading List One of the Biggest Historical Fiction books of 2016 by Bookbub One of Washington Independent Reviews of Book's 25 Favorite Books of 2016 A San Francisco Book Festival Honorable Mention

Download or read book Binti The Complete Trilogy written by Nnedi Okorafor and published by Astra Publishing House. This book was released on 2019-02-05 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes a brand-new Binti story! Collected for the first time in an omnibus edition, the Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning Binti trilogy, the story of one extraordinary girl's journey from her home to distant Oomza University. In her Hugo- and Nebula-winning novella, Nnedi Okorafor introduced us to Binti, a young Himba girl with the chance of a lifetime: to attend the prestigious Oomza University. Despite her family's concerns, Binti's talent for mathematics and her aptitude with astrolabes make her a prime candidate to undertake this interstellar journey. But everything changes when the jellyfish-like Medusae attack Binti's spaceship, leaving her the only survivor. Now, Binti must fend for herself, alone on a ship full of the beings who murdered her crew, with five days until she reaches her destination. There is more to the history of the Medusae--and their war with the Khoush--than first meets the eye. If Binti is to survive this voyage and save the inhabitants of the unsuspecting planet that houses Oomza Uni, it will take all of her knowledge and talents to broker the peace. Collected now for the first time in omnibus form, follow Binti's story in this groundbreaking sci-fi trilogy.

Download or read book Hand of Fire written by Judith Starkston and published by Bronze Age Books. This book was released on 2018-10 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A legendary war, an invincible warrior, a woman forced to defend her family and realm-and her independent spirit. Will she become the captive or the captor? Briseis struggles to protect her city, an ally of Troy, from marauding Greeks and her husband's arrogant violence. She finds strength in visions of a handsome warrior god until he appears before her in flesh and blood. When Briseis raises a sword against the mighty Achilles, she ignites a passion that threatens to betray everyone she holds dear. Hand of Fire, set against the backdrop of the Trojan War, blends history and myth in Briseis's untold story of adventure, hope and resilience. Immerse yourself in this richly depicted Bronze Age world where Greek gods walk the earth, epic heroes fight with sword and heart, and a woman dares to determine her own destiny.

Download or read book The Second Blind Son written by Amy Harmon and published by 47North. This book was released on 2021-07-20 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A lost girl and a blind boy discover their greatest strength is their bond with each other in a beguiling fantasy by the New York Times bestselling author of The First Girl Child. An insidious curse is weakening the Norse kingdom of Saylok, where no daughters have been born in years. Washing up on these plagued shores is Ghisla, an orphaned stowaway nursed back to health by Hod, a blind cave dweller. Named for a mysterious god, Hod is surrounded by prophecy. To Ghisla, he's a cherished new friend, but to Hod, the girl is much more. For when Ghisla sings, Hod can see. Unable to offer safe shelter, Hod urges Ghisla onward to become a daughter of the temple, where all the kingdom's girl children have been gathered. But because of a magical rune, the two cannot be separated, no matter the time or the distance. Now, subject to a ruthless king, Ghisla enters a desperate world of warring clan chieftains and catastrophic power struggles. Uncertain whom to trust, their bond strained by dangerous secrets and feuding loyalties, Ghisla and Hod must confront the prophecies that threaten Saylok while finding a way to save each other.

Download or read book Helen of Sparta written by Amalia Carosella and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Long before she ran away with Paris to Troy, Helen of Sparta was haunted by nightmares of a burning city under siege. These dreams foretold impending war--a war that only Helen has the power to avert. To do so, she must defy her family and betray her betrothed by fleeing the palace in the dead of night. In need of protection, she finds shelter and comfort in the arms of Theseus, son of Poseidon. With Theseus at her side, she believes she can escape her destiny. But at every turn, new dangers--violence, betrayal, extortion, threat of war--thwart Helen's plans and bar her path. Still, she refuses to bend to the will of the gods. A new take on an ancient myth, Helen of Sparta is the story of one woman determined to decide her own fate. The sequel to Helen of Sparta will be published by Lake Union Publishing in June 2016.

Download or read book The Trojan War A Very Short Introduction written by Eric H. Cline and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2013-05-30 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using a combination of archaeological data, textual analysis, and ancient documents, this Very Short Introduction to the Trojan War investigates whether or not the war actually took place, whether archaeologists have correctly identified and been excavating the ancient site of Troy, and what has been found there.

Download or read book Mona At Sea written by Elizabeth Gonzalez James and published by Santa Fe Writers Project. This book was released on 2021-06-30 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: BUZZFEED'S "BEST BOOKS OF JUNE" FROLIC'S "UNDER THE RADAR" SELECTED JUNE READS Mona is a Millennial perfectionist who fails upwards in the midst of the 2008 economic crisis. Despite her potential, and her top-of-her-class college degree, Mona finds herself unemployed, living with her parents, and adrift in life and love. Mona's the sort who says exactly the right thing at absolutely the wrong moments, seeing the world through a cynic's eyes. In the financial and social malaise of the early 2000s, Mona walks a knife's edge as she faces down unemployment, underemployment, the complexities of adult relationships, and the downward spiral of her parents' shattering marriage. The more Mona craves perfection and order, the more she is forced to see that it is never attainable. Mona's journey asks the question: When we find what gives our life meaning, will we be ready for it?

Download or read book Information and Its Role in Hunter Gatherer Bands written by Robert K. Hitchcock and published by Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press. This book was released on 2011-12-31 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Information and its Role in Hunter-Gatherer Bands explores the question of how information, broadly conceived, is acquired, stored, circulated, and utilized in small-scale hunter-gatherer societies, or bands. Given the nature of this question, the volume brings together a group of scholars from multiple disciplines, including archaeology, ethnography, linguistics, and evolutionary ecology. Each of these specialties deals with the question of information in different ways and with different sets of data given different primacy. The fundamental goal of the volume is to bridge disciplines and subdisciplines, open discussion, and see if some common ground-either theoretical perspectives, general principles, or methodologies-can be developed upon which to build future research on the role of information in hunter-gatherer bands.

Download or read book The Return Of Captain John Emmett written by Elizabeth Speller and published by Virago. This book was released on 2011-04-07 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 1920. The Great War has been over for two years, and it has left a very different world from the Edwardian certainties of 1914. Following the death of his wife and baby and his experiences on the Western Front, Laurence Bartram has become something of a recluse. Yet death and the aftermath of the conflict continue to cast a pall over peacetime England, and when a young woman he once knew persuades him to look into events that apparently led her brother, John Emmett, to kill himself, Laurence is forced to revisit the darkest parts of the war. As Laurence unravels the connections between Captain Emmett's suicide, a group of war poets, a bitter regimental feud and a hidden love affair, more disquieting deaths are exposed. Even at the moment Laurence begins to live again, it dawns on him that nothing is as it seems, and that even those closest to him have their secrets . . .

Download or read book The Invisible War written by David Tavarez and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2011-02-14 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the conquest of Mexico, colonial authorities attempted to enforce Christian beliefs among indigenous peoples—a project they envisioned as spiritual warfare. The Invisible War assesses this immense but dislocated project by examining all known efforts in Central Mexico to obliterate native devotions of Mesoamerican origin between the 1530s and the late eighteenth century. The author's innovative interpretation of these efforts is punctuated by three events: the creation of an Inquisition tribunal in Mexico in 1571; the native rebellion of Tehuantepec in 1660; and the emergence of eerily modern strategies for isolating idolaters, teaching Spanish to natives, and obtaining medical proof of sorcery from the 1720s onwards. Rather than depicting native devotions solely from the viewpoint of their colonial codifiers, this book rescues indigenous perspectives on their own beliefs. This is achieved by an analysis of previously unknown or rare ritual texts that circulated in secrecy in Nahua and Zapotec communities through an astute appropriation of European literacy. Tavárez contends that native responses gave rise to a colonial archipelago of faith in which local cosmologies merged insights from Mesoamerican and European beliefs. In the end, idolatry eradication inspired distinct reactions: while Nahua responses focused on epistemological dissent against Christianity, Zapotec strategies privileged confrontations in defense of native cosmologies.

Download or read book Shadow on the Crown written by Patricia Bracewell and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-02-07 with total page 483 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A rich tale of power and forbidden love revolving around a young medieval queen In 1002, fifteen­-year-old Emma of Normandy crosses the Narrow Sea to wed the much older King Athelred of England, whom she meets for the first time at the church door. Thrust into an unfamiliar and treacherous court, with a husband who mistrusts her, stepsons who resent her and a bewitching rival who covets her crown, Emma must defend herself against her enemies and secure her status as queen by bearing a son. Determined to outmaneuver her adversaries, Emma forges alliances with influential men at court and wins the affection of the English people. But her growing love for a man who is not her husband and the imminent threat of a Viking invasion jeopardize both her crown and her life. Based on real events recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Shadow on the Crown introduces readers to a fascinating, overlooked period of history and an unforgettable heroine whose quest to find her place in the world will resonate with modern readers.

Download or read book Salvaged written by Madeleine Roux and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2019-10-15 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A WOMAN ON THE RUN. A CAPTAIN ADRIFT IN SPACE. ONE OF THEM IS INFECTED WITH AN ALIEN PARASITE. In this dark science fiction thriller, a young woman must confront her past so the human race will have a future. Rosalyn Devar is on the run from her famous family, the bioengineering job she's come to hate, and her messed-up life. She's run all the way to outer space, where she's taken a position as a "space janitor," cleaning up ill-fated research expeditions. But no matter how far she goes, Rosalyn can't escape herself. After too many mistakes on the job, she's given one last chance: take care of salvaging the Brigantine, a research vessel that has gone dark, with all crew aboard thought dead. But the Brigantine's crew are very much alive--if not entirely human. Now Rosalyn is trapped on board, alone with a crew infected by a mysterious parasitic alien. The captain, Edison Aries, seems to still maintain some control over himself and the crew, but he won't be able to keep fighting much longer. Rosalyn and Edison must find a way to stop the parasite's onslaught...or it may take over the entire human race.

Download or read book Critical Medical Anthropology written by Jennie Gamlin and published by UCL Press. This book was released on 2020-03-12 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Critical Medical Anthropology presents inspiring work from scholars doing and engaging with ethnographic research in or from Latin America, addressing themes that are central to contemporary Critical Medical Anthropology (CMA). This includes issues of inequality, embodiment of history, indigeneity, non-communicable diseases, gendered violence, migration, substance abuse, reproductive politics and judicialisation, as these relate to health. The collection of ethnographically informed research, including original theoretical contributions, reconsiders the broader relevance of CMA perspectives for addressing current global healthcare challenges from and of Latin America. It includes work spanning four countries in Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala and Peru) as well as the trans-migratory contexts they connect and are defined by. By drawing on diverse social practices, it addresses challenges of central relevance to medical anthropology and global health, including reproduction and maternal health, sex work, rare and chronic diseases, the pharmaceutical industry and questions of agency, political economy, identity, ethnicity, and human rights.

Download or read book The Laws of the Hittites written by Harry A. Hoffner and published by BRILL. This book was released on 1997-01-01 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A complete tool for understanding this oldest collection (about 1650 BC) of laws made by an Indo-European people. Incorporating many tablets published since the 1959 edition, and utilizing the latest lexical and grammatical insights, the author presents the text in the "score" format with translation, commentary, glossary, indexes, plates and bibliography.

Download or read book Ransom written by David Malouf and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2010-01-05 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his first novel in more than a decade, award-winning author David Malouf reimagines the pivotal narrative of Homer’s Iliad—one of the most famous passages in all of literature. This is the story of the relationship between two grieving men at war: fierce Achilles, who has lost his beloved Patroclus in the siege of Troy; and woeful Priam, whose son Hector killed Patroclus and was in turn savaged by Achilles. A moving tale of suffering, sorrow, and redemption, Ransom is incandescent in its delicate and powerful lyricism and its unstated imperative that we imagine our lives in the glow of fellow feeling.