Download or read book Swanfolk written by Kristin Omarsdottir and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2022-07-05 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Like a modern Midsummer Night’s Dream, an ethereal and haunting novel about a young spy who enchanted by a species of half-swan, half-human creatures—an obsession that ultimately leads her to question her own existence—and sanity. In the not-too-distant future, a young spy named Elísabet Eva finds herself mentally unraveling following an assignment in Paris. Everything in Elísabet’s life in the city—her friends, social engagements, and late nights—revolved around her work as a spy with the Special Unit. To regain her mental balance, Elísabet finds herself taking long solitary walks near the lake. One day, she sees two strange beasts emerging from the water—a pair of seemingly mythical creatures, human woman above the waist, swan below. Curious, she follows them through tangles of thickets to a clearing . . . and into a strange new reality. Elísabet’s walks become regular visits to these swan women. As she earns their trust, the creatures reveal the enigma of their secret existence and their desire to reproduce. Pulled further and further into the swanfolk’s monomaniacal (and often violent) quest, Elísabet finds her own mind growing increasingly untrustworthy. Ultimately, she is forced to reckon with both the consequences of her involvement with these unusual beings and her own past—and face a truth she’s carefully tried to evade.

Download or read book The Nature of Winter written by Jim Crumley and published by Saraband. This book was released on 2022-01-01 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During winter, dark days of wild storms can give way to the perfect, glistening stillness of frost-encrusted winter landscapes – it is the stuff of wonder and beauty, of nature at its utmost. In The Nature of Winter, Jim Crumley ventures into our countryside to experience firsthand the chaos and the quiet solitude of nature's rest period. He bears witness to the lives of remarkable animals such as golden eagles, red deer and even whales as they battle intemperate weather and the turbulence of climate change. In the snow Jim discovers ancient footsteps that lead him to reflect on the journey of his personal nature-writing life – a journey that takes in mountain legends, dear departed friends and an enduring fascination and deep love for nature. Simply, he evokes winter in all its drama, in all its pathos, in all its glory. "Connoisseurs of nature and good writing will be enthralled by his first-person wildlife encounters. His accounts...are written with dazzling clarity, lyrical tilt and a story-teller's skill." BBC Countryfile Magazine, Book of the Month "This book is all luminous moments, small delights and bright meditations drawn from the northern cold... there is deeply indigenous wisdom here... Crumley invites us to linger a while and witness frosty gifts made vivid by the warmth of his conversation." Miriam Darlington, BBC Wildlife Magazine "Inviting and informative...Crumley has earned himself the enviable position of our foremost nature commentator... Meditative... bewitching... outspoken... persuasive... a true winter's tale." Rosemary Goring, Herald "A very timely piece; it is a book full of passion and love for [the] natural world ... It celebrates nature... in all its glory." Sean Barrs, Disclaimer Magazine

Download or read book Thinking Off Your Feet written by Michael Strevens and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2019-01-07 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In an original defense of armchair philosophy, Michael Strevens seeks to restore philosophy to its traditional position as an essential part of the quest for knowledge, by reshaping debates about the nature of philosophical thinking. His approach explores experimental philosophy’s methodological implications and the cognitive science of concepts.

Download or read book Heads You Win written by Jeffrey Archer and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2018-11-06 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Heads You Win is international #1 bestseller Jeffrey Archer’s most ambitious and creative work since Kane and Abel, with a final twist that will shock even his most ardent of fans. Leningrad, Russia, 1968: From an early age it is clear that Alexander Karpenko is destined to lead his countrymen. But when his father is assassinated by the KGB for defying the state, Alexander and his mother will have to escape Russia if they hope to survive. At the docks, they have an irreversible choice: board a container ship bound for America or one bound for Great Britain. Alexander leaves the choice to a toss of a coin... In a single moment, a double twist decides Alexander’s future. During an epic tale, spanning two continents and thirty years, we follow Alexander through triumph and defeat as he sets out on parallel lives as Alex in New York and Sasha in London. As this unique story unfolds, both come to realize that to find their destiny they must face the past they left behind as Alexander in Russia.

Download or read book Naturally Monstrous and Magical Creatures of the World written by Nicolle R. Murray and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2019-01-31 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hold your breath fantastical creature lovers and try to stay calm coloring book fans because here comes a Monster Collection of all Coloring Books! This is one of a series of coloring books filled with ""natural monsters/magical creatures from around the world. These books are guaranteed to test any artist's skill and churn the brain of the most imaginative learner. Nicolle R. Murray's whimsical drawings, coupled with fun facts and personal details of each creature, sends viewers on a extraordinary journey through time, across cultures and into the very heart of the 'natural world' of the monstrous and magical. Make sure you bring plenty of supplies, including sandwiches and a tent to sleep in, for this adventure is not easily put down!

Download or read book The Steam Driven Boy written by John Sladek and published by Gateway. This book was released on 2011-09-29 with total page 157 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John Sladek's first short story collection. Sladek wrote some of the best science fiction stories of the 20th-century and his parodies of famous s/f authors are uproariously "right-on". His talent went under-appreciated except by a few devoted followers, even though his satirical writing was on a par with the early Kurt Vonnegut.

Download or read book The Werewolf and His Boy written by Warren Rochelle and published by JMS Books LLC. This book was released on 2020-08-26 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Their leap of faith could unleash magic ... or plunge them into darkness. Henry Thorn has worked at Larkin's since graduating high school. He likes it -- especially when he can use his secret skill of hiding inside shadows so his boss can't find them. Without that talent, he would never had survived growing up different. When a hire enters the store, Henry's other latent talent kicks in. He can smell an emotional response even before he lays eyes on the redhead. Jamey Currey came out, and his conservative parents promptly kicked him out. He, too, is different -- he senses Henry's attraction the moment they met. The first time they kiss, torrential rains fall from skies split by lightning. Their kiss also awakens the Watchers, diabolical hunters who will stop at nothing -- even extermination -- to keep magic suppressed. With the help of a friendly coven of friendly witches, the boys embark on a quest to discover an ancient key to restoring magic to the world, and to understand mysteries of their own hearts. The question is, will this quest cost them their lives?

Download or read book Swan Mothers written by Natalia Erehnah and published by . This book was released on 2012-10-01 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Swan Mothers" guides parents through the experience of raising autistic, ADHD, highly-sensitive, and otherwise uniquely magnificent children. The book relays stories of real mothers parenting not-what-I-expected children, and shares fresh tools and techniques for moving from frazzled and frustrated to living a fabulous life. Before children, Natalia Erehnah laid the groundwork for what she believed would be perfect parenting. Her children, being their magnificently unique selves, taught her that perfection did not come from following formulas and philosophies, but in honoring them and herself exactly how and where they were. Swan Mothers tells Natalia's story, and the stories of other mothers on conscious parenting journeys. It is full of insights, and packed with ideas for shifting your perspective and experience of your children, your life, and yourself. You will experience many A-ha moments as you travel with us through the 7 Phases of the Hero's Journey: Commonplace life when all is well in our world. Realizing that our children are not normal. Saying "No, thank you" to special parenting. Dealing with denial, anger, and grief. Acknowledging our children as they are. Beginning research and work to make them the way they are supposed to be. The long road of therapies and treatments, focusing on curing and recovering the lost "normal" child. Physical, emotional, and financial exhaustion and collapse from parenting challenging children. Awareness that there is no normal child to recover, there is only a child to see and love. Experiencing rebirth and seeing the world in a new way.

Download or read book Bone Swans written by C.S.E. Cooney and published by Mythic Delirium Books. This book was released on 2015-07-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2016 World Fantasy Award for Best Collection Contains "The Bone Swans of Amandale," 2015 Nebula Award finalist for Best Novella "C. S. E. Cooney is one of the most moving, daring, and plainly beautiful voices to come out of recent fantasy. She's a powerhouse with a wink in her eye and a song in each pocket." —Catherynne M. Valente, New York Times-bestselling author of the Fairyland novels "These stories are a pure joy. C. S. E. Cooney's imagination is wild and varied, her stories bawdy, horrific, comic, and moving-frequently all at the same time. Her characters are wickedly appealing, and her language—O! her language. Lush, playful, poetic, but never obscure or stilted, it makes her magic more magic, her comedy more comic, and her tragic moments almost unbearable." —Delia Sherman, author of Young Woman in a Garden: Stories "Bone Swans is a joy of feathery bones & ghoulish clowns. I adored every word. Like an eyas cries for meat, I cry for more. C.S.E. Cooney's a major talent and these are major talent stories. Who can resist hero rats, pouting swans, feral children, flying carpets and the Flabberghast? So tongue-tied am I with delight I fall back on the usual cliches: gripping, delightful, insightful, rollicking & lyrical—and yet not one cliche is to be found in Bone Swans, only stories of surpassing delicacy and wit, told by a lady of rare talent. Please, ma'am, might I have some more?" —Ysabeau S. Wilce, Andre Norton Award wining author of Flora's Dare A swan princess hunted for her bones, a broken musician and his silver pipe, and a rat named Maurice bring justice to a town under fell enchantment. A gang of courageous kids confronts both a plague-destroyed world and an afterlife infested with clowns but robbed of laughter. In an island city, the murder of a child unites two lovers, but vengeance will part them. Only human sacrifice will save a city trapped in ice and darkness. Gold spun out of straw has a price, but not the one you expect. World Fantasy Award winner Ellen Kushner has called Cooney's writing "stunningly delicious! Cruel, beautiful and irresistible." Bone Swans, the infernally whimsical debut collection from C. S. E. Cooney, gathers five novellas that in the words of Andre Norton Award winner Delia Sherman are "bawdy, horrific, comic, and moving-frequently all at the same time." Cooney's mentor, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Grand Master Gene Wolfe, proclaims in his introduction that her style is so original it can only be described as "pure Cooney," and he offers readers a challenge: "Try to define that when you've finished the stories in this book." More praise for Bone Swans "Cooney's brilliantly executed collection of five stories is a delicious stew of science fiction, horror, and fantasy, marked by unforgettable characters who plumb the depths of pathos and triumph. ... All of these stories could easily serve as the foundation for novels while also working beautifully at their current length. These well-crafted narratives defiantly refuse to fade from memory long after the last word has been read." —Publishers Weekly, starred review "In five beautifully crafted stories, Cooney builds imaginary worlds full of flying carpets, fairy-tale characters, and children confronted with a postapocalyptic Earth ... Each tale packs in enough plot for a novel, with adventurous characters who brim with wit." —Library Journal, starred review "Writing without ostentation and featuring characters who may be flippant, terse, or even tongue-tied, Cooney produces memorable prose propelled by extraordinary ideas ... Faced with such twisted genius, I'll say no more!" —Locus "A fascinating mashup between the tropes and resonances of the mythic tale with the sensibilities of contemporary action-oriented fantasy: simultaneously lighthearted and serious, full of consequences but also ubiquitous happy endings." —Tor.com

Download or read book Freedom and Death written by Nikos Kazantzakes and published by . This book was released on 1956 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Mountain of Light written by Jim Crumley and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A mythical tale of genuine power from a true wordsmith

Download or read book The Impudent Ones written by Marguerite Duras and published by The New Press. This book was released on 2021-03-09 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published for the first time in English, the debut novel of Marguerite Duras—renowned author of The Lover and The War—is the story of a family’s moral reckoning and a daughter’s fall from grace Marguerite Duras rose to global stardom with her erotic masterpiece The Lover (L’Amant), which won the prestigious Prix Goncourt, has over a million copies in print in English, has been translated into forty-three languages, and was adapted into a canonical film in 1992. While almost all of Duras’s novels have been translated into English, her debut The Impudent Ones (Les Impudents) has been a glaring exception—until now. Fans of Duras will be thrilled to discover the germ of her bold, vital prose and signature blend of memoir and fiction in this intense and mournful story of the Taneran family, which introduces Duras’s classic themes of familial conflict, illicit romance, and scandal in the sleepy suburbs and southwest provinces of France. Duras’s great gift was her ability to bring vivid and passionate life to characters with whom society may not have sympathized, but with whom readers certainly do. With storytelling that evokes in equal parts beauty and brutality, The Impudent Ones depicts the scalding effects of seduction and disrepute on the soul of a young French girl. Including an essay on the story behind The Impudent Ones by Jean Vallier—biographer of the late Duras—which contextualizes the origins of Duras’s debut novel, this one-of-a-kind publishing endeavor will delight established Duras fans and a new generation of readers alike.

Download or read book Dwight Diller written by Lewis M. Stern and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2016-05-09 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dwight Hamilton Diller is a musician from West Virginia devoted to traditional Appalachian fiddle and banjo music, and a seminary-trained minister steeped in local Christian traditions. For the past 40 years, he has worked to preserve archaic fiddle and banjo tunes, teaching his percussive, primitively rhythmic style to small groups in marathon banjo workshops. This book tells of Diller's life and music, his personal challenges and his decades of teaching an elusive musical form.

Download or read book Skye written by Otta F. Swire and published by Birlinn Ltd. This book was released on 2006-06-15 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a fabulous treasury of legend and wonder; tales of monsters who dwell in lakes, of small people who trap humans in earthen mounds where time stands still; of dark, shape- shifting spirits whose cloak of human form is betrayed by the sand and shells which fall from their hair. In the absence of a written tradition, for generations of Skianachs, these tales, handed down orally, contained the very warp and weft of Hebridean history. They take us far beyond Christian times, to the edge of the Iron Age, and interweave with threads from the wider Atlantic tradition of Gaelic heroic myth and legend.

Download or read book Sea Sky Soil An Introduction to Waincraft written by Marcus van Epe and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2010-06-27 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This first book in the Waincraft series will introduce the reader to the newly founded tradition known as Waincraft. Throughout this book are sections covering the Five Cosmological Beings, the Three Worlds, a rich religious and celebratory calendar cycle, and the basics of the Four Elements of Waincraft. Also included are detailed appendices containing information on the pantheon.

Download or read book The Lady of Royale Street written by Thea de Salle and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-08-21 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the New York Times bestselling author of the NOLA Nights series comes a rollicking, sexy tale of opposites attracting in the midst of wedding planning. Alex DuMont is everything his brother Sol isn’t: regimented, serious, and devout. Between twelve-hour workdays, service to the church, punishing daily workouts, and bi-weekly therapy sessions, Alex is, as Sol once put it, “a kettle perpetually whistling as it boils itself to death.” So when Sol announces his marriage to Arianna Barrington, heiress and society sweetheart, Alex is the absolute worst choice to be his best man. Sol asks anyway and Alex reluctantly agrees. It’s only a week, after all, and Alex should be able to stop himself from throttling his big brother for a meager seven days. Probably. Maybe. Theresa Ivarson is Arianna’s best friend and the maid of honor. A decorated photojournalist who interrupts her globetrotting to stand beside her friend, Theresa is beautiful, witty, and unafraid to speak her mind. So when she is faced with working with the best man from Hell, a Viking who doesn’t know how to smile, is bossy, and about as pleasant as a cactus, the sparks are bound to fly—and not in the good way. To make matters worse, Sol and Rain's wedding planner was hit by a bus the week before their special day, and Alex and Theresa find themselves at the center of a list-ditch effort to pull the wedding together. But when you can’t decide if you want to kiss or kill someone, something’s bound to break.

Download or read book The Legends of the Wagner Drama written by Jessie Laidlay Weston and published by . This book was released on 1903 with total page 394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: