Download or read book A Branch from the Lightning Tree written by Martin Shaw and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A BRANCH FROM THE LIGHTNING TREE is centered around several key elements: 1. It features four texts and commentaries ? Welsh, Russian, Siberian and Norwegian myths that explore the process of leaving what is considered safe and predictable and journeying out into wild, uncertain areas of nature and the psyche in search of new insights. The four stories have at their center a man, woman, and adolescent. 2. A narrative of why the author gave up a large musical publishing deal with Warner Brothers to spend four years living in a tent in the wilds and over a decade facilitating wilderness rites-of-passage for others. 3. Shaw's eloquent insistence that without a renewed attention to myth and the initiation process we are only partially equipped to reestablish a complementary relationship with the living world. 4. The core of these stories are paradoxical in nature, far from the clumsily perceived ?hero' myths, and point towards Trickster, or Coyote, as a way of existing in a world ambivalent to the insights of what you could call traditional knowledge. A BRANCH FROM THE LIGHTNING TREE is unique in the field of myth and ritual in several ways: 1. It carries an ?in-the-field' narrative of several hundred men and women who have gone out into wild places to fast for four days and nights. Not in the Amazon, or in Mongolia, but in a place that is indigenous to them, that grounds the experience in the wider context of their lives, rather than a one-off event that can be hard to reconnect with. This is part of a growing mood to get to the bones of initiatory experience, rather than the cultural affectations. The stories illustrate both the grandeur and struggle of this often subtle process. 2. Unlike many of the big mythological sellers (i.e Bly's IRON JOHN or Pinkola Estes WOMEN WHO RUN WITH WOLVES), A BRANCH FROM THE LIGHTNING TREE is not a gender piece, but focuses on both men and women's movement into wildness as part of the bigger awareness of climate change and ecology. It presents the old stories as keys into any debate on these issues, that the ability to think metaphorically/mythologically loosens the grip of literalness, and can ?re-enchant' our perspectives. 3. As a wilderness teacher Shaw has noticed that the real point of crisis that is emerging is the return to community, rather than the time out in the wild. This is turning of rites-of-passage on its head: Shaw reasons that the rites-of-passage process requires three stages following an initial Call to the Soul: (i) Going out of the Village, and the severance from ordinary life and the stepping into the image-laden language of myth, story, ritual; (ii) Into the Forest, baring the soul to extraordinary forces, receiving the sacred wound, bonding with the living world; (iii) And Back Again, return to community, the performance of identity, and the confirmation in and of the Soul. A BRANCH FROM THE LIGHTNING TREE invokes Robert Graves work on the White Goddess, and the Crow poems of Ted Hughes-it is a combination of practical knowledge, imaginative insight and passionate storytelling that gives Shaw's book its persuasiveness and power. At times incantatory, at times novelistic and poetic, he writes as someone who has been to these places, undergone these trials and tested himself at the extremes of lived experience.
Download or read book Unfettered written by Shawn Speakman and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2014-02-20 with total page 645 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unfettered is an anthology of original fantasy fiction by some of the very biggest names in fantasy fiction, and it also features deleted scenes from A MEMORY OF LIGHT, the final book in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. This collection is not only a fantastic anthology in its own right, but it's a testament to the generosity found in the science fiction and fantasy community. When author Shawn Speakman fell seriously ill and was unable to pay his medical bills, that's when New York Times bestselling author Terry Brooks offered to donate a short story that Shawn could sell to help alleviate those bills. He also suggested he ask the same of his other writer friends, and Unfettered is the incredible result. Twenty-four tales comprise this superb collection, and as the title suggests, the writers were free to contribute whatever they wished. Table of contents: - Foreword by Patrick Rothfuss - Introduction: On Becoming Unfettered - Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks - How Old Holly Came To Be by Patrick Rothfuss - The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams - Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn - The Martyr of the Roses by Jacqueline Carey - Mudboy by Peter V. Brett - The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian - The Coach with Big Teeth by R.A. Salvatore - Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood - Heaven in a Wild Flower by Blake Charlton - Dogs by Daniel Abraham - The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne - Select Mode by Mark Lawrence - All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham - Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth - Nocturne by Robert V.S. Redick - Unbowed by Eldon Thompson - In Favour with Their Stars by Naomi Novik - River of Souls by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson - The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan - The Duel by Lev Grossman - Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks - The Unfettered Knight by Shawn Speakman - The Twilight Dragon by Shawn Speakman (bonus story for UK edition)
Download or read book Untitled Rothfuss 3 Of 3 written by Patrick Rothfuss and published by Gollancz. This book was released on 2012-04-01 with total page 896 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The third in 'The Kingkiller Chronicle' series of fantasy novels by Patrick Rothfuss.
Download or read book The Lightning Tree written by Cindy Lynch and published by My Three Sons Publishing, LLC. This book was released on 2018-03-28 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Lightning Tree, the third and final installment of the Bye For Now Trilogy, follows Callie moving through her arduous life. She finds balancing work, family, and friendship difficult, but nothing as difficult as the monumental challenge that lies ahead. One mishap at work and in a blink of an eye, everything changes. It doesn't seem fair, now that she's found a way to put all the pieces of her life together. Meanwhile, Maddie has struggled in her own life. She's survived addiction, and an abusive relationship, but can she survive watching her best friend go through this insurmountable struggle? Family and friends alike try to find hope in the darkness. Callie finds peace by entering a magical maze. A place to quiet her mind and be present. A place to wash away the worry, but will it be enough? Will Callie find the healing she needs at the lightning tree?
Download or read book The Lightning Tree written by Emily Woof and published by Faber & Faber. This book was released on 2015-01-29 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a story of two young people who fall in love - and then life gets in the way. Ursula is part dreamer, part radical in the making. Raised in a matriarchal household by a CND-loving activist, she is impatient to begin a life of adventure. But this is Newcastle in the mid-80s where girls are getting permed and their dreams go no further than copping off down the Bigg Market. Then Ursula meets Jerry, a class warrior from the wrong side of town, intellectually hungry, erudite and ambitious. It is a meeting of bodies, souls, minds and ideals. Keen to pursue the road less travelled, Ursula heads to India while Jerry goes to Oxford and the promise of politics and power. But Ursula's family is clouded with secrets, and the past threatens to repeat itself. As Ursula searches for answers, she is soon drifting - and Jerry loses touch. What happens to young love when it is tested by real life? In this second novel from the acclaimed author of The Whole Wide Beauty, Emily Woof interweaves across generations asking us to question the nature of love in all its forms.
Download or read book Lightning Tree written by Sarah Dunster and published by Bonneville. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After surviving the tragic deaths of her parents, her baby sister, and a harrowing trek across the plains to Utah, it's no surprise that Maggie's nights are plagued by nightmares. But after years of harsh treatment by her foster family and memories that seem to hint at an unthinkable crime, Maggie is forced to strike out on her own to separate the facts from the lies.
Download or read book Beautiful Affliction written by Lene Fogelberg and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-09-14 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER GOLD MEDAL WINNER OF THE 2016 INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER BOOK AWARDS ("IPPY”) Lene Fogelberg is dying—she is sure of it—but no doctor in Sweden, her home country, believes her. Love stories enfold her, with her husband, her two precious daughters, her enchanting surroundings, but the question she has carried in her heart since childhood—Will I die young?—is threatening all she holds dear, even her sanity. When her young family moves to the US, an answer, a diagnosis, is finally found: she is in the last stages of a fatal congenital heart disease. But is it too late? A young woman risks everything to save her own life in this “unusual, riveting medical drama crafted with deep emotion and exquisite detail” (BookPage).
Download or read book The Name of the Wind written by Patrick Rothfuss and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009-04-07 with total page 674 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In these pages you will come to know Kvothe the notorious magician, the accomplished thief, the masterful musician, the dragon-slayer, the legend-hunter, the lover, the thief and the infamous assassin.
Download or read book The Lightning Catcher written by Clare Weze and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-05-13 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'This exciting, science-packed novel is a cracking read and bursts with action, warmth and humour' - BookTrust Great Books Guide 2021 'This is great fun; an energetic middle-grade debut with a fresh contemporary feel and a good dash of Stranger Things' - The Bookseller Alfie has noticed a few things since his family moved to Folding Ford. He really misses life in the city. He and his sister don't exactly fit in here. But the most interesting one is that the weather is BONKERS. One frost-covered branch on one tree in the middle of June? A tiny whirlwind in a bucket in the garden? Only in Folding Ford. Armed with his bike, a notepad and his new best mate Sam, Alfie is going to investigate. His best clue is Nathaniel Clemm ... the only thing in town weirder than the weather. When Alfie 'investigates' Mr Clemm's garden, only SLIGHTLY illegally, he finds a strange box that freezes his trainers and makes his teeth tingle. And when he opens it, only SLIGHTLY deliberately, SOMETHING gets out. Something fast, fizzing and sparking with electricity and very, very much alive. But the creature from the box brings trouble of its own, and as barometers and tempers go haywire in Folding Ford, Alfie finds himself at the centre of a perfect storm. Skellig meets Stranger Things in this funny, heartfelt adventure story perfect for fans of Ross Welford, Christopher Edge and Frank Cottrell Boyce.
Download or read book How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightning written by Rosalyn Schanzer and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2002-12-24 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ben Franklin was the most famous American in the entire world during colonial times. No wonder! After all, the man could do just about anything. Why, he was an author and an athlete and a patriot and a scientist and an inventor to boot. He even found a way to steal the lightning right out of the sky. Is such a thing possible? Is it. Take a look inside and find Ben busy at work on every spread. Then find out how he used his discovery about lightning to make people's lives safer. In an inventive way, Rosalyn Schanzer brings us a brilliant and ever-curious American original.
Download or read book The Slow Regard of Silent Things written by Patrick Rothfuss and published by Gollancz. This book was released on 2016-11-10 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Renowned as a bastion of knowledge, the University draws the brightest minds to unravel the mysteries of enlightened sciences, such as artificing and alchemy. Yet deep below its bustling halls lies a complex web of abandoned rooms and ancient passageways. In the heart of this cavernous maze is a young woman named Auri, who calls this Underthing her home. Formerly a student at the University, Auri now spends her days tending to the world around her. She knows that some mysteries are better settled and safe. No longer fooled by the sharp rationality so trusted by those above her, Auri sees beyond the surface of things, into subtle dangers and hidden names. At once joyous and haunting, The Slow Regard of Silent Things is a richly atmospheric and lyrical tale, featuring one of the most beloved characters from Rothfuss' acclaimed fantasy series.
Download or read book Too Like the Lightning written by Ada Palmer and published by Tor Books. This book was released on 2016-05-10 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the winner of the 2017 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, Ada Palmer's 2017 Compton Crook Award-winning political science fiction, Too Like the Lightning, ventures into a human future of extraordinary originality Mycroft Canner is a convict. For his crimes he is required, as is the custom of the 25th century, to wander the world being as useful as he can to all he meets. Carlyle Foster is a sensayer--a spiritual counselor in a world that has outlawed the public practice of religion, but which also knows that the inner lives of humans cannot be wished away. The world into which Mycroft and Carlyle have been born is as strange to our 21st-century eyes as ours would be to a native of the 1500s. It is a hard-won utopia built on technologically-generated abundance, and also on complex and mandatory systems of labelling all public writing and speech. What seem to us normal gender distinctions are now distinctly taboo in most social situations. And most of the world's population is affiliated with globe-girdling clans of the like-minded, whose endless economic and cultural competition is carefully managed by central planners of inestimable subtlety. To us it seems like a mad combination of heaven and hell. To them, it seems like normal life. And in this world, Mycroft and Carlyle have stumbled on the wild card that may destablize the system: the boy Bridger, who can effortlessly make his wishes come true. Who can, it would seem, bring inanimate objects to life... Terra Ignota 1. Too Like the Lightning 2. Seven Surrenders 3. The Will to Battle At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Download or read book Black Lightning written by Roger Mais and published by Peepal Tree PressLtd. This book was released on 2013-11-01 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An iconic novel from a rebellious and politically active author, this story follows Jack, a sculptor and blacksmith, who idolizes the Biblical Samson as a figure of man’s independence. Deciding to carve a mahogany tribute to Samson, however, becomes a more complicated affair when Jack’s wife leaves him for another man. The end result is a sculpture of a blinded Samson leaning on a young boy for support. As life imitates art, Jack is struck by lightning and left blind, forcing him to rely on his friends to survive. After leading him on a journey to discover just how reliant on humanity he really is, Jack’s blindness ultimately drives him to his final act of independence: his own suicide.
Download or read book The Wise Man s Fear written by Patrick Rothfuss and published by Astra Publishing House. This book was released on 2011-03-01 with total page 1010 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discover book two of Patrick Rothfuss’ #1 New York Times-bestselling epic fantasy series, The Kingkiller Chronicle. “I just love the world of Patrick Rothfuss.” —Lin-Manuel Miranda DAY TWO: THE WISE MAN’S FEAR “There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.” My name is Kvothe. You may have heard of me. So begins a tale told from his own point of view—a story unequaled in fantasy literature. Now in The Wise Man’s Fear, Day Two of The Kingkiller Chronicle, an escalating rivalry with a powerful member of the nobility forces Kvothe to leave the University and seek his fortune abroad. Adrift, penniless, and alone, he travels to Vintas, where he quickly becomes entangled in the politics of courtly society. While attempting to curry favor with a powerful noble, Kvothe uncovers an assassination attempt, comes into conflict with a rival arcanist, and leads a group of mercenaries into the wild, in an attempt to solve the mystery of who (or what) is waylaying travelers on the King's Road. All the while, Kvothe searches for answers, attempting to uncover the truth about the mysterious Amyr, the Chandrian, and the death of his parents. In The Wise Man's Fear, Kvothe takes his first steps on the path of the hero and learns how difficult life can be when a man becomes a legend in his own time.
Download or read book Lightning Strike written by William Kent Krueger and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-08-24 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An instant New York Times bestseller, this prequel to the acclaimed Cork O’Connor series is “a pitch perfect, richly imagined story that is both an edge-of-your-seat thriller and an evocative, emotionally charged coming-of-age tale” (Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author) about fathers and sons, small-town conflicts, and the events that shape our lives forever. Aurora is a small town nestled in the ancient forest alongside the shores of Minnesota’s Iron Lake. In the summer of 1963, it is the whole world to twelve-year-old Cork O’Connor, its rhythms as familiar as his own heartbeat. But when Cork stumbles upon the body of a man he revered hanging from a tree in an abandoned logging camp, it is the first in a series of events that will cause him to question everything he took for granted about his hometown, his family, and himself. Cork’s father, Liam O’Connor, is Aurora’s sheriff and it is his job to confirm that the man’s death was the result of suicide, as all the evidence suggests. In the shadow of his father’s official investigation, Cork begins to look for answers on his own. Together, father and son face the ultimate test of choosing between what their heads tell them is true and what their hearts know is right. In this “brilliant achievement, and one every crime reader and writer needs to celebrate” (Louise Penny, #1 New York Times bestselling author), beloved novelist William Kent Krueger shows that some mysteries can be solved even as others surpass our understanding.
Download or read book Lightning written by Dean Koontz and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2003-09-02 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz’s brilliantly thrilling novel of suspense. In the midst of a raging blizzard, lightning struck on the night Laura Shane was born. And a mysterious blond-haired stranger showed up just in time to save her from dying. Years later, in the wake of another storm, Laura will be saved again. For someone is watching over her. Is he the guardian angel he seems? The devil in disguise? Or the master of a haunting destiny beyond all time and space? “A gripping novel…fast-paced and satisfying.”—People
Download or read book The Tree Lady written by H. Joseph Hopkins and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-09-17 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unearth the true story of green-thumbed pioneer and activist Kate Sessions, who helped San Diego grow from a dry desert town into a lush, leafy city known for its gorgeous parks and gardens. Katherine Olivia Sessions never thought she’d live in a place without trees. After all, Kate grew up among the towering pines and redwoods of Northern California. But after becoming the first woman to graduate from the University of California with a degree in science, she took a job as a teacher far south in the dry desert town of San Diego. Where there were almost no trees. Kate decided that San Diego needed trees more than anything else. So this trailblazing young woman singlehandedly started a massive movement that transformed the town into the green, garden-filled oasis it is today. Now, more than 100 years after Kate first arrived in San Diego, her gorgeous gardens and parks can be found all over the city. Part fascinating biography, part inspirational story, this moving picture book about following your dreams, using your talents, and staying strong in the face of adversity is sure to resonate with readers young and old.
