Dragon Shadow


Book Description

Jade McClaren is a thief with a mission … and a secret. Half human and missing her secret other half, Jade makes a living in New York, stealing magical items from bad guys. But when one wrong move attracts the attention of powerful enemies, she’ll be forced to team up with a relentless Fae Knight that is as much her new partner as he is her enemy. Now Jade must contend with vampires, demons, witches, and more before what’s happening in post-Fae New York destroys the Fae Lords…and maybe the world itself. Dragon Shadow is the first volume of an exciting urban fantasy series for fans of Patricia Briggs and Ilona Andrews.




Lilith's Fire


Book Description

In Lilith's Fire, Grenn-Scott examines why and how modern women are still demonized-identified as "bad" for actions perceived as reasonable for men, through techniques used for thousands of years-and how women have started to reverse this tendency by redefining right and wrong. Demonization, she notes, has been effective: controlling, manipulating and dividing women to keep them powerless, pitting Lilith against Eve, "good girl" against "bad girl"; and as a means of keeping one group, religion or idea dominant over another. In dismantling this technique, the author shows that portrayals of women as innately evil undermine the self-confidence of all women, and in turn their ability to take risks, assume leadership or claim power, from bedroom to boardroom. She provides strong models for women of a more proud, sensual, confident way of being; along the way, she poses difficult questions, such as: How can women become more aware that they have choice? Do we give our religious and spiritual leaders too much power? How do we make change, in our own lives and in the world? What forms of social action are most effective? Lilith's Fire opens a dialogue that the author hopes may lead to some answers, as it offers women a transformational tool to help them recognize, appreciate and draw on the strength and creativity of their own lifeforce, the first step in creating positive change.




Bound to the Fire


Book Description

For decades, smiling images of "Aunt Jemima" and other historical and fictional black cooks could be found on various food products and in advertising. Although these images were sanitized and romanticized in American popular culture, they represented the untold stories of enslaved men and women who had a significant impact on the nation's culinary and hospitality traditions, even as they were forced to prepare food for their oppressors. Kelley Fanto Deetz draws upon archaeological evidence, cookbooks, plantation records, and folklore to present a nuanced study of the lives of enslaved plantation cooks from colonial times through emancipation and beyond. She reveals how these men and women were literally "bound to the fire" as they lived and worked in the sweltering and often fetid conditions of plantation house kitchens. These highly skilled cooks drew upon knowledge and ingredients brought with them from their African homelands to create complex, labor-intensive dishes. However, their white owners overwhelmingly received the credit for their creations. Deetz restores these forgotten figures to their rightful place in American and Southern history by uncovering their rich and intricate stories and celebrating their living legacy with the recipes that they created and passed down to future generations.




What the Fire Ignited


Book Description

We all face obstacles. Whether physical, spiritual, emotional, or financial, we are all working to overcome a roadblock ahead of us. When Shay Eskew's roadblock--a splash of gasoline and a lit match that set his body ablaze--came as a child, he had the choice to either succumb to his injuries or to rise above them. In What the Fire Ignited: How Life's Worst Helped Me Achieve My Best, Shay shares the trials and tribulations he was forced to face while recovering from his burns and reclaiming his life as an athlete. Despite being told to give up on sports, Shay began training for and competing in IRONMAN triathlons. By sharing his story, Shay hopes to help those struggling with life to realize the greatest tragedies are often our greatest blessings if we have the faith to stay the course. We are all facing something; we all have the odds stacked against us in some way. In What the Fire Ignited, readers should take comfort in knowing others have been there and not only survived, but thrived. "Shay's story of perseverance and sheer will is one that needs to be told and retold His journey is both harrowing and hope filled." - R.A. Dickey, NL CY Young Winner, Olympic Bronze Medalist "To call Shay Eskew superhuman is an understatement. Shay somehow turned an unthinkable tragedy into boundless inspiration. He bares his soul in, What the Fire Ignited and his story had me laughing and crying, but mostly cheering for this most improbable hero. Go Shay " - Dean Karnazes, TIME: "Top 100 Most Influential People in the World" and NY Times Best Selling Author "This is an incredible story. Shay shares his amazing journey of overcoming countless obstacles and challenges to become a world class athlete against insurmountable odds. It is a story of resilience, strength, family and turning everything thrown at you into an opportunity. Read this and prepare to be inspired " -Craig Alexander, 5 time Triathlon World Champion. "Utterly inspirational. Shay has constantly defied the odds, and his powerful, heart wrenching and ultimately uplifting story is a testament to the indomitable power of the human body and mind. It's a must read." - Chrissie Wellington, 4 time IRONMAN World Champion What the Fire Ignited is a quick, fascinating read. Based on a personal tale of tragedy, it's an inspirational and gut-wrenching account of one man's determination which ultimately proves self-made success is possible despite tragedy and formidable obstacles. Told with self-deprecating humor, a lot of heart and wistful charm this compelling story forces you to empathize, do a little self-reflection, and ultimately walk away thinking, "Man, I want to get to know this guy " - Chanda Bell, Author, The Elf on the Shelf, writer, director "A book that needed to be written now needs to read. BAM" -Jack Daly, three time Amazon Best Selling Author and 15 time Ironman




Reclaiming Vatican II


Book Description

Winner of a first-place award for a first time author and second-place in popular presentation of the faith from the Catholic Media Association. During the past five decades, the Second Vatican Council has been alternately celebrated or maligned for its supposed break with tradition and embrace of the modern world. But what if we’ve gotten it all wrong? Have Catholics—both those who embrace the spirit of Vatican II and those who regard it with suspicion—misunderstood what the council was really about? Fr. Blake Britton discovered the truth and beauty of the council while he was in seminary and he has witnessed firsthand the power of its teachings in the life of his own parish. In Reclaiming Vatican II—a partnership between Ave Maria Press and Word on Fire Catholic Ministries—Britton presses beyond the political narrative foisted upon the post-conciliar Church and contends that Vatican II was neither conservative nor liberal, but something much more beautiful and challenging. Britton clears up misconceptions about the council and reveals how—when properly understood and applied—it fosters a richer experience of being in the Church. Britton says Vatican II promotes a radical return to the Church Fathers and the Scriptures, holding both a commitment to tradition and the need for constant renewal in life-giving balance, recenters the Church on sacred liturgy and encourages both active participation and genuine encounter with transcendence, and charts a clear path for the Church’s renewal and empowers it for evangelism and transformative engagement with the world. Britton invites all Catholics to step beyond the polarization and embrace Vatican II as one of our greatest resources for being in the Church in a way that is faithful, engaged, and effective if we answer its radical call to worship and renewal.




Wit'ch Fire


Book Description

“I loved every page of this book. Clemens has constructed a world of magic that’s never been seen before, with a cast of beings who are so engaging and entrancing that you never want the story to end.”—John Saul On a fateful night five centuries ago, three mages made a desperate last stand, sacrificing everything to preserve the only hope of goodness in the beautiful, doomed land of Alasea. Now, on the anniversary of that ominous night, a girl-child ripens into the heritage of lost power. But before she can even comprehend her terrible new gift, the Dark Lord dispatches his winged monsters to capture her and bring him the embryonic magic she embodies. Fleeing the minions of darkness, Elena is swept toward certain doom—and into the company of unexpected allies. There she forms a band of the hunted and the cursed, the outcasts and the outlaws, to battle the unstoppable forces of evil and rescue a once-glorious empire . . . Praise for Wit’ch Fire “Wit’ch Fire grabs at your heart and tears a little hole, then tears another, and another—a brutal and beautiful ride. I can’t put the book down!”—R. A. Salvatore “Full of violence, magical pyrotechnics, and black-heared villains.”—Publishers Weekly




Stoking the Fire


Book Description

The years between Oklahoma statehood in 1907 and the 1971 reemergence of the Cherokee Nation are often seen as an intellectual, political, and literary “dark age” in Cherokee history. In Stoking the Fire, Kirby Brown brings to light a rich array of writing that counters this view. A critical reading of the work of several twentieth-century Cherokee writers, this book reveals the complicated ways their writings reimagined, enacted, and bore witness to Cherokee nationhood in the absence of a functioning Cherokee state. Historian Rachel Caroline Eaton (1869–1938), novelist John Milton Oskison (1874–1947), educator Ruth Muskrat Bronson (1897–1982), and playwright Rollie Lynn Riggs (1899–1954) are among the writers Brown considers within the Cherokee national and transnational contexts that informed their lives and work. Facing the devastating effects on Cherokee communities of allotment and assimilation policies that ultimately dissolved the Cherokee government, these writers turned to tribal histories and biographies, novels and plays, and editorials and public addresses as alternative sites for resistance, critique, and the ongoing cultivation of Cherokee nationhood. Stoking the Fire shows how these writers—through fiction, drama, historiography, or Cherokee diplomacy—inscribed a Cherokee national presence in the twentieth century within popular and academic discourses that have often understood the “Indian nation” as a contradiction in terms. Avoiding the pitfalls of both assimilationist resignation and accommodationist ambivalence, Stoking the Fire recovers this period as a rich archive of Cherokee national memory. More broadly, the book expands how we think today about Indigenous nationhood and identity, our relationships with writers and texts from previous eras, and the paradigms that shape the fields of American Indian and Indigenous studies.




Reclaim the Fire


Book Description




Dandelion Fire (100 Cupboards Book 2)


Book Description

The bestselling and highly acclaimed 100 Cupboards series continues with its action-packed second book, Dandelion Fire. Perfect for readers who love Percy Jackson, the Unwanteds, and Beyonders! Henry has discovered that the 100 cupboard doors hidden behind his bedroom wall are actually portals to other worlds. Now he must go through the cupboards to find the truth about where he’s from and who his real parents are. Along the way, Henry is suddenly struck with a gift of magic—a magic that burns so brightly it attracts unwanted attention. As he discovers the strength of his new powers, he is chased by wizards and faeren and ultimately forced into battle with Nimiane, the evil witch-queen. And this time, the witch is not alone…. "A must-read series." —The Washington Post




The Great Fire


Book Description

The Great Fire is the winner of the 2003 National Book Award for Fiction. A great writer's sweeping story of men and women struggling to reclaim their lives in the aftermath of world conflict The Great Fire is Shirley Hazzard's first novel since The Transit of Venus, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1981. The conflagration of her title is the Second World War. In war-torn Asia and stricken Europe, men and women, still young but veterans of harsh experience, must reinvent their lives and expectations, and learn, from their past, to dream again. Some will fulfill their destinies, others will falter. At the center of the story, Aldred Leith, a brave and brilliant soldier, finds that survival and worldly achievement are not enough. Helen Driscoll, a young girl living in occupied Japan and tending her dying brother, falls in love, and in the process discovers herself. In the looming shadow of world enmities resumed, and of Asia's coming centrality in world affairs, a man and a woman seek to recover self-reliance, balance, and tenderness, struggling to reclaim their humanity.