The Argentine pampas and the Chaco territory of Paraguay provide the setting for The Drunken Forest. With Durrell for interpreter, an orange armadillo, or a horned toad, or a crab-eating raccoon, or a baby giant anteater suddenly discovers the ability not merely to set you laughing but actually to endear itself to you. Contents Explanation Saludos Oven-birds and burrowing owls Eggbert and the Terrible Twins Interlude Fields of flying flowers The orange armadillos Bevy of bichos Fawns, frogs, and fer-de-lance Terrible toads and a bushel of birds The four-eyed bird and the anaconda Sarah Huggersack Rattlesnakes and revolution Interlude The Rhea Hunt Adios! Acknowledgements

The defensive nature of the ego, well-known in everyday life to even the most casual observer, is actually far, far more pervasive than any sane person might have dreamed, and it can clearly make people believe just about anything, if it, the ego, 'thinks' it is good for them (or it). Two psychology students decide to use hypnosis to discover just what realities the ego might be hiding from us...Saturdays are not a day of rest for the self-proclaimed number one Fury from hell.The furry Fury is back on the case, only this time, it’s about as far from what she does and who she is as a Fury can get. Jasmine’s new assignment is a collection nightmare. She’s been sent after a soul that has nothing to do with scorned women. Is it because she’s the best or because she’s dispensable? But when it’s Daddy Dearest giving the assignment you just can’t say ‘no’.In the course of her collection, Jasmine stumbles upon another mystery. If a Fury had to be hauled in to collect on this wayward signer, where are all the demons that tried before? Demons and Furies have been disappearing for centuries and no one can figure out what is going on. The only link was the last assignment any of them received. The same assignment Jasmine now has.It’s up to Jasmine to crack the case and bring the promised soul home. If not, she might find out what’s worse than being stuck in a furry suit. For Jasmine, failure is not an option. What’s a Fury to do when all the luck is against her? Win of course. She’s going to solve this mystery and show the upstart demons of hell that there’s more to this Fury than just a pretty face.

In this thrilling new novel from best-selling author of Peak, Roland Smith, Peak Marcello, mountain-climbing extraordinaire and prodigy, faces his toughest challenge yet as he descends into Tibet and goes head-to-head with an old enemy.

There comes a time when we must question where we find ourselves. Not every truth is known and not all decisions are just. We work with what we have when we have it. Walt is experiencing a grievous loss; John smells blood in the water. Each of them decide the time has come to embrace change. Find out what brought them to the point of no return.An ancient race and a prophecy foretells of four dark princes, the sons of the dark mother, who will rise up with a nation of old vamps to stop the rogue factions from ruling over mankind. Justice is the first in that prophecy, from the ancient Jaguar People. He is the Prince of Fire. Jess is one of the three sisters of the Jaguar witches who must help him to stop these factions of rogue vamps--or none of their lives will ever be the same.

Marie is a college student living in Laval Quebec. An unexpected tragedy brings her to a turning point in her love life. Little did she know that the voice of a young girl sharing her name and her pain, would give her the answer she was looking for.Medb hErenn serves Seidhloch the Moneylender of Ulthar as the steward of his business interests in the Dreamlands, because she owes him a debt. Though she serves him faithfully and honestly, she does not like being beholden to him, so when the Cats of Ulthar offer her a large reward to retrieve their most sacred artifact, stolen from the Temple of the Great Ones, she accepts without hesitation.It seems a simple enough task, but it has been taken to the onyx city of Inganok in the far north, where cats are forbidden to go. On top of that, who or whatever took the artifact seems to be after more than financial gain, despite its priceless value, because upon reaching the city it has vanished without a trace. Then Leng Men appear, old enemies from previous adventures. Are they somehow involved, or will they prove to be a red herring?Medb and her companions must find the artifact, not just for the reward, but also before it can be used to release an evil that could threaten the whole of the Dreamlands. But how can one find a needle in a haystack?

An expedition to an alien world once thought to be dead has suddenly undergone terraformation. The cause has brought Amber Sallyn to the site to uncover the truth of the world. What legacy is this world hiding?¿Era la mejor manera de organizar la sociedad? Todos soñamos con un mundo perfecto, pacífico y ordenado. Pero lograr esta utopía puede tener un costo muy elevado. Sin embargo, ¿qué pasaría si la humanidad, voluntariamente, decidiera pagar ese costo?

In 1755 France controlled most of the North American continent. What if they still did? This novel explores the French period from two perspectives – an historically accurate description of Jolliet’s discovery of the Mississippi, coupled with a hypothetical contemporary view of “Canada.” Based in Green Bay, this Canada struggles between the Catholic north and Huguenot Louisiana.In 1755 France controlled most of the North American continent. Starting with Quebec and Montreal on the St Lawrence, they controlled the Great Lakes, the Ohio River Valley, and the Mississippi down to New Orleans. What if they still did? This novel explores the French period from two perspectives – an historically accurate description of Jolliet’s discovery of the Mississippi and the enormous agricultural lands that opens to the French, coupled with a hypothetical contemporary view of a “Canada” extending across the continent. Based in its capital of Green Bay, this nation struggles between a Catholic north and a Huguenot Louisiana. Told by an American historian resident in Green Bay, the novel gives credit to the French history of the region often slighted in our textbooks.

Scorched Corona is a collection of poetry spanning ten years of authorship, from age 12 to 22. A timeline of reflections in raw, unedited form, Scorched Corona views the world through a youth's burnt eyes, a pair each and every one of us has had the burden to wear. This is a free ebook.Like millions of others, Roger Birch and his family depend on ad-viewing income for their survival.Unlike millions of others, the events of one uncomfortable evening leave Roger aware of the government's shadier reasons for investing in Funscreen. With high-definition cameras hidden behind a 60-inch glass veil, the answer was staring him in the face all along.Every family has a Funscreen on their wall. The question is... who's watching who?[Funscreen is a satirical/sci-fi short story of 6,500 words (approx. 22 standard pages)]A unique take on the increasing commercialisation of home life and the apparent trend towards 24-hour surveillance, Funscreen is a standalone spin-off from the dystopian novel Sycamore.Praise for Sycamore: "A brilliant and relevant sci-fi from a debut author... interesting and matrix-like""Dystopian fans should not miss this one" "Great idea from the author... 1984 for the Facebook generation"

From the best-selling, award-winning author of 1491 and 1493—an incisive portrait of the two little-known twentieth-century scientists, Norman Borlaug and William Vogt, whose diametrically opposed views shaped our ideas about the environment, laying the groundwork for how people in the twenty-first century will choose to live in tomorrow's world. In forty years, Earth's population will reach ten billion. Can our world support that? What kind of world will it be? Those answering these questions generally fall into two deeply divided groups—Wizards and Prophets, as Charles Mann calls them in this balanced, authoritative, nonpolemical new book. The Prophets, he explains, follow William Vogt, a founding environmentalist who believed that in using more than our planet has to give, our prosperity will lead us to ruin. Cut back! was his mantra. Otherwise everyone will lose! The Wizards are the heirs of Norman Borlaug, whose research, in...

Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen's Calorie Man in Thailand. Under cover as a factory manager, Anderson combs Bangkok's street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, hoping to reap the bounty of history's lost calories. There, he encounters Emiko... Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. One of the New People, Emiko is not human; instead, she is an engineered being, creche-grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman, but now abandoned to the streets of Bangkok. Regarded as soulless beings by some, devils by others, New People are slaves, soldiers, and toys of the rich in a chilling near future in which calorie companies rule the world, the oil age has passed, and the side effects of bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe. What Happens when calories become currency? What happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits, when said bio-terrorism's genetic drift forces mankind to the cusp of post-human evolution? Award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi delivers one of the most highly acclaimed science fiction novels of the twenty-first century.

Essayist. Preservationist. Mountain man. Inventor. John Muir may be California's best-known icon. A literary naturalist and founder of the Sierra Club and Yosemite National Park, Muir left his legacy on the landscape and on paper. But the celebrity of John Muir does not tell the whole story. In Essential Muir, for the first time, Muir's selected writings include those that show his ecological vision without ignoring his racism, providing a more complete portrait of the man. Taking the best of John Muir's writings on nature and placing them alongside his musings on religion, society, and his fellow humans, Essential Muir asks the reader to consider how these connect, and what that means for Muir's legacy in environmentalism today. Fred D. White's selections from Muir's writings, and his illuminating commentary in his revised introduction, reveal the complex man and writer behind the iconic name. In the new foreword, Jolie Varela (Tule River Yokut and Paiute) of...

We all want to know how to find a soul mate, what career would be most fulfilling, how to live a life with meaning, and how to teach our children well. We are looking for a personal breakthrough, a turning point, a revelation that brings with it new meaning. The Book of Secrets--a crystalline distillation of insights and wisdom accumulated over the lifetime of one of the great spiritual thinkers of our time--provides an exquisite new tool for achieving just that. Every life is a book of secrets, ready to be opened. The secret of perfect love is found there, along with the secrets of healing, compassion, faith, and the most elusive one of all: who we really are. We are still mysteries to ourselves, despite the proximity of these answers, and what we most long to know remains lodged deep inside. Because answers to the questions at the center of life are counterintuitive, they are often hidden from view, sequestered from our everyday gaze. In his ongoing quest to elevate our experience, bestselling author Deepak Chopra has isolated fifteen secrets that drive the narrative of this inspiring book--and of our lives. From "The World Is in You" and "What You Seek, You Already Are" to "Evil Is Not Your Enemy" and "You Are Truly Free When You Are Not a Person," The Book of Secrets is rich with insights, a priceless treasure that can transport us beyond change to transformation, and from there to a sacred place where we can savor the nectar of enlightenment. "The Book of Secrets is the finest and most profound of Deepak Chopra’s books to date. Want the answers to the secrets of life? Let me recommend that you start right here." -- Ken Wilber, author of A Brief History of Everything From the Hardcover edition.