All Marin has ever been—and ever will be, as far as he knows—is a servant. He’s grown up working for an evil witch called Ilth, never having any idea who his parents were or where he came from. But then comes the day he and another servant, Aster, find the courage to run away to seek their fortunes in the great wide world...The only problem is that the world holds much more danger than Marin and Aster ever expected—tyrannical kings, vengeful demigods, goblin armies, and legendary monsters. And Ilth is tracking them down with wicked schemes of her own. The greatest challenge comes when Marin learns he must seek out a long-lost magic sword he’ll need if he’s going to save the life of Princess Elspeth and the entire kingdom of Blunia. It’s a dangerous quest to expect of anyone—least of all someone who is nothing more than a runaway servant.
Reveals Shocking Revelations about Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and the British Royal Family—and the Divisive Rifts Between Them This explosive exposé, Royals at War, takes readers inside a riven Buckingham Palace to provide the definitive account of the unfolding abdication crisis of 2020—dubbed Megxit—during which the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, became royal outcasts. Through revealing interviews with royal family insiders, friends, aides, historians, royal watchers, and others with intimate knowledge of The House of Windsor, this tell-all book looks back at the events, motives and crises which led to Harry (sixth in line to the throne) dramatically abandoning his birthright—in a move not seen for nearly a century, when King Edward VIII also gave up the crown for the woman he loved as Europe teetered on the brink of fascism and war. Like Edward and Wallis Simpson, the catalyst for the scandal here is also an ambitious, controversial American woman. Dylan Howard, bestselling author of Diana: Case Solved and Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales, charts how Meghan’s relationship with Harry was viewed as controversial from the start—and how her brief honeymoon with the British public began to sour shortly after she and Harry announced in November 2018 that they would be leaving Kensington Palace to move to Frogmore Cottage, an hour outside London. As senior royals expressed disapproval, the public at first seemed to enjoy the royal spat, with many still supporting Team Meghan—until it emerged that the bill to renovate Frogmore Cottage to Meghan’s lavish expectations would be $3 million . . . and be picked up by British taxpayers. Finally, in a move nobody saw coming, Harry announced he was turning his back on the role he had been groomed for since birth—giving up his HRH title, repaying the renovation costs of Frogmore Cottage, abandoning his royal duties, and leaving Britain for good. Buckingham Palace reeled. Howard’s unique access and insight into this constitutional crisis will not only address the tensions and tantrums behind closed palace doors, but seek to answer the questions many are still asking: Has Prince Harry ever really recovered from the death of his mother Diana—and the resentment he feels against the institution that tried to destroy her? Why did Meghan, once hailed as a breath of fresh air, rile up the monarchy? Why did she refuse to conform to royal conventions in the way that Catherine did before her? Did the public and media criticism of Meghan go too far? And just how valid are the accusations of racism? How did these modern royals treat the tabloids differently to tradition? And did it backfire? What next for Harry and Meghan? And how will they—and the institution they’ve turned their back on—react to their new lives outside the confines of the Palace and free from the strict codes and conventions that bind all members of the Royal Family? Caught in a trap by virtue of a life entombed in a gilded cage, Royals at War answers these questions and more . . . and reveals how Harry’s infatuation with Meghan and desire to modernize the monarchy could yet end in disaster for the House of Windsor. Played out against the cataclysm of the British tabloid's laser focus on the duchess’ every movement—for good or ill—this is the true story of Harry and Meghan’s split from the Establishment . . . and perhaps just the beginning of a whole new Monarchy, redefined for the modern age.
The Biographical Dictionary of Popular Music is an incredible and opinionated collection of celebrated cultural critic Dylan Jones's thoughts on more than 350 of the most important artists around the world—alive and dead, big and small, at length and in brief. This A to Z reference is the true musical heir to David Thomson's seminal The New Biographical Dictionary of Popular Film. Jones writes entertainingly about bands that have inspired, bedeviled, and fascinated him over the years.
It's time to get off the beaten path. Inspiring equal parts wonder and wanderlust, Atlas Obscura celebrates over 700 of the strangest and most curious places in the world. Talk about a bucket list: here are natural wonders—the dazzling glowworm caves in New Zealand, or a baobob tree in South Africa that's so large it has a pub inside where 15 people can drink comfortably. Architectural marvels, including the M.C. Escher-like stepwells in India. Mind-boggling events, like the Baby Jumping Festival in Spain, where men dressed as devils literally vault over rows of squirming infants. Not to mention the Great Stalacpipe Organ in Virginia, Turkmenistan's 40-year hole of fire called the Gates of Hell, a graveyard for decommissioned ships on the coast of Bangladesh, eccentric bone museums in Italy, or a weather-forecasting invention that was powered by leeches, still on display in Devon, England. Created by Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras and Ella Morton, ATLAS OBSCURA revels in the weird, the unexpected, the overlooked, the hidden and the mysterious. Every page expands our sense of how strange and marvelous the world really is. And with its compelling descriptions, hundreds of photographs, surprising charts, maps for every region of the world, it is a book to enter anywhere, and will be as appealing to the armchair traveler as the die-hard adventurer. Anyone can be a tourist. ATLAS OBSCURA is for the explorer.
Read the first three books in the series reviewers are calling, "Gritty, fast-paced, and compelling!" Includes a BONUS short story! "An epic tale…"—Library Journal FIRE AND SWORD A broken nation in need of a savior. Ravaged by plague, decimated by dark magic, infiltrated by a foreign evil seeking to dominate from within, Brynth is on the eve of its dissolution. When all the good men are dead and gone, who is to answer the call and defy what is wicked for what is right? A Twisted Tale of Three Unlikely Heroes. Heretic monk turned Sorcerer, Aldous Weaver. Infamous crusader turned fugitive, Kendrick the Cold. Aristocrat, rogue, monster hunter, and legend in his own mind, Theron Ward. Three men condemned to die for their crimes find in each other both the will and the means to survive. A dark brotherhood with Sword and Sorcery is forged, and all monsters meek and mighty do fear the three. CATACOMBS OF TIME It’s going to be a long and bloody night. The clock is ticking and Dr. De’Brouillard has a date. Dinner is at the Graves and a contract to cure one of the cursed is sitting on the plate. But when an old and dear friend reaches out from murky shadow for a helping hand, will the Doctor take it, risking all if he ends up being late? New heroes join the fray. Are they friend or foe? Dr. Gaige De’Brouillard believes science, not magic, conquers all. Even death is just an equation to be solved. Malory “Butcher” Dahmer knows that life is but a dream, no wickedness, no sorcery too strange or obscene. An Academic and a Gangster make for an interesting team. THE PYRES Monsters. Magic. Epic Battles. The mountains and valleys of Romaria echo with the calamitous sounds of civil war. A New Order challenges old gods and on the festival night of the Pyres, the tides of destruction are fully unleashed. When the great white city of Brasov turns black with ash, when the sky goes red and the moon hangs like a dark void above, who will stand against the darkness? Heretic monk turned Sorcerer, Aldous Weaver. Infamous crusader turned fugitive, Kendrick the Cold. Aristocrat, rogue, monster hunter, and legend in his own mind, Theron Ward. Read all the books in the Sword and Sorcery series! Fire and Sword (Volume 1) Catacombs of Time (Volume 2) I Remember My First Time (short story) The Pyres (Volume 3) Ice and Stone (Volume 4) As They Burn (Volume 5) Black Sun Moon (Volume 6) Embers on the Wind (Volume 7) Graves of the Gods (Volume 8) Box Set 1 (includes Volumes 1-3) Box Set 2 (Includes Volumes 4-6)
Whether states balance against or bandwagon with threatening great powers remains an unsolved problem for international relations theory. One school argues that military power compels minor powers to accommodate threats, while another defends that it elicits balancing instead. With the emergence of potential hegemons in both Asia and Europe — namely China and Russia — understanding state alignment is more urgent than ever. This book shows that bandwagoning has been a rare choice in contemporary Asia and Europe. The only states that chose bandwagoning with China or Russia faced both conflicts with third rivals and low levels of U.S. assistance. Going further, I divide bandwagoning between full alignment, survival accommodation, and profit accommodation. Bandwagoners choose among these three options based on the severity of the threat posed by the potential hegemon, the intensity of third conflicts, and the level of U.S. assistance. I test this novel theory against three European (Armenia, Belarus, and Serbia) and four Asian (Cambodia, Myanmar, North Korea, and Pakistan) cases. This study is the first to provide an exhaustive and compelling explanation of bandwagoning fully compatible with neorealism and adds to the balancing-bandwagoning debate. Beyond scholarly implications, this research’s findings offer advice for policymakers concerned with the changing balance of power in Asia and Europe and how to counter China and Russia’s influence.
Dylan Jones’s engrossing, magisterial biography of David Bowie is unlike any Bowie story ever written. Drawn from over 180 interviews with friends, rivals, lovers, and collaborators, some of whom have never before spoken about their relationship with Bowie, this oral history weaves a hypnotic spell as it unfolds the story of a remarkable rise to stardom and an unparalleled artistic path. Tracing Bowie’s life from the English suburbs to London to New York to Los Angeles, Berlin, and beyond, its collective voices describe a man profoundly shaped by his relationship with his schizophrenic half-brother Terry; an intuitive artist who could absorb influences through intense relationships and yet drop people cold when they were no longer of use; and a social creature equally comfortable partying with John Lennon and dining with Frank Sinatra. By turns insightful and deliciously gossipy, David Bowie is as intimate a portrait as may ever be drawn. It sparks with admiration and grievances, lust and envy, as the speakers bring you into studios and bedrooms they shared with Bowie, and onto stages and film sets, opening corners of his mind and experience that transform our understanding of both artist and art. Including illuminating, never-before-seen material from Bowie himself, drawn from a series of Jones’s interviews with him across two decades, David Bowie is an epic, unforgettable cocktail-party conversation about a man whose enigmatic shapeshifting and irrepressible creativity produced one of the most sprawling, fascinating lives of our time.
★★★★★ “Grim, gritty, and good.” 100,000+ copies sold worldwide! A shadow of its former self, once powerful Brynth is now a realm destroyed by plague, famine, and monstrous beings. Every corner harbors danger, and a covert war threatens to engulf the land. Amidst this chaos, Aldous Weaver's quiet life as a monk is shattered when dormant forbidden magic rises within him, leaving destruction in its wake. Condemned to die, Aldous battles to control the ancient power within. Then a chance encounter with fellow prisoners—terrifying fugitive Kendrick the Cold and arrogant monster hunter Theron Ward—offers him a choice: flee for his life or stand with his newfound allies against a peril that endangers not just him but all citizens of Brynth, the very people who would see him hanged. But with dark sorcery and ancient evil devouring the land, can anyone survive? In this tale of unlikely alliances, dark powers, and the pursuit of redemption, the fate of a fractured nation hangs in the balance. For fans of Glen Cook, Steven Erikson, and Joe Abercrombie. "An epic tale"—Library Journal Honorable mention in Library Journal's Indie Ebook Awards and a Shelf Unbound Magazine Notable 100! Read all the books in the dark and gritty Sword and Sorcery Series! Fire and Sword (Volume 1) Catacombs of Time (Volume 2) I Remember My First Time (short story) The Pyres (Volume 3) Ice and Stone (Volume 4) As They Burn (Volume 5) Black Sun Moon (Volume 6—a complete, stand-alone novel) Embers On The Wind (Volume 7) Graves of the Gods (Volume 8)
From Darwin to "Star Trek", Evans offers a lively look at the science of emotions and finds that whether we live in the shadow of Times Square or in the depths of the rain forest, all humans feel disgust, joy, surprise, anger, fear, and distress. 20 halftones.
A comprehensive survey of the work of this most influential Florentine artist and teacher Andrea del Verrocchio (c. 1435–1488) was one of the most versatile and inventive artists of the Italian Renaissance. He created art across media, from his spectacular sculptures and paintings to his work in goldsmithing, architecture, and engineering. His expressive, confident drawings provide a key point of contact between sculpture and painting. He led a vibrant workshop where he taught young artists who later became some of the greatest painters of the period, including Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli, Lorenzo di Credi, and Domenico Ghirlandaio. This beautifully illustrated book presents a comprehensive survey of Verrocchio's art, spanning his entire career and featuring some fifty sculptures, paintings, and drawings, in addition to works he created with his students. Through incisive scholarly essays, in-depth catalog entries, and breathtaking illustrations, this volume draws on the latest research in art history to show why Verrocchio was one of the most innovative and influential of all Florentine artists. Published in association with the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
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