Whether it is the three headed guard dog Fluffy in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, or even the story of Smaug in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth in The Hobbit; all these pop culture mythical creatures have a deep connection to the mythologies and folktales of ancient cultures.Where did they come from? What relevance do they serve in mythology? Why are some so obscure, while others become pop-culture enigmas? Get the answer to these questions, and learn about beasts from different world cultures.Folklorist Zayden Stone dives deep into the stories of these magical beasts and providesa fictional anecdote,a retelling of the original myths,an analysis of the symbolism and relevance of the creatures,and then pairs it with some beautiful black and white illustrations reimagined by artist Herdhian.In the Mythical Creatures and Mythological Beasts book, the illustrated guide takes you through six themes that have been specifically chosen since they are consistent across cultures. The categories include:arthropods for insects, crustaceans, and arachnids;avian for birds;canines for wolves and dogs;serpents for snakes and dragons;ungulates for hooved animals like horses and cows; andaquatic for water dwelling beasts.Presenting the creatures in categories makes it easier to see what the beasts have in common. You will find some overlapping themes across ancient cultures that point to universal ideas in how humans perceive the world.If you wonder where your favorite creature is, you will probably find them within these pages, even if they do not have their own chapter. For example, the ever-popular Pegasus can be found in the tale of the Gorgon sisters. He also had a half-brother, Arion, who features in the ungulates section. There is also a brilliant white-winged horse from Islamic tradition which may sound very familiar to Pegasus as well.If you have a love for the myths and want to learn about the unique beasts that dwell within them, this book is a great way to do it. Not only will you learn about ones you may have never heard of, but you will also be able to draw parallels between cultures and see how they interpreted their surroundings through stories of mythical creatures and magical beasts.

    A direct descendant of the legendary mountain man Smoke Jensen, he is destined to continue his ancestor's legacy of heroism. For the courage, strength, and honor of a man never dies... Into The Dark Lieutenant Colonel Art Jensen finds himself a soldier without an army after he is caught on tape killing an Iraqi terrorist in a Baghdad firefight--only to have the media make him out to be a murderer. A career spent serving his beloved country now seems to be over... Until Jensen receives a new set of orders--secret orders. He is promoted to brigadier general, and placed in charge of the Special Function Unit--a new, covert "black ops" team. A team of one. The terrorists are already here. Financed and trained by a billionaire Saudi prince determined to bring the infidel America to its knees, a number of sleeper cells within the U.S are being activated. Officially, the politically protected prince is untouchable, and his campaign of terror stands ready to begin. But Art Jensen is no longer a soldier bound by orders--he's a weapon, bound by duty and honor, and he has one mission: to destroy the enemy within.

    Neither does Benjamin Purdue. In a single day he lost his family, his love, his freedom and even his name for reasons he's never known. Now after spending twenty-one years in prison for crimes he didn't commit, the young man he used to be is dead. And the man he's become is no one he--or anyone else--would ever want to know.With only fifty dollars of state money in his pocket, Henry Cole, aka Benjamin Purdue, journeys back to the dangerous outlaw settlement hidden deep in the Allegheny Mountains of Virginia where it all began. The only place he's called home.Instead of answers, he finds only old sunken graves. Now as he drifts southward, he gets closer to the beautiful woman he will never forget--whose untimely visit to Shady that fateful Sunday afternoon ended in a killing. A woman who holds the keys to his past...and his future.

    

    

    But after a month of bliss, they suddenly find themselves in rough waters. When Kyle inherits four oil wells from his uncle, he sees his affluence as an opportunity to impress Gretchen. But just before he makes his move, Gretchen hears news of an oil tanker spilling its load near the coast of Alaska. Leaving Kyle behind in Texas, she joins a group of campus activists in Alaska for the summer to clean oil from suffering birds.Kyle is torn between managing his business--and being left lonely in the Lone Star state--and risking everything to fly to Alaska to pursue Gretchen. The young oil man soon discovers that oil slicks are nothing compared to relational slicks. The early bird may get the worm, but the oily bird can ruin romance!

    Everybody goes to Olivier's Bistro―including a stranger whose murdered body is found on the floor. When Chief Inspector Gamache is called to investigate, he is dismayed to discover that Olivier's story is full of holes. Why are his fingerprints all over the cabin that's uncovered deep in the wilderness, with priceless antiques and the dead man's blood? And what other secrets and layers of lies are buried in the seemingly idyllic village?Gamache follows a trail of clues and treasures―from first editions of Charlotte's Web and Jane Eyre to a spiderweb with a word mysteriously woven in it―into the woods and across the continent, before returning to Three Pines to confront the truth and the final, brutal telling.It is Winter Carnival in Quebec City, bitterly cold and surpassingly beautiful. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache has come not to join the revels but to recover from an investigation gone hauntingly wrong. But violent death is inescapable, even in the apparent sanctuary of the Literary and Historical Society--where an obsessive historian's quest for the remains of the founder of Quebec, Samuel de Champlain, ends in murder. Could a secret buried with Champlain for nearly four hundred years be so dreadful that someone would kill to protect it?Meanwhile, Gamache is receiving disquieting letters from the village of Three Pines, where beloved Bistro owner Olivier was recently convicted of murder. "It doesn't make sense," Olivier's partner writes every day. "He didn't do it, you know."As past and present collide in this astonishing novel, Gamache must relive a terrible event from his own past before he can begin to bury his dead.

    Take forty-something Jane Larson. Although she views her situation with wry humor, her life feels frozen. An architect, she's had the same job for eighteen years, designing chain banks, grocery stores, and dry cleaners instead of the beautiful houses she craves to create. Living in Brooklyn with her difficult teenage daughters, she's lost all hope for the possibility of love or excitement.Then she's let go from her firm and is suddenly free to pursue her career dreams. And when she contacts her old college flame, an exhilarating long-distance correspondence with him reawakens that part of her she's long ignored. Does Jane have the courage to gamble with her heart? Can happily-ever-after be a reality for people who've done it all before?With warmth and humor Fields explores the territory of middle age, proving that it's never too late to reinvent your life, or to take the risks that bring us the pleasures we all deserve.

    A world that operates similar to the video games Daniel has always enjoyed, Ethria is a place where power can be found in many forms, both light and dark, and whose true purpose is unknown even to most of its denizens. Taking the long way home, Daniel will make another choice, to help a group of persecuted people whose story mirrors that of his pioneer ancestors. But In a time when Gods are changing, the people of every race suffer, the foundations of nations shift, and change and danger are in the very air, what can one under-leveled, foreign wizard do? All the while at the roof of the world, at the base of the Sawtooth Mountains a darkness grows, a creature plots, and an ancient evil from the foundations of the world seeks to re-emerge onto Ethria.”

    

     The Agency's purpose coincides with its leader, Hyperion. As the father to the sun, the moon and the dawn, the Greek Titan endeavors along with his vast network to ensure the world keeps turning. Abigail Davenport, a descendant of the Titan and powerful magic wielder, must adapt the network she established before it falls behind with the changing technological world. She uncovers a plot to destroy all that she built along with millions of innocent lives. Tadeas Duarte, a Mayan Jaguar Guardian, works in the basement of The Agency's facility in Boulder, Colorado. He may be the Agency's best trainer, but he vows never to use his talents again, after a tragic accident. His unique shifting ability and tether to the spirit world make him the best candidate to join Abigail. She must convince him that his talents are a gift and not a curse. A dire warning from the Archangel Gabriel compels Abigail and Tadeas confirm their alliance and seek out the enemy. Together they will discover the true face of evil, the power of partnership and that sometimes you've got to have faith.

     So, what did Sadie Valentine do next? After an emotional voyage through the minefield of anxiety and depression, Sadie decides to use her experience with mental health to help others. Becoming a counsellor for the support group that once helped her takes Sadie’s life in a completely new direction and she soon finds herself absorbed in her new role. Knowing that she’s aiding other sufferers through their darkest days gives her the ultimate job satisfaction, but when a mysterious and troubled man attends Anxiety Anonymous, Sadie wonders if she is out of her depth. Dealing with Aidan Wilder proves trickier than Sadie expected and it’s not long before those closest to her start to express their concerns. What led a dishevelled Aidan to the support group? As Sadie delves further into his life, her own demons make themselves known. Will unearthing Aidan’s story cause Sadie to fall back into the dark world she fought so hard to escape? Join Sadie as she guides other sufferers back to mental wellness and battles her own torment along the way… PRAISE FOR ANXIETY GIRL A fantastic insight into the fear, dread and debilitating illness that is anxiety and depression. Brilliantly written and very well observed. An eye-opening, thoroughly enjoyable and very relatable read. I honestly couldn't put this book down! Entertaining, sometimes desperately sad, very often uplifting and hugely life-affirming. Another magnificent achievement for Lacey's remarkable pen. I'll never forget it.

    Nick Martin has just started graduate school when he’s dragooned into serving as the driver, guide and confidant of a blind poet by the name of Jorge Luis Borges. Together they must address an extraordinary series of crimes and the equally baffling conundrums of literature and philosophy, including Zeno’s paradoxes, the mind/body problem, and the mysteries of destiny, personal identity and artistic creation. Nick plays the parts of Watson, Sancho Panza, Dante and Stephen Daedalus, and before the story ends he hears the last tale of Scheherazade and finds the love of his life. Forty-five years later, struggling with pain and grief, he looks back with wonder at the magical year when he wandered into the labyrinth and took his first steps to self-understanding.Lighthearted but deeply serious, The Philosophical Detective is a unique journey into the visionary world of a genius.Kirkus Reviews called The Philosophical Detective “...a suspenseful, pitch-perfect novel with an unlikely lead detective: a fictionalized version of iconic Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986)..... An intelligent, original detective novel.”Note: With my apologies, at this time the book is available only in the United States.

    Settler wagons in their hundreds left the safety of the Cape Colony; generations on, their descendents are still fighting to keep a land they love...... "For that smallest of moments the two men stared at each other. Between them flew a hundred years, a thousand reasons. Ancient prophecies, the creak of wagons over rough ground and a woman's yearning for infinite horizons, the strengthening of one man's belief and the imminent death of another."From Rhodesia's final years, the clock turns back to the windswept, dusty streets of Kimberley’s infamous diamond fields. For Catherine Goddard and her son, Mathew, their decision to cross the Limpopo as part of a settler wagon train is one borne of desperation and a boy's need to be reunited with his father. For three months their ox-drawn trek wagon stands as their only defence against the African wilderness and the bloodlust of Lobengula Khumalo’s warring impis.Throughout the passage of a hundred years, three racially divided families are fatefully drawn together. Dynasties are shaped and smashed by kings, warrior chiefs and the indomitable lust for power and wealth by men like Cecil Rhodes and the perpetrators of Zimbabwe’s chaotic new order.From the latter part of the nineteenth century, Sons of Africa runs inexorably to the demise of Rhodesia’s white minority rule and the emergence of the new Zimbabwe.

    An historical comedy about two bumbling botanists sent into the southern wilderness by Thomas Jefferson to look for something that isn't there. A novel in the spirit of Lewis and Clark (who make cameo appearences). Replete with wild Indians, river pirates, the kidnapped son of King Louis XVI, the lost colony of Roanoke, and much more. A non-stop romp full of life and humor and the sensibility of early America.