When her best friend, Gemma, loses her parents in a tragic fire, Jessilyn's father vows to care for her as one of his own, despite the fact that Gemma is black and prejudice is prevalent in their southern Virginia town. Violence springs up as a ragtag band of Ku Klux Klan members unite and decide to take matters into their own hands. As tensions mount in the small community, loyalties are tested and Jessilyn is forced to say good-bye to the carefree days of her youth. Fireflies in December is the 2007 winner of the Christian Writers Guild's Operation First Novel contest.

    David Hare's play, which details the struggle of four clergymen to make sense of their mission in South London, opened to universal acclaim.

    This narrative history masterfully weaves together the sweeping events surrounding the so-called “Babylonian captivity” of the popes into the broader story of 14th-century Europe, a turbulent time of transition between Middle Ages and Renaissance when seven successive popes resided in Avignon in the south of France.

    Its journey from port town to Portugal's capital was not always smooth sailing―in 1755 the city was devastated by the largest earthquake ever to strike modern Europe, followed by a catastrophic tsunami and a six-day inferno that turned sand to glass.Barry Hatton unearths these forgotten memories in a vivid account of Lisbon’s colourful past and present, bringing to life the 1147 siege during the Iberian reconquista, the assassination of the king, the founding of a republic and the darkness of a modern dictatorship. He reveals the rich, international heritage of Portugal's metropolis―the gateway to the Atlantic and the unrivalled Queen of the Sea.

    Callum’s a nought. Sephy’s a Cross. In their world, they simply don’t fit – it’s as clear as black and white. But their childhood friendship has grown into intense, burning love. They have to find a way to be together. Then Sephy’s kidnapped, and Callum’s faced with a choice– his love for Sephy or his loyalty to his brother. Once that choice is made, there can be no looking back. An explosive and passionate short story, set during the timeline of Malorie Blackman’s original dystopian bestseller, Noughts and Crosses.The World Book Day App is available for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch and is absolutely FREE!

    Detailed in this 192-page core supplement are the most prominent religions and deities of the Realms. Each divine power is covered in depth by an entry that includes information about the deity's appearance, personality, worshipers, portfolio, aliases, domain name, superior, allies, foes, symbol, worshipers' alignments, avatar, manifestations, church and specialty priests. The information on each religion includes its core dogma, day-to-day activities of priests, holy days and important ceremonies, major centers of worship, affiliated orders, and the priestly vestments and adventuring garb of members of the clergy. Finally, each entry contains spells specific to each of the religions - some new, some long unavailable or hard to find and some updated to conform with the current AD&D game rules. Faiths & Avatars includes: • All the greater, intermediate and lesser deities of the Faerûnian pantheon • The honored dead, including Bane, Bhaal, Moander, Myrkul and Leira, among others • Expanded and clarified specialty priest classes and specific spells for all religions with priesthoods • Color illustrations of priests from every faith in ceremonial dress • Four additional general priest classes now official to the Forgotten Realms campaign setting: crusaders, monks, mystics and shamans.

    From floral truck bolts and taxi altars to buffalo cart furniture and drinks in a bags, the same exquisite care, craft and improvisation resounds through home and street, bar and wardrobe. Never colonised, Thai culture retains nuanced ancient meaning in the most mundane things. The days are colour coded, lucky numbers dictate prices, window grilles become guardian angels, tattoos entrance the wearer. Philip scoured each region to show how indigenous wisdom both adapts to the present and customises imports, applying Roman architecture to shophouses, morphing rock into festive farm music, turning the Japanese motor-rickshaw into the tuk-tuk. Colour-saturated illustrations help you navigate various social traits, whether white-faced hi-so matrons or Red Bullswilling workers wearing coins in their ear. This is Thai culture as it has never been shown before.

    A youth called Alric is captured and his brother, thirteen year old Jørren, decides to undertake the seemingly impossible task of rescuing him. Accompanied only by a slave not much older than he is, Jørren sets out to find Alric. His quest takes him into war-torn East Anglia and up through Northumbria as far as Hadrian’s Wall. On the way he gathers a rag-tag collection of orphans and welds them into a small, tightly-knit, warband. They play a small, but important, part in the struggle against the Vikings before eventually reaching Wessex, where Alfred has just become king. Now older and an experienced warrior, Jørren joins him and over subsequent years rises in status to become one of Wessex’s ealdormen. However, the Vikings are determined to defeat Alfred and complete their conquest of England. By 871 AD it is doubtful whether Jørren or Wessex itself can survive their onslaught. This first novel in the Saga of Wessex series will enthral all readers who have come to love H A Culley’s previous books set in early medieval Northumbria.

    Rooted in the faith of Israel and the Christian story and vision, Willimon brings a Wesleyan perspective to bear on what may be the hardest thing for people of faith to do: keeping and loving the "Other" as they are - without any need for them to become like us.Emphasizing biblical teaching to receive Others for who they are and their differences as gifts and mysteries bearing the grace of God, Willimon also offers a strong critique of the privileged who all too often rush to speak of reconciliation and evade the injustice of huge inequalities faced by foreigners and strangers - as well as the antagonism the stranger experiences. He identifies concrete, everyday ways persons are formed in welcoming others without annihilating their differences.Rooted in the New Testament understanding of Gentile outsiders grafted into the covenant community, Willimon invites readers to an on-the-ground faith that remembers the God who comes to us again and again through so-called outsiders, strangers, immigrants, and those without status. Beyond welcome, Christians must become "other" to the world, shaking off the dominant culture's identity and privilege through practices of listening, humility, and understanding."I love Will Willimon, and I love this book. Will writes with prophetic sarcasm, a touch of humor, plenty of self-effacement, and a pastor's heart. And his words will make you laugh, cringe, cry, confess, and repent. This is a very timely book. I urge you, prospective reader, as you read this blurb on the back cover: buy and read it! You'll be grateful you did." --Adam Hamilton, senior pastor, The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, Leawood, KS; author of Half Truths"This gutsy, biblically rich, theologically searing book by Willimon gigs everybody's sacred cow. Not only is the one whom Christ loves Other but God is Other. The ground beneath us shakes the walls that divide us. If you are holed-up happy with people who look like you, don't read this thing. It will screw up your world." --Tex Sample, Robert B. and Kathleen Rogers Professor Emeritus of Church and Society, Saint Paul School of Theology, Leawood, KS"Timely and prophetic, Willimon's call to love the Other will quickly take hold of your soul, changing your preaching and your life. This book is not just a reminder of our Christian calling to welcome the Other but a call to conversion, a new way of seeing the neighbor and a new way of being in the world God desperately loves." --Karoline M. Lewis, Marbury E. Anderson Chair of Biblical Preaching, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN"Bishop Willimon's new book should come with a warning: Do not read unless you are ready to be changed and want to change the world!" --O. Wesley Allen Jr., Lois Craddock Perkins Professor of Homiletics, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX Now with a New Introduction!

    Sent from his native India to study at the finest school in Britain, the charismatic youth was groomed for the messianic role of World Teacher—a mantle he would ultimately cast off, unleashing a storm of controversy within the spiritual community. And through inner doubts and physical agony—through bitter trials of the mind, the body, and the soul—he would follow his own path to enlightenment and become a shining beacon of joy and truth to millions the world over.