Benk and the Ugly Princess

Benk and the Ugly Princess
Author: S. G. Byrd
Publisher: Light Messages Publishing
Total Pages: 169
Release: 2021-02-09
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1611534062

In Montaland, the mountain world, there are different kingdoms. Rose, a high-ranking princess in one of the kingdoms, has disguised herself to look ugly, but her coverup is exposed and she will soon be forced to marry the highest bidder. She must escape, but how far can she get on her own? Benk is a famous scout who finds Rose and wants to help her, but they are trapped in a cabin by evil wedewolves. Will even Benk be able to plan his way out of this one? Benk and the Ugly Princess is a fun fantasy with likable characters who deal with one danger after another and find that the Maker of all worlds comes through for them—in unexpected ways.

The Brueggen Stones

The Brueggen Stones
Author: S. G. Byrd
Publisher: Light Messages Publishing
Total Pages: 146
Release: 2022-12-27
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1611535158

When two brueggen stones are dropped Over Shagger' s dreary rock Gefcla' s evil will be stopped. Lynn' s life isn' t interesting, until she falls on a Chicago sidewalk and sees yellow, orange, and green lights flitting past. The next time she opens her eyes, she' s in a forest that has huge roots coming out of the ground. A man with tennis ball-sized eyes howls at her— and that' s just the beginning. Chell and the other Stalli warriors are on a hopeless series of raids against a ruthless enemy who outnumbers them. Keshua has given them a foretelling rhyme, but they have no idea how to fulfill it, they feel deathly ill anywhere near a brueggen stone. Is Lynn the answer to saving them? And will she realize it in time to help?

The Tarth Series Boxed Set

The Tarth Series Boxed Set
Author: S. G. Byrd
Publisher: Light Messages Publishing
Total Pages: 603
Release: 2023-05-02
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 161153528X

The Brueggen Stones: When two brueggen stones are dropped Over Shagger' s dreary rock Gefcla' s evil will be stopped. Lynn' s life isn' t interesting, until she falls on a Chicago sidewalk and sees yellow, orange, and green lights flitting past. The next time she opens her eyes, she' s in a forest that has huge roots coming out of the ground. A man with tennis ball-sized eyes howls at her— and that' s just the beginning. Chell and the other Stalli warriors are on a hopeless series of raids against a ruthless enemy who outnumbers them. Keshua has given them a foretelling rhyme, but they have no idea how to fulfill it, they feel deathly ill anywhere near a brueggen stone. Is Lynn the answer to saving them? And will she realize it in time to help? Under the Golden Mists: “ Help me!” the girl' s voice sobs. It' s only a dream, Lacht tells herself. But what if it isn't? Under Wasso Lake live the Wassandra. The underwater people have abnormally long arms and fingers and aren' t to be trusted— at least that' s what Stalli guide, Crispin, tells Lacht and her family as he takes them to a village on the shores of the lake. Lacht is intrigued; especially when she hears the Wassandra want help to find a missing child. Then dreams of the frightened girl begin troubling her. When they arrive at the golden lake, Lacht thinks it' s the most beautiful place she' s ever seen— until a bizarre discovery terrifies her. “ Help me!” cries the Wassandra girl in one last dream, but can Lacht find the courage to face the horrifying creature she sees in that dream? The Opal Cavern: Curl says she' d rather die than spend the rest of her life trapped under Wasso Lake. What if her wish is coming true? Nineteen-years-old and still longing to see new things, Curl plans an exploration trip with Lynn' s sons, Mindik and Chera. Their goal is to find Tarth' s legendary Opal Cavern. Lacht has recurrent, heavy feelings that her Wassandra friend shouldn' t go, but nobody listens and the team leaves. Then Wave learns something from an old Wassandra diary that can mean life or death for Curl. A rescue team rushes off but they don' t know how long it will take to find her. They do know that if they don' t find her soon, time will run out before they can get her back. The Stone Walkers: One of the boulders moved. Slowly, impossibly, it stood upright. A grating sound came from it, and the other boulder slowly moved upward. For a long time, the boulders stood next to each other, motionless. Finally, as if hearing a cue only they could hear, they moved forward out of the small chamber. The Stone Walkers were walking again.

The Montaland Adventures Boxed Set

The Montaland Adventures Boxed Set
Author: S. G. Byrd
Publisher: Light Messages Publishing
Total Pages: 617
Release: 2022-02-08
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1611534682

Captives of the Fern Queen is the first in a series of three stories that take place in Montaland, the mountain world. Montaland is a world of mountains: icy peaks, tree-covered ranges, rocky crags, and lowest of all—the grassy hills of the Kingdom of Mount Pasture. Hills shouldn't be in a mountain world, especially not hills covered by smelly sheep. That's what Mt. Pasture's twelve-year-old Princess Janna thinks anyway, and when she tries to liven up her boring kingdom by telling the old stories to younger kids, everyone gets angry at her. Janna would give anything to get out of her kingdom and see something from the old stories, but when she does get out, it's not exactly what she had in mind. Crawling through a dark tunnel isn't fun and neither is starving as a prisoner of the Fern Queen. Fernpeople: In the second book of the Montaland series the evil Fern Queen is dead but five green-veined fernpeople have survived. They will do anything to protect themselves. The Kingdom of Mount Pasture seems like a peaceful, safe place. The most exciting event in eleven-year-old Benk's life is lambing time. His older brother Alland is traveling to another kingdom to woo a princess. This infuriates Benk who is left behind with pregnant sheep duty. Sixteen-year-old Janna is baking cookies in Mount Pasture's castle kitchen when something hits her on the head, knocking her to the floor. As she loses consciousness, Janna has a dazed vision of a green-veined arm coming around her and roughly lifting her up. Fernpeople have her! Benk “borrows” a horse and sets out from Mount Pasture. Wolves start howling near the fernpeople's hidden cave—and Janna, held hostage, wonders how she can keep going. Benk and the Ugly Princess: In Montaland, the mountain world, there are different kingdoms. Rose, a high-ranking princess in one of the kingdoms, has disguised herself to look ugly, but her coverup is exposed and she will soon be forced to marry the highest bidder. She must escape, but how far can she get on her own? Benk is a famous scout who finds Rose and wants to help her, but they are trapped in a cabin by evil wedewolves. Will even Benk be able to plan his way out of this one? Benk and the Ugly Princess is a fun fantasy with likeable characters who deal with one danger after another and find that the Maker of all worlds comes through for them—in unexpected ways.

The Stone Walkers

The Stone Walkers
Author: S. G. Byrd
Publisher: Light Messages Publishing
Total Pages: 151
Release: 2023-04-25
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1611535182

A depressed eighteen-year-old An old couple with a terrible secret A new exploration on an ancient mountain In the bowels of the mountain, two boulders leaned against a wall in a small chamber. Everything was as it had been for years upon years. No sounds from the explorers working on the surface above penetrated to the chamber. It was the deepest of the deep places. Then the air changed. The change was barely discernible, but it was there. One of the boulders moved. Slowly, impossibly, it stood upright. A grating sound came from it, and the other boulder slowly moved upward. For a long time, the boulders stood next to each other, motionless. Finally, as if hearing a cue only they could hear, they moved forward out of the small chamber. The Stone Walkers were walking again.

Candide

Candide
Author: By Voltaire
Publisher: BookRix
Total Pages: 169
Release: 2019-06-10
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 3736801785

Candide is a French satire by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. It begins with a young man, Candide, who is living a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise and being indoctrinated with Leibnizian optimism (or simply Optimism) by his mentor, Pangloss. The work describes the abrupt cessation of this lifestyle, followed by Candide's slow, painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. Voltaire concludes with Candide, if not rejecting optimism outright, advocating a deeply practical precept, "we must cultivate our garden", in lieu of the Leibnizian mantra of Pangloss, "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds". Candide is characterized by its sarcastic tone, as well as by its erratic, fantastical and fast-moving plot. A picaresque novel it parodies many adventure and romance clichés, the struggles of which are caricatured in a tone that is mordantly matter-of-fact. Still, the events discussed are often based on historical happenings, such as the Seven Years' War and the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. As philosophers of Voltaire's day contended with the problem of evil, so too does Candide in this short novel, albeit more directly and humorously. Voltaire ridicules religion, theologians, governments, armies, philosophies, and philosophers through allegory; most conspicuously, he assaults Leibniz and his optimism. As expected by Voltaire, Candide has enjoyed both great success and great scandal. Immediately after its secretive publication, the book was widely banned because it contained religious blasphemy, political sedition and intellectual hostility hidden under a thin veil of naïveté. However, with its sharp wit and insightful portrayal of the human condition, the novel has since inspired many later authors and artists to mimic and adapt it. Today, Candide is recognized as Voltaire's magnum opus and is often listed as part of the Western canon; it is arguably taught more than any other work of French literature. It was listed as one of The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written.

Dark Rome

Dark Rome
Author: Brenda Paske
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 325
Release: 2010-08-31
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1450252834

There is a sotto-passagio that starts at the top of the Via Veneto and twists and turns underground. It is lit with flattering pink lights in a long strip on the ceiling. The passage goes past the train connections and the Roman Sports Club. Ultimately it arrives at the bottom of the Spanish Steps, saving you the cautious walk down the slippery, uneven Steps themselves. And out you go, into a different, darker Rome. Dark Rome and Other Stories is a four-part collection of twenty-three fantastical stories takes you on journeys of unforeseen resolution. Dark Rome offers tales of an alternate Eternal City where an ancient serpent rules a crumbling palazzo and ones fate can be decided by a single misstep. The Day People is an unfinished novel set in the near future, where one woman forever changes the face of humanity and bold intentions end in devastating consequences. In Between shares stories of the present seen through a looking glass, where ordinary things have extraordinary qualities and the female obsession with handbags is revealed as a dark quest for power. Far Kingdoms tells tales of other lands, populated by mysterious insect-like beings who imagine themselves to be human.

The Snow Queen

The Snow Queen
Author: Hans Christian Andersen
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 43
Release: 2015-04-28
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1443440337

With a single kiss, a young maid saves her beloved from the Snow Queen’s icy imprisonment. When splinters from an evil troll’s magic mirror get into the heart and eye of Kai, he is tricked into accompanying the Snow Queen to her palace, and only the innocence and kindness of Gerda’s heart can save him. The inspiration for Frozen, Hans Christian’s Andersen’s “The Snow Queen” is one of the most beloved fairy tales in history. HarperPerennialClassics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

Plain Kate

Plain Kate
Author: Erin Bow
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2010-09-01
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 0545328764

A debut novel that's as sharp as a knife's point. Plain Kate lives in a world of superstitions and curses, where a song can heal a wound and a shadow can work deep magic. As the wood-carver's daughter, Kate held a carving knife before a spoon, and her wooden charms are so fine that some even call her "witch-blade" -- a dangerous nickname in a town where witches are hunted and burned in the square.