Thirteen Skulls and Other Tales

Thirteen Skulls and Other Tales
Author: Art Wiederhold
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 520
Release: 2007-11
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0595480004

Thirteen Skulls & Other Tales is a collection of eleven stories that span four years of the reign of Arka-Dal, the legendary Emperor of Thule. The Emperor and his friends encounter vengeful witches, demonic armies, undead pirates, dragons and invading armies. To make things even more interesting, they have to contend with magical powers run amok, explore the Haunted Ruins and search for a mythical lost continent. Along the way, Arka-Dal picks up two new wives, sires four children and makes a couple of unusual allies. Thirteen Skulls & Other Tales is one of the best-written collections of short adventure stories of all time. It adds new dimensions to the Thulian Chronicles and proves beyond a doubt that Art Wiederhold is the best fantasy writer on the planet!

Chaos Ascendant & Other Tales

Chaos Ascendant & Other Tales
Author: Art Wiederhold
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
Total Pages: 291
Release: 2014-10-06
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1490747842

Talk about ironic... A horror almost as ancient as the universe itself is stirring after its centuries-long slumber. As it wakes, it sends out millions of demonic Minions who threaten to overrun Hell and destroy all life in their path. The only ones standing between them and Earth are the creatures of the Abyss and another, darker race, that also seeks to escape from the invaders. As they war against each other and the Minions, they are slowly but surely being driven from their homelands. In order to keep Earth from being devoured by the Beast, Arka-Dal and his friends must enter the Abyss and find a way to unite and fight alongside the very demons and monsters he had condemned to fight this eternal war... In short, the Demonslayer now must become the Demon Savior! Chaos Ascendant takes the reader on a wild, action packed ride through tortured landscapes and the lowest planes of Hell itself. It is a must read for all fans of high fantasy and the author's famed Thulian Chronicles series.

Out to Get You

Out to Get You
Author: Josh Allen
Publisher: Holiday House
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2019-09-03
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0823443949

Thirteen ordinary kids. Thirteen ordinary towns. Danger lurks around every corner! "Wonderful and weird, compelling and unsettling." - Gary Schmidt, two-time Newbery Honor author Get ready for a collection of thirteen short stories that will chill your bones, tingle your spine, and scare your pants off. Debut author Josh Allen masterfully concocts horror in the most innocent places, like R.L. Stine meets a modern Edgar Allan Poe. A stray kitten turns into a threatening follower. The street sign down the block starts taunting you. Even your own shadow is out to get you! Spooky things love hiding in plain sight. The everyday world is full of sinister secrets and these page-turning stories show that there's darkness even where you least expect it. Readers will sleep with one eye open. . . . A glow-in-the-dark cover and thirteen eerie full-page illustrations by award-winning artist Sarah J. Coleman accompany the tales in this frightful mashup that reads like a contemporary Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Don't miss the author and illustrator's other creepy collections: Once They See You and Only If You Dare. A Junior Library Guild Selection An ILA-CBC Children's Choice!

Vengeance Is Mine

Vengeance Is Mine
Author: Richard E. Turley
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 521
Release: 2023
Genre: Massacres
ISBN: 0195397851

"Published by Oxford University Press in 2008, Massacre at Mountain Meadows relied on new and exhaustive research to tell the story of one of the grimmest episodes in Latter-day Saint history. On September 11, 1857, southern Utah settlers slaughtered more than 100 emigrants of a California-bound wagon train. In this much-anticipated sequel, Richard E. Turley Jr. and Barbara Jones Brown follow up that volume with an examination of the aftermath of the atrocity. In greater detail than ever before, Vengeance Is Mine documents southern Utah leaders' attempts to cover up their crime by silencing witnesses and spreading lies about the victims and perpetrators of the crime. Investigations by both governmental and church bodies were stymied by stonewalling and political wrangling. While nine men were eventually indicted, five were captured and only one, John D. Lee, was executed. The book examines the maneuvering of the defense and prosecution in Lee's two trials, the second ending in Lee's conviction. The book examines the fraught relationship between Lee and church president Brigham Young, including what Young knew of the crime and when he knew it. The book also tells the story of the seventeen young children who survived the massacre and their later return to Arkansas, from where the ill-fated wagon train originated. The book traces the fate of the perpetrators to the end of their lives, including the harrowing demise of Nephi Johnson, who screamed, "Blood! Blood! Blood!" in the delirium of his death bed more than sixty years after the massacre"--

Tales From Development Hell (New Updated Edition)

Tales From Development Hell (New Updated Edition)
Author: David Hughes
Publisher: Titan Books (US, CA)
Total Pages: 412
Release: 2012-02-28
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 085768731X

A compulsively readable journey into the area of movie-making where all writers, directors and stars fear to tread: Development Hell, the place where scripts are written, actors hired and sets designed... but the movies rarely actually get made! Whatever happened to Darren Aronofsky's Batman movie starring Clint Eastwood? Why were there so many scripts written over the years for Steven Spielberg and George Lucas's fourth Indiana Jones movie? Why was Lara Croft's journey to the big screen so tortuous, and what prevented Paul Verhoeven from filming what he calls "one of the greatest scripts ever written"? Why did Ridley Scott's Crisis in the Hot Zone collapse days away from filming, and were the Beatles really set to star in Lord of the Rings? What does Neil Gaiman think of the attempts to adapt his comic book series The Sandman? All these lost projects, and more, are covered in this major book, which features many exclusive interviews with the writers and directors involved.

Knotting the Banner

Knotting the Banner
Author: David J. Mozina
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2021-06-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0824886704

In the hills of China’s central Hunan province, an anxious young apprentice officiates over a Daoist ritual known as the Banner Rite to Summon Sire Yin. Before a crowd of masters, relatives, and villagers—and the entire pantheon of gods and deceased masters ritually invited to witness the event—he seeks to summon Celestial Lord Yin Jiao, the ferocious deity who supplies the exorcistic power to protect and heal bodies and spaces from illness and misfortune. If the apprentice cannot bring forth the deity, the rite is considered a failure and the ordination suspended: His entire professional career hangs in the balance before it even begins. This richly textured study asks how the Banner Rite works or fails to work in its own terms. How do the cosmological, theological, and anthropological assumptions ensconced in the ritual itself account for its own efficacy or inefficacy? Weaving together ethnography, textual analysis, photography, and film, David J. Mozina invites readers into the religious world of ritual masters in today’s south China. He shows that the efficacy of rituals like the Banner Rite is driven by the ability of a ritual master to form an intimate relationship with exorcistic deities like Yin Jiao, which is far from guaranteed. Mozina reveals the ways in which such ritual claims are rooted in the great liturgical movements of the Song and Yuan dynasties (960–1368) and how they are performed these days amid the social and economic pressures of rural life in the post-Mao era. Written for students and scholars of Daoism and Chinese religion, Knotting the Banner will also appeal to anthropologists and comparative religionists, especially those working on ritual.

From the Depths of Evil

From the Depths of Evil
Author: Art Wiederhold
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
Total Pages: 501
Release: 2012-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1466922540

In this tenth installment of the Thulian Chronicles, Arka-Dal, who is the emperor of Thule, and his friends have to contend with a series of calamities and menaces, any of which could bring the empire tumbling down around their ears. They find themselves battling everything, from invading armies, an insane wizard, beings from another galaxy, ancient curses, and the devil himself. Along the way, Arka-Dal gains an unexpected ally, new wives and discovers his vengeful side. This is a rollicking, wild, roller-coaster ride that is a must-read for fans of the previous nine installments and will also appeal to lovers of high adventure.

Crystals, Mother Earth and the Forces of Living Nature

Crystals, Mother Earth and the Forces of Living Nature
Author: Nigel Graddon
Publisher: SCB Distributors
Total Pages: 471
Release: 2023-11-01
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 1948803682

The theme of this new book from Nigel Graddon is Mother Earth and her magnificent powers, both visible and invisible. In extolling Mother Earth’s virtues in the face of humanity’s increasing assaults upon nature, Graddon presents a three-part narrative through the medium of crystal, “solidified light,” according to the ancients. Part 1, Physical Crystal, describes the origins of the Universe and our Earth, and the gradual evolution of the mineral kingdom in its diverse forms, which find their highest vibrational power in the mysterious world of crystal. Part 2, Amazing Crystal, examines mind-blowing uses of crystal in the past and present, and in its future potential. Among its highlights are in the past the Great Pyramids original crystal tip, the amazing legend of the Rose Queen Goddess of Languedoc, Dr. Dee’s scrying mirror and amethyst pendant, and the Black Stone and the Goddess; present day applications in science, technology and health; and exotic future applications such as Time Crystals and Quasicrystals. An extensive Part 3, Living Crystal, observes that Goddess worship as a symbol of humanity’s love for Mother Nature prevailed until relatively recently in our very long history upon Earth. Graddon examines this phenomenon in the context of the forces of living nature that maintain and nourish the physical experience. Special focus is put on the history of Goddess worship and its mysterious initiation rites. This is followed by an analysis of Mother Earth’s living forces, including the legendary Crystal Skulls of Mesoamerica; the true nature and origins of crop circles and UFOs; the work of the Elementals (the caretakers and pulse of Nature) in planet maintenance; Man, Nature and the Ancient Wisdoms; the role of the classical Four Elements in determining mans metaphysical make-up; the challenges involved in going beyond the Subconscious Mind towards a more unified and balanced experience in living life on this beautiful planet in partnership with Mother Earth and not as adversaries; an investigation of the invisible crystal structure of the Earth and its connectivity with human crystalline DNA; the power of crystals in health and healing, including color, especially as it relates to the human aura. The book concludes with an account of a San Franciscan residents amazing journey back in time to the heart of a mysterious crystal skull community in Chile’s Andean mountains. The book is populated throughout by scores of illustrations and images.

Minnesota History Bulletin

Minnesota History Bulletin
Author: Solon Justus Buck
Publisher:
Total Pages: 640
Release: 1920
Genre: Minnesota
ISBN:

Vols. 2-6 include the 19th-23d Biennial reports of the Society, 1915/16-1923/24 (in v. 2-3 as supplements, in v. 4-6 as extra numbers)