Trial of Intentions

Trial of Intentions
Author: Peter Orullian
Publisher: Tor Books
Total Pages: 720
Release: 2015-05-26
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1429949619

The second title in the Vault of Heaven series, Peter Orullian's Trial of Intentions is a mesmerizing fantasy epic that turns the conventions of the genre on its head The gods who created this world have abandoned it. In their mercy, however, they chained the rogue god—and the monstrous creatures he created to plague mortalkind—in the vast and inhospitable wasteland of the Bourne. The magical Veil that contains them has protected humankind for millennia and the monsters are little more than tales told to frighten children. But the Veil has become weak and creatures of Nightmare have come through. To fight them, the races of men must form a great alliance to try and stop the creatures. But there is dissent. One king won't answer the call, his pride blinding him even to the poison in his own court. Another would see Convocation fail for his own political advantage. And still others believe Convocation is not enough. Some turn to the talents of the Sheason, who can shape the very essence of the world to their will. But their order is divided, on the brink of collapse. Tahn Junell remembers friends who despaired in a place left barren by war. One of the few who have actually faced the unspeakable horde in battle, Tahn sees something else at work and wonders about the nature of the creatures on the other side of the Veil. He chooses to go to a place of his youth, a place of science, daring to think he can find a way to prevent slaughter, prevent war. And his choices may reshape a world . . . . At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Trial of Intentions

Trial of Intentions
Author: Peter Orullian
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 672
Release: 2015-05-26
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0765325721

The gods who created this world have abandoned it. In their mercy, however, they chained the rogue god—and the monstrous creatures he created to plague mortalkind—in the vast and inhospitable wasteland of the Bourne. The magical Veil that contains them has protected humankind for millennia and the monsters are little more than tales told to frighten children. But the Veil has become weak and creatures of Nightmare have come through. To fight them, the races of men must form a great alliance to try and stop the creatures. But there is dissent. One king won't answer the call, his pride blinding him even to the poison in his own court. Another would see Convocation fail for his own political advantage. And still others believe Convocation is not enough. Some turn to the talents of the Sheason, who can shape the very essence of the world to their will. But their order is divided, on the brink of collapse. Tahn Junell remembers friends who despaired in a place left barren by war. One of the few who have actually faced the unspeakable horde in battle, Tahn sees something else at work and wonders about the nature of the creatures on the other side of the Veil. He chooses to go to a place of his youth, a place of science, daring to think he can find a way to prevent slaughter, prevent war. And his choices may reshape a world . . . . The second title in the Vault of Heaven series, Peter Orullian's Trial of Intentions is a mesmerizing fantasy epic that turns the conventions of the genre on its head

Excellent Intentions

Excellent Intentions
Author: Richard Hull
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Total Pages: 170
Release: 2018-10-02
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1464209766

Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder "This droll and inventive golden age mystery, first published in 1938, from Hull (1896-1973) offers a courtroom-based whodunit with a twist." —Publishers Weekly STARRED review 'From the point of view of the nation, it's a good thing that he died.' Great Barwick's least popular man is murdered on a train. Twelve jurors sit in court. Four suspects are identified—but which of them is on trial? This novel has all the makings of a classic murder mystery, but with a twist: as Attorney-General Anstruther Blayton leads the court through prosecution and defence, Inspector Fenby carries out his investigation. All this occurs while the identity of the figure in the dock is kept tantalisingly out of reach. Excellent Intentions is a classic crime novel laced with irreverent wit, first published in 1938.

Evil Intentions

Evil Intentions
Author: Ronald J. Watkins
Publisher: William Morrow & Company
Total Pages: 296
Release: 1992
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780688102708

The account of Suzanne Rossetti's abduction, rape, and murder by Michael David Logan and Jesse James Gillies discusses the events leading up to the crime, the hunt for the killers, and their trial. 30,000 first printing. $25,000 ad/promo.

Deliberate Intent

Deliberate Intent
Author: Rodney A. Smolla
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group (NY)
Total Pages: 296
Release: 1999
Genre: Law
ISBN:

The riveting account of the landmark "Hit Man Case"--involving a man who hired a contract killer to execute his ex-wife, his severely brain-damaged son, and the boy's nurse--written by a noted First Amendment attorney who risked his reputation and career to take on the case.

The Unremembered

The Unremembered
Author: Peter Orullian
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 946
Release: 2012-01-31
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780765364692

A sprawling, complex tale of magic and destiny that won't disappoint its readers. This auspicious beginning for author Peter Orullian will have you looking forward to more.--Terry Brooks.

Good Intentions (The Road to Hell Series, Book 1)

Good Intentions (The Road to Hell Series, Book 1)
Author: Brenda K. Davies
Publisher: Brenda K. Davies
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2024-09-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

This series contains the king of demons falling for one feisty heroine, lots of love, no cheating, and creatures from your wildest imagination. River Thirteen years have passed since the war started, bombs fell, and the central states became a thing of the past. When the war ended, the government erected a wall to divide the surviving states from the destroyed ones. I never expected to leave my town, but unlike those who volunteered to go, I wasn't given a choice. With a dim knowledge of my strange abilities, the soldiers came for me. They took me beyond the wall, where I learned the truth is far more terrifying than I imagined. Alone, with humans and demons eager to see what I can do, I find myself irresistibly drawn to the one man I should avoid most—a man who isn't even really a man. Kobal I've spent my entire life with one mission… reclaim my throne from Lucifer and fix what the angels tore apart when they cast him from Heaven. Not even when the humans tore open the gates, and unleashed Hell on Earth, did I waver from my goal. I've never been closer to my throne, yet I find myself risking everything because I can't stay away from her… the woman who might be the key to destroying Lucifer. *** Due to sexual content, violence, and language, this book is recommended for readers 18+ years of age.***

Despite the Best Intentions

Despite the Best Intentions
Author: Amanda E. Lewis
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2015-08-04
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0190250879

On the surface, Riverview High School looks like the post-racial ideal. Serving an enviably affluent, diverse, and liberal district, the school is well-funded, its teachers are well-trained, and many of its students are high achieving. Yet Riverview has not escaped the same unrelenting question that plagues schools throughout America: why is it that even when all of the circumstances seem right, black and Latino students continue to lag behind their peers? Through five years' worth of interviews and data-gathering at Riverview, John Diamond and Amanda Lewis have created a rich and disturbing portrait of the achievement gap that persists more than fifty years after the formal dismantling of segregation. As students progress from elementary school to middle school to high school, their level of academic achievement increasingly tracks along racial lines, with white and Asian students maintaining higher GPAs and standardized testing scores, taking more advanced classes, and attaining better college admission results than their black and Latino counterparts. Most research to date has focused on the role of poverty, family stability, and other external influences in explaining poor performance at school, especially in urban contexts. Diamond and Lewis instead situate their research in a suburban school, and look at what factors within the school itself could be causing the disparity. Most crucially, they challenge many common explanations of the 'racial achievement gap,' exploring what race actually means in this situation, and why it matters. An in-depth study with far-reaching consequences, Despite the Best Intentions revolutionizes our understanding of both the knotty problem of academic disparities and the larger question of the color line in American society.

Understanding Social Signals: How Do We Recognize the Intentions of Others?

Understanding Social Signals: How Do We Recognize the Intentions of Others?
Author: Sebastian Loth
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Total Pages: 143
Release: 2016-05-30
Genre: Human-robot interaction
ISBN: 2889198456

Powerful and economic sensors such as high definition cameras and corresponding recognition software have become readily available, e.g. for face and motion recognition. However, designing user interfaces for robots, phones and computers that facilitate a seamless, intuitive, and apparently effortless communication as between humans is still highly challenging. This has shifted the focus from developing ever faster and higher resolution sensors to interpreting available sensor data for understanding social signals and recognising users' intentions. Psychologists, Ethnologists, Linguists and Sociologists have investigated social behaviour in human-human interaction. But their findings are rarely applied in the human-robot interaction domain. Instead, robot designers tend to rely on either proof-of-concept or machine learning based methods. In proving the concept, developers effectively demonstrate that users are able to adapt to robots deployed in the public space. Typically, an initial period of collecting human-robot interaction data is used for identifying frequently occurring problems. These are then addressed by adjusting the interaction policies on the basis of the collected data. However, the updated policies are strongly biased by the initial design of the robot and might not reflect natural, spontaneous user behaviour. In the machine learning approach, learning algorithms are used for finding a mapping between the sensor data space and a hypothesised or estimated set of intentions. However, this brute-force approach ignores the possibility that some signals or modalities are superfluous or even disruptive in intention recognition. Furthermore, this method is very sensitive to peculiarities of the training data. In sum, both methods cannot reliably support natural interaction as they crucially depend on an accurate model of human intention recognition. Therefore, approaches to social robotics from engineers and computer scientists urgently have to be informed by studies of intention recognition in natural human-human communication. Combining the investigation of natural human behaviour and the design of computer and robot interfaces can significantly improve the usability of modern technology. For example, robots will be easier to use by a broad public if they can interpret the social signals that users spontaneously produce for conveying their intentions anyway. By correctly identifying and even anticipating the user's intention, the user will perceive that the system truly understands her/his needs. Vice versa, if a robot produces socially appropriate signals, it will be easier for its users to understand the robot's intentions. Furthermore, studying natural behaviour as a basis for controlling robots and other devices results in greater robustness, responsiveness and approachability. Thus, we welcome submissions that (a) investigate how relevant social signals can be identified in human behaviour, (b) investigate the meaning of social signals in a specific context or task, (c) identify the minimal set of intentions for describing a context or task, (d) demonstrate how insights from the analysis of social behaviour can improve a robot's capabilities, or (e) demonstrate how a robot can make itself more understandable to the user by producing more human-like social signals.

Wicked Intentions

Wicked Intentions
Author: Kevin Flynn
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 381
Release: 2009-12-29
Genre: True Crime
ISBN: 0312575777

An analysis of the case of serial killer Sheila LaBarre describes how she killed a sequence of young men at her farm over the course of several years and based her defense on a claim that she was an avenging angel sent to stop pedophiles.