The Gold Swan

The Gold Swan
Author: James S Thayer
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 386
Release: 2015-09-15
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1501131923

"Thayer paints a rich picture of Hong Kong politics as well as of the world of international architecture" (Publishers Weekly) in this gripping thriller about the world's most famous architect, who makes a fatal mistake in building the world's tallest skyscraper for the Chinese government. To mark five thousand years of civilization, China has commissioned master architect John Llewellyn to construct a building like no other—a three-thousand-foot-tall crescent of bronze, steel, and concrete, towering above the Hong Kong skyline. Its official name is the Fifth Millennium, but the city's citizens have dubbed it the Gold Swan. It will be the eighth wonder of the world, a testament to China's glory. And it may hold a fatal flaw that could bring it crashing to the ground before it is completed. Llewellyn's chief security man, ex-FBI agent Clay Williams, and young architect Anne Iverson suspect the impending disaster, and they are thrust into the deadly world of Chinese politics—where the truth is a lie, and lies are the only answers they can find. What they cannot know is that there are those in power who want the tower to fall, and with it, the very heart of one of the most powerful nations on earth....

The Swan Book

The Swan Book
Author: Alexis Wright
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2016-06-28
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1501124781

Originally published: Australia: Giramondo, 2013.

Swan Fake

Swan Fake
Author: Maya Gold
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Total Pages: 195
Release: 2011
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0545227690

When Diana's friend Amelia needs Diana to fill in for her during a ballet performance, Diana borrows one of the dance costumes at Cinderella Cleaners, but once she is onstage she realizes she cannot dance.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
Author: Roald Dahl
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2000-05-22
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1101652950

Seven superb short stories from the bestselling author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The BFG! The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is coming soon to Netflix! Meet the boy who can talk to animals and the man who can see with his eyes closed. And find out about the treasure buried deep underground. A clever mix of fact and fiction, this collection also includes how master storyteller Roald Dahl became a writer. With Roald Dahl, you can never be sure where reality ends and fantasy begins. "All the tales are entrancing inventions." —Publishers Weekly

A Wild Swan

A Wild Swan
Author: Michael Cunningham
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 145
Release: 2015-11-10
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0374712603

Fairy tales for our times from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Hours A poisoned apple and a monkey's paw with the power to change fate; a girl whose extraordinarily long hair causes catastrophe; a man with one human arm and one swan's wing; and a house deep in the forest, constructed of gumdrops and gingerbread, vanilla frosting and boiled sugar. In A Wild Swan and Other Tales, the people and the talismans of lands far, far away—the mythic figures of our childhoods and the source of so much of our wonder—are transformed by Michael Cunningham into stories of sublime revelation. Here are the moments that our fairy tales forgot or deliberately concealed: the years after a spell is broken, the rapturous instant of a miracle unexpectedly realized, or the fate of a prince only half cured of a curse. The Beast stands ahead of you in line at the convenience store, buying smokes and a Slim Jim, his devouring smile aimed at the cashier. A malformed little man with a knack for minor acts of wizardry goes to disastrous lengths to procure a child. A loutish and lazy Jack prefers living in his mother's basement to getting a job, until the day he trades a cow for a handful of magic beans. Reimagined by one of the most gifted storytellers of his generation, and exquisitely illustrated by Yuko Shimizu, rarely have our bedtime stories been this dark, this perverse, or this true.

Carpentaria

Carpentaria
Author: Alexis Wright
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 529
Release: 2009-04-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1416593101

A tale inspired by the plight of the Australian Aborigines follows a clash between a powerful family, tribe leaders, and mobsters in a sparsely populated northern Queensland town, a conflict marked by the machinations of a religious zealot, a murderous politician, and an activist.

Where Honeybees Thrive

Where Honeybees Thrive
Author: Heather Swan
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2017-11-21
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0271080736

Colony Collapse Disorder, ubiquitous pesticide use, industrial agriculture, habitat reduction—these are just a few of the issues causing unprecedented trauma in honeybee populations worldwide. In this artfully illustrated book, Heather Swan embarks on a narrative voyage to discover solutions to—and understand the sources of—the plight of honeybees. Through a lyrical combination of creative nonfiction and visual imagery, Where Honeybees Thrive tells the stories of the beekeepers, farmers, artists, entomologists, ecologists, and other advocates working to stem the damage and reverse course for this critical pollinator. Using her own quest for understanding as a starting point, Swan highlights the innovative projects and strategies these groups employ. Her mosaic approach to engaging with the environment not only reveals the incredibly complex political ecology in which bees live—which includes human and nonhuman actors alike—but also suggests ways of comprehending and tackling a host of other conflicts between postindustrial society and the natural world. Each chapter closes with an illustrative full-color gallery of bee-related artwork. A luminous journey from the worlds of honey producers, urban farmers, and mead makers of the United States to those of beekeepers of Sichuan, China, and researchers in southern Africa, Where Honeybees Thrive traces the global web of efforts to secure a sustainable future for honeybees—and ourselves.

From the Nation State to Stateless Nations

From the Nation State to Stateless Nations
Author: Tom W. Bell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2018
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1107161460

Your Next Government? From the Nation State to Stateless Nations reveals the revolution quietly transforming governments bottom-up, inside-out, worldwide. It will attract scholars of international law and trade, special jurisdictions, development policy, urban planning, and political philosophy, as well as lay readers interested in these topics.

The Swan House (The Swan House Series Book #1)

The Swan House (The Swan House Series Book #1)
Author: Elizabeth Musser
Publisher: Bethany House
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2001-07-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1441207163

Mary Swan Middleton has always taken for granted the advantages of her family's wealth. But a tragedy that touches all of Atlanta sends her reeling in grief. When the family maid challenges her to reach out to the less fortunate as a way to ease her own pain, Mary Swan meets Carl--and everything changes. For although Carl is her opposite in nearly every way, he has something her privileged life could not give her. And when she seeks his help to uncover a mystery, she learns far more than she ever could have imagined.

Swan's Braid

Swan's Braid
Author: Tanya Huff
Publisher: Jabberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.
Total Pages: 145
Release: 2013-06-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1625670389

A new short story collection from Tanya Huff. You can't belong to the Thieves' Guild if you can't break into the Thieves' Guild. When Terizan dropped out of the secret passage, past the net, and into the Inner Sanctum, she was astonished to discover that no one else had ever made it that far. Unfortunately, neither Terizan nor the Guild are thrilled about the sudden perception that she's the best thief in Oreen – the title comes with expectations and the Guild only ever expects the worst. In these five tales, mercenary captains, murderous royal families, ghosts, gods, and wizards prove that while it may not always be lonely at the top, it's definitely annoying. Good thing half a dozen gods owe Terizan a favour.