A midnight attack to the Academy leaves a wall in rubble and deepens the cracks in the already unstable alliances within the school. But for Basen, there are more important matters than the grabs for political power going on around him. His mother's still rotting away in prison, and his father might kill Basen's cousin for putting her there. On top of that, Basen's recent promise to a powerful psychic allows him only a few days before he must return to Merejic for a task that remains a mystery. Determined to free his mother and turn his obligation to the psychic into an opportunity, Basen comes to a risky plan in which he'll need the help of those he trusts the most. But little does he know that his friends and family won't be enough to get him out of this alive. He will have to rely on an enemy more powerful than himself.

When mountains are your salvation, what keep your mental weather calm and free of storms, how do you cope if they’re out of reach? After spending a decade restlessly globetrotting in search of a way of life that worked for him, journalist Kieran Cunningham alighted on Sondrio, a small town in Lombardy, Italy. A stone’s throw from the Alps, there he found the perfect combination of fresh mountain air, a strong network of local friends and lots of climbing. Finally he was able to accept and manage his diagnosis of Bipolar 1. And then Lombardy found itself the European epicentre of Covid-19 and subject to the strictest of lockdowns. What does a climber do when his beloved peaks are off limits? When he’s only permitted to leave the house for his weekly sanctioned grocery shop? When all the things that help him maintain his delicate equilibrium are taken away? As Kieran feels his mental health begin to crumble, he looks desperately for something he can climb to help rid him of his excess energy and hopefully get him back on track. Kieran finds himself navigating the walls of his house over and over while gazing at the mountain ranges so tantalisingly close. He dreams of that first euphoric climb – alone in the clouds, tired, happy, sated. Climbing the Walls is a memoir about mental health and the power of nature and exercise. It’s both a devastatingly honest account of living with Bipolar 1 and a love song to small-town Italian life and the high places that keep him healthy.

The first great war of Ovira is over and the most hated king in centuries is dead, but his nephew still lives. However, Basen had nothing to do with the destructive war his uncle started. In fact, it was his uncle who exiled him and his father to the territory of their enemies, where Basen's dreams of becoming a legendary mage now fade as he must work all day just to eat. His only chance at regaining some semblance of the life he thought he would lead is to join an elite school that trains, houses, and feeds a thousand new young men and women each year. But little does Basen know that his determination will put him at the center of a war even bloodier than the one he'd barely managed to avoid.

A landmark modern classic about the Korean American immigrant experience and the dawn of Los Angeles’s Koreatown A Penguin Classic Kim Ronyoung (Gloria Hahn, 1926–1987) tells the story of Haesu and Chun, immigrants who fled Japanese-occupied Korea for Los Angeles in the decade prior to World War II, and their American-born children. First published in 1986, Clay Walls offers a portrait of what being Korean in California meant in the first half of the twentieth century and how these immigrants’ nationalist spirit helped them withstand racism and poverty. Kim explores the tensions within a family of immigrants and new Americans and brings to the forefront the themes of Korean immigration, U.S. racism, generational trauma, and the early decades of Los Angeles’s Koreatown from a Korean American woman’s point of view. Through three sections representing the perspectives of mother, father, and daughter, what resonates the most is the voice of a woman and her self-determination, through national identity, marriage, and motherhood.

“A lively popular history of an oft-overlooked element in the development of human society” (Library Journal)—walls—and a haunting and eye-opening saga that reveals a startling link between what we build and how we live. With esteemed historian David Frye as our raconteur-guide in Walls, which Publishers Weekly praises as “informative, relevant, and thought-provoking,” we journey back to a time before barriers of brick and stone even existed—to an era in which nomadic tribes vied for scarce resources, and each man was bred to a life of struggle. Ultimately, those same men would create edifices of mud, brick, and stone, and with them effectively divide humanity: on one side were those the walls protected; on the other, those the walls kept out. The stars of this narrative are the walls themselves—rising up in places as ancient and exotic as Mesopotamia, Babylon, Greece, China, Rome, Mongolia, Afghanistan, the lower Mississippi, and even Central America. As we journey across time and place, we discover a hidden, thousand-mile-long wall in Asia's steppes; learn of bizarre Spartan rituals; watch Mongol chieftains lead their miles-long hordes; witness the epic siege of Constantinople; chill at the fate of French explorers; marvel at the folly of the Maginot Line; tense at the gathering crisis in Cold War Berlin; gape at Hollywood’s gated royalty; and contemplate the wall mania of our own era. Hailed by Kirkus Reviews as “provocative, well-written, and—with walls rising everywhere on the planet—timely,” Walls gradually reveals the startling ways that barriers have affected our psyches. The questions this book summons are both intriguing and profound: Did walls make civilization possible? And can we live without them? Find out in this masterpiece of historical recovery and preeminent storytelling.

Lucy Wu, aspiring basketball star and interior designer, is on the verge of having the best year of her life. She's ready to rule the school as a sixth grader, go out for captain of the school basketball team, and take over the bedroom she has always shared with her sister. In an instant, though, her plans are shattered when she finds out that Yi Po, her beloved grandmother's sister, is coming to visit for several months -- and is staying in Lucy's room. Lucy's vision of a perfect year begins to crumble, and in its place come an unwelcome roommate, foiled birthday plans, a bully who tries to scare Lucy off the basketball team, and Chinese school with the annoying know-it-all Talent Chang. Lucy's year is ruined -- or is it? A wonderfully funny, warm, and heartfelt tale about the ways life often reveals silver linings in the most unexpected of clouds.

Lee Mandelo's debut Summer Sons is a sweltering, queer Southern Gothic that crosses Appalachian street racing with academic intrigue, all haunted by a hungry ghost. Andrew and Eddie did everything together, best friends bonded more deeply than brothers, until Eddie left Andrew behind to start his graduate program at Vanderbilt. Six months later, only days before Andrew was to join him in Nashville, Eddie dies of an apparent suicide. He leaves Andrew a horrible inheritance: a roommate he doesn’t know, friends he never asked for, and a gruesome phantom that hungers for him. As Andrew searches for the truth of Eddie’s death, he uncovers the lies and secrets left behind by the person he trusted most, discovering a family history soaked in blood and death. Whirling between the backstabbing academic world where Eddie spent his days and the circle of hot boys, fast cars, and hard drugs that ruled Eddie’s nights, the walls Andrew has built against the world begin to crumble. And there is something awful lurking, waiting for those walls to fall. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The book is a mystery/thriller that tells the story of a brutal, unsolved civil rights murder in 1960 that is resurrected in the present, leading to the explosive trial of a powerful political figure. The search for the truth about the decades old murder is led by an Ole Miss law professor and a NY Times reporter who stumble upon a source who reveals the long-buried secrets of the case. Their discovery leads them down a path of murder and betrayal that ultimately ends in a shocking and surprising climax.--Amazon.com.

Crumble Crackle Burn is not only an inspiring book for incorporating texture into design, but also an affordable tool for transforming your images with textures - you'll receive 120 royalty-free textures you can use immediately! The book features 60 textures with beautiful full-color examples of how each texture can be used. Plus, the included DVD contains an additional 60 textures that you can also use in your day-to-day design work! Crumble Crackle Burn showcases work from some of the most talented artists in the country, giving insight on how to incorporate texture into backgrounds, and even how to use texture as an illustration and typographic tool. With the interesting and varied textures included in this book, you can begin adding depth, dimension and visual interest to your work immediately. Glitschka also offers useful pointers to help you do your own texture explorations, so you can notice and capture interesting textures in your everyday life. If you don't have the time or money to commission original photography or illustration, let Crumble Crackle Burn help you use stock imagery to its best advantage and let your imagination run wild!