1781. A colony in turmoil as some men five years ago declared independence; a concept 17-year-old Theodosia Ceasebury is trying to grasp. The turbulence in The Colony of Virginia is only matched in magnitude by Theodosia’s own struggles with her family, her society and ultimately who she wants to be. And of course, the girl in yellow who lives in the chamber across the hall.

Peters defines media expansively as elements that compose the human world. Drawing from ideas implicit in media philosophy, Peters argues that media are more than carriers of messages: they are the very infrastructures combining nature and culture that allow human life to thrive. Through an encyclopedic array of examples from the oceans to the skies,The Marvelous Clouds reveals the long prehistory of so-called new media. Digital media, Peters argues, are an extension of early practices tied to the establishment of civilization such as mastering fire, building calendars, reading the stars, creating language, and establishing religions. New media do not take us into uncharted waters, but rather confront us with the deepest and oldest questions of society and ecology: how to manage the relations people have with themselves, others, and the natural world.

Standing on the precipice of the witch burning craze of the 1600s, the Lord Earl Bothwell, Francis Stewart, a powerful baron in early modern Scotland and leader of one of the few remaining covens, discovers his two worlds are not compatible. When one of his witches is captured and tortured during the harrowing North Berwick Witch Trials, he must decide what is more important to him; the cold-blooded balancing act at the top of the ruling class, or the survival of his own kind.