In a future where music permeates the world, technology has advanced a concert system to a sophisticated level. Success lies in a singera??s ability to control the population by projecting emotion and subliminal ideas through song. Sects and groups have evolved into guilds that vie for leadership. The goal of a singer is to become an apprentice and represent a guild in the national concert system.From the moment Feiara takes the stage, shea??s in trouble. She is tormented by internal struggles as she faces concert sabotage, plots from competitors, and pursuit by an obsessed and unsavory fan. Mentally unbalanced and fighting for freedom, she must face her fears as she struggles to emerge the winner in the prestigious National singing competition. Although she thinks she knows who she is, a mystery in her past throws Feiara into an alliance with Saeron, the black sheep brother of her infatuated coach, Breen. Through her trials, Feiara is forced to come to grips with the forces driving her.

Psychologist Leslie Harper takes pity on Kitty Rose, a homeless street singer, and finds herself drawn into a world of old mystery and present danger. Temporarily separated from her husband until they can work out problems that negatively affect their asthmatic son, Leslie suddenly finds herself the target of her husbands wealthy family, whose powerful and unscrupulous lawyers set out to remove her from her sons life. Torn between helping the girl and fighting her own battles, Leslie takes on a challenge that could prove fatal to both of them.

"Ms. Ferguson has written an un-put-downable book." --Romantic Times on Call Back Yesterday A world lost . . . "DREAM SINGER is full of adventure and plot twists . . ." --Paranormalromance.org First Daughter Nerienne, heir to the Tiria of Gayome, faces the destruction of everything she knows when her mother's enemies kill the Tiria. Nerienne is left with just her magic and with Bidge, a mysterious creature that speaks only to her. She is rescued by Durgan Ketassian, leader of the rebels in the northern woods, but can she trust this man whom her mother condemned to die? A dream found . . . Durgan knows he cannot trust Nerienne. Her mother had been his enemy ever since she began slaying dreamsingers, skilled musicians who sing the future through one's dreams. He has vowed to see his people free of the Tiria's domination, never guessing the Tiria's daughter could awaken parts of his heart he'd shut away. A song without end . . . To save Gayome, Nerienne and Durgan must work together to defeat their common enemy. But to become allies opens them to the greatest threat of all . . . falling in love. Award winning author J. A. Ferguson lives in Nevada with her husband, children, and a fat cat. She is not sure which is most spoiled.

Advance Praise for Dream-Singers "You will find a great storehouse of folk and literary treasures in this ambitious book that speaks to anyone who has ever thought about his or her dreams. It's a wonderful adventure and I highly recommend it."-Clarence Major, author of Configurations and Juba to Jive Acclaim for Dream Reader also by Anthony Shafton "A book so unique in its combination of scholarship, clarity, and down-to-earth feeling about dreams that I find it hard to fully express the excitement and satisfaction I felt on reading it."-Montague Ullman, M.D., Clinical Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Author of Working with Dreams and Dream Telepathy "Breathtaking . . . the single most complete and thorough analysis of contemporary dream theories yet written . . . Shafton has a keen sense for what people most want to know about dreams, and an admirable ability to explain difficult concepts without oversimplifying them."-Kelly Bulkeley, Ph.D., Past President, The Association for the Study of Dreams, Author of The Wilderness of Dreams

A Father's Dream: My Family's Journey in Music chronicles the life of a musician, performer, man of God, and successful Mexican American entrepreneur. This is the story of a man who has experienced great joy and even greater pain, but by holding onto the strength embedded in each of us, embracing the love of family, and leaning on his faith in God, he is able to move forward toward the future with a positive disposition. Abraham Quintanilla takes the reader on the journey of his life, a life that reflects the up and down experiences of a self-made success. With a raw emotion and honesty, he shares the twists and turns of a road many readers may have been forced to travel and a few others hope never to traverse. From the sublime joys of fatherhood, to the accomplishment of creating a musical empire and surviving its failures, he shares the unexpected life events that make up each of our lives. Every reader will gain a stronger sense of humanity and a deeper understanding of just how precious and fleeting life can be from reading this memoir. Readers will also be given a close and personal view into the behind-the-scenes intricacies of a successful family business. Share the joy a parent feels for their children's success. And most of all, readers will understand the human need to embrace one's own talents. Finally, anyone who picks up this book and reads it will come to know that unforeseen tragedy can and does happen, but with faith and family as our support system, we are able to pick up the pieces of our broken hearts and walk bravely into the future with our newfound hope lighting the way.

The vast majority of singers with a degree in performance are un- or under-employed in their field. Despite the fact that talented singers are discovered every day, there are far too few jobs in the field of classical music to accommodate all of them, a problem evidenced by regular reports of opera companies and symphony orchestras closing their doors. Young classical singers, particularly recent graduates of music programs, need not only artistic ability, but also intelligence and an acute business sense to navigate the world of professional singing. In The 21st-Century Singer: Making the Leap from the University into the World , author Susan Mohini Kane has created a user-friendly guide for these recent graduates. Kane combines the benefits of an instructional manual with those of a self-reflective workbook to provide emerging classical singers with both practical and inspirational advice. She begins with a section on self-evaluation, allowing readers to define what motivates their desire to sing professionally and reflect on their passions, before moving on to career advice. In the sections that follow, Kane presents a variety of career paths, such as singing, teaching, and consulting-realistic alternatives to the rise to stardom as an "overnight sensation" that so few will experience-and provides the reader with the tools to develop a concrete plan for whichever path they decide to pursue. Other sections offer instruction on how to develop support systems, train oneself holistically, and take advantage of the newest technological resources available for professional self-promotion. With its dual emphasis on artistic motivation and modern-day business sense, The 21st-Century Singer will prove an essential text for anyone pursuing a professional singing career.

This book focuses on the rapidly changing sociology of music as manifested in Chinese society and Chinese education. It examines how social changes and cultural politics affect how music is currently being used in connection with the Chinese dream. While there is a growing trend toward incorporating the Chinese dream into school education and higher education, there has been no scholarly discussion to date. The combination of cultural politics, transformed authority relations, and officially approved songs can provide us with an understanding of the official content on the Chinese dream that is conveyed in today’s Chinese society, and how these factors have influenced the renewal of values-based education and practices in school music education in China.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "A memoir as fierce, freewheeling, and passionate as her music." --O, the Oprah magazine A memoir by the celebrated singer-songwriter and social activist Ani DiFranco In her new memoir, No Walls and the Recurring Dream, Ani DiFranco recounts her early life from a place of hard-won wisdom, combining personal expression, the power of music, feminism, political activism, storytelling, philanthropy, entrepreneurship, and much more into an inspiring whole. In these frank, honest, passionate, and often funny pages is the tale of one woman's eventful and radical journey to the age of thirty. Ani's coming of age story is defined by her ethos of fierce independence--from being an emancipated minor sleeping in a Buffalo bus station, to unwaveringly building a career through appearances at small clubs and festivals, to releasing her first album at the age of 18, to consciously rejecting the mainstream recording industry and creating her own label, Righteous Babe Records. In these pages, as in life, she never hesitates to question established rules and expectations, maintaining a level of artistic integrity that has inspired and challenged more than a few. Ani continues to be a major touring and recording artist as well as a celebrated activist and feminist, standing as living proof that you can overcome all personal and societal obstacles to be who you are and to follow your dreams.