It’s graduation week at Minecrafters Academy, but a battle is brewing between the top five students at the school. With the school’s top five students wrapped up in an endless prank war as they compete over the coveted position of class speaker, one of their classmates finds a solution: the students will travel to an End city and hunt for treasure; the student who not only survives, but returns with the most treasures, will be chosen. The students set off on their journey, but they quickly learn that the End is no joke. Face-to-face with shulkers, the deadly Void, and the mighty Ender Dragon, the school’s top students learn there’s more to success than making the grade. They must learn to fight together—or no one will make it back alive. In this final installment of the Unofficial Minecrafters Academy series, the risks—and the potential rewards—are greater than ever.

Within this book the reader will discover a diverse selection of stories, each complete unto itself. Some are humorous, others macabre, all irreverent and well worth reading. From the true jaw dropping account of creative medical procedures in a top ranked California hospital, to an impromptu dog fi ght in Londons east end. Turn the pages and meet a talking spider, a delusional artist, a demented teacher and many more memorable participants in this unique and unquestionably entertaining volume of stories.

A New York Times Editors' Choice and Notable Book of 2021 "Best Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror of 2021"—The Washington Post From one of the most exciting voices in contemporary Chinese literature, an uncanny and playful novel that blurs the line between human and beast… In the fictional Chinese city of Yong’an, an amateur cryptozoologist is commissioned to uncover the stories of its fabled beasts. These creatures live alongside humans in near-inconspicuousness—save their greenish skin, serrated earlobes, and strange birthmarks. Aided by her elusive former professor and his enigmatic assistant, our narrator sets off to document each beast, and is slowly drawn deeper into a mystery that threatens her very sense of self. Part detective story, part metaphysical enquiry, Strange Beasts of China engages existential questions of identity, humanity, love and morality with whimsy and stylistic verve.

From the USA TODAY bestselling author of Sweet Thing and Nowhere But Here comes a love story about a Craigslist “missed connection” post that gives two people a second chance at love fifteen years after they were separated in New York City. To the Green-eyed Lovebird: We met fifteen years ago, almost to the day, when I moved my stuff into the NYU dorm room next to yours at Senior House. You called us fast friends. I like to think it was more. We lived on nothing but the excitement of finding ourselves through music (you were obsessed with Jeff Buckley), photography (I couldn’t stop taking pictures of you), hanging out in Washington Square Park, and all the weird things we did to make money. I learned more about myself that year than any other. Yet, somehow, it all fell apart. We lost touch the summer after graduation when I went to South America to work for National Geographic. When I came back, you were gone. A part of me still wonders if I pushed you too hard after the wedding… I didn’t see you again until a month ago. It was a Wednesday. You were rocking back on your heels, balancing on that thick yellow line that runs along the subway platform, waiting for the F train. I didn’t know it was you until it was too late, and then you were gone. Again. You said my name; I saw it on your lips. I tried to will the train to stop, just so I could say hello. After seeing you, all of the youthful feelings and memories came flooding back to me, and now I’ve spent the better part of a month wondering what your life is like. I might be totally out of my mind, but would you like to get a drink with me and catch up on the last decade and a half? M

The Politics of the Encounter is a spirited interrogation of the city as a site of both theoretical inquiry and global social struggle. The city, writes Andy Merrifield, remains "important, virtually and materially, for progressive politics." And yet, he notes, more than forty years have passed since Henri Lefebvre advanced the powerful ideas that still undergird much of our thinking about urbanization and urban society. Merrifield rethinks the city in light of the vast changes to our planet since 1970, when Lefebvre's seminal Urban Revolution was first published. At the same time, he expands on Lefebvre's notion of "the right to the city," which was first conceived in the wake of the 1968 student uprising in Paris. We need to think less of cities as "entities with borders and clear demarcations between what's inside and what's outside" and emphasize instead the effects of "planetary urbanization," a concept of Lefebvre's that Merrifield makes relevant for the ways we now experience the urban. The city—from Tahrir Square to Occupy Wall Street—seems to be the critical zone in which a new social protest is unfolding, yet dissenters' aspirations are transcending the scale of the city physically and philosophically. Consequently, we must shift our perspective from "the right to the city" to "the politics of the encounter," says Merrifield. We must ask how revolutionary crowds form, where they draw their energies from, what kind of spaces they occur in—and what kind of new spaces they produce.

Encountering the City provides a new and sustained engagement with the concept of encounter. Drawing on cutting-edge theoretical work, classic writings on the city and rich empirical examples, this volume demonstrates why encounters are significant to urban studies, politically, philosophically and analytically. Bringing together a range of interests, from urban multiculture, systems of economic regulation, security and suspicion, to more-than-human geographies, soundscapes and spiritual experience, Encountering the City argues for a more nuanced understanding of how the concept of 'encounter' is used. This interdisciplinary collection thus provides an insight into how scholars' writing on and in the city mobilise, theorise and challenge the concept of encounter through empirical cases taken from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America. These cases go beyond conventional accounts of urban conviviality, to demonstrate how encounters destabilise, rework and produce difference, fold together complex temporalities, materialise power and transform political relations. In doing so, the collection retains a critical eye on the forms of regulation, containment and inequality that shape the taking place of urban encounter. Encountering the City is a valuable resource for students and researchers alike.

"Romero reveals the harrowing details of his experiences with the demonic while working for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Discover the true stories of spiritual warfare being waged in the streets and alleys of L.A."--Amazon website

Edison is eager to take a break from the mysteries that have plagued him to focus on the upcoming alchemist competition, but preparation is interrupted when skeletons invade his hometown. After a week of constant attacks, the Mayor calls a meeting to investigate. Local farmer Carlo captivates the group with the story of a secret Skeleton spawner and a master villain who is behind the attacks, but vanishes before the townsfolk can learn more. With no other options, the town votes that Edison and Billy solve the mystery of the invasion. Since it’s so close to home, Edison thinks he’ll still have time to prepare for the alchemy competition. But as the investigation takes them farther and farther away, Edison realizes that juggling alchemy and his newfound detective work might be harder than he thought. Join Edison and Billy as they work to save their hometown from skeletons in the third installment of the Unofficial Minecraft Mystery series!

After solving the mystery of the stolen treasure, Edison is all set to return to his alchemy, when his friend Omar shows up at his door pleading for help. There is something or someone living beneath the blocks of Omar’s town, and things have started to take a treacherous turn. What started out as the theft of livestock and wheat has escalated, and now villagers have started to go missing as well. Edison tries to convince Omar that he’s not a good fit for the job—as he only solved a local robbery—and sends his friend on his way. But a few days later, Amira arrives with bad news—Omar is the latest villager to disappear. Consumed by guilt, Edison recruits Billy and they set off to rescue Omar and face the mysterious villain lurking beneath the blocks! Join Edison and Billy as they race to save the lost villagers in the second installment of the Unofficial Minecraft Mystery series!

Stevie and Alex are still looking for answers about the mysterious Ender crystal Stevie discovered, and the sinister voice that seems to emanate from it. Their search leads them to a strange book filled with writing in a strange language, and pictures that seem to show two adventurers trapping the evil Ender Dragon in the End. As the writing in the book slowly reveals itself, the friends realize that the Overworld is in danger! The Ender crystal Stevie stumbled upon in the Overworld is one piece of an enchanted crystal that, if fully assembled, could either destroy the dragon—or set it free to destroy the world! Now Stevie and his friends must race to find the pieces of the broken Ender crystal. Can they find them all before the Ender Dragon discovers a way to stop them? Fans of Minecraft will be at the edge of their seats all the way through this second book in the Unofficial Overworld Heroes Adventure series by Danica Davidson!