This adult epic fantasy debut from Sarah Rees Brennan puts the reader in the villain's shoes, for an adventure that is both "brilliant" (Holly Black) and "supremely satisfying" (Leigh Bardugo). Expect a rogue's gallery of villains including an axe wielding maid, a shining knight with dark moods, a homicidal bodyguard, and a playboy spymaster with a golden heart and a filthy reputation. When her whole life collapsed, Rae still had books. Dying, she seizes a second chance at living: a magical bargain that lets her enter the world of her favorite fantasy series. She wakes in a castle on the edge of a hellish chasm, in a kingdom on the brink of war. Home to dangerous monsters, scheming courtiers and her favourite fictional character: the Once and Forever Emperor. He’s impossibly alluring, as only fiction can be. And in this fantasy world, she discovers she's not the heroine, but the villainess in the Emperor's tale. So be it. The wicked are better dressed, with better one-liners, even if they're doomed to bad ends. She assembles the wildly disparate villains of the story under her evil leadership, plotting to change their fate. But as the body count rises and the Emperor's fury increases, it seems Rae and her allies may not survive to see the final page. THIS IS A TALE FOR EVERYONE WHO’S EVER FALLEN FOR THE VILLAIN…

Chief Floyd was restlessly tossing and turning in the spacious bedroom on the upper floor of his specially designed residence for laboratory staff. When he finally fell asleep, the light from the orange night lamp beside him grew increasingly dim, as if there were a curtain in front of it. Floyd was having a bad dream. His entire body was drenched in sweat. He had turned onto his left side, tightly pulling his knees together, placing his hands between his knees as if he were cold, and grinding his teeth unconsciously. Strange creatures with terrifying faces, dressed in black, appeared in front of him. He couldn’t tell how many there were. They formed a circle around his bed, walking slowly with eerie stares and peculiar movements. Their eyes burned like fire, and they kept repeating a word that was easily understandable when listened to carefully, but which he had never heard before: “Jardeeen, Jardeeen, Jardeeen, Jardeeeen...

Georgia Peach Award Nominee • Florida Teens Read Award Nominee • ABC Best Books for Young Readers • Bank Street College Best Children’s Books of the Year • A Junior Library Guild Selection • Hugo & Locus award finalist In Other Lands is an exhilarating novel from bestselling author Sarah Rees Brennan about surviving four years in the most unusual of schools - friendship, falling in love, diplomacy, and finding your own place in the world — even if it means giving up your phone. Excerpt: The Borderlands aren’t like anywhere else. Don’t try to smuggle a phone or any other piece of technology over the wall that marks the Border — unless you enjoy a fireworks display in your backpack. (Ballpoint pens are okay.) There are elves, harpies, and — best of all as far as Elliot is concerned — mermaids. "What’s your name?" "Serene." "Serena?" Elliot asked. "Serene," said Serene. "My full name is Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle." Elliot’s mouth fell open. "That is badass." Elliot? Who’s Elliot? Elliot is thirteen years old. He’s smart and just a tiny bit obnoxious. Sometimes more than a tiny bit. When his class goes on a field trip and he can see a wall that no one else can see, he is given the chance to go to school in the Borderlands. It turns out that on the other side of the wall, classes involve a lot more weaponry and fitness training and fewer mermaids than he expected. On the other hand, there’s Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle, an elven warrior who is more beautiful than anyone Elliot has ever seen, and then there’s her human friend Luke: sunny, blond, and annoyingly likeable. There are lots of interesting books. There’s even the chance Elliot might be able to change the world. Chapter illustrations by Casey Nowak.

The boys of Kings Row head to France with exes, rivalries, and secrets in this fun and hilarious novel by a New York Times bestselling author—inspired by the award-nominated comic series by C.S. Pacat and Johanna The Mad. The boys of Kings Row are off to a training camp in Europe! Surrounded impressive scenery and even more impressive European fencing teams, underdog Nicholas can't help but feel out of place. With the help of a local legend, though, he and the rest of the team finds it within themselves to face superior fencers, ex-boyfriends, expulsion, and even Nicholas's golden-boy, secret half-brother, the infamous Jesse Coste. Will Aiden and Harvard end up together, though? En garde! The second installment of this enticing original YA novel series by Sarah Rees Brennan, rich with casual diversity and queer self-discovery, explores never-before-seen drama inspired by C.S. Pacat's critically acclaimed Fence comic series. Text and Illustration copyright: © 2021 BOOM! Studios Fence(TM) and © 2021 C.S. Pacat

Smiling Slovenia's collection of articles and essays on Slovenia's current political scene boldly declares its dissenting view from the political mainstream beginning with a declaration of a dozen prominent intellectuals presenting their views of Slovenia's political situation. Topics range from recent Slovenian history, Slovenia's role in the breakup of Yugoslavia, foreign policies, including liaisons with the Islamic terrorists to modern-day Slovenian-American relations and Slovenia's admission into the European Union. This book shows that Slovenia, although outwardly westernized, is still deeply rooted in its communistic legacy. However, prominent intellectuals and democratic politicians strive to hold Slovenia to the highest European cultural, ethical, political, legal, and economical standards in public life - a goal that may take several generations to achieve. Some authors observe that transparency achieved by the present conservative coalition government has already established a state of affairs where return to the old ways of a crypto government would be impossible even if the leftist parties returned to power.

Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos are the offspring of some of the most terrible villains of all time. They're offered a chance to leave the Isle of the Lost, where they have been imprisoned all their lives, and go to prep school in the idyllic kingdom of Auradon with all of the "good" kids. There, they must choose whether or not to follow in their parents' evil footsteps. Watch out Auradon--here come the Descendants!

In Politics of Precarity: Migrant Conditions, Struggles and Experiences, edited by Carl-Ulrik Schierup and Martin Bak Jørgensen, the contributing authors look into precarity. Precarity has become a buzzword in as well academia as among activist. The book depicts precarity as being both a condition and a mobilizing force for resistance. The volume asks questions that investigate conditions and resistance across diverse cases such as first generation urbanites in China, migrant pensioners and unemployed youth in Sweden and Spain, refugees in Germany, irregular and regular migrants in Southern Europe, Turkey, Russia the United States and South Africa. Contributors are: Susanne Bregnbæk, Ines Calzada, Maribel Casas-Cortés, Anna Gavanas, Gregoris Ioannou, Martin Bak Jørgensen, Irina Kuznetsova-Morenko, Ronaldo Munck, Dimitris Parsanoglou, John Round, Carl-Ulrik Schierup, Peter Schultz Jørgensen, Nazlı Şenses, Vassilis Tsianos, Nicos Trimikliniotis, and Mimi Zou.

A frank examination of Aretha Franklin, Mark Bego's definitive biography traces her career accomplishments from her beginnings as a twelve-year-old member of a church choir in the early 1950s, to recording her first album at the age of fourteen and signing a major recording contract at eighteen, right up through untimely passing in 2018. Originally positioned to become a gospel star in her father's Detroit church, Aretha had a privileged urban upbringing; ;stars such as Mahalia Jackson, Dinah Washington, and Sam Cooke regularly visited her father, Rev. C. L. Franklin. It wasn't long before she was creating a string of hits, from "Respect" to "Freeway of Love"; and becoming one of the most beloved singers of the twentieth century. This New York Times bestselling author's detailed research includes in-person interviews with record producers Jerry Wexler, Clyde Otis, and Clive Davis, Aretha's first husband, several of her singing star contemporaries, and a rare one-on-one session with Aretha herself. Every album, every accolade, and every heart-breaking personal drama is examined with clarity and neutrality, allowing Franklin's colorful story to unfold on its own. With two teenage pregnancies and an abusive first marriage, drinking problems, battles with her weight, the murder of her father, and tabloid wars, Aretha's life was a roller coaster. This freshly updated and expanded biography will give readers a clear understanding of what made Aretha Franklin the "Queen of Soul."

They wanted to be married and so got married. Dance a leg to the famous Love Waltz ball on a sea liner on their wedding night-they did that too, 100 percent their way. Her way. Sensible was her head and merry was she in his company. Yet . . . The sea liner that she jumped off with her sleeping husband is silently sailing to its destination. Joanne looks at it from a crude boat that is rocking on roaring waters. Not worried. Not in doubt. She is following her heart. After all, she has seen her spirit appear to her, talking to her, and taking her to where she should be going. There are old souls to be judged, old stories to be unwound. Is it easy for Joanne and her husband, Pavlo, to usher in salvation for a generation of living and dead? Taking a step back, why was salvation denied to these same men? Was it justified? In principle, is there a paradise in waiting for the one who listens to the murmurs of his soul? In any case, principles are always remade. Tailored. Corrected. Souls inside questions when shackled; the body sulks, looking for a lost paradise. So reasoning warns caution . . . and then principles stand recorrected. But if you know nothing, you know it all.

For most Americans and Europeans, the Bosnian War was played out in the brief, flickering images of television news. But another set of images, more permanent and more profound, played an active role in this war, molding public sentiment and calling attention to the plight of the Bosnian people. For three hellish years, Bosnians plastered the walls of their towns with messages of anger, frustration, desperation, resistance, and hope. These extraordinary images, the focus of this book, are juxtaposed with the hateful, divisive works of propaganda that served the most vicious practitioners of "ethnic cleansing." Evil Doesn't Live Here presents this visual battle to the rest of the world for the first time. Former Bosnian aid workers Daoud Sarhandi and Alina Boboc have gathered over 180 of the most dramatic wartime posters, largely created by Bosnian artists and graphic designers at the height of the war. Fascinating on both political and artistic levels, they provide a harrowing account of the war and put a human face on this seemingly incomprehensible conflict. David Rohde, author of the acclaimed Endgame: The Betrayal and Fall of Srebrenica and winner of the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Bosnian War, introduces this vivid and unforgettable collection, which will appeal as much to those interested in current affairs as designers and artists. A portion of the proceeds from this book will be donated to victims of the Bosnian War.