It was shocking enough for Father Thomas Kelly to discover a community of vampires. Even more so was that two colleagues, art historian Livia Pietro and scholar Spencer George, were among them. Now they're working together in New York City. When Spencer is attacked in Central Park by a wolf, they're plunged into a world where Native American lore and the doctrines of the Catholic Church have collided, resulting in a catastrophic revelation: the wolf is a shapeshifter and he is searching for a sacred mask with power that, badly wielded, could destroy millions of lives.

In medieval literature, when humans and animals meet—whether as friends or foes—issues of mastery and submission are often at stake. In the Skin of a Beast shows how the concept of sovereignty comes to the fore in such narratives, reflecting larger concerns about relations of authority and dominion at play in both human-animal and human-human interactions. Peggy McCracken discusses a range of literary texts and images from medieval France, including romances in which animal skins appear in symbolic displays of power, fictional explorations of the wolf’s desire for human domestication, and tales of women and snakes converging in a representation of territorial claims and noble status. These works reveal that the qualities traditionally used to define sovereignty—lineage and gender among them—are in fact mobile and contingent. In medieval literary texts, as McCracken demonstrates, human dominion over animals is a disputed model for sovereign relations among people: it justifies exploitation even as it mandates protection and care, and it depends on reiterations of human-animal difference that paradoxically expose the tenuous nature of human exceptionalism.

“A writer with . . . vision and scope . . . breathtaking, shimmering prose.”—Anne Rice The armies of Charlemagne are poised to conquer Italy. The human side of shapeshifter Maeniel owes allegiance to Charlemagne. But the wolf acknowledges no master. Still, it is as both wolf and man that he embarks on a hazardous mission for the emperor. Captured, Maeniel is condemned to death. Now, with the help of a Saxon warrior whose love poses dangers of its own, Maeniel’s soul mate, Regeane, will brave the icy crags and crevices of the Alps to rescue her husband, only to find that he is the bait in a trap set for her by a villainous man from her darkest past. But there is another enemy at work. Behind the tangle of ambitions and animosities driving kings and commoners alike, an ancient evil thirsts for a revenge of its own: a revenge that demands the blood of Maeniel and Regeane…and of all humanity. “Action and intrigue-filled . . . Borchardt’s strength . . . is her deeply researched setting, which brings alive the barbaric era after the fall of the Roman Empire.”—Publishers Weekly

Discover the fantastical world of fairy tales in this captivating collection of 28 short stories. From a living man made entirely of wax to a secret cave of gnomes brewing magical beer, to a prince facing a ferocious giant wolf and a joust fought on the backs of donkeys and pigs. Each story is filled with laughter, tears, magic, and morality, featuring daring knights, bold seafarers, and the occasional monster. Perfect for bedtime reading, this enchanting book will captivate young and old alike with its unique and imaginative tales

Father Thomas Kelly has been called to the Vatican. A Cardinal’s desperate plea: find a missing document that contains a secret so shocking it could shatter the Church. Livia Pietro, in Rome, has been called before the Noantri Conclave. Her mission: join the Jesuit priest on his search—because one misstep could destroy her people as well. As Thomas and Livia are thrown into a treacherous whirlwind of art, religion, and age-old secrets, they find themselves pursued by enemies who will do anything to stop them. Only the Conclave knows the true gravity of the document’s revelations. The Noantri—Livia and her people—are vampires. And the unimaginable secrets of their past are far too dangerous for man to ever know.

A hungry wolf that came across a herd of sheep, and he came up with a great idea that he thought would help him get foods. Let's see if that great idea would work and how the story will end. ============================ "Once upon a time..." Let's begin a time of a kid tale! Why is it a tale? A tale is the gift box which is full of so many stories with imagination. It is one of the best tools to make effects for good development of a kid's brain. A tale and a kid The expert said that a kid's brain development is affected by some experiences coming through sensing path; feeling, hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting, and touching. So reading a tale to your kids is a great time for kid's brain learning. They can imagine some characters, places, or anything from illustrations in a book. Above all, you can show the kids which behavior is proper to do or not. That is a simple way to give them a concept of morality. Learning of brain enriches an ability of communication for the kids i.e., speaking, listening, which lead to complex skills like reading and writing. "Leonard Davin" helps you cultivate reading habit to your kids with these of following tales. Aesop's Tale: A great collection of tales with a moral concept from ancient Greek fabulist-Aesop, lively characters from a lot of kinds of animal Fairy Tale: An amusing source of fable with magical fairy, fulling of fantastic and ethical stories Legendary Tale: Some dramatic and remarkable experiences from the old days to nowadays Tale of Imagination: Inspire your kid's brain learning by creative designs of exiting and delightful stories for the world of your kids Beginning time of a kid tale is relatively a lifetime reading habit of your dear kids. That's why it is a tale.

Owing to its relatedness to parchment as the primary writing matter of the Middle Ages, human skin was not only a topic to write about in medieval texts, it was also conceived of as an inscribable surface, both in the material and in the figurative sense. This volume explores the textuality of human skin as discussed by Geoffrey Chaucer and other writers (medical, religious, philosophical, and literary) of the fourteenth and fifteenth century. It presents four main aspects of the complex relations between text, parchment, and human skin as they have been discussed in recent scholarship. These four aspects are, first, the (mostly figurative) resonances between parchment-making and transformations of human skin, second, parchment as a space of contact between animal and human spheres, third, human skin and parchment as sites where (gender) identities are negotiated, and fourth, the place of medieval skin studies within cultural studies and its relationship to the major concerns of cultural studies: the difficult demarcation of skin from body, the instability of any inscription, and the skin’s precarious state as an entity of its own.

ONE OF TIME'S 10 BEST FICTION BOOKS OF 2020. Longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize. Named a Best Book of 2020 by NPR, Bustle, Good Housekeeping, the New York Public Library, Library Journal, Lit Hub, Electric Literature, and Tor.com "As enchanting as fairy tales, as mysterious as dreams, these exquisitely composed fictions are as urgent and original as any being written today.” —Sigrid Nunez, author of The Friend, winner of the 2018 National Book Award for Fiction An urgent and unsettling collection of women on the verge from Laura van den Berg, author of The Third Hotel I Hold a Wolf by the Ears, Laura van den Berg’s first story collection since her prizewinning book The Isle of Youth, draws readers into a world of wholly original, sideways ghost stories that linger in the mouth and the mind. Both timeless and urgent, these eleven stories confront misogyny, violence, and the impossible economics of America with van den Berg’s trademark spiky humor and surreal eye. Moving from the peculiarities of Florida to liminal spaces of travel in Mexico City, Sicily, and Iceland, I Hold a Wolf by the Ears is uncannily attuned to our current moment, and to the fears we reveal to no one but ourselves. In “Lizards,” a man mutes his wife’s anxieties by giving her a LaCroix-like seltzer laced with sedatives. In the title story, a woman poses as her more successful sister during a botched Italian holiday, a choice that brings about strange and destructive consequences, while in “Karolina,” a woman discovers her prickly ex-sister-in-law in the aftermath of an earthquake and is forced to face the truth about her violent brother. I Hold a Wolf by the Ears presents a collection of women on the verge, trying to grasp what’s left of life: grieving, divorced, and hyperaware, searching, vulnerable, and unhinged, they exist in a world that deviates from our own only when you look too closely. With remarkable control and transcendent talent, van den Berg dissolves, in the words of the narrator of “Slumberland,” “that border between magic and annihilation,” and further establishes herself as a defining fiction writer of our time.

The fearsome legions of Julius Caesar have crushed resistance to Roman rule. Watching the tragic aftermath through yellow eyes afire with curiosity and intelligence is Maeniel, a gray wolf . . . and a shapeshifter unaware of his preternatural duality. But a new Maeniel is about to be born from the ruins. The sight of the beautiful Imona fills Maeniel with unfamiliar feelings and desires, triggering his transformation from wolf to man. In her arms he learns what it means to love. It is a knowledge that will change him forever. When Imona vanishes, Maeniel follows her trail--unaware that he is being pursued by a warrior-woman sworn to kill him. But the hunt upon which the two adversaries embark will lead them farther than they can imagine: to the gates of Rome itself--to the gates of their very souls . . .

Warriors of the Rift Once a generation, the rift between the paranormal world and the human world opens, allowing supernatural entities to cross. Vampire, demon, or shapeshifter, they can save the world-or send it spiraling into chaos. As a werewolf liaison to the Council of Preternaturals, Tori Joseph is used to straddling the world between humans and immortals. She plays by the rules and always delivers justice, no matter the cost. But after a string of increasingly brutal attacks results in humans turning into werewolves, Tori doesn't reveal her horrifying suspicion: Someone very close to her might be responsible. Investigating the paranormal violence, no-nonsense detective Dante MacMillan believes Tori is hiding something. His search for the truth draws him into greater danger as he gets closer to the dark realm of the immortals-and to the sexy werewolf who stirs his primal lust. Now with evil closing in around them, Dante must convince Tori to trust him . . . before her deadly secret destroys them both.