It's the first day of school at prestigious Solstice High. Seniors Matt, Rochelle, Daphne and Jonas each have a big surprise waiting for them. When the four friends undergo a freak accident, they begin to develop superhuman abilities and come to realize that all is not as it seems within the bleak walls of their high school. While dealing with the day-to-day challenges of being teenagers, they must also confront their sinister principal, Mr. Devlin, who seems to have more than just education on his agenda. Ardash Vartparonian was born in London and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He moved back to the UK to begin university and is now a fourth-year undergraduate studying English Literature at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. In his free time, he enjoys going out at night with his friends, watching horror movies and writing bad poetry. Publisher's Website: http: //sbpra.com/ArdashVartparonian

Eighteen-year-old Piper lives with her controlling mother amid a Global Heating Crisis, but when she gets her first taste of freedom she discovers a universe of gods and monsters where her true identity, kept secret from her birth, could make all the difference in the world.

An engrossing early novel from Joyce Carol Oates’s earlier novels explores a fraught and perilous relationship between two women Originally published in 1985, Solstice is the gripping story of Monica Jensen and Sheila Trask, two young women who are complete opposites yet find themselves irresistibly drawn to each other. Monica is a shy, modest, and recently divorced school teacher while Sheila is a worldly, sophisticated, and nocturnal painter driven by the needs of her art. Over the months, their friendship deepens, first to love and then to a near-fatal obsession. Engaging, dark, and mysterious, Solstice is Joyce Carol Oates’s psychological masterpiece of friendship and fixation.

Winner of the American Indian Library Association Youth Literature Awards, Best Picture Book. Trickster Coyote is having his friends over for a festive solstice get-together in the woods when a little girl comes by unexpectedly. She leads the party-goers through the snowy woods to a shopping mall -- a place they have never seen before. Coyote gleefully shops with abandon, only to discover that fi lling your shopping cart with goodies is not quite the same thing as actually paying for them. The trickster is tricked and goes back to his cabin in the woods -- somewhat subdued -- though nothing can keep Coyote down for long. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.4 Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.

Discusses the science behind solstices.

The deployment of communications networks and distributed computing systems requires the use of open, standards-based, integrated management systems. During the last five years, the overall industry effort to develop, enhance, and integrate man agement systems has crystallized in the concept of management platforms. Manage ment platforms are software systems which provide open, multi vendor, multiprotocol distributed management services. They allow multiple management applications to run over core platform services which constitute the essential part of the management platform framework. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the features and technical character istics of distributed management platforms by examining both qualitative and quanti tative management capabilities required by each management platform service. The analysis covers the management platform run-time environment, the operational aspects of using management platforms, the development environment, which con sists of software toolkits that are used to build management applications, the imple mentation environment, which deals with testing interoperability aspects of using management platforms, and of course the distributed applications services which plat forms make available to management applications. Finally, the analysis covers the capabilities of several management applications, either generic or specific to devices or resources which run on top of management platforms.

*The USA Today Bestseller* Raise one last glass with the Quinn Family at the Winter Street Inn. It's been too long since the entire Quinn family has been able to celebrate the holidays under the same roof, but that's about to change. With Bart back safe and sound from Afghanistan, the Quinns are preparing for a holiday more joyous than any they've experienced in years. And Bart's safe return isn't the family's only good news: Kevin is enjoying married life with Isabelle; Patrick is getting back on his feet after paying his debt to society; Ava thinks she's finally found the love of her life; and Kelly is thrilled to see his family reunited at last. But it just wouldn't be a Quinn family gathering if things went smoothly. A celebration of everything we love--and some of the things we endure--about the holidays, WINTER SOLSTICE is Elin Hilderbrand at her festive best. Follow the Quinn family through the entire Winter Street Series: Winter Street Winter Stroll Winter Storms Winter Solstice