Once-human monsters, giant robot spiders, human statues and a madman with a thirst for destruction … Professor Kurou is back and more dangerous than ever. After five years of incarceration, Jun Matsumoto is released from a mental hospital. With his hatred for Professor Kurou still consuming him, he enlists the help of some old friends and tracks his nemesis to Barcelona, where he hopes to rescue Ken Okamoto’s missing daughter, Nozomi. Kurou, however, has a master plan that will not only destroy one of the greatest landmarks in mankind’s history, but bring war to an entire nation. Jun must battle not only ghosts from his past and his own failing mind, but a man who is now the undisputed Puppeteer King… From the author of the acclaimed Tube Riders trilogy, The Puppeteer King is the third volume in Chris Ward's Tales of Crow series, a blend of science fiction, fantasy and horror set in the near future. THE COMPLETE TALES OF CROW SERIES: 1 - The Eyes in the Dark 2 - The Castle of Nightmares 3 - The Puppeteer King 4 - The Circus of Machinations 5 - The Dark Master of Dogs ALL BOOKS AVAILABLE NOW

Michael Miller is a computer science professor and a loving father whose life has taken a few bad turns. His wife of ten years, a beautiful, hard-driving corporate executive, has divorced him, and Michael is left to raise their seven year-old son—a quirky, yet lovable little boy who has a near-obsession with spiders. As Michael struggles with his life, Salim Haddad glides to the zenith of his career. Haddad is “America's Newsman” —a media icon, he represents everything that his television viewers admire—honesty, virtue, and professionalism. But Salim Haddad has dark secrets, and it is those secrets that lead to a horrifying incident the puts the professor and the media star on a collision path.

*A 2022 FOREWORD REVIEWS BOOK AWARD FINALIST* A new novel by the award-winning author of Under the Mercy Trees. Famed puppeteer and master manipulator Walter Gray surprises his three daughters by announcing there is a fourth at his 80th birthday party. An incomplete paternity test—and a will that places a condition on each daughter’s inheritance—suggest that the missing daughter isn’t a figment of his dementia. Jane, the eldest, is tired of her father’s eccentricities. She remembers the scarcity of her childhood and doesn’t want another sister to share the birthright. Rosie, born out of wedlock, sees the missing sister as her key to acceptance as a full member of the puppeteer’s family. Cora, the youngest, born after Walter achieved fame and fortune, is most concerned with extricating herself from running Walter’s company so that she can pursue her own life. The sisters each knew a different version of their enigmatic father, but all grew up in the presence of fairy tales acted out with marionettes and shadow puppets. If they are to find the fourth daughter and claim the legacy their father has left them, the three must confront their fractured relationships with their father and each other. Infused with fairy tales that sometimes spill magic into the sisters’ real lives, The Puppeteer’s Daughters is a stunningly-woven family saga about the cost and rewards of claiming a creative life.

In wartime 1943 small towns along the North Carolina Coastal Plain were invaded by many thousands of Marines from Camp Lejeune and soldiers from Ft. Bragg. Cheap motels, cheaper booze, easy sex and young men with uncertain futures disrupted the life of rural Lenoir County. However, civilians and soldiers got along. That is, until a soldier hired a Marine to murder the soldiers beautiful wife, and in a tragic case of mistaken identity the Marine murdered his co-conspirators teenage daughter. Then the situation changed. Set against the backdrop of the wartime small-town South, The Puppeteer is a classic tale of murder for hire, mistaken identity, cunning betrayal and exacting revenge, during a period that came to be known as The Fifteen Days in the Summer of 1943.

This is an episodic collection of tales set in the mid twelfth century, in the last remaining independent Saxon monarchy in Norman England, due to a nifty legal loophole. Medieval tales of dark deeds, underhand dealings, and horrible tuneless wassailing to hideous wailing crumhornsA set of chronicles in which the King suffers visits from Short and Curly, the two mincing actors from the travelling show Theatre of the Absurd: Lorenz Lawne-Bowlyngge, the flamboyant interior designer: Dr Misaubin, the travelling apothecary and snake-oil man: the misguided owner of a henge-building franchise: Tull, the inventor of the Gardeners Claw: a money-grabbing Water-diviner: an itinerant Tiler: a bunch of homicidal German mercenaries: Joey Pantolooni, the leader of the worst circus on the planet, and many more.Here, for the first time together, are extracts from Wizard Prang's Journal, a chronicler clearly not in the same class as Samuel Pepys, together with the true catastrophic events behind each entry.

Mouse works in the scullery at Dunston Manor, peeling onions, stirring the pots, sweeping the floors, and doing her best not to get into trouble with the fractious cook. Alone at night in the dark corner she calls home, she wishes for something wondrous to happen and dreams of a better life. But what chance does she have, a girl born with nothing, not even a proper name? Then Mouse sees a puppet play and knows at once what she must do. Somehow she must learn to make the puppets dance. Somehow she must become the puppeteer's apprentice. But the puppeteer is harboring some uncomfortable secrets, and Mouse doesn't know whether she has the courage it takes to fulfill her dreams. How Mouse finds her place in the world, and a very special name, is the heart of this thoroughly absorbing and remarkable story set in medieval England.

Once she transmigrated, she brought along her adorable baby, the battle concubine, and the trashy girl to fight against her selfish father. Feng Yu's life could only be described as wonderful!She thought that she would be able to bring her baby around the ancient times, but who would have thought that a cold and dark prince would suddenly appear in the middle of her path?Alright, then she will spar against him and see who can do what he wants!

After defeating the heroes, Shinichi is ready to live out his happily ever after-—until a powerful light spell blasts through the sky, marking the arrival of his newest enemy’ the Saint! Shinichi is all too eager to take down this adversary, but when he realizes she’s surrounded by holy warriors around the clock and won’t fall for his sweet nothings, he scrambles to come up with another plan. The latest rendition of his genius scheme somehow involves the daughter of the Demon King and a dirty way to make her official debut...as an idol?!

This book is the first comprehensive overview of Javanese performing arts from their origins to their dynamic present. Renowned scholar and musician Sumarsam draws from a lifetime of immersion in both wayang and gamelan to guide readers through the concept of the "in-between," revealing how the interplay of dualisms—myth and history, sacred and secular, personal and cultural—forms the bedrock of Javanese performance. Rigorously researched historical case studies reveal the intricate relationship between histories and mythologies in Java. Wayang, accompanied by gamelan, is a multimedia performance imbued with rich historical, aesthetic, religious, and emotional associations. Sumarsam delves into this intricate, profound, and ever-evolving art form, exploring its diverse manifestations and venues, from courtly village entertainment-cum-ritual to palace-based aesthetic expressions of cultural proficiency; from coastal mercantile entrepots to the verdant wet rice terraces of Java; from colonial plantation and textile factory cultures to communities centered around contemporary industrial estates and creative economy initiatives. An essential resource for scholars, musicians, and enthusiasts of wayang and gamelan, The In-Between in Javanese Performing Arts offers an unparalleled immersion into the heart of traditional Javanese performing arts, revealing their profound impact on Javanese culture, identity, and artistic expression.