THE END, Rena wrote on the calendar square. Rena Abrios, the only living seer on the planet of Anyari, has her most horrific vision yet—she foresees the apocalypse. Soon, nearly every human on her peaceful, technologically advanced planet will die. Rena even knows who’s behind it: philanthropist Alvun Merak. This type of prophecy can’t be averted. Despite that, Rena believes her sister, seventeen-year-old Ellin, is meant to fight it. The more Ellin learns about Merak, the more alarmed she becomes. He’s funding an archeological dig with mysterious, world-ending potential. Ellin, her boyfriend Trett, and Rena scramble to stop him. But Merak’s wealth and power may make him unbeatable. And the seer and her sister know that fate is the fiercest enemy of all. Will anyone survive the prophesied apocalypse? ••• The Seer’s Sister is the exciting sci-fi prequel to The Magic Eaters YA fantasy trilogy. It’s a full-length novel that can be read before or after the trilogy or as a standalone. If you like imperfect characters worth rooting for, villains with dark secrets, romantic subplots, and in-depth worldbuilding, then you’ll love Carol Beth Anderson’s heart-pounding tale. ••• Content note: The Seer’s Sister contains scenes of abduction and captivity, along with plotlines relating to cancer and death, including discussion of a child’s death.

“If the story of the Soong family were told as fiction, people would say it was fascinating but too improbable. . . . A dramatic human chronicle . . . engrossing.” —The New York Times Book Review In the early twentieth century, few women in China were to prove so important to the rise of Chinese nationalism and liberation from tradition as the three extraordinary Soong sisters—Eling, Chingling and Mayling—who would each marry historic figures. Told with wit and verve by New Yorker correspondent Emily Hahn, a remarkable woman in her own right, the biography of the Soong sisters reveals the story of China through both World Wars. It also chronicles the changes to Shanghai as they relate to a very eccentric family that had the courage to speak out against the ruling regime. Greatly influencing the history of modern China, they interacted with their government and military to protect the lives of those who could not be heard, and appealed to the West to support China during the Japanese invasion. “[A] first-rate reportorial job on three distinguished women.” —Kirkus Reviews “A spirited, well-informed book . . . a fascinating saga . . . Hahn skillfully interweaves the personal material which she has collected in abundance with some indispensable background knowledge of Chinese history.” —The Atlantic

A fantastic journey into a postapocalyptic world, seen through the eyes of a 12-year-old girl, told by a master storyteller. For fans of China Mieville and the sci-fi of Margaret Atwood and Doris Lessing. The coming of the Great Stone destroyed almost everything that used to be. But high in one remote valley, the Church of Selene has found its way back from ruin. Sister Luka and her female converts offer sacrifices to the scarred (and very close) moon that hangs over their convent. It has been this way since the Stone hit. Among the Little Sisters of Selene is 12-year-old Aurora, respected Scribe of the church. She endlessly writes down the name of the moon to keep her in the sky where she belongs. But Aurora has a secret book she keeps hidden in her Scribe's chamber and into this diary she pours out her hopes and desires. Upsetting this fragile equilibrium is Willa, a young tomboy whose flamboyant arrival threatens the hard-won status quo of the sisters' community. As Aurora and Willa inch toward friendship, insurrection grows. But when an unexpected marvel occurs in the sky, it is clear that Aurora's work as the Scribe has failed. The moon is threatening to remake the world all over again. This is the Secret Book of Sacred Things, this is Aurora's story.

Reports the sighting by two children of the Virgin Mary on a hillside in Spanish Basque territory in 1931

Understanding Rituals explores how ritual can be understood within the framework of contemporary social anthropology, and shows that ritual is now one of the most fertile fields of anthropological research. The contributors demonstrate how rituals create and maintain - or transform - a society's cultural identity and social relations. By examining specific rituals from various theoretical viewpoints, they reveal the ultimate and contradictory values to which each society as a whole is attached.

"Destined from birth to serve as protector of the princess Zariya, Khai is trained in the arts of killing and stealth by a warrior sect in the deep desert; yet there is one profound truth that has been withheld from him"--Book jacket.

This book addresses the pervasive representation of women with unique visionary abilities in postfeminist television series and films from the 1990s to the present. These women mediate between the living and the dead or between different worlds of experience, redefining what it means to be "normal" and challenging the traditional boundary between science and the inner world of visionary, mystical experience. Part 1 includes a discussion of modern-day Cassandra figures, including the witches and other "seers" of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Charmed, Hex, and Tru Calling. Part 2 discusses modern television shows whose main characters represent a contemporary spin on Joan of Arc, including Joan of Arcadia and the short-lived Wonderfalls. Finally, Part 3 investigates female mediums and other "psychic detectives" in reality television series such as Psychic Investigators and Rescue Mediums; the popular television dramas Medium, Ghost Whisperer, and Afterlife; and contemporary films such as Ghost, The Gift, and Premonition.

In a future world where humanity is forced to hide in underground cities or towers that rise high above the land, the sword and the spell rule supreme. In this age of scheming seers struggling for power, a young sorcerer named Kelden is forced to match wits with the most powerful demon to ever walk the land--the mighty Credesar. To make matters worse, Kelden is surrounded by enemies who want him dead, as an epic puzzle unfolds that could determine the fate of humanity. Series keywords: epic fantasy, sword and sorcery, free, freebie, magic, quest, swords, dragons, fantasy series, monsters, young adult, children's, wizards, heroic fantasy, coming of age fantasy, teen's, action, adventure, free epic fantasy

A rebellious young heroine begins a voyage of self-discovery in the third novel of an epic fantasy series set in the world of Viridian Deep, from the legendary author of the Shannara saga. Auris’s adoptive sister Char has always been the baby of the family—a position that grates on Char, especially when everyone insists on telling her exactly what to do and how to do it. But Char is certain that her headstrong, impulsive behavior, the quality her family sees as her greatest weakness, is actually her greatest strength: the willingness to instantly brave danger and leap to the rescue when anyone she loves is threatened. Char knows she will never grow into the woman she was meant to be under her family’s loving but repressive eye, so a month before she turns fifteen, she runs away and joins a Human pirate crew in the warm southerly regions of her world. Then, three years into her pirate career, her captain—the man she is convinced she loves—is captured by the leaders of the slave trade he has been fighting. When Char leaps in to rescue him, she finds herself thrust into an adventure that will uncover secrets she never suspected about herself, one that will maybe, finally, teach her to look before she leaps.