In the kingdoms of the Central Plains, power and prestige are fleeting; today's friend may become tomorrow's most bitter foe. Following a daring rescue amid a coup that marks the end of a dynasty, the virtuous Daoist Shen Qiao gets word of another power struggle that calls him home to Xuandu Mountain. But before he even reaches his destination, a whisper upon the wind cuts into Shen Qiao's heart: Yan Wushi has challenged Hulugu to a battle to the death. The ever-shrewd Shen Qiao will need to make the most of his martial training to survive the calamity that surrounds him. There's just one question that lingers in Shen Qiao's heart: when the dust settles, will that which he holds dearest still remain?

FATES ALIGNED, BODIES INTERTWINED The Reverend of Empty Words, a monster that feeds off the fears of the fortunate, is hunting Xie Lian’s friend, the Wind Master Shi Qingxuan. Knowing that his abysmal luck inoculates him from the creature’s power, Xie Lian doesn’t hesitate to throw himself into harm’s way—to Hua Cheng’s horror and panic. But another one of the Four Calamities may be closer than anyone knows, and even a ghost as powerful as Hua Cheng can lose control under the right circumstances. With his inhibitions gone, will desire overtake him?

THE TOUCH OF A HAND, A ROLL OF THE DICE Xie Lian has confirmed that the bewitching youth San Lang is actually Hua Cheng, one of the Four Calamities and a supreme ghost despised by all heavenly officials. Still, he has trouble matching the terror of his companion’s reputation with the charming, clever, and protective young man he’s come to know. When a distress signal leads Xie Lian into Ghost City, a bustling metropolis containing all the horrors and delights of the dead, he sees Hua Cheng in his element—and his true form—for the first time. But despite their chemistry and care for one another, there are missions to fulfill and secrets to uncover, and Xie Lian’s centuries of troubled history are never far behind.

As Holo and Lawrence begin the final leg of their journey, Lawrence decides to accompany Holo to her ancient home of Yoitsu, if only to forestall their parting just a bit longer. Boarding a ship from the port of Lenos (much to the chagrin of the wisewolf, who is none too fond of water!), the pair's fate becomes entangled with that of a boy named Col, whose tale of his circumstances - combined with the gossip of the sailors - leads to a shocking revelation about Holo's homeland!

SOMETHING TO FIGHT FOR, SOMEONE TO LIVE FOR Gods should never meddle in the affairs of mortals, but Xie Lian is not one to follow the rules when lives are at risk. He spits in the face of heaven and its laws and descends in a fury to save his country from drought and civil war. Yet this golden child gets a harsh dose of reality when he discovers just how little one individual—even a god—can do to save a crumbling nation. As the people reject and betray him, one young soldier stands by Xie Lian—a boy with a face wrapped in bandages and a fierce loyalty in his heart. In this chaotic past, can an unshakable bond grow from the ashes of unimaginable destruction?

'This book will open your eyes, mind and heart to a way of being in the world that will make our world a better and more caring one.' ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU, author of The Book of Joy Ubuntu is an ancient Southern African philosophy about how to live life well, together. It is a belief in a universal human bond, which says: I am only because you are. It means that if you can see everyone as fully human, connected to you by their humanity, you will never be able to treat others as disposable or without worth. By embracing the philosophy of ubuntu it's possible to overcome division and be stronger together in a world where the wise build bridges and the foolish build walls. These 14 beautifully illustrated lessons from the Rainbow Nation are an essential toolkit to helping us all to live better, together. In stories, practical lessons and applications that recognise our common humanity, our connectedness and interdependence, Everyday Ubuntu helps us to make sense of the world and our place in it. Exploring ideas of kindness and forgiveness, tolerance and the power of listening, this definitive guide offers practical tips on how we can all benefit from embracing others and living a more fulfilling life as part of the large family to which we all belong. __________ What readers are saying about Everyday Ubuntu: ***** 'A concept we should all live by.' ***** 'Lots of little gems to help with everyday life.' ***** 'Must read... Very inspiring and thought-provoking.'

The Wild Boys is a futuristic tale of global warfare in which a guerrilla gang of boys dedicated to freedom battles the organized armies of repressive police states. Making full use of his inimitable humor, wild imagination, and style, Burroughs creates a world that is as terrifying as it is fascinating.

Not all magicians go to schools of magic. Adam Binder has the Sight. It’s a power that runs in his bloodline: the ability to see beyond this world and into another, a realm of magic populated by elves, gnomes, and spirits of every kind. But for much of Adam’s life, that power has been a curse, hindering friendships, worrying his backwoods family, and fueling his abusive father’s rage. Years after his brother, Bobby, had him committed to a psych ward, Adam is ready to come to grips with who he is, to live his life on his terms, to find love, and maybe even use his magic to do some good. Hoping to track down his missing father, Adam follows a trail of cursed artifacts to Denver, only to discover that an ancient and horrifying spirit has taken possession of Bobby’s wife. It isn’t long before Adam becomes the spirit’s next target. To survive the confrontation, save his sister-in-law, and learn the truth about his father, Adam will have to risk bargaining with very dangerous beings ... including his first love.

The fate of the earth hangs in the balance as H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds is transformed from the work of one writer’s imagination into a terrifying reality for all mankind. 1898. New York socialite Emma Harlow agrees to marry well-to-do Montgomery Gilmore, but only if he first accepts her audacious challenge: to reproduce the Martian invasion featured in H. G. Wells’s popular novel The War of the Worlds. Meanwhile in London, Wells himself is unexpectedly made privy to certain objects, apparently of extraterrestrial origin, that were discovered decades earlier on an ill-fated expedition to the Antarctic. On that same expedition was an American crew member named Edgar Allan Poe, whose inexplicable experiences in the frozen wasteland would ultimately inspire him to create one of his most enduring works of literature. When eerie, alien-looking cylinders begin appearing in London, Wells is certain it is all part of some elaborate hoax. But soon, to his great horror, he realizes that a true invasion of Earth has indeed begun. As brave bands of citizens converge on a crumbling London to defend it against utter ruin, Emma and her suitor must confront the enigma that is their love, a bright spark of hope even against the darkening light of apocalypse. Palma dazzled readers with his instant New York Times bestseller The Map of Time. In The Map of the Sky, he embarks on an even more thrilling speculative journey, one that links the earth and the heavens, the familiar and the bizarre, the impossible and the inevitable.

Poppy Z. Brite re-imagines the haunted house novel, creating a fresh, sensual, and totally original reading experience. IT'S A PASSION. IT'S AN ART. IT'S THE ONLY WAY OUT. . . In the house on Violin Road he found the bodies of his brother, his mother, and the man who killed them both—his father. From the house on Violin Road, in Missing Mile, North Carolina, Trevor McGee ran for his sanity and his soul, after his famous cartoonist father had exploded inexplicably into murder and suicide. Now Trevor is back. In the company of a New Orleans computer hacker on the run from the law, Trevor has returned to face the ghosts that still live on Violin Road, to find the demons that drove his father to murder his family—and worse, to spare one of his sons. . . . But as Trevor begins to draw his own cartoon strip, he loses himself in a haze of lines and art and thoughts of the past, the haunting begins. Trevor and his lover plunge into a cyber-maze of cartoons, ghosts, and terror that will lead either to understanding—true understanding—or to a blood-raining repetition of the past. . . . Praise for Drawing Blood “Electrifying . . . explosive lyricism . . . [a] soul-sucking antagonist . . . rich background descriptions. That there is a Brite future never doubt.”—Kirkus Reviews “Exotica . . . disaffected youth . . . a spicy gumbo of sub-cultural hipness simmered in a cauldron of modern horror fiction.”—Fangoria “Darker and more exotic than Anne Rice, more cerebral than Stephen King . . . Horror is rarely this good.”—Echo