Zander trusts Fate. Alexa only trusts herself. When Fate intervenes, they find they're both wrong. After Zander and Alexa each earn a Black Panther omen that makes surviving the quest nearly impossible, they must break the rules and challenge Fate together.

Twins Zander and Alexa struggle to prepare the village of Puck’s Gulch to fight of a coming invasion, but their efforts are stymied by the prejudices and petty jealousies of the villagers. And all the while, traitors scheme to prevent the villagers from uniting for their mutual defense.

If any subject lends itself to treatment in an edited volume, it is Chinese Religions; It is a recognized fact that the boundaries between the various religions in China, and those between religion and culture in general, have always been fluid. This can only be duly acknowledged by careful research from many angles – and by many experts. It is exactly these mutual influences that form the leading theme in this Festschrift in honour of Kristofer Schipper, taken up by a selection of his many expert pupils and colleagues. The thirteen contributions span over two millennia, ranging from the late Zhou to the present. Topics include divination, religious puppet theatre, the art of translating, late Ming Christianity, and literature. The major focus, however, is Taoism and its connections with medieval society, popular cults and medicine. Special mention, in this connection, should be made of an extensive analysis and translation of a fourth century poem from the Taoist Canon, and a study of the social circle of a leading Tang dynasty Taoist.

What is Satanism? Infamous members of the Order of Nine Angles (O9A) have answered this question with fascist ideology and acts of terrorism. The conviction of T. L. Othaos, however, is that the extremism and violence associated with O9A can be stripped away to reveal an underlying core of authentic Satanic belief and practice. This includes a life-affirming ethos, potent occult techniques, and a pantheon of Dark Gods and Goddesses who crave a better quality of human ally than O9A has thus far attracted. Othaos has founded the religion of Tenebrous Satanism in order to combine the most compelling components of O9A esotericism with an explicit emphasis on human flourishing, critical thinking, and personal excellence. In Nine Keys of Abyssal Darkness, she answers such questions as: - Who is Satan and what mythological narratives inspire Satanists to conceptualize him as a constructive adversarial figure? - Who are Satanism's enemies in the religious and political spheres and what must Satanists do to defeat them? - What personal qualities must the Satanist cultivate to maximize their flourishing on both the earthly and spiritual levels? - What disturbing acausal realities lurk behind our familiar causal world and why do all other religions deny these dark truths? - What methods of meditation, divination, and ritual magick enable the Satanist to harness and unleash the powers of Darkness? - Who are the Nekalah and what can the Satanist gain by forging an alliance with O9A's sinister deities of the Abyss? Rejecting the worst tendencies of O9A while still embracing the most alluringly dangerous aspects of Niner spirituality, Nine Keys of Abyssal Darkness defines Satanism as a religion of willful self-evolution, intelligent revolt against the status quo, fearless confrontation with cosmic horror, and uncompromising pursuit of creative strife.