My name is James, but my mom's the only person that can call me that. To everyone else, I'm JD-a struggling artist, working my fingers to the bone for my shot with one of the big comic book companies. Oh, and I work nights, managing a dive called Judson's Bar and Grill. I know, the dream life. Things were boring, disappointing, even. Until one faithful night, when everything changed. Why? Where do I start? First: An odd woman showed up in a booth while I was trying to close for the night. Rude, but on its own, not so weird. She was dressed in a kimono and had a sword in her lap. That part? Getting a little strange. Second: It turns out she's a mistress at a magical academy and had been looking for me. Right? Please pick up on my sarcasm. Except, she proved it, and with just a few violent swings of her very real sword, ensured I both didn't have a job any longer, and more or less had to follow her into a scary, glowing portal. Where did it take me? A surreal place called Zenith Academy, and a life I'd only ever dreamt of. And that is just the beginning. It turns out they've been fighting a war for thousands of years, and I've just been drafted.

The last thing I expected was to gain the spells of the woman in my bed. Hell, I didn't even know magic existed until I'd cast a spell that morning. Then a beautiful teacher from a magical academy told me I could become the universe's most powerful mage.To get there, I need to become stronger. I need to ace all my examinations. And, most of all, I need to master the most potent spells.But I have to start somewhere.This begins my first year at the Mazirian Academy.

The largest and richest English-language volume of poetry from “the greatest twentieth-century writer you have never heard of” (Los Angeles Times) Edited, Translated, and with an Introduction by Richard Zenith, the author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist Pessoa: A Biography A Penguin Classic Writing obsessively in French, English, and Portuguese, poet Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935) left a prodigious body of work, much of it credited to three “heteronyms”―Alberto Caeiro, Ricardo Reis, and Alvaro de Campos―alter egos with startlingly different styles, points of view, and biographies. Offering a unique sampling of his most famous voices, this collection features Pessoa’s major, best-known works and several stunning poems that have come to light only in this century, including his long, highly autobiographical swan song. Featuring a rich body of work that has never before been translated into English, this is the finest introduction available to the stunning breadth of Pessoa’s genius.

“ARE YOU READY TO BE TOTALLY FREAKED OUT?” As the most unpopular kid in high school, Summer Jones isn’t ready for much of anything, except for teasing from classmates. Then Jasper, her eccentric Dad, makes a shocking disclosure: He’s a professor at Zoom’s Academy, a school that develops super-powers in select students. Before Summer can say “lost his marbles,” Jasper gives her a strange ring, which glows the instant Summer slips it on her finger. Okay, now she’s ready to be totally freaked out! So begins Summer’s amazing adventures, as she blasts off to an astonishing campus in the clouds. It is a place where rockets run on lime gelatin, shiny brass robots zip around, and caped (soon-to-be-crusading) kids fly the skies and fine tune their special gifts–from lightning speed and elastic limbs to telepathy and colossal strength. Can it be true that Summer, a geeky girl with a paralyzing fear of heights, is a budding crime-fighting super hero? Yet while the faculty of Zoom’s Academy tries to discover what sort of super-powers Summer actually possesses, the dark headmaster of Zoom’s archrival, Grave’s School for the Villainous Arts, plots a hostile take-over, in which one unsuspecting girl will play a vital role in its sinister execution. From the Trade Paperback edition.

With an agoraphobic mother and a barely-there father, Sang abhors the isolation keeping her in the shadows. The only thing Sang craves is a fresh start and to be accepted as ordinary by her peers, because for her being different meant being cast out alone. When her family moves to a new school district, Sang infiltrates a group of boys nearly perfect in every way. Grateful for an influence outside of her parents’ negativity, she quickly bonds with the boys, hoping to blend in and learn from them what it means to have a natural relationship with friends. Only the boys have secrets of their own and they’ll do anything to keep her safe from the knowledge of the mysterious Academy that they've sworn allegiance to. Bit by bit, Sang discovers that her friends are far from the normalcy she expected. Will her loyalty change when she's forced to remain in the dark, or will she accept that she's traded one house of secrets for another? Meet Kota, Victor, Silas, Nathan, Gabriel, Luke and North in a story about differences and loyalty, truth and mystery, friendships and heart-throbbing intimacy. The Academy, ever vigilant.

Not everyone gets a second chance at life. Thrust into the body of a dying man, I fought to break free, made a few friends along the way, and started down the long and treacherous path of revenge. But things aren't what I'd expected. Not all of the bad guys I'd set my sights on were actually bad, and the good guys...well, let's just say it is complicated. The emperor, in his tyrannical quest for immortality and power, has sent his agents to the City of Bones. Why? Simple. The local lord, Tairon, had accumulated too much power, so it was time to clip his wings. To replace him, they will hold a tournament. The winner takes control of the City of Bones. No one knows my real motivations, my real ambitions. Perhaps if I can cultivate enough strength quickly enough, I can silence my enemies and start healing this fractured world.

4GW (Fourth Generation Warfare) is the only kind of war America has ever lost. And we have done so three times – in Vietnam, Lebanon, and Somalia. This form of warfare has also defeated the French in Vietnam and Algeria, and the USSR in Afghanistan…As the only Goliath left in the world, we should be worried that the world’s Davids have found a sling and stone that work." – Chapter 1, The Sling and the Stone: On War in the 21st Century. The War in Iraq. The War on Terror. These types of "asymmetrical" warfare are the conflicts of the 21st century – and show how difficult it is for the world's remaining superpower to battle insurgents and terrorists who will fight unconventionally in the face of superior military power. This change in military conflict may seem sudden.

"All the sizzle, chaos, noise and scariness of war is clay in the hands of ace storyteller Lynch." -- Kirkus Reviews for the World War II series Discover the secret missions behind America's greatest conflicts.Danny Manion has been fighting his entire life. Sometimes with his fists. Sometimes with his words. But when his actions finally land him in real trouble, he can't fight the judge who offers him a choice: jail... or the army.Turns out there's a perfect place for him in the US military: the Studies and Observation Group (SOG), an elite volunteer-only task force comprised of US Air Force Commandos, Army Green Berets, Navy SEALS, and even a CIA agent or two. With the SOG's focus on covert action and psychological warfare, Danny is guaranteed an unusual tour of duty, and a hugely dangerous one. Fortunately, the very same qualities that got him in trouble at home make him a natural-born commando in a secret war. Even if almost nobody knows he's there.National Book Award finalist Chris Lynch begins a new, explosive fiction series based on the real-life, top-secret history of US black ops.

When the family of young Zeus is attacked by Hyperion, Zeus's mother is knocked unconscious and his best friend is left for dead. Stacking epic insult upon fatal injury, Zeus discovers the woman who raised him is not his biological mother. But to ensure her safety while she recovers, a heavyhearted Zeus leaves her behind to seek answers at Mount Olympus Preparatory Academia. Zeus embarks on a quest to discover who ordered the attack on his home, avenge the death of his friend, and find his birth mother. When some of his new schoolmates vanish, Zeus's quest is turned upside down, and the only way to make things right is to access the power of the Sky Throne, confront a most dangerous enemy, and take his life back. On his way to becoming king of the Greek gods, Zeus will learn to seize power, neutralize his enemies, and fall in love.