The redemptive story of one man's agonizing journey from the depths of Satanism to a radical new life in Christ. A life of difficulty and disappointment set 33-three year old Michael Leehan up for the worst decision of his life—to make a deal with the Devil to follow and serve him. Practicing the dark arts that include ritualistic cuttings and blood sacrifices, while fine tuning his manipulation and control skills, Michael launched into a twenty year downward spiral that included job loss and detachment from loved ones, and even jail time. But God had another plan that included a group of Christian men to love him and pray for him—even when it became evident his assignment from Satan was to kill their pastor, Craig Groeschel. The life Michael Leehan lives today is an incredible testimony of the transforming power of God's mercy and grace, but is also a wakeup call to the church to be fully aware of the spiritual war that is going on all around them, and to the ultimate battle for their souls. "I am sending you to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me." Acts 26:18

A lost prince Between years surviving on the streets and an ill-advised stint with Kien’s group of half-blood fae, Fen has seen his fair share of darkness. Sure, he helped capture Kien and put an end to the trouble he caused, but his actions contributed to one of the greatest upheavals of all—the return of magic to Earth. Now Fen’s mother has named him the heir to the Unseelie throne, and he has discovered he has two mates he is unworthy to claim. A deadly healer The daughter of a Seelie artisan and a human woman, Maddy can’t find anyone among her father’s people willing to teach her to heal without causing harm. But finally, she has hope—a healer on Moranaia has agreed to help her. The problem? Maddy will have to travel to their world, leaving her girlfriend Anna unprotected on Earth. For the return of magic has awakened Anna’s latent water abilities, and the temptation of the nearby river could prove too much without Maddy near. A canny enemy When a slip of the tongue reveals that Fen could share a mate bond with both Maddy and Anna, all three must come to terms with their insecurities—and quickly. The poison they believed eradicated has appeared again, and Meren, the traitorous Seelie noble who had once worked with Kien, has returned from hiding. Together, Anna, Fen, and Maddy might be able to defeat the rising threat. But first, they must conquer their pasts.

The author of The Seven Storey Mountain explores the mysticism of Saint John of the Cross. The only thing that can save the world from complete moral collapse is a spiritual revolution. . . . The desire for unworldliness, detachment, and union with God is the most fundamental expression of this revolutionary spirit. In Ascent to Truth, author and Trappist Monk Thomas Merton makes an impassioned case for the importance of contemplation. Drawing on a range of thinkers—from Carl Jung to Pope Pius XII—Merton defines the nature of contemplative experience and shows how the Christian mysticism of sixteenth-century Spanish Carmelite Saint John of the Cross offers essential answers to our disquieting and troubling times. “For any who have the desire to look into meditation and contemplation . . . this is the book for which they have waited.” —New York Herald Tribune Book Review “For those who may be curious about mysticism, and for those who may be called to a life of contemplation, this is an excellent book.” —Catholic World

In the tradition of Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, Nick Heil recounts the harrowing story of the deadly and controversial 2006 climbing season on Everest. In early May 2006, a young British climber named David Sharp lay dying near the top of Mount Everest while forty other climbers walked past him on their way to the summit. A week later, Lincoln Hall, a seasoned Australian climber, was left for dead near the same spot. Hall’s death was reported around the world, but the next day he was found alive after spending the night on the upper mountain with no food and no shelter. If David Sharp’s death was shocking, it was not singular: despite unusually good weather, ten others died attempting to reach the summit that year. In this meticulous inquiry into what went wrong, Nick Heil tells the full story of the deadliest year on Everest since the infamous season of 1996. He introduces Russell Brice, the outfitter who has done more than anyone to provide access to the summit via the mountain’s north side–and who some believe was partially responsible for Sharp’s death. As more climbers attempt the summit each year, Heil shows how increasingly risky expeditions and unscrupulous outfitters threaten to turn Everest into a deadly circus. Written by an experienced climber and outdoor writer, Dark Summit is both a riveting account of a notorious climbing season and a troubling investigation into whether the pursuit of the ultimate mountaineering prize has spiralled out of control.

Writer-poet Luci Shaw has given us a lifetime of exquisite reflections on the breadth and wonder of life. Now in her eighties, she turns her attention to the season of edging toward life's borders. Her spirit of adventure and transparency will fill you with hope and gratitude.

When we think of Inanna, she is usually envisioned as the descending Goddess--and often, it is her time spent in the Underworld that most alluded to. While the Underworld, or the "shadow" is vital, it is equally important to remember what happens after the time spent in the darkness, the void, or the long dark tunnel. We descend our entire lives it seems--only coming up for brief moments of respite. Patriarchy pushes us down repeatedly--and sometimes, we just stay there. Inanna's Ascent examines how women can rise from the underworld and reclaim their power. All contributors are extraordinary women in their own right, who have been through some difficult life lessons--and are brave enough to share their stories.

Rising from the disadvantages of a Stalingrad orphanage to the prestige of the cosmonaut corps, Yefgenii Yeremin struggles with the covert nature of his Korean War missions, which cause his heroics to go unreported, and pursues glory when he is called to join the race to the moon. Reprint.

“Full of fascinating insights drawn from an impressive range of disciplines, The Ascent of Information casts the familiar and the foreign in a dramatic new light.” —Brian Greene, author of The Elegant Universe Your information has a life of its own, and it’s using you to get what it wants. One of the most peculiar and possibly unique features of humans is the vast amount of information we carry outside our biological selves. But in our rush to build the infrastructure for the 20 quintillion bits we create every day, we’ve failed to ask exactly why we’re expending ever-increasing amounts of energy, resources, and human effort to maintain all this data. Drawing on deep ideas and frontier thinking in evolutionary biology, computer science, information theory, and astrobiology, Caleb Scharf argues that information is, in a very real sense, alive. All the data we create—all of our emails, tweets, selfies, A.I.-generated text and funny cat videos—amounts to an aggregate lifeform. It has goals and needs. It can control our behavior and influence our well-being. And it’s an organism that has evolved right alongside us. This symbiotic relationship with information offers a startling new lens for looking at the world. Data isn’t just something we produce; it’s the reason we exist. This powerful idea has the potential to upend the way we think about our technology, our role as humans, and the fundamental nature of life. The Ascent of Information offers a humbling vision of a universe built of and for information. Scharf explores how our relationship with data will affect our ongoing evolution as a species. Understanding this relationship will be crucial to preventing our data from becoming more of a burden than an asset, and to preserving the possibility of a human future.

Finch chronicles the harrowing true story of two friends who plunge 900 feet into the water in South Africa--and only one returns. What happened that day is the stuff of nightmarish drama, but it's also a compelling human story of friendship and of coming to terms with loss and tragedy. 8-page color photo insert.

John is a witness to the God who longs to encounter each one of us with the passion of a lover. Viewed by some as one of the greatest Spanish poets, by others as a forbidding advocate of renunciation, John was declared Doctor of the Church for his unique contribution to Catholic spiritual practice. Yet the essence of the real Fray Juan de la Cruz is not easy to pin down. In this book the author, a Carmelite of Mary immaculate, lays bare the heart of John's message: God can only encounter us in his fullness if we are empty of everything that is not God.