Streetfighter, fugitive, hero … Aubry Knight is now a powerful man with powerful friends. And someone wants to kill him. Their opening shot is the death of one of Aubry's dearest friends. Their next attack is on Aubry's child. Knight is drawn inexorably toward New Africa, toward the mysteries of his own past, and toward a future that may take him far from Los Angeles and the only life he's ever known. To win this battle, and save his family, Aubry Knight must defeat himself.

Palace intrigue, dark magic, and terrifying secrets drive the beautifully written standalone novel Fire Dance, set in the world of Last Song Before Night. Espionage, diplomacy, conspiracy, passion, and power are the sensuously choreographed steps of the soaring new high fantasy novel by Ilana C. Myer, one woman's epic mission to stop a magical conflagration. Lin, newly initiated in the art of otherwordly enchantments, is sent to aid her homeland's allies against vicious attacks from the Fire Dancers: mysterious practitioners of strange and deadly magic. Forced to step into a dangerous waltz of tradition, treachery, and palace secrets, Lin must also race the ticking clock of her own rapidly dwindling life to learn the truth of the Fire Dancers' war, and how she might prevent death on a scale too terrifying to contemplate. Myer's novel is a symphony of secret towers, desert winds, burning sands, blood and dust. Her prose soars, and fluid movements of the politically charged plot carry the reader toward a shocking crescendo.

"What is it, Noko?" Grandmother does not answer. Somehow, I feel that we are being watched and she knows what is there. "I will go and see what it might be." And then I add, "I'll be careful." Although I try to sound brave, I don't want to go into the dark corner where the fire does not glow. I remind myself that I have been in the woods many times and was never afraid before. I walk toward the huge white pine that hides what could be there. Again, I feel a wind tapping my back. I look behind me. There is nothing. As night sets in and the fire crackles, a young native girl is amazed when he grandmother invokes the spirits of their ancestors. She learn the mystical firedance and creates a bond with her people and their heritage that will last a lifetime.

Joseph Padgal was born in a small in Southwestern Michigan town. He lived, along with his sister and parents in a former 100 year old farm house that had once housed a doctor's office. At the age of sixteen he started writing short stories about his life growing up in the town he lived, about his faith in God and his family. After graduating from high school he enlisted in the armed forces, eventually ending up in South East Asia as a result of the war in Vietnam. Upon his retirement from the military he moved back to Kalamazoo, Michigan where he lives with his wife in a three story home built in 1906. He retired from the federal government in 2008. It was in this year that Padgal started writing his first novel 'FireDance' which he finished and had published in 2010. In his novel, Padgal demonstrates how to use forgiveness as a healing tool and offers viable steps for the individual who has difficulty forgiving anyone for anything. Fire Dance has, elements of humor, suspense, crisis and cure. .

A high fantasy following a young woman's defiance of her culture as she undertakes a dangerous quest to restore her world's lost magic in Ilana C. Myer's Last Song Before Night. Her name was Kimbralin Amaristoth: sister to a cruel brother, daughter of a hateful family. But that name she has forsworn, and now she is simply Lin, a musician and lyricist of uncommon ability in a land where women are forbidden to answer such callings-a fugitive who must conceal her identity or risk imprisonment and even death. On the eve of a great festival, Lin learns that an ancient scourge has returned to the land of Eivar, a pandemic both deadly and unnatural. Its resurgence brings with it the memory of an apocalypse that transformed half a continent. Long ago, magic was everywhere, rising from artistic expression-from song, from verse, from stories. But in Eivar, where poets once wove enchantments from their words and harps, the power was lost. Forbidden experiments in blood divination unleashed the plague that is remembered as the Red Death, killing thousands before it was stopped, and Eivar's connection to the Otherworld from which all enchantment flowed, broken. The Red Death's return can mean only one thing: someone is spilling innocent blood in order to master dark magic. Now poets who thought only to gain fame for their songs face a challenge much greater: galvanized by Valanir Ocune, greatest Seer of the age, Lin and several others set out to reclaim their legacy and reopen the way to the Otherworld-a quest that will test their deepest desires, imperil their lives, and decide the future. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Twenty-three year-old Arturo Fernandez believes he has his life figured out. Like most young men in his village of Colima, Mexico, his plan is simple. He envisions himself marrying his long term girlfriend as soon as his carpentry business has taken off, and together they would build a nice home and raise happy children. Then the wind blows an American woman into Arturo’s path, and his life changes in ways so tragic that he finds himself considering the unthinkable. Laura Marie Spencer, a red-haired beauty from America is unwinding in Colima after a messy divorce from her wealthy husband when she happens to watch Arturo in an amateur boxing match. Impressed by his obvious passion and unmatched skill for the sport, Laura persuades Arturo to come to America with her where she promises to help him pursue a professional boxing career. Laura asserts that Arturo is a gem buried in Colima soils and all he needs is a little polishing to make him shine. Though initially resistant, Arturo eventually concedes that Laura’s offer is a God-sent opportunity that will help him achieve bigger dreams - like rescuing his family from the pangs of poverty. But when he arrives in America, his life is turned upside down with a force so powerful that it sends him careening on the edge of insanity. Instead of the fame, prosperity and success Laura had promised, Arturo is tossed into a path laced with sex, lies, deception and even murder. A golden opportunity turns into a fight for his life. How does a simple village carpenter from Mexico end up in a maximum prison in Florida charged with the murder of the very woman who had promised to nurture his dream? A shocking revelation from Laura’s scandalous secret past might be Arturo’s only saving grace...

"Presto con fuoco" makes this A minor showpiece a nice challenge for the intermediate artist, but it is very playable, as most of the sixteenth note passages lie under the fingers without major movement of the hands. Another nice challenge is the need to play legato in one hand and staccato in the other. The style is very "marcato" with many accents and a wide use of the keyboard (including the lowest A on the piano). A Federation Festivals 2016-2020 selection.

Hahvi has spent eight years in the dome with other physical talents. Her body is wrapped in a restrictor suit, but she keeps her mind free to dream of possibilities. She is given to the Citadel, and when she meets the dream master, her world and her options shift dramatically. Rackon dreamed of a woman wreathed in flame, dancing across lava. This was the woman his people needed to help them save their city and the last of their civilization. Research pointed to Resicor, and after severe negotiations, she is handed over to them so that they can take on the trouble of her maintenance. Released from the restriction, she is free to use her talent for the first time in her life, unfortunately, she has to pick her outlet carefully or she could kill them all.

In this sixth installment in the critically acclaimed Swedish crime series, the murder of a young ballerina named Sophie, apparently an arson victim, sets off shrill alarm bells for Detective Inspector Irene Huss, who remembers the matching details of an unsolved case from fifteen years earlier, when Irene had only just started in the police force. The stepfather of the then eight-year-old Sophie has been murdered in a very similar way, and at the time the girl herself had been under suspicions. The circumstances force Irene and her colleagues to confront an uncomfortable question: can a child be responsible for the cold-blooded murder of an adult? The case awakens vivid memories that take the reader back to Irene's days as a young police officer.

Features the world-famous "Ritual Fire Dance" from the theater piece El amor brujo ("Love, the sorcerer"), "Pantomime" from El amor brujo, 3 dances from El sombrero de tres picos ("The three-cornered hat"), more.