Tailey came from the humblest of beginnings. His life had begun as a stray barn cat, and though he was now the beloved companion and protector of a young, deaf girl named Megan, he still had no idea of how far afield his destiny would soon take him, or how dangerous things would become. Megan is under grievous threat from Ichneumon, Possessor of Souls, who seeks to erase her and the threat of her powerful, unrealized magic from existence, assuring his own continued supremacy on his home world of Katlyn. But when a mysterious cat’s eye stone whisks Tailey off to that other world, under its blue sun, and he finds himself in the midst of an epic battle between good and evil, all he can think of is getting back to his little girl and keeping her safe. With the help of the cats of Katlyn, a wolf cub, a small but magical creature called Nep, and the enormous and wise Animond, Yahmond Yah, he searches for a way back home, even as Katlyn is being torn asunder by the dark forces of Ichneumon on one side and the ancient evil of the ebony sword on the other. As peace unravels and blood is shed on all sides, ancient enemies will come together, forging new bonds of trust, and working together to stand against the darkness. But amidst such chaos and uncertainty, how can one small gray cat ever hope to find his way home ... before it’s too late.

In this second instalment of the Cats of Katlyn series, Detective Lisa Crom has returned to Antrim County to solve a nagging problem with the closed case of Barry Newman Perkins when suddenly she, her tabby cat, Little One, seven-year-old Megan Simms, and their two animal friends are spirited away to the world of Katlyn. Lisa, who can also hear animals communicating in her mind, must find a way to get Megan home to her parents, and soon they are greeted by mystical creatures like the Greenwolves of the Green Nation, the huge Panthers and their Neptunian riders, and massive honeybees known as the Beesive. Meanwhile, the menacing Ichneumon, Possessor of Souls has escaped his watery dungeon and is building another army of enslaved souls to destroy all that is good in the world. As a mixed group of unlikely heroes embark on their quest to find the Gray Cat’s Eye Stone, a bloody battle ensues. When young Megan is confronted by Ichneumon, the monster insect, in his primordial form, the magic of her blue eyes might be the only thing that can save her.

This astonishing novel takes us on a journey along the river of one family's history, carving a course across two centuries and three continents, from ancient Africa into today's America. Here, through the lives of Mother Africa's many daughters, we come to understand the real meaning of roots: the captive Proud Mary, who has been savagely punished for refusing to relinquish her child to slavery; Earlene, who witnesses her father's murder at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan; Big Momma, a modern-day matriarch who can make a woman of a girl; proud and sassy Cinnamon Brown, whose wild abandon hides a bitter loss; and smart, ambitious Alma, who is torn between the love of a man and the song of her soul. In The River Where Blood Is Born, the seen and unseen worlds are seamlessly joined--the spirit realms where the great river goddess and ancestor mothers watch over the lives of their descendants, both the living and those not yet born. Stringing beads of destiny, they work to lead one daughter back to her source. But what must Alma sacrifice to honor the River Mother's call?

A strange varmint haunts the woodsman who lopped off its tail.

A retelling of an African-Americn folk tale about an old man who cuts a creature's tail off and is haunted by the creature, who wants his "tailypo" back

Includes questions for discussions and an excerpt from another novel.

Liberia was the scene of two devastating civil wars since late 1989 and became widely considered a failed state. By contrast, the country is frequently described as a success story since the international professional Ellen Johnson Sirleaf assumed the presidency following democratic elections in 2005. The book investigates the political economy of civil war and democratic peace and puts the developments into historical perspective. The author argues that the civil wars did not represent the breakdown of the state but exhibited dynamics characteristic of state formation. His analysis of continuity and change in Liberia's political evolution details both political progress and persistent structural deficits of the polity. Book jacket.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the pages of Vogue to the runways of Paris, this “captivating” (Time) memoir by a legendary style icon captures the fashion world from the inside out, in its most glamorous and most cutthroat moments. “The Chiffon Trenches honestly and candidly captures fifty sublime years of fashion.”—Manolo Blahnik NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR • Fortune • Garden & Gun • New York Post During André Leon Talley’s first magazine job, alongside Andy Warhol at Interview, a fateful meeting with Karl Lagerfeld began a decades-long friendship with the enigmatic, often caustic designer. Propelled into the upper echelons by his knowledge and adoration of fashion, André moved to Paris as bureau chief of John Fairchild’s Women’s Wear Daily, befriending fashion's most important designers (Halston, Yves Saint Laurent, Oscar de la Renta). But as André made friends, he also made enemies. A racially tinged encounter with a member of the house of Yves Saint Laurent sent him back to New York and into the offices of Vogue under Grace Mirabella. There, he eventually became creative director, developing an unlikely but intimate friendship with Anna Wintour. As she rose to the top of Vogue’s masthead, André also ascended, and soon became the most influential man in fashion. The Chiffon Trenches offers a candid look at the who’s who of the last fifty years of fashion. At once ruthless and empathetic, this engaging memoir tells with raw honesty the story of how André not only survived the brutal style landscape but thrived—despite racism, illicit rumors, and all the other challenges of this notoriously cutthroat industry—to become one of the most renowned voices and faces in fashion. Woven throughout the book are also André’s own personal struggles that impacted him over the decades, along with intimate stories of those he turned to for inspiration (Diana Vreeland, Diane von Fürstenberg, Lee Radziwill, to name a few), and of course his Southern roots and faith, which guided him since childhood. The result is a highly compelling read that captures the essence of a world few of us will ever have real access to, but one that we all want to know oh so much more about.

Since 1988 this textbook has provided a clear and easily grasped explanation of the origins of physical signs when examining a patient, (both historically and physiologically). Much has been rewritten to reflect new thinking and new techniques.