World-renowned bestselling author Carlos Castaneda's selection of his writings on the shamans of ancient Mexico. Originally drawn to Yaqui Indian spiritual leader don Juan Matus for his knowledge of mind-altering plants, bestselling author Carlos Castaneda soon immersed himself in the sorcerer’s magical world entirely. Ten years after his first encounter with the shaman, Castaneda examines his field notes and comes to understand what don Juan knew all along—that these plants are merely a means to understanding the alternative realities that one cannot fully embrace on one’s own. In Journey to Ixtlan, Carlos Castaneda introduces readers to this new approach for the first time and explores, as he comes to experience it himself, his own final voyage into the teachings of don Juan, sharing with us what it is like to truly “stop the world” and perceive reality on his own terms.

Why did traditional Chinese literati so often identify themselves with women in their writing? What can this tell us about how they viewed themselves as men and how they understood masculinity? How did their attitudes in turn shape the martial heroes and other masculine models they constructed? Martin Huang attempts to answer these questions in this valuable work on manhood in late imperial China. He focuses on the ambivalent and often paradoxical role played by women and the feminine in the intricate negotiating process of male gender identity in late imperial cultural discourses. Two common strategies for constructing and negotiating masculinity were adopted in many of the works examined here. The first, what Huang calls the strategy of analogy, constructs masculinity in close association with the feminine; the second, the strategy of differentiation, defines it in sharp contrast to the feminine. In both cases women bear the burden as the defining "other." In this study, "feminine" is a rather broad concept denoting a wide range of gender phenomena associated with women, from the politically and socially destabilizing to the exemplary wives and daughters celebrated in Confucian chastity discourse.

Mr. Carlos Castaneda accomplished the feat to introduce the ancient Inca-Shamanism (how to beckon the spirit, how to bring up supernatural power or our immaterial fibers or third attention called a phenix in Egypt within our bodies, how to become healthy-happy-efficient, and how to fuse with the universe without losing consciousness and live there for 2 billion years? as a phenix) by his 12 best seller books. He sent another new bible to the world. Reviewing his books, I think the following points are essential for us to attain the goal of Inca-Shamanism. They are stopping your breath automatically, sleeping without losing consciousness, circulating your energy in your physical body, cleaning up your central energy pipe, making the beautiful strong energetic core of abdomen, flexible and firm abdomen, good spine, the secret of physiognomy, good complexion, rejuvenation, fasting, influence of other people and of devils, cutting the pipe of floating devil above your head, good relationship with opposite sex, dependable self-importance, good repentance, imagining powerful men such as Christ and absorbing the power of various voices and of various flights. So, I have added them.

WORLD FANTASY AWARD WINNER • A true horde of fantasy tales sure to delight fans, scholars, and even the greediest of dragons—from bestselling authors Ann and Jeff VanderMeer Step through a shimmering portal ... a worn wardrobe door ... a schism in sky ... into a bold new age of fantasy. When worlds beyond worlds became a genre unto itself. From the swinging sixties to the strange, strange seventies, the over-the-top eighties to the gnarly nineties—and beyond, into the twenty-first century—the VanderMeers have found the stories and the writers from around the world that reinvented and revitalized the fantasy genre after World War II. The stories in this collection represent twenty-two different countries, including Russia, Argentina, Nigeria, Columbia, Pakistan, Turkey, Finland, Sweden, China, the Philippines, and the Czech Republic. Five have never before been translated into English. From Jorge Luis Borges to Ursula K. Le Guin, Michael Moorcock to Angela Carter, Terry Pratchett to Stephen King, the full range and glory of the fantastic are on display in these ninety-one stories in which dragons soar, giants stomp, and human children should still think twice about venturing alone into the dark forest. Completing Ann and Jeff VanderMeer's definitive The Big Book of Classic Fantasy, this companion volume to takes the genre into the twenty-first century with ninety-one astonishing, mind-bending stories. A VINTAGE ORIGINAL

Sarah Morgan spells big trouble for Jon Burns even before they meet. In a dream, the wayward slacker hears her crying out. In visions, he’s confronted by a demonic image from her extreme paintings. When the two twenty-somethings meet at a Michigan college, it gets worse. Sarah, a prolific artist, is beyond gorgeous, but wild and maddeningly aloof. Ignoring the omens, Jon enters the fray and wins the brassy siren (sort of), only to discover the secret past that has left her damaged. As the darkness in Sarah rises up, she becomes unpredictable. Aaron, an analyst, studies Sarah’s art and warns Jon of her precarious balance. Jon’s own grip starts slipping and his life gets bizarre—more than usual, that is. But the lovers are linked in spite of themselves, and they battle through Sarah’s ordeal until a great test is forced upon them. Witty and darkly comic, May I Walk You Home, Sarah Morgan? tells of two lost souls, locked in different struggles, but mysteriously thrown together to face hard lessons of life and love. A well plotted, character driven human drama that explores the taboos of today’s dysfunctional society with Frank’s unique sense of dark humor. You will laugh, you will cry, but most of all you will root for these two to prove that love does conquer all. A must read for all, young and old, who have struggled with the meaning of love in their lives.— Terri Valentine

A passionate meditation on the consolations and disappointments of religion and poetry

He already knew that he should never give up but persevere and Head towards that unknown world that represented life in order to survive And find his place within the human race If the life of Francis, the hero of the saga of An Improbable Life, were a river, it would be longer than the Nile, more exciting than the Amazon, more fascinating than the Danube, more laden with legends of the Mississippi and it would run across all continents. After his early, fascinating adventures of the Book I and Francis explorer life in the Australia outback and his extraordinary New Zealand adventures described in Antipodium, the Book II of the series, the new Book III-The Light of Canopus of the An Improbable Life series will take you from a terrifying ambush inside the Tomb of Absalom in Jerusalem to black magic rites in Venezuela, an escape from the Guatemalan guerrillas, a shipwreck in the Caribbean in addition to climbs of gigantic volcanoes, discovery of pre-Inca mummies, floating islands, diabolic events, a (true) UFO battle in Peru and spiritual wonders. Yet Book III, like all previous books, is NOT fiction. Every episode is true and documented, even photographed. And once you have finished reading it, your only desire will be to find out where the next book would take you.

Omi takes on a journey of his life when he is approached for a help from a man in a coma. Little did he knew that this will turn out to be the greatest adventure of his life. The journey which commences from an ancient cave takes him to different levels of immortal existence. During his passage, he meets his ancestors, his friends and foes, his real self, which paves way for him to reach to the forbidden world. It is here that he discovers the grieving souls, desperate to be freed. However, he needs to be careful with time; each passing moment is taking the souls closer to their mortal death. He needs to act wisely but quickly. Will he be able to release the soul? Will the soul be able to return back to the mortal world? Inspired by the great battle of Mahabharata, an epic journey is not only adventurous but enlightening as well. Based on authors real experiences, it will help one in exploring the secrets of life and after.