Blackcurrant Fool

Blackcurrant Fool

Victoria Goddard

Spirituality / Nonfiction / Self Help

Magic is out of fashion. Orio City is where that's decided.When his best friend Mr. Dart unexpectedly needs to make an urgent trip to Orio City, Jemis Greenwing's immediate response to ask when.  He's willing to make up to his grandmother so she will lend them her falarode, he's willing to offer to run the errands of half the barony, and he's certainly willing to spend a week or so away from the gossips of Ragnor Bella.It's such a pity that Jemis and Mr. Dart are more than halfway to Orio City before Jemis remembers that his vindictive ex-lover Lark is a rising star in the criminal courts of Orio City.  It's an even greater pity when they realize just what her new position is in the legally instituted court there.What with the dragon Jemis slayed a month ago, his consequent ascension to the position of Viscount St-Noire, and his father's very recent second return from the dead, to say nothing of that still-famous play from the summer, Three Years...
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Tory

Tory

Vikki Kestell

Historical Fiction / Science Fiction / Spirituality

Victoria Washington—sophisticated and elegant, owner of Victoria’s House of Fashion, designer of haute couture gowns for the wealthy and elite of Denver, a brilliant and successful businesswoman in her own right. Tory, as she is known to her friends, is also a supporter of Palmer House—a most extraordinary refuge for young women rescued from prostitution.The girls of Palmer House were once captives of the two houses of ill repute in Corinth, the little mountain village above Denver. Through no fault of her own, Tory was one of those girls. And Tory’s past hides more than one dark secret: She was born in the deep South to Adeline Washington—a negress, the daughter and granddaughter of slaves, and the “kept” woman of a wealthy, married white man.Tory’s mixed blood, her illegitimate birth, and the shame of her exploitation follow her down the mountain and haunt her, even to the cusp of...
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The Treasured Writings of Kahlil Gibran

The Treasured Writings of Kahlil Gibran

Kahlil Gibran

Philosophy / Poetry / Spirituality

The Treasured Writings of Kahlil Gibran" represents the most comprehensive volume of works of the Lebanese poet and philosopher ever published. This enriching collection of stories, prose poems, verse, parables and autobiographical essays comprising the major body of Kahlil Gibran's works have been carefully translated and edited by a noted trio of Gibran scholars... Martin L. Wolf, Anthony R. Ferris and Andrew Dib Sherfan. Each of the ten books included in this beautifully bound collectors' volume has been hailed by critics as literary masterpieces. The works in this collection clearly demonstrate why critics regard Kahlil Gibran as eminently among the world's great writers. His writings reflect the wistful beauty, fierce anger, lofty majesty and the abiding peace that Eastern wisdom achieves in its contemplation. Often revered as the Dante of the twentieth century, the immortal savant of Lebanon, Kahlil Gibran created verses and lyric prose which impart to the reader a grand symphony of sparkling joys. These qualities have made Kahlil Gibran master of the written word.
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Laynie Portland, Retired Spy

Laynie Portland, Retired Spy

Vikki Kestell

Historical Fiction / Science Fiction / Spirituality

"Retirement" means something altogether different to a spy. It means someone in authority over you has decided that "coming in from the cold" is out of the question. It means you'd better run.LAYNIE PORTLAND HAS masqueraded as Swedish citizen Linnéa Olander for more than two decades, the last seven years as the high-profile companion of Vassili Aleksandrovich Petroff. Petroff, a reputable Russian scientist and former officer of the KGB, serves as senior technology advisor to the Secretary of the Russian Federation's Security Council.Laynie's life as Petroff's mistress is lonely and difficult, even brutal, for Petroff has a pathological need to master what is "his." But the woman Petroff knows as "Linnéa" is not the compliant, deferential woman he believes her to be. She is Laynie Portland—spy extraordinaire—and despite Petroff's control and cruelty, Laynie has managed to steal a wealth of political and technological...
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Petty Treasons

Petty Treasons

Victoria Goddard

Spirituality / Nonfiction / Self Help

Artorin Damara, last Emperor of Astandalas, is in need of a new secretary. It has been three years since he woke from a magical coma caused by the collapse of his empire, and he can barely acknowledge his own existence, let alone articulate what he needs from someone else. Enter Cliopher sayo Mdang, Fifth Degree Secretary of the Imperial Bureaucratic Service, and to everyone's surprise the apocalypse ... ends. This novella is set on Zunidh in the universe of the Nine Worlds. It is best read after The Hands of the Emperor.
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In the Company of Gentlemen

In the Company of Gentlemen

Victoria Goddard

Spirituality / Nonfiction / Self Help

The greatest poet of the Empire of Astandalas was widely considered the infamous outlaw Fitzroy Angursell. Almost all of his poems and songs were banned, but that had the tendency merely to encourage everyone to read them. Hilarious, pointed, and scathingly topical, one of the games of all levels of society was to guess who they were truly about.After the Fall of the Empire, both the songs and the old stories are still sung, still illegal, and still a mixed blessing. It was not until his nephew tried to impress him that Zorey, formerly a soldier of the Emperor, finally told the story of how he got the scar on his face and earned the dubious gift of Fitzroy Angursell's particular brand of immortality.His nephew wasn't expecting the story. Zorey wasn't expecting the response.
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Number 1 with a Bullet

Number 1 with a Bullet

Vikki Kestell

Historical Fiction / Science Fiction / Spirituality

Every Sherlock needs his Watson, every Hercule Poirot his Captain Hastings. Who else could tell their stories that we might share in their adventures? Meet Simon Fletcher, a recently (and reluctantly) retired Marine, at present the facilities and security manager for Lake Tahoe's exclusive Bright Star Summer RV Residence. Enter Miss BD Finch, who shortly embroils Simon Fletcher in mystery, mayhem, and . . . murder. Life at Bright Star takes several left-hand turns when the diminutive and enigmatic Miss Finch, driving a restored classic panel wagon and towing a seventeen-foot travel trailer, attempts to check in. Indeed, it seems that Miss Finch herself, in addition to her nonexclusive and somewhat unusual "rig," is never what people expect. Those around her generally find themselves knocked off-kilter, including and especially those she's scrutinizing—because although our delightfully unpredictable Miss Finch has many talents,...
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Terec and the Wall

Terec and the Wall

Victoria Goddard

Spirituality / Nonfiction / Self Help

In the north of Ysthar, past the edge of the Empire of Astandalas, there is the tundra, and beyond the tundra, the great wall of ice. No one goes there, save for a few hunters after mammoth ivory or furs, unless it is to look upon the Ice and then, suitably impressed, turn back to be awed by the wall of magic that is the border of the Empire. But there are those for whom the Wild is not only out there but a magic within their blood, and for them—or at least for Terec, once of Lund and now only of the wastelands—the Ice is a wall that might, perhaps, contain a door ... Book 2 of Terec of Lund, to be read after Terec and the Wild.
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How to Smile

How to Smile

Thich Nhat Hanh

Spirituality / Buddhism / Zen

The final book in the bestselling How To series: simple, refreshing meditations of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh give us inspiration and tools for transforming our suffering and cultivating happinessIn inspiring passages and simple exercises, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh teaches us what he calls “the art of suffering.” He gives us teachings and tools for transforming suffering as well as ways to touch moments of happiness and smile even while suffering is still there.Written with characteristic simplicity and wisdom, these insightful meditations—born from the Zen master’s lifetime of Zen practice and peacemaking—teach us how to come back to ourselves, calm our body and mind, and not let suffering overwhelm us. When we’re willing to face our suffering and look deeply into it, we begin to understand its origins. Transformation and healing become possible, and along with it a greater capacity to understand the suffering of others and...
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At the Feet of the Sun

At the Feet of the Sun

Victoria Goddard

Spirituality / Nonfiction / Self Help

The long awaited sequel to THE HANDS OF THE EMPEROR!Cliopher Mdang has been appointed Viceroy of Zunidh by his beloved Radiancy, the Last Emperor, who has now left him behind in the Palace to safeguard the world during his absence on a quest to find an appropriately magical heir. When he returns, he will abdicate, and Cliopher will at last retire, satisfied with having achieved most of his life's political goals—even if his long-suppressed personal dreams are starting to bubble up.(Surely he used to have hobbies besides running the government?)All he has to do is wait patiently for his lord's return... until adventure quite literally hits him from behind, and what was once safely hypothetical becomes intensely real.Cliopher has always followed the stars of his chosen course: the epic oral histories of his people, the poetry of the rebel poet Fitzroy Angursell, decades of devotion and service to his Radiancy... They were enough to change the world. But are...
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Discovered

Discovered

Beca Lewis

Fantasy / Self Help / Spirituality

An evil tyrant. A rebellious uprising. Will her destiny prevent total destruction... or send everyone to their doom? Her gift of shapeshifting may have disappeared, but Meg Porta won't let her new home perish. Clinging to a slender thread of hope, she's forced to fulfill her mysterious part in an ancient prophecy. But when the three leaders of a dark religion each make violent plays for ultimate power, Meg and her allies are plunged into a race to destroy the source of their magic. Sailing hard from the rebel islands to be the first to reach the remote mountain location, Meg can't shake the feeling she's about to repeat a terrible mistake. But with a powerful genius leading an army of undead warrior monks intent on taking her down, she'll have to seize her foretold place in history or face total obliteration.Will Meg claim her fated role and save the world from falling to malevolent tyranny? Discovered is the...
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Blackcurrant Fool (Greenwing & Dart, #4)

Blackcurrant Fool (Greenwing & Dart, #4)

Victoria Goddard

Spirituality / Nonfiction / Self Help

Magic is out of fashion. Orio City is where that's decided.When his best friend Mr. Dart unexpectedly needs to make an urgent trip to Orio City, Jemis Greenwing's immediate response to ask when.  He's willing to make up to his grandmother so she will lend them her falarode, he's willing to offer to run the errands of half the barony, and he's certainly willing to spend a week or so away from the gossips of Ragnor Bella.It's such a pity that Jemis and Mr. Dart are more than halfway to Orio City before Jemis remembers that his vindictive ex-lover Lark is a rising star in the criminal courts of Orio City.  It's an even greater pity when they realize just what her new position is in the legally instituted court there.What with the dragon Jemis slayed a month ago, his consequent ascension to the position of Viscount St-Noire, and his father's very recent second return from the dead, to say nothing of that still-famous play from the summer, Three Years Gone: the Tragicomedy of the Traitor of Loe, it's really too much to hope for that Jemis will be able to spend even three days in the old capital incognito.University students. Bear baiting. Unexpected relations. Wild magic. Literary criticism. Kittens. And always that whisper from the highwaymen of the Arguty Forest that someone's death is on the line ...Book Four of Greenwing & Dart, fantasies of manners--and mischief.
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And Then She Remembered

And Then She Remembered

Beca Lewis

Fantasy / Self Help / Spirituality

Can she be who she is? Or is it forbidden? What Marsha Melinda Martin once believed she could be has vanished, and she has almost stopped caring. Then a man claiming to be her father comes to town, bringing back memories she thought she had forgotten and revealing secrets she has been avoiding. But before she can do anything about her future, Marsha and the Ruby Sisters must deal with the new woman in town. Is she working with the serial killer that once lived among them? Has Ron Page returned to claim the woman he believes he owns and punish those that took her from him? And will Marsha forgive her father in time to save them? Although mystery and danger abound, the heart of this story is how community and friends working together—and remembering who they are—can overcome all evil. No matter how hidden it might be.
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