A Thousand Pearls

As the twilight turned into night, the pyramids lay deserted. The Tuaregs on silent horses were flying across the desert around the pyramids and the great Sphinx, making sure that what was about to take place was unobserved. A cortege of torches was winding its way down the tall dune towards the great Sphinx. Phillipa, holding the silver Urn with the Heidrichs ashes, rode at the center of the cortege. Reaching the Sphinx, the torchbearers broke into two columns to form an honor guard of light through which Phillipa rode to meet the matriarch standing between the Sphinx’s mighty paws. Phillipa slowly handed the urn to her. A deep hole had been chiseled into the Sphinx’s chest where one would think the heart might be. The urn was pushed gently into the cool depth of the Sphinx. The opening disappeared in front of Phillipa’s eyes under the skilled hands of a stonemason. No one would suspect that the Sphinx had been tampered with. One by one the Tuareg torchbearers rode up the passage between the mighty paws of the Sphinx and dropped their torches in front of the Heidrichs secret burial chamber––a final salute to the man who had translated their tablets. That night they slept outside under the stars. The matriarch’s stallion came to greet Phillipa. She rubbed his forehead and velvety nose and then kissed it, as she had done long ago when she had been here with Udah Singh. “He likes you and wishes you well,” said the matriarch behind her. “ You have a gift with horses that I have not seen before.” She continued, “You still love both equally, and that confuses you profoundly. Give yourself permission to love and be loved. Don’t let conventions and western customs dictate your life. Live happy and free.”

Redolent with the scent of lilac and oleander blossoms, and bursting with the flavors of quinces and overripe plums, Strand of a Thousand Pearls is the story of the imagined and actual marriages of the Azizyan girls, their years of yearning, restless and impatient, and the truth of their engagements, miles away from the enchanted realm and imaginary heroes of their dreams. Six years ago, Dorit Rabinyan burst onto the scene with Persian Brides, a novel that established her as a writer of incandescent spirit with a gift for spinning wry, magical tales about the vagaries of love and marriage. In Strand of a Thousand Pearls, she has given us a bitter-sweet fable about desires fulfilled and denied—about married love and carnal love, about mother’s love and the kind of love that vanishes one night without warning, like an evaporated dream.

In the tradition of Joe Brainard’s I Remember and Georges Perec’s Je me souviens, this delightful “novel” offers a thousand answers to the question, “What are you thinking?” (Or, as translator Ian Monk puts it: “Penny for them?”) The answers are spontaneous, revealing, ominous, insignificant, grotesque, amusing, lecherous, tragic and trivial by turns, and lovable in their cheerful imperfection. This is a book about the basics: love, sexuality, death, and all the other things that lurk in our everyday thoughts.

Clinical judgment is a critical aspect – perhaps the most critical aspect – of efficient, accurate, and cost-effective patient care. Focusing on essential clinical skills, On Rounds: 1000 Internal Medicine Pearls helps clinicians in training and in practice to identify the critical findings that will simplify complex clinical problems and lead to an accurate diagnosis. One thousand easy-to-remember clinical aphorisms, or “pearls,” help you distinguish the important findings from the incidental, pointing out the distinctive features amidst the mass of data that is accumulated in the evaluation of a sick patient, and leading to the development of mature clinical judgment. Go “on rounds” with one of the most respected educators in internal medicine and learn from his nearly 50 years of clinical experience. Focus on the areas that are often a source of confusion for students, trainees, and even seasoned practitioners. Learn each pearl in a relevant clinical context, with tables, clinical images, and physiology information, where appropriate. Recognize “black pearls:” statements that, although widely believed, are demonstrably false. Improve your clinical judgment skills whether you’re a resident or an experienced clinician. Carry these pocket-sized pearls with you for quick reference.

Miller is a bold poet working from the "pure energy of language, without apology."--The Boston Book Review

Two memorable novels from Spur Award-winning author Mike Blakely at one low price Summer of Pearls The coming of the railroad nearly spelled the end of the riverboat community of Port Caddo until the Great Caddo Lake Pearl Rush of 1874. Ben Crowell remembers it well: that summer, he fell in love. That autumn, Judd Kelso, a local riverboat owner, was killed. The pearl rush was over within a few months, but Judd Kelso's murder remained unsolved, and only Ben Crowell seemed interested in finding out who killed Kelso and why. Spanish Blood In 1870, Bart Young heads for the New Mexico Territory, where he has heard men are making fortunes overnight in land speculation on the old Spanish grants. He expects to be rich before the year is out. But the ranchers are stubborn, the local officials are corrupt, and Bart isn't the first hopeful to arrive. His dream seems a lost cause . . . until he stumbles onto evidence of a lost grant bigger than he could have ever imagined: the entire Sacramento Mountain Range. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Ben Crowell remembers the Great Caddo Lake Pearl Rush of 1874. He was fourteen that year, and his home, the riverboat community of Port Caddo, was dying. By the end of the summer, the pearl boom was over, Port Caddo was doomed, and the mystery over who killed Judd Kelso began. It took Ben forty years to solve the mystery, and once he did, the proof came only for him to witness. He is the only living soul who will know what happened that September night in 1874. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Rick Riordan Presents Yoon Ha Lee's space opera about thirteen-year-old Min, who comes from a long line of fox spirits. But you'd never know it by looking at her. To keep the family safe, Min's mother insists that none of them use any fox-magic, such as Charm or shape-shifting. They must appear human at all times. Min feels hemmed in by the household rules and resents the endless chores, the cousins who crowd her, and the aunties who judge her. She would like nothing more than to escape Jinju, her neglected, dust-ridden, and impoverished planet. She's counting the days until she can follow her older brother, Jun, into the Space Forces and see more of the Thousand Worlds. When word arrives that Jun is suspected of leaving his post to go in search of the Dragon Pearl, Min knows that something is wrong. Jun would never desert his battle cruiser, even for a mystical object rumored to have tremendous power. She decides to run away to find him and clear his name. Min's quest will have her meeting gamblers, pirates, and vengeful ghosts. It will involve deception, lies, and sabotage. She will be forced to use more fox-magic than ever before, and to rely on all of her cleverness and bravery. The outcome may not be what she had hoped, but it has the potential to exceed her wildest dreams. This sci-fi adventure with the underpinnings of Korean mythology will transport you to a world far beyond your imagination.