Awakening Artemis

A healing resource that blends practical plant-based knowledge with spiritual reconnection to show how respect for and communion with our natural world guides us toward healing. Combining Vanessa's story of her own healing journey with practical plant-based knowledge, Awakening Artemis is rooted in the belief that healing happens through reclaiming an intuitive connection to ourselves, to the natural world, and to our own "inner wild." Having experienced a series of physical traumas growing up--including chronic asthma, a car accident that fractured her back and neck, and sexual trauma--Vanessa pursued various approaches to therapeutic movement from martial arts to yogic practices and explored traditions honoring the mind-body connection while forging a path to recovery. Twenty years now into her journey to reconcile her daily routines with her yearning for greater purpose and connection, Vanessa shares the eclectic mix of elements that have brought her deeper self-awareness, a richer understanding of her place in the world, and the confidence and clear boundaries to truly connect with her loved ones. Organized into five sections that move from the present moment to the forest edge, and into the healing darkness, each chapter focuses on a single plant: on their power to connect us to our bodies and our environment. Using storytelling from her own life, Vanessa connects the plants' power and characteristics to issues we all grapple to heal from and even to understand--from the alienating consequences of cultural appropriation to the intersection between a forest's mycelial network and the neural pathways of our brains. For those seeking to recognize the power and omnipresence of the natural world--from the mugwort sprouting in the city sidewalk to the majesty of a three-thousand-year-old yew in rural Scotland--and harness that to push into new realms of self-discovery, Awakening Artemis is an intimate, unforgettable resource capturing one woman's journey to heal her traumas that opens up a world of potential growth and healing for us all.

Intrigue and Adventure Unfold When a Lost Planet is Found Terraformed from barren rock to provide the most powerful citizens of the Empire with an environment that would test their unenhanced strengths, Artemis was a planet of wildness and lies. All tech was concealed. Both animals and humans were bioengineered to make certain the planet’s guests would face challenges beyond their wildest imaginings. When the Empire fell, the location of Artemis was lost, although legends remained to tantalize historians. When ambitious archeologist Griffin Dane finds intriguing hints as to the location of the lost planet, he sets out alone to confirm his find. When Dane reaches Artemis, his shuttle crashes – perhaps not by accident. Stranded, with no discernible way to get home, he forms an uneasy alliance with the Huntress Adara and her psych-linked companion, the puma Sand Shadow. Together they set out to find a way to get Griffin home, along the way uncovering some of the secrets that lie beneath the planet’s wilderness exterior, secrets that may lead to the recovery of weird powers far beyond what humanity now dares to dream.

Invasion Impending Still shaken by the events that ended with the Old One’s Sanctum off-limits for the foreseeable future, Griffin, Adara, Terrell, and the puma Sand Shadow set out for the forbidden zone of Maiden’s Tear. There they hope to find another repository of the seegnur’s technology and, with that, the means by which Griffin can contact his orbiting ship. But although his Sanctum may be drowned, the Old One has not given up his dreams of being the one who will resurrect – and control – the seegnur’s technology. Along with Adara’s former lover, Julyan, and the mysterious child-psychic, Seamus, the Old One stalks them, intent that any prize they take will become his own. In the midst of this, Adara wrestles with her complex feelings for Griffin and Terrell – and with the consequences of her and Sand Shadow’s new bond with the planet Artemis. Focused on his own goals, Griffin is unaware that his arrival on Artemis has created unexpected consequences for those he is coming to hold dear. Unwittingly, he has left a trail – and Artemis is about to be invaded.

Since she left the wolves who raised her to cross over the Iron Mountains, Firekeeper’s pack has expanded to include a diverse assortment of creatures – human and not. When the wolf-woman receives a desperate call for help from the jaguar, Truth, Firekeeper – Blind Seer, as ever, at her side – races to Truth’s aid. Over a year prior, Truth sacrificed her sanity in a valiant effort to keep Firekeeper alive. Now there may be a way for Truth to reunite her fragmented mind with her failing body – but the jaguar needs Firekeeper to open a door, that is not quite a door, if that is to happen. How to release Truth may be only the beginning of Firekeeper and Blind Seer’s problems, for there are hints that an ancient power may be released along with the jaguar – a power that uses living creatures as playing pieces, and who has more than a little interest in Firekeeper herself.

A Dangerous Inheritance Brenda Morris has no idea that her father, Gaheris, has a secret life. He is the Rat: a key member of the curious cabal known as the Thirteen Orphans. When she is nineteen, Brenda learns that all the omens show that Brenda will be his heir. Brenda may inherit her place far sooner than anyone wishes. Unseen enemies are stalking the Thirteen Orphans. If Brenda does not join Pearl Bright, the Tiger, as she gathers the surviving Orphans to stand against their enemies, soon the Orphans—and their generations-long mission—will vanish, even from memory. Bonus material includes an expanded version of the essay, “Why Thirteen Orphans?” “This new series launch deftly mingles the fascination of the mah-jongg tiles and the animal lore of the Chinese Zodiac with a modern tale of discovery and danger. This urban fantasy should appeal to fans of Charles de Lint and Jim Butcher.” Library Journal on Thirteen Orphans “The millennia of culture behind this book broaden and strengthen it. I want to see the rest of the series.” Sacramento Book Review on Thirteen Orphans

Transformative Journey Blind Seer has run at Firekeeper’s side since the wolf-woman first crossed the Iron Mountains into human-held lands. Now it’s her turn to run alongside the blue-eyed wolf as he sets out in search of someone who can teach him how to use his magical gift—on his own unique terms . The pair’s search will take them to the far side of the world in the company of allies who include a young woman scarred by war, a falcon who believes himself a traitor, and an old friend… or possibly enemy. Together they will fight battles from before they were born, climb mountains, cross badlands, eventually unveiling a threat that will reshape not only Blind Seer, but his belief in what he most desires.

Orphans Besieged After a violent attack makes all too clear that the Lands Born from Smoke and Sacrifice are willing to invade, the indigenous magical traditions of Earth turn against the Thirteen Orphans. Pearl Bright, the Tiger, realizes the fight must be taken into the Lands—but she can’t do this alone, and her allies are increasingly untrustworthy. Shaken from her close encounter with death by violence, Brenda Morris is uncertain about her place among the Orphans, an uncertainty not helped by being forced to accept that that Flying Claw, once known as “Foster,” the man she thought she loved, is, by training and tradition, a skilled killer. Yet, despite numerous complexities, if the Orphans hope to meet their enemies from a position of strength, they must open the Nine Gates: a feat that will begin with the revelation of dark secrets and extend to demanding the cooperation not only of barely cooperating living allies, but also of the resentful dead. Bonus material includes the newly expanded essay “Disappointment Evaded.” “The system of magic is complex, the direction the series is taking is mysterious, and the correspondence to Chinese myth and mah-jong are thought-provoking.” Booklist on Nine Gates “Contrasting themes of love and duty, loyalty and ambition, family and otherness lend a sense of universality to this urban fantasy.” Library Journal on Nine Gates