Being A Beast

LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE 2016 Charles Foster wanted to know what it was like to be a beast: a badger, an otter, a deer, a fox, a swift. What it was really like. And through knowing what it was like he wanted to get down and grapple with the beast in us all. So he tried it out; he lived life as a badger for six weeks, sleeping in a dirt hole and eating earthworms, he came face to face with shrimps as he lived like an otter and he spent hours curled up in a back garden in East London and rooting in bins like an urban fox. A passionate naturalist, Foster realises that every creature creates a different world in its brain and lives in that world. As humans, we share sensory outputs, lights, smells and sound, but trying to explore what it is actually like to live in another of these worlds, belonging to another species, is a fascinating and unique neuro-scientific challenge. For Foster it is also a literary challenge. Looking at what science can tell us about what happens in a fox's or badger's brain when it picks up a scent, he then uses this to imagine their world for us, to write it through their eyes or rather through the eyes of Charles the beast. An intimate look at the life of animals, neuroscience, psychology, nature writing, memoir and more, it is a journey of extraordinary thrills and surprises, containing wonderful moments of humour and joy, but also providing important lessons for all of us who share life on this precious planet.

Some curses aren’t meant to be broken . . . Lady Griselle Mottern is cursed. On her sixteenth birthday, an evil wizard transformed Griselle into a wolflike beast because of a past misdeed by one of her ancestors. Now, with her twenty-first birthday approaching, Griselle has only a few days left to make a boy fall in love with her, or the curse will become permanent, and she will forever be a beast. But breaking the curse isn’t Griselle’s only problem. An evil is lurking in the forest, one that is creeping closer and closer to her castle. Griselle will have to summon all her beastly strength to defeat this evil, even if it means dooming herself forever . . . Note: This 7,000-word short story originally appeared in the Von Flusshexen und Meerjungfrauen German-language anthology in 2020.

Once upon a time, I thought love was a fairytale. I thought selling myself to a mafia boss was noble. So what if they called him the Beast? I grew up in rags, and he would lift me to riches. All I had to do was give him my soul. He was punishing. Insatiable. Captivating. Nothing like I expected him to be. Each day my reality blurred, leaving me wondering if I was slave or princess. The longer I stayed, the more I lost myself to him. Even after every cruelty the Beast visited upon me, I longed for his touch. Even after every savage word he spoke, I begged for his lips. I thought the worst thing he could take was my body. I was too naïve to guard my heart. Once upon a time, I thought love was a fairytale. Now I know better than to speak of happily ever afters.

'The Beast' is a thriller about a father who seeks revenge for his daughter's death - and pays a terrible price for his vigilantism.

Raised by strict, devout people after soul eaters attacked her village and spared only the children, Alys grows up longing for the freedom of the forest while hiding a gift that would mark her as a witch.

After falling off the roof, fifteen-year-old misfit Dylan must attend a therapy group for self-harmers where he meets Jamie, a beautiful and amazing person he doesn't know is transgender.

We all have "a beast" within us, and yet, there are times when the power of our mind keeps it from being unleashed. But, when we tap into our true instinctive nature, that's when we allow ourselves to play at the highest level. And, it does not matter if you are a professional athlete, or a CEO, or an entrepreneur-or simply someone who seeks to get more out of everyday life. The principles are the same. Our minds are an important asset. They will either work for us or against us. But, how do we truly get our minds to work for us in an ever-changing world that seems to be moving faster and faster, and keeps us off-balance and in chaos? How do we break free from the chains that bind us and want to pull us back to our familiar conditional thinking in order to expand and grow into a grander and better version of ourselves each and everyday? The answer is you set your course and turn obstacles into opportunities by using very specific "mental mindset" triggers to snap you back into right action. BE A BEAST: Unleash Your Animal Instincts For Performance Driven Results is the culmination of Dave Austin's more than 30 years of specialized mindset principles in action as the mental performance coach to professional sports teams and elite athletes, combined with Roger Anthony's more than 30 years of corporate sales training utilizing a "memory recall system" that boasts an amazing 92% retention rate. In BE A BEAST book one, Dave and Roger have blended together their unique styles of coaching to provide a brilliant, yet easy to access, tools that "get your mind working for you rather than against you."

The Nature of the Beast is a New York Times bestselling Chief Inspector Gamache novel from Louise Penny. Hardly a day goes by when nine year old Laurent Lepage doesn't cry wolf. From alien invasions, to walking trees, to winged beasts in the woods, to dinosaurs spotted in the village of Three Pines, his tales are so extraordinary no one can possibly believe him. Including Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache, who now live in the little Quebec village. But when the boy disappears, the villagers are faced with the possibility that one of his tall tales might have been true. And so begins a frantic search for the boy and the truth. What they uncover deep in the forest sets off a sequence of events that leads to murder, leads to an old crime, leads to an old betrayal. Leads right to the door of an old poet. And now it is now, writes Ruth Zardo. And the dark thing is here. A monster once visited Three Pines. And put down deep roots. And now, Ruth knows, it is back. Armand Gamache, the former head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec, must face the possibility that, in not believing the boy, he himself played a terrible part in what happens next.