Hidden Library

Sometimes, the rabbit hole is deeper than expected . . . Alice Reeve and Finn Van Brunt have tumbled into a life of secrets. Some secrets they share, such as their employment by the clandestine organization known as The Collectors' Society. Other secrets they carry within them, fighting to keep buried the things that could change everything they think they know. On the hunt for an elusive villain who is hell-bent on destroying legacies, Alice, Finn, and the rest of the Society are desperate to unravel the mysteries surrounding them. But the farther they spiral down this rabbit hole, the deeper they fall into secrets that will test their loyalties and pit them against enemies both new and old. Secrets, they come to find, can reveal the deadliest of truths.

Welcome back to the world of spell books. This time we meet the teenage witches of Emi's old coven: Veda - Deceptively beautiful and deeply complex, she only looks like a porcelain doll. Fair Isle - A steampunk pixie with a dozen holes in her head. Intarsia - Looks like an elf strayed from the greenwood, who just had a meal of moss. Clementine - Would look like a Barbie doll if Barbie had been brutally beaten the night before. Pearl - Straggly and stringing like a rag doll, she looks like she'll never grow up. And... Salinger - who has come from his coven in the Yukon to find the girl of his dreams from among Veda and her cousins. It would be easy to choose, if their cousin, Antony, didn't keep getting in the way.

Despite the great diversity of settings in Tanith Lee's novels--from the pre-historic origins of Christianity to robot-dominated futurescapes--certain underlying thoughts and references appear consistently. While adhering formally to many of the writing conventions of the fantasy, science fiction and horror genres, Lee also engages the meaning of myths of the Greeks (particularly Dionysos), Egyptians, Persians and Indians. The dynamics of magic, alchemy, shamanism, Gnosticism and reincarnation also surface frequently. This critical work examines Lee's highly original applications of such themes and subtexts. Less prominent themes are also covered, as well as her insights into human nature, her humor, her numerous tributes to literature, her comments on writing, her games with space, time and language, and her preoccupation with detail and background. Also included is an interview with Tanith Lee, a bibliography of Lee's work, a general bibliography, and an index.

After years in Wonderland, Alice has returned to England as an adult, desperate to reclaim sanity and control over her life. An enigmatic gentleman with an intriguing job offer too tempting to resist changes her plans for a calm existence. Soon, she's whisked to New York and initiated into the Collectors' Society, a secret organization whose members confirm that famous stories are anything but straightforward and that what she knows about the world is only a fraction of the truth.

Unusual Sounds is a deep dive into the hidden musical universe of Library Music, featuring histories, interviews, and extraordinary visuals from the field's most celebrated creators.

Connecting Europe, Asia, and Africa, the Mediterranean Sea has been for millennia the place where religions, economies, and political systems met, clashed, influenced and absorbed one another. In this brilliant and expansive book, David Abulafia offers a fresh perspective by focusing on the sea itself: its practical importance for transport and sustenance; its dynamic role in the rise and fall of empires; and the remarkable cast of characters-sailors, merchants, migrants, pirates, pilgrims-who have crossed and re-crossed it. Ranging from prehistory to the 21st century, The Great Sea is above all a history of human interaction. Interweaving major political and naval developments with the ebb and flow of trade, Abulafia explores how commercial competition in the Mediterranean created both rivalries and partnerships, with merchants acting as intermediaries between cultures, trading goods that were as exotic on one side of the sea as they were commonplace on the other. He stresses the remarkable ability of Mediterranean cultures to uphold the civilizing ideal of convivencia, "living together." Now available in paperback, The Great Sea is the definitive account of perhaps the most vibrant theater of human interaction in history.

"This spectacular illustrated book showcases rare, beautiful, idiosyncratic, and sometimes surprising works in the National Library of Medicine, the world's largest medical library. From thirteenth-century manuscripts to extravagant anatomical atlases to silent movies, pamphlets, magic lantern slides, stereograph cards, and much, much more, each item featured is a remarkable hidden treasure."--Jacket.

Topics include: Government Intervention and Economic Growth in East Asia, Agricultural Nationalism in the Age of Globalization, Japan's Dominance and Multi- Racial Coalitions in Malaysia.