Jaguar Princess

This historical novel set in the Aztec Empire blends “mysticism, shape-changing” and “a deep sense of time and place” for a truly “unusual fantasy” (Publishers Weekly). Mixcati’s people are descended from the Olmec Jaguar Gods and she is fated for great things—both wonderful and dangerous. She can, unexpectedly and without warning, turn into a living, wild jaguar, just as her ancestors have done since time immemorial. Once stolen into slavery, she must struggle to survive and to learn to fulfill her destiny in an Aztec culture that understands her strength, fears her power, and wants her dead. She must face destruction at their hands—or come into her true power as the Jaguar Princess.

This fascinating book explores machines as authors of fiction, past, present, and future. For centuries, writers have dreamed of mechanical storytellers. We can now build these devices. What will be the impact on society of AI programs that generate original stories to entertain and persuade? What can we learn about human creativity from probing how they work? In Story Machines, two pioneers of creative artificial intelligence explore the design and impact of AI story generators. The book covers three themes: language generators that compose coherent text, storyworlds with believable characters, and AI models of human storytellers. Providing examples of story machines through the ages, it covers the history, recent developments, and future implications of automated story generation. Anyone with an interest in story writing will gain a new perspective on what it means to be a creative writer, what parts of creativity can be mechanized, and what is essentially human. Story Machines is for those who have ever wondered what makes a good story, why stories are important to us, and what the future holds for storytelling.

The It Girls They're rich, fabulous...and dangerously underestimated. It Girl: Chloe St. John Mission: Bust an organized crime syndicate that's kidnapping women and selling them into the sex trade. And nab Manhattan's most wanted and elusive criminal mastermind.... Royal protocol flew out the window when real-life princess Chloe St. John went undercover to stop a sex slave ring. She'd do anything for the Gotham Rose spies — their leader was like a second mother to Chloe, boosting her self-esteem when all Chloe's real mom did was hassle her about regal etiquette while favoring her ne'er-do-well brother. But evidence suggested Chloe was up against the Roses' archrival, the Duke, this time. It was time to trade in her tiara for a semiautomatic and a Kevlar vest...and pray that the wardrobe change wouldn't hurt her chances at the charity bachelorette auction of the season!

Jack and Betty Haldean's weekend in the country is disrupted by sudden, violent death in this intricately-plotted 1920s mystery. "The surprising revelations just keep coming. This is a real treat for those who enjoy Agatha Christie village murders" - Publishers Weekly Starred Review "There's something in those woods that shouldn't be there . . ." Enjoying a weekend in the country with his cousin Isabelle, Jack Haldean is intrigued to learn that the neighbouring estate of Birchen Bower has been bought by wealthy Canadian businessman Tom Jago. Determined to restore the place to its former glory, Jago has invited the local villagers to a fete to celebrate the grand re-opening of the 17th century family chapel. But the afternoon's entertainment is cut short by the discovery of a body, mauled to death as if by a wild animal. Previously owned by the eccentric Cayden family, Birchen Bower has a long and colourful history, and is rumoured to be haunted. Is there any truth to the ancient family legend of the Jaguar Princess . . . and could she have claimed another victim? And what's happened to Jago's employee, Derek Martin and his wife, who have disappeared without trace . . . along with Mrs Jago's diamonds? Refusing to believe the wild tales of man-eating beasts prowling the grounds, Jack sets out to uncover the truth. But then a second badly-ravaged body is discovered . . . Could the rumours be true after all?

For almost forty years, Jane Dolinger traveled the world and wrote about her adventures, from the Amazon jungle to the sands of the Sahara. She produced eight books and more than a thousand articles between 1955 and 1995, and she also earned a reputation as a glamorous celebrity and model. Jane Dolinger was an anomaly in her time, a dynamic and attractive woman with an impressive literary talent, a woman who lived and documented a most unconventional and inspirational life. Sometimes controversial but always outstanding, Jane was a pioneer among women and writers. Here for the first time, her life and work are studied in a thoroughly researched yet entertaining literary biography.

Computational Creativity, Concept Invention, and General Intelligence in their own right all are flourishing research disciplines producing surprising and captivating results that continuously influence and change our view on where the limits of intelligent machines lie, each day pushing the boundaries a bit further. By 2014, all three fields also have left their marks on everyday life – machine-composed music has been performed in concert halls, automated theorem provers are accepted tools in enterprises’ R&D departments, and cognitive architectures are being integrated in pilot assistance systems for next generation airplanes. Still, although the corresponding aims and goals are clearly similar (as are the common methods and approaches), the developments in each of these areas have happened mostly individually within the respective community and without closer relationships to the goings-on in the other two disciplines. In order to overcome this gap and to provide a common platform for interaction and exchange between the different directions, the International Workshops on “Computational Creativity, Concept Invention, and General Intelligence” (C3GI) have been started. At ECAI-2012 and IJCAI-2013, the first and second edition of C3GI each gathered researchers from all three fields, presenting recent developments and results from their research and in dialogue and joint debates bridging the disciplinary boundaries. The chapters contained in this book are based on expanded versions of accepted contributions to the workshops and additional selected contributions by renowned researchers in the relevant fields. Individually, they give an account of the state-of-the-art in their respective area, discussing both, theoretical approaches as well as implemented systems. When taken together and looked at from an integrative perspective, the book in its totality offers a starting point for a (re)integration of Computational Creativity, Concept Invention, and General Intelligence, making visible common lines of work and theoretical underpinnings, and pointing at chances and opportunities arising from the interplay of the three fields.

What is it about the tiger that so captivates? Or about the jaguar that enchants? Why are we so drawn to the lethal grace of the large feline predators of the world? Get ready to purr, growl and roar along with six paranormal romance authors in this anthology of love and shapeshifting kitties. After reading these six unique tales, from the sexy to the sweet, you'll be guaranteed to be saying... Here, Kitty Kitty... 100% of the author proceeds will be donated to the Exotic Feline Rescue Center in Indiana.