Runes Of The Lyre

Created by the powerful Hasyisi, yet missing for centuries from its home world, the Lyre just hangs in a willow tree, waiting. Hasyih, the Heart of the Worlds, links contiguous dimensions, many worlds invisible to each other, yet accessible through doors on Hasyih, one of the keys to which is the Lyre. Now danger threatens both Hasyih and Ranuit, the only inhabited worlds in the group, and when a young girl takes the Lyre from the willow tree, a set of interlinked activities is set into motion. Moving from world to world, going into the hands of the one who needs it most at the time, the Lyre reveals its nature as not only a Key, but also as a Weapon, an Enigma, an Answer, and a resolution, affecting both Hasyih and Ranuit. And the girl Queen Yisri is the center of it all.

"Maerad’s tale continues, luminous, desperate, and bold. . . . Brimming with archetypal motifs but freshly splendorous in its own right." – Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Maerad is a girl with a tragic past, but her powers grow stronger by the day. Now she and her mentor, Cadvan, hunted by both the Light and the Dark, must unravel the Riddle of the Treesong before their kingdom erupts in chaos. The quest leads Maerad over terrifying seas and glacial wilderness, until she is trapped in the icy realm of the seductive Winterking. There, Maerad must confront what she has suspected all along: that she is the greatest riddle of all.

The myth of Orpheus articulates what social theorists have known since Plato: music matters. It is uniquely able to move us, to guide the imagination, to evoke memories, and to create spaces within which meaning is made. Popular music occupies a place of particular social and cultural significance. Christopher Partridge explores this significance, analyzing its complex relationships with the values and norms, texts and discourses, rituals and symbols, and codes and narratives of modern Western cultures. He shows how popular music's power to move, to agitate, to control listeners, to shape their identities, and to structure their everyday lives is central to constructions of the sacred and the profane. In particular, he argues that popular music can be important 'edgework,' challenging dominant constructions of the sacred in modern societies. Drawing on a wide range of musicians and musical genres, as well as a number of theoretical approaches from critical musicology, cultural theory, sociology, theology, and the study of religion, The Lyre of Orpheus reveals the significance and the progressive potential of popular music.

As the Civil War lurches to a close, the Lintons of East Texas are waiting anxiously for their menfolk to return. But the stranger Finis Krim is attempting to extort land from the local women by claiming fraudulent commitments from their absent husbands. Krim's agent, Joshua Birdsong, is sent to the Linton home to search for relevant documents to wrest their farm away. Then Fate, in the person of five-year-old Julia, intervenes. "A wonderful story "--Robert Reginald.

Uhtatse becomes the "One Who Smells the Wind" for his Anasazi clan, and sends his mind searching outward for enemy tribes in the Great Plains. When he finally senses peril, he fails to convince his Elders to seek shelter. The attack, when it comes, decimates the Anasazi, forcing them finally to build their cliffside cave dwellings at Mesa Verde. "Ardath Mayhar is superb at creating an alien world from another time and place"--Robert Reginald.

Two-Moons-in-the-Sky, an Iroquoian warrior woman and Dreamer, is transported into the strange world of medieval Britain by a dark sorcerer, Lallius, who lives in a black tower. Lallius wants to enslave his captive, whom he regards as primitive, but little does he realize that Two-Moons has magic of her own! "A highly original fantasy with a strong and capable female protagonist"--Robert Reginald

A plague is devasting mankind. Deep within the Amazon jungle, scientists have altered the genetic makeup of macaque monkeys, making them self-aware and giving them the power of speech. Only by working together can the two races--man and monkey--find some common road to a future earth.

At a time when volcanoes were being born in what is now New Mexico, clans of hunter-gatherers were already living in the Great Plains. Primordial beasts roamed the land: creatures like the giant sloth, the flat-faced bear, the woolly mammoth, and the dire wolf hunted there, often coming into conflict with their two-legged prey. When Do-na-ti reaches adulthood, he slays the badger for his ceremonial cloak. By wedding E-lo-ni, he unites their clans. Together they must face battle with dire wolves, a stampede of mammoths that destroys their lodge, and the birth of a new volcano, fulfilling an old woman's prophecy and Do-na-ti's conviction that his son must become brother to the mountain. "Mayhar has a way of drawing the reader seamlessly into her historical narratives. You can smell the breath of the dire wolf as it closes in for the kill!" -- Robert Reginald