The Labyrinth

The Labyrinth is a unique vision of a dystopian future from one of the most sought-after visual storytellers in the world. A world covered by ruins and ash, the remnants of an otherworldly phenomenon that has ravaged the earth’s atmosphere and forced the few survivors deep underground. Matt, Sigrid and Charlie leave the safe harbour of the enclave for an expedition onto the wastelands of the surface world. During their journey they are forced to confront dark secrets from the time before civilization’s fall. Simon Stålenhagis the internationally acclaimed author and artist behind Tales From the Loop, Things From the Flood and The Electric State. He is world-renowned for his highly imaginative images and stories depicting illusive sci-fi phenomena in mundane, hyper-realistic Scandinavian landscapes. Perfect for fans of everything from Stranger Things to Jurassic Park to Westworld. PRAISE for SIMON STALENHAG 'Tales has the magic. It's got the robots, the weirdness, the dinosaurs. But most of all, it has the wonder. No one who picks this book up will be the same person when they put it down again' NPR on Tales from the Loop 'No words to describe this novel in pictures. Stahlenhag defined a whole new aesthetic for scifi in the 21st century' Damien Walter on The Electric State 'A chilling, unforgettable visual and narrative experience' Locus on The Electric State Stalenhag's 'stories crawl into my brain and mess with my memory of history, time and place' NPR on The Electric State

“Designed for the studious and dabblers alike” this unique graphic novel offers “an accessible primer on one of the 20th century’s weightiest thinkers” (Publishers Weekly). Life can often feel like a rat race. To make sense of it all, generations of truth seekers have turned to the works of philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. Now a fellow seeker shares a charming and accessible introduction to Sartre’s profound and complex ideas—told in cartoons. Ben Argon’s graphic novel about a pair of rats trapped in the labyrinth of existence humorously conveys the key ideas of Sartre’s existential philosophy. In addition, two Sartre scholars have contributed an introduction and afterword providing context and deeper insight.

Around the world a growing number of people are working with the labyrinth, an ancient artefact which is fulfilling a renewed role in today's world. This book offers ideas and examples of labyrinths in use in various situations: arts, community and social settings; schools, colleges and universities; a hospice, and a secure hospital; counselling, psychotherapy and well-being; churches, retreats and interfaith contexts.

In a secret war waged in worlds both virtual and real, the fates of nations depend on the definitive weapon. And that weapon is knowledge—knowledge to die for. . . . The race is heating up between the U.S. and China to develop a quantum computer with infinite capabilities to crack any enemy’s codes, yet keep secure its own secrets. The government that achieves this goal will win a crucial prize. No other computer system will be safe from the reach of this master machine. Dr. Jaron Kwok was working for the U.S. government to build such a computer. But in a posh hotel in Hong Kong, a Chinese policewoman sifts through the bizarre, ashlike remains of what’s left of the doctor. With the clock ticking, alliances will be forged—and there are those who will stop at nothing to discover what the doctor knew. As the search for answers intensifies, it becomes chillingly clear that the quantum computer both sides so desperately want will be more powerful, more dangerous than anyone could have ever imagined. For in the twenty-first century, machines become gods, gods become machines, and the once-impossible now lies within reach. The key to unlimited knowledge will create the ultimate weapon of mass destruction—or humanity’s last chance to save itself. . . .

A labyrinth is a pattern consisting of a single circuitous path that winds into the centre, with no possibility of getting lost, as in a maze, and no dead ends. It is one of the most ancient tools for spiritual growth and development, dating back to medieval Christianity. This book provides a guide for beginner and seasoned explorer alike.

Ancient and medieval labyrinths embody paradox, according to Penelope Reed Doob. Their structure allows a double perspective—the baffling, fragmented prospect confronting the maze-treader within, and the comprehensive vision available to those without. Mazes simultaneously assert order and chaos, artistry and confusion, articulated clarity and bewildering complexity, perfected pattern and hesitant process. In this handsomely illustrated book, Doob reconstructs from a variety of literary and visual sources the idea of the labyrinth from the classical period through the Middle Ages. Doob first examines several complementary traditions of the maze topos, showing how ancient historical and geographical writings generate metaphors in which the labyrinth signifies admirable complexity, while poetic texts tend to suggest that the labyrinth is a sign of moral duplicity. She then describes two common models of the labyrinth and explores their formal implications: the unicursal model, with no false turnings, found almost universally in the visual arts; and the multicursal model, with blind alleys and dead ends, characteristic of literary texts. This paradigmatic clash between the labyrinths of art and of literature becomes a key to the metaphorical potential of the maze, as Doob's examination of a vast array of materials from the classical period through the Middle Ages suggests. She concludes with linked readings of four "labyrinths of words": Virgil's Aeneid, Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy, Dante's Divine Comedy, and Chaucer's House of Fame, each of which plays with and transforms received ideas of the labyrinth as well as reflecting and responding to aspects of the texts that influenced it. Doob not only provides fresh theoretical and historical perspectives on the labyrinth tradition, but also portrays a complex medieval aesthetic that helps us to approach structurally elaborate early works. Readers in such fields as Classical literature, Medieval Studies, Renaissance Studies, comparative literature, literary theory, art history, and intellectual history will welcome this wide-ranging and illuminating book.