Worlds Of Wonder

“A poet celebrates the wonders of nature in a collection of essays that could almost serve as a coming-of-age memoir.” —Kirkus Reviews As a child, Nezhukumatathil called many places home: the grounds of a Kansas mental institution, where her Filipina mother was a doctor; the open skies and tall mountains of Arizona, where she hiked with her Indian father; and the chillier climes of western New York and Ohio. But no matter where she was transplanted—no matter how awkward the fit or forbidding the landscape—she was able to turn to our world’s fierce and funny creatures for guidance. “What the peacock can do,” she tells us, “is remind you of a home you will run away from and run back to all your life.” The axolotl teaches us to smile, even in the face of unkindness; the touch-me-not plant shows us how to shake off unwanted advances; the narwhal demonstrates how to survive in hostile environments. Even in the strange and the unlovely, Nezhukumatathil finds beauty and kinship. For it is this way with wonder: it requires that we are curious enough to look past the distractions in order to fully appreciate the world’s gifts. Warm, lyrical, and gorgeously illustrated by Fumi Nakamura, World of Wonders is a book of sustenance and joy. Praise for World of Wonders Barnes & Noble 2020 Book of the Year An NPR Best Book of 2020 An Esquire Best Book of 2020 A Publishers Weekly “Big Indie Book of Fall 2020” A BuzzFeed Best Book of Fall 2020 “Hands-down one of the most beautiful books of the year.” —NPR “A timely story about love, identity and belonging.” —New York Times Book Review “A truly wonderous essay collection.” —Roxane Gay, The Audacity

From the creator of the worldwide bestsellers World of Flowers and Lost Ocean, a beautiful new coloring book that takes you on a captivating journey through imagined and fantastical realms. This isn't just a book; rather, it is a magical portal to many wondrous worlds. Within these pages you'll find tree-top castles, floating islands, and fairytale villages, all waiting to be brought to life in your colors. Go on an adventure and let your imagination roam from world to world, discovering enchanted sea turtles, curious cats, and lost song birds along the way. In this new coloring book, Johanna Basford lends her signature style of inky illustration to a series of brand new inkscapes and themes, all with a sprinkling of her much-loved botanicals. Get ready to discover whole new worlds of colors!

A look at 17th-century New England religion as it was practiced by the vast majority of the population, not by the clergy. This work offers insight into Puritan rituals, attitudes toward the natural word, and the creative tension between Puritan laity and clergy.

'Animal Worlds of Wonder' showcases the world's most incredible animals in their natural environments. Discover amazing animals and learn all about their natural environments: their place in the food chain, the animals they share their habitats with and much more. Divided into three sections showcasing animals on land, in water, and in the air, this book will introduce you to discover the worlds of animals from every corner of our incredible planet.

No longer dismissed as "escapist" reading, critics have finally discovered a brave new world of science fiction and fantasy literature. This book is a long-overdue tribute to this previously ignored genre, placing these works within a general context of Canadian literature and culture.

An in-depth writing guide from the author of one of the most popular episodes of Star Trek Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author David Gerrold delights and challenges readers with his detailed instruction for creating compelling tales of fantasy and science fiction. The creator of the famous Star Trek episode, "The Trouble With Tribbles" and many groundbreaking science fiction novels including The Man Who Folded Himself and When Harlie was One, Gerrold will inspire you with his passion for the craft. With expert insight and humor, Gerrold shares eye-opening writing tips based on his decades of experience. Inside, discover his techniques for creating fantasy worlds and alien races, developing your hero, writing good sex scenes, keeping imaginary elements believable, and so much more. This ebook edition of Worlds of Wonder is the perfect resource for sci-fi and fantasy writers seeking encouragement and "tricks of the trade" from one of the greats.

Offers advice for would-be science fiction writers, covering such topics as setting, plot, character, and dialogue, as well as the mechanics of grammar, tense, sentence structure, and paragraph transition.

"This is the first book in over a thousand years to approach the Mahābhārata and the Harivaṃśa via rasa theory. It argues that both texts put adbhutarasa, the "mood of wonder," to work as their dominant rasa, in a way that takes readers from their heroes' rollicking adventures to the text's profoundest moments. Two Kashmiris, Ānandavardhana (9th century) and Abhinavagupta (10th century), launched such inquiry, claiming that the Mahābhārata's dominant rasa was śāntarasa, the "mood of peace." Both worked the Harivaṃśa as a related text into their argument, which emphasized peace along with dispassion and the quest for liberation. Although they used some textual highjinks to make their case, their argument prevailed, and has remained the only serious contestant for rasic interpretation. This book disputes their claim, and can expect controversy. Some may continue to favor śāntarasa. Some may cite the two Kashmiris' view that adbhuta cannot sustain a major work. This book contests that by putting "the work of adbhutarasa" into its title and arguing for the hard work it does. Some may also be uncomfortable with a temporal incongruity the book poses in that the Mahābhārata and Harivaṃśa are probably four or five centuries earlier than the first text to explore rasas, the Nāṭyaśātra. Śāntarasa faced the same problem but Ānandavardhana and Abhinavagupta, lacking a modern sense of the relative dates, overlooked it. The answer here goes to the heart of this book's argument: our texts deploy the "proper terms" adbhuta, "wonder" and vismaya, "surprise," to work adbhutarasa through rich and contrasting textual strategies. They must have worked out their program with these terms before the śāstra"--