A Thousand Faces

A study of heroism in the myths of the world - an exploration of all the elements common to the great stories that have helped people make sense of their lives from the earliest times. It takes in Greek Apollo, Maori and Jewish rites, the Buddha, Wotan, and the bothers Grimm's Frog-King.

Because Alonzo King was born on Halloween, he has always loved monsters. But no one would ever guess that he lives in a haunted house with a graveyard out back, communicates with the dead, turns into a six-armed, slime-covered creature, or is a walking encyclopedia on horror films! However, when The Beast arrives, not even Alonzo can track it down. Will he be able to solve the mystery of the creature stalking his town and make his dream of becoming The Boy of a Thousand Faces come true? 01-02 TX Bluebonnet Award Masterlist 01-02 TX Bluebonnet Award Masterlist

For the first time, you can put conjecture aside and read definitive proof about the roles Chaney had behind the scenes as well as in front of the camera.

In his international bestseller Beneath a Marble Sky, John Shors wrote about the ancient passion, beauty, and brilliance that inspired the building of the Taj Mahal. Now with Temple of a Thousand Faces, he brings to life the legendary temple of Angkor Wat, an unrivaled marvel of ornately carved towers and stone statues. There, in a story set nearly a thousand years ago, an empire is lost, a royal love is tested, and heroism is reborn. When his land is taken by force, Prince Jayavar of the Khmer people narrowly escapes death at the hands of the conquering Cham king, Indravarman. Exiled from their homeland, he and his mystical wife Ajadevi set up a secret camp in the jungle with the intention of amassing an army bold enough to reclaim their kingdom and free their people. Meanwhile, Indravarman rules with an iron fist, pitting even his most trusted men against each other and quashing any hint of rebellion. Moving from a poor fisherman's family whose sons find the courage to take up arms against their oppressors, to a beautiful bride who becomes a prize of war, to an ambitious warrior whose allegiance is torn--Temple of a Thousand Faces is an unforgettable saga of love, betrayal, and survival at any cost. READERS GUIDE INCLUDED

'A complex, gorgeous and compelling tapestry of love, death, trust and betrayal' - Daily Mail A sweeping historical fantasy saga based on the hit podcast Tumanbay ****** 'Immersive, rich, compelling and populated with characters who come alive on the page, it will transport you to a different world. I loved it and didn't want it to end.' - Sarah Lotz, author of The Three 'Written with the finesse of a master-assassin's dagger... I could not put it down!' Christian Cameron ****** Tumanbay: the most magnificent city on earth. The beating heart of a vast empire. A city of dreams - where those who arrived as slaves now reside in the seat of power. But the wheel of fate is never still: from the gilded rooftops to the dark catacombs, there are secrets waiting to be uncovered. For Gregor, Master of the Palace Guard, the work of rooting out spies and traitors is never done. His brother, the great General Qulan, must quell a distant rebellion. Whilst Shajah, chief wife to the Sultan, is suspicious that her new maid Sarah is not who she claims to be. And a mysterious stranger arrives with a gift for the Sultan himself. A gift that will change Tumanbay forever... ****** 'The writing and imagery are flawless, taking you right into the heart of the story and characters. While I was reading, this was MY world, and you can't ask for more than that from a fantasy novel.' Reader review (five stars)

Literary Nonfiction. Poet David Biespiel cracks open the creative process and invites readers to take a fresh look at the mysterious pathways of the imagination. "Failure is the engine of creativity," writes Biespiel, as he candidly tracks his own developent as a writer and challenges traditional assumptions about writing that can stifle creativity. The liberating message: Working past the brink of failure--being free to try and discard and try again--is what allows the creative process to playfully flourish, keeping the spirit open to unexpected discoveries. Both beginning and experienced writers--as well as artists, musicians, dancers, and anyone else on a creative path, will benefit from this elegant, surprising, and fresh perspective based on methods developed exclusively at the Attic, the unique literary studio Biespiel founded in Portland, Oregon in 1999. EVERY WRITER HAS A THOUSAND FACES will revolutionize the way readers look at their own creative process. It is a rich and rewarding book, a captivating glimpse into the inner life of some gifted writers and painters--and above all, a guide to a lifetime of discovery.

World-renowned folklorist Maria Tatar reveals an astonishing but long-buried history of heroines, taking us from Cassandra and Scheherazade to Nancy Drew and Wonder Woman. The Heroine with 1,001 Faces dismantles the cult of warrior heroes, revealing a secret history of heroinism at the very heart of our collective cultural imagination. Maria Tatar, a leading authority on fairy tales and folklore, explores how heroines, rarely wielding a sword and often deprived of a pen, have flown beneath the radar even as they have been bent on redemptive missions. Deploying the domestic crafts and using words as weapons, they have found ways to survive assaults and rescue others from harm, all while repairing the fraying edges in the fabric of their social worlds. Like the tongueless Philomela, who spins the tale of her rape into a tapestry, or Arachne, who portrays the misdeeds of the gods, they have discovered instruments for securing fairness in the storytelling circles where so-called women’s work—spinning, mending, and weaving—is carried out. Tatar challenges the canonical models of heroism in Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces, with their male-centric emphases on achieving glory and immortality. Finding the women missing from his account and defining their own heroic trajectories is no easy task, for Campbell created the playbook for Hollywood directors. Audiences around the world have willingly surrendered to the lure of quest narratives and charismatic heroes. Whether in the form of Frodo, Luke Skywalker, or Harry Potter, Campbell’s archetypical hero has dominated more than the box office. In a broad-ranging volume that moves with ease from the local to the global, Tatar demonstrates how our new heroines wear their curiosity as a badge of honor rather than a mark of shame, and how their “mischief making” evidences compassion and concern. From Bluebeard’s wife to Nancy Drew, and from Jane Eyre to Janie Crawford, women have long crafted stories to broadcast offenses in the pursuit of social justice. Girls, too, have now precociously stepped up to the plate, with Hermione Granger, Katniss Everdeen, and Starr Carter as trickster figures enacting their own forms of extrajudicial justice. Their quests may not take the traditional form of a “hero’s journey,” but they reveal the value of courage, defiance, and, above all, care. “By turns dazzling and chilling” (Ruth Franklin), The Heroine with 1,001 Faces creates a luminous arc that takes us from ancient times to the present day. It casts an unusually wide net, expanding the canon and thinking capaciously in global terms, breaking down the boundaries of genre, and displaying a sovereign command of cultural context. This, then, is a historic volume that informs our present and its newfound investment in empathy and social justice like no other work of recent cultural history.

Joseph Campbell, arguably the greatest mythologist of our time, was certainly one of our greatest storytellers.

"If you care at all about silent pictures, about Chaney, about bravura acting and about film makeup, the book is invaluable and perhaps definitive." --San Diego Union Tribune

In the world of high-stakes espionage, it pays to be able to change your face. And that's just what sixteen-year-old Jory and her family of shape-shifting spies can do--alter their faces and bodies to look like anyone. Jory is in training to be a full member of the family business--when she can convince her parents to let her help with their elaborate cons. But when Jory's parents go missing on the job, Jory is thrown into a world of secrets, lies, and stolen identities that will put all her training to the test. Jory's always wanted to be a member of the team-- But saving her family wasn't supposed to be part of the job.