Light In The Shadow Lands

From the #1 bestselling author of The Historian comes a mesmerizing novel that spans the past and the present—and unearths the troubled history of a gorgeous but haunted country. A young American woman, Alexandra Boyd, has traveled to Sofia, Bulgaria, hoping that life abroad will salve the wounds left by the loss of her beloved brother. Soon after arriving in this elegant East European city, however, she helps an elderly couple into a taxi—and realizes too late that she has accidentally kept one of their bags. Inside she finds an ornately carved wooden box engraved with a name: Stoyan Lazarov. Raising the hinged lid, she discovers that she is holding an urn filled with human ashes. As Alexandra sets out to locate the family and return this precious item, she will first have to uncover the secrets of a talented musician who was shattered by political oppression—and she will find out all too quickly that this knowledge is fraught with its own danger. Elizabeth Kostova’s new novel is a tale of immense scope that delves into the horrors of a century and traverses the culture and landscape of this mysterious country. Suspenseful and beautifully written, it explores the power of stories, the pull of the past, and the hope and meaning that can sometimes be found in the aftermath of loss. Praise for The Shadow Land “A compelling and complex mystery, strong storytelling, and lyrical writing combine for an engrossing read.”—Publishers Weekly “In The Shadow Land, Elizabeth Kostova, a master storyteller, brings vividly to life an unfamiliar country—Bulgaria—and a painful history that feels particularly relevant now. You won’t want to put down this remarkable book.”—Claire Messud, author of The Woman Upstairs “In this brilliant work, what appears at first a minor mystery quickly becomes emblematic of a whole country’s hidden history. Lyrical and compelling, The Shadow Land proves a profound meditation on how evil is inflicted, endured, and, through courage and compassion, defeated. Elizabeth Kostova’s third novel clearly establishes her as one of America’s finest writers.”—Ron Rash, author of The Risen

The Bible tells Christians not to grieve as the world grieves and to rejoice in their sufferings. Yet when author Kevin Ott lost his mother unexpectedly in 2010, he sank into a wintry depression. When life seemed the darkest, something surprising happened. While exploring eighteen C. S. Lewis books and thirteen U2 albums, he experienced tremendous “stabs of joy”—the unusual heaven-birthed joy that Lewis wrote about—in the midst of grief. This revelation not only pulled Kevin out of depression, it forever changed the way he experienced the love and joy of Christ. In Shadowlands and Songs of Light, you will:Learn fascinating details about C. S. Lewis, discover his unique definition of joy, understand how to apply his revelations about joy to suffering, and learn to recognize and cooperate with God’s strategic use of joy.Enjoy a grand tour of U2’s discography, with a special emphasis on their exploration of joy and suffering.Clearly understand, from the perspective of music theory explained in common terms, why the music of U2 is so emotionally powerful and how it serves as a perfect analogy for Lewis’s concepts of joy and the Christian ability to rejoice in suffering.Find inspiration from the personal stories of U2, especially the tragedies that engulfed their youth in Dublin, and see how they worked through that grief and discovered a joy that has kept the band together for over thirty-five years.When the out-of-control nature of the world and your weaknesses throw you off-balance, you can experience God’s grandeur and joy— discovering heaven’s perspective until it becomes your instinctive, default vantage point every day.

Twenty-five years ago rumors began to circulate that all was not well in the literary world of C. S. Lewis. Lewis's brother vehemently denied false claims made by those who control the C. S. Lewis literary estate but bogus Lewis literature began to appear in print anyway. Since Lewis's books still sell in the millions, powerful forces have been exerted to keep this controversy from surfacing. Author Lindskoog has spent 20 years unearthing old evidence and compiling new data that Martin E. Marty calls "compelling," adding that he hopes Lindskoog "will be heeded." Instead, within weeks of being released, her book's original publishers yielded to pressure and silently dropped it from their active list. Willard Dickerson, Jr., director of education and professional development for the American Booksellers Association has stated, "I am surprised that so many who love the writings of C.S. Lewis have chosen to remain deliberately silent or to suppose the evidence they have that his writings have indeed been tampered with. I can vouch for Kathryn Lindskoog's scholarship, integrity and clear thinking. Her facts ring with truth." An array of famous authors, including Arthur C. Clark and Ursula K. LeGuin have joined the chorus of those who recommend her "fascinating," "astonishing" and "exciting" book. Therefore we have determined to re-release this extraordinary piece of literary scholarship.

“As if Harry Potter was written for grown-ups, Peter Straub’s Shadowland delivers carnage, blood, pain, fairy tales, and flashes of joy and wonder, just like real magic.”—Grady Hendrix You have been there...if you have ever been afraid. Come back. To a dark house deep in the Vermont woods, where two friends are spending a season of horror, apprenticed to a Master Magician. Learning secrets best left unlearned. Entering a world of incalculable evil more ancient than death itself. More terrifying. And more real. Only one of them will make it through.

In a revolutionary new theory, Dr. Robert Foot of the University of Melbourne argues that meteorites composed of mirror matter could impact with the Earth without leaving any ordinary fragments. Indeed, the theory seems to provide a simple explanation for the puzzling Tunguska event--the blast which destroyed a huge area of Siberian forest in 1908. While scientists have attributed this explosion to an ordinary meteorite, no traces of such an object have ever been found. Moreover, there are frequent smaller such events, occurring on a yearly basis, which are even more puzzling. Foot's new book lays clear the scientific case for mirror matter. It describes the fascinating evidence for its existence including, astronomical observations suggesting that most of our galaxy is made from a new form of matter--dark matter. It explains puzzling Jupiter sized planets only a few million miles from their host star, and the mysterious slowing down of spacecraft in our solar system. Remarkably, it is also possible that Pluto might even be a mirror world, which would explain various anomalous features of its orbit. Perhaps the most important consequence of all this--if true--is the possibility of actually extracting the mirror matter from the Tunguska impact site and other such sites on earth. Invisible asteroids and other cosmic bodies made of a new form of matter may pose a threat to Earth, agrees a noted Australian physicist. But the mirror matter idea has not attracted a huge following among physicists. In a recent UPI article, Howard Georgi of Harvard University says, "Foot's ideas have not attracted a huge following in the community that cares about these things, perhaps because the problems they solve, while interesting, are not the most critical puzzles that we are wrestling with." Nevertheless, mirror matter, if it exists, would be a completely new type of material with a potentially huge commercial value. Its scientific value would be of no less importance. FROM THE BACK COVER Nearly 50 years ago it was discovered that the fundamental particles, such as the electron and proton, have `left-handed' interactions; they do not respect mirror symmetry. This experimental fact motivates the idea that a set of `mirror particles' exist. The left-handedness of the ordinary particles can then be balanced by the right-handedness of the mirror particles. In this way mirror reflection symmetry can exist but requires something profoundly new. It requires the existence of a completely new form of matter called `mirror matter'. Remarkably the mirror matter theory is capable of simply explaining a large number of contemporary puzzles in astrophysics and particle physics. The evidence ranges from observations suggesting that most of the matter in the Universe is invisible, to unexpected properties of ghostly particles called `neutrinos'. This book explains this fascinating theory and its evidence at a level accessible to the non-specialist.

Finally, the scandal of the Chronicles of Narnia may be the biggest and most misleading of all. Rearranging the order of the books against Lewis's wishes is just a minor part of the problem.".

Those who know Lewis's work will enjoy Martindale's thorough examination of the powerful images of Heaven and Hell found in Lewis's fiction, and all readers can appreciate Martindale's scholarly yet accessible tone. Read this book, and you will see afresh the wonder of what lies beyond the Shadowlands.

Two tours of Afghanistan have left Matt Graydon, 28, shattered by battle. Now he must return home to his family's farm to care for his estranged mother Shirley, who is fighting her own war of early-onset Alzheimer's. Yet while the struggle with their demons threatens to unravel them both, Matt and Shirley come to discover each other in a way they never could have imagined.

"Conversion happens when the Word of God comes alive for people and transforms them. How does this happen in the RCIA? This book shows how the readings for the rites of the catechumenate both describe conversion and help bring it about." "Journeybread for the Shadowlands offers those who prepare people for Baptism a source-book for meditation on the relationship between the liturgical readings and ritual actions of the rites, and the faith-experience of the converts. It provides a liturgical spirituality for the RCIA." "But this book is also addressed to all who seek a deeper conversion by listening in on the experience of the catechumens, and allowing the Word of God to come alive for them, too."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved