Storm Serpent

Calliope just wants to make it big in the Big Apple like any other working girl. But Callie is also Death's Daughter, no matter how much she tries to stay out of the family business. And now her older sister has made a deal with the Devil himself to engage in a hostile takeover of both Death Inc. and Heaven-once they get Callie out of the way.

In Serpent and Storm by Marella Sands, enter the world of Sky Knife: A Mayan youth who was cursed with an unlucky name from birth. From a vision given to his mother, Sky Knife is pledged to honor whatever destiny the gods have decreed. Farmer, soldier, merchant--all these roads are closed to him. He isn't even worthy as a sacrifice to the gods. Sometimes, however, the gods have a very wicked sense of humor...and what some sages think of as the worst cosmic luck may in fact be the touch of the gods' own hands. From temple pariah to hero, Sky Knife discovers the magic within him and not only thwarts all the evil plots surrounding his king, but wins the hand of the beautiful and beloved Jade Flute in the process. Enemies vanquished and evil magic dispelled, life is good. And as Sky Knife prepares for the birth of a long-awaited child, it seems like the fates have given him all that he desires. But it appears the gods aren't quite done with Sky Knife just yet. He is to be sent to the distant city-kingdom of Teotihuacan, to bring greetings and to reopen diplomatic ties with these strange people. From missed meetings to strange guides, corrupt counselors to a bizarre court, Sky Knife feels his world shifting dangerously out of balance. And when the Teotihuacan king is killed and bad luck seems to descend upon his kingdom, it is left to Sky Knife to solve the riddle of his death. Or he will be slaughtered in the killer's stead. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

This is the extraordinary story of the discovery of the ultimate secrets of some of the world's most enigmatic mysteries - including the Holy Grail, the Elixir of Life and the Philosopher's Stone.

This collection of essays examines the respective religious and social functions of kings and prophets as they are presented in the biblical narratives. Biblical kingship is easily shown to be a specific instance of an ancient and widespread institution--sacred monarchy--that was the pivot of most state organizations throughout antiquity; prophetic authority is described as a typical institution of ancient Hebrew society. The difference between monarchy and prophecy is radical, because the former implies a hereditary power and is upheld by its subjects who feed their kings with taxes, while the latter derives its authority from allegedly direct divine inspiration, and though it is also economically dependent it is not explicitly presented as being based upon systematic exploitation. Cristiano Grottanelli interprets the rise of prophecy as a consequence of a crisis of monarchical structures at the beginning of the Iron Age, and connects it to similar phenomena attested in ancient Greek texts derived from a similar crisis. Though monarchy finally won the day in the Ancient Mediterranean in a new imperial form, the new literatures in Greek and Hebrew consonantic and alphabetic scripts shaped nonmonarchic figures to which they attributed some of the functions previously pertaining to monarchy. These new literatures, produced by two cultures that were both highly literate and organized according to nonmonarchical principles, diverged radically in their development and final outcomes. In the Hebrew tradition, monolatry and an official canon of sacred writings were the final result; the prophetic principle was thus overcome by a new ideological construction, centered upon inspired scriptures rather than upon the impromptu performances of inspired persons. In using the prophetic principle against the monarchic, the canonical texts paradoxically shaped their own authority above that of living prophets.

Storm Watcher Zuli Cloud is a skilled tinkerer who gets on well with the dragons at the school, but not always with the other students--but now she not only has to cure the sea serpents of the drizzles, but convince her fellow students to help before a powerful storm hits the school.

Set in a small town near the Gulf of Mexico, this novel is both social commentary on the lives of Black folk, as well as examination of the lives of five Black boys during the summer of 1954. The adult Black folk in Riverville are keenly aware of family histories which have developed under segregation, but which are inter-related to the white community. The diversity, resilience, and faults of these characters do not hinder their progress towards equality.

You don’t stand and wait as Hurricane Katrina barrels down on New Orleans, unless you don’t have a choice, and maritime lawyer Jonathan Brooks has none. His career in shambles and duty bound to help a figure from his past locate her missing nephew feared drowned in the Mississippi, Brooks is burdened with responsibility and devoid of options. But Mariya is no friend. The sultry Russian provocateur saved his life a decade ago but not without dragging him into a world of murder, mayhem and deceit. As darkness bleeds into the Crescent City, Brooks’ search for the truth behind a body in the river catapults him into an international storm that sweeps into the espionage underworld of Russia, the intelligence centers of Washington, D.C., the politics of North Korea, the waterways of the Panama Canal, the back streets of Havana and the barrios of Caracas—and into the heart of Jonathan’s own darkness.