Sacrifice Box

"First published in the United States of America by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2018"--Title page verso.

The New York Times Bestseller! In the aftermath of the Steroid Era that stained the game of baseball, at a time when so many players are so rich and therefore have a sense of entitlement that they haven't earned, ESPN baseball commentator Tim Kurkjian shows readers how to love the game more than ever, with incredible insight and stories that are hilarious, heartbreaking, and revealing. From what Pete Rose was doing in the batting cage a few minutes after getting out of prison, to why everyone strikes out these days and why no one seems to care, I'm Fascinated By Sacrifice Flies will surprise even longtime baseball fans. Tim explains the fear factor in the game, and what it feels like to get hit by a pitch; Adam LaRoche wanted to throw up in the batter's box. He examines the game's superstitions: Eliot Johnson's choice of bubble gum, a poker chip in Sean Burnett's back pocket. He unearths the unwritten rules of the game, takes readers inside ESPN, and reveals how Tony Gwynn made baseball so much more fun to watch. And, of course, Tim will explain to readers why he is fascinated by sacrifice flies.

'It is my attempt to fit the lives of citizens here, into the context of The Great War as a world-historical event. I think it's important to remember that we all make history, and are all made by history.'- Dean Ulland

"When 15-year-old Wulliam's father is possessed by a dark spirit, Wull must care for him and take on his family's mantle of Riverkeep, tending the Danek"--

They should've never met. She's the crown princess. He's a mysterious sorcerer. But the unexpected happens when the world is ending. When Crown Princess Vi Solaris finds out she has a rare and deadly power, she must make a choice: Her magic or her throne. But the choice isn't as simple as it appears, because her magic is the key to saving the world. As her Empire falters from political infighting and a deadly plague, Vi trains in secret under a deadly sorcerer from a distant land. From his pointed ears to enchanting eyes and silver tongue, he's nothing like anyone she's ever met before. Vi knows she should fear him and his shadowed past, but he may just be the only one who really knows what's happening to her. Locked together with the fate of a dying world, Vi sets off to uncover the truth of a magic that wasn't made for mortal hands. But the ultimate triumph will require the ultimate sacrifice. Once Vi embarks on her epic journey of adventure, romance, family, and duty, there will be no turning back. This omnibus edition contains all five books in the Air Awakens: Vortex Chronicles series by USA Today bestselling author Elise Kova.

Kirikongo is an archaeological site composed of thirteen remarkably well-preserved discrete mounds occupied continually from the early first to the mid second millennium AD. It spans a dynamic era that saw the growth of large settlement communities and regional socio-political formations, development of economic specializations, intensification in interregional commercial networks, and the effects of the Black Death pandemic. The extraordinary preservation of architectural units, activity areas and industrial zones provides a unique opportunity to discern the cultural practices that created stratified mounds (tells) in this part of West Africa. Building from a new detailed zooarchaeological analysis and refinements in stratigraphic precision, this book argues that repeated ritual activity was a significant factor in the accumulation of stratified archaeological deposits. The book details consistencies in form and content of discrete loci containing animal bones, food remains, and broken and unbroken objects and suggests that these are the remnants of sequential ancestor shrines created when domestic spaces were converted to tombs or dedicated mortuary monuments were constructed. Continuities and transformations in ancestral rituals at Kirikongo inform on earlier West African ritual practices from the second millennium BC as well as political and social transformations at the site. More broadly, this case study provides new insights on anthropogenic mound (tell) formation processes, social zooarchaeology, material culture theory, historical ontology, and the analysis of ritual and religion in the archaeological record.

On a freezing January in 1992, five teenage girls crowded into a car. By the end of the night, only four of them were alive. The fifth had been tortured and mutilated nearly beyond recognition. Her name was Shanda Sharer; her age-twelve. When the people of Madison, Indiana heard that a brutal murder had been committed in their midst, they were stunned. Then the story became even more bizarre. The four accused murderers were all girls under the age of eighteen: Melinda Loveless, Laurle Tackett, Hope Rippey, and Tonl Lawrence. Here, for the first time, veteran true crime journalist Aphrodite Jones reveals the shocking truth behind the most savage crime in Indiana history-a tragic story of twisted love and insane jealousy, lesbianism, brutal child abuse, and sadistic ritual killing in small-town America...and of the young innocent who paid the ultimate price.

In the spirit of Adam Gidwitz comes a fairytale for the modern reader, but this time, the faeries are the monsters lurking in the shadows. In a city overrun by war, Luka doesn't have time for games. So when his little sister asks him to care for her faeries as she's sent away to escape the air raids, he dismisses her childish­ness. But it's already more than he can bear to see her go, so he promises to do as she asks. A promise that Luka quickly breaks. In an empty home, anger and frustration get the better of him. Instead of leav­ing an offering for the faeries, he flings their saucer of milk as far out the window as he can. Big mistake. The faeries are not only very real, but they're more ter­rifying than he could have ever imag­ined. And now they want revenge. With the aid of his new friends--a savvy techie, a quiet evacuee, and an unlikely ally--Luka has three days to turn his house into a fortress. But his problems are even more complicated than he thought: it's not just the faeries who are out to get the Wild Huntsboys . . . If Luka fails, those closest to him will pay the price--and time is running out.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Once in a great while, a book comes along that changes our view of the world. This magnificent novel from the Nobel laureate and author of Never Let Me Go is “an intriguing take on how artificial intelligence might play a role in our futures ... a poignant meditation on love and loneliness” (The Associated Press). • A GOOD MORNING AMERICA Book Club Pick! Here is the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her. Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: what does it mean to love?

A women's thriller about the search for the ancient lost origins of honor killing and the divine feminine in the Arab world.