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The Bird King: A Novel
by G. Willow WilsonOne of NPR’s 50 Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of the Decade: A fifteenth-century palace mapmaker must hide his powers in the time of the Inquisition . . .Award-winning author G. Willow Wilson’s debut novel Alif the Unseen was an NPR and Washington Post Best Book of the Year and established her as a vital American Muslim literary voice. Now she delivers The Bird King, an epic journey set during the reign of the last sultan in the Iberian peninsula at the height of the Spanish Inquisition.Fatima is a concubine in the royal court of Granada, the last emirate of Muslim Spain. Her dearest friend, Hassan, the palace mapmaker and the one man who doesn’t leer at her with desire, has a secret—he can draw maps of places he’s never seen and bend the shape of reality. When representatives of the newly formed Spanish monarchy arrive to negotiate the sultan’s surrender, Fatima befriends one of the women, not realizing that she will see Hassan’s gift as sorcery and a threat to Christian Spanish rule. With their freedoms at stake, what will Fatima risk to save Hassan and escape the palace walls? As the two traverse Spain with the help of a clever jinn to find safety, The Bird King asks us to consider what love is and the price of freedom at a time when the West and the Muslim world were not yet separate.“Wilson has a deft hand with myth and with magic, and the kind of smart, honest writing mind that knits together and bridges cultures and people.” —Neil Gaiman, author of Norse Mythology“A triumph . . . one of the best fantasy writers working today.” —BookPage“A treasure-house of a novel, thrilling, tender, funny, and achingly gorgeous. I loved it.” —Lev Grossman, author of the Magicians trilogy
Bird of a Thousand Stories (Once There Was)
by Kiyash MonsefIn this transporting and suspenseful companion to the New York Times bestselling Once There Was that&’s perfect for fans of Impossible Creatures, Marjan travels around the globe in search of a mythical bird in terrible danger, whose fate could determine the future of the world. Marjan Dastani is successfully leading a double life. Only a few people know that when she&’s not in school, she travels the world taking care of mythical beasts, sent on missions by a shadowy organization known as The Fells. In an adventure that takes her across continents and connects her with the wildest of mythic beasts around the globe, Marjan must track down the fabled Bird of a Thousand Stories before someone with more nefarious plans finds it. But the more closely she connects with the world&’s mythical creatures, the more danger she&’s in of losing her friendships—and all that tethers her to the life she&’s known.
The Bird of the River
by Kage BakerIn this new standalone story set in the world of The Anvil of the World and The House of the Stag, two teenagers join the crew of a huge river barge after their mother drowns. The girl and her half-breed younger brother try to make the barge their new home. As the great boat proceeds up the long river, we see a panorama of cities and cultures, and begin to perceive patterns in the pirate attacks that happen so frequently in the river cities. Eliss, the girl, becomes a sharp-eyed spotter of obstacles in the river for the barge, and more than that, one who perceives deeply. A young boy her age, Krelan, trained as a professional assassin, has come aboard, seeking the head of a dead nobleman, so that there might be a proper burial. But the head proves as elusive as the real explanation behind the looting of cities, so he needs Eliss's help. And then there is the massive Captain of the barge, who can perform supernatural tricks, but prefers to stay in his cabin and drink.
The Bird of Time
by George Alec EffingerFar into the future, Hartstein's graduation present from his grandparents was a wonderful trip…into the past. He had a long future in the doughnut industry to look forward to but this trip was the icing on the cake. It had been a long time since that first experiment in time travel was successfully pulled off, although not without its flaws. Now, in the future, time travel was a lucrative tourist industry. But the time travel industry was keeping one little fact to itself: two percent never came back. This cover-up was the work of the Agency. The Agency knew what others did not: that the past wasn't really the past but a complicated dynamic of individual perceptions of what the past might have been. The past isn't real and reality becomes a state of mind. While selling their particular brand of escapist entertainment and vacation packages, the Agency didn't bother to tell its clients or the populace in general that a war was going on--a time war. The Agency was spending its time in a neck-and-neck battle with the Temporary Underground. The battlefield was none other than the space-time continuum, the weapons were time-shifts and theoretical mathematics. Hartstein had no idea what his trip would be or where it would take him.
The Bird Shaman: Holy Ground Book 3
by Judith MoffettOccupation of Earth is now in its 27th year, and relations between humanity and the dictatorial Hefn have never seemed shakier. The aliens mission is to save the planet from its human abusers; and the Baby Ban imposed by mass hypnosis has made Earth a cleaner, wilder, less crowded place. But the Ban has now lasted so long, and provoked such hatred, that when a spark is struck the situation explodes into worldwide riots on one side and retaliatory mindwipings on the other. Years of effort by the eco-spiritual Gaians, who mediate between humans and Hefn, have been destroyed. While the Gaians regroup and brainstorm frantically in an atmosphere of doubt and danger, one obsessed Hefn and one young woman begin a radical experiment. Pam Pruitt has discovered a growing ability to acquire information by non-rational means. Childhood suffering has empowered her, in a way once understood by hunting and gathering peoples - an understanding lost with that lost lifeway - to communicate with mysterious forces through strong dreaming: to function as a shaman on behalf of her community, the human race.
The Bird Shaman: Holy Ground Book 3
by Judith MoffettOccupation of Earth is now in its 27th year, and relations between humanity and the dictatorial Hefn have never seemed shakier. The aliens mission is to save the planet from its human abusers; and the Baby Ban imposed by mass hypnosis has made Earth a cleaner, wilder, less crowded place. But the Ban has now lasted so long, and provoked such hatred, that when a spark is struck the situation explodes into worldwide riots on one side and retaliatory mindwipings on the other. Years of effort by the eco-spiritual Gaians, who mediate between humans and Hefn, have been destroyed. While the Gaians regroup and brainstorm frantically in an atmosphere of doubt and danger, one obsessed Hefn and one young woman begin a radical experiment. Pam Pruitt has discovered a growing ability to acquire information by non-rational means. Childhood suffering has empowered her, in a way once understood by hunting and gathering peoples - an understanding lost with that lost lifeway - to communicate with mysterious forces through strong dreaming: to function as a shaman on behalf of her community, the human race.
Birdbrain
by Johanna SinisaloFrom the author of the critically acclaimed Troll, the new novel from Johanna Sinisalo is full of her trademark style, surreal invention, and savage humor Set in Australasia, this is the story of a young Finnish couple who have embarked on the hiking trip of a lifetime, with Heart of Darkness as their only reading matter. Conrad's dark odyssey turns out to be a prescient choice as their trip turns into a tortuous thriller, with belongings disappearing, and they soon find themselves at the mercy of untamed nature, seemingly directed by the local kakapo--a highly intellegent parrot threatened with extinction. This is a skillful portrait of the unquenchable desire of Westerners for the pure and the primitive, revealing the dark side of the explorer's desire--the insatiable need to control, to invade, and leave one's mark on the landscape. But what happens when nature starts to fight back?
Birdees and the Bracelet of the Five Gods
by Engy Donia<p>A historical fantasy based on real rulers, prophecies, spells, battles, and a real villain whose name was obliterated from the ancient papyruses . . .<p> <p>Death is the end, but life goes on. And the past shouldn’t be messed with . . .<p> <p>Birdees is obsessed with her ancestors’ history—ancient Egyptian history. After her mother’s tragic death, her obsession grows more and more powerful. She rejects her ordinary, boring life and her mind keeps living within the pages of the history books, fascinated by the mystery and magic of the past . . .<p> <p>But she will soon realize that the reason for her obsession is an ancient legacy left for her from thousands of years before. A burden she holds in her hand for years, unbeknownst to her, that will bring her pain, suffering, and the death of her beloved ones. Yet she must protect her legacy with her life. It should never fall into the hands of the evil priest, Jed Didy, but must be passed to the rightful owners for the sake of survival . . .<p>
Birdie's Book (Fairy Godmother Academy #1)
by Jan BozarthWhen twelve-year-old Birdie goes to meet her grandmother, who is estranged from Birdie's mother, she learns a secret which leads to fantastic adventures, new understanding, and a renewed closeness among members of her family.
Birdking Volume 1
by Daniel FreedmanFrom the creators of Raiders, Daniel Freedman and and CROM, comes an original dark fantasy graphic novel of epic adventure and magic.Bianca, teenage apprentice to an infamous arcane blacksmith, is forced to flee her homeland and seek out Atlas, a fabled land of light ruled by &“the clean god.&” She is joined by a mysterious guardian spirit known only as the &“BirdKing&”. Together they will have to overcome dozens of enemies to reach Atlas and along the way, unravel the mystery of the BirdKing and their ancestral connection.
Birdking Volume 2
by Daniel FreedmanFrom the creators of Raiders, Daniel Freedman and CROM, comes this second installment of the dark fantasy graphic novel of epic adventure and magic.Bianca and Birdking continue their quest to reach Atlas, entering the domain of Hinnom, an insurmountable mountain range that is the birthplace of a dead dark empire and the battlefield in the war between the kingdoms of the North and South. Old friends, new allies, and scores of enemies await them there. No one has ever crossed Hinnom alive. But Bianca and Birdking might just make it. Then again, maybe they won&’t.
The Birds And Other Stories (Virago Modern Classics #10)
by Daphne Du MaurierFROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF REBECCA'How long he fought with them in the darkness he could not tell, but at last the beating of the wings about him lessened and then withdrew . . . 'A classic of alienation and horror, 'The Birds' was immortalised by Hitchcock in his celebrated film. The five other chilling stories in this collection echo a sense of dislocation and mock man's sense of dominance over the natural world. The mountain paradise of 'Monte Verità' promises immortality, but at a terrible price; a neglected wife haunts her husband in the form of an apple tree; a professional photographer steps out from behind the camera and into his subject's life; a date with a cinema usherette leads to a walk in the cemetery; and a jealous father finds a remedy when three's a crowd . . .
The Birds And Other Stories (Vmc Ser. #535)
by Daphne Du MaurierFROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF REBECCA'How long he fought with them in the darkness he could not tell, but at last the beating of the wings about him lessened and then withdrew . . . 'A classic of alienation and horror, 'The Birds' was immortalised by Hitchcock in his celebrated film. The five other chilling stories in this collection echo a sense of dislocation and mock man's sense of dominance over the natural world. The mountain paradise of 'Monte Verità' promises immortality, but at a terrible price; a neglected wife haunts her husband in the form of an apple tree; a professional photographer steps out from behind the camera and into his subject's life; a date with a cinema usherette leads to a walk in the cemetery; and a jealous father finds a remedy when three's a crowd . . .
Bird's Birthday (Fountas & Pinnell Classroom, Guided Reading)
by Valentina Byrne Mike SpoorNIMAC-sourced textbook. Birthday Plans. Bird's birthday plans don't work out. But everyone has fun in the end.
Birds of Paradise: A Novel
by Diana Abu-Jaber“A full-course meal, a rich, complex and memorable story that will leave you lingering gratefully at [Abu-Jaber’s] table.”—Ron Charles, Washington Post At thirteen, Felice Muir ran away from home to punish herself for some horrible thing she had done—leaving a hole in the hearts of her pastry-chef mother, her real estate attorney father, and her foodie-entrepreneurial brother. After five years of scrounging for food, drugs, and shelter on Miami Beach, Felice is now turning eighteen, and she and the family she left behind must reckon with the consequences of her actions—and make life-affirming choices about what matters to them most, now and in the future.
Birds of Paradise
by Oliver K. LangmeadAmerican Gods meets The Chronicles of Narnia in this adult fantasy about the Biblical Adam recovering the lost pieces of the Garden of Eden. Many millennia after the fall of Eden, Adam, the first man in creation, still walks the Earth – exhausted by the endless death and destruction, he is a shadow of his former hope and glory. And he is not the only one. The Garden was deconstructed, its pieces scattered across the world and its inhabitants condemned to live out immortal lives, hiding in plain sight from generations of mankind. But now pieces of the Garden are turning up on the Earth. After centuries of loneliness, Adam, haunted by the golden time at the beginning of Creation, is determined to save the pieces of his long lost home. With the help of Eden's undying exiles, he must stop Eden becoming the plaything of mankind. Adam journeys across America and the British Isles with Magpie, Owl, and other animals, gathering the scattered pieces of Paradise. As the country floods once more, Adam must risk it all to rescue his friends and his home – because rebuilding the Garden might be the key to rebuilding his life.
Birdsinger's Woman
by Sherry Derr-WilleWhen Kit Lancer made the trip from Madison to Peoria for an Indian pow-wow, she never expected to find herself in an ancient Indian village with an ancient people. Transported through time by a bolt of lightning and a crack of thunder, she soon realizes she cannot return to the twenty-first century and the life she once led. Atiko, is surprised to find a strange woman lying on the beach below the bluff where he is standing. He is awed by this Spirit Woman from the future and soon finds himself hopelessly in love with her. When fate rips her from his arms he realizes he will do anything to make her his own, including giving up his freedom.
Birdy and the Ghosties (Gripping Tales #1)
by Jill Paton WalshSometimes, Birdy watches her father row people across the dangerous sea, but when the wrinkled old woman asks to be ferried across, Birdy jumps in too. The woman tells Birdy that she has second sight, but Birdy isn't sure she wants this special gift. However, soon she finds that looking twice at things can bring the most unexpected results . . .With an engaging story told in short chapters, and illustrations in black and white and colour on every double-page spread, this short novel is ideal for newly confident readers.
Birdy and the Ghosties: Gripping Tales
by Jill Paton Walsh Alan MarksSometimes, Birdy watches her father row people across the dangerous sea, but when the wrinkled old woman asks to be ferried across, Birdy jumps in too. The woman tells Birdy that she has second sight, but Birdy isn't sure she wants this special gift. However, soon she finds that looking twice at things can bring the most unexpected results . . .With an engaging story told in short chapters, and illustrations in black and white and colour on every double-page spread, this short novel is ideal for newly confident readers.
The Birdy Snatchers (Kung Pow Chicken #3)
by Cyndi MarkoEveryone’s favorite avian superhero takes on an evil villain creating mindless zombies in this action-packed, illustrated chapter book.Gordon Blue is not just a second grader. He is also a superhero named Kung Pow Chicken! When the smartest chickens in town start acting like zombies, this superhero gets cracking. He knows only a bad guy would steal brains! But does Kung Pow Chicken have the smarts to stop the evil birdbrain?Praise for Let’s Get Cracking!“A perfectly puntastic page-turner. Hybrids of comics and traditional pictures, the goofy all-color illustrations propel the fast-moving, high-interest story. “Ham and eggs!” —you don’t want to miss this!” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review “Just the thing for beginning readers.” —Publishers Weekly“Step aside, Captain Underpants! There is a new hero in town—this time, with feathers. . . . Fresh, funny, and packed with full-color illustrations, this new transitional series will be an instant hit with readers looking for silly fun and a touch of mystery.” —Booklist
Birth of a Bridge
by Maylis de Kerangal Maylis de KerangalCoca, Southern California. A small town on a wild river, at the margins of the red-rocked desert and the forest where the last of the state's Native Americans still make their home.When Boa, the charismatic new mayor, decides to put Coca on the map, he plans a monumental new project: a six-lane bridge, two hundred metres high, designed and destined to catapult the city into the third millennium.Workers from across the globe flock to California: to earn a living, to escape their pasts, to bear witness to man's mastery of nature. But the project's majestic scope has no regard for the legacy of this ancient land, and within this monochrome Babel festers a very human cocktail of fears and passions. At once timeless and yet exquisitely of its moment, Maylis De Kerangal's multi-award-winning novel follows its broad cast of construction workers and architects, diggers and dreamers, as they navigate both the intricacies of their project and the depths of the human heart.Translated from the French by Jessica Moore
Birth of a Bridge
by Jessica Moore Maylis De KerangalFrom one of the most exciting novelists writing in France today comes this literary saga of a dozen men and women - engineers, designers, machinery operators, cable riggers - all employees of the international consortium charged with building a bridge somewhere in a mythical and fantastic California.Told on a sweeping scale reminiscent of classic American adventure films, this Médicis Prize-winning novel chronicles the lives of these workers, who represent a microcosm of not just mythic California, but of humanity as a whole. Their collective effort to complete the megaproject recounts one of the oldest of human dramas, to domesticate - and to radically transform - our world through built form, with all the dramatic tension it brings: a threatened strike, an environmental dispute, sabotage, accidents, career moves, and love affairs ... Here generations and social classes cease to exist, and everyone and everything converges toward the bridge as metaphor, a cross-cultural impression of America today.Kerangal's writing has been widely praised for its scope, originality, and use of language. The style of her prose is rich and innovative, playing with different registers (from the most highly literary to the most colloquial slang), taking risks and inventing words, and playing with speed and tension through grammatical ellipsis and elision. She employs a huge vocabulary and, most strikingly, brings together words not often combined to evoke startling comparisons. Not since Vikram Seth's Golden Gate has such a great Californian novel been told.
Birth of a Hero Box Set (Vic and Matt Box Set #1)
by J. M. SnyderVic Braunson is a city bus driver who falls in love with Matt diLorenzo, a swimmer he meets at the gym. When they finally hook up, there's no denying the energy between them.Something about Matt brings out the best in Vic -- literally. He gives Vic superhuman powers. Can they learn to live with these abilities without losing each other?This box set is the perfect introduction to the super sexy, super powered world of Vic and Matt! Discover how Vic gets his superhuman abilities, and feel the love between these two men grow as they fall for each other for the first time! Contains the stories:The Powers of Love: The first Vic and Matt story, where it all begins. With his shaved head, piercings, and tattoos, the muscular Vic Braunson isn’t one who falls hopelessly in love at first sight. But when he meets swim instructor Matt diLorenzo at the gym, sparks fly. After having sex with his new boyfriend, Vic Braunson discovers he suddenly has superhuman powers. WTF?Matching Tats: Vic Braunson’s latest tattoo makes his lover, Matt diLorenzo, decide that he might want to get inked, too. But Matt's more than a little skittish when it comes to needles, and watching the tattoo artist at work is frightening. With the powers love gives him, however, Vic finds a way to help Matt overcome his fears.Leatherman and Sexy Boy: It's Vic's birthday, and apparently his lover Matt diLorenzo stumbled upon Vic's old supply of fetish gear when cleaning. Matt knows slipping into the leather and chains will be a sexy surprise for his lover when Vic gets home from work.Parking Lot Hero: It's the weekend of the Super Bowl. Vic is looking forward to a quiet Saturday with his lover, Matt. But when a trio of ruffians terrorize their landlady in the parking lot of the local grocery story, Vic finds the superhero in him called to action.Foot Fetish: It's Valentine's Day, and Matt has a special evening in mind for Vic to accommodate his lover's foot fetish.Take It Outside: It's close to midnight, New Year's Eve, and Matt is tired of watching Vic mingle at Roxie's party. After several beers, Matt wants a piece of his lover, and he wants it now. And we all know Matt gets what he wants.Turn the Tables: Vic shares a very special relationship with his long-time lover, Matt. Like any couple, they have fallen into a set routine and each knows where he stands with the other. But turning the tables now and then is a good way to spice things up again. Especially in the bedroom.
The birth of Atégina
by Antonio AlmasFrom the interaction between characters was born the creation of the moment, day by day, simulated on a rehearsed stage where each one knows by heart their lines because they are their own feelings that reveal themselves in an illusory fiction. Chimera, utopia, the simple magic of words, is still a philosophy, it is still magic, when everything seems to culminate in an act of poetic existence that burns in the fingers and triggers telluric movements in the bodies of the actors. This play is not theater, it is not representation, it is mere fiction embodied by those who wear it, man and goddess, beings of other dimensions portrayed in a history of illusions.
Birth Of Fire
by Jerry PournelleThe Project -- an insane plot perpetrated by a few foolhardy maniacs? Or the only hope for freedom for Mars? This was the decision Garrett had to face when he arrived on Mars, a convicted murderer who had chosen slavery to Earth's Federation of corporations on the alien planet over life imprisonment on Earth. The Project wanted Garrett. He had the skills they needed. The skills of a brutal street-fighter combined with a knowledge of electronics, surpassed only by that of the beautiful Martian -born Erica. And if the Federation got Erica, there was Garnett's sinister pact with her. A pact which, much as he loved her, he was pledged to fulfill, and a Marsman always keeps his word.