As a lowly pot boy, Holt Cook was never meant to be a dragon rider. Until in a moment of madness, he saves a dragon egg doomed to be destroyed. A blind hatchling with a mysterious and unknown magic. Soul-bonding with the dragon, Holt gains access to its magical core. Only through training and perseverance can he cultivate its power to stand a chance in the battles to come. For the riders are preparing for war. Undead horrors are rising across the land. Kings and riders alike die in their strongholds. Order is crumbling. And Holt faces a terrible decision. To do what is expected and maintain order, or do what he knows to be right and cause only chaos?

The Wizard's Council of Tarador was supposed to tell young Koren Bladewell that he is a wizard. They were supposed to tell everyone that he is not a jinx, that all the bad things that happen around him are because he can't control the power inside him, power he doesn't know about. The people of his village, even his parents, are afraid of him, afraid he is cursed. That he is a dangerous, evil jinx. The Wizard's Council didn't tell young Koren, because they know what is best for him. Even after their silent deception destroys his life.Crown Princess Ariana Trehayme will become queen of Tarador on her sixteenth birthday, if her weak, indecisive mother the Regent hasn't allowed their ancient enemy to conquer Tarador before then. Ariana wants her royal army to strike at the enemy, but her mother knows what is best for her, and the realm.Together, Ariana and Koren can save Tarador, if the adults, who know best, will get out of their way.

“Warfare goes digital in movie and TV writer Drew Chapman’s fast-moving debut, a high-stakes thriller that pits the online might of China against that of the United States” (Publishers Weekly) as reluctant patriot Garrett Reilly races around the globe to avert total war. Numbers don’t lie…Not according to Garrett Reilly who, just two weeks past his twenty-sixth birthday, thinks he’s probably the best bond analyst at his brokerage, maybe the best in all of lower Manhattan. Garrett’s memory for numbers is photographic. But he doesn’t just memorize numbers: he sorts them, ranks them, senses patterns. As he watches buy and sell numbers float across his computer monitor, Garrett notices what nobody else can: that US Treasury bonds are being sold off at an alarming rate. Two hundred billion dollars worth. It’s a discovery that Garrett knows will make him stinking rich. But then the US military arrives at his office and Garrett’s life is thrown into free fall. Captain Alexis Truffant explains that Garrett has stumbled on something bigger and scarier than he could have ever imagined: the first attack in a covert war of unthinkable proportions. Garrett begins to link a series of seemingly unrelated—and very dangerous—events that start in New York, but continue to Las Vegas, Oregon, and all lead back to rural China. Suddenly, Garrett is the only one left standing between an unknown enemy and the very security of our country. The only problem? Numbers don’t lie…but sometimes governments do. “The Hunt for Red October meets Hackers…Ascendant is a must-read for international thriller fans” (Booklist, starred review). “This is a wild ride through the headlines of our times” (Kirkus Reviews).

There are times when people just can’t identify with the attributes of their Sun or Moon sign. In fact, they may feel that they are an antithesis of their zodiac sign. You may also have observed it. Your Leo friend may not seek attention, may be because he or she has a Capricorn ascendant. Your Sagittarius friend is very possessive, may be because he or she has a Scorpio Ascendant. It is easy to understand why some people do not correspond to their Sun or Moon signs once you know about what is the rising sign or Ascendant in a horoscope. Ascendant is the degree of the zodiac sign that was highest on the Easter horizon at the time and place of birth. When seen from Earth, the sky seems to move, so the entire zodiac can be observed in a span of 24 hours day which means the rising sign changes on the Eastern horizon every 2 hours because there are 12 zodiac signs. People tend to associate their physical, emotional and spiritual attributes more with rising sign at times.

America Ascendant vividly portrays the global crisis that brought the media and the government into an alliance that changed the course of American and world history. President Franklin D. Roosevelt organized an extraordinary partnership between the U.S. government and America’s media outlets to communicate to the reluctant and isolationist American public the nature of the threat that World War II posed to the nation and the world. The coalition’s aim was to promote the concept of American exceptionalism and use it to galvanize the public for the government’s cause. America Ascendant details the efforts of many prominent individuals and officials to harness the collective energy of the nation and guide the United States throughout World War II then describes its aftermath and the Cold War period. Dennis M. Spragg demonstrates how the news and entertainment of American broadcasters such as David Sarnoff, William Paley, and Elmer Davis helped rally the American people to fashion a new liberal democratic order to stop the global spread of Communism. This media-government alliance, however, was not achieved without difficulty. Spragg highlights the competing visions and personalities that clashed, as media and government leaders tried to develop the paradigm that ultimately shifted American cultural and political thought. Throughout this searching history he sheds light on the underappreciated coordination between the media and the government to establish a liberal democratic world order and demonstrates why American exceptionalism still matters.

Sometimes, the world needs a little chaos. Holt and Ash saved the kingdom of Feorlen against all odds. Now, they are outcasts, alone on an impossible quest to unite the Elder Dragons. But, they are children playing in a game of Dragon Lords. Trapped between the riders, servants of Sovereign, and the scourge, even their luck cannot last forever. Their only hope is to advance their bond by any means necessary. In Feorlen, Talia faces a world unaccepting of a rider queen. Her councilors will not heed her warnings of Sovereign. Foreign powers threaten war and bloodshed. Pleas sent to rider headquarters fall on deaf ears. All the while, Sovereign regathers his strength in an ancient fortress. Enthralled cultists swell his ranks. Disillusioned riders flock to his cause. And, his unwilling servant Osric Agravain scours the land for dragon eggs. There are new types of magic to be discovered, and Sovereign intends to control them all. Only the mysterious half-dragon Rake has a plan to stop Sovereign. To pull it off, he's going to need a team. Unbound continues this award winning and best-selling dragon rider epic fantasy, readers are comparing to Eragon, Pern and other beloved classics.

The revival of the Olympic Games in 1896 was just one result of the unparalleled interest in physical culture that consumed Europe and America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Author Harold Segel shows that this obsession with physical culture resonated widely through the modernist movement, and he traces its profound influence on the arts in the early 20th century. Illustrated.