Offering a comprehensive guide to economical travel in diverse regions of the world, these innovative new versions of the popular handbooks feature an all-new look, sidebars highlighting essential tips and facts, information on a wide range of itineraries, transportation options, off-the-beaten-path adventures, expanded lodging and dining options in every price range, additional nightlife options, enhanced cultural coverage, shopping tips, maps, 3-D topographical maps, regional culinary specialties, cost-cutting tips, and other essentials.

“This illuminating book serves as homage to a brilliant naturalist and extraordinary birds. If you loved H Is for Hawk, put this next on your reading list.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) From the merlin to the golden eagle, the goshawk to the honey buzzard, James Macdonald Lockhart’s stunning debut is a quest of beak, talon, wing, and sky. On its surface, Raptor is a journey across the British Isles in search of fifteen species of birds of prey, but as Lockhart seeks out these elusive predators, his quest becomes so much more: an incomparably elegant elegy on the beauty of the British landscape and, through the birds, a journey toward understanding an awesome power at the heart of the natural world—a power that is majestic and frightening in its strength, but also fragile. Linking his journey to that of his muse—nineteenth-century Scottish naturalist and artist William MacGillivray—Lockhart shares his own encounters with raptors ranging from the scarce osprey to the successfully reintroduced red kite, a species once protected by medieval royal statute, revealing with poetic immediacy the extraordinary behaviors of these birds and the extreme environments they call home. Creatures both worshipped and reviled, raptors have a talon-hold on the human heart and imagination. With his book, Lockhart unravels these complicated ties in a work by turns reverent and euphoric—an interweaving of history, travel, and nature writing at its best. A hymn to wanderers, to the land and to the sky, and especially to the birds, Raptor soars. “Lockhart’s soaring debut is a perfect synthesis of travel writing and natural history.” —Financial Times

Nature religions look to rivers, lakes and oceans for inspiration and spiritual transformation. 'Deep Blue' brings together the work of influential scholars in the field of nature religion, ranging across anthropology, mythology, sociology and psychology. The essays examine the interrelationship between spiritual practice, critical thinking, and environmental concern. Tracing the ancient history of humanity's close relationship with both salt and fresh water, the book calls for a sustainable relationship with water in contemporary western culture. 'Deep Blue' will be of interest to students of paganism and religion, environmental researchers and activists, and all those involved in the intersection between religion and ecology.

On a sunny late September morning in Richmond, British Columbia... …twelve-year-old Angie Wallis is eager to go to school. She and her friends are planning a sleepover campout on the weekend and there are plans to be made. Her world changes in an instant when she is nearly knocked off her feet—the “big one” has hit the coast. The devastation to their home and neighbourhood from the violent shaking is only the beginning. A seafaring family, she and her parents, grandmother, brothers, and faithful dogs escape the ensuing tsunami in their boat launch as much of their community sinks beneath the sea. They make their way across the Strait of Georgia with determination and resourcefulness and manage to find their beloved Sea Lure, a 51-foot motor yacht moored in Nanaimo. There they gather their bearings and deal with an eerie aftermath that includes marauding thieves and pirates, heroic island farmers, and massive tent cities of displaced earthquake victims. This disaster tale is told with skillful restraint rather than sensationalist drama. Angie is an entirely credible narrator whose experience draws us in and holds our interest throughout. Author Darlene Weir’s depictions of the coastal British Columbia backdrop along with her astute understanding of human nature create a strong underpinning for this action-packed adventure.

Deep in the shadows of the Estorian seas, Crithians live a peaceful, utopian existence. When a poison they call the Blackness kills the sea creatures and destroys the waters, they are forced to unite and use immortal gifts. The sea kings daughter, XANADA, is thrust into a world of chaos when she uncovers the truth surrounding her birth. Her fate collides with NEMESIS, a realm walker fighting to gain her trust while covertly submitting to evil. Estoria plunges into chaos, with Crithians, mortals, the undead, and the gods all fighting for one ultimate power, a power that is XANADAS birthright and one she must learn to control before the Blackness turns both land and sea to ruin.

From the author of Monsters Born and Made comes an action-packed South Asian inspired fantasy that will have your heart racing at every turn. Seventeen-year-old Krescent Dune is buried under the weight of her dead parents' debt and the ruinous legacy they left behind. The only way she can earn enough money to escape her unforgiving island is by battling monstrous creatures in an underground fighting pit. After a fight goes terribly wrong, she's banned from the pits. Now hopeless, she is offered a deal: in exchange for the erasure of her debts, she must join and protect a hunting party for a rescue mission deep within the mining caves beneath the island. Krescent is determined to keep her head down and fulfill her role as the dutiful bodyguard, even though she is trapped underground with her childhood enemy and a company of people who would gladly kill her if they knew who her parents were. As they come across creatures she believed only existed in legends, it becomes clear they are in far more danger than she could have imagined. But someone doesn't want her to make it out alive. And she'll have to figure out who before she's left alone...in the dark.