Life begins for our characters on an island created especially for their occupation by the twelve Lords of the Zodiac and their King. Although continuous, the story is split up into six episodes, each one being an adventure set around two signs of the zodiac with their responding characters. I have brought in a little mythology, albeit with a generous helping of poetic licence, but feel that it works! The idea is to highlight the way two very different beings behave in various circumstances and their interaction with one another. Hopefully with each adventure, individual personality traits emerge as a chain of events unfolds. The story reaches a crescendo with the most important event of the year, when the King of the Zodiac visits the island to oversee the New Year festivities. A prologue explains how the island came about; how the Lords of the Zodiac found their ideal beings and its occupants are introduced one by one. The full thirteen representatives of the zodiac, when not ‘starring’ in a tale, all play supporting roles to extend their influence on the plots. I have tried to make the pairing up of the zodiac signs interesting, which in itself was a challenge. Read on and enjoy! Emma Dil

Twelve-year old Johnny lives way up in a high rise in a big city. When he looks out the window, he sees the world bustling to and fro, but doesn't understand what everyone is doing. Fortunately, he happens to have a big imagination that conjures up an odyssey of discovery and transformation. One night Johnny's pure and naive thoughts appear in the form of jewels, and fly him away to captivating Zodiac Island - whose gatekeeper is an enormous dragon. There, Johnny meets each of the 12 astrological signs in its living form. The problem is, they all want Johnny to choose between them as to which sign is the best! In "Someplace Else," Johnny's delightful decision tells us that, while each of the 12 signs is very much alive and a thing unto itself, when assembled together, they compose a whole new scheme. This provocative idea reveals to Johnny that he should worry no longer when he looks outside his window: life is a system made up of infinite things, and that system works. Barbara Linick has designed a whimsical enchantment using a theme as old as fantasy itself. And, while serving to introduce astrology to children and adults alike, Johnny's intriguing voyage also unfolds for us how the sum can be greater than its parts.

The true identity of the psychotic ZODIAC killer has been known by the Mandamus Seven (group of retired law enforcement officers, federal agents, a minister, and a District Attorney) since March 15, 1971. This true story is now being told for the very first time. Official corruption and political intervention forced the investigation into a top secret, covert status, giving the insane ZODIAC killer immunity and a license to kill. His motive -- adultery! Mind and body ravaged by years of severe alcoholism, his blood-lusting revenge turned him into the most shocking and vicious killer in our 20th century. Through his tauntings of the police, his codes, ciphers, and letters, he was on a mission to redeem his shattered ego, to prove that he was better, smarter, and more clever than all the judges and police put together. With lordly arrogance and jealousy and with the assistance of the police, he continued his killing spree until he claimed a total of 37 victims. Lips sealed by secret oaths and federal obstructions of justice, the investigation was further impeded by personal associations with the suspect and his tenacious, intrepid wife, placing family members in imminent danger. The evidence is overwhelming and given the totality of the facts, it is the author's opinion that there is no jury in the world that would not find the suspect guilty of being the criminal genius, ZODIAC.

California: the whole world knows it as the mother lode of scandal and celebrity, mayhem and miracles, a place where nearly anything can happen - and does. Giving the lowdown on the most notorious locations across the state, California Babylon redefines tourism for the 21st century by guiding you to the places you actually want to see, whether you'll admit to it or not. Packed with photographs and with easy-to-follow directions to each site, California Babylon unveils the real-life filming locations; scenes of rock-'n'-roll debauchery; homes and hotspots where the stars lived, dined, made love and died - and where they still do today. With this detailed, up-to-date guide, you can revisit some of the most shocking, puzzling, glamorous and tragic moments the world has ever known. Spend the night in the very hotel rooms where Janis Joplin, John Belushi, or Hawaii's King Kamehameha died. See the site where People's Temple leader Jim Jones whipped hundreds of followers into a frenzy. Visit the orphanage where little Norma Jeane Baker dreamed of stardom. Follow in the footsteps of serial killers. Recreate the camera angles for dozens of your favorite films, from Vertigo to Pee Wee's Big Adventure. With California Babylon's help, you can also see: *infamous crime scenes *the homes of screen legends *graves of the rich and famous *assassination sites *abandoned utopias *restaurants and bars frequented by celebrities Forget the endless malls and beaches! Wouldn't you rather see JFK's secret love-nest, the stage where Michael Jackson's hair burst into flames, or the alley that was the epicenter of prostitution in gold-rush era San Francisco? These are the guilty pleasures you'll actually write home about, and they're what make California the wacky, world-famous, and truly unbelievable place it is today.

“a worthy, if not definitive, addition to the body of Zodiac knowledge.” — Kirkus "It is no exaggeration to call the identity of the Zodiac Killer the most maddening unsolved crime in American history...But it is also no exaggeration to say that Mike Rodelli's case stands above them all" — Tom Zoellner, Author and Former Reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle In June 1999, Mike Rodelli had an idea that had never occurred to a generation of detectives in the San Francisco Bay Area. This led him to a new suspect in the Zodiac case and began a twenty-year odyssey to prove that this man was the Zodiac Killer. In the Shadow of Mt. Diablo: The Shocking True Identity of the Zodiac Killer is filled with original information about the mystery, including DNA and behavioral profiling that resulted directly from his twenty years of intensive research. Rodelli provides the reader with an objectively researched, fully documented book that is meticulously footnoted, and which shows that, against all odds, he has solved a case many said would never yield its dark secrets.