The tale begins over three-hundred years ago, when the Fair People—the goblins, fairies, dragons, and other fabled and fantastic creatures of a dozen lands—fled the Old World for the New, seeking haven from the ways of Man. With them came their precious jewels: diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls... But then the Fair People vanished, taking with them their twelve fabulous treasures. And they remained hidden until now... Across North America, these twelve treasures, over ten-thousand dollars in precious jewels, are buried. The key to finding each can be found within the twelve full color paintings and verses of The Secret. Yet The Secret is much more than that. At long last, you can learn not only the whereabouts of the Fair People's treasure, but also the modern forms and hiding places of their descendants: the Toll Trolls, Maitre D'eamons, Elf Alphas, Tupperwerewolves, Freudian Sylphs, Culture Vultures, West Ghosts and other delightful creatures in the world around us. The Secret is a field guide to them all. Many "armchair treasure hunt" books have been published over the years, most notably Masquerade (1979) by British artist Kit Williams. Masquerade promised a jewel-encrusted golden hare to the first person to unravel the riddle that Williams cleverly hid in his art. In 1982, while everyone in Britain was still madly digging up hedgerows and pastures in search of the golden hare, The Secret: A Treasure Hunt was published in America. The previous year, author and publisher Byron Preiss had traveled to 12 locations in the continental U.S. (and possibly Canada) to secretly bury a dozen ceramic casques. Each casque contained a small key that could be redeemed for one of 12 jewels Preiss kept in a safe deposit box in New York. The key to finding the casques was to match one of 12 paintings to one of 12 poetic verses, solve the resulting riddle, and start digging. Since 1982, only two of the 12 casques have been recovered. The first was located in Grant Park, Chicago, in 1984 by a group of students. The second was unearthed in 2004 in Cleveland by two members of the Quest4Treasure forum. Preiss was killed in an auto accident in the summer of 2005, but the hunt for his casques continues.

The search for hidden treasure brings Roger Shallot face to face with murder... In Paul Doherty's The Grail Murder, Roger Shallot's third journal, he must pit his wits against the terrifying and mysterious Templars. Perfect for fans of Ellis Peters and C.J. Sansom. In 1522 the rogue Roger Shallot and his sober-sided master Benjamin Daunbey are sent for by Cardinal Wolsey. Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, has been arrested for treason and Benjamin and Roger are made to witness his bloody execution. The true reason for Buckingham's downfall soon becomes apparent: he was searching at Templecombe Manor and Glastonbury Abbey in Somerset for two precious relics - the Holy Grail and Excalibur, the sword of King Arthur. Benjamin and Shallot are ordered to Templecombe, accompanied by the leaders of King Henry VIII's dreaded secret service, the Agentes in Rebus, to find these relics for the King. They must pit their wits against the Templars, a secret organisation plotting against the Tudors, of which Buckingham may have been a part and who may still have a member of their society close to the crown. The difficulties that wily Shallot - running true to his boast of possessing the fastest legs and quickest wits in Christendom - has to face soon make their presence felt: a duel, blackmail, the curses of a witch, the grisly hand of glory, decapitated heads, mysterious fires - and silent murder in the eerie Templar chapel. What readers are saying about The Grail Murders: 'This book had it all, locked room murders, a mysterious country manor house, an abbey, Templar conspiracy and Arthurian folklore - excellent!' 'Fascinating... historical mysteries brought to life with lots of accurate historical facts' 'Excellent story. Always enjoyed the Shallot stories, he is a lovable rogue'

"It was, without question, a slingshot." Sam Torwey wants to build a tree house and camp out under the stars. He dreams of finding treasure or solving a mystery. He longs for the old-fashioned adventure described in his books, where the action never stops. He just can't find an ally. His peers are glued to cell phones, his parents to computers. Video games are the most popular form of entertainment and relationships develop via text message. This is the digital age and Sam isn't part of it. As another dismal summer draws to a close, a mysterious slingshot falls into his possession. Before he has time to examine it thoroughly, sixth grade begins and he's thrust into the perils of middle school. His oldest friend abandons him, his teacher is infuriating and a humiliating video goes viral. The situation is dire. Things only begin to improve when he meets two new friends and the hunt for adventure is revived. The trio makes an intriguing discovery about the origin of Sam's slingshot while exploring the school grounds. Questions abound. The search for answers takes them across rivers and into caves, through locked doors and down secret passages. Before long, the boys are entangled in a mystery spanning more than a hundred years. One thing becomes clear: something valuable is hidden inside the dilapidated school, and it's been missing for a long time. They soon discover someone else is trying to solve the mystery, someone desperate ...even dangerous. The school year brings Sam plenty of adventure, maybe more than he can handle...

An ancient secret threatens to unleash a modern war in this international-bestselling “thriller on par with the best literature out there” (James Rollins). Jerusalem, 70 AD: As the invading Romans destroy the Holy Temple, a young Jewish boy is hidden away—chosen as the guardian of a great secret. And for seventy generations, the secret is kept safe . . . But now, in order to ignite a new conflict between Israel and the Arab world, a Jewish radical is prepared to reveal what has been hidden for centuries. The only ones who can stop the coming bloodshed are a beautiful young Palestinian journalist and two detectives—one Israeli, one Egyptian—in an unlikely alliance. As their separate searches for the truth intertwine, they discover there are some in this war-torn region who believe true peace can only be found in death . . . Full of the detail and in-depth knowledge only a bestselling author and true-life archaeologist could deliver, this is a “tightly-plotted, richly-observed, thought-provoking thriller” (Raymond Khoury). “Sussman, an archeologist, puts in plenty of satisfying twists and turns, and grounds the story in the violence and intrigue of the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” —Publishers Weekly

The Gospel of Hollywood is a disruptive new book series that unveils the transcendent messages hidden in some blockbuster Hollywood movies. This series presents these hidden messages in plain and fascinating language that turns an ordinary movie into a spiritual master class. Here comes a book that you will find to be an exceptional and compelling companion on your journey of personal transformation. This first book in The Gospel of Hollywood series offers a spiritual and metaphysical interpretation of the movie National Treasure released in 2004 and starring Nicolas Cage. It decodes this movie into a personal spiritual journey in twelve lessons.

Five hundred years ago Michelangelo began work on a painting that became one of the most famous pieces of art in the world—the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Every year millions of people come to see Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling, which is the largest fresco painting on earth in the holiest of Christianity's chapels; yet there is not one single Christian image in this vast, magnificent artwork. The Sistine Secrets tells the fascinating story of how Michelangelo embedded messages of brotherhood, tolerance, and freethinking in his painting to encourage "fellow travelers" to challenge the repressive Roman Catholic Church of his time. "Driven by the truths he had come to recognize during his years of study in private nontraditional schooling in Florence, truths rooted in his involvement with Judaic texts as well as Kabbalistic training that conflicted with approved Christian doctrine, Michelangelo needed to find a way to let viewers discern what he truly believed. He could not allow the Church to forever silence his soul. And what the Church would not permit him to communicate openly, he ingeniously found a way to convey to those diligent enough to learn his secret language."—from the Preface Blech and Doliner reveal what Michelangelo meant in the angelic representations that brilliantly mocked his papal patron, how he managed to sneak unorthodox heresies into his ostensibly pious portrayals, and how he was able to fulfill his lifelong ambition to bridge the wisdom of science with the strictures of faith. The Sistine Secrets unearths secrets that have remained hidden in plain sight for centuries.

Human subjects are both formed by historical inheritances and capable of active criticism. Insisting on this fact, Kant and Benjamin each develop powerful, systematic, but sharply opposed accounts of human powers and interests in freedom. A persistent constitutive tension between Kantian and Benjaminan ideals is woven through human life. By examining the two philosophers through this volume, Richard Eldridge attempts to make better sense of the commitment forming, commitment revising, anxious, reflective and acculturated human subjects we are.