“Beyond Hope and Despair” is the second in the Galanor Saga Series. It picks up exactly where Volume I (“Beyond Good and Evil”) leaves off. It is a novel written in three parts (Books One. Two and Three). Each can be read as a separate work or, as designed, as part of the complete novel. Book One finds Galanor (who is now the commander of an elite mercenary corps known as the Panther Legion) on the field of a recently fought battle. He has lost his will to live and, since the death of beloved Kara, and her entire universe, by his actions, insane with guilt and despair. Azool visits Galanor while he wanders among the dead, and renews his demand (only now with more vigor) for Galanor to join him in his struggle to “free” reality from “order.” Following Galano’s rebuke Azool visits the Legionnaires with sudden madness. This causes them to turn on one another. The most affected by this is Pharon, who, under Azool’s influence (which continues throughout the novel) turns on his lifelong friend. Galanor finds himself swept up in court intrigue and falling in love with the empress, whose husband had commissioned Galanor’s Legion to defend his borders. This put Galanor at direct odds with the empire’s High Lord General, Sargon. Sargon aligns himself with a wizard, who has a personal grudge with Galanor dating back to Atlantis. Together they plot to kidnap the empress and destroy Galanor in the process. After a long series of devastating encounters Galanor, on the verge of death, is sent into the desert to die. He is rescued by a shadowy, mythical figure who begins his road to mental and spiritual recovery, outside the bounds of reality. Book Two finds Pharon and the entire remaining members of the Panther Legion, in prison awaiting death at the hands of Sargon (who has taken control of the empire from the feckless emperor, who grieves over his wife’s absence). Azool has been visiting Pharon, who has now become his agent. Galanor, having left the care of his benefactor, has taken on a new companion (who had been given to him while he was being healed). He is a powerful, sleek dog named Anubis, whose spiritual and physical presence helps Galanor cement some of the soul saving lessons he had learned (though he cannot recall how). Together, they meet a young warrior and priestess who are on a desperate mission to save their city from sure and certain destruction at the hands of a vast, marauding army. Galanor must choose between returning back for his comrades or going forward, in search of the kidnapped empress and helping the young couple and their city. He chooses the latter while conceiving a plan to do the former. After a devastating battle to free the now enslaved city, Galanor is swept into the arms of a goddess who wants him for her own. He also discovers an old and trusted friend along the way. His friend, Enkidu, tells him of a “world beneath the world” that might help his kidnapped love. It is a place where only the dead may enter. He and Anubis do so. Book Three finds the young warrior in search of an old friend and warrior chief whom Galanor and Pharon had rescued during a sea battle. This man and his band of elite stealth warriors, agree to help the young warrior free the Legionnaires before their execution. Galanor and Anubis cross into the land of shadows and emerge in a land not far from where the empress has been imprisoned by the insane wizard. Pharon and the Legionaries are freed and with the aid of the stealth warriors, become the agents of fate. Galanor encounters Azool one last time in a battle of wills. He defeats an old enemy and does battle with the wizard to rescue the woman he loves. As “Beyond Good and Evil” was a novel about the power of love and commitment, “Beyond Hope and Despair,” is a novel about the power of redemption.

The inability to express the horrors of the Holocaust, combined with guilt feelings of the survivors, led to silence. Appelfeld explores the role of art in redeeming pain from darkness, and the conflicting desires to speak out and to keep silent. He forcefully argues that the Jewish people need a spiritual vision. In his conversation with Philip Roth, Appelfeld sheds light on his work and talks with candor about his life, influences, and concerns.

Drawing on a host of philosophers such as Arthur Schopenhauer, Gabriel Marcel, Josef Pieper, Paul Ricoeur, Viktor Frankl, Eric Voegelin, Bernard Lonergan, Roger Scruton, John Caputo, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, as well as theologians like Hans Urs von Balthasar, Karl Rahner, Hans Küng, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, this book argues passionately for the place of hope as the ‘beyond’ of both a will-o’-the-wisp, facile optimism, on the one hand, and a world-weary, fatuous pessimism, on the other. Drawing on the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta in the concluding chapter, it suggests that only by living from the Self as distinct from the ego can we know ultimate peace and experience the bliss of being that is beyond both hope and happiness. These philosophical reflections are both timely, as the publication appears amid the Coronavirus crisis, and wise. It is warmly recommended for its breadth and depth of knowledge. This book will appeal to students of both Eastern and Western philosophy, as well as spiritual seekers.

"Elias Chacour, a Palestinian-born Christian and Israeli citizen, is a living symbol of hope amid the fear and conflict that daily disrupt the lives of the people among whom he lives and works as Archbishop of Galilee." "In this book, Elias Chacour describes his struggle to be a light in the darkness of hatred and terror, to see friends and enemies alike as God sees them, to break the endless cycles of violence and retaliation. Yet for all his struggle, he is full of hope and his joy is irrepressible."--BOOK JACKET.

At the end of a century of unfathomable suffering, societies are facing anew the question of how events that shock, resist assimilation, and evoke contradictory and complex responses should be remembered. Between Hope and Despair specifically examines the pedagogical problem of how remembrance is to proceed when what is to be remembered is underscored by a logic difficult to comprehend and subversive of the humane character of existence. This pedagogical attention to practices of remembrance reflects the growing cognizance that hope for a just and compassionate future lies in the sustained, if troubled, working through of these issues.

A SECOND VISIT TO THAIBURLEY: THE CITY OF DREAMS, THE FABLED CITY OF A HUNDRED ROWS. Dark forces are gathering in the shadowy depths, and the whole city is under threat. The former street-nick, Tom, embarks on a journey to discover the source of the great river Thair, said to be the ultimate power behind all of Thaiburley. Accompanying him are the assassin Dewar and the young Thaistess Mildra. It soon becomes evident that their journey has more significance than any of them realise, as past secrets catch up with them and unknown adversaries hunt them... to the death! File Under: Fantasy [ Towering City | Ancient Secrets | Assassins & Gods | Soul Thief! ]

Tens of thousands of women and families every year lose a baby to miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant death. The statistics are sobering--between 10% and 20% of pregnancies end in miscarriage, 1% in stillbirth, and nearly 23,000 babies die before their first birthday--but statistics alone miss the depth of the hurt. Each loss is personal and devastating. No woman is prepared to lose a baby, and caregivers are often unaware of how best to help. In Hope Beyond an Empty Cradle therapist Hallie Scott first shares her own story, as a mother whose only child, Abigail, was stillborn, and then leads readers through a healing process that makes space for heartbreak, despair, guilt, questions, and anger. Life is never the same in the wake of the loss, but a new normal is possible. The book will be a welcome resource for families who have lost a child, as well as for those seeking to care for them in their traumatic grief.