Kansas, 1959. When a travelling carnival appears overnight, the townsfolk of Seneca Falls are entranced. But the circus brings more than just magic and illusion to the small town: a dead man is discovered beneath the carousel. For FBI Special Agent Michael Travis, the world is clear cut. But there are a lot of grey areas in this case. The carnival folk are unwilling to answer a straight question and they begin to challenge Travis's once unshakeable faith in solid facts and hard evidence... As the investigation turns ever more disturbing, Travis is forced to question everything he believes in as a dark and horrifying conspiracy comes to light.

What's in a shadow? Menace, seduction, or salvation? Immaterial but profound, shadows lurk everywhere in literature and the visual arts, signifying everything from the treachery of appearances to the unfathomable power of God. From Plato to Picasso, from Rembrandt to Welles and Warhol, from Lord of the Rings to the latest video game, shadows act as central players in the drama of Western culture. Yet because they work silently, artistic shadows often slip unnoticed past audiences and critics. Conceived as an accessible introduction to this elusive phenomenon, Grasping Shadows is the first book that offers a general theory of how all shadows function in texts and visual media. Arguing that shadow images take shape within a common cultural field where visual and verbal meanings overlap, William Sharpe ranges widely among classic and modern works, revealing the key motifs that link apparently disparate works such as those by Fra Angelico and James Joyce, Clementina Hawarden and Kara Walker, Charles Dickens and Kumi Yamashita. Showing how real-world shadows have shaped the meanings of shadow imagery, Grasping Shadows guides the reader through the techniques used by writers and artists to represent shadows from the Renaissance onward. The last chapter traces how shadows impact the art of the modern city, from Renoir and Zola to film noir and projection systems that capture the shadows of passers-by on streets around the globe. Extending his analysis to contemporary street art, popular songs, billboards, and shadow-theatre, Sharpe demonstrates a practical way to grasp the "dark side" that looms all around us.

A detective role-playing game in a city of ordinary people and legendary powers

A secret sect of the Catholic Church, armed with an ancient book of the undead called The Gospel of Shadows, has been slowly destroying vampires for centuries. Now the book has been stolen, and the sect races to retrieve it before their purpose is discovered: a final purge of all vampires. As the line between saints and shadows grows ominously faint, private eye Peter Octavian is drawn into the search. And he'll do anything to find the book ... for Peter Octavian is also a vampire. Ostracized by his kindred for refusing to take part in the 'blood song', he cannot stand by and watch while they are destroyed. In a deadly game with a driven, sadistic assassin, the trail leads to Venice at the time of carnival, where the Defiant Ones, as the vampires are known, are engaged in a savage battle for their lives. Filled with plot twists, mystery, sex and violent death, Of Saints and Shadows is a spine-tingling thriller which opens the door to the world of The Shadow Saga.

Exclusive City of Villains Artwork • Complete maps for all Zones featuring massive amounts of exclusive info • Strategy for building the ideal Archetypes • Complete power lists with full stats • Strategy covering the all-new Base building elements Includes a Complete Binder System: • Customizable — Color-coded sections for custom organization • Simple — Individual 3-hole-punched pages of clearly organized information make this binder a snap to use • Organized — Keep all of your City of Heroes information in one place for easy reference

In Old Earth's clandestine world of ambassador-spies, Michelangelo Kusanagi-Jones and Vincent Katherinessen were once a starring team. But ever since a disastrous mission, they have been living separate lives in a universe dominated by a ruthless Coalition - one that is about to reunite them. The pair are dispatched to New Amazonia as diplomatic agents. Allegedly, they are to return priceless art. Covertly, they seek to tap its energy supply. But in reality, one has his mind set on treason. And among the extraordinary women of New Amazonia, in a season of festival, betrayal, and disguise, he will find a new ally - and a force beyond any that humans have known . . .

Summer has shed its kin by the time October comes to town. Frost is in the air, twilight lingers and the nights loom over the shortened days. Nature displays the dying of the year with a explosion of color. The nights are darker and the stars are clearer. Belief is, that the wall between the worlds is at it's thinnest during this season and on the 31st of October it's even possible to cross over in both directions. We simultaneously hope and dread that we will catch a glimpse of or come in contact with the dead, undead, those who never lived, and the undying. We all love Halloween. Of all nights of the year, Halloween is the one where we hope that the impossible can be made possible and unreal can become real. It's the day where our deepest fears and wishes take on flesh. On Halloween our souls cry out "Scare us! Show us Fear! Makes us BELIEVE!" We wear masks not to hide, for that is an illusion, but to reveal our true selves. It is the one day where we find the courage to laugh at Death.