Utopia is slipping away. Teth is burning. Rebellion is exploding across the realm. Tartica is in chaos… all but for the Kingdom of Adelle under the tight grip of Chancellor Tomelai’s secret police—Druin Derr’s KCG. Governmental and religious leaders struggle to retain their hold on power while the Devil’s Blacksmith inches closer to Tartica’s ruination and Evidar’s salvation. As civilization crumbles all around him, Reyne’s soul mirrors Tartica’s downfall; forced to abandon his bride-to-be; his brother ripped from his life; sent on a quest he neither believes in nor wants any part of; and alone, joined only by a mysterious man he doesn’t trust. As Reyne prepares for an impossible transition through the Void to enter the dark realm of Evidar, he plots his own deception. But Evidar assassins are on his trail. They know he’s alive and they’re not only getting close, they’ve found him! With betrayal lurking in the shadows, Tartica’s future, Evidar’s salvation, and Reyne’s life, all hang in the balance. Reyne’s journey in the adult themed, dark, epic fantasy trilogy, The Utopia Falling Saga, continues in second book, Chaos Ascending: A Feast of Betrayal.

Ascending Chaos is the first major retrospective of Japanese-American artist Masami Teraoka's prolific and acclaimed work thus far. In Teraoka's paintings—which have evolved from his wry mimicry of Japanese woodblock prints to much larger and complex canvasses reminiscent of Bosch and Brueghel—the political and the personal collide in a riot of sexually frank tableaux. Populated by geishas and goddesses, priests, and politicians, and prominent contemporary figures, these paintings are the spectacular next phase of a wildly inventive career. With essays by renowned art critics who discuss how Teraoka's work inventively marries east and west, sex and religion, Ascending Chaos is a critical overview of this cultural trickster.

As a lowly pot boy, Holt Cook was never meant to be a dragon rider. Until in a moment of madness, he saves a dragon egg doomed to be destroyed. A blind hatchling with a mysterious and unknown magic. Soul-bonding with the dragon, Holt gains access to its magical core. Only through training and perseverance can he cultivate its power to stand a chance in the battles to come. For the riders are preparing for war. Undead horrors are rising across the land. Kings and riders alike die in their strongholds. Order is crumbling. And Holt faces a terrible decision. To do what is expected and maintain order, or do what he knows to be right and cause only chaos?

The semiotic elements of a multiplanar discourse : John Harbison's setting of Michael Fried's "depths" / Claudia Stanger -- Whose life? : the gendered self in Schumann's Frauenliebe songs / Ruth A. Solie -- Operatic madness : a challenge to convention / Ellen Rosand -- Commentary : form, reference, and ideology in musical discourse / Hayden White.

_____________________________________ NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Discover Thrawn's origins within the Chiss Ascendancy in the first book in an epic new Star Wars trilogy from bestselling author Timothy Zahn. Beyond the edge of the galaxy lies the Unknown Regions: chaotic, uncharted, and near impassable, with hidden secrets and dangers in equal measure. And nestled within its swirling chaos is the Ascendancy, home to the enigmatic Chiss and the Nine Ruling Families that lead them. The peace of the Ascendancy, a beacon of calm and stability, is shattered after a daring attack on the Chiss capital that leaves no trace of the enemy. Baffled, the Ascendancy dispatches one of its brightest young military officers to root out the unseen assailants. A recruit born of no title, but adopted into the powerful family of the Mitth and given the name Thrawn. With the might of the Expansionary Fleet at his back, and the aid of his comrade Admiral Ar'alani, answers begin to fall into place. But as Thrawn's first command probes deeper into the vast stretch of space his people call the Chaos, he realizes that the mission he has been given is not what it seems. And the threat to the Ascendancy is only just beginning.

"In this pathbreaking new book, Lawrence Kramer extends the theoretical and scholarly frontiers of musicology with every chapter, each of which explores a different case study in depth. In short, [he] demonstrates repeatedly that classical music is a far more significant force in history than its champions (who want music to transcend 'mere' social formations) usually allow."—Susan McClary, author of Feminine Endings: Music, Gender, and Sexuality "Kramer continues his project to steer the criticism of Western art music onto the paths of contemporary intellectual discourse. No one is better equipped for the task: Kramer's range is extraordinary, his scholarship impeccable, his arguments incisive. But above all, his values are humane. He cares passionately about this precious musical heritage, and his commitment can be felt on every page, including the dazzling performative and postmodern epilogue."—Walter Frisch, author of The Early Works of Arnold Schoenberg, 1893-1908 "This book will (I hope) be one of the foundational moments of a thriving and much-needed discourse. Kramer demonstrates the power to interpret that comes with fully integrating up-to-date critical literary theory with musical analysis. The risks he takes are absolutely necessary to our discipline if it is not, along with the music it professes to enshrine, to fade away into total cultural irrelevance and oblivion. Those scholars to whom postmodernism is a liberating and not a frightening concept will welcome this book with uncommon interest."—Robert Fink, founding editor of Repercussions: Critical and Alternative Viewpoints on Music and Scholarship

A mind-bending and captivating mystery about one teen’s surreal experiences after surviving a major trauma. Caleb Tosh has suffered one personal trauma too many, but this last one—the sudden departure of his mom—has pushed him down a dark and disorienting path. His favorite video-game, Boneyard, becomes his go-to coping mechanism, and Tosh gladly gets lost in the maps of the game rather than move through the landscape of his own grief. As Tosh falls farther and farther down the rabbit hole of abandonment and loneliness, he doesn’t see there are others fighting both virtual and real-life battles alongside him. What will it take for Caleb Tosh to leave the safety of the Boneyard, to rejoin reality, and deal with the wreckage of his actual life?