Curses and queens. Pirates and kings. Gods and magic. The final saga of a princess cursed by Midas’s touch, a vengeful Greek god, and a dazzling kingdom in the balance. After barely surviving thieving, bloodthirsty pirates and a harrowing quest at sea to retrieve her stolen treasure, Kora finds readjusting to palace life just as deadly. Her people openly turn against her, threatening to overthrow her as heir to the throne due to fear of her magical powers. When Dionysus puts out a challenge to kill the girl with the golden touch and burn down her kingdom, it’s not just her future on the throne in danger. Kora’s life and entire kingdom are now on contract. With no other choice, Kora sets out to find Dionysus, journeying to the mysterious disappearing island of Jipper. If she wants to save her kingdom and have any chance at reversing her father’s curse, she will have to enter into a deadly game with Dionysus, the greatest trickster the world, or the underworld, has ever seen. A Curse of Gold: Is the highly-anticipated sequel to A Touch of Gold by author Annie Sullivan Is an enchanting and captivating fantasy adventure/fairy tale retelling, perfect for fans of The Wrath and the Dawn and Cinder Is told from the perspective of Kora, King Midas’s daughter and a strong female protagonist Features a beautifully decorated cover Will have strong appeal to readers ages 13 & up

“In this slow-simmering but rewarding retelling, first-novelist Bunce presents an innovative interpretation of Rumpelstiltskin.” —Horn Book Winner of the William C. Morris Award for a Young Adult Debut An ALA Best Book for Young Adults A Smithsonian Notable Book An Oprah’s Book Club Kids’ Reading List Teen Selection The gold thread promises Charlotte Miller a chance to save her family’s beloved woolen mill. It promises a future for her sister, jobs for her townsfolk, security against her grasping uncle—maybe even true love. To get the thread, Charlotte must strike a bargain with its maker, the mysterious Jack Spinner. But the gleam of gold conjures a shadowy past—secrets ensnaring generations of Millers. And Charlotte’s mill, her family, her love—what do those matter to a stranger who can spin straw into gold? This is an award-winning and wholly original retelling of “Rumplestiltskin.” “Set in a rural valley in the late 1700s, this reworking of the ‘Rumplestiltskin’ story includes ghosts, witchcraft, elements of Georgian society, and much earlier folk magic in the guise of a novel of manners.” —School Library Journal “A Curse Dark as Gold beats the hell out of any fantasy novel I’ve read this year. Her heroine/narrator is immensely appealing; the atmosphere of a world on the cusp of the Industrial Revolution is completely believable; and the suspense of the story builds so craftily that I started taking notes on just how she does it.” —Peter S. Beagle, World Fantasy Award-winning author “An intelligent, original, and interesting new take on an old fairy tale, and a marvelous debut novel.” —Teen Book Review

Gold is wealth. Wealth is power. Power is a curse. This captivating fantasy adventure—the untold story of the daughter King Midas turned to gold—will dazzle you with the kind of action, adventure, twists, turns, and a bit of romance to make any fan of magic and mythology greedy for more. After King Midas’s gift—or curse—almost killed his daughter, he relinquished The Touch forever. Ten years later, Princess Kora still bears the consequences of her father’s wish: her skin shines golden, rumors follow her everywhere she goes, and she harbors secret powers that are getting harder to hide. Kora spends her days concealed behind gloves and veils. It isn’t until a charming duke arrives that Kora believes she could indeed be loved. But their courtship is disrupted when a thief steals treasures her father needs to survive. Thanks to Kora’s unique ability to sense gold, she sails off on her quest to find the missing items. Magic, mythology, fantasy, and pirate adventures charge through every page as Kora learns that not everything is what it seems—not her companions, not the thieves, and not even Kora herself. A Touch of Gold: Is told from the perspective of Kora, King Midas’s daughter and a strong female protagonist Is a clean fantasy adventure, perfect for fans of the #1 New York Times bestselling books, The Wrath & the Dawn and Cinder Is an enchanting and captivating fantasy adventure/fairy tale retelling Features a beautifully decorated cover Will have strong appeal to readers ages 13 & up

Nigeria is the sixth largest producer of oil in the world and one of the major suppliers of oil to the US. Set against a backdrop of what has been called the scramble for African oil, this text documents the consequences of a half-century of oil exploitation and production in one of the world's foremost centres of biodiversity.

This book explains the links between past and present oil crises, financial crises, and geopolitical conflicts.

Slumach's Gold chronicles what is possibly Canada's greatest lost-mine story. It searches out the truth behind a Salish man's hanging for murder in 1891 and tracks the intriguing legend about him that grew after his death. It was a legend that turned into a drama of international fascination when Slumach--the hanged criminal--was mysteriously linked to gold nuggets "the size of walnuts." The stories claimed that Slumach had placed a curse on a hidden motherlode to protect it from interlopers and trespassers just before he plunged to his death "at the wrong end of a five-strand rope." Although many have attempted to find Slumach's gold over the past 100 years, following tantalizing clues that are part of the legend itself, none have succeeded--or have they? Rick Antonson, Mary Trainer and Brian Antonson have diligently sifted through history and myth, separating fact from fiction, but leaving the legend intact--along with the promise of gold yet to be found by some future gold seeker.

This book takes a fresh approach to the puzzle of sub-Saharan Africa’s resource curse. Moving beyond current scholarship’s state-centric approach, it presents cutting-edge evidence gathered through interviews with mining company executives and industry representatives to demonstrate that firms are actively controlling the regulation of the gold mining sector. It shows how large mining firms with significant private authority in South Africa, Ghana and Tanzania are able to engender rules and regulations that are acknowledged by other actors, and in some cases even adopted by the state. In doing so, it establishes that firms are co-governing Africa’s gold mining sector. By exploring the implications for resource-cursed states, this significant work argues that firm-led regulation can improve governance, but that many of these initiatives fail to address country/mine specific issues where there remains a role for the state in ensuring the benefits of mining flow to local communities. It will appeal to economists, political scientists, and policy-makers and practitioners working in the field of mining and extractives.