When Deanna's missing friend Hyde turns up at his father's funeral to claim his corporate empire and inheritance, she is swept into his glittering world of paparazzi and wealth. But re-kindling her friendship and the dizzying new emotions along for the ride are the least of her concerns. Because Deanna has a secret - and somebody knows. Someone who is out to get Hyde. And if she doesn't play along, and help the enemy destroy him...she will be sold to the highest bidder in the black market for human swans. Now Deanna is struggling to break free from the gilded cage that would trap her forever... Feather Bound is a dark debut reminiscent of Gabriel García Márquez's A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings, and the twisted truth behind the fairy tale of Cinderella.

"But little attempt has been made to identify the particular kinds of feathers used in making the above-described ornaments. It may be said in a general way, that the ancient Peruvians employed the feathers of the macaw and of many other varieties of the parrot family, and occasionally (in plumes of the larger head-dresses) those of the king vulture. The Karaja Indians of Brazil use the plumage of the macaw in the greater part of their feather-work, although that of other birds, not identified, will be found. In the work of the Chamacoccos and Guato of Paraguay, feathers of the American ostrich (Rhea) and of different varieties of the parrot family are most commonly used. In describing step by step the process of making the various feather attachments, I have followed the order which seemed most natural; but the same result could, of course, have often been reached by proceeding in a different order. In comparing the different forms of attachments shown in the illustrations, one striking difference will be seen between the methods of the ancient Peruvians and the work of such modem Indians as has been figured. The former employ a true knot in every instance, except in such cases as have the two parts wound together with thread. In the modern work, a loop or turn about the shaft takes the place of the knot. Figs. 1, a, and 8 illustrate the difference between these two methods. If a cord attached to a shaft, as in Fig. 1, a, be slipped downward until free from the feather, and then the ends drawn, a knot will result; but if we draw the ends of the cord in the form shown in Fig. 8, the loop disappears and there is no knot. A few words may be said regarding artificially colored feathers in the work of the South American Indians. I have never been able to detect a single instance of their use among the ancient Peruvians, and the custom would seem to be confined, at the present day, to a few localities. Two ornaments have been described consisting of feathers stained red and purple by aniline dyes. These were used by the Aymará Indians in the vicinity of La Paz, Bolivia, who have lived many years in close contact with the white man, and have become well acquainted with his cheap dyes. The use of these dyed feathers, which have a particularly garish and unnatural appearance, is, I believe, one evidence of the decadence which seems inevitable to Indians in their situation. Primitive man, even in his combinations of most brilliantly colored feathers, seldom produces effects that offend the artistic eye"--P. 17.

There is a common but often unspoken arrogance on the part of outside observers that folk science and traditional knowledge—the type developed by Native communities and tribal groups—is inferior to the “formal science” practiced by Westerners. In this lucidly written and humanistic account of the O’odham tribes of Arizona and Northwest Mexico, ethnobiologist Amadeo M. Rea exposes the limitations of this assumption by exploring the rich ornithology that these tribes have generated about the birds that are native to their region. He shows how these peoples’ observational knowledge provides insights into the behaviors, mating habits, migratory patterns, and distribution of local bird species, and he uncovers the various ways that this knowledge is incorporated into the communities’ traditions and esoteric belief systems. Drawing on more than four decades of field and textual research along with hundreds of interviews with tribe members, Rea identifies how birds are incorporated, both symbolically and practically, into Piman legends, songs, art, religion, and ceremonies. Through highly detailed descriptions and accounts loaded with Native voice, this book is the definitive study of folk ornithology. It also provides valuable data for scholars of linguistics and North American Native studies, and it makes a significant contribution to our understanding of how humans make sense of their world. It will be of interest to historians of science, anthropologists, and scholars of indigenous cultures and folk taxonomy.

The Starship Enterprise™ is summoned to transport a dangerous criminal to rehabilitation: the brilliant physicist, Dr. Georges Mordreaux, who is accused of promising to send people back in time, then killing them instead. But when a crazed Mordreaux escapes, he inexplicably bursts onto the bridge and murders Captain Kirk before the crew's eyes. Now Spock must journey back in time to avert the disaster before it occurs. But more is at stake than Kirk's life. Mordreaux's experiments have thrown the universe into chaos, and Spock is fighting time itself to keep the very fabric of reality from unraveling.