Synopsis: Several decades since the last Human War, and the World is almost back at its former glory. The scars of the last War can now only be found in the history books. After two millennia of self destruction, humanity finally managed to unify as a group under the rule of the Six Council. Under its regime, the remaining 156 countries around the world swore an oath to work toward peace and harmony. War becomes a taboo, and any country who breaks this rule will be punished severely. Technology progresses relatively fast in this so-called Utopia. Full dive technology that allows the user to experience a dream like reality known as VR (Virtual Reality) became really popular especially to the gaming industry. A world to escape humanity’s Utopia. Unlike reality who is heavily regulated by the rules and regulations of the Six Council. Virtual Reality becomes a symbol of freedom, far from the shackles that binds the current society. 2064 Human Era, a VRMMO (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online) game, was launched on its Closed BETA test, Hollow Earth Online. With the game under the most popular genres: Action, Fantasy, RPG (Role Playing Game), many people were keen to try and play the game. After all, HEO's predecessor Arcadia Online, a game released by Atlas Inc. several years ago that garnered a few million players around the globe. Unlike Arcadia, HEO’s world is scaled like the world, a virtual reality under a single instance. Just like a typical fantasy rpg, HEO has one thing that reality lacks, “Magic” a phenomena that can’t be explained nor recreated by science. A world where magic exists and you can be whatever you want, or so everyone thought. Several thousand players worldwide received invitations to participate in the three-day Closed Beta Test event. Asriel, a college student, was among those who received an invitation email from Atlas Inc. to partake in the event as a Beta Tester. HEO seemed like just another fantasy VRMMO from a well-known developer, living up to everyone's expectations. However, little did they know, it was actually the prelude to an apocalypse unlike anything humanity had faced in the last two millennia.

Life sucks, then you find Barcaldine. This is an unlikely love story where a city boy heads west and falls madly in love with outback Barcaldine, western Queensland. In Barcaldine, family is everything. The matriarch of the family is Grandma Elizabeth Mary Sleeman, who, with her sisters Louisa Jane and Amelia Ann, rule the family roost. A skeleton in the closet emerges which, if revealed, would shock people to the core. City boy Kerry, with ‘Chunda’ Urquhart as his new mate, are soon inseparable, pushing boundaries and getting into strife. So, adjust your bicycle seats and come riding with the Barcy boys as they swim and fish in the nearby Alice River, or seek treasure at the local dump, building and defending their fort from other Barcy gangs, with shangeyes as their weapons of choice. On busy weekends, attend pony club riding rogue, adrenalin-high stock horses, or go ‘roo and pig shooting as a form of family bonding. Meet up at George’s Greek cafe for a milkshake and plan their next misadventure, or take in a movie in canvas seats, where boiled lollies are sucked and young love blossoms. However, don’t be caught in Beverley’s torch of shame. Enjoy the trip down memory lane, where no one is defriended.

Zelma Studebaker was a writer, teacher and mother of eight children. She was a Christian woman who worked for peace and justice as a participant in humanitarian service projects. In August of 1963 she participated in our nation’s historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Her son, Ted Studebaker, was an agriculturalist with Vietnam Christian Service and is a celebrated, nonviolent peace martyr. After Zelma and Stanley raised their children on an Ohio farm, she then went on to earn her university degree at the age of 61. She taught elementary students in the public school system for 19 years. Shortly thereafter she and Stanley celebrated 65 years of marriage. Zelma Studebaker was a compassionate and driven woman who saw the power of written correspondence through letter writing, poems and short stories. She impacted numerous lives far and wide through her writing and simply being open and available for shared dialogue. Zelma’s life influenced and prompted her children to express thankfulness and support in letter writing as well as biographies and other projects that connect people and celebrate family life and humanity.

Follow the special relationship between Madeline and her Grandfather as they both grow and share in the most magical birthday experiences. Filled with secrets to uncover and brimming with imagination, Don’t Drink the Pink explores a number of basic concepts including colors, numbers and the reality of growing older.

A grandchild helps create a bubbly kind of magic. Make your own bubbles and wands with this recipe.

Adam Fortunate Eagle has been called many things: social activist, serious joke medicine, contrary warrior, national treasure, enemy of the state, living history. Characterizing his style as “Fortunate Eagle meets Mark Twain, Indian style,” the author relates the traditions, joys, and frustrations of his own Native American experience in tones ranging from “gut-busting laughter to pissed-off anger.” Leading the reader through time and space, Fortunate Eagle uses his own history—as a child in an Ojibwe community and later as a civil rights leader who, among other achievements, helped organize the takeovers of Alcatraz in 1964 and 1969—to recount the experience of modern Native peoples. The tradition of oral storytelling shines through his language and in his thoughtful and humorous juxtapositions. In the story for which the book is named, Fortunate Eagle journeys to Italy to “discover” the land and claim it in protest of Columbus Day. Wearing a traditional beaded buckskin outfit, complete with scalps hanging from his belt, he meets with the pope. Afterward, suffering from what he calls “the Pope’s Revenge,” he is forced to spend two days in or near a bathroom. Beginning with a foreword “written” by Sitting Bull, and traveling from moose encounters in Minnesota to the Spanish Steps in Rome, this book reminds readers of the wisdom of elders, the cross-cultural confusion of Native-white encounters, and some of the most difficult issues faced by contemporary Native peoples. Falling somewhere between fact and fiction, the tales in Scalping Columbus and Other Stories combine outrageous comedy with clever social commentary, managing both to entertain and to enlighten.