A novel drawn from a little known chapter of World War II history - the brutal Soviet deportations of 1.5 million Polish civilians to forced labor camps in Siberia shortly after the Soviets occupied eastern Poland at the beginning of the war. It explores the impacts of this shattering experience on a family from four points of view.

Magical worlds and incredible creatures fill the pages of this action-packed adventure in the Map to Everywhere series! Fearless adventurers Marrill and Fin have just barely stopped the Iron Tide and the evil wizard Serth from destroying the Pirate Stream. Now they're on a mission to find Fin's missing mother, but before they can blink, Fin's people have found him--and they're not as friendly as he'd hoped. In fact, they're after a powerful wish orb that could resurrect the debilitating Iron Tide and end the world as we know it. Without their captain Coll and wizard friend Ardent to guide them, are Marrill and Fin brave enough to take on the magic (and evil) of the Pirate Stream on their own? Find out in this exhilarating third book that raises the stakes to new heights!

The city states of the Lowlands have lived in peace for decades, bastions of civilization, prosperity and sophistication, protected by treaties, trade and a belief in the reasonable nature of their neighbors. But meanwhile, in far-off corners, the Wasp Empire has been devouring city after city with its highly trained armies, its machines, it killing Art . . . And now its hunger for conquest and war has become insatiable. Only the aging Stenwold Maker, spymaster, artificer and statesman, can see that the long days of peace are over. It falls upon his shoulders to open the eyes of his people, before a black-and-gold tide sweeps down over the Lowlands and burns away everything in its path. But first he must stop himself from becoming the Empire's latest victim.

Driven by the ghosts of the Darakyon, Achaeos has tracked the stolen Shadow Box to the marsh-town of Jerez, but he has only days before the magical box is lost to him forever. Meanwhile, the forces of the Empire are mustering over winter for their great offensive, gathering their soldiers and perfecting their new weapons. Stenwold and his followers have only a short time to gather what allies they can before the Wasp armies march again, conquering everything in their path. If they cannot throw back the Wasps this spring then the imperial black-and-gold flag will fly over every city in the Lowlands before the year's end. In Jerez begins a fierce struggle over the Shadow Box, as lake creatures, secret police and renegade magicians compete to take possession. If it falls into the hands of the Wasp Emperor, however, then no amount of fighting will suffice to save the world from his relentless ambition.

Moll Pecksniff and her friends are living as outlaws in a secret cave by the sea, desperate to stay hidden from the Shadowmasks. But further along the coast lies the Amulet of Truth, the only thing powerful enough to force the Shadowmasks back and contain their dark magic. So, together with Gryff, the wildcat that’s always by her side, and her best friends Alfie and Sid, Moll must sneak past smugglers, outwit mer creatures and crack secret codes to save the Old Magic. With more at stake than ever before and the dark magic rising fast, can Moll and her friends stop the Shadowmasks before it’s too late? Catapult into this page-turning adventure from the author of Sky Song, perfect for fans of J.K. Rowling, Michelle Harrison and Eva Ibbotson. 'Reminded me of the very best of the Harry Potter books' Piers Torday, author of The Last Wild 'A thrillingly wild adventure - bold, breathless and beautifully told' Jonathan Stroud, author of Lockwood & Co. 'No one does edge-of-seat action like Abi Elphinstone' Emma Carroll, author of Letters from the Lighthouse 'Abi Elphinstone’s books are full of adventure, wit, heart, and, above all, bravery’ Katherine Rundell, author of The Explorer ​ ‘Abi Elphinstone is proving to be a worthy successor to CS Lewis’ The Times 'A gifted storyteller... one of today's greatest children's authors' LoveReading Also by Abi Elphinstone: The Dreamsnatcher The Night Spinner Sky Song Winter Magic (anthology) Everdark (World Book Day) Rumblestar Jungledrop The Crackledawn Dragon Everdark

Important elements of games, movies, and other computer-generated content, shadows are crucial for enhancing realism and providing important visual cues. In recent years, there have been notable improvements in visual quality and speed, making high-quality realistic real-time shadows a reachable goal. Real-Time Shadows is a comprehensive guide to t

This book contains the proceedings of the lih Eurographics Workshop on Rendering, th which took place from the 25 to the 27th of June, 2001, in London, United Kingdom. Over the past 11 years, the workshop has become the premier forum dedicated to research in rendering. Much of the work in rendering now appearing in other conferences and journals builds on ideas originally presented at the workshop. This year we received a total of 74 submissions. Each paper was carefully reviewed by two of the 28 international programme committee members, as well as external reviewers, selected by the co-chairs from a pool of 125 individuals. In this review process, all submissions and reviews were handled electronically, with the exception of videos submitted with a few of the papers. The overall quality of the submissions was exceptionally high. Space and time constraints forced the committee to make some difficult decisions. In the end, 29 by papers were accepted, and they appear here. Almost all papers are accompanied color images, which appear at the end of the book. The papers treat the following varied topics: methods for local and global illumination, techniques for acquisition and modeling from images, image-based rendering, new image representations, hardware assisted methods, shadow algorithms, visibility, perception, texturing, and filtering. Each year, in addition to the reviewed contributions, the workshop includes invited presentations from internationally recognized experts.