"Oh devs who art in the issue queue. Hallowed be thy code. Thy commits merge without conflict. Thy will be done in production as it is on local. I'm sure you guys are busy and all, but I can't log out." As a programmer, Ike knows all about Virtual Dive Experiences (VDX), but when he suddenly wakes up in a virtual game he's never heard of, he's too busy struggling to survive to worry about how he got there. Luckily, he's got a trick up his sleeve: The ability to program custom enchantments for his gear. He'll need that and more to figure out what's going on, since there's no tutorial and True Calling plays by its own rules: Your class and race are chosen for you, the NPCs are indistinguishable from the players, every quest is unique, and the GMs keep leaving Ike's prayers unanswered.

In Enchantment, Orson Scott Card works his magic as never before, transforming the timeless story of Sleeping Beauty into an original fantasy brimming with romance and adventure. The moment Ivan stumbled upon a clearing in the dense Carpathian forest, his life was forever changed. Atop a pedestal encircled by fallen leaves, the beautiful princess Katerina lay still as death. But beneath the foliage a malevolent presence stirred and sent the ten-year-old Ivan scrambling for the safety of Cousin Marek's farm. Now, years later, Ivan is an American graduate student, engaged to be married. Yet he cannot forget that long-ago day in the forest—or convince himself it was merely a frightened boy’s fantasy. Compelled to return to his native land, Ivan finds the clearing just as he left it. This time he does not run. This time he awakens the beauty with a kiss . . . and steps into a world that vanished a thousand years ago. A rich tapestry of clashing worlds and cultures, Enchantment is a powerfully original novel of a love and destiny that transcend centuries . . . and the dark force that stalks them across the ages.

Marriage on trial! From playboy lover... When gorgeous millionaire Raoul de Chevnair chose Leigh as his bride, it seemed he'd left his flirtatious bachelor days behind for good. But had he? Their marriage had scarcely begun before his playboy habits returned and Leigh found him in the arms of another woman... . ... to faithful husband?

A book of natural wonders, practical guidance and life-changing empowerment, by the author of the word-of-mouth bestseller If Women Rose Rooted. 'To live an enchanted life is to pick up the pieces of our bruised and battered psyches, and to offer them the nourishment they long for. It is to be challenged, to be awakened, to be gripped and shaken to the core by the extraordinary which lies at the heart of the ordinary. Above all, to live an enchanted life is to fall in love with the world all over again.' The enchanted life has nothing to do with escapism or magical thinking: it is founded on a vivid sense of belonging to a rich and many-layered world. It is creative, intuitive, imaginative. It thrives on work that has heart and meaning. It loves wild things, but returns to an enchanted home and garden. It respects the instinctive knowledge, ethical living and playfulness, and relishes story and art. Taking the inspiration and wisdom that can be derived from myth, fairy tales and folk culture, this book offers a set of practical and grounded tools for reclaiming enchantment in our lives, giving us a greater sense of meaning and of belonging to the world.

This volume presents over 200 selected original artworks from the collection of Betsy Beinecke Shirley, one of the great collectors of American children's literature. Shirley gathered an authoritative collection of books, original illustrations, manuscripts, as well as drawings and paintings from such children's classics as ''Treasure Island'' and ''Eloise.'' The artwork in Shirley's collection guides the reader on a tour through the stages of childhood reading, this volume begins with ABC's and nursery books. It continues through adventure stories, magazines, and more, then concludes with a miscellany section of odds and ends. The images demonstrate how children's books evolved, from the nation's first days of independence to modern times. Artists whose works are represented include many of the favorites, among them Ludwig Bemelmans, Maurice Sendak, A.B. Frost, Wanda Gag, Peter Newell, N.C. Wyeth, Tony Sarg, Robert Lawson, and Johnny Gruelle.

Winner of the National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award "A charming book about enchantment, a profound book about fairy tales."—John Updike, The New York Times Book Review Bruno Bettelheim was one of the great child psychologists of the twentieth century and perhaps none of his books has been more influential than this revelatory study of fairy tales and their universal importance in understanding childhood development. Analyzing a wide range of traditional stories, from the tales of Sindbad to “The Three Little Pigs,” “Hansel and Gretel,” and “The Sleeping Beauty,” Bettelheim shows how the fantastical, sometimes cruel, but always deeply significant narrative strands of the classic fairy tales can aid in our greatest human task, that of finding meaning for one’s life.

A practical-minded scientist is forced to rethink his facts when confronted with the unpredictable love of a genie. Reissue.