Powers are determined by geographic birth locations, and only the rich and powerful are permitted access to prized sites. SC is the first person born in space. The punishment for unauthorized births is death. Out of fear, SC keeps his strange abilities as his darkest secret. He pretends to be nothing more than a mere Regular while his peers develop unique powers, varying from controlling lightning to producing diamond hard skin. But when his mother is kidnapped by an unknown organization, SC has no choice but to act. SC ventures into a school of talented students to learn to fight, where he must learn to master his powers without revealing their true nature. But soon he realizes that the school is more than it appears and that it may hold the secret to his missing mother. To rescue her, he will have to reveal powers never before seen in all of history. Written by award winning author Leonard Petracci, a master of tension and suspense.

Delve into ancient cultures and rituals to see how "places of power" -- standing stones, earth lights, monuments, holy hills and mountains -- became associated with healing, visions, omens of natural disaster, altered states of consciousness, and as doorways to other worlds. Find out what role such phenomena as background radioactivity and natural magnetism play in explaining the magic assigned to various locations, and discover the many mysteries that still remain to be solved. An extraordinary study, based on years of research.

An exploration of the traditional rites of auspicious building and crafting • Explains the ceremonial beginnings and Hermetic principles in the laying out of foundations not only for sacred buildings like temples but also for homes and barns • Examines the principles and ceremonies of electional astrology and details how to compute natural time, as opposed to clock time • Shares examples from ancient Egypt, Iran, India, and Europe that range from the Stone Age to the Renaissance and include secret societies When we make things--whether a building, a sacred space, or a magical object--there is a precise moment when the artifact comes into being as a separate entity. That moment in time possesses its own unique quality, and because of this, there is a right time to do something and a wrong time. And, as Nigel Pennick reveals, we have the power to select favorable moments for our creations, just as our ancestors did. Illustrating ancient principles of divination, chronomancy, and electional astrology, Pennick examines all the factors behind the ancestral art of geomancy: the auspicious creation and alignment of sacred buildings as places of power. Sharing examples from ancient Egypt, Iran, India, and Europe that range from the Stone Age to the modern day, including secret societies like the Rosicrucians and the Freemasons, he explains how many cities were constructed on specially selected sites and founded ritually at precise, predetermined moments. Looking at the traditional rites of creating places of power, Pennick explains the ceremonial beginnings and Hermetic principles in the laying out of foundations as well as the use of sacrifice in the building of many notable structures. Examining the role of sacred geometry in geomancy, Pennick explains the Hermetic meaning assigned to each direction in traditional European cultures as well as the principles of natural measures and the science of understanding lucky and unlucky days. Revealing how geomantic principles are rooted in the structure of the world and the cosmic patterns of space and time, the author shows how they transcend the ages and are just as meaningful today as they were to our ancestors.

... "Twenty years of photographs by photographer and anthropologist Martin Gray. Accompanying each photograph is commentary that takes us into the history, mythology and spiritual magnetism of the particular place ..."--Jacket.

Second book in the Star Child: Places of Power series.The raids happen at night. Searches by the police are regular, tearing homes apart down to the nails, the officer's intentions a mystery. This time, it's not SC they are trying to find, but someone else entirely. Nothing will stop them, even if it means traveling halfway across the globe to chase a centuries old myth of a rare power.Join SC and his friends as they discover the police's intentions and attempt to thwart their plans. But with a new villain in town, and Darian missing, can they be successful? Should they fail, the enemy will become more powerful than they can imagine. And if they succeed, they'll unearth secrets best left hidden by time.

"An unequivocally excellent work of scholarship that makes significant theoretical and empirical contributions to the understanding of 'globalization' and the working of contemporary neo-liberal capitalism. Hart is especially innovative in placing the study of Taiwanese industrialists in South Africa in relation to both the agrarian history of Taiwan and China, and the way that Taiwanese overseas firms have operated in places other than South Africa. It is a very rare combination of talents and knowledge that makes such a study possible."--James Ferguson, author of Expectations of Modernity

New powers. New villains. New secrets.After SC and his team returns from the Amazon, Specials start going missing in high numbers. Not just any Specials, but those who can control others with their voices like Siri from the academy. He and the team investigate, bringing them to an adventure in a new country, and discovering a disturbing layer to the villains. Only they can fight to stop a chain reaction that they began with the rebellion at the rehabilitation facility which now threatens the world.