She sang a vow to learn to heal, but the person she needed to save was herself. Nils is a healer’s apprentice faced with a difficult choice. Only men are allowed to be healers. But if Nils denies her heart and chooses that path, neither a healer’s status nor the balm of study will make up for losing a chance at marriage with the person she loves. Instead, concealing her true self from everyone she knows, Nils risks an dangerous journey to the distant city, desperate to find a balance between life’s passion and heart’s life. But always, the question remains—can a healer’s songs truly work for a woman? And should Nils’s deception be discovered, she will be songbroken: shunned by her family, dismissed by her master, and denied any contract, vow, or relationship.

‘LIFE SONGS’ speaks of various aspects of the diverse aspects and exposure to life. It sings its own tune of faith, the environment, loss, humanity and love. There are authentic original hand selected photos. Each photo or image conveys a story as powerful and as passionate as the poems. The photos especially have their own narrative, or they are intended for tranquility amidst the turbulent thoughts, or to provoke and awaken the conscience of the soul to respond to life. The language is from the gut of the soul not just of the authors life experiences. It highlights specific spontaneous expression and distinguishes the arrow of language from the bow of the specific poem in the book. The unique quality of each poem is in the exquisite nature of poems that were composed intuitively on deciphering and describing life issues through the authors perspective or that of persons. It is driven by unnoticed social events that are witnessed in everyday life of the most ordinary of folks. Nothing is held back. What one sees is what one gets. Sometimes one has to take of his own attire and wear another’s to understand life’s messages.

I wrote this book about the different experiences of my life; the good times, and the not so good times. This book is dedicated to my brother Joseph Rotundo, 03/07/1954- 05/08/1988. Rest in peace big brother!

Most of the 170 species of grasshoppers and crickets included in this book can be identified instantly by their songs – and often more reliably than from their appearance. Orthopterans have recently become important subjects in evolutionary biological studies and are also increasingly used in the field of conservation as indicators of undisturbed habitat. The book comprises the following chapters: Introduction; Acoustic Methods; Sound Production and Reception of European Orthoptera; The Nature and Function of the Songs; The Value of the Songs in Taxonomy and Identification; Key to the singing Orthoptera of Western Europe, based primarily on their Songs; and other Animal Sounds that could be confused with Orthoptera Songs – illustrated with over 1600 oscillograms; three Appendixes (Check-list of the species included; Summary of Nomenclatural Changes; Data for the Song Recordings); Glossary; References; Index to Vernacular Names; and General Index.

The Magicians songs and theme song Lyrics by Rachel Lawson