Fantasy roleplayers often get deep into their games, but thirteen-year-old Keith Croft is about to take it to a new level. He’s been invisible for seven years, smart but not working hard, athletic enough, but too lazy to excel. His parents are sorta cool, but only two weeks into his eighth-grade year, his friends are all busy with sports or projects and can’t hang out. On the way home one day, he stops at a neighbor’s yard sale and discovers a book for Crypts & Creepers that the lonely old woman says belonged to her granddaughter who disappeared without a trace. Days after he convinces his friends to try this bizarre game that doesn’t require electronics, strange noises in his closet wake him. His increasing inability to focus on anything other than a girl who vanished before he was born―and his obsession with her NPC ranger―drives him to dig deeper into the past, searching for what really happened to her. By the time Keith realizes the Gamemaster’s Codex holds something darker than rules within its pages, the curse that claimed the soul of a girl in 1987 has its claws in his group as well. Keith vows his friends will escape―even if he can’t.

Winner of the 2014 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature A thousand years ago, the most perfect copy of the Hebrew Bible was written. It was kept safe through one upheaval after another in the Middle East, and by the 1940s it was housed in a dark grotto in Aleppo, Syria, and had become known around the world as the Aleppo Codex. Journalist Matti Friedman’s true-life detective story traces how this precious manuscript was smuggled from its hiding place in Syria into the newly founded state of Israel and how and why many of its most sacred and valuable pages went missing. It’s a tale that involves grizzled secret agents, pious clergymen, shrewd antiquities collectors, and highly placed national figures who, as it turns out, would do anything to get their hands on an ancient, decaying book. What it reveals are uncomfortable truths about greed, state cover-ups, and the fascinating role of historical treasures in creating a national identity.

In the wake of a twenty-year war, the people of Lucernia struggle to believe their former enemies aren’t demon-loving savages. However, that’s easy compared to the more alarming change: accepting their nation now has two queens. Many citizens in a land devoted to the God of Purity view the love between Kitlyn and Oona as unnatural, but the young women have earned guarded acceptance in the wake of their heroic deeds. Alas, unrest stirs in the shadows. Worse, Oona thinks the Talomir family line is cursed. All who have worn the crown before her have met with untimely deaths. Much work lies ahead for the new queens in helping the kingdom recover from a conflict older than its rulers. The people are restless and hurting, trust in the crown is tenuous, and the king of Evermoor demands reparations. That two women should love each other may be the last little piece to hurl the nation into rebellion. Mysterious forces attacking towns close to the border with Evermoor stoke tensions even further, threatening a relapse to war. Their crowns not even warm, Kitlyn and Oona set off to find the source of the raids and stabilize the nation… hoping to stay ahead of an ancient curse.

Nicholas Flamel appeared in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter—but did you know he really lived? And he might still be alive today! Discover the truth in Michael Scott’s New York Times bestselling series the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel with the first three books: The Alchemyst, The Magician, and The Sorceress. The truth: Nicholas Flamel was born in Paris on September 28, 1330. The legend: Nicholas Flamel discovered the secret of eternal life. The records show that he died in 1418. But his tomb is empty. Nicholas Flamel lives. But only because he has been making the elixir of life for centuries. The secret of eternal life is hidden within the book he protects—the Book of Abraham the Mage. It's the most powerful book that has ever existed. In the wrong hands, it will destroy the world. That's exactly what Dr. John Dee plans to do when he steals it. Humankind won't know what's happening until it's too late. And if the prophecy is right, Sophie and Josh Newman are the only ones with the power to save the world as we know it. Sometimes legends are true. And Sophie and Josh Newman are about to find themselves in the middle of the greatest legend of all time. “[A] A riveting fantasy…While there is plenty here to send readers rushing to their encyclopedias…those who read the book at face value will simply be caught up in the enthralling story. A fabulous read.”—SLJ, Starred Read the whole series! The Alchemyst The Magician The Sorceress The Necromancer The Warlock The Enchantress

The Cursed Carolers in Context explores the interplay between the forms and contexts in which the tale of the cursed carolers circulated and the meanings it had for medieval and early modern authors and audiences. The story of the cursed carolers has circulated in Europe since the eleventh century. In this story, a group of people in a village in Saxony skip Christmas mass to perform a circle dance in the cemetery, only to be cursed and forced to keep dancing for a whole year. By approaching the story in specific historical contexts, this book shows how the story of the cursed carolers became a space in which medieval readers, writers, and listeners could debate the meaning and significance of a surprising variety of questions, including ecclesiastical authority, gender roles, pastoral responsibility, and even the conduct of crusades. This consideration of the interplay between text and context sheds new light on how and why the story of the dancers achieved such popularity in the Middle Ages, and how its meanings developed and changed throughout the period. This book will appeal to scholars and students of medieval European history, literature, and dance, as well as those interested in cultural history.

Greetings from the dead,' declares Maxwell Broadbent in the videotape he left behind after his mysterious disappearance. A notorious treasure hunter and tomb robber, Broadbent accumulated over half a billion dollars' worth of priceless art, gems and artefacts before vanishing - along with his entire collection - from his mansion in New Mexico. As a final challenge to his three sons, Broadbent has buried himself and his treasure somewhere in the world, hidden away like an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. If the sons wish to claim their fabulous inheritance, they must find their father's carefully concealed tomb. The race is on, but among the treasures is an ancient Mayan codex that may hold a secret far more important than the wealth of riches around it, and the brothers aren't the only ones in pursuit.

Did you know that long before prophetic men living in the desert changed the course of history of our planet, a living prophetic tradition of women preached about a much older religion of a Goddess that is LIFE itself? Long before Jesus talked about love, Her priestesses did. Long before the Quran declared the Divine to be the Light of the heavens, Her priestesses did. Why should something that happened thousands of years ago matter to you today? It matters because the Goddess' prophetic tradition still lives! Just like debar Yahweh (the word of Yahweh) was heard 3000 years ago, abat Ishtar (the word of Ishtar) still cries for you to hear today. "O seeker, if you ask who is Ishtar, look at the stars, they will tell you My story. If you ask where is Ishtar, look deep within your eyes and you shall see Me. If your mind says I don't believe in Ishtar, dwell on the image of your beloved and you will remember Me. In the heart of every man and woman is a star. Seek it and you shall know Me. I am Ishtar and I love you." If you have read the Bible, the Quran, or the Bhagavad Gita, then you owe it to yourself to read the Codex of Love. It is a book that evokes happiness with every reading, whose words of love fall like gentle rain on parched earth. Read it out loud to yourself and be ready to be amazed by the profound sense of love that surrounds you. You will want to read it again and again because the simplicity of its prose hides intensely deep spiritual teachings. Discover what the Goddess' heavenly teachings have to say about: * Living the spirituality of love even if you have been hurt so many times. * Enjoying a more peaceful life in a world filled with war and news of terror. * Finding that true love you always wanted. * Keeping the fires of love, desire, and passion ablaze in your life. * Experiencing intense sacred sex that illuminates your soul. * Walking touched by the spirit of the Goddess every day of your life. Many books have been written on the Goddess, the old religion and neo paganism. Experts talk from an anthropological perspective and some give you basic rituals and hymns. The Codex of Love leaps out, unique in that it is the living words of the Goddess. For the faithful, it is indeed a joy ride of love that gladdens the heart and uplifts the spirit. For the skeptic, it is a pleasurable and tantalizing journey filled with spiritual nuggets of wisdom. No matter your affiliations, if love is your religion at all, you need to read this book.