As a young boy, Gabriel Martinez had his family-his entire life ripped away from him. Revenge and indignation become his means of survival. Several years later, a series of events lead him to his new family, The Kings of Retribution MC, where he meets Alba Jameson. Heartbreak being the final push, Alba chooses the life her sister worked so hard to give her by going off to college. While trying to bury her feelings for Gabriel, she finds herself faced with the unexpected. Finding strength and courage she starts to pave her own path in life until a faceless threat sends her home.

In the land of darkness lives a shaggy but lovable creature. He is pining away because he has lost his home and has lived in the dark ever since. One day, the shaggy creature is overcome with curiosity and ventures out to the edge of the darkness. There, bathed in sunlight and bright colors, lives a very different and gentle creature. The two inhabitants of these different world become friends, and with his new friend, the shaggy creature overcomes his loss and finds his way back to the world of color. A quietly poetic story, told by Kerstin Hau, which gives hope and courage in difficult times. With contrasting imagery by Julie Völk, this book shows that life can be light, colorful, black, grey, and everything in between.

A stunning masterclass on the creative process, the craft of writing, and the art of finding inspiration from Stephen King, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amy Tan, Khaled Hosseini, Roxane Gay, Neil Gaiman, and more of the most acclaimed writers at work today "For artists in need of a creative fix, Light the Dark is as good as a visit from the divine muse." -Bookpage What inspires you? That's the simple, but profound question posed to forty-six renowned authors in LIGHT THE DARK. Each writer begins with a favorite passage from a novel, a song, a poem—something that gets them started and keeps them going with the creative work they love. From there, incredible lessons and stories of life-changing encounters with art emerge, like how sneaking books into his job as a night security guard helped Khaled Hosseini learn that nothing he creates will ever be truly finished. Or how a college reading assignment taught Junot Díaz that great art can be a healing conversation, and an unexpected poet led Elizabeth Gilbert to embrace an unyielding optimism, even in the face of darkness. LIGHT THE DARK collects the best of The Atlantic's much-acclaimed "By Heart" series edited by Joe Fassler and adds brand new pieces, each one paired with a striking illustration. Here is a guide to creative living and writing in the vein of Daily Rituals, Bird by Bird, Draft No. 4, and Big Magic for anyone who wants to learn how great writers find inspiration—and to find some of your own. CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS: Elizabeth Gilbert, Junot Díaz, Marilynne Robinson, Jonathan Lethem, Michael Chabon, Aimee Bender, Mary Gaitskill, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Roxane Gay, Angela Flournoy, Jonathan Franzen, Yiyun Li, Leslie Jamison, Claire Messud, Edwidge Danticat, David Mitchell, Khaled Hosseini, Ayana Mathis, Kathryn Harrison, Azar Nafisi, Hanya Yanagihara, Jane Smiley, Nell Zink, Emma Donoghue, Jeff Tweedy, Eileen Myles, Maggie Shipstead, Sherman Alexie, Andre Dubus III, Billy Collins, Lev Grossman, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Charles Simic, Jim Shepard, T.C. Boyle, Tom Perrotta, Viet Thanh Nguyen, William Gibson, Mark Haddon, Ethan Canin, Jesse Ball, Jim Crace, and Walter Mosley. "As [these authors] reveal what inspires them, they, in turn, inspire the reader, all while celebrating the beauty and purpose of art." -Booklist

The breathtaking follow-up novel to the award-winning Half World The recently reunited realms of the Flesh, Half World and the Spirit are again at risk—something has been left undone. Gee, adopted as an infant, has been kept ignorant of his troubled past. Now at sixteen, he is a loner both despised and feared by his classmates. dark feelings, unbidden, slowly grow inside him. Even as he struggles to control them, his past catches up with him and compels him to journey to Half World. Abandoning his adoptive grandmother and the place he has called home, Gee must face what he used to be in order to determine his fate and the fate of the Three Realms. Aided by a surly cat and a troubled newfound friend, Gee must fight the monstrous and the horrific in Half World. Most difficult of all, he must overcome his own propensity for evil. The nightmarish adventure picks up sixteen years after Melanie’s return in Half World (2009, Puffin). With a new dark hero whose unlikely companions are a heartless cat and a self-destructive Neo Goth girl, Darkest Light is a compelling journey through despair in a desperate search for redemption.

A troubled teen, living in Paris, is torn between two boys, one of whom encourages her to embrace life, while the other—dark, dangerous, and attractive—urges her to embrace her fatal flaws.

Just when you thought you knew what was going on in your community, here comes a story that just may shatter the security of your American Dream. This is a story about abuse, survival, false religion and dubious court systems in a state that may be advanced on some levels, but sometimes proves to be a miserable failure in terms of equity and fairness and conventional thinking. – Tim King, Editor/Salem-News.com, War Correspondent, Author, “BETRAYAL: Toxic Exposure of U.S. Marines, Murder and Cover-Up” BONSHEÁ pierces through the darkness that hides the legal system’s routine abuse of mothers and children. It is a work of immense courage, a true tale of heartbreak and salvation. Not a single particle of the wisdom Coral shares misses the mark. - Maureen T. Hannah, Ph.D., Chair, Battered Mother’s Custody Conference, Albany, New York BONSHEÁ illustrates the degree to which the legal system can also be used as a vehicle to further perpetuate abuse even after the victim has chosen to take a stand against the abuse. – John Haroldson, District Attorney, Benton County District Attorney’s Office, Corvallis, Oregon Coral Theill’s BONSHEÁ is intense in its effort to “open the doors” behind which many domestic violence perpetrators have stood for so long in the name of “privacy.” At every level, family and friends, key people in her community, the health care system, the legal and judicial system, and the culture which socializes us all, she met with adversity and re-victimization. In the telling of her recovery, which is truly remarkable given her circumstances, the reader gets a vivid sense of the indominability of her spirit and light. I recommend this book for health care providers, those in the criminal justice system, and volunteers or helpers of any kind to get insights and clarity about the complex dynamics of domestic violence and its toxic effects to individuals and society---and what needs to be done to eradicate this pandemic problem.” – Barbara A. May, PhD, RN, Professor Emerita of Nursing, Linfield College, Portland, Oregon

What will become of us in these trying times? How will we pass the time that we have on earth? In gorgeously rendered graphic form, Light in Dark Times invites readers to consider these questions by exploring the political catastrophes and moral disasters of the past and present, revealing issues that beg to be studied, understood, confronted, and resisted. A profound work of anthropology and art, this book is for anyone yearning to understand the darkness and hoping to hold onto the light. It is a powerful story of encounters with writers, philosophers, activists, and anthropologists whose words are as meaningful today as they were during the times in which they were written. This book is at once a lament over the darkness of our times, an affirmation of the value of knowledge and introspection, and a consideration of truth, lies, and the dangers of the trivial. In a time when many of us struggle with the feeling that we cannot do enough to change the course of the future, this book is a call to action, asking us to envision and create an alternative world from the one in which we now live. Light in Dark Times is beautiful to look at and to hold – an exquisite work of art that is lively, informative, enlightening, deeply moving, and inspiring.