A massive volume of lyrics, poems, and various writings by the best-selling author of the Pleides Series and the Moonweaver books. Also is included a large writing workbook for the aspiring writer. A good companion to the Book of Clouds and the Divine Plan.

Cultivating the Muse looks beyond the secure and benign images traditionally associated with inspiration in classical literature and scholarship. In contrast to the shapeless collectivity of the Muses in ancient accounts, this collection aspires to redeem their shape in other more vitalforms, closer or more distant incarnations of the ever-elusive maiden. Protagonists -- or victims -- in a complex game of cultural exploration, the alternative Muses and muse-like figures of this book are manipulated, abused, or effaced, but at the same time they also advocate or resist their fatesand explore their own powers of persuasion. Inspiration is here not so much explored in its traditional cultic dimensions, but rather invoked for its capacity to trigger fervent debates about power, desire, knowledge, identity, and gender in the societies of ancient Greece and Rome.

Renee Chambers is a burgeoning germaphobe in search of a new job—something less stressful than her last job, teaching high school students. When her supposedly psychic best friend, Ellen, points her toward an odd little bookstore and a strange, otherworldly woman, Adrianne, Renee is thrown for a loop. One awkward interview and an even stranger psychic encounter later, Renee gets the job. Then Ellen’s psychic dabbling has unintended consequences when Renee meets a pushy new friend, Katherine, a jealous ghost who's convinced they are soul mates. A casino trip, a drunken drag show, an old beater of a car, and a pair of dinosaur panties push Renee to the edge, but the real kicker is when Katherine starts getting more insistent and borrowing bodies. All Renee wants is a peaceful, fledgling hermit existence, but that’s unlikely unless she can figure out her true connection to Katherine, Ellen, and Adrianne. To discover the truth, she must come to terms with her past and learn how to embrace the future.

Perhaps Danielle's first clue should have been-Hillary's muse is male. He brings with him restless spirits and murders to solve-if Danielle dares. She has already been warned to stay away.