Jack the B.

A middle-aged wedding planner. An ancient enemy. And a whole lot of plants. I never intended to kill. That’s the thing about a midlife crisis—intention matters. To be clear, I was a well-known murderer of houseplants from the start. As a boutique wedding planner with a black thumb, I’ll get you that fabulous dress–just don’t ask me to pick out the bouquets. But when the bottom fell out of that life—losing my job, my apartment, and my only son to grad school all in the same week—my world came crashing down. Then a letter from a family lawyer changed everything. I packed up decades worth of memories and headed for Whiskey Row. But instead of my dream boutique, I walked into a nightmare. As I attempt to tame the veritable jungle and evade enemies unseen for millenia, I’ve learned that midlife brings some unexpected magic. Yet nothing could prepare me for witches, shifters, and fae in my shop at all hours–and those are just the customers. If you love character-driven adventure, houseplants, and a little spice with your urban fantasy, this page-turner is for you. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and then you’ll head out to buy your own Monstera deliciosa. A Circle of Stars, the first book in the Four Crowns series is a grownup romp that celebrates friendship and snark with a hint of slow-burn romance as the heroine shows that midlife is a starting point, never the end. Perfect for fans of K.F. Breene, Travis Baldree, and Delemhach.

The Stars Down to Earth shows us a stunningly prescient Adorno. Haunted by the ugly side of American culture industries he used the different angles provided by each of these three essays to showcase the dangers inherent in modern obsessions with consumption. He engages with some of his most enduring themes in this seminal collection, focusing on the irrational in mass culture - from astrology to new age cults, from anti-semitism to the power of neo-fascist propaganda. He points out that the modern state and market forces serve the interest of capital in its basic form. Stephan Crook's introduction grounds Adorno's arguments firmly in the present where extreme religious and political organizations are commonplace - so commonplace in fact that often we deem them unworthy of our attention. Half a century ago Theodore Adorno not only recognised the dangers, but proclaimed them loudly. We did not listen then. Maybe it is not too late to listen now.

Sometimes you have to leave home to find it... All Casper Bell has ever wanted is to belong. But now, abandoned by his friends and family after being outed, he has nothing left to lose when the people of Novilem abduct him. Except Earth. Teleported to a world where stars grant humans magic, Casper discovers he has the rare ability to draw power from all twelve astrological signs - a gift that makes him a political pawn for the Estellar Council. But Novilem's inhabitants seem as hard and cold as the stone their city is carved from, and Casper's new role leaves him more isolated than ever. Until he meets the grandson of the council's most powerful woman. Helix is kind, playful, and heartbreakingly handsome, yet it's how Helix makes him feel that gives Casper hope. As rebellion brinks in the city, even the Council starts to fracture, reaching for extreme measures that could cost Casper not only his newfound abilities, but the first place he has ever wanted to call home. Together with Helix, he must uncover the secrets of his full potential - because the survival of Novilem hinges on Casper's powers, whether he's using them or not. Set inside a hidden lunar city, where astrology is magic and your birth sign defines your social status, A Circle of Stars is a queer young adult fantasy filled with political intrigue and romance.

All communities are teeming with energy, spirit, and knowledge, and Spiral to the Stars taps into and activates this dynamism to discuss Indigenous community planning from a Mvskoke perspective. This book poses questions about what community is, how to reclaim community, and how to embark on the process of envisioning what and where the community can be. Geographer Laura Harjo demonstrates that Mvskoke communities have what they need to dream, imagine, speculate, and activate the wishes of ancestors, contemporary kin, and future relatives—all in a present temporality—which is Indigenous futurity. Organized around four methodologies—radical sovereignty, community knowledge, collective power, and emergence geographies—Spiral to the Stars provides a path that departs from traditional community-making strategies, which are often extensions of the settler state. Readers are provided a set of methodologies to build genuine community relationships, knowledge, power, and spaces for themselves. Communities don’t have to wait on experts because this book helps them activate their own possibilities and expertise. A detailed final chapter provides participatory tools that can be used in workshop settings or one on one. This book offers a critical and concrete map for community making that leverages Indigenous way-finding tools. Mvskoke narratives thread throughout the text, vividly demonstrating that theories come from lived and felt experiences. This is a must-have book for community organizers, radical pedagogists, and anyone wishing to empower and advocate for their community.

Four young misfits find themselves living in a strictly disciplined temple community where they become friends while also learning to do crafts and to use their powers, especially magic