Reproduction of the original: A Floral Fantasy in an Old English Garden by Walter Crane

Did the Florentine philosopher Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) influence the art of his time? This book starts with an exploration of Ficino’s views on the imagination and discusses whether, how and why these ideas may have been received in Italian Renaissance works of art.

In v.1-8 the final number consists of the Commencement annual.

In a nutshell, Christianity is one of the greatest if not the greatest hoax ever perpetuated on people in the history of the universe. It is practically all fantasy of one sort of another that millions of people believe in all over the world and have done so for many centuries since Christianity began. It all could have been made up out of whole cloth. The Old Testament cannot be taken at face value as the creation story was most likely borrowed from other sources and adapted to fit with the author’s purpose of explaining how the world began. The Exodus may be entirely fiction and most certainly did not happen the way it is described in the Bible. As far as the New Testament is concerned, it was written decades after the crucifixion of Jesus by people who were not eyewitnesses to the events they described. There may have been a prophet whose teachings drew many followers, but there was certainly no virgin birth, no miracles, and no resurrection. The purpose of all the apocalyptic writing and second coming of Christ may have been motivated by the oppression of the Roman Empire where the Jewish people felt powerless and needed to believe in something that would provide them with a feeling that in the final analysis justice would be done and they would get their revenge. Thus, Christianity needs to be exposed for the fraud that it is which is what this book attempts to do by looking at the history of Christianity, Biblical scholarship, and other aspects of Christianity along with its alternatives.

The Sky Book Three contains Amano's sketches and paintings for Final Fantasy VII (1997), VIII (1999), IX(2000) and X (2001), depicting characters such as Zidane Tribal, Garnet Til Alexandros XVII, Adelbert Steiner, Vivi Orunitia, Amarant Coral, Queen Brahne and many others. Bonuses include a series of silkscreen images done for Final Fantasy VIII, unreleased pen-and-ink sketches of the Gunblade and designs for the gemlike logo of Final Fantasy IX. Book Three completes The Sky series at a special low price!

Strahan's fifth anthology contains 29 wide-ranging tales. Neil Gaiman's "The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains" is a deceptively simple folktale-styled story of the price one may pay for gold. "The Sultan of the Clouds" by Geoffrey Landis untangles a complex knot of childish power. Sarah Rees Brennan's "The Spy Who Never Grew Up" gives a beloved childhood icon a sinister update; Diana Peterfreund's "The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn" turns unicorn lore on its head; and Rachel Swirsky's "The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen's Window" puts a fantasy spin on the temporal culture shock of immortality. This year the fantasy tales outdo the SF in depth of storytelling and characterization, though all the inclusions are strong, with few ideas left by the wayside.