The epic, magical saga of royalty, romance, and violence continues. A princess. A soldier. A servant. A demon hunter. A thief. When we last saw them, this unlikely group was heading into the Northern Territory of the kingdom of Pitoria, on the run from the sadistic and power-hungry King Aloysius of Brigant. The Smoke Thieves have discovered that demon smoke is not only an illegal drug used for pleasure, but in fact, when taken by children, demon smoke briefly gives its users super-human strength. Aloysius' plan is simple and brutal: kill the demons for their smoke, and use that smoke to build an unstoppable army of children to take over Pitoria, Calidor, and then the rest of the world. The Smoke Thieves are the only ones who understand this plan--but can they stop it? Catherine, Aloysius' daughter, is seen as a traitor from all sides; Tash is heartbroken after the loss of her one friend and sees nothing left for her in the human world; Edyon is wanted for murder; March is carrying the secret of his betrayal of his new love; Ambrose is out for revenge--and all the while, the demons have plans of their own...

The first book in the New York Times bestselling epic fantasy trilogy by award-winning author Laini Taylor Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low. And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war. Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out. When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

The sex-abuse scandal, which has erupted anew in 2018, poses the greatest challenge that the Catholic Church has faced since the Reformation. In The Smoke of Satan, veteran Catholic journalist Philip Lawler explains why the crisis is even more severe than when it first commanded headlines in 2002, and how the failure of Church leaders goes all the way to the Vatican. In this unflinching look at the crisis threatening the Church and her members, Lawler: Shows how the sex-abuse scandal is not a question of pedophilia, but of homosexual activity within the clergy. Explains how Catholic bishops have developed a habit of covering up serious problems, to avoid the serious divisions that have developed within the faith since Vatican II. Demonstrates a catastrophic rupture in Church unity, causing a breakdown in morale and discipline among priests, bishops, and laity, paving the way for the current crisis. Reveals the growth of a faction within the Vatican that is ready to make peace with secularism. Details the charges in the explosive "Vigano testimony,"-- and the efforts by Vatican officials including Pope Francis himself to ward off a thorough investigation. Concludes with a program for reform, led by faithful lay Catholics, demanding a new policy of candor and a forthright proclamation of Church teaching. This crisis, brought about by the failures of corrupt and cowardly bishops and clerics, has been allowed to fester long enough. It is well past time for serious action to be taken at every level before more lives are ruined, more souls are lost, and more fractures divide the Church. In these pages, Lawler details the problems besetting the Church...and lays out a clear plan to overcome them in order that the Church and Her members may once again thrive and bring souls to Christ.

There were always two options: the closet or under the bed. In the 1960s, young Jenkins and his sister, Jill are trying to grow up in a dusty, hardscrabble area a few miles out from a one-stoplight town in the American southwest. It's a long bus ride through farmland to school where both children put on brave faces to cover up for the nights they suffer at the hands of their violent, alcoholic father, to whom they refer as the Devil. In his drunken rampages, he regularly beats Jenkins, Jill, and their mother, smashes up the shabby dwelling that serves as their home, and then retreats to his bedroom, his chamber of horrors. As they grow into adolescence, Jill copes by focusing on doing well in school so that she can get out as soon as she can, as Jenkins is sucked into a life of truancy and increasing violence. While contemplating eventual revenge on his father, Jenkins must decide how to handle people and situations whose evil and cruelty will test ordinary readers’ imaginations. The realities of the lives of Jenkins and Jill are not unfamiliar to author Justin Jones, who has firsthand experience in the juvenile and adult justice systems. The Devil’s Smokehouse is an unvarnished story of the ravages of rural poverty and an unsparing look at one boy managing to triumph against crushing odds. “A work of fiction inspired by the author's childhood, The Devil's Smokehouse is the inspiring, painful, exhilarating, disturbing, and at times hilarious journey of a child survivor. One who must cross a line in order to keep surviving. Jones weaves plot twists that are fantastical but believable, as only a survivor could.” —Fury Young, founder of Die Jim Crow Records "It’s a struggle to survive childhood, and that’s the conundrum faced by Jenkins, the narrator of Justin Jones’s coming-of-age mystery novel, The Devil’s Smokehouse. Jenkins underrates the prevalence of evil in his hometown, an impoverished rural community in the middle of the country. Everyone knows everyone in this hamlet where even the local pervert’s identity is an open secret. As he matures, Jenkins uncovers more dark secrets, learning that the twisting threads of big-city drug culture have a stranglehold on some local powerbrokers. Even his own road to nowhere takes an unexpected turn. The Devil’s Smokehouse is a page-turner that is hard to put down." —Sue Hinton, retired English professor, Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC) "Justin Jones captures the raw essence of humanity in all its beauty and grit. Characters leap from the page with intensity, as they grapple with love, violence, loss, and redemption. Instantly compelling, Jones’s writing is full of wisdom and depth as it goes to people's darkest struggles, and also their most glorious moments of triumph." —Royal Young, author of Fame Shark

Unforgiveable betrayals, devious motives, and forbidden love collide in the first installment of internationally bestselling author Sally Green's epic new fantasy series, perfect for Game of Thrones fans. In a land tinged with magic and a bustling trade in an illicit supernatural substance, destiny will intertwine the fates of five players: A visionary princess determined to forge her own path. An idealistic solider whose heart is at odds with his duty. A streetwise hunter tracking the most dangerous prey. A charming thief with a powerful hidden identity. A loyal servant on a quest to avenge his kingdom. Their lives intersect with a stolen bottle of demon smoke. As war approaches, they must navigate a tangled web of political intrigue, shifting alliances, and forbidden love in order to uncover the dangerous truth about the strangely powerful smoke that interwines their fates.

In some parts of the world it seems the Seventh-day Adventist Church is in danger of settling down into a social club. That is, unless it remembers its mission.With growing secularization, disorientation, and institutionalism, how can the church maintain its identity? How is the church to function considering it was founded on the belief that time is short-yet time keeps going on?Not just for church administrators and academics-this is a call to duty to all church members, a call to become a church alive with passion and purpose. Let these pages reinvigorate you with fresh thoughts about the Adventist mission and how to accomplish it. Because the world doesn't need another social club. It needs to hear God's message.

Taking as his point of departure Pope Paul VI's observation that seven years following the close of the Second Vatican Council conditions in the Church were such that it was as if "the Smoke of Satan has entered the Temple of God," the author recounts how it was that the misimplementation of the council's documents resulted in the emergence of what Henri De Lubac termed "a different Church from that of Jesus Christ," all under the guide of updating (aggiornamento) and renewal. Pope Paul was of the mind that by 1972 the greatest need in the Church was to be defended against the adversary power of darkness, the Devil. For the Pope the unmistakable signs of the Evil One's penetration of the Church were a vast undermining of Catholic moral teaching (particularly sexual morality), the ideological seduction of fashionable theological errors (particularly neomodernism) which spawned doctrinal uncertainty, a radical denial of God, and the watering down of and even rejection of the spirit of the Gospel. Timothy Wallace hold an M.A. in History and currently serves as chair of the Social Studies Department at a suburban Catholic High School in the Archdiocese of Detroit, where he has taught American history and government since 1980. He is also a certified catechist in the Archdiocese, and has taught high school religion in 3 area high schools from 1978-2000. Wallace has participated in numerous St. John Bosco Catechetical Institute and Defending the Faith Conferences at Franciscan University. He has also been the recipient of the University of Detroit Mercy Outstanding High School Teacher Award (1998), and the University of Chicago Outstanding High School Teacher Award (2000), and for scholarship in the field of history is a member of Phi Alpha Theta's National History Honor Society.