"September 11th called this book into being.... Never before in our nation's history, not even after Pearl Harbor, has it been so clear that the voices, nature and activity of healing, peacemaking, and Council need to be called forth."Deena Metzger takes us on a journey from North America to Africa, from the stories of her life to the myths of Spirit. Travelling the Ghost River connects the world of humans to the world of souls, spirits and our ancestors. At the exact moment the World Trade Center towers were hit, Deena and others were at an ancient, sacred site in Masvingo, Africa being initiated as healers. Two stories intersected in that moment, one headed toward destruction, the other toward healing. At the intersection of these two worlds, Deena asks the question: how do we create a story with a real future in which all beings are sustained? Deena brings her knowledge and experience of healing body and soul to the issues of healing community, both locally and globally. Following the threads of September 11th, she shows us how we can understand the larger story, and awaken to ourselves. This awakening and alleviation of suffering comes through the context of kinship, of community, of Story. Story is not of our own making; it is a gift from Spirit. Deena examines the very underpinnings of Western thought, healing, and religious practices the stories that have mapped our lives and shows us how the web of interconnection contains, with the joint perspectives of indigenous mind and contemporary vision, the possibility of healing.

A powerful, raw and eloquent memoir about the abuse former First Nations chief Edmund Metatawabin endured in residential school in the 1960s, the resulting trauma, and the spirit he rediscovered within himself and his community through traditional spirituality and knowledge. After being separated from his family at age 7, Metatawabin was assigned a number and stripped of his Indigenous identity. At his residential school--one of the worst in Canada--he was physically and emotionally abused, and was sexually abused by one of the staff. Leaving high school, he turned to alcohol to forget the trauma. He later left behind his wife and family, and fled to Edmonton, where he joined a First Nations support group that helped him come to terms with his addiction and face his PTSD. By listening to elders' wisdom, he learned how to live an authentic First Nations life within a modern context, thereby restoring what had been taken from him years earlier. Metatawabin has worked tirelessly to bring traditional knowledge to the next generation of Indigenous youth and leaders, as a counsellor at the University of Alberta, Chief in his Fort Albany community, and today as a youth worker, First Nations spiritual leader and activist. His work championing Indigenous knowledge, sovereignty and rights spans several decades and has won him awards and national recognition. His story gives a personal face to the problems that beset First Nations communities and fresh solutions, and untangles the complex dynamics that sparked the Idle No More movement. Haunting and brave, Up Ghost River is a necessary step toward our collective healing.

Everything dies in the desert. Some places have a history so dark it stains the soil. Orphan Rock is one of them. For years, the Northamm family has served the Crooked Woman. Bound by sinister magic, they commit unspeakable acts to save themselves and the ones they love from something wicked that's stirring beneath the dirt. Harpies in the hills. Demons in the dark. Lonely girls who command giant earthworms that tunnel between worlds?Anything goes in this twisted tale of monsters, mayhem, and revenge.A contemporary dark fantasy with elements of horror, Chad Ryan's Ghost River is a gritty and desolate journey into the peaks and gulches of the human spirit.

The highly anticipated new novel from the Miles Franklin-shortlisted author of Blood ‘You find yourself down at the bottom of the river, for some it's time to give into her. But other times, young fellas like you two, you got to fight your way back. Show the river you got courage and is ready to live.' The river is a place of history and secrets. For Ren and Sonny, two unlikely friends, it's a place of freedom and adventure. For a group of storytelling vagrants, it's a refuge. And for the isolated daughter of a cult reverend, it's an escape. Each time they visit, another secret slips into its ancient waters. But change and trouble are coming – to the river and to the lives of those who love it. Who will have the courage to fight and survive and what will be the cost?

Some places have a history so dark it stains the soil. Orphan Rock is one of them. For years, the Northamm family has served the Crooked Woman. Bound by sinister magic, they commit unspeakable acts to save themselves and the ones they love from something wicked that’s stirring beneath the dirt. Harpies in the hills. Demons in the dark. Lonely girls who command giant earthworms that tunnel between worlds… Anything goes in this twisted tale of monsters, mayhem, and revenge. A contemporary dark fantasy with elements of horror, Chad Ryan’s Ghost River is a gritty and desolate journey into the peaks and gulches of the human spirit. ADVISORY: This story is for mature readers. Ghost River explores sensitive subject matter, including graphic violence/death, disturbing imagery, misogyny, domestic abuse, child abuse, racism, kidnapping, and sexual assault. Read with caution.

“River of Stars is a major accomplishment, the work of a master novelist in full command of his subject.”—Michael Dirda, in The Washington Post “Game of Thrones in China.”—Salon.com Ren Daiyan was still just a boy when he took the lives of seven men while guarding an imperial magistrate. That moment on a lonely road changed his life in entirely unexpected ways, sending him into the forests of Kitai among the outlaws. From there he emerges years later—and his life changes again, dramatically, as he circles toward the court and emperor, while war approaches Kitai from the north. Lin Shan is the daughter of a scholar, his beloved only child. Educated by him in ways young women never are, gifted as a songwriter and calligrapher, she finds herself living a life suspended between two worlds. Her intelligence captivates an emperor—and alienates women at the court. But when her father’s life is endangered by the savage politics of the day, Shan must act in ways no woman ever has. In an empire divided by bitter factions circling an exquisitely cultured emperor who loves his gardens and his art far more than the burdens of governing, dramatic events on the northern steppe alter the balance of power in the world, leading to events no one could have foretold, under the river of stars.