HYBRID ARE AMONG US Earth has changed. Humans are Changed. Now Hybrids are here. The Nixo Chief Norkam, along with the hybrid-human Leiana and her Warrior Cyan, rule the new world. Yseut and Gael run away in order to reunite with Hugo, his father, and accomplish their mission in the planet Aether. On the way, they will rescue a 18-year-old boy called Jano who, together with the seasoned Leon, will take part of the growing group of «Normal» humans; they will try to resist the Change created by the Nixos planning the destruction of the «Distinct» people. But everything could blow up when Gael discovers Leiana's true identity?

THE EARTH, AS WE KNOW IT, WILL NO LONGER EXIST. The young and famous actor Gael Ryan is about to see his world completely changed when he falls in love with the beautiful Yseut, from the distant planet Aether, and learns that the Earth, as we know it, will disappear forever. The Savia, a substance of unknown origin capable of modifying the genetic constitution and causing biological alterations, is coming to our planet. Given his Natural Leader condition, Gael must leave to the Aethereal world during the maximum point of the next Terrestrial eclipse. Yseut assures him that the fate of the Humanity will depend on it. But Lara, his agent and closest friend since his childhood, is going to play a paramount role in the imminent invasion, without even suspecting it...

This book is a study of communities that drew their identity and livelihood from their relationships with water during a pivotal time in the creation of the social, economic and political landscapes of northern Europe. It focuses on the Baltic, North and Irish Seas in the Viking Age (ad 1050–1200), with a few later examples (such as the Scottish Lordship of the Isles) included to help illuminate less well-documented earlier centuries. Individual chapters introduce maritime worlds ranging from the Isle of Man to Gotland — while also touching on the relationships between estate centres, towns, landing places and the sea in the more terrestrially oriented societies that surrounded northern Europe’s main spheres of maritime interaction. It is predominately an archaeological project, but draws no arbitrary lines between the fields of historical archaeology, history and literature. The volume explores the complex relationships between long-range interconnections and distinctive regional identities that are characteristic of maritime societies, seeking to understand communities that were brought into being by their relationships with the sea and who set waves in motion that altered distant shores.

First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Filling a gap in the literature for an academically oriented volume on the Viking period, this unique book is a one-stop authoritative introduction to all the latest research in the field, and the most comprehensive book of its kind ever attempted.

"Spix's Macaw tells the story of a unique band of brilliant blue birds - who talk, fall in love, and grieve - struggling against extinction. By the second half of the twentieth century the birds had become more valuable than heroin, worth thousands of dollars on the black market. In 1990, only one was found to be living in the wild and an emergency international rescue operation was launched, calling on private collectors to come forward with their birds to mate with the last wild Spix's." "In a breathtaking display of stoicism and endurance, the loneliest bird in the world had lived without a mate for fourteen years, outwitting predators and poachers. Would he take to a new companion? Like humans, Spix's Macaws can't be forced to love, but the stakes were as high as they could be: the survival of one of the world's most beautiful birds."--BOOK JACKET.

Few discussions in modern social science have occupied as much attention as the changing nature of welfare states in western societies. Gosta Esping-Andersen, one of the most distinguished contributors to current debates on this issue, here provides a new analysis of the character and role of welfare states in the functioning of contemporary advanced western societies. Esping-Andersen distinguishes several major types of welfare state, connecting these with variations in the historical development of different western countries. Current economic processes, the author argues, such as those moving towards a post-industrial order, are not shaped by autonomous market forces but by the nature of states and state differences. Fully informed by comparative materials, this book will have great appeal to everyone working on issues of economic development and post-industrialism. Its audience will include students and academics in sociology, economics and politics.