This anthology is composed of the generous contributions from a group of 38 poets, artists and photographers. The book contains an astounding variety of poetry, prose, photography and artwork. It is a celebration of life as well as an expression of lament. The book takes the reader through a series of moods, enriched with narrative poetry that reflects the California lifestyle, and the melancholia of heartbreak and loss, all the way through to the prolific and inspirational.

After forming an intense bond with Natasha, a wolf cub she raised as part of her undergraduate research, Renée Askins was inspired to found the Wolf Fund. As head of this grassroots organization, she made it her goal to restore wolves to Yellowstone National Park, where they had been eradicated by man over seventy years before. In this intimate account, Askins recounts her courageous fifteen-year campaign, wrangling along the way with Western ranchers and their political allies in Washington, enduring death threats, and surviving the anguish of illegal wolf slayings to ensure that her dream of restoring Yellowstone’s ecological balance would one day be realized. Told in powerful, first-person narrative, Shadow Mountain is the awe-inspiring story of her mission and her impassioned meditation on our connection to the wild.

“In climbing the Seven Summits, Silvia Vasquez-Lavado did nothing less than take back her own life—one brave step at a time. She will inspire untold numbers of souls with this story, for her victory is a win on behalf of all of us.”—Elizabeth Gilbert Endless ice. Thin air. The threat of dropping into nothingness thousands of feet below. This is the climb Silvia Vasquez-Lavado braves in her page-turning, pulse-raising memoir chronicling her journey to Mount Everest. A Latina hero in the elite macho tech world of Silicon Valley, privately, she was hanging by a thread. Deep in the throes of alcoholism, hiding her sexuality from her family, and repressing the abuse she’d suffered as a child, she started climbing. Something about the brute force required for the ascent—the risk and spirit and sheer size of the mountains and death’s close proximity—woke her up. She then took her biggest pain as a survivor to the biggest mountain: Everest. “The Mother of the World,” as it’s known in Nepal, allows few to reach her summit, but Silvia didn’t go alone. She gathered a group of young female survivors and led them to base camp alongside her. It was never easy. At times hair-raising, nerve-racking, and always challenging, Silvia remembers the acute anxiety of leading a group of novice climbers to Everest’s base, all the while coping with her own nerves of summiting. But, there were also moments of peace, joy, and healing with the strength of her fellow survivors and community propelling her forward. In the Shadow of the Mountain is a remarkable story of heroism, one which awakens in all of us a lust for adventure, an appetite for risk, and faith in our own resilience.

An extraordinary epic, set a million years in the future, in the time of a dying sun, when our present culture is no longer even a memory. Severian, a torturer's apprentice, is exiled from his guild after falling in love with one of his prisoners. Ordered to the distant city of Thrax, armed with his ancient executioner's sword, Terminus Est, Severian must make his way across the perilous, ruined landscape of this far-future Urth. But is his finding of the mystical gem, the Claw of the Conciliator, merely an accident, or does Fate have a grander plans for Severian the torturer . . . ? This edition contains the first two volumes of this four volume novel, The Shadow of the Torturer and The Claw of the Conciliator.

BEING TRAPPED IN THE MOUNTAINS SEEMED SAFE…UNTIL A KILLER TARGETED THE INNOCENT After tragedy struck, Caroline Fairchild reluctantly moved her young son to the remote Colorado lodge she’d been hired to redecorate. There she had no choice but to deal with owner Wes Wainwright, the Texas millionaire who represented everything she detested…and everything she desired. Wes thought he’d gotten past it—the pain, the loneliness, the guilt. But meeting Caroline and her boy only reminded him of his missing child. As sparks ignited between Wes and Caroline, old dangers emerged from the shadows. And they were soon bound by an instant attraction and a frantic race to save two children’s lives. But could Wes prevent history from repeating itself?

As the evening sun settled behind the Rocky Mountains, a cool breeze licked at the faces of the two young boys who sat on the front porch steps, whittling. Raven Morgan, the elder, a nine-year-old, looked at his brothers notched and crooked piece of wood. You are doing a fine job, Hawk. What is it going to be? Seemingly offended, but only for a moment, Hawk gave a sideways glance and answered, Smart as you are, Raven, and you cant tell? Amused at his seven-year-old brother, who sometimes seemed older than his age, Raven smiled. Well, I have an idea what it is, but if you tell me, then Ill know if Im right.

An architecture portfolio designed by Alex Hogrefe describing 4 original projects with a focus on unique representational techniques and styles.