You can’t keep a bad elf down. Upon completing her first Big Night assignment—delivering coal to all the kids on the naughty list—Ember Skye thought all was well at the North Pole. She no longer has to slave away in the coal mines, and her arch-nemesis has seemingly been stripped of his power. Sturd, however, has only been biding his time. After he discovers an ancient text, the demonic elf sets out on a mission that could change life at the Pole as they know it. His rise in power could threaten the very existence of the Big Night, the North Pole, and even Claus himself. Return to the North Pole where Ember and all the coal elves will soon realize never to underestimate the corruptible temptation of unrivaled power. Unfortunately for them, it may be too late… chaos may reign supreme.

The first major biography of the 1972 U.S. presidential candidate and unsung champion of American liberalism The Rise of a Prairie Statesman is the first volume of a major biography of the 1972 Democratic presidential candidate who became America's most eloquent and prescient critic of the Vietnam War. In this masterful book, Thomas Knock traces George McGovern's life from his rustic boyhood in a South Dakota prairie town during the Depression to his rise to the pinnacle of politics at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago where police and antiwar demonstrators clashed in the city's streets. Drawing extensively on McGovern's private papers and scores of in-depth interviews, Knock shows how McGovern's importance to the Democratic Party and American liberalism extended far beyond his 1972 presidential campaign, and how the story of postwar American politics is about more than just the rise of the New Right. He vividly describes McGovern's harrowing missions over Nazi Germany as a B-24 bomber pilot, and reveals how McGovern's combat experiences motivated him to earn a PhD in history and stoked his ambition to run for Congress. When President Kennedy appointed him director of Food for Peace in 1961, McGovern engineered a vast expansion of the program's school lunch initiative that soon was feeding tens of millions of hungry children around the world. As a senator, he delivered his courageous and unrelenting critique of Lyndon Johnson's escalation in Vietnam—a conflict that brought their party to disaster and caused a new generation of Democrats to turn to McGovern for leadership. A stunning achievement, The Rise of a Prairie Statesman ends in 1968, in the wake of the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, when the "Draft McGovern" movement thrust him into the national spotlight and the contest for the presidential nomination, culminating in his triumphal reelection to the Senate and his emergence as one of the most likely prospects for the Democratic nomination in 1972..

Upon completing her first Big Night assignment of delivering coal to all the kids on the Naughty List, Coal Elf Ember Skye thought all was well at the North Pole. She no longer has to slave away mining coal, and her arch-nemesis - the demonic and evil elf, Sturd - has seemingly been stripped of his power and relegated to obscurity. But you just can't keep a bad elf down. Sturd's accidental discovery of an ancient text sends him on a mission that may very well change life at the Pole as they all know it. His unexpected rise in power potentially could lead to unbridled chaos that would threaten the very existence of the Big Night, the North Pole, and even the Claus himself. Return to the North Pole where Ember and all the Coal Elves will soon realize never to underestimate the corrupting temptation of unrivaled power. Unfortunately for them, it may be too late...

Based on interviews with Stan Lee and dozens of his colleagues and contemporaries, as well as extensive archival research, this book provides a professional history, an appreciation, and a critical exploration of the face of Marvel Comics. Recognized as a dazzling writer, a skilled editor, a relentless self-promoter, a credit hog, and a huckster, Stan Lee rose from his humble beginnings to ride the wave of the 1940s comic books boom and witness the current motion picture madness and comic industry woes. Included is a complete examination of the rise of Marvel Comics, Lee's work in the years of postwar prosperity, and his efforts in the 1960s to revitalize the medium after it had grown stale.