Metaphysical Science

Maria is an American graduate student lured to the planet of Olrona by the naverkoo, a mysterious entity with a nearly limitless power to create and transform life. In what she believes to be a dream, she walks onto an interplanetary transport ship and is taken to the secluded mountain city of Pegasea on the planet of Olrona.

For decades, the singular and provocative paintings by Cree artist Kent Monkman have featured a recurring character—an alter ego of sorts, a shape-shifting, time-travelling elemental being named Miss Chief Eagle Testickle. Though we have glimpsed her across the years, and on countless canvases, it is finally time to hear her story, in her own words. And, in doing so, to hear the whole history of Turtle Island anew.

This is an insightful glimpse into Arthur Schopenhauer's understanding of the human longing for something that transcends us, what can be rightly called our "metaphysical thirst". In these excerpts, he focuses on religion, philosophy, and psychology.

Wealthy family man William Rudned was not as happy or satisfied with his life as he appeared. No amount of money, privilege, or popularity was enough to extinguish the fire of anger and misery inside him. In the midst of a profound depression and thoughts of suicide, he was relentlessly questioning the meaning of existence and the way of the world we live in. It was getting harder and harder for him to get out of bed every single day only to go through the same aimless vicious cycle all over again.

Myla Alvarez, novice, walks into the Sonoran desert near Tucson, Arizona, and begins telling stories about the Old Mermaids who were washed ashore onto the New Desert when the Old Sea dried up. In this mystical new world, they lived, created, and walked in beauty. Myla finds sustenance and meaning in their lives and stories. But she worries that Homeland Security may discover the illegal immigrants she harbors at the Old Mermaid Sanctuary.

Kate’s happily-ever-after is cut short after a new arrival from an alternate dimension appears. A sexy woman with the power to kill by touch, Kate decides newcomer Mara is best kept under a watchful eye. Jay seems to act differently, but Kate chalks it up to familiarity in their relationship. One thing she becomes increasingly aware of as time passes - he’s pushing her away while growing closer to Mara. Steve’s feelings for Kate haven’t changed, and he’s there for her when Jay’s behavior crosses a line.

This is a story about how two men from different walks of life learn that neither robes of honor nor the total renunciation of worldly life is required to enjoy the most fundamental human desire—happiness. Happiness is not a philosophical enigma, but an attainable state of the mind and everyone can cherish the greatest joys through the simplest and smallest acts of daily life.

Irish orphan Jian Byrne is beautiful, gifted and lost. She can see people’s auras, travel out-of-body to realms on high and remember perfectly. But her missing family is a wound that has never healed. When her grandmother dies Jian falls hard. She is lured into the local drug scene. One night while she sleeps a fiery being appears and reminds her of the mission she was born to fulfill. She is guided to great friends of light, comes face to face with diabolical takers and resurrects an almost hopeless quest to find her family.

Death is already approaching; it feels like it can't be much longer now. The virus had me on the ropes even before the bone dagger in my side sped the process along. The betrayal of one of the members of my team, together with the Feathered Serpent's attack, should have been the final events of my life....

There is a truth within the universe, one that's long been disguised as forbidden knowledge. It's up to Eve to crack the code, and enlighten humanity to the greatest lie ever told. But the loss of her beloved grandfather and flood of all her past lives besieging her at once took her to a dark place for six long weeks.

Sixteen-year-old Delaney Archer always waits until the last moment to do everything. Nevertheless, she is the top student in her class. She's even about to graduate as valedictorian - until one morning when she wakes up in a strange place. Suddenly, she finds herself in graduate school. Seven years of her life have disappeared without a trace since she went to bed last night, but how? But it's not all bad, right? After all, she can drink alcohol now, and she has almost finished school. Then she wakes up the next day and another seven years have passed.

Wherever he goes, the Dreamseller enchants, stirs up trouble, and inspires his listeners to search for the most important thing: the heart of the human soul. Every person he meets is someone who has abandoned their dreams and is struggling through life: a professor who has stopped pursuing his passions; a lonely alcoholic with no family; the elderly who have lost their zest for life. Through his wisdom, the Dreamseller helps them to look into their silent hearts and get to the root of their unhappiness.

They're not machines, cyborgs, demons, or monsters, and yet they are all of those things and more. Spawned from a horrifying program of gruesome human experimentation, they walk the earth as living nightmares. For decades they served their masters by secretly manipulating world events, eliminating enemies, terrorizing humanity, and toppling nations. But then they found themselves facing the power of the Quantum Man, and the terrifying fury of his cybernetic daughter.

It's finally Thanksgiving break at the Paranormal Institute for Witches. With a week off from school, the Witch Squad thinks they're finally going to get to enjoy some downtime. But as the girls start making plans for their big Thanksgiving dinner party, they discover that Alba has yet to contact Tony, her husband from back home. After finally convincing her to call him, what she discovers sends the girls into a state of shock. Will their Thanksgiving be as magical as they'd all hoped it to be? Or will the tragedy that has befallen one of their loved ones ruin Thanksgiving forever?

After nearly 30 years of being a socialite wife and mother, Ellen is left alone to rattle around a mansion of a house with only the dog for company. It’s time to make a change, but to what? While she ponders what to do, she starts hearing her dog talk. Has she finally lost it? No, according to her mother. It’s an inherited gift that usually manifests at menopause, but, well, Ellen isn’t there, yet. And it’s not just the dog, but most animals. Then there’s the ability to actually see paranormal species, like gnomes, fairies, and yes, vampires. Lucky her.

★Book 2 of the Survival Series, where nothing is ever as it seems, and reality takes on a life of its own. Brandon started his day as normal, but suddenly, without warning, everything changed. The world around him began to dissolve away, threatening to dissolve him with it. All he can do is run to try and stay alive, a futile effort, until Danny calls him. How does Danny know what he knows? Who is the mysterious ‘Auton’? Why are Brandon and his friends all in danger? And why is reality, as they know it, falling apart and ripping up the rule book of what is considered ‘normal’? ...

Tarot reader Sara Wilde has spent her whole life finding the lost with the use of her trusty cards. But when her newest assignment sends her straight to Hell, she discovers more than she bargained for. The journey through Dante's playground forces Sara to endure a client's bitter loss, fall victim to a vicious betrayal by her own kind, and come face-to-face with the woman she might have been. Not even Sara's blossoming love for the darkly sensual Magician is safe in the underworld. She's tested in ways she never fathomed, ways that could drive her mad or utterly destroy her.

Tempus and his Sacred Band of Stepsons prepare to take the Wizard War to the Mages of Wizardwall in this gripping story set in Beyond Sanctuary. With Jihan the Froth daughter at his side, Tempus and the core of the Stepsons ride into the embattled town of Tyse, where they find friends and foes among the witches, wizards, and warfighters. From the first full length novel inspired by the Thieves' World series, Mage Blood takes you into unknown realms fraught with unimaginable peril.

A pragmatic human thrown into a world of magic: Lindsey Porter fled from her traumatic past, determined to lay low, but now, someone has framed her for murder. The quest for answers leads her into a parallel realm where magic reigns, and with a hostile sheriff and a shape-shifting assassin on her trail, she must place her life in the hands of a seductive, supernatural man who tempts her like no one else.

After the Battle of Meridian, new blood and old warriors face unforeseen challenges as one war ends in triumph and another conflict looms. Stories you'll love to hear again and stories you will hear for the first time await in a stand-alone Sacred Band anthology that follows the Stepsons where they've never been before. Tales of risk and glory, past, present and future, figure in the latest Sacred Band novelized anthology that includes the new title novella, The Fish the Fighters and the Song-girl. Tempus and his Sacred Band won the battle of their dreams, but now the time has come to count...