World Myths

Spanning several centuries of history in the Pacific, The Legends and Myths of Hawaiʻi: Fables and Folk-Lore of a Strange People is a collection of Hawaiian stories that were preserved through the ages by oral tradition and documented for posterity by King David Kalākaua in 1887. This massive tome recalls the tales of chiefs and kings, explorers and pirates, prophets, sorceresses, and renegades. This is the first in a series of 22 parts.

An evil queen. A rebel prince. A traitor with the promise of an army. Eris, half-god queen of the underworld, rules Earth with a cruel heart and an iron fist. When her son, Strife, joins a war against her, he is sure that he has left his dark past behind him. But as the battle for the throne escalates, who can he really trust? Alcyone, leader of the rebels or his lifelong protector, Nemesis, and her ferocious army of wolves? Strife teeters on the edge of an abyss. Will he follow the path of the light or will he let the shadows swallow him up forever? **Shortlisted for the Kindle Storyteller...

“The People Could Fly,” the title story in Virginia Hamilton’s prize-winning American Black folktale collection, is a fantasy tale of the slaves who possessed the ancient magic words that enabled them to literally fly away to freedom. And it is a moving tale of those who did not have the opportunity to “fly” away, who remained slaves with only their imaginations to set them free as they told and retold this tale.

“In the beginning, God created the earth, and he looked upon it in His cosmic loneliness. And God said, "Let Us make living creatures out of mud, so the mud can see what We have done." And God created every living creature that now moveth, and one was man. Mud as man alone could speak. God leaned close to mud as man sat up, looked around, and spoke. Man blinked. "What is the purpose of all this?" he asked politely. "Everything must have a purpose?" asked God. "Certainly," said man. "Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this," said God. And He went away.” –Kurt Vonnegut, ...

Back home from her first mission, Solstice confronts a scarier problem than a lizard the size of a garbage truck: immortality. She won’t exactly live forever, but ten thousand years isn’t much different. In the blink of an eye to her, everyone she loves will be gone. True, being the only elf in the world is a lonely future, but at least she has her cat to talk to. Good thing he talks back. Solstice doesn’t have too long to mourn as someone thoughtfully sends a magical assassin to take her mind off the family she’ll eventually lose. She’s fairly certain the Ordo Sanguinem Aeternam ...

My life changed the day I tried to take his. Mhavenna is a glorious city but, like every city on the face of Serai, it's run by Dragons. As a human, I'm on the lowest rung of the racial ladder here, as far from an illustrious Dragon as I could be, and I've made me peace with that. I don't like Dragons much, but like or dislike has nothing to do with my work. So when my broker offered me the task of killing the Dragon King, I took it. It was the sort of kill that could make an assassin's career, and I was certain that I had the skills for it. I was wrong, nearly dead wrong. The King caught ...

Santos Paola Santiago has recently returned from Oregon, where she defeated the Hitchhiker ghost and saved her father from the vengeful spirit that was possessing him. The poor girl deserves a rest! But first she has to rescue Dante from the void, where he's been imprisoned by some unknown force. Paola's prophetic dreams seem to have dried up, so she has to find other ways to locate a new rift where she can enter the void. Signs point to Texas—but how is she going to get there from Arizona?

In the hottest hour of the hottest day of the year, a fateful wind blows into Oaxaca City. It whistles down cobbled streets and rustles the jacaranda trees before slipping into the window of an 11-year-old girl named Clara. Unbeknownst to her, Clara has been marked for la Lotería. Life and Death deal the Lotería cards but once a year, and the stakes could not be higher. Every card reveals a new twist in Clara’s fate - a scorpion, an arrow, a blood-red rose. If Life wins, Clara will live to a ripe old age. If Death prevails, she’ll flicker out like a candle.

Cece Rios and her friends have escaped Devil’s Alley, but the fight to save their world is just beginning. Despite her growing comfort with her curandera abilities, Cece is worried that she won’t be strong enough to stop her most dangerous enemy yet: her tía, Catrina. Desperate for power and revenge, Catrina has seized the throne of Devil’s Alley and set her sights on the living world.

When Imsun Carr became a sorceress, she unknowingly sacrificed an important piece of herself. Legend claims that the mythological waters of Aetudale can restore what has been lost, and despite the doubts and ridicule of others, Imsun embarks on a journey to find them. Along the way, she meets Sienna Tian, a victim of the savage and power-hungry country of Cegoven. They took her husband, ravaged her home, and forced her to flee for her life with her young son, Andor. All Sienna wants is to be reunited with her family and keep them safe, but she harbors a deadly secret. Imsun takes on the ...

A Tale of Fantasy and Magic Rockwell believes his eight-year-old daughter Sydney has a very vivid imagination. She sees the mythical Fae: fairies, goblins, sprites, pixies, and other magical creatures. She sees them, talks about them, and plays with them, but every instance feels like a knife in Rockwell's gut. His daughter sees all the mythical creatures in the stories told to her by his late wife, Sarah, reminding him that Sarah is gone. These stories are folklore handed down through the generations and all that his daughter has to cling to of her mother. He has no idea how to help his ...

Philosophy, art, democracy, language, even computers—the glories of Greek civilization have shaped our world even more profoundly than we realize. Pericles and the Parthenon may be familiar, but what of Epaminondas, the Theban general who saved the Greek world from Spartan tyranny? Alexander the Great's fame has rolled down the centuries, but the golden Hellenistic Age that followed is largely forgotten. "Byzantine" conjures decadence and deadly intrigue, yet the thousand-year empire that ruled from Constantinople and saved Europe twice from invasion was, in fact, Greek.

Becoming Los Angeles, a new collection by the author of the acclaimed memoir Holy Land, blends history, memory, and critical analysis to illuminate how Angelenos have seen themselves and their city. Waldie’s particular concern is commonplace Los Angeles, whose rhythms of daily life are set against the gaudy backdrop of historical myth and Hollywood illusion. It’s through sacred ordinariness that Waldie experiences the city’s seasons.

Hear the call of Primeval. In pursuit of an enemy, Elaria and her friends enter Primeval—the ancient forest that covers most of Tír na nÓg. But priorities soon shift as a much larger danger arises. Primeval is dying and growing all at once; threatening to consume the Jewel Kingdoms. Can the Spellsinger save the forest or is this only a prelude of the destruction to come?

The current monetary system is broken. This book is about how decentralizing finance radically changes how we think about money. Money becomes a great enabler rather than something that creates the artificial scarcity, limitations, separation, conflict, waste, and environmental destruction that we experience today. It describes how blockchain and decentralized finance (DeFi) can build a better world with financial freedom for everyone in all nations. An inclusive society. A healthier planet. And the incredible opportunities for innovators, entrepreneurs, and SMEs to take an active part in ...

Japanese culture has fascinated the West ever since the country’s doors opened up in the 1800s. In many ways, Japan has remained elusive, and people have travelled from all around the world to see for themselves how unique this nation remains. Another way of exploring this enigmatic culture is through its literature. The English language succeeds surprisingly well in revealing the Japanese sense of life.

To sing with your heart you must first learn to listen. Sirens are some of the most dangerous denizens of the Beneath. So when they start going missing, it's assumed that a supremely powerful being is behind the disappearances. But who and why? As Elaria struggles to find answers to the siren situation, even more questions arise. Questions like: what kind of magic did the witch relic leave within her? And: what should she do about the three men who have become so important to her? One is her past, one: her present, and the third wants nothing more than to be her future. Can she find the ...

The teacher Patrick Healy traveled around the world, talked with people in different places, and collected around 500 myths, legends, and folktales and their several alternative versions. His opinion and comments (directly or indirectly) are inevitable. This is the 10th volume of his work, 34 Norse Myths, in his words. He retold the stories with his own opinion and approach to them.

When you live in a world of what nightmares are made of, you wonder to yourself; could there be more? Being the king is no easy task. Ask Jax, he will tell you all about it. He is after all, the Pumpkin King of Halloweenville who loves to scare people. Lately, Jax has been getting bored wondering if there is more to the world he lives in. He used to enjoy scaring everyone. Now though, it feels more like a job than actually having fun. Little does he know, there is a much bigger world out there than the world of nightmares. One he will never forget anytime soon. Stepping into Shady Oaks has ...

A Mystery of Magic, Loyalty, and Ancient Secrets Strange things are stirring again in the quiet village of Doona. When a fisherman returns from the dead and whispers of leprechauns begin to spread, twelve-year-old Bridgie Campbell finds herself at the heart of a growing mystery. The Leprechauns of the Western Wild—thirteen in all, led by the cheerful but weary King Rua—have been locked out of their hidden home, Doona Hollow, nestled deep beneath the Sandy Banks. Without the Doona Hollow Key, a powerful magical relic once hidden in a chest of ancient Spanish gold, they cannot return. And...