A Scattering of Jades

A Scattering of Jades PDF

Author: Thelma D. Sullivan

Publisher: University of Arizona Press

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9780816523375

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Long before Europeans came to America, the Aztecs created a unique culture based on myth and a love of language. Myths and poems were an important part of their culture, and a successful speech by a royal orator was pronounced "a great scattering of jades." A Scattering of Jades is an anthology of the best of Aztec literature, compiled by a noted anthropologist and a skilled translator of Nahuatl. It is a storehouse of myths, narratives, poems, and proverbs—as well as prayers and songs to the Aztec gods that provide insight into how these people's perception of the cosmos drove their military machine. Featuring a translation of the Mexicayotl—a work as important today for Mexico's concept of nationhood and ideology as it was at the time of the Conquest—these selections eloquently depict the everyday life of this ancient people and their unique worldview. A Scattering of Jades is an unsurpassed window on ancient Mesoamerican civilization and an essential companion for anyone studying Aztec history, religion, or culture.

A Scattering of Jades

A Scattering of Jades PDF

Author: Alexander C. Irvine

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2003-07-13

Total Pages: 420

ISBN-13: 9780765340986

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When the great fire of 1835 burns New York City's downtown, Archie Prescott thinks he's lost everything. In the midst of ancient magic and a crafty demon-god, Archie soon finds himself with the power to save the world--or drown it in sacrificial blood.

Inferno

Inferno PDF

Author: Alex Irvine

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 0345479459

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Gotham's never been so scorching, the Joker's never been more despicable, and Batman' s never been in such grave danger. With more than thirty fires raging out of control across the city, Gotham is indeed a hell on earth. But torching the population is small potatoes for the arsonist extraordinaire known as Enfer. The pyromaniac's mad masterpiece is Arkham Asylum, blazing like a Roman candle and engineered to provide the perfect escape for Arkham's most infamous inmate, the Joker. But the dire situation goes from bad to beyond monstrous when the archvillain's path to freedom leads directly to the Dark Knight's cave. The Joker believes in striking while the iron is hot . . . and now it's never been hotter. After all, the diabolical villain has devised the ultimate joke: launch the mother of all crime waves, masquerading as the Caped Crusader himself! With Gotham erupting in flames and its #1 crime fighter fast becoming its #1 enemy, the burning question is: Who's going to get the last laugh?

Buyout

Buyout PDF

Author: Alex Irvine

Publisher: Del Rey

Published: 2009-03-31

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 0345513428

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From acclaimed author Alexander C. Irvine comes a gritty near-future thriller in the paranoid, prophetic vein of Philip K. Dick and Richard K. Morgan. One hundred years from now, with Americans hooked into an Internet far more expansive and intrusive than today’s, the world has become a seamless market-driven experience. In this culture of capitalism run amok, entrepreneurs and politicians faced with rampant overcrowding in the nation’s penal system turn to a controversial new method of cutting costs: life-term buyouts. In theory, buyouts offer convicted murderers the chance to atone for their crimes by voluntarily allowing themselves to be put to death by the state in exchange for a one-time cash payment, shared among their heirs and victims, based on a percentage of what it would have cost taxpayers to house and feed them for the rest of their natural lives. It’s a win-win situation. At least that’s what Martin Kindred believes. And Martin is a man who desperately needs something to believe in, especially with his marriage coming apart and the murder of his brother, an L.A. cop brutally gunned down in the line of duty, unsolved. As the public face of the buyout program, Martin is a lightning rod for verbal and physical abuse–but he embraces every challenge, knowing his motives are pure. But when evidence comes to light that a felon in line for a buyout may have been involved with his brother’s death, Martin’s professional detachment threatens to turn into a personal vendetta that will jeopardize everything–and everyone–he holds dear. Inspired by today’s politics, Buyout is an unforgettable look at an all-too-believable future . . . and one man’s struggle to do the right thing.

One King, One Soldier

One King, One Soldier PDF

Author: Alex Irvine

Publisher: Del Rey

Published: 2004-07-27

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 034547855X

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The story says that one day a Fisher King will rise to heal the land. In the 1950s, they’re still waiting. . . . “A captivating historical thriller, a great spine-tingling romp through history in search of the Holy Grail. Fans of The Da Vinci Code will love this!”—Kevin Baker, author of Dreamland and Paradise Alley At the turn of the twentieth century, a baseball player named George Gibson embarks upon a mystical journey to the Congo. His mission: to shepherd a powerful relic to its home in Abyssinia. But poet-turned-grail seeker Arthur Rimbaud is after what Gibson possesses—as others before him have been for millennia. A half century later, after receiving an honorable discharge from the Korean War, twenty-year-old Lance Porter vows to put his civilian life back together—which means heading to commie-infested Berkeley to see his high school sweetheart, Ellie. But after Lance gets cold feet, he encounters instead a drunk, gay poet named Jack Spicer, who spews crazy stories about Lance being the Fisher King. It appears that the bearing of the grail has been bequeathed to young Lance, much to his shock and disbelief. Can a legacy born in the deserts of Ethiopia truly be reemerging in the bohemian bars of New York City and San Francisco? And is a vet with a lost soul really worthy of its care? Alexander C. Irvine has breathed a refreshing burst of air into the Arthurian legend. In One King, One Soldier, ancient characters and Irvine’s pitch-perfect historical accuracy merge with a gritty, dark portrait of America in the cold-war ’50s. Here, three stories come brilliantly together in an edgy mix of baseball, imperialism, poetry, and grail mythology.

Have Robot, Will Travel—A Byron Preiss Robot Mystery

Have Robot, Will Travel—A Byron Preiss Robot Mystery PDF

Author: Alexander C. Irvine

Publisher: iBooks

Published: 2023-11-21

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 0743479572

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From Alexander C. Irvine, the Locus Award-winning author of A SCATTERING OF JADES, comes a thrilling new robot mystery set in the world of the late SF Grand Master and beloved author, Isaac Asimov. Exiled to the colony Nova Levis, roboticist Derec Avery and Auroran ambassador Ariel Burgess have tried to make their best of their situation, after exposing an anti-robot conspiracy on Earth five years before that cost them their jobs and their freedom. But all that is about to change. . . A human has been murdered on Kopernik, a space station orbiting the Earth, and all the clues point toward a robot as the killer. But how can that be, when robots are programmed to never bring harm to humans? It’s a familiar situation for Derec and Ariel—the sort of mystery that led to their current status as political pariahs. Still, not even an exiled robot expert can turn down an opportunity to add his expertise to the investigation, and before too long, Derec is on his way to Kopernik. Ariel, meanwhile, has a mystery of her own to unravel. With the help of old friends—and potentially new enemies— Derec searches for the identity of a killer, unaware that Ariel is walking directly into the center of the web of intrigue....

The Narrows

The Narrows PDF

Author: Alex Irvine

Publisher: Del Rey

Published: 2005-09-27

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 0345486110

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From award-winning author Alexander C. Irvine comes a compelling, fantastical riff on history and World War II. Spared fighting in Europe because of a bum hand, Jared wishes he could join the cause, instead of mindlessly sifting clay to be made into golems. But there is something that preys on his dreams: the devilish dwarf known as the Nain Rouge. In his youth, Jared once actually saw the Dwarf—a chilling creature that shows itself to individuals just before their demise. Now the Nain Rouge appears to be coming back for Jared himself. Many have a profound interest in Jared’s childhood run-in with the Dwarf—including a German spy, Jared’s hateful foreman at the golem factory, and a shape-shifting Indian shaman. But what could a simple man who earns a meager living possibly have to do with espionage and dark deeds? While Jared toils invisibly in the bowels of Henry Ford’s plant, the answer is about to reveal itself in a cataclysm of mythic and sinister proportions.

Religion and Society

Religion and Society PDF

Author: Gerrie ter Haar

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2007-10-30

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 9047422465

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Religion is set to be a major force in the twenty-first century. Here is a book that tells us what the world's leading scholars have to say about this. Issues of conflict and peace, ethical questions concerning the use of advanced technology, explanations of the global religious revival, and the role of women in religious leadership, as well as questions about how to study religion, are all discussed. It is a volume that ranges exceptionally widely, in terms of the themes discussed, the variety of disciplines, and the participation of international scholars debating with each other. One section of the book is devoted to Japanese scholarship concerning the world's major religions. Contributors include: Talal Asad, Chin Hong Chung, Armin Geertz, Gerrie ter Haar, Rosalind Hackett, Eiko Hanaoka, Shōtō Hase, Mark Juergensmeyer, Noriko Kawahashi, Kiyotaka Kimura, Ursula King, Pratap Kumar, William Lafleur, Sylvia Marcos, Tomoko Masuzawa, Ebrahim Moosa, Kōjirō Nakamura, Vasudha Narayanan, Haruko Okano, Suwanna Satha-Anand, Susumu Shimazono, Noriyoshi Tamaru, Masakazu Tanaka, Hiroshi Tsuchiya, Yoshio Tsuruoka, Manabu Watanabe, and Pablo Wright.

Aztec Philosophy

Aztec Philosophy PDF

Author: James Maffie

Publisher: University Press of Colorado

Published: 2014-03-15

Total Pages: 512

ISBN-13: 1607322234

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In Aztec Philosophy, James Maffie shows the Aztecs advanced a highly sophisticated and internally coherent systematic philosophy worthy of consideration alongside other philosophies from around the world. Bringing together the fields of comparative world philosophy and Mesoamerican studies, Maffie excavates the distinctly philosophical aspects of Aztec thought. Aztec Philosophy focuses on the ways Aztec metaphysics—the Aztecs’ understanding of the nature, structure and constitution of reality—underpinned Aztec thinking about wisdom, ethics, politics,\ and aesthetics, and served as a backdrop for Aztec religious practices as well as everyday activities such as weaving, farming, and warfare. Aztec metaphysicians conceived reality and cosmos as a grand, ongoing process of weaving—theirs was a world in motion. Drawing upon linguistic, ethnohistorical, archaeological, historical, and contemporary ethnographic evidence, Maffie argues that Aztec metaphysics maintained a processive, transformational, and non-hierarchical view of reality, time, and existence along with a pantheistic theology. Aztec Philosophy will be of great interest to Mesoamericanists, philosophers, religionists, folklorists, and Latin Americanists as well as students of indigenous philosophy, religion, and art of the Americas.

Anthropocene Rag

Anthropocene Rag PDF

Author: Alex Irvine

Publisher: Tordotcom

Published: 2020-03-31

Total Pages: 153

ISBN-13: 1250269261

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Anthropocene Rag is "a rare distillation of nanotech, apocalypse, and mythic Americana into a heady psychedelic brew."—Nebula and World Fantasy award-winning author Jeffrey Ford In the future United States, our own history has faded into myth and traveling across the country means navigating wastelands and ever-changing landscapes. The country teems with monsters and artificial intelligences try to unpack their own becoming by recreating myths and legends of their human creators. Prospector Ed, an emergent AI who wants to understand the people who made him, assembles a ragtag team to reach the mythical Monument City. In this nanotech Western, Alex Irvine infuses American mythmaking with terrifying questions about the future and who we will become. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.