Patricia Smith considers what a consistently liberal view of affirmative obligation would have to be in order to accommodate liberal commitments to freedom and justice and also account for longstanding issues that are central to liberal democratic society. Patricia Smith argues that taking these institutions seriously requires the rejection of atomistic individualism and, instead, the acceptance of a moderate view of social obligation.
The word lucid means mentally clear or conscious awareness in a dream. Achieving the awareness of self and the ability to know you are dreaming while dreaming is the official definition of Lucidity. However, there is low lucidity and high lucidity. We want to achieve high lucidity where we can actually control the dream. Not just achieve awareness.
Arrianna lives in a world in which portals, parallel universes and travelling through space, dimension and time are for some at least everyday occurrences. Still grieving the loss of her beloved guardian grandfather Arrianna's life is further ripped apart when Theo her younger brother vanishes without a trace. His disappearance heralds the return of Kodo grandfathers mysterious friend. Kodo promises to help Arrianna. Before he can do this he must reawaken memories within her of her true ancestry with her Star family and the incredible Star Beings of Astaurias. Only they have the power to save Theo and the 'forgotten ones' from the dark forces threatening to engulf and obliterate everything standing in the way of complete Earthly and Galactic domination. The Star Council convene. Headed by Gaelun and the exotic Lady Samia a plan is formed. The mightiest shapeshifting Star Warriors unite with Gatekeepers, Star Beings, Light Beings and phenomenal power animals to wrestle back power from the hideous Slakers and their one true master of all that is Dark, Karalan.Accompanied by a small advance party made up of Kodo, Wolf, Nikolai and Yula, Arrianna sets out to rescue her brother and reclaim her future. The struggle for light begins even before they set foot on Karalan's corrupted universe. Everyone's strength, endurance and commitment is stretched to breaking point as each looks within to find the will to go on with their mission. Arrianna struggles with her own inner demons and a strange emotional dilemma. Has she the courage to fight the biggest battle of all. Will her Star Warrior be able to save her and assist her in fulfilling her destiny?
An award-winning author presents a portrait of Black America in the nineteenth century Over the course of two decades, award-winning poet Patricia Smith has amassed a collection of rare nineteenth-century photographs of Black men, women, and children who, in these pages, regard us from the staggering distance of time. Unshuttered is a vessel for the voices of their incendiary and critical era. Smith’s searing stanzas and revelatory language imbue the subjects of the photos with dynamism and revived urgency while she explores how her own past of triumphs and losses is linked inextricably to their long-ago lives: We ache for fiction etched in black and white. Our eyes never touch. These tragic grays and bustles, mourners’ hats plopped high upon our tamed but tangled crowns, strain to disguise what yearning does with us. The poet’s unrivaled dexterity with dramatic monologue and poetic form reanimates these countenances, staring back from such yesterdays, and the stories they may have told. This is one of American literature’s finest wordsmiths doing what she does best—unreeling history to find its fierce and formidable lyric.
In the 1960s, the live of black children were shaped by the glittery specter of Motown--a world of furious flash, undeniable glamour, and impossible romantic ideals. Some discovered the truth before it was too late. Others still drape their blues in the silken sounds, swirling in dimly-lit rooms in an endless, blinding slow dance.Patricia Smith, born and raised on Chicago's West Side, grew and thrived on the bright promise of Motown. Life According to Motown, the new collection by the five-time champion of Chicago's famous Uptown Poetry Slam, recounts in vivid imagery the lessons taught by and learned from Motown, as well as a thrilling collection of new works.
Distant Suns - The Journey Home is the sequel to Distant Suns.The crew of the star ship Terra - the last hope to avoid extinction for the human race - are nearly two years from the dying planet Earth, when their four thousand year long journey, to reach the first possible habitable world, is unexpectedly halted.
'Islands - The Epidemic' is the first in the Islands series. Six months into an experiment to prove self-sufficiency is possible at the bottom of the sea, a war breaks out and, soon after, the five hundred specialists lose contact with the surface.****Palov Kilchinski stared the length of the room, his eyes fixed on the top of the stairs.Seconds earlier the whole world had seemed to momentarily jump and, as his senses tingled painfully on high-alert, an explosion followed by a rolling roar impacted the twin doors leading into the basement. Triggered by a sharp shot of adrenaline, his blinkered, tunnelled vision focused on the timber. As the wood visibly billowed, swelling and straining against the lock and hinges, Palov instinctively stepped away - but it did not crack and the frame held. Fine dust escaped the base as the doors shuddered back into their seating, ballooning down the stairs to amass in a slow moving eddy until a dense shard-filled fog blocked the exit.Escape was not Palov's concern; nor were the alarms which warned the building was ablaze, or the screams of survivors from the floor above.He scanned the basement for structural damage. At the far end of the room two wide cracks had appeared. One snaked down the wall to almost floor level; the other ran the length of the concrete ceiling, splitting the basement in two. He turned to his colleague. "Check the seals are intact." Mikile Brunev - the only other in the building who was privy to the true nature of the facility - crossed to a touch screen on the right of a heavily fortified metal door and studied the readings. Positioned at eye level it was equipped with a line of LEDs, all of which were mute - bar one. This single red light, glowing like a ripe autumn berry, indicated that the internal pressure within the chambers had fluctuated slightly. It happened from time to time and was not an automatic alert that something was faulty, since even a minuscule change would be registered. The noise upstairs intensified as the search for survivors began. Muffled calls, stifled by the basement's extraordinarily thick walls, intermingled with screams when limbs were released and the injured moved. Equipment, upended then dropped, loosened more dust from the ceiling and widened the fracture further. The two men, focusing on their task, were oblivious to the chaos above. Mikile entered a string of commands on the screen. He hoped to balance the pressure and extinguish the LED, but instead it seemed to have an adverse effect when a second diode began to glow, followed immediately by a third. He looked over his shoulder. "There are three lights on," he gasped. "It's all right," Palov replied, the calmness in his voice hiding a barely-controlled terror. "Anything less than five means the chambers remain hermetically sealed."When Mikile returned his attention to the screen he found a further LED had sprung to life. "There's now..." he stopped as another lit. "No " then a sixth and a seventh, "Please God No "By now Palov could see for himself the string of pulsating red beads that adorned the safety panel and, as his self-preservation shut down, his thoughts went immediately to his family and loved ones. He knew what had to be done and it had to be done fast. Prompted into action, he crossed the room to the phone."Go and see what's happening upstairs," he instructed as he dialled an outside line, but when his colleague never moved, he screamed: "Mikile . No-one must be allowed to leave; you know what you must do "Mikile was also ex-army and it was only discipline that kept him going now. Tearing his eyes away from the safety panel, he grabbed an Uzi and two spare clips from a cupboard then hurriedtowards the stairs.****Also by Patricia Smith: Time Split, Time Split-Briggs Distant Suns, Distant Suns-The Journey Home, Distant Suns-The Silexous, Distant Suns-Mettle and Nebathan.
This enthralling historical novel brings alive the dark world of medieval religion and hypocrisy. Innocence? No protection. No protection at all. There was a moment of total silence when even birds were hushed. Then we heard hooves. Into the square trotted a magnificent white palfrey with richly-embossed saddle, tossing its head in silent rebellion as the rider jerked at the reins. "I give you my blessing " the man shouted. I tried not to flinch, hoping my look of horror hadn't given me away. That tight, clipped voice was horribly familiar; his long nose and fleshy chin could only belong to one man. The Inquisitor. In Toulouse. How I cursed my over-confidence. What a fool I'd been to ignore my doubts. Our most precious gift was beyond price and for it he'd chase us to the gates of Hell itself. But recriminations were useless. Perhaps the man wouldn't notice us. Or perhaps this was Fate. He dismounted, gave the reins to a soldier and strode like an oversized, hunched vulture straight towards where I stood. Anton, desperate for glory, is one of hundreds of Cathar heretics besieged in the doomed citadel of Monts gur. Reluctantly he agrees to smuggle a small package to safety and leave the Citadel to its fate. Even more reluctantly he must accept a companion - Anna Marie, feisty, resourceful and able to charm leaves off the trees. Inside the package lies a secret that many will torture or kill to possess. Is it God's greatest gift which will redeem mankind forever, or 'the divine curse', destroyer of Christianity? But they have their own demons to face - and a relationship to forge. They flee across a divided, violent and fearful France, relentlessly pursued by the mysterious Inquisitor and seeking sanctuary which they never find. Dr.Valerie Levy (author of 'Midwyf') comments, "This is a gem - what a pleasure to read a well-written story set in such a fascinating period of history. I have read several books about the Cathars and medieval Europe; this has to be one of the most interesting." Janet Bettle (author of legal thrillers 'Unnatural Causes', 'The Confession', 'Dead Man's Shoes') says, "It took me into a totally different world, my guides being two young French people on the run from religious persecutors. The characters were interesting and developed over the course of the story; the plot was exciting and fast-moving. It managed to be entertaining and informative at the same time, introducing me into a world that I knew so little about."
