I've always viewed the constellations as rather paper doll-like, static images pinned against the blackness of the night sky, but a few evenings ago while surveying the heavens for a night's viewing, I spotted the star Sirius and started wondering about a passage in Euripides' play, "Iphigeneia at Aulis," that seemingly serves no narrative purpose. The tragedy concerns the Greek fleet prior to sailing for Troy to fight the Trojans and return Helen to Sparta. At the beginning of the play, A...

Novelsmithing provides the beginning novelist, or perhaps even the experienced novelist who has lost his way, with a discussion of the underlying structure and methods of novel writing. Nowhere else can the aspiring author learn the skills necessary to achieve the organic unity of the novelist's divine trinity: character, conflict and theme, so necessary to a fine work of literature.

Brenda is sitting up in bed leaning against the headboard with the white sheet and pink quilt pulled to her neck. She's naked and has her right hand down between her legs and her left hand on her right nipple squeezing hard. She's also thinking hard about Norman Todd, so hard in fact sweat is breaking out on her forehead and in her armpits. Spit is filling her mouth so fast she has to keep swallowing to keep it from running down her chin. She's thinking of the future, on a fantasy date wit...

Available for the first time complete in one volume. Previously published in two volumes as Daughter of Darkness and The Dadouchos. In 480 BC, fifteen-year-old Melaina's biggest worry, she thinks, is wishing to follow Artemis and remain virgin when her mother and grandfather want her to marry and became a priestess. But when the Persians invade, the gods themselves have plans for Melaina, including carrying a divine child and divining for the Greek fleet in a battle to determine the salvat...

David Sheppard's Novelsmithing saved my last novel; his Story Alchemy may well save my work-in-progress. This is the most unusual book on craft I have ever read. My head is popping with new insights on the nature of storytelling, dream and memory, and the blurred line between everyday life and the world of myth. Story Alchemy gives you tools for bringing the stories up from your own psyche. This involves forays through the Iris of Time to meet your narrator, the invasion of your dreams by ...

In this major study, so highly-rated at the time of publication (1974), David Sheppard, the then new Bishop of Liverpool, focuses on the big city and more particularly on those groups of citizens who feel most powerless and hemmed in. With themes as relevant today as they ever were, this is an essential title in understanding the role of the Church in inner-city life.

Father/daughter stories have resonated with readers throughout history, and this current narrative depicts three such relationships encountered in (1) ancient myth, (2) the Elizabethan stage, and (3) modern cinema. Volume one, Introduction to Frankenstein, of this the Tales of the Mythic World series dealt peripherally with the relationship between Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, and her father, the philosopher William Godwin. In this second volume, titled The Eternal Return, we ...

Steps Along Hope Street relates the life of David Sheppard, famous for being the keen sportsman who gave up a career in international cricket to become a vicar. He went on to pioneer the Church of England's social work in the inner city and wound up as the Bishop of Liverpool. Sheppard's book also reflects on the enormous changes within the Church of England in the last 50 years.Sheppard recounts his middle-class childhood and his privileged education at Sherborne and Cambridge. At...

As the bull ran, his huge pink testicles swung from side to side like the clapper of a bell. The year was 1952 and eleven year old Michael was standing in the dirt yard in front of the house with the milk barn off to his left, looking across the corral into Mr Olson's field where the Holstein bull followed a heifer in a half run, his nose at her tail. Michael's father had called his attention to the bull and heifer and had then disappeared into the barn where he was working on the milking ...

Authorised biography of Brian Eno - the 'Father of Ambient Music'A sonic alchemist to the stars, Brian Eno's address book is a veritable who's who of rock and pop. Tellingly, his involvement with Roxy Music, David Bowie, Talking Heads and U2 has coincided with these artists producing their most challenging and critically revered work.ON SOME FARAWAY BEACH is the first serious, critical examination of the life and times of Brian Eno, from an idiosyncratic ch...

The burden of uemployment and disadvantage falls unequally on our divided society. It hits the urban poor most sharply. These people are robbed of choices which God wills for all human beings. The Gospel is both about changing people from inside out and changing the course of events to set people free. David Sheppard spent many years at the centre of urban life. He writes from first-hand experience from his ministry in London and Liverpool, offering still valuable insights into ecumenical ...

This book is about pursuing sleep. It presents all the information you need to chase sleep all the way to Slumberland. It is not about tricking yourself into going to sleep. The method is based on scientific principles and decades of research. It builds off of what we know about the way the mind works. It does not involve medication. And it doesn't take weeks of learning before you can get started. You don't have to change your lifestyle. Read this today, use the method tonight.If ...