The forest is a dangerous place, where siren song lures men and women to their deaths. For centuries, a witch has harvested souls to feed the heartless tree, using its power to grow her domain.When Owen Merrick is lured into the witch’s wood, one of her tree-siren daughters, Seren, saves his life instead of ending it. Every night, he climbs over the garden wall to see her, and every night her longing to become human deepens. But a shift in the stars foretells a dangerous curse, and...

An enchanting, romantic YA fairytale Echo Alkaev's world falls apart when her father mysteriously disappears. She finds him half-frozen in the winter forest, guarded by a strange talking wolf who proposes a bargain: Echo will live for a year in his house to save her father's life. In the wolf's enchanted house, something dark and strange lies behind every door. Echo discovers a magical library full of books-turned-mirrors, and a young man named Hal who is trapped inside of them. She must s...

It has always been Eda’s dream to become empress, no matter the cost. Haunted by her ambition and selfishness, she’s convinced that the only way to achieve her goal is to barter with the gods. But all requests come with a price and Eda bargains away the soul of her best friend in exchange for the crown.Years later, her hold on the empire begins to crumble and her best friend unexpectedly grows sick and dies. Gnawed by guilt and betrayal, Eda embarks on a harrowing journey to confro...

One morning, I realized that it might be helpful to compare insights from my old diary entries with my current experiences. A common thread emerged: my inner conflict, which stemmed from my longing for connection with my dysfunctional family and my desire for creative freedom. Unable to recognize earlier that I had a narcissistic father, I sought his love and approval. That could not succeed. Only by learning to accept myself with all my faults and strengths and freeing myself from self-de...

This volume examines all aspects of using agent or individual-based simulation. This approach represents systems as individual elements having their own set of differing states and internal processes. The interactions between elements in the simulation represent interactions in the target systems. What makes this "social" is that it can represent an observed society.Social systems include all those systems where the components have individual agency but also interact with each othe...

Social systems are among the most complex known. This poses particular problems for those who wish to understand them. The complexity often makes analytic approaches infeasible and natural language approaches inadequate for relating intricate cause and effect. However, individual- and agent-based computational approaches hold out the possibility of new and deeper understanding of such systems.Simulating Social Complexity examines all aspects of using agent- or individual-based simu...

**“Epic, musical, and tender.”— Kirkus ReviewsCan’t You Hear It, Talia? Can’t You Hear the Waves Singing?**Sixteen-year-old Talia was born to a life of certainty and luxury, destined to become Empress of half the world. But when an ambitious rival seizes power, she and her mother are banished to a nowhere province on the far edge of the Northern Sea.It is here, in the drafty halls of the Ruen Dahr,that Talia discovers family secrets, a melancholy boy with a...

It has always been Eda's dream to become empress, no matter the cost. Haunted by her ambition and selfishness, she's convinced that the only way to achieve her goal is to barter with the gods. But all requests come with a price and Eda bargains away the soul of her best friend in exchange for the crown.Years later, her hold on the empire begins to crumble and her best friend unexpectedly grows sick and dies. Gnawed by guilt and betrayal, Eda embarks on a harrowing journey to confro...

Echo Alkaev's safe and carefully structured world falls apart when her father leaves for the city and mysteriously disappears. Believing he is lost forever, Echo is shocked to find him half-frozen in the winter forest six months later, guarded by a strange talking wolf—the same creature who attacked her as a child. The wolf presents Echo with an ultimatum: if she lives with him for one year, he will ensure her father makes it home safely. But there is more to the wolf than Echo realizes.

Can't you hear it, Talia? Can't you hear the waves singing?Sixteen-year-old Talia was born to a life of certainty and luxury, destined to become Empress of half the world. But when an ambitious rival seizes power, she and her mother are banished to a nowhere province on the far edge of the Northern Sea.It is here, in the drafty halls of the Ruen-Dahr, that Talia discovers family secrets, a melancholy boy with a troubling vision of her future, and a relic that holds...

In the realm of literature, where imagination reigns supreme, William Cavendish, the enigmatic Duke of Newcastle, pens an extraordinary masterpiece that transports readers to a world beyond their wildest dreams. "To The Duchesse of Newcastle, On Her New Blazing-World" is a literary odyssey that defies convention, inviting us to embark on a journey to a distant planet where the boundaries of reality blur and the impossible becomes tangible. Prepare to be captivated by a tale that weaves tog...

A dark and romantic epic fantasy retelling of the Cinderella story, about a girl who must team up with the prince she despises to defeat an evil creature threatening their kingdom. The fourth standalone novel in the New York Times bestselling Ravenspire series by C. J. Redwine.Blue de la Cour has her life planned: hide the magic in her blood and continue trying to turn metal into gold so she can help her city’s homeless. But when her father is murdered and...