"Philip Whalen (1923-2002) is a key figure in both the Beat and San Francisco Renaissance movements of the New American Poetry. Whalen authored twenty collections of verse, more than twenty broadsides, two novels, a huge assemblage of autobiographical literary journals, nine or ten experimental prose works, and dozens of critical essays, lectures, commentaries, introductions, prefaces, and interviews. But he came to regard his literary journals as his most important prose legacy. A professed Buddhist for most of his adult life, Whalen was ordained a Zen Buddhist monk in 1972 in what is arguably still the most influential Zen Buddhist training temple complex in North America. In some ways Whalen begs a comparison with Thomas Merton, the twentieth century's most significant Christian monk-poet. But where Merton contained himself within the conservative guidelines of Trappist-Christian orthodoxy, Whalen was a closeted homosexual (or bisexual) who inscribed an insider's account of his monastic community with an acid tongue and a keen sense of humor. His pen spared no one in the religious hierarchy he trained under. Whalen's literary work represents a significant turn in American letters, as he and his closest colleagues immersed themselves in East Asian literature and religion, reinvigorating strikingly new linguistic and aesthetic paths for North American writers and artists. However, until now Whalen's forty-plus years of journals-sixty small eight-by-six-inch notebooks-have been largely inaccessible, archived in the rare book and manuscript library at the University of California, Berkeley, undigitized and unavailable online. Thus, the publication of a critical scholarly edition of Whalen's journals and notebooks constitutes an important literary event and an invaluable resource for scholars, teachers, poets, and lay readers who follow twentieth-century North American poetry. In his complex and idiosyncratic poetics, Whalen adopts a unique mind-and-language-centered approach to the creation of a poem. Some of his finest works are "live action" scenes where he fuses moments of bald mental perception with the linguistic intricacies of his inner consciousness (i.e., the words, phrases, and observations that his mind forms, or that other people spill into his mind in the same block of time). The significance of Whalen's journals is manifold, Brian Unger argues, and goes beyond their mere availability. Unger argues that of all the San Francisco Renaissance and Beat poets of the postwar period, Whalen's roots in modernism are among the strongest. He was a voracious reader, as his journals show, and a keen student of earlier literatures. Furthermore, the journals conclusively overturn many misleading arguments about Whalen's personal life as related in the 2015 Whalen biography Crowded by Beauty by David Schneider. The publication of the journals would provide for the first time, and in Whalen's own words, an objective and self-substantiated account of his life with biographical information that has never before been generally available. The Whalen journals make clear as never before the primary psychological forces driving his personal life, his interior life as a poet and a religious monk, and they shed important light on the intriguing complexity of his philosophical and phenomenological poetics"--

JACK FLETCHER FACES HIS TOUGHEST CHALLENGE YET. After a snowstorm forces him to take shelter, Jack comes across a village in need of protection from raiding mountain bandits. Torn between moving on or helping, Jack is persuaded to stay and fight the villagers' cause. But Jack is the first and only samurai to do so. Now he must enlist other warriors to the villagers' aid before the bandits return to steal their harvest. No easy task when the reward is so little and he is a foreigner. If only he had his friends to call on... Using the Ring of Fire, can Jack overpower the bandits and win?

From beloved Zen teacher Norman Fischer, a collection of essays spanning a life of inquiry into Zen practice, relationship, social engagement, and spiritual creativity. "Looking backwards at a life lived, walking forward into more life to live built on all that, trying not to be too much influenced by what's already been said and done, not to be held to a point of view or an identity previously expressed, trying to be surprised and undone and maybe even dismayed by what lies ahead."--Norman Fischer Norman Fischer is a Zen priest, poet, and translator whose writings, teachings, and commitment to interfaith dialogue have supported and inspired Buddhist, Jewish, and other spiritual practitioners for decades. When You Greet Me I Bow spans the entirety of Norman Fischer's career and is the first collection of his writings on Buddhist philosophy and practice. Broken into four sections--the joy and catastrophe of relationship; thinking, writing, and emptiness; cultural encounters; and social engagement--this book allows us to see the fascinating development of the mind and interests of a gifted writer and profoundly committed practitioner.

Members of The Elite, guided by Lucifer, developed The System over centuries. Their goal is world domination and the culling of humanity. Billy Ringwald’s ascent to power was driven by The System’s creation of war, social manipulation, drug addiction, and fear. To Billy and The Elite, people are an overly abundant resource meant to serve their evil desires. Angelo Salvatore is a man from an American Midwest blue-collar family. He grew up poor as one of the pawns in the shadows of The System. Through pain and suffering, Angelo’s sheer will, and determination raise him above the predetermined caste into which he was born. His success provides a view of the evil and darkness that surrounds him. Angelo is on a collision course with Billy Ringwald and The Elite.

Half down-and-dirty adventure and half inspirational memoir, this title documents an unusual pilgrimage taken by earthy scientist Nick Scott and fastidious Buddhist monk Ajahn Sucitto, who together retraced the Buddha's footsteps through India.

Behind the serene faade of Saint Clotildes lurks a murderer. Mother Rosarias death appears natural to everyone except Sister Camille who solicits the advice of a friend, Detective Hank Kummer. The alarmed new Mother Superior orders Camille to a psychologist. There, Sister Camille examines her motives for embracing religious life. This mystery novel reveals rituals and conflicts of personalities in an order of nuns. Sister Camille, now Maggie Brenner is eager to kick off her nun oxfords for a pair of high heels and discovers her sexuality. At a lake resort she becomes involved with Detective Kummer. Their association leads to romance.

Previously in Book 1 of the Prophets and the ExecutionerThe AwakeningIt was December 2011 when Steven Di Carlo suffered a horrific accident that put him in a coma for sixteen days. During those sixteen days, he was awakened to his purpose on earth by being shown several of his past lives, spanning thousands of years and a vision of a future time.His story began on his home planet amid a devastating war, a planet destroyed by greed, a home they chose to abandon in search of another. Arriving on Earth ten thousand years ago, they found a planet in dire need of cleansing and not much safer than the one they had left behind. Too tired to search for another and too eager for their long journey to end, they decided that Earth would become their new home.In 949, Plati, Greece, living his life as Thaddeus, son of Constantine, his two uncles were executed, and his father was the one who ordered the execution.In 1789, Lockerbie, Scotland, living his life as Francis Mackenzie, he was awakened to the evil forces of Daniel Macleod, the brutal murder of his two children, and the loss of his wife, who died of a broken heart a year later!In 1958, living his life as Giuseppe D'Amato, he was awakened to the wickedness of Luciano Lo Sciavo at an epic battle in the small Italian village of Amato. His only son was shot dead, and his wife died trying to save him!In 2011, Riverdale, New York, living his present-day life as Steven Di Carlo, he was awakened to a vision of a future where his wife and children would be brutally murdered and the world would be brought to the brink of darkness. To save his ninth family and all of humankind, he would need the help of others like him and the guidance of the path to defeat the darkness.Will the executioner be able to save them, or will evil prevail? Find out in The Darkness, book 2 of the trilogy The Prophets and the Executioner.