Stella is a bored teen who's part of the first generation to grow up immersed in a world of virtual reality games. Her parents only allow her to play, bland all-ages titles, one of which is called "Crystal Fighters"--a very bubbly and positive world where you assume the role of a magical girl. Through a series of events, she discovers that other players in the game have created a secret magical girl fight club that adds a whole new world of thrills and challenges to her mundane world. Now that she's gotten her wish of finding peers like her and something exciting in her life, she also discovers a dark side to magical girls, and finds herself having to prove her worth in a series of tournaments where if she loses she can never come back.

[Siren Menage Amour ManLove: Erotic Romance, Alternative, Paranormal, Futuristic/Science Fiction, MMM, HEA] Asteroids crashed on earth. Some humans, animals, and plants evolved, developing powers. New types of plants have also sprung to life. Remy Webb unexpectedly awakens as an Evolved Soldier and Protector or ESP after consuming a bottle of elixir instead of only a single drop as prescribed. He must acquire information before going after those who almost kill him. The Lawson League provides information for the right price, but Remy doesn't have that kind of money or anything else valuable enough. He must find another way in. Fabian Lawson is an only child. His parents don't allow him to hunt the mutated animals and plants unless he gets Dante Hayes, a ten-crystal ESPs and one of the most powerful beings, as his bodyguard. Thankfully, Dante agrees. Fabian is doubly blessed when Remy, a newly awakened ten-crystal mage, joins in the hunt in an enclosed zone. Feelings develop, but there's also danger. Can the three men survive while fighting for their love?

Music is a powerful process and resource that can shape and support who we are and wish to be. The interaction between musical identities and learning music highlights school music education’s potential contributions and responsibilities, especially in supporting young people’s mental health and well-being. Through the distinctive stories and drawings of Aaron, Blake, Conor, Elijah, Michael, and Tyler, this book reveals the musical identities of teenage boys in their final year of study at an Australian boys’ school. This text serves as an interface between music, education, and psychology using narrative inquiry. Previous research in music education often seeks to generalise boys, whereas this study recognises and celebrates the diverse individual voices of students where music plays a significant role in their lives. Adolescent boys’ musical identities are examined using the theories of identity work and possible selves, and their underlying music values and uses are considered important guiding principles and motivating goals in their identity construction. A teaching and learning framework to shape and support multiple musical identities in senior secondary class music is presented. The relatable and personal stories in this book will appeal to a broad readership, including music teachers, teacher educators, researchers, and readers interested in the role of music in our lives. Creative and arts-based research methods, including narrative inquiry and innovative draw and tell interviews, will be particularly relevant for research method courses and postgraduate research students.

Don't miss this epic tale of magic and warriors in a desperate race against superior forces to save the center of all civilization. The vastness of the deep desert holds the secret of the thousand year old temple of the forgotten Goddess Narine. Young Crystal Warrior Darian discovers the temple but the Crystal, center of civilization, is under magical attack by unknown forces. Darian vows to return to finish their quest for a third hidden obelisk, which will allow them entry into the chamber of the Twelve Tablets. Recalled from the fartherest lands Crystal warriors gather together to battle a force four times their number. But time is short. It may be that their only choice is a horrendous, devastating weapon band long ago. They may be forced to use it! Tarina - known as Awiel of the Dance, is a sexy and talented Veil Dancer and Crystal Seeress. Born of the desert, her physical and crystal magic abilities belie her youth. Rowan - captain of the Crystal Warrior Elite. His task is to organize an army from few resources to battle four times their number. The horrors he must use to save the Crystal are devastating Darian - a young Crystal Warrior who explores the vastness of the deep desert and discovers an ancient temple. The ways he learns from his deep desert friends serve him well. Rashid - a rich mercenary of the deep desert and fellow explorer who leads the group that discovers the ancient temple. Many others play important roles in this tale of villans and heroes. Don't miss this tale of magic and warriors and daring deeds! Reviews: ***** This story held my interest. I'd recommend it. ·· Constant @Amazon ***** More of the same characters I loved in the first book and more. I loved the story. I'd recommend it. ·· JD King ***** The power of the Crystal and the power of the crystal warriors makes for a great battle scene. Tarina is one tough and beautiful young lady. ·· W.R. Masters ***** Excellent story. I devoured this book in a day and a half... Overall, I enjoyed the banter between the various characters, the insight into the hierarchy of the Crystal City, and, of course, the intrigue behind the battle between the forces of good and evil. Well done!. ·· Patricia Hamill on Goodreads

The Crystals series - as you may already know - will hopefully be completed in a decalogy which will start from the creation of the universe, will transcend all human civilization, will come to the present and continue into the future, summarily showing the development of human civilization. In the first book, we saw the discovery of an object with strange properties, the study and finally the ‘cosmic’ journey in which we observed the Big Bang, the creation of galaxies and star systems.The 2nd book refers to the creation of the solar system, the creation and structure of the earth, the appearance of life on earth and its developmental course. This whole period, which in fact was initiated about five billion years ago, is elaborated with mythological fights and dwells, fitting in reality to mythological forms as natural forces, and that is why they are named ‘Supernatural’. Thus, we observe the drama of archetypal life on planet earth in the form of Supernatural Powers.The Titans with their leader, Cronos dominate the scene in the 2nd book. The structural upheavals on planet earth are presented in the form of epic battles and struggles, as well as the calamities and extinction of life but also the emergence of new life forms on earth. The 2nd Clash of the Titans brings us to about 50 million years ago with the final triumph of the Supernatural Powers in their fight against the Hypercosmic Powers followed by their slippage into the arrogance of power which will cause the 3rd Clash of the Titans.Continuing on this magic journey and keeping the White Crystal as the ‘vehicle’ of our transport, the reader of this and the other books in the series will observe the development of the human civilization from the creation of the universe to this day, through the use of myth, allegory and real events and scientific knowledge.The following 10 books with follow with the following proposed titles:1st Battle of the Titans: Clash between Vacuum and the Hypercosmic (Creation) 2nd Battle of the Titans: Clash between Hypercosmic and the Supernatural (Celestial Battle) 3rd Battle of the Titans: Clash between Natural and the Supernatural (Zeus-Cronos) 4th Battle of the Titans: Clash between Natural and the Paranormal (Battle of Giants) 5th Battle of the Titans: Clash between Natural and the Metaphysical (Prometheus) 6th Battle of the Titans: Clash between the Good and the Evil (White-Dark Crystal) 7th Battle of the Titans: Clash between the Sociopolitical and the Counter-sociopolitical (Early Civilizations) 8th Battle of the Titans: Clash between Humanism and Technocracy (Later Periods) 9th Battle of the Titans: Clash between Civilization and Barbarism (Current Times) 10th Battle of the Titans: Clash between Earthlings and Extraterrestrials (Intergalactic Travel)

From the dance floor of a tango club to group therapy classes, from ballet to community theatre, improvised dance is everywhere. For some dance artists, improvisation is one of many approaches within the choreographic process. For others, it is a performance form in its own right. And while it has long been practiced, it is only within the last twenty years that dance improvisation has become a topic of critical inquiry. With The Oxford Handbook of Improvisation in Dance, dancer, teacher, and editor Vida L. Midgelow provides a cutting-edge volume on dance improvisation in all its facets. Expanding beyond conventional dance frameworks, this handbook looks at the ways that dance improvisation practices reflect our ability to adapt, communicate, and respond to our environment. Throughout the handbook, case studies from a variety of disciplines showcase the role of individual agency and collective relationships in improvisation, not just to dancers but to people of all backgrounds and abilities. In doing so, chapters celebrate all forms of improvisation, and unravel the ways that this kind of movement informs understandings of history, socio-cultural conditions, lived experience, cognition, and technologies.

He is a monster who discovers he had a heart; She is a woman who wants to remain unknown… Jarmen D’ju has no memories of his previous life. They were stolen in the lab that changed him into a monster. Though he was rescued, he knows he will never truly have the life he wants. As a being of half organic material and half cybernetic engineering, Jarmen will always need to hide. Finding a partner is not an option, for who could ever love a monster? Jane Doe awakes aboard an alien spaceship with haunting memories of her former life—a life filled with tragedy that almost killed her. Rescued and protected by her new circus family, she knows she has been given a second chance at life—but chances are fleeting and happiness is nothing more than an illusion where she came from. She thinks it will be the same here until she meets an alien who is more machine than he is man. In the most unlikely of places, Jarmen discovers he has a heart and Jane finds the only man in the galaxy who can take away her nightmares. A single moment in time changes their lives forever and forces Jarmen to make a decision that could change the history of the universe. With the help of some unusual friends, can Jarmen defy time? Or will a cheated death refuse to be denied? A USA Today and NY Times bestselling author, the internationally acclaimed S.E. Smith presents a story with her signature humor and unpredictable twists! Exciting adventure, hot romance, and iconic characters have won her a legion of fans. Over TWO MILLION books sold!

When the Crystal Guardian, Pieter, handed over the danburite crystal to eight-year-old Sera, he intended her mother be the one to release the cursed warrior from the crystal. But Sera’s heartfelt wish upon the crystal somehow frees Danbur from his prison. Worse, she bonds with him. Danbur now has no chance to break his curse, and despite all the magic at Pieter's command, this is a mess he has no idea how to resolve. Danbur is entranced by the little girl. In the weeks remaining before the crystal takes him again he resolves to protect her— even if it means clashing with her mother, Opal, a damaged young woman who doesn't trust any man... let alone a warrior struggling to make sense of an alien world. Danbur is drawn to Opal, and if he had more time he would do his utmost to thaw a heart frozen by fear of pain and betrayal. But his priority must be helping her young daughter cope with the side-effects of the bond. Resisting this complex, compelling stranger is taking all the willpower Opal possesses. And then her past catches up with her, catapulting her back into the media spotlight and bringing her to the attention of the powerful man who once ruined her life. With Sera in jeopardy, Opal is forced to turn to Danbur, the man she can't bring herself to fully trust. All she can do is hope his claims about his mysterious 'connection' to Sera aren't the stuff of fantasy after all. But what Opal doesn't realize is that the clock is ticking. And Danbur's time is about to run out. Paranormal Romance, approx 100,000 words The Crystal Warriors Series: The Crystal Warrior (Book 1) Ruby's Dream (Book 2) Jade's Choice (Book 3) The Crystal Warriors Series Bundle (Books 1-3) Opal's Wish (Book 4)

Since the beginning, much of Italian cinema has been sustained by transforming literature into moving images. This tradition of literary adaptation continues today, challenging artistic form and practice by pressuring the boundaries that traditionally separate film from its sister arts. In the twentieth century, director Luchino Visconti is a keystone figure in Italy's evolving art of adaptation. From the tumultuous years of Fascism and postwar Neorealism, through the blockbuster decade of the 1960s, into the arthouse masterpieces of the 1970s, Visconti's adaptations marked a distinct pathway of the Italian cinematic imagination. Luchino Visconti and the Alchemy of Adaptation examines these films together with their literary antecedents. Moving past strict book-to-film comparisons, it ponders how literary texts encounter and interact with a history of cultural and cinematic forms, genres, and traditions. Matching the major critical concerns of the postwar period (realism, political filmmaking, cinematic modernism) with more recent notions of adaptation and intermediality, this book reviews how one of Italy's greatest directors mined literary ore for cinematic inspiration.