The catchphrase "Almost Heaven" may mean much more to those who uncover the mystery surrounding Eden, West Virginia. Tyhannon Briggs' recurring dream of this majestic place consumes his thoughts until he decides to venture into Eden's lush forest to find a paradise only claimed in local Appalachian folklore. Uncover the meaning and metaphysical realm of E.D.E.N. in Starks' debut novella.

On the alien, sunless planet they call Eden, the 532 members of the Family shelter beneath the light and warmth of the Forest’s lantern trees. Beyond the Forest lie the mountains of the Snowy Dark and a cold so bitter and a night so profound that no man has ever crossed it. The Oldest among the Family recount legends of a world where light came from the sky, where men and women made boats that could cross the stars. These ships brought us here, the Oldest say—and the Family must only wait for the travelers to return. But young John Redlantern will break the laws of Eden, shatter the Family and change history. He will abandon the old ways, venture into the Dark…and discover the truth about their world. Already remarkably acclaimed in the UK, Dark Eden is science fiction as literature; part parable, part powerful coming-of-age story, set in a truly original alien world of dark, sinister beauty--rendered in prose that is at once strikingly simple and stunningly inventive.

Surreal and grotesque, the world presented here is a modern wasteland. In this dark testament, the human race is clearly God's mistake. The time has come for a new Messiah, whose mission is not to promise the salvation of humanity, but to enforce its cold extinction. The agent of this act is subject to horrific visions of a world torn by atrocity and holocaust and choked with industrial waste. A master of hideous illusions, Manheim is a dark magician, envisioning nightmare scenarios. Yet his madness reflects a mad world, which makes him an ideal agent for God's new purpose. In the story, reality and illusion merge, each reinforcing the vision of termination.

An important though little understood aspect of the response of nineteenth-century Americans to nature is the widespread interest in the scenery of swamps, jungles, and other wastelands. Dark Eden focuses on this developing interest in order to redefine cultural values during a transformative period of American history. Professor Miller shows how for many Americans in the period around the Civil War nature came to be regarded less as a source of high moral insight and more as a sanctuary from an ever more urbanised and technological environment. In the swamps and jungles of the South a whole range of writers and artists found a set of strange and exotic images by which to explore changing social realities of the times and the deep-seated personal pressures that accompanied them.

Inhabiting the universe of the Silver Sea are the Destiners: able-bodied, eagle-like beings that are swift of sword and wing. One day Raeh, having a predilection for danger, flies into the forbidden zone where a magnetic force overtakes him and pulls him into a portal. He is spit from the portal’s end into a magical jungle, where he glimpses the Image Maker. Raeh returns to the Silver Sea with an unquenchable yearning for power. Persuasive and ambitious, he wins the allegiance of many of the Chayil, the Image Maker’s angelic host, and incites a rebellion. A torrid upheaval ensues, befouling the heavens with angelic blood while Raeh increases in power. Valerian and Aurea, the first born of the Image Maker on a new planet, dwell contently in the Garden of Delights, but their hearts will soon be tested. So begins a journey in which all the Image Maker’s created beings will discover the immense power of choice and its inevitable consequences.

Set in the heart of an African city, the plot stretches its tentacles into the United States of America, Europe, and the deep past of Africa. The gripping story pits the modern, westernized Christian mindset against the brilliance of arcane spiritual engineering. What starts out as a love story between an African aristocrat and an American girl explodes into an epic of biblical proportions and a global fad with sinister implications.

Angie Redlantern is the first to spot the boats - five abreast with men in metal masks and spears standing proud, ready for the fight to come. As the people of New Earth declare war on the people of Mainground, a dangerous era has dawned for Eden. After generations of division and disagreement, the two populations of Eden have finally broken their tentative peace, giving way to bloodshed and slaughter. Angie must flee with her family across the pitch black of Snowy Dark to the place where it all started, the stone circle where the people from Earth first landed, where the story of Gela - the mother of them all - began. It is there that Angie witnesses the most extraordinary event, one that will change the history of Eden forever. It will alter their future and re-shape their past. It is both a beginning and an ending. It is the true story of Eden.

Who am I? Where did I come from? Where did life come from? How you answer these questions will profoundly impact how you live your life. Professor Collier has compiled into one engaging volume the scientific case for God and theism encased in the philosophy of one of the most brilliant and unusual scientist/philosophers of our age: Michael Polanyi. Few people have the time to survey the full spectrum of the modern intelligent design movement and how it grew out of and interacts with the writings of Michael Polanyi. With this book you can step back and survey the whole scene, and know exactly who you need to read next if necessary. Collier has condensed the critical details of Polanyi and the Intelligent Design movement into a single volume that informs without being overly simplistic, but is also engaging and fun.