Four teenagers are drawn from an Irish mountaintop into an enchanted land and gifted with great powers: but with power comes responsibility, and a vast evil has noticed their arrival . . . On the summit of the fabled mountain Slievenamon in Ireland there is a doorway to an ancient land of terrible power. The gate of Feimhin has lain closed for centuries, the secret of its opening long lost - until four orphans drawn together by Fate pass through the portal and find the enchanted but war-ravaged world of Tir, a strange land peopled by beings of magic. Here death waits at every corner, and they must learn to fight if they are to survive. And they'd better learn quickly, because their enemy, the Tyrant of the Wastelands, is growing in power. 'The best fantasy novel I've ever read . . . an epic adventure that just does not stop!' said Glenda A. Bixler on Authorsden!

Four young men and women fell into the magical land of Tir through a mysterious portal in Ireland - and now the fate of two worlds lies on their shoulders in this 'enthralling' (LA Times) and 'fast-paced, action-packed and truly fantastical journey' (Fantasy Book Review) The Tyrant has control of the artefact known as the Fail, and as he strengthena his hold on the forces of dark magic, he now threatens Earth as well as Tir. In a violently dystopian London, Mark has joined forced with Nantosueta to search for the Sword of Feimhin, while on Tir, Alan has mustered a Shee army and is intent taking the fight to the Tyrant - but obstacles obstruct his path at every turn. And Kate, now in the in-between world of Dromenon, finds herself entering the Land of the Dead . . . Day by day and hour by hour, the looming threat grows. 'Ryan's grand epic style . . . Passionate and dedicated fantasy fans will find a rich, immersive world and carefully handled characters' Booklist

Scientists elucidate the astounding collective sensory capacity of Earth and its evolution through time. Chimeras and Consciousness begins the inquiry into the evolution of the collective sensitivities of life. Scientist-scholars from a range of fields-including biochemistry, cell biology, history of science, family therapy, genetics, microbial ecology, and primatology-trace the emergence and evolution of consciousness. Complex behaviors and the social imperatives of bacteria and other life forms during 3,000 million years of Earth history gave rise to mammalian cognition. Awareness and sensation led to astounding activities; millions of species incessantly interacted to form our planet's complex conscious system. Our planetmates, all of them conscious to some degree, were joined only recently by us, the aggressive modern humans. From social bacteria to urban citizens, all living beings participate in community life. Nested inside families within communities inside ecosystems, each metabolizes, takes in matter, expends energy, and excretes. Each of the members of our own and other species, in groups with incessantly shifting alliances, receives and processes information. Mergers of radically different life forms with myriad purposes-the "chimeras" of the title-underlie dramatic metamorphosis and other positive evolutionary change. Since early bacteria avoided, produced, and eventually used oxygen, Earth's sensory systems have expanded and complexified. The provocative essays in this book, going far beyond science but undergirded by the finest science, serve to put sensitive, sensible life in its cosmic context.

The Doomsday Genie is a fast-paced action thriller by bestselling writer, Frank P. Ryan. Set in America, it describes the desperate response of a small group of heroes to a presumed W.M.D. attack featuring a genetically engineered bioweapon. It is grounded on real understanding of modern science as you would expect from a bestselling author who is also happens to be a gold-medallist physician and distinguished biological scientist. Ryan came to widespread acclaim with thrillers such as "Goodbye Baby Blue" and "Tiger Tiger. His "The Forgotten Plague" was a Book of the Year for the New York Times, "Virus X" was an Amazon com best-seller and "Darwin's Blind Spot" was the "Amazon Featured Book" recommended by Charlie Munger at the 2003 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. His books have been translated into many languages and have been the subject of more than a dozen television features and documentaries. The book was the subject of a blog on www.lablit.com and has attracted a high degree of advance and interactive attention on Frank's website www.fprbooks.com