Mary Shelley wrote Matilda not long after the phenomenal success of her first novel, Frankenstein, The Modern Prometheus (www.createspace.com/3683197). However, that publication did not carry her name until the second printing five years later. She sent the manuscript of Matilda to her father, William Godwin, who refused to return it to her, probably because of the intimation of incestuous feelings by a father to a daughter. Whether this was autobiographically based or not, readers would assume the worst. Over a hundred years would pass before Matilda would reach the public. Her parents, William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, were famous radicals. Mary Wollstonecraft, an early feminist, died shortly after giving birth to Mary. Godwin did remarry, but his interests were with his equals rather than his daughter; he often entertained other leading writers and intellectuals, such as Charles Lamb, Coleridge, Hazlitt - and Percy Bysshe Shelley, whom she met when she was 14. At 16, the two of them eloped. On a stormy night on Lake Geneva, Dr. Polidori, Byron, and the Shelleys indulged in a contest to see who could come up with the scariest story - this was the era of the Gothic novel, vampires, and ghosts. And Mary Shelley had just lost her second child. Her contribution to the evening's entertainment was soon turned into the novel Frankenstein, which was an immediate sensation. Innovative in its storyline rather than its style, Frankenstein is sometimes touted as the first true science fiction novel. The Shelleys lived together in various places in Europe for eight years, when Shelley died in a boating accident. Mary turned to writing novels to make her way. True to the Romantic tradition, the short novel Matilda explored human emotions in their depths. Family tragedy, loss, incest, total withdrawal-these themes would have been influenced by the her depression following the loss of her children in early childhood. Only one child would reach adulthood. This intimate story, and later novels were not to recapture the popular imagination as Frankenstein had. She would continue writing historical novels, romantic novels, a travel book, until she died at 54. Though her social concerns remained, her issues did not coincide with her father's ideas. He is known as one of the first to articulate the doctrine of utilitarianism, and he wrote several novels, most notably Caleb Williams, which was written as a plea for social justice. She advocated cooperation rather than confrontation, social reform, vegetarianism, and, unlike her father, advocated for marriage-to which Shelley later agreed. How much of Mary Shelley do we see in this short novel? We can only guess. She grew up during the last days of Napoleon, in an era of ferment, radical thinking, new possibilities for women, and a burgeoning literature of gushing emotion we now call the Romantic Era (some traces of it remain in our cultural life). Two other novels of girls winning against odds are: Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Benigna Machiavelli (www.createspace.com/4264375), a young precocious girl who manipulates events to vastly improve her family's chances of happiness. And a novel-length poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh (www.createspace.com/3812489)-a half-Italian orphan girl resists the temptation of an easy marriage to pursue a career as a writer.

New Compare this edition with six others at http: //www.bandannabooks.com/vsghalib.php. Ghalib, a court poet in India during the period of British takeover, excelled in poetry both in Urdu and Persian. Ghazals are a poetry genre with couplets gathered that share a common theme but do not form a narrative sequence. With these two-liners, Ghalib was a master. His subjects range from personal to cosmic, and includes his metaphoric "love affair" with God, in which he protests the neglect or spurning by The Beloved. Ghalib lived by his wits, with cleverness and astuteness. He did not regard himself as a mystic, yet he marvels at the wonders of existence. Ghalib's work gives a sense of the state of India as it came under the British. He himself was not political; Gandhi came to represent that dimension of Indian philosophy with satyagraha. Gandhi's best thought might be seen in Gandhi on the Gita (Bhagavad Gita) (www.createspace.com/4035181).

The I Ching gives advice on how to face any life situation, requiring the seeker to cast yarrowsticks or coins to arrive at an "answer." This edition offers yet another "casting" option, the Button Oracle (online only, at www.bandannabooks.com/iching/button.php); and, if that answer's not enough, use the refresh button. Whether you are a believer or not, the I Ching, perhaps the world's oldest book, stands as a remarkable document of human psychology. However, one translation problem has plagued most Western editions, which typically speak of the "exceptional man" or "he" throughout. To translate assuming that the male pronoun serves for everybody is misleading, however. Why? The language it was written in-Chinese-was, like English, nearly devoid of linguistic gender markers for its pronouns (modern Chinese has added some modifications to clarify gender). While academics tussle over, or ignore, the "correct third-person-singular-of-unspecified-gender pronoun" for the English language, this Mudborn Press/Bandanna Books edition offers eight gendered versions of this text for a modern audience. No, there are not eight genders. But the way that you perceive the human condition may differ from others' views-and your own may change over time. How to choose? Answer these questions to find the version you are most comfortable with: Are you all man (using he, him, his), or all woman (she, her, hers)? Or somewhere in between (s/he, him/her, hers/his)? Do you feel like a split personality arguing with yourself (he or she, him or her, his or hers)? - or you feel plural (they, their, theirs)? Or maybe you don't feel strongly one way or the other (asexual: one, one, one's). Or strongly both, as in the shamanic or two-spirit tradition (he-she, her-him, his-hers). Or just as a human (hu, hum, hus). Try more than one version until you reach your comfort zone; you'll learn about yourself as well as about the I Ching. A REMINDER: This "HE" version uses the traditional or old-fashioned "universal he" pronoun for third-person human reference where sex is not specified, or not known. The I Ching frequently speaks of a hypothetical person, the exceptional or uncommon person; it is used here quite often.

The I Ching gives advice on how to face any life situation, requiring the seeker to cast yarrowsticks or coins to arrive at an "answer." This edition offers yet another "casting" option, the Button Oracle (online only, at www.bandannabooks.com/iching/button.php); and, if that answer's not enough, use the refresh button. Whether you are a believer or not, the I Ching, perhaps the world's oldest book, stands as a remarkable document of human psychology. However, one translation problem has plagued most Western editions, which typically speak of the "exceptional man" or "he" throughout. To translate assuming that the male pronoun serves for everybody is misleading, however. Why? The language it was written in-Chinese-was, like English, nearly devoid of linguistic gender markers for its pronouns (modern Chinese has added some modifications to clarify gender). While academics tussle over, or ignore, the "correct third-person-singular-of-unspecified-gender pronoun" for the English language, this Mudborn Press/Bandanna Books edition offers eight gendered versions of this text for a modern audience. No, there are not eight genders. But the way that you perceive the human condition may differ from others' views-and your own may change over time. How to choose? Answer these questions to find the version you are most comfortable with: Are you all man (using he, him, his), or all woman (she, her, hers)? Or somewhere in between (s/he, him/her, hers/his)? Do you feel like a split personality arguing with yourself (he or she, him or her, his or hers)? - or you feel plural (they, their, theirs)? Or maybe you don't feel strongly one way or the other (asexual: one, one, one's). Or strongly both, as in the shamanic or two-spirit tradition (he-she, her-him, his-hers). Or just as a human (hu, hum, hus). Try more than one version until you reach your comfort zone; you'll learn about yourself as well as about the I Ching. A REMINDER: This "HE" version uses the traditional or old-fashioned "universal he" pronoun for third-person human reference where sex is not specified, or not known. The I Ching frequently speaks of a hypothetical person, the exceptional or uncommon person; it is used here quite often.

The I Ching gives advice on how to face any life situation, requiring the seeker to cast yarrowsticks or coins to arrive at an "answer." This edition offers yet another "casting" option, the Button Oracle (online only, at www.bandannabooks.com/iching/button.php); and, if that answer's not enough, use the refresh button. Whether you are a believer or not, the I Ching, perhaps the world's oldest book, stands as a remarkable document of human psychology. However, one translation problem has plagued most Western editions, which typically speak of the "exceptional man" or "he" throughout. To translate assuming that the male pronoun serves for everybody is misleading, however. Why? The language it was written in-Chinese-was, like English, nearly devoid of linguistic gender markers for its pronouns (modern Chinese has added some modifications to clarify gender). While academics tussle over, or ignore, the "correct third-person-singular-of-unspecified-gender pronoun" for the English language, this Mudborn Press/Bandanna Books edition offers eight gendered versions of this text for a modern audience. No, there are not eight genders. But the way that you perceive the human condition may differ from others' views-and your own may change over time. How to choose? Answer these questions to find the version you are most comfortable with: Are you all man (using he, him, his), or all woman (she, her, hers)? Or somewhere in between (s/he, him/her, hers/his)? Do you feel like a split personality arguing with yourself (he or she, him or her, his or hers)? - or you feel plural (they, their, theirs)? Or maybe you don't feel strongly one way or the other (asexual: one, one, one's). Or strongly both, as in the shamanic or two-spirit tradition (he-she, her-him, his-hers). Or just as a human (hu, hum, hus). Try more than one version until you reach your comfort zone; you'll learn about yourself as well as about the I Ching. A REMINDER: This "HE" version uses the traditional or old-fashioned "universal he" pronoun for third-person human reference where sex is not specified, or not known. The I Ching frequently speaks of a hypothetical person, the exceptional or uncommon person; it is used here quite often.

The I Ching gives advice on how to face any life situation, requiring the seeker to cast yarrowsticks or coins to arrive at an "answer." This edition offers yet another "casting" option, the Button Oracle (online only, at www.bandannabooks.com/iching/button.php); and, if that answer's not enough, use the refresh button. Whether you are a believer or not, the I Ching, perhaps the world's oldest book, stands as a remarkable document of human psychology. However, one translation problem has plagued most Western editions, which typically speak of the "exceptional man" or "he" throughout. To translate assuming that the male pronoun serves for everybody is misleading, however. Why? The language it was written in-Chinese-was, like English, nearly devoid of linguistic gender markers for its pronouns (modern Chinese has added some modifications to clarify gender). While academics tussle over, or ignore, the "correct third-person-singular-of-unspecified-gender pronoun" for the English language, this Mudborn Press/Bandanna Books edition offers eight gendered versions of this text for a modern audience. No, there are not eight genders. But the way that you perceive the human condition may differ from others' views-and your own may change over time. How to choose? Answer these questions to find the version you are most comfortable with: Are you all man (using he, him, his), or all woman (she, her, hers)? Or somewhere in between (s/he, him/her, hers/his)? Do you feel like a split personality arguing with yourself (he or she, him or her, his or hers)? - or you feel plural (they, their, theirs)? Or maybe you don't feel strongly one way or the other (asexual: one, one, one's). Or strongly both, as in the shamanic or two-spirit tradition (he-she, her-him, his-hers). Or just as a human (hu, hum, hus). Try more than one version until you reach your comfort zone; you'll learn about yourself as well as about the I Ching. A REMINDER: This "HE" version uses the traditional or old-fashioned "universal he" pronoun for third-person human reference where sex is not specified, or not known. The I Ching frequently speaks of a hypothetical person, the exceptional or uncommon person; it is used here quite often.

The I Ching gives advice on how to face any life situation, requiring the seeker to cast yarrowsticks or coins to arrive at an "answer." This edition offers yet another "casting" option, the Button Oracle (online only, at www.bandannabooks.com/iching/button.php); and, if that answer's not enough, use the refresh button. Whether you are a believer or not, the I Ching, perhaps the world's oldest book, stands as a remarkable document of human psychology. However, one translation problem has plagued most Western editions, which typically speak of the "exceptional man" or "he" throughout. To translate assuming that the male pronoun serves for everybody is misleading, however. Why? The language it was written in-Chinese-was, like English, nearly devoid of linguistic gender markers for its pronouns (modern Chinese has added some modifications to clarify gender). While academics tussle over, or ignore, the "correct third-person-singular-of-unspecified-gender pronoun" for the English language, this Mudborn Press/Bandanna Books edition offers eight gendered versions of this text for a modern audience. No, there are not eight genders. But the way that you perceive the human condition may differ from others' views-and your own may change over time. How to choose? Answer these questions to find the version you are most comfortable with: Are you all man (using he, him, his), or all woman (she, her, hers)? Or somewhere in between (s/he, him/her, hers/his)? Do you feel like a split personality arguing with yourself (he or she, him or her, his or hers)? - or you feel plural (they, their, theirs)? Or maybe you don't feel strongly one way or the other (asexual: one, one, one's). Or strongly both, as in the shamanic or two-spirit tradition (he-she, her-him, his-hers). Or just as a human (hu, hum, hus). Try more than one version until you reach your comfort zone; you'll learn about yourself as well as about the I Ching. A REMINDER: This "HE" version uses the traditional or old-fashioned "universal he" pronoun for third-person human reference where sex is not specified, or not known. The I Ching frequently speaks of a hypothetical person, the exceptional or uncommon person; it is used here quite often.

The I Ching gives advice on how to face any life situation, requiring the seeker to cast yarrowsticks or coins to arrive at an "answer." This edition offers yet another "casting" option, the Button Oracle (online only, at www.bandannabooks.com/iching/button.php); and, if that answer's not enough, use the refresh button. Whether you are a believer or not, the I Ching, perhaps the world's oldest book, stands as a remarkable document of human psychology. However, one translation problem has plagued most Western editions, which typically speak of the "exceptional man" or "he" throughout. To translate assuming that the male pronoun serves for everybody is misleading, however. Why? The language it was written in-Chinese-was, like English, nearly devoid of linguistic gender markers for its pronouns (modern Chinese has added some modifications to clarify gender). While academics tussle over, or ignore, the "correct third-person-singular-of-unspecified-gender pronoun" for the English language, this Mudborn Press/Bandanna Books edition offers eight gendered versions of this text for a modern audience. No, there are not eight genders. But the way that you perceive the human condition may differ from others' views-and your own may change over time. How to choose? Answer these questions to find the version you are most comfortable with: Are you all man (using he, him, his), or all woman (she, her, hers)? Or somewhere in between (s/he, him/her, hers/his)? Do you feel like a split personality arguing with yourself (he or she, him or her, his or hers)? - or you feel plural (they, their, theirs)? Or maybe you don't feel strongly one way or the other (asexual: one, one, one's). Or strongly both, as in the shamanic or two-spirit tradition (he-she, her-him, his-hers). Or just as a human (hu, hum, hus). Try more than one version until you reach your comfort zone; you'll learn about yourself as well as about the I Ching. A REMINDER: This "HE" version uses the traditional or old-fashioned "universal he" pronoun for third-person human reference where sex is not specified, or not known. The I Ching frequently speaks of a hypothetical person, the exceptional or uncommon person; it is used here quite often.

The Martian Testament peels back the myth of creating a new Earth on Mars. The view from the red planet is startlingly different, and deeper, than anyone imagined. Going to Mars? Throw away the rulebook. Four main characters descend on the red planet for their own reasons: one marooned, another on assignment (so he thought), a third as a lark, and a fourth as an extraordinary power play. As to which is the hero, the reader will have to decide. Much like the Wild West, the "new Martians" write their own rules, even though they need each other to survive the extreme conditions. A journalist makes the long voyage to Mars; his bunkmate is an ambitious politician, with schemes of his own, which unfold in the town, as the journalist discovers one aspect and then another of this amazing planet, capped off by the discovery of the journal of the original "first Martian," who survived years alone on the red planet, ferreting out the secrets of survival, and perhaps the early history of Mars and Astra (which later became the asteroid belt) long before intelligent life began on Earth. Many discoveries, adventures, and revelations. A different kind of novel by Sasha Newborn is also available (www.createspace.com/4176600), The Basement, a Novel of the Sixties -- part memoir of the early Peace Corps in Africa, part a culture clash on returning to an America at war with itself as the narrator also struggles to find himself.

The I Ching gives advice on how to face any life situation, requiring the seeker to cast yarrowsticks or coins to arrive at an "answer." This edition offers yet another "casting" option, the Button Oracle (online only, at www.bandannabooks.com/iching/button.php); and, if that answer's not enough, use the refresh button. Whether you are a believer or not, the I Ching, perhaps the world's oldest book, stands as a remarkable document of human psychology. However, one translation problem has plagued most Western editions, which typically speak of the "exceptional man" or "he" throughout. To translate assuming that the male pronoun serves for everybody is misleading, however. Why? The language it was written in-Chinese-was, like English, nearly devoid of linguistic gender markers for its pronouns (modern Chinese has added some modifications to clarify gender). While academics tussle over, or ignore, the "correct third-person-singular-of-unspecified-gender pronoun" for the English language, this Mudborn Press/Bandanna Books edition offers eight gendered versions of this text for a modern audience. No, there are not eight genders. But the way that you perceive the human condition may differ from others' views-and your own may change over time. How to choose? Answer these questions to find the version you are most comfortable with: Are you all man (using he, him, his), or all woman (she, her, hers)? Or somewhere in between (s/he, him/her, hers/his)? Do you feel like a split personality arguing with yourself (he or she, him or her, his or hers)? - or you feel plural (they, their, theirs)? Or maybe you don't feel strongly one way or the other (asexual: one, one, one's). Or strongly both, as in the shamanic or two-spirit tradition (he-she, her-him, his-hers). Or just as a human (hu, hum, hus). Try more than one version until you reach your comfort zone; you'll learn about yourself as well as about the I Ching. A REMINDER: This "HE" version uses the traditional or old-fashioned "universal he" pronoun for third-person human reference where sex is not specified, or not known. The I Ching frequently speaks of a hypothetical person, the exceptional or uncommon person; it is used here quite often.

The Deadword Dictionary was first written more than twenty years ago. I'm making some changes, based on further refinement of the concept, and also including an "Iffy" section. Here are the rules for the selection of Deadwords: Orphans, words used in only a single common expression, with no flexibility, such as "yore" as in "days of yore." Faux amis, words borrowed from another language but misunderstood or misapplied (a la mode) Obsolete words or phrases Iffy words-you decide whether they still have weight in today's language. You might call this the rearview mirror perspective, with a "huh" under one's breath. Yeah? They really said that? The English language is like a kitchen sponge: it picks up all the tiny pieces of we-don't-know-what but we need a word, so we'll just use this stray one from we-don't-care-where. But when did you last see a "doublet" or "spitoon" or use "whilom"-why keep them around? A little housecleaning is in order here. Got your favorite overworked obsolete nugget? Send it in to [email protected].

As a young poet, Dante Alighieri was at the center of a new attitude sweeping through Italy and southern France. Poets and artists were awakening from a thousand-year yoke we now call the Middle Ages. Giotto showed the way in art by painting real people in his allegorical scenes; Dante used vernacular or street language to write down his actual feelings. And a new subject drove these and other passionate artists: Love. Who were the poets of Dante's circle? This edition of Dante and His Circle is based upon an imaginative recreation of a cultural and intellectual ferment at the birth of a national literature. Dante Gabriel Rossetti brought together poetry of the friends and antagonists of Dante-in particular the poems of the flamboyant Guido Cavalcanti, the staid Cino da Pistoia, and the outrageous Cecco Angiolieri, with many others-and including the curious work of the youthful Dante called the Vita Nuova (The New Life, or My Young Life; available separately), which itself is the subject of comments by Dante's poetic friends. Dante's putative subject is Beatrice/Love-but the Vita Nuova is really an exercise in poetry: Dante sets the emotional scene for a poem, then he writes the poem, then he explains the poem's structure, part by part. Dante himself later became uncomfortable with this work of youth, but he did not disown it. This selected edition of Dante and His Circle concentrates on the eternal theme of Love, leaving aside poems relating to the wars and politics of the time. Love as a subject of serious public discussion signaled the emerging Renaissance, not just a rediscovery of the glories of ancient Greece and Rome, but a new sensibility finding-no-building a platform for personal expression and interchange. Besides the Vita Nuova, Rossetti arranged some poetic exchanges between Dante and Guido Cavalcanti. The Vita Nuova is also available as a stand-alone volume (www.createspace.com/3683218). The woman's perspective on love may have best been told by Sappho (www.createspace.com/4185675), who invented lyric poetry - and what we now know as the guitar pick

Poetry from the Seventies to 2000. One hundred selected short poems ranging from emotional to experimental, relationships to soul-searching. A bit of foul language can be found in a few poems. An avowed "non-poet," Newborn has published two novels, The Basement (www.createspace.com/4176600), a Novel of the Sixties, and The Martian Testament (www.createspace.com/4300682), a sci-fi novel of the settlement of Mars in the near future. Newborn's anthology First Person Intense, has been used in college classes for years. A new litmag, TimeWell (www.timewellsp.net) continues Newborn's editorial efforts.

French for Food Lovers is a wordbook for French terms of cooking, food, and especially French cuisine. Think of it as a starter kit - or maybe you've already started experimenting with French techniques. This does not show you how to cook, but it does help with the terminology. French is not the easiest language to learn, and one should avoid making assumptions about what a French word means. "Prune," for example, means "plum" - just one of the faux amis that can mislead you. A basic pronunciation guide is included, to help with hearing or saying the French terms. But don't worry, no grammar is included.

The I Ching gives advice on how to face any life situation, requiring the seeker to cast yarrowsticks or coins to arrive at an "answer." This edition offers yet another "casting" option, the Button Oracle (online only, at www.bandannabooks.com/iching/button.php); and, if that answer's not enough, use the refresh button. Whether you are a believer or not, the I Ching, perhaps the world's oldest book, stands as a remarkable document of human psychology. However, one translation problem has plagued most Western editions, which typically speak of the "exceptional man" or "he" throughout. To translate assuming that the male pronoun serves for everybody is misleading, however. Why? The language it was written in-Chinese-was, like English, nearly devoid of linguistic gender markers for its pronouns (modern Chinese has added some modifications to clarify gender). While academics tussle over, or ignore, the "correct third-person-singular-of-unspecified-gender pronoun" for the English language, this Mudborn Press/Bandanna Books edition offers eight gendered versions of this text for a modern audience. No, there are not eight genders. But the way that you perceive the human condition may differ from others' views-and your own may change over time. How to choose? Answer these questions to find the version you are most comfortable with: Are you all man (using he, him, his), or all woman (she, her, hers)? Or somewhere in between (s/he, him/her, hers/his)? Do you feel like a split personality arguing with yourself (he or she, him or her, his or hers)? - or you feel plural (they, their, theirs)? Or maybe you don't feel strongly one way or the other (asexual: one, one, one's). Or strongly both, as in the shamanic or two-spirit tradition (he-she, her-him, his-hers). Or just as a human (hu, hum, hus). Try more than one version until you reach your comfort zone; you'll learn about yourself as well as about the I Ching. A REMINDER: This "HE" version uses the traditional or old-fashioned "universal he" pronoun for third-person human reference where sex is not specified, or not known. The I Ching frequently speaks of a hypothetical person, the exceptional or uncommon person; it is used here quite often.