If you had the power to enter men's minds and convince them that you're a god, would you use it? That's the choice that Verl, a young singer of Norgondy, must face. Trained by the tellerwoman Merind to telepathically touch the god-spot in people's minds, Verl holds the ultimate -- and deadly -- power to control the masses -- by creating a new god they can't help but believe in. Together they help their friend Crel and his dancing bear become the Bearman, the shapeshifting Reaper God who leads the people of Norgondy into war against their usurper queen. Singer of Norgondy is a fantasy novel of revolt and revenge, deception and intrigue. ...The strongest elements of Winston's novel are the detailed descriptions of Norgondy, its rituals and its religious conflicts. Merind's people hold a celebration each year called Festival Week, and Winston's descriptions of the event are lively. Verl and Crel are appealing heroes who use courage and ingenuity to fulfill their destinies. In the large supporting cast, each character has a unique back story, and Winston adeptly balances multiple subplots while keeping a tight focus on the main plotline... --- Kirkus Review For maps and more stories of the world of Colonium see http: //www.holdenstone.com

"America at Risk" gathers original essays by a distinguished and bipartisan group of writers and intellectuals to address a question that matters to Americans of every political persuasion: what are some of the greatest dangers facing America today? The answers, which range from dwindling political participation to rising poverty, and religion to empire, add up to a valuable and timely portrait of a particular moment in the history of American ideas.

While the opinions are many, there is a central theme in the book: the corrosion of the liberal constitutional order that has long guided the country at home and abroad. The authors write about the demonstrably important dangers the United States faces while also breaking the usual academic boundaries: there are chapters on the family, religious polarization, immigration, and the economy, as well as on governmental and partisan issues.

"America at Risk" is required reading for all Americans alarmed about the future of their country.

Contributors

• Traci Burch
• James W. Ceaser
• Robert Faulkner
• Niall Ferguson
• William A. Galston
• Hugh Heclo
• Pierre Manent
• Harvey C. Mansfield
• Peter Rodriguez
• Kay Lehman Schlozman
• Susan Shell
• Peter Skerry
• James Q. Wilson
• Alan Wolfe

Robert Faulkner is Professor of Political Science at Boston College. Susan Shell is Professor of Political Science at Boston College.

""America at Risk" goes well beyond the usual diagnoses of issues debated in public life like immigration, war, and debt, to consider the Republic's founding principles, and the ways in which they have been displaced by newer thoughts and habits in contemporary America. A critical book for understanding our present condition."
--Francis Fukuyama, Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies

"In this penetrating book, the nation's finest social and political thinkers from across the spectrum take a careful and no-holds-barred look at the dangers facing the American political system. The conclusions are more unsettling than reassuring---but that is because they are honest and real."
--Norm Ornstein, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute

"In the midst of overwrought pundits, irate soccer moms, and outraged bloggers, it is difficult to distinguish genuine dangers from false alarms and special pleading. This book enables us to do so, in a way that helps us to actually think about, not just feel anxious about, threats to those features of American society that are worth cherishing. The authors range in ideology and expertise, but they are uniformly judicious, incisive, and informative. This is a fascinating book about issues that the political system usually ignores or exaggerates."
--Jennifer L. Hochschild, Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government and Professor of African and African American Studies, Harvard University