Albert Jenkins has dedicated his life to opposing the oppression and tyranny of the High Chancellor and her Moralist. Desperately fighting against the flood that has engulfed the world and washed over friends and family till he is left standing alone against the tide. Now with Agents searching for him and age pressing down upon him time seems to be running out for the old man. Yet in this darkest hour God has delivered a child of wonders to him. But can he hold on long enough to teach the boy what he needs to know or will the flood finally sweep him away first?

What do you get when dragons combine their hoards? What do you get when you take a little slice of dragon lore? "The Dragons' Beads" features the work of Elizabeth Buckley, Niels Van Eekelen, Athena Garcia, Ollie Lambert, Douglas J. Moore, Meghan Proctor, Jo Anne Spiese, Kristina Stumpf & Michael Camp, and Rachel Wookey. This is the first volume of what is hoped to be a multi volume project highlighting essays, art, poetry, and short stories featuring and/or about dragons. Originally it was supposed to be a contest to highlight the best dragon stories and poems from young authors. The project had to be adjusted due to an initial lack of submissions. Perhaps future volumes will be able to have more competition, and it is hoped that in the future THG StarDragon Publishing will be able to afford having cash prizes to fuel writer's interest in exchange for featuring the "beads" of their stories. Submissions for the next volume are open, and instructions can be found at www.thgstardragon.com for those interested in participating.

Every girl yearns for adventure, romance and magic in their lives. BlowingWind MountainChild had all of these and lost them, just as she was starting on what she thought would be the greatest adventure of her life. Now, she is being called out by the forces of life and undertaking the journey into adulthood alone. However, journeys always seem to entail healing, and a quest to find her lost love turns into something even greater. Take Ryu is a boisterous magma ryugami trapped for five years beneath Mt. Fuji for the crime of becoming too engrossed in human affairs. Upon the end of his imprisonment he emerges to find a strange and undefended shaman woman within his territory. Falling prey once more to his kind heart he too is swept up in the threads of a destiny that neither human nor dragon could have ever believed. This is the first book of the Dragon Shaman series, which will follow BlowingWind and her family in a saga of such depth and breadth, that some greater being, or beings must surely be behind the scenes. But for what purpose?

BlowingWind and Ryu expected to be able to get on with living, but Fate has a different idea for the young Shaman in training and her Dragon Protector. Continuing her adventures between the worlds of Spirit and Man, BlowingWind traverses the worlds, and even time itself to regain the Smoky Mirror. Take Ryu, her protective volcano dragon kami and suitor follows her, in a quest of his own that he is not fully aware of. To his dismay, a kitsune and two tengu complicate matters even further, and are responsible for tests of her character and problem solving ability. The root of an ancient curse is revealed and witnessed, possibly giving clues to how to fix it. The question is if she will remember them, and if she can regain what was lost. More important, will she start growing into her preordained multicultural role? Or will she even be able to return at all from this unexpected twist in her life's plans, and get back on her feet? This second book in the Dragon Shaman series, "The Smoky Mirror" continues from "Dragon Shaman: Taming the Blowing Wind."