Best Selling Books by John Allison

We usually think of imagination as a fanciful, whimsical faculty that has little to do with reality and truth. This beautifully written book by the Australian poet John Allison shows how ordinary imagination can be intensified to become an organ of cognition--a path of development to real knowing. Allison shows how poetry--poetic knowing and seeing--can reveal aspects of the world invisible to science. Three lucid chapters describe the path to true imagination, where attention is the key. First we must practice it, then we must become aware of the processes involved in it. Learning to experience "poise," we must come to terms with the shadow--or all that says "No" in us. The combination of attention, equanimity, and assent opens the world in a new way. Allison then examines how poets have actually developed and practiced the kind of "deep seeing" that "image work" involves. For this he draws on William Shakespeare, William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Novalis, John Ruskin, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Octavio Paz. The author concludes with a sequence of his own poems that exemplify the philosophy and practice he has developed. Contents: Preface: "A Way of Seeing" One: "Developing Imagination" Attending to Attentiveness Experiencing Poise Developing Imagination Owning the Shadow Getting It Two: "Poets and Imagination" Freeing Imagination from Fancy Negative Capability Deep Seeing Instress and Inscape Heartwork Three: "The Poetic Image" Another Way of Seeing Things Four: "Seeing Things" Living in the World Connections Three Portals of Imagination Otanerito Triptych: Crossings Indwelling the Overlap Catlins Gateway Reflected Light Seeing Things II

Written by former British Army, Bomb Disposal and Intelligence Officer, John Allison. Taking Action in Challenging Times is a refreshing look at what we can all do to regain control in tough times. We''re all living in challenging times right now. Acceptance of the situation and looking for solutions not problems will help us all to move forward fast. This short book is packed full of tips and life lessons that may help you, your family and friends to take action, build resilience, resources and overcome obstacles. The workbook contains a number of practical exercises that can be completed by children, teenagers and adults alike.

A supernatural tale of friendship, the devil, and moral gray areas. Two women with wildly different worldviews become unlikely friends as they navigate the supernatural happenings in a sleepy coastal parish—and soon find themselves forced to choose sides in the war between good and evil, facing demons, curses, and a miniature Rapture! New series from John Allison, author of Giant Days.

From Giant Days'' John Allison! A supernatural tale of friendship, the devil, and moral gray areas. New curate Billie Baker does her best to reach out to the small coastal parish''s wayward youth, but when a supernatural rain brings forth an aquatic demon, she finds that she doesn''t see eye-to-eye with her boss''s way of dealing with things.

Take a trip through the past in these rare Giant Days stories, to learn the origin of Daisy, Esther and Susan’s friendship, and see them embark on orientation, getting-to-know-you-exercises, and collisions with a secret society devoted to Black Metal, among other exploits! Collecting creator John Allison’s (Bad Machinery, Scary Go Round) original self-published Giant Days stories, Giant Days: Early Registration takes us back to our favorite characters’ first quarter of university for their initial misadventures for the first time!

Susan, Esther, and Daisy started at university three weeks ago and became fast friends because their dorm rooms were next to each other. Now, away from home for the first time, all three want to reinvent themselves. But in the face of hand-wringing boys, "personal experimentation," influenza, mystery-mold, nu-chauvinism, and the willful, unwanted intrusion of "academia," they may be lucky just to make it to spring alive.

Now an ongoing series! It''s Susan''s birthday and she receives the greatest gift at all: it''s time for the medical students to start cutting up cadavers.

This work offers concise, detailed information on the toxicological properties of, and safe handling practices for, pesticides. It provides an overview of the registration process, registration procedures and supplemental registration. An alphabetic listing of over 800 chemicals, including their applications - from insecticides and growth regulators to herbicides, repellents and synergists - is provided.

What''s the secret of the shed in the back of the girls'' house, and why are strange men visiting it in the middle of the night?!

"Originally published in single magazine form as Giant Days no. 21-24"--Indicia.

Ed’s mysterious past is revealed! There may be alcohol involved.

The second year begins! When Esther, Daisy and Susan discover that every piece of furniture in their new home was destroyed by the previous occupants, they head to IKEA, where things get complicated.

Jane and Heather are finally ready to start filming their extra-dimensional documentary. There’s only one problem: their guide, Gardt, is so ridiculous looking that he completely ruins the credibility of any shot he’s in. It might be time for Jane and Heather to give their monster bud the slip and venture off on their own!

Esther becomes fixated on Valentine’s Day as a marker of her romantic failure, and decides to fully activate her drama field for the first time in a long time, in an attempt to “Win Big At Love”. It’s going to be great. No, really.

Jane and Heather confront Chet Charles, the mysterious inventor thought missing for over a decade! All that remains is to discover the sort of thing that could drive you crazy enough to want to live inside a mountain for twenty years and pretend to be the most powerful being in a dimension.

Ed and McGraw''s home has become a no-go zone with the addition of Dean Thompson, and the impending visit of his girlfriend Posy is anticipated with a mixture of morbid curiosity and dread.

Everything’s coming up Daisy! Her residents are flourishing, classes are great, and she might even go on a date soon. She is 1000% over Ingrid. It doesn’t bother her at all that Ingrid has already moved on. Not even a little.

This guide offers advice to inexperienced race directors who wish to host a small 5K, 10K, Half Marathon, or Marathon to benefit a charitable organization. The advice contained within is based on my own experience. I ran a lot of races before I ever bit the bullet and directed my own. I thought I knew plenty to make a great race. But I quickly learned just how tough a race director''s job is. Hopefully, my experience will help you avoid some mistakes, think of some things you might not have, and host a great race that your runners want to race every year.

Everyone''s favorite preteen British detectives are back for another case! With toddlers disappearing and rumors of a large, beast-like creature roaming the woods, Tackleford is in serious danger. And then there''s Mildred''s new dog Archibald... if you can even call it a dog. After all, what kind of dog drinks tea out of a cup? Everything comes to a head once the boys get a picture of the beast and Archibald goes missing. Is there a connection? And what does it all have to do with the magic pencil Mildred won from a carnie con game? Don''t miss the second installment of John Allison''s award-winning webcomic series in print!

Heather, Jane, and their increasingly improbable team come face to face with the terrible truth of Spectrum—and with the people who are responsible for it all!

After spending a dull summer apart, Esther, Daisy, and Susan attend a 3-day music festival that naturally ends in a battle for survival in an apocalyptic quagmire.

Summer is ending, and so are Daisy and Esther’s days at university (Susan still needs to finish medical school, of course). These last days together are worth their weight in gold, but soon it will be time for pomp, circumstance, and silly hats, as the girls head out into the world and face their futures!

A creature from beyond the Eidolon has gotten loose in Spectrum, and it’s up to Chip, Heather and Jane to search it out and pest-control it. And if they can survive a literal blood-sucking monster, maybe they’ll be able to hunt down the thief who absconded with their otherworldly footage, too!

Daisy has abandoned (friend)ship after the apocalyptic falling out from last issue, so McGraw (whose own reputation is in shambles) takes it upon himself to mend things.

Daisy has to draw on new reserves of inner strength after she loses control of a party of prospective students on an open day, while the "lonely, unlovable spinster" Susan tries dating again with disastrous results.

Heading into their third year at university, Esther, Daisy, and Susan are living apart from each other for the first time, and it’s definitely going to be absolutely fine and not weird at all.

It’s time for Esther to finish her final dissertation on “The Liminal Spaces Of The Great American Novel 1959-1980” but when inspiration dries up, she heads home to Tackleford for Easter. It’s not America, and it’s not 1959, but her now deserted small town is beginning to feel distinctly liminal.

A supernatural tale of friendship, the devil, and moral gray areas. Renewable energy, imperiled birds, and a crowd of NIMBYs converge at the heart of this parish''s latest crisis as curate Billie and Church of Satan priestess Maggie battle with divine windmills and their own internal dilemmas.

As Easter break looms, Esther and Susan are forced to address Ingrid''s constant crimes against household decency.

In this thrilling conclusion, Billie and Maggie confront their deepest fears—and marauding mermen. The aftermath will leave both women changed forever, for better or worse.

Under house arrest, Lottie has started to make a few friends in the criminal lifestyle, and is even working on a new, exciting casino heist case with her police liaison...but has she lost sight of what really matters—proving her own innocence?

The big end-of-year ball is approaching and Daisy is determined to kiss a girl, while Susan and Esther prepare for a summer of difficulty.

McGraw puts faith in his and Daisy''s "unique understanding" while trying to deal with the fact he is a low down double-dealing dirty cheat whose name is now mud in the influential Spanish community.

Daisy struggles with the persistent advances of Ingrid Oesterle, Esther gets the call from Dark Nebula to be a comic shop employee, and Susan finally saves up enough money to buy a scooter that she''s too afraid to ride.