New Releases by Sean Williams

Mit Star Wars: The Old Republic präsentieren BioWare und LucasArts - Schöpfer des erfolgreichen Videospiels Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - ein neuartiges Multiplayer-Online-Rollenspiel, das es den Spielern ermöglicht, ihr eigenes Star Wars Abenteuer 3500 Jahre vor dem Aufstieg Darth Vaders zu erleben. New York Times Bestsellerautor Sean Williams erweckt das Spiel mit seinem neuesten Roman Star Wars: The Old Republic: Eine unheilvolle Allianz zum Leben. Tassaa Bareesh, eine Matriarchin des Hutt- Verbrecherkartells, lädt zu einer Auktion, die in der ganzen Galaxis Aufmerksamkeit erregt. Sowohl Abgesandte der Republik als auch des Sith Imperiums werden auf den Plan gerufen, um Nachforschungen anzustellen. Darunter auch ein Jedi-Padawan, der wild entschlossen ist, das Richtige zu tun, eine ehemalige Soldatin der republikanischen Eliteeinheit Blackstar, die ihren Namen reinwaschen will und ein geheimnisvoller Mandalorianer mit einer ganz persönlichen Agenda. Keiner dieser Gäste hat allerdings die Absicht an der Versteigerung teilzunehmen. Ihr Ziel liegt verborgen in einer nahezu unerreichbaren Schatzkammer. Die verkohlten Reste eines explodierten Sternkreuzers enthalten den Schlüssel zum Reichtum einer ganzen Welt. Doch der Schatz birgt tödliche Gefahren. Am Ende werden Sith und Jedi, Republik und Imperium zu einer historischen Entscheidung gezwungen. Eine Entscheidung, zu der sie kein Vermittler - egal ob helle oder dunkle Seite der Macht - jemals hätte zwingen können. Sie müssen zusammenarbeiten, um eine Bedrohung aufzuhalten, die die gesamte Galaxis zerstören könnte.

Luke Skywalker und seine Gefährten sind beinahe am Ziel: Sie stehen kurz vor der Entdeckung des legendären lebenden Planeten Zonoma Sekot. Als sie ihn schließlich lokalisieren können, müssen sie jedoch feststellen, dass die Yuuzhan Vong ihn ebenfalls aufgespürt haben – doch der Planet wehrt sich gegen die Vong und vernichtet ihre Raumschiffe an seinem Himmel. Mittlerweile versuchen Leia und Han Solo herauszufinden, warum die beiden Relaisstationen schweigen, die die Kommunikation zwischen den inneren Systemen und den Außenregionen der Galaxis ermöglichen – und geraten dabei mitten in eine gewaltige Flotte der Yuuzhan Vong ...

New York Times–Bestselling Authors: After their house blows up, twelve-year-old twins discover a strange new world in this "enjoyable romp" ( Publishers Weekly). Jaide and Jack Shield''s lives are changing in a very, very strange way. The weather is turning against them. Magical disasters occur when they''re around. And a mysterious explosion has just destroyed their house . . . from the inside. Without knowing why, the twins are stolen away to live with Grandma X—a relative they''ve never, ever met. At Grandma X''s house, things are even stranger. Weather vanes point in the opposite direction of the wind. Doors appear and disappear. Cats talk. Jaide and Jack don''t know the reason behind all this strangeness. They don''t know that they''re troubletwisters, and that they must defend the world against a dark, evil force. The time has come for them to discover the truth—and the powers that come with the truth. Are they ready? "Full of adventure and the unexpected, the first book in Nix and Williams''s new series is delightfully twisted. The pacing is perfect, the setting is eerily dark, the faceless Evil rings true, and the resolution is satisfying." — Booklist

The Jedi move one step closer to saving the embattled galaxy— only to confront a formidable wall of resistance. The harrowing search for Zonama Sekot is finally over for Luke Skywalker, Jacen Solo, and the others aboard the Jade Shadow. But joy turns to alarm when the living planet sends a defiant message: it refuses to follow them back to a galaxy full of war, exploitation, and misery. While Luke works feverishly to persuade the elusive planet to reconsider, the Yuuzhan Vong launches a full-scale attack aimed at the heart of the new alliance. Sent to defend a major communications base, Han and Leia find themselves hopelessly outnumbered. Reinforcements are just too far away to help before everything is destroyed. So the courageous pair must now fight an unrelenting battle against staggering odds. Whether they actually survive is another matter. . . . Features a bonus section following the novel that includes a primer on the Star Wars expanded universe, and over half a dozen excerpts from some of the most popular Star Wars books of the last thirty years!

Long-standing foes must put aside their ancient grudges and deep-seated distrust to uncover and defeat a threat to the galaxy before it can escape its isolation—forcing Sith and Jedi to raise their lightsabers together. “When I look into you, I see no loyalty. . . . I sense only tangled allegiances. . . . Given a choice, I would never trust you.” From across the galaxy they’ve come: agents of both the Republic and the Sith Empire, an investigating Jedi Padawan, an ex-trooper drummed out of the Republic’s elite Blackstar Squad, and a mysterious Mandalorian. An extraordinary auction has drawn them all together—in quest of a prize only one can claim. Each is prepared to do what he must to possess the treasure, whose value may be the wealth of a world itself. No one intends to leave empty-handed. All have secrets, desires, and schemes. And nothing could ever unite them as allies—except the truth about the deadly danger of the object they covet. But can Sith and Jedi, Republic and Empire—enemies for millennia—join as one against the certain doom of the galaxy?

This book explores the life and performance practices of the Irish sean-nØs singer Joe Heaney (1919-1984). Born in Connemara, Heaney grew up speaking the Irish language on a windswept coastal landscape, where he absorbed a rich oral heritage in Irish and in his second language, English.

A unique, integrative, team-centered approach to writing and formatting technical documents Technical Professionals: Do you have difficulty producing high-quality documents with multiple contributors when faced with a tight deadline? Do you need a process that enables global team members to collaborate online as they produce sophisticated documents? Do you prefer the ease of a WYSIWG desktop publishing tool like Microsoft Word rather than more complex software like LaTeX? Professors and Graduate Students: Do you want to streamline the process of writing multi-investigator papers, reports, proposals, and books? Do you spend a lot of time formatting documents instead of thinking and writing? Do you write research papers in Microsoft Word and then need to convert them to LaTeX for your thesis? Do you write research papers in LaTeX and then need to convert them to Microsoft Word when embarking on collaborations with your colleagues from industry? Undergraduate Students: Do you need to write a research paper and don''t know where to start? Do you need to collaborate with classmates on a long paper and find yourself lost in organizational details rather than immersed in the content? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, Technical Writing for Teams: The STREAM Tools Handbook is for you. It provides an easy-to-learn system that streamlines individual and collaborative writing, allowing you and your teams to instantly become more productive and create the highest quality documents in a minimum amount of time. Introduced here are the STREAM Tools—Scientific and Technical wRiting, Editing, And file Management Tools—which unlock your collaborators'' potential and addresses team dynamics, separation of duties, and workflow. You''ll see how to ensure compatibility among multiple writers, achieve consistent formatting, organize content, integrate bibliographic databases, automate the process of document preparation, and move content between Microsoft Word and LaTeX. Checklists, guidelines, and success stories are also included to help you operate as efficiently as possible. From planning and editing documents to solving common team writing problems to managing workflow, Technical Writing for Teams: The STREAM Tools Handbook is the one-stop reference that allows teams to collaborate successfully and create unified, effective documents.

In a remote city on the edge of two worlds, where blood has power and water is more precious than freedom, three far-flung friends unite on a quest to save their families. Sal Hrvati’s estranged father has brought more into the world than the woman he loved. Instead of saving her from the Void Beneath, he has summoned an unknown creature—a creature with a mission of its own and a past that stretches back to the beginning of the world. The quest to find both of them entangles Sal and his companions in a hunt for magical treasure on the floor of the Divide, a mighty crack in the earth inhabited by creatures that are not remotely human. Desert landscapes and dirigibles feature in a fast-paced fantasy that combines romance, adventure, and humor with an original take on magic. The Books of the Cataclysm take inspiration from many arcane and mythological sources. In positing that this world is just one of many "realms," three of which are inhabited by humans during various stages of their lives, it begins in the present world but soon propels the reader to a landscape that is simultaneously familiar and fantastic.

The Divide is flooded, at great cost of human - and inhuman - life. Far from home, Sal, Shilly and Skender seek the source of the deluge in the legendary Hanging Mountains, traveling in a magical ship of bone. New threats await them in the fog forests of the Panic, and new tests of their friendship. Caught in a conflict that erupts between two long-forgotten civilizations, they struggle to discern ally from foe, and to find trust when it is needed most. In their wake comes the Homunculus, vessel and prison of the Castillo twins - sole, strange survivors of the catastrophe that changed the world forever, a thousand years ago. Their mission is paramount, their urgency contagious. Something much darker and deadlier than the Swarm is stirring in the heart of the mountains. And for Habryn Kail, already assumed dead by his masters, it might really be the finish of him, this time ...

When mirror twins Seth and Hadrian Castillo travel to Europe on holidays, they don’t expect the end of the world to follow them. Seth’s murder, however, puts exactly that into motion. From opposite sides of death, the Castillo twins grapple with a reality neither of them suspected, although it has been encoded in myths and legends for millennia. The Earth we know is just one of many "realms", three of which are inhabited by humans during various stages of their lives. And their afterlives... In the tradition of Philip Pullman and Ursula K. Le Guin and inspired by numerous arcane sources, the Books of the Cataclysm begin in the present world but soon propel the reader to a landscape that is simultaneously familiar and fantastic.

This book points out the undeniable similarities between The Gospel of Thomas, the psychedelic experience, the mystic path, and the near death experience in order to put together the big picture and expose the truth about our existence. Can you put together the similarities and understand the TRUTH that organized religion and the government have sought to keep from us? Do you have the ears to HEAR?

This book points out the undeniable similarities between the teachings of Jesus via the Gospel of Thomas, the psychedelic experience, mysticism, and the near death experience, to guide us down the road of life toward our ultimate destination, spiritual consciousness. The knowledge within this book can help you achieve for yourself what a lifetime of religion will fail to do for you.

Six hundred thousand years after Imre Bergamasc''s abdication, a rebellion is brewing underneath the veneer of civilization and Imre''s unexpected and unwelcome return threatens the fate of humanity and ignites a war that could destroy the seemingly peaceful galaxy. Original.

Née des cendres de la Nouvelle République, l''Alliance Galactique est résolue à ramener l''harmonie partout dans sa sphère d''influence. Pour cela, il faut d''abord vaincre les Vong, toujours aussi menacants, Eternellement la pointe du combat, Luke Skywalker se lance à la recherche de Zonama Sekot, une planète vivante qui aurait jadis tenu en echec une avant-garde wong. Dès le début de leur voyage dans les Régions Inconnues, Luke, Mara, Jacen et leurs compagnons sont pris dans une bataille spatiale entre les Vong et la flotte des Vestiges de l''Empire. Tentés de laisser leurs nouveaux et leurs ennemis s''entre-tuer, les Jedi envisagent de passer leur chemin. Mais ils changent vite d''avis et se rangent dans le camp des Impériaux...

Au cœur des Régions Inconnues, une multitude de dangers guettent Luke Skywalker et ses compagnons, partis à la recherche de Zonama Sekot, la planète vivante qui pourrait être la clé d''une victoire définitive des Jedi sur les Yuuzhan Vong. A condition de la trouver, et de revenir vivants... Pendant ce temps, à l''autre bout de la galaxie, de vieilles querelles, ravivées par les Vong, menacent de saper de l''intérieur les forces d''un monde devenu stratégiquement vital pour l''Alliance Galactique. Un nouveau défi que devront relever Yan et Leia, engagés dans une mission diplomatique dont ils se demandent vite si elle ne sera pas la dernière !

As the bloodied and weary galaxy faces battle once more, the Jedi take on the formidable task of bringing the last of the Empire into the light. . . . From the ashes of the New Republic—torn to shreds by the savage Yuuzhan Vong forces—the newly formed Galactic Alliance has risen, determined to bring peace to the entire galaxy. But first the Yuuzhan Vong must be contained once and for all. And so Luke Skywalker seeks a world long lost to legend: Zonama Sekot, a sentient planet believed to have repelled an invasion by the Yuuzhan Vong decades ago. Deciphering the enigmatic secrets of Zonama Sekot just might turn the tides of a relentless war. Aboard the Jade Shadow, Luke, his wife Mara, Jacen Solo, and other Jedi head off into the Unknown Regions, where rumors and clues suggest Zonama Sekot might be found. Yet the mission has barely begun when the searchers stumble into a horrific battle. The Imperial Remnant, in retreat from the mighty Yuuzhan Vong, is about to be destroyed. It would seem those aboard the Jade Shadow have little choice but to leave the Empire to its fate. But these are no ordinary space travelers, they are Jedi. . . .