Amber J Keyser – författare

Mara has broken the most sacred mandate of her kind, and even that may not be enough to rescue her brother, Max.

From Japan to Thailand to Istanbul, she''s being hunted by the vengeful widow of a First Born, along with an elite fighting force whose job it is to bring her to justice, and an enigmatic cloaked man determined to bend her to his will.

Even as the relium in Mara''s blood fuels her growing powers, she can''t hope to avoid capture, find her parents, and help her brother on her own. An unlikely crew coalesces around Mara - steady Hiroko, an Offspring skilled in the healing arts; Dalmeet, a snarky, neat-freak bound to Mara through an ancient blood curse; and Ethan, a tech-savvy, pattern-obsessed teenager.

Bound by fate, these unlikely friends face the darkest supernatural conflict of all time. Does Mara have any way to avoid becoming the lynchpin of the whole thing? And will they be able to save Max in the middle of it all?

Rakmen Cannon''s life is turning out to be one sucker punch after another. His baby sister died in his arms, his parents are on the verge of divorce, and he''s flunking out of high school. The only place he fits in is with the other art therapy kids stuck in the basement of Promise House, otherwise known as support group central. Not that he wants to be there. Talking doesn''t bring back the dead. When he''s shipped off to the Canadian wilderness with ten-year-old Jacey, another member of the support group, and her mom, his summer goes from bad to worse. He can''t imagine how eight weeks of canoeing and camping could be anything but awful. Yet despite his expectations, the vast and unforgiving backcountry just might give Rakmen a chance to find the way back from broken . . . if he''s brave enough to grab it. Amber J. Keyser''s debut novel is a wrenching and brutally honest story of adversity and hope.

Whether you call them kicks or sneakers, runners or gutties, you probably have a pair of athletic shoes in your closet. The earliest sneakers debuted in the 1800s and weren''t much more than a canvas upper and a flexible sole made of a crazy new material—rubber. The stuff might have been new to Americans then, but for thousands of years, the indigenous peoples of the Amazon Basin of South America had been using latex made from the milky sap of hevea trees to protect their feet from rocks, sticks, and biting insects. Once Charles Goodyear figured out how to make the stuff more durable, sneakers were here to stay. Early sneakers were initially designed for elite athletes, but kids and teens quickly adopted them. Some of the first brands included Converse, Brooks, and Saucony. German companies Adidas and Puma started up during World War II. The Nike shoe debuted in the 1970s (with a bit of inspiration from a waffle iron). As fitness crazes took off in the 1980s, people all over the world started buying the shoes for workouts and everyday wear. At about the same time, companies began hiring high-profile athletes and pop stars for big-dollar endorsements, and shoe sales soared into the stratosphere to the tune of billions of dollars each year. In Sneaker Century, follow sneaker fashions and the larger-than-life personalities behind the best known athletic shoe brands in history. Learn how teen sneakerheads became important style makers and drove the success of NIKE, Inc., and other shoe companies. Look behind the scenes at the labor-intensive process of manufacturing sneakers. Explore the sneaker frontier of the future—recycled shoes, earth-friendly initiatives, and high-fashion statements. Get ready to speed through the Sneaker Century!

For thousands of years, marriage was a business transaction between two families. Fathers chose husbands for their daughters to build power, wealth, and social status. Rules about acceptable spouses were strict. Interfaith and interracial marriages were often forbidden. Over the centuries, laws and traditions governing marriage have changed dramatically. In the United States, interfaith and interracial marriages are common. Same-sex marriages are legal there and in many nations. In some places, however, centuries-old customs are still firmly in place. Modern matrimony has its ugly sides, such as rape, forced marriages, and bitter divorces. Learn about the good and the bad, with people from around the world discussing the complexities and the joys of marriage.

For most of human history, the garments women wore under their clothes were hidden. The earliest underwear provided warmth and protection. But eventually, women''s undergarments became complex structures designed to shape their bodies to fit the fashion ideals of the time. In the modern era, undergarments are out in the open, from the designer corsets Madonna wore on stage to Beyoncé''s pregnancy announcement on Instagram. This feminist exploration of women''s underwear reveals the intimate role lingerie plays in defining women''s bodies, sexuality, gender identity, and body image. It is a story of control and restraint but also female empowerment and self-expression. You will never look at underwear the same way again.