Shadow Books

This is a very short novel, but very good. I can only read the english version, from the translation all i can say is she has a simple style, never too verbose, yet each word is perfectly and simply chosen to precisedly add mood to each scene. A great intro to her writing.

This book is beautifully written. The symbolism in this book is deeper than i have ever read before. It is a very sombre novel with so much to get out. If you can read french then definitely pick this up in french because you will find all of the symbolism in this book to be at a much deeper level. this book was meant for french and unfortunately it does tend to lose some of its meaning and qaulity but it is still just as great of a story. i definitely reccomend this book. it is a great achievment of a great author. The novel seems even more interesting and intriguing when you know that she wrote it in only 13 days. it's a must!!! KH, 16

This was a great book to gain deeper understanding of these 2 very important people in the New Testament.

We often juggle between "doing" and "listening". Camille Fronk Olson has hit the right balance by comparing Mary and Martha to Ourselves.

Tale of Two Sisters: Martha is the hostess with the mostest - preparing who knows what for the LORD, while Mary sits at his feet and listens. Martha pleads with the LORD for some help from Mary. If you don't know this story, it's found in: Luke 10:38-42 KJV

38 ¶ Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.
40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

"Mary, Martha and Me" helps us to see the good in both women, and think about which one we most identify with - or not?

Surprise! Most of us are quite a bit like each of the sisters, in more ways than we might imagine.

Please read this little book, or give it as a gift. It will speak wonderful words to your heart and soul :o)

This is an excellent product, as are most of the Midnight setting roleplaying products.

However, if you want to start using this setting, most of this product has been incorporated into the Midnight Campaign setting second edition core book. Midnight, Second Edition

Just a heads' up so you don't waste money and end up buying the same product twice.

The Fantasy Flight Games campaign setting of Midnight is excellent, and the "Against the Shadow" Players Companion adds a lot of new details to the setting as well as expanding on items covered in the core books.

However my first and only real issue with this book is that it is defined as "A Players Companion" , cripes!!! Don't give it to your players at all, for any DM wanting to allow his/her players a chance to really learn about the world they are in, the players should start off with as little detail as possible, this book blows away that opportunity.

The books contents deal with


1. Race and Class Backgrounds, why do Dorns' think what they think, what do they know that others don't, good stuff for getting players to build pre game backgrounds

2. New prestige classes.

3. Legendry Classes, which are very cool, and take prestige classes to the next level, something that I believe is explored in other FFG books too.

4. New Heroic Paths, some interesting ones, especially the Tactician.

5. More Nexus info

6. New spells and a new spell 'type' using spells as Engraved Runes, these rules are excellent and add another way to use magic while not giving players access to items too swiftly

7. More convent items

8. New weapons and equipment , a focus on concealed weapons and other items that can more easily be carried by the players.

9. Herbs, this section is my favourite part of book, detailing the different herbs, how they are used, different uses, how to prepare, store, and more. Already my players consider Herbalism and Healing to be right next to Tumble as a "must have skill"

All that's missing is a detailed map of where the herbs are located across the world, that would have been a nice addition.

All in all a great book, but keep it to yourself DMs, the info is way to valuable to be given out to the players in one go.

In the Midnight campaign setting where the dark god Izrador has conquered the lands of Eredane, one of the greatest "switches" players have to contend with is that the possession of arms and armor is punishable by enslavement, death, or whatever other imaginative punishment the orc or legate can come up with.

Steel and Shadow is a warrior's sourcebook for DMs and players alike (most Midnight supplements are written for DMs), full of mechanics, new prestige classes and alternative rules.

A disclaimer is need here: I do not consider myself a good judge of rules, prestige classes, feats, and actually any other thing that relates to the mechanics of d20; and while I will certainly describe some of these rules here, know that I cannot say if they are balanced or not, just how fitting they are in the world of Midnight. I will focus my review on the content of the book accompanying said rules.

As is usual for Midnight supplements it is a 64-page, black and white soft-cover.

The front cover of the book depicts two warriors (one of them is clearly a Sarcosan, while the other is probably an Erenlander) fending off an assault of orcs in the woods at night. The painting is nice enough, but I can't say that I really care for it that much. The interior art, on the other hand, is excellent as always, managing to blend both gritty darkness and heroic efforts seamlessly.

The book consists of an introduction and four chapters.

The introduction tells the story of the armed forces of various cultures in Eredane as they were on the eve of the fall of Eredane, the end of the Third Age; and how a hundred years after the fall of the Shadow upon the land, some of these cultures still resist martially, and how these cultures' warriors had to adapt to the new reality. The introduction, as it should, sets the tone to the rest of the book.

Chapter 1 opens up by giving a description of the kind of war each race, due to its distinct location, has to contend with, and what skills and feat are probably most used by warriors of these races. An optional idea given here is that each race trains its warriors a bit differently, so that these warriors will be more effective in their home territory. So for example a dwarven fighting in the Kaladruns will loss Handle Animals, Knowledge (nature), and Ride as class skills, but gain Disable Device, Knowledge (architecture and engineering), and Knowledge (dungeoneering); or that elven fighters could swap proficiency with heavy armor and all shields but gain the woodland stride ability. These small changes can truly make each race's warriors unique and fitting to their own race.

A handful of feats are also presented in this chapter, but most of them have to deal with giving the character access to a new mechanic introduced later in the chapter: the Fighting Techniques. Each race gains a number of fighting techniques that may be learned if a character has the appropriate feat, finds a mentor, and spend the time (a month) and XP needed to learn it (this is an incremental value starting at 50 XP with the 1st technique learned and slowly increasing). Along with the technique we are given descriptions of why these tricks were developed and where they might be learned; any of these description can provide a DM with a campaign arc if the players wish to invest the time in finding a mentor, or an NPC or two that might interact at some level with the players.

Chapter 2 first presents us with new Heroic Paths (one for each race) called Champions that capitalize on the Fighting Techniques introduced in chapter 1. Characters with these Paths learn Techniques freely, may teach new techniques to others at a reduced XP cost, and gain several abilities that build on the strength of each race.

Secondly we presented with a new kind of magical item (sort of like Charms) called Totem Heads. These totem heads may be used only by he who slew the beast, and depending on the HD of the creature killed (and if the Charm crafting was successful) may provide a certain True Charm effect, as well as have a certain amount of spell energy to call forth a chosen power (anything for a +1 to AC or Damage, to spells like Bear's endurance or Cat's grace). I have to say that I like this idea, and the fact that it might encourage warrior types to learn the skills necessary to create charms is even more appealing to me. Warrior's Sacrifice is a simple mechanic that claims that certain places have a stronger presence spirits in it (maybe even Aryth's spirit) that might grant a warrior a small bonus if he or she offers a "worthy sacrifice" (anything from a deer's heart, to a song, to a polished stone) and may really be anything the DM deems worth. The warrior of course still needs to know where and how to perform such a sacrifice and this may be signified with ranks in an appropriate knowledge skill. Additionally two new covenant items are introduced in this chapter.

Mainly due to the different mechanic for magic in Midnight, but also balanced with that "special" feel needed to achieve in a Midnight class, many of the PrCs from other books do not fit into the Midnight setting. And so, chapter 3 is the largest and contains ten new prestige classes, some are specific for a certain race (such as the Dorn's Cendaran Cultist, or the Erunsil's Dire Blades), most have special requirements (for example: killing an outsider to become a Banisher, or being no taller than 4'6" to become a Tunnel Wraith). But all of them, with no exception, fit the Midnight setting like a glove. We are told who usually takes that certain path and why and how they would react in certain circumstances. This is not telling the player how to act, but gives him or her an idea of what others who feel the same calling as he or she did usually act.

All characters in Midnight are extremely familiar with the land on which they grew, and this is implemented in Midnight by giving them Knowledge (local) as a class skill (local is not a general term but very specific: Northlands, Veradeen, Aruun, etc.), and a bonus to Survival and Knowledge (nature)in that area. In chapter 4 we are given three variant rules as to how this familiarity with the terrain may be further implemented. These rules go from the simplest (gaining a certain bonus if the character has enough ranks), to the most complex in which depending on the DC reached, the character my reduce, ignore, or even gain a bonus to action in certain hazards and terrains such as blizzards, Bog, Forest, Fences, Rubble, Quicksand, and more. Each of these is described shortly, along with an entry on the penalty or bonus depending on the characters check. As the authors admit, this rule is a bit complex, but could certainly give characters who "know" their region a distinct superiority in it.

The second half of the chapter present three "Battlegrounds", including maps and new hazards, that illustrate better and build on the aforementioned variant rules. Each battleground is of course also presented with a short and interesting history.

One thing I did not mention so far, but that I really liked were the several "legends" that were spread out throughout it; these were presented as rumors and campfire tales, as tales of hope told by desperate people. If they are true or not is up to each DM to decide.

While mostly a mechanic book, Steel and Shadow managed to grab a hold of me due to it being well written and interesting. The short stories and adventure seeds that are seamlessly, almost casually, integrated into the description of the new rules, made it so much more than a pure mechanic books.

For other d20 users who are looking for new variant rules and prestige classes, I cannot whole-heartedly recommend this book, as all the rules ooze of Midnight with perhaps the sole exception of the variant terrain rules presented in chapter 4.

But for Midnight players and DMs, this is just about right.

Steel & Shadow is a supplement designed for warriors in the Midnight campaign setting. In this campaign (and you can read my review of it for more details) the Dark Lord Izrador has ruled the lands of Eredane for 100 years with an iron fist. To keep the people in control, he has made it illegal to carry weapons except for his own forces. But many brave heroes have taken up the banner to battle the dark lord and this supplement is geared towards making fighters tough enough to stand up to the tide of evil they face.

The first chapter deals with racial templates and creating characters from the various races of Eredane who have specialized skills to survive and wage war in this harsh world. For example, Dwarven barbarians will lose the Ride & Swim skills but gain the new skills of Escape Artist and Knowledge. Each of the various races have their unique skills especially tailored to the Midnight setting. There are nine new feats included, most of which are called Initiate Feats. These Initiate Feats allow the character to learn a number of different cultural fighting techniques which again, are unique to each race. For example, Elven characters can learn fighting techniques such as the ability to fire their arrows accurately through dense forest, or firing their bow while climbing or from tree tops. Halflings can learn to use their speed and dexterity to dodge and weave in battle, giving them a bonus to their AC. Orcs can learn fighting techniques such as Iron-Handed Grappling and Quick Charge. Each race has about a half-dozen cultural fighting techniques that they can learn. Races have always had their own special modifiers to attributes and abilities, but the inclusion of fighting skills based on race is a welcome and distinctive inspiration. Steel & Shadow also includes several new heroic paths the player can follow, each providing a new skill/ability or increased skill at each level.

There are ten new and well-designed prestige classes to choose from. You know YOU'VE been waiting to hear about the prestige classes. Rather than being some bland, generic classes with abilities that seem randomly tossed in, these prestige classes are crafted to fit the Midnight campaign, taking into account the cultural heritage and abilities of the various peoples. The Banishers are a class that specializes in hunting down and taking vengeance upon evil, especially demons and their ilk and they gain special bonuses in combat against these types of monsters. The Durgis Battle Rager is a fearsome fighter with a d12 hit die, who can channel his rage into a frightening fury of destruction who has skills like Whirlwind Charge and Mindless Rage which gives additional attack and defense bonuses. Halflings and Gnomes are the races that have suffered perhaps the most under Izrador. The prestige class Quickjack, is made for these small, nimble characters to best take advantage of their size in battle. They gain abilities like Elusive, Evasion, and Close Fighting to even the odds with large foes.

The supplement also includes information on regional terrain and how the races indigenous to those regions can exploit the terrain to their benefit. Several examples of sample terrains are included to assist the DM and player alike. There are some that may argue that the various abilities, feats, skills, and prestige classes in this book will create overly powerful characters. And in a standard campaign they may be right. But Midnight's campaign already puts the characters up against overwhelming odds that these powers are not only helpful, but I would argue even necessary, in order to survive. As with Fantasy Flights other Midnight items the book is well-written and designed. Outstanding interior artwork perfectly complements the material.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

I really liked this poetry and I'm not a big poetry fan. My girlfriend recommended it. It was very fun to read and really interesting too. I have recommended it to several people at my reading club and we are going to read it next month.

This is one of the best collections of poetry that I've read in years. Visual poetry such as "Digging a hole in Arizona", to the dark images of " Rolling out to Sea" and "Glimmer" make this a must have collection. I've never heard of this guy, but Wow! I expect to see great things to come.

Detailed and exhaustive book by/about Ichihashi who came to the US from Japan in 1984 at the age of 16 to study. He graduated from Stanford, got a Ph.D. from Harvard, became a professor at Stanford. He and his wife and son "relocated" to Santa Anita and then Tule Lake and then Granada (Amache) during WWII. He became embittered and an elitist during the war years, which is told in a very dramatic albiet exhaustive fashion in the book via his letters. Following relocation he and his wife returned to a very different Stanford University and environs, which he found very difficult to cope with. Very enjoyable book, personal as well as historical.

Though long and at times cumbersome to read, this is a valuable addition to the literature in Asian American and World War II internment history. Yamato Ichihashi is an all but forgotten figure who has left a written record of his internment experience as he lived it, making this book a rare and important piece that all students of the internment should read. At the same time, this book belongs to the body of literature in Asian American social history. Who knew that in the early 1900s, Stanford University had a Japanese American professor among its faculty? What kind of life did he lead considering his anomalous position as an academic compared to other Japanese in America and the intense anti-Asian atmosphere of those times in the West? How does knowledge of this man's life enrich our understanding of Asian American history and American history at large? All of those questions are satisfyingly answered. Ichihashi's writings take center stage in the book, but Chang provides lucidly written annotations and a bibliographic essay that make the volume quite readable and enjoyable. Chang allows Ichihashi's words to speak for themselves which allows the reader to get a very vivid picture of life in the internment camps. In addition, reading his thoughts about his circumstances as an academic, a professor at Stanford, and an internee offer rare and revealing insights.

This is an excellent book! Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. I strongly recommend this book. Great meaningful poetry. You can tell the author is a God loving person.

This book is reality it touches your heart and soul. It deals with all parts of life God, love, religion, cancer, and war it leaves no stone unturn. The thought of getting your Father's work published after he has passed on makes your heart warm and his work is fantastic. You will not be able to read a little be prepared it keeps you heart , mind and soul peeled inside. Thought provoking, heart wrenching,and real. Look inside you will not be disappointed.

This book is one of my absolute favorites. When I pick it up, I feel like I am transported to another time and another place. The pictures and stories depicting life in Nauvoo in the 1830's and 1840's are treasures that will remain on my bookshelf and in my heart.

This is a wonderful book that is both interesting and visually stunning. You will learn about the LDS people who settled and made Nauvoo the properous city it once was as well as see lovely photographs of the buildings and the area. You'll feel like you're right there.

The leader of the U.S. trained and equipped National Guard Anastasio Somoza Garcia seized power in Nicaragua in 1936. He was an S.O.B., but he was our S.O.B. as Franklin Roosevelt immortally said privately in 1939 when Somoza visited him in Washington D.C. Somoza wanted the National Guard officers and enlisted men to enrich themselves in mafia-style rackets such as prostitution, according to Walker, so they would be dependent on him for their self-enrichment and would thus constitute a force immune from popular discontent. Somoza Garcia's son Luis succeeded him after his assassination in 1956. Luis set up a lot of bureaucracies supposedly devoted to social services and economic planning, but these were in reality mainly used as a vehicle to funnel U.S. aid money to the Somoza family and its cronies. Walker cites the particularly blatant case of how the government used U.S. aid money after an earthquake in December 1972 completely destroyed Managua.

Anastasio Somoza Debayle Jr. took over as president from his brother in 1967. Anastasio Jr. reinstated a "state of siege" and sent the National Guard into the Countryside, where the (FSLN) Sandinistas were involved in stimulating peasant activism, after a December 1974 successful hostage taking operation by the Sandinistas. The Guard proceeded to rape and kill and pillage thousands. Many American Catholic clerical and lay workers witnessed these actions and the U.S. congress was moved to hold hearings.

In 1977, President Carter suspended military aid to Somoza in order to force him to relax somewhat his censorship of the press, thinking that the U.S. could afford for Somoza to do so without the status quo in Nicaragua being disrupted. However, in early 1978, after increasing massacres of civilians in the tens of thousands by the National Guard Carter resumed economic and military aid to Somoza. The uprising had begun in early 1978 after the assassination of newspaper editor Pedro Joaquin Chamarro. The Carter administration, in conjunction with the Organization of American States, eventually tried to enforce its policy of "Somocismo sin Somoza"....

Walker describes how the Carter administration refused to send arms to the Sandinistas and looked the other way as the military oligarchy in Honduras allowed remnants of the National Guard, helped by trainers from the Argentine neonazi military regime, to organize the force which would become the Contras. ....

The Reaganites refused to sell arms to the Sandinistas, cut off all aid, and successfully pressured the French to end an arms deal with the Sandinistas in 1981. Increasingly, the Sandinistas were forced to rely on Soviet block arms. Walker notes that the rifles, AK-47's and tanks that the Nicaraguans received from the Soviet block were small in number and often old and decrepit. Clearly the Sandinistas were seeking military aid from the Soviet Block because the Reaganites had launched a full scale proxy terrorist war against them. The Contras deliberately attacked civilian infrastructure and murdered teachers, doctors and engineers. The attacks on oil storage and port facilities by the Contras in 1983 and 84' caused Venezuela and Mexico to suspend oil shipments--Nicaragua was then forced to turn to the Soviet block for its petroleum needs. The FSLN managed to maintain fairly extensive economic and political relations with Western Europe and capitalist countries in the third world but the U.S. media preferred to ignore this.

In the early 80's, Walker notes the Sandinistas achieved some remarkable successes. Nicaragua's infant mortality rate was reduced from 121 per 1000 in 1978 to 90 per 1000 in 1983. The Kissinger Commission report of 1984 blamed the Sandinistas because it said that Nicaragua's GDP was reduced by 38 percent from 1977 to 1983. This was deceptive, Walker notes, because that statistic had in it the last two and a half years of the rule of Somoza when the country was largely destroyed. In the years 1980-83, Walker notes, the Nicaraguan economy actually grew by an average of 7 percent, while the rest of Central America's economies declined by 14 percent.

In spite of some mild repression (not comparable to U.S. backed terror in Guatemala and El Salvador) in response to the country being under U.S. backed terrorist attack, reactionary newspapers like La Prensa were allowed to violently attack the government and receive funding from the CIA. The CIA instigated protests by the Nicaraguan opposition which attempted to provoke the Sandinistas into repressive actions, Walker quotes House Speaker Jim Wright revealing in January 1988. Meanwhile, in U.S. client states Guatemala and El Salvador newspaper offices were being blown up by the military backed death squads, and newspaper editors were left disemboweled by the side of the road. In 1984, the Sandinistas had an election which was judged free and fair by a wide variety observer delegations, including from the British parliament and House of Lords, Danish and Irish Parliaments, etc. Disruption of opposition rallies by Sandinista "turbas" only occurred about 5 times out of 250 instances according to election analysts. Walker quotes a statistic to the effect that 46 of the 48 top Contra officers had been officers in Somoza's National Guard--I think he got this from Edgar Chamarro, the former Contra spokesman.

The U.S. escalated its economic strangulation and terror attacks on Nicaragua and the latter was eventually forced to devote the majority of its budget to defense. In 1990, the Sandinistas held an election, as the 1987 constitution had mandated them to do and the Nicaraguan electorate, under the threat of continued U.S. funding of Contra terrorists if the Sandinistas won, voted in the UNO. The U.S. had achieved its goal of restoring the old Somoza era social order within Nicaragua. Walker gives an extensive discussion of the post-1990 social order. Nicaragua ranked 61st on the UN Human Development Index in 1990; it ranked 116th by 2000.
Walker gives an instructive look at how the miserable rural proletariat of Nicaragua was created by the late 19th century.

This is written in a remarkably even-handed register when you consider the outrageous (imperial?) actions of the US over the years, regarding Nicaragua. I also found the explanation of dependent economies (where most of the effort goes into goods for export rather than goods for the common good!) very enlightening. It challenged my basic beliefs of what government does and should do for, with, and by its citizenry. If you want a concise history of Nicaragua that includes treatment of all the factions involved over the years, this is it! The author has appended an extensive bibliography of English-language sources and additional reading materials that appears very thorough and helpful to going deeper into this country.

As a student of Stephen K. Hayes, I have always eagerly devoured anything he has written, and this one did not disappoint. This particular book is more about the historical roots and philosophical underpinnings of the higher life-path or life-way of 'Ninpo.' 'Ninjutsu' could be said to refer only to the physical techniques, the punches, kicks, throws, and use of weapons that instantly spring to mind when we hear the word 'martial art.' Then we can also work on our intellectual development through the study of history, languages, chemistry, physics, music; all the arts and sciences. Then we can also work on our spiritual development (see Abe Maslow's "Further Reaches of Human Nature"). This triple approach to our human development, body & mind & spirit, is Ninpo. Shidoshi Hayes, a Grandmaster in his own right, listed in "Who's Who in the World", and an ordained Buddhist priest, explores in this book all of the spiritual traditions that have left their mark on Ninpo, the higher life-path. Shinto, Buddhism, shugendo, and Daoism are the major focus.

Ninja Realms of Power is an overview of Stephen Hayes' explorations into the Japanese spiritual traditions of `Shugendo ~ seeking power in the mountains', `Mikkyo ~ secret doctrines of the Himalayan kingdoms', and `Sennin ~ Taoist practices for the goal of immortality. Stephen Hayes, one of the West's most well-known and respected authorities on Ninjutsu, also includes a chapter on `Ninpo Taijutsu'.

Looking at Sennin we see that the practitioner works physically and mentally at consciously experiencing the bridging of the gap between the in and yo (the yin and the yang) elements around him. The Sennin learns to transcend illusion and gain a vision of the universe as a single unified process as opposed to an overwhelming collection of seemingly conflicting and unrelated parts.

Looking at Mikkyo we see a priest with a collection of swords. The Mikkyo priest points out that the blade of the sword is forged for the purpose of protecting the sanctity of life. The cutting edge affords the bearer that reserve of confidence and power that permits gentle and courteous behavior.

The Shugendo is a blending of many related spiritual practices, including `Zudagyo ~ Buddhist teachings', `Dokyo and Omyodo ~ Taoist philosophies', the `Zomitsu ~ the nonreligious forerunner of the Mikkyo', `Shinto', `Jukkyo ~ Confucian teachings', and a wide assortment of Japanese folk beliefs.

Stephen Hayes also gives a detailed description of the `Goma fire ritual' and his participation, walking across the hot coals and burning embers of the fire. (This section also includes a number of great photographs of the ritual.)

In the chapter on `Ninpo Taijutsu' various martial arts techniques are demonstrated, but more importantly we see that only by progressing to realms of harmonized energy does the warrior begin to glimpse the potential for invincibility.

Ninja Realms of Power is a "must have" book for anyone studying shinobi-no-jutsu (ninjutsu), but also for anyone interested in the warrior philosophies and religions of Japan. A well written text, with several photographs and drawings throughout. I highly recommend this book to both the casual reader and dedicated student.