X Books

This collection consists of a novella and two short stories. All three tales entertain the reader with intriguing looks at society and how "abnormal" individuals try to fit or hide in plain sight. Thus Norman Spinrad does what he has done quite nicely since the 1960s, spin radical stories of odd relationships that cross horror and science fiction but all contain a reader looking at Alice looking in the Looking Glass with a ten foot tall twist to them.

The short stories focus on the bulimia vampire crowd fitting quite nicely with high society in a fancy restaurant or puking in a toilet ("The Fat Vampire"). Count Dracula provides a series of tiny vignettes on taking a bite out of the Big Apple after relocating to NYC because he knows the murders there are more sensational than any of his killings ("Vampire Junkies").

The title piece novella is Deus X. As the End Times seem to be upon humanity, the Pope must deal with a different "soul" than any he ever dealt with before in his Christian programming. This is a thought-provoking solid science fiction tale that ponders robotic dreams that are similar to Bradbury on Penguin Island.

Harriet Klausner

This is one of the most clear concise and best works of theolgy I have read in years. I recomend it to anyone. enjoy

WOW! That's the word that cameout of my mouth after I read this book! Mulder made a great character in Die, Bug, Die! The end gets kind of confusing, but it all fits together after a while! This was a great purchase, and DEFINITELY NOT a waist of time reading it! :~)

I actually found this book at our library and rushed here to buy it after my first glance through it. It resembles the Dorling Kindersley publications, yet has new information I haven't come across before! The spiral timeline alone is fabulous for growing fascinations, such as that of our 4 year old son. New dinosuars we have previsouly discovered are enclosed, and the illustrations of muscles and organs alone are worth the purchase - everything I've come across until this point has been pictures of bones or illustrations of a complete dinosaur. A definite addition to compliment your resources on dinosaurs!

Alexander the Great, was born on or around July 20, 356 B.C.E., and is my favorite personality to read about in history. To me he is the whole package general, statesman, conqueror, and philosopher. The smartest man who ever lived, Aristotle, tutored him. Alexander conquered more of the known world than any other figure in history, accomplishing all this before he dies at the ripe old age of 33. Some people called him conqueror and violent overlord. Some other called him civilizer and even God! All of them yet, called him "The Great". He was the first man in modern history that took this name, "The Great"! Even as a young boy, he shows great promise.

Diodorus a Greek historian who lived from 80-20 BCE wrote 40 books of world history. He is an uncritical compiler who used good sources and produced them faithfully. His work is one of the oldest works available and is based on eyewitness accounts. He does a better job than most in explaining the battle scenes, and seems to be more balanced in his admiration and criticism of Alexander then any of the other early biographers. I love his Bucephalus Story, and I recount it here so you get a flavor of the promise this young Alexander shows.

The legend begins with Philoneicus, a Thessalian, bringing a wild horse to Philip for him to buy. None of the hands was able to handle it, and Philip grew upset at Philoneicus for bringing such an unstable horse to him. Alexander, however, publicly defied his father and claimed that he could handle the horse. The bet between Philip and Alexander was that if Alexander could ride the horse, Philip would buy it, if not, Alexander would have to pay the price of the horse, which was 13 talents, an enormous sum for a boy of Alexander's age to have.

Alexander apparently noticed that the horse had been shying away from its own shadow, and so he led it gently into the sun, so that its shadow was behind it, all the while stroking it gently and whispering into its ear, (Alexander seems to be the original horse whisperer). Eventually the horse let Alexander mount him, and Alexander was able to show his equestrian skill to his father and all who were watching. The incident so impressed Alexander's father, King Philip that he told the boy "Look thee out a kingdom equal to and worthy of you, for Macedonia is too little for thee". He named the horse Bucephalus, which means Ox head, and rode it across Asia, founding a city in its honor in India after its death. This story gives you an inkling about the man.

This book is a necessary read for students of Alexander, I also recommend Plutarch's and Arrian's work, and from contemporary writers, J. F. C. Fuller and Tarn. Most of Alexander's greatest military traits are in the area of military logistics and to understand his genius in this area I highly recommend reading, "Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army," by Donald W. Engels.

As a retired U. S. Army Major, I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in ancient warfare, and history.

After watching this movie with my 3 year old son I had to find a book about it. He loved the movie and the book is a nice compliment to it. We read it every night before bed. He also likes to tell the story in his own words by looking at the pictures in the book.

In the Dark Night, we may feel an intensity of despair, fear, and depressiveness that seems intolerable. Yet as we learn to bear the unbearable, we gradually settle into the darkness, sensing not only its heaviness and lack of light, but also its fertility. Seeds grow in the dark. So do we. ~Robert Augustus Masters

Through Robert Augustus Masters' poetic expression, we enter a spiritual world filled with eternal paradox. In this world we are "dying to live" as we emerge from our own ashes or at least move from suffering to openness.

Truth is the heart of paradox, the revelatory logic of Being. ~Robert Augustus Masters

Robert Augustus Masters rises far above mainstream meandering mediocrity as his words merge with a divine knowing. This is original work, untainted by today's typical spiritual jargon. There is no placid perception here or regurgitated illumination. He intuitively understands spiritual paradox and goes straight to the heart of spirituality. The infinite and finite dance playfully together and then suddenly dive into a profound swirling of metaphors interspersed with poetry.

Rainy shore, shimmering sheets of darkly slumping sky
Leaning am I into the windchilled thrill of daybreak
Ocean thunder and a deeper thunder within and all around
And I am ground, ground to sand
Drowned, drowned in torrents of broken cloud
Spilling shattered against another shore

Robert Augustus Masters sheds new light on why we should love our enemies and logically presents his thoughts on why forgiveness enhances our lives. His poetic writing illuminates the mind with awakening concepts and his explanation of why we should move beyond hope and "enter into doing" helps us progress towards our goals much more quickly. When does our spiritual life truly begin? Is freedom from desire the cessation of desire? His work is also filled with practical applications for profound spiritual principles. He has worked as a psychotherapist and teacher and presents his ideas in a creatively truthful manner. Divine Dynamite holds a conversation with your heart and goes beyond cognitive understanding.

In "What's Right about What's Wrong in Relationship," I could relate to the endless effort of maintaining an intimate relationship, but also understood the necessity of being in certain environments to grow as a soul or to endure moments of turbulence (jealousy, anger) and chaos (obsession, possessiveness) in order to awaken or find "freedom through intimacy." This chapter was especially meaningful and the poems in this chapter are intensely beautiful.

Essay Highlights (Although I loved every one of the 44 essays!):

Suffering Versus Pain - Until I read this chapter I didn't realize they were different. Suffering being more about acting out the pain.

Riding a Wave of Everlasting Morning - The writing in this chapter is some of the finest I've ever seen. Metaphor heaven.

Avoiding Death Is Killing Us - What is death and how can it be a beginning? How are we affected by spiritual cycles of death and rebirth?

Divine Dynamite takes you away from ordinary existence and unlocks the chained labyrinths of the mind. If you enjoy finding solace in the complexity of sentence structure, you will enjoy the spiritual beauty intertwined with the ever-changing cycles of existence. Diving Dynamite is truly a work of art with transforming power and penetrating insight! If you are awake, this will be bliss. If you are awakening, this presents a door to a deeper life.

~The Rebecca Review

Did you know that the first surgeon would have been hung if his patient had died when he was removing a huge tumor? Yes! The towns people were fastening a noose on a tree while he was inside performing surgery to remove a large abdominal tumor from a woman. This book contains very interesting facts and accounts on the history of medicine. It was written in 1937, pre WWII. Fascinating book!

This book is told by the main character from his perspective. He just happens to be the author of the book as well, which is kind of cool. The story starts off in 2006, but the main part of it is from 2001. This book deals with alot of flashbacks, as the main character remembers and deals with his somewhat pathetic life.

The story is sparked by the discovery of his mother's death. He would then be approached by a "dark" CIA group known as the Nocturnal Legion, vampire hunters. His life would be turned upside down as they tell him that his long-thought-to-be-dead father is really alive and a vampire looking to amass a vampire army. Steven, our main character, would find out that he is a dhampir, half human and vampire. The Legion tries to convince him to join and help stop his father, but Steven refuses because he wants nothing to do with any of it.

The majority of this book follows Steven as he mianders through his nomadic life, which seems to serve no purpose any longer. He has several encounters with vampires, those who are drawn to him and those sent by his father, and many flashbacks and visions. His dreams are plagued by his father threatening to kill everyone he knows unless he joins him.

Finally, Steven goes to meet (and eventually battle) his father. The ending was a bit of a surprise, but not that much. It wasn't that the ending was predictable in what happened, but that it happened to this character. I will say this...the way this book ended, I have a sneaky felling that will be another. And I can't wait to read that one and see where Steven goes next.

In the first three lectures Troward explores the nature of the Originating or Parent Spirit, the generic relationship of the individual to this all-encompassing spirit, and the way to specialize this relationship in order to obtain greater results than would spontaneously arise by mere generic action. This process is attainable only by a new way of thinking. The sequence implies the realization of a power, an individual to understand it, and the method of applying it based on understanding its nature.

He talks of the life of the spirit and mankind as the vehicle or distribution medium, and explains the principle of receptiveness and its importance. The concept of Alpha and Omega designates the entire series of causation from the originating moment to the completed result. Although thought creates form, it is feeling that provides vitality to thought: the heart and mind of the matter. In this light, he discusses the Messiah and the great affirmative I AM which is the principle of being.

Stressing the Oneness of God, Troward emphasizes the fact that Spirit creates from nothing. God is one and this oneness finds root in ourselves, hence the expression "My Father and I are one." Thus the Creative Process proceeds in the individual. The Messiah as fulfillment of the law relates to the importance of individual improvement, serving as both explanatory cause and as a display of the full measure of effects. He argues that the better we understand the creative process, the more the objections to the gospel narratives lose their force.

The author emphasizes the significance of Monogenesis in relation to the esoteric teaching of the musical octave that fulfills itself in step seven in order to start a new series in the eighth, which becomes the first step again. He hints at a more profound understanding of the doctrine of Christ reflecting deeper phases of the law of being. Other topics dealt with include the legend of the Garden of Eden, the doctrine of the fall and the Animus Dei becoming a husband to the soul rather than a master as more comprehensively investigated in his book Bible Mystery and Bible Meaning.

A very valid point is the vast difference between worship based on fear, ignorance and/or unexplained traditions versus worship in spirit and truth which takes place through reciprocity. Troward's views of the loving givingness of spirit correspond to the nature of the Father as outlined in the epilogue of The Authentic Gospel of Jesus by Geza Vermes. This mutual love is the mystical marriage that gives birth to an ever improving individual personality in an everlasting process of growth. The metaphor of the shepherd and the stone from Genesis 49:24, Daniel and the New Testament finds its fulfillment in Messiah.

Finally, the author looks at the role of certain nations and religions in history as the expression of the Spirit on both a universal and specialized level. Further relevant information may be found in the last two chapters of Alter Your Life by Emmet Fox. Troward remarks that those who oppose the Hebrew nation must fail by a self-destructive principle inherent in the very nature of the position they adopt. The ultimate message of the lectures is that exterior things are changed by a change in the interior spiritual attitude of the individual. The Messiah represents the principle of love and the new life.

For further mystical interpretations of the Judeo-Christian scriptures and tradition that reveal and illuminate, I refer the interested reader to The Hidden Power of the Bible by Ernest Holmes, The Sermon on the Mount by Emmet Fox, The Hidden Book in the Bible by Richard Friedman and Cracking the Bible Code by Jeffrey Satinover.