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Gifts (novel)
''Gifts'' (2004) is a young adult fantasy novel by Ursula K. Le Guin. It is the first book in the ''Annals of the Western Shore'' trilogy, and is followed in the series by ''Voices''. The story is set in a fictional world, in a barren and poverty-stricken region called the Uplands, some of whose inhabitants have hereditary magical gifts. The story follows the narrator Orrec, son of the leader of the domain of Caspromant, whose hereditary gift is the ability to "unmake", and Gry, the daughter of a neighboring domain, who can communicate with animals. Orrec's gift manifests late, and seems uncontrollable, and so he is blindfolded. Their families are caught up in the cycle of violent feuds and retribution that characterize Upland society in which the children are trying to find their place. The novel explores themes of violence and the abuse of power, as well as of coming of age. The protagonists have a recurring struggle to make choices they are comfortable with. Their moral devel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ursula K
Ursula may refer to: * Ursula (name), feminine name and a list of people and fictional characters with the name * ''Ursula'' (album), an album by American jazz pianist Mal Waldron *Ursula (crater), a crater on Titania, a moon of Uranus *Ursula (detention center), processing facility for unaccompanied minors in McAllen, Texas *Ursula (The Little Mermaid), a fictional character who appears in ''The Little Mermaid'' (1989) *Ursula Channel, body of water in British Columbia, Canada * 375 Ursula, a large main-belt asteroid * HMS ''Ursula'', a destroyer and two submarines that served with the Royal Navy *Tropical Storm Ursula (other), a typhoon, two cyclones, and a tropical depression, all in the Pacific Ocean * Ursula, signals intelligence system used by the Finnish Defence Intelligence Agency See also *Saint Ursula *Urszula Urszula may refer to: * Franciszka Urszula Radziwiłłowa (1705–1753), Polish-Lithuania-Belarusian noble dramatist and writer * Urszula Augustyn (born 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
City State
A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world since the dawn of history, including cities such as Rome, Athens, Sparta, Carthage, and the Italian city-states during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, such as Florence, Venice, Genoa and Milan. With the rise of nation states worldwide, only a few modern sovereign city-states exist, with some disagreement as to which qualify; Monaco, Singapore and Vatican City are most commonly accepted as such. Singapore is the clearest example, with full self-governance, its own currency, a robust military and a population of 5.5 million. Several non-sovereign cities enjoy a high degree of autonomy and are sometimes considered city-states. Hong Kong, Macau, and members of the United Arab Emirates—most notably Dubai and Abu Dhabi—are often cited as such. Historical background Ancient and medieva ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Birthday Of The World
''The Birthday of the World and Other Stories'' is a collection of short fiction by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin, first published in March, 2002, by HarperCollins. All of the stories, except "Paradises Lost", were previously published individually elsewhere. The story which lends its name to the title of the collection was the most recent publication, in 2000. Only these two stories are not set on planets of the Ekumen. The collection was also published in London by Gollancz, an imprint of the Orion Group, in 2003. A softcover edition was published by Perennial that year. Contents *Foreword *"Coming of Age in Karhide" – 1995 in ''New Legends'' ed. G. Bear. Takes place on Gethen the planet of ''The Left Hand of Darkness'' which is part of the Ekumen. In the society of Karhide, where people are naturally hermaphroditic and only become male or female during a heat-like period called "kemmer," an adolescent matures and loses their virginity. *"The Matter of Seggri" – Spri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perform some form of work while also having their location or residence dictated by the enslaver. Many historical cases of enslavement occurred as a result of breaking the law, becoming indebted, or suffering a military defeat; other forms of slavery were instituted along demographic lines such as race. Slaves may be kept in bondage for life or for a fixed period of time, after which they would be granted freedom. Although slavery is usually involuntary and involves coercion, there are also cases where people voluntarily enter into slavery to pay a debt or earn money due to poverty. In the course of human history, slavery was a typical feature of civilization, and was legal in most societies, but it is now outlawed in most countries of the w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horn Book Magazine
''The Horn Book Magazine'', founded in Boston in 1924, is the oldest bimonthly magazine dedicated to reviewing children's literature. It began as a "suggestive purchase list" prepared by Bertha Mahony Miller and Elinor Whitney Field, proprietresses of the country's first bookstore for children, The Bookshop for Boys and Girls. Opened in 1916 in Boston as a project of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union, the bookshop closed in 1936, but ''The Horn Book Magazine'' continues in its mission to "blow the horn for fine books for boys and girls" as Mahony wrote in her first editorial. In each bimonthly issue, ''The Horn Book Magazine'' includes articles about issues and trends in children's literature, essays by artists and authors, and reviews of new books and paperback reprints for children. Articles are written by the staff and guest reviewers, including librarians, teachers, historians and booksellers. The January issue includes the speeches of the winners of the Boston Glo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fairy Tale
A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful beings. In most cultures, there is no clear line separating myth from folk or fairy tale; all these together form the literature of preliterate societies. Fairy tales may be distinguished from other folk narratives such as legends (which generally involve belief in the veracity of the events described) and explicit moral tales, including beast fables. In less technical contexts, the term is also used to describe something blessed with unusual happiness, as in "fairy-tale ending" (a happy ending) or "fairy-tale romance (love), romance". Colloquially, the term "fairy tale" or "fairy story" can also mean any far-fetched story or tall tale; it is used especially of any story that not only is not true, but could not possibly be true ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, extraterrestrial life, sentient artificial intelligence, cybernetics, certain forms of immortality (like mind uploading), and the singularity. Science fiction predicted several existing inventions, such as the atomic bomb, robots, and borazon, whose names entirely match their fictional predecessors. In addition, science fiction might serve as an outlet to facilitate future scientific and technological innovations. Science fiction can trace its roots to ancient mythology. It is also related to fantasy, horror, and superhero fiction and contains many subgenres. Its exact definition has long been disputed among authors, critics, scholars, and readers. Science fiction, in literature, film, television, and other media, has beco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kirkus Reviews
''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, nonfiction, and young readers' literature. ''Kirkus Reviews'', published on the first and 15th of each month; previews books before their publication. ''Kirkus'' reviews over 10,000 titles per year. History Virginia Kirkus was hired by Harper & Brothers to establish a children's book department in 1926. The department was eliminated as an economic measure in 1932 (for about a year), so Kirkus left and soon established her own book review service. Initially, she arranged to get galley proofs of "20 or so" books in advance of their publication; almost 80 years later, the service was receiving hundreds of books weekly and reviewing about 100. Initially titled ''Bulletin'' by Kirkus' Bookshop Service from 1933 to 1954, the title was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portland Oregonian
''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the West Coast of the United States, U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850, and published daily since 1861. It is the largest newspaper in Oregon and the second largest in the Pacific Northwest by circulation. It is one of the few newspapers with a statewide focus in the United States. The Sunday edition is published under the title ''The Sunday Oregonian''. The regular edition was published under the title ''The Morning Oregonian'' from 1861 until 1937. ''The Oregonian'' received the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, the only gold medal annually awarded by the organization. The paper's staff or individual writers have received seven other Pulitzer Prizes, most recently the award for Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing, Editorial Writing in 2014. ''The Oregonian'' is home ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Young Adult Fiction
Young adult fiction (YA) is a category of fiction written for readers from 12 to 18 years of age. While the genre is primarily targeted at adolescents, approximately half of YA readers are adults. The subject matter and genres of YA correlate with the age and experience of the protagonist. The genres available in YA are expansive and include most of those found in adult fiction. Common themes related to YA include friendship, first love, relationships, and identity. Stories that focus on the specific challenges of youth are sometimes referred to as problem novels or coming-of-age novels. Young adult fiction was developed to soften the transition between children's novels and adult literature. History Beginning The history of young adult literature is tied to the history of how childhood and young adulthood has been perceived. One early writer to recognize young adults as a distinct age group was Sarah Trimmer, who, in 1802, described "young adulthood" as lasting from ages ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Potter
''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story arc concerns Harry's struggle against Lord Voldemort, a Black magic, dark wizard who intends to become Immortality, immortal, overthrow the wizard governing body known as the Ministry of Magic and subjugate all wizards and Muggles (non-magical people). The series was originally published in English by Bloomsbury Publishing, Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom and Scholastic Corporation, Scholastic Press in the United States. All versions around the world are printed by Grafica Veneta in Italy. A series of many genres, including fantasy, drama, Coming-of-age story, coming-of-age fiction, and the British school story (which i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Powers (novel)
''Powers'' (2007) is the third book in the trilogy '' Annals of the Western Shore'', sometimes called ''Chronicles of the Western Shore'', a young adult series by Ursula K. Le Guin. It is preceded in the series by '' Voices''. ''Powers'' won the 2008 Nebula Award for Best Novel The Nebula Award for Best Novel is given each year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) for science fiction or fantasy novels. A work of fiction is considered a novel by the organization if it is 40,000 words or longer; a .... Plot Gavir is a slave who develops a gift for precognition. He is trained to serve as a teacher for a noble family in the city of Etra; but personal tragedy drives him into the life of a hunted wanderer. He endures adventures, challenges, and suffering. Eventually he escapes to a new and happy life. References External links * Novels by Ursula K. Le Guin Nebula Award for Best Novel-winning works Annals of the Western Shore {{2000s-ya-f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
