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Navigate the Star Wars<i>universe as you never have before–with this fully illustrated, full-color guide that maps the entire galaxy.<br><br>You know the planets–from Alderaan and Corellia to Tatooine and Zonama Sekot–and the star systems, from the Deep Core to the Outer Rim. But now, for the first time, you can pinpoint their locations and chart the travels of your favorite characters through the vast reaches of space. St<i>ar Wars: The Essential Atlas is a galaxy-spanning trove of vital statistics and information ranging from the astronomical and geographical (“Systems, Sectors, Oversectors, and Regions”) to the historical and political (“The Sith Empire” and “The Great Hyperspace War”). Encompassing the entire Star Wars canon, including all the films, and the Clone Wars television series, plus the novels, comic books, video games, and more, this volume is packed with dozens of detailed maps and charts, as well as pertinent data and accompanying facts on

• the Empire: its length and breadth, political regions, populations, trade routes, major attractions, and trouble spots<br>• the Clone Wars: the trajectory of this decisive conflict across the universe, data on key battles and major Loyalist and Separatist worlds
• the adventures of Han Solo: the heroic rogue’s exploits throughout the galaxy–including his captaincy of the Millennium Falcon and his first, fateful meeting with Chewbacca–before his life-changing alliance with Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi
• the Sith Wars: the progression of the universal clash between the ancient Jedi Order, their dark side counterparts, and the Mandalorian warriors who fought against both orders<br>• and much, much more

From Hutt Space to the Unknown Regions, from the Knights of the Old Republic and Episode I to the Fate of the Jedi and Legacy era, <b>Star Wars: The Essential Atlas is the ultimate gateway to space fantasy’s most brilliantly imagined and endlessly intriguing galaxy.

<DIV>This revision of a widely adopted critical edition presents the 1831 text of Mary Shelley’s English Romantic novel along with critical essays that introduce students to <i>Frankenstein from contemporary psychoanalytic, Marxist, feminist, gender, and cultural studies perspectives. An additional essay demonstrates how various critical perspectives can be combined. In the second edition, 3 of the 6 essays are new. The text and essays are complemented by contextual documents, introductions (with bibliographies), and a glossary of critical and theoretical terms.

Karen Wynn Fonstad's THE ATLAS OF MIDDLE-EARTH is an essential volume that will enchant all Tolkien fans. Here is the definitive guide to the geography of Middle-earth, from its founding in the Elder Days through the Third Age, including the journeys of Bilbo, Frodo, and the Fellowship of the Ring. Authentic and updated -- nearly one third of the maps are new, and the text is fully revised -- the atlas illuminates the enchanted world created in THE SILMARILLION, THE HOBBIT, and THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Hundreds of two-color maps and diagrams survey the journeys of the principal characters day by day -- including all the battles and key locations of the First, Second, and Third Ages. Plans and descriptions of castles, buildings, and distinctive landforms are given, along with thematic maps describing the climate, vegetation, languages, and population distribution of Middle-earth throughout its history. An extensive appendix and an index help readers correlate the maps with Tolkien's novels.

Mary Shelley's deceptively simple story of Victor Frankenstein and the creature he brings to life, first published in 1818, is now more widely read—and more widely discussed by scholars—than any other work of the Romantic period. In 1831, Shelley published a revised version of the novel, which smoothed over some of the unresolved themes of the story and toned down much of its dark suggestiveness.

Increasingly critics argue that the original version—the text used by Macdonald and Scherf—is the better of the two. Until Broadview's first edition, almost all modern editions were based on the 1831 text. Subsequently, a number of the larger presses followed suit. The Broadview text is still widely viewed as the best. It includes an appendix that details the changes made for the later version, excerpts from Milton, Erasmus, Darwin and a range of other contemporary documents that shed a variety of lights on the historical context from which this unique masterpiece emerged. <P>Mary Shelley's novel epitomizes the gothic novel of the 18th-century, and is one of the most translated and published novels in the world. But though Frankenstein has often been placed in the genre of "horror" in modern film and fictional adaptations, it is also a discourse on the "otherness" of femininity, of childhood, of the colonized and the oppressed. Broadview's teaching edition attempts to address these varying themes in Frankenstein, and to aid in the understanding of early feminist and humanist reform movements.

The fastest-selling book in publication history, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was a critical success and is loved by fans around the world. In The Deathly Hallows Lectures, John Granger reveals the Potter finale's brilliant details, themes and meanings. Even the most ardent of Harry Potter fans will be surprised by and delighted with the Hogwarts Professor's explanations of the four dimensions of meaning in Deathly Hallows to include:

* why Ms. Rowling chose to make Lily's eyes green, <BR><b>* why Harry buried Moody's eye where and when he did, and
* why Ollivander prefers the three wand cores he does. <BR><BR>Ms. Rowling has said that alchemy sets the "parameters of magic" in the series; after reading the chapter-length explanation of Deathly Hallows as the final stage of the alchemical Great Work in The Deathly Hallows Lectures, the serious reader will understand how important literary alchemy is in understanding Rowling's artistry and accomplishment.<BR><BR> The other seven chapters explore, among other things, the five writing tricks Ms. Rowling uses to work her story magic, the deciphering of the "Triangular Eye" symbol for the three Hallows, Harry's "struggle to believe" in Albus Dumbledore, why Ms. Rowling revealed that she "always thought" of the Headmaster as gay, and the more than 25 echoes of her first book, Philosopher's Stone, in Deathly Hallows.

Did you wonder why Fred died in the end? Why Harry went underground seven times in Deathly Hallows? Granger explains how Ms. Rowling's story formula required these twists - - - as well as two trips to King's Cross and two meetings with Albus Dumbledore at story's end. If you're a serious reader and serious fan of Harry Potter, Deathly Hallows Lectures is a must!

The seven 'essays' by J.R.R. Tolkien assembled in this new paperback edition were with one exception delivered as general lectures on particular occasions; and while they mostly arose out of Tolkien's work in medieval literature, they are accessible to all. Two of them are concerned with Beowulf, including the well-known lecture whose title is taken for this book, and one with <i>Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, given in the University of Glasgow in 1953. <P>Also included in this volume is the lecture English and Welsh; the Valedictory Address to the University of Oxford in 1959; and a paper on Invented Languages delivered in 1931, with exemplification from poems in the Elvish tongues. Most famous of all is <i>On Fairy-Stories, a discussion of the nature of fairy-tales and fantasy, which gives insight into Tolkien's approach to the whole genre. <P>The pieces in this collection cover a period of nearly thirty years, beginning six years before the publication of The Hobbit, with a unique 'academic' lecture on his invention (calling it A Secret Vice) and concluding with his farewell to professorship, five years after the publication of <i>The Lord of the Rings.

Since the debut of Robert Jordan's internationally bestselling series in 1990, The Wheel of Time has transported readers to a world so strikingly real, so rich in detail and complexity, it seems to rise from memory rather than a printed page. This essential companion to The Wheel of Time is for the millions interested in the history and the background of this incredible series-never-before-told legends, previously unknown peoples and lands, exotic beasts, and portents of what may come to pass.

With more than seventy new full-color paintings that include stunning new world maps, portraits of the central characters, landscapes, objects of Power, and national flags, this comprehensive guide is indispensable to any Robert Jordan fan <br>

<b>Product Description:
***Featuring a Foreword by J.K. Rowling***

The Harry Potter Books Were Just the Beginning of the Story. . .

During the brief span of just one decade, hundreds of millions of perfectly ordinary people made history: they became the only ones who would remember what it was like when the Harry Potter saga was still unfinished. What it was like to seek out friends, families, online forums, fan fiction, and podcasts to get a fix between novels. When the death of a character was a hotter bet than the World Series. When the unfolding story of a boy wizard changed the way books are read for all time.

And as webmistress of The Leaky Cauldron, one of the most popular Harry Potter sites on the Internet, Melissa Anelli had a front row seat to it all. Whether it was helping Scholastic stop leaks and track down counterfeiters, hosting live PotterCasts at bookstores across the country, touring with the wizard rock band Harry and the Potters, or traveling to Edinburgh to interview J. K. Rowling personally, Melissa was at the center of the Harry Potter tornado, and nothing about her life would ever be the same.

The Harry Potter books are a triumph of the imagination that did far more than break sales records for all time. They restored the world’s sense of wonder, and took on a magical life of their own. Now the series has ended, but the story is not over. With remembrances from J. K. Rowling’s editors, agents, publicists, fans, and Rowling herself, Melissa Anelli takes us on a personal journey through every aspect of the Harry Potter phenomenon—from his very first spell to his lasting impact on the way we live and dream.

Harry Potter has put a spell on millions of readers, and they all want to find out more about the deeper meaning of his adventures. In Harry Potter and Philosophy, 17 experts in the field of philosophy unlock some of Hogwarts' secret panels, uncovering surprising insights that are enlightening both for wizards and for the most discerning muggles. Individual chapters look at such topics as life revealed in the Mirror of Erised; the ethics of magic; Moaning Myrtle, Nearly Headless Nick, and the relation of the mind to the brain; and the character of Hermione as a case of "sublimated feminism." Also examined in this witty collection are how Aristotle would have run a school for wizards; whether the Potter stories undermine religion and morality; how to tell good people from evil ones through the characters in these novels; and what dementors and boggarts can teach readers about happiness, fear, and the soul.

The Dark Tower is the backbone of Stephen King's legendary career. Begun more than thirty years ago, seven books and more than three thousand pages make up this bestselling, epic fantasy series. Previously published in two separate volumes, <I>The Complete Concordance is the definitive encyclopedic reference book that provides readers with everything they need to navigate their way through the series. With hundreds of characters, Mid-World geography, High Speech lexicon, and extensive cross-references, this comprehensive handbook is essential for any Dark Tower fan.

<li>Characters and Genealogies
• Magical Objects and Forces
• Mid-World and Our World Places<li>Portals and Magical Places
• Mid-, End-, and Our World Maps
• Timeline for the Dark Tower Series
• Mid-World Dialects
• Mid-World Rhymes, Songs, and Prayers<li>Political and Cultural References
• References to Stephen King's Other Work