From #1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman, a contemporary masterpiece combing mythology, adventure, and illusion―one of ten classic Gaiman works repackaged with elegant original watercolor art by acclaimed artist Henry Sene Yee Released from prison, Shadow finds his world turned upside down. His wife has been killed; a stranger offers him a job and Shadow, with nothing to lose, accepts. But a storm is coming. Beneath the placid surface of everyday life, a war is being fought - and the prize is the very soul of America. An inspired combination of mythology, adventure, and illusion, American Gods is a dark and kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth and across an America at once eerily familiar and utterly alien. It is, quite simply, a contemporary masterpiece. "Piercingly observed, jaggedly poetic, ruthlessly cutting a path through graveyards of dead stars and dead money and dead feelings, this novel is the map back to dawn." -- Steve Erickson "American Gods manages to reinvent, and reassert, the enduring importance of fantastic literature itself in this late age of the world. Dark fun, and nourishing to the soul." -- Michael Chabon

The spirit of good luck outwits the spirit of bad luck and helps a poor but honest peasant lad marry the king's daughter.

A delightful collection from legendary character actor Stephen Tobolowsky—who currently appears on The Goldbergs , HBO’s Silicon Valley , and the serial podcast The Tobolowsky Files — “a series of true stories that wrestle with a big idea: how belief shapes our lives. Funny, smart, and moving, this is a wonderful account of our relationship with the unknowable” (Susan Orlean, New York Times bestselling author of The Orchid Thief and Rin Tin Tin ). In My Adventures with God , Stephen Tobolowsky explores the idea that most people’s lives seem to fit into the template of the Old Testament. We all have powerful creation myths: tales of our childhood and family, our first battles won and lost. It is our Genesis. Then, like in the Book of Exodus , we go into slavery. Rather than building pyramids, we lose ourselves in fear and ambition—in first loves, first jobs, too many dreams mixed with too much beer. We eventually become free, only to wander in the wilderness. At some point we stop and proclaim to the universe who we are. This is our Leviticus moment. We reconcile what we thought we would be with what we have become. We often attempt a mid-course correction. Then, as in the Book of Numbers, we are shaped by mortality as we bear the loss of family and friends. Finally, we retell our stories to our children hoping to make sense of the journey, like Moses did in Deuteronomy. Tobolowsky’s stories tell of a boy growing up in the wilds of Texas, finding and losing love, losing and finding himself—all told through the prism of the Torah and Talmud, mixed with insights from science, and refined through a child’s sense of wonder. My Adventures with God is a “fast-paced, precise, wide-ranging, and impressive book draws on the I Ching, Talmud, Einstein, Grimms’ Fairy Tales , and reruns of SportsCenter to create counterpoints when discussing his life of faith. This is a well-told, must-read…for anyone interested in a comedic adventure with the divine” ( Publishers Weekly ).

Tales of magic and wonder can be found in every phase of Jewish literature, from the sacred to the secular. The fairy tale in particular--set in enchanted lands and populated with a variety of human and supernatural beings, both good and evil--holds a very special place in the Jewish tradition. For in the fairy tale, where good and evil engage in a timeless struggle, we have a clear reflection of the Jewish world view, where faith in God can defeat the evil impulse. In Elijah's Violin, Howard Schwartz offers a sumptuous collection of thirty-six Jewish fairy tales from virtually every corner of the world. At once otherworldy and earthy, pious and playful, these celebrated tales from Morocco and India, Spain and Eastern Europe, Babylon and Egypt, illustrate not only their Jewish character but also their universality of themes. Invoking the biblical tale of David and Goliath, we read as King David defeats the giant by hovering above its spear in King David and the Giant. In the romantic tale of The Princess in the Tower, a variant of Rapunzel, we watch as the cautious King Solomon recognizes the vanity in trying to prevent Providence from taking place. And we see the religious nature of the quest for Elijah's violin in the title story. The successful completion of the king's quest enables the violin's imprisoned melodies, emblematic of the Jewish spirit, to be set free. Throughout this richly illustrated collection, one can find the quests and riddles of the traditional fairy tale along with the divine intervention that characterizes the Jewish fairy tale. Skillfully translated, these stories will captivate children and adults alike in which romance and magic become enchantingly entwined with faith, duty, and wisdom.

Noted folklorist Howard Schwartz retells 12 Jewish tales from around the world. Each tale combines elements of magic with a link to a Jewish holiday, giving new perspectives on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Hanukkah, Purim, and Passover--plus Shabbat, the weekly Sabbath. These memorable stories of holiday miracles and miraculous escapes have been passed down orally for thousands of years. Now the best of them--from "A Flock of Angels" to "The Enchanted Menorah" and "The Magic Winecup"--have been collected, and enriched by Monique Passicot's luminous illustrations.

Once there was a town called Chelm where there was no luck. If something could go wrong, it did. The roofs of the houses always leaked. The sidewalks were cracked. The gardens grew only weeds. Nothing was ever right. So begins best-selling children's author, Sandy Eisenberg Sasso (nearly 500,000 copies of her books are in print) in this charming, original story inspired by a Jewish folktale.

This book of poems has intent, design, and purpose. They are written to touch something hidden deep within you, something latent, undiscovered, and mysterious. I hope that you may wish to discover more about that of which I speak.For there are answers to your questions if you but seek. That hidden something is true of everyone, almost without exception, but most of us have fallen asleep to the yearning and the searching that it can give rise to. If you are not in the category of the walking dead--and you are truly searching-- perhaps this book will be for you. If you loved fairy tales as a child, would rather travel to ancient sites than take cruises or hang out on a beach, appreciate the mythology from other cultures, enjoy classical art, perhaps read philosophy and great literature, are enthralled by the wonder of the natural world--and the list goes on and on--this book may be of interest to you. Even if your yearning takes other forms, you may love what I've written as well. But the book is not an answer to your yearnings. It can, though, be a window into a world where those same yearnings are addressed, satisfied, and shown a further and meaningful path to take. I wrote it in the language of today (including a small amount of crude language), with some references to literary or artistic works of the past. Despite the simplicity of many of the poems, there is great depth of meaning, if you are open to it. My suggestion would be to read only a few poems at a time, trying to ponder what I am talking about, letting them sink in emotionally, rather than dissecting them intellectually. And certainly don't continue to read until your eyes glaze over, as that will not profit you in the least. Enjoy!

The most complete guide to the ancient world-wide system of celestial metaphor, sometimes called Astro-theology, which forms the foundation for virtually all of the scriptures, myths, and sacred stories of humanity -- including the texts we call the Old Testament and New Testament of the Bible. Explore the scriptures and myths of humanity in a new light as you learn to hear the language in which they are all actually speaking: the language of the stars. Star Myths of the World and How to Interpret Them is a series of volumes exploring the amazing evidence of an ancient, world-wide system of metaphor which underlies all of the world's myths, and points to the conclusion that they are all closely related. Learn how to understand the clues and symbols in the stories which point to specific constellations, and how the constellations fit into the larger heavenly cycles, all of which are used by the ancient wisdom given to our ancestors as a precious inheritance, with information for our benefit and blessing. Volume One explored evidence that this system is worldwide, sampling a few representative myths and stories from ancient Egypt, ancient Mesopotamia, ancient India, ancient China and Japan, and myths from various cultures in Australia, Africa, the Americas, and the Pacific. Volume Two explored the massive evidence that the Greek myths are built on the same worldwide system, examining specific myths, gods, and goddesses -- as well as both the Iliad and Odyssey in depth, for their celestial patterns. Volume Three provides a broad survey of the celestial foundations of some of the most well-known stories and characters in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, complete with hundreds of full-color illustrations and star charts.