Thomas Greanias is the New York Times bestselling author of the Raising Atlantis trilogy, Gods of Rome, Red Glare, and other “adventures for the ages.” CBS News calls his work “gripping page-turners you stay up way too late reading.” The Washington Post says, “Greanias writes captivating roller coasters that penetrate the biggest mysteries of our times.” A graduate of Northwestern University, Greanias started out as an on-air correspondent in Washington, D.C., reporting for NBC affiliates across America before turning to books. He later co-published Google’s first-ever, award-winning line of transmedia fiction. His own iconic characters have appeared in mobile augmented reality games with more than 20 million downloads.
This quintessential journey from antiquity is truly an “adventure for the ages.” As a kid, I sailed the Greek Islands (on a cruise ship), retracing the hero Odysseus’s journey home after the Trojan War. This fantasy is all about the triumphant “Return” at the end after all the wanderings, dangers, and tests of character. Quiet highlights include Homer’s cut-aways to Odysseus’s faithful wife back home on Ithaca, fending off suitors as readers salivate at their eventual comeuppance. And who can forget his faithful dog Argos, who recognizes himafter 20 years and thumps his weak tail one last time before passing away?
The first great adventure story in the Western canon, The Odyssey is a poem about violence and the aftermath of war; about wealth, poverty and power; about marriage, family and identity; and about travellers, hospitality and the changing meanings of home in a strange world.
This vivid new translation-the first by a woman-matches the number of lines in the Greek original, striding at Homer's sprightly pace. Emily Wilson employs elemental, resonant language and an iambic pentameter to produce a translation with an enchanting "rhythm and rumble" that avoids proclaiming its own grandeur. An engrossing tale told in a compelling new…
Still, the high fantasy against which all others are measured. Sure, we have the obvious metaphors of the atomic bomb (the ring) and destruction caused by mass industrialization. Not to mention entire histories and languages that Tolkien created in his unsurpassed world-building. But what’s always impressed me the most is Tolkien’s plight after writing The Hobbit and being asked to write a sequel.
He was creatively spent and felt there was nothing more to write about Middle Earth. Friends mocked his lack of progress on his “New Hobbit” book. Then his friend C.S. Lewis offered him a simple genius suggestion: Just put the small hobbits in harm’s way, preferably in front of big, scary monsters. This advice proved to be “clear lightning from the sky.” Despite many various small and big screen attempts that stumbled, director Peter Jackson finally delivered “a ring to rule the screen” in his movie trilogy. Now we’ll see how Amazon does with its big-budget streaming series.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell by chance into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins.
The Mini-Me version of Lord of the Rings. Spanning several epochs of time in the magical land of Narnia, Lewis’s most famous work brought talking animals to life in a world frozen over by the evil White Witch who was overcome only by the blood of the lion Aslan, the Christ-figure of the series. Though the stories are simple compared to the adult Lord of the Rings, they present big, complex ideas of evil, justice, and redemption. To top it off, the kids die halfway through the final, seventh book The Last Battle. Don’t see that much in kiddie lit.
The evocative cover art on the 1970 Macmillan editions is the best of all and never fails to inspire me. Like Lord of the Rings, Narnia has had its share of screen adaptations, reaching its apex with Disney’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in 2005. By then, of course, it had been eclipsed in the pop culture by Harry Potter, and the next two sequels (of seven novels) disappointed at the box office.
Don’t miss one of America’s top 100 most-loved novels, selected by PBS’s The Great American Read.
Experience all seven tales of C. S. Lewis's classic fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia, in one impressive paperback volume!
Epic battles between good and evil, fantastic creatures, betrayals, heroic deeds, and friendships won and lost all come together in this unforgettable world, which has been enchanting readers of all ages for over sixty years.
This edition presents the seven books—The Magician's Nephew; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; The Horse and His Boy; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; The…
I’m cheating a bit here because Cristo isn’t exactly a fantasy. But it is a revenge fantasy, and a romantic, swashbuckling adventure to boot. Like The Odyssey, this tale of Edmond Dantes’ unjust imprisonment, escape, and reinvention as The Count of Monte Cristo is all about the Return -- to wreak his wrath on all who betrayed him. Add heaping doses of romance and redemption, and you have a near-perfect adventure for the ages.
The epic tale of wrongful imprisonment, adventure and revenge, in its definitive translation
Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantes is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and he becomes determined not only to escape, but also to use the treasure to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration. Dumas' epic tale of suffering and retribution, inspired by a real-life case of wrongful imprisonment, was a huge popular success when it was first serialized…
I never thought a tale about rabbits on the run could reach the heights of epic adventure, but Watership Down is just that. This one-off novel of Lord of the Rings scale builds an entire world and theology around the plight of Hazel and his small band of rabbits as they struggle to survive in a vast and forbidding universe. Hazel’s arc from unassuming furball to great leader is awe-inspiring. Still no worthy screen adaptation to date, though several have tried.
One of the best-loved children's classics of all time, this is the complete, original story of Watership Down.
Something terrible is about to happen to the warren - Fiver feels sure of it. And Fiver's sixth sense is never wrong, according to his brother Hazel. They had to leave immediately, and they had to persuade the other rabbits to join them.
And so begins a long and perilous journey of a small band of rabbits in search of a safe home. Fiver's vision finally leads them to Watership Down, but here they face their most difficult challenge of all .…
In Antarctica, a glacial earthquake swallows up a team of scientists...and exposes a mysterious monument older than the Earth itself. In Peru, archaeologist Dr. Conrad Yeats is apprehended by U.S. Special Forces to unlock the final key to the origins of the human race. In Rome, the pope summons environmental activist Dr. Serena Serghetti to the Vatican and reveals a terrifying vision of apocalyptic disaster. In space, a weather satellite reveals four massive storms forming around the South Pole, and three U.S. spy satellites disappear from orbit.
These are the end times, when the legends of a lost civilization and the prophecies of the world's great religions lead a man and a woman to a shattering discovery that will change the fate of humankind.
I have been to, and loved, North, Central, and especially East Africa for over fifty years. Only six times have I been to Africa on holiday; more often, perhaps twenty or more times, as a television producer. Working in Africa gains a perspective of reality that the glories of vacation do not. Each has its place, each its pitfalls like stalled plane rides with emergency landings in the bush or attacks by wildlife. But, in the end, the magic of the “otherness,” what an old friend called “primitava” captures one’s soul and changes your life.
Keen to rekindle their love of East African wildlife adventures after years of filming, extreme dangers, and rescues, producer Pero Baltazar, safari guide Mbuno Waliangulu, and Nancy Breiton, camerawoman, undertake a filming walking adventure north of Lake Rudolf, crossing from Kenya into Ethiopia along the Omo River, following a herd of elephant making their annual migration.
Stumbling onto an elephant poaching, the team become embroiled in true financing of terrorism for al Shabaab –ivory sales–and are determined to stop the slaughter at any cost. Ivory trade financing terrorism involves UN refugee camps with two hundred thousand displaced Somali persons, powerful…
A documentary team hiking through East Africa collides with a gang of deadly poachers, in this gripping adventure by the author of Kidnapped on Safari.
Years of filming, extreme dangers, and daring rescues have taken their toll on documentary producer Pero Baltazar and his team. To relax and reconnect with the East African wildlife they love, Pero organizes a walking safari for him, his camerawoman Nancy Breiton, and their elite guide Mbuno Waliangulu. Still, Pero has trouble truly disconnecting from work. When the team comes across a herd of elephants making their annual migration north of Lake Rudolf, Pero decides…
