Showing results by narrator "Austin Vanfleet" in All Categories

The little book by Epictetus called Enchiridion or Manual has played a disproportionately large role in the rise of modern attitudes and modern philosophy. As soon as it had been translated into the vernacular languages, it became a best seller among independent intellectuals, among anti-Christian thinkers, and among philosophers of a subjective cast. Montaigne had a copy of the Enchiridion among his books. Pascal violently rejected the megalomaniac pride of the Stoic philosopher. Frederick the Great carried the book with him on all campaigns.

Seneca's Letters from a Stoic is considered one of the thought-leaders of philosophy in the history of classical literature. The compilation offers a comprehensive introduction to the stoic philosophy. Stoicism is Hellenistic philosophy that dominated literature and conversation until around Three AD. Its roots are traced back to ancient Greece at its founding by Zeno of Citium.

Though this Word is true evermore, yet men are as unable to understand it when they hear it for the first time as before they have heard it at all. For, though, all things come to pass in accordance with this Word, men seem as if they had no experience of them, when they make trial of words and deeds such as I set forth, dividing each thing according to its nature and showing how it truly is. But other men know not what they are doing when awake, even as they forget what they do in sleep.

As unwanted and rebellious boys, they find refuge in Ironhall.... Years later, they emerge as the finest swordsmen in the realm - a magical ritual of a sword through the heart binds each to his ward - if not the king himself, then to whomever else the monarch designates - with absolute loyalty. And the greatest Blade of them all was - and is - Sir Durendal. But a lifelong dream of protecting his beloved liege from enemies, traitors, and monsters is dashed to bits when Durendal is bonded till death to an effete noble fop at his king's orders.

Self-Reliance, an essay written by Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1841, is arguable Emerson's most influential piece. Self-Reliance does a masterful job expanding on one of Emerson's most frequently spoken themes of how individuals should follow their own ideas and instincts. The essay has three major divisions: the importance of self-reliance, self-reliance and the individual, and self-reliance and society, each containing timeless teachings.

Having just finished five years of training to become deadly "blades", the finest swordsmen in the land, Wasp and Raider, refuse to bind themselves to the king during the graduation ceremonies, and become outlaws and head for the dreaded "Fire Lands" to redeem themselves in battle.

In the essay, Emerson puts forth the foundation of transcendentalism, a belief system that espouses a non-traditional appreciation of nature. Transcendentalism suggests that the divine, or God, suffuses nature, and suggests that reality can be understood by studying nature. Within the essay, Emerson divides nature into four usages: commodity, beauty, language and discipline. These distinctions define the ways by which humans use nature for their basic needs, their desire for delight, their communication with one another, and their understanding of the world.

Gareth is the youngest and the last of the unfortunate lords of Skai. Called home from a lonely exile, he finds his father fallen into shadow. And worse. For, the Maedun conquest of Gareth's homeland is complete. The standing stones are silent, their webs of magic torn asunder. The Rune Blade called Bane has been lost forever to dark sorcery, and the somber riders rule the islands that were once home to Gareth's people.

Ammon-shur is missing, and in his absence, the situation across Sumeria, Canaan, and Akkad has gone from bad to worse. Civil war, famine and banditry have become so widespread that even the sleepy backwaters of Canaan has been affected. When Ammon returns home after years spent as a slave, he wants nothing more than to be left alone and spend his days with his family in peace.

Timothy and Ata were not sure what they would find when they went searching through the old dusty volumes of the true Histories of Earth, but now they seem to have created an unstoppable chain of events, and they and Barbara are now stuck in the middle. The Worlds are not as they should be. There is a new danger brewing that will bring the Light Travelers to the outer reaches of our galaxy and back again. All the Worlds of Men are now at risk, and not just Earth. 

Sir Rhys, Sir Sharp, and Sir Trusty - three of the world's greatest swordsmen - are released from the Royal Guard in their 20s with no pension, no job, and no money. Rhys' father is the great Blade hero, Sir Spender, who finds himself in the same predicament. Spender knows of a fabulous treasure that was lost more than 30 years ago and thinks he knows where it may be. Why shouldn't the four of them go and look for it?  

Wolfdon Pellegrin and Toulouse Saloman, two 18-year-old boys living in 17th-century Spain, have recently discovered they are to become founders of a future paradise called Aizai. It will be created by the Magicians, who form a secret society scattered throughout the world. However, they are threatened by dark magicians called the Magi, who have for many ages been impeding the Magicians’ success. 

A kidnapped princess and a clanless man share a terrible secret - the dark powers of Maedun are preparing a new assault on the shinning Isle of Celi. Using stolen Celae magic, the sorcerer Hakkar plans to rip down the veil of enchantment drawn about the island kingdom. Only the great sword Kingmaker can save the land. Until it, too, is shattered.

If only the dangers of light travel could be contained within one world. It was easier and safer that way, when our families and the ones that we love were not at risk. But after nearly a year's time, back on Earth, these dangers are beginning again, with a deadly malice. “They” are after Timothy and the rest of the group of light travelers: an unknown enemy who could be anyone or everyone, and all that Timothy has to go on is a note given to him by a mysterious vanishing boy.

If you strip Stoicism of its paradoxes and its willful misuse of language, what is left is simply the moral philosophy of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle dashed with the physics of Heraclitus. Stoicism was not so much a new doctrine as the form under which the old Greek philosophy finally presented itself to the world at large. It owed its popularity in some measure to its extravagance.  

Ammon-shur and his Gutian allies are determined to rid the land of Canaan of the invading Mesopotamian armies once and for all, but Ammon's aspirations don't end there. He senses an opportunity to eliminate the threat from the shadowy conspiracy that has been dogging his steps for decades once and for all. With his usual flair for combining the divine with the mundane, Ammon takes advantage of his growing reputation to gather a mighty host to retake the cities of Sumeria from the followers of the dark god of chaos, but success brings its own set of challenges. 

Listen to the epic poem of the classic Beowulf, one of the most important works of Old English literature. Protagonist Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, king of the Danes, whose great hall, Heorot, is plagued by the monster Grendel. Beowulf kills Grendel with his bare hands and Grendel's mother with a giant's sword that he found in her lair.  

The empire of Akkad is coming apart at the seams and Ammon-shur and his family find themselves in the middle of all of the social and political turmoil. With the nomadic Gutian Confederation to the North sensing an opportunity to snatch up loot and slaves from the poorly defended cities on the periphery of the empire, an aggressively expansionist Elamite empire looking to settle old scores once and for all and restive Sumerian city-states inside the empire hoping to throw off Akkadian domination for good, it seems that there is no safe haven to be found anywhere. Even the unimportant backwaters of Canaan where Ammon's daughter and son-in-law make their home has been drawn into the growing conflagration and Ammon soon finds himself thrust into battle after battle against his will as he fights to hold his family together in the face of the ever stronger winds of war which seem poised to tear it apart. 

Released in the late 1880s, this thriller is full of an expansive plot full of linguistically suspenseful and surprising elements. Considered to be two of the most well-developed and explored characters in literature history, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde prove to be the perfect characters to expose the duality of man. Stevenson's analysis of good versus evil, or, rather, their ability to coexist, is set against the backdrop of scientific exploration and the entrapment of addiction.

The wanderer Red Kian has ruled Skai as Regent, but now it is time for him to step down. War clouds are gathering. Maedun sorcerers have taken the continent, and Saesnesi raiders are pillaging the islands. But Kian has three sons. One is a prince of Skai blood, one is a wizard touched by Tyadda fire, and one is a dreamer who longs to unite the Celi against their enemies. Who will inherit the rune blade known as Kingmaker? Who will have the power to confront the Black Riders who bring darkness like a cloak to cover the land?