"Parker's deft evocation of a lost era in Western American history-the life of the mining boom town-and her complex characterization make Leaden Skies an absorbing read."-Stephanie Barron, national bestselling author It is summer 1880, and Inez Stannert, one of the partners in the Silver Queen Saloon in Leadville, Colorado, travels with her photographer friend Susan to the fashionable summer retreat of Manitou for a reunion with her son, now a toddler...

In search of the Phoenix, Yamatai troops surge into the volcano. Among them is a master of archery who confronts Sarutahiko, but their fight ends in a draw. Sarutahiko asks Yumihiko to give up the Phoenix to Nagi if he succeeds to capture it. Yumihiko finally shoots down the Phoenix while the volcano is shooting out the fire. But Himiko dies before she can sip the life-blood of the Phoenix.

With the help of a woman named Uzume, Nagi and Sarutahiko escape from the horse-riding tribe, which aims to destroy Yamatai. Back in the Yamatai Kingdom, they battle against the horse-riding tribe together with Yumihiko but they are outnumbered.

Defeated General Harima is forced to wear a wolf skin over his head, which cannot be taken off. He heads to a country called Wah together with Obaba who has helped him and an injured General Saruta, where they save a girl named Marimo, a daughter of a canine tribe worshiped as a native god. While resting in a village that Saruta has known, they are assaulted by attackers.

Masato is all alone left in the world and is tormented by overwhelming loneliness. A long, long time passes, and a new life is born from Masato himself. At last, he reunites with Tamami.

After escaping from an underground city called Yamato, Masato and Tamami make it to Dr. Saruta, an authority on artificial beings. A full-scale war between underground cities breaks out, resulting in the extermination of the human race.

Frightened by coming of old age, Himiko, the Queen of Yamatai, desperately wants the life-blood of the Phoenix. Sarutahiko who won the war brings Nagi with him. He trains Nagi as a hunter for the Phoenix. Nagi, however, is planing to attack Himiko instead, while Sarutahiko is accused of such Nagi's act. Nagi rescues Sarutahiko from the Hornet's Cave and heads for his homeland.

"[T]he snowballing pace will keep the reader turning the pages until the unexpected finish."-Publishers Weekly When paleoartist Ansel Phoenix finds a burnt body hanging from the mouth of her life-sized Allosaurus replica outside the Big Toe Natural History Museum, she starts digging. An Indian poacher has been cutting out fossil carnosaur tracks along the Redwater River, and the Bureau of Land Management is threatening to close the museum and move...

In August 2007, scientists behind the Phoenix mission successfully launched a lander on a nine-month voyage to Mars. The Phoenix was the first spacecraft to probe the Martian arctic, landing near 70 degrees north latitude and uncovered clues in the icy soil of the Martian arctic about the history of near-surface ice and its potential for habitability.

On sabbatical in Rome, Dr. Richmond meets the volatile genius of the opera, Erik Costanzi. The chance to study the connections between madness and genius seem to converge in the exaggerated stories of Costanzi's eccentric life. When an accident strikes one of his children, Erik's emotional and violent reaction confirms the doubts that Dr. Richmond has planted in Meg's mind about her husband's sanity. Although she agrees to permit Dr. Richmond to treat...