Every culture and society has read stories in the night sky. From the careful attention of astronomers across all times and all parts of the world to the search for alien life, the stories found in the shapes of constellations to the expansive imaginings of science fiction, there has always been life up there, at the very least, for our imaginations.

Mythologies of Outer Space brings together academics and artists to explore diverse imaginings of outer space. It examines questions that, in a world where outer space is increasingly accessible, are no longer only science fiction. Is outer space terra nullius, open for settlement? What if there is life beyond earth? Will we repeat the mistakes of the colonial age on other planets? Should parts of outer space be protected, like nature reserves? What about resource extraction? Do celestial bodies, like the moon, have rights?

Astronaut Robert Thirsk, Mi'kmaw astronomer Hilding Neilson, digital humanities scholar Chris Pak, and outer space archaeologist Alice Gorman, among others, are joined by artists including David Hoffos and Dianne Bos, literary scholars, art critics, scientists, and a poet to explore how humanity thinks about outer space in this joyful, curious book.

The autobiography of an indefatigable visionary and citizen activist

Jim Ellis was one of the most influential and impactful civic leaders of Seattle's and Washington's recent history. Though he never sought elected office, his vision and drive were a key force behind many major projects defining our city, county, and region from the 1950s through today. From cleaning up Lake Washington, establishing King County Metro, and implementing the broad array of community-centered Forward Thrust improvement initiatives, to forward-thinking regional projects like the Mountains to Sound Greenway and the Washington State Convention Center, Ellis was astute at bringing together leaders across political divides to create consensus and effect change.

A Will to Serve is a story about the interconnectivity of Ellis's personal and civic lives. It's about individual people--family, friends, neighbors, colleagues--their shared challenges, and how they worked together for regional progress. The book provides insight into a tumultuous and dynamic period of our regional history and a window into the value of patience, persistence, and vision.

Ellis kept notes on his life, projects, and experiences and built a deep portfolio of public speeches. He drew from these to shape his detailed and engaging autobiography. A Will to Serve, in Ellis's own words, is introduced and framed by former secretary of the interior and Jim Ellis mentee Sally Jewell. Several key accomplishments of his later life are presented by historian Jennifer Ott. It closes with an afterword by former Washington governor Gary Locke.

1920's Mexico and the American Southwest hold many dangers, as the last Apache strongholds persist against the foreign invaders.

Hard as nails, Confederate serviceman Jock MacNeil receives an unexpected invitation to guide runaways from a reservation to a stronghold in Sierra Madre.

Facing both Mexican and American authorities, and the Apache Wars raging around them, Jock witnesses first-hand the terrors of war, and his own transformation from a man of faith to Apache spirituality.

1920's Mexico and the American Southwest hold many dangers, as the last Apache strongholds persist against the foreign invaders.

Hard as nails, Confederate serviceman Jock MacNeil receives an unexpected invitation to guide runaways from a reservation to a stronghold in Sierra Madre.

Facing both Mexican and American authorities, and the Apache Wars raging around them, Jock witnesses first-hand the terrors of war, and his own transformation from a man of faith to Apache spirituality.

This is the large print edition of The Last Hundred, with a larger font / typeface for easier reading.

1920's Mexico and the American Southwest hold many dangers, as the last Apache strongholds persist against the foreign invaders.

Hard as nails, Confederate serviceman Jock MacNeil receives an unexpected invitation to guide runaways from a reservation to a stronghold in Sierra Madre.

Facing both Mexican and American authorities, and the Apache Wars raging around them, Jock witnesses first-hand the terrors of war, and his own transformation from a man of faith to Apache spirituality.

This is the large print edition of The Last Hundred, with a larger font / typeface for easier reading.

Nathan Forrest is a lapsed Catholic, a welder, an illegitimate son, and a gifted jazz trumpeter. After he begins pursuing Dorothy - a Protestant girl from a middle-class family - they face the antagonism of mid-20th century Scotland.

Against a backdrop of decaying Westburn's doomed shipyards and bitter environment, the young lovers seek to escape the contraints of prejudice and hate.

But is their love and determination enough to bring them happiness, or will religious and social conflict consume them both?

Nathan Forrest is a lapsed Catholic, a welder, an illegitimate son, and a gifted jazz trumpeter. After he begins pursuing Dorothy - a Protestant girl from a middle-class family - they face the antagonism of mid-20th century Scotland.

Against a backdrop of decaying Westburn's doomed shipyards and bitter environment, the young lovers seek to escape the contraints of prejudice and hate.

But is their love and determination enough to bring them happiness, or will religious and social conflict consume them both?

How have our interactions with animals shaped Calgary?

What can we do to ensure that humans and animals in the city continue to co-exist, and even flourish together?

This wide-ranging book explores the ways that animals inhabit our city, our lives and our imaginations.

Essays from animal historians, wildlife specialists, artists and writers address key issues such as human-wildlife interactions, livestock in the city, and animal performers at the Calgary Stampede.

Contributions from some of Calgary's iconic arts institutions, including One Yellow Rabbit Performance Theatre, Decidedly Jazz Danceworks, and the Glenbow Museum, demonstrate how animals continue to be a source of inspiration and exploration for fashion, art, dance, and theatre.

The full-colour volume is beautifully illustrated throughout with archival images, wildlife photography, documentary and production stills, and original artwork. Index

What are the challenges we face around water in Western Canada?

What are our rights to water? Does water itself have rights?

Water Rites: Reimagining Water in the West documents the many ways that water flows through our lives, connecting the humans, animals and plants that all depend on this precious and endangered resource.

Essays from scholars, activists, environmentalists, and human rights advocates illuminate the diverse issues surrounding water in Alberta, including the right to access clean drinking water, the competing demands of the resource development industry and Indigenous communities, and the dwindling supply of fresh water in the face of human-caused climate change. Statements from community organizations detail the challenges facing watersheds, and the actions being taken to mitigate these problems. With a special focus on Environmental and Indigenous issues, Water Rites explores how deeply water is tied to human life.

These essays are complemented by full-colour portfolios of work by contemporary painters, photographers, and installation artists who explore our relation to water. Reproductions of historical paintings, engravings and film stills demonstrate how water has shaped our country's cultural imaginary from its beginnings, proving that water is a vital resource for our lives and our imaginations.

How do we understand the boundaries of individual creatures?

What are the systems of interdependency that bind all living creatures together?

Plants were among the the first to colonize the planet. They created the soil and the atmosphere that made life possible for animals. They are some of the largest and oldest life forms on Earth. In spite of their primacy, Western cultures have traditionally regarded plants as the lowest life forms, lacking mobility, sensation, and communication. But recent research argues that plants move and respond to their environment, communicate with each other, and form partnerships with other species.

Art, poetry, and essays by cultural anthropologists, experimental plant biologists, philosophers, botanists and foresters expose the complex interactions of the vibrant living world around us and give us a lens through which we can explore our intertwined histories.

1920's Mexico and the American Southwest hold many dangers, as the last Apache strongholds persist against the foreign invaders.

Hard as nails, Confederate serviceman Jock MacNeil receives an unexpected invitation to guide runaways from a reservation to a stronghold in Sierra Madre.

Facing both Mexican and American authorities, and the Apache Wars raging around them, Jock witnesses first-hand the terrors of war, and his own transformation from a man of faith to Apache spirituality

1920's Mexico and the American Southwest hold many dangers, as the last Apache strongholds persist against the foreign invaders.

Hard as nails, Confederate serviceman Jock MacNeil receives an unexpected invitation to guide runaways from a reservation to a stronghold in Sierra Madre.

Facing both Mexican and American authorities, and the Apache Wars raging around them, Jock witnesses first-hand the terrors of war, and his own transformation from a man of faith to Apache spirituality.

In 1950's Westburn, Scotland, Tim Ronsard only has a few months remaining until he leaves St. Mary's School.

Bored and listless, he's anxious to get away. His life changes when a new music teacher is appointed: Isobel Clieshman, a Protestant working in a Catholic school. Soon, Tim's feelings go well beyond a school boy crush, but at 23 years old the teacher is out of his reach.

Five years later, they meet randomly and soon, Tim thinks he has never been happier. But amid family issues, war and prejudice, can they find the road to happiness together?

In 1950's Westburn, Scotland, Tim Ronsard only has a few months remaining until he leaves St. Mary's School.

Bored and listless, he's anxious to get away. His life changes when a new music teacher is appointed: Isobel Clieshman, a Protestant working in a Catholic school. Soon, Tim's feelings go well beyond a school boy crush, but at 23 years old the teacher is out of his reach.

Five years later, they meet randomly and soon, Tim thinks he has never been happier. But amid family issues, war and prejudice, can they find the road to happiness together?

In 1950's Westburn, Scotland, Tim Ronsard only has a few months remaining until he leaves St. Mary's School.

Bored and listless, he's anxious to get away. His life changes when a new music teacher is appointed: Isobel Clieshman, a Protestant working in a Catholic school. Soon, Tim's feelings go well beyond a school boy crush, but at 23 years old the teacher is out of his reach.

Five years later, they meet randomly and soon, Tim thinks he has never been happier. But amid family issues, war and prejudice, can they find the road to happiness together?

This is the large print edition of The Music Room, with a larger font / typeface for easier reading.

In 1950's Westburn, Scotland, Tim Ronsard only has a few months remaining until he leaves St. Mary's School.

Bored and listless, he's anxious to get away. His life changes when a new music teacher is appointed: Isobel Clieshman, a Protestant working in a Catholic school. Soon, Tim's feelings go well beyond a school boy crush, but at 23 years old the teacher is out of his reach.

Five years later, they meet randomly and soon, Tim thinks he has never been happier. But amid family issues, war and prejudice, can they find the road to happiness together?

This is the large print edition of The Music Room, with a larger font / typeface for easier reading.

How an early modern understanding of place and movement are embedded in a performative theory of literature

How is a garden like a poem? Early modern writers frequently compared the two, and as Jim Ellis shows, the metaphor gained strength with the arrival of a spectacular new art form--the Renaissance pleasure garden--which immersed visitors in a political allegory to be read by their bodies' movements. The Poem, the Garden, and the World traces the Renaissance-era relationship of place and movement from garden to poetry to a confluence of both. Starting with the Earl of Leicester's pleasure garden for Queen Elizabeth's 1575 progress visit, Ellis explores the political function of the entertainment landscape that plunged visitors into a fully realized golden world--a mythical new form to represent the nation. Next, he turns to one of that garden's visitors: Philip Sidney, who would later contend that literature's golden worlds work to move us as we move through them, reorienting readers toward a belief in English empire. This idea would later be illustrated by Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queen; as with the pleasure garden, both characters and readers are refashioned as they traverse the poem's dreamlike space. Exploring the artistic creations of three of the era's major figures, Ellis argues for a performative understanding of literature, in which readers are transformed as they navigate poetic worlds.

In 1950's Westburn, Scotland, Tim Ronsard only has a few months remaining until he leaves St. Mary's School.

Bored and listless, he's anxious to get away. His life changes when a new music teacher is appointed: Isobel Clieshman, a Protestant working in a Catholic school. Soon, Tim's feelings go well beyond a school boy crush, but at 23 years old the teacher is out of his reach.

Five years later, they meet randomly and soon, Tim thinks he has never been happier. But amid family issues, war and prejudice, can they find the road to happiness together?

A collection of three novels by Jim Ellis, now available in one volume!

One Summer: In mid-20th century Scotland, Nathan Forrest, a gifted jazz trumpeter and devout Catholic, falls in love with Dorothy, a Protestant girl from a middle-class family. Against the backdrop of Westburn's doomed shipyards, they must confront the prejudices and hate of their society in order to be together. But will their love be enough to overcome the religious and social conflicts that threaten to tear them apart?

The Music Room: Set in 1950's Scotland, Tim Ronsard is a student at St. Mary's School, feeling unfulfilled and ready to leave. That is until music teacher Isobel Clieshman arrives, a Protestant in a Catholic school. Despite the age gap, Tim falls for her, but it isn't until five years later when they meet again that their romance blossoms. However, with societal prejudices and personal struggles to overcome, their journey towards happiness is a challenging one.

Westburn Blues: Dante Rinaldi, the son of Italian immigrants in Scotland, becomes entrenched in his family's homeland during a stranded summer with his grandfather in World War II Italy. As a young adult, Dante fights with a band of mountain partisans against the fascists. His experiences, including a delayed young love and post-war struggles in Scotland, lead him to cross paths with neglected adolescent Chris McCoull, who finds his own romance and purpose while working for a Greek-owned shipping line. This carefully researched and historically detailed novel depicts the Scottish-Italian experience with a cast of colorful characters, from sympathetic to truly evil.

A collection of three novels by Jim Ellis, now available in one volume!

One Summer: In mid-20th century Scotland, Nathan Forrest, a gifted jazz trumpeter and devout Catholic, falls in love with Dorothy, a Protestant girl from a middle-class family. Against the backdrop of Westburn's doomed shipyards, they must confront the prejudices and hate of their society in order to be together. But will their love be enough to overcome the religious and social conflicts that threaten to tear them apart?

The Music Room: Set in 1950's Scotland, Tim Ronsard is a student at St. Mary's School, feeling unfulfilled and ready to leave. That is until music teacher Isobel Clieshman arrives, a Protestant in a Catholic school. Despite the age gap, Tim falls for her, but it isn't until five years later when they meet again that their romance blossoms. However, with societal prejudices and personal struggles to overcome, their journey towards happiness is a challenging one.

Westburn Blues: Dante Rinaldi, the son of Italian immigrants in Scotland, becomes entrenched in his family's homeland during a stranded summer with his grandfather in World War II Italy. As a young adult, Dante fights with a band of mountain partisans against the fascists. His experiences, including a delayed young love and post-war struggles in Scotland, lead him to cross paths with neglected adolescent Chris McCoull, who finds his own romance and purpose while working for a Greek-owned shipping line. This carefully researched and historically detailed novel depicts the Scottish-Italian experience with a cast of colorful characters, from sympathetic to truly evil.