Poetry. Asian Studies. Translated from the Japanese by Janine Beichman. "One of Ooka's virtues was that he was not an intellectual, someone who has forgotten that human beings are more important than ideas, that human beings take priorityover everything. This poet knows, in the deepest sense, that human relationships rest on the relation of human beings to nature and to the universe. It is not difficult to see traces of the surrealist influence that colores Ooka's youth. But in contrast to many other Japanese poets, Ooka was never a blind worshipper of anything imported. Ooka is convinced...

To say that Randy Morden had an effect on Fovea is an understatement. More than ten years after his arrival, the Fovean High Council is in a shambles, the supremacy of the Uman-Chi is a memory, and Eldador is an Empire, not a kingdom. An Uman-Chi girl finds herself with a song to sing, a song which is a gift from the goddess Eveave. When she sings it, another call will come to Earth, a new call for two new champions, a young girl and an old man, for the world where magic is used like technology, and technology is just starting to appear. Now War is about to rage across Fovea, and the greedy...

The battle for Fovea is on, and a girl named Raven and a man named Jack aren't even sure of which side they should be on. One the one from is the Emperor, Rancor Mordetur, from their home planet of Earth. He seems to have a lot on this side - a massive army of highly trained warriors, the most feared witch on Fovea as his wife and superior technology born of another world. On the other is every Fovean Nation; savage Man and wild Uman, long-lived Uman-Chi and merciless Swamp Devils and Slee; all of them unwilling to be subjects of the Empire. But is the Empire evil, or do Raven and Jack not...