The Omen Machine

Publisher Marketing: Hannis Arc, working on the tapestry of lines linking constellations of elements that constituted the language of Creation recorded on the ancient Cerulean scroll spread out among the clutter on his desk, was not surprised to see the ethereal forms billow into the room like acrid smoke driven on a breath of bitter breeze. Like an otherworldly collection of spectral shapes seemingly carried on random eddies of air, they wandered in a loose clutch among the still and silent mounted bears and beasts rising up on their stands, the small forest of stone pedestals holding massive books of recorded prophecy, and the evenly spaced display cases of oddities, their glass reflecting the firelight from the massive hearth at the side of the room. Since the seven rarely used doors, the shutters on the windows down on the ground level several stories below stood open in a fearless show of invitation. Though they frequently chose to use windows, they didn t actually need the windows any more than they needed the doors. They could seep through any opening, any crack, like vapor rising in the early morning from stretches of stagnant water that lay in dark swaths through the pear barrens. The open shutters were meant to be a declaration for all, including the seven, to see that Hannis Arc feared nothing. " Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 11/01/2011 (EAN 9780765327727, Hardcover) Audio File 12/01/2011 pg. 42 (EAN 9781441887818, Compact Disc) Contributor Bio:  Goodkind, Terry Terry Goodkind is a #1 "New York Times" bestselling author. His books include the eleven-volume Sword of Truth series, beginning with "Wizard's First Rule", the basis for the television show Legend of the Seeker. Goodkind was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, where he also attended art school. Alongside a career in wildlife art, he has also been a cabinetmaker and a violin maker, and he has done restoration work on rare and exotic artifacts from around the world -- each with its own story to tell, he says. While continuing to maintain the northeastern home he built with his own hands, in recent years he and his wife Jeri have created a second home in the desert Southwest, where he now spends the majority of his time. Contributor Bio:  Tsoutsouvas, Sam Tom Peters is a graduate of Cornell (B. C. E., M. C. E.) and Stanford (M. B. A. and Ph. D.) and holds honorary doctorates from the University of San Francisco and Rhodes College. He is a Fellow of the International Academy of Management, The World Productivity Association and the Society for Quality and Participation. He is also the author of In Search of Excellence (with Robert H. Waterman), Liberation Management, Pursuit of Wow, and The Circle of Innovation. He divides his time between Silicon Valley and Vermont.