Patrick Wayne Swayze (August 18, 1952 – September 14, 2009) was an American actor, dancer and singer-songwriter. He was best-known for his tough-guy roles, as romantic leading men in the hit films Dirty Dancing and Ghost and as Orry Main in the North and South television miniseries. He was named by People magazine as its “Sexiest Man Alive” in 1991. His film and TV career spanned 30 years.
Swayze’s first professional appearance was as a dancer for Disney on Parade. He starred as a replacement for Danny Zuko in the long-running Broadway production of Grease before his debut film role as “Ace” in Skatetown, U.S.A.. He appeared as Pvt. Sturgis in the M*A*S*H episode “Blood Brothers” and had a brief stint in 1982 on a short lived TV series The Renegades playing a gang leader named Bandit. Swayze became known to the film industry after appearing in The Outsiders as the older brother of C. Thomas Howell and Rob Lowe. Swayze, Howell, and Howell’s friend Darren Dalton reunited in Red Dawn the next year, and Lowe and Swayze reunited in Youngblood. He was considered a member of the Brat Pack. His first major success was in the 1985 television miniseries North and South, which was set during the American Civil War.
Swayze’s breakthrough role came with his performance as dance instructor Johnny Castle in the 1987 film Dirty Dancing, alongside his Red Dawn co-star, Jennifer Grey. Dirty Dancing, a coming of age story set to film was a low-budget project that was intended to be shown in theaters for one weekend only and then go straight to video, but it became a surprise hit and achieved massive international success. It was the first film to sell one million copies on video, and as of 2007, has earned over $300 million worldwide and spawned several alternate versions, ranging from a television series to stage productions to a computer game. Swayze received a Golden Globe Award nomination for the role and also sang one of the songs on the soundtrack, “She’s Like the Wind”, which he had originally co-written with Stacy Widelitz for the film Grandview, U.S.A. The song became a top ten hit and has been covered by other artists.
After Dirty Dancing, Swayze found himself heavily typecast and appeared in several flops, of which Road House was the most successful. His biggest hit came in 1990, when he starred in Ghost, with Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg. In 1991, he starred alongside Youngblood cast mate Keanu Reeves in another major action hit, Point Break, and was also chosen by People magazine as that year’s “Sexiest Man Alive”.
Swayze was seriously injured in 1998 while filming HBO’s Letters from a Killer near Ione, California when he fell from a horse and hit a tree. Both of his legs were broken and he suffered four detached tendons in his shoulder. Filming was suspended for two months, but the film aired in 1999. Swayze recovered from his injuries, but he had trouble resuming his career until 2000, when he co-starred in Waking Up in Reno, with Billy Bob Thornton and Charlize Theron, and in Forever Lulu, with Melanie Griffith.
In 2001, he appeared in Donnie Darko, where he played a motivational speaker and closet pedophile, and in 2004, he played Allan Quatermain in King Solomon’s Mines. He also had a cameo appearance in the Dirty Dancing sequel, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights as an unnamed dance instructor.
Swayze made his West End theatre début in the musical Guys and Dolls as Nathan Detroit on July 27, 2006, alongside Neil Jerzak, and remained in the role until November 25, 2006. His previous appearances on the Broadway stage had included productions of Goodtime Charley (1975) and Chicago (2003).
In 2007, Swayze starred in the film Christmas in Wonderland. Swayze played an aging rock star in Powder Blue, co-starring his younger brother Don in their first film together. Swayze starred in the A&E FBI drama The Beast, filmed in Chicago, as FBI Agent Charles Barker.
Diagnosed with Stage IV pancreatic cancer in January 2008, Swayze told Barbara Walters a year later that he was “kicking it”. However, he died from the disease on September 14, 2009. His last role was the lead in an ill-fated A&E TV series, The Beast, which premiered on January 15, 2009. Due to a prolonged decline in health, Swayze was unable to promote the series. On June 15, 2009, Entertainment Tonight announced the show’s cancellation.
The Time of My Life by Patrick Swayze and Lisa Niemi
An entertaining and inspiring behind-the-scenes look at a Hollywood life and a remarkable love, told in the words of beloved actor Patrick Swayze and his wife, Lisa Niemi, shortly before he passed away.
In a career spanning more than thirty years, Patrick Swayze made a name for himself on the stage and screen with his versatility, passion, and fearlessness. Always a fighter, Patrick refused to let the diagnosis of stage IV pancreatic cancer in February 2008 defeat him. Patrick and Lisa’s bravery inspired legions of fans, cancer patients, and their loved ones, yet this memoir, written with wisdom and heart, recounts so much more. Revealed in vivid detail is Patrick’s Texas upbringing, his personal struggles, his rise to fame, and how his soul mate Lisa stood by his side through it all.
The Time of My Lifeopens the door for families, individuals, and husbands and wives to grow, bond, and discover entirely new levels of love and sharing, proving that life shouldn’t be lived as a series of endings, but rather as the beginning of greater strength and love.
James Clavell, born Charles Edmund Dumaresq Clavell (10 October 1924 – 7 September 1994) was a British (later naturalized American) novelist, screenwriter, director and World War II veteran and prisoner of war. Clavell is best known for his epic Asian Saga series of novels and their televised adaptations, along with such films as The Great Escape and To Sir, with Love.
Born in Australia, Clavell was the son of Commander Richard Clavell, a British Royal Navy officer who was stationed in Australia on secondment from the Royal Navy to the Royal Australian Navy. In 1940, when Clavell finished his secondary schooling at Portsmouth Grammar School, he joined the Royal Artillery to follow his family tradition.
Following the outbreak of World War II, at the age of 16 he joined the Royal Artillery in 1940, and was sent to Malaya to fight the Japanese. Wounded by machine-gun fire, he was eventually captured and sent to a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp on Java. Later he was transferred to Changi Prison in Singapore.
Clavell suffered greatly at the hands of his Japanese captors. Changi was notorious for its poor living conditions, and according to the introduction to King Rat, written by Clavell, over 90% of the prisoners who entered Changi never walked out—although the actual mortality rate was under 1%. Clavell was reportedly saved, along with an entire battalion, by an American prisoner of war who later became the model for “The King” in Clavell’s King Rat.
By 1946, Clavell had risen to the rank of Captain, but a motorcycle accident ended his military career. He enrolled at the University of Birmingham, where he met April Stride, an actress, whom he married in 1951.
Clavell’s first novel, King Rat, was a semi-fictional account of his prison experiences at Changi. When the book was published in 1962, it became an immediate best-seller and three years later, it was adapted for film. His next novel, Tai-Pan, was a fictional account of Jardine-Matheson’s rise to prominence in Hong Kong, as told through the character who was to become Clavell’s heroic archetype, Dirk Struan. Struan’s descendants would inhabit almost all of his forthcoming books.
This was followed by Shōgun in 1975, the story of an English navigator set in 1600s Japan, based on that of William Adams. When the story was made into a TV series in 1980, produced by Clavell, it became the second highest rated mini-series in history with an audience of over 120 million. In 1981, Clavell published his fourth novel, Noble House, which became a number one best seller during that year and was also made into a miniseries. Following the success of Noble House, Clavell wrote Whirlwind (1986) and Gai-Jin (1993) along with The Children’s Story (1981) and Thrump-o-moto (1985).
Frederick Forsyth, CBE (born 25 August 1938) is an English author and occasional political commentator. He is best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil’s Alternative, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger, The Afghan. His latest novel, The Cobra, is set to be published in late summer 2010.
The son of a furrier, Forsyth was born in Ashford, Kent. He was educated at Tonbridge School and later attended the University of Granada in Spain. He became one of the youngest pilots in the Royal Air Force at the age of 19, where he served on National Service from 1956 to 1958. Becoming a journalist, he joined Reuters in 1961 and later the BBC in 1965, where he served as an assistant diplomatic correspondent. From July to September 1967, he served as a correspondent covering the Nigerian Civil War between the region of Biafra and Nigeria. He left the BBC in 1968 after controversy arose over his alleged bias towards the Biafran cause and accusations that he falsified segments of his reports. Returning to Biafra as a freelance reporter, Forsyth wrote his first book, The Biafra Story in 1969.
Forsyth is a Eurosceptic Conservative. He is Patron of Better Off Out, an organisation calling for Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union. In 2003, he was awarded the One of Us Award from the Conservative Way Forward group for his services to the Conservative movement in Britain. He is also a patron of the Young Britons’ Foundation. In 2005, he came out in opposition to Kenneth Clarke’s candidacy for the leadership of the Conservative Party, calling Clarke’s record in government “unrivalled; a record of failure which at every level has never been matched”. Instead, he endorsed and donated money to David Davis’s campaign.
He is a strong supporter of the British monarchy. In his book Icon, he recommended a constitutional monarchy as a solution to Russia’s political problems following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
He is an occasional radio broadcaster on political issues, and has also written for newspapers throughout his career, including a weekly page in the Daily Express. In 2003, he criticised “gay-bashers in the churches” in The Guardian newspaper. He has narrated several documentaries, including Jesus Christ Airlines, Soldiers, a history of men in battle and I Have Never Forgotten You: The Life & Legacy of Simon Wiesenthal.
In August 2006, Forsyth appeared on the ITV gameshow Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? to raise funds for charity. On 8 February 2007, Forsyth appeared on BBC’s political panel show Question Time. On it, he expressed scepticism on the subject of anthropogenic climate change. On 26 March 2008, he also appeared on BBC’s The One Show. On 17 June 2008, Forsyth was interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live Midday News in relation to the restoration of the Military Covenant. During the interview he referred to Gordon Brown as a numpty.
Natascha Kampusch (born 17 February 1988 in Vienna) is an Austrian television host mostly known for her abduction at the age of 10 on 2 March 1998. Natascha was held in a secret cellar by her kidnapper Wolfgang Priklopil for more than eight years, until she escaped on 23 August 2006. The media attention later led to her signing a contract with Austrian channel Puls 4 for her own talk show. The show had its premiere on 1 June 2008.
Natascha Kampusch (10 years old)
Kampusch was raised by her mother Brigitta Sirny (nee Kampusch) and her father Ludwig Koch, in Vienna, Austria. Her early life with her mother was reportedly not a happy one, and Ludwig Adamovich, head of a special commission looking into possible police failures in the investigation of the kidnapping, claimed that “the time Kampusch was imprisoned might have been better for her than what she experienced before”. Her family included two adult sisters, and five nieces and nephews. Sirny and Koch separated while Kampusch was still a child. Kampusch spent time with both of them, and had returned to her mother’s home from a holiday with Koch the day before her kidnapping.
The 10-year-old Kampusch left her family’s residence in Vienna’s Donaustadt district on 2 March 1998 for school, but failed to arrive at school or come home. A 12-year-old witness reported having seen her being dragged into a white minibus by two men, although Kampusch did not report a second man being present. A massive police effort followed, and 776 minivans were examined, including that of Priklopil, who lived about half an hour from Vienna by car in the Lower Austrian town of Strasshof an der Nordbahn, near Gänserndorf. Although he stated that on the morning of the kidnapping he was alone at home, the police were satisfied with his explanation that he was using the minibus to transport rubble from the construction of his home.
Speculations of child pornography rings or organ theft were offered, and officials also investigated possible links to the crimes of the French serial killer Michel Fourniret. Kampusch had carried her passport with her when she left (she had been on a family trip to Hungary a few days before) and the police extended the search abroad. Accusations against Kampusch’s family complicated the issue even more; there have even been unsubstantiated allegations that Natascha’s mother was somehow involved in the abduction or its cover-up.
In her official statement she said “I don’t want and will not answer any questions about personal or intimate details”.
In the documentary, “Natascha Kampusch: 3096 days in captivity”, Kampusch sympathized with her captor. She said “I feel more and more sorry for him – he’s a poor soul”, in spite of having been held captive for eight years by him, and according to police she “cried inconsolably” when she was told he was dead, and lit a candle for him at the morgue. She has, however, referred to her captor as a “criminal”.
There is also speculation that Kampusch may have Stockholm syndrome as a result of her ordeal. She said “my youth was very different. But I was also spared a lot of things – I did not start smoking or drinking and I did not hang out in bad company”.
During her first interview, Christoph Feurstein asked her if she had been lonely during captivity. Kampusch snapped “what a ridiculous question” and left the room, returning after a brief pause.
In 2009 Kampusch became the new face of animal rights group PETA in Austria. In June Kampusch wrote to Ilse Aigner, agriculture minister in Germany where the campaign is based, demanding freedom for zoo animals, stating: “The animals would, if they could, flee as I did, because a life in captivity is a life full of deprivation, It is up to you whether social, intelligent and wonderful creatures are to be freed from their chains and cages where ruthless people keep them.”
In January 2009, Vienna’s public prosecutor stated that DNA tests and questioning of witnesses had led to theories being discounted that Wolfgang Priklopil had an accomplice. Natascha Kampusch has also maintained that her captor acted alone.
Girl in the Cellar: The Natascha Kampusch Story
Girl in the Cellar by Allan Hall and Michael Leidig
Eight years of darkness
On March 2, 1998, while on her way to school, ten-year-old Natascha Kampusch was abducted. More than eight years later, on August 23, 2006, she escaped with a story that shocked and horrified the entire world. She spent the most delicate years of her life hidden in a cellar underneath an ordinary Austrian suburban home. How was she able to survive? What sort of woman had emerged? What kind of man was Wolfgang Priklopil, her abductor—and what demands had he made of her?
Journalists Allan Hall and Michael Leidig covered Natascha’s story from the beginning. The result of extraordinary investigative reporting, Girl in the Cellar gets to the heart of this very tragic case to reveal a truth no one would have imagined.
Alfred Abraham Knopf, Sr. (September 12, 1892 – August 11, 1984) was a leading American publisher of the 20th century, and founder of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.. His contemporaries included the likes of Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer, and (of the previous generation) Frank Nelson Doubleday, J. Henry Harper and Henry Holt. Knopf paid special attention to the quality of printing, binding, and design in his books, and earned a reputation as a purist in both content and presentation.
Asked how to say his name, Knopf told the Literary Digest: “Sound the k: k’nupf.”
Knopf was born into a Jewish family in New York City. His father Samuel Knopf was an advertising executive and financial consultant, his mother was Ida Japhe, and his brother Edwin H. Knopf, who worked for Alfred briefly, then became a film director and producer. Alfred attended Columbia University, where he was a pre-law student and a member of the Peithologian Society, a debating and literary club. He began to show an interest in publishing during his senior year, becoming advertising manager of an undergraduate magazine. His interest in publishing was allegedly fostered by a correspondence with British author John Galsworthy. After visiting Galsworthy in England, Knopf gave up his plans for a law career, and upon his return went into publishing.
After receiving his B.A. in 1912, Knopf worked as a clerk at Doubleday (1912–1913), then as an editorial assistant to Michael Kennerly (1914). He founded his own publishing house in 1915. The company initially emphasized European, especially Russian, literature, hence the choice of the borzoi as a colophon. At that time European literature was largely neglected by American publishers; Knopf published authors such as Joseph Conrad, W. Somerset Maugham, D. H. Lawrence, E. M. Forster, André Gide, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, Thomas Mann, Sigmund Freud, and Franz Kafka.
Knopf also published many American authors, including H.L. Mencken, Theodore Dreiser, Vachel Lindsay, James M. Cain, Conrad Aiken, Dashiell Hammett, James Baldwin, John Updike, Shirley Ann Grau, and Knopf’s own favorite, Willa Cather. He often developed a personal friendship with his authors. Knopf’s personal interest in the fields of history, sociology, and science led to close friendships in the academic community with such noted historians as Richard Hofstadter, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and Samuel Eliot Morison. A prominent Republican until Watergate, Knopf often drew legislators into lengthy correspondence by mail.
Knopf himself was also an author. His writings include Some Random Recollections, Publishing Then and Now, Portrait of a Publisher, Blanche W. Knopf: July 30, 1894-June 4, 1966, and Sixty Photographs.
When Knopf’s son, Alfred A. Knopf, Jr., left the company in 1959 to found Atheneum Publishers[1], Alfred and Blanche became concerned about the eventual fate of their publishing house, which had always been a family business. The problem was solved in 1960, when Knopf merged with Random House, which was owned by the Knopf’s close friends Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer. Knopf retained complete editorial control for five years, and then gave up only his right to veto other editors’ manuscript selections. The editorial departments of the two companies remain separate, and Knopf, Inc., retains its distinctive character. Knopf called the merger “a perfect marriage”.
Random House itself eventually became a division of Bertelsmann AG, a large multinational media company. The Knopf imprint remains in existence.
Blanche Knopf died in June 1966. Alfred remarried in April of the following year, to Helen Norcross Hedrick. He died of congestive heart failure on August 11, 1984, at his estate in Purchase, New York.
Somewhere Inside: One Sister’s Captivity in North Korea and the Other’s Fight to Bring Her Home by Laura Ling and Lisa Ling
On March 17, 2009, Laura Ling and her colleague Euna Lee were working on a documentary about North Korean defectors who were fleeing the desperate conditions in their homeland. While filming on the Chinese–North Korean border, they were chased down by North Korean soldiers who violently apprehended them. Laura and Euna were charged with trespassing and “hostile acts,” and imprisoned by Kim Jong Il’s notoriously secretive Communist state. Kept totally apart, they endured months of interrogations and eventually a trial before North Korea’s highest court. They were the first Americans ever to be sentenced to twelve years of hard labor in a prison camp in North Korea.
When news of the arrest reached Laura’s sister, journalist Lisa Ling, she immediately began a campaign to get her sister released, one that led her from the State Department to the higher echelons of the media world and eventually to the White House.
Somewhere Inside reveals for the first time Laura’s gripping account of what really happened on the river, her treatment at the hands of North Korean guards, and the deprivations and rounds of harrowing interrogations she endured. She speaks movingly about the emotional toll inflicted on her by her incarceration, including the measures she took to protect her sources and her fears that she might never see her family again.
Lisa writes about her unrelenting efforts to secure Laura and Euna’s release. Offering insights into the vast media campaign spearheaded on the women’s behalf, Lisa also takes us deep into the drama involving people at the highest levels of government, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore, Senator John Kerry, and Governor Bill Richardson—intense discussions that entailed strategically balancing the agendas and good intentions of the various players. She also describes her role in the back-and-forth between North Korea’s demands and the dramatic rescue by former President Bill Clinton.
Though they were thousands of miles apart while Laura was in captivity, the Ling sisters’ relationship became a way for the reclusive North Korean government to send messages to the United States government, which helped lead to Laura and Euna’s eventual release.
Told in the sisters’ alternating voices, Somewhere Inside is a timely, inspiring, and page-turning tale of survival set against the canvas of international politics that goes beyond the headlines to reveal the impact on lives engulfed by forces beyond their control. But it is also a window into the unique bond these two sisters have always shared, a bond that sustained them throughout the most horrifying ordeal of their lives.
Laura Ling and Lisa Ling
Lisa Ling (L) and Laura Ling (R)
Laura Ling is an American journalist, working for Current TV as a correspondent and vice president of its Vanguard Journalism Unit, which produces the Vanguard TV series. She is the sister of Lisa Ling, who is a special correspondent for The Oprah Winfrey Show, National Geographic Explorer, and CNN. Ling and fellow journalist Euna Lee were detained in North Korea after they crossed into North Korea from the People’s Republic of China without a visa. They were subsequently pardoned after former US President Bill Clinton flew to North Korea to meet with Kim Jong-il.
Lisa Ling is an American journalist, best known for her role as a co-host of ABC’s The View (from 1999–2002), host of National Geographic Explorer, reporter on Channel One News, and special correspondent for the Oprah Winfrey Show and CNN. She is the older sister of Laura Ling, a journalist who was detained and released in 2009 by North Korea.
Between Two Worlds: My Life and Captivity in Iran by Roxana Saberi
On the morning of January 31, 2009, Roxana Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist working in Iran, was forced from her home by four men and secretly detained in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison. The intelligence agents who captured her accused her of espionage—a charge she denied. For several days, Saberi was held in solitary confinement, ruthlessly interrogated, and cut off from the outside world. For weeks, neither her family nor her friends knew her whereabouts.
After a sham trial that made headlines around the world, the thirty-one-year-old reporter was sentenced to eight years in prison. But following international pressure by family, friends, colleagues, various governments, and total strangers, she was released on appeal on May 11, 2009. Now Saberi breaks her silence to share the full account of her ordeal, describing in vivid detail the methods that Iranian hard-liners are using to try to intimidate and control many of the country’s people.
In this gripping and inspirational true story, Saberi writes movingly of her imprisonment, her trial, her eventual release, and the faith that helped her through it all. Her recollections are interwoven with insights into Iranian society, the Islamic regime, and U.S.-Iran relations, as well as stories of her fellow prisoners—many of whom were jailed for their pursuit of human rights, including freedom of speech, association, and religion. Saberi gains strength and wisdom from her cellmates who support her throughout a grueling hunger strike and remind her of the humanity that remains, even when they are denied the most basic rights.
Between Two Worlds is also a deeply revealing account of this tumultuous country and the ongoing struggle for freedom that is being fought inside Evin Prison and on the streets of Iran. From her heartfelt perspective, Saberi offers a rich, dramatic, and illuminating portrait of Iran as it undergoes a striking, historic transformation.
Roxana Saberi
Roxana Saberi
Saberi moved to Iran in 2003 to work as the Iran correspondent for the U.S.–based Feature Story News. She filed reports for organizations such as NPR, BBC, ABC Radio, and Fox News, and was working on a book about Iranian society when she was arrested on January 31, 2009. She was released on May 11, 2009.
Saberi grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, the daughter of Reza Saberi, who was born in Iran, and Akiko Saberi, who is from Japan. She was chosen Miss North Dakota in 1997 and was among the top ten finalists in the Miss America Pageant in 1998. She graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, with degrees in communications and French.
Saberi holds her first master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and her second master’s degree in international relations from the University of Cambridge.
Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Barcelona, 25 September 1964) is a Spanish novelist who has lived in Los Angeles since 1993, where he spent a few years writing scripts whilst developing his career as a writer.
His first novel, El principe de la niebla (The Prince of Mist, 1993), earned the Edebe literary prize for young adult fiction. He is also the author of three more young adult novels, El palacio de la medianoche (1994), Las luces de septiembre (1995) and Marina (1999).
In 2001 he published the novel La sombra del viento (The Shadow of the Wind), his first “adult” novel, which has sold millions of copies worldwide and more than a million copies in the UK alone. Since its publication, La sombra del viento has garnered critical acclaim around the world and has won many international awards. Ruiz Zafon’s works have been published in 45 countries and have been translated into more than 30 languages. According to these figures, Ruiz Zafon is the most successful contemporary Spanish writer, along with Javier Sierra, whose works have been published in forty-two countries, and Juan Gomez-Jurado, whose works have been published in forty-one countries.
Ruiz Zafon’s eagerly awaited second novel, a prequel to the The Shadow of the Wind, has been acquired by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. The English edition was published in hardback on June 16, 2009. Titled The Angel’s Game, it also is set in Barcelona, but during the 1920s and 1930s. It follows (and is narrated by) David Martin, a young writer who is approached by a mysterious figure to write a book. The Spanish edition, titled El Juego del Angel, was published in April 2008 by Planeta. The English edition was translated by Lucia Graves, daughter of the poet Robert Graves. The Dutch translation was done by Nelleke Geel. Ruiz Zafon will tour to support the book after its publication and has stated his intention for it to be included as part of a four book series along with The Shadow of the Wind.
An English version of El principe de la niebla, the Prince of Mist (1993), is to be released on 27 May 2010, through the Orion books.
While Zafon is rarely specific about any one author that inspires him, he is keen to describe genres that have influenced his work and his writing process; he has referred to his love of the 19th century classics, revealing once that his list of favourites includes “Dickens, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Balzac, Hugo, Hardy, Dumas, Flaubert.” On the other hand, Zafon has also described a passion for crime fiction, ranging from “Raymond Chandler, James L. Cain and the classic noir authors” to more contemporary names such as “George Pelecanos, Dennis Lehane, Michael Connelly”.
Apart from books, another large influence comes in the form of films and screenwriting. He admits in countless interviews that he finds it easier to visualize scenes in his books in a cinematic way, which lends itself to the lush worlds and curious characters he creates.
It was acquired by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, who published the English edition starting June 16 2009. Like The Shadow of the Wind, it was translated from the Spanish by Lucia Graves, daughter of the poet Robert Graves. The Spanish version was published by Planeta in April 2008.
The Angel’s Game is set in Barcelona in the 1920s and 1930s and follows a young writer who is approached by a mysterious figure to write a book. Carlos Ruiz Zafon has revealed that the novel returns to The Cemetery of Forgotten Books – the mythical building in the heart of Barcelona’s Raval district, as well as the Sempere & Sons bookshop featured in The Shadow of the Wind.
Set against the backdrop of a writer struggling with his demons is a page-turning mystery and a love story, which takes place in the dark, narrow alleyways and creaking mansions of the mysterious heart of Barcelona.
The Shadow of the Wind
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Shadow of the Wind (Spanish: La sombra del viento) is a 2001 novel by Spanish writer Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and a worldwide bestseller. The book was translated into English in 2004 by Lucia Graves and has sold over a million copies in the UK alone. Prior to that it had already achieved huge success on mainland Europe, topping the Spanish bestseller lists for weeks. After being translated in 2004 the book was again published in The United States by Penguin Books as well as in Great Britain by Weidenfeld & Nicolson and by Orion Books.
In his home city of Barcelona, vividly depicted in the book, Catalan nationalists took issue with Ruiz Zafon for having written it in Spanish rather than Catalan.
Ruiz Zafon’s eagerly awaited follow up is a prequel to The Shadow of the Wind and was published in Spanish in April 2008 by Planeta. It has been acquired by Weidenfeld & Nicolson and a hardback English edition was published in June 2009. The title is The Angel’s Game and it is set in Barcelona during the 1920s and 1930s. It follows a young writer who is approached by a mysterious figure to write a book. The Angel’s Game was also translated into English by Lucia Graves.
BaZi is system of Chinese Astrology known as the Four Pillars of Destiny. BaZi literally translates to mean ‘Eight Characters,’ because the eight characters are derived from four pairs of characters – hence, the four pillars. BaZi translates our birth information – specifically the year, month, day, and hour of birth into four pillars known as Jia Zi. And what are these Eight Characters? They are made up of the Yin and Yang variations of the Five Elements (Wood, Water, Metal, Fire and Earth).
The idea for the BaZi Essentials series of books began out of my wish to simplify what is a sophisticated, multifaceted study of authentic Chinese Astrology into something a little easier to digest. Too many people are only familiar with the “12 Animal Year Signs” type of Chinese Astrology. But the true form of character traits in Chinese Astrology stems from the Day of Birth, not the animal sign of the Year of Birth.
If you’ve read my previous books on BaZi, BaZi – The Destiny Code and BaZi – The Destiny Code Revealed, or even taken any classes on the subject, you probably know that there is really NO end to BaZi studies. There may be a finite amount of theory or principles to learn, but the methods of application and interpretation are endless. And that’s precisely why BaZi is a consistently intriguing and exciting field of Destiny study!
But every form of knowledge has to start somewhere. And BaZi essentially begins with the Day Master, or the Day Stem. This is basically – YOUR DAY OF BIRTH.
The Day Master is the most important reference point for BaZi analysis. Before you can go anywhere with using BaZi to analyse your life, you begin with the Day Master – which denotes your basic nature and character. It denotes WHO YOU ARE at the most fundamental level. Therefore, it follows that people who are of the same Day Master share similar traits.
The BaZi Essentials Series has ten books, with each one focusing on one individual Day Master. So, if you’re a Ding Fire Day Master, refer to yourself as a “Ding Fire person”; instead of “Yin Fire person”.
In BaZi, the concept of STRONG or WEAK elements plays a big role in determining how ‘Ding’ you are.
So bear in mind that even if you are a Ding Fire Day Master, whether or not you display the traits covered here to a greater or lesser degree depends very much on the strength and quality of your Day Master. The Day Stem is but one part of the chart, and there are 3 other Stems and 4 Earthly Branches to consider in your complete chart. These other parts of the chart will influence the strength and quality of your Day Master.
BaZi Astrology is a study that helps us understand ourselves, make better decisions, and ultimately, enables us to shape our life for the better.
BaZi Essentials: Ding Yin Fire
What is the Ding Fire Day Master personality like? How do you behave and operate in your day-to-day life?
The Ding Fire Day Master personality in a nutshell is gentle, philosophical and loving. You are meticulous and learned, with hidden depths of surprising power. You illuminate the path for yourself and for others.
Find out more about yourself in terms of Character, Career, Relationships and Wealth in this concise and easy-to-understand book. It lays out your personality quirks, strengths, and weakness. It explains the how’s and why’s of your Ding Fire personality traits, and clarifies in detail the factors that make you what you are!
You’ll also learn quick tips and ideas on how you can let your Ding Fire personality thrive.
This book, in other words, is all about YOU!
BaZi Essentials: Bing Yang Fire
What is the Bing Fire Day Master personality like? How do you behave and operate in your day-to-day life?
The Bing Fire Day Master personality in a nutshell is passionate, energetic and vibrant. You are benevolent, giving and always looking at the bright side of things. Being a positive ray of sunshine is your natural calling!
Find out more about yourself in terms of Character, Career, Relationships and Wealth in this concise and easy-to-understand book. It lays out your personality quirks, strengths, and weakness. It explains the how’s and why’s of your Bing Fire personality traits, and clarifies in detail the factors that make you what you are!
You’ll also learn quick tips and ideas on how you can let your Bing Fire personality thrive.
This book, in other words, is all about YOU!
BaZi Essentials: Gui Yin Water
What is the Gui Water Day Master personality like? How do you behave and operate in your day-to-day life?
The Gui Water Day Master personality in a nutshell is wise, imaginative, and changeable. You are intellectually-inclined and known for being a good thinker. You are known for your varied interests and pursuits.
Find out more about yourself in terms of Character, Career, Relationships and Wealth in this concise and easy-to-understand book. It lays out your personality quirks, strengths, and weakness. It explains the how’s and why’s of your Gui Water personality traits, and clarifies in detail the factors that make you what you are!
You’ll also learn quick tips and ideas on how you can let your Gui Water personality thrive. This book, in other words, is all about YOU!
BaZi Essentials: Ren Yang Water
What is the Ren Water Day Master personality like? How do you behave and operate in your day-to-day life?
The Ren Water Day Master personality in a nutshell is active, dynamic, and unafraid of strong opposition. You are single-minded and ambitious. Others can count on you to be an adventurous extrovert!
Find out more about yourself in terms of Character, Career, Relationships and Wealth in this concise and easy-to-understand book. It lays out your personality quirks, strengths, and weakness. It explains the how’s and why’s of your Ren Water personality traits, and clarifies in detail the factors that make you what you are!
You’ll also learn quick tips and ideas on how you can let your Ren Water personality thrive.
This book, in other words, is all about YOU!
BaZi Essentials: Ji Yin Earth
What is the Ji Earth Day Master personality like? How do you behave and operate in your day-to-day life?
The Ji Earth Day Master personality in a nutshell is productive, creative, and capable. You nurture and care for the people in your life. Being a multi-talented multi-tasker is a mere walk in the park for you!
Find out more about yourself in terms of Character, Career, Relationships and Wealth in this concise and easy-to-understand book. It lays out your personality quirks, strengths, and weakness. It explains the how’s and why’s of your Ji Earth personality traits, and clarifies in detail the factors that make you what you are!
You’ll also learn quick tips and ideas on how you can let your Ji Earth personality thrive.
This book, in other words, is all about YOU!
BaZi Essentials: Wu Yang Earth
What is the Wu Earth Day Master personality like? How do you behave and operate in your day-to-day life?
The Wu Earth Day Master personality in a nutshell is stable, loyal, and contemplative. You are elusive and discreet and hold a thousand secrets. You are the trustworthy one whom everyone can count on.
Find out more about yourself in terms of Character, Career, Relationships and Wealth in this concise and easy-to-understand book. It lays out your personality quirks, strengths, and weakness. It explains the how’s and why’s of your Wu Earth personality traits, and clarifies in detail the factors that make you what you are!
You’ll also learn quick tips and ideas on how you can let your Wu Earth personality thrive.
This book, in other words, is all about YOU!
BaZi Essentials: Xin Yin Metal
What is the Xin Metal Day Master personality like? How do you behave and operate in your day-to-day life?
The Xin Metal Day Master personality in a nutshell is attention-grabbing, whether through your looks, intellect, or personality. You enjoy the spotlight, and the spotlight loves you! You are witty and articulate.
Find out more about yourself in terms of Character, Career, Relationships and Wealth in this concise and easy-to-understand book. It lays out your personality quirks, strengths, and weakness. It explains the how’s and why’s of your Xin Metal personality traits, and clarifies in detail the factors that make you what you are!
You’ll also learn quick tips and ideas on how you can let your Xin Metal personality thrive.
This book, in other words, is all about YOU!
Bazi Essentials: Geng Yang Metal
What is the Geng Metal Day Master personality like? How do you behave and operate in your day-to-day life?
The Geng Metal Day Master personality in a nutshell is altruistic, stable, and hardworking. You can take any hardship and turn it into success. Friendship and brotherhood are very important to you.
Find out more about yourself in terms of Character, Career, Relationships and Wealth in this concise and easy-to-understand book. It lays out your personality quirks, strengths, and weakness. It explains the how’s and why’s of your Geng Metal personality traits, and clarifies in detail the factors that make you what you are!
You’ll also learn quick tips and ideas on how you can let your Geng Metal personality thrive.
This book, in other words, is all about YOU!
Bazi Essentials: Yi Yin Wood
What is the Yi Wood Day Master personality like? How do you behave and operate in your day-to-day life?
The Yi Wood Day Master personality in a nutshell is adaptive, quick-witted, and brimming with plenty of charm. You are attractive and have a captivating way with words. Sophistication is your middle name!
Find out more about yourself in terms of Character, Career, Relationships and Wealth in this concise and easy-to-understand book. It lays out your personality quirks, strengths, and weakness. It explains the how’s and why’s of your Yi Wood personality traits, and clarifies in detail the factors that make you what you are!
You’ll also learn quick tips and ideas on how you can let your personality thrive.
This book, in other words, is all about YOU!
Bazi Essentials: Jia Yang Wood
What is the Jia Wood Day Master personality like? How do you behave and operate in your day-to-day life?
The Jia Wood Day Master Personality in a nutshell is stable, protective, and independent. You are steadfast, dependable, and can be counted on to be frank and direct. Being a visionary is your natural calling.
Find out more about yourself in terms of Character, Career, Relationships and Wealth in this concise and easy-to-understand book. It lays out your personality quirks, strengths, and weakness. It explains the how’s and why’s of your Jia Wood personality traits, and clarifies in detail the factors that make you what you are!
You’ll also learn quick tips and ideas on how you can let your personality thrive.
This book, in other words, is all about YOU!
Joey Yap
Joey Yap is the founder of the Mastery Academy of Chinese Metaphysics, a global organization devoted to the teaching of Feng Shui, BaZi, Mian Xiang and other Chinese Metaphysics subjects. He is also the Chief Consultant of Yap Global Consulting, an international consulting firm specialising in Feng Shui and Chinese Astrology services and audits.
Joey Yap is the bestselling author of over 30 books on Feng Shui, Chinese Astrology, Face Reading and Yi Jing, many of which have topped the Malaysian and Singaporean MPH bookstores’ bestseller lists.
Thousands of students from all around the world have learnt and mastered Classical Feng Shui, Chinese Astrology, and other Chinese Metaphysics subjects through Joey’s structured learning programs, books and online training. Joey Yap’s courses are currently taught by over 30 instructors worldwide.
Every year Joey Yap conducts his ‘Feng Shui and Astrology’ seminar to a crowd of more than 3500 people at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center. He also takes this annual seminar on a world tour to Frankfurt, San Francisco, New York, Toronto, London, Sydney and Singapore.
In addition to being a regular guest on various radio and TV shows, Joey Yap has also written columns for The New Straits Times and The Star – Malaysia’s two leading newspapers. He has also been featured in many popular global publications and networks like Time International, Forbes International, the International Herald Tribune and Bloomberg.
He has also hosted his own TV series, ‘Discover Feng Shui with Joey Yap’, on 8TV, a local Malaysian network in 2005; and ‘Walking The Dragons with Joey Yap’ on Astro Wah Lai Toi, Malaysia’s cable network in 2008.
Joey Yap has worked with HSBC, Bloomberg, Microsoft, Samsung, IBM, HP, Alliance, GreatEastern, Citibank, Standard Chartered, OCBC, SIME UEP, MahSing, AutoBavaria, Volvo, AXA, Singtel, ABN Amro, CIMB, Hong-Leong, Manulife and others.
CHRISTOPHER HOWARD is an internationally acclaimed expert in Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Leadership and President of Christopher Howard International, a business that specializes in helping clients build personal and professional influence. He conducts dynamic seminars for individuals and organizations that want to accelerate their performance and produce breakthrough results. He has personally led, managed, launched, and turned around numerous organizations and businesses. He is a also a frequent guest on popular radio and television shows.
Popular Books
Turning Passions Into Profits: Three Steps to Wealth and Power
Turning Passions into Profits by Christopher Howard
In Turning Passions into Profits, Howard explains the system of techniques he calls Creation Technologies to produce a successful and profitable business and help readers achieve personal goals. He describes Neurological Repatterning, a set of tools that can change perspectives about the world and that combine with Cognitive Reimprinting, which is studying the methods of role models and applying them. The last section outlines how the system serves to enhance communication and leadership and concludes with a section on applying the techniques of great leaders.
Instant Wealth Wake Up Rich!: Discover The Secret of The New Entrepreneurial Mind
Instant Wealth Wake Up Rich! by Christopher Howard
The power to create great wealth is already within you. But monetizing that raw energy doesn’t happen by itself. As Howard shows, building great wealth is a dual process. It begins by identifying your passion—the things you truly and deeply care about, whatever they may be. Next, passion needs to be endowed with purpose: a clearly defined vision of the future you intend to create.
Once this happens, money is simply the natural reward. When you bring the value of passion and purpose to the marketplace, financial prosperity is the instant result. It’s like awakening to a new reality—not just for yourself, but for everyone who shares in your success. And make no mistake: sharing is a key element in the success of Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson, and the other billionaire entrepreneurs
Howard introduces in these pages. Instant Wealth Wake Up Rich! proves that ultimate success is by no means a matter of selling out principles in order to become rich. On the contrary, it’s becoming rich in order to bring that riches to the world.
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