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Engaged by proxy to a man she’s never met, Lady Daintry Tarrant is dismayed when the war hero returns, introducing himself as her fiancé, Lord Penthorpe. She cherishes her independence and has turned away many suitors, but this one she must marry. Penthorpe is completely captivated by Lady Daintry - but he’s not who he claims to be. Penthorpe and Lord Gideon Deverill fought together at the battle of Waterloo, and when Penthorpe fell, Gideon assumed his identity in order to see the beautiful Lady Daintry. Gideon knows there’s bad blood between Lady Daintry’s family and his own, but he’s smitten....

Bristol, 1896. Used to scraping a living as the young assistant to an ageing con artist, Cecily Marsden's life is turned upside down when her master suddenly dies. Believing herself to blame, could young Cec somehow have powers she little understands? Meanwhile Eadie Carleton, a pioneering early film-maker, struggles for her talent to be taken seriously in a male-dominated world, and a brilliant young magician, George Perris, begins to see the potential in moving pictures.

Every day, people make hundreds of choices. Many of these are commercial: What shampoo to pick? How much to spend on a bottle of wine? Whether to renew a subscription. These choices might appear to be freely made, but psychologists have shown that subtle changes in the way products are positioned, promoted, and marketed can radically alter how customers behave.

This podcast starts with a deep examination of Richard Bach's book "Illusions," which made a profound difference in my life. And then we will launch from there into a deep dive into the philosophical, spiritual, metaphysical, and mystical aspects of our world. Along the way, we will explore and test the lessons in the book, the wisdom of the ancients, and the metaphysical implications of much modern science.

I was able to hide the bruises from everyone... until an MMA fighter came along. Now he'll die to protect me. Maybe even kill... He insists I stay with him for protection, but Damian is keeping his own dark secrets and warns me that anyone who gets close to him will be in danger…Worse, my assailant is determined to finish what he started.

Trish Bailey is on overload trying to deal with a demanding job, an ailing mother and a healing heart. When a series of unsettling memory lapses leads to a tragic death - and puts Trish under police scrutiny - her world is once again thrown into turmoil. Detective Colin Flynn isn't certain what to think of the facts he uncovers during his investigation. As he searches for answers, disturbing information begins to emerge....

This enchanting and atmospheric fantasy brings listeners to a Paris breathless with excitement at the dawn of the twentieth century. But for a select few there is a second, secret Paris where the magic of the City of Light is very real.

Centuries-old alchemist Zoe Faust is tired of running from her past. She's finally got her life on track in Portland, Oregon, gardening and cooking in her fixer-upper house with her mischievous best friend, Dorian the gargoyle chef. It seems like the perfect life for Zoe, until she discovers that her old mentor Nicolas Flamel, who she thought had abandoned her, has been imprisoned. A local artist holds the secret that could lead Zoe to her mentor, but the artist is murdered and the painting containing the hidden clue is stolen.

Solitude, serenity, and sanity are vital to Moriah Copeland's life. Focused on helping kids the system forgets, she is unaware of the powers she harbors deep in her soul. But at night, her vivid dreams waver between a scene of her worst nightmare, and a true confidant. Imagine her surprise when she realizes her dreams might be more than they seem, she suddenly has crazy magic powers, and three strange men crash a too good to be true second date for help finding their long-lost friend.

A hybrid born of an Angel-Fallen union, Riley Shepard is an anomaly coveted by both sides of an ancient war. But he doesn’t want to fight their war; he has his own battles to face. As his family fractures, bonds are tested, and forbidden feelings threaten to tear his heart into bloody thirds. When the next attack comes, is he strong enough to separate truth from lies, allies from enemies, reality from fantasy? How can Riley know what’s true, when he doesn’t even know what’s real? Life isn’t simple, love is complicated, and reality is terrifyingly blurry.

June 1940. As World War Two rages, Daphne Devine remains in London, performing each night as assistant to stage magician Jonty Trevelyan, aka the Grand Mystique. Then the secret service call. For, aware of Hitler's belief in the occult, the war office has set up a hidden cohort to exploit this quirk in the enemy's chain of command. Daphne and Jonty find themselves far from the glitz and glamour of the theatre, deep inside the lower levels of Wormwood Scrubs prison. Here, they join secret ranks of occultists, surrealists, and other eccentrics co-opted to the war effort.

David Icke has been writing books for decades warning that current events were coming. He has faced ridicule and abuse for saying that the end of human freedom was being planned, how, and by whom. The Trap is the "Rosetta Stone" of illusory reality and opens the door to freedom in its greatest sense. Listen to this book and the "world" will never look the same again. The veil of illusion shall be swept aside and the amazing truth this has kept from us shall set you free.

Ever since a vampire murdered her mother, Ava has been determined to get revenge. This all-encompassing drive has given her the fuel she needed to survive foster home after foster home. It's been ten years since anyone's seen a vampire, and Ava has lost hope that she'll ever find one...until she stumbles across a hidden magic show where she witnesses impossible illusions. The magicians may not be the bloodsuckers she's hunting, but Ava is convinced something supernatural is at play, so she sneaks backstage and catches them in acts they can't explain. But they've been waiting for her.

Though there are many factors behind such success, including luck and the contributions of his creative partner Marshall Herskovitz, he’s known to have a special talent for bringing out the best in the people he’s worked with, notably the actors. In those intense collaborations, he seeks to discover the small pieces of connective tissue, vulnerability, and fellowship that can help an actor realize their character in full.

The Self Illusion provides a fascinating examination of how the latest science shows that our individual concept of a self is in fact an illusion. Most of us believe that we possess a self - an internal individual who resides inside our bodies, making decisions, authoring actions and possessing free will. The feeling that a single, unified, enduring self inhabits the body is compelling and inescapable. But that sovereignty of the self is increasingly under threat from science as our understanding of the brain advances.

At any other time, Julija Brennan would find solace in the quiet of the Sierra Mountains, but now the mage is in the race of her life. Having broken free from her controlling family, Julija's attempt to warn the Carpathians of the coming threat has failed and put a target on her back - and those who are hunting her are close behind....

What is time? We give it so much importance, but as Eckhart Tolle teaches, we can only ever experience the timeless present. The Illusion of Time explores this paradox, pointing the way out of a dysfunctional relationship to time—and into the fullness of life in the here and now.

In this empowering two-session program, Eckhart exposes the roots of our obsession with time to help us free ourselves from the ongoing stream of thoughts about the past and future—and reconnect with the depths of who we are beyond the mind.

Today, we are told that medical interventions increased our lifespan and single-handedly prevented masses of deaths. But is this really true? Dissolving Illusions details facts and figures from long-overlooked medical journals, books, newspapers, and other sources. Using myth-shattering information, this book shows that vaccines, antibiotics, and other medical interventions are not responsible for the increase in lifespan and the decline in mortality from infectious diseases.

Optimization is the driving principle of our modern world. We now can manufacture, transport, and organize things more cheaply and faster than ever. Optimized models underlie everything from airline schedules to dating site matches. We strive for efficiency in our daily lives, obsessed with productivity and optimal performance. How did a mathematical concept take on such outsize cultural shape? And what is lost when efficiency is gained? Optimal Illusions traces the fascinating history of optimization from its roots in America’s founding principles to its modern manifestations.

Alcohol is a drug that has achieved the ultimate illusion. It has managed to convince the western world that it isn’t a drug at all, but rather a harmless social pleasantry. A product that does none of the things that the marketing promises that it does and yet remains unchallenged for such false advertising. A beverage that kills over 63,000 people a year and yet still remains legal in virtually every country around the world. Craig Beck is known as the Stop Drinking Expert because he helps people to see the truth about alcohol, hidden behind the smoke and mirrors of the marketing and our own self-created social conditioning.