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The Silver Gleaming Company had been like a family to Lady Sofaltis, daughter of Duke Rilfe, since her father first sent her off to live with her aunt so she could learn proper behavior. The duke would have been horrified to discover that far from becoming some dainty court lady, Sofaltis had become an expert swordswoman, a Blade, member of an elite fighting corps.

And then the duke's emissary came to escort Sofaltis home after the bizarre disappearance of her brothers. But once home, Sofaltis learned her father had chosen a husband for her without her consent, a man named Kylin, who seemed scarecely able to protect even himself. Sofaltis was not about to go meekly along with such plans, especially not when she began to suspect that Kylin was a spy for the unknown enemy that was undermining the kingdom.

Yet unforseen circumstances and a magical gift of the gods would soon force Sofaltis and Kylin to unite against the danger that threatened to destroy their entire world...

A young sword prodigy must impersonate a lost princess and throw her life into a deadly political game, in this kinetic epic fantasy novel by the author of the award-winning Majat Code series.

Naia dreams of becoming a Jaihar Blademaster, but after assaulting a teacher, her future seems ruined. The timely intervention of a powerful stranger suddenly elevates her into elite Upper Grounds training. She has no idea that the stranger is Dal Gassan, head of the Daljeer Circle. Seventeen years ago he witnessed the massacre of Challimar's court and rescued its sole survivor, a baby girl. Gassan plans to thrust a blade into the machinations of imperial succession: Naia. Disguised as the legendary Princess Xarimet of Challimar, Naia must challenge the imperial family, and win. Naia is no princess, but with her desert-kissed eyes and sword skills she might be close enough...

This collection includes the following stories:

• Introduction (The Exit at Toledo Blade Boulevard) by Richard Laymon
• Chain Letter
• The Rifle
• The Exit at Toledo Blade Boulevard
• If Memory Serves
• Snakes
• The Great San Diego Sleasy Bimbo Massacre
• To Suit The Crime
• The Rose
• When the Penny Drops
• Mail Order
• Winter Child
• The Visitor
• Henry Miller
• Push

This novella was first published in Asimov's Science Fiction, November/December 2023.

Read this story for free at the publisher's website.

Ronan Szepessy promised himself he'd never return to Hudson. The sleepy upstate town was no place for a restless gay photographer. But his father is ill and New York City's distractions have become too much for him. He hopes that a quick visit will help him recharge.

Ronan reconnects with two friends from high school: Dom, his first love, and Dom's wife, Attalah. The three former misfits mourn what their town has become--overrun by gentrifiers and corporate interests. With friends and neighbors getting evicted en masse and a mayoral election coming up, Ronan and Attalah craft a plan to rattle the newcomers and expose their true motives. But in doing so, they unleash something far more mysterious and uncontainable.

Hudson has a rich, proud history and, it turns out, the real-state developers aren't the only forces threatening its well-being: the spirits undergirding this once-thriving industrial town are enraged. Ronan's hijinks have overlapped with a bubbling up of hate and violence among friends and neighbors, and everything is spiraling out of control. Ronan must summon the very best of himself to shed his own demons and save the city he once loathed.

In 2014 seventeen-year-old Billy Gimp risks great danger as a procurer of illegal medical supplies for a skilled surgeon determined to provide health care for people considered unqualified for legal medical aid.

Rendered immortal by an infusion of mystical worms that can repair any wound, the masterless samurai Manji wanders the hillsides of feudal Japan, on a quest to slay one thousand evil people to atone for his past sins. By his side is the young woman Rin, an orphan who seeks vengeance for the murders of her parents. Driven on a quest for absolution, the two have faced many deadly challenges, both natural and supernatural. But can they survive their greatest battle against the all-powerful Inugami?

When Shaalara of the Alteen Zirnaath, a sapient, medium-sized spider of the jumping variety came into Eichra Oren's office to commission the Assessor of p'Na and his symbiote, canine detective Sam Otusam, to find the location of her fiancé, they were not expecting the 'accidents' that impeded their research, or the taking on even more unusual clients along the way.

For conducting an investigation on the Elders' planet is not an easy task. The Elders--large squid-like Superbeings--had 'Appropriated' species from all across the omniverse, plucking sapient races from alternate Earths, where they had faced extinction, or simply fascinated their new omnipotent benefactors.

While the Elders' had introduced the Appropriated Persons and their descendants to a world where there were no wars, and gifted them with lifetimes that averaged a thousand years--at least--it had long been determined that the peaceful beings should not have taken these species from their Earths; there was a sense of unease rising within the populace.

Eichra Oren's primary role as an Assessor of p'Na was to assess the actions of his clients, and determine whether they had atone for them--at the edge of his sword, or otherwise--but what of the Elders' actions? Those directly involved with the Appropriation had long since ended their lives, when the moral implications of their actions had been made clear to them. But what about the rest of the Elders?

Why were there whispers of new Appropriations? And who was the mysterious new race threatening Earth?

Eichra and Sam were determined to find out.... And maybe, just maybe, find a runaway groom along the way

This short story originally appeared in Lightspeed, August 2015.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

An absorbing and original epic fantasy with rich world-building and a wry take on genre conventions from a Betty Trask Award-winning author...

Inar is Master Builder for the Kingdom of Mishig-Tenh. Life is hard after the Kingdom lost the war against the League of Free Cities. Doubly so since his father betrayed the King and paid the ultimate price. And now the King's terrifying chancellor and torturer in chief has arrived and instructed Inar to go and work for the League. And to spy for him. And any builder knows you don't put yourself between a rock and a hard place.

Far away Anton, Blade Priest for Craithe, the God Mountain, is about to be caught up in a vicious internal war that will tear his religion apart. Chosen from infancy to conduct human sacrifice, he is secretly relieved that the practice has been abruptly stopped. But an ancient enemy has returned, an occult conspiracy is unfolding, and he will struggle to keep his hands clean in a world engulfed by bloodshed.

In a series of constantly surprising twists and turns that take the reader through a vividly imagined and original world full of familiar tensions and surprising perspectives on old tropes, Inar and Anton find that others in their story may have more influence on their lives, on the future of the League and on their whole world than they, or the reader imagined.

Ten years ago, the Kinslayer returned from the darkness. His brutal Yorughan armies issued from the pits of the earth, crushing all resistance, leaving burnt earth and corruption behind. Thrones toppled and cities fell.

And then he died.

Celestaine--one of the heroes that destroyed him--has tasked herself with correcting the worst excesses of the Kinslayer's brief reign, bringing light back to a broken world. With two Yorughan companions, she faces fanatics, war criminals and the Kinslayer's former minions, as the fragile alliances of the War break down into feuding and greed.

The Kinslayer may be gone, but he cast a long shadow: one from which she may never truly escape.

The story of Julie D'Aubigny is well known. Her tumultuous childhood, her powerful lovers, her celebrated voice. Connected to most of the nobility of 17th century Paris, feted for her performance, unwilling to live by the rules of her society, she took female lovers, fought duels with noblemen and fled from city to country and back again.

But now the real truth can be told. She also made a deal with the devil. He gave her no powers or help, but he kept her alive for only one reason. To take revenge...

There Be Monsters Here...

It's not as great as you'd think, living in a tourist town that's known as "the most magical place in America." Same boring high school, just twice as many monsters under the bridges and rival Families killing each other for power.

I try to keep out of it. I've got my mom's bloodiron sword and my slightly illegal home in the basement of the municipal library. And a couple of Talents I try to keep quiet, including very light fingers and a way with a lock pick.

But then some nasty characters bring their Family feud into my friend's pawn shop, and I have to make a call--get involved, or watch a cute guy die because I didn't. I guess I made the wrong choice, because now I'm stuck putting everything on the line for Devon Sinclair. My mom was murdered because of the Families, and it looks like I'm going to end up just like her...

Something Wicked This Way Comes...

As a thief, I stick to the shadows as much as possible. But when the head of the Sinclair Family picks me to compete in the Tournament of Blades, there's no escaping the spotlight--or the danger.

Even though he's my competition, Devon Sinclair thinks I have the best shot at winning what's supposed to be a friendly contest. But when the competitors start having mysterious "accidents," it looks like someone will do anything to win--no matter who they hurt.

As if I didn't have enough to worry about, mobster Victor Draconi is plotting against Devon and the rest of my friends, and someone's going around Cloudburst Falls murdering monsters. One thing's for sure. Sometimes, humans can be more monstrous than anything else...

Bad Things Always Come In Threes...

As a thief, I'm good at three things: hiding in the shadows, getting in and out unseen, and uncovering secrets. I put these skills to work for the Sinclair Family, one of the magical mobs that run the tourist town of Cloudburst Falls.

Everyone knows Victor Draconi wants to take over all the other Families--and kill every last Sinclair. What they don't know is that I'm on to him, and no way will I let the man who murdered my mom get away with hurting all the other people I care about. Especially when I've got places to break into, stuff to steal, and Devon Sinclair fighting right by my side...

Deep in the unexplored reaches of the dungeon, a corpse is discovered--one that shouldn't exist. After Iarumas is resurrected, his memories of life before death are gone, and he spends his days delving into the dungeon to retrieve the bodies of dead adventurers. Can they be revived as well? Or will God reduce them to piles of ash on the altar? Either way, Iarumas collects his finder's fee. And though his skills earn him some grudging respect, he's also scorned for this cold, utilitarian attitude. The living keep their distance--Iarumas consorts primarily with the dead. That is, until he meets Garbage, a feral young swordswoman who's the sole survivor of a massacred party. With Garbage by his side, Iarumas ventures deeper, scouring the dungeon for clues to his past, avoiding monsters, traps, and the inevitability of a permanent ashen demise.

Contents:

• 1 - Introduction (Retrofitting Blade Runner) - essay by Judith B. Kerman [as by Judith Kerman]
• 4 - The Android as Doppelganger - essay by Joseph Francavilla
• 16 - Technology and Politics n the Blade Runner Dystopia - essay by Judith B. Kerman
• 25 - Metahuman 'Kipple' Or, Do Male Movie Makers Dream of Electric Women: Speciesism and Sexism in Blade Runner - essay by Marleen S. Barr [as by Marleen Barr]
• 32 - Androids as a Device for Reflection on Personhood - essay by Marilyn Gwaltny
• 40 - The Cutting Edges of Blade Runner - essay by Leonard G. Heldreth
• 53 - The New Eve: The Influence of Paradise Lost and Frankenstein on Blade Runner - essay by David Desser
• 66 - Energy, Entropy, Empathy: Blade Runner and Detective Fiction - essay by W. Russel Gray
• 76 - Phillip K. Dick's Androids: Victimized Victimizers - essay by Aaron Barlow
• 90 - "There's Some of Me in You": Blade Runner and the Adaptation of Science Fiction Literature Into Film - essay by Brooks Landon
• 103 - Phillip K. Dick on Blade Runner: "They Did Sight Stimulation on My Brain: - essay by Gregg Rickman
• 110 - Race, Space, and Class: The Politics of the SF Film from Metropolis to Blade Runner - essay by David Desser
• 124 - Primitivism in the Movies of Ridley Scott - essay by C. Carter Colwell
• 132 - Script to Screen: Blade Runner in Perspective - essay by William M. Kolb
• 154 - Blade Runner Film Notes - essay by William M. Kolb
• 178 - A Silver-Paper Unicorn - essay by Rebecca Warner
• 185 - Subverting the Disaffected City: Cityscape in Blade Runner - essay by Steve Carper
• 196 - The Music in Blade Runner - essay by Andrew Stiller
• 201 - Creative Synergy and the Art of World Creation - essay by John J. Pierce
• 212 - Crashing the Gates of Insight: Blade Runner - essay by Jack Boozer, Jr.
• 229 - Bibliography (Retrofitting Blade Runner) - essay by William M. Kolb

The 1992 release of the "Director's Cut" only confirmed what the international film cognoscenti have know all along: Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, based on Philip K. Dick's brilliant and troubling SF novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, still rules as the most visually dense, thematically challenging, and influential SF film ever made.

Future Noir is the story of that triumph.

The making of Blade Runner was a seven-year odyssey that would test the stamina and the imagination of writers, producers, special effects wizards, and the most innovative art directors and set designers in the industry.

A fascinating look at the ever-shifting interface between commerce and the art that is modern Hollywood, Future Noir is the intense, intimate, anything-but-glamerous inside account of how the work of SF's most uncompromising author was transformed into a critical sensation, a commercial success, and a cult classic.

Rediscover the groundbreaking magic of Blade Runner with this revised and updated edition of the classic guide to Ridley Scott's transformative film--and published in anticipation of its sequel, Blade Runner 2049, premiering October 2017 and starring Ryan Gosling, Jared Leto, Robin Wright, and Harrison Ford.

Ridley Scott's 1992 "Director's Cut" confirmed the international film cognoscenti's judgment: Blade Runner, based on Philip K. Dick's brilliant and troubling science fiction masterpiece Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, is the most visually dense, thematically challenging, and influential science fiction film ever made. Future Noir offers a deeper understanding of this cult phenomenon that is storytelling and visual filmmaking at its best.

In this intensive, intimate and anything-but-glamorous behind-the-scenes account, film insider and cinephile Paul M. Sammon explores how Ridley Scott purposefully used his creative genius to transform the work of science fiction's most uncompromising author into a critical sensation, a commercial success, and a cult classic that would reinvent the genre. Sammon reveals how the making of the original Blade Runner was a seven-year odyssey that would test the stamina and the imagination of writers, producers, special effects wizards, and the most innovative art directors and set designers in the industry at the time it was made. This revised and expanded edition of Future Noir includes:

An overview of Blade Runner's impact on moviemaking and its acknowledged significance in popular culture since the book's original publication

An exploration of the history of Blade Runner: The Final Cut and its theatrical release in 2007

An up-close look at its long-awaited sequel Blade Runner 2049

A 2007 interview with Harrison Ford now available to American readers

Exclusive interviews with Rutger Hauer and Sean Young

A fascinating look at the ever-shifting interface between commerce and art, illustrated with production photos and stills, Future Noir provides an eye-opening and enduring look at modern moviemaking, the business of Hollywood, and one of the greatest films of all time.

Blade Runner, the ingenious movie version of Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, has been widely acclaimed as one of the best sf films. With Dick long gone, Jeter undertakes the further adventures of twenty-first-century L.A. detective Deckard, whose recent narrow victory over a violent android "replicant" prompted a retreat to the wilderness with his replicant lover Rachel. But there is at least one more vendetta-minded replicant still on the loose. Sarah Tyrell, sole surviving heir to the powerful replicant-manufacturing Tyrell Corporation and the human model for Rachel, pulls Deckard out of retirement and into a no-win predicament. Not only are there more replicants than anyone guessed, but Deckard is now wanted for the murder of Pris, who was not, as he had assumed, a replicant but fully human.

Is it real or is it a replicant? Doubt is cast on the idenity of just about every character who appeared in either the film or the previous sequel, The Edge of Human (1995). The action opens in the orbital studio Outer Hollywood, where a video is being made of Rick Deckard's original pursuit of the rogue replicants, with Deckard acting as technical advisor. After both a replicant and Deckard's former partner are murdered, Deckard storms off the set to head back to Mars, where he lives in squalor with Sarah Tyrell, former heir to the defunct Tyrell company, the original creators of all replicants. Sarah, however, out of her mind with bitterness and boredom, plans to murder Deckard upon his return. Fortunately for Deckard, she is whisked back to Earth by two disciples of her dead uncle, the evil genius Eldon Tyrell. There, she is convinced to reenter the time-warping derelict starship on which she was born, in search of information about her past. If this sounds confusing, it is. Reality could not be trusted in either Scott's film or the Dick novel, and matters have gotten only more complex since Jeter took over the franchise.

Iris, a female blade runner, gets the puzzling assignment to find Eldon Tyrell's owl. Her investigations lead her to loose her job and set her on a quest for answers all over futuristic LA and deep down into the bowels of the defunct and ruined Tyrell corporation. Unbeknown to her, she is being filmed (in order to create a movie!) and all her actions are being pushed towards a final conclusion in which she realises the truth about the replicant program - what its real purpose was (not to serve the off-world colonies), and the truth about herself - why she is such a good blade-runner and why she looks like Tyrell's niece, Rachel...

They want the crown. She wants revenge.

In a feudal land, a Kingdom is at risk. With no heir to the fragile throne, its future rests with the powerful members of the dying king's Council, including Minori, a nightblade warrior, and Kiyoshi, a dayblade healer. The two men are bound by the sword but divided by two opposing principles: rule the land, or serve it. In their challenge for supremacy, a spark has been lit.

Her name is Asa. Her creed is revenge.

A fierce nightblade warrior, she's spent a decade in pursuit of the enigmatic general who killed her father in a violent revolt--then mysteriously vanished from all records. Now, her desire for reckoning has led her to the village of Two Falls--and straight into the heart of an impending civil war. Minori and Kiyoshi are vying for her loyalty. And Asa must choose sides.

As fresh betrayals unfold and a new uprising looms, Asa knows that chasing a ghost is no longer just a personal quest for retribution. It's going to alter the fate of the entire Kingdom.

In the riveting sequel to Nightblade's Vengeance, the nightblades must choose a side, and the Kingdom will either rise again... or shatter into pieces.

With the realm on the brink of war, the once-celebrated blades have become an easy target for the rage of its devastated citizens. The nightblade warrior Asa's lifelong quest for vengeance is over, but now she finds herself on the run from the people she sought to protect. As Asa forges a new course of action in an uncertain world, her path crosses with that of a young noblewoman.

Mari knows that great opportunity lies in the heart of chaos. If the Kingdom is to rise again, Mari will need support, and she can think of no group better than the nightblades. But the nightblades have been betrayed before, and gaining their trust will not be easy.

Mari wants to save the Kingdom. Asa wants to save the people. Both are willing to risk everything. But do their quests make them allies... or enemies?

Eighteen-year-old Ziva prefers metal to people. She spends her days tucked away in her forge, safe from society and the anxiety it causes her, using her magical gift to craft unique weapons imbued with power.

Then Ziva receives a commission from a powerful warlord, and the result is a sword capable of stealing its victims secrets. A sword that can cut far deeper than the length of its blade. A sword with the strength to topple kingdoms. When Ziva learns of the warlord's intentions to use the weapon to enslave all the world under her rule, she takes her sister and flees.

Joined by a distractingly handsome mercenary and a young scholar with extensive knowledge of the world's known magics, Ziva and her sister set out on a quest to keep the sword safe until they can find a worthy wielder or a way to destroy it entirely.

Eighteen-year-old Ziva may have defeated a deadly warlord, but the price was almost too much. Ziva is forced into a breakneck race to a nearby city with the handsome mercenary, Kellyn, and the young scholar, Petrik, to find a powerful magical healer who can save her sister's life.

When the events that follow lead to Ziva and Kellyn's capture by an ambitious prince, Ziva is forced into the very situation she's been dreading: magicking dangerous weapons meant for world domination.

The forge has always been Ziva's safe space, a place to avoid society and the anxiety it causes her, but now it is her prison, and she's not sure just how much of herself she'll have to sacrifice to save Kellyn and take center stage in the very war she's been trying to stop.

In the heart of the Great Forest, nothing is as it should be. Sir Vladisal and her Knights of Boska are lost and far from home. The son of their Duchess has been kidnapped, spirited away to a nameless place within these dark and endless woodlands. Vladisal is his only hope, but an evil has come to the Great Forest, an evil that is corrupting the trees with demons born from ancient magic.

If Vladisal is to save her Duchess' son, if he and the women of Boska are to live through the horrors of the Great Forest, then she must place her trust in Abildan the assassin. But Abildan hails from an age-old enemy, and she once served the very evil they all must fight to survive.

Madis Defranthea's brother presents her with a challenge. If she wants to join his gang, she and her team have to steal a magical belt that's locked to the waist of a bride, on her wedding night, in a fortified castle, on a rock in the middle of the sea.

Madis takes him up on it. But when she discovers just how much her brother didn't know, the job proves even more hazardous than she bargained for...

Featuring magic, automata, snobbery, small gods, large fish, a useful corpse and an unnervingly intelligent horse.

There are four sons of Lot at court and Sir Gaheris knows himself to be the least of them. Yet the charismatic and headstrong young knight Sir Lamorak looks up to him, despite more obvious choices, and when Lamorak catches his mother's eye, Gaheris knows there's trouble brewing. Soon he finds himself at the centre of family tensions, deceit and tragedy. Can he prevent the bloodshed that seems inevitable?

When Sir Thornto Jeness follows his chivalric hero, Lord Philippe Duranton, to war, he soon discovers that heroes are often better worshipped from afar. Betrayed, badly injured, left for dead, Sir Thornto is nursed back to half-life by Gritcham, a ghoul necromancer. Joining forces with Cross, a taciturn professional murderess, he returns to the war, determined to set the record straight.

Chivalry is a grim and gritty tale of revenge, with a cast of scheming nobles, brutal mercenaries, violent criminals and wielders of inhuman dark magic.

Five Winters have passed since young king Bridei ascended the throne of Fortriu. Five years, in which the people have felt a contentment unknown for generations.

But the security of a people can vanish in a heartbeat, for wolves are often drawn to fields filled with fattened sheep. Bridei is determined to drive the Gaelic invaders from his lands once and for all. And so, with his land secure and his house in order, he prepares for war.

And one of Bridei's plans to win the war to come involves the beautiful young Ana. A princess of the Light Isles, she has dwelt as a hostage at the court of Fortriu for most of her young life. Despite being a pawn of fortune, she has bewitched all at court and is dearly loved by Bridei and his queen. But Ana understands her duty. And so she will travel north, to make a strategic marriage with a chieftain she has never seen, in the hopes of gaining an ally on whom Bridei's victory relies.

For secrecy's sake, Ana must travel at a soldier's pace, with a small band led by the enigmatic spymaster Faolan. Bridei implores Ana to trust see the good in Faolan... but Ana cannot see beyond his cold competence and killer's eyes.

Then, when she arrives at the chieftain Alpin's stronghold in the mysterious Briar Woods, her discomfort and unease increase tenfold, for this is a place of full of secrets and her betrothed is an enigma himself. The more Ana tries to uncover the truth of her new life, the more she discovers a maze of polite diversions that mask deadly lies. She fears Faolan, but he may prove to be the truest thing in her world.

Or her doom.

Long ago, a magical war destroyed an empire, and a new one was built in its ashes. But still the old grudges simmer, and two siblings will fight on opposite sides to save their world in the start of Django Wexler's new epic fantasy trilogy.

Gyre hasn't seen his beloved sister since their parents sold her to the mysterious Twilight Order. Now, twelve years after her disappearance, Gyre's sole focus is revenge, and he's willing to risk anything and anyone to claim enough power to destroy the Order.

Chasing rumors of a fabled city protecting a powerful artifact, Gyre comes face-to-face with his lost sister. But she isn't who she once was. Trained to be a warrior, Maya wields magic for the Twilight Order's cause. Standing on opposite sides of a looming civil war, the two siblings will learn that not even the ties of blood will keep them from splitting the world in two.

Reunited after twelve long years apart, Gyre and Maya will soon find themselves on opposite sides of a brewing civil war between those who wield magic and those who do not in the second instalment in Django Wexler's epic new fantasy series.

Long ago a great war wreaked devastation, destroying an empire and leaving a new republic in its wake. Now a new civil war has begun, pitting those with the power to wield magic against those without. Across that divide stand a brother and sister.

Twelve years after she was taken by the mysterious Twilight Order, Gyre has finally found his sister Maya, now a powerful magical warrior known as Burningblade. But given the chance to kill her and brandish a great blow against the oppressive Order, he instead let her free. The love for his sister was too strong, despite the terrible authority she represents.

All the while, trouble brews within their factions. A small but influential group of the Order conspire, intent to bring about the return of the Chosen; and the warriors of the resistance will need to learn to work as one if they are to stand any chance.

The last surviving Chosen, Ashok has finally risen up and taken control of The Twilight Order. He promises equality and prosperity, but Gyre and Maya know the truth. Only death follows in Ashok's wake. To take him down, Gyre will have to unite old allies--from all across The Splinter Kingdoms and the depths of Deepfire. And Maya will have to seek out a legendary weapon hidden in the mountains that could turn the tide in their battle for freedom.

Book #3 in The Case Files of Justis Fearsson, the critically acclaimed contemporary fantasy series from fantasy all-star David B. Coe. A hardboiled, magic-using private detective fights dark sorcerers in Phoenix, Arizona.

Justis Fearsson is a weremyste and a private detective. He wields potent magic, but every month, on the full moon, he loses his mind. His battles with insanity have already cost him his job as a cop; he can't afford to let them interfere with his latest case.

Phoenix has become ground zero in a magical war, and an army of werecreatures, blood sorcerers, and necromancers has made Jay its number one target. When he is hired to track down a woman who has gone missing with her two young children, he has a hunch that the dark ones are to blame. But then he's also brought in by the police to help with a murder investigation, and all the evidence implicates this same woman. Soon he is caught up in a deadly race to find not only the young family, but also an ancient weapon that could prove decisive in the looming conflict. Can he keep himself alive long enough to reach the woman and her kids before his enemies do? And can he claim the weapon before the people he loves, and the world he knows, are lost in a storm of flame, blood, and darkest sorcery?

The thrilling final installment of Chloe Neill's New York Times bestselling urban fantasy series sees sinister sorcery advancing across Chicago, and it might usher in the fall of Cadogan House....

Since the night of her brutal attack and unwilling transformation into a vampire, Merit has stood as Sentinel and protector of Chicago's Cadogan House. She's saved the Windy City from the forces of darkness time and again with her liege and lover, Ethan Sullivan, by her side.

When the House is infiltrated and Merit is attacked by a vampire who seems to be under the sway of dark magic, Merit and Ethan realize the danger is closer than they could have imagined. As malign sorcery spreads throughout the city, Merit must go to war against supernatural powers beyond her comprehension. It is her last chance to save everything-and everyone-she loves.

The emperor of Annur is dead, slain by enemies unknown. His daughter and two sons, scattered across the world, do what they must to stay alive and unmask the assassins. But each of them also has a life path on which their father set them, their destinies entangled with both ancient enemies and inscrutable gods.

Kaden, the heir to the Unhewn Throne, has spent eight years sequestered in a remote mountain monastery, learning the enigmatic discipline of monks devoted to the Blank God. Their rituals hold the key to an ancient power he must master before it's too late.

An ocean away, Valyn endures the brutal training of the Kettral, elite soldiers who fly into battle on gigantic black hawks. But before he can set out to save Kaden, Valyn must survive one final horrific test.

At the heart of the empire, Minister Adare, elevated to her station by one of the emperor's final acts, is determined to prove herself to her people. But Adare also believes she knows who murdered her father, and she will stop at nothing - and risk everything - to see that justice is meted out.

In this thrilling sequel to World Fantasy Award finalist Kate Elliott's captivating young adult debut, a girl immersed in high-stakes competition holds the fate of a kingdom in her hands.

Now a Challenger, Jessamy is moving up the ranks of the Fives--the complex athletic contest favored by the lowliest Commoners and the loftiest Patrons alike. Pitted against far more formidable adversaries, success is Jes's only option, as her prize money is essential to keeping her hidden family alive. She leaps at the chance to tour the countryside and face more competitors, but then a fatal attack on her traveling party puts Jes at the center of the war that Lord Kalliarkos--the prince she still loves--is fighting against their country's enemies. With a sinister overlord watching her every move and Kal's life on the line, Jes must now become more than a Fives champion.... She must become a warrior.

After five hundred years, the Sunken Kingdom has returned, and brought with it a monstrous secret that threatens to destroy every country on the Star.

As an inhuman army gathers on its shores, poised to invade the Immaculate Isles, the members of the Cobalt Company face an ugly choice: abandon their dreams of glory and vengeance to combat a menace from another realm, or pursue their ambitions and hope the Star is still there when the smoke clears.

Five villains. One legendary general. A battle for survival.

War engulfs the kingdoms of Tir. Invading armies are marching north, and it seems that all is lost . . .
Until a new peril looms; a far more deadly menace that threatens the entire human race. Out of this chaos emerges a stranger, a supernatural knight whose shadow-torn hair falls like the evening wind.
When Asrathiel saw him she gasped, for he was so beautiful it was like pain to look at him...

The champion of ancient Ireland--on a quest for blood and magic!

A WARRIOR'S QUEST

The swordplay of Oghmal, brother to the Queen of the Danans, is celebrated throughout the isle of Tirtangir. Yet nowhere can he find a weapon worthy of his warrior's prowess. Legend has it that a blade fashioned from a fallen star will be indestructible... and will defeat all sorceries and spells.

For such a star-stone, Oghmal must leave the shores of ancient Ireland and journey in search of an enchanted island--one which appears only at sunset, shining beneath the sea, or floating in the sky at sunrise. There the secret lies... and peril beyond imagining.

In order to save Princess Madia, Frost, a magician, and his friends must find and claim the demon blade from the swamp things in the Far North, who now possess it.

Frost, the reluctant possessor of the Demon Blade, returns home to find the rightful guardian of the powerful weapon, only to find his homeland at war, his greatest enemy on the throne, and himself the target of dangerous intrigues.

Lunar New Year should be a time for familial reunions, ancestor worship, and consumption of an unhealthy amount of candied fruit.

But when dragon prince Thuan brings home his brooding and ruthless husband Asmodeus for the New Year, they find not interminable family gatherings, but a corpse outside their quarters. Asmodeus is thrilled by the murder investigation; Thuan, who gets dragged into the political plotting he'd sworn off when he left, is less enthusiastic.

It'll take all of Asmodeus's skill with knives, and all of Thuan's diplomacy, to navigate this one--as well as the troubled waters of their own relationship...

It was supposed to be a holiday, with nothing more challenging than babysitting, navigating familial politics and arguing about the proper way to brew tea.

But when dragon prince Thuan and his ruthless husband Asmodeus find a corpse in a ruined shrine and a hungry ghost who is the only witness to the crime, their holiday goes from restful to high-pressure. Someone is trying to silence the ghost and everyone involved. Asmodeus wants revenge for the murder; Thuan would like everyone, including Asmodeus, to stay alive.

Chased by bloodthirsty paper charms and struggling to protect their family, Thuan and Asmodeus are going to need all the allies they can--and, as the cracks in their relationship widen, they'll have to face the scariest challenge of all: how to bring together their two vastly different ideas of their future...

A shaft of argent starlight touched by the Forge of Reorx

Hilted and gemmed in the blood of heroes

Unite! Mountain dwarves of Thorbardin

A kingsword at last, at last.

Deep in the cavern kingdom of Thorbardin, the powerful Stormblade is secretly crafted by an elderly dwarf-master. A Kingsword, it is intended to break the deadlock among the ruling council of Thanes.

When Stormblade is stolen and turns up years later, a series of exciting and deadly events are set in motion. Only a heroic dwarf knows the magic of the legendary blade, and he sets out to recover the lost weapon. To do so, he must travel to a land rife with war and treachery.

The first book in a series set in an uncharted land within the Dragonlance world. Blades of the Tiger explores beyond the realms of Ansalon, the traditional setting for Dragonlance novels, and into the land of Taladas. No title has ever been set in this unexplored region on the other side of the world, allowing for an infinite variety of new characters and experiences within the context of Dragonlance.

The War of Souls is over. Takhisis is dead. On Ansalon, heroes and gods have banded together to save the world from destruction. A new peace, of sorts, has taken hold. But half a world away, on the continent of Taladas, the troubles are just beginning. Sorcery, long thought lost, has returned to the world. Disasters wrack the land, nations clash, dark forces stir in the aftermath of the Godless Night. On the grasslands of the Tamire, an ambitious lord unites the barbarian tribes, streaming south for plunder and bloody conquest....

Among the fortresses and cities of the Minotaur League, a victorious general returns to his family after years away....

In the shadows, an elven thief tracks a mysterious enemy that seeks a stature of eldritch magic....

One will live, one will die, and one will wish for death. For ancient powers are waking in Taladas.

The problem with being a spy is that you have to make friends with the enemy. Dray Prescot, Earthman, who had become prince of Vallia, was the kind of man who always stood by his friends. So in his quest to learn the war secrets of Hamal, empire of the aircraft-makers, Dray found himself not only becoming comrade to some of its greatest warriors but of championing the very life of its cruelly beautiful queen. Although Dray's devotion to his glorious princess Delia never flags, his mission, and his life, is perilously balanced upon the razor-edged blades of loyalty versus duty...

Reiko, Empress of Japan, has allied herself with Princess Órlaith, heir to the High Kingdom of Montival, to find the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, the Grass-Cutting Sword, a legendary treasure of an ancient dynasty that confers valor and victory to its bearer. Órlaith understands all too well the power it signifies. Her own inherited blade, the Sword of the Lady, was both a burden and a danger to her father, Rudi Mackenzie, as it failed to save the king from being assassinated.

But the fabled sword lies deep with the Valley of Death, and the search will be far from easy. And war is building, in Montival and far beyond.

As Órlaith and Reiko encounter danger and wonder, Órlaith's mother, Queen Matildha, believes her daughter's alliance and quest has endangered the entire realm. There are factions both within and without Montival whose loyalty died with the king, and whispers of treachery and war grow ever louder.

And the Malevolence that underlies the enemy will bend all its forces to destroy them.

When orcs and goblins invade the Empire, the Emperor Dieter IV does nothing. While the other elector counts bicker, Prince Wilhelm is left to defend the Reikland alone. The Grimblades are among his brave army that opposes the greenskins. Amidst desperate war across the Empire and a plot to kill the prince, the Grimblades must survive this orc invasion and be victorious.

A world of betrayals and deceit. A hero alone. A delicate sword. A thrilling new fantasy from an exciting new voice.

There was a time when the Blades of Namara wielded justice with the swing of a sword. Servants of Namara, the goddess of justice herself, they were the best assassins in the world-and with his living shadow familiar Triss by his side, Aral Kingslayer was perhaps the greatest among them.

Then they murdered his goddess. They burned her temple to the ground. They outlawed his order and sentenced them to death. And Aral Kingslayer became both a drunk and a shadow jack-a fixer operating on the wrong side of the law.

But once forged, a Blade is forever.Blade in Shadow collects the first three books in Kelly McCullough's thrilling Fallen Blade saga:

BROKEN BLADE: Aral Kingslayer is a wanted man, haunted by the loss of all he held dear. When a mysterious woman hires him to deliver a secret message, is it a roadmap to redemption?

BARED BLADE: A good deed for two women in need sets Aral and Triss on the trail for an artifact that could stop a war-and countless deadly enemies out to get it too.

CROSSED BLADES: Aral has lived as a shadow jack for six years. The last thing he expects is for a fellow Blade to come to him for help-and for that Blade to be the woman he once loved.....

Once a fabled Blade of Namara, Aral Kingslayer fought for justice and his goddess alongside his familiar, a living shadow called Triss. Now with their goddess murdered and her temple destroyed, they are among the last of their kind. Surviving on the fringes of society, Aral becomes a drunken, broken, and wanted man, working whatever shadowy deal comes his way. Until a mysterious woman hires him to deliver a secret message-one that can either redeem him or doom him.

Former temple assassin Aral Kingslayer has a price on his head and a mark on his soul. After his goddess was murdered, Aral found refuge in the shadow jack business, fixing problems for those on the fringes of Tien's underworld. It's a long step down from working for the Goddess of Justice, but it gives Aral and Triss--the living shadow who is his secret partner--a reason to get up in the morning.

When two women hit a rough spot in the tavern Aral uses for an office, he and Triss decide to lend a helping hand--only to find themselves in the middle of a three-way battle to find an artifact that just might be the key to preventing a war. And with so many factions on their trail, Aral and Triss are attracting a lot more attention than anyone featured on ten thousand wanted posters can afford...

For six years, former temple assassin Aral Kingslayer has been living as a jack of the shadow trades, picking up odd jobs on the wrong side of the law. But the past is never dead, and Aral's has finally caught up to him in the beautiful, dangerous form of Jax Seldansbane--a fellow Blade and Aral's onetime fiancée.

Jax claims that the forces that destroyed everything Aral once held dear are on the move again, and she needs his help to stop them. But Aral has a new life now, with a fresh identity and new responsibilities. And while he isn't keen on letting the past back in, the former assassin soon finds himself involved in a war that will leave him with no way out and no idea who to trust...

After the fall of the goddess of justice, temple assassin Aral Kingslayer lost his purpose in life and turned to the bottle. That might have been the end of him if luck hadn't given him a few people to help him get back on his feet--notably the irresistible Baroness Maylien Dan Marchon, who once sought his aid in claiming the throne that's rightfully hers. Reluctant to resume the role of an assassin, he turned her down.

But now Aral has learned that one of the few people willing to help him in his darkest days has been imprisoned by Maylien's uncle, King Thauvik. Aral knows he can't let an old friend die, but the alternative is to return to the life he left years ago. It was the death of Thauvik's half brother that earned Aral the name Kingslayer, and now he is thrust into a war that will see no end until he lives up to his name...

Once one of the world's greatest assassins, Aral Kingslayer has finally reclaimed his swords and his soul. But the forces that destroyed his patron Namara twelve years ago are still there, waiting...

In the days before the fall of his goddess, only one other rivaled Aral's skills, Siri the Mythkiller--a woman who ruthlessly earned the title First Blade. As a friend, Aral owes her his loyalty. As a former lover, he owes her part of his heart. As a Blade, he owes her anything she asks, including his life.

When Siri seeks Aral's aid, he knows he must go. But as they journey towards the ancient Sylvani Empire, only time will reveal whether Aral can save the former First Blade, or if he will simply fall with her...

Aral Kingslayer has nothing to lose--and only justice to gain. Torn apart by the death of his goddess, he must avenge her in order to save himself from being lost forever....

It's been nine long years since the death of his patron, Namara, and exalted assassin Aral Kingslayer desperately misses the thrill and glory of being a higher power of justice. Now he is haunted by the ghosts of the past--and by the ghost of the lost goddess herself.

When Namara calls upon Aral in a dream to seek justice for her death and the ruination of her temple, Aral must obtain the help of his fellow former Blades and his Shade familiar, Triss, to pursue the vengeance he knows Namara deserves. Even if it means attacking Heaven's Son--and going against one of their own--in a bloody battle of epic proportions...

As the only female detective in Tokyo's most elite police unit, Mariko Oshiro has to fight for every ounce of respect, especially from her new boss. But when he gives her the least promising case possible--the attempted theft of an old samurai sword--it proves more dangerous than anyone on the force could have imagined.

The owner of the sword, Professor Yasuo Yamada, says it was crafted by the legendary Master Inazuma, a sword smith whose blades are rumored to have magical qualities. The man trying to steal it already owns another Inazuma--one whose deadly power eventually comes to control all who wield it.

Mariko's investigation has put her on a collision course with a curse centuries old and as bloodthirsty as ever. She is only the latest in a long line of warriors and soldiers to confront this power, and even the sword she learns to wield could turn against her.

Detective Sergeant Mariko Oshiro has been promoted to Japan's elite Narcotics unit--and with this promotion comes a new partner, a new case, and new danger. The underboss of a powerful yakuza crime syndicate has put a price on her head, and he'll lift the bounty only if she retrieves an ancient iron demon mask that was stolen from him in a daring raid. However, Mariko has no idea of the tumultuous past carried within the mask--or of its deadly link with the famed Inazuma blade she wields.

The secret of this mask originated hundreds of years before Mariko was born, and over time the mask's power has evolved to bend its owner toward destruction, stopping at nothing to obtain Inazuma steel. Mariko's fallen sensei knew much of the mask's hypnotic power and of its mysterious link to a murderous cult. Now Mariko must use his notes to find the mask before the cult can bring Tokyo to its knees--and before the underboss decides her time is up....

When Tokyo falls victim to a deadly terrorist attack, Detective Sergeant Mariko Oshiro knows who is responsible, even if she doesn't have proof. She urges her commanding officers to arrest the perpetrator--an insane zealot who was just released from police custody. When her pleas fall on deaf ears, she loses her temper and then her badge, as well as her best chance of fighting back.

Left on her own, and armed with only her cunning and her famed Inazuma blade, Mariko must work outside the system to stop a terrorist mastermind. But going rogue draws the attention of an underground syndicate known as the Wind. For centuries, they have controlled Japanese politics from the shadows, using mystical relics to achieve their nefarious ends--relics like Mariko's own sword and the iron demon mask whose evil curse is bound to the blade. Now the Wind is set on acquiring Mariko.

Mariko is left with a perilous choice: Join an illicit insurgency to thwart a deadly villain, or remain true to the law. Either way, she cannot escape her sword's curse. As sure as the blade will bring her to victory, it also promises to destroy her....

Discover a whole new realm of adventure!

When a wandering swordmage, trained by the elves of Myth Drannor, returns to his boyhood home on the windswept shores of the Moonsea, he finds that corruption has taken hold, leaving his friends and family open to a devastating evil.

Swordmage was the first novel to fully embrace the exciting new elements from the next edition of the Dungeons & Dragons game. This paperback resize releases fresh on the heals of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, and showcases a major revision to the Forgotten Realms world that has fans buzzing.

Cross swords with pirates in New York Times best-selling author Richard Baker's latest adventure!

When pirates threaten his home, Geran is elected by the city council to track the blood-thirsty pirates to their hidden base, infiltrate them, and find a way to stop them before it's too late. But the pirates are motivated by more than greed. Kin to his enemies, they seek a deeper revenge, one Geran only begins to glimpse when they kidnap the woman he loves.

Join the revolution with The New York Times best-selling author Richard Baker!

In Avenger, the final volume in the epic adventures of the Blades of the Moonsea, Geran violates his exile to stalk the streets of his former home, hunting down the one who hurt his family and rallying the oppressed people of Hulburg. But Geran's enemies are as numerous as the laws he breaks seeking revenge, and each and every one of them is determined to see him dead.

Blades of the Moonsea is the first series written entirely in the new edition of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, penned by one of its primary creators. Award-winning designer and New York Times best-selling author Richard Baker's Avenger goes to a place and time no Forgotten Realms series has gone before.

War cares little for the troubles of the aristocracy. As a terrible new weapon obliterates the age of courtly battle, an intelligent but plain princess and her companions--an addled young inventor and a kleptomaniac firebird--find themselves forced into a battle for survival in a suddenly very deadly world.

Can the Crystal Shard be destroyed at last?

Drizzt is determined to destroy the evil Crystal Shard, and seeks out the help of the scholar-priest Cadderly. But instead, his worst fears are realized, and Crenshinibon falls into the hands of the dark elf mercenary Jarlaxle and his unlikely ally Artemis Entreri.

The Silent Blade is the book that brought Drizzt back to the Realms, and was a New York Times best seller on its initial release--and has been in print every day since. Like the rest of the Legend of Drizzt(R) reissues, The Silent Blade features beautiful new cover art by award-winning illustrator Todd Lockwood.

Fearsome enemies unite to destroy The Companions in this explosive episode of the long-running Legend of Drizzt saga

When Obould Many-Arrows and the united orc tribes band together with Gerti Orelsdottr and her frost giants, no one is safe. After a skirmish with the orcs almost ends in tragedy, Drizzt Do'Urden and the Companions join with Dagnabbit and a group of dwarves to warn nearby towns of the impending hordes.

But the fight inexorably comes to them at the Battle of Shallows, where humans and dwarves must unite to defend the settlement against the rampaging orcs and their allies. As blades slash and feet trample, even the heroes may not survive a desperate stand.

The Thousand Orcs is the first book in The Hunter's Blades trilogy and the seventeenth installment in the Legend of Drizzt series.

Devastated by the loss of his friends, Drizzt Do'Urden resumes his vicious battle against the orc army and King Obould Many-Arrows

Drizzt Do'Urden knows what it means to be alone. As a young drow, he was exiled from his home in the Underdark, reviled and feared by his own kind. Only after an arduous journey to Faerûn did he meet the surface dwellers who accepted him, befriended him, and became his steadfast allies. Now, those friends lie dead beneath a fallen tower, leaving Drizzt more alone than he has ever been before.

Fueled by his rage and sorrow, Drizzt becomes the Hunter--the ultimate enemy of the orc hordes still ravaging the North under King Obould's command. Convinced that everything he loves has been destroyed, he vows to do nothing except kill, kill, and kill again until there are no enemies left. But in the midst of Drizzt's days of endless slaughter, a pair of elves appear with their pegasi, a promise of aid--and a spark of hope.

The Lone Drow is the second book in The Hunter's Blades trilogy and the eighteenth installment in the Legend of Drizzt series.

The war between Drizzt and King Obould rages on in this New York Times-bestselling conclusion to The Hunter's Blades trilogy

Dark elf Drizzt Do'Urden would like nothing more than to kill King Obould Many-Arrows, the leader of the slavering orc army that slaughtered his closest friends. Now, it seems even Innovindil, Drizzt's new moon elf companion, cannot escape the grip of Obould's murderous scourge. When the orc king steals Innovindil's beloved pegasus, Drizzt must accompany her on a rescue mission to the northern lands of the frost giants--even if it means suffering the same fate as the Companions.

Except the Companions are not dead... yet. Unbeknownst to Drizzt, they are sealed inside the walls of Mithral Hall, awaiting a battle that will either make or break them. As Obould's horde prepares for a siege just outside the gates, Bruenor must mastermind a plan that will defeat the orcs and lead his clan to victory.

The Two Swords is the third book in The Hunter's Blades trilogy and the nineteenth installment in the Legend of Drizzt series.

The first in a new action-filled quartet Traitor's Blade follows Falcio, the first Cantor of the Greatcoats. Trained in the fighting arts and the laws of Tristia, the Greatcoats are travelling Magisters upholding the King's Law. They are heroes. Or at least they were.

When the Greatcoats stood aside and allowed the Dukes to take the kingdom and impale their King's head on a spike that all changed. Now Tristia is on the verge of collapse and the barbarians are sniffing at the borders whilst the Dukes bring chaos to the land.

The Greatcoats are scattered far and wide, reviled as traitors, their legendary coats in tatters. All they have left are the promises they made to King Paelis, to carry out one final mission. But if they have any hope of fulfilling the King's dream the divided Greatcoats must reunite, or they will again have to stand aside as they watch their world burn...

Castellan Crowe, Brotherhood Champion of the Purifier order of the Grey Knights, bears a heavy burden -- to be the warden of the dread Blade of Antwyr. Its malevolent voice is forever in his head, trying to crack his resolve, urging him to unleash a power he must never use. The toll is terrible, and how long before the incorruptible Crowe is at last defeated? His harrowing task first began at Sandava II...

Under the command of Castellan Gavallan, Crowe and his brother Purifiers bring purging flame to a daemonic incursion that threatens to consume the world. What awaits them is more insidious and more powerful than they imagine, and they must reckon too with the machinations of the Blade, as it seeks to destroy its guardian and drown the galaxy in blood.

The severed head marked by a distinctive tattoo on its cheek should have been a Guild case, but dark instincts honed over hundreds of years of life compel the vampire Dmitri to take control. There is something twisted about this death, something that whispers of centuries long past...but Dmitri's need to discover the truth is nothing to the vicious strength of his response to the hunter assigned to decipher the tattoo.

Savaged in a brutal attack that almost killed her, Honor is nowhere near ready to come face to face with the seductive vampire who is an archangel's right hand, and who wears his cruelty as boldly as his lethal sensuality...the same vampire who has been her secret obsession since the day she was old enough to understand the inexplicable, violent emotions he aroused in her.

As desire turns into a dangerous compulsion that might destroy them both, it becomes clear the past will not stay buried. Something is hunting...and it will not stop until it brings a blood-soaked nightmare to life once more...

The time for the transfer of power from one generation to the next has come. The rites require Queen Olwen to kill herself with the Queensblade in order to ensure the bounty of the kingdom. First, the Princess, Olwen's daughter Gwenlliant, must discover the powers in order to inherit the crown and the kingdom, for only in Gwenlliant rests the power to bring back the bounty of the land and the kingdom of the ages. Gwenlliant must go forth from the Isles of Mist to the shores of Byzantium in order to discover her ancient birthright. Attacked along the way by the assassins of the spirit of darkness and nearly becoming a sacrifice in the dark and bloody vaults of the Stone King, Gwenlliant must overcome hardship and steal her way to succession for only then will her kingdom survive.

By the blessing of the Omnissiah was the Mars Triumphant born--from the forges of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the mighty Baneblade super-heavy battle tank comes to bring death and destruction to the foes of the Imperium. As part of the Paragonian 7th Company, Honoured Lieutenant Marken Cortein Lo Bannick commands the venerable war machine in a bitter war against the orks in the Kalidar system.

As the campaign grinds on it begins to take its toll upon his crew, and old clan prejudices from the regiment's home world arise once more. In a war which cannot be won by force of arms alone, such division may prove to be their undoing.

Jane, a shapeshifting vampire-hunter-for-hire, crosses paths with a stranger who has arrived in New Orleans, enlisted to hunt vampires who have gone insane-or so he says.

As unwanted and rebellious boys, they find refuge in Ironhall.... Years later they emerge as the finest swordsmen in the realm--A magical ritual of a sword through the heart binds each to his ward--if not the king himself, then to whomever else the monarch designates--with absolute loyalty.And the greatest Blade of them all was--and is--Sir Durendal.

But a lifelong dream of protecting his beloved liege from enemies, traitors, and monsters is dashed to bits when Durendal is bonded till death to an effete noble fop at his king's orders. Yet Destiny has many strange and inscrutable plans for the young knight--for a mission, a contest, and, perhaps, a treasure await him in a faraway land. But he soon finds himself enmeshed in treason and foul intrigues, compelled to betray the king he had hoped to serve. The Blades have ways to protect their own, but death and madness haunt the path to salvation--and few ever return unscathed. As unwanted and rebellious boys, they find refuge in Ironhall.... Years later they emerge as the finest swordsmen in the realm--A magical ritual of a sword through the heart binds each to his ward--if not the king himself, then to whomever else the monarch designates--with absolute loyalty. And the greatest Blade of them all was--and is--Sir Durendal.

But a lifelong dream of protcting his beloved liege from enemies, traitors, and monsters is dashed to bits when Durendal is bonded till death to an effete noble fop at his king's orders. Yet Destiny has many strange and inscrutable plans for the young knight--for a mission, a contest, and, perhaps, a treasure await him in a faraway land. But he soon finds himself enmeshed in treasonand foul intrigues, compelled to betray the king he had hoped to serve. The Blades have ways to protect their own, but death and madness haunt the path to salvation--and few ever return unscathed.

Raider and Wasp have spent five years at Ironhall studying to become Blades, expert swordsmen whose talents stand unmatched. Magic both enhances the Blades' fighting skills and binds them in lifelong duty. But, when Raider and Wasp are selected to protect the king of Chivial himself, they refuse, an act unprecedented in the living history of the Blades. Now on the run for their "treasonous" act, the two gifted swordsmen must escape to the Fire Lands, where pirates, monsters, and mixed allegiances wait around every corner. As old hatreds and still-fresh tragedies come to light, these young swashbucklers must confront both harsh truths from the past and a present swarming with their would-be brothers at arms seeking vengeance and intending punishment.

The mightiest swordsmen in the relm, are bound by magic to defend their noble wards... to the death.

The King's Blades

The unloved child of the unscrupulous King Ambrose,Princess Malinda learned at an early age to fight for what was rightfully hers. Now, with the Kings abrupt death, civil war has become her grim destiny. Making her uncertain way through the blood labyrinth of schemesand betrayals, Malinda can trust none but the Blades of the Royal Guard. But the Blades themselves are in grave peril. And the young Queen faces the most crucialdecision of her life: a choice that will either redeem her kingdom from chaos... or bring ultimate destruction down upon it, her Blades, and herself.

Sir Rhys, Sir Sharp, and Sir Trusty may be three of the world's greatest swordsmen, but that hasn't saved them from being let go from their positions as Royal Guards. All three are still young , and without a job or pension, they need to find some way of making money.

Rhys's father, Sir Spender, is a great Blade hero listed in the Litany. He is also without a job and may have a solution for their predicament. A great treasure was lost more than thirty years ago, and Spender thinks he knows its location and suggests they find it.

Of course, Spender is not the only one to remember the lost treasure. King Ambrose claims it as his own--and is ready to use all the manpower at his disposal to get his hands on it first...

Niall's father raised him to be a man of his word, and Niall has tried to live that way throughout his life, even during his training to become a Blade.

But things have changed. King Ambrose has died. His daughter, Malinda, is now queen and behaving suspiciously. When she makes Niall Prime of the Blades, he is asked to swear an oath to protect her - and then is made a spy.

Now Niall faces a mission that challenges everything he believes and must place his life on the line for a leader he's not certain he can trust...

Before They Could be BladesThey Were the King's Daggers...

Young Stalwart, known as Wart to his fellow students, is expelled from the academy for King's Blades, only to be plunged into a current of breathless intrigue and danger. Together with Emerald, a former White Sister, Wart must survive sorcery, swordplay, ambush, a chimera, a quagmarsh, and more, and uncover a devious plot to assassinate their kingand prove himself worthy of a place among the King's Blades.

The Crooked House is the second book in the King's Daggers triology, and Duncan has infused this title with all the breathless action and riveting adventure of his previous titles. In this installment, Sir Stalwart and Emerald embark on a quest to uncover the evil lurking at the heart of the king's chambers.

A Notorious Killer Stalks the King...

The world's most deadly assassin has been hired to kill King Ambrose. Once again King's Daggers are plunged into danger, because only White Sister Emerald can identify the killer's magic and only Sir Stalwart knows what he looks like. The two must trap the killer before he can strike the king -- or at them.

As the trial of death leads back to Ironhall, the swordsmen school Stalwart so recently left, he finds he is a boy sent to do a man's job -- and Emerald is a girl sent to do a boy's.

Many legends have emerged from the shadows of Ironhall, yet surely none can surpass the greatness and glory predestined for Sir Beaumont--possessor of the purest and strongest of hearts, and a mind as quick, keen, and accurate as his sword. But the day he sets out in the service of the elderly Lord Wassail turns to a black one, and young Beau's journey ends in horror and blood... and disgrace. Banished from the King's Blades, he now faces a grim future as a homeless pariah, a creature to be shunned and despised. But redemption can come from unexpected directions and in unrecognizable guises. Approached in secret by the legendary Durendal, now Grand Master of the Order, the dishonored paragon is offered one last chance to win back his weapon and his place among his brothers in arms. But to do so, Beau must ride alone back through the icy gates of Hell... and do battle with the Devil himself.

Elite warrior swordsmen, they are unequalled in any time or realm...

The King's Blades

The King has decreed that new Blades must be sworn into the service of the Grand Duke Rubin, deposed by a foul usurper and currently on the run. But none of the rough youths being readied at Ironhall possess the seasoning to survive what better, more skilled Blades already have not. Still, two woefully unprepared candidates are approached with an offer of early bonding and probable death: deft but dense, rude Ranter, and eager, impetuous Ringwood... with a third, the inadequate swordsman but potentially able spy Bellman, enlisted into their threadbare ranks. Joining the Duke's entourage along with the courageous and prescient White Sister Trudy, the would-be champions must restore a rightful ruler to the throne or die in the process. But before them waits an army of the dead. And the Duke whom the Blades must protect to the last drop of their lifeblood is not the liege they imagined...

The realm's most feared swordsman, Sir Wolf has earned his name, the "King's Killer," well. Unlike many of his brother Blades, however, Wolf detests his sworn duty to do the bloody bidding of a liege he can never respect. But when an impregnable fortress is breached and a former royal mistress is abducted by brazen assailants, Wolf must leap into the fray.

Burdened with the company of his disgraced brother, Sir Lynx--the only Blade ever to lose his ward and live--and shadowed by a mysterious Inquisitor with a secret agenda, Wolf must make his way across a landscape of nightmares vivid and terrible enough to chill any fearless heart. For somewhere in this dark, unfamiliar world, the fate of all Chivial hangs in the balance--and it is the destiny of one reluctant Blade to tip the scales to salvation... or doom.

Kithamar is a center of trade and wealth, an ancient city with a long, bloody history where countless thousands live and their stories endure.

This is Garreth's.

Garreth Left is heir to one of Kithamar's most prominent merchant families. The path of his life was paved long before he was born. Learn the family trade, marry to secure wealthy in-laws, and inherit the business when the time is right. But to Garreth, a life chosen for him is no life at all.

In one night, a chance meeting with an enigmatic stranger changes everything. He falls in love with a woman whose name he doesn't even know, and he will do anything to find her again. His search leads him down corridors and alleys that are best left unexplored, where ancient gods hide in the shadows, and every deal made has a dangerous edge.

The path that Garreth chooses will change the course of not only those he loves, but the entire future of Kithamar's citizens.

The sequel to Into the Looking Glass.

William Weaver, PhD. and SEAL Chief Miller are back and Bill got himself a ship! The former SSBN Nebraska has been converted, using mostly garage mechanics and baling wire, into a warp ship ready to go "out there." But as everyone knows, the people who really are going to bear the brunt are the poor Security guys, Force Recon Marines who are kept in the dark and fed manure all day. That is until they land on an alien planet, get partially wiped out and then load back up again.

Ranging in topics from the best gun to kill armored space monsters to particle physics to cosmology to health and beauty tips, Vorpal Blade is a return to the "good old days" of SF when the science problems were intractable and the beasts were ugly. The monkeys are out in the space lanes and ready to rock. As soon as they get another roll of duct tape.

The starship Dragon, accompanied by its fleet of outriders, is faring ever deeper into that region known as the Hallowed Vasties. Here, at the shattered heart of ancient human civilization, once-living worlds were ripped apart by the dimensional intrusions of a Blade. Yet despite the apocalyptic-scale destruction, the fleet's telescopes have picked out signs of life among the ruins and the ship's company is eager to go on--but should they?

From his post on Dragon's high bridge, Urban looks ahead to the smaller starship, Griffin, now far, far in front of the fleet. The mind that pilots that ship--a stern and colder version of his lover, Clemantine--has gone silent. The implication chills him. Like Dragon, Griffin was an alien warship, designed to destroy without mercy all living worlds, and it still has a mind of its own. The question that haunts Urban: Has that alien mind somehow reclaimed control of Griffin?

It's a question he must answer, and soon. Every wonder that lies ahead--and every ambition hidden within his heart--is at risk while Griffin's true nature remains unknown.

VAELIN AL SORNA RETURNS

Anthony Ryan's debut novel Blood Song--the first book of the Raven's Shadow series - took the fantasy world by storm. Now, he continues that saga with The Wolf's Call, which begins a thrilling new story of razor-sharp action and epic adventure.

Peace never lasts.

Vaelin Al Sorna is a living legend, his name known across the Realm. It was his leadership that overthrew empires, his blade that won hard-fought battles - and his sacrifice that defeated an evil more terrifying than anything the world had ever seen. He won titles aplenty, only to cast aside his earned glory for a quiet life in the Realm's northern reaches.

Yet whispers have come from across the sea - rumours of an army called the Steel Horde, led by a man who believes himself a god. Vaelin has no wish to fight another war, but when he learns that Sherin, the woman he lost long ago, has fallen into the Horde's grasp, he resolves to confront this powerful new threat.

To this end, Vaelin travels to the realms of the Merchant Kings, a land ruled by honor and intrigue. There, as the drums of war thunder across kingdoms riven by conflict, Vaelin learns a terrible truth: that there are some battles that even he may not be strong enough to win.

A matchless warrior is pitted against a near-God in the second epic installment of the Raven's Blade series.

It has long been our lot in life, brother, to do what others can't.

Vaelin Al Sorna was known across the realm as the greatest of warriors, but he thought battles were behind him. He was wrong. Prophecy and rumor led him across the sea to find a woman he once loved, and drew him into a war waged by the Darkblade, a man who believes himself a god--and one who has gathered a fanatical army that threatens all of the known world.

After a costly defeat by the Darkblade, Vaelin's forces are shattered, while the self-proclaimed immortal and his army continue their terrible march. But during the clash, Vaelin regained some of the dark magic that once gave him unrivaled skill in battle. And though the fight he has been drawn into seems near unwinnable, the song that drives him now desires the blood of his enemy above all else...

Andry, a former squire, continues to fight for hope amid blood and chaos.

Dom, a grieving immortal, strives to fulfill a broken oath.

Sorasa, an outcast assassin, faces her past when it returns with sharpened teeth.

Valtik, an old sorceress, summons a mighty power.

And Corayne, a pirate's daughter with an ancient magic in her blood, steps closer to becoming the hero she's destined to be.

Together they must assemble an army to face Queen Erida and Taristan's wicked forces. But something deadly waits in the shadows, something that might consume the world before there's any hope for victory.

From his deathbed, Hero-King Inglis, the divine knight and master of all he surveys, gazes down on the empire he built with his mighty hand. Having devoted his life to statecraft and his subjects' well-being, his one unfulfilled wish is to live again, for himself this time: a warrior's life he'd devoted himself to before his rise to power. His patron goddess, Alistia, hears his plea and smiles upon him, flinging his soul into the far future. Goddesses work in mysterious ways--not only is Inglis now the daughter of a minor noble family, but at her first coming-of-age ceremony at six, she's found ineligible to begin her knighthood! However, for a lady of Inglis's ambition, this is less a setback and more the challenge she was (re)born to overcome. "It's not the blood that runs through your veins that makes a knight; it's the blood you shed on the battlefield!" The curtain rises on the legend of an extraordinary lady squire reborn to master the blade!

A reborn beauty is already turning heads at school! The old Hero-King Inglis was thrown far into the future, reborn as a beautiful girl. Now, together with Rafinha, her lifelong friend, and Leone, an aspiring knight the two met on their journey to the capital, Inglis studies the ways of war at the royal knights' academy?where she's turning heads with her battle prowess more than her looks! School life isn't all about making new friends, though, as she hears rumors of a Rune-Eater that targets knights... "A Rune-Eater, huh? Sounds fun. I bet it's pretty tough." This extraordinary squire marches on through fun with friends and all the fights she could ask for!

FROM A CLASH OF SWORDS, AN UNSHAKABLE BOND

Springtime at Kimberly Magic Academy brings a new batch of first-year students, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as they begin their journey to become full-fledged mages. Among these newcomers are Oliver Horn, a studious boy equally skilled with the wand and the blade, and Nanao Hibiya, a strong-willed samurai girl from the distant nation of Yamatsu. The wheels of fate bring these two souls together at Kimberly, where they become both comrades and rivals in equal measure. However, lurking within the academy's halls are countless dangers and dark secrets guaranteed to threaten not only their friendship-but their very lives...

ONE CHALLENGE AFTER ANOTHER!

Halfway into the school year, Oliver's and Nanao's magical prowess has garnered them considerable respect from their classmates. Nevertheless, the question remains: Who is the strongest first-year at Kimberly Magic Academy? So begins a battle royal--style tournament to defeat Oliver and Nanao in combat, and many competitors are eager to throw down the gauntlet. Some, however, will use this opportunity to set their own nasty schemes in motion...

A DESCENT INTO MADNESS

Pete's abduction at the hands of Ophelia Salvadori's chimeras has the entire academy in a frenzy and Oliver's group reeling. After all, what can a bunch of first-years do to save their friend from Salvadori, who's been "consumed by the spell"? At this pivotal moment, a certain someone offers a deal to help rescue Pete from the witch holding him captive within the depths of the school's perilous labyrinth... but will Oliver and his classmates succeed in their desperate mission and live to tell the tale?

DON'T LET THE MASK SLIP

Another year gone at Kimberly Magic Academy means a new crop of first-year students. Oliver and his classmates, now second-years, see their studies becoming increasingly intense. The reality of life as a mage is a cold slap in the face... Nanao, meanwhile, is grabbing attention left and right due to her skills with a blade and her broom-riding talents. Dying for a reprieve, the six friends take a brief trip to the magicity of Galatea... but is their bond proving detrimental to Oliver's clandestine duties...?

VENGEANCE WILL BE HIS

The Sword Roses are blossoming into proper Kimberly mages, but that growth doesn't come without trials: Magical biology continues to bring Katie anguish, and an upperclassman is putting Guy through labyrinth boot camp. Meanwhile, Oliver has set his sights on his next target-Enrico Forghieri.

When Enrico whisks Pete off to his laboratory with Nanao and Oliver hot on their heels, the three friends get a horrifying glimpse of the longstanding conflict between mages and Gnostics. This may be the perfect opportunity for Oliver to finally exact his revenge on the mad old man...

TAKE TO THE SKIES

A second faculty member's disappearance in as many years sends shock waves through Kimberly Magic Academy. Without any clues as to the culprit's identity, the headmistress is treating everyone as a suspect. Amid this turbulent state of affairs, the student body presidential election is fast approaching, and the incumbent president, Godfrey, has yet to back a successor. Meanwhile, Nanao endeavors to help star athlete Ashbury, who's hit a wall trying to improve her broomriding speed. To top it all off, there's a shady new transfer student prowling the school! Yet as friendly as he is, no one seems to know much about him...

The broomsports combat league has begun at Kimberly Magic Academy! Eager to showcase their growth as they enter their third year at school, Oliver and his friends split into three-person teams and enter the event. Nanao and her teammates, considered the top students of their year, are in for a fierce battle when they are targeted by other teams. Meanwhile, the general election for the student body president is finally underway, and the investigation into Enrico's disappearance continues... Will they ever find the person responsible?

DEATH COMES FOR US ALL

The Kimberly Magic Academy combat league is heating up with the upperclassmen now going head-to-head! Meanwhile, the Sword Roses - joined by several seniors - delve deeper into the labyrinth in pursuit of Rivermoore, who has stolen one of Godfrey's bones for purposes unknown. They find themselves on the necromancer's home turf, a veritable kingdom of the dead where hordes of skeletal beasts and ghastly foes are at his beck and call. Will Oliver and friends manage to fend off his onslaught and recover Godfrey's missing sternum? What role does the coffin on Rivermoore's back play in his schemes...?

The combat league is reaching its climax, and the four teams that fought their way there are ready for center stage. First is Oliver's team against Team Valois, a trio of tricky sword arts users whose leader harbors an unnatural loathing ready to bubble up to the fore. Team Cornwallis will face the favorite to win the league: Team Andrews, a ragtag group of dynastic talent and unbridled chaos. Demitrio, the astronomy instructor, makes a rare appearance among the matches' spectators; the philosopher seeks the culprit behind the faculty murders, and his eyes are trained on Oliver's team...

THE PAST RISES TO THE FORE

It's the final round of the combat league. Godfrey and Leoncio clash like titans, and Kimberly gets a new student body president. As the dust settles, Oliver is faced with Nanao's desires, Yuri's absence, and his comrades' plans to strike down a third target: Demitrio. The faculty's investigation demands swift action--so the battle begins. Demitrio reveals secrets from the age of the divine. The comrades' path to victory collapses beneath them. And the desperate struggle begins to uncover even more dire secrets: ones trapped deep within Oliver's past...

Sarah Beauhall has more on her plate than most twenty-somethings: day job as a blacksmith, night job as a props manager for low-budget movies, and her free time is spent fighting in a medieval re-enactment group.

The lead actor breaks Sarah's favorite one-of-a-kind sword, and to avoid reshooting scenes, Sarah agrees to repair the blade. One of the extras, who claims to be a dwarf, offers to help. And that's when things start to get weird. Could the sword really be magic, as the "dwarf" claims? Are dragons really living among us as shapeshifters?

And as if things weren't surreal enough, Sarah's girlfriend Katie breaks out the dreaded phrase... "I love you." As her life begins to fall apart, first her relationship with Katie, then her job at the movie studio, and finally her blacksmithing career, Sarah hits rock bottom. It is at this moment, when she has lost everything she has prized, that one of the dragons makes their move.

And suddenly what was unthinkable becomes all too real... and Sarah will have to decide if she can reject what is safe and become the heroine who is needed to save her world.

It's been five long years since the city learned to fear...

In book #2 of the Shadowdance series, the war between the thief guilds and the powerful allegiance known as the Trifect has slowly dwindled. Now only the mysterious Haern is left to wage his private battle against the guilds in the guise of the Watcher -- a vicious killer who knows no limits. But when the son of Alyssa Gemcroft, one of the three leaders of the Trifect, is believed murdered, the slaughter begins anew. Mercenaries flood the streets with one goal in mind: find and kill the Watcher.

Peace or destruction; every war must have its end.

She remembered how it felt to lose Salma, first to the wiles of the Butterfly-kinden girl, then to hear the news of his death, abandoned and alone in the midst of the enemy. She remembered how it felt to see her father hacked to death before her eyes. But of her murder of Achaeos, of the bite of her blade into his unsuspecting flesh, the wound that had sapped him and ruined him until he died, she remembered nothing, felt nothing. In such a vacuum, how could she possibly atone? Tynisa is running, but she cannot escape the demons of her own mind. Amidst the fragmenting provinces of the Dragonfly Commonweal her past will at last catch up with her. Her father's ghost is hunting her down. At the same time, the Wasp Empress, Seda, is on the move, her eyes on the city of Khanaphes, the fallen jewel of the ancient world. Whilst her soldiers seek only conquest, she sees herself as the heir to all the old powers of history, and has her eyes on a far greater prize.

Setting out to exterminate the upstart Tau Empire before it becomes a threat, the Ultramarines under Captain Atheus discover that the xenos may be more of a menace than they originally believed...

The Imperium of Man takes its bloody revenge upon the expansionist tau in a war of dizzying spectacle. For the first time, the daredevil warriors of the Ultramarines Assault Company go to war en masse, fighting in the skies, in the streets, and even in the prototype testing facilities of the tau Earth caste. However, Sergeants Sicarius and Numitor must overcome their hunger for glory as the brightest stars of the Tau Empire, Commanders Farsight and Shadowsun, hunt them to the brink of disaster. Tempers run short as battle-brothers fall, ammunition runs out and the course of the war takes ever-darker twists and turns. With two warrior cultures struggling for a vital edge and the body count spiralling towards a terrible conclusion, can notions of honour and duty survive at all?

The ancient Navigator House of Belisarius has long been bound to the mighty Space Wolves as allies. In return for the means to navigate the treacherous warp, the Space Wolves provide an honour guard of elite warriors--the Wolfblade--to protect the House.

When Ragnar, exiled to Terra for his role in the loss of the Spear of Russ, takes up his duties on ancient Terra he soon becomes embroiled in an assassination plot that reaches into the very depths of Imperium! Unused to the delicate political machinations, Ragnar must resort to the howling fury of the Wolves if he is to save this noble dynasty and regain his honour!

Hell hath no fury like a goddess scorned.

When Jessie Shimmer traveled to a nightmare underworld to save her lover, Cooper Marron, she gained magical powers... which soon seemed more like curses. Her beloved familiar, the ferret Pal, became a monster. Her enemies multiplied like demons. Worst of all, she hasn't found a moment of peace to be with the man she adores.

Now a switchblade-wielding demigoddess commanding a private hell stocked with suffering innocents is after her. The blademistress' vengeance sends Jessie and Pal on a dark journey through strange, perilous realms. Their quest for salvation will push her newfound abilities—and her relationship with Cooper—to the breaking point... and beyond.

At last, the United Federation of Planets and the Romulan Star Empire have agreed to meet on neutral ground to attempt to resolve the tangle of intrigue and conspiracy that began with the hijacking of the U.S.S. Intrepid many years ago -- but the meeting may be as dangerous as the war they hope to avoid.

As a show of good faith, the crew of the legendary Starship Enterprise has been ordered to attend the talks. In their informal charge is Romulan renegade Ael, the wanted fugitive who, with Kirk, served as a catalyst of the current troubles. Kirk must represent the interests of the Federation first and foremost, but the best approach to an agreement remains muddled in the ever-shifting Romulan order.

And the visiting Romulan party is as fractious and divided as their troubled world. Among the Romulan nobles in attendance are the hero and popular Senator Arrhae, who secretly helped rescue Dr. Leonard McCoy from a Romulan execution, and the very men and women who put McCoy on trial for treason -- and tried to carry out the sentence.
As Kirk and crew attempt to renegotiate a delicate peace, and Romulans attempt to restore their tarnished honor, it becomes increasingly apparent that their only course of action is to prepare for war.

When the Jedi Order falls, an Inquisitor Rises...

Padawan Iskat Akaris has dedicated her life to traveling the galaxy alongside her master, learning the ways of the Force to become a good Jedi. Despite Iskat's dedication, peace and control have remained elusive, and with each setback, she feels her fellow Jedi grow more distrustful of her. Already uncertain about her future in the Jedi Order, Iskat faces tragedy when her master is killed and the Clone Wars engulf the galaxy in chaos.

Now a general on the front lines contributing to that chaos, she is often reminded: Trust in your training. Trust in the wisdom of the Council. Trust in the Force. Yet as the shadows of doubt take hold, Iskat begins to ask questions that no Jedi is supposed to ask: Questions about her own unknown past. Questions the Jedi Masters would consider dangerous.

As the years pass and the war endures, Iskat's faith in the Jedi wanes. If they would grant her more freedom, she is certain she could do more to protect the galaxy. If they would trust her with more knowledge, she could finally cast aside the shadows that have begun to consume her. When the Jedi Order finally falls, Iskat seizes the chance to forge a path of her own. She embraces the salvation of Order 66.

As an Inquisitor, Iskat finds the freedom she has always craved: to question, to want. And with each strike of her red blade, Iskat moves closer to claiming her new destiny in the Force--whatever the cost.

Jory Rask is a professional shockball player. The fastest runback in the game, she is loved across Terra. But Jory Rask has a secret that she's lived with for twenty-four years... In a xenophobic world that despises aliens, she is not quite human.

When her mother dies--and that secret is revealed--Jory must honor her last wishes and set out on a journey to find others like herself. And once they meet, none of their lives will ever be the same again. For in order to take the vengeance denied their mothers, they must undergo training at the Tana, the school for assassins known as Blade Dancers--the most lethal killers in the galaxy. And in the heart of that school lies a deadly secret...

At the heart of the Dark Zone, a duel for the universe rages.

In an ancient Jorian temple, Jaqi faces John Starfire, the new ruler of the Empire. He has set all the worlds aflame in his quest to destroy humankind. Jaqi has sworn to stop him. Problem is, Jaqi isn't much of a fighter.

Meanwhile, the sun-eating cosmic spiders, the Shir, have moved out of the Dark Zone and are consuming the galaxy. Araskar knows that he must hold them back, but to do that, he has to give himself over to the Resistance, under the command of John Starfire's wife. And she wants him dead more than she wants the stars to live.

If Jaqi and Araskar can fight their way out, they can use a secret at the heart of the Dark Zone to free the galaxy, and end John Starfire's new tyranny. They lose, and every star in the sky will go dark.

A fast paced adventure redolent with the best of classic sword and sorcery tales...

Kill the demon.

Steal the treasure.

Retire to a life of luxury.

Sounds easy when you put it like that.

Unfortunately for Egil and Nix, when the demon they kill has friends in high places, retirement is not an option.

The perfect assassin, the perfect revenge.

On Earth, Hari Michaelson was a superstar. But on Overworld, he was the assassin Caine. Real monarchs lived and died at his hands and entire governments were overthrown - all for the entertainment of millions back on Earth.

But now Hari, stripped of his identity as Caine, must fight his greatest battle: against the powerful corporate masters of Earth and the faceless masses who are killing everything he loves. Enemies old and new array themselves against him. And Hari is just one man - alone, half-crippled, powerless.

They say he doesn't have a chance. They are wrong.

Welcome to the world of Caine: Assassin. Hero. Superstar...

Venice in the early fifteenth century is at the height of its power. In theory Duke Marco commands. But Marco is a simpleton so his aunt and uncle rule in his stead. Within the Serene Republic, their word is law, but for all their influence, Venice's fate still lies in other hands . . .

Lady Giulietta is the Duke's cousin. She enjoys greater privilege than many can even dream of, but her status will demand a terrible price.

Atilo Il Mauros is head of the Assassini, the shadow army that enforces Venice's will - both at home and abroad.

Prince Leopold zum Bas Friedland is the bastard son of the German emperor and leader of the krieghund - the only force in Venice more feared than Atilo's assassins.

And then there is Atilo's angel-faced apprentice. Only a boy, Tycho is already stronger and faster than any man has a right to be. He can see in the dark, but sunlight burns him. It is said that he drinks blood.

Award-winning author Jon Courtenay Grimwood seamlessly blends history, politics and dark fantasy in a compelling vision of a Venice that might have been.

As the Byzantine and German emperors plot war against each other, Venice's future rests in the hands of three unwilling individuals:The newly knighted Sir Tycho. He defeated the Mamluk navy but he cannot make the woman he loves love him back. Tortured by secrets, afraid of the daylight, he sees no reason to save a city he hates.The grieving Lady Giulietta. Virgin. Mother. Widow. All she wants is to retire from the poisonous world of the Venetian court to mourn her husband in peace. But her duty is to Venice: both emperors want her hand in marriage and an alliance with Europe's richest city. She must choose, knowing that whichever suitor she rejects will become Venice's bitterest enemy.Lastly, a naked, mud-strewn girl who crawls from a paupers' grave on an island in the Venetian lagoon and begins by killing the men who buried her.Between them, they will set the course of history.

Snow shrouds Venice in cold darkness, ice fills the canals, and a thousand ghosts pluck at the shadow's edge.A violent attack on Lady Giulietta's son forces Tycho from his new-found happiness and back into the treacherous intrigue of the court. For Giulietta's sake he would go to the world's end to track down those responsible.As Venice teeters on the brink of civil war, its warring families prepare to discover who is a player and who a pawn in the coming struggle for power. The Exiled Blade is the climatic finale to Tycho's story.

In a world of sorcery and sand, a slave rebellion is out of control and an army of undead is approaching. Does Horace have the power and strength to save what he fought so hard to win?

In a setting reminiscent of ancient Egypt and Babylon, where God-Kings and God-Queens hold the power of life and death in their hands, Horace, the onetime slave who became a powerful magician, has turned the tables on his former masters. Blade and Bone, the third book in The Book of the Black Earth, follows Horace, Alyra, and Jirom as they navigate the hurdles of managing the slave rebellion under the Akeshian Empire's nose. But evil is not content to sit back and let them gather their strength. A new threat is coming in the form of an unstoppable army of the walking dead. To face this enemy, our heroes will have to dig deeper and find a strength they didn't know they possessed.

Welcome to seventeenth-century Paris, where intrigue, duels, and spies are rife and Cardinal Richelieu's agents may be prevailed upon to risk life and limb in the name of France at a moment's notice. And with war on the horizon, the defense of the nation has never been more pressing.

Danger is rising from the south--an insidious plot that could end with a huge dragon-shaped shadow falling over France, a shadow cast by dragons quite unlike the pet dragonets that roam the cities like stray cats, or the tame wyverns men ride like horses, high over the Parisian rooftops. These dragons and their descendants are ancient, terrible, and powerful ... and their plans contain little room for the lives or freedom of puny humans.

Cardinal Richelieu has nowhere else to turn; Captain La Fargue and his elite group of agents, the Cardinal's Blades, must turn the tide. They must hold the deadly Black Claw cult at bay, root out traitors to the crown, rescue prisoners, and fulfill their mission for the Cardinal, for their country, but above all for themselves.

It's death or victory. And the victory has never been less certain.

Welcome to Paris, in 1633, where dragons menace the realm. Cardinal Richelieu, the most powerful and most feared man in France, is on his guard. He knows France is under threat, and that a secret society known as the Black Claw is conspiring against him from the heart of the greatest courts in Europe. They will strike from the shadows, and when they do the blow will be both terrible and deadly.

To counter the threat, Richelieu has put his most trusted men into play: the Cardinal's Blades, led by Captain la Fargue. Six men and a woman, all of exceptional abilities and all ready to risk their lives on his command. They have saved France before, and the Cardinal is relying on them to do it again.

So when la Fargue hears from a beautiful, infamous, deadly Italian spy claiming to have valuable information, he has to listen... and when La Donna demands Cardinal Richelieu's protection before she will talk, la Fargue is even prepared to consider it. Because La Donna can name their enemy. It's a man as elusive as he is manipulative, as subtle as Richelieu himself, an exceptionally dangerous adversary: the Alchemist in the shadows...

The swashbuckling adventure, perfect for fans of THE THREE MUSKETEERS continues! This is Paris. This is 1633. This is a world under attack from dragons. Cardinal Richelieu is on his guard against the greatest danger he, or France, has faced. A secret society known as the Black Claw is plotting in the shadows. They have already struck twice, and with their third blow they mean to finish their task. Unless the Cardinal's Blades can stop them. They are all prepared to risk their lives for the Crown, this time the question is not whether they will need to ...it's whether or not they will survive. Who are the Dragon Arcana, what secret are the Chatelaine nuns trying so hard to protect, and if an ancient dragon is unleashed on Paris will the Blades really stand a chance against it...?

Over a year has passed since the defeat of the Great Foulness, and the ravaged earth has begun to heal. Lost for generations, the signet rings of the Four Great Houses---Oak, Yew, Ash, and Rowan---have been restored to their rightful heirs. And Ashen NordornQueen, mistress of the Land of Ever Snow, looks forward to a life of peace and happiness with her beloved husband and their newborn son---only to learn that an ancient evil still threatens all that she holds dear.

The Mother Ice Dragon, the fearsome progenitor of her deadly breed, has awakened from slumber to menace the world anew. Legend holds that only the Dragon Blade, forged from the scales of her vanquished mate, can slay the deadly female dragon, but the Dragon Blade has been lost for ages.

As Ashen embarks on a perilous quest to find the mystic sword, she leaves her castle and homeland in the care of her closest friends, including Rannore, Lady of the Rowan, who soon faces danger of a different sort....

Dragon Blade continues the saga begun in To the King a Daughter and continued in Knight or Knave and A Crown Disowned.

A land under occupation. A legendary sword. A young man's journey to find his destiny.

Aren has lived by the rules all his life. He's never questioned it; that's just the way things are. But then his father is executed for treason, and he and his best friend Cade are thrown into a prison mine, doomed to work until they drop. Unless they can somehow break free...

But what lies beyond the prison walls is more terrifying still. Rescued by a man who hates him yet is oath-bound to protect him, pursued by inhuman forces, Aren slowly accepts that everything he knew about his world was a lie. The rules are not there to protect him, or his people, but to enslave them. A revolution is brewing, and Aren is being drawn into it, whether he likes it or not.

The key to the revolution is the Ember Blade. The sword of kings, the Excalibur of his people. Only with the Ember Blade in hand can their people be inspired to rise up... but it's locked in an impenetrable vault in the most heavily guarded fortress in the land.

All they have to do now is steal it...

Legend has it that Paxon Leah is descended from the royals and warriors who once ruled the Highlands and waged war with magical weapons. But those kings, queens, and heroes are long gone, and there is nothing enchanted about the antique sword that hangs above Paxon's fireplace. Running his family's modest shipping business, Paxon leads a quiet life--until extraordinary circumstances overturn his simple world... and rewrite his destiny.

When his brash young sister is abducted by a menacing stranger, Paxon races to her rescue with the only weapon he can find. And in a harrowing duel, he is stunned to discover powerful magic unleashed within him--and within his ancestors' ancient blade. But his formidable new ability is dangerous in untrained hands, and Paxon must master it quickly because his nearly fatal clash with the dark sorcerer Arcannen won't be his last. Leaving behind home and hearth, he journeys to the keep of the fabled Druid order to learn the secrets of magic and earn the right to become their sworn protector.

But treachery is afoot deep in the Druids' ranks. And the blackest of sorcery is twisting a helpless innocent into a murderous agent of evil. To halt an insidious plot that threatens not only the Druid order but all the Four Lands, Paxon Leah must summon the profound magic in his blood and the legendary mettle of his elders in the battle fate has chosen him to fight.

A generation ago, the city of Voortyashtan was the stronghold of the god of war and death, the birthplace of fearsome supernatural sentinels who killed and subjugated millions.

Now, the city's god is dead. The city itself lies in ruins. And to its new military occupiers, the once-powerful capital is a wasteland of sectarian violence and bloody uprisings.

So it makes perfect sense that General Turyin Mulaghesh -- foul-mouthed hero of the battle of Bulikov, rumored war criminal, ally of an embattled Prime Minister -- has been exiled there to count down the days until she can draw her pension and be forgotten.

At least, it makes the perfect cover story.

The truth is that the general has been pressed into service one last time, dispatched to investigate a discovery with the potential to change the world -- or destroy it.

The trouble is that this old soldier isn't sure she's still got what it takes to be the hero.

They thought the war was over. They were wrong.

Runacarendalur Caerthalien has been a master of battle for hundreds of years, but he found himself on the wrong side?the losing side?in the last war. Betrayed by his brother, trapped in a prophecy he does not understand, Runacar flees the battlefield.

Yet Runacar is no coward. In a twist he could never have imagined, the Elven War-Prince finds himself leading a new army into battle?a force of centaurs, merfolk, gryphons, minotaurs, and talking bears who can perform magic. For centuries they have been trying to reclaim their lands from Elven invaders. With Runacar at the helm, they just might manage it.

Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory's first collaboration, the Obsidian Mountain trilogy, introduced readers to a brilliant, continent-spanning fantasy world of high adventure and epic battle. Civilization shimmered with magic while in the nooks and crannies of the world, dragons and unicorns hid from people who believed them to be nothing more than legends.

The Dragon Prophecy, set thousands of years before that story, illuminates a time when long-lived Elves rule the Fortunate Lands. It is a time of dire prophecy, of battle and bloodshed, of great magics unlike any the Elvenkind have seen before. It is the story of the end of one world and the beginning of the next.

Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught in one feud too many, he's on the verge of becoming a dead barbarian - leaving nothing behind him but bad songs, dead friends, and a lot of happy enemies.

Nobleman, dashing officer, and paragon of selfishness, Captain Jezal dan Luthar has nothing more dangerous in mind than fleecing his friends at cards and dreaming of glory in the fencing circle. But war is brewing, and on the battlefields of the frozen North they fight by altogether bloodier rules.

Inquisitor Glokta, cripple turned torturer, would like nothing better than to see Jezal come home in a box. But then Glokta hates everyone: cutting treason out of the Union one confession at a time leaves little room for friendship. His latest trail of corpses may lead him right to the rotten heart of government, if he can stay alive long enough to follow it.

Enter the wizard, Bayaz. A bald old man with a terrible temper and a pathetic assistant, he could be the First of the Magi, he could be a spectacular fraud, but whatever he is, he's about to make the lives of Logen, Jezal, and Glotka a whole lot more difficult.

Murderous conspiracies rise to the surface, old scores are ready to be settled, and the line between hero and villain is sharp enough to draw blood. Unpredictable, compelling, wickedly funny, and packed with unforgettable characters, The Blade Itself is noir fantasy with a real cutting edge.

Her magic was stolen. She was left for dead.

Betrayed by those she trusts most and her magic ripped from her, all Sal the Cacophony has left is her name, her story, and the weapon she used to carve both. But she has a will stronger than magic, and knows exactly where to go.

The Scar, a land torn between powerful empires, where rogue mages go to disappear, disgraced soldiers go to die and Sal went with a blade, a gun, and a list of seven names.

Revenge will be its own reward.

Maud Demille is a daughter of Innkeepers--a special group who provide 'lodging' to other-planetary visitors--so she knows that a simple life isn't in the cards. But even Maud could never have anticipated what Fate would throw at her.

Once a wife to a powerful vampire knight, Maud and her young daughter, Helen, were exiled with him for his treachery to the desolate, savage planet of Karhari. Karhari killed her husband, and Maud--completely abandoned by his family--has spent over a year avenging his debts. Rescued by her sister Dina, she's sworn off all things vampire.

Except... In helping Dina save the world, she met Arland, the Marshal of House Krahr, one of the most powerful vampire houses. One thing led to another and he asked for her hand in marriage. She declined. Arland is not used to hearing the word 'no;' and try as she might, Maud can't just walk away from Arland. It doesn't help that being human is a lot harder for Maud than being a vampire.

To sort it all out, she accepts his invitation to visit his home planet. House Krahr is extremely influential and Maud knows that a woman--a human, with a very questionable past--who's turned down a proposal from its most beloved son won't get a warm reception. Maybe she's not sure about marrying Arland, but House Krahr isn't going to decide for her. Maud Demille has never run from a fight, and House Krahr will soon discover that there's a lot more to Maud than they're expecting.

A powerful band of women warriors must face off against an oppressive enemy in one final showdown that will determine their survival and the fate of their world in this concluding volume in Ausma Zehanat Khan's powerful fantasy series.

Armed with the powerful sorcery of the Bloodprint and supported by the Talisman, the oppressive One-Eyed Preacher is on the verge of conquering Ashfall, the Black Khan's capital in the west. Yet not all is lost for Arian, Sinnia and the Council of Hira. If these brave female warriors can uncover the secrets of an ancient magic weapon known as the Bladebone, they can defeat the Preacher and crush his cruel regime.

Neither Arian and Sinnia, nor their allies, the Mages of Khorasan, know the Bladebone's whereabouts, and not all may survive the search to uncover it. Pursued by a nefarious enemy aligned with the Preacher, they become separated, each following a different path. Then, in their darkest hour, unexpected help appears. But is the Khanum of Black Aura a friend or foe? Arian may discover the answer too late.

When the secret of the Bladebone is finally revealed, the knowledge comes at a devastating price for Arian. As the capital falls, only Hira, home of the Companions, stands in the way of the Preacher's victory. While the Companions rise to defend their Citadel from enemies outside and within, Arian must face off in a cataclysmic battle with the Preacher that pits the powers of the Bloodprint against the Sana Codex.

For those who survive, Khorasan will never be the same.

Kara is a mercenary - a Diamond warrior, the best of the best, part of the Majat Guild. When her tenure to Prince Kythar comes to an end, he wishes to retain her services, but must accompany her back to her Guild to negotiate her continued protection.

When they arrive they discover that the prince's sworn enemy, the Kaddim, have already paid the Guild to engage her services - to capture and hand over the prince (who she has grown very fond of).

A warrior brought up to respect both duty and honour, what happens when her sworn duty proves dishonourable?

The first time the Nightmares came, it nearly cost Alice her life. Now she's trained to battle monstrous creatures in the dark dream realm known as Wonderland with magic weapons and hardcore fighting skills. Yet even warriors have a curfew.

Life in real-world Atlanta isn't always so simple, as Alice juggles an overprotective mom, a high-maintenance best friend, and a slipping GPA. Keeping the Nightmares at bay is turning into a full-time job. But when Alice's handsome and mysterious mentor is poisoned, she has to find the antidote by venturing deeper into Wonderland than she's ever gone before. And she'll need to use everything she's learned in both worlds to keep from losing her head... literally.

The citadel has long been the stronghold of Highkell. All that is about to change because the traitor, Vasic, is marching on the capital. Against her better judgement, Queen Alwenna allows herself to be spirited away by one of the Crown's most trusted servants, safe from the clutches of the throne's would-be usurper.

Fleeing across country, she quickly comes to learn that her pampered existence has ill-equipped her for survival away from the comforts of the court. Alwenna must toughen up, and fast, if she is even to make it to a place of safety. But she has an even loftier aim - for after dreaming of her husband's impending death, Alwenna knows she must turn around and head back to Highkell to save the land she loves, and the husband who adores her, or die in the attempt.

But Vasic the traitor is waiting. And this was all just as he planned.

A nameless priestess will stop at nothing to get revenge on the killers of her lover.

In a world of turmoil, following the king's death, the traitor Vasic is struggling to secure his rule over the combined Peninsular Kingdoms whilst the exiled queen, Alwenna, has taken refuge with a freemerchant community whose elders fear her dark power.

Mistrust rules the day with bribery, drugs, trafficking of children, and murder rife throughout the kingdom.

As the priestess' plot for revenge continues, Alwenna leaves to seek the outcast group of loyal kinsman. Marten attempts to restore Alwenna to the throne but as the priestess closes in, will he succeed?

Celaena Sardothien is her kingdom's most feared assassin. Though she works for the powerful and ruthless Assassin's Guild, Celaena yields to no one and trusts only her fellow killer for hire, Sam. When Celaena's scheming master, Arobynn Hamel, dispatches her on missions that take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, she finds herself acting independently of his wishes - and questioning her own allegiance. Along the way, she makes friends and enemies alike, and discovers that she feels far more for Sam than just friendship.

Table of Contents:

• The Assassin and the Pirate Lord
• The Assassin and the Desert
• The Assassin and the Underworld
• The Assassin and the Empire
• The Assassin and the Healer

Cyrus was only twelve years old when his gods were slain, his country invaded, and his parents--the king and queen--beheaded in front of him. Held prisoner in the invader's court for years, Cyrus is suddenly given a chance to escape and claim his revenge when a mysterious group of revolutionaries comes looking for a figurehead. They need a hero to strike fear into the hearts of the imperial and to inspire and unite the people. They need someone to take up the skull mask and swords and to become the legendary "Vagrant"--an unparalleled hero and assassin of otherworldly skill.

But all is not as it seems. Creating the illusion of a hero is the work of many, and Cyrus will soon discover the true price of his vengeance.

The mystery of Konrad's destiny plunges him into a new set of deadly adventures, aided by the Warblade, a mystical sword forged especially for his hand. Konrad and his band of fellows are thrown into conflict with their old enemies the skaven, who are plotting against the life of the Emperor himself.

Following the cataclysmic events in "The Claws of Chaos, Kurt Leitzig sits uneasily as the chosen warrior of the Gods. With the villagers of Fjaergard becoming angered by his life of luxury, Kurt is forced to prove his mettle. Promising riches beyond their wildest dreams, Kurt sails off with a war party to the fabled lands of Araby, where he discovers a seemingly deserted city of rising pyramids, forgotten tombs--and an newly awakened army that has been dead for thousands of years....

WARRIOR. BETRAYER. MONSTER. Even among the treacherous dark elves, Malus Darkblade stands out as a study in utter ruthlessness. When he steals a map that leads to a secret power hidden deep within the Chaos Wastes, Malus collects his cut-throat warriors and sets off to seek his fortune. Their journey takes them into the madness of Chaos and horrors that cause even a dark elf to quake in fear.

Mike Lee has worked together with the Black Library's bestselling author and Darkblade creator Dan Abnett to pen the first in a series of all-conquering novels that take the savage world of Warhammer to a spectacular new level.

Send a monster to kill a monster... Murderer, betrayer, warrior beyond compare... Yet by the cruel standards of the dark elves, Malus Darkblade still has a lot to prove. Possessed by the foul daemon Tz'arkan, Malus only has a year to find five magic artefacts or his soul will be forfeit. To retrieve the Idol of Kolkuth, Malus will have to call on all his cunning and wits to survive a magic labyrinth and defeat its fearsome guardian.

The second instalment in the "Darkblade" series, Bloodstorm delves further into the twisted psyche of the cruel and malicious Malus Darkblade. The ultimate antihero returns in the second episode of the "Darkblade" saga.

Dan Abnett and Mike Lee unleash the cruel monster Malus Darkblade! Of all the heroes in fantasy literature, few can truly compare to Dan Abnett's creation, Malus Darkblade. A member of the dark elf race, Darkblade's reputation as a warrior is beyond compare and his cruelty is legendary - even by the standards of the dark elves. Having been possessed by the foul daemon Tz'arkan, Malus undertakes a perilous quest to regain five magical artefacts that will free his soul or damn him forever!

Together with comicbook legend, Dan Abnett, Mike Lee brings a fresh perspective to the Warhammer world and unleashes the monster that is Malus Darkblade!

In the world of Warhammer, no race is as cruel and treacherous as the dark elves, and no member of this race is more infamous than Malus Darkblade. His soul taken forfeit by a daemon, Darkblade must now seek the legendary Warpsword of Khaine or be forever damned.

In the world of Warhammer, no race is as cruel and treacherous as the dark elves, and no member of this race is more infamous than Malus Darkblade. Now that he has retrieved the five missing artefacts, Darkblade must return them to the daemon before the year is up. But can Tz'arkan be trusted to honour his part of the bargain or will he try to trick Darkblade one last time?

Darkblade must decide where his loyalties lie - will he follow Malekith to the death, or will he finally rise up and try to claim the throne of Naggaroth for himself? And either way, will he survive?

It has taken decades, but Malus Darkblade has finally plotted, schemed and murdered his way to power, as the ruler of the city of Hag Graef and general of the Witch King Malekith's armies. But his position is imperilled when Malekith orders an all-out assault on Ulthuan - with Darkblade in the vanguard. As he wages war on the high elves, Darkblade must decide where his loyalties lie - will he follow Malekith to the death, or will he finally rise up and try to claim the throne of Naggaroth for himself? And either way, will he survive?

Marla Wolfblade of Hythria is determined to restore her family's great name, but conspirators surround her: the Sorcerers' Collective, the Patriots -- even members of her own family. She must make sure her son Damin lives to be old enough to restore the Wolfblade name to its former glory.

Elezaar the Dwarf is a small man with big secrets -- but that doesn't matter to Marla Wolfblade. Her brother is the High Prince of Hythria, and, in this fiercely patriarchal society, her fate will be decided on his whim. She needs someone politically astute to guide her through the maze of court politics -- and Elezaar the Dwarf knows more than he lets on.

As Elezaar teaches Marla the Rules of Gaining and Wielding Power, Marla starts on the road to becoming a tactician and a wily diplomat -- but will that be enough to keep her son alive?

It is eight years since Marla Wolfblade buried her second husband. In that time, she has become the power behind Hythria's throne -- as much from a desire to control her own destiny in any way she can, as to protect her son, young Damin.

But while Marla plays the games of politics and diplomacy, the High Arrion of the Sorcerers' Collective is plotting to destroy her -- and the entire Wolfblade line.

And while Marla's power and fortune are great, they may yet not be enough to protect herself and her family from the High Arrion's wrath -- and her only ally and confidant, Elezaar the Fool, is toying with the idea of betrayal.

For he has discovered that the infamous Rules of Gaining and Wielding Power are not so useful when his own family is involved...

Marla Wolfblade is reeling from the loss of her closest advisor, who taught her how to rule a kingdom and to take control of Hythria. But Marla's plans for revenge are disrupted when she discovers a dangerous adversary.

And on their borders, a neighbouring kingdom has massed its troops for invasion. Damin Wolfblade, Marla's eldest son, finds his ability to fight back is thwarted by tradition, politics and the dangerous foolishness of the High Prince.

Back in the city of Krakendar, Damin's uncle Mahkas awaits news of the battle and has sealed the gates against his nephew's return. With the population on the brink of starvation, it seems only theft on an unprecedented scale can free Krakandar from Mahkas's madness and tyranny... and destroy Hythria's web of secrets and lies.