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Stories to Captivate the Imagination: Welcome to the worlds of Saladin Ahmed

A medieval physician asked to do the impossible. A gun slinging Muslim wizard in the old West. A disgruntled super villain pining for prison reform. A cybernetic soldier who might or might not be receiving messages from God. Prepare yourself to be transported to new and fantastical worlds.

The short stories in this collection have been nominated for the Nebula and Campbell awards. They've been reprinted in The Year's Best Fantasy and other anthologies, recorded for numerous podcasts, and translated into several foreign languages. Now they are collected in one place for the first time. Experience for yourself the original voice of one of fantasy's rising stars!

STORIES IN THIS COLLECTION

• Where Virtue Lives
• Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela
• Judgment of Swords and Souls
• Doctor Diablo Goes Through the Motions
• General Akmed's Revenge?
• Mister Hadj's Sunset Ride
• The Faithful Soldier, Prompted
• Iron Eyes and the Watered Down World

The never-before-seen history of Westeros and the lands beyond. With hundreds of pages of all-new material from George R.R. Martin.

If the past is prologue, then George R.R. Martin's masterwork--the most inventive and entertaining fantasy saga of our time--warrants one hell of an introduction. At long last, it has arrived with THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE.

George R.R. Martin, in collaboration with Elio M. García, Jr. and Linda Antonsson, has written a comprehensive history of the Seven Kingdoms, featuring the epic battles, bitter rivalries, and daring rebellions that lead up to the events in the bestselling A Song of Ice and Fire series.

Collected within this volume is the accumulated knowledge, scholarly speculation, and inherited folk tales of maesters and septons, maegi and singers, including over 170 full-colour illustrations and maps, family trees for the Houses Stark, Lannister and Targaryen, and in-depth explanations of the history and culture of Westeros.

This is the definitive companion volume to George R.R. Martin's dazzlingly conceived universe; THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE is indeed proof that the pen is mightier than a storm of swords.

This exciting collection includes Asaro's Nebula Award-winning novella "The Spacetime Pool," her Skolian Empire story "Light and Shadow", and the author's essay "A Poetry of Angles and Dreams", with new Introductions to the fiction works.

"The Spacetime Pool" begins as Janelle, a brilliant young MIT graduate, is pulled against her will into an alternate world of medieval-level warfare but with advanced mathematics, harems, breathtakingly beautiful Moorish architecture... and two ruling brothers locked in a deadly power struggle to which Janelle holds the key to victory.

Asaro's story "Light and Shadow" proves mathematics can be stranger than most fiction, as Kelric Valdoria, a young pilot recovering from a great personal loss, flies a sentient aircraft with a new starship drive - against his commander's orders - up to and surpassing the speed of light. Kelric returns (at least, most of him does!) with a new lust for life.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction (The Spacetime Pool) - essay
• The Spacetime Pool - (2008) - novella
• Introduction (Light and Shadow) - essay
• Light and Shadow - (1994) - novelette
• A Poetry of Angles and Dreams - essay

The first 3 chapters of the Nebula-winning Novella "The Spacetime Pool" can be read online here:

• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3

"A Poetry of Angles and Dreams" can be read online here

All the fabled Seers of Greyhawk have been killed on the same night, each by their own instruments of divination. And the only unusual sign is the ominous number of black birds in the skies of late. The mystery is dumped in the lap of Garett Starlen, commander of the night shift of the City Watch, who discovers that a web of evil has been tightly drawn around the great city.

As if murder by magic were not enough, strange beasts decend on the citiznery, and the powerful Guild of Wizards is vanguished by an unseen force. Can nothing stop the deadly zalots of the Horned Society?

When Taverik Zandro impulsively befriended a struggling young fellow merchant, he had no idea of that youth's desperate secret: something of a black sheep himself, he had no desire to become involved in affairs outside of the ordinary. But after that first helping hand, the youth's turbulent past entangles Taverik in a world of high politics and dark magic, and turns his own comfortably materialistic way of life upside down in more ways than one.

When it is proven to him that he has been chosen along with Marco to defend the land against an encroaching evil that seems inexorable, Zandro wants nothing to do with his god-given role. Of course, he has no choice...

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is Mark Twain's classic tale of Hank Morgan, a resident of 19th century Hartford Connecticut who is inexplicably transported to the early medieval England of King Arthur. A classic satire, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court pokes fun at the romanticized notions of chivalry and the idealization of the middle ages. A delightful and enchanting tale, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court shows Twain at his satirical best.

When A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court was published in 1889, Mark Twain was undergoing a series of personal and professional crises. In his Introduction, M. Thomas Inge shows how what began as a literary burlesque of British chivalry and culture developed to tragedy and into a novel that remains a major literary and cultural text for generations of new readers.

A thrilling collection of twenty-one original stories by an all-star list of contributors--including a new A Game of Thrones story by George R. R. Martin!

If you're a fan of fiction that is more than just black and white, this latest story collection from #1 New York Times bestselling author George R. R. Martin and award-winning editor Gardner Dozois is filled with subtle shades of gray. Twenty-one all-original stories, by an all-star list of contributors, will delight and astonish you in equal measure with their cunning twists and dazzling reversals. And George R. R. Martin himself offers a brand-new A Game of Thrones tale chronicling one of the biggest rogues in the entire history of Ice and Fire.

Follow along with the likes of Gillian Flynn, Joe Abercrombie, Neil Gaiman, Patrick Rothfuss, Scott Lynch, Cherie Priest, Garth Nix, and Connie Willis, as well as other masters of literary sleight-of-hand, in this rogues gallery of stories that will plunder your heart--and yet leave you all the richer for it.

Table of Contents:

• George R.R. Martin "Everybody Loves a Rogue" (Introduction)
• Joe Abercrombie "Tough Times All Over"
• Gillian Flynn "What Do You Do?"
• Matthew Hughes "The Inn of the Seven Blessings"
• Joe R. Lansdale "Bent Twig"
• Michael Swanwick "Tawny Petticoats"
• David Ball "Provenance"
• Carrie Vaughn "The Roaring Twenties"
• Scott Lynch "A Year and a Day in Old Theradane"
• Bradley Denton "Bad Brass"
• Cherie Priest "Heavy Metal"
• Daniel Abraham "The Meaning of Love"
• Paul Cornell "A Better Way to Die"
• Steven Saylor "Ill Seen in Tyre"
• Garth Nix "A Cargo of Ivories"
• Walter Jon Williams "Diamonds From Tequila"
• Phyllis Eisenstein "The Caravan to Nowhere"
• Lisa Tuttle "The Curious Affair of the Dead Wives"
• Neil Gaiman "How the Marquis Got His Coat Back"
• Connie Willis "Now Showing"
• Patrick Rothfuss "The Lightning Tree"

New epic fantasy in the grand tradition--including a never-before-published Song of Ice and Fire story by George R. R. Martin!

Fantasy fiction has produced some of the most unforgettable heroes ever conjured onto the page: Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian, Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné, Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Classic characters like these made sword and sorcery a storytelling sensation, a cornerstone of fantasy fiction--and an inspiration for a new generation of writers, spinning their own outsize tales of magic and swashbuckling adventure.

Now, in The Book of Swords, acclaimed editor and bestselling author Gardner Dozois presents an all-new anthology of original epic tales by a stellar cast of award-winning modern masters--many of them set in their authors' best-loved worlds. Join today's finest tellers of fantastic tales, including George R. R. Martin, K. J. Parker, Robin Hobb, Scott Lynch, Ken Liu, C. J. Cherryh, Daniel Abraham, Lavie Tidhar, Ellen Kushner, and more on action-packed journeys into the outer realms of dark enchantment and intrepid derring-do, featuring a stunning assortment of fearless swordsmen and warrior women who face down danger and death at every turn with courage, cunning, and cold steel.

FEATURING SIXTEEN ALL-NEW STORIES:

• "The Best Man Wins" [The Empire] by K. J. Parker
• "Her Father's Sword" by Robin Hobb
• "The Hidden Girl" by Ken Liu
• "The Sword of Destiny" by Matthew Hughes
• "'I Am a Handsome Man,' Said Apollo Crow" by Kate Elliott
• "The Triumph of Virtue" by Walter Jon Williams
• "The Mocking Tower" by Daniel Abraham
• "Hrunting" by C. J. Cherryh
• "A Long, Cold Trail" by Garth Nix
• "When I Was a Highwayman" by Ellen Kushner
• "The Smoke of Gold Is Glory" by Scott Lynch
• "The Colgrid Conundrum" by Rich Larson
• "The King's Evil" by Elizabeth Bear
• "Waterfalling" by Lavie Tidhar
• "The Sword Tyraste" by Cecelia Holland
• "The Sons of the Dragon" by George R. R. Martin

Bestselling authors David and Leigh Eddings welcome readers back to the time before The Belgariad and The Malloreon series. Join them as they chronicle that fateful conflict between two mortally opposed Destinies, in a monumental war of men and kings and Gods.

When the world was young and Gods still walked among their mortal children, a headstrong orphan boy set out to explore the world. Thus began the extraordinary adventures that would mold that youthful vagabond into a man, and the man into the finely honed instrument of Prophecy known to all the world as Belgarath the Sorcerer.

Then came the dark day when the Dark God Torak split the world asunder, and the God Aldur and his disciples began their monumental labor to set Destiny aright. Foremost among their number was Belgarath. His ceaseless devotion was foredoomed to cost him that which he held most dear--even as his loyal service would extend through echoing centuries of loss, of struggle, and of ultimate triumph.

LIVE THE LEGEND!

Gloria "Glory" McArdle plays Vixen the Slayer in a straight-to-syndication TV show where even the fans say the villain is the better actress. The wizards of Erchanen have been searching all the worlds to find a hero, and Vixen the Slayer is the last name on their list.

The Warmother, imprisoned a thousand years before by Ginnas the Warkiller, has broken free of her ancient chains. If a hero can't be found somewhere in all the universes to fight for them, the people of Erchanen are toast. But is it Glory they're looking for... or Vixen

It all seemed to be a perfectly straightforward misunderstanding when Belegir was explaining it in Glory's dressing room. The reality--if you could call it that--isn't just fighting for her life. Faced with a challenge like that, what can a girl do but pick up her magic sword and her stuffed elephant and give her trademark battle cry:

"Hi-yi-yi-yi! Come, Camrado! Evil wakes!"

Dangerous Space showcases a collection of seven seductive stories by Kelley Eskridge, whose novel Solitaire was a New York Times Notable Book, with an introduction by Geoff Ryman (author of Was and Air).

The opening story, "Strings," takes us to a world that tightly controls musical expression and values faithfulness to the canon above all else. By contrast, in the title novella, "Dangerous Space," we see the full power of music unleashed to sexually enthralling as well as risky effect; original to the volume, this tale features Mars, the intriguing narrator of "And Salome Danced" (short-listed for the Tiptree Award), on tour with an indie rock band on the verge of breaking out. Closing the volume, the moving, edgy "Alien Jane" (a finalist for the Nebula Award and adapted for the SciFi Channel's Welcome to Paradox series) delves into the importance of pain for the human organism and finds hope in the most unlikely of places.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction (Dangerous Space) - (2007) - essay by Geoff Ryman
• Strings - (1994) - shortstory
• And Salome Danced - (1994) - shortstory
• City Life - (2007) - shortstory
• Eye of the Storm - novelette (variant of The Eye of the Storm 1998)
• Somewhere Down the Diamondback Road - (1993) - shortstory
• Dangerous Space - (2007) - novella
• Alien Jane - (1995) - shortstory

The Nebula-nominated Novella "Dangerous Space" can be read online here. (pdf)

"Strings" can be read online here.

"And Salome Danced" can be read online here.

How do you kill with honor? When is murder not a murder?

In "First Kill", assassin Kiam Miar will find out when his first assignment goes awry and he is faced with an ethical choice... as if assassins could have ethics.

And if he makes the wrong choice, he could not only lose his life but throw a good chunk of his world into chaos...

Read the full story for free at Tor.com.

She left all she knew to find who she could be...

She grows up in the wild wood, in a cave with her mother, but visions of a faraway lake drift to her on the spring breeze, scented with promise. And when she hears a traveler speak of Artos, king of Caer Leon, she decides her future lies at his court. So, brimming with magic and eager to test her strength, she breaks her covenant with her mother and sets out on her bony gelding for Caer Leon.

With her stolen hunting spear and mended armour, she is an unlikely hero, not a chosen one, but one who forges her own bright path. Aflame with determination, she begins a journey of magic and mystery, love, lust and fights to death. On her adventures, she will steal the hearts of beautiful women, fight warriors and sorcerers, and make a place to call home.

Henry Kuttner's Sword and Sorcery classic returns to print at last! World War II veteran Edward Bond's recuperation from a disastrous fighter plane crash takes a distinct turn for the weird when he encounters a giant wolf, a red witch, and the undeniable power of the need-fire, a portal to a world of magic and swordplay at once terribly new and hauntingly familiar. In the Dark World, Bond opposes the machinations of the dread lord Ganelon and his terrible retinue of werewolves, wizards, and witches, but all is not as it seems in this shadowy mirror of the real world, and Bond discovers that a part of him feels more at home here than he ever has on Earth.

In the new fantasy from the award-winning author of the Riddle-Master Trilogy, a young man comes of age amid family secrets and revelations, and transformative magic.

Hidden away from the world by his mother, the powerful sorceress Heloise Oliver, Pierce has grown up working in her restaurant in Desolation Point. One day, unexpectedly, strangers pass through town on the way to the legendary capital city. "Look for us," they tell Pierce, "if you come to Severluna. You might find a place for yourself in King Arden's court."

Lured by a future far away from the bleak northern coast, Pierce makes his choice. Heloise, bereft and furious, tells her son the truth: about his father, a knight in King Arden's court; about an older brother he never knew existed; about his father's destructive love for King Arden's queen, and Heloise's decision to raise her younger son alone.

As Pierce journeys to Severluna, his path twists and turns through other lives and mysteries: an inn where ancient rites are celebrated, though no one will speak of them; a legendary local chef whose delicacies leave diners slowly withering from hunger; his mysterious wife, who steals Pierce's heart; a young woman whose need to escape is even greater than Pierce's; and finally, in Severluna, King Arden's youngest son, who is urged by strange and lovely forces to sacrifice his father's kingdom.

Things are changing in that kingdom. Oldmagic is on the rise. The immensely powerful artifact of an ancient god has come to light, and the king is gathering his knights to quest for this profound mystery, which may restore the kingdom to its former glory--or destroy it...

Elric of Melniboné is the haunted, treacherous and doomed albino sorcerer-prince. An introspective weakling in thrall to his black-bladed, soul-eating sword, Stormbringer, he is yet a hero whose bloody adventures and wanderings through brooding, desolate lands leads inexorably to his decisive intervention in the war between the forces of Law and Chaos.

This volume brings together The Stealer of Souls and Stormbringer, the first two published books of Elric's adventures, and confirms Michael Moorcock's place as one of the most important fantasy writers of our time.

Jirel of Joiry, the first of the great female warriors, the beautiful commander of the strongest fortress in the kingdom, would face any danger to defend her beloved country. She wielded her bright sword against mighty armies, the sinister magic of evil sorcerers and fearsome castles guarded by the dead, even daring to descend into Hell itself...

Northwest Smith, the scarred and weathered outlaw, the legendary hero of the spaceways, forced to confront the terrible mysteries, the terrifying, mythic monsters of the universe...

Jirel of Joiry and Northwest Smith are C.L. Moore's greatest creations and she used them not only to spin spellbinding tales but also to explore the mysteries of the human psyche.

This is the omnibus edition of the collections Jirel of Joiry (aka Black Gods) and Scarlet Dream (aka Northwest Smith).

The fierce, proud, and relentless commander of warriors, standing tall above her enemies and simmering with rage, Jirel bids farewell to the world of treacherous men and walks through a forbidden door into Hell itself in pursuit of freedom, justice, and revenge.

Table of Contents:

• Jirel Meets Magic (1935) - novelette
• Black God's Kiss (1934) - novelette
• Black God's Shadow (1934) - novelette
• The Dark Land (1936) - novelette
• Hellsgarde (1939) - novelette

In a land where magic's feared, a rare magical kind exists: the Blest, products of the Goblets Immortal. Aidan's a Blest on the run, forced to return home. He made his family vanish decades ago, but believes there's a way to bring them back.

Whispers of a new fear take shape in Meraude, a mage who hates all magic-kind. When she appears in Aidan's dreams offering a bargain for the return of his family, Aidan's desires battle with his self-preservation.

Is it wise for Aidan to seek the Goblets Immortal for Meraude's unknown purposes? Friend and foe blur the magical lines, and Aidan must discern who will shake his hand or slit his throat.

Old Man's War author John Scalzi's sendup of the heroic fantasy genre was a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story.

This was Tor.com's April Fool's Day Joke in 2011. The title was chosen based on the statistically-most-used words in Fantasy novels. Fun Fact: Scalzi's agent actually received a call from someone in Hollywood, wanting to buy the option on this "novel" for a movie.

Read the full story for free at Tor.com.

Watch Hugo-nominated Fan Writer "Mark Reads" Oshiro's hilarious video reading of this story here. (PG for profanity)

You can alomost hear the sabers clash in this rousing tale of good and evil and pasionate love, of warrior queens, white witches and sorcerers.

After the devastating raid on her peaceful little village, Elayna and her brother are captured and nearly sold into slavery. Saved from this terrible fate by the imperious warrior queen, Cydell Ra Sadiin, Elayna is brought to the palace to serve her. The two are immediate foes.

But these two powerful women are destined to join forces. And so, when rumblings of war reach the palace, Cydell, ruler of Mauldar, and Elayna, the Fair Witch of Avoreed, journey to Windsom Keep to combat the dark menace which threatens Cydell's empire and Elayna's very life. But along the way they must first conquer the wild magic of their passionate dreams, learn the secrets of the heart-stone, and accept the deep and rapturous love they feel for each other-a love that will transend the powers of evil.

From the vampire-haunted alleyways of mediaeval Averoigne to the shining spires of dying Zothique, Clark Ashton Smith weaves his literary sorcery, transporting us to forgotten realms of necromancies and nightmares, lost worlds and other dimensions. In the enchanted regions of Hyperborea, Atlantis and Xiccarph, encounter malefic magic and demonic deeds beneath the last rays of a fading sun...

For the first time ever, this volume encompasses Clark Ashton Smith's entire career as a writer. Smith virtually stopped writing stories in 1937, for reasons that have never been satisfactorily explained, but he left behind a unique legacy of fantasy fiction which is as imaginative and decadent today as when it was first published in the pulp magazines more than half a century ago.

Contents: series are in [ ]

• On Fantasy (1934), essay
• Song of the Necromancer (1937), poem
• The Abominations of Yondo (1926), short story
• The Ninth Skeleton (1928), short story
• The Last Incantation, [Malygris] (1930), short story
• A Rendezvous in Averoigne, [Averoigne] (1931), short story
• The Return of the Sorcerer, [Cthulhu Mythos] (1931), short story
• The Tale of Satampra Zeiros, [Satampra Zeiros] (1931), short story
• The Door to Saturn, [Hyperborea] (1932), short story
• The Gorgon (1932), short story
• The Weird of Avoosl Wuthoqquan, [Hyperborea] (1932), short story
• The Nameless Offspring (1932), novelette
• The Empire of the Necromancers, [Zothique] (1932), short story
• The Hunters from Beyond (1932), short story
• The Isle of the Torturers, [Zothique] (1933), short story
• The Beast of Averoigne, [Averoigne] (1933), short story
• Genius Loci (1933), short story
• Ubbo-Sathla, [Hyperborea] (1933), short story
• The Kiss of Zoraida (1933), short story
• The Seed from the Sepulcher (1933), short story
• The Weaver in the Vault, [Zothique] (1934), short story
• The Ghoul (1934), short story
• The Charnel God, [Zothique] (1934), novelette
• The Death of Malygris, [Malygris] (1934), short story
• The Tomb-Spawn, [Zothique] (1934), short story
• The Seven Geases, [Hyperborea] (1934), novelette
• Xeethra, [Zothique] (1934), novelette
• The Dark Eidolon, [Zothique] (1935), novelette
• The Flower-Women, [Maal Dweb] (1935), short story
• The Treader of the Dust (1935), short story
• The Black Abbot of Puthuum, [Zothique] (1936), novelette
• Necromancy in Naat, [Zothique] (1936), novelette
• The Death of Ilalotha, [Zothique] (1937), short story
• The Garden of Adompha, [Zothique] (1938), short story
• Mother of Toads, [Averoigne] (1938), short story
• The Double Shadow, [Poseidonis] (1933), short story
• The Coming of the White Worm, [Hyperborea] (1941), short story
• The Root of Ampoi (1949), short story
• Morthylla, [Zothique] (1953), short story
• An Offering to the Moon (1953), short story
• The Theft of Thirty-nine Girdles, [Satampra Zeiros] (1958), short story
• Symposium of the Gorgon (1958), short story
• Told in the Desert (1964), short story
• Prince Alcouz and the Magician(1977), short story
• A Good Embalmer (1989), short story
• The Mortuary (1971), poem
• Afterword: The Lost Worlds of Klarkash-Ton,essay by Stephen Jones

Hugo-nominated and Nebula-winning Novella

This award-winning fantasy novella explores the conjunction of invocation, deep time, and culture shock. It was originally published in Subterranean Magazine, in the summer of 2010, and subsequently republished in Heiresses of Russ 2011: The Year's Best Lesbian Speculative Fiction, The Year's Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 2011 and The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Vol. 5.

Naeva - the Lady of the story's title - is a sorceress in a matriarchy. After being fatally injured, she is persuaded to allow her spirit to be bound, so that she can be summoned and thus continue to advise her queen. However, after the queen has herself died, Naeva continues to be summoned... first by the queen's successor, and then by people from civilizations millenia later.

Read this story online for free at Subterranean Press.

Critically acclaimed author Kai Ashante Wilson makes his commercial debut with this striking, wondrous tale of gods and mortals, magic and steel, and life and death that will reshape how you look at sword and sorcery.

Since leaving his homeland, the earthbound demigod Demane has been labeled a sorcerer. With his ancestors' artifacts in hand, the Sorcerer follows the Captain, a beautiful man with song for a voice and hair that drinks the sunlight.

The two of them are the descendants of the gods who abandoned the Earth for Heaven, and they will need all the gifts those divine ancestors left to them to keep their caravan brothers alive.

The one safe road between the northern oasis and southern kingdom is stalked by a necromantic terror. Demane may have to master his wild powers and trade humanity for godhood if he is to keep his brothers and his beloved captain alive.

A story of passion, violence and sorcery and the fate of a woman caught between the forces of white magic and black. Janny Wurts collaborated with Raymond E.Feist on a trilogy, the first instalment of which was "Daughter of the Empire".

Four months have passed since the shadow stone fell into Kell's possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Rhy was wounded and the Dane twins fell, and the stone was cast with Holland's dying body through the rift, and into Black London.

In many ways, things have almost returned to normal, though Rhy is more sober, and Kell is now plagued by his guilt. Restless, and having given up smuggling, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks like she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games-an extravagent international competition of magic, meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries-a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.

But while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life, and those who were thought to be forever gone have returned. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night reappears in the morning, and so it seems Black London has risen again-and so to keep magic's balance, another London must fall.

The Falkyn sisters bear a burden and a legacy. Their mother, the imperial magiel of the kingdom of Orumon, protects her people from the horrors of the afterlife by calling upon the Gods with a precious Prayer Stone. But war among the kingdoms has brought fire and destruction to their sheltered world. When a mad king's desire to destroy the Prayer Stones shatters their family, the three girls are scattered to the wilderness, relying on their wits and powers they don't yet master.

Assassin. Battle tactician. Magic wielder. Driven by different ambitions, Meg, Janat, and Rennika are destined to become all these and more. To reclaim their birth right, they must overcome doubtful loyalties within a rising rebellion; more, they must challenge a dogma-driven chancellor's influence on the prince raised to inherit his father's war: a prince struggling to unravel the mystery of his brother's addiction to Heaven.

To survive. To fight. To restore balance.

Halla is a housekeeper who has suddenly inherited her great-uncle's estate... and, unfortunately, his relatives. Sarkis is an immortal swordsman trapped in a prison of enchanted steel. When Halla draws the sword that imprisons him, Sarkis finds himself attempting to defend his new wielder against everything from bandits and roving inquisitors to her own in-laws... and the sword itself may prove to be the greatest threat of all.

Before the Riders came to their remote valley the Yendri led a tranquil pastoral life. When the Riders conquered and enslaved them, only a few escaped to the forests. Rebellion wasn't the Yendri way; they hid, or passively resisted, taking consolation in the prophecies of their spiritual leader.

Only one possessed the necessary rage to fight back: Gard the foundling, half-demon, who began a one-man guerrilla war against the Riders. His struggle ended in the loss of the family he loved, and condemnation from his own people.

Exiled, he was taken as a slave by powerful mages ruling an underground kingdom. Bitterer and wiser, he found more subtle ways to earn his freedom. This is the story of his rise to power, his vengeance, his unlikely redemption and his maturation into a loving father--as well as a lord and commander of demon armies.

Kage Baker, author of the popular and witty fantasy, The Anvil of the World, returns to that magical world for another story of love, adventure, and a fair bit of ironic humor.

Thor has broken the sword Tyrfing so that it cannot strike at the roots of Yggdrasil, the tree that binds together earth, heaven and hell. But now the mighty sword is needed again to save the elves in their war against the trolls, and only Scafloc, a human child kidnapped and raised by the elves, can hope to persuade Bolverk the ice-giant to make Tyrfing whole again. But Scafloc must also confront his shadow self, Valgard the changeling who has taken his place in the world of men.

Tamora Pierce begins a new Tortall trilogy introducing Beka Cooper, an amazing young woman who lived 200 years before Pierce's popular Alanna character. For the first time, Pierce employs first-person narration in a novel, bringing readers even closer to a character that they will love for her unusual talents and tough personality.

Beka Cooper is a rookie with the law-enforcing Provost's Guard, and she's been assigned to the Lower City. It's a tough beat that's about to get tougher, as Beka's limited ability to communicate with the dead clues her in to an underworld conspiracy. Someone close to Beka is using dark magic to profit from the Lower City's criminal enterprises--and the result is a crime wave the likes of which the Provost's Guard has never seen before.

Darkness wars with darkness as the hard-bitten men of the Black Company take their pay and do what they must. They bury their doubts with their dead.

Then comes the prophecy: The White Rose has been reborn, somewhere, to embody good once more....

This omnibus edition comprises The Black Company, Shadows Linger, and The White Rose.

Some feel the Lady, newly risen from centuries in thrall, stands between humankind and evil. Some feel she is evil itself. The hardbitten men of the Black Company take their pay and do what they must, burying their doubts with their dead.

Until the prophesy: The White Rose has been reborn, somewhere, to embody good once more.

There must be a way for The Black Company to find her...

Many tales are told of the Syldoon Empire and its fearsome soldiers, who are known throughout the world for their treachery and atrocities. Some say that the Syldoon eat virgins and babies--or perhaps their own mothers. Arkamondos, a bookish young scribe, suspects that the Syldoon's dire reputation may have grown in the retelling, but he's about to find out for himself.

Hired to chronicle the exploits of a band of rugged Syldoon warriors, Arki finds himself both frightened and fascinated by the men's enigmatic leader, Captain Braylar Killcoin. A secretive, mercurial figure haunted by the memories of those he's killed with his deadly flail, Braylar has already disposed of at least one impertinent scribe... and Arki might be next.

Archiving the mundane doings of millers and merchants was tedious, but at least it was safe. As Arki heads off on a mysterious mission into parts unknown, in the company of the coarse, bloody-minded Syldoon, he is promised a chance to finally record an historic adventure well worth the telling, but first he must survive the experience!

A gripping military fantasy in the tradition of Glen Cook, Scourge of the Betrayer explores the brutal politics of Empire--and the searing impact of violence and dark magic on a man's soul.

Braylar is still poisoned by the memories of those slain by his unholy flail Bloodsounder, and attempts to counter this sickness have proven ineffectual. The Syldoonian Emperor, Cynead, has solidified his power in unprecedented ways, and Braylar and company are recalled to the capital to swear fealty. Braylar must decide if he can trust his sister, Soffjian, with the secret that is killing him. She has powerful memory magics that might be able to save him from Bloodsounder's effects, but she has political allegiances that are not his own. Arki and others in the company try to get Soffjian and Braylar to trust one another, but politics in the capital prove to be complicated and dangerous. Deposed emperor Thumarr plots to remove the repressive Cynead, and Braylar and Soffjian are at the heart of his plans. The distance between "favored shadow agent of the emperor" and "exiled traitor" is unsurprisingly small. But it is filled with blind twists and unexpected turns. Before the journey is over, Arki will chronicle the true intentions of Emperor Cynead and Soffjian.

The tale is told in Saberhagen's bestselling FIRST, SECOND, and THIRD BOOK OF SWORDS of how the gods forged Twelve Swords of Power and threw them on the gameboard of life to watch men scramble. But they had forged too well: the Swords could kill the gods themselves.

Now, the gods gone, the Swords are scattered across the land, some held by those of good heart . . . others by those whose purposes are evil.

Mark, Prince Consort of Tasavalta, and his wife, Princess kristin, have a seven-year-old son Adrian, who has been blind and racked by seizures since birth. The magic Sword Woundhealer, the Sword of Healing, is said to be held at the White Temple far to the south. Mark is convinced that if he can find Woundhealer, Adrian will be cured.

Thus Mark embarks on his perilous journey in search of Woundhealer. But the evil wizard Burslam has joined in partnership with Mark's enemy, Baron Amnitor, and they are also intent on gaining the lost Swords. Baron Amintor has stolen Woundhealer from the White Temple . . . and Burslam has lured Mark's nephew Zoltan away, hoping to use him to gain other Swords in Mark's possession. Zoltan escapes, only to enter into his own dangerous quest.

Before their missions end, four of the great Swords -- Woundhealer, Dragonslicer, Sheidlbreaker and the terrible Sword of Vengeance -- Farslayer -- are drawn in battle. And Mark and Zoltan have encountered far stranger things than the Swords of Power.

Long ago, the gods forged Twelve Swords of Power and threw them on the gameboard of life to watch men scramble. But they had forged too well: the Swords could kill the gods themselves.

Now the gods gone, the Swords are scattered across the land, some held by those of good heart . . . others by those whose purposes are evil . . . and one, Sightblinder, is held by Arnfinn, a young country boy who knows nothing of the Tale of Swords or of Sightblinder's power; to make the viewer see that which he most desires -- or most fears.

The tale begins innocently enough as Prince Mark of Tasavalta, accompanied by his nephew Zoltan and doughty Ben of Purkinje, seeks out the castle of the good and mighty wizard Honan-Fu, hoping that Honan-Fu will agree to tutor Mark's young son Adrian. But as they approach the lakebound keep, soldiers set upon them, and Mark is seized by an enormous griffin, carried off to the castle, and thrown into a hellish prison of enchantment.

Honan-Fu, powerful as he is, has been vanquished by the Ancient One, a being at once reptilian and human who has slipped the bonds of time, armed not only with his personal spells and demons, but with Prince Mark's captured weapon, the Sword of Force, Shieldbreaker.

It is up to Ben and Zoltan t o rescue Mark. But first they must deal with ex-Queen Yambu, and the unlikely assistance she offers; with the innocent Arnfinn, holder of Sightblinder; and with the stunningly beautiful girl Arnfinn loves -- the Lady Ninazu, Honan-Fu's daughter. Not to mention the enigmatic Emperor.

Told with Fred Saberhagen's enormous gusto and narrative skill, SIGHTBLINDER'S STORY will delight the readers who made THE FIRST BOOK OF LOST SWORDS: WOUNDHEALER'S STORY a fantasy bestseller.

Long ago the gods forged Twelve Swords of Power and threw them on the gameboard of life to watch men scramble. But they had forged too well: the Swords could kill the gods themselves.

Now, the gods gone, the Swords are scattered across the land, some held by those of good heart, others by those whose purposes are evil.

The Sword Stonecutter -- which can hew mountains and diamonds with equal ease -- is missing. The Sword has been stolen from Prince al-Farabi's desert caravan, from the tent of young Kasimir, a physician en route to the city of Eylau in search of employment. Fortunately, at the next oasis Kasimir encounters the legendary Magistrate Wen Chang, whose black, glittering eyes (it is said) can see into the secret hearts of men and women.

It is even greater good fortune that Wen Chang undertakes the finding of Stonecutter, for his strength is more powerful than magic: it is intelligence.

As al-Farabi follows the thief's trail into the desert, Wen Chang and Kasimir make their way toward Eylau. Finding evidence of Stonecutter's passage -- an unmistakably smooth and easy roadway cut through a ridge -- Wen Chang quickly learns of a mysteriously missing man -- and three murders.

In the walled city of Eylau, where the Red Temple, devoted to sensual pleasures, has engaged the great sculptor Robert de Borron to create new statuary, Kasimir encounters embarrassment and Natalia, a young woman who is more beautiful unclothed than clothed.

Meanwhile, Wen Chang has learned of a certain fabulous diamond, and of Mistress Headmark, the lapidarist whose duty it will be to cleave it, perfectly.

Either a lapidarist or a sculptor would have great use for Stonecutter . . .

But so would the smoothest assassin Eylau has ever seen.

Wen Chang and Kasimir have only a slim chance to find Stonecutter -- if they can stay alive.

Told with Fred Saberhagen's zest and narrative skill, STONECUTTER'S STORY combines the pleasures of classic detection with the vibrant magical world of the Swords in an absorbing, many-layered tale. It will delight the readers who made THE SECOND BOOK OF LOST SWORDS: SIGHTBLINDER'S STORY a fantasy bestseller.

FARSLAYER -- the Sword whose power is to kill the bearer's enemy even at the other end of the world -- is rediscovered. Its finder is the beautiful mermaid Black Pearl, herself the victim of a magical curse that has changed her from a simple fisherman's daughter to a creature of the river. She gives the sword to the minor wizard Cosmo Malolo, who has seduced her while promising her that he will restore her to human form permanently. Unfortunately, the Malolo clan has been feuding for generations with the Senones, their rival clan across the river, and Farslayer simply enables them to kill each others' leaders in a one-night bloodbath that more than decimates the clans.

In the hills that wild and stormy night, the hermit Gelimer finds a stranded traveler -- Cosmo, bearing Farslayer. Cosmo dies mysteriously, and Gelimer hides Farslayer -- just before Prince Zoltan and the Lady Yambu turn up at this hermitage, victims of a shipwreck that has altered their continuing pilgrimage. And not long after their departure, another, more sinister visitor arrives: one Chilperic, sworn servant of the evil macro-wizard Wood, who will stop at nothing to obtain the Sword. Chilperic is attended by the demon Rabisu, placed under Chiperic's command by Wood.

Zoltan encountered the mermaid Black Pearl three years ago, and he has never forgotten the beautiful creature. In love with her, he has no idea that her heart is already given to the wretched Cosmo . . . Zoltan swears to help her regain human form.

With the arrival of Prince Mark and Ben of Purkinje the plot thickens further. Mark wants Farslayer (of course), knowing full well the havoc it can wreak in hands bent on revenge.

And then Tamsin, an enigmatic, sensuous healer, arrives on her griffin.

This is a rousing tale of action, magic and bittersweet love, told with all the gusto that characterizes Fred Saberhagen's enormous narrative gift.

Long ago, the gods forged Twelve Swords of Power and threw them on the gameboard of life to watch men scramble. But they forged too well; the Swords could kill the gods themselves.

Now, the gods are gone, the Swords are scattered. Some are helb by those of good heart, others by those whose purposes are evil. And one -- Coinspinner -- is held only as long as Coinspinner chooses. The Sword is subject to no rules but its own, and exactly what those rules are no one knows.

At the moment Coinspinner is in the hands of Crown prince Murat of Culm, who is visiting Tasavalta to beg Princess Kristin for permission to take Woundhealer, the sword of Healing, on a mission of mercy to Culm. The princess's refusal sparks a theft: Woundhealer is removed from the White Temple.

Withdrawing the Sword Stonebreaker from the Tasavaltan armory, the doughty General Rostov sets off in pursuit of Prince Murat -- only to find that Woundhealer is not with the prince, and that one of the Culmians has absconded with Coinspinner. But Coinspinner will not stay with its new possessor for long . . .

Meanwhile, far from Tasavalta, a young Prince Adrian, whose magical gifts are immense, is approaching the extremely unreliable City of Wizards, where nothing -- not even the sun -- is what it seems. He and his beautiful companion Trilby, will face unexpected peril there.

Elsewhere, Wood, the evil Macrowizard who has slipped the bonds of time, is polishing his plans to abduct Adrian, hated spawn of his old enemy Prince Mark.

But first Wood wants Coinspinner.

Coinspinner, however, has its own agenda. Bestowing gigantic luck on he who holds it, the Sword moves where it wants, and when it wants, changing all circumstances in a twinkling.

It's not surprising that Wood wants it. EVERYONE wants Coinspinner.

Told with Fred Saberhagen's huge gusto and narrative skill. THE FIFTH BOOK OF LOST SWORDS: COINSPINNER'S STORY will delight the reader.

Long ago, the gods forged Twelve Swords of Power and threw them on the gameboard of life to watch men scramble. But they forged too well; the Swords could kill the gods themselves.

Now, the gods are gone, the Swords are scattered, the great Mindsword reenters the world of men. Long lost from human sight, the Sword of Glory brings mindless devotion to him who wields it. It is Crown Prince Murat of Culm who finds it.

Murat, basically a decent man, intends to give Mindsword to Princess Kristin of Tasavalta. Taken with the beautiful princess when he first met her years ago, Murat resolves to keep Mindsword sheathed until he lays it at her feet. But suddenly, faced with a band of Brigands, concerned for the safety of his son, Prince Carlo, Murat draws the sword.

Now the brigands -- and his own son -- give him the adulation usually reserved for gods. It is not a comfortable state of affairs. And there is worse to come.

The Princess herself falls under Mindsword's spell. Not at all what Murat wanted: slavish devotion is no substitute for freely given love.

Or is it? Murat finds that Kristin's adulation is not without its attractions . . .

Meanwhile, the great dark King, thought dead for a dozen years, senses the rediscovery of the Mindsword even in his madness, and forges an alliance with Akbal, a most untrustworthy demon, to regain the weapon.

And Prince Mark of Tasavalta, returning with Ben of Purkinje from a journey on behalf of the Emperor, finds that he must do battle for his beloved wife, for the kingdom, and perhaps for the soul of the world.

Told with all Fred saberhagen's nimble style, quicksilver invention and tremendous narrative gifts, MINDSWORD'S STORY will delight its readers.

Long ago, the gods forged Twelve Swords of Power and threw them on the gameboard of life to watch men scramble. But they forged too well; the Swords could kill the gods themselves.

Now, the gods are gone, the Swords are scattered, Wayfinder, the Sword of Wisdom, turns up in the hut of one Valdemar, a simple (or is he?) grower of grapes.

This strong yet gentle young giant is in want of a wife.

It is the property of Wayfinder to lead its wielder where the wielder wants to go -- thus Valdemar asks for guidance to the one who is most fit to share his life.

But the Sword of Wisdom leads him to the Lady Yambu -- a vigorous sixty-year-old, at least in appearance! Once known as the Silver Queen, the Lady Yambu is on a pilgrimage of her own, accompanied by Prince Zoltan, and has no desire to spend her declining years in a vineyard.

And yet Wayfinder will not let Valdemar leave the Lady . . .

Meanwhile, at the headquarters of the Blue Temple, where vast amounts of the world's wealth are stored, the evil macrowizard Wood and his gorgeous sidekick, Tigris, have an interview with the Chairman . . .

Doughty, aging Ben of Purkinje wakes in a barn to discover himself surrounded by hostile armed men . . .

In Sarykam, Prince Mark scans the dawn skies eagerly for a winged messenger: How is the hunt for Woundhealer, the sword of mercy, progressing? It is the only hope for the grievously injured Princess Kristin . . .

But Wayfinder has a way of complicating all quests in which it becomes involved . . .

Fred Saberhagen brings his immensely popular Swords Series to a thrilling conclusion in the tale of Shieldbreaker -- the Sword of Force, against which there is no defense.

Long ago, the gods forged Twelve Swords of Power and threw them on the gameboard of life to watch men scramble. But they forged too well; the Swords could kill the gods themselves.

Now, ages later, the Swords are as powerful as ever -- and still coveted by good and evil men alike. Some have been lost again, and some destroyed. Prince Mark of Tasavalta holds five Swords: Woundhealer, Stonecutter, Dragonslicer, Sightblinder, and the greatest of them all, Shieldbreaker -- the Sword of Force against which no enemy can stand. With their help, he has ruled peacefully, protecting his people from all dangers.

A year ago, Prince Mark defeated Vilkata, the dark King, who sought to gain the swords by force. Mark exiled Vilkata beyond the boundaries of the world, where not even Vilkata's horde of demons should have been able to find an escape for the mad sorcerer.

But the Dark King has overcome all barriers and returned to seek revenge. With him he brings Mindsword, the Sword of Glory -- with the power to compel obedience from all who come within its range.

The Dark King's timing is perfect: Prince Mark is in a far corner of his kingdom, defending his people against a dragon. Vilkata finds the castle almost undefended, the ultimate power of the Swords almost in his grasp. Between him and the Sword vault stands only one small warrior: Prince Mark's son, Prince Stephen, armed with Shieldbreaker, Sword of Swords. But how can a fourteen-year-old boy, no matter how well armed, resist the evil power of the Dark King -- especially with the Mindsword in Vilkata's hand?

The Swords were forged on a lifeless, wind-scoured mountaintop, with fire drawn from the Earth's belly, and metal that fell from the sky. They were tempered with human sweat and human blood by the hand of the god Vulcan, Master Smith.

There were Twelve Swords, created as the playing pieces in a whimsical game of the gods. Into each Sword was placed an awesome power -- to vanquish in battle, or stay by even more horrible means ...to deceive an enemy's eyes, or destroy his soul. . . to bestow unfailing luck, or heal . . .

Only one man had seen the Forging of the Swords of Power, a human smith named Jord. And for the arm that Vulcan took from him that unforgettable night, Jord received one of the Swords. It would be his legacy to his son.

Mark grew up with the Sword hanging on his father's wall. He knows well its keen edge and its unearthly perfection. But he does not realize its power until Duke Fratkin's men arrive one day to wrest the Sword from Jord. As Mark watches, the Sword strikes out, screaming with an inner fury that cares little for safety of its wielder. When the fight is over, the Duke's men are dead; but Jord and Mark's older brother, too have fallen.

Carrying the Sword with him. Mark flees the Duke's vengeance, heading for the lands of the Kind Sir Andrew. Along the way, he joins forces with the dragonhunter Nestor--owner, too of a Sword--and his two assistants, the big simple-seeming Ben, and pretty Barbara.

But they do not find the peace they seek at Sir Andrew's. For mighty forces are on the move, set in motion by hunger for the mastery over their fellow men promised by the Swords . . .

For a game the gods have given the world twelve Swords of Power so that they might be amused as the nations go to war for possession of them. But Vulcan Swordmaker has had his little joke: the Swords can kill the gods themselves. What started out as Divine Jest has become all too serious. Now the gods want their swords back--but even gods must tread most carefully when faced with the Swords of Power.

In a flash understanding came. The gods were coming to take charge.

The cloud, no longer serving any purpose of concealment, was being allowed to dissipate, and it vanished quickly. The handful of beings who had ridden it were walking now, already entering the parade ground at its far side, and approaching quickly. The sea of humans occupying the open space parted at the deities' approach. Four gods and one goddess, each as tall as Draffut, came striding forward without pause, and Mark got the impression that they would have stepped on people without noticing had any remained in their way.

Humanity had hope of being saved, by the beings who had made the Swords, from powers that were too much for it to manage.

Tanelorn. Fabled city at the edge of time. The fate of a million universes hangs in the balance as Hawkmoon boards a sombre ship for the voyage between the worlds: for in Tanelorn he will discover the secret of his destiny and fight the ultimate battle against the forces of Chaos.

These are the duties of a Highborn lady, and like the veils, masks and tight-fitting underskirts female Kencyr students are obliged to wear, Jame finds them damnably constricting. Sent here by her brother Torisen, Highlord of the Kencyrath, she has tried valiantly to fit in, but the unruly girl can't help throwing the quiet Women's Halls into an uproar.

It's not entirely Jame's fault, though. While Tori's vain and vicious consort treats her like an underling, the Kencyr Matriarchs, determined to winnow out her secrets, scheme to use her to their own advantage. And her own brother wants nothing to do with her. On top of this, Shadow Guild assassins have come hunting her, eager to fulfill a long-held contract to dispose of the last of the powerful Knorth clan. It's no wonder that Jame decamps.

In the company of her telepathic hunting cat, Jorin, a runaway priestling named Kindrie, and a chance-met squad of cadets, she sets out to rescue a friend from a cruel and ambitious Kencyr lord who seeks the deadly Book Bound in Pale Leather. Dodging ghostwalkers and shadow assassins, riding weirdingstorms and peripatetic trees, Jame discovers that her life is tangled up in a much larger purpose. For the war against Perimal Darkling cannot resume until three terrible objects of power, and the avatars who will wield them, appear. And she just might be one of them...

Something is preying on the gods of Tai-Tastigon.

A crucial moment draws nigh leading to the ultimate showdown between Jame Knorth and Perimal Darkling, the supernatural entity that has pursued Jame's people, the Kencyr, across multiple universes, destroying all in its wake. Can the Kencyr finally make an effective stand, or will another world fall into shadow?

But now news arrives from Tai-tastigon, the vast city that formed Jame into the master thief, wily fighter, and godling-in-the-making that she has become.

It seems something is preying on the gods of Tai-tastigon. The new Pantheon is falling, and the ancient city is in turmoil. The self-serving, beguiling demi-god leader of the Thieves Guild has coerced Jame into finding the soul of his missing brother by holding hostage people she loves. Jame She reluctantly returns to find a Tai-tastigon in turmoil, with citizen pitted against citizen, and day and night-time folk at one another's throats. It seems many in the vast Lower Town have lost their shadows - not so funny when you realize that a shadow is cast by a soul.

Disappearing Souls

Some of the affected have gone mad. Some wander like ravening wraiths, attacking even family members by tooth and nail. Which means something is taking - or destroying - souls in the city.

What's more, in the city's Temple District fearful gods are finding their very beings drained. Some have become so diminished they hide in the robes of their priests like mewling babes. Across the city, murder and mayhem have erupted. But whatever demon-wrought madness is afoot in Tai-tastigon will have to face the ultimate avatar of god That-Which-Destroys Itself. That would be one Jame Knorth.

Where Jame Knorth goes, Chaos will follow!

Elric of Melniboné. Traitor. Savior. Lover. Thief. Last king of a fallen empire whose cruelty was surpassed only by its beauty. Sustained by drugs and the vampiric powers of his black sword, Stormbringer, haunted by visions of a tragic past and a doomed future, Elric wanders the world in quest of oblivion. But the great lords of Law and Chaos have other plans for this tormented adventurer.

This volume is the third of Del Rey's definitive collections featuring the tales of Elric and other aspects of Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion, along with essays, a selection of classic artwork, and new material never seen in book form.

Gorgeously illustrated by Steve Ellis, and featuring a foreword by Holly Black, The Sleeping Sorceress is a must-have for all lovers of fantasy.

In the realm of Alera, where people bond with the furies--elementals of earth, air, fire, water, wood, and metal--fifteen-year-old Tavi struggles with his lack of furycrafting. But when his homeland erupts in chaos--when rebels war with loyalists and furies clash with furies-- Tavi's simple courage will turn the tides of war.

In Furies of Calderon, bestselling author Jim Butcher introduced readers to a world where the forces of nature take physical form. But now, it's human nature that threatens to throw the realm into chaos.

In his acclaimed Codex Alera novels, bestselling author Jim Butcher has created a fascinating world in which the powerful forces of nature take physical form. But even magic cannot sway the corruption that threatens to destroy the realm of Alera once and for all.

After two years of bitter conflict with the hordes of invading Canim, Tavi of Calderon, now Captain of the First Aleran Legion, realizes that a peril far greater than the Canim exists-the terrifying Vord, who drove the savage Canim from their homeland. Now, Tavi must find a way to overcome the centuries-old animosities between Aleran and Cane if an alliance is to be forged against their mutual enemy. And he must lead his legion in defiance of the law, against friend and foe-before the hammerstroke of the Vord descends on them all.

For Gaius Octavian, life has been one long battle. Now, the end of all he fought for is close at hand. The brutal, dreaded Vord are on the march against Alera. And perhaps for the final time, Gaius Octavian and his legions must stand against the enemies of his people. And it will take all his intelligence, ingenuity, and furycraft to save their world from eternal darkness.

The mightiest barbarian returns in an all new illustrated adventure, matching wits with a Black Magician to regain the Eye Of Erlik - and his very soul.

See Robert E. Howard's gorgeous world of enchantment, swordplay, glittering jewels, beautiful women, danger and passion come alive in this lushly illustrated book! This is the first new Conan adventure in years!

In this epic, Conan fights to recover the throne of Aquilonia from Nemedian invaders aided by the Acheronian wizard Xaltoltun.

There are some far-fetched rumours about the caverns beneath the Citadel: some say the mages left their most dangerous secrets hidden there; others, that great riches are hidden there; even that gods have been imprisoned in its darkest depths.

For Lord Frith, the caverns hold the key to his vengeance. Against all the odds, he has survived torture and lived to see his home and his family taken from him... and now someone is going to pay.

For Wydrin of Crosshaven and her faithful companion, Sir Sebastian Carverson, a quest to the Citadel looks like just another job. There's the promise of gold and adventure. Who knows, they might even have a decent tale or two once they're done.

But sometimes there is truth in rumour. Sometimes it pays to listen. Soon this reckless trio will become the last line of defence against a hungry, restless terror that wants to tear the world apart. And they're not even getting paid.

Twenty-four hours ago, Gil MacDonald and his men had been fighting off an ambush in a Viet Nam jungle. Now, thanks to some kind of magic spell, they were in the middle of this fantasy land filled with flying dragons, wizard, crazy castles and dispossessed princes. Unless they found a way to escape, they were doomed to stay here forever.

Widely acclaimed for his work completing Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time saga, Brandon Sanderson now begins a grand cycle of his own, one every bit as ambitious and immersive.

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them.

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity.

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar's niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan's motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

The result of over ten years of planning, writing, and world-building, The Way of Kings is but the opening movement of the Stormlight Archive, a bold masterpiece in the making.

Speak again the ancient oaths,

Life before death.
Strength before weakness.
Journey before Destination.

and return to men the Shards they once bore.

The Knights Radiant must stand again.

In Oathbringer, the third volume of the New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive, humanity faces a new Desolation with the return of the Voidbringers, a foe with numbers as great as their thirst for vengeance.

Dalinar Kholin's Alethi armies won a fleeting victory at a terrible cost: The enemy Parshendi summoned the violent Everstorm, which now sweeps the world with destruction, and in its passing awakens the once peaceful and subservient parshmen to the horror of their millennia-long enslavement by humans. While on a desperate flight to warn his family of the threat, Kaladin Stormblessed must come to grips with the fact that the newly kindled anger of the parshmen may be wholly justified.

Nestled in the mountains high above the storms, in the tower city of Urithiru, Shallan Davar investigates the wonders of the ancient stronghold of the Knights Radiant and unearths dark secrets lurking in its depths. And Dalinar realizes that his holy mission to unite his homeland of Alethkar was too narrow in scope. Unless all the nations of Roshar can put aside Dalinar's blood-soaked past and stand together?and unless Dalinar himself can confront that past?even the restoration of the Knights Radiant will not prevent the end of civilization.

Harry Crewe, the Homelander orphan girl, is pleased with her new home. Life in Istan is certainly easy, but a voice in her ear whispers that the home of her heart is among the Hillfolk, among the descendants of Lady Aerin, who once wielded Gonturan, the Blue Sword.

From childhood, Aerin had been haunted by the story of her mother - a "witchwoman" who enspelled the king and then died in childbirth, leaving behind a newborn daughter and an heirless land. Left to her own devices, Aerin grew up wild, doing her best to live up to her reputation as the disappointment of the realm. But little did the young princess know the long-dormant powers of her mother would wield their own destiny, and leave Aerin with a duty to her scornful homeland that she couldn't refuse.

Tracker is known far and wide for his skills as a hunter: "He has a nose," people say. Engaged to track down a mysterious boy who disappeared three years earlier, Tracker breaks his own rule of always working alone when he finds himself part of a group that comes together to search for the boy. The band is a hodgepodge, full of unusual characters with secrets of their own, including a shape-shifting man-animal known as Leopard.

As Tracker follows the boy's scent--from one ancient city to another; into dense forests and across deep rivers--he and the band are set upon by creatures intent on destroying them. As he struggles to survive, Tracker starts to wonder: Who, really, is this boy? Why has he been missing for so long? Why do so many people want to keep Tracker from finding him? And perhaps the most important questions of all: Who is telling the truth, and who is lying?

A murderous force threatens a far-off magical world, and an ordinary Californian is drawn into the battle to save mankind.

As a student of medieval history, Gil Patterson is a woman familiar with dark stories. She knows well the Crusades, the Black Death, and the other horrors of the Middle Ages, but it is another kind of atrocity that has begun to haunt her dreams. She sees forces of evil assaulting a beleaguered kingdom, whose kind people are on the brink of annihilation, and awakes each morning in a cold sweat.

Gil dismisses the dreams until a wizard appears in her apartment. He has crossed into her dimension, passing through the fraying fabric of the universe, to ask her help. For mankind to survive he must protect an infant prince, whom he plans to hide in Gil's world. The student of history is about to get much closer to evil than she ever imagined.

Outside the great stone Keep of Renweth, the night was the province of the Dark Ones - monstrous creatures that had swarmed out of their eldritch underground caverns to destroy humanity.

Inside, where the pitiful remnant of the once-great Realm of Darwath huddled, Chancellor Alwir and Bishop Govannin continued their bitter struggle for dominance. Against all advice, Alwir went ahead with plans to use Ingold, Rudy, and the other wizards in a hopeless, desperate invasion of the Nests of the Dark. The Bishop, obsessed with fanatical fury, sought to root out all magic by murdering the wizards. Both conspired together to seek the aid of Alketch, ancient enemy of the Realm.

In that hotbed of ambition, hatred, and fear, no one except Ingold would heed Gil's discovery of the truth that lay behind the rising of the Dark!

Contains:

• Passage to Dilfar
• Thelinde's Song
• The Bells of Shoredan
• A Knight for Merytha
• The Palaces of Aache
• A City Divided
• The White Beast
• Tower of Ice
• Devil and the Dancer
• Garden of Blood
• Dilvish the Damned

Waves of changing magic blow across the land surrounding Castle Timeless, because Tualua, the ancient magical being bound into the service of the sorceror Jelerak, has gone mad. And Jelerak has vanished to parts unknown. Opportunistic, rival sorcerers vie to seize the powers inherent in the castle. Among the travelers arriving at Castle Timeless are Arlata, Weleand, and Dilvish who claim to want Tualua's power for good, and to search for vengence....

The Color of Magic is Terry Pratchett's maiden voyage through the now-legendary land of Discworld. This is where it all begins--with the tourist Twoflower and his wizard guide, Rincewind.

In The Light Fantastic, only one individual can save the world from a disastrous collision. Unfortunately, the hero happens to be the singularly inept wizard Rincewind, who was last seen falling off the edge of the world.

In Equal Rites, a dying wizard tries to pass on his powers to an eighth son of an eighth son, who is just at that moment being born. The fact that the son is actually a daughter is discovered just a little too late.

When last seen, the singularly inept wizard Rincewind had fallen off the edge of the world. Now magically, he's turned up again, and this time he's brought the Luggage.

But that's not all....

Once upon a time, there was an eighth son of an eighth son who was, of course, a wizard. As if that wasn't complicated enough, said wizard then had seven sons. And then he had an eighth son -- a wizard squared (that's all the math, really). Who of course, was a source of magic -- a sorcerer.

Meet Granny Weatherwax, the most highly regarded non-leader a coven of non-social witches could ever have.Generally, these loners don't get involved in anything, mush less royal intrigue. but then there are those times they can't help it. As Granny Weatherwax is about to discover, though, it's a lot harder to stir up trouble in the castle than some theatrical types would have you think. Even when you've got a few unexpected spells up your sleave.

Here there be dragons... and the denizens of Ankh-Morpork wish one huge firebreather would return from whence it came. Long believed extinct, a superb specimen of draco nobilis ("noble dragon" for those who don't understand italics) has appeared in Discworld's greatest city. Not only does this unwelcome visitor have a nasty habit of charbroiling everything in its path, in rather short order it is crowned King (it is a noble dragon, after all...).

Discworld's only demonology hacker, Eric, is about to make life very difficult for the rest of Ankh-Morpork's denizens. This would-be Faust is very bad...at his work, that is. All he wants is to fulfill three little wishes:to live forever, to be master of the universe, and to have a stylin' hot babe.

But Eric isn't even good at getting his own way. Instead of a powerful demon, he conjures, well, Rincewind, a wizard whose incompetence is matched only by Eric's. And as if that wasn't bad enough, that lovable travel accessory the Luggage has arrived, too. Accompanied by his best friends, there's only one thing Eric wishes now -- that he'd never been born!

Lost in the chill deeps of space between the galaxies, it sails on forever, a flat, circular world carried on the back of a giant turtle -- DISCWORLD -- a land where the unexpected can be expected. Where the strangest things happen to the nicest people. Like Brutha, a simple lad who only wants to tend his melon patch. Until one day he hears the voice of a god calling his name. A small god, to be sure. But bossy as Hell.

Be a MAN in the City Watch! The City Watch needs MEN!

But what it's got includes Corporal Carrot (technically a dwarf), Lance-constable Cuddy (really a dwarf), Lance-constable Detrius (a troll), Lance-constable Angua (a woman...most of the time) and Corporal Nobbs (disqualified from the human race for shoving).

And they need all the help they can get. Because they've only got twenty-four hours to clean up the town and this is Ankh-Morpork we're talking about...

Interesting Times, the seventeenth novel in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, finds the planet's oldest empire in the midst of bitter turmoil after the publication of the revolutionary treatise What I Did on My Holidays. Workers, with nothing to lose but their water buffaloes, are joining forces against old warlords, spreading violence throughout Discworld's ancient cities. All that stands in the way of total destruction are 3 decidedly non-heroic creatures: Rincewind, the world's dumbest wizard; Cohen the Barbarian, who stands 5 feet tall in his surgical sandals; and a very special butterfly.

ITS THE NIGHT BEFORE HOGSWATCH. AND IT'S TOO QUIET.

Where is the big jolly fat man? Why is Death creeping down chimneys and trying to say Ho Ho Ho? The darkest night of the year is getting a lot darker...

Susan the gothic governess has got to sort it out by morning, otherwise there won't be a morning. Ever again...

The 20th Discworld novel is a festive feast of darkness and Death (but with jolly robins and tinsel too).

As they say: You'd better watch out...

Something is amiss at Unseen Unversity, Ankh-Morpork's most prestigious (i.e., only) institution of higher learning. A professor is missing--but a search party is on the way! A bevy of senior wizards will follow the trail wherever it leads--even to the other side of Discworld, where the Last Continent, Fourecks, is under construction.

Imagine a magical land where rain is but a myth and the ordinary is strange and the past and present run side by side. experience the terror as you encounter a Mad Dwarf, the Peach Butt, and the dreaded Meat Pie Floater.

Feel the passion as the denizens of the Last Continent learn what happens when rain falls and the rivers fill with water (it spoils regattas, for one thing). Thrill to the promise of next year's regatta, in remote, rustic Didjabringabeeralong. It'll be asolutely gujeroo (no worries).

In a fit of enlightenment democracy and ebullient goodwill, King Verence invites Uberwald's undead, the Magpyrs, into Lancre to celebrate the birth of his daughter. But once ensconced within the castle, these wine-drinking, garlic-eating, sun-loving modern vampires have no intention of leaving. Ever.

Only an uneasy alliance between a nervous young priest and the argumentative local witches can save the country from being taken over by people with a cultivated bloodlust and bad taste in silk waistcoats. For them, there's only one way to fight.

Go for the throat, or as the vampyres themselves say... Carpe Jugulum

Cohen the Barbarian.

He's been a legend in his own lifetime. He can remember the good old days of high adventure, when being a Hero meant one didn't have to worry about aching backs and lawyers and civilization.

But these days, he can't always remember just where he put his teeth...

So now, with his ancient (yet still trusty) sword and new walking stick in hand, Cohen gathers a group of his old -- very old -- friends to embark on one final quest. He's going to climb the highest mountain of Discworld and meet the gods.

It's time the Last Hero in the world returns what the first hero stole. Trouble is, that'll mean the end of the world, if no one stops him in time.

This morning, Commander Vimes of the City Watch had it all. He was a Duke. He was rich.He was respected. He had a silver cigar case. He was about to become a father.

This morning he thought longingly about the good old days.

Tonight, he's in them.

Flung back in time by a mysterious accident, Sam Vimes has to start all over again. He must get a new name and a job, and there's only one job he's good at: cop in the Watch. He must track down a brutal murderer. He must find his younger self and teach him everything he knows. He must whip the cowardly, despised Night Watch into a crack fighting force -- fast. Because Sam Vimes knows what's going to happen. He remembers it. He was there. It's part of history. And you can't change history . . .

But Sam is going to. He has no choice. Otherwise, a bloody revolution will start, and good men will die. Sam saw their names on old headstones just this morning -- but tonight they're young men who think they have a future. And rather than let them die, Sam will do anything -- turn traitor, burn buildings, take over a revolt, anything -- to snatch them from the jaws of history. He will do it even if victory will mean giving up the only future he knows.

For if he succeeds, he's got no wife, no child, no riches, no fame -- all that will simply vanish. But if he doesn't try, he wouldn't be Sam Vimes.

And so the battle is on. He knows how it's going to end after all, he was there. His name is on one of those headstones. But that's just a minor detail . . .

Lifelong friends, they went their separate ways. Now they are together again, though each holds secrets from the others in his heart. They speak of a world shadowed with rumors of war. They speak of tales of strange monsters, creatures of myth, creatures of legend. They do not speak of their secrets. Not then. Not until a chance encounter with a beautiful, sorrowful woman, who bears a magical crystal staff, draws the companions deeper into the shadows, forever changing their lives and shaping the fate of the world.

No one expected them to be heroes.

Least of all, them.

Now the people know that the dragon minions of Takhisis, Queen of Dragons, have returned. The people of all nations prepare to fight to save their homes, their lives, and their freedom. But the races have long been divided by hatred and prejudice. Elven warriors and human knights fight among themselves. It seems the battle has been lost before it begins.

The companions are separated, torn apart by war. A full season will pass before they meet again--if they meet again. As the darkness deepens, a disgraced knight, a pampered elfmaiden, and a rattle-brained kender stand alone in the pale winter sunlight.

The war against the dragon minions of Queen Takhisis rages on. Armed with the mysterious, magical dragon orbs and the shining, silver dragonlance, the companions bring hope to the world. But now, in the dawn of a new day, the dark secrets that have long shadowed the hearts of the friends come to the light. Betrayal, treachery, frailty, and weakness will nearly destroy all that they have accomplished.

The greatest battle they have left to fight is within each of them.

Yet, in the end, they will be heroes.

Druss, Captain of the Axe, was the stuff of legends. But even as the stories grew in the telling, Druss himself grew older. He turned his back on his own legend and retreated to a mountain lair to await his old enemy, death. Meanwhile, barbarian hordes were on the march. Nothing could stand in their way. Druss reluctantly agreed to come out of retirement. But could even Druss live up to his own legends?

FitzChivalry -- royal bastard and former king's assassin -- has left his life of intrigue behind. As far as the rest of the world knows, FitzChivalry Farseer is dead and buried. Masquerading as Tom Badgerlock, Fitz is now married to his childhood sweetheart, Molly, and leading the quiet life of a country squire.

Though Fitz is haunted by the disappearance of the Fool, who did so much to shape Fitz into the man he has become, such private hurts are put aside in the business of daily life, at least until the appearance of menacing, pale-skinned strangers casts a sinister shadow over Fitz's past...and his future.

Robin Hobb returns to her best loved characters with the second volume in a brand new series.

Happy endings never last...

Years ago, they freed a dragon from the glaciers on Aslevjal. Then they parted ways, the Fool returning to far-off Clerres, while Fitz finally claimed a wife, a family, and a home of his own.

Now, betrayed by his own people and broken by torment, the Fool has made his way back to the Six Duchies. But as Fitz attempts to heal his old friend in Buckkeep Castle, his young daughter Bee is abducted from Withywoods by pale and mysterious raiders who leave ruin and confusion in their wake.

Fitz must find a way to rescue his beloved Bee. At the same time it is the Fool's fiercest wish to return to Clerres with the best assassin he has ever known, to gain vengeance and justice.

Can Fitz bear to take up the tools of his old trade again, even to avenge his dearest friend and save his child?

Prince FitzChivalry Farseer's daughter Bee was violently abducted from Withywoods by Servants of the Four in their search for the Unexpected Son, foretold to wield great power. With Fitz in pursuit, the Servants fled through a Skill-pillar, leaving no trace. It seems certain that they and their young hostage have perished in the Skill-river.

Clerres, where White Prophets were trained by the Servants to set the world on a better path, has been corrupted by greed. Fitz is determined to reach the city and take vengeance on the Four, not only for the loss of Bee but also for their torture of the Fool. Accompanied by FitzVigilant, son of the assassin Chade, Chade's protg Spark and the stableboy Perseverance, Bee's only friend, their journey will take them from the Elderling city of Kelsingra, down the perilous Rain Wild River, and on to the Pirate Isles.

Their mission for revenge will become a voyage of discovery, as well as of reunions, transformations and heartrending shocks. Startling answers to old mysteries are revealed. What became of the liveships Paragon and Vivacia and their crews? What is the origin of the Others and their eerie beach? How are liveships and dragons connected?

But Fitz and his followers are not the only ones with a deadly grudge against the Four. An ancient wrong will bring them unlikely and dangerous allies in their quest. And if the corrupt society of Clerres is to be brought down, Fitz and the Fool will have to make a series of profound and fateful sacrifices.

Cloaked in mist and layered in magic, the denizens of Moonshae Isles move in secret circles as capricious rulers vie for power.

High Lady Ordalf wanted her niece, the princess known as the Rose of Sarifal, dead. Instead, the young regent was secreted away by the high lady's opponents. For years the eladrin queen of Gwynneth Isle has searched for evidence of her niece's death, and word has finally come in the form of a castaway's tale. The princess lives on the island of Moray--a mad beauty who leads a nation of lycanthropes.

As long as her niece is alive, Lady Ordalf cannot rest secure in her claim to the throne. Enlisting a band of adventurers to seek out the princess is the first step toward stemming the Rose of Sarifal and her tide of wolves. Will those heroes see the same threat the queen sees in the beautiful young maiden?

The Greatest Fantasy Setting of Our Generations Begins Here

Sembia is a land of wealth and power, where rival families buy and sell everything imaginable - even life itself.

In that unforgiving realm, the Uskevren family may hold the rarest commodity of all: honor.

But even they have their secrets, and at least as many enemies.

This anthology of seven stories introduces not just one realm of good and evil, not just one family of troubled heroes, but the whole of the remarkable Forgotten Realms world. Their adventure, and yours, begins here.

Featuring Forgotten Realms creator Ed Greenwood and The New York Times best-selling authors Lisa Smedman and Paul S. Kemp. Also featuring Clayton Emery, Dave Gross, Voronica Whitney-Robinson, and Richard Lee Byers.

Contents:

• The Patriarch: The Burning Chalice by Ed Greenwood
• The Matriarch: Song of Chaos by Richard Lee Byers
• The Heir: Night School by Clayton Emery
• The Daughter: The Price by Voronica Whitney-Robinson
• The Second Son: Thirty Days by Dave Gross
• The Butler: Resurrection by Paul S. Kemp
• The Maid: Skin Deep by Lisa Smedman

Erevis Cale, loyal servant to the Uskevren family, can't keep his secret any longer.

From the nobles in their towers to the gangs in the streets, in the city of Selgaunt power belongs to the bold and no one's position is certain. When a thieves' guild attempts to eradicate a rival organization, something unspeakable breaks free - and it's hungry.

With Selgaunt in chaos, Erevis Cale must return to the shadowy life he left behind, to protect the family that has made him one of their own from the horrors of the Abyss.

Enter the greatest fantasy setting of our generation - enter the Realms.

When Shamur Uskevren, the matriarch of one of Sembia's oldest and most powerful merchant families, is tricked by an angry wizard into an assassination attempt on her own husband, her family is thrown into turmoil. Once the truth is dicovered, she and her husband must struggle to save their family and stop the sorcerer. But in her anger, she has fogotten one thing: in the world of intrigue and decption, of shadows and lies that is Sembia, nothing is ever what it seems.

Talbot Uskevren, the second son of one of Selgaunt's most powerful families, fights a deadly battle within himself. Like most men of his station, Talbot spends his days honing his sword fighting skills, and unlike others, practicing the art of acting. Now, Talbot will put both of these talents to the test when a rival House comes looking for blood. The only way for Talbot to survive against the Black Brotherhood is to let the inner wolf loose, and the only way for him to live in Selgaunt's society is to keep the wolf chained.

Black Wolf continues the story of the Uskevrens' second son, introduced in the story "Thirty Days" from The Halls of Stormweather. An exciting tale of werewolves in the Forgotten Realms, this is the fouth book in the Sembia series.

Introduce yourself to the Forgotten Realms world with New York Times best-selling author, Lisa Smedman.

Larajin, the unacknowledged daughter of Thamalon Uskevren and a half-elf, finds herself embroiled in a bitter war between elves and humans. In an effort to bring peace to both Sembia and the Dalelands, Larajin must confront the twin brother she doesn't know and save a half-brother whose fate hangs in the balance.

An exciting series especially for readers new to the Forgotten Realms!

Thazienne Uskevren, the only legitimate daughter of the wealthy Uskevren family, has suffered blow after blow to her body and spirit. Even as she struggles to mend her fractured soul, Tazi finds herself on a journey that will take her far from the safety of Selgaunt and into the deadly heart of the Calim Desert. There the shifting sands hide an old foe, who holds the key to Tazi's salvation--or the doom of Sembia.

The exciting finale to the Sembia: Gateway to the Realms series!

Thamalon Uskevren II, the heir to Stormweather Towers, never expected to inherit so much so quickly. When his parents and Erevis Cale vanish without a trace, Tamlin must rally what's left of his family and try to solve a mystery whose roots lie deep beneath Stormweather, before a deadly assassin ends the Uskevren line forever.

As with the previous titles in this series, Lord of Stormweather is perfect for introducing new readers to the magic, mystery, and intrigue of the Forgotten Realms world.

Drizzt Do'Urden finds new friends and foes in the windswept towns of Icewind Dale, also the setting of the D&D adventure book Rime of the Frostmaiden

With his days in the Underdark far behind him, drow ranger Drizzt Do'Urden sets down roots in the windswept Ten-Towns of Icewind Dale. A cold and unforgiving place, Ten-Towns sits on the brink of a catastrophic war, threatened by the barbarian tribes of the north.

It's in the midst of battle that a young barbarian named Wulfgar is captured and made the ward of Bruenor, a grizzled dwarf leader and a companion to Drizzt. With Drizzt's help, Wulfgar will grow from a feral child to a man with the heart of a dwarf, the instincts of a savage, and the soul of a hero. But it will take even more than that to defeat the corrupt wizard who wields the demonic power of Crenshininbon--the fabled Crystal Shard.

The Crystal Shard is first book in the Icewind Dale Trilogy and the fourth book in the Legend of Drizzt series.

The epic tale of everyone's favorite dark elf reaches new heights when Drizzt and his companions set out to reclaim a lost dwarven stronghold

Drizzt Do'Urden still struggles with his own inner voices, voices that call him back to the pitless depths of the Underdark. But louder still are the voices of his newfound friends Bruenor, Wulfgar, and Regis--and the call of a dream that, at long last, Bruenor has decided to fulfill.

Long ago, Bruenor and his people were driven from their home in Mithral Hall by a shadow dragon of the Underdark. Now, Bruenor is determined to reclaim his homeland and his rightful seat as its king. Aided by the combined might of his friends, Bruenor sets out on a treacherous quest for Mithral Hall, finding obstacles at every turn. But despite the terrors of the Trollmoors and the racism aimed at Drizzt, the group continues to fight--together.

Streams of Silver is the second book in the Icewind Dale Trilogy and the fifth book in the Legend of Drizzt series.

Drizzt Do'Urden and Wulfgar embark on a perilous mission to rescue their halfling friend in this action-packed finale of the Icewind Dale Trilogy

Artemis Entreri has taken Regis back to his former master, Pasha Pook--but Drizzt Do'Urden and Wulfgar are fast on the assassin's heels. Armed with the scimitar Twinkle, Drizzt defeats a banshee and acquires an enchanted artifact that masks its wearer's true identity. With Drizzt now disguised as a normal elf, the duo continues their journey, traveling from Waterdeep to Baldur's Gate, and beyond, in search of their friend.

Meanwhile, Entreri is always one step ahead, aided by the magical gem Regis once stole from Pasha Pook. Together, Regis' captors thwart Drizzt and Wulfgar's mission at every turn, cornering them into battles with pirates, treks through the Calimshan deserts, and encounters with otherwordly monsters. But will it be enough to stop them from rescuing Regis?

The Halfling's Gem is the third book in the Icewind Dale Trilogy and the sixth book in the Legend of Drizzt series.

This is the paperback version of the stunning new release of the classic R.A. Salvatore novel that begins the tale of his signature dark elf character, Drizzt Do-Urden.

As I became a creature of the empty tunnels, survival became easier and more difficult all at once. I gained in the physical skills and experience necessary to live on. I could defeat almost anything that wandered into my chosen domain. It did not take me long, however, to discover one nemesis that I could neither defeat nor flee. It followed me wherever I went -- indeed, the farther I ran, the more it closed in around me. My enemy was solitude, the interminable, incessant silence of hushed corridors.

- Drizzt Do'Urden

Now in paperback, the third installment in the classic tales of the Legend of Drizzt. When a lone drow emerges from the Underdark into the blinding light of day, the Forgotten Realms world will be changed forever.

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.

Join the world's most famous drow elf in the penultimate chapter of the Legend of Drizzt series!

Spending time in the unimaginable torture chambers of the Abyss for even a day would be enough to break even the heartiest soul, and the barbarian Wulfgar was there for years. When he returns, his friends find him a changed man, and not changed for the better. But Wulfgar's road to redemption is one he must travel on his own, even if it leads to the bottle.

The Legend of Drizzt comes to an end... for now!

The mighty warhammer Aegis-fang has found its way into the hands of the wicked pirate captain Sheila Kree, and Wulfgar is hot on her trail. When Drizzt and his companions leave Mithral Hall in search of Wulfgar, they find themselves on the trail of the warhammer as well, a trail that will lead them to a startling reunion, and the last battle for the heart and soul of Wulfgar.

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.

The pall that had descended over the North is gone, and a new day has dawned on a victorious Mithral Hall, but no matter how bright things seem on the surface, Drizzt and his companions know that what lurks just under their feet remains steeped in evil and charged with unimaginable power.

The dark elves of Menzoberranzan, including the powerful Archmage Gromph, aren't done with Drizzt yet. And consumed by their own power struggles, feeling backed into a corner, the drow may just be desperate enough to call on demonic forces from the deepest reaches of the Abyss, and unleash a disaster even the Underdark could never have prepared for.

Archmage has everything Drizzt's fans crave: action, adventure, characters that resonate with equal measures of warrior spirit and deep compassion, and no shortage of wicked dark elves!

The saga of dark elf Drizzt Do'Urden has become a fixture in the fantasy genre, with a string of New York Times best-selling novels going back to 1988. Maestro is the follow-up to Archmage, and continues the story of Drizzt's perilous homecoming.

Drizzt is going home. But not to Mithral Hall. Not to Icewind Dale. He's going to Menzoberranzan. Something terrible-immense-unspeakable, has come to the City of Spiders, leaving death and destruction in its wake.

Additionally, the damage of the Darkening, of war, and of a demon-ravaged Underdark sends cracks out across the North, causing irreparable damage.

At the same time, the primordial of Gauntlgrym stirs, sending Cattie-brie and Gromph to the ruins of the Host Tower of the Arcane in Luskan, seeking the only power that can keep the beast in check.

Jarlaxle holds the strings for them all, orchestrating a masterpiece of manipulation that brings old enemies together, and tears old friends apart.

But even the wily and resourceful Jarlaxle may not realize just how narrow a path he walks. The City of Spiders might already have fallen to the demons and their wicked prince, and what's to say the demons will stop there?

Maestro is the sequel to Archmage, and the exciting 2nd book in the Homecoming trilogy.

The saga of dark elf Drizzt Do'Urden has become a fixture in the fantasy genre, with a string of New York Times best-selling novels going back to 1988. Hero is the follow-up to Maestro and Archmage, and final book in the Homecoming trilogy.

Something akin to "peace" has come to the Underdark. The demon hordes have receded, and now the matron mothers argue over the fate of Drizzt Do'Urden. Even so, it becomes clear to one matriarch after another that while the renegade drow may come and go Menzoberranzan, the City of Spiders will crawl forever on.

And so Drizzt is free to return to his home on the surface once again. Scores are settled as lives are cut short, yet other lives move on. For the lone drow there is only a single final quest: a search for peace, for family, for home--for the future.

Hero picks up where Maestro left off, in a sweeping climax to an epic tale.

The War of the Spider Queen begins here.

While their whole world is changing around them, four dark elves struggle against different enemies. Yet their paths will lead them all to the most terrifying discovery in the long history of the drow and set them on a quest to save not only Menzoberranzan but the entire dark elf race from Dissolution...

Prisoner of the Horned Helmet introduces suffering hero Gath of Baal. In an age rife with sorcery and violence, the earth trembles beneath the hooves of the all-conquering Kitzaak Horde. To save the peaceful forest people, Gath must don the Horned Helmet and become death made flesh.

Hugo- and Nebula-nominated Novelette

The kingdom in the Valley has long sheltered under the protection of its Jewels and Lapidaries, the people bound to singing gemstones with the power to reshape hills, move rivers, and warp minds. That power has kept the peace and tranquility, and the kingdom has flourished.

Jewel Lin and her Lapidary Sima may be the last to enjoy that peace.

The Jeweled Court has been betrayed. As screaming raiders sweep down from the mountains, and Lapidary servants shatter under the pressure, the last princess of the Valley will have to summon up a strength she's never known. If she can assume her royal dignity, and if Sima can master the most dangerous gemstone in the land, they may be able to survive.

Tristia is a nation overcome by intrigue and corruption. The idealistic young King Paelis is dead and the Greatcoats - legendary travelling magistrates who brought justice to the Kingdom - have been branded as traitors. But just before his head was impaled on a spike, the King swore each of his hundred and forty-four Greatcoats to a different mission.

Falcio Val Mond, First Cantor, with the help of fellow Greatcoats Kest and Brasti, has completed his King's final task: he has found his Charoites - well, one at least, and she was not quite what they expected. Now they must protect the girl from the many who would see her dead, and place her on the throne of a lawless kingdom. That would be simple enough, if it weren't for the Daishini, an equally legendary band of assassins, getting in their way, not to forget the Dukes who are determined to hold on to their fractured Kingdoms, or the fact that the heir to the throne is only thirteen years old. Oh, and the poison that is slowly killing Falcio.

That's not even mentioning the Greatcoat's Lament...

Originally published in the UK as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

What did Harry Potter know about magic? He was stuck with the decidedly un-magical Dursleys, who hated him. He slept in a closet and ate their leftovers. But an owl messenger changes all that, with an invitation to attend the Hogwarts School for Wizards and Witches, where it turns out Harry is already famous....

The Dursleys were so mean and hideous that summer that all Harry Potter wanted was to get back to the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. But just as he's packing his bags, Harry receives a warning from a strange, impish creature named Dobby who says that if Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts, disaster will strike.

And strike is does. For in Harry's second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageous stuck-up new professor, Gilderoy Lockheart, a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girls' bathroom, and the unwanted attentions of Ron Weasley's younger sister, Ginny.

But each of these seem minor annoyances when the real trouble begins, and someone--or something--starts turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects... Harry Potter himself?

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Jessica Amanda Salmonson
• The Curse of the Smalls and the Stars - novella by Fritz Leiber
• Sister Light, Sister Dark - short story by Jane Yolen
• Tales Told to a Toymaker - short story by Phyllis Ann Karr
• Prophecy of the Dragon - novelette by Charles E. Karpuk
• Before the Seas Came - short story by F. M. Busby
• Thunder Mother - short story by Alan Dean Foster
• Dancers in the Time-Flux - short story by Robert Silverberg
• Sword Blades and Poppy Seed - short story by Joanna Russ
• The Nun and the Demon - short story by Grania Davis
• Vovko - short story by Gordon Derevanchuk
• The Monkey's Bride - novelette by Michael Bishop

In a landmark epic of fantasy and storytelling, Philip Pullman invites readers into a world as convincing and thoroughly realized as Narnia, Earthsea, or Redwall.

Here lives an orphaned ward named Lyra Belacqua, whose carefree life among the scholars at Oxford's Jordan College is shattered by the arrival of two powerful visitors. First, her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, appears with evidence of mystery and danger in the far North, including photographs of a mysterious celestial phenomenon called Dust and the dim outline of a city suspended in the Aurora Borealis that he suspects is part of an alternate universe. He leaves Lyra in the care of Mrs. Coulter, an enigmatic scholar and explorer who offers to give Lyra the attention her uncle has long refused her.

In this multilayered narrative, however, nothing is as it seems. Lyra sets out for the top of the world in search of her kidnapped playmate, Roger, bearing a rare truth-telling instrument, the compass of the title. All around her children are disappearing -- victims of so-called "Gobblers" -- and being used as subjects in terrible experiments that separate humans from their daemons, creatures that reflect each person's inner being. And somehow, both Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are involved.

Published as Northern Lights in the UK.

Saunders' novel fuses the narrative style of fantasy fiction with a pre-colonial, alternate Africa. Inspired by and directly addresses the alienation of growing up an African American fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy, which to this day remains a very ethnically homogonous genre. It addresses this both structurally (via its unique setting) and thematically (via its alienated, tribeless hero-protagonist). The tribal tensions and histories presented in this fantasy novel reflect actual African tribal histories and tensions, and provide a unique perspective to current and recent conflicts in Africa, particularly the Rwandan genocide and the ongoing conflict in The Sudan.

Note: Imaro is a fixup novel. In the Night Shade Edition one story is excanged for another compared to the original DAW edition.

It begins with the reunion of Imaro and his kidnapped lover Tanisha, who has been taken to the ruined City of Madness. With the help of their new found friend Pomphis, a Pygmay from the eastern forests of Nyumbani, they learn of the sorcerous forces that may have been behind the dark wizard that destroyed Imaro's youth. The trio goes to Mavindi, the port capital of the Eastern Coastal kingdom of Azania, in search of the legendary Kingdom of Cush, where Imaro hopes to find answers to the questions that have plagued his life. Who is he? Who was his father, and why was he seemingly cursed, and hounded from birth by forces beyond his control.

Edited by Stephen Jones.

Midnight Sun is the companion volume to Gods in Darkness, and collects all of the Kane short stories and poetry.

Contents:

• Death Angel's Shadow (poem)
• Undertow
• Two Suns Setting
• The Dark Muse
• Sing a Last Song of Valdese
• Misericorde
• Lynortis Reprise
• Raven's Eyrie
• In the Lair of Yslsl
• Reflections for the Winter of My Soul
• Cold Light
• Mirage
• The Other One
• The Gothic Touch
  
• Midnight Sun (poem)
• Lacunae
• Deep in the Depths of the Acme Warehouse
• At First Just Ghostly
• The Treasure of Lynortis (early version of Lynortis Reprise)
• In the Wake of the Night (lost novel fragment)
• The Once and Future Kane (non-fiction essay)

Where once the mighty Kane has passed, no one who lives forgets. Now, down the trail of past battles, Kane travels again. To the ruins of a devastated city peopled only with half-men and the waif they call their queen. To the half-burnt tavern where a woman Kane wronged long ago holds his child in keeping for the Devil. To the cave kingdom of the giants where glory and its aftermath await discovery. To the house of death itself where Kane retrieves a woman in love.

The past, the future, the present - all these are one for Kane as he travels through the centuries.

Table of Contents:

• "Undertow"
• "Two Suns Setting"
• "The Dark Muse"
• "Raven's Eyrie"
• "Lynortis Reprise"
• "Sing a Last Song of Valdese"

BFA winning and WFA nominated novelette. It originally appeared in Fantastic, May 1976. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Fantasy Stories: 3 (1977), edited by Lin Carter, and The World Fantasy Awards, Volume Two (1980), edited by Stuart David Schiff and Fritz Leiber. It is included in the collections Night Winds (1978) and Midnight Sun: The Complete Stories of Kane (2003).

Kane - indestructible swordsman, invincible sorcerer, immortal wanderer through strange worlds. Efrel, Empress of Pellin, seeks vengeance on the King of Thovnos and chooses Kane as her champion.

Kane. The Mystic Swordsman becomes the living link with the awesome power of a vanished superrace. In the dark swamp where toadmen croak and cower, slumbers a secret relic of the days when creatures from the stars ruled the Earth. In the booty captured in a savage raid, Kane discovers a ring, a bloodstone, which is key to the power that lies buried, inactive but not dead, within the forest. Now Kane, whose bloody sword has slashed and killed for the glory of other rulers, can scheme to rule the Earth - himself!

When a man proves himself to be more than human and a devotee of your dark god type he quickly develops a following with fervour.

After some initial military success he has his rabble smashed by a trained opposition. Kane sees an opportunity and volunteers his military mind to whip the bunch of crazies into shape. Kane has to see if he can stick around long enough given said bloke's delusions of competency for himself and followers.

Travelers to the village where Kote runs an inn are rare, but those who've shown up lately have brought bad news. A sort of demonic spider attacks a local, and then Kote rescues a wandering scholar, bringing him to the inn to recover. The man recognizes Kote as the legendary hero Kvothe and begs him to reveal the reality behind all the legends.

"There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man."

An escalating rivalry with a powerful member of the nobility forces Kvothe to leave the University and seek his fortune abroad. Adrift, penniless, and alone, he travels to Vintas, where he quickly becomes entangled in the politics of courtly society. While attempting to curry favor with a powerful noble, Kvothe discovers an assassination attempt, comes into conflict with a rival arcanist, and leads a group of mercenaries into the wild, in an attempt to solve the mystery of who (or what) is waylaying travelers on the King's road.

All the while, Kvothe searches for answers, attempting to uncover the truth about the mysterious Amyr, the Chandrian, and the death of his parents. Along the way, Kvothe is put on trial by the legendary Adem mercenaries, forced to reclaim the honor of the Edema Ruh, and travels into the Fae realm. There he meets Felurian, the faerie woman no man can resist, and who no man has ever survived. Under her tutelage, Kvothe learns much about true magic and the ways of women.

In The Wise Man's Fear Kvothe takes his first steps on the path of the hero and learns how difficult life can be when a man becomes a legend in his own time.

This title will be released on March 1, 2011. It is available for pre-order.

With The Steel Remains, award-winning science fiction writer Richard K. Morgan turned his talents to sword and sorcery. The result: a genre-busting masterwork hailed as a milestone in contemporary epic fantasy. Now Morgan continues the riveting saga of Ringil Eskiath-Gil, for short-a peerless warrior whose love for other men has made him an outcast and pariah.

Only a select few have earned the right to call Gil friend. One is Egar, the Dragonbane, a fierce Majak fighter who comes to respect a heart as savage and loyal as his own. Another is Archeth, the last remaining daughter of an otherworldly race called the Kiriath, who once used their advanced technology to save the world from the dark magic of the Aldrain-only to depart for reasons as mysterious as their arrival. Yet even Egar and Archeth have learned to fear the doom that clings to their friend like a grim shadow... or the curse of a bitter god.

Now one of the Kiriath's uncanny machine intelligences has fallen from orbit-with a message that humanity faces a grave new danger (or, rather, an ancient one): a creature called the Illwrack Changeling, a boy raised to manhood in the ghostly between-world realm of the Grey Places, home to the Aldrain. A human raised as one of them-and, some say, the lover of one of their greatest warriors-until, in a time lost to legend, he was vanquished. Wrapped in sorcerous slumber, hidden away on an island that drifts between this world and the Grey Places, the Illwrack Changeling is stirring. And when he wakes, the Aldrain will rally to him and return in force-this time without the Kiriath to stop them.

An expedition is outfitted for the long and arduous sea journey to find the lost island of the Illwrack Changeling. Aboard are Gil, Egar, and Archeth: each fleeing from ghosts of the past, each seeking redemption in whatever lies ahead. But redemption doesn't come cheap these days. Nor, for that matter, does survival. Not even for Ringil Eskiath. Or anyone-god or mortal-who would seek to use him as a pawn.

From the moment when they first met, in the commission of the same, audacious theft, Fafhrd, the giant barbarian warrior from the Cold Waste, and the Gray Mouser, master thief, novice wizard and expert swordsman, felt no ordinary affinity. Forged over the gleam of sharpened steel as, back to back, they faced their foes, theirs was a friendship that would take them from adventure to misadventure across all of Nehwon, from the caves of the inner earth to the waves of the outer sea. But it was in the dark alleys and noisome back streets of the great fog-shrouded city of Lankhmar that they became legends.

THE FIRST BOOK OF LANKHMAR includes the first four volumes of the hugely enjoyable Swords series.

After their legendary adventures in the northern wastes and beyond, Fafhrd, the giant barbarian warrior, and the Gray Mouser, master thief, novice wizard and expert swordsman, are back home in Lankhmar again, and looking for an easy time. But Lankhmar is under attack from a strange horde of invaders, including a two-headed dragon and an army of miniature wanderers ...Once those threats are seen off, a quest to the farthest reaches of Nehwon is in prospect. And then, in the last book of their adventures, Fafhrd goes sailing through the clouds, and the Mouser takes to the seas, before we finally bid a fond, if sad, farewell to Lankhmar.

THE SECOND BOOK OF LANKHMAR includes the last three volumes of the hugely enjoyable series.

Hugo and Nebula Award winning novella.

Back to back, eyeing their foes over the gleam of sharpened steel, stand the two greatest heroes ever to walk the world of Newhon: Fafhrd, the giant barbarian warrior from the Cold Waste; and the Gray Mouser, novice wizard, master thief and unparalleled swordsman. This is their story.

The story originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, April 1970. The story can also be found in the anthologies Nebula Award Stories Six (1971), edited by Clifford D. Simak, The Hugo Winners, Volume 3: (1970-75) (1977), edited by Isaac Asimov, Baker's Dozen: 13 Short Fantasy Novels (1984), edited by Charles G. Waugh, Martin H. Greenberg and Isaac Asimov, The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume IV (1986), edited by Terry Carr, and Swords Against Darkness (2017), edited by Paula Guran. It is half of Tor Double #19: Ill Met In Lankhmar/The Fair in Emain Macha (1990, with Charles de Lint) and is included in the collections Swords and Deviltry (1970), The Leiber Chronicles: Fifty Years of Fritz Leiber (1990), The First Book of Lankhmar (2001) and Fritz Leiber: Selected Stories (2010).

One of the most influential and critically acclaimed fantasy writers of all time, Fritz Leiber pioneered the sword-and-sorcery genre!

In the ancient city of Lankhmar, two men forge a friendship in battle. The red-haired barbarian Fafhrd left the snowy reaches of Nehwon looking for a new life while the Gray Mouser, apprentice magician, fled after finding his master dead. These bawdy brothers-in-arms cement a friendship that leads them through the wilds of Nehwon facing thieves, wizards, princesses and the depths of their desires and fears. Superb writing and brilliant, believable characterizations highlight the first entry in Leiber's seminal series.

Table of Contents:

• Induction - (1957)
• The Snow Women - (1970)
• The Unholy Grail - (1962)
• Ill Met in Lankhmar - (1970)

In the second installment of this rousing series, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser journey from the ancient city of Lankhmar, searching for a little adventure and debauchery to ease their broken hearts. When a stranger challenges them to find and fight Death on the Bleak Shore, they battle demonic birds, living mountains, and evil monks on the way to their heroic fate. Fritz Leiber's witty prose, lively plots and superb characterizations stand the test of time.

Table of Contents:

• Author's Foreword - essay by Fritz Leiber
• The Circle Curse - (1970)
• The Jewels in the Forest - (1970)
• Thieves' House - (1943)
• The Bleak Shore - (1940)
• The Howling Tower - (1941)
• The Sunken Land - (1942)
• The Seven Black Priests - (1953)
• Claws from the Night - (1951)
• The Price of Pain-Ease - (1970)
• Bazaar of the Bizarre - (1963)

Lean times in Lankhmar force brothers-in-arms Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser to part ways. Only after a joust of wits and swords do the friends join together again, stealing the ship the Black Treasurer and sailing round and through The Claws. Fighting sea kings, curses and seven-eyed wizards, the pair set out on their heroic wanderings through the wilds of Nehwon.

Table of Contents:

• Times in Lankhmar - (1959)
• Their Mistress, the Sea - (1968)
• When the Sea-King's Away - (1960)
• The Wrong Branch - (1968)
• Adept's Gambit - (1947)

A plague of rats overrun Lankhmar, the capitol city and glittering gem of the land of Nehwon. Commissioned to guard a ship of grain from the cursed rodents, brother-in-arms Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser soon discover the plague has progressed to a fatal point. Mustering the strength of sorcery, they descend into the depths of Lankhmar and rise to battle in order to save the soul of the ill-fated city.

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser have traveled the width and breadth of the land of Nehwon in search of adventure and fortune. Now lost at sea, their ship drawn out on the Great Equatorial Current, their journey brings them to Rime Isle, a tragic island populated by vagabonds and wanderers. The island is also home to a race of gods, schemers, and manipulators that plague the humans for their amusement. Will Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser be able to escape the island, or be trapped forever as pawns of the gods?

Table of Contents:

• The Sadness of the Executioner - (1973)
• Beauty and the Beasts - (1974)
• Trapped in the Shadowland - (1973)
• The Bait - (1973)
• Under the Thumbs of the Gods - (1975)
• Trapped in the Sea of Stars - (1975)
• The Frost Monstreme - (1976)
• Rime Isle - (1977)

Dark Horse's republication of Fritz Leiber's immortal tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser reach a turning point with this new edition of Leiber's final stories of the two intrepid adventurers. Their journeys have taken them from one side of Nehwon to the other, facing life-risking peril at every turn.

Now, in a set of stories that show us Fafhrd and the Mouser both on their own and together, they will face some of their most challenging obstacles, and - against assassins, angry gods, and even Death himself - the duo must battle for their very lives.

With a mixture of high adventure, moving drama, and broad comedy, The Knight and Knave of Swords is a perfect endpiece to Leiber's stories of the stalwart comrades, and sets the stage for all-new adventures in the next volume, by renowned fantasy author Robin Wayne Bailey.

Table of Contents:

• Sea Magic - (1977)
• The Mer She - (1978)
• The Curse of the Smalls and the Stars - (1983)
• The Mouser Goes Below - (1988)

When an injury throws a young, battle-hungry orc off her chosen path, she may find that what we need isn't always what we seek.

A journey of high fantasy, first loves, and second-hand books.

Viv's career with the notorious mercenary company Rackam's Ravens isn't going as planned.

Wounded during the hunt for a powerful necromancer, she's packed off against her will to recuperate in the sleepy beach town of Murk?so far from the action that she worries she'll never be able to return to it.

What's a thwarted soldier of fortune to do?

Spending her hours at a beleaguered bookshop in the company of its foul-mouthed proprietor is the last thing Viv would have predicted, but it may be both exactly what she needs and the seed of changes she couldn't possibly imagine.

Still, adventure isn't all that far away. A suspicious traveler in gray, a gnome with a chip on her shoulder, a summer fling, and an improbable number of skeletons prove Murk to be more eventful than Viv could have ever expected.

Since time immemorial, humans have worshipped the gods they call Fhrey, truly a race apart: invincible in battle, masters of magic, and seemingly immortal. But when a god falls to a human blade, the balance of power between men and those they thought were gods changes forever. Now, only a few stand between humankind and annihilation: Raithe, reluctant to embrace his destiny as the God Killer. Suri, a young seer burdened by signs of impending doom. And Persephone, who must overcome personal tragedy to lead her people.

The Age of Myth is over; the time of rebellion has begun.

Death cannot separate them.

For those who believe that death is the end, an unbroken rest and peace, here is the wake-up call. For those who believed that the defeat of the demons had finally secured peace for Balaia, here is an enemy far more deadly, far more ruthless and far, far colder.

The Garonin: dimensional travelers seeking new worlds to rape of the element of magical power. Technologically advanced in weaponry and armor, and facing only swords and magic, they are destroying everything in their path.

Surely this is not a battle The Raven can win, even with allies both elven and dragon. But prevail they must, somehow. One thing we know for sure is that they will not subside meekly into the void.

For aficionados of The Raven, this is the ultimate challenge. It cuts to the very heart —from calls beyond the veil of death, to dissension in their ranks, to the greed of men who cannot see they are about to die, to betrayal by one they loved. But above it all, the heroism and selfless sacrifice displayed will bring tears to the eyes of even the most hardened fantasy reader.

This is The Raven, older, wiser, some returned from the grave. Grieving they seek nothing but rest from conflict, something the world will not grant them. But they remain The Raven, still answering when the call comes, still the force most likely to survive and bring the world with them, and still willing to die so that those they love can live.

The Elder Isles, located in what is now the Bay of Biscay off the the coast of Old Gaul, are made up of ten contending kingdoms, all vying with each other for control. At the centre of much of the intrigue is Casmir, the ruthless and ambitious king of Lyonnesse. His beautiful but otherworldly daughter, Suldrun, is part of his plans. He intends to cement an alliance or two by marrying her well. But Suldrun is as determined as he and defies him. Casmir coldly confines her to the overgrown garden that she loves to frequent, and it is here that meets her love and her tragedy unfolds.

Political intrigue, magic, war, adventure and romance are interwoven in a rich and sweeping tale set in a brilliantly realized fabled land.

In Lyonesse II: The Green Pearl the magical lands of high enchantment - the Elder Isles, the land, long-vanished beneath the ocean, from which King Arthur's ancestors fled to Britain - come to brilliant life again. In this ancient land the realm of chivalry and the world of faerie exist side by side and it is a place of strange beauty, high adventure and eerie magic. Warring kings renew their conflicts, opposing magicians devise ever more strange and sinister stratagems and Madouc, ostensibly the daughter of the ill-fated Princess Suldrun but in reality a changeling, becomes embroiled in political rivalries, military adventures - and the quest for the Grail.

Set in the magical world of the Elder Isles, this novel describes the adventures of Madouc, ostensibly the daughter of the ill-fated Princess Suldrun, but really the daughter of a faerie. This is the third volume in the "Lyonesse" saga.

Hugo and Nebula Award nominated short story. It originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, April 1969. The story can also be found in the anthologies Nebula Award Stories Five (1970), edited by James Blish, and The Magic May Return (1981), edited by Larry Niven. It is included in the collections All the Myriad Ways (1971) and The Best of Larry Niven (2010).

In Osten Ard, the evil of the Storm King covers the land and the country is riven by war. Nature, unbalanced by the tide of evil, slips into a permanent winter. Simon, once a kitchen boy, now a hero hiding in the troll stronghold of Yiquanuc, has prophetic dreams. Only he and his companions can save the land, but to do this he must embark on the second part of his quest ...to the Stone of Farewell.

Follow the adventures of Nifft the Lean, the master thief whose felonious appropriations and larcenous skills will lead you through Stygian realms to challenge your most lurid fantasies and errant imaginings. Places where horror, harm and long eerie calms flow past the traveller in endless, unpredictable succession.

Travel with the man whose long, rawboned, sticky fingers and stark length of arm will lead you down to the vermiculous grottoes of the demon sea, to stand beneath the subworld's lurid sky and battle monsters who seem the spiritual distillations of human evil itself!

We invite you to the very gates of Hell and beyond - come if you dare!

A showman, spy, thief—Seregil gathers intelligence information for the Queen about the threat of war by Plenimar. During one of his missions, he discovers an orphan lad and takes him on as an apprentice. When a mission goes awry, leaving Seregil in a coma, it falls to Alec to get his mentor to safety in order to avert a sinister plot of epic proportios.

Seregil of Rhiminee and his companion, Alec of Kerry, attempt to save their land from an ancient evil, as Alec learns the shocking truth about his own shadowed heritage and he, Seregil, and a group of loyal companions are thrown into a deadly conflict with the ultimate evil.

Seregil and Alec have spent the last two years in self-imposed exile, far from their adopted homeland, Skala, and the bitter memories there. But their time of peace is shattered by a desperate summons from Queen Idrilain, asking them to aid her daughter on a mission to Aurenen, the very land from which Seregil was exiled in his youth.

With their most treacherous mission yet behind them, heroes Seregil and Alec resume their double life as dissolute nobles and master spies. But in a world of rivals and charmers, fate has a different plan.…

After their victory in Aurënen, Alec and Seregil have returned home to Rhíminee. But with most of their allies dead or exiled, it is difficult for them to settle in. Hoping for diversion, they accept an assignment that will take them back to Seregil's homeland. En route, however, they are ambushed and separated, and both are sold into slavery. Clinging to life, Seregil is sustained only by the hope that Alec is alive.

But it is not Alec's life his strange master wants—it is his blood. For his unique lineage is capable of producing a rare treasure, but only through a harrowing process that will test him body and soul and unwittingly entangle him and Seregil in the realm of alchemists and madmen—and an enigmatic creature that may hold their very destiny in its inhuman hands…. But will it prove to be savior or monster?

When humans arrived on Maras Mantia, home of dwarves, elves, and all the other old races, they raped the land of its soul and magic. And, now the Orcs, whom Earthlings hunted down and slaughtered like beasts of the field, may be the chosen creatures destined to win peace for all.

Oron the Nevgan walked among his fallen comrades, mercifully slashing throats and breaking open brains. He was a young man, this Oron, a young warrior, but his mien was that of a slayer of men. His young man's face was scarred and hardened with lines, his full beard was matted and coarse. The knotted hands that held so well the rough steel were stained and calloused; his eyes under somber brows were shadowed with a hundred crimson conflicts....

The rain beat at the hardened gore and mud. It ran in rivulets down stilled swords thrust in the earth, filling up the sockets of the open and eyes and mouths of the dead and dying warriors; scattered or contorted, singly or in heaps, they lay everywhere, men fallen on the field of battle, death the only reward for their bravery.

There was a time long past when he fought not for wealth or women, just for the pleasure of being Oron the warrior. But now he was civilized and wielded his sword for gold. Now he was in the employ of the one they called Amrik THE BULL MAN.

Akram, the wanderer, battles an ageless curse. He must slay the immortal sorceress, Nidyis, or be destroyed by her love.

He was Akram, The Wanderer

He spoke with a gutteural accent. He was tall, strongly built, rough-hewn-not a civilized man. His naked chest and dark face were grown thick with swarming balck hair; his teely black eyes burned with a sombre glare. His mouth was a hard line, matching his brow. His large hands were bruised and calloused-the hands of a fighter, a swordsman. His tattered breeches were of touch northern make, but his sword was noticeably the finist of the Neriam metal-smiths. He was a wanderer-nomore Neriam than he was Khomi.

She was Nidyis, The Sorceress

And she was beautiful. Her long and foamy hair letloose about her in teeming curls and glossy waves, down her round shoulders and long back, glistening darkly in the torchlight and starlight. Her lustrous dark eyes were shaded with kohl, and her full lips stained a shimmering wet crimson. About her naked throat was loosely draped a golden chain with ruby pendents. She wore a skirt of gossamor, falling languidly aorund her ripe hips. her voice was as husky and soft as a voice betraying whispered secrets.

Their Love Was Timeless --- Their Destinies to Destory Each Other...

YOU HAVE AN ENEMY, MOSUTHA!

Intrigued, the magus commanded the voice of the smoke "Tell me further, Spirit of Hell, who is this enemy?"

"He is the Blood of the Sword. He is a hero, born of the line of the First Hero. He is a wolf in the skin of a man; he is a god wrapped in human flesh."

"Tell me his name."

The smoke demon began to dissolve, then the barbaric sorcerer hurled more blood on the grate. "He is the son of the Aksakin, and he is called Oron!"

"It cannot be!" Mosutha went cold to his bowels. "Where is he now? How will I know of him?"

"You will know him when you face his sword, sorcerer. He hunts you, magician. But he can die. He will die!"

"Then I shall slay him. I shall use mysorcery and I shall slay this Wolf. I shall slay ORON."

Oron faces the Barbaric Chieftain Ogrum.

Heads Roll When Oron Hefts His Mighty Sword!

Contents:

The Fate of Diaru - Oron rescues a young woman involved in an arranged marriage against her will.

The Jewel for the Sorcerer's Daughter - Oron happens upon a couple battling over a mystical jewel that could save their daughter's life.

Red Tears - Oron's travels take him through a bandit ravaged village where the only survivors are women who fear for their lives.

The Seven-Pointed Star - Oron unwillingly battles alongside a group of sorcerer's set upon bringing death to a traitor of their ranks.

Death In Asakad - Oron is caught in the besieged city of Asakad and must decide which warring faction to ally with.

Quag Keep was the first novel based on the world of Dungeons & Dragons (Greyhawk edition) by the legendary grand mistress of SF/Fantasy, Andre Norton.

Once, they were role-playing gamers in our world. They came from different places and different backgrounds. Now they're summoned together by some magical force... to a land that mirrors the games they used to play.

Quag Keep. Can they band together to unlock the secret of their summoning--and rescue from the legendary Quag Keep the person who may be able to return them home?

Born into hardship, Dar learns to rely on herself alone. When her family betrays her, Dar is conscripted into King Kregant's army and its brutal campaign to conquer a neighboring country. Now she is bound as a slave to a dreaded regiment of orcs, creatures legendary for their savagery and battle prowess.

Rather than cower, Dar rises to the challenge. She learns the unique culture and language of the orcs, survives treachery from both allies and enemies, and struggles to understand a mystical gift that brings her dark, prophetic visions. As the war escalates--amid nightmarish combat and shattering loss--Dar must seize a single chance at freedom.

Enslaved by King Kregant's army, Dar survived by befriending the fierce orcs who were also forced to serve. Now she has escaped--only to find that the price of freedom may be her destiny.

Calling on her untried leadership abilities, Dar guides the surviving orc soldiers to the safety of their homeland--but the clan leaders refuse to accept her unless she can release their queen from Kregant's fortress. Shaken by her growing gift for dark prophecy and a fate she feels unprepared to accept, Dar must infiltrate the very heart of the despot's empire. There she will discover unexpected treachery and an ancient power that threatens the future of all.

In the virtual reality game Heir Apparent, there are way too many ways to get killed--and Giannine seems to be finding them all. Which is a darn shame, because unless she can get the magic ring, locate the stolen treasure, answer the dwarf's dumb riddles, impress the head-chopping statue, charm the army of ghosts, fend off the barbarians, and defeat the man-eating dragon, she'll never win.

And she has to, because losing means she'll die--for real this time.

Having a Save Point's not as Convenient as you'd think...

Subaru Natsuki was just trying to get a snack at the convenience store but wound up summoned to another world. He encounters the usual things--life-threatening situations, silver haired beauties, cat fairies--you know, normal stuff. All that would be bad enough, but he's also gained the most inconvenient magical ability ever--time travel, but he's got to die to use it. How do you repay someone who saved your life when all you can do is die?

The only ability Subaru Natsuki gets when he's summoned to another world is time travel via his own death. But to save her, he'll die as many times as it takes.

This time, Repeating Death might not be enough...

Breaking free of his death loop in the royal capital, Subaru awakes in an opulent mansion, being tended to by the twin maids Ram and Rem. After sustaining terrible injuries, he has been taken to the home of the Provincial Lord Roswaal L. Mathers, Emilia's guardian. Subaru quickly comes to know the eccentric Lord of the manor, the inseperable twin maids, and the mysterious, childlike librarian, Beatrice. Their quiet, peaceful days abruptly end as another cycle of death begins! Subaru is the only one who remembers the time he's spent with the people he cares about, but will he be able to save them?

The only ability Subaru Natsuki gets when he's summoned to another world is time travel via his own death. But to save her, he'll die as many times as it takes.

The Best Ending Need a Perfect Play-Through...

After doing the unthinkable to get one more chance, Subaru wakes up in an all to familiar guest room. He knows exactly what he needs to do to survive--and make sure everyone else does, too. With no room for mistakes, Subaru is desperate to put on a perfect performance. But just when he needs to hold it together, his mental trauma pushes him to the edge. Subaru is trying to hang on until he can save everyone...but who will save Subaru?

The only ability Subaru Natsuki gets when he's summoned to another world is time travel via his own death. But to save her, he'll die as many times as it takes.

Death isn't the Only Way to Lose Progress...

At long last, Subaru can finally enjoy a breather...until an envoy visits to discuss the royal selection. Determined to help Emilia win the throne, Subaru accompanies her to the capital, but Emilia herself stubbornly refuses his assistance. As the tension grows between the royal candidates, so does the friction in the pair's relationship. Has Subaru's devotion gone to far?

The only ability Subaru Natsuki gets when he's summoned to another world is time travel via his own death. But to save her, he'll die as many times as it takes.

Even a Save Point might not be Enough to Fix This...

Subaru has really made a mess of things this time. After getting into a fight with the girl of his dreams, Subaru is stuck in the Karsten estate with Rem while Emilia heads home without him. Consumed by a sense of powerlessness, he spends his time desperately training--all the while wondering, "What's the Point?" Is there any reason for him to struggle at all? But while he grapples with his inner demons, the Witch Cult may no longer be content to sit back...

The only ability Subaru Natsuki gets when he's summoned to another world is time travel via his own death. But to save her, he'll die as many times as it takes.

Resets aren't a Promise Things Will get Better...

After suffering terribly at the hands of Petelgeuse, the Archbishop of Sloth, Subaru has returned once more to the capital with his ability, Return by Death. Swearing revenge, he'll need to find allies and borrow their strength to strike back at the Witch Cult and save Emilia. But how will he manage that when he has nothing to offer, powerless as he is...?

The only ability Subaru Natsuki gets when he's summoned to another world is time travel via his own death. But to save her, he'll die as many times as it takes.

Every Failed Save is Another Change to Make a Comeback...

Dying helplessly time and again has broken Subaru Natsuki's spirit, but Rem's words gave him the strength to stand up once more. Now, using what he has learned thanks to Return by Death, Subaru drags royal candidates Crusch and Anastasia into a desperate hunt for the White Whale in order to save Emilia. Many have gathered to defeat the Demon Beast of Mist, which has plagued the world for more then four centuries, including the beast-man mercenary group Iron Fangs, seasoned veterns yearning for vengeance, and a certain Sword Devil who is overjoyed that this moment has finally come...

The only ability Subaru Natsuki gets when he's summoned to another world is time travel via his own death. But to save her, he'll die as many times as it takes.

SAVE POINTS ARE NO EXCUSE FOR SLOTH...

The harrowing battle against the White Whale has finally been won, meaning Sabaru can focus on returning to the Mathers domain. This time, with soldiers from the expeditionary force as well as Julius at his back, he is ready to fight the Witch Cult raiders who are under the command of the Archbishop of Sloth, Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti! In order to thwart the madman's plot to inflict unspeakable tragedy upon the Lady Emilia and eveyone else Sabaru cares about, Subaru uses what little he had learned from Return-by-Death. Realizing that he can't save them alone, Sabaru will beg, plead, and cooperate with whomever it takes to defy fate itself!

The only ability Subaru Natsuki gets when he's summoned to another world is time travel via his own death. But to save her, he'll die as many times as it takes.

Having lost his deadly duel with Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti, Subaru Natsuki goes back in time once more.

Subaru returns to the world and, yet to shake off the effects of the ferocious battle, works with his allies to weave a new strategy - all to foil the wicked plans of the body-hopping Bishop of the Deadly Sins.

Emilia, remaining behind in Roswaal Manor, also realizes that something lurks in the vicinity of the mansion. She urges the populace to take refuge, but the circumstances of her birth prove to be a wall she is helpless to overcome. Yet the arrival of the "Sword Devil" offers her a ray of hope-

"If you tell me ten things you hate about yourself, I'll tell you twelve that I love about you."

The ninth volume of the popular web novel, a tale of encounters and farewells. The third arc, Return to the Capital, reaches its conclusion-!!

The only ability Subaru Natsuki gets when he's summoned to another world is time travel via his own death. But to save her, he'll die as many times as it takes.

The times may change, but the legends of adventuring never will!

With the Witch Cult and the Archbishop of Sloth defeated, Subaru Natsuki is finally reunited with Emilia. Overcoming their bitter parting, the two manage to reconcile only for new troubles to take center stage. Even though the coast is now clear, half of the villagers who escaped have yet to return. Hoping to meet up with Roswaal, Ram, and the missing residents of Earlham, Subaru and the others head toward the Sanctuary. Waiting for them inside are the unwelcoming inhabitants of the Sanctuary and a very suspiciously amused Roswaal. Though Subaru tries his best to find a way to bring everyone home, when past and present collide, he'll come face-to-face with a Witch who lives in his dreams!

The only ability Subaru Natsuki gets when he's summoned to another world is time travel via his own death. But to save her, he'll die as many times as it takes.

Searching for even the slightest clue on how to escape the barrier of Sanctuary, Subaru must rely on Return from Death once more! Beginning the loop again, he must find the courage to face Elza, the terrifying assassin obsessed with gouging out the innards of her targets-and the first person to kill Subaru! The greatest challenge he'll have to face isn't knives or swords, but confusion when events play out completely differently from his last life!

The only ability Subaru Natsuki gets when he's summoned to another world is time travel via his own death. But to save her, he'll die as many times as it takes.

It seems no matter how many times Subaru returns to Sanctuary using his ability Return by Death, nothing ever goes the same way twice. Unexpected things keep happening, and the truth he learns threatens to crush him. He'll have to get back up if the world is to have any hope of avoiding the impending whiteout...

The only ability Subaru Natsuki gets when he's summoned to another world is time travel via his own death. But to save her, he'll die as many times as it takes.

Having caught a glimpse of the hellish future that might await him, Subaru braces himself for a second trial that has taken a strange form! Surrounding him are six witches, each bearing the name of a terrible sin, and the final witch who destroyed them all has finally arrived as well...

The only ability Subaru Natsuki gets when he's summoned to another world is time travel via his own death. But to save her, he'll die as many times as it takes.

After settling things with Garfiel and bringing him onto their side, Subaru and his dearest friends prepare for the next challenges they must overcome. Emilia challenges the tomb's Trial once more to confront her painful past while one of the Ryuzu clones recounts how the Sanctuary came to be, recalling the history of this fateful place.

The only ability Subaru Natsuki gets when he's summoned to another world is time travel via his own death. But to save her, he'll die as many times as it takes.

THIS IS WHAT IT TAKES TO BE EMILIA'S KNIGHT!

Bestial roars echo across Roswaal Manor as Elsa and Garfiel finally collide. Leaving this dire foe to his dependable ally, Subaru has his long-awaited reunion with Beatrice. Whether she'll listen to him this time is still anyone's guess. Meanwhile, Emilia forges ahead in the Trials and confronts the unknowable present: a world portraying impossible happiness filled with the blessings of the Witch. With his friends scattered across the map and exotic demon beasts closing in, it's up to Subaru to cut open a path to the future for them all--no exceptions and no one left behind!

The only ability Subaru Natsuki gets when he's summoned to another world is time travel via his own death. But to save her, he'll die as many times as it takes.

One year after the battle in the Sanctuary, a message arrives from Anastasia-an invitation for Emilia and her supporters to visit the city of Priestella. There, they will meet many familiar faces and see many amazing sights. As they take in the sights and rekindle old friendships, malevolent forces lurk behind the scenes. What new tragedy does fate have in store for them?

The only ability Subaru Natsuki gets when he's summoned to another world is time travel via his own death. But to save her, he'll die as many times as it takes.

TIME ATTACK CHALLENGE!

Pristella is minutes away from disaster, and Subaru is the only one who has any idea what's coming. Sirius, the Archibishop of Wrath, has an insidious power and is more than willing to use it to commit an act of terror in the name of love. To have any hope of saving the city's residents, Subaru will first need to figure out how to handle the shortest time limit Return by Death has ever given him. Will his powerful allies and newfound skills be enough to keep the Water Gate City safe from the catastrophe that's about to come knocking?

The only ability Subaru Natsuki gets when he's summoned to another world is time travel via his own death. But to save her, he'll die as many times as it takes.

After Subaru and his friends fail to retake city hall, the Water Gate City of Pristella is hit by a deluge of muddy water. Though Subaru vows to turn the tide, the Witch Cult's Archbishops continue to plunge the city deeper into chaos, calling forth otherworldly beasts to sow madness and terror. With his allies scattered, Subaru bets it all on a gambit that could reverse his fortunes in one fell swoop!

The only ability Subaru Natsuki gets when he's summoned to another world is time travel via his own death. But to save her, he'll die as many times as it takes.

In order to reclaim their city from enemy forces, the royal selection candidates and the knights finally face off against the Witch Cult Archbishop! Meanwhile, Subaru and Reinhardt crash the worst wedding ever to rescue Emilia from the clutches of Regulus, Archbishop of Greed. But will this tag team consisting of the weakest and strongest knights in the kingdom be enough to topple their "invincible" opponent?

THIS FIGHT IS JUST GETTING STARTED!

The only ability Subaru Natsuki gets when he's summoned to another world is time travel via his own death. But to save her, he'll die as many times as it takes.

Despite terrible odds, the Archbishop of Greed and the Archbishop of Wrath have been defeated. Still, the battle for Pristella rages on! The unending hunger of Gluttony, the insatiable desire of Lust, the unquenchable fighting spirit of Eight-Arms Kurgan, and the never-ending karma of the former Sword Saint all threaten the peace of the city. Sparks fly as Sabaru and his freinds continue the fight beneath the silvery moon. Their hope to turn things around may lie in an old vow, a promise with a friend and the Astrea family!

The only ability Subaru Natsuki gets when he's summoned to another world is time travel via his own death. But to save her, he'll die as many times as it takes.

The Witch Cult has finally been driven from the Water Gate City, but the turbulent events have left deep scars. Far too many people have even been robbed of their very identities. In order to save them, Subaru and his friends set off on a dangerous journey to the Pleaides Watchtower. To get there, they will need to cross the Auguria Sand Dunes, home to vicious demon beasts of every kind. But they have nothing to fear with their companions the Demon Beast Master, the twin sisters Ram and Rem, and the Finest of Knights Julius... right?

The only ability Subaru Natsuki gets when he's summoned to another world is time travel via his own death. But to save her, he'll die as many times as it takes.

WHEN WILL THE EXAMS END?

Subaru makes history with his friends after reaching the unreachable tower deep in an unpassable land that even Reinhard finds inhospitable. Waiting for them is a Sage who is quite different from all the stories... not to mention several tests set up centuries earlier to judge the worthiness of visitors seeking the untold knowledge resting within the tower. If they pass, access to the hidden wisdom of the legendary Sage may help them find a way to save Rem and the other victims of the Witch Cult. Fail... and they might not leave alive...

The only ability Subaru Natsuki gets when he's summoned to another world is time travel via his own death. But to save her, he'll die as many times as it takes.

The trials in the Pleiades Watchtower are underway! The promise of untold knowledge and maybe a way to save their friends is what brought Subaru's party here and though they have had some initial success, they're currently stuck, unsure how they can get past Reid Astrea, the legend himself. And if that wasn't enough trouble, Subaru might have finally lost... his memories?!

The only ability Subaru Natsuki gets when he's summoned to another world is time travel via his own death. But to save her, he'll die as many times as it takes.

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES...

Subaru has forgotten almost everything that happened since he first came to this strange new world, and he still has no idea why. The only thing he knows for sure is that if he doesn't figure out what's going on soon, he and his friends are going to die horribly in this danger-filled tower. There are hungry archbishops, a living legend, and even a giant scorpion skulking around. Worse, they still haven't made any progress with the examination. Subaru's only hope may be in the Taygeta archive, where the memories of untold millions lie within the books of the dead...

The bestselling series from author Tappei Nagatsuki continues in this spin-off where some of your favorite characters capture the spotlight!

THEIR DREAM FOR THE FUTURE WAS BORN LONG AGO...

During the royal selection, Duchess Crusch Karsten declares her plans for the Dragonfriend Kingdom of Lugunica: to destroy the covenant with the Dragon and rebuild the nation stronger than before. But where did her radical vision come from? Why does she want to change her country so badly? The answer lies in her past...

This collection of short stories chronicles Crusch's growth into a nobel Duchess vying for the crown, her vassal Ferris's struggles with knighthood and family, and their love for the warm-hearted young prince who inspired them both.

When a devil falls for an angel...

Long ago, a great war raged between the royal military of Lugunica and the demi-humans. On that battlefield, a noteworthy young warrior was born---Wilhelm Trias, dubbed the Sword Devil. But despite his skill with a blade, the boy would need to grow much more before he could become a true hero. This is the story of a legendary swordsman--and how he learned to love.

THE WAR IS OVER, BUT THE WEDDING IS JUST BEGINNING...

After overcoming more obstacles than any couple should have to endure, Wilhelm and Theresia can finally be together. The hopeful bride and groom soon discover, though, that wedded bliss comes with trials all its own. After a shaky ceremony and an overly crowded honeymoon, the Sword Devil and Sword Saint get to enjoy carefree days tackling mundane headaches and the impositions of their loved ones-but true danger lurks around the corner when the world cries out for the devil of the sword once more!

Murder in the empire means war for the Kingdom of Lugunica!

While Julius, Reinhard, and Ferris are on a diplomatic mission to secure a peace treaty, a Volakian general winds up dead. All fingers point to...the Sword Saint? The three knights find themselves on the run and abduct the ruler of the Empire himself, Vincent Volakia. Their only hope is to stay alive long enough to uncover the real culprit behind the killing. With the famous Nine Divine Generals after them, however, that might be easier said than done!

In the Sacred Empire of Vollachia, largest of the Four Great Nations, the strong rise to the top and the weak sink to the bottom. No one is exempt from this ironclad mandate--not even the Emperor. Prisca Benedict, a discerning member of the Vollachian royal family, is still but a child when she is thrust into the Emperor Selection Ceremony to determine her father's successor. Now, she must face off against her own siblings in a battle for the crown... where only one of them can make it out alive.

The fiercest herioine of the Hyborian kingdoms battles dark sorceries and her own dark soul.

She lived in a savage world in an uncivilized age-a world ruled by men and governed by the sword. They called her Red Sonja-for her flame-red hair, for the smouldering fire of her pride which gave her sword-arm strength that few men could match and none had ever defeated.

The fiercest heroine of the Hyborian kingdoms, caught in a web of sorcery by her own doom-laden distiny...

She lived in a savage world in an uncivilized age - a world ruled by men and governed by the sword. They called her Red Sonja - for her flame red hair and the smoldering fire of her pride.

Falsely charged with the murder of a commander to whom she had sworn allegiance, Red Sonja must flee or be killed without a chance to clear her name. Deep in the desert she encounters the city of Elkad, and, exhausted, seeks shelter there. She enters the city against her better judgment, for hanging before the gates are the shriveling bodies of six young women, clearly the victims of some blood-thirsty ritual.....

Armed with only a sword and her untamed spirit, she went against the flames of hell itself!

She lived in a savage world in an uncivilized age-a wovid ruled by man and governed by the sword. They called her Red Sonja - for her flame-red hair, for the smouldering fire of her pride which gave her sword arm a strength few men could match and none had ever defeated.

In the very land where Conan the Cimmerian wields his powerful blade, this beautiful and deadly warrior-maid battles dark sorceries... and her own dark soul. On the prison Isle of Os Harku, where the sweepings of Aquilonian society are thrown-traitors, murderers, thieves, and those whose crimes are too terrible to name-a dark force lies entrapped that feeds on the evil of the men around it An ancient demon, the life force of one of Hell's own, it snares Athu, a vena! Shemite sorcerer, and drives him to attempt escape from the Isle, and to quest for the entrance to Hell. With the aid of a sorcerous storm, the prisoners of Os Haiku take a ship, and make their escape. But on that ship is the flame-haired woman warrior, the only Aquilonian brave enough, or bitter enough, to try to stand between a demon and the gates of Hell.

From the barbaric lands where Conan roams comes a warrior even he cannot best...

She lived in a savage world in an uncivilized age-aworld ruled by men and voerned by the sword. They called her Red Sonja-for her flame-red hair, for the smoldering fire of the pride which gave her sword arm a strength noman had ever defeated.

In Shadizar, however, her greatest enemies are not men. One is not even human. Sonja in drawn into a web of intrigue, pitting her wits against two of the most deadly creature on earth: an ancient vampire, and a woman burning with a desire for vengence.

From Robert E. Howard's savage Hyborian Kingdom comes a mercenary who is as beautiful as she is deadly...

She lived in a savage world in an uncivilized age, a world ruled by men and governed by the sword. They called her Red Sonja--for her flame-red hair, for the smouldering fire of her pride which gave her sword arm a strength few men could match and none had ever defeated.

In the very lands where Conan the Cimmerian roams, this dangerous warrior-maid pits herself against a power-mad wizard who rules a city poised precariously above the door to the Seven Hells...

She lived in a world ruled by soldiers and sorcerers, and she was more than a match for any of them...

From the savage, sorcery-ridden lands of the Hyborian Kingdoms comes a warrior as beautiful as she is deadly. They call her Red Sonja-for her flame-red hair, for the smouldering fire of her pride which gives her sword arm a strength that even the barbarian known as Conan cannot best.

Many there are who have sought to bring her down-with steel, with treachery, with the arts of balck magic. But now she faces an enemy armed with the most dangerious weapon of them all... love.

The sound of the horn pierces the apeiron, shattering the stillness of that realm. Its clarion call creates ripples, substance, something more. It is a summons, a command. There is will. There is need. And so, in reply, there is a woman.

At the beginning -- no -- at the end -- she appears, full of fury and bound by chains of prophecy.

Setting off on an unexplained quest from which she is compelled to complete, and facing unnatural challenges in a land that doesn't seem to exist, she will discover the secrets of herself, or die trying. But along the way, the obstacles will grow to a seemingly insurmountable point, and the final choice will be the biggest sacrifice yet.

This is the story of a woman's struggle against her very existence, an epic tale of the adventure and emotional upheaval on the way to face an ancient enigmatic foe. This could only spun from the imagination of Marie Brennan, award-winning author and beloved fantasist, beginning a new series about the consequences of war -- and of fate.

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?

The enemies of the land of Gramarye plot to overtake the land by tempting the clergy with visions of power that will lead to war against the throne, and warlock Rod Gallowglass must stop them or burn at the stake for his failure.

When Warlock's young son, Magnus, embarks on his own adventurous journeys around the world, Warlock cannot resist following him, but when Magnus is faced with danger and the responsibilities of growing up, he is on his own.

THE FINAL ADVENTURE IN THE PHENOMENAL SERIES After an incredible 35-year run, the story of Ron Gallowglass--The Warlock in Spite of Himself--comes to its fantastic finale in the weird and wonderful world of GramaryeWhen Gwendolyn--the witch-wife of Rod Gallowglass, the Lord High Warlock of Gramarye--suddenly dies, she leaves behind a husband dangerously unhinged by grief and a land without a Protector.

When Gwendolyn--the witch-wife of Rod Gallowglass, the Lord High Warlock of Gramarye--suddenly dies, she leaves behind a husband dangerously unhinged by grief and a land without a Protector.

Four decades of peace have done little to ease the mistrust between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd. Folding themselves into human shape, dragons attend court as ambassadors, and lend their rational, mathematical minds to universities as scholars and teachers. As the treaty's anniversary draws near, however, tensions are high.

Seraphina Dombegh has reason to fear both sides. An unusually gifted musician, she joins the court just as a member of the royal family is murdered-in suspiciously draconian fashion. Seraphina is drawn into the investigation, partnering with the captain of the Queen's Guard, the dangerously perceptive Prince Lucian Kiggs. While they begin to uncover hints of a sinister plot to destroy the peace, Seraphina struggles to protect her own secret, the secret behind her musical gift, one so terrible that its discovery could mean her very life.

The kingdom of Goredd: a world where humans and dragons share life with an uneasy balance, and those few who are both human and dragon must hide the truth. Seraphina is one of these, part girl, part dragon, who is reluctantly drawn into the politics of her world. When war breaks out between the dragons and humans, she must travel the lands to find those like herself--for she has an inexplicable connection to all of them, and together they will be able to fight the dragons in powerful, magical ways.

As Seraphina gathers this motley crew, she is pursued by humans who want to stop her. But the most terrifying is another half dragon, who can creep into people's minds and take them over. Until now, Seraphina has kept her mind safe from intruders, but that also means she's held back her own gift. It is time to make a choice: Cling to the safety of her old life, or embrace a powerful new destiny?

The long-awaited companion to New York Times bestsellers Graceling and Fire

Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck's reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle--disguised and alone--to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past.

Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck's reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn't yet identified, holds a key to her heart.

In the holy city of Othir, treachery and corruption lurk at the end of every street, just the place for a freelance assassin with no loyalties and few scruples.

Caim makes his living on the edge of a blade, but when a routine job goes south, he is thrust into the middle of an insidious plot. Pitted against crooked lawmen, rival killers, and sorcery from the Other Side, his only allies are Josephine, the socialite daughter of his last victim, and Kit, a guardian spirit no one else can see. But in this fight for his life, Caim only trusts his knives and his instincts, but they won't be enough when his quest for justice leads him from Othir's hazardous back alleys to its shining corridors of power. To unmask a conspiracy at the heart of the empire, he must claim his birthright as the Shadow's Son . . .

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.

All is in turmoil as the world moves towards war. In Solarno, the spies watch each other and ready their knives, while Myna sees the troops muster at its border and emotions run high as it vows never to be enslaved again. In Collegium, the students argue

Living in peaceful Shady Vale, Shea Ohmsford knew little of the troubles that plagued the rest of the world. Then the giant, forbidding Allanon revaled that the supposedly dead Warlock Lord was plotting to destory the world. The sole weapon against this Power of Darkness was the Sword of Shannara, which could only be used by a true heir of Shannara--Shea being the last of the bloodline, upon whom all hope rested. Soon a Skull Bearer, dread minion of Evil, flew into the Vale, seeking to destroy Shea. To save the Vale, Shea fled, drawing the Skull Bearer after him....

Words are weapons.

Princess Skara has seen all she loved made blood and ashes. She is left with only words. But the right words can be as deadly as any blade. If she is to reclaim her birthright, she must conquer her fears and sharpen her wits to a lethal edge.

Only half a war is fought with swords.

The deeply cunning Father Yarvi has walked a long road from crippled slave to king's minister. He has made allies of old foes and stitched together an uneasy peace. But now the ruthless Grandmother Wexen has raised the greatest army since the elves made war on God, and put Bright Yilling at its head--a man who worships only Death.

Sometimes one must fight evil with evil.

Some--like Thorn Bathu and the sword-bearer Raith--are born to fight, perhaps to die. Others--like Brand the smith and Koll the wood-carver--would rather stand in the light. But when Mother War spreads her irons wings, she may cast the whole Shattered Sea into darkness.

Spellsinger (1983) is a fantasy novel written by Alan Dean Foster. The book follows the adventures of Jonathan Thomas Meriweather who is transported from our world into a land of talking animals and magic. It is the first in the Spellsinger series.

Clothahump, the wizard, is dying. All that can save him are rare medicinal powers to be found across the Glittergeist Ocean, past distant Snarken, Jon-Tom, the Spellsinger, sets out on the most perilous pilgrimage of his still-young career, armed with only his music-making duar and a reluctant Mudge, the otter, as his guide. Along the way he conjures up Roseroar, Amazonian tiger, rescues Jalwar, the ferret, and together they free Folly, the beauty, from bondage! Spellsinger and his motley crew press on, confronting a forest of Fungoid Frankensteins on the Muddletop Moors, a parrot pirate on the high seas, cannibal fairies in the enchanted canyon, and the evil wizard of Malderpot who poses the greatest challenge of all!

The Moment of the Magician (1984) is a fantasy novel written by Alan Dean Foster. The book follows the continuing adventures of Jonathan Thomas Meriweather who is transported from our world into a land of talking animals and magic. It is the fourth book in the Spellsinger series.

Devon Walker has one chance to turn her life around.

A half-wit ogre, a legion of overgrown jungle beasts, and a power-tripping AI are trying to stop her.

Relic Online is the hottest new game out there, and it's Devon Walker's best hope for escaping her hard-knock life. Thanks to her rocking achievements in other games, she's been hired as a salaried player. Even better, her new position comes with cutting-edge implants that turn RO's virtual reality into a full sensory explosion. Her only task? Drive the game's creator AI to the outermost limits of its creativity.

Sounds easy, right?

But when Devon logs in, her expectations shatter like an ice golem hit with a sonic blast. Wearing nothing but a cloth tunic and ragged pants, she spawns inside a ruined city overgrown by steamy jungle. With zero skills and nothing in her inventory but pocket lint, she immediately runs afoul of the city's guardian, a stone golem the size of an apartment building. The encounter does not go well.

And Relic Online is just getting started with her.

A giant telepathic parrot with a rather foul mouth, a horde of smelly goblins, and a tyrannical demon priestess...

Welcome to Devon Walker's "new normal."

During her first weeks in the deeply immersive VR game, Relic Online, she's hacked out a home from a choking jungle, gathered a tribe of loyal followers, and earned a wisp stalker who insists she's some kind of champion.

But Relic Online isn't some wussy kids' game, and there will be no easy-street cruising for Devon. Like a monk racking up combo points, the system opens a fresh offensive by crippling her most powerful ability. Following through, it strangles the village food supply, sends demons bursting through rifts in the earth, and delivers a final, devastating throat punch by exploiting Devon's worst fear.

The players have discovered Devon's home. Now everything changes.

Devon has faced off with half-mad zombie frogmen, a demon war priestess, and a thousand-year-old curse.

But can she survive another attempt to cook dinner?

You know, sometimes it would be nice to catch a break. Devon, a professional gamer, has a settlement to grow into a city, a character she'd love to focus on leveling, and some kitchen cabinets that really need restocking.

Unfortunately, the fate of the Relic Online game world is at stake, torn asunder by battling creator AIs. Demons rise through planar rifts, rampaging across the physical realm. The ancient city of Ishildar holds power that might turn the tide. If only Devon, the brave heroine chosen as the city's champion, could finish her epic quest line to gain control of the place.

The in-game events would be challenge enough if she weren't confronted with disasters in the real world. After a horrifying mountain bike crash, Devon's friend, Tamara, needs her support. Emerson, a programmer from the gaming company, can't unravel the troubling actions of the demonic AI, Zaa, without Devon's help.

And yeah, there's the little problem of a raid force of players coming to demolish Stonehaven, the only true home Devon has ever known.

No problem, right?

Gifted with courage, strength, and the intelligence to know when to fight, Sun Wolf is the greatest mercenary in a land overrun by war. With his first lieutenant, Starhawk - a woman more deadly than any man - at his side, he has laid waste to countless cities, taking the best of their treasures for himself, and distributing the rest among his bloodthirsty crew.

Then a woman comes to him, an emissary from the town of Mandrigyn, a lush port city recently sacked by a powerful, mad wizard of unmatched abilities. She offers Sun Wolf untold riches for the use of his army, but the captain is not fool enough to wage war against a magician. He refuses her offer, but that is not the end of it. The women of Mandrigyn can be very persuasive.

In the aftermath of the brutal murder of his father, a mysterious woman, Kahlan Amnell, appears in Richard Cypher's forest sanctuary seeking help ... and more. His world, his very beliefs, are shattered when ancient debts come due with thundering violence. In their darkest hour, hunted relentlessly, tormented by treachery and loss, Kahlan calls upon Richard to reach beyond his sword-- to invoke within himself something more noble. Neither knows that the rules of battle have just changed ... or that their time has run out. This is the beginning. One book. One Rule. Witness the birth of a legend.

A hugely-enjoyable adventure in classic sword and sorcery mode, from the New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Deceived and The Hammer and the Blade.

Egil and Nix have retired, as they always said they would. No, really -- they have! No more sword and hammer-play for them!

But when two recent acquaintances come calling for help, our hapless heroes find themselves up against the might of the entire Thieves Guild.

And when kidnapping the leader of the most powerful guild in the land seems like the best course of action, you know you're in over your head...

The new beginning - and the grand finale - to the beloved Tales of the Otori series.

Heaven's Net Is Wide is the new first volume of the now complete Tales of the Otori - prequel to Across the Nightingale Floor, the book that first introduced Hearn's mythical, medieval Japanese world. This is the story of Lord Otori Shigeru - who has presided over the entire series as a sort of spiritual warrior-godfather - the man who saved Takeo and raised him as his own and heir to the Otori clan. This sweeping novel expands on what has been only hinted at before: Shigeru's training in the ways of the warrior and feudal lord, his relationship with the Tribe of mysteriously powerful assassins, the battles that tested his skills and talents, and his fateful meeting with Lady Maruyama.

Heaven's Net Is Wide is an epic tale of warfare, loyalty, love, and heartbreak. This book leaves off where Across the Nightingale Floor begins, finally bringing the Otori series full circle. And while it both completes and introduces the Tales of the Otori, it also stands on its own as a satisfying, dramatic novel of feudal Japan.

In his black-walled fortress at Inuyama, the warlord Iida Sadamu surveys his famous nightingale floor. Constructed with exquisite skill, it sings at the tread of each human foot. No assassin can cross it unheard.

The youth Takeo has been brought up in a remote mountain village among the Hidden, a reclusive and spiritual people who have taught him only the ways of peace. But unbeknownst to him, his father was a celebrated assassin and a member of the Tribe, an ancient network of families with extraordinary, preternatural skills.

When Takeo's village is pillaged, he is rescued and adopted by the mysterious Lord Otori Shigeru. Under the tutelage of Shigeru, he learns that he too possesses the skills of the Tribe. And, with this knowledge, he embarks on a journey that will lead him across the famed nightingale floor - and to his own unimaginable destiny...

Book II of the internationally bestselling phenomenon Tales of the Otori trilogy, Grass for His Pillow returns us to a mythical, medieval Japan, in a story of clashing powers, divided loyalties, and passionate love played out on a dazzling landscape.

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, one of Book magazine's best novels of the year, and one of School Library Journal's Best Adult Books for High School Readers (2002), Across the Nightingale Floor was an international bestseller and critical success, named "the most compelling novel to have been published this year" by the Times (London). In this second tale, we return to the land of harsh beauty and deceptive appearances where we first met Takeo-the young orphan taken up by the Otori Lord and now a closely held member of the Tribe-and his beloved Shirakawa Kaede, heir to the Maruyama and alone in the world, who must find a way to unify the domain she has inherited.

In a complex social hierarchy, amid dissembling clans and fractured allegiances, there is no place for passionate young love. Yet Takeo and Kaede, drawing on their unusual talents and hidden strengths, must make their way in this tale of longing, ambition, and intrigue. Grass for His Pillow is a tantalizing next installment in a brilliantly imaginative and critically acclaimed series.

Set in an imagined medieval Japan, Book Three of the Tales of the Otori is a thrilling-and surprising-follow-up to the previous adventures of Takeo and Kaede. Taking us deeper into the complexities of the loyalties that bind the novel's characters at birth-the fates from which they cannot escape - Brilliance of the Moon goes beyond its transcendent storytelling in demonstrating how we are shaped by forces outside of our control and yet must forge our own destinies all the same.

A thoroughly gripping read, Brilliance of the Moon is also the most powerful novel in the series - a beautiful, haunting evocation of a time and a place just beyond the reach of an outside world.

A dazzling epic of warfare and sacrifice, passionate revenge, treacherous betrayal, and unconquerable love, The Harsh Cry of the Heron takes the storytelling achievement of Lian Hearn's fantastic medieval Japanese world to startling new heights of drama and action. Fifteen years of peace and prosperity under the rule of Lord Otori Takeo and his wife Kaede is threatened by a rogue network of assassins, the resurgence of old rivalries, the arrival of foreigners bearing new weapons and religion, and an unfulfilled prophecy that Lord Takeo will die at the hand of a member of his own family.

The Harsh Cry of the Heron is the rich and stirring finale to a series whose imaginative vision has enthralled millions of readers worldwide, and an extraordinary novel that stands as a thrilling achievement in its own right.

The debut novel from an extraordinarily talented twenty-five-year-old author. Fantasy's next global star has arrived.

Lenk can barely keep control of his mismatched adventurer band at the best of times (Gariath the dragon man sees humans as little more than prey, Kataria the Shict despises most humans, and the humans in the band are little better). When they're not insulting each other's religions they're arguing about pay and conditions. So when the ship they are travelling on is attacked by pirates things don't go very well. They go a whole lot worse when an invincible demon joins the fray. The demon steals the Tome of the Undergates - a manuscript that contains all you need to open the undergates. And whichever god you believe in you don't want the undergates open. On the other side are countless more invincible demons, the manifestation of all the evil of the gods, and they want out.

Full of razor-sharp wit, characters who leap off the page (and into trouble) and plunging the reader into a vivid world of adventure this is a fantasy that kicks off a series that could dominate the second decade of the century.

Before the events of Battlemage, the gruff and mysterious warrior known as Vargus has meant many things to many people over the course of his long life. But when he hears of mauled livestock and strange disappearances in the village of Morgan's Creek, he must once again take up the mantle of the Gath - the people's protector - before any more children go missing.

'I can command storms, summon fire and unmake stone,' Balfruss growled. 'It's dangerous to meddle with things you don't understand.'

BALFRUSS is a battlemage, sworn to fight and die for a country that fears his kind.
VARGUS is a common soldier - while mages shoot lightning from the walls of his city, he is down on the front line getting blood on his blade.
TALANDRA is a princess and spymaster, but the war will force her to risk everything, and make the greatest sacrifice of all.

The people of Perizzi have survived the battlemage war, but their future is looking darker than ever.

BYRNE is a Guardian of the Peace, investigating a series of murders in which the corpses were drained entirely of life.

FRAY's expertise with magic is needed to catch the killer, but working with the Guardians destroyed his father, years before.

CHOSS, renowned as a fighter, must work for peace, to diffuse a war in the underworld that threatens to turn the streets red with rivers of blood.

KATJA must use her skills as a spy to try to prevent a massacre that will topple two dynasties and destroy the fragile peace in the city for ever.

Guardians and spies, assassins and criminals will clash on the streets in this magic-fuelled adventure from the author of Battlemage.

Voechenkais a city under siege. Decimated by the Battlemage War, its dead now walk the city at night, attacking survivors, calling their names and begging the living to join them beyond the grave.

Tammy is a watchman sent to the city to investigate, so the ruling powers can decide whether to help Voechenka or leave it to its grisly fate.

Zannah is a pariah in Voechenka - making up for her people's war crimes by protecting refugees who fear her far more than they fear their unearthly attackers.

Balfruss is a scholar, a traveler... and the infamous mage who single-handedly ended the war.

No one else may enter or leave the city - so if this ragtag group of survivors can't figure out what is going on, they'll live out their last few, short days within its walls.

And night is coming on fast...

Clay Cooper and his band were once the best of the best, the most feared and renowned crew of mercenaries this side of the Heartwyld.

Their glory days long past, the mercs have grown apart and grown old, fat, drunk, or a combination of the three. Then an ex-bandmate turns up at Clay's door with a plea for help--the kind of mission that only the very brave or the very stupid would sign up for.

It's time to get the band back together.

Long ago, so the storyteller claimed, the evil God Torak sought dominion over all and drove the world to war. Now the one talisman keeping this sinister force from seizing power has been disturbed—and no one will be safe....

Raised on a quiet farm by his Aunt Pol, Garion spends his days lounging in his aunt’s warm kitchen and playing in the surrounding fields with his friends. He has never believed in magic, despite the presence of a cloaked, shadowless stranger who has haunted him from a distance for years. But one afternoon, the wise storyteller Wolf appears and urges Garion and his aunt to leave the farm that very night. Without understanding why, Garion is whisked away from the only home he has ever known—and thrown into dark and unfamiliar lands.

Thus begins an extraordinary quest to stop a reawakened evil from devouring all that is good. It is a journey that will lead Garion to discover his heritage and his future. For the magic that once seemed impossible to Garion is now his destiny.

The master Sorcerer Belgarath and his daughter Polgara the arch-Sorceress were on the trail of the Orb, seeking to regain its saving power before the final disaster prophesized by the legends. And with them went Garion, a simple farm boy only months before, but now the focus of the struggle. He had never believed in sorcery and wanted no part of it. Yet with every league they traveled, the power grew in him, forcing him to acts of wizardry he could not accept.

Ce'Nedra, Imperial Princess of Tolnedra, had joined a dangerous mission to recover the stolen Orb that supposedly protected the West from the evil God Torak. And somehow, she found herself feeling quite tender for Garion, the innocent farm boy, who would be forced into the strange tower in the center of all evil to retrieve the Orb by himself.

END OF THE QUEST

It had all begun with the theft of the Orb that had so long protected the West from the evil God Torak. Before that, Garion had been a simple farm boy. Afterward, he discovered that his aunt was really the Sorceress Polgara and his grandfather was Belgarath, the Eternal Man. Then, on the long quest to recover the Orb, Garion found to his dismay that he, too, was a sorcerer.

Now, at last, the Orb was regained and the quest was nearing its end. Of course, the questors still had to escape from this crumbling enemy fortress and flee across a desert filled with Murgo soldiers searching for them, while Grolim Hierarchs strove to destroy them with dark magic. Then, somehow, they must manage to be in Riva with the Orb by Erastide. After that, however, Garion was sure that his part in these great events would be finished.

But the Prophecy still held future surprises for Garion--and for the little princess Ce'Nedra.

THE DRIVE OF PROPHECY

The quest was over. The Orb of Aldur was restored. And once again, with the crowning of Garion, there was a descendant of Riva Iron-grip to rule as Overlord of the West.

But the Prophecy was unfulfilled. In the east, the evil God Torak was about to awaken and seek dominion. Somehow, Garion had to face the God, to kill or be killed. On the outcome of that dread duel rested the destiny of the world. Now, accompanied by his grandfather, the ancient sorcerer Belgarath, Garion headed toward the City of Endless Night, where Torak awaited him.

To the south, his fiancée, the princess Ce'Nedra, led the armies of the West in a desperate effort to divert the forces of Torak's followers from the man she loved.

The Prophecy drove Garion on. But it gave no answer to the question that haunted him: How does a man kill an immortal God?

For centuries after a devastating battle between the immortals, humanity has been protected from the Chaos realm by an invisible barrier known as the Legacy.

But sealed behind the weakening barrier, the traitor Daemron makes one last, desperate bid for freedom: he casts his most deadly spell and curses four unsuspecting children.

Born under the Blood Moon, they are destined to wield Daemron's talismans of power, to either save the barrier - or bring it crashing down...

Beset on all sides by mortal and supernatural enemies, The Children of Fire - four mortals touched by the power of Chaos - are in search of the Talismans that can put a stop to an ancient enemy of the Gods.

But in doing so, they unleash a flood of Chaos magic on the land - leaving death, destruction and a vengeful queen in their wake...

The Legacy, a magical barrier protecting humanity from Chaos, has crumbled.

Four unlikely champions, each touched with Chaos magic at birth, are all that can stop the return of Daemron the Slayer. Armed with the Talismans of power the four champions, the Children of Fire, must find the Keystone, a fabled place where, or so it is said, the Legacy can be restored.

But even the noblest heart can be twisted by the tainted magic of Chaos...

Amber is the one real world, of which all others including our own Earth are but Shadows. Amber burns in Corwin's blood. Exiled on Shadow Earth for centuries, the prince is about to return to Amber to make a mad and desperate rush upon the throne.

From Arden to the Pattern deep in Castle Amber which defines the very structure of Reality, Corwin must contend with the powers of his eight immortal brothers, all Princes of Amber. His savage path is blocked and guarded by eerie structures beyond imagining impossible realities forged by demonic assassins and staggering Forces that challenge the might of Corwin's superhuman fury.

Seeking vengeance against his usurping brother, Eric, Corwin, the rightful heir to the throne, ventures into the dark world of Shadow in order to gather ammunition, and is distracted by a beautiful and mysterious woman.

In the continuation of the Amber chronicles, Corwin, Prince of Amber, exiled to Earth because of an ancient feud with his brothers, must battle his way back to the perfect world of Amber, the center of reality.

Merle Corey escapes from prison into Amber, a world of wonders and confusions where friends and foes are sometimes indistinguishable, where a man is out to kill him and a woman to help him.

Merle Corey, son of the great Prince Corwin of Amber, has been pursued through shadow by unknown enemies and left trapped in an Alice in Wonderland world - a bar with the Mad Hatter serving and the Cheshire Cat grinning malevolently. In a dramatic escape from a monstrous Jabberwock, Merle embarks upon a fantastic adventure, leading him back to the Court of Amber and finally to a confrontation at the Keep of Four Worlds, and here he learns the strange secrets of the Courts of Chaos and their role in his destiny.

Confronting his deadliest enemy in a reincarnated Julia, his former lover, Merlin of Amber is forced to choose between the Patterns of Amber and Chaos while continuing his search for his father, Corwin.

On the brink of achieving the crown of Chaos, Merlin, aka Merle Corey, is challenged with silencing a murderous discord between Amber and Chaos and freeing a captive royal father who is under a villain's spell.

Amber is the one real world, casting infinite reflections of itself -- Shadow worlds, that can be manipulated by those of royal Amberite blood. But the royal family is torn apart by jealousies and suspicion; the disappearance of the Patriach Oberon has intensified the internal conflict by leaving the throne apparently up for grabs.

In a hospital on the Shadow Earth, a young man is recovering from a freak car accident; amnesia has robbed him of all his memory, even the fact that he is Corwin, Crown Prince of Amber, rightful heir to the throne -- and he is in deadly peril . . .

This omnibus edition contains five books, Nine Princes in Amber, The Guns of Avalon, Sign of the Unicorn, The Hand of Oberon and The Courts of Chaos, which together make up the first half of Roger Zelazny's finest work of fantasy and an undisputed classic of the genre.

Corum of the Silver Hand attempts to defeat the Cold Gods and restore the High King's power by obtaining two lost talismans, the Golden Oak and the Silver Ram.

The Great Confrontation

Corum Jhaelen Irsei, Prince of the Scarlet Robe, legendary hero of the battle with The Sword Rulers, has reached the climatic stage of his new struggle with Chaos. The great black bull tamed, the Ram of Caer Gwydion slaughtered, the spear of Llaw Erient in his silver hand, Corum must face the Cold Folk in the battle that will yet again beat back the forces of chaos - or deliver the world to evil unending.

After centuries of calm, the Nameless One is stirring.

An army is gathering; thousands of giants, ogres, and other creatures are joining forces from all across the Desolate Lands, united, for the first time in history, under one, black banner. By the spring, or perhaps sooner, the Nameless One and his forces will be at the walls of the great city of Avendoom.

Unless Shadow Harold, master thief, can find some way to stop them.

Epic fantasy at its best, Shadow Prowler is the first in a trilogy that follows Shadow Harold on his quest for a magic Horn that will restore peace to the Kingdom of Siala. Harold will be accompanied on his quest by an Elfin princess, Miralissa, her elfin escort, and ten Wild Hearts, the most experienced and dangerous fighters in their world...and by the king's court jester (who may be more than he seems... or less).

Reminiscent of Moorcock's Elric series, Shadow Prowler is the first work to be published in English by the bestselling Russian fantasy author Alexey Pehov. The book was translated by Andrew Bromfield, best known for his work on the highly successful Night Watch series.

After scant days in his "real" world, Thomas Covenant finds himself again summoned to the Land. There, forty bitter years have passed, while Lord Foul, immortal enemy of the Land, moves to fulfill his prophecy of doom.

The Council of Lords find their spells useless, now that Foul the Despiser holds the Illearth Stone, ancient source of evil power. At last High Lord Elena turns in desperation to Covenant and the legendary white gold magic of his ring....

Conan the Cimmerian: he rose from boy-thief and mercenary to become kingof Aquilonia. Neither supernatural fiends nor demonic sorcery could oppose the barbarian warrior as he wielded his mighty sword and dispatched his enemies to a bloody doom on the battlefields of the legendary Hyborian Age.

Collected together for the first time anywhere in the world, in chronological order, are all Robert E. Howard's definitive stories of Conan, exactly as he wrote them, as fresh, atmospheric and vibrant today as when they were first published in the pulp magazines more than sixty years ago.

Table of Contents:

• The Hyborian Age - (1936)
• The Tower of the Elephant - (1933)
• The Hall of the Dead (Synopsis) - (1976)
• The God in the Bowl - (1952)
• Rogues in the House - (1934)
• The Hand of Nergal - (1976)
• The Frost-Giant's Daughter - (1976)
• Queen of the Black Coast - (1934)
• The Vale of Lost Women - (1967)
• The Snout in the Dark (Draft) - (1979)
• Black Colossus - (1933)
• Shadows in the Moonlight - (1934)
• A Witch Shall Be Born - (1934)
• Shadows in Zamboula - (1935)
• The Devil in Iron - (1934)
• The People of the Black Circle - (1934)
• The Slithering Shadow - (1933)
• Drums of Tombalku (Draft) - (1986)
• The Pool of the Black One - (1933)
• Afterword: Robert E. Howard and Conan: The Early Years - essay by Stephen Jones

The second volume, completing the definitive collection of Conan stories, featuring the most distinctive and well known fantasy hero of all time.

Conan the Cimmerian: he rose from boy-thief and mercenary to become kingof Aquilonia. Neither supernatural fiends nor demonic sorcery could oppose the barbarian warrior as he wielded his mighty sword and dispatched his enemies to a bloody doom on the battlefields of the legendary Hyborian Age.

Collected together for the first time anywhere in the world, in chronological order, are all Robert E. Howard's definitive stories of Conan, exactly as he wrote them, as fresh, atmospheric and vibrant today as when they were first published in the pulp magazines more than sixty years ago.

Table of Contents:

• Notes on Various People of the Hyborian Age - (1977) - essay by Julian May
• Red Nails - (1936)
• Jewels of Gwahlur - (1935)
• Beyond the Black River - (1935)
• The Black Stranger - (1987)
• Wolves Beyond the Border (Draft) - (2000)
• The Phoenix on the Sword - (1932)
• The Scarlet Citadel - (1933)
• The Hour of the Dragon - (1977) - novel
• The Hour of the Dragon - (1969) - poem
• Cimmeria - (1965) - poem
• Afterword: Robert E. Howard and Conan: The Final Years - essay by Stephen Jones

All paths lead to war...

Marcus' hero days are behind him. He knows too well that even the smallest war still means somebody's death. When his men are impressed into a doomed army, staying out of a battle he wants no part of requires some unorthodox steps.

Cithrin is an orphan, ward of a banking house. Her job is to smuggle a nation's wealth across a war zone, hiding the gold from both sides. She knows the secret life of commerce like a second language, but the strategies of trade will not defend her from swords.

Geder, sole scion of a noble house, has more interest in philosophy than in swordplay. A poor excuse for a soldier, he is a pawn in these games. No one can predict what he will become.

Falling pebbles can start a landslide. A spat between the Free Cities and the Severed Throne is spiraling out of control. A new player rises from the depths of history, fanning the flames that will sweep the entire region onto The Dragon's Path-the path to war.

Seven years after the conclusion of the High Druid of Shannara trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Terry Brooks at last revisits one of the most popular eras in the legendary epic fantasy series that has spellbound readers for more than three decades.

Tumultuous times are upon the world now known as the Four Lands. Users of magic are in conflict with proponents of science. The dwindling Druid order is threatened with extinction. A sinister politician has used treachery and murder to rise as prime minister of the mighty Federation. Meanwhile, poring through a long-forgotten diary, the young Druid Aphenglow Elessedil has stumbled upon the secret account of an Elven girl's heartbreak and the shocking truth about the vanished Elfstones, which once warded the lands and kept evil at bay. But never has a little knowledge been so very dangerous--as Aphenglow quickly learns when she's set upon by assassins. Yet there can be no turning back from the road to which fate has steered her. Whoever captures the Elfstones and their untold powers will surely hold the advantage in the devastating clash to come.

The adventure that started in Wards of Faerie takes a thrilling new turn, in the second novel of Terry Brooks's brand-new trilogy--The Dark Legacy of Shannara!

The quest for the long-lost Elfstones has drawn the leader of the Druid order and her followers into the hellish dimension known as the Forbidding, where the most dangerous creatures banished from the Four Lands are imprisoned. Now the hunt for the powerful talismans that can save their world has become a series of great challenges: a desperate search for kidnapped comrades, a relentless battle against unspeakable predators, and a grim race to escape the Forbidding alive. But though freedom is closer than they know, it may come at a terrifying price.

Back in the village of Arborlon, the mystical, sentient tree that maintains the barrier between the Four Lands and the Forbidding is dying. And with each passing day, as the breach between the two worlds grows larger, the threat of the evil eager to spill forth and wreak havoc grows more dire. The only hope lies with a young Druid, faced with a staggering choice: cling to the life she cherishes or combat an army of darkness by making the ultimate sacrifice.

For centuries the Four Lands enjoyed freedom from its demon-haunted past, protected by magic-enhanced borders from the dark dimension known as the Forbidding and the profound evil imprisoned there. But now the unthinkable is happening: The ancient wards securing the barrier between order and mayhem have begun to erode--and generations of bloodthirsty, monstrous creatures, fueled by a rage thousands of years in the making, are poised to spill forth, seeking revenge for what was done to them.

Young Elf Arling Elessedil possesses the enchanted means to close the breach and once more seal the denizens of the Forbidding in their prison. But when she falls into the hands of the powerful Federation's diabolical Prime Minister, her efforts may be doomed. Only her determined sister, Aphen, who bears the Elfstones and commands their magic, has any hope of saving Arling from the hideous fate her captor has in store.

Meanwhile, Railing Ohmsford--desperate to save his imprisoned brother--seeks to discover if his famed but ill-fated ancestor Grianne is still alive and willing to help him save the world... no matter the odds or the consequences.

The Dark Tower beckons Roland, the Last Gunslinger, and the four companions he has gathered along the road. And, having narrowly escaped one world, they set out on a terrifying journey across the scarred urban wasteland to brave a new world where hidden dangers lie at every junction: a malevolent computer-run monorail hurtling towards self-destruction, Roland's relentlessly cunning old enemy, and the temptation of the wizard's diabolical glass ball, a powerful force in Roland's first love affair. This is a tale of long-ago love and adventure involving a beautiful and quixotic woman named Susan Delgado. And the Tower is closer...

Set in a world of extraordinary circumstances, filled with stunning visual imagery and unforgettable characters, The Dark Tower series is unlike anything you have ever read. The final book opens like a door to the uttermost reaches of Stephen King's imagination. You've come this far. Come a little farther. Come all the way. The sound you hear may be the slamming of the door behind you. Welcome to The Dark Tower.

The inspiration for the epic MTV series, the world of Shannara is brimming with untold stories and unexplored territory. Now bestselling author Terry Brooks breaks new ground with a standalone adventure that's sure to thrill veteran readers and recent converts alike.

The mysterious, magic-wielding Druid order has existed for long ages, battling any evil that threatens the Four Lands--and struggling to be understood and accepted by outsiders. But their hopes of building goodwill are dashed when a demon's murderous rampage at a peace summit leaves their political opponents dead--casting new suspicions upon the Druids and forcing them to flee from enemies both mortal and monstrous.

Paxon Leah, the order's appointed protector, knows that blame lies with Arcannen Rai, the vile sorcerer he has battled and defeated before. But there's no time to hunt his nemesis, if he is to lead the wrongfully accused Druids to their sanctuary. It is a quest fraught with danger, as a furious government agent and his army snap at their heels, and lethal predators stalk them in the depths of the untamed wilderness.

But Arcannen is playing a deeper game than Paxon realizes. Paxon's sister possesses a powerful magic that the sorcerer longs to control--but Arcannen has not reckoned with the determination of his own estranged daughter, Leofur, who is also Paxon's devoted lifemate. Leofur sets out on a perilous quest to thwart her father's desires--while the vengeful Arcannen conjures his blackest magical skills, determined to destroy them all... and claim the most powerful of magics for his own.

The glittering tradition of sword-and-sorcery sweeps into the sands of ancient Arabia with the heart-stopping speed of a whirling dervish in this thrilling debut.

In 8th century Baghdad, the scholar Dabir realizes that a jeweled tablet may unlock secrets hidden within the lost city of Ubar, the Atlantis of the sands. But when the tablet is stolen by a cunning Greek spy and a fire wizard of the Magi, Dabir and Captain Asim go after it on the life-or-death adventure of a lifetime...

Bitterwood has spent the past twenty years hunting down dragons, one at a time. But he is getting old and the hate that he has carried in his heart since a group of dragon-soldiers killed his family is beginning to fade. When he kills the royal prince dragon, the king decides the only retribution is genocide of the human race. Bitterwood is forced to enter the Free City, the grand trap designed to eradicate mankind, with thousands of others. Can he lead from within, or can a select few dragons unite to stop the king's madness from becoming reality. Full of rich characters and drama, this is an amazingly astute vision of our own culture by way of a feudal kingdom where dragons rule, and humans are used as workers or pets.

After the death of King Albekizan, Shandrazel and his allies struggle to keep the kingdom intact as the radical human prophet, Ragnar gathers forces to launch a full scale rebellion against the dragons. When all out war erupts, legendary dragon hunter, Bitterwood, must face his own personal daemons and choose where his loyalty really lies.

The dragon kingdom continues to slide into anarchy following the death of Albekizan and the capture of Dragon Forge by human rebels. But a cunning sky-dragon slavecatcher named Vulpine has organized a blockade to break the rebellion, assisted by the brutish earth-dragon war-boss Sawface. Inside the town, tensions rise between the fanatical prophet Ragnar, leader of the rebels, and his uneasy ally Burke the Machinist. Meanwhile, Jandra sets out on a desperate quest to reclaim her lost magic, joining forces once more with legendary dragon-slayer Bant Bitterwood as they hunt for Hex, the sun-dragon who stole her powers. Yet the plans of both dragons and men are about to be upended as a new power rises in the land, a mysterious healer who attracts both men and dragons to the Free City with a message of peace that may conceal more sinister motives. The Bitterwood Trilogy reaches to its climax as former friends face off as enemies to determine the future of mankind and the secret of Atlantis is finally revealed.

Through no fault of his own, the once human Jim Eckert had become a dragon. Unfortunately, his beloved Angie had remained human. But in this magical land anything could happen. To make matter worse, Angie had been taken prisoner by an evil dragon and was held captive in the impenetrable Loathly Tower. So in this land where humans were edible and beasts were magical -- where spells worked and logic didn't -- Jim Eckert had a big, strange problem.

In the sequel to The Dragon and the George, Sir James Eckert is transformed back into the shape of a dragon. Now he must learn to control his magical abilities and truly become the Dragon Knight--which carries some responsibilities he hadn't counted on.

Sir James, the Dragon Knight, faces his most terrifying challenge in the nearly indestructible Hollow Men, spirits of the dead who reside in empty suits of armor.

As France prepares for war against England, Jim Eckert, the Dragon Knight--a twentieth-century college professor transported to an alternate medieval England--discovers that he is all that stands between England and utter destruction.

In the middle of the Earl of Somerset's lavish Christmas feast, the fortress is attacked by an army of land-hungry trolls and a band of traitors, and brave Dragon Knight Sir James undertakes a mission that no one can win.

For countless millennia, the dwarves of the Fifthling Kingdom have defended the stone gateway into Girdlegard. Many and varied foes have hurled themselves against the portal and died attempting to breach it. No man or beast has ever succeeded. Until now ...

Abandoned as a child, Tungdil the blacksmnith labours contentedly in the land of Ionandar, the only dwarf in a kingdom of men. Although he does not want for friends, Tungdil is very much aware that he is alone - indeed, he has not so much as set eyes on another dwarf. But all that is about to change.

Sent out into the world to deliver a message and reacquaint himself with his people, the young foundling finds himself thrust into a battle for which he has not been trained. Not only his own safety, but the life of every man, woman and child in Girdlegard depends upon his ability to embrace his heritage. Although he has many unanswered questions, Tungdil is certain of one thing: no matter where he was raised, he is a true dwarf.

And no one has ever questioned the courage of the Dwarves.

It all began with Ragnarok, with the Children of the Light and the Tarnished ones battling to the death in the ice and the dark. At the end of the long battle, one Valkyrie survived, wounded, and one valraven -- the steeds of the valkyrie.

Because they lived, Valdyrgard was not wholly destroyed. Because the valraven was transformed in the last miracle offered to a Child of the Light, Valdyrgard was changed to a world where magic and technology worked hand in hand.

2500 years later, Muire is in the last city on the dying planet, where the Technomancer rules what's left of humanity. She's caught sight of someone she has not seen since the Last Battle: Mingan the Wolf is hunting in her city.

For ten thousand years Melnibone ruled the world. Elric, the 428th Emperor, seemed destined to see that era come to an end. An albino, sustained by rare drugs, it fell to him to confront the rise of the Young Kingdoms and the monsters and sorceries which were threatening to overwhelm him and his ancient crown.

This fantasy story tells of Elric, the albino warrior prince, who quests in search of the mysterious Fortress of the Pearl, wherein is hidden the prized pearl at the heart of the world.

Elric of Melnibone, last of the emperors of a once mighty land, self-exiled bearer of the sword of power called Stormbringer, found a ship waiting for him on the misty seacoast of an alien land.

Boarding it, he learned then that he was to serve a strange quest side by side with other heroes from other times, for this ship sailed no earthly waters and time, for it, was flexible.

Elric along with his companion Moonglum return, in this prequel set within the early days of Elric's wanderings, in order to investigate the history of Melniboné and its dragons, known as the Phroon, in this exciting new addition to the Elric Saga from World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award winner Michael Moorcock.

Elric is the estranged emperor of the Melnibonéan empire, struggling with his nature while desperately striving to move forward with his dying empire alongside the constant thirst of his soul-sucking sword, Stormbringer. Elric is on the hunt for the great Citadel of Forgotten Myths while traveling through the remnants of his empire with his tragic best friend Moonglum, as Elric seeks the answers to the nature of the phroon of The Young Kingdoms.

Temur, grandson of the Great Khan, is walking away from a battlefield where he was left for dead. All around lie the fallen armies of his cousin and his brother, who made war to rule the Khaganate. Temur is now the legitimate heir by blood to his grandfather's throne, but he is not the strongest. Going into exile is the only way to survive his ruthless cousin.

Once-Princess Samarkar is climbing the thousand steps of the Citadel of the Wizards of Tsarepheth. She was heir to the Rasan Empire until her father got a son on a new wife. Then she was sent to be the wife of a Prince in Song, but that marriage ended in battle and blood. Now she has renounced her worldly power to seek the magical power of the wizards. These two will come together to stand against the hidden cult that has so carefully brought all the empires of the Celadon Highway to strife and civil war through guile and deceit and sorcerous power.

Across the Four Lands, peace has reigned for generations. But now, in the far north, an unknown enemy is massing. But more troubling than the carnage is the strange and wondrous power wielded by the attackers--a breed of magic unfamiliar even to the Druid order. Fearing the worst, the High Druid dispatches a diplomatic party under the protection of the order's sworn guardian, Dar Leah, to confront the mysterious, encroaching force and discover its purpose.

But another crucial journey is being undertaken. Exiled onetime High Druid Drisker Arc has been living in quiet seclusion, far from the politics and power struggles of his former life, until two brutal attacks by would-be assassins force him to seek out an infamous murder-for-hire guild--and find the hidden enemy who has marked him for death. At his side is Tarsha Kaynin, a young woman gifted with the wishsong and eager to be schooled in its formidable power by a master. She, too, is pursuing a mission: to locate her wayward brother, whose own magic has driven him to deadly madness and kindled his rage for vengeance... against his sister.

In their darkest hours, facing dangerous adversaries, the lives and quests of Dar Leah, Drisker Arc, and Tarsha Kaynin will be inextricably drawn together. And the challenges each confront will have resounding consequences for the future of the Four Lands.

The Four Lands are under siege. Wielding a magical ability virtually impossible to combat, mysterious invaders defeat the most fearsome Troll armies, then focus their savagery on the Druid order--and all hope seems lost.

Eventually the invaders reveal a more human face, but understanding their motives in no way mitigates the brutality of their actions. Dar Leah, once the High Druid's Blade, has crossed paths--and swords--with their ruthless leader before. So he knows that if any hope exists, it rests in the hands of the Druid Drisker Arc, now trapped inside vanished Paranor.

As Drisker races to find the ancient knowledge that could free him, Dar goes in search of Tarsha Kaynin, the young woman blessed with the powerful gift of the wishsong, whose magic could draw Drisker back into the world of the living. But little do they know that what appeared to be a formidable invading force may only be the forerunner of a much larger army--one intent on nothing less than total conquest.

The Skaar have arrived in the Four Lands, determined to stop at nothing less than all-out conquest. They badly need a new home, but peaceful coexistence is not a concept they have ever understood. An advance force under the command of the mercurial princess Ajin has already established a foothold, but now the full Skaar army is on the march--and woe betide any who stand in its way.

But perhaps the Skaar victory is not quite the foregone conclusion everyone assumes. The Druid Drisker Arc has freed both himself and Paranor from their involuntary exile. Drisker's student, Tarsha Kaynin, has been reunited with Dar, chief defender of what is left of the Druid order, and is learning to control her powerful wishsong magic. If they can only survive Tarsha's brother, Tavo, and the Druid who betrayed Drisker Arc, they might stand a chance of defeating the Skaar. But that is a very big if... as Tavo now carries the Stiehl--one of the most powerful weapons in all the Four Lands--and is hellbent on taking his revenge on everyone he feels has wronged him.

As the Four Lands reels under the Skaar invasion – spearheaded by a warlike people determined to make this land their own -our heroes must decide what they will risk to save the integrity of their home. Even as one group remains to defend the Four Lands, another is undertaking a perilous journey across the sea to the Skaar homeland, carrying with them a new piece of technology that could change the face of the world for ever. And yet a third is trapped in a deadly realm from which there may be no escape.

Tristen is a weapon in an ancient war between wizardry and sorcery. He is a summoning and a shaping, brought to life by a wizard. And his sword is a weapon as well. Its keen blade, marked Illusion on one side and Truth on the other, once helped Tristen win the throne of Ylesuin for the young king Cefwyn, gaining Tristen the stewardship of the brave country of Amfel.

But the scarlet banners of war are unfolding again, and far more than the kingdom is at stake. Now Tristen must take up the sword -- as well as the Sihhe magic he has forsworn. He is destiny's own, created a combatant in a far older and more fearsome conflict than any ever imagined by mere mortal man. And he is about to do battle once more....

After their adventures on the high seas, Locke and Jean are brought back to earth with a thump. Jean is mourning the loss of his lover and Locke must live with the fallout of crossing the all-powerful magical assassins the Bonds Magi. It is a fall-out that will pit both men against Locke's own long lost love. Sabetha is Locke's childhood sweetheart, the love of Locke's life and now it is time for them to meet again. Employed on different sides of a vicious dispute between factions of the Bonds Sabetha has just one goal - to destroy Locke for ever.

The Gentleman Bastard sequence has become a literary sensation in fantasy circles and now, with the third book, Scott Lynch is set to seal that success.

First in an epic, gritty trilogy from the hottest new voice in British fantasy.

It is a time of darkness. The last magic of the dead gods is on the wane. Demons and half-formed monsters plague the land as the final barriers between the realms begin to fail. The jealous Magelords of three great cities sit in their towers of stone and brood over the scant power that remains...

It is not a time of heroes. Their songs are long forgotten, their deeds go unwritten.

But, even now, some few still nurse a spark of hope, an unlikely fellowship, united against the tyranny of their immortal overlords - THE GRIM COMPANY.

It is the Age of Ruin, a time in desperate need of heroes. But heroes are in short supply. The only candidates - a motley company at best - are scattered to the four winds.

Former rebel Sasha has now become an unwilling envoy between the powerful. Eremul the Halfmage languishes in disgrace, his warnings of approaching war falling on deaf ears. Yllandris, sorceress of the High Fangs, servant to a demon lord, has become that which she most despises. Davarus Cole, assassin of the immortal, lies on the brink of death. The legendary champion Brodar Kayne carves a bloody path towards his enemy of old in search of the woman he thought dead...

In this, the second blistering instalment of Luke Scull's critically acclaimed trilogy THE GRIM COMPANY, past and present collide, plunging the Age of Ruin further into darkness...

In the City of Towers, former rebel Sasha and her comrade Davarus Cole struggle to keep the peace between the warring mages who vie for dominion. But when the White Lady sends Davarus south to the Shattered Realms to seek allies among the fallen kingdoms, he finds that his hardest battle may be one fought within. The godly essence now residing within him offers power that could be used against the Fade--but with every death that feeds It, Cole risks losing a part of himself.

An association with a Fade officer grants the Halfmage Eremul a position of privilege among Dorminia's new masters. He witnesses firsthand the fate that awaits humanity. But with his magic pitiful in the face of the Fade's advanced technology, the Halfmage must rely on his wits alone to save whom he can...

And in the frozen north, the legendary warrior Brodar Kayne fights a desperate battle for his people. He is running out of time: an ancient evil sealed beneath the mountains is about to break free, an evil that is older than humanity, older than the Fade, older even than the gods--and it will not stop until the entire world is drowned in blood...

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price--and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can't pull it off alone...

A convict with a thirst for revenge.

A sharpshooter who can't walk away from a wager.

A runaway with a privileged past.

A spy known as the Wraith.

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.

Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz's crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction--if they don't kill each other first.

In a single day and night of fierce fighting, the Archduchy of Mongaul has overrun its elegant neighbor, Parros. The lost priest kindgom's surviving royalty, the young twins Rinda and Remus, hide in a forest in the forbidding wil marches. There they are saved by a mysterious creature with a man's body and a leopard's head, who has emerged from a deep sleep and remembers only his name. Guin.

The Guin Saga is epic heroic fantasy in the same vein as Robert E. Howard's Conan, the Barbarian. More than a hundred books strong and growing, the saga has sold more than twenty-five million copies in Japan. Vertical will publish the first five installments that comprise "The Marches Episode" arc.

Guin is a mighty warrior, who cannot remember his past. His only clue is a leopard mask mystically attached to his head. Joined by the royal twins of Parros, Remus and Rinda; Suni, the simian-girl; and Istavan, the mercernary; our hero must cross the treacherous River Kes and journey into the badlands of Nospherus, where unthinkable dangers lurk. In hot pursuit is a Mongauli army of 15,000, led by the beautiful and dangerous General Amnelis.

The Guin Saga is epic heroic fantasy in the same vein as Robert E. Howard's Conan, the Barbarian. More than a hundred books strong and growing, the saga has sold more than twenty-five million copies in Japan. Vertical will publish the first five installments that comprise "The Marches Episode" arc.

The Guin Saga is epic heroic fantasy in the same vein as Robert E. Howard's Conan, the Barbarian. More than a hundred books strong and growing, the saga has sold more than twenty-five million copies in Japan. Vertical will publish the first five installments that comprise "The Marches Episode" arc.

Though decimating the vaunted Red Kights of the Mongauli Army in a sea of deadly yidoh, the combined tribes of the Sem remain vastly outmumbered. Guin decides to leave his friends in search of the legendary Lagon. He must find the giant warriors before the fragile Sem alliance unravels and the tribes fall to the Mongauli. Meanwhile, Istavan the mercenary's deft covert-op helps destroy the Blue Knights.

The Guin Saga is epic heroic fantasy in the same vein as Robert E. Howard's Conan, the Barbarian. More than a hundred books strong and growing, the saga has sold more than twenty-five million copies in Japan. Vertical will publish the first five installments that comprise "The Marches Episode" arc. Each paperback edition will feature artwork taken from the original Japanese editions.

Guin has found the Lagon, but now he must best their mightiest warrior, if he is to have any chance of acquiring the giants' aid. Meanwhile, the tenuous Sem alliance has become unglued, leaving them exposed to the Mongauli scouts, who quickly report their location to Lady Amnelis. Now, it is the Mongauli army's turn to trap the Sem. Guin must return with help in time to save his friends.

The Guin Saga is epic heroic fantasy in the same vein as Robert E. Howard's Conan, the Barbarian. More than a hundred books strong and growing, the saga has sold more than twenty-five million copies in Japan. Vertical will publish the first five installments that comprise "The Marches Episode" arc.

The earth has grown old, her landscapes mellow, her people lost in abrooding dream. It is an age of antique cities, scientific sorcery, crystal machines, great flying engines with mechanical wings. And the armies of the Dark Empire are relentlessly taking over the once-peaceful city states, ravaging and destroying as they advance, mile by brutal mile...

The Dark Empire has humiliated and multilated Dorian Hawkmoon, but it cannot rob him of his two consuming passions: his love for Yisselda of Brass and his hatred of her ruthless suitor Meliadus. But before he can defy the Dark Empire and win the beauteous Yisselda, he must seek the Runestaff, a quest that will send him into barbaric wonder and perverse evil ...and only if he succeeds will her avert the doom of all the world...

This is the omnibus edition of the four books in The History of the Runestaff series.

As it is written: "Those who swear by the Runestaff must then benefit or suffer from the consequences of the fixed pattern of destiny that they set in motion." And Baron Meliadus of Kroiden had sworn such an oath, had sworn vengeance against all of Castle Brass, had sworn that Yisselda, Count Brass's daughter, would be his. On that day, many months earlier, he had fixed the pattern of fate; a pattern that had involved him in strange destructive schemes, that had involved Dorian Hawkmoon in wild and uncanny adventures in distant places, and that was now nearing its terrible resolution.

THE BEGINNING OF END

When a sickly boy succumbs to illness only to awaken as a lowly undead named End, his initial reaction is not horror but joy. No longer weak and bedridden, he is eager to experience the freedom of a properly functioning body. Sadly, his delight is cut short when he realizes the shackles of his previous life have simply been replaced by new ones--specifically, the powerful necromancer who revived him. To gain true freedom, he'll need to overcome the many obstacles in his way... starting with his dark master!

Gavin Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm are all that preserves a tenuous peace. But Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live: Five years to achieve five impossible goals.

But when Guile discovers he has a son, born in a far kingdom after the war that put him in power, he must decide how much he's willing to pay to protect a secret that could tear his world apart.

The Emperor needs necromancers. The Ninth Necromancer needs a swordswoman. Gideon has a sword.

Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won't set her free without a service.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will be become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection, but no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon's sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.

Of course, some things are better left dead.

War has come to the Lot Lands--and Oats stands upon the frontline.

The Hisparthan armies on the horizon are mighty, bolstered by divine champions, dread sorcerers, and gunpowder. It's almost more than the half-orc rebellion can hope to repel.

But Oats has won impossible fights before. He's a thriceblood, after all, more orc than man. And he hasn't forgotten how to kill. He'll stack the bodies high for his chief and his brethren, if that's the price of freeing the Lots from human tyranny.

Besides, the invading forces are getting a damned sight more than they bargained for. They're not facing a handful of half-orc hoofs, but a true army--one forged from all the peoples of the Lots. At its head are Fetching, in full command of the ruinous power that runs through her veins, and Jackal, armed with the blessings of a dead god.

Yet Oats can't help but find his faith wavering. Once the strongest Bastard, he soon realizes that in this battle, even the strength of a thriceblood is easily conquered. And after a grievous loss strikes, he begins to fear that this war will lead the Lots not to freedom but to ruin.

So when another path to peace beckons, he has no choice but to walk it. Even if it means betting the Lots' fate, and his own, on the promises of the Bastards' wiliest adversary--and making a perilous journey into the heart of Hispartha itself.

Brimming with all the epic battles, surprising sorcery, and fiendish twists a Bastards fan could wish for, alongside unforgettable moments for characters old and new, The Free Bastards builds a new future for the Lots--even as it gives our beloved trio of Jackal, Fetching, and Oats the rousing, blood-soaked sendoff they deserve

The Malazan Empire simmers with discontent, bled dry by interminable warfare, bitter infighting and bloody confrontations with the formidable Anomander Rake and his Tiste Andii, ancient and implacable sorcerers. Even the imperial legions, long inured to the bloodshed, yearn for some respite. Yet Empress Laseen's rule remains absolute, enforced by her dread Claw assassins.

For Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his squad of Bridgeburners, and for Tattersail, surviving cadre mage of the Second Legion, the aftermath of the siege of Pale should have been a time to mourn the many dead. But Darujhistan, last of the Free Cities of Genabackis, yet holds out. It is to this ancient citadel that Laseen turns her predatory gaze.

However, it would appear that the Empire is not alone in this great game. Sinister, shadowbound forces are gathering as the gods themselves prepare to play their hand...

Conceived and written on a panoramic scale, Gardens of the Moon is epic fantasy of the highest order--an enthralling adventure by an outstanding new voice.

Guided by the Orb of the God Aldur, Garion and Ce'Nedrea begin a great quest to rescue their kidnapped child. Making their way through the foul swamps of Nyisssa, then into the lands of the Murgos, they must ultimately face a horrible danger--to themselves and all mankind....

THE FINAL RECKONING

Time was running out for Garion and his companions in their quest to recover Garion's infant son and heir. If they could not locate the Place Which Is No More, then Zandramas, the Child of Dark, would use Garion's son in a rite that would raise the Dark Prophecy to eternal dominion over the universe!

Only the Seeress of Kell could reveal the site of that mysterious place--and that she could do only once Garion and Polgara had fulfilled an ancient prophecy in the mountain fastness of the Seers...

Kell itself was closed to Zandramas--but her dark magic could force the knowledge she needed from one of Garion's party. She laid her traps and dispatched her foul minions, determined to claim the world for the Dark God. But Garion would let nothing stand between him and his son...

By the mid sixth century of Ramusian reckoning the great struggle is approaching its climax. For the victor there will be supremacy; for the vanquished, cultural annihilation. Fighting that war, Corfe of Torunna will find that court intrigue can be as murderous as any martial foe. The monks Albrec and Avila will explode a bombshell of secret knowledge which will change the continent irrevocably. And Richard Hawkwood will return with the discovery of a New World. The sixth century is the crucible of history. The century of the soldier.

This is an omnibus edition comprised of:

• The Iron Wars (1999)
• The Second Empire (2000)
• Ships from the West (2002)

The world is in turmoil. In the east the savage Merduks, followers of the Prophet Ahrimuz, have captured the holy city of Aekir. The western kingdoms are too distracted by internecine bickering to intervene and the Chruch seems more obsessed with rooting out heresy. It is an age where men go to the stake for the taint of magic in their blood, where gunpowder and cannon co-exit with werewolves and sorcerers. It is the turning point when two get reilgions will fight to the death and the common folk will struggle to merely survive.

This is an omnibus edition comprised of:

• Hawkwood's Voyage (1995)
• The Heretic Kings (1996)

The perfect killer has no friends. Only targets.

For Durzo Blint, assassination is an art. And he is the city’s most accomplished artist, his talents required from alleyway to courtly boudoir.

For Azoth, survival is precarious. Something you never take for granted. As a guild rat, he’s grown up in the slums, and learned the hard way to judge people quickly - and to take risks. Risks like apprenticing himself to Durzo Blint.

But to be accepted, Azoth must turn his back on his old life and embrace a new identity and name. As Kylar Stern, he must learn to navigate the assassins’ world of dangerous politics and strange magics - and cultivate a flair for death.

Kylar Stern has rejected the assassin’s life. The Godking’s successful coup has left Kylar’s master, Durzo, and his best friend, Logan, dead. He is starting over: new city, new friends, and new profession.

But when he learns that Logan might actually be alive and in hiding, Kylar is faced with an agonizing choice: will he give up the way of shadows forever and live in peace with his new family, or will he risk everything by taking on the ultimate hit?

Logan Gyre is king of Cenaria, a country under siege, with a threadbare army and little hope. He has one chance - a desperate gamble, but one that could destroy his kingdom.

In the north, the new Godking has a plan. If it comes to fruition, no one will have the power to stop him.

Kylar Stern has no choice. To save his friends-and perhaps his enemies-he must accomplish the impossible: assassinate a goddess.

The Abhorsen Sabriel and King Touchstone are missing, leaving only Lirael-newly come into her inheritance as the Abhorsen-in-Waiting-to stop the Destroyer. If Orannis's unspeakable powers are unleashed, it will mean the end of all Life. With only a vision from the Clayr to guide her and the help of her companions, Sam, the Disreputable Dog, and Mogget, Lirael must search in both Life and Death for some means to defeat the evil destructor-before it is too late. . . .

The apocalyptic conclusion to the series of events that began with Sabriel and continued in Lirael, the New York Times bestselling Abhorsen is an electrifying reading experience not to be missed.

Taran, the assistant pig-keeper who wants to be a hero, goes questing for knowledge of his parentage, hoping that his journey will ennoble him in the eyes of Eilonwy, the princess with the red-gold hair. Accompanied by several loyal friends, Taran begins his search when three wily enchantresses of the Marshes of Morva send him to consult the Mirror of Llunet for the answers he is seeking, cryptically promising that "the finding takes no more than the looking". During his adventures he meets Craddoc, the shepherd, and the common people of Prydain, whom he comes to respect and admire. With their help, he continues his mission to learn the secret of the Mirror and the truth about himself.

The Sword of Dyrnwyn, the most powerful weapon in the kingdom of Prydain, has fallen into the hands of Arawn-Death-Lord. Now Taran, Assistant Pig-Keeper, and Prince Gwydion lead an army against the powerful lord. After a winter expedition filled with danger, Taran's forces arrive at Mount Dragon, evil's stronghold. There Taran is forced to make the most crucial decisions of his life as he confronts the evil enchantress Achren and the diabolical Arawn.

Magic, adventure, mystery, and romance combine in this epic debut in which a young princess must reclaim her dead mother's throne, learn to be a ruler - and defeat the Red Queen, a powerful and malevolent sorceress determined to destroy her.

On her 19th birthday, Princess Kelsea Raleigh Glynn, raised in exile, sets out on a perilous journey back to the castle of her birth to ascend her rightful throne. Plain and serious, a girl who loves books and learning, Kelsea bears little resemblance to her mother, the vain and frivolous Queen Elyssa. But though she may be inexperienced and sheltered, Kelsea is not defenseless: Around her neck hangs the Tearling sapphire, a jewel of immense magical power; and accompanying her is the Queen's Guard, a cadre of brave knights led by the enigmatic and dedicated Lazarus. Kelsea will need them all to survive a cabal of enemies who will use every weapon - from crimson-caped assassins to the darkest blood magic - to prevent her from wearing the crown.

Despite her royal blood, Kelsea feels like nothing so much as an insecure girl, a child called upon to lead a people and a kingdom about which she knows almost nothing. But what she discovers in the capital will change everything, confronting her with horrors she never imagined. An act of singular daring will throw Kelsea's kingdom into tumult, unleashing the vengeance of the tyrannical ruler of neighboring Mortmesne: the Red Queen, a sorceress possessed of the darkest magic. Now Kelsea will begin to discover whom among the servants, aristocracy, and her own guard she can trust.

But the quest to save her kingdom and meet her destiny has only just begun - a wondrous journey of self-discovery and a trial by fire that will make her a legend... if she can survive.

Though Morgon the Riddle-Master was reunited with his beloved Raederle, his purpose in life and the reason for the stars on his forehead remained a mystery. All around him, the realm shook with war and disaster as mysterious shape-changers battled against mankind. Without the missing High One, Morgon must assume responsibility for all his world.

After leading an army of the dead to protect his island of Hed, he and Raederle set out for Lungold, where the wizards were assembling against the evil Ghisteslwchlohm. And behind them came Deth, the crippled harpist, Morgon's friend and betrayer.

But Lungold was only the beginning of the quest that would lead him to the truth of ancient struggle and the fate of the High One, until at last he could solve all mysteries and know his own awesome destiny!

The RiftWar is done. But a fearsome army of trolls and renegade humans, emboldened by the drug of destruction, has risen in strength from the ashes of defeat. There is one, however, who defies the call to battle...

To the forest on the shore of the Kingdom of the Isles, the orphan Pug came to study with the master magician Kulgan. But though his courage won him a place at court and the heart of a lovely Princess, he was ill at ease with the normal ways of wizardry. Yet Pug's strange sort of magic would one day change forever the fates of two worlds. For dark beings from another world had opened a rift in the fabric of spacetime to being again the age-old battle between the forces of Order and Chaos.

It is two hundred years since the deity known as the Absolved went mad and destroyed the Kingdom of Alnachim, transforming it into the Execration, a blasted wasteland filled with nameless terrors. For decades, desperate souls have made pilgrimage to the centre of this cursed land to seek the Mad God's favour, their fate always unknown. Now a veteran warrior known only as Pilgrim, armed with a fabled blade inhabited by the soul of a taunting demon, must join with six others to make the last journey to the heart of the Execration.

Allied with a youthful priest, a beast-charmer, a duplicitous scholar, an effete actor and two exiled lovers, Pilgrim must survive madness, malevolent spirits, unnatural monsters and the ever-present risk of treachery, all so that the Mad God might hear his prayer and, perhaps, grant redemption. But can sins such as his ever be forgiven?

Dev is a smuggler with the perfect cover.  He's in high demand as a guide for the caravans that carry legitimate goods from the city of Ninavel into the country of Alathia. The route through the Whitefire Mountains is treacherous, and Dev is one of the few climbers who knows how to cross them safely. With his skill and connections, it's easy enough to slip contraband charms from Ninavel - where any magic is fair game, no matter how dark - into Alathia, where most magic is outlawed.

But smuggling a few charms is one thing; smuggling a person through the warded Alathian border is near suicidal.  Having made a promise to a dying friend, Dev is forced to take on a singularly dangerous cargo: Kiran. A young apprentice on the run from one of the most powerful mages in Ninavel, Kiran is desperate enough to pay a fortune to sneak into a country where discovery means certain execution - and he'll do whatever it takes to prevent Dev from finding out the terrible truth behind his getaway.

Yet Kiran isn't the only one harboring a deadly secret. Caught up in a web of subterfuge and dark magic, Dev and Kiran must find a way to trust each other - or face not only their own destruction, but that of the entire city of Ninavel.

Dev's never been a man afraid of a challenge. Not only has he kept his vow to his dead mentor, rescuing a child in the face of impossible odds, but he's freed his mage friend Kiran from both the sadistic master who seeks to enslave him and the foreign Council that wants to kill him.

But Kiran's master Ruslan is planning a brutal revenge, one that will raze an entire country to blood and ashes. Kiran is the key to stopping Ruslan; yet Kiran is dying by inches, victim of the Alathian Council's attempt to chain him. Worse yet, Dev and Kiran have drawn the attention of demons from the darkest of ancient legends. Demons whose power Dev knows is all too real, and that he has every reason to fear.

A fear that grows, as he and Kiran struggle to outmaneuver Ruslan and uncover the secrets locked in Kiran's forgotten childhood. For the demons are playing their own deadly game--and the price of survival may be too terrible to bear.

Çeda is the youngest pit fighter in the history of the great desert city of Sharakhai. In this brilliant new story, a prequel to Twelve Kings, she has already made her name in the arena as the fearsome, undefeated White Wolf. None but her closest friends and allies know her true identity.

But this all changes when she crosses the path of Rümayesh, one of the sadistic creatures known as ehrekh which were forged long ago by the god of chaos. They are usually desert dwellers, but this one lurks in the dark corners of Sharakhai, toying with and preying on humans. As Rümayesh works to unmask the White Wolf and claim Çeda for her own, Çeda's struggle becomes a battle for her friends, her life, and her very soul.

Sharakhai, the great city of the desert, center of commerce and culture, has been ruled from time immemorial by twelve kings -- cruel, ruthless, powerful, and immortal. With their army of Silver Spears, their elite ompany of Blade Maidens and their holy defenders, the terrifying asirim, the Kings uphold their positions as undisputed, invincible lords of the desert. There is no hope of freedom for any under their rule.

Or so it seems, until Çeda, a brave young woman from the west end slums, defies the Kings' laws by going outside on the holy night of Beht Zha'ir. What she learns that night sets her on a path that winds through both the terrible truths of the Kings' mysterious history and the hidden riddles of her own heritage. Together, these secrets could finally break the iron grip of the Kings' power... if the nigh-omnipotent Kings don't find her first.

Prince Corum is the last of the Vadhagh, his family and people brutally slain by the Mabden. Vowing to wreak vengeance on the killers, Corum sets out on his terrible quest only to fall in love with a beautiful Mabden woman, and to confront the fury of the Lords of Chaos. For they fear that he is the hero who could tip the balance in their cataclysmic war with the forces of Law and free his world from Chaos's vicious grip. His epic struggle against them and his ultimate victory is only bought at a considerable price.

Moorcock's evocation of a rich, dark world, a time of magic, phantasms, cities in the sky, oceans of light and wild flying beasts of bronze is one of the pinnacles of modern imaginative literature.

This is the omnibus edition of the three books in The Chronicles of Corum series.

This amazing mind-stretching fantasy is the first volume of The Book Of Corum - being a History in Three Volumes Concerning the Quests and Adventures of Corum Jhaelsen Irsei of the Vadhagh Folk, who is also called The Prince in the Scarlet Robe.

This is the second of the Books of Corum which concerns the quests and adventures of Corum Jhaelen Irsei of the Vadhagh Folk, who is also called the Prince in the Scarlet Robe.

In those days there were oceans of light and cities in the skies and wild flying beasts of bronze. It was a time of magics, phantasms, unstable nature, impossible events, insane paradoxes, dreams come true, dreams gone awry. It was a rich, dark time. And a time of profound and terrible change.

The Vadhagh, a blessed and magical race, possess great wisdom, pursuing beauty in everything they do. Then, suddenly, their world moves from innocence and light to barbarism and genocide. Finally, only one is left: Corum, the Prince in the Scarlet Robe, last of the Vadhagh. Driven half mad by his torments, swearing savage vengeance upon the Mabden intruders, Corum finds himself in love with a Mabden woman and caught in a cataclysmic war between Law and Chaos - pursuing a quest taking him through the myriad dimensions of the multiverse, version after version of our own Earth - unleashing vast cosmic forces and challenging the power of the gods themselves.

Aided by sorcery, but fighting to be free of it, Corum is sustained by the purity of his passion for the woman he loves. Yet even this is threatened by the fury of the Chaos Lords who fear that here at last is a hero who will liberate his world from their vicious patronage.

Nebula-nominated Novella

Magic has a price. But someone else will pay. Every time a spell is cast, a bit of bramble sprouts, sending up tangling vines, bloody thorns, and threatening a poisonous sleep. It sprouts in tilled fields and in neighbors' roof beams, thrusts up from between street cobbles, and bursts forth from sacks of powdered spice. A bit of magic, and bramble follows. A little at first, and then more--until whole cities are dragged down under tangling vines and empires lie dead, ruins choked by bramble forest. Monuments to people who loved magic too much.

In the paired novellas, The Alchemist & The Executioness, award-winning authors Tobias Buckell and Paolo Bacigalupi explore a shared world where magic is forbidden and its use is rewarded with the axe. A world of glittering memories and a desperate present, where everyone uses a little magic, and someone else always pays the price.

In the beleaguered city of Khaim, a lone alchemist seeks a solution to a deadly threat. The bramble, a plant that feeds upon magic, now presses upon Khaim, nourished by the furtive spellcasting of its inhabitants and threatening to strangle the city under poisonous vines. Driven by desperation and genius, the alchemist constructs a device that transcends magic, unlocking the mysteries of bramble's essential nature. But the power of his newly-built balanthast is even greater than he dreamed. Where he sought to save a city and its people, the balanthast has the potential to save the world entire--if it doesn't destroy him and his family first.

Return to the world of the Farseers...

Robin Hobb's best loved characters, Fitz , The Fool and Nighteyes the wolf, face new adventures and trials in the first book of The Tawny Man trilogy.

When Assassin's Quest closed, Fitz was living in self-imposed exile. Wracked with pain, he had chosen to discard the magical gifts that had seen him survive the wonders and torments of navigating the legendary city of the Elderlings, and of raising a dragon.

Now, in this the first of a trilogy, we are returned to the world of the Six Duchies and the lives of those who managed to survive the events of the first Assassin trilogy.

Fifteen years have passed and events are about to sweep Fitz out of his quiet backwater life and into the main political current again. Persecution of the Witted has become rampant throughout the Six Duchies despite Queen Kettricken's effort to damp it. The Witted themselves have begun to strike back. So when 15 year old Prince Dutiful disappears, is it only because he is nervous about his betrothal ceremony to an Outislander princess, or has he been taken hostage by the Witted? Worse, is he perhaps another 'Piebald Prince', a Farseer tainted by Wit magic? As the desperate situation worsens, Kettricken has no choice but to summon Fitz to Buckkeep, for who better to track the young prince down than another gifted with the Wit, together with his bonded companion, the wolf Nighteyes?

Twenty eight florins a month is a huge price to pay, for a man to stand between you and the Wild. Twenty eight florins a month is nowhere near enough when a wyvern's jaws snap shut on your helmet in the hot stink of battle, and the beast starts to rip the head from your shoulders. But if standing and fighting is hard, leading a company of men - or worse, a company of mercenaries - against the smart, deadly creatures of the Wild is even harder. It takes all the advantages of birth, training, and the luck of the devil to do it. The Red Knight has all three, he has youth on his side, and he's determined to turn a profit. So when he hires his company out to protect an Abbess and her nunnery, it's just another job. The abby is rich, the nuns are pretty and the monster preying on them is nothing he can't deal with.Only it's not just a job. It's going to be a war. . .

Loyalty costs money.

Betrayal, on the other hand, is free.

When the Emperor is taken hostage, the Red Knight and his men find their services in high demand - and themselves surrounded by enemies. The country is in revolt, the capital city is besieged and any victory will be hard won. But The Red Knight has a plan.

The question is, can he negotiate the political, magical, real and romantic battlefields at the same time - especially when intends to be victorious on them all?

Some are born to power. Some seize it. And some have the wisdom never to wield it.

The Red Knight has stood against soldiers, armies and the might of an empire without flinching. He's fought on real and magical battlefields alike, and now he's facing one of the greatest challenges yet. A tournament.

A joyous spring event, the flower of the nobility will ride against each other for royal favor and acclaim. It's a political contest -- one which the Red Knight has the skill to win. But the stakes may be higher than he thinks. The court of Alba has been infiltrated by a dangerous faction of warlike knights, led by the greatest knight in the world: Jean de Vrailly -- and the prize he's fighting for isn't royal favor, but the throne of Alba itself...

This is the third book in the Traitor Son Cycle, following on The Red Knight and The Fell Sword.

ONE ENEMY HAS FALLEN
A GREATER ONE REMAINS
NOW IT'S WAR...

The Red Knight withstood the full might of his enemy, and won the day. In a victory which will be remembered through the ages, he brought disparate factions together and turned them into allies against a more powerful foe than they had ever seen.

Now, he will need his allies more than ever.

Because behind one adversary hid another - one with allies of their own - whose goal was never to destroy Alba, but to distract the Kingdom while achieving his true aim. And whatever it is, it's probably not in the Red Knight's interest.

With one army defeated, now the Red Knight must fight again... and for every one of his allies there is a corresponding enemy. Spread out in different lands, and on sea, it will all come down to one last gamble. And to whether or not the Red Knight has guessed their foe's true intentions.

With each throw of the dice, everything could be lost...

The blood-thirsty, epic Traitor Son Cycle comes to its gripping conclusion in this fifth and final book.

In the climax of the Traitor Son Cycle, the allied armies of the Wild and the Kingdoms of men and women must face Ash for control of the gates to the hermetical universe, and for control of their own destinies. But exhaustion, treachery and time may all prove deadlier enemies.

In Alba, Queen Desiderata struggles to rebuild her kingdom wrecked by a year of civil war, even as the Autumn battles are fought in the west. In the Terra Antica, The Red Knight attempts to force his unwilling allies to finish the Necromancer instead of each other.

But as the last battle nears, The Red Knight makes a horrifying discovery... all of this fighting may have happened before.

The stunning first volume in Janny Wurts's epic tale of two half-brothers cursed to life-long enmity, now re-released with a striking new cover.

The world of Athera lives in eternal fog, its skies obscured by the malevolent Mistwraith. Only the combined powers of two half-brothers can challenge the Mistwraith's stranglehold: Arithon, Master of Shadow and Lysaer, Lord of Light.

Arithon and Lysaer will find that they are inescapably bound inside a pattern of events dictated by their own deepest convictions. Yet there is more at stake than one battle with the Mistwraith – as the sorcerers of the Fellowship of Seven know well. For between them the half-brothers hold the balance of the world, its harmony and its future, in their hands.

The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

"And it came to pass in those days, as it had come before and would come again, that the Dark lay heavy on the land and weighed down the hearts of men, and the green things failed, and hope died." - From Charal Drianaan te Calamon, The Cycle of the Dragon.

In the Field of Merrilor the rulers of the nations gather to join behind Rand al'Thor, or to stop him from his plan to break the seals on the Dark One's prison – which may be a sign of his madness, or the last hope of humankind. Egwene, the Amyrlin Seat, leans toward the former.

In Andor, the Trollocs seize Caemlyn.

In the wolf dream, Perrin Aybara battles Slayer.

Approaching Ebou Dar, Mat Cauthon plans to visit his wife Tuon, now Fortuona, Empress of the Seanchan.

All humanity is in peril – and the outcome will be decided in Shayol Ghul itself. The Wheel is turning, and the Age is coming to its end. The Last Battle will determine the fate of the world...

The Book of Eador, Abjurations 12:14, is very clear: Suffer ye not the life of a witch. For a thousand years, the Church Knights have obeyed that commandment, sending to the stake anyone who can hear the songs of the earth. There are no exceptions, not even for one of their own.

Novice Knight Gair can hear music no one else can, beautiful, terrible music: music with power. In the Holy City, that can mean only one thing: death by fire—until an unlikely intervention gives him a chance to flee the city and escape the flames.

With the Church Knights and their witchfinder hot on his heels, Gair hasn’t time to learn how to use the power growing inside him, but if he doesn’t master it, that power will tear him apart. His only hope is the secretive Guardians of the Veil, though centuries of persecution have almost destroyed their Order, and the few Guardians left have troubles of their own.

For the Veil between worlds is weakening, and behind it, the Hidden Kingdom, ever-hungry for dominion over the daylight realm, is stirring. Though he is far from ready, Gair will find himself fighting for his own life, for everyone within the Order of the Veil, and for the woman he has come to love.

The first volume of Michael Scott Rohan's acclaimed The Winter of the World sequence.

The chronicles of The Winter of the World echo down the ages in half-remembered myth and song - tales of mysterious powers of the Mastersmiths, of the forging of great weapons, of the subterranean kingdoms of the duergar, of Gods who walked abroad, and of the Powers that struggled endlessly for dominion.

In the Northlands, beleaguered by the ever-encroaching Ice and the marauding Ekwesh, a young cowherd, saved from the raiders by the mysterious Mastersmith, discovers in himself an uncanny power to shape metal - but it is a power that may easily be turned to evil ends, and on a dreadful night he flees his new home, and embarks on the quest to find both his own destiny, and a weapon that will let him stand against the Power of the Ice.

His wanderings will bring him great friends but earn him greater enemies, and eventually they will transform him from lowly cowherd to a mastersmith fit to stand with the greatest of all men.

Geralt of Rivia is a witcher. A cunning sorcerer. A merciless assassin.

And a cold-blooded killer.

His sole purpose: to destroy the monsters that plague the world.

But not everything monstrous-looking is evil, and not everything fair is good...and in every fairy tale there is a grain of truth.

The international hit that inspired the video game The Witcher.

Watch for the signs! What signs these shall be, I say unto you: first the earth will flow with the blood of Aen Seidhe, the Blood of Elves...For over a century, humans, dwarves, gnomes, and elves have lived together in relative peace. But times have changed, the uneasy peace is over, and now the races are fighting once again. The only good elf, it seems, is a dead elf.

Geralt of Rivia, the cunning assassin known as The Witcher, has been waiting for the birth of a prophesied child. This child has the power to change the world - for good, or for evil.As the threat of war hangs over the land and the child is hunted for her extraordinary powers, it will become Geralt's responsibility to protect them all - and the Witcher never accepts defeat.

Following The Last Wish, BLOOD OF ELVES is the new novel starring Geralt of Rivia, the inspiration for the critically-acclaimed videogame The Witcher

Geralt was always going to stand out, with his white hair and piercing eyes, his cynicism and lack of respect for authority --- but he is far more than just a striking-looking man. He's a witcher; his sorcerous powers, enhanced by elixers and long training, have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin. Yet he is no ordinary murderer; his targets are the vile fiends and demons that ravage the land. But first appearance can often be deceptive; not everything monstrous-looking is a monster --- and even the fairest can have a bite!

The Wizards Guild has been shattered by a coup and, in the uproar, Geralt was seriously injured. The Witcher is supposed to be a guardian of the innocent, a protector of those in need, a defender against powerful and dangerous monsters that prey on men in dark times.

But now that dark times have fallen upon the world, Geralt is helpless until he has recovered from his injuries.

While war rages across all of the lands, the future of magic is under threat and those sorcerers who survive are determined to protect it. It's an impossible situation in which to find one girl - Ciri, the heiress to the throne of Cintra, has vanished - until a rumour places her in the Niflgaard court, preparing to marry the Emperor.

Injured or not, Geralt has a rescue mission on his hands.

This is the third of the Witcher novels by Andrzej Sapkowski

THE WIZARD KNIGHT springs from the myths, legends and literature of times past. A teenager passes from Earth to a magical realm of seven worlds, where he is given a hero's adult body and named Able. Though forced to act as a man, inside he is still a boy, even as he sets off to find his destined sword and become a knight. In his quest he battles giants, meets gods, heroes and a sorceress (who repeatedly tries to seduce him), and serves the mercurial dragon king Arnthor in a way that could end everything.

This is the Omnibus edition containing both The Knight and The Wizard.

A young man in his teens is transported from our world to a magical realm that contains seven levels of reality. Very quickly transformed by magic into a grown man of heroic proportions, he takes the name Abel and sets out on a quest to find the sword that has been promised to him, a sword he will get from a dragon, the one very special blade that will help him fulfill his life ambition to become a knight and a true hero.

Inside, however, Abel remains a boy, and he must grow in every sense to survive the dangers and delights that lie ahead in encounters with giants, elves, wizards, and dragons.

IT'S A GAME OF ASSASSIN VERSUS ASSASSIN

Girton Club-foot has no family, a crippled leg, and is apprenticed to the best assassin in the land.

He's learning the art of taking lives, but his latest mission tasks him with a far more difficult challenge: to save a life. Someone is trying to kill the heir to the throne, and it is up to Girton to uncover the traitor and prevent the prince's murder -- and his own.

Age of Assassins is the first in an epic new trilogy set in a world ravaged by magic, featuring a cast of assassins, knights, ambitious noblemen, and fools.

Meet Celaena Sardothien. Beautiful. Deadly. Destined for greatness.

In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake. She got caught.

Young Captain Westfall offers her a deal: her freedom in return for one huge sacrifice. Celaena must represent the prince in a to-the-death tournament - fighting the most gifted thieves and assassins in the land. Live or die, Celaena will be free. Win or lose, she is about to discover her true destiny. But will her assassin's heart be melted?

Thought to have been first written down in the 12th century by an author who is still unknown, "The Nibelungenlied", translated from Middle High German as "The Song of the Nibelungs", is an epic German poem reflecting the oral tradition, heroic motifs, and actual events and individuals from the 5th and 6th centuries. This remarkable work begins with an assurance of both joy and sorrow, though ultimately tragedy reins in "The Nibelungenlied".

The early chapters recount the young life of Siegfried, a great Netherlands prince, who slew a dragon and bathed in its blood while still young, giving him extraordinary strength. He goes on to meet the lovely princess Kriemhild, whose brother Gunther requires his help to marry the strong Icelandic Queen Brünhild in exchange for his sister's hand. All is well until Brünhild discovers the deception of Gunther and Siegfried, and her successful plot to murder the latter incites bloody revenge from Kriemhild.

From the court of the Burgundians to the court of Etzel, from terrible deaths to hidden treasure, "The Nibelungenlied" is a masterful illumination of German antiquity and dramatic legend.

Tarma witnessed her clan's murder and, swearing vengeance, became a master warrior. Kethry fled her forced "marriage" and became an adept--pledging her power to the greatest good. When Kethry obtains a magical sword which draws her to others in need, the two vow to avenge the wrongs done to womanhood.

Vlad Taltos is a mobster and assassin in the magical metropolis of Adrilankha. A member of the Great House of Jhereg (named for the tiny dragon-like creatures native to Dragaera), Taltos is given the largest contract of his career but the job is even more complicated than he expects.

An anthology of Warhammer Stories edited by David Pringle. Eight (8) stories of magic and horror from the Warhammer world, a land of grim fantasy and perilous adventure.

The "Warhammer" world is a land of grim fantasy and perilous adventure, threatened by the Dark Powers. This anthology of six stories features Genevieve the vampire, Vokutich the mercenary, Buttermere Warble the halfling investigator, and troll-slayer Gotrek and his human companion Felix.

A group of Black Library authors give their own spin on stories based on and about the iconic characters of Warhammer Fantasy - Gotrek and Felix. Stories are by the authors - Nathan Long (x2), Josh Reynolds, John Brunner, Jordan Ellinger, Ben McCallum, David Guymer, Andy Smillie, CL Werner, and Richard Salter.

A collection of action-packed novellas from Warhammer's longest running series

Gotrek and Felix: unsung heroes of the Empire, or nothing more than common thieves and murderers? The truth perhaps lies somewhere in between, and depends entirely upon whom you ask... A collection of timeless tales featuring the Slayer Gotrek Gurnisson and his human companion Felix Jaeger. From the undead-ridden marshes of Hel Fenn, where an ancient evil lurks, to the court of a skaven lord in the depths of a dwarf hold, the duo face excitement, danger and intrigue at every turn.

Trollslayer is the first part of the death saga of Gotrek Gurnisson, as retold by his travelling companion Felix Jaeger. Set in the darkly gothic world of Warhammer, Trollslayer is an episodic novel featuring some of the most extraordinary adventures of this deadly pair of heroes. Monsters, daemons, sorcerers, mutants, orcs, beastmen and worse are to be found as Gotrek strives to achieve a noble death in battle. Felix, of course, only has to survive to tell the tale.

Set in the mighty city of Nuln, Gotrek and Felix are back in Skavenslayer, the second novel in this epic saga. Seeking to undermine the very fabric of the Empire with their arcane warp-sorcery, the skaven, twisted Chaos rat-men, are at large in the reeking sewers beneath the city. Led by Grey Seer Thanquol, the servants of the Horned Rat are determined to overthrow this bastion of humanity. Against such forces, what possible threat can just two hard-bitten adventurers pose?

Gotrek and Felix are looking for the lost Dwarfhold of Karag Dum. But greater and more sinister energies are coming into play, as a daemonic power is awoken to fulfil its ancient, deadly promise.

As the dark forces of Chaos bring destruction to the northern lands of Kislev, only dwarf warrior Gotrek Gurnisson and his human companion, Felix Jaeger, stand between the evil hordes and the ancient city of Praag. Reprint.

A darkness is gathering over the storm-wracked isle of Albion. Foul creatures stalk the lands once more and the omens foretell the coming of a great evil. Gotrek and Felix are compelled to fight the malignant evil that terrorises the populace before it can grow to threaten the whole world. With the aid of the mighty high elf mage, Teclis, they must decipher and utilise the secrets of the Old Ones. Only then can they hope to save the innocent and vanquish the dark master.

Gotrek and Felix arrive back on the southern coast of the Old World to discover that the orcs are running rampant as the Empire fights off a Chaos invasion futher inland. To honour an ancient pledge, Gotrek agrees to help a dwarf prince reclaim his hold from the greenskin invaders who have siezed it, but our intrepid heroes find more than they bargain for in the cold depths of the mountains.

"A snappy serial in the Tolkein vein draws its heroes and villains from a somewhat tired set of fantasy tropes, but Long's storytelling ability makes it worthwhile?the narrative maintains the momentum throughout. An engaging if derivative fantasy tale."

-Kirkus Discoveries, VNU US Literary Group

Now back in the Empire following their sojourn overseas, Gotrek and Felix head north, to aid the men of the Empire in their fight against the invading Chaos hordes. Stopping off in Nuln, they meet up with dwarf engineer Malakai Makaisson, who is helping the Imperial war effort by transporting cannons to the frontline on his airship, The Spirit of Grungni. After a series of nasty accidents, it becomes clear that saboteurs are at work - can our heroes find the villains in time to save the day?

The return of Black Library favourites Gotrek & Felix

Gotrek and Felix: unsung heroes of the Empire, or nothing more than common thieves and murderers? The truth perhaps lies somewhere in between, and depends entirely upon whom you ask... Gotrek and Felix race to the dwarf hold at Karak Kadrin, finding it besieged by one of the grand armies of Chaos warlord Garmr. When King Ungrim Ironfist speaks of the legendary 'Road of Skulls' and of the hated foe's attempts to open a portal into the Realm of Chaos, Gotrek senses that a great doom awaits him - though it may not be the one he would choose for himself. As the king's own son leads his army of Slayers to fulfil an ancient prophecy, it seems that Garmr's hour of victory may be at hand.

Picking up where Rise of the Wolf leaves off, the kingdom is in disarray and Drew Ferran is grudgingly being groomed for the throne. When a revenge plot by Prince Lucas is revealed, Drew seizes the opportunity to flee his obligations in pursuit of the renegade prince. But Drew and his allies are in trouble, as they encounter rogue militias of lawless Werelords and a nation of invading Catlords determined to wrest power from Drew's paws. With the odds stacked against him, Drew must face up to his kingship and embrace the Wolf or all of Lyssia will be lost.

Their fates were bound by their mother's white magic - though darkness and battle strove to drive them apart...

It was in the year of the Fire Troll that the sea-raiders struck at High-Hallack and, promise-bound, its sons rose to the defense of their Dale. But where stood amongst their number a youth whom the Dalesmen had merely fostered: Elyn, born of Estcarp, whose birthright was the wisdom of the Wise. But Elyn of Estcarp was still young and, though a warrior impatient for battle, his unscarred sword had learnt little of the dark treacheries of war. In his most desperate hour of danger Elyn's stoutest weapon would prove his brave witch-sister Elys. Together witch and warrior would face perils beyond the laws of our everyday stars!

Set in a shadowy world of magic and mystery, a fantasy novel in which a young man sets off on a wild ride in pursuit of the lover whose death and resurrection he witnessed.

Xanth was the enchanted land where magic ruled--where every citizen had a special spell only he could cast. That is, except for Bink of North Village. He was sure he possessed no magic, and knew that if he didn't find some soon, he would be exiled. According to the Good Magician Humpfrey, the charts said that Bink was as powerful as the King or even the Evil Magician Trent. Unfortunately, no one could determine its form. Meanwhile, Bink was in despair. If he didn't find his magic soon, he would be forced to leave....

Millie the ghost is beautiful. Of course, she isn't a ghost any more. She's Millie the nurse. She's not especially bright, and she's hardly young. She looks twenty-nine, but actually she's about eight hundred and twenty-nine -- the oldest creature currently associated with Castle Roogna. She had been ensorceled as a maid of seventeen, eight centuries ago, when Castle Roogna was young, and restored to life at the time of Dor's birth. In the Interim she had been a ghost, and the label has never quite worn off.

Millie wants only one man -- Jonathan, and he's a zombie. To prove himself, Magician Dor volunteers to get the potion that can restore Jonathan to full life. But he has to go back through time to do it, to a peril-haunted, ancient Xanth, where danger lurks at every turn.