Tamsyn Lyman’s day can’t get any worse—or can it? It would seem so when her car breaks down along the interstate during a thunderstorm with her grandmother’s dead cat Guido inside. Thankfully, middle-aged tow truck driver Daniel Stevens is there to assist. In the rain, both Tamsyn and Daniel are struck by another vehicle. Instead of waking up in the hospital—or worse, not waking up at all—they find themselves on the alien planet of Eidolon, both of them young, healthy, and alive, including Guido. Only Tamsyn’s sapphire necklace, a gift from her grandmother, remains to remind them of Earth and home. On this new planet, these confused explorers must evolve quickly to survive. They meet strange creatures and discover that it was the mysterious Heart of Eidolon that beckoned them there. Tamsyn and Daniel represent some sort of change, but what does this far-off planet need, and will these novice space explorers ever get home?

Demonstrating a poet's imaginative ear and a critic's range of concern, John Hollander here writes about the "melodious guile" of poetry, explaining how poems frame parables about themselves. Hollander considers works by Spenser, Milton, Wordsworth, chiefly, plus a range of other poets including Chaucer, Keats, Rossetti, Tennyson, Frost, Stevens, and Auden. He also presents certain poems of his own, showing how they anticipate and exemplify the observations contained in this volume.

Humanity has found a new place to live...which is already taken. Inhabited by tangible gods and life abounding, they have etched their place onto Enrea by becoming servants of the Eidolons--the essences of energy--and have started anew without the problems that led to our departure from Earth. That isn't to say Enrea is without problems. Monstrous animals, societal hesitations, and the fleeting knowledge of the past loom over life on the planet. Shadows of the history of the Eidolons come back to haunt them, but even the gods do not know what led them to the current day. Will the gods save them? Will some brave leader step up when society threatens to crumble? Will we get some unknown hero that is overpowered in every way to save the day? No. You don't plan for these things. What could go wrong?

Plague has come to the continent of Teringia. As the Wrack makes its slow, relentless march southwards, it will humble kings and healers, seers and merchants, priests and warriors. Behind, it leaves only screams and suffering, and before it, spreads only fear. Lothain, the birthplace of the Wrack, desperately tries to hold itself together as the plague burns across it and its neighbors circle like vultures. The Moonsworn healers would fight the Wrack, but must navigate distrust and violence from the peoples of Teringia. Proud Galicanta readies itself for war, as the Sunsworn Empire watches and waits for the Wrack to bring its rival low. And the Wrack advances, utterly unconcerned with the plans of men.