Burdened by old debts, a hero unites with allies against dark monsters and ruthless brigands, where the wager is life itself. Imagine a world where the darkness of your past comes back to haunt you, forcing you to lead a group of outcasts on a treacherous quest to save your loved ones from the brink of destruction. This is the world that ex-soldier Johnathon Rourke finds himself in when his gambling debts put his family in danger. In a desperate attempt to settle his score, John enlists the help of an unlikely fellowship - a cunning human, stalwart dwarf, fierce elven huntress, and twin namites, jackal-headed warriors from a distant desert land. Bound by the brotherhood forged through the horrors of war, they set out to retrieve a fabled treasure guarded by a legendary sea beast. But with ruthless enemies and monstrous dangers lurking at every turn, will their bond be enough to overcome the challenges ahead? In the fantasy realm of Arghost, remnants of fallen civilizations whisper secrets beneath the canopy of lush forests, while in the mist-wreathed bogs, beasts of ancient lineages stalk their prey with silent cunning. Fans of fast-paced high fantasy such as The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames, and Malice by John Gwynne, will enjoy the complex character development, high stakes, and intricate world-building of Fate's Wager. Embark on this thrilling adventure and discover if Johnathon Rourke can outwit fate itself - grab your copy today!

In this unique and hybrid book, cultural and music historian Michael P. Steinberg combines a close analysis of Wagnerian music drama with a personal account of his work as a dramaturg on the bicentennial production of The Ring of the Nibelung for the Teatro alla Scala Milan and the Berlin State Opera. Steinberg shows how Wagner uses the power of a modern mythology to heighten music’s claims to knowledge, thereby fusing not only art and politics, but truth and lies as well. Rather than attempting to separate value and violence, or “the good from the bad,” as much Wagner scholarship as well as popular writing have tended to do, Steinberg proposes that we confront this paradox and look to the capacity of the stage to explore its depths and implications. Drawing on decades of engagement with Wagner and of experience teaching opera across disciplines, The Trouble with Wagner is packed with novel insights for experts and interested readers alike.

A young woman who is both a bard--and a warrior--seeks to repay her debts and settle scores in this thrilling historical fantasy series. The young warrior and bard Liobhan has lost her brother to the Otherworld. Even more determined to gain a place as an elite fighter, she returns to Swan Island to continue her training. But Liobhan is devastated when her comrade Dau is injured and loses his sight in their final display bout. Blamed by Dau's family for the accident, she agrees to go to Dau's home as a bond servant for the span of one year. There, she soon learns that Oakhill is a place of dark secrets. The vicious Crow Folk still threaten both worlds. And Dau, battling the demon of despair, is not an easy man to help. When Liobhan and Dau start to expose the rot at the center of Oakhill, they place themselves in deadly danger. For their enemy wields great power and will stop at nothing to get his way. It will take all the skills of a Swan Island warrior and a touch of the uncanny to give them a hope of survival. . . .

A sexy category romance from Entangled's Brazen imprint... This time, all bets are off... Penelope Carson loves to steal clients from Will Reaver. Yet something in her business nemesis's icy blue eyes makes Penelope...nervous. It certainly doesn't help that the man is the living embodiment of a Norse god. A controlled, powerful Norse god. Which she really should have remembered before she made a bet with him—because losing means becoming Will's personal submissive for a week. There's nothing Will would like more than to have Penelope kneeling before him in complicit submission, her fiery dark eyes inviting him in. Challenging him. But their bet takes Will and Penelope deeper than either of them have ever been. Where control is an illusion, and boundaries are pushed aside. And where hearts become the stakes in a game that neither Dominant nor submissive can win...

This reference work analyzes and classifies the story themes of Polynesian myths, tales, and legends according to an internationally employed system developed by Stith Thompson in his Motif Index of Folk-Literature ( 1955-1958). Thousands of tales, including those from almost all of the major original collections from the Polynesian area, have been examined and their thematic contents cataloged in this work. In his introduction, the author explains the concept of the motif as a basis for cataloging. He quotes from Professor Thompson's definition of a motif: “the smallest element in a tale having the power to persist in tradition,” for example, gods, marvelous creatures, magic objects, and certain kinds of incidents. The author believes “the function of an index of motifs is to cite bibliographical sources of narratives containing these viable (often irreducible) story elements, and thus to provide the investigator of specific story ideas with comparative Information.” The present work is an attempt to survey thoroughly the totality of Polynesian oral tradition and to indicate the distribution and relationships of narrative materials. Not since the publication of Roland B. Dixon's work on Oceanic mythology in 1916 has this been attempted. This index will be an invaluable reference tool for anyone doing research in Oceanic ethnology and folklore.