When a seemingly crazy, poorly dressed soothsayer tells you not to let a magical talisman fall into the wrong hands, take him or her seriously. DO NOT laugh it off and leave said talisman simply lying around on a side table; you might as well just end the world yourself. —The Handbook of Practical Heroics, p. 134 The kingdom of Deserae is in the most direly perilous of dire perils. The realm’s precious magical talisman—Ancient Artifact Model Seven—is in the grimy hands of the evil Lord Voltmeter (He Who Must Be Named)... Only one man can stop him (and, by the by, win the hand of Deserae’s exceedingly well-proportioned princess). Unfortunately, he’s never really done this sort of thing before. But Prince Kevin Timberline is determined to find a way into the Fortress of Doom (perhaps through the gift shop?), resist the advances of a leather-clad, whip-wielding temptress (well, maybe that’s not so bad), and face an army of unspeakable nastiness (okay, that’s bad), armed only with his reasonably pure heart, questionable courage—and most importantly, a copy of The Handbook of Practical Heroics...

Agreeing to be a part of his uncles' dastardly scheme to wreak havoc in the kingdom of Damask by taking the throne, Bad Prince Charlie, renowned for his incompetence, is haunted by his father's ghost, who reveals an evil plot involving weapons of magical destruction.

There’s always trouble in Illyria: dragons to slay, villains to fight, and one beautiful princess after another demanding to be rescued from a fate worse than death. It’s a full-time job for Charming, noble prince and professional hero. In fact, young Charming thinks he’s just about ready for a leave of absence. But you’re always on call in the Slay and Rescue business, and soon Charming is working overtime when he becomes embroiled in a plot involving an evil sorceress, an enchanted castle, one angry dragon, and no less than three beauteous damsels in distress, each with her own plans for our hero, and none of them to be trusted long enough to shake a sword at...

When it is discovered that his family has long been charged with hiding and protecting Erethindel, the fabulous Crimson Talisman, from the forces of darkness, one young man discovers that it has fallen to him to keep it safe, as the powers of the talisman are awakened within him. Original.

There’s only one thing scarier than slaying a giant, fire-breathing dragon...slaying the wrong giant, fire-breathing dragon. Sir Terry knows that as a valiant (but solidly middle-class) knight he doesn’t have a chance of winning the beauteous Princess Gloria’s hand in marriage... unless he kills the dragon on the far edge of the kingdom and claims her as his reward. But Prince Charming never had to contend with re-zoning. After Terry defeats the dragon, he discovers he has slain the scourge of the kingdom next door. He’s still won a princess. Unfortunately, she’s nicknamed “Crazy Jane” for her habit of talking to dead animals. Luckily for Terry, Princess Gloria wants to give him another chance, and she arranges for him to save her from a fake kidnapping. Rescuing a damsel who’s not actually in distress ought to be easy, but events soon take a dangerous turn. No matter what, Terry must save Gloria. Because everyone knows that getting stuck with the wrong girl is truly a fate worse than dragons...

Marking the debut of a compelling new voice in science fiction and fantasy, this novel is set in a world that bears a disturbing resemblance to the Middle East and the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

The Phoenix Project wowed over a half-million readers. Now comes the Wall Street Journal Bestselling Wall Street Journal bestselling The Unicorn Project! “The Unicorn Project is amazing, and I loved it 100 times more than The Phoenix Project…”—FERNANDO CORNAGO, Senior Director Platform Engineering, Adidas “Gene Kim does a masterful job of showing how … the efforts of many create lasting business advantages for all.”—DR. STEVEN SPEAR, author of The High-Velocity Edge, Sr. Lecturer at MIT, and principal of HVE LLC. “The Unicorn Project is so clever, so good, so crazy enlightening!”––CORNELIA DAVIS, Vice President Of Technology at Pivotal Software, Inc., Author of Cloud Native Patterns This highly anticipated follow-up to the bestselling title The Phoenix Project takes another look at Parts Unlimited, this time from the perspective of software development. In The Unicorn Project, we follow Maxine, a senior lead developer and architect, as she is exiled to the Phoenix Project, to the horror of her friends and colleagues, as punishment for contributing to a payroll outage. She tries to survive in what feels like a heartless and uncaring bureaucracy and to work within a system where no one can get anything done without endless committees, paperwork, and approvals. One day, she is approached by a ragtag bunch of misfits who say they want to overthrow the existing order, to liberate developers, to bring joy back to technology work, and to enable the business to win in a time of digital disruption. To her surprise, she finds herself drawn ever further into this movement, eventually becoming one of the leaders of the Rebellion, which puts her in the crosshairs of some familiar and very dangerous enemies. The Age of Software is here, and another mass extinction event looms—this is a story about rebel developers and business leaders working together, racing against time to innovate, survive, and thrive in a time of unprecedented uncertainty...and opportunity. “The Unicorn Project provides insanely useful insights on how to improve your technology business.”—DOMINICA DEGRANDIS, author of Making Work Visible and Director of Digital Transformation at Tasktop ——— “My goal in writing The Unicorn Project was to explore and reveal the necessary but invisible structures required to make developers (and all engineers) productive, and reveal the devastating effects of technical debt and complexity. I hope this book can create common ground for technology and business leaders to leave the past behind, and co-create a better future together.”—Gene Kim, November 2019

When he accidentally defeats the dragon in a neighboring kingdom, Sir Terry, a middle-class knight, wins the hand of Princess "Crazy Jane," who talks to dead animals, but instead fights for the love of the beautiful Princess Gloria to whom he is wrongly devoted. Original.

We set our scene in Damask: A kingdom that couldn’t get ransacked if it tried... But now that the king is dead, that’s exactly what his brothers have in mind. All they need is a bad king to take his place. The population will rebel, the neighboring kingdom will be “invited” to restore order, and they’ll be in business... Bad Prince Charlie will do. His reputation for “badness” precedes him, and everyone knows he wouldn’t spit on Damask to save it from Drought. At the mention of Lady Catherine (va-va-voom) Durace, he’s in on the scheme. But his father’s ghost has been skulking around the castle, and we all know that means trouble. If Charlie ever gets around to hearing the old man out, he may learn that his uncles’ mildly sinister scheme is actually a bonafide evil plot. Ransacking Damask is just a cover for the real game: Weapons of Magical Destruction.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Briggs comes a fantastical series set in a world where magic is the only thing that stands between humanity and total destruction... Seraph is a Raven mage, and among the last of the Travelers who ensure that the city of Colossae is safe from evil. Unwelcome by those who fear magic, the wizard clans have been decimated by the very people they’ve sworn to protect. But Seraph is spared a similar fate by the ex-soldier Tier—and together they build a life where she is no longer burdened by her people’s responsibility. But now Tier is missing—or dead—and Seraph’s reprieve from her duty is over. Using her magic to discover her husband’s fate, Seraph realizes the prison that holds the evil entity known as Stalker is weakening—and only Seraph can fulfill her ancestors’ oath...