Anne Rice's magnificent Songs of the Seraphim series continues with a lyrical and haunting new novel of angels and assassins set in dark and dangerous worlds — in our time and in centuries past. Toby O'Dare, former government assassin, is summoned by the angel Malchiah to fifteenth-century Rome — the city of Michelangelo and Raphael, of Leo X and the Holy Inquisition — to solve a terrible crime of poisoning and to uncover the secrets of an earthbound restless spirit, a diabolical dybbuk. Toby is plunged into this rich age as a lutist sent to charm and calm this troublesome spirit. In the fullness of the high Italian Renaissance, Toby soon discovers himself in the midst of dark plots and counterplots, surrounded by a still darker and more dangerous threat as the veil of ecclesiastical terror closes in around him. And as he once again embarks on a powerful journey of atonement, he is reconnected with his own past, with matters light and dark, fierce and tender, with the promise of salvation and with a deeper and richer vision of love.

The Man Who Would Be Satan Parry was a gifted musician and an apprentice in the arts of White Magic. But his life of sweet promise went disastrously awry following the sudden, violent death of his beloved Jolie. Led down the twisted path of wickedness and depravity by Lilah the harlot demoness, Parry thrived -- first as a sorceror, then as a monk, and finally as a feared inquisitor. But it wasn't until his mortal flame was extinguished that Parry found his true calling -- as the Incarnation of Evil. And, at the gates of Hell, he prepared to wage war on the master himself -- Lucifer, the dark lord -- with dominion over the infernal realms the ultimate prize!

Love and evil are real – they are substances of force fields which contain us as constituent parts. Of all the powers of life they are the two most pregnant with meaning, hence the most generative of what is specifically human. Love and evil stand in the closest relationship to each other: evil is both what destroys love and what forces more love out of us; it is, as Augustine astutely grasped, privative (requiring something to negate) but it is also born out of misdirected love. Breaking with naïve realist and post-modern dogmas about the nature of the real, this book provides the basis for a philosophy of generative action as it draws upon examples from philosophy, literature, religion and popular culture. While this book has a sympathetic ear for ancient and traditional narratives about the meaning of life, it offers a philosophy appropriate for our times and our crises. It is particularly directed at readers who are seeking for new ways to think about our world and self-making, and who are as dissatisfied with post-Nietzschean and post-Marxian 20th century social theory as they are by more traditional philosophical and naturalistic accounts of human being.

It's 1967 in rural Iowa as drugs, corporate farming, and Vietnam are beginning to take their toll on small-town American life. When Charles Weaver's plans for the summer after high school graduation go awry, he ends up working for the street crew in his hometown before heading off to college. Charles, school valedictorian and son of a lawyer, not only knows nothing about driving tractors and laying asphalt, he can't remember even meeting the regular members of the crew: Dexter, who collects discarded furniture for the house he's going to build someday in the Ozarks; the Shakespeare-quoting Moss, a teacher in rural schools before consolidation of the district, and their boss, Clyde, whose strength and temper are legendary in Savannah County. Two things change Charles's summer experience and life dramatically. On the spur of the moment, he asks Clyde's daughter, Frankie, to go on a date and their romance is a surprise to everyone. Then, the oldest log church in Iowa is destroyed by fire, and Charles stumbles upon a badly-burned body while cleaning up debris. Was this an outsider mixing meth in the hard-to-find church, as the sheriff contends? Or was someone local involved, as Charles suspects? Charles, the sheriff, and Frankie collide in a stunning climax of this novel about a boy becoming a man through his growing awareness of the complexity of love and the subtle power of evil.

The defining premise of the Relational Free Will Defense is the claim that authentic love requires free will. Many scholars, including Gregory Boyd and Vincent Brümmer, champion this claim. Best-selling books, such as Rob Bell’s Love Wins, echo that love “cannot be forced, manipulated, or coerced. It always leaves room for the other to decide.” The claim that love requires free will has even found expression in mainstream Hollywood films, including Frailty, Bruce Almighty, and The Adjustment Bureau. The analysis shows convincingly that the claim that authentic love requires free will, does not meet the criteria of consistency, compatibility with Scriptural sources, and the demands of concrete encounter with problems of moral evil.

If God is all powerful and entirely good and loving, why is there so much evil in the world? Based on a close canonical reading of Scripture, this book offers a new approach to the challenge of reconciling the Christian confession of a loving God with the realities of suffering and evil. John Peckham offers a constructive proposal for a theodicy of love that upholds both the sovereignty of God and human freedom, showing that Scripture points toward a framework for thinking about God's love in relation to the world.

Civitas Vadanis is in trouble. The Mezentines have declared war; and the Mezentines are very focused on their goals when it comes to killing. Duke Valens, of Civitas Vadanis, has a dilemma. He knows that his city cannot withstand the invading army; yet its walls are his only defence against the Mezentines. Perhaps the only way to save his people is to flee, but that will not be easy either. Ziani Vaatzes, an engineer exiled by the Mezentines for his abominable creations, has already proven that he can defend a city. But Ziani Vaatzes has his own concerns, and the fate of Civitas Vadanis may not be one of them. "Intelligent and compassionate. . .it should be celebrated." -- Interzone on Devices and Desires "One of the most entertaining fantasy debuts in recent years. . .incredibly vivid, refreshing, fun, thoughtful, absorbing." -- SFX

When first published, Evil and the God of Love instantly became recognized as a modern theological classic, widely viewed as the most important work on the problem of evil to appear in English for more than a generation. Including a foreword by Marilyn McCord Adams, this reissue also contains a new preface by the author.

THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL is now a major motion picture from Netflix, starring Academy Award winner Charlize Theron, Kerry Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Yeoh, Cate Blanchett, and many more! A dark and enchanting fantasy adventure for those who prefer fairytales with a twist. The first in the bestselling series.

There was a time Jude Delouxe didn't hate me, and I'm fairly certain it was when he didn't know I existed.Senior year, I finally caught his eye long enough to throw word vomit at him like the obsessed teenage girl I was.That was then.You see, the most wanted guy in school blamed me for losing his second chance with his girlfriend. Ex-girlfriend? Whatever. Point is, the Adonis loved to hate me.It wasn't my fault he'd followed me. It wasn't my fault he'd stared too long and stood a little too close, just daring me to accomplish my wildest dreams.And it most certainly wasn't my fault his ex-girlfriend arrived when he'd decided to kiss me back.Then the cruelty began.I'd thought I could handle it, so long as his lips kept gracing mine and he kept giving me more scorching firsts. Until he took it too far, and all his carefully kept secrets blew open the doors to a brand-new world. A world he was all too familiar with.Obsession became loathing and fear replaced naivety as Jude was forced to hold my hand and help me navigate a secret society rife with sin and debauchery-the crème de la crème of Peridot Island.If I wasn't careful, I'd do more than lose what remained of my heart. My first love and greatest foe wouldn't be satisfied until he'd devoured my soul, too.