In a world where magic and technology have merged, those who control Runes control everything.

The present volume engages visuality in security from a variety of angles and explores what the subfield of Visual Security Studies might be. To structure this experimentation, and to encourage a more careful and multifaceted approach to visuality and security, the main conceptual move in this volume is to envision three different transversal meeting points between security and visuality: visuality as a modality (active in representations and signs of security), visuality as practice (active in enacting security), and visuality as a method (active in investigating security). These three approaches structure the book together with three areas in which we see visuality as especially pertinent in relation to security: in security technologies that (en)vision security and are themselves the objects of visions of security; in spectacles of security and security spectatorship; and in ways of making security visible. In this way, the volume works to sensitize International Relations research to visual forms of knowledge and practice by examining visual aspects of security. At the same time, it allows for debate on how this particular modality of the sensible not only affects what is visible and what is not, but also how authority and truth-claims come about, and how they are compared and evaluated. Through engagement with security via the ‘language’ or ‘code’ of the visual, it is possible to interrogate how scholars in the field understand visuality as well as the economy, grammar, and performativity of visual articulation and the production of knowledge. The volume also examines how visuality can be used as a method in doing research, and as a way of presenting research results. Visual Security Studies is not a new theory of security or its study; instead, the present volume suggests that visuality should be envisioned as an aspect of security studies that can be incorporated into pre-existing approaches. The aim is to highlight how much of contemporary practice is visual and to foster an increased attentiveness to visuality in security politics, security practice, and to the possibilities of employing visual research methods in security scholarship. This book will be of much interest to students of critical security, media studies, surveillance studies, visual sociology, and IR in general.

Jack is an apprentice bard and just beginning to learn the secrets of his mysterious master, when he and his little sister are captured by Viking chief, Olaf One-Brow, and taken to the court of Ivar the Boneless. Ivar is married to a half-troll named Frith, an evil and unpredictable queen with a strange power over her husband's court. Jack is sent on to the kingdom of the trolls, where he has to find the magical well and undo the charm he has cast on Frith. He is accompanied by Thorgill, a shield maiden, aged 12, who wants to be a berserker when she grows up. Together, they are set for a magical and exciting adventure.

Reveals the ancient oracle based on the runic Elder Futhark alphabet of the Norse.

The year is 2050. In the wake of a worldwide nuclear holocaust, only two cities remain on our war-torn planet: The Denver Denizens and Hawaii's Azureus Islands. Locked in a post-apocalyptic cold war, these two superpowers vie for control over earth's few remaining habitable zones. Amid this global struggle, a desperate scientist risks everything to tip the balance of power by awakening a sentient technology which has the power to either heal our broken world or plunge all organic life into eternal darkness.

Halfling Tildi Summerbee led a typical, unexciting life, tending the house for her brothers while they managed the family farm...until she was forced to assume the identity of her recently deceased brother and accept his position as apprentice to a great wizard. Now she is on an important quest where the lessons of her apprenticeship pale in comparison to those learned in life-or-death situations. She has become the guardian of a very special book that can alter everything in existence... a race of centaurs gone with an editor's pen, a mountain range flattened with a revised rune, and life as Tildi has known it changed in the blink of an eye. Gone are her preconceptions of society and order. Gone are her trusting ways and belief in her superiors' honesty. But also gone is the shrinking violet smallfolk who masqueraded as a boy to secure an apprenticeship. Tildi has changed too, and she realizes that the fate of the world rests in her hands. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Prints, drawings, documents, and text illuminate the development of the occult sciences to the nineteenth century

Hampered by his inability to spell in a world where magic must be written in order to work, gifted young wizard Nicodemus experiences disturbing dreams in the wake of an ancient demon's murderous campaign that suggests that Nicodemus's spelling problem may be related to a curse.

Power. Responsibility. Expectation. But can Darg save the realm he swore to protect? A new evil plagues Rhineland. In the north, caravans are attacked and villages disappear overnight. While in the south, crime is rising and murder is now commonplace. As a newly appointed Knight, Darg is given his first solo quest: to find an old man who hasn't been seen in decades. For someone who struggled in his studies and barely passed his trials he's eager to prove he's worthy of his title. Finding him is one problem but convincing him to come back a different one. With the populace oblivious to the dangers they now face, the Rune Knights are their last line of defence. Can Darg survive the coming trials and stop the growing darkness? ◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆

In a land of myth and ice, seventeen-year-old Runa Unnursdóttir is not the runecaster her clan has been hoping for. She spends her days daydreaming of sailing away and exploring the world instead of studying the runes and learning her spells. The villagers consider her odd, in looks and in manner. She’s nothing like her talented sister, Sýr, keeper of the sacred moonstone that ensures the village’s continued survival. But when a rival clan led by an evil witch raids the village and kidnaps her sister, Runa is forced to act. With a fallen Valkyrie by her side, and the help of a gorgeous half-elf Runa is not quite sure she can trust, the apprentice must travel to the site of an ancient runecasting competition to try to win back the magical gem. But the journey will not be easy; the three unlikely companions encounter malevolent and supernatural creatures at every turn. Somehow, Runa must summon the courage and strength to face her destiny, a destiny she never wanted. Or die trying.