This brilliant reconception of the Arthurian epic cuts through the familiar myths and tells the story of the real King Arthur: Artos the Bear, the mighty warrior-king who saved the last lights of Western civilization when the barbarian darkness descended in the fifth century. Artos here comes alive: bold and forceful in battle, warm and generous in friendship, tough in politics, shrewd in the strategy of war—and tender and tragically tormented in love. Out of the interweaving of ancient legend, fresh research, soaring imagination, and hypnotic narrative skill comes a novel that has richly earned its reputation as a classic.

Rooted in folklore, medieval ideals of chivalry, and the last gallant struggles of the British against the Saxon invaders, the legends of King Arthur have been told in song and story since the middle ages. The Sword and the Circle by Rosemary Sutcliff tells of the birth of Arthur, the gift of Excalibur, the forming of the Round Table and the first noble quests of its knights until the arrival of Percival . . .

For fourteen centuries, the story of Arthur was a legend misted over by the tradition of romantic hero tales. But Arthur was real, a man of towering strength, a dreamer, and a warrior who actually lived, fought and died for his impossible dream. In Sutcliff's now legendary retelling King Arthur is brought passionately to life.

A sorcerous swordsmith desperate to achieve true power. His stubbornly nonmagical sword. His princely runaway lover. His hungry new fire elemental. Put them all together, and what can possibly go wrong?... Herewiss is the only man in centuries to possess the Power of the blue Flame, but he can’t use or control it — not even to help his friend and lover Freelorn, prince of Arlen, banished from his native land and pursued across the Middle Kingdoms by the usurpers' allies. Invoking perilous sorceries and the even more dangerous assistance of the fire elemental Sunspark, Herewiss manages to free Freelorn and his little band of followers from their pursuers. Together they flee eastward to seek brief refuge in the mysterious lands near the edge of the world they know. But now Herewiss faces a devastating choice. His time to master the blue Fire is running out. Should he abandon his fruitless search and join Freelorn in his fight to regain his kingdom? Or should he seek out the ancient keep in the Waste where countless doors lead into other worlds—among them, perhaps, the door that when opened will show Herewiss how to break through into the Power he must master or die?... The Door Into Fire, first novel set in Diane Duane's award-winning Middle Kingdoms universe, opens a fantastic saga of magic, adventure and love that has become a cult classic for its uniquely inclusive take on epic fantasy and its unforgettable characters. "Good strong stuff with the right light touch." (Terry Pratchett) "Expands the limits of the swords and sorcery genre. Exciting, magical, intelligent." (Publishers Weekly)

"Good strong stuff with the right light touch." --Terry Pratchett "The culminating battle will disappoint nobody. Imaginative, well-handled magical affrays, plus plotting that provides enough twists and turns to keep things interesting." (Kirkus Reviews) In the third and climactic volume of the Tale of the Five, Freelorn, exiled prince of Arlen, heads home to battle for his lost throne at last... but the odds are stacked against him. His land has achieved an illusion of stability under the reign of his usurping half-brother Cillmod, and not everyone is convinced that Freelorn's rule -- even though he is the rightful heir and chosen successor to the half-divine White Lion of Arlen -- would be that much of an improvement. But some have no doubts at all, and will do whatever it takes to keep Freelorn from retaking his throne. One of these is the sorcerer Rian, Cillmod's chief advisor, who has helped Cillmod twist to his use the royal magics that have preserved Arlen and its throne for centuries. And though Freelorn has the aid of Herewiss, first man in centuries to possess the dangerous Power of the blue Fire, and Eftgan, Queen of Arlen's neighbor-country and immemorial ally Darthen, even their combined power may not be enough to break the deadly grip of the shadowy force manipulating Cillmod and Rian to Its own ends. Freelorn and his friends and allies -- human and otherwise -- must now put their lives on the line in a final campaign in which he and they discover they have become tools in the hands of the Goddess against Her most terrible and ancient enemy. And for Freelorn, the final sacrifice to save his land from the triumph of an age-old evil will confront him with a choice more terrible than anything he could have imagined: death with those he loves... or immortality without them.

Many of the West’s best writers fought in duels or wrote about them, seduced by glamour or risk or recklessness. A gift as a plot device, the duel also offered a way to discover how we face fears of humiliation, pain, and death. John Leigh’s literary history of the duel illuminates these and other tensions attending the birth of the modern world.

The boy lay in the silence of the great battlefield, gazing at his own hand spread on the ground beside him. The hand moved and he realized, with something like surprise, that he was not dead. His name was Owain and further up the hillside lay his father and brother, both killed by Saxon warriors in that last great battle of Aquae Sulis. From that moment Owain knows that he must make his own way in the world and so begins his journey to face the many challenges that lie ahead. Rosemary Sutcliff is one of the greatest writers of historical fiction and Dawn Wind is an acclaimed and much-loved classic tale which will enthral readers old and new. This stunning new edition features the evocative original black and white illustrations by award-winning artist, Charles Keeping, which bring the story vividly to life.

An extraordinary epic, set a million years in the future, in the time of a dying sun, when our present culture is no longer even a memory. Severian, a torturer's apprentice, is exiled from his guild after falling in love with one of his prisoners. Ordered to the distant city of Thrax, armed with his ancient executioner's sword, Terminus Est, Severian must make his way across the perilous, ruined landscape of this far-future Urth. But is his finding of the mystical gem, the Claw of the Conciliator, merely an accident, or does Fate have a grander plans for Severian the torturer . . . ? This edition contains the first two volumes of this four volume novel, The Shadow of the Torturer and The Claw of the Conciliator.

Consists of a series of essays