Before his demotion, Joe McKeefe was a celebrated and highly decorated detective who had been recognized as a rising star in the police department. Now he was finishing his career as a uniformed patrol officer in the precinct with city's highest crime rate, a place where the murder of a low-life junkie was so common as to be almost trivial. This victim, however, was different: he had once been McKeefe's informant. McKeefe is disgusted by the superficial manner in which the official murder investigation is handled, so he begins to poke around. But this murder isn't as insignificant as it appeared-in fact, it's collateral damage from an elaborate scheme, the players of which are a crooked narcotics sergeant and the city's major drug dealers. They have different motivations: the sergeant's all-consuming and obsessive lust for money is only matched by the drug dealers' fixation with staying out of prison. But neither side has even the slightest concern for human life. As McKeefe's probe continues, he discovers that a pawn in the plan is his only brother, a criminal defense lawyer who, in McKeefe's words, "lives off crime and defends slime." Unwittingly, McKeefe's good intentions slowly but irreversibly drag him deeper and deeper into the quagmire. Before long, he finds he has jeopardized himself, his brother, his partner, and possibly the entire police department.

From Willow Smith and Jess Hendel comes a powerful and groundbreaking historical saga about an African warrior in the world of the Vikings. “Intimate, tender, and fiercely epic.”—Tomi Adeyemi, author of Children of Blood and Bone Lore, legend, and history tell us of the Vikings: warrior kings on epic journeys of conquest and plunder. But the stories we know are not the only stories to tell. There is another story, one that has been lost to the mists of time: the saga of the dark queen. This saga begins with Yafeu, a defiant yet fiercely compassionate young warrior who is stolen from her home in the flourishing Ghānaian empire and taken to a distant kingdom in the North. There she is thrust into a strange, cold world of savage shield maidens, tyrannical rulers, and mysterious gods. And there she also finds something unexpected: a kindred spirit. She comes to serve Freydis, a shy princess who couldn’t be more different from the confident and self-possessed Yafeu. But they both want the same thing: to forge their own fate. Yafeu inspires Freydis to dream of a future greater than the one that the king and queen have forced upon her. And with the princess at her side, Yafeu learns to navigate this new world and grows increasingly determined to become one of the legendary shield maidens—to fight not only for her freedom but for the freedom of others. Yafeu may have lost her home, but she still knows who she is, and she’s not afraid to be the flame that burns a city to the ground so a new world can rise from the ashes. She will alter the course of history—and become the revolutionary heroine of her own myth.

New York Times bestselling author Donna Grant brings you the first of a thrilling time-travel adventure. Earth is about to be annihilated by creatures spoken of only in myths and legends. The fabled race of the Fae has gathered together a group of warriors highly skilled and trained to defeat these creatures. These men come from different times and realms, giving their lives, if necessary, to end the destruction of our world. Dear Reader – Have you ever wanted to travel through time with weapons crafted by the Fae themselves? To experience adventure so thrilling and dangerous you don’t know if you will live to see tomorrow? Now my men and I are faced with fighting creatures only thought to live in legend but which have been brought to Earth by evil bent on annihilating all the realms. That is my life – and I love it. At least I did until I found myself staring into the angelic, innocent face of Lady Mina of Stone Crest. In all the time I have led the Shields I have trusted my instinct to keep us alive, yet now I don’t know what to believe. Everything points to Mina as the evil summoning the creatures, but she proclaims her innocence. I should be able to see through her lies, if she is indeed lying, but my attraction to her blinds me to even that. The last time I found myself so lured to a woman, it nearly cost me the lives of my men. I cannot allow that to happen again. I won’t allow that to happen again. Yet every time she looks at me, begging me with those blue-green eyes to believe her, I find myself sinking further under her spell. Her mouth is a temptation mortal men will never know and her love will either bring me the peace I thought I’d never find – or the death I’ve managed, thus far, to avoid. Hugh the Righteous

Author and expert on metaphysical subjects Francis Melville asserts that psychic attack, the practice of the dark arts, is more common than many of us would like to believe. Often taking the form of nightmares, illness, and accidents, it is practiced on unwary subjects by personal enemies who have turned bitter as a result of envy, hatred, resentment, or spite. He divides his latest book into two parts. Part One explains the basic principles behind all forms of destructive magic, and Part Two discusses ways in which readers can protect themselves against negative influences, whether deliberate or unconscious. Several destructive magic arts are described in detail, including Satanism, Black Lodges, Voudou, and Demonic Possession, among others. Recommended protections described by the author include specific physical exercises, the making of amulets and talismans, angelic invocation, recital of mantras and meditations, and exorcism. This fascinating study is printed in two colors and supplemented with more than 250 illustrations.

Mighty warriors fight to save the realm from blood magic and evil, in this battle-soaked epic fantasy novel, from the hugely popular Descent games The once-glorious Barony of Kell is a ruin of its former self, assailed by banditry and famine; its noble Baron Frederic is caught between saving his people and defending his borders. Yet worse is to come… for a new Darkness is rising. Sadistic warrior-priestess, Ne’Krul, spying an opportunity to wreak bloody vengeance on behalf of her demonic masters, leads her Uthuk warband into a brutal invasion. Kell’s only hope lies in holy warrior, Andira Runehand, and legendary hero, Trenloe the Strong, both drawn to Kell to defeat an alliance of evil unprecedented in Terrinoth. They must not fail.

A complex, adult epic fantasy from a new Australian author ... original, dramatic, unputdownable ... Sierra has a despised and forbidden gift - she raises power from the suffering of others. Enslaved by the king's torturer, Sierra escapes, barely keeping ahead of Rasten, the man sent to hunt her down. Then she falls in with dangerous company: the fugitive Prince Cammarian and his crippled foster-brother, Isidro. But Rasten is not the only enemy hunting them in the frozen north and as Sierra's new allies struggle to identify friend from foe, Rasten approaches her with a plan to kill the master they both abhor. Sierra is forced to decide what price she is willing to pay for her freedom and her life ... Original, dramatic and unputdownable, Winter Be My Shield is the first in an epic fantasy trilogy from brilliant new Australian talent Jo Spurrier. 'Unlikely heroes, villains you will cheer for, and cold that eats your bones. Winter Be My Shield will take you to an unforgiving place, but you won't want to leave it.' Robin Hobb

Back in print for the first time in decades, Auden’s National Book Award–winning poetry collection, in a critical edition that introduces it to a new generation of readers The Shield of Achilles, which won the National Book Award in 1956, may well be W. H. Auden’s most important, intricately designed, and unified book of poetry. In addition to its famous title poem, which reimagines Achilles’s shield for the modern age, when war and heroism have changed beyond recognition, the book also includes two sequences—“Bucolics” and “Horae Canonicae”—that Auden believed to be among his most significant work. Featuring an authoritative text and an introduction and notes by Alan Jacobs, this volume brings Auden’s collection back into print for the first time in decades and offers the only critical edition of the work. As Jacobs writes in the introduction, Auden’s collection “is the boldest and most intellectually assured work of his career, an achievement that has not been sufficiently acknowledged.” Describing the book’s formal qualities and careful structure, Jacobs shows why The Shield of Achilles should be seen as one of Auden’s most central poetic statements—a richly imaginative, beautifully envisioned account of what it means to live, as human beings do, simultaneously in nature and in history.

The King is dead. Demacia is mourning. And in the eyes of Garen Crownguard, it’s his fault. But can he rise to the challenge when Demacia needs him again? While on a peacetime expedition beyond the borders of Demacia, Garen, Quinn, and the Dauntless Vanguard uncover a plot that threatens to destroy long-standing alliances. As the knight-ranger Quinn tries to get word back to Demacia, Garen and his comrades make a desperate last stand. How long can they last, and at what cost?

As Leia must deal with a new threat to the fragile alliance that binds the New Republic, Lando becomes a prisoner aboard a runaway spacecraft of unknown origin. The ship is following an unstoppable path to its homeworld, destroyed by Imperial forces. Luke continues his quest to learn more about his mother among the Fallanassi, where his every belief about the use of the Force is about to be challenged. And while Leia ponders a diplomatic solution to the aggression of the fierce Yevetha race, Han pilots a spy ship into the heart of Yevethan space and finds himself a hostage on one of the vast fleet of warships under the command of a ruthless leader.

I have been Truesword to my friends, Griefbringer to my enemies. To most of you I am just another Northlander bastard here to take your women and drink your mead, but to those who know me, my name is Gallow. I fought for my king for seven long years. I have served lords and held my shield beside common men. I have fled in defeat and I have tasted victory and I will tell you which is sweeter. Despise me then, for I have slain more of your kin than I can count, though I remember every single face. For my king I will travel to the end of the world. I will find the fabled Crimson Shield so that his legions may carry it to battle, and when Sword and Shield must finally clash, there you will find me. I will not make pacts with devils or bargains with demons for I do not believe in such things, and yet I will see them all around me, in men and in their deeds. Remember me then, for I will not suffer such monsters to live. Even if they are the ones I serve.