Something she once hated lost to her forever, Sophia is given a sight voiding the bleak infinity of darkness. With it she becomes something of a light bearer aiding the once great King Rycus on a path to bring light to the power that separated her from her sister and attempt to stand against it before it reaches his own former Kingdom of Elkhart. Cloaked maneuverings of an entity referred to as Enfin initiates choices of human conflict. Setting Kings of opposing southern realms, below a vast mountain chain divided by the Great River Teal. Brayden Elkhart (son to King Rycus) and Evans Byrthfeld reignite their fathers war under a new flame of unrepentant yearning. Initiated by a chance clandestine meeting between a Princess that is not of royal birth.

Eternal commitment is not on her agenda...but time's running out for the king of the vampires. Can these fated mates come to an agreement, or will they fight destiny tooth and nail to deny the sparks that fly between them? Scorned by the vampire community for her lack of power, Isabel Anthony lives a carefree existence masquerading as human—although drifting after dark through the debauched human nightlife, she prefers the patrons' blood to other indulgences. But when she meets the sexy, arrogant king of the vampires—who is nothing but sweet temptation—this party-girl's life turns dark and dangerous. Dead-set on finding the prophesied mate who will unlock his fiery powers, Thad Morgan must find his queen before their race is destroyed. Their enemies are gaining ground, and Thad needs his powers to unite his subjects. But when his search leads him to the defiant Isabel, he wonders if fate had gotten it seriously wrong...

A collection of nine critical essays on the modern social science fiction novel, arranged in chronological order of their original publication.

Raised and trained in seclusion at a secret fortress on the edge of the northern wilds of the Kingdom of Ashai, a young warrior called Rezkin is unexpectedly thrust into the outworld when a terrible battle destroys all that he knows. With no understanding of his life's purpose and armed with masterful weapons mysteriously bestowed upon him by a dead king, Rezkin must travel across Ashai to find the one man who may hold the clues to his very existence.Determined to adhere to his last orders, Rezkin extends his protection to an unlikely assortment of individuals he meets along the way, often leading to humorous and poignant incidents.As if pursuing an elite warrior across a kingdom, figuring out who he is and why everyone he knows is dead, and attempting to find these so-called friends and protect them is not enough, strange things are happening in the kingdom. New dangers begin to arise that threaten not only Rezkin and his friends, but possibly everyone in Ashai.

A new epic fantasy series from the New York Times bestselling author chosen to complete Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time® Series

In Death, Burial and Rebirth in the Religions of Antiquity, Jon Davies charts the significance of death to the emerging religious cults in the pre-Christian and early Christian world. He analyses the varied burial rituals and examines the different notions of the afterlife. Among the areas covered are: * Osiris and Isis: the life theology of Ancient Egypt * burying the Jewish dead * Roman religion and Roman funerals * Early Christian burial * the nature of martyrdom. Jon Davies also draws on the sociological theory of Max Weber to present a comprehensive introduction to and overview of death, burial and the afterlife in the first Christian centuries which offers insights into the relationship between social change and attitudes to death and dying.

Contemporary American horror literature for children and young adults has two bold messages for readers: adults are untrustworthy, unreliable and often dangerous; and the monster always wins (as it must if there is to be a sequel). Examining the young adult horror series and the religious horror series for children (Left Behind: The Kids) for the first time, and tracing the unstoppable monster to Seuss's Cat in the Hat, this book sheds new light on the problematic message produced by the combination of marketing and books for contemporary American young readers.