An inside view of China's quest to become a global wine power and Bordeaux's attempt to master the thirsty dragon it helped create The wine merchants of Bordeaux and the rising entrepreneurs of China would seem to have little in common—old world versus new, tradition versus disruption, loyalty versus efficiency. And yet these two communities have found their destinies intertwined in the conquest of new markets, as Suzanne Mustacich shows in this provocative account of how China is reshaping the French wine business and how Bordeaux is making its mark on China. Thirsty Dragon lays bare the untold story of how an influx of Chinese money rescued France's most venerable wine region from economic collapse, and how the result was a series of misunderstandings and crises that threatened the delicate infrastructure of Bordeaux's insular wine trade. The Bordelais and the Chinese do business according to different and often incompatible sets of rules, and Mustacich uncovers the competing agendas and little-known actors who are transforming the economics and culture of Bordeaux, even as its wines are finding new markets—and ever higher prices—in Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong, with Hong Kong and London traders playing a pivotal role. At once a tale of business skullduggery and fierce cultural clashes, adventure, and ambition, Thirsty Dragon offers a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges facing the world's most famous and prestigious wines.

CrossRoads Castle, located in the far North, is host to the group of adventurers known as the dragon's Bane. Little do these adventurers know how accurate their choice for a name might be and the trouble it will cause them. Hilthguard, a giant of a dragon, awaits them at the bottom of the dungeon, while he has his dragonmen army doing its best to bring these foolish adventures to their doom. Will this new party of inexperienced adventurers truly be the Dragon's Bane? Or will they become his breakfast?

This box set contains, Skyfire, Dragon Wine Part 5 and Moonfall, Dragon Wine Part 6 These are the two final installments in the Dragon Wine Series. Deliciously dark fantasy… "Shatterwing has all the fantasy ingredients I love: tormented heroes, a truly twisted villain - and a brand new take on dragons!" Glenda Larke, (award winning author of The Stormlord Trilogy) "Dark and compelling, with strong characters and a sense of grim inevitability that pulls you along with the story." Craig Cormick, (award-winning author of the Shadow Master Series.) Will Salinda and her band of followers find a way to avert final moonfall?

"Evagrius Ponticus (343-399 AD), an influential writer among the early Christian monks, spent sixteen years in the desert of Egypt, mostly at Kellia (the Cells). He was a disciple of the two Macarii - saints of Egypt and of Alexandria - under whose guidance he became a "philosopher," one who writes about the Christian life." "This study of Evagrius' writings on anger, and its causes, consequences and cures, offers useful spiritual insight with practical applications for the post-modern reader. Drawing from Evagrius' voluminous writings, the author examines the stirrings of the human heart, deftly diagnosing the souces of overblown and wayward anger." --Book Jacket.

Ages ago, sorcerers of unmatched power sundered a world into four realms—sky, stone, fire, and water—then vanished. Over time, magicians learned to work spells only in their own realms and forgot the others. Now only the few who have survived the Labyrinth and crossed the Death Gate know of the presence of all four realms—and even they have yet to unravel the mysteries of their severed world. . . . In Arianus, Realm of Sky, humans, elves, and dwarves battle for control of precious water—traversing a world of airborne islands on currents of elven magic and the backs of mammoth dragons. But soon great magical forces will begin to rend the fabric of this delicate land. An assassin will be hired to kill a royal prince—by the king himself. A dwarf will challenge the beliefs of his people—and lead them in rebellion. And a sinister wizard will enact his plan to rule Arianus—a plan that may be felt far beyond the Realm of Sky and into the Death Gate itself.

Filled with heroes and heroines and spanning locales of exotic adventure in a magic-forged world, the Dragonships of Vindras series fully illustrates the mastery of world-building and storytelling that has made Weis and Hickman into the bestselling fantasy co-authors of all time. In Bones of the Dragon, Skylan Ivorson is a sea-raider of the Vindras and eventually becomes the Chief of Chiefs of all Vindras clans, an honor he truly feels he deserves as one who has been blessed by Skoval, the god of war. But sometimes a blessing is a curse in disguise. Skoval and the other ancient gods are under siege from a new generation of gods who are challenging them for the powers of creation... and the only way to stop these brash interlopers lies within the mysterious and hidden Five Bones of the Vektan Dragons. It will be up to the Vindras people, as the dragon-goddess's champions, to undertake the quest to recover all Five. The fate of the Old Gods and the Vindras rests on their recovery--for this is not only a quest to save the world. It is also a quest for redemption. Welcome to the World of Dragonships! At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

This epic saga of brotherhood and rivalry, of loyalty and treachery, of victory and death forms part of the indelible core of classical Chinese culture and continues to fascinate modern-day readers. In 220 EC, the 400-year-old rule of the mighty Han dynasty came to an end and three kingdoms contested for control of China. Liu Pei, the legitimate heir to the Han throne, elects to fight for his birthright and enlists the aid of his sworn brothers, the impulsive giant Chang Fei and the invincible knight Kuan Yu. The brave band faces a formidable array of enemies, foremost among them the treacherous and bloodthirsty Ts'ao Ts'ao. The bold struggle of the three heroes seems doomed until the reclusive wizard Chuko Liang offers his counsel, and the tide begins to turn. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is China's oldest novel and the first of a great tradition of historical fiction. Believed to have been compiled by the play-wright Lo Kuan-chung in the late fourteenth century, it is indebted to the great San-kuo chi (Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms) completed by the historian Ch'en Shou just before his death in 297 CE. The novel first appeared in print in 1522. This edition, translated in the mid-1920s by C. H. Brewitt-Taylor, is based on a shortened and simplified version which appeared in the 1670s. An Introduction to this reprint by Robert E. Hegel, Professor of Chinese and Comparative Literature at Washington University, provides an insightful commentary on the historical background to the novel, its literary origins and its main characters.

The first title in the Dragonology Chronicles, steps into the the world of the Secret and Ancient Society of Dragonologists. Join tewlve-year-old Daniel Cook and his sister Beatrice as they begin their dragonogical apprenticeship under the eye of the eccentric Dr. Drake. Suddenly, a crisis interrupts their studies - can they find the fabled Dragon's Eye gem? And most importantly, can it be saved from falling into the hands of the evil Ignatius Crook? The future of all dragons rests in their hands.