Four friends meet a mysterious stranger with a robotic voice ... an encounter that will change their lives forever. Jake and Leo have spent the last two years working on a sequel to a successful shooter / role-playing game at Scrub-Liminal Studios in Austin, Texas, working under industry legend Mickey Whitmore. Meanwhile, their friends Tim and Allison worked on a hugely anticipated new sci-fi space exploration game at Green Gryphon Games on the outskirts of town, under the eccentric leadership of Bentley Bartle. As the stranger asks them to recount their tale, they tell the story of their epic quest to achieve game development greatness -- a story of teamwork, ambition, struggle, tragedy, office politics, clashing expectations and personalities, extraordinary personal suffering, and a helper who guides them to a profound new understanding of how values drive culture, and how culture drives outcomes. This book gives a unique and entertaining perspective on game development, an "in the trenches" view of how teams succeed or fail from the point of view of the hard-working developers doing everything they can to help their teams succeed. It shows the critical role of leadership and values, the seemingly trivial mistakes that can snowball into serious problems, and insights into what it takes to change things for the better. Book Review 1: "Tozour's parable of game development dissects the industry with candor and wit." -- Michel Sabbagh Book Review 2: "Congratulations on making something I didn’t think was possible. I’ll be recommending this to lots of people." -- John Harries Book Review 3: "Genuinely enjoying the tone and pacing of your novel … I think it's going to sell really well. You always, always, end your chapters perfectly." -- Jared Rasic Book Review 4: "I think you’ve created a great ‘mirror’ for studios and individuals to hold up to themselves. I see people reading it, or being asked to read it, and simply reflecting on themselves, their team, their company and how that impacts what happens in their workplace. The afterword is super helpful, and I love that it is so personal. It demonstrates your values and critically the behaviours that underpin a strong culture (a great starting point for a studio). Awesome job Paul, I really enjoyed it." -- Chris Johnson

During an entertaining jousting tournament, a mysterious villain attacks the capital with his army. Three young adults decide to fight back against insurmountable odds despite knowing their slim chances of survival. Follow Stephen Brightflame, a nineteen-year-old who aspires to become a knight, Tyrus Canard, an arrogant warrior, and Kari Quinn, a Halfling archer in this first volume in the five-part series, "The Story of Evil." It has been raved for its “intense action scenes,” “riveting twists,” and a conclusion that “leaves you on the edge of your seat” (SPR and US Review of Books).

What's your magical personality: Dragon? Pegasus? Mermaid? Written by a professional psychologist and psychotherapist, this book outlines 12 different personality types based on the four elements of the ancient world.

When tragedy strikes, Eva is forced to make a tough decision and fast! The choice she makes changes everything, throwing Eva and her brother into a strange world called Lyra. Among the incredible things they encounter there is a walking tree, dandelion fairies, pine-cone people and huge lion-birds. In this new world, Eva’s courage is repeatedly put to the test. When a frightening figure from her past arrives, she faces losing everything. Will she be able to find a way to save not only herself, but also her brother, their friends and the new life they have created for themselves? Guardian of the Gryphons is the first book in the League of Wildlings series. In these books, children from around the world join together to unlock their special gifts in order to protect their own homes and the mystical world of Lyra.

This vast tapestry of the Hellenic world unfolds in a stirring tale of two traders from the island of Rhodes, who journey across the wind-blown face of the beautiful and treacherous Mediterranean in search of adventure and profits.

The Story of Evil is the first standalone novel in Tony Johnson’s literary universe, The Chronoverse. This book is a giant tome of epic fantasy made up of five volumes (Heroes of the Siege, Escape from Celestial, Three Visions, The Cursed King, and Battle for the Kingdom). During an annual jousting tournament, a mysterious villain attacks the capital with his army. Because of this disastrous event, Stephen Brightflame, an aspiring knight, embarks on a quest to save the kingdom from further destruction. He joins up with a convicted felon, an arrogant warrior, and a Halfling woman, but learns their tragic pasts are just as dark and disturbing as his own. This 430,000 word adventure features everything that makes the fantasy genre great: knights, castles, war, prophecies, magic, monsters, and dragons! After ten years in the making, experience the complete Story of Evil - An Epic Fantasy Saga.

Do you ever wonder what happened to Oliver Twist and the Artful Dodger from the Dickens novel? This volume includes Mr. Montgomery's previous novel, The Further Adventures and Life of Jack Dawkins, Also Known as the Artful Dodger, polished, changed slightly, and expanded in order to give more attention to all aspects of Dodger's personality. In it, Dodger meets people from his past, some of them good and some quite nasty. The greatest danger, however, comes through his love for Angelica. The second portion of this book begins four years after the close of the first. Oliver Twist, still in England, finds a formidable enemy in Ian Ross, a man who is trying to distance himself from the reputation of his family, notably his Uncle Fagin. Once Oliver flees England to America, he meets his old friends, also finding people lost to him in his past. But enemies don't give up easily, and the staunch foe appears again to threaten all those who knew and felt loyalty to Fagin.

It was a long fall from Clan Heir to common thief, but Aaron never wanted any part of his father’s brutal outlander reign. In fact, besides coin purses and jewels, there’s very little in all of Cisali that interests Aaron, until he stumbles—quite literally—into a prince’s bedchamber... Prince Davish of Ischia is a skilled swordsman both on the field and beneath the sheets, at least when he isn’t outrageously drunk. But the wine helps him forget all the ways he’s disappointed his father, his family, and soon enough, his young bride-to-be... A trained Wizard of the Nine with more raw talent than real-world experience, Princess Chandra has no interest in the politically arranged marriage. She flees to the royal city of Ischia seeking a way out of the union. But there, she discovers something far more shocking than Prince Davish’s rakish reputation... The Stone of Ischia has been stolen. A powerful talisman, The Stone protects the city from the active volcano that looms over its terraces and streets. Without it, Ischia will be destroyed and the kingdom of Cisali will fall. Its only hope is an unlikely band of heroes—a failed thief, a drunken prince, and a runaway wizard—who must face pirates, powerful magic, and their own carefully guarded secrets in order to find and restore the Stone of Ischia. REVIEWS “The delightful camarderie of three unlikely heroes and well controlled fantasy elements make Huff's adventure great fun to read.” —Publishers Weekly “Huff arranges the ordinary elements of fantasy into an extraordinary tale of adventure and transformation.” —Library Journal “An exciting adventure ... they face pirates, storms, traitors ... each has unique talents that can bring their mission to a successful conclusion, each has weakness that could destroy themselves and a city of people.” —Voya

Before the rise to dominance of Western Europe, there was a pivotal time in history when the world was consumed by the epic struggle between the Islamic Empire of the Ottomans and the Christian Kingdoms of Eastern Europe. Two civilizations and two very different ways of life confronted each other with the fate of mankind yet to be decided. THE SWORD AND THE SHIELD OF THE REALM debuts MERCHANTS OF TIME A seven-novel tale of mystery and suspenseful adventure, during an epoch marked by turbulence and mayhem. The year is 1448. Transylvania and Wallachia, the sword and the shield of the Kingdom of Hungary, are invaded by an immense army under the banner of Sultan Murad II, the man who calls himself The Shadow of Allah upon the World. Lorian Comosicus, the heir to a mysterious Draconic ring, and his twelve-year-old brother, Silvan, are sent across the border mountains to the fortress of Roter Turm with a secret message from the conspirators who killed Vlad Dracul of Wallachia for pledging allegiance to the Ottoman Empire. Lost in the vast forests of Transylvania, they meet Sir Gregor Dahr Altair, an imperial knight who just escaped from Roter Turm before the Ottomans destroyed it. Gregor is an Excubitor, a powerful secretive fraternity who could change the outcome of the war. He leads Lorian and Silvan ahead of the tempest to the great trading city of Hermannstadt before it is surrounded and destroyed by the Sultan's army.

A young liege goes to battle in a medieval land teetering on the brink of civil war and church-sanctioned genocide in the second chronicle of the reign of King Kelson In troubled Gwynedd, the crown sits heavy on the head of King Kelson Haldane. In a realm historically torn asunder by deep-seated suspicion and fear of the magical Deryni who live among them, young Kelson is both beloved for his humanity and abhorred for his Deryni blood. Now, the traitorous cleric, Bishop Loris, has joined forces with Queen Caitrin, the Pretender of Meara, in her attempts to rip her homeland away from Gwyneddan rule. But Loris has even darker intentions. His scheme to reignite the terrible flames of holy civil war against the Deryni, coupled with Caitrin’s campaign of violent secession, draw Kelson and his army away from the royal court—where, in the king’s absence, an assassination plot is brewing. An extraordinary world-builder, acclaimed fantasist Katherine Kurtz returns readers to the Middle Ages of an alternate Earth in her continuing chronicles of the Deryni. Kurtz’s second history of the troubled reign of King Kelson is a breathtaking tale of majesty, magic, war, treachery, faith, and intolerance that once again brings a fascinating world and its diverse peoples to glorious life.