Hazel Lynn has spent her entire life preparing to take on the role of Gatekeeper between the Summer Court and the mortal realm. With her entire family bound into service to Faerie, she doesn’t exactly have a choice in the matter, but she's made it her mission to keep the peace between humans and fae -- enforced by her blade, if necessary. Her plans go sideways when she's called to take on the deadly Gatekeeper's Trials and assigned a stuck-up half-fae mentor who hates humans like her. He might be pretty to look at, but he has no intention of giving her an easy time of it. But things go from bad to dire when the King of the Summer Court is assassinated. Worse, all the signs point to a human being responsible. Since Hazel and her family are the only humans permitted to enter the King's domain, the blame lands squarely on them. Before long, Hazel's aggravating new mentor is the only person in Faerie she can trust not to sentence her to death on the spot… assuming he isn't the murderer himself. With her loved ones' fates resting in her hands, it's up to Hazel to catch the killer before the vengeful Sidhe take out their wrath on the rest of humanity. Keywords: urban fantasy, faeries, magic, portal fantasy, folklore, fairy tales, contemporary fantasy, fae urban fantasy series, complete fantasy series, Seelie Court, Unseelie Court, crown, throne, urban fantasy series, British fantasy, ghost mystery, female protagonist urban fantasy, ghosts, post-apocalyptic fantasy, Scotland, action urban fantasy, myths and legends

What would have happened if William of Normandy had lost the Battle of Hastings? What kind of nation would have been born if King Harald of Norway had conquered England instead? How different our history could have been if the wind had blown in the other direction for just one day in the summer of 1066. The Hidden Crown is an alternate-history adventure that takes place a hundred years after such events. The country that would have become Norman England has split in two: the Anglo-Norse kingdom of Northland and the Saxon realm of Ængland. The two nations have been at peace for nearly a century, that is until the dying king of Ængland unexpectedly names his nine-year-old granddaughter, Adelise, as his heir. During her journey home to Ængland through the wilds of Northland, the child-queen is rescued from a bloody assassination attempt by the young Northlandic soldier, Thurstan Ælfsson. Now the two sole survivors of the attack must find safety and allies in a desperate flight across the two kingdoms, never knowing whether they are about to encounter friend or foe. ,

"Within the hollow crown that rounds the mortal temples of a king..." —Shakespeare, The Tragedy of King Richard II Unlike his father, the Black Prince, or his namesake, King Richard the Lionheart, Richard II never really wanted to be king. But the mantle of royalty is thrust upon his shoulders at age 11, at a time when England is racked by unrest and class warefare. A leader as unexpected as he is inexperienced, young Richard must find a way to triumph over a fierce conflict more destructive than any foreign enemy.Richard's love for his wife, Anne of Bohemia, gave him the strength to outwit the schemes of his enemies and govern as he saw fit, providing England with years of properity under his reign. But when tragedy strikes, Richard begins to loose the common touch by which he had ruled so brilliantly, and begins a downward spiral from which his detractors would derive strength... "Sympathetic picture of sensitive, peace-loving, and ill-beset Richard II, who had it in him to be one of the best kings England ever had."—Booklist "Ms. Barnes captures the flavor, pageantry, and color of the Middle Ages...a distinguished novel." —Philadelphia Inquirer

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Peace and order have been restored to the kingdoms of Tsaia and Lyonya, thanks to the crowning of Mikeli of Tsaia and the half-elven mercenary Kieri Phelan as their respective kings. But trouble is brewing. Mikeli cannot rule safely as long as the few remaining Verrakaien magelords are at large. And a strange rift has developed between Kieri and his grandmother and co-ruler, the immortal elven queen known as the Lady. Meanwhile, both monarchs are targets of the ex-pirate Alured, who plots to seize their thrones for himself—and to the north, the aggressive kingdom of Pargun seems poised to invade. As threats of war, from without and within, divide the two kings, old alliances and the bonds of friendship will be tested as never before. And a shocking discovery will change everything.

Hazel Lynn has spent her entire life preparing to take on the role of Gatekeeper between the Summer Court and the mortal realm. With her entire family bound into service to Faerie, she doesn’t exactly have a choice in the matter, but she's made it her mission to keep the peace between humans and fae -- enforced by her blade, if necessary. Her plans go sideways when she's called to take on the deadly Gatekeeper's Trials and assigned a stuck-up half-fae mentor who hates humans like her. He might be pretty to look at, but he has no intention of giving her an easy time of it. But things go from bad to dire when the King of the Summer Court is assassinated. Worse, all the signs point to a human being responsible. Since Hazel and her family are the only humans permitted to enter the King's domain, the blame lands squarely on them. Before long, Hazel's aggravating new mentor is the only person in Faerie she can trust not to sentence her to death on the spot… assuming he isn't the murderer himself. With her loved ones' fates resting in her hands, it's up to Hazel to catch the killer before the vengeful Sidhe take out their wrath on the rest of humanity. This boxed set contains the complete Gatekeeper's Trials trilogy: Hidden Crown, Hidden Court, and Hidden Power. Keywords: urban fantasy, faeries, magic, portal fantasy, folklore, fairy tales, contemporary fantasy, fae urban fantasy series, complete fantasy series, Seelie Court, Unseelie Court, crown, throne, urban fantasy series, British fantasy, ghost mystery, female protagonist urban fantasy, ghosts, post-apocalyptic fantasy, Scotland, action urban fantasy, myths and legends

This study focuses on the emergence of a modern Jewish national literature and culture within the parameters of Zionism in Vienna and Berlin at the turn of the last century. Prominent figures associated with early modern Zionism, including Theodor Herzl, Max Nordau, and Martin Buber, were also writers and literary or cultural icons within the Central European, Germanic-Austrian cultural environment of the fin-de-siècle. More important, Cultural Zionism promoted young Jewish literary and artistic talent as part of its ideology of a modern Jewish Renaissance. A corpus of German-language Jewish-national poetry and literature, as well as mechanisms for its dissemination and reception, developed rapidly. Most of this literary and cultural production has been forgotten or suppressed. Productive, if often unlikely, partnerships between Jewish national poets and artists and Central European cultural figures and movements were forged in this context. Facets of Central European cultural life, which were somewhat oppositional to traditional Jewish culture were received, absorbed, or transformed within Cultural Zionism. For example, the relationship of German racialist thought and German-nationalist fraternity life to early Jewish-national expression is a largely unknown chapter of early Jewish-national cultural history. The same can be said for the impact of feminist, counter-culture, and bohemian circles in Berlin on Cultural Zionist personalities and their work.

This study examines the children’s books of three extraordinary British writers—J.K. Rowling, Diana Wynne Jones, and Terry Pratchett—and investigates their sophisticated use of narrative strategies not only to engage children in reading, but to educate them into becoming mature readers and indeed individuals. The book demonstrates how in quite different ways these writers establish reader expectations by drawing on conventions in existing genres only to subvert those expectations. Their strategies lead young readers to evaluate for themselves both the power of story to shape our understanding of the world and to develop a sense of identity and agency. Rowling, Jones, and Pratchett provide their readers with fantasies that are pleasurable and imaginative, but far from encouraging escape from reality, they convey important lessons about the complexities and challenges of the real world—and how these may be faced and solved. All three writers deploy the tropes and imaginative possibilities of fantasy to disturb, challenge, and enlarge the world of their readers.

The work of a novelist and translator collide in this visionary and hilarious debut from acclaimed French writer Brice Matthieussent. Revenge of the Translator follows Trad, who is translating a mysterious author’s book, Translator’s Revenge, from English to French. The book opens as a series of footnotes from Trad, as he justifies changes he makes. As the novel progresses, Trad begins to take over the writing, methodically breaking down the work of the original writer and changing the course of the text. The lines between reality and fiction start to blur as Trad’s world overlaps with the characters in Translator’s Revenge, who seem to grow more and more independent of Trad’s increasingly deranged struggle to control the plot. Revenge of the Translator is a brilliant, rule-defying exploration of literature, the act of writing and translating, and the often complicated relationship between authors and their translators.