A thrilling, harrowing novel of war, intrigue and dark, uncontrollable magic, Toll the Hounds is the new chapter in Erikson's monumental series - epic fantasy at its most imaginative and storytelling at its most exciting. In Darujhistan, the city of blue fire, it is said that love and death shall arrive dancing. It is summer and the heat is oppressive, but for the small round man in the faded red waistcoat, discomfiture is not just because of the sun. All is not well. Dire portents plague his nights and haunt the city streets like fiends of shadow. Assassins skulk in alleyways, but the quarry has turned and the hunters become the hunted. Hidden hands pluck the strings of tyranny like a fell chorus. While the bards sing their tragic tales, somewhere in the distance can be heard the baying of Hounds...And in the distant city of Black Coral, where rules Anomander Rake, Son of Darkness, ancient crimes awaken, intent on revenge. It seems Love and Death are indeed about to arrive...hand in hand, dancing. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Which is more important-loyalty to one's country, or loyalty to one's lover?Despite decades spent in service to the Alyrion Empire, Caius Oppita has betrayed both Decian and the imperial family he purports to serve, all within the space of a few weeks.With his honor already in tatters, he faces a new, unanswerable dilemma. If he allows Decian to become a figurehead for those who would see the current regime fall, the man he loves will be in unutterable danger. If he doesn't, the empire his family has served for generations will fall under the rule of either a sadistic schemer or a drunken madman.Regardless, civil war is coming.All Decian ever wanted was a quiet life of obscurity. All Caius ever wanted was to perform his duty faithfully.But what does his duty entail, when all of the options are equally terrible?* * *Master of Hounds: Book 3 is the final installment in an M/M epic fantasy trilogy by USA Today bestseller R. A. Steffan. It is set in the world of The Eburosi Chronicles, but stands alone. The book contains adult content.Other series set in this world:The Complete Horse Mistress Collection (2016 Rainbow Award winner)The Complete Lion Mistress Collection (2019 Rainbow Award winner)The Complete Dragon Mistress CollectionMistress of War (Coming in late 2022)

One man cannot take on an empire.Or rather, he can try-but it should come as no surprise when he's crushed by the vast powers arrayed against him. Caius Oppita knows this, but after what he's seen, it suits him better to go down fighting than to crawl on his hands and knees.The empire he's served faithfully since he was a boy now wants him dead, and the lover he thought he could trust has betrayed him in the worst possible way. Maybe Caius can't win the fight he's about to undertake, but he'll damn well drag the imperial family's corruption into the light of day if it kills him.And if the battle takes him to the same underbelly of the capital where his former lover fled after ripping Caius' world apart? Well, it won't be the first time this hardened general has engaged in combat on two fronts.Not all enemies are what they seem.Sometimes the course of a war can turn on the smallest thing.* * *Master of Hounds: Book 2 is the second installment in an M/M epic fantasy trilogy by USA Today bestseller R. A. Steffan. It is set in the world of The Eburosi Chronicles, but stands alone. The book contains adult content.Other completed series set in this world:The Complete Horse Mistress Collection (2016 Rainbow Award winner)The Complete Lion Mistress Collection (2019 Rainbow Award winner)The Complete Dragon Mistress Collection

'Fantasy cliches are dodged or given new twists; the narrative teems with clever invention . . . the writing is excellent' SFX ___ In Darujhistan, the saying goes that Love and Death shall arrive together, dancing... It is summer and the heat is oppressive, yet the discomfiture of the small rotund man in the faded red waistcoat is not entirely due to the sun. Dire portents plague his nights and haunt the city's streets like fiends of shadow. Assassins skulk in alleyways but it seems the hunters have become the hunted. Strangers have arrived, and while the bards sing their tragic tales, somewhere in the distance can be heard the baying of hounds. All is palpably not well. And in Black Coral too something is afoot. Memories of ancient crimes surface, clamouring for revenge and Anomander Rake, Son of Darkness, has come to right an ancient and terrible wrong. And so it would seem that Love and Death are indeed about to make their entrance... This is epic fantasy at its most imaginative, storytelling at its most exciting. ___ What readers are saying: ***** 'Epic action and breathless tension' ***** 'Dark and compelling . . . it was really hard to put down' ***** 'Innovative, unexpected . . . filled with laugh out loud humour, but also terribly poignant'

Gideon the Ninth meets Black Sun in this queer, Māori-inspired debut fantasy about a police officer who is murdered, brought back to life with a mysterious new power, and tasked with protecting her city from an insidious evil threatening to destroy it. The port city of Hainak is alive: its buildings, its fashion, even its weapons. But, after a devastating war and a sweeping biotech revolution, all its inhabitants want is peace, no one more so than Yat Jyn-Hok a reformed-thief-turned-cop who patrols the streets at night. Yat has recently been demoted on the force due to “lifestyle choices” after being caught at a gay club. She’s barely holding it together, haunted by memories of a lover who vanished and voices that float in and out of her head like radio signals. When she stumbles across a dead body on her patrol, two fellow officers gruesomely murder her and dump her into the harbor. Unfortunately for them, she wakes up. Resurrected by an ancient power, she finds herself with the new ability to manipulate life force. Quickly falling in with the pirate crew who has found her, she must race against time to stop a plague from being unleashed by the evil that has taken root in Hainak.

My name is Rex. I am a good dog. Rex is also seven foot tall at the shoulder, bulletproof, bristling with heavy calibre weaponry and his voice resonates with subsonics expecially designed to instil fear. With Dragon, Honey and Bees, he's part of a Multiform Assault Pack operating in the lawless anarchy of Compeche, Mexico. As a genitically engineered Bioform, Rex is a deadly weapon in a dirty war. But all he wants to be is a Good Dog. And to do that he must do exactly what Master says and kill a lot of enemies. But who, exactlym, ar the enemies? What happens when Master is tried as a war criminal? What rights does the Geneva Convention grant weapons? Do Rex and his fellow Bioforms even have a right to exist? And what happens when Rex slips his leash?

Beasts of Olympus is a series of 144-page illustrated chapter books set in a magical Ancient Greece where strange things still walk the Earth. In this second book, young Demon is summoned by the great god Hades to the Underworld. His most-hated hero, Heracles, has just returned Cerberus—the three-headed dog Guardian of the Underworld—to his god master, but something is wrong with the beast . . . and only Demon can help.

Slender Silver Birch whispered secrets to a flock of noisy sparrows, arrowing like darts into the depths of ancient twisted limbs; the last leaves clinging stubbornly, shaken loose circling, drifting down to join their sibling on the earth to begin the journey to mulch-hood. It was cold but the sounds of nature were undiminished; a ravens caw, a kookaburras contagious chuckle and the sweet, melodic call of a thrush echoed across the garden to the silent group sitting beneath the canopy of branches, soaking up the suns last warmth before winters final grip held the earth in stasis. Flora, Samantha, Maeve and the group who had assembled around them were tired and confused, not knowing if the outcome of their ritual, woven with the intention to locate Sybille on Samhain eve had been successful and knowing that much rode on it. They had all witnessed things they could not put name to and so much more had to their frustration, been hidden from sight as they stood backs turned to the events unfolding in the circle. Who was the small creature, Maeve saw watching her with such cold intensity? Where did Bethan go in that brief moment she vanished? Who are the enigmatic Dark Fae, waiting in the wings for any of them to make just one small slip? dare you walk the between, in the places unseen will you dare to engage with your shade will you walk, will you stray senses lost on the way with the mists calling home will you wander alone dare you walk the between unafraid the story continues after the Samhain Rite

The objective of this little book of simple essays is to show schoolboys how they can wite essays on familiar subjects by carefully reading the model essays. They can also learn how to express ideas and arrange them properly In this book, 198 model essays