An assassin slain. A fleet prepared. A battle looms. Jacob fears their time is running out. The full focus of Belldorn and Bollwerk’s tinkers is centered on the construction of the carriers. While Jacob is concentrating on overseeing the work, he worries for Alice who faces a dire challenge of her own. They need to launch an attack on Ballern, but their forces cannot cross the Crystal Sea without the new warships. To deploy their ground forces they must secure a base, requiring a strengthened alliance with the forest city of Karn. Surrounded by Acidwings and Cannon Bugs, Alice and Furi embark on a journey fraught with danger in hopes of solidifying the Stormborn alliance. Steamborn and Skyborn must stand together in the looming battle … or both will fall. Even as they prepare for war, an enemy takes advantage of their distracted attention and strikes Midstream. But they are not the only forces moving in the shadows. Owen and the fisherfolk are closing in, intent on giving Mordair, now Steward of Ballern, a farewell he’ll never forget.

Moving into a rundown Victorian house with a vampire living in the basement isn't as bad as I thought, but things go from weird to weirder when a badly injured gnome collapses in my back yard. The surprising part? It's my friend Nin's long-lost grandfather. Since he's unconscious, we can't figure out who's chasing him, or where he's been all these years, but if we can't help him, he'll die. To make matters worse, there's a new dragon in town. A female dragon. Everyone knows females are more dangerous than the males, and this one takes an instant dislike to me. It seems that she wants to date my mate, Zav, and has his mother's approval. If I can't avoid her wrath and find a way to cure the gnome, Nin's going to lose her grandfather, and I'm going to end up deader than the vampire in the basement.

CAINA AMALAS is the Ghost circlemaster of Istarinmul, leader of the Emperor's spies in the city. She has defeated powerful foes, but more dangerous enemies lie before her. A sorcerous catastrophe threatens to destroy Istarinmul, and the only the mysterious sorceress Annarah, last loremaster of lost Iramis, knows how to stop it. To rescue Annarah and save Istarinmul, Caina must brave the Inferno, the hellish fortress of the sinister Immortals. But those who enter the Inferno never return...

Beth Leighton moved to Scotland to marry the love of her life. But then he betrays her and she is fatally shot. However the Archangel Remiel interferes, and she awakes to find herself in 18th century England. Alive but confused and lost, she wants to go home. Despite a roguish and handsome highwayman. Christopher “Kit” Locke is haunted by his past mistakes and lives on danger’s edge, not caring if he lives or dies. He will leave that choice to Fate. Intrigued by the spirited Beth, he is drawn from his spiraling descent and is enlisted to help steal an evil artifact, the Viper’s Eye, a demonic soul-stealing jewel. While the Archangel and the Duke of Hell battle it out, both Beth and Kit must also fight evil. When the stone seeks Kit's soul can Beth's love keep him from falling victim to the Viper's Eye or will she lose Kit to Hell's fire?

Rural narratives after Premchand remained unnoticed because of not being written in English. Rural India and Peasantry: Ethnography in stories after Premchand is a study of literary representation of rural life in a vast expanse of land designated as the Hindi Heartland. What lends unique strength to this work is that after Premchand, fictional narrative has not really been dealt with such scholarly seriousness or contextualized in the socio-economic scenario of the rural world and peasantry. More than thirty stories discussed in ten chapters, inherit a strong tradition of peasant narratives since the times of Premchand, exposing the reader to an intricate array of messy complications and contingencies, the small peasantry and the rural world has experienced since the early decades of independent India through the period of liberalization till the recent decades. Exploring non- canonical rural stories in Hindi, unfolds a spectrum of ethnic-cultural and psychological biographies about the evolving rural scenario in the democratic India of our times. The substantial reference to concrete facts and data vindicate the realistic strain of the work. It would set a new example of interdisciplinary scholarship and open up new vistas of further scholarship, especially in the Cultural studies. The authentically translated excerpts, transcribe the spirit of rural India.

The great three-sided war continues: Rome against Persia against the tribes of the desert now commanded by Mohammed of Mekkah. But there is hope for the West. Prince Maxian, horrified at being the cause of so many deaths, has come to realize that the Oath need not be broken; it can be changed by a skilled sorcerer. (July)

Histories of masculinity have generally examined both social ideologies of masculinity and subjective male identities within frameworks that define them against the feminine. Yet historians and sociologists have increasingly argued that men have been and continue to be defined both socially and subjectively as much by their relations to other men as in relation to women. This collection brings together the work of scholars of masculinities working in a variety of fields, including literature, history and art history, to examine some of the forms of 'otherness' against which ideas of masculinity have been defined throughout history. The collection reflects the current breadth of scholarship relating to the study of masculine alterity. While the subjects addressed are largely historical, the time span covered is broad and the disciplinary approaches to the subject matter are equally wide-ranging. A huge variety of men, masculine behaviours and definitions of masculinity are considered in an exciting and invigorating collection that showcases both established academics and emerging scholars in the field.

Sixteen years old, Caina is a student of the Ghosts, the spies and agents of the Emperor of Nighmar, and from them she learns the arts of stealth and infiltration, of disguise and intrigue. If she survives, she will become a nightfighter, one of the elite agents of the Ghosts. For the Empire is in deadly danger, and needs the nightfighters of the Ghosts. Either Caina will become a nightfighter, or the enemies of the Empire will kill her... Originally published as the novellas GHOST DAGGER and GHOST THORNS, and the short stories GHOST CLAWS, GHOST LIGHT, GHOST CLAWS, GHOST OMENS, GHOST UNDYING, THE FALL OF KYRACE, and GHOST ARIA.