Kingdoms through ages rise and fall. When an impossible plague from a far-off land finds its way to England, a blacksmith and a doctor are the only two men on Earth who have the ability to cure it. The plague does not bring death alone. Those afflicted by it lose themselves to the sickness. They become soulless plaguewalkers, empty shells of humanity who hunt and consume those who still live. They spread the disease until they are destroyed, and such violent action is the only way to stop them. As the plague ravages Valdus, the largest city in the land, a family is caught in the middle of the battle. A guard and his sister are at ground zero, and they must survive and fight their way to safety. While those within the city struggle to survive and find shelter, a Northern Kingdom sees the plague as their opportunity to invade. The two cities have been at war for decades over land and beliefs, and the Knights of Valdus are the only defense against the armies of the north. This is the story of two men seeking to end the plague. This is the story of a family just trying to survive. This is the story of battered knights fighting to protect their city. This is the story of the Demon's Plague

BOOK SIX in the Plague Wars series. The Demon Plagues is the first book in the Alien Invasion section of the Plague Wars series. Ten years after Infection Day, Daniel Markis struggles to unite a shattered world in the face of nuclear attack and extraterrestrial plagues, while others grasp for power and dark technologies. Skull mounts a one-man campaign to thwart the fascist Unionists, while Jill Repeth, Spooky Nguyen and his team gamble their lives to change the course of the Second Cold War. THE PLAGUE WARS SERIES: Plague Wars: Decade One - The Eden Plague - Reaper's Run - Skull's Shadows - Eden's Exodus - Apocalypse Austin - Nearest Night Plague Wars: Alien Invasion - The Demon Plagues - The Reaper Plague - The Orion Plague - Cyborg Strike - Comes the Destroyer - Forge and Steel Plague Wars: Stellar Conquest - First Conquest - Desolator: Conquest - Tactics of Conquest - Conquest of Earth - Conquest and Empire Keywords: Military Thrillers fiction, Alien invasion of Earth, Genetic Engineering fiction genes, First Contact war, Hard Science Fiction ebooks, high tech thrillers, techno thriller technothriller ebooks, alien first contact, virus, plague, battle, war, science fiction series, military thriller series, military science fiction series

Plague of Pythons is a science fiction novel by American writer Frederik Pohl. It was originally published in 1965, and an updated version was published in 1984 under the title Demon in the Skull. The title derives from the words "Domina Pythonis" used as part of an exorcism ritual performed in the first chapter to scare away the "demons" that seem to possess people in the novel.

One of the few full-length regional studies of popular religion in late imperial China, this book presents the history of the cult of Marshal Wen, a plague-fighting deity whose cult flourished through Chekiang and its neighboring provinces. The author provides a lively account of the rise of Wen's cult during the tumultuous years of the Southern Sung dynasty, as well as its spread during subsequent dynasties. In exploring the roles played by scholar-officials, merchants, and Taoist priests in the growth of Wen's cult, the author pays special attention to the various representations of this deity held by different social groups, and shows that these were constantly interacting in a process he calls "reverberation." His analysis of plague expulsion festivals featuring Marshal Wen reveals that they functioned as rites of affliction designed to both achieve communal purification and resolve social crises. This book draws on a wide variety of sources, including Taoist scriptures and liturgical texts, stele inscriptions, literati writings (including poetry), manuscripts from local archives, as well as popular novels and folktales. The author also supplements his historical research with data gathered during fieldwork in Chekiang and Taiwan

“The bard of biological weapons captures the drama of the front lines.”—Richard Danzig, former secretary of the navy The first major bioterror event in the United States-the anthrax attacks in October 2001-was a clarion call for scientists who work with “hot” agents to find ways of protecting civilian populations against biological weapons. In The Demon in the Freezer, his first nonfiction book since The Hot Zone, a #1 New York Times bestseller, Richard Preston takes us into the heart of Usamriid, the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, once the headquarters of the U.S. biological weapons program and now the epicenter of national biodefense. Peter Jahrling, the top scientist at Usamriid, a wry virologist who cut his teeth on Ebola, one of the world’s most lethal emerging viruses, has ORCON security clearance that gives him access to top secret information on bioweapons. His most urgent priority is to develop a drug that will take on smallpox-and win. Eradicated from the planet in 1979 in one of the great triumphs of modern science, the smallpox virus now resides, officially, in only two high-security freezers-at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and in Siberia, at a Russian virology institute called Vector. But the demon in the freezer has been set loose. It is almost certain that illegal stocks are in the possession of hostile states, including Iraq and North Korea. Jahrling is haunted by the thought that biologists in secret labs are using genetic engineering to create a new superpox virus, a smallpox resistant to all vaccines. Usamriid went into a state of Delta Alert on September 11 and activated its emergency response teams when the first anthrax letters were opened in New York and Washington, D.C. Preston reports, in unprecedented detail, on the government’ s response to the attacks and takes us into the ongoing FBI investigation. His story is based on interviews with top-level FBI agents and with Dr. Steven Hatfill. Jahrling is leading a team of scientists doing controversial experiments with live smallpox virus at CDC. Preston takes us into the lab where Jahrling is reawakening smallpox and explains, with cool and devastating precision, what may be at stake if his last bold experiment fails.

In the aftermath of the plague demons' attack on Fallcrest, Roghar's inspiring optimism has played a significant role in the rebuilding of the town. Albanon, meanwhile, has not recovered so well. Tormented by his experiences and his near-transformations first by Vestapalk then by Kri, he has retreated to Moorin's tower, where he immerses himself in books. He is the last member of the Order of Vigilance, touched by both the Voidharrow and Tharizdun--he feels as if he stands on the brink of madness. The Nentir Vale has been ravaged by the abyssal plague and the plague demons. The area is lawless and suspicions run rampant. Only safe as long as they hide, the heroes scout as close as they dare. But with Vestapalk growing ever-stronger and plague demons on the rise, they know they have to act soon. The world cannot afford to wait any longer. As they journey toward the greatest concentration of demons they learn they are on the right path and they gain an ally. Kri, believed dead, resurfaces with wisdom garnered from the Chained God. It seems even Tharizdun himself is against Vestapalk.

The Khyprian Empire stands as one of the few bulwarks of civilization among the bandit kingdoms known as the Border Princes. But a malignant force driven by revenge and an obscene, awesome power lies within its heart--and its plan is to bring the decaying realm of the Plague God to the Border Princes in all its putrefying glory. Second in the Tales of Minstrel Orfeo series. (August)

A sweeping germ’s-eye view of history from human origins to global pandemics Plagues upon the Earth is a monumental history of humans and their germs. Weaving together a grand narrative of global history with insights from cutting-edge genetics, Kyle Harper explains why humanity’s uniquely dangerous disease pool is rooted deep in our evolutionary past, and why its growth is accelerated by technological progress. He shows that the story of disease is entangled with the history of slavery, colonialism, and capitalism, and reveals the enduring effects of historical plagues in patterns of wealth, health, power, and inequality. He also tells the story of humanity’s escape from infectious disease—a triumph that makes life as we know it possible, yet destabilizes the environment and fosters new diseases. Panoramic in scope, Plagues upon the Earth traces the role of disease in the transition to farming, the spread of cities, the advance of transportation, and the stupendous increase in human population. Harper offers a new interpretation of humanity’s path to control over infectious disease—one where rising evolutionary threats constantly push back against human progress, and where the devastating effects of modernization contribute to the great divergence between societies. The book reminds us that human health is globally interdependent—and inseparable from the well-being of the planet itself. Putting the COVID-19 pandemic in perspective, Plagues upon the Earth tells the story of how we got here as a species, and it may help us decide where we want to go.