Search results for ""Outland Entertainment""

Papa Lucy saved the human race. He was a sorcerer, a lawmaker, a god. Papa Lucy led millions from the fires and destruction of the Before, into a savage new world known as the Now. Then, when the crops failed, when the livestock died, Papa Lucy gave hope. He gave civilisation to the broken leftovers of humanity, their minds wiped blank when they stumbled after him, through the secret places and out into the Now.Papa Lucy saved the human race. Papa Lucy lied.

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Sometimes to save the world, you've got to punch a few dragons… When the planet is being eaten by interdimensional parasites who literally tear holes in reality, what do you do? If you're Charlie Chase, you dive headfirst into an interdimensional adventure. Charlie knows her calling is a weighty one, but she trusts her mentor’s orders: Travel to another dimension, fix the tear, and get home to do it all over again.But when she gets stuck on an alternate Earth, she has to turn to the most unexpected of allies: a younger, more eccentric, more infamous version of the brilliant mind that sent her on her mission. This version of Vera Baum is as much socialite as scientist, who seems to embrace the notion that curiosity killed the cat, in the way that means she's determined to use up all nine of her lives blasting through a kaleidoscope of genre-bending realities. Things are going to get a lot worse before they get better, especially when they’re pursued by reality-eating parasites and a biomechanical hound hellbent on killing Vera.Ladyhoppers is a genre-hopping, multiverse-spanning, madcap buddy comedy packed full of flaming zeppelins, coffee shop romances, car chases, dragon punching scientists, and more pirates than you can shake a multi-limbed death machine at. Grab your spacesuit, drink an espresso, and hold on tight—it’s gonna be a bumpy ride!

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Once, they ruled the EarthDinosaurs. Apex predators. Prehistoric creatures, whose very steps shook the crust of the Earth. Monsters of nightmares—or mighty creatures of honor? In these pages, you will meet:* A hunter who makes the ultimate sacrifice for his clutch* A wise king who cannot be defeated—even by the best of his warriors* A queen, facing the apocalypse of her people* A scientist who fears the outcome of her experiments* Two drunken scientists and a time traveling chicken* Dinosaur riders in the future—and the pastSome of the heroes are dinosaurs. Some are human. And some are... something else entirely. In these pages, there are dinosaurs.Are you prepared to meet them, tooth and claw?

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Meet Santa. He’s having a mid-life crisis. He hates his job and wishes he was doing anything else other than being Santa. He’s just going through the motions and that’s why he doesn’t notice the zombie apocalypse until it’s almost too late. Saved by two kids, he at first tries to get back to the North Pole only to discover that his reindeer have been eaten. On the run and just trying to survive, Santa befriends the kids and falls in love with their recently-divorced mother. Soon Santa rediscovers his Christmas spirit and does everything he can to save Christmas for the kids—even if it means his own death.

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In the Vikingverse, the Norse rule the stars with restless fleets and an iron will. But when the thralls rebel, turning to the artifice of Norns to help them escape their bondage, the natural order is thrown into chaos. The Jötunn War has been fought across the Nine Homeworlds to contain the threat, a battle against the stuff of ancient nightmares, red in tooth and claw. Utgard is the rebellion’s last redoubt, an indignity the Empire plans to cleanse with flame and fury.

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Welcome to Nightfell; a world locked in a cycle of struggle between the forces of light and dark…or is it? Every ninety years, the world of Berun is subject to ten years of darkness when the shining eyes of the gods close and monsters boil forth from the depths below to devour all in their path. Humanity protects itself with armies made of the dead, the corpseguard, which return to life during Nightfell and stand watch over the cities and strongholds. It has been 89 years since the last Nightfell, and the ancient city of Kamteh has fallen under the control of a new religious sect that believes the gods will halt the cycle of Nightfell if they destroy their corpseguard. And only the oldest living embalmer of Kamteh, Father Kast, and his two young pupils stand between this cult and the utter destruction of their city!

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Artist Kennon James set out to draw fish and that is what he did. In a pure artistic exercise turned playful and eye-catching coffee table book, Kennon brings you a wonderful fish-filled book that will surprise and delight readers of all ages.

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It was an age of adventure. An age of sorcery. An age of unrelenting horror. Sword and sorcery and pulp horror go hand-in-hand. Sinister enchanters working foul magic. Hideous beasts lurking in shadowy dungeons. Blasphemous elder gods uncoiling from forgotten and forbidden temples.Swords in the Shadows features twenty-one stories with a bloody stake driven into the heart of both the horror and fantasy camps. Herein, you will find fantasy worlds, brave warriors, fabulous creatures, wondrous magic. But you will also uncover bloodcurdling chills, spine-tingling horror, and an examination of those things that truly terrify.

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Most cosmopolitan city in the universe, and a guy can't even get a freakin' sandwich.It should be the least of Izo's concerns. Afterall, he's already been kidnapped by aliens and dragged halfway across the galaxy so they can make a buck off his abilities. And sure, he knew being able to fly made him a little unique. But he had no idea the cult-like—yet strangely marginalized—reputation Avarians held beyond Earth's boundaries. As he arrives on the Imperial Capital, IA, he's got one choice: cooperate with his captors so they'll get him back home, or split and head out on his own, taking his best shot at returning to Earth—a planet no one's ever heard of.It isn’t much of a choice. Being extorted by a mean reptile, a tele-empathic linguist, and a giant teddy bear who could crush a car seems as bad as it gets—until a powerful CEO-Senator appears from deep within the IA’s darkest corners. With things changing from annoying to alarming, it’s up to Izo to navigate a dangerous game of befriend and befraud, or be trapped on the wrong side of the universe forever—several million lightyears from the nearest deli.

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When Matilda's brother Nathaniel dies, she's convinced it's murder, and she won't be satisfied until she brings his killer to justice. But her family is still reeling from old wounds. Her mother's death weighs heavily, and her father's decision to abandon his family and join the Fenians—rebels against the English rule of Canada—has brought them nothing but shame. Matilda's siblings want her to let their brother go, and the man she thinks she might love, once her brother's best friend, wants her to look to the future. Unwilling to let go, either of her brother or their family farm, Matilda searches out clues that will support her case against the neighbor who hates them. When she saves the life of the one person who might have answers, he won't say a word to her—because he believes he's a wolf. As she tries to bring back his humanity and her attachment to him grows, she realizes that there is more at work than a common murder or a rebellion. Nathaniel was working with strange powers, and in order to find the truth, Matilda may have to master them…or lose everything. Set in western Canada during the 1880s, The Wolf's Name is a tale of the perils of revenge—and the dangers of magic.

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Sometimes a silent song is the most poignant...Continuing their journey to lift Gideon's curse, Willow and her fox companion have been tasked with escorting Princess Nuala to be wed to a prince from another kingdom. But despite Nuala's hopes of making a joyful union, not all is what it seems between the prince and his betrothed. When his mistress, a barefoot woman without a tongue appears, the bonds of friendship between the two ladies grows, even as a storm brews on the horizon.

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Roger's a mild-mannered family man who inadvertently stole the most important magic in the elves' arsenal. Talora's a pyromancer who literally burns through her memories. Individually, neither's more than a minor annoyance to the shadowy powers-that-be. Together, however, the Witch knows they can change the world—assuming they survive her complicated scheme to unite them against her enemies.

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Prosperous Lake, New Mexico: Population, 398 isn't the place where Vinny the Shovel wanted to end up in Witness Protection. Working at the local hardware store isn't the height of excitement, not even when the town is hosting the County's 100th Agricultural Fair. But when a tanker truck carrying a disastrous secret experiment crashes near town, this town isn't just dead… It's about to get undead.

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These are not your daughter's faerie stories...Around the world, there are tales of creatures that live in mist or shadow, hidden from humans by only the slightest veil. In Where the Veil Is Thin, these creatures step into the light. Some are small and harmless. Some are bizarre mirrors of this world. Some have hidden motives, while others seek justice against humans who have wronged them.In these pages, you will meet blood-sucking tooth fairies and gentle boo hags, souls who find new shapes after death and changelings seeking a way to fit into either world. You will cross the veil—but be careful that you remember the way back.

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Mother. Warrior. Caregiver. Wife. Lover. Survivor. Trickster. Heroine. Leader. This anthology features 21 stories and six essays about women who defy genre stereotypes. Here, it’s not the hero who acts while the heroine waits to be rescued; Hath No Fury’s women are champions, not damsels in distress. Whether they are strong, bold warriors, the silent but powerful type, or the timid who muster their courage to face down terrible evil, the women of Hath No Fury will make indelible marks upon readers and leave them breathless for more.

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Midgard is a funeral pyre. RagnarÖk, the doom of the gods, has brought the Empire of the Heavens to ruin. For some, the harrowing promises a new beginning. Mother JÖrÐ will rise again, and new gods will return to the golden tables of old. But IÐunn Lind, keeper of the great World Tree Yggdrasil, no longer believes in ancient prophecy or the hand of fate. Across the veil, Churchwarden Michaels is stuck dealing with his own personal RagnarÖk - and just how to save his neck now that three Viking crosses have appeared overnight at St. Mary's. When the boundaries between realities fracture, the two guardians discover that the gods not only play dice with the Vikingverse, they are rolling snake-eyes. In this new chapter of the Vikingverse, the tapestry of time unfurls in deadly new ways.

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What if an ancient god escaped his fate and history was thrown to the wolves? Churchwarden Michaels thought it was just a run-of-the-mill crazy old man who stood in the graveyard, hellbent on studying the 1,000-year-old Viking memorial there. But when things start changing and outright disappearing, Michaels realizes there is more to this old man than meets the eye. Now, Michaels finds himself swept up in an ancient god’s quest to escape his destiny by reworking reality, putting history—and to Michaels’s dismay, Christianity itself—to the Viking sword. In this new Vikingverse novel, storied heroes of mankind emerge in new and brutal guises drawn from the sagas: A young Norse prince plots to shatter empires and claim the heavens... A scholar exiled to the frontier braves the dangers of the New World, only to find those “new worlds” are greater than he imagined... A captured JÖtunn plants the dreams of freedom during a worlds-spanning war... A bold empress discovers there is a price for immortality, one her ancestors have come to collect... With the timelines stretched to breaking point, it’s up to Churchwarden Michaels to save reality as we know it...

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In the slums of BrightStone, Moon Children are worth less than the scrap they collect to survive. It doesn't matter that these abandoned half-breeds are part-Meridian with their ancestors hailing from the technologically advanced wonder that floats above the once-thriving, now plague-ridden city. Instead they are rejected by both societies and forced to live on the outskirts of civilization, joining clans simply to stay alive. Not to mention their role as Tithe, leading the city's infected citizens deep into the Pits where their disease can be controlled.Nineteen-year-old Raggy Maggy is no different, despite the mysterious heart-shaped panel welded to her chest. Or she wasn't, until her chance discovery of a Meridian-built clockwork dragon—and its murdered owner. When the Inquestors policing the city find Maggy at the scene of the crime, she becomes their prime suspect. An exiled doctor and a clanless Moon Child named Ghost keep her hidden; all she has to do is help them find a cure to the plague they believe was not accidental. Doing so might risk more than her life—but it might be the key to uncovering the truth about the parents, and the past, she knows nothing about.

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In our increasingly polarized world there is an urgent need for cross-cultural conversations, bridges of understanding between people of different beliefs, and a recommitment to a common understanding of our shared history: the history not of any one particular group but of humanity itself. Althingi: The Crescent and the Northern Star, co-edited by Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad (A Mosque Among the Stars, Islamicates) and Joshua Gillingham (The Gatewatch, Old Norse for Modern Times), is an anthology of historical fiction which explores the intricate and often-overlooked interactions between intrepid Viking voyagers and inquisitive emissaries from the powerful Islamic kingdoms. Featuring stories by an incredible slate of authors writing in the historical Althingi universe, Althingi: The Crescent and the Northern Star offers a glimpse into a fascinating forgotten past and will prove a must-read for fans of both Viking and Islamic history.

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Yo. Crown Princess Myrindi of Talvayne here. This is the story of my life so far. It's an inspirational, uplifting tale that won't leave a dry eye in the house. The film adaptation's going to bring home seven Academy Awards and inspire at least twice as many hot new looks for spring. Ah, who am I kidding? My life kind of sucks. I spent my childhood stuck in the palace with a bunch of dimwitted sycophants who think khakis are a good idea. I'm doomed to die a gruesome death during childbirth so my daughter can inherit the magic that protects my city. My father, the king, essentially jumpstarted a military coup by trying to sell my hand in marriage–and thus the throne–to the highest bidder. Let's just say the runner up got his knickers in a bit of a twist. Now I'm on the run with a crew of mouth-breathing weirdos who may not have my best interests at heart, hiding out in janitor's closets and public restrooms and kitschy suburban homes and all sorts of places that make me wish I could bathe in bleach. I haven't had a decent mani-pedi in days. But you know what? This is my f'ing city and those coup jerks can't have the place.

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In the wastelands that remain after the apocalypse...Subject T—Thresher—never expected to be free from his life as an experiment, but now that he’s escaped into the outside world—a world transformed after the Yellowstone volcano erupted—he’s determined to never go back. Life as a genetically modified human never prepared him to face the dangers beyond the Facility, and he'll only survive if the fascinating outsider, Mako, agrees to bring him along on his journey.Mako isn't sure what to make of the wanderer he finds, except that the naive man can't survive the environmental toxicity ravaging the landscape. That's not Mako's problem—not when there are warring tribes of survivors to maneuver, old enemies to confront, and an abducted sister to find. Yet when Thresher reveals clues leading Mako closer to his destination, he realizes that this wanderer—this experiment—changes everything. The two wanderers must navigate more than just the inherent dangers of a post-apocalyptic world. A disease pulls what remains of society apart at the seams, and the remaining tribes are fractured, constantly competing for water and resources that will allow the strongest of them to rule. But two sharks might have the best chance to survive—and bring the world with them.

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Welcome to Hopeless, Maine. It is a place cut off from the rest of the world and lost in time. Strange things swim in the sea surrounding the island. Things even stranger float in the air and observe the lives of the island inhabitants, who may in fact be the strangest creatures of all. Into this setting comes Salamandra, a child who is not a child, and a user of great magic who is not a witch. (She insists on this distinction.) In this first volume, Salamandra comes of age and finds her way through the new complexities of friendship while coming to terms with her powers and origins. For lovers of the gothic, nearly every trope is explored and turned on its head. For lovers of creatures, there are many. For those who want their magic real and complex, this is the story for you. Don’t stroll the shoreline after dark unaccompanied and mind the tentacles!

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Otherworldly Fae kidnapping mortal musicians to satisfy their strange desires. An innocent girl who can read people’s secrets. A skyship pilot drawn out to sea by a song only she can hear. A pregnant mother protecting her child with the help of friendly forest spirits. These are the stories of Pileaus, a world of music, magic, and endless mystery.While the Empire expands, the bards scheme, and the ethereal Fae play their immortal games, life goes on in countless ways. What is the essence of a land but its people, as their small parts weave together to form a beautiful symphony?

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Set in the lush and dangerous world of Jay Lake's Green, Our Lady of the Islands is a vibrant, enchanting tale of political intrigue and divine mystery. "Our Lady, heal us..." Sian Katte is a successful middle-aged businesswoman in the tropical island nation of Alizar. Her life seems comfortable and well-arranged...until a violent encounter one evening leaves her with an unwanted magical power. Arian des Chances is the wife of Alizar's ruler, with vast wealth and political influence. Yet for all her resources, she can only watch helplessly as her son draws nearer to death. When crisis thrusts these two women together, they learn some surprising truths: about themselves, their loved ones, and Alizar itself. Because beneath a seemingly calm facade, Alizar's people—and a dead god—are stirring...

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The Hopeless, Maine project came to life as the collective dream/nightmare of Tom and Nimue Brown. It began as a graphic novel series set on a gothic island lost in time. Since then the creative family has grown and there are many who have come to play on this strange island and now will never leave. "The moon hadn’t risen, but starlight showed Annamarie the way. She saw well enough, and the island by night held no terrors for her. She had been running away to its wilder places for as long as she could remember." New England Gothic is the story of Annmarie Nightshade, an orphan who becomes a witch on the island of Hopeless, Maine. There are betrayals, heartbreak, and many dangers to overcome but there are also wonders, near escapes, and strange journeys. You will meet dark sorcerers, a mad inventor in a lighthouse, and the strangest familiar in the history of witchcraft.

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The victory over the Soultaker fractured the Knights Eternal. Shade has broken his vows, abandoning his brothers to trek over the northern mountains in search of a god. Instead, he finds Darkenwood, a sprawling hamlet in an isolated valley, populated with strange creatures trapped in an endless cycle of oppression. His desire to free them from their shackles sends him on another journey, one that will test his faith in humanity. Meanwhile, Meesh is stuck trying to acclimate the strange new Abednego to the violent world of the Wasteland. It’s a task he isn’t prepared to do on his own. To make matters worse, a new riddle from Old Crone tells him that they have to find Shade…and kill him. Three brothers on a collision course with fate. But is man’s fate shaped by outside forces, or their own free will? That’s the question they need to answer, even if the truth shatters the very foundation of their existence.

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Calendula Isadora (Callie to her friends) is a powerful witch with a mind for science...magical science. Her independent ways, not to mention her unseemly affection for her human boyfriend, put her at odds with her San Francisco coven. The last straw comes when she builds and animates a massive golem. Really, such things are simply not done among respectable witchkind. Then a sexy Old Country warlock arrives on the scene, just to complicate things further, as Callie's best friend, Logandina, falls ill with an inexplicable malady. As Callie delves deeper into the swirl of mysteries surrounding her, the witchkind powers-that-be try to keep her in her place. Naturally, she defies them, with help from her mentor, eight-hundred-year-old Gregorio Andromedus, her mother, a "wild magic" witch with a talent for the tarot, and a few new friends. But when illusion, deception, danger and intrigue are the common currency, how can any witch know who to trust or where to turn? Can Callie rely on anyone besides herself-and her familiar, Elnor?

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Tales of guardian spirits and divine powers by Seanan McGuire, Ken Liu, Alethea Kontis, Laura Anne Gilman, Scott Edelman and more. Guardian spirits. Divine presences. Demonic powers. Ghosts. The concept of "genius loci" is indeed an ancient one, found in nearly every human mythology. Genius Loci is a huge anthology of 31 all-new fantasy and science fiction stories drawing on the rich tradition of place-as-person. Within its pages, the authors present stories of sentient deserts, beneficent forests, lonely shrubs, and protective planetary spirits, highlighted by the fantastic art of Lisa A. Grabenstetter and Evan M. Jensen., and edited by Jaym Gates.

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We are surrounded. A wealthy man hunts the kaiju that killed his daughter on an island inhabited by mega-fauna. They are everywhere. By the light of a campfire a young girl shares the true story of the epic brawl that caused Hurricane Irene. There is no escape. Sabotage turns an international science competition into a monster and mecha massacre. They Reign. From deep ocean trenches and dense vibrant jungles to alien worlds and other dimensions, the kaiju have returned! This is a collection of sixteen stories by some of the hottest names in speculative fiction. These modern myths celebrate and explore the Japanese film genre popularized by films such as Godzilla, Gamera: The Giant Monster, King Kong, Cloverfield, and Pacific Rim.

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Blood soaks the earth. The ground is carpeted in corpses. Carrion birds feast as power-crazed warlords indulge their bloodlust in never-ending battle.An ancient convent watches over the ceaseless struggle. A sanctuary from war, the Convent of Sacred Visitation offers care, medicine, and healing to any who seek their aid. Within these walls, no creed nor code nor fealty is recognized. Through the haze of battle, two strangers arrive at the convent’s gates. One is a healer. The other is a warrior. They have treachery, thievery, and murder on their minds. But lies and betrayal and corruption are not unknown to the Sisterhood of Sacred Visitation. The secrets hidden in the depths of the convent have brought death to many who have sought to bring them into the light. And an antediluvian evil is stirring in the realm—an ancient hunger roused by the ever-growing miasma of warfare, strife, and slaughter. The time of the Razing has dawned.

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Samantha Brooks assumed the hardest things she'd have to face in life were college exams and her slowly fracturing family. Then her father found the world's most powerful magic in his silverware drawer. Forcibly relocated to the secret elven capitol city of Evitankari, Roger Brooks bravely faced down the manipulative Witch and an ancient demon lord and miraculously came out on top. The aftermath of that battle has left the elven government in ruins and the Brooks family in great danger. With few allies and even fewer friends, Roger turns to the only person he knows he can count on: his daughter. As Samantha tries to make sense of her new life in Evitankari and the shadowy forces swirling around her father, she finds herself facing down the real life inspirations for the characters in her favorite novel series. Are they friend or foe? The truth, as they say, is always so much stranger than fiction.

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There's a vacancy in Haven. The One High God has gone missing, sending those in power to cover up the sudden silence. Doubters fall from grace. Insurgents and the despondent rip out their own hearts, turning to Hell for solace in a new, uncertain world. A human drinks from the discarded heart of a seraph and taints mortal blood with witchcraft. After three thousand years, the world stands at a precipice. Falling is inevitable. Brishen, plagued by visions of a dark and painful future, sells his soul at a young age to a demon to escape death. Ushered into the care of Alec, the demon's most trusted and oldest soulless, Brishen finds some semblance of protection from the seraph who hunt him for what he sees. Alec is exhausted after two thousand years of servitude, but finds redemption in Brishen—as well as a reminder of those he failed to save. Brewing in the pits of Hell, the mother of all demons concocts a plan to put a demon god on the throne of Haven. Procuring a powerful witch mad enough to test the limits of body and spellwork, she sets a dangerous plan in motion, making Alec and Brishen realize there are more monsters hunting them than their pasts.

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Just a meal and a place to sleep in the barn...When Jessa, the miller’s daughter, offers simple comforts to Willow and Gideon in return for a bit of work, the runaway princess and her fox spirit companion are more than willing to take Jessa up on it. After all, being on the road has its dangers, and the respite while they search for answers to Gideon’s cursed collar is more than welcome.But when the discovery of a murdered royal and a forsaken ghost comes to light, the two travelers realize they’ve stumbled into something far more sinister…

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The Grid is a mystical nexus, a crossroads connecting all times and all realities. Along the ley lines of the Grid, the multiverse clusters. To move along the Grid is to move from one reality to the next. To harness the power of the Grid is to harness the awesome might of creation. Five touchstone realities exist at focal points along the Grid. From each of these realities, a Warlock is chosen to act as one of five Guardians. Savasthar, a shapeshifting dragon-like being. Doomidor, a warlord from the Dark Ages. Argon, an advanced cybernetic organism from a techno-hell. Tanith, an ageless sorceress. Zania, a power-mad, machine gun necromancer. Together, the Warlocks protect the Grid, thereby protecting all of space and time. They are the last line of defense against the awful forces of chaos that lurk in the darkness outside the Grid. There’s only one problem. They hate each other.

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Stealing into shadows. Coveting coin...and blood. No one is safe from the schemes of those who lurk in the city's underworld-those who prey on the weak and naive. Within these pages lie tales of intrigue and murder, thievery, and revenge, by bestselling and award-winning authors like Bradley P. Beaulieu, Jean Rabe, Lian Hearn, Anton Strout, and many more!

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Never be lost for words again...with this book of lost words. Have you ever wanted to wield the silver tongue of Loki, or to hammer home your point like a Thundergod? Old Norse is the language of legends and the stuff of sagas, the inspiration for Tolkien and Marvel, for award-winning manga and epic videogames. It is the language of cleverly crafted kennings, blood-curdling curses, and pithy retorts to RagnarÖk. Old Norse for Modern Times gives you the perfect phrase for every contemporary situation—from memorable movie quotes ("We’re going to need a bigger boat." Þurfa munu vÉr skip stÆrra) to battle-cries to yell on Discord ("Do I look to be in a gaming mood?" SÝnisk ÞÉr ek vera Í skapi til leika?), from mead hall musings ("This drink, I like it! ANOTHER!" LÍkar mÉr drykkr Þessi! ANNAN!) to tried-and-tested pickup lines ("Nice tattoo!" Fagrt er hÚÐflÚriÐ"). With over 500 phrases inside (plus the chance to add your own!) it is the perfect guide for Vikings fans, whether they are re-enactors, role-players, or simply in love with Ragnar.

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