Ever since Martin Banks and his fellow computer geeks discovered that reality is just a computer program to be happily hacked, they've been jaunting back and forth through time, posing as medieval wizards and having the epic adventures that other nerds can only dream of having. But even in their wildest fantasies, they never expected to end up at the mercy of the former apprentice whom they sent to prison for gross misuse of magic and all-around evil behavior. Who knew that the vengeful Todd would escape, then conjure a computer game packed with wolves, wenches, wastelands, and assorted harrowing hazards--and trap his hapless former friends inside it? Stripped of their magic powers, the would-be wizards must brave terrifying dangers, technical glitches, and one another's company if they want to see Medieval England--and their favorite sci-fi movies on VHS--ever again. Can our heroes survive this magical mystery torture? Or will it only lead them and their pointy hats into more peril?

The adventures of an American hacker in Medieval England continue as Martin Banks takes his next step on the journey toward mastering his reality-altering powers and fulfilling his destiny. A month has passed since Martin helped to defeat the evil programmer Jimmy, and things couldn't be going better. Except for his love life, that is. Feeling distant and lost, Gwen has journeyed to Atlantis, a tolerant and benevolent kingdom governed by the Sorceresses, and a place known to be a safe haven to all female time-travelers. Thankfully, Martin and Philip are invited to a summit in Atlantis for all of the leaders of the time-traveler colonies, and now Martin thinks this will be a chance to try again with Gwen. Of course, this is Martin Banks we're talking about, so murder, mystery, and high intrigue all get in the way of a guy who just wants one more shot to get the girl. The follow-up to the hilarious Off to Be the Wizard, Scott Meyer's Spell or High Water proves that no matter what powers you have over time and space, you can't control rotten luck.

An io9 Can't Miss Science Fiction and Fantasy title in March 2014. Martin Banks is just a normal guy who has made an abnormal discovery: he can manipulate reality, thanks to reality being nothing more than a computer program. With every use of this ability, though, Martin finds his little "tweaks" have not escaped notice. Rather than face prosecution, he decides instead to travel back in time to the Middle Ages and pose as a wizard. What could possibly go wrong? An American hacker in King Arthur's court, Martin must now train to become a full-fledged master of his powers, discover the truth behind the ancient wizard Merlin...and not, y'know, die or anything.

When you discover the world is a computer program, and you figure out that by altering the code you can time travel and perform acts that seem like magic, what can possibly go wrong?Pretty much everything.Just ask Brit, who has jumped around in time with such abandon that she has to coexist with multiple versions of herself. Now, Brit the Elder finds that her memories don't match Brit the Younger's. And there's the small matter of a glitch that's making Brit the Elder's body fritz out. Brit the Elder's ex-boyfriend Phillip wants to help her, but he'll have to keep it secret from his current girlfriend, Brit the Younger, who can't stand her future self.Meanwhile, Martin is trying to protect Phillip from a relentless attacker he somehow hasn't noticed; Gwen is angry because Martin accidentally proposed to her; Gary tries to help the less fortunate, with predictably disastrous results; and an old nemesis might have to be the one to save them all.In Out of Spite, Out of Mind, our fearless wizards discover the biggest glitch in their world's program may well be themselves.

Martin and his friends discovered that their world is computer generated and that by altering the code, they could alter reality. They traveled back in time to Medieval England to live as wizards. Almost everything they've done since then has, in one way or another, blown up in their faces.So of course they decide to make dragons. It does not go well.As the wizards struggle to control their creations and protect innocent citizens, they try new things (most of which they don't enjoy), meet new people (most of whom are angry at them), and fight epic battles (most of which they lose).But their biggest challenge may be a young girl who knows that the wizards created the dragons and is determined to make them pay. On her side she has powerful allies, a magical artifact, and a faithful if not particularly helpful dog.Fight and Flight is a rollicking tale of bravery, wonder, love, revenge, greed, discovery, deception, and animal husbandry.

The literature of the antebellum South has often been described in literary histories as little more than glorified propaganda for the aristocratic, slave-owning class. While this might pertain to the region’s historical romances that feature a dashing, resolute hero committed to upholding the dearly held institutions of slave-holding society and that relegate women and African Americans to roles as meek supporters or loyal comic sideshows, this view does not describe all of the South’s literature from this period.In Unwelcome Voices: Subversive Fiction in the Antebellum South, Paul C. Jones argues that there was a subversive group of voices that dared challenge cherished southern traditions and raised questions about the issues facing the South in the years leading up to the Civil War, including slavery, democracy, and women’s rights.Jones examines the work of five southern writers from that era: James Heath, Frederick Douglass, Edgar Allan Poe, John Pendleton Kennedy, and E.D.E.N. Southworth. Each author was subversive in different ways: Heath featured a progressive hero who ignored the aristocratic assumptions of the South; Douglass presented a rebellious slave hero and made the slave-owning class his villains; Poe used horror to highlight the South’s hidden anxieties; Kennedy challenged the romantic visions of the South by opposing them with realistic depictions of the region; and Southworth employed abolitionist rhetoric to undermine traditionalist discourse. Jones clearly shows that the fiction of these writers diverged sharply from the South’s dominant literary formula.Unwelcome Voices represents a major turning point in the study of the literature of the antebellum South. It recognizes those authors who produced the counterweight to the writing meant to prop up the region’s elite class and slaveholding way of life. Unwelcome Voices will be a welcome and needed addition to the libraries of anyone interested in Southern history or the literature of the antebellum period.

Mattie and Brewster are normal, typical 16-year-old twins who live with their normal, boring parents: Martin and Gwen Banks. Normal and boring, that is, until the day their father's best friend shows up at their house - dressed in what appears to be a bathrobe. The next thing Mattie and Brewster know, their parents are frozen like human statues in their living room, the guy in the bathrobe has vanished, and they need to find answers - fast. The twins set off on a quest to discover the truth of their parents' lives. Along the way they find secrets, lies, magic, time travel, strange new friends, stranger new enemies, and a really weird dirigible (which, they're told repeatedly, is not a blimp). It is a twisted and bizarre trail that, they hope, will lead them to the man they blame for their parents' peril: Phillip.