Where a unique fantasy series began! A fast moving, action packed epic that for the first time tells the story of fantasy's traditional enemy, giving orcs their own motives, heroes and destiny. An epic quest that takes orc warband leader Stryke and his warriors on a journey to secure five artifacts of power with which they hope the can buy their freedom but which actually hold the key to everything and the explanation for the sudden incursion of mankind into the world of the elder races, an incursion that is leeching the magic out of the land of Maras-Dantia.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the author of Ghost Soldiers comes an eye-opening history of the American conquest of the West—"a story full of authority and color, truth and prophecy" (The New York Times Book Review). In the summer of 1846, the Army of the West marched through Santa Fe, en route to invade and occupy the Western territories claimed by Mexico. Fueled by the new ideology of “Manifest Destiny,” this land grab would lead to a decades-long battle between the United States and the Navajos, the fiercely resistant rulers of a huge swath of mountainous desert wilderness. At the center of this sweeping tale is Kit Carson, the trapper, scout, and soldier whose adventures made him a legend. Sides shows us how this illiterate mountain man understood and respected the Western tribes better than any other American, yet willingly followed orders that would ultimately devastate the Navajo nation. Rich in detail and spanning more than three decades, this is an essential addition to our understanding of how the West was really won.

Any tattoo is the outcome of an intimate, often hidden process. The people, bodies, and money that make tattooing what it is blend together and form a heady cocktail, something described by Matt, the owner of Oakland's Premium Tattoo, as "blood and lightning." Faced with the client's anticipation of pain and excitement, the tattooer must carefully perform calm authority to obscure a world of preparation and vigilance. "Blood and lightning, my dude"--the mysterious and intoxicating effect of tattooing done right. Dustin Kiskaddon draws on his own apprenticeship with Matt and takes us behind the scenes into the complex world of professional tattooers. We join people who must routinely manage a messy and carnal type of work. Blood and Lightning brings us through the tattoo shop, where the smell of sterilizing agents, the hum of machines, and the sound of music spill out onto the back patio. It is here that Matt, along with his comrades, reviews the day's wins, bemoans its losses, and prepares for the future. Having tattooed more than five hundred people, Kiskaddon is able to freshly articulate the physical, mental, emotional, and moral life of tattooers. His captivating account explores the challenges they face on the job, including the crushing fear of making mistakes on someone else's body, the role of masculinity in evolving tattoo worlds, appropriate and inappropriate intimacy, and the task of navigating conversations about color and race. Ultimately, the stories in this book teach us about the roles our bodies play in the social world. Both mediums and objects of art, our bodies are purveyors of sociocultural significance, sites of capitalist negotiation, and vivid encapsulations of the human condition. Kiskaddon guides us through a strangely familiar world, inviting each of us to become a tattooer along the way.

On the edges of a sealed-off city, a chance encounter between two girls in the misty woods is about to change the course of everything. . . Lena is on the run from her home, the Duke's Forest, after being convicted as a mage and sentenced to death. Meanwhile, Constance escaped the Forest years before, after her own magical powers were discovered--but now, she will do anything to get back inside and reclaim her place as the duke's daughter. The girls cross paths for only a moment, but that's long enough to set them down paths that will change the dukedom forever. As Lena reaches a safe haven where she can study and develop her powers alongside handsome but mysterious mage Emris, Constance maneuvers her way back into the home she left behind, unsure whether she trust the people she once considered her family and friends. All the while, the girls are connected by the dark, terrifying storm clouds that hang over the land and devastate everything in their wakes. Only Lena and Constance hold the keys to dispelling the storm and keeping their home safe--if they can uncover who cast the spell that generated the clouds to begin with. But the truth is far more sinister than anyone could imagine, and it could mean that one of the girls will lose everything.

Join James Endredy, noted author and shamanic practitioner, on a bizarre, brutal, and exhilarating excursion into realities that few people have had a chance to explore. Whether it's discovering how to dream with the Lords of the Underworld or learning to fly with the help of his eagle nagual, outwitting a soul-stealing sorceress in Veracruz or conversing with the spirit of an ancient dwarf king, these gripping firsthand accounts chronicle Endredy's mystical experiences while living and working with fifteen indigenous cultures in North and South America, Hawaii, and Mexico. Endredy's amazing, arduous, and sometimes life-threatening shamanic initiations and lessons illustrate the interconnectedness of all life, the importance of being humble enough to laugh at yourself, and the need to respect and learn from nature and her children.

In the idyllic town of New River, North Dakota, 16-year-old Ophelia Johnson and six other teens inherit the powers of the old gods--Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Artemis, Apollo, and Ares--and embark on a mission from the Vessel of Destiny to find the missing Fates, restore the Codex, and save the ancient world. Still grieving the recent and mysterious death of her father, Ophelia begins to unravel the secrets woven into her family's history as she and her friends plunge into the quest of a lifetime. Armed only with powers they don't totally understand, Ophelia, Roman, Cassius, Olivia, Alessia, and Baxter are soon immersed in a mythical chess match upon which rests the fate of the universe. As they journey into a world of blood pacts and war, the diverse group members find more than they bargained for, and Ophelia discovers a family tie that might mean the ensuing chaos and destruction is her fault. Of Blood and Lightning is an upper YA contemporary fantasy (age 16-25) with a gripping and fresh twist on Greek mythology as the ancient pantheon of gods inhabit an ensemble of BIPOC and queer teenaged characters.

The original Orcs series continues War is throwing the land of Maras Dantia into chaos: war between the elder races and the invading humans; war between the two sects of humans themselves. As the armies gather and the magic leaks away from the land, Stryke and his warband of orcs are on the run from everyone; from the orcs that Jennasta has sent after them and from the humans who will kill any orc on sight. Stryke's quest for the artifacts that will secure the destiny of the orcs and, if they but knew it, all the races old and new in Maras Dantia, has never been more urgent and more difficult. As the net closes in and his troopers fall one by one to foes that even they never imagined in their worst dreams, time is running out for Stryke, for all orcs and for Maras Dantia.