Includes an excerpt from book 2 in the series.

"Donny Taylor is adjusting to life in Sulfur and his role as personal assistant to archdemon Angela Obscura. But when he almost killed again, he begins to question whether or not Angela cares about his fate at all. Maybe he should leave? But how will Angela react?"--

"Dragon Games," the second book in Catanese's Books of Umber trilogy, continues the imaginative, page-turning adventures of Umber and Hap.

Everyone has heard the story -- the dwarves, the talking mirror, the evil witch. But this tale doesn't belong to Snow White anymore.... Bert and Will, the twin sons of the baron of Ambercrest, are best friends. They do everything together and can't help it if trouble just seems to...find them. But the baron is fed up and has decided that separation will keep them out of mischief. One twin, he proclaims, will stay in Ambercrest for the summer, while the other will be sent to The Crags -- a foreboding, rocky outpost on the edge of the kingdom. It is there, hidden in a forbidden black chamber, that one of the boys discovers a bejeweled and mysterious mirror. What is the precious object? And why does it make him feel so...powerful? Soon the twins' kinship is replaced by dark magic and deceit, and a kingdom hangs dangerously in the balance. What becomes of one who is ruled by the forces of evil? And can brotherly love conquer a consuming quest for power?

Jack traded his cow for magic beans, climbed a beanstalk, and got rich. Will the next person to try it, be as fortunate? Or just fortunate enough to survive? Everyone knows the story of Jack and his beanstalk, the little adventure that made Jack a very rich man. But what happened to the next person who climbed the beanstalk? Enter Nick. Orphaned and desperate, Nick joins a band of thieves in hopes of a warm meal and a little protection. In exchange, Nick must help them break into the lavish white castle rumored to belong to an old man named Jack. Legend says it’s full of riches from Jack’s quest up a magical beanstalk decades ago. When Nick’s mission leads him straight to Jack, he sees a chance to climb the famed beanstalk himself. But what Nick doesn’t know is that things are different at the top of the beanstalk. There are new enemies waiting. Enemies with plans that could destroy the world as Nick knows it. Will Nick come back a hero? Will he come back at all?

Master storyteller P.W. Catanese begins the Books of Umber trilogy with Happenstance Found—now available in paperback—when twelve-yearold Happenstance awakens in a cave with no memory of who he is or how he came to be there. Lord Umber and his companions rescue Hap, and the group sets out on dangerous and unusual missions that continue in Dragon Games. Hap’s and Umber’s journeys take them to the corrupt kingdom of Sarnica, where Umber’s nemesis has acquired some dragon eggs. Umber wants to study a new magical species, but what starts as a quest for knowledge turns into a dangerous rescue operation. The deft plotting of these actionpacked, heart-stopping adventures will pique the imagination and leave readers anxious for the final installment.

Domestic interiors, international flights, the metier of jazz, the restless ambition that things on paper and above improve--all are here.