Five royal houses will hear the call to compete in the Trial for the dragon throne. A liar, a soldier, a servant, a thief, and a murderer will answer it. Who will win? Three Dark Crowns meets The Breakfast Club with DRAGONS. When the Emperor dies, the five royal houses of Etrusia attend the Call, where one of their own will be selected to compete for the throne. It is always the oldest child, the one who has been preparing for years to compete in the Trial. But this year is different. This year these five outcasts will answer the call... THE LIAR: Emilia must hide her dark magic or be put to death. THE SOLDIER: Lucian is a warrior who has sworn to never lift a sword again. THE SERVANT: Vespir is a dragon trainer whose skills alone will keep her in the game. THE THIEF: Ajax knows that nothing is free--he must take what he wants. THE MURDERER: Hyperia was born to rule and will stop at nothing to take her throne.

Welcome to the world of Harmon and Fidelma, Dragon Lord and Dragon Lady, where dragons haven't been seen in hundreds of years. This makes them the target of mockery of many nobles, whose Animals really exist. Another issue they face is the double standards on nudity in their world. They, as many others, don't like wearing clothes, but the options for that are limited, apart from special occasions. It's also the world where people get stolen, taken in the night, by bandits arriving in airships. The local Priesthood does what it can, by praying to the gods and sending out expeditions to retrieve the stolen people. Expeditions which never return. The Priests despise Harmon and Fidelma, their preference for being clothes-free, and their fictional, infernal beasts. The couple, in turn, despise the tight-minded and at times repressing religion with equal vigor. Follow the couple from Dragon House, as they work their way through cellars, books and tunnels, in order to find dragons, and perhaps even a way to bring the stolen people back.

IMAGINE... It is not hard to imagine that you are a thirteen-year-old (almost fourteen) and you don’t quite feel like you belong in your own family, with a somewhat goofy father who does magic tricks and disappears for long periods of time and might be a secret agent, not to mention a mother who might be a white witch, and a sister is actually normal but doesn't look the slightest bit like you. Then it gets worse when your family suddenly moves into a massive pile of a house deep in the woods in the middle of nowhere, and that house seems to be alive. It is more than a house. It is also a centuries-old, sleeping dragon that settled into the shape of a house as it slept. But now it is waking up, and you find you have a strange affinity to it. You, and no one else, can slide through the walls, swim in the bloodstream of the Dragon and share its consciousness. You acquire a mysterious teacher and a robotic companion from the planet Zarconax, and if life isn’t getting strange enough already, something goes wrong and Ghastly Horrors and other malevolent monstrosities attack, well before you, or your parents, or even the house itself is prepared to do anything about it. Imagine that an all-encompassing darkness threatens everyone you ever cared about. Darrell Schweitzer’s fourth novel might be considered a book for younger readers, or for readers who remember what it was like to be young. It is perhaps most comparable to the spooky narratives of John Bellairs. It is the sort of story, filled with striking imagery and bizarre incidents, a mixture of whimsy and genuine fright. The author’s other novels include The White Isle, The Shattered Goddess, and The Mask of the Sorcerer. He has published hundreds of short stories. His fiction has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award three times and once for the Shirley Jackson Award. He is an expert on H.P. Lovecraft and a former editor of the legendary Weird Tales magazine. “This is the house I should have grown up in! Schweitzer’s fantasy is cleanly written, original, and great fun to read.” -- Michael Swanwick, author of The Iron Dragon’s Daughter. “Schweitzer is a story-teller, by whose smoky fire one may sit spell-bound.” -- Tanith Lee, author of The Birthgrave, Tales from the Flat Earth, the Blood Opera sequence, etc.

On the shortest day of the year, as the Castle is lit with candles and everyone prepares to celebrate, Wizard Apprentice Septimus Heap marks his fourteenth birthday. He has reached a new stage in his Apprenticeship: Darke Week. Awe-inspiring, terrifying, unbelievably important, Septimus's future will depend on what happens during this week. He chooses a dangerous mission to restore his good friend Alther from Banishment. But as he embarks on this trial, something Darke and terrible engulfs the Castle. Septimus and his friends are about to face their most perilous challenge yet . . .

In this final volume of the Vastus tetralogy, the telepaths have discovered stolen dragons on Vastus and are determined to capture and return them to Mendje. Humans and shapeshifters fear the telepaths will use the dragons to destroy their suffering civilizations. After generations of fighting, food is scarce in space. Remnants of the battle fleets are gathering around Vastus, desperate for its abundant resources. Those watching over the planet are suspected of treason and could be captured at any moment. Elaina and Davu have been imprisoned in a strange and unfamiliar place that is nothing like they have ever encountered before. They discover secrets that have been hidden for generations as they fight to defend their home against ruthless invaders and assassins. The stakes are high as each species looks to this young warrior and her dragon to vanquish their enemies and bring closure to endless war.