The world I know is flooded. You don't go in the water. You don't touch it. If you do, it will get you, drag you down, and you're gone. Harry Iskinder knows the rules. Don't touch the water, or it will pull you under. Conserve food, because there's no arable land. Use Sundered slaves gently, or they die too quickly to be worthwhile. The Sundered create food. The Sundered create shelter. They're also dying out. In a world lost to deadly flood, Harry searches for the mythical cure, the Hope of Humanity - but the Hope isn't what he thinks, and neither are the slavish Sundered Ones. When he claims the magnificent and powerful Sundered named Aakesh, Harry quickly finds himself in deep and dangerous water.

"This is not what is true, merely true." Images of intrusion, aggression, martyrdom, achievement, pilgrimage move in and out of these poems as they move in and out of our dreams, their relation to the lived life real but imponderable. Phyllis Stowell's writing seems to acquire a new clarity and strength of purpose, paradoxically, as it plunges into the mysterious. For me this stands with Arc of Grief at the top of her work.-- Alan Williamson

Danon's army sweeps across the Kingdom of Delfinnia and Luxon, the only one capable of stopping the annihilation of the realm embarks on a desperate quest to cure himself of the deadly Void Sickness that threatens his life. To find the cure, Luxon must travel through the Magic Gates and find the Waters of Magic, but in doing so, he will be sent to new worlds and even through time. There he will uncover the shocking truth about Danon and another he calls friend and mentor. Elsewhere dragons ravage the eastern lands spurring Kaiden to reform the Knights of Niveren and in the south, the King's Legion, led by the usurper Ricard makes a desperate stand against Danon's hordes. As the world turns ever darker, one hope remains. The legendary sacred sword Asphodel remains hidden. The Quest is on to claim the blade and perhaps push back the evil threatening creation itself.

Freylar has once again been ravaged by war, with the future of the domain now balanced upon a knife edge. Mirielle’s rule has become fractured, her judgement divisive, causing many to question the suitability of their queen and her capacity to deliver them once again from darkness. The Freylarkai, now restless and uneasy, are wary of what lies ahead. Nathaniel, Marcus, Kirika, Aleska, Rayna and the now vindicated Darlia each find themselves in a position to affect allegiances. Yet a familiar evil, lurking in the shadows, also has designs on Mirielle’s future; though previously thwarted, it embarks upon a new and more insidious course of action, seeking to incite further division and unrest amongst the people, courting the demise of Freylar’s queen. With her loyalty divided between Nathaniel and Marcus, Rayna must discern the truth behind the Freylarkai’s current internal plight. Caught between Mirielle's hardening rule and the changing mood of the people, The Guardian and her companions are called upon once again to light the way. However, as more of Freylar’s concealed history reveals itself in the wake of Nathaniel’s revelations, where will loyalties ultimately lie?