Merciful Truth and her brother, Gospel, have just pulled their dead mother into the kitchen and stowed her under the table. It was a long illness, and they wanted to bury her—they did—but it's far too cold outside, and they know they won't be able to dig into the frozen ground. The Minister who lives with them, who preaches through his animal form, doesn't make them feel any better about what they've done. Merciful calms her guilty feelings but only until, from the other room, she hears a voice she thought she'd never hear again. It's her mother's voice, and it's singing a lullaby. . . . Engines of the Broken World is a chilling young adult novel from Jason Vanhee.

Essun's missing daughter grows more powerful every day, and her choices may destroy the world in this "magnificent" Hugo Award winner and NYT Notable Book. (NPR) The season of endings grows darker, as civilization fades into the long cold night. Essun -- once Damaya, once Syenite, now avenger -- has found shelter, but not her daughter. Instead there is Alabaster Tenring, destroyer of the world, with a request. But if Essun does what he asks, it would seal the fate of the Stillness forever. Far away, her daughter Nassun is growing in power -- and her choices will break the world. N. K. Jemisin's award winning trilogy continues in the sequel to The Fifth Season.

The Oxford History of Poetry in English is designed to offer a fresh, multi-voiced, and comprehensive analysis of 'poetry': from Anglo-Saxon culture through contemporary British, Irish, American, and Global culture, including English, Scottish, and Welsh poetry, Anglo-American colonial and post-colonial poetry, and poetry in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Caribbean, India, Africa, Asia, and other international locales. The series both synthesises existing scholarship and presents cutting-edge research, employing a global team of expert contributors for each of the volumes. Sixteenth-Century British Poetry features a history of the birth moment of modern 'English' poetry in greater detail than previous studies. It examines the literary transitions, institutional contexts, artistic practices, and literary genres within which poets compose their works. Each chapter combines an orientation to its topic and a contribution to the field. Specifically, the volume introduces a narrative about the advent of modern English poetry from Skelton to Spenser, attending to the events that underwrite the poets' achievements: Humanism; Reformation; monarchism and republicanism; colonization; print and manuscript; theatre; science; and companionate marriage. Featured are metre and form, figuration and allusiveness, and literary career, as well as a wide range of poets, from Wyatt, Surrey, and Isabella Whitney to Ralegh, Drayton, and Mary Herbert. Major works discussed include Sidney's Astrophil and Stella, Spenser's Faerie Queene, Marlowe's Hero and Leander, and Shakespeare's Sonnets.

"Perfect for fans of Brent Weeks, George R. R. Martin, or David Gemmell . . . . The best traditional epic fantasy I have read in years." — Grimdark Magazine “Epic fantasy fans listen up: This is the good stuff. Highly recommended.” — Kirkus (starred review) FORGED IN FIRE, BOUND BY BLOOD. From an unmissable voice in epic fantasy comes a sweeping tale of clashing guilds, magic-fueled machines, and revolution. The nation of Torwyn is run on the power of industry, and industry is run by the Guilds. Chief among them are the Hawkspurs, whose responsibility it is to keep the gears of the empire turning. That’s exactly why matriarch Rosomon Hawkspur sends each of her heirs to the far reaches of the nation. Conall, the eldest son, is sent to the distant frontier to earn his stripes in the military. It is here that he faces a threat he could have never seen coming: the first rumblings of revolution. Tyreta is a sorceress with the ability to channel the power of pyrestone, the magical resource that fuels the empire’s machines. She is sent to the mines to learn more about how pyrsetone is harvested – but instead, she finds the dark horrors of industry that the empire would prefer to keep hidden. The youngest, Fulren, is a talented artificer and finds himself acting as a guide to a mysterious foreign emissary. Soon after, he is framed for a crime he never committed. A crime that could start a war. As the Hawkspurs grapple with the many threats that face the nation within and without, they must finally prove themselves worthy–or their empire will fall apart. “An epic setting, and an incredible cast of characters.” – James Islington, author of The Shadow of What Was Lost

It is 1969, and Jim Simmons, one year out of the Military Academy and fresh out of Special Forces training, is headed to Vietnam, where he is quickly faced with an ethical challenge when a spy is discovered in headquarters. Walter Mueller, a senior US State Department diplomat, is assigned to Nicaragua and is joined by his family. His wife and daughter open a medical clinic for the poor but soon discover that the Sandinistas want the Americans to leave. Ramon Morales, a seasoned Sandinista haunted by the abuse of his family by the Samozas, is ordered to kidnap a busload of children. Love from the Ashes of a Broken World follows their lives as war and terrorism challenge their understanding of God's love, forgiveness, and redemption. Endorsement by two theologians: "I'm glad that I finished, but sad that it's over. This is so good!" "Your story drew us in! Really, so very well done! I think you succeeded in your purpose of writing "about God and our relationship to him." Any follower of Jesus who enjoys military stories would enjoy this book. And anyone who has struggled with guilt and the need for forgiveness and to forgive would benefit from reading the strong biblical answers laid out in the context of a story about someone else experiencing those struggles. This was really good." Endorsement by a Green Beret Vietnam veteran: "I found this to be a very enjoyable and believable story."

Since the idea of using a classical text to illuminate the contemporary crisis derives from Machiavelli's decision to write using the History of Rome by Titus Livy, it seemed he was a fitting point of departure. The twentieth century was marked by two cataclysmic events: firstly came the mass genocide in Europe of a race, initiated by Germany, and a class, initiated by Russia. Secondly came the mass influx of disinherited masses into Europe. The Turks came to Germany following the dismemberment of the Osmanli Dawlet. The Berbers came from North Africa following the collapse of the French colonial empire. The Indians came from the violent dismemberment of Empire which tore the sub-continent into Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. As the exhausted people of Europe, utterly betrayed by its political class, watch in fear as the European entity fragments, having been stitched together merely by a common currency without intrinsic value, it becomes daily more clear that renewal can only come from the great mass of displaced people whose binding factor is neither race nor coinage, but religion. This work should prove relevant to the new Europeans.

The times when abstaining from cakes and ale was seen as a sign of critical virtue are over. Phenomenal Shakespeare is at your back lawn with a picnic-basket jammed with intersubjectivity, embodiment, immediacy, representation. If you feel like passing, read this book.