A dark tale of love, obsession, and revenge. A young woman is swept into a life of intrigue, revenge, passion, and betrayal when she falls for the world’s most notorious prince, Vlad Dracula. The year is 1464. King Matthias controls Hungary, his family, and the fate of the world’s most notorious political prisoner, Prince Vlad Dracula. Ilona Szilágy, the king’s cousin, is young and ambitious. Dracula is determined to marry into the family. It is love at first sight, but the king has other plans. The Impaler Prince, however, never takes no for an answer. Eager to become his trusted confidant, Ilona enters a treacherous world where revenge, betrayal, ambition, and passion transcend all that is sacred. And love demands the ultimate sacrifice. Woven throughout is a peek into the life and times of one of the world’s most enigmatic and maligned rulers…the man before the legend. With Bardot’s decadent period detail and a cast of gritty evocative characters, The Impaler’s Wife offers a fierce yet sensuous glimpse into the violent 15th century.

String garlic by the window and hang a cross around your neck! The most powerful vampire of all time returns in our Stepping Stone Classic adaption of the original tale by Bran Stoker. Follow Johnathan Harker, Mina Harker, and Dr. Abraham van Helsing as they discover the true nature of evil. Their battle to destroy Count Dracula takes them from the crags of his castle to the streets of London... and back again.

Alexander Delacroix's darkly romantic debut Heart of the Impaler is perfect for fans of Kiersten White's And I Darken. Vlad Dracula has long lived in the shadows cast by his bloodthirsty father, the voivode, and his older brother, Mircea. Despite their cruelty, Vlad has yearned to prove himself worthy of the throne his whole life. In the cold halls of the voivode's palace, Vlad can only rely on his cousin and closest friend, Andrei Musat. When Vlad and Andrei meet Ilona Csáki, the daughter of an influential boyar, they each find themselves inextricably drawn to her. But then Ilona is betrothed to Mircea as part of a political alliance, and Vlad's resentfulness of his brother begins to seethe into something far darker. Ilona has no desire to marry the voivode’s eldest son, but love and marriage are the least of her worries. The royal family’s enemies have already tried to put an arrow through her back—and if anyone discovers her blossoming feelings for Andrei and Vlad, she may just wish they’d succeeded. Beneath the shadow of impending war, the only battle that will be deadlier than the one for Ilona’s life will be the one for her heart. Praise for Heart of the Impaler: "Flowing and fast-paced as court intrigue, spies, family secrets, romance, twists, and turns pull readers into fifteenth-century Romania—and into the heart of Vlad the Impaler. Highly recommended." —Booklist "Delacroix adroitly immerses readers in a delicious blend of romance and 15th-century politics that leans more historical than mythic, while exploring the power of love to change history’s tides." —Publishers Weekly

Vlad the Impaler - The Real Dracula is a biography of the 15th century Wallachian Prince in what it now modern day Romania. Vladthe Impaler was the inspiration for the main charachter in Bram Stoker's Dracula novel which was originally published in 1897 and loosely based off of the real person. Vlad the Impaler got his name because he used cruel punishments agaisnt his political enemies, most notably impaling them with a large stake and sticking them in the ground to die. During the impalement, Dracula had the blood collected and he dipped his food in their blood, which is what made him known to this day as a blood drinker. Vlad ruled Wallachia during the periods of 1448, 1456-62, and 1476. Vlad the Impaler - The Real Dracula is a highly recommended publication for those interested in learning the details of the story of Vlad the Impaler and also for those who are fans of Dracula and would like to learn about the real man behind the story.

'Here begins a very cruel, frightening story about a wild, bloodthirsty man, Dracula the voivod ...' Historian and crime writer M.J. Trow draws back the dark curtain of legend to look at the real Vlad Tepes, set against the background of his times. Later generations associated him with pure evil and accepted the stories of his murders, mutilations and impalements without question. And later still, thanks to Bram Stoker, he shifted his shape into the doyen of the undead, complete with haunted castles, terrifying bats and an unearthly aversion to sunlight. The real Vlad Dracula lived in Transylvania, in the horseshoe of the Carpathian Mountains (today's Romania) and ruled his state of Wallachia three times. Making war against the Ottoman Turks, rivals to his throne and keeping his people in check, his was a life steeped in blood. But was he 'a prince more sinned against than sinning'? To Romanians, he is a hero on a white horse, a nationalist leader who carried out dreadful deeds in order to save the country he loved. To others, he was a rapacious homicidal maniac whose cruelty has no parallel, in his day or any other. This stylishly-written and compelling narrative unravels the true story behind the image and takes us into the heart of the bloody, uncertain world of Medieval Europe.

Europe's most fearsome prisoner, Vlad Dracula, gifted military commander and one time Prince of Wallachia, the notorious Lord Impaler himself, is about to be released after twelve long years, in order to hold back the tide of Ottoman aggression. The price of his new alliance with his Hungarian captors is the king's cousin Ilona. Ilona does not wish to be married. In particular, she doesn't wish to marry Vlad. Gentle, faded and impossibly vague, Ilona is hardly fit for court life, let alone for dealing with so difficult a husband. But Ilona's wishes have nothing to do with Vlad's reputation and everything to do with a lifelong love affair that finally broke her. Ilona's family blame Vlad; Vlad vows to discover the truth and sets out by unconventional means to bring back the woman who once enchanted him. Among court intrigues, international maneuverings and political deceptions, Vlad reveals himself more victim than villain. But he's still more than capable of reclaiming his lost rights to both Wallachia and Ilona; and Ilona, when it counts, has enough strength for them both.

The crossbow is an iconic weapon of the Middle Ages and, alongside the longbow, one of the most effective ranged weapons of the pre-gunpowder era. Unfortunately, despite its general fame it has been decades since an in-depth history of the medieval crossbow has been published, which is why Stuart Ellis-Gorman's detailed, accessible, and highly illustrated study is so valuable. The Medieval Crossbow approaches the history of the crossbow from two directions. The first is a technical study of the design and construction of the medieval crossbow, the many different kinds of crossbows used during the Middle Ages, and finally a consideration of the relationship between crossbows and art. The second half of the book explores the history of the crossbow, from its origins in ancient China to its decline in sixteenth-century Europe. Along the way it explores the challenges in deciphering the crossbow's early medieval history as well as its prominence in warfare and sport shooting in the High and Later Middle Ages. This fascinating book brings together the work of a wide range of accomplished crossbow scholars and incorporates the author's own original research to create an account of the medieval crossbow that will appeal to anyone looking to gain an insight into one of the most important weapons of the Middle Ages.