Darna is just a guildswoman, or so she’d like to think, but her alleged father was the prince of a backwater province. Her uncle assassinated him to claim the throne, and now he's coming after her. With assassins on her heels, Darna takes on a job in the remote province of Slaradun. The prince is irate to find that this limping woman has replaced the able-bodied man he hired, but according to the contract, he’s stuck with her for the season. Darna finds the prince arrogant and high-handed, but he’s also intelligent and well-read. As winter closes in on Slaradun keep, late night conversations turn from sea walls to more intimate territory, and the province’s lost dragon reappears. This book is the second in the Dragonsfall trilogy. It is recommended that you read The Defenders' Apprentice first. The story also refers back to some events which took place in the two prequel novels, Scrapplings and Priestess.

Featuring the work of more than 28 writers from upwards of 20 countries, this collection transports us to the frontiers of twenty-first century literature. In these pages, some of the most accomplished writers in world literature–among them Edwidge Danticat, Ha Jin, Cynthia Ozick, Javier Marias, and Nobel laureates Wole Soyinka, Günter Grass, Czeslaw Milosz, Wislawa Szymborska, and Naguib Mahfouz–have stepped forward to introduce us to dazzling literary talents virtually unknown to readers of English. Most of their work–short stories, poems, essays, and excerpts from novels–appears here in English for the first time. The Chilean writer Ariel Dorfman introduces us to a story of extraordinary poise and spiritual intelligence by the Argentinian writer Juan Forn. The Romanian writer Norman Manea shares with us the sexy, sinister, and thrillingly avant garde fiction of his homeland’s leading female novelist. The Indian writer Amit Chaudhuri spotlights the Bengali writer Parashuram, whose hilarious comedy of manners imagines what might have happened if Britain had been colonized by Bengal. And Roberto Calasso writes admiringly of his fellow Italian Giorgio Manganelli, whose piece celebrates the Indian city of Madurai. Every piece here–be it from the Americas, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, or the Caribbean–is a discovery, a colorful thread in a global weave of literary exchange. Edited by Samantha Schnee, Alane Salierno Mason, and Dedi Felman

The 'Brihakatha', or Lord Shiva's narrative to his wife Parvati, is featured in Gunadhya's epic composition 'Katha Sarita Sagara' in Sanskrit. Somadeva's adaptation retains the storyline, with Lord Shiva substituting for Lord Kubera, the God of Wealth. C H Tawney, blending pure Hindu mythology with Buddhist and tantric beliefs, translated the story into English as The Ocean of a Story, which runs 12 volumes and includes footnotes. Shiva's Own Story is a condensed version of Tawney's work. The setting of the stories is India in the 10th and 11th centuries, when the country was composed of many small kingdoms and fiefdoms. There was no dearth of monarchs with dynastic ambitions. The king was usually advised by an intelligent and devoted Brahman minister. The heir apparent, the crown prince, had a circle of friends, mostly sons of the king's ministers, who became part of the cabinet when the prince became king. Intrigue was rife and matrimonial alliances were often a strategy to expand the kingdom. In a country where illiteracy is still formidable, storytelling is a means of promoting and propagating religious and moral culture.

War opens the path to conquest. With new allies among the Northlanders and an unexpected friendship with their leader DoomDragon, Tohmas Galanth has ended the Northlander War. But as he turns his attention to bringing the traitorous Prince Marfaie to justice, he balances Northlander, Esparan, and Rydan needs. The decades of war between these peoples make trust fragile. Marfaie seeks to drive a wedge between the allies by any means, whether dragons, thieves, wizards, or demons. If the Princes of Espar cannot rise above their history, the alliance will fracture and undo Tohmas' work. While sorting friends from enemies, Tohmas hides his true plans for Espar: conquest in the name of the Rydans. But as his secret comes to light, old friends become new enemies and Tohmas' confidence falters. Who can he trust once the truth is known?

Between the desert plains of Karesia and the icy wastes of Ranen, there once lay the kingdom of Ro. Its lands were fertile. Its men and women were prosperous. Their god – the One – was satisfied. But then the men of Ro grew unwatchful, and the armies of the south took their chance. Now the Seven Sisters rule the Kingdom, enslaving their people with sorcery of pleasure and blood. Soon, they will appoint a new god. The Long War rumbles on... but the Red Prince has yet to enter the field of battle. ALL THAT WAS DEAD WILL RISE. ALL THAT NOW LIVES WILL FALL...