First-century Rome is a perilous city as Nero stalks the political circles and huddled groups of believers. To be safe, Christians must remain invisible. Gallus Sergius Vitas is the only man within Nero’s trusted circle willing to do what it takes to keep the empire together. He struggles to lessen Nero’s monstrosities against the people of Rome—especially the Christians. But as three Greek letters are scrawled as graffiti throughout the city, Nero’s anger grows. As the early church begins to experience the turbulence Christ prophesied as the beginning of the last days, an enemy seeks to find John’s letter, Revelation, and destroy it. Meanwhile the early Christians must decipher it and cling to the hope it provides as they face the greatest of all persecutions.

The contributions to Making of Copernicus examine exemplarily how some of the Copernicus myths came about and if they could hold their ground or have vanished again. Are there links between a factual or postulated transformation of world images and the application of certain scientific metaphors, especially the metaphor of a revolution? Were there interactions and amalgamations of the literary and scientific enthronement, or outlawry of Copernicus and if so, how did they take place? On the other hand, are there repercussions of the scientific-historical reconstructions and hagiographies on the literary image of Copernicus as sketched by novelists even in the 20th century? The history of the reception of Copernicus shall not be dominantly dealt with from the point of view of a factual affirmation and rejection of the astronomer and his doctrine but rather as accomplishments of transformation respectively. Thus, the essays in this volume investigate transformations: methodological, institutional, textual, and visual transformations of the Copernican doctrine and the topical, rhetorical and literary transformations of the historical person of Copernicus respectively.

Helius, Nero’s most trusted adviser, anticipates the death of his sworn enemy, the legendary warrior Gallus Sergius Vitas, scheduled to die a gruesome death in the arena. However, the badly beaten man who appears in the amphitheater is not who he seems. Rescued by a stranger and given a mysterious scroll, Vitas is told he must decipher this letter to find the answers he needs—a letter that Helius is also determined to decipher and to keep hidden from Nero. As Nero’s reign of terror grows, so does his circle of enemies.

Set in the turbulent years just before one of the most horrendous events in Jewish history, The Last Temple concludes the trilogy of The Last Disciple and The Last Sacrifice. Vitas is reunited with his wife and retires to Alexandria, determined to live a quiet, domestic life. But he can’t avoid the debts that he owes to the men who saved him, and he becomes a key figure in the plot to rid the empire of Nero. It sweeps him into the “year of four emperors,” when the Roman Empire is nearly destroyed, and takes him back to Jerusalem as Titus lays siege to the great city. Only then, as the prophecy of Jesus begins to unfold, does Vitas discover the true mission set before him and the astounding conspiracy behind it.

After much hardship, Vitas Kosloff finds his Mate, Alpha Henri Giraud, Director of Security for the North American Council and Garou Industries. But Vitas is held captive by Fydor Chernof, the Russian First, who claims Vitas belongs to him. He escapes Chernof's torture with the aid of Chernof's two Betas, Anatoly and Maxim. Vitas is a full loup garou who carries a huge mating gift -- he can tell the truth from lies and dream the future. Because of this, Chernof will stop at nothing to recapture him, even after Henri mates and marries Vitas. With the aid of the other Mates, the North American Council, and Frank Ferone, Vitas and Henri attempt to outwit Chernof and take care of the Russian problem for good.

When Peter Marmureanu started learning tennis in communist-held Romania, he was ten years old, playing barefoot on clay courts, swinging a wooden paddle that served as a racket. Eight years later, as a member of Romanias Davis Cup team, Marmureanu was traveling side by side with Ilie Nastase and Ion Tiriac to the worlds capitals playing tournaments in Cairo, Monte Carlo, Paris, London, Moscow, and scores of other cities. In Beyond My Dreams, Marmureanu recounts his life story and how he was forced to become a designated courier for the Securitate, traveling with packets of top-secret documents concealed in his racket cover for delivery to Romanian embassies. In a last-minute flight to freedom that sounds like an espionage thriller, Marmureanu narrates how he made his escape. But even in America, where Donald Rumsfeld and President Gerald Ford helped secure his citizenship, he lived for many years under FBI protection, carrying a handgun for his own safety, knowing the danger that loomed over Romanias defectors and what might happen if he ever went back. And yet, for the sake of his family, Marmureanu risked a returnwitnessing, firsthand, the initial moments of insurrection preceding the fall of an evil regime. In this memoirfilled with intrigue, courage, and defianceMarmureanu tells how he escaped one of the most repressive regimes on earththe incredible but true adventure of one mans flight to freedom.