When Maddock returns from his time in the armed forces, he’s hailed as a hero because he defended the region’s largest iron ore deposit against Holgarian invaders. But all Maddock sees in the mirror is a coward, one who will never be able to make amends for his secret failure on the battlefield. Determined to try, he sets off to fulfill a promise he made to Byx, his departed brother-in-arms. Belhina has been skating by on her earnings and the money her twin, Byx, sent home. Now that he’s gone, she has a choice to make: find yet another job to supplement his wages or get married. Her best friend and the son of the town’s clockmaker are both ready to take her to the church but, for Belhina, finding another job is the more preferable option. Then Maddock approaches her, offering his home and his wealth while asking for nothing in return. Because Belhina has read about the strapping young aristocrat in her brother’s letters, she knows she can trust Maddock. So she accepts his proposal. As if marriage to a stranger wasn’t hard enough, a spell falls over the couple that makes them switch bodies at the midnight toll. This could only be the work of a celestial being but are they friend or foe, and what reason could they have for this interference?

As the heir to a thriving smithy and a substantial estate, Phillip wants for nothing…except perhaps bravery and self-confidence. But when he meets Irma, the headstrong daughter of a poor farm worker, he is smitten. Her father, thankfully, can see Phillip’s goodness and is quick to give his blessing. Marriage does not guarantee affection, however. Phillip’s quest to woo his very independent wife has only just begun. In the course of a single night, Holgarians take over the village of Kenshore. Irma falls into despair, assuming her elderly father is dead, and Phillip scrambles for a way to help. A rumor leads him into the forest, in search of a caravan of wounded persons fleeing Kenshore. Instead of finding his father-in-law, Phillip falls into a trap. While his life is spared—thanks to the Patron Saint of Creators and Innovators—he’s still taken to the Holgarian prisoner camp. There, he learns that the heavenly being has a secret mission for him and that his father-in-law is still alive. Phillip’s only hope of survival, of reuniting Irma with her father and perhaps finally earning her love, depends on the success of his divine mission…which will require more than a little bravery, unfortunately.

Thanks to the technology of a face-changing choker, Taren and the kids have finally found a home on the remote planet of Hatzee. They are settling into a “normal” life and have managed to stay hidden in plain sight. But when Jael sends Taren a distress call, Queen Miyako discovers his hiding place—and then all hell breaks loose. When Ezie and Zabbaam learn of a secret community of people who were altered in an attempt to replicate Project Chameleon, Ezie realizes she may be the cyborgs’ only salvation. She desperately wants to help, but she’s worried Iskar’s research could fall into the wrong hands. Jael and her cousin are investigating the drug trafficking organization responsible for killing her mother and injuring her uncle. When her cousin is captured, Jael knows the only person she can call on for help: Taren Platinum. Sparks fly as their investigation takes off, but the closer they get to the drug kingpin, the closer Queen Miyako gets to capturing Taren. Will Taren manage to escape Miyako once and for all, or will the queen finally get her revenge?

On the day the Holgarians attack her town, Asta is blessed by a warrior god and is empowered with the heightened senses and unnatural healing abilities these foreign invaders possess. Grief-stricken and paralyzed by terror, she's hauled onto the conquering general's ship and taken across the sea. One year later, Asta graduates from warrior academy with honors and is chosen as one of the king's personal Defenders. She will finally have the opportunity to kill the man who gave the general his orders, and avenge her family. She doesn't expect the king to be young or kind, or completely oblivious of what his men are doing overseas. He has been told peaceful negotiations are going well. But Asta knows better. Asta must find proof of the general's treachery and bring it before the king so that she can save unconquered provinces from meeting the same fate as her hometown. But the king's counselors suddenly start dying, and the king himself is hounded by foreign assassins. Revenge will have to wait if Asta's going to keep the king, the mainland's only hope, alive.

First published in 1985, this book gives an intimate account of the cultural-political conflict between Australian Aboriginal people and Anglo-Australians, presenting the Australian social world from the perspective of the Aboriginal person. Adopting a rigorous ethnomethodological analysis and the techniques of ethnolinguistics, Liberman looks at the interactional detail of the everyday life of traditionally oriented Australian Aboriginals. He uses tape transcripts of actual interaction to identify chief characteristics of Aboriginal social life. Liberman goes on to show how differences in systems of interaction have influenced relations between Australian Aboriginals and Anglo-Australians. With its account of the politics of cultural conflict in a multi-cultural environment, this book is an apt extension of ethnomethodological issues to political concerns. It also exposes Aboriginal perceptions of Anglo-Australian/Aboriginal interaction to a degree not previously achieved in any sociological or anthropological study. As such, this book will be a valuable case study to students of social anthropology, race relations, intercultural communication and sociolinguistics.