The story says that one day a Fisher King will rise to heal the land. In the 1950s, they’re still waiting. . . . “A captivating historical thriller, a great spine-tingling romp through history in search of the Holy Grail. Fans of The Da Vinci Code will love this!”—Kevin Baker, author of Dreamland and Paradise Alley At the turn of the twentieth century, a baseball player named George Gibson embarks upon a mystical journey to the Congo. His mission: to shepherd a powerful relic to its home in Abyssinia. But poet-turned-grail seeker Arthur Rimbaud is after what Gibson possesses—as others before him have been for millennia. A half century later, after receiving an honorable discharge from the Korean War, twenty-year-old Lance Porter vows to put his civilian life back together—which means heading to commie-infested Berkeley to see his high school sweetheart, Ellie. But after Lance gets cold feet, he encounters instead a drunk, gay poet named Jack Spicer, who spews crazy stories about Lance being the Fisher King. It appears that the bearing of the grail has been bequeathed to young Lance, much to his shock and disbelief. Can a legacy born in the deserts of Ethiopia truly be reemerging in the bohemian bars of New York City and San Francisco? And is a vet with a lost soul really worthy of its care? Alexander C. Irvine has breathed a refreshing burst of air into the Arthurian legend. In One King, One Soldier, ancient characters and Irvine’s pitch-perfect historical accuracy merge with a gritty, dark portrait of America in the cold-war ’50s. Here, three stories come brilliantly together in an edgy mix of baseball, imperialism, poetry, and grail mythology.

A stunning story of Holy Week through the eyes of a Roman centurion Watch the triumphal entry of the donkey-riding king through the eyes of Marcus Longinus, the centurion charged with keeping the streets from erupting into open rebellion. Look behind the scenes at the political plotting of King Herod, known as the scheming Fox for his ruthless shrewdness. Get a front-row seat to the confrontation between the Jewish high priest Caiaphas and the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. Understand as never before the horror of the decision to save a brutal terrorist in order to condemn the peaceful Jew to death. If you've heard the story of Passion Week so often it's become stale, now is the time to rediscover the terrible events leading from Jesus's humble ride into the city to his crucifixion. The Soldier Who Killed a King will stun you afresh with how completely Christ's resurrection changed history, one life at a time.

A Birthmark, A Princess, A Special Destiny in Romantic Novel, A King's Daughter FORT WORTH, Texas- A red birthmark on the face of a newborn baby daughter turns its mother, a Queen into a suspicious, if not superstitious, woman. Queen Charlotte, wife to King Edward, gives birth to her child, but upon knowing that the mark will not go away immediately loses faith in everything and turns away from A King's daughter. Audra Lilly Griffeth's exciting story is potent with the romance attendant on royalty and how its members fare when a twist of fate condemns them or one of their members to a commoner's fate but is destined to come back to the fold. And thus, the story unfolds... Born Princess Eva Kathleen Wellington, Eva is loved by the Queen's servant Lady Margaret, when her mother continues with her passionate denial of her daughter's defect. Although it may have turned out worse, Princess Eva's story is proof of a more romantic, benign fate that is perhaps the antithesis to the Queen's unfounded fears of having a "defective" and cursed infant. In any case, a cosmetic cure could have been eventually found except that there was no hiding the Queen's strange behavior towards her newborn for too long. Sad and concerned for the Princesses' future, Lady Margaret arranged a fake kidnapping in a nearby forest when King and Queen are off on a state to visit another kingdom. When news of "kidnapping" reaches them two days after the fact, the Queen is unaffected while the King is in depair and does not fully recover even after the birth of two sons and another daughter to continue his line. Meanwhile, Eva and Lady Margaret, as Evanlynn and Mary Engleton (mother and daughter), prosper as nest they could in Margaret's grandparent's dairy farm. Fate takes another surprising turn when Sir Daniel, a trusted officer of the King, befriends Margaret and unwittingly influences her to reveal their existence to the King. The King is overjoyed and Evanlynn shows the truth of her genetic make-up by naturally adapting to a set of strange, new circumstances. With a flair for a well-turned out plot which generates its own set of unique circumstances, Griffeth then sets in motion a whirlwind of love, repentance, acceptance and a more special destiny for the entire kingdom that would not have been possible had it not lost a Princess to the vagaries of natural physical form.

In her famous speech to rouse the English troops staking out Tilbury at the mouth of the Thames during the Spanish Armada's campaign, Queen Elizabeth I is said to have proclaimed, "I may have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king." Whether or not the transcription is accurate, the persistent attribution of this provocative statement to England's most studied and celebrated queen illustrates some of the contradictions and cultural anxieties that dominated the collective consciousness of England during a reign that lasted from 1558 until 1603. In The Heart and Stomach of a King, Carole Levin explores the myriad ways the unmarried, childless Elizabeth represented herself and the ways members of her court, foreign ambassadors, and subjects represented and responded to her as a public figure. In particular, Levin interrogates the gender constructions, role expectations, and beliefs about sexuality that influenced her public persona and the way she was perceived as a female Protestant ruler. With a new introduction that situates the book within the emerging genre of cultural biography, the second edition of The Heart and Stomach of a King offers insight into the continued fascination with Elizabeth I and her reign.

Volume 3 covers the years 1590-1597 and sees the start of Shakespeare's career as a dramatist.