The first paperback in Ludlow s epic continuation of the Conquest trilogy (Mercenaries, Warriors, Conquest)"

England, 1337: Edward III is beset on all sides. He needs a victory against the French to rescue his throne, but he's outmanned. King Philip VI can put 50,000 men in the field, but he is having his own problems: he has sent his priests to summon the angels themselves to fight for France, but the angels refuse to fight, and Philip won't engage the battle without the backing of the angels.As England and France head toward certain war, Edward yearns for God's favor but as a usurper, can't help but worry—what if God truly is on the side of the French? Edward could call on Lucifer and open the gates of Hell and take an unholy war to France...for a price. Mark Adler breathes fresh and imaginative life into the Hundred Years War in this sweeping historical epic.

Zľie Adebola remembers when the soil of Ors̐ha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zľie's Reaper mother summoned forth souls.

An anthropologist explores the politics and society of Kyrgyzstan through a study of one influential man’s life. A pioneering study of kinship, patronage, and politics in Central Asia, Blood Ties and the Native Son tells the story of the rise and fall of a man called Rahim, an influential and powerful patron in rural northern Kyrgyzstan, and of how his relations with clients and kin shaped the economic and social life of the region. Many observers of politics in post-Soviet Central Asia have assumed that corruption, nepotism, and patron-client relations would forestall democratization. Looking at the intersection of kinship ties with political patronage, Aksana Ismailbekova finds instead that this intertwining has in fact enabled democratization—both kinship and patronage develop apace with democracy, although patronage relations may stymie individual political opinion and action. “This book is an important contribution to a growing literature on Central Asian politics and society, and by complicating dominant narratives about the dangers of weak state institutions, Ismailbekova has much to offer to the broader research project on democratization and clientelism.” —Europe-Asia Studies

'Do you think that fate controls our lives or that we have the freedom to choose our own path?' For Fleance, the only son of Banquo, Thane of Lochaber, the time has come to make a choice. Since his father's brutal murder ten years ago, he has hidden in the woods of Northern England, keeping his identity a secret from all. Now Fleance must unmask his enemies and discover why he is plagued by his father's ghost. But everything in life has a price. Fleance must sacrifice his love for Rosie and journey back to his homeland if he is to find the answers and fulfil his father's dying wish. The choices he makes will change his life forever while the secrets from his past threaten to bring down the throne of Scotland. An epic tale of love, loss and revenge set amidst the turmoil of Scotland after Macbeth.

Skye Morrison has a lot in common with today's college graduates; she's neck-deep in student loan debt and desperate for a better paying job. For four years, the nightlife of Austin, Texas (home of Skye's Alma Mater) has satiated her thirst for good music, a revamp in fashion and men - especially local musician, Jameson Doyle, but her spot as a waitress at Drop Kick Dan's bar wasn't going to cut the slack. A personal life troubled by a hounding ex only made matters worse. Skye was never the damsel in distress type, but when an unexpected public shouting match with her ex turned physical, a savior disguised as a heavenly gorgeous Irishman came to her rescue. Archer Rhys, a businessman with a lot to offer, doesn't exactly sweep Skye off her feet but she couldn't help but to be captivated by his ravenous good looks. When Archer makes Skye a lucrative job offer as his personal assistant for his new downtown Austin club, The Mausoleum, she quickly finds out that she may have gotten more than she bargained for. In this breakout novel, J.L. McCoy takes the reader on an indulgent descent into a modern-day counterculture of nighttime extravagances. Close your eyes, succumb to intense passion, sip a Vampire's Kiss and let the pounding of the club music overtake you. With animated detail, you'll find yourself on an unimaginable journey deep into the lair and grasp of Archer Rhys and his mind games. Distracted by Jameson's charm and blinded by Archer's allure and generous paycheck, Skye's new life invokes the reader's empathy as she's surrounded in a whirlwind of desire, deceit and even death. Blood of the Son; this isn't your little sister's vampire novel. Approximately 84.020 words

A Jewish factory worker is falsely accused of ritually murdering a Christian boy in Russia in 1911, and his trial becomes an international cause célèbre. On March 20, 1911, thirteen-year-old Andrei Yushchinsky was found stabbed to death in a cave on the outskirts of Kiev. Four months later, Russian police arrested Mendel Beilis, a thirty-seven-year-old father of five who worked as a clerk in a brick factory nearby, and charged him not only with Andrei’s murder but also with the Jewish ritual murder of a Christian child. Despite the fact that there was no evidence linking him to the crime, that he had a solid alibi, and that his main accuser was a professional criminal who was herself under suspicion for the murder, Beilis was imprisoned for more than two years before being brought to trial. As a handful of Russian officials and journalists diligently searched for the real killer, the rabid anti-Semites known as the Black Hundreds whipped into a frenzy men and women throughout the Russian Empire who firmly believed that this was only the latest example of centuries of Jewish ritual murder of Christian children—the age-old blood libel. With the full backing of Tsar Nicholas II’s teetering government, the prosecution called an array of “expert witnesses”—pathologists, a theologian, a psychological profiler—whose laughably incompetent testimony horrified liberal Russians and brought to Beilis’s side an array of international supporters who included Thomas Mann, H. G. Wells, Anatole France, Arthur Conan Doyle, the archbishop of Canterbury, and Jane Addams. The jury’s split verdict allowed both sides to claim victory: they agreed with the prosecution’s description of the wounds on the boy’s body—a description that was worded to imply a ritual murder—but they determined that Beilis was not the murderer. After the fall of the Romanovs in 1917, a renewed effort to find Andrei’s killer was not successful; in recent years his grave has become a pilgrimage site for those convinced that the boy was murdered by a Jew so that his blood could be used in making Passover matzo. Visitors today will find it covered with flowers. (With 24 pages of black-and-white illustrations.)