The thrilling start to the Phoenix Legacy space opera: “A new classic! Has the sweep and power of Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy” (Jean M. Auel, author of the Earth’s Children series). At the heart of the Concord empire, unrest is festering. Unrecognized by the Elite, the ruling class, an undercurrent of rebellion is surging through the enslaved Bond class. It’s a threat that could bring down all of civilization, creating a third Dark Age. Lord Alexand, first born of the House of DeKoven Woolf, stands to inherit a vast industrial conglomerate along with a seat on the Directorate, the Concord’s ruling body. But he sees the writing on the wall and realizes that if the Bonds explode into total rebellion, there will be nothing to inherit, and the toll in human suffering will be beyond calculation. He makes the difficult decision to “die” and join the Society of the Phoenix, a clandestine organization whose existence is known to only a few Directorate Lords, who consider membership treason and punishable by death. But it may be humanity’s only hope . . .

This is the first of Howard's novels in which the cult character, Conan the Cimmerian, appears. This character went on to appear in a series of stories and comics. He was also known as Conan the Barbarian.

Due to a personnel error, a young Army Staff Sergeant is assigned to Vietnam as an Intelligence Annalist and immediately assigned to a combat unit where he led a POW Contact Team responsible for evaluating enemy prisoners. Knowing that if he determined the POWs were of no intelligence value, they would be turned over to the local South Vietnamese Commander, and would probably be executed. During this assignment he was involved in an ambush which left two of his team wounded. Then went on a covert assignment into Cambodia to find a downed pilot. When the MACV(Military Assistance Command Vietnam) Unit he was assigned to was reorganized the was mistakenly assigned to the 1st Air Cavalry Division just a day prior to the largest combat air lift in the Vietnam war. Within a six hour period an entire combat brigade including artillery was airlifted to within 4 miles of the besieged Marines at Khe Sanh. When MACV Headquarters located their missing Sergeant, he received orders reassigning from the 1st Air Cavalry back to MACV where he was assigned to a Phoenix Program assassination team made up of former Foreign Legionnaires that stayed in Vietnam after the French left. Recommended for this assignment by his old nemesis Jack Roark. Roark is allegedly a Cultural Attach with the Embassy, but is in fact a C.I.A. case officer, and it is not the first time he has involved himself with the young Sergeants career.

A new breakout fantasy epic filled with strong world building, engaging characters, and wondrous adventure. Kyri: a highborn young woman whose life is shattered by the murder of her kin. But even as Kyri flees her beloved land Evanwyl, she knows that she is her family's only hope for justice, and Evanwyl's only chance to escape a growing shadow of corruption and destruction. Now Kyri must venture across Zarathan, a world on the brink of a long foretold Chaos War. It is a struggle that may usher in a long age of darkness¾ that is, if Kyri and her companions do not succeed in holding back the tide of evil that is rising. Those companions include valiant swordsman Tobimar Silverun, Prince of Skysand, exiled on the turn of a card and a prophecy, who is now seeking his people's lost homeland; and Poplock Duckweed, an unlikely hero whose diminutive size is as much a weapon as it is a weakness. Kyri's quest is as simple as it is profounfind a legendary ancient weaponsmith, take up the sword and armor of a new order of warrior defenders, and bring the power of justice and vengeance to the evil and corruption that has darkened her native land. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

"In 'The Phoenix on the Sword," Robert E. Howard introduces Conan the Barbarian, King of Aquilonia, battling treason and supernatural menaces to secure his throne. This seminal tale blends vivid action with dark magic, showcasing Conan's brute strength and cunning in a fight against corrupt forces.

The Phoenix on the Sword begins with a middle-aged Conan of Cimmeria attempting to govern the turbulent kingdom of Aquilonia. Conan has recently seized the bloody crown of Aquilonia from King Numedides whom he strangled upon his throne; however, things have not gone well, as Conan is more suited to swinging a broadsword than to signing official documents with a stylus. The people of Aquilonia, who originally welcomed Conan as their liberator from Numedides' tyranny, have gradually turned against him due to his foreign Cimmerian blood.

The Phoenix on the Sword by Robert Howard