Enjoy this young adult epic fantasy box set by USA Today Bestselling fantasy author Shereen Vedam… Dragons, giants, and magical resurgence, oh my. The Tales of Ryca will introduce you to two brave sisters who are in serious trouble. One must face an enemy out to destroy her entire family. The other will confront a villain who plans to alter her world beyond recognition. Hidden: When a young girl, injured and alone, faces a family tragedy of epic proportion, she has but one choice. Run. Hide. Stay inconspicuous. But what if she's found out? Hushed: When a teenager is imprisoned for most of her young life, what does she do once free? She fights to make sure no one ever controls her again. But what if that unyielding attitude hurts an innocent? Enter the Tales of Ryca and meet two fiercely independent women who have vastly different beliefs about how to survive. These epic fantasy tales will whisk you across a world and spin you around the universe in pursuit of the most elusive commodities in life: freedom, acceptance, and love. *** KEYWORDS: World building, world-wide conflict, quest, secondary world fantasy, high fantasy, magic, high-stakes, wizard, sorcerer, sorceress, witch, dragons, sword and sorcery, action and adventure, full novel, happily ever after, young adult, romantic novels, no cliffhangers, series books, family feud, love books, love stories, collection, romantic novels, new beginnings, happily ever after, high-stakes story, medieval world, guaranteed HEA

The history of western notions about Islam is of obvious scholarly as well as popular interest today. This book investigates Christian images of the Muslim Middle East, focusing on the period from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, when the nature of divine as well as human power was under particularly intense debate in the West. Ivan Kalmar explores how the controversial notion of submission to ultimate authority has in the western world been discussed with reference to Islam’s alleged recommendation to obey, unquestioningly, a merciless Allah in heaven and a despotic government on earth. He discusses how Abrahamic faiths – Christianity and Judaism as much as Islam – demand devotion to a sublime power, with the faith that this power loves and cares for us, a concept that brings with it the fear that, on the contrary, this power only toys with us for its own enjoyment. For such a power, Kalmar borrows Slavoj Zizek’s term "obscene father". He discusses how this describes exactly the western image of the Oriental despot - Allah in heaven, and the various sultans, emirs and ayatollahs on earth – and how these despotic personalities of imagined Muslim society function as a projection, from the West on to the Muslim Orient, of an existential anxiety about sublime power. Making accessible academic debates on the history of Christian perceptions of Islam and on Islam and the West, this book is an important addition to the existing literature in the areas of Islamic studies, religious history and philosophy.

A young forensics investigator finds his worldview turned upside down when a bizarre religious triple homicide introduces him to the Rulers, godlike beings who have ruled humanity since the dawn of time. From writer PAUL JENKINS (SPAWN: RESURRECTION, The Inhumans, Marvel Knights: Sentry) and artist HENDRY PRASETYA (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers), GOD COMPLEX: DOGMA is a unique spin on ancient mythology with a focus on one manÍs journey of faith. Collects GOD COMPLEX #1-6

Ever wonder if the characters you see on TV, in movies and in comic books are hiding something behind their masks? That perhaps they're really someone -- or something -- else? When pop culture is such a huge part of our lives, we're bombarded with these characters everywhere we turn. Each time we see a new character in a movie, video game or commercial, we feel a sudden sense deja vu. There's something about their goofy grin, that creepy laugh, or those boogly eyes that feels eerily familiar...This got me thinking. Is anything we see ever 100% original? Or is everything we experience really just our minds piecing together past experiences to create something that feels unique and new?In Icons Unmasked, I'm trying to bring a new sense of discovery to characters everyone has seen hundreds of times. I wanted to recreate the experience of what it might be like to see one iconic character from your childhood for the first time as an adult. Proceed at your own caution and keep in mind the following illustrations cannot be unseen. Your childhood might possibly be destroyed forever