Nigel Sheldon, one of the founders of the Commonwealth, receives a visit from the Raiel—self-appointed guardians of the Void, the enigmatic construct at the core of the galaxy that threatens the existence of all that lives. The Raiel convince Nigel to participate in a desperate scheme to infiltrate the Void.Once inside, Nigel discovers that humans are not the only life-forms to have been sucked into the Void, where the laws of physics are subtly different and mental powers indistinguishable from magic are commonplace. The humans trapped there are afflicted by an alien species of biological mimics—the Fallers—that are intelligent but merciless killers.Yet these same aliens may hold the key to destroying the threat of the Void forever—if Nigel can uncover their secrets. As the Fallers’ relentless attacks continue, and the fragile human society splinters into civil war, Nigel must uncover the secrets of the Fallers—before he is killed by the very people he has come to save.

    We meet the Greek gods on Olympus and Norse gods in Valhalla. We follow the drama of the Trojan War and the wanderings of Odysseus. We hear the tales of Jason and the Golden Fleece, Cupid and Psyche, and mighty King Midas. We discover the origins of the names of the constellations. And we recognize reference points for countless works of art, literature, and cultural inquiry--from Freud's Oedipus complex to Wagner's Ring Cycle of operas to Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra. Praised throughout the world for its authority and lucidity, Mythology is Edith Hamilton's masterpiece--the standard by which all other books on mythology are measured.

    

    . .The momentous struggle between Athens and Sparta as rival powers and political systems will last for twenty-seven years (431 to 404 BC).It will end in the fall of a dynasty.Filled with cunning political scheming and astonishing military prowess, invasions and treacheries, plagues and slaughters, passion and power, Conn Iggulden brings to life one of the most thrilling chapters of the ancient world.

    You’re supposed to have faith.Not a lot is going right for Taran Sharma. First, he stole his annoying brother’s necklace and ran off into the night. Then, his family got taken hostage by spindly creatures of the dead. And to top it all, he’s just been charged with a mission by Lord Ganesha himself! Now, in order to rescue his family from the hands of the preta, he has to undertake a journey more fantastical than he can begin to comprehend.As Taran embarks on an epic voyage that may lead to disastrous consequence, he realizes that having faith, especially in himself, might be harder than he was led to believe.Dive into this riveting adventure to the Veiled Lands, replete with evil Naga armies, mythical creatures and a supervillain who will stop at nothing to reach the elusive Gateway of Moksha.

    Odysseus' reliance on his wit and wiliness for survival in his encounters with divine and natural forces, during his ten-year voyage home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, is at once a timeless human story and an individual test of moral endurance. In the myths and legends that are retold here, Fagles has captured the energy and poetry of Homer's original in a bold, contemporary idiom, and given us an Odyssey to read aloud, to savor, and to treasure for its sheer lyrical mastery.Renowned classicist Bernard Knox's superb Introduction and textual commentary provide new insights and background information for the general reader and scholar alike, intensifying the strength of Fagles' translation.This is an Odyssey to delight both the classicist and the public at large, and to captivate a new generation of Homer's students.--Robert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, presents us with Homer's best-loved and most accessible poem in a stunning new modern-verse translation.

    It seemed the planet-wrecking pirates were invincible. But they made a big mistake when they raided ex-commando leader Alicia DeVries' quiet home work, tortured and murdered her family, and then left her for dead. Alicia decided to turn "pirate" herself, and stole a cutting-edge AI ship from the Empire to start her vendetta. Her fellow veterans think she's gone crazy, the Imperial Fleet has shoot-on-sight orders. And of course the pirates want her dead, too. But Alicia DeVries has two allies nobody knows about, allies as implacable as she is: a self-aware computer, and a creature from the mists of Old Earth's most ancient legends. And this trio of furies won't rest until vengeance is served.In Fury Born is a greatly expanded new version of David Weber's popular novel Path of the Fury, which has gone through six large printings in its original mass market edition. David Weber has added considerable new material, revealing the earlier life of Alicia DeVries before she embarked on her mission of vengeance, and illuminating the universe of the original story. The result is a novel with almost twice the wordage of the original, and a must-buy for all David Weber fans.

    Among those you'll investigate are the accounts of the creation of the world in Hesiod's Theogony and Ovid's Metamorphoses; the gods Zeus, Apollo, Demeter, Persephone, Hermes, Dionysos, and Aphrodite; the Greek heroes, Theseus and Heracles (Hercules in the Roman version); and the most famous of all classical myths, the Trojan War.Professor Vandiver anchors her presentation in some basics. What is a myth? Which societies use myths? What are some of the problems inherent in studying classical mythology? She also discusses the most influential 19th- and 20th-century thinking about myth's nature and function, including the psychological theories of Freud and Jung and the metaphysical approach of Joseph Campbell. You'll also consider the relationship between mythology and culture (such as the implications of the myth of Demeter, Persephone, and Hades for the Greek view of life, death, and marriage), the origins of classical mythology (including the similarities between the Theogony and Mesopotamian creation myths), and the dangers of probing for distant origins (for example, there's little evidence that a prehistoric "mother goddess" lies at the heart of mythology).Taking you from the surprising "truths" about the Minotaur to Ovid's impact on the works of William Shakespeare, these lectures make classical mythology fresh, absorbing, and often surprising.Disclaimer: Please note that this recording may include references to supplemental texts or print references that are not essential to the program and not supplied with your purchase.©2000 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2000 The Great Courses

    He finds a mysterious note from his grandfather that tells him he is a descendant from an ancient and powerful family from a place he’s never heard of. Aaron is thrust into a struggle that began before he was born and will reach across worlds to pull him into the fight. An epic tale of action adventure, following Aaron’s quest as he shifts the balance of power upon Safanar and returns his family’s sacred order to its rightful place. Book 2 - Echoes of a Gloried Past: Aaron will lead a daring quest to save the woman he loves, bringing him to the home of the High King and the vile Elitesmen Order. Time is running out for Sarah. She has only days before she is lost and if Aaron can’t reach her in time, then nothing he can do will save her from what she will become. Echoes of a Gloried Past is the second installment of the epic fantasy adventure series, The Safanarion Order. The worlds of fantasy and science fiction collide in this action adventure with ancient allies and enemies alike preparing for war. Book 3 - Amidst the Rising Shadows: In this third installment of the Safanarion Order Series, the Free Nations Army desperately scrambles to prepare for war not only with the High King, but the looming threat of an invasion force determined to enslave them all. Aaron is held captive on the Hythariam home world that’s only weeks away from being destroyed. With the portal between worlds down there is little chance that Aaron will be able to return to Safanar. The Safanarion Order series is an epic fantasy adventure.

    Homer's poems occupy, as Adam Nicolson writes "a third space" in the way we relate to the past: not as memory, which lasts no more than three generations, nor as the objective accounts of history, but as epic, invented after memory but before history, poetry which aims "to bind the wounds that time inflicts."The Homeric poems are among the oldest stories we have, drawing on deep roots in the Eurasian steppes beyond the Black Sea, but emerging at a time around 2000 B.C. when the people who would become the Greeks came south and both clashed and fused with the more sophisticated inhabitants of the Eastern Mediterranean.The poems, which ask the eternal questions about the individual and the community, honor and service, love and war, tell us how we became who we are.

     Werecat Festus McGregor leads his Recovery of Magical Objects Squad on a mission to retrieve the Moonstone Spoon from the penthouse of eccentric financier and collector Wardlaw Magwilde. Festus has the operation planned to the last detail until a wereparrot and a member of his own team throw a monkey wrench in the works -- but thankfully no actual monkeys. Join Festus, Rube and the rest of the raccoons in this fun-filled novella from the bestselling author of the Jinx Hamilton series. Filled with hysterical Fae acronyms and overlapping agency jurisdictions, Moonstone is an escapist romp you won’t want to put down.

    Adopting a sunny, genial tone, Dunthorne lures the reader to darker places, exploring death and dread, failure and regret - the 'lounge of our suffering'. Often, he catches us off-guard: a 'whiplash' effect where poems shift from laughter to slaughter in a moment. Impertinent owls, an immersive theatre troupe, ancient men from the Great War and idiot balloonists - such characters dramatise our human fancies and foibles, joining the protagonist in scenarios both humorously bizarre and all-too-familiar. These performances serve to probe and unpeel the layers of the self - all the way down to the raw.

    But beneath the freckles and red hair--not to mention dirt--are a pair of wide green eyes that awaken previously unknown feelings. And before she knows it, she finds herself buying the strange small boy named Flinx.Just another mouth to feed, say Mother Mastiff's second thoughts, but she stops resenting her inexplicable purchase when she witnesses Flinx's psychic influence on the customers of her rattletrap gift-shop. She even lets him keep Pip, the brightly hued--and deadly--Alaspinian mini-drag Flinx finds...and with whom he bonds as if they were of one mind. For as time goes by, Mother Mastiff comes to love the boy as her own, nurturing him, teaching him everything she knows--and hoping he'll survive into adulthood.That may prove more dicey than she'd care to admit. By the age of sixteen, Flinx is as lithe, quick and quiet as any jungle cat--traits that make him a superb thief and con-artist. But far more deadly than his affinity for the Commonwealth underworld is his unknown history, a past destined to rear its head in terrifying ways, sending him on a wild journey in search of his true self.In For Love of Mother-Not, the renegade group of scientists responsible for Flinx's psychic gifts scheme to get him back--by holding hostage the only person he ever truly care for: Mother Mastiff. In The Tar-Aiym Krang, Flinx must find an ancient otherworldly device that could hold the key to his true nature--or become the deadliest weapon in the Commonwealth. And in Orphan Star, Flinx comes closer than ever to learning about his biological parents--and a family tie to power that can either strengthen or destroy them.

    It features an eye-popping artwork gallery of the villain's and heroes. Fans Tolkiens epic heroes, the likes of R.A. Salvatore's-Drizzt Do' Urden, Frizt Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, David Gemmell's Druss the Legend, Raymond E. Feist's Pug the Wizard, and Robert E. Howard's Conan, delight in The Darkslayer series ... perhaps you will as well.Bish is the land of constant strife and turmoil created by Trinos, a bored immortal.The rise and fall of the blazing suns make the days long and the people disagreeable. Its barren Outlands are as comforting as a bed of thorns as there is little sanctuary to be found in the sweltering forests or the dank caves below the ground. Its caviling cities are overrun with death, greed and corruption, but few complain. It is a place where tempers flare and alliances last as long as a tankard of ale. It is a place where the women are as beautiful as they are scarred and deranged. A place where good doesn't thrive, it endures. It is the land of fight or die.Enter Venir the incorrigible, a fierce warrior, who has been secretly keeping the underling forces at bay for years. He is the Darkslayer, a man possessed by a mantle of power he cannot let go. Enter Melegal the resilient, a crafty rogue, and Venir's reluctant shadow. Enter the underlings, a purely evil race of sadistic killers bent on the destruction of mankind. Enter the humans, a greedy, self-absorbed race of shameless survivors. Enter the orcs, halfling's, dwarves, ogres and other races, some good, some bad, all caught in the maelstrom of treachery and seduction.How will they survive to fight another day? Only Bish knows.This Omnibus contains books 1 thru 6 of The Darkslayer Series 1.Wrath of the Royals (Book 1)Blades in the Night (Book 2)Underling Revenge (Book 3)Danger and the Druid (Book 4)Outrage in the Outlands (Book 5)Chaos at the Castle (Book 6)For more news and anecdotes you can follow him at:Facebook: The Darkslayer Report by CraigTwitter: Craig Halloranthedarkslayer.comOr drop him a line anytime at: craig@thedarkslayer.comAmazon Best Sellers Rank: (Paid in Kindle Store)Top 5: Thrillers & Suspense/Supernatural/Werewolves & Shifters/VampiresTop 10: Dark FantasyTop 10: Coming of AgeTop 15: Sword & SorceryTop 50: Epic FantasyTop 100: Genre FictionAmazon Best Sellers Rank: (Free in Kindle Store)#1 Epic Fantasy#1 Sword & Sorcery#1 Coming of Age#1 Urban#1 Horror#1 Dark Fantasy#1 Genetic Engineering#1 Thrillers/Supernatural/Werewolves & Shifters and VampiresOver 2000 reviews1000+ 5-Star Reviews

    Predator: Stalking Shadows is the bridge between Predator 2 and the current day continuity. U.S. Marine Scott Devlin takes on a new assignment that begins with the clean-up of a Los Angeles combat scene revealing what appears to be alien weapons and tech. His next mission, to an equatorial jungle, seems like an assault on a drug cartel until his team finds human bodies, skinned and suspended from the trees. Justifiably freaked out, Devlin digs deeper and discovers hidden truths, clandestine agencies, savage opponents... and an unexpected ally.