Kick butt. Hide my magic.People think I'm normal. They're wrong. I'm demon touched—filled with dark, deadly magic. Hiding my power is the only way to survive. Problem is, I'm about to start my first term at the best Academy of Magic in the world. So hiding is going to be a problem.When demons attack, the Academy calls on the lethally sexy gladiator Maximus. As the best tracker, I'm forced to work with Maximus to defend our kind. But his mage powers are strong, and he senses there's something wrong with my magic. He's powerful as hell, and he wants me. Despite his allure, I can't let him know the truth of what I am.My real mission? Kill the demons before they reveal my secret. As for Maximus? It'll take all my skills to keep my distance, especially since he looks like a god. Because if he learns exactly what I am, I'll never survive the Academy, much less tomorrow.This boxed set contains all five books in the Dragon's Gift: The Amazon series. They're fast-paced urban fantasy romances starring a kick butt heroine, a powerful hero, and otherworldly adventure.

    Someone [the murderer?] had covered him with a small strip of carpet.Nearby, in a ditch,lay Mrs Chandler - her face and torso bafflingly blanketed in beer cartons.The discovery made international headlines. It swiftly emerged that Dr Bogle, a brilliant specialist in solid state physics, had recently accepted a research post in Washington – and had been preparing to fly there, with his wife and children. Mrs Chandler, who’d worked as a nurse before her marriage, had been at the same New Year’s party with Gilbert Bogle the evening before. They had left separately.Scientists found that the pair had died of acute heart failure – but they could suggest no cause. There were no signs of violence: no smothering or strangulation; no hypodermic marks; no evidence, in the body tissues, of poisons, or radioactive substances of any kind.From the morning the bodies were found, the Bogle-Chandler conundrum would perplex the law’s keenest forensic minds...

    Anyone caught by surprise in the open fields or depths of the woods would see a bizarre procession of demons, giants, hounds, ladies of the night, soldiers, and knights, some covered in blood and others carrying their heads beneath their arms. This was the Wild or Infernal Hunt, the host of the damned, the phantom army of the night--a theme that still inspires poets, writers, and painters to this day. Millennia older than Christianity, this pagan belief was employed by the church to spread their doctrine, with the shapeshifters' and giants of the pagan nightly processions becoming sinners led by demons seeking out unwary souls to add to their retinues. Myth or legend, it represents a belief that has deep roots in Europe, particularly Celtic and Scandinavian countries. The first scholar to fully examine this myth in each of its myriad forms, Claude Lecouteux strips away the Christian gloss and shows how the Wild Hunt was an integral part of the pagan worldview and the structure of their societies. Additionally, he looks at how secret societies of medieval Europe reenacted these ghostly processions through cult rituals culminating in masquerades and carnival-like cavalcades often associated with astral doubles, visions of the afterlife, belief in multiple souls, and prophecies of impending death. He reveals how the nearly infinite variations of this myth are a still living, evolving tradition that offers us a window into the world in which our ancestors lived.

    They don't want to send the Court back to the shadows, they want to kick off a final war between gods and man, and create a new pantheon. Hades and the Court are going to need allies to defeat what's coming, and they know just the family of powerful sorceresses that can help.

    From the mythical beasts of ancient Greece to the hormonal vampires of the Twilight saga, monsters have captivated us for millennia. Matt Kaplan, a noted science journalist and monster-myth enthusiast, employs an entertaining mix of cutting-edge research and a love of lore to explore the history behind these fantastical fictions and our hardwired obsession with things that go bump in the night. Ranging across history, Medusa’s Gaze and Vampire’s Bite tackles the enduring questions that arise on the frontier between fantasy and reality. What caused ancient Minoans to create the tale of the Minotaur and its subterranean maze? Did dragons really exist? What inspired the creation of vampires and werewolves, and why are we so drawn to them? With the eye of a journalist and the voice of a storyteller, Kaplan takes readers to the forefront of science, where our favorite figures of horror may find real-life validation. Does the legendary Kraken, a squid of epic proportions, really roam the deep? Are we close to making Jurassic Park a reality by replicating a dinosaur from fossilized DNA? As our fears evolve, so do our monsters, and Medusa’s Gaze and Vampire’s Bite charts the rise of the ultimate beasts, humans themselves.

    A Desperate Gamble. Centuries of isolation and self-denial have left Dorian Thorne a half-living shadow. He can’t survive without living blood. Yet all those who have given to him in the past three centuries have died from his kiss. Cora Shaw seems different. Another human, yes, like all the others. But she awakens sensations in him that he had given up for lost. And he almost dares to hope that she might be the one he has been waiting for all this time. Without his blood-kiss, she will be dead in a matter of months from her terminal disease. With it, she will die instantly…unless she bonds with him as his consort, making him whole again. Bonding is something he can’t control, but it’s the only thing that will save them both now. Cora can’t refuse him. And if she’s doomed, Dorian can’t save her. It’s the ultimate gamble, and the stakes are forever. Scroll up and grab a copy today.

    Magic was a part of everyday life for Kirk and his fellow Highlanders, and this remarkable book offers rare glimpses into their enchanted realm.Left in manuscript form upon the author's death in 1692, this volume was first published in 1815 at the behest of Sir Walter Scott. In 1893, the distinguished folklorist Andrew Lang re-edited the work. Lang's introduction to Kirk's extraordinary blend of science, religion, and superstition is included in this edition. For many years, The Secret Commonwealth was hard to find — available, if at all, only in scholarly editions. Academicians as well as lovers of myths and legends will prize this authoritative but inexpensive edition.

    B&W illus.

    Enumerates and categorizes the various inhabitants of the world of fairy folklore from a cross-cultural perspective, viewing them both as lesser divinities and mythical archetypes.

    The most exciting event was the arrival of the Lockwood family. Hailey spent her days attending her last year of high school and running her parents coffee shop. Everything changes one night, when Lation Lockwood walks into her parent’s coffee shop. The events of the night turn Hailey’s world upside down when she discovers the entire Lockwood family’s secret. Her life is suddenly in danger when she meets Lation’s brother, Peirce. Peirce is unlike any man she has ever met. She soon learns he isn’t exactly a man. She is instantly attracted to him even though Lation, Peirce’s brother, saw her first. Hailey attempts to stay alive, and keep the people she loves out of danger as she gets caught up in a world she never imagined existed. To complicate her life even more, Peirce claims ownership over her. Hailey attempts to resist Peirce’s hold, all while trying to remain sane as she fights to find her place in this new unfamiliar world of darkness. Hailey soon finds herself a vampire’s possession, when Peirce refuses to let her go.

    BowmanA GOOD TRICKA Haunted Library StoryBy Dori Hillestad ButlerHALLOWEENINGA Tales of the Spooky Folk StoryBy J.K. CampbellSTICKY FINGERSFeaturing characters from The Boy Who Cried GhostBy Richard ClarkA KANDY BRAINZ HALLOWEENFeaturing characters from Books Make Brainz Taste BadBy Eli CranorSIDE QUESTA Magic Eaters StoryBy Connor GraysonA TRICKSTER HALLOWEENA Prentiss Twins StoryBy Deb LoganTHE MYSTERY OF THE HAUNTED EGYPTIAN KITCHENA Kid Detective Zet StoryBy Scott PetersFLYING SOLOBy D.M. PotterAuthor of the You Say Which Way SeriesTRICKING THE TREAT WITCHA Zombie Reconstruction Squad StoryBy M.K. Radican

    Organized by geographic region, each myth is placed within the civilization's history and context. The key elements of world mythology, such as the hero, his divine connection, the labyrinth, the initiation, and the transformation, are explored in boxes and features throughout the book.

    They are best known as the "Four Branches of the Mabinogi," and comprise the tales of Pwyll, Branwen, Manawydan, and Math. The remaining stories also spring from the same tree, and together they form a collection that comprises the core of the ancient Welsh mythological cycle. They are also among the best the medieval Celtic literature has to offer.In the first thoroughly revised edition and translation of this world classic since Lady Charlotte Guest's famous Mabinogion went out of print, Mr. Ford has endeavored to present a scholarly document in readable, modern English. Basing his criteria on the latest scholarship in myth, he includes only those stories that have remained unadulterated by the influence of the French Arthurian romances. These are, in addition to the "Four Branches," the tale of "Kulhwch and Olwen," which is rooted in the mythological origins of Arthur, seen here in his role of divine hunter in pursuit of the swine-god; "Lludd and Lleuelis," which reaches beyond its immediate Celtic sources into ancient Indo-European ideologies; and the long unavailable "Tale of Taliesin," which offers insights into Celtic concepts of the archetypal poet-seer and the acquisition of Divine Wisdom.

    From enchantment and shapeshifting to the age-old dichotomies of conflict versus peacemaking and love versus betrayal, all of these tales are uniquely reinvented, creating fresh, contemporary narratives that portray the real world as much as they depict the past. Based on the fable of Branwen, Daughter of Llyr, this interpretation revives one of the most action-packed stories in the whole myth cycle. Moving this bloodthirsty tale of Welsh and Irish power struggles and family tensions into the 21st century, this retelling retains many of the bizarre and magical happenings of the original. After being wounded in Italy, Matthew O’Connell is seeing out WWII in an obscure government department, spreading rumors and myths to the enemy. When he is assigned the bizarre task of escorting a box containing six raven chicks from a remote hill farm to the Tower of London, he soon finds himself ensnared in an adventure that leaves him powerless.