In this illuminating, in-depth Q & A, “America’s storyteller” lets readers in on his philosophical approach to understanding our nation’s past, as well as a little family secret for overcoming your fears.Tom Roston is a veteran journalist who began his career at The Nation and Vanity Fair magazines, before working at Premiere magazine as a senior editor. He writes a regular blog about nonfiction filmmaking on PBS.org and he is a frequent contributor to The New York Times. He lives with his wife and their two daughters in New York City. Cover design by Adil Dara.

    His mother is a ghost. His only friend is a red Cadillac that sings to him through the radio. He looks like an Angel but acts like jerk. No wonder he has been banned from Heaven, which is the least of his troubles. Loki needs a job to pay for school and support himself.Still, Loki has a rare gift: He is a Dreamhunter. One of the few in the world who can hunt and kill immortal demons in their dreams so they never wake up again.When Loki is sent to kill a sixteen-year-old vampire girl the locals call Snow White Sorrow, he is pulled into a magical but dangerous world. The locals believe the monster to be Snow White.The real Snow White... living in the ruins of an ancient castle in a small town. She is described as horribly beautiful, terrifyingly enchanting, and wickedly lovely.What he finds instead is a beautiful monster girl filled with rage and hurt, who has an epic untold story to tell of things such like why the Brothers Grimm altered the fairy tale, who the Evil Queen really is, where the mirror came from, and who possessed it.Snow White has killed every person who has dared come near the castle where she once lived with the queen. Mysteriously, she lets Loki live, and whispers two words in his ears; two words that will change his life forever.

     Of all the cities of ancient Mesopotamia, Babylon is virtually the only one which is still remembered today. The very word Babylon has entered the lexicon of popular understanding as a synonym for decadence and wealth. But what do we really know about the history of this once mighty city? Inside you will read about... ✓ King Hammurabi and the Babylonian Empire ✓ The Persian Conquest ✓ Alexander the Great Enters Babylon ✓ Babylon Falls ✓ Babylon in the Bible And much more! Babylon first became important in the eighteenth century BCE under the rule of King Hammurabi. However, it barely survived his death before it was conquered, first by the Hittites and then by the Assyrians. In the seventh century BCE, the city was completely destroyed after it rebelled against Assyrian rule, and it wasn’t until the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar II that it once again became the heart of a large empire. After that, it was conquered by the Persians and finally, in the fourth century BCE, by Alexander the Great. Alexander planned to make Babylon the capital of his mighty empire, but he died in the city under mysterious circumstances before this was done. After his death, Babylon entered a period of decline from which it never recovered until by the seventh century CE it was no more than a source of bricks for local builders. How did this happen? How did this city rise to great power and then fall to become nothing but a memory? Why do we remember the name of Babylon when the names of all the other great cities of ancient Mesopotamia have been forgotten? This is the story of Babylon.

     He has failed every single induction ceremony and it is his last chance to Exceed to a higher class. At his wit's end, he desperately tries one last time at Exceeding, putting all his chips on the table. ...except something was different this time. Time freezing, a mysterious voice, and a new Exceed Mark? Had lady luck finally given him a boon? Had he received a class the world had never seen before? One thing is for sure, he's changed. And now he has something called . . . the Gambler's System. Join Axel and his companions as he journeys through this game-like world of the Five Kingdoms! Disclaimer: Please keep the book updated for the latest version!

    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.

    It is a companion story to the third book of the Grisha Trilogy, Ruin and Rising, and the stories “The Witch of Duva” and “The Too-Clever Fox.”

    Breene and now Shayne Silvers has been added to my favorite Urban Fantasy Authors list." – Michael Anderle, Amazon Top 25 Bestselling Author Who is Callie Penrose? They say she’s been kissed by Heaven—whatever the Hell that means. Because Callie was orphaned on the steps of a church in Kansas City, and doesn’t know her parents. She starts out as a rookie wizard who hunts monsters for the Vatican. Except…ironically, she’s never been a churchy kind of girl, and she quickly learns that monsters can reside anywhere.Even among the most devout.Get ready for Callie to take you on a gripping adventure into a new kind of Sunday School. Be on your best behavior, because she won’t crack a ruler over your knuckles to teach you a lesson—more like whips of fire and brimstone to your face.Hell hath no fury like Callie Penrose. And that’s before she discovers her strange childhood ties to a jerk named Nate Temple in St. Louis… If you like Jim Butcher, Sarah J. Maas, Kevin Hearne, Steve McHugh, Michael Anderle, Ilona Andrews, Patricia Briggs, Shannon Mayer, or K.F. Breene, you won't be able to put down the highly addictive Feathers and Fire Series. More than 1m copies downloaded and thousands of five-star reviews. Available in digital, print, and audiobook formats. What Amazon readers are saying: ★★★★★ ‘His foul-mouthed unicorn murders rainbows!’★★★★★ ‘Move over Dresden!’★★★★★ ‘The Temple Verse HAS to be picked up by Netflix soon.’★★★★★ ‘Silvers could write a grocery list on a dirty napkin and make it an international bestseller.’★★★★★ ‘I went from crying my eyes out to laughing uncontrollably, repeatedly.’★★★★★ ‘It’s like the characters walked off the page, joined me at the bar, and bought me a drink.’★★★★★ ‘I am astounded as to how the author keeps the story fresh and exciting.’★★★★★ ‘I usually see plot twists a mile away. Shayne has proven me wrong. Every time.’★★★★★ ‘Best books I’ve read in thirty years.’★★★★★ ‘His intense actions scenes let you see the fangs and claws, hear the gunshots, feel the magic, and smell the fear.’★★★★★ ‘Everything you thought you knew about vampires, shifters, dragons, wizards, fairies and gods is flat wrong.’★★★★★ ‘Publishers who didn’t snap up this series are missing out on a gold mine.’ ★★Dragon Award Finalist 2017-2018—Best Fantasy of the Year. ★★ ★★Silvers has pleasured over one million readers with the Temple Verse. Now it's your turn for a little pleasuring... ★★

    For two and half thousand years the Celts have continued to fascinate all who have come into contact with them. THE ANCIENT CELTS presents an absorbing account of the tribes whose origins and identity still provoke heated debate. Exploring the archaeological reality of the Iron Age inhabitants of barbarian Europe, Professor Cunliffe traces the emergence of chiefdoms,patterns of expansion and migration, and the development of Celtic ethnicity and identity.

    Whether it is Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson playing an oversized scorpion man in The Mummy Returns and The Scorpion King, or the character of Anansi in Neil Gaiman’s American Gods; these magical creatures have a deep connection to the mythologies and folktales of ancient cultures.Where did they come from? What relevance do they serve in mythology? Why are some so obscure, while others become pop-culture enigmas? Get the answer to these questions, and learn about beasts from different world cultures.Folklorist Zayden Stone dives deep into the stories of these magical beasts and providesa fictional anecdote,a retelling of the original myths,an analysis of the symbolism and relevance of the creatures,and then pairs it with some beautiful black and white illustrations reimagined by artist Herdhian.In the second volume of the Mythical Creatures and Mythological Beasts book, the illustrated guide takes you through six themes that have been specifically chosen since they are consistent across cultures. The categories include:arthropods for insects, crustaceans, and arachnids;avian for birds;canines for wolves and dogs;serpents for snakes and dragons;ungulates for hooved animals like horses and cows; andaquatic for water dwelling beasts.Presenting the creatures in categories makes it easier to see what the beasts have in common. You will find some overlapping themes across ancient cultures that point to universal ideas in how humans perceive the world.If you have a love for the myths and want to learn about the unique beasts that dwell within them, this book is a great way to do it. Not only will you learn about ones you may have never heard of, but you will also be able to draw parallels between cultures and see how they interpreted their surroundings through stories of mythical creatures and magical beasts.If you haven’t already, then don’t forget to check out the first volume of Mythical Creatures and Mythological Beasts by Zayden Stone.

    His desperation, his regret, his sorrow shaped his soul as he was murdered. But the world is just; As the world he knows fades before his eyes, he finds himself reincarnated in the body of a newborn baby. He now has a second chance at life, to avoid his previous life’s tragic ending. But is the world really so kind?

    Standing in the battle line - the wall of bronze - for the first time, alongside his father and brother, he shares in a famous and unlikely victory. But after being knocked unconscious in the melee, he awakes not a hero, but a slave. Betrayed by his jealous and cowardly cousin, the freedom he fought for has now vanished, and he becomes the property of a rich citizen of Ephesus. So begins an epic journey from slavery that takes the young Arimnestos through a world poised on the brink of an epic confrontation, as the emerging civilization of the Greeks starts to flex its muscles against the established empire of the Persians. As he tries to make his fortune and revenge himself on the man who disinherited him, Arimnestos discovers that he has a talent that pays well in this new, violent world, for like his hero, Achilles, he is 'a killer of men'.

    Maya, their gifted architect, had created for them three cities fortified with iron, silver and gold and the great lord Brahma himself had decreed that these cities would be indestructible, unless struck by a single arrow. The three cities, known together as Tripura, orbited the earth and only once in a thousand years fell in a straight line, directly one above the other. Would Shiva be waiting to destroy them with a twang of his deadly bow?

    Professor Hans-Friedrich Mueller, of Union College in Schenectady, New York, makes this ancient world come alive in 24 lectures with captivating stories of intrigue, artifacts, illustrations, and detailed descriptions from primary sources of intriguing personalities. In the ancient Mediterranean area, religion was not separate from daily life. To the contrary, religion was daily life. The many dozen gods of this ancient world were everywhere, with spirits inhabiting every crack and crevice of life. These polytheists believed they had a strict contract with their deities: If they took care of their gods, their gods would take care of them (or at least not harm them). Consequently, they built extraordinary temples to honor their deities, brought food and wine to them, sacrificed animals for them, and held sacred meals with their gods. In fact, they followed numerous rules and regulations that circumscribed almost all aspects of life both inside and outside the home - anything and everything to keep the gods happy. Consequently, the religious practices of the ancient Mediterranean make a wonderful lens through which to develop a deeper understanding of their world.

     In this collection of nine short stories, Nightingale matches wits against demons from Hell, monsters created by humans, and Satanists who have done their own private deals with the devil. The stories are – Still Bleeding, Cursed, Blood Bath, I Know Who Did It, My Name Is Lydia, The Creeper, Children Of The Dark, Tracks, and The Undead. PLUS - A free copy of DevilZone, a Jack Nightingale screenplay. The movie was never made, but the screenplay became the basis for the first Jack Nightingale novel, Nightfall. PRAISE FOR THE JACK NIGHTINGALE SERIES ‘A wicked read’ Anthony Horowitz 'Another great thriller from Stephen Leather but this time with a devilish twist!' James Herbert 'Written with panache, and a fine ear for dialogue, Leather manages the collision between the real and the occult with exceptional skill' Daily Mail ‘A stunning masterclass in darkness from a ferocious talent who excels in putting the devil in the details’ Daily Record

    And with curses and stares and sometimes with fists, the villagers of Solan Bay did their best to make sure he would never forget it.But on that day, the day the slavers came to Solan Bay and left him for dead in a pool of his own blood, everything changed. Logan learned the truth of his existence, of his destiny. Forged in the heat of battle, tempered in blood, Logan was an instrument of change. Fuelled by rage and loss, Logan begins a journey to set things right. If setting things right means changing the world – so be it!