Raphael was meant for better things. He is an archangel, after all. It was he who cast out Qayna, the first murderess, and inscribed on her flesh the name of her brother Abil that embodied her deathless curse. It was he who formed the Sons of Light, and it was he who was set to watch over Azazel in the well of his imprisonment in Dudael. And now, a failed rebel, Raphael wanders the heavy earth alone. The Sons of Light find him, though, and offer him another chance. Raphael is to Bear the Word again, to call the first prophet in centuries. Can Raphael find the appointed prophet? Can he reach him, across apocalypse-torn America? And when he does find his man, imprisoned by the Fallen Kokhabel, can Raphael and the new prophet both survive?

A gripping tale of mesmerists, elemental spirits, and the ghosts of historyWhen James Esdaile, a Scottish doctor, travels to India in the early 19th century in service to the British East India Company, he employs mesmerism—an “alternate science” that allows the practitioner to control a subject’s mind and body—as a palliative anesthetic. His ability is enhanced by the use of a curious artifact: a small statue from a pre-Hindu culture. In his correspondence with Rev. William Davey, the head of a secret society of English mesmerists, Esdaile offers to bring the artifact back at the end of his time abroad. When Esdaile abruptly changes his mind, however, he becomes an enemy of the secret society, and must accept a devil’s bargain to protect himself. He arranges for a young woman to be inhabited by a chthonios, an elemental spirit of the earth, and he marries her just before leaving India. In order to free himself from the spirit, he commits suicide in the exact center of the Crystal Palace—where neither mesmeric power nor the wrath of the chthonios can affect him.But that is just the beginning. Reverend Davey, following the story told by Esdaile’s widow, now freed from the possession of the earth-spirit, travels in search of the elusive artifact, following its trail all the way to India and back again. Davey is drawn into the interplay of forces—mesmerists, elemental spirits, and the ghosts of history—in his quest to obtain the artifact, while the spirits search for a way to open the Glass Door that separates them from the world of men, who exiled them so long ago.

The Naplian Empire’s war of expansion against the Grand Alliance has taken a turn for the worse. With vital serjaum fuel reserves wiped out by a surprise attack, Admiral Daviont of the III Corps makes a long, desperate journey to the fringes of Terran space for a massive undeveloped source of serjaum—the Baedecker Star System. But his action does not go unnoticed. Their mortal enemies, the Briddarri, send their own task force to intercept. At Baedecker Four, starfighter pilot and governor’s son Taggart “Tag” Wester has his hands full steering clear of his wing commander’s wrath. When an emergency call unearths a dangerous foe from the past, he’s put to a test unlike any he’s ever face—one of courage, and leadership. Elden Selva is on a mission to restore power to the defeated Northern Alliance, by retrieving the remains of Truppen cybernetic soldiers. What he finds is far more than he anticipated, and the ensuing conflict changes both him and the woman he loves. The invaders and defenders collide in a struggle that will not only shape their lives, but have dire consequences for the entire galaxy.

They call themselves Eagle’s Claw, one of the most extreme militia groups in the United States. They have infiltrated the Device Assembly Facility at the Nevada Nuclear Test Site. And the most frightening display of nuclear terrorism is about to unfold. Only the Nebula-nominated collaboration of Kevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason could masterfully blend hard-as-nails high technology with hard-driving intrigue to deliver such an explosive thriller. FBI Special Agent Craig Kreident—the unforgettable hero from Virtual Destruction—returns in this breathtaking tour de force of terrorism, cutting-edge technology, and raw emotional power.

A Unique, Nail-Biting Fantasy in a World You Will Not Soon Forget On her 21st birthday, in a moment of great need, Julianna frees an ancient god of vengeance—Grandfather Shadow—from his thousand-year prison. In gratitude for his freedom, Grandfather Shadow names Julianna his high priest and commands her to unite his scattered followers and lead his people to greatness once again. But among Julianna’s people it is a crime to worship the ancient greater gods—a crime punishable by execution and the destruction of her soul. While avoiding followers of the God of Death and Inquisitors of the Kingdom of the Sun, Julianna must come to terms with her new place in the world…because refusing a command from the god of vengeance is not a viable choice.

Some writing classes caution their students to avoid first-person stories—too traditional, too dated, too difficult to sell. We’ve convinced 5-time Hugo Award winner Mike Resnick to show you how it’s done with two dozen of his best first-person stories. You want Hugo nominees? We got ’em. Humor? Them, too. Award winners and nominees? Yep. Fantasy? But, of course. Science fiction? Absolutely. Sherlock Holmes? We’ve even got one of them. Mike Resnick is, according to Locus magazine, the all-time leading award winner, living or dead, for short fiction. First Person Peculiar will explain why.

Cal, Letty, Tony, Opi, and Sasha were thrust together when they were kidnapped by the Molethian civilization and forced to become a fighter crew to battle against The Horde, the most vicious, predatory enemy in all the Milky Way galaxy. At first, only Letty could get along with the rest of them, and they basically hated each other. However, due largely to Letty’s efforts, they became not only the top fighting crew in the Shadow Warriors, but also a close family that love and support each other. Due to Opi’s amazing strategic thinking, Letty’s organizational skills, Sasha’s unparalleled ability as a weapons officer, Tony’s crack talent as a navigator, and Cal’s icy nerve as a battle leader, they have found a way to defeat two major Horde invasions. Opi, already becoming the chief strategist for an entire wing of the Molethian space forces, decides that an entirely new way of fighting Horde forces must be put in place. Her audacious plan is to search a central volume of the Milky Way through which the Horde always travels, discover the military bases they have no doubt established, and destroy them all. She is convinced that a huge base has been built by The Horde on the opposite side of the galaxy, very near The Horde’s own small galactic home, the Dwarf Spheroidal Sagittarius Galaxy. In the meantime, a third Horde invasion of about 40,000 ships nears Molethan’s home planet. Using Opi’s old strategies, Molethian forces manage to destroy it, but the new, highly capable Horde fighters make this victory far more difficult. In addition, Tony is reported missing and presumed lost. Grieving over Tony, whom she loved, Opi refuses to succumb to her grief, immediately commissioning the search for the other Horde home bases in the Milky Way. A search party finds the monstrous Horde base almost 70,000 lightyears across the galaxy. Molethan appeals to the other Alliance systems, and a major attack on the base is started, with Cal the attack leader. Things seem to be going well when suddenly, in the midst of the battle, a new enemy strikes, heavily damaging not only Shadow Warriors fighters but also many of the Alliance carriers. The fate of the battle hangs on a razor’s edge. Can the Alliance, led by Cal, Opi, and the rest of their team, manage to win over two opponents, or are they destined to be destroyed by the combined forces of two enemies?

Gamearth: It was supposed to be just another Sunday night fantasy role-playing game for David, Tyrone, Scott, and Melanie. But after years of playing, the game had become so real that all their creations—humans, sorcerers, dragons, ogres, panther-folk, Cyclops—now had existences of their own. And when the four outside players decide to end their game, the characters inside the world of Gamearth—warriors, scholars, and the few remaining wielders of magic—band together to keep their land from vanishing. Now they must embark on a desperate quest for their own magic—magic that can twist the Rules enough to save them all from the evil that the players created to destroy their entire world.

Wes Rockville, a disgraced law-enforcement agent, gets one last chance to prove himself and save his career when he’s reassigned to a 232-year-old secret government organization. The Witches Protection Program. His first assignment: uncover a billion-dollar cosmetics company’s diabolical plan to use witchcraft for global domination, while protecting its heiress Morgan Pendragon from her aunt’s evil deeds. Reluctantly paired with veteran witch protector, Alastair Verne, Wes must learn to believe in witches…and believe in himself. Filled with adventure and suspense, Michael Okon creates a rousing, tongue-in-cheek alternate reality where witches cast spells and wreak havoc in modern-day New York City.

It's a war out there. In these pulse-pounding tales, the best (or worst) soldiers in the galaxy are pitted against powerful aliens on distant battlefields. Never before published stories about monsters, deadly combat tech, treachery, and honor: Big Plush by Aaron Allston (a novella from the Action Figures series)—The Dollgangers, artificial people made in mankind's image, take up arms in a desperate bid to win their freedom. Comrades in Arms by Kevin J. Anderson—A damaged cyborg soldier and an enemy alien fighter turn their backs on the war and try to escape. But the human and alien governments can't tolerate the two deserters working together, so they join forces to hunt them down. Shores of the Infinite by Loren L. Coleman (a novella from the ICAS File series)—Separated from command & control, Combat Assault Suit troopers force a beachhead to liberate a new planet from the cyborg threat. The Black Ship by B.V. Larson (a mech novella from the Imperium Series)—A human settlement on the deadliest planet ever colonized clings to life … but today new invaders are coming down from the stars. Out There by Michael A. Stackpole—The Qian have discovered humanity and welcomed them into their star-spanning empire. The benefits they offer humanity are many, and they don't want much in return: just the best human pilots available to take apart a most diabolical enemy.

Frank Herbert will forever be known as the “author of Dune,” the science fiction masterpiece that made his career and made his name. But he was an exceptionally diverse author who wrote in numerous genres. Even at the beginning of his writing career, Frank Herbert wrote whatever inspired him, irrespective of genre, market, or audience tastes. After the success of his first novel The Dragon in the Sea (1955), Herbert wrote numerous novels and short stories that failed to find a market. He persevered until finally, seven years later, he wrote the most unpublishable novel of all, Dune—which, once it finally found a home with an obscure publisher, finally made Frank Herbert a household name synonymous with science fiction. This volume collects four of those complete, never-before-published novels written before Dune: High-Opp, a dystopian science fiction novel; Angels’ Fall, a jungle survival adventure; A Game of Authors, a Cold War thriller; and A Thorn in the Bush, a mainstream novel based on some of Herbert’s experiences in Mexico.

Even the author of DUNE—the best-selling science fiction novel of all time—had trouble getting published. At first. Frank Herbert wanted to be a writer, and though today his name is practically synonymous with world-building and epic science fiction, Herbert didn’t start out with a particular genre in mind. He wrote mainstream stories, mysteries, thrillers, mens’ adventure pieces, humorous slice-of-life tales. And, yes, some science fiction. For the first time, this collection presents 13 completed short stories that Frank Herbert never published in his lifetime. These tales show a great breadth of talent and imagination. Readers can now appreciate the writing of one of the field’s masters in a kaleidoscope of new stories.

Fireworks, riots, and rousing speeches all mark the vast societal upheavals taking place in the city of Tabat. But personal upheavals reflect the chaos. Adelina Nettlepurse, noted historian and secret owner of Spinner Press, watches the politics and intrigue with interest, only to find herself drawn into its heart by a dangerous text and a wholly unsuitable love affair with a man well below her station.

Award-winning, #1 international bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson has published over 160 books, which have appeared in 30 languages worldwide, in genres ranging from science fiction, epic fantasy, humorous horror, gritty suspense, steampunk, and mystery. He has published over half a million words of short fiction, the best of which are gathered in this boxed set. This volume features Anderson's wide-ranging imagination in the genres of fantasy, dark fantasy, horror, and science fiction. These diverse stories range from flash fiction to novella length, written solo or with collaborators. Step inside these pages to greet stories of clones and combat cyborgs, enchanted loincloths, a nightmarish Wisconsin small town, nanotechnology experiments, bumbling knights in shining armor, rock stars raised from the dead, super-sentient lab rats, and vampires, werewolves, zombies . . . and the heroes who battle them. These tales showcase the breadth of Anderson’s talent and demonstrate why he has tens of millions of readers worldwide and has won or been nominated for numerous awards. This boxed set includes 90 stellar short stories in four volumes: Selected Stories: Science Fiction , volumes 1 and 2; Selected Stories: Fantasy ; and Selected Stories: Horror and Dark Fantasy .

Mike Resnick is, according to Locus , the all-time leading award winner for short fiction, having won 5 Hugos, a Nebula, and other major awards from around the world. This boxed set includes four novels and 41 of his best science fiction short stories Race through pages filled with the Dark Lady, the Moby Dick of space, robot basketball, tall tales, and galaxy-hopping assassins for the ride of your life. This boxed set includes six volumes— First Person Peculiar, Away Games, The Dark Lady, The Soul Eater, The Outpost, and Walpurgis III.

Inspirational Poetry. Touches The Places Words Rarely Reach Poetry: there are times in life when nothing else will do. At such times, you need a certain kind of poem, the kind of poems that are contained in Orna Ross's poetry pamphlet series. The kind of poems that tell the truth about life while providing consolation and inspiration. Here are some of the things that are being said about this short book of inspirational poems: - "Reaches into the corners of your soul and pulls out all that is beautiful." - "Masterfully crafted poetry". - "These poems' many beauties are at the service of elusive truths." - "A little book of very big poems." If you never read poetry, this little pamphlet is a great place to start. Without ever straying into superficiality, Orna Ross's poetry is compelling and accessible. If you are a poetry lover, then you're sure to appreciate these poems about love, poems about life. poems about loss, and faith, and redemption — all delivered in simple, yet achingly beautiful, words. Poetry this powerful and profound is rarely so simple and compelling, which is why inspirational quotes from these poems are turning up all over the Internet, people drawn to their wise and uplifting insights.

Marcus Barber is a two-thousand-year old immortal, a former Roman Centurion who now works as a bounty hunter for supernatural creatures from the ancient world. When he’s not pounding the pavement as a private investigator for mortal clients, Marcus chases down missing mythological creatures for the Ancients. Now, in the heat of San Antonio, Marcus must search for Nemesis's missing Griffin while trying to rescue a melting Ice Pixie from an eccentric collector. His adventures put him on the trail of a cult that has kidnapped a Daughter of Frejya. All in a day’s work. While roaming the sprawling metroplex, Marcus is tasked with obtaining Chaac's lightning axe from the grasp of Tawhaki. Working under a tight deadline from the Ancients (who treat him as a pawn in their games), Marcus enlists a friend's help, but he has to hide the strange events and creatures. On top of the Ancients’ demands, Marcus is also hired by an assistant district attorney who wants him to track down a missing mistress…a woman with whom Marcus has his own turbulent past. By leveraging his stubbornness and his specialized skills, Marcus has to accomplish everything within 24 hours … or else the Ancients will have his immortal soul.

The fur really flies when a serial scalper stalks the supernatural citizens of the Unnatural Quarter, targeting werewolves—and what's sadder than a bald lycanthrope? Dan Shamble, zombie P.I., is on the case, trying to stop an all-out gang war between full-time and full-moon werewolves. As he combs through the tangled clues to hunt down the bald facts, things get hairy fast. Shamble lurches through a loony landscape of voodoo tattoo artists, illicit cockatrice fights, body builders assembling make-your-own human kits, and perhaps scariest of all, crazed fans in town for the Worldwide Horror Convention. Yet the reign of hair-raising terror grows longer. If Shamble can't snip this off at the roots, the whole world could end up howling mad.

Janka a csinos, 31 éves pincérn? legh?bb vágya, hogy belépjen életébe a nagy szerelem. Amikor megismerkedik Dáviddal, a híres énekessel, úgy érzi, benne megtalálta azt, akit mindig is keresett. Kapcsolatuk mégsem alakul felh?tlenül, bármilyen szenvedélyesen szerelmes is a popsztárba. Ahogy egyre jobban megismeri Dávidot, kiderül a férfi s?tét oldala. Janka azonban nem tud t?le elszakadni... A regény?arra keresi a választ, hogy milyen egy bántalmazó férfi és egy bántalmazói kapcsolat. Hogyan lehet egy ilyen kapcsolaton túljutni és ?nmagunkra találni annak ellenére, hogy képtelennek érezzük magunkat az elszakadásra? Hogyan lehet egy fájdalmas kapcsolaton túl is újra boldognak lenni?

The Odyssey (Greek:Odysseia) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second oldest extant work of Western literature, the Iliad being the oldest. It is believed to have been composed near the end of the 8th century BC, somewhere in Ionia, the Greek coastal region of Anatolia. The poem mainly centers on the Greek hero Odysseus (known as Ulysses in Roman myths) and his journey home after the fall of Troy. It takes Odysseus ten years to reach Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War. In his absence, it is assumed he has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a group of unruly suitors, the Mnesteres or Proci, who compete for Penelope's hand in marriage. It continues to be read in the Homeric Greek and translated into modern languages around the world. Many scholars believe that the original poem was composed in an oral tradition by an aoidos (epic poet/singer), perhaps a rhapsode (professional performer), and was more likely intended to be heard than read. The details of the ancient oral performance, and the story's conversion to a written work inspire continual debate among scholars. The Odyssey was written in a poetic dialect of Greek—a literary amalgam of Aeolic Greek, Ionic Greek, and other Ancient Greek dialects—and comprises 12,110 lines of dactylic hexameter. Among the most noteworthy elements of the text are its non-linear plot, and the influence on events of choices made by women and serfs, besides the actions of fighting men. In the English language as well as many others, the word odyssey has come to refer to an epic voyage. The Odyssey has a lost sequel, the Telegony, which was not written by Homer. It was usually attributed in Antiquity to Cinaethon of Sparta, but in one source was said to have been stolen from Musaeus by Eugamon or Eugammon of Cyrene (see Cyclic poets). ABOUT AUTHOR: Homeros, In the Western classical tradition, Homer (Ancient Greek: Homeros) is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest of ancient Greek epic poets. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature. When he lived is unknown. Herodotus estimates that Homer lived 400 years before his own time, which would place him at around 850 BC, while other ancient sources claim that he lived much nearer to the supposed time of the Trojan War, in the early 12th century BC. Most modern researchers place Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BC. The formative influence of the Homeric epics in shaping Greek culture was widely recognized, and Homer was described as the teacher of Greece. Homer's works, which are about fifty percent speeches, provided models in persuasive speaking and writing that were emulated throughout the ancient and medieval Greek worlds. Fragments of Homer account for nearly half of all identifiable Greek literary papyrus finds. PeriodFor modern scholars "the date of Homer" refers not to an individual, but to the period when the epics were created. The consensus is that "the Iliad and the Odyssey date from around the 8th century BC, the Iliad being composed before the Odyssey, perhaps by some decades," i.e. earlier than Hesiod, the Iliad being the oldest work of Western literature. Over the past few decades, some scholars have argued for a 7th-century BC date. Oliver Taplin believes that the conclusion of modern researchers is that Homer dates to between 750 to 650 BC. Some of those who argue that the Homeric poems developed gradually over a long period of time give an even later date for the composition of the poems; according to Gregory Nagy for example, they only became fixed texts in the 6th century BC. The question of the historicity of Homer the individual is known as the "Homeric question"; there is no reliable biographical information handed down from classical antiquity. The poems are generally seen as the culmination of many generations of oral story-telling, in a tradition with a well-developed formulaic system of poetic composition. Some scholars, such as Martin West, claim that "Homer" is "not the name of a historical poet, but a fictitious or constructed name."

Bels? irányt?nk ahhoz az élethez vezet el, amelyr?l mindig is álmodtunk. Célunk felé tartva ráismerünk azokra a pontokra, ahol irányt kell változtatnunk, hogy kihasználhassuk teljes bels? potenciálunkat. Ez az inspiráló utazás minden életterületen átvezet: segít, hogy felismerjük életfeladatunkat, hogy meghozzuk a helyes d?ntéseket, hogy megvalósítsuk legrejtettebb vágyainkat. A híres életmódtanár ezúttal gyakorlati útmutatót ad ahhoz, miként menedzselhetjük sikeresen a saját életünket. "Már maga az a felismerés, hogy minden élethelyzetben igent mondhatok az életre, hihetetlenül gazdaggá tette a hétk?znapjaimat. ?jra meg újra próbára tettem, hogyan tudom az éveken át gy?jt?tt élettapasztalatokat és az új látásmódot alkalmazni, és az eredmények mindig azt igazolták, hogy minden egyes esetben lehetséges változást elérni. ?ppen csak meg kell teremteni a változás el?feltételeit." (a Szerz?) A K?nyvjelz? magazin 2015. májusi számában megjelent cikk: Okosabban kéne élni