You've heard these stories before. But not like this... Hidden in a dusty Indian village, Preeti Kamla hopes her bad luck is over...until the Demon Rajah claims her as his bride. In imperial Byzantium, Michael the fisherman dreams of power and fortune. But will his ambition destroy the city and everything he holds dear? Only a madman would go into Faerie of his own accord--and that's exactly what humble blacksmith John must do to rescue his lost love. In Prohibition-era New Zealand, cabaret singer Ruby Black lives for thrills--but will she survive being mistaken for a dead girl? "Beauty and the Beast" and three other classic fairytales find a vivid new lease on life in this wildly diverse collection of novellas from historical fantasy author Suzannah Rowntree, available for the first time in a discounted boxset edition.
Dark, sexy mafia romance where the fast-paced tension of John Wick meets the high stakes love of Romeo and Juliet. Five years ago, my fiancé disappeared. He left me with a wedding dress I’d never wear. Left me with the kind of scars that can’t be healed. The man I built my future on vanished like a ghost. All that remained were my broken heart and a million unanswered questions. Until a mysterious stranger arrives in town. Tall, dark, and dangerous, Kage is as full of secrets as he is sex appeal. Though I know he’s hiding something, I’m drawn to him like a moth to flame. Heat crackles between us with every look, desire flares into passion, and I fall hard, helpless to resist. But then I discover he’s been sent to collect on an unpaid debt from my missing fiancé.... And that debt is me. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
After centuries of adventures, arguments, and unrequited love, Nerissa Waldemar, a lamia, finds herself retiring to Tarrytown, New York with the very object of her affection, the deadly and beautiful sylph, Vivienne du Lac. She's hoping for some time alone to share her dark hearts' innermost thoughts; but of course, even lamia's plans often fall astray. Before Nerissa is able to tell Vivienne just how much she loves her--no small feat for a cold-blooded snake--they are both tapped to help solve the mystery hounding the Circle of Iapetus, a strange society of mortals concerned with the doings of supernatural beings. To make matters worse, Worth Goodwin, Vivienne's old paramour, reappears to the sylph's absolute shock and dismay (to be fair, Nerissa and he did fake his death about a hundred years ago). And on his arm is the young, sweet, radiant, and altogether too-smart-for-her-own-good Christabel Crane, which of course sends Vivienne into a jealous downward spiral. Nerissa finds her own baser nature rising up to meet her, threatening to undo years of work in order to live among humans peacefully, but not before a horrific monster, preying on other supernatural beings, rises to destroy them. The team must work together to save both Tarrytown--and themselves--before it's too late. But when Vivienne is captured, well... all bets are off. What ensues are a series adventures around the glove, from the sandy streets of Cairo to the foggy alleyways of London, as Waldemar, Goodwin, and Crane seek to find Vivienne and uncover the strange machinations leading up to her abduction... not to mention a series of bizarre murders, sightings, and disappearances. With a kitsune named Kit, a dwarf named Alma, a dandy Vampire named Micheaux, and a whole ramshackle group of supporting gods, monsters, and allies, they just might have a chance.
First in a sumptuous, female-led Arthurian Fantasy Romance trilogy When Anna Pendragon was born, Merlin prophesied: "Through all the ages, and in the hearts of men, you will be forgotten." Married at twelve, and a mother soon after, Anna - the famed King Arthur's sister - did not live a young life full of promise, myth, and legend. She bore three strong sons and delivered the kingdom of Orkney to her brother by way of her marriage. She did as she was asked, invisible and useful for her name, her status, her dowry, and her womb. Twenty years after she left her home, Anna returns to Carelon at Arthur's bidding, carrying the crown of her now-dead husband, Lot of Orkney. Past her prime and confined to the castle itself, she finds herself yet again a pawn in greater machinations and seemingly helpless to do anything about it. Anna must once again face the demons of her childhood: her sister Morgen, Elaine, and Morgause; Merlin and his scheming Avillion priests; and Bedevere, the man she once loved. To say nothing of new court visitors, like Lanceloch, or the trouble concerning her own sons. Carelon, and all of Braetan, is changing, though, and Anna must change along with it. New threats, inside and out, lurk in the shadows, and a strange power begins to awaken in her. As she learns to reconcile her dark gift, and struggles to keep the power to herself, she must bargain her own strength, and family, against her ambition and thirst for revenge.
All societies around the world and through time value beauty highly. Tracing the evolutions of the Colombian standards of beauty since 1845, Michael Edward Stanfield explores their significance to and symbiotic relationship with violence and inequality in the country. Arguing that beauty holds not only social power but also economic and political power, he positions it as a pacific and inclusive influence in a country “ripped apart by violence, private armies, seizures of land, and abuse of governmental authority, one hoping that female beauty could save it from the ravages of the male beast.” One specific means of obscuring those harsh realities is the beauty pageant, of which Colombia has over 300 per year. Stanfield investigates the ways in which these pageants reveal the effects of European modernity and notions of ethnicity on Colombian women, and how beauty for Colombians has become an external representation of order and morality that can counter the pathological effects of violence, inequality, and exclusion in their country.
In this retelling of an old Scottish ballad, a Scottish lass, on the Halloween after her sixteenth birthday, reclaims her family home which has been held for years by the fairies, and at the same time effects the release of Tam Lin, a human held captive by the Queen of the Fey.
In this epic debut fantasy, inspired by Renaissance France, an outcast finds herself bound to a disgraced lord and entangled in his plot to overthrow the king. Perfect for fans of Grave Mercy and Red Queen! Brienna desires only two things: to master her passion and to be chosen by a patron. Growing up in Valenia at the renowned Magnalia House should have prepared her. While some are born with a talent for one of the five passions—art, music, dramatics, wit, and knowledge—Brienna struggled to find hers until she chose knowledge. However, Brienna’s greatest fear comes true: she is left without a patron. Months later, her life takes an unexpected turn when a disgraced lord offers her patronage. Suspicious of his intent, she reluctantly accepts. But there is much more to his story, for there is a dangerous plot to overthrow the king of Maevana—the rival kingdom of Valenia—and restore the rightful queen, and her magic, to the throne. With war brewing, Brienna must choose which side she will remain loyal to: passion or blood. Plus don't miss the thrilling sequel, The Queen's Resistance!
Happily ever after is only the beginning in this epic YA reimagining of the princesses as young rulers of their lands, aided by a mystical group of women called the Queen's Council, whose job it is to advise queens throughout history.
The Newbery Medal–winning author of Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! gives readers a virtuoso performance in verse in this profoundly original epic pitched just right for fans of poetry, history, mythology, and fantasy. Welcome to ancient Greece as only genius storyteller Laura Amy Schlitz can conjure it. In a warlike land of wind and sunlight, “ringed by a restless sea,” live Rhaskos and Melisto, spiritual twins with little in common beyond the violent and mysterious forces that dictate their lives. A Thracian slave in a Greek household, Rhaskos is as common as clay, a stable boy worth less than a donkey, much less a horse. Wrenched from his mother at a tender age, he nurtures in secret, aided by Socrates, his passions for art and philosophy. Melisto is a spoiled aristocrat, a girl as precious as amber but willful and wild. She’ll marry and be tamed—the curse of all highborn girls—but risk her life for a season first to serve Artemis, goddess of the hunt. Bound by destiny, Melisto and Rhaskos—Amber and Clay—never meet in the flesh. By the time they do, one of them is a ghost. But the thin line between life and death is just one boundary their unlikely friendship crosses. It takes an army of snarky gods and fearsome goddesses, slaves and masters, mothers and philosophers to help shape their story into a gorgeously distilled, symphonic tour de force. Blending verse, prose, and illustrated archeological “artifacts,” this is a tale that vividly transcends time, an indelible reminder of the power of language to illuminate the over- and underworlds of human history.
In Queens of Noise, Mixi fronts the Mangy Rats, a motley found family of queers, crust punks and werecoyotes. Mixi and their band know they're gonna win the Battle of the Bands final showdown, no matter what it takes. But to make that happen, they'll also have to contend with poser goths, murderous chickens, and a bullshit corporate takeover ruining the best bar in town.
