The story follows Ahriel Wahan, who in his youth received the "gift" of Wornast, eternal life, and eternal youth, but also the curse and disgust of the human race. For several generations, he has followed his descendants in an attempt to protect them and preserve his lineage through bloody wars and the dark shadow that hangs over humanity. After one hundred and fifty years of struggle and suffering, he is left with only his great-great-granddaughter Eryana, whose death is desired by both kings and gods and dark forces from Ahriel's past who wants revenge. His only allies are Eryana's husband, a young warrior from the north named Alanar, and a descendant of his best friend from his youth, the exiled Sodrosian knight Tom Charpar.
The novels of New York Times bestselling author Barbara Hambly have broken new ground in the realm of fantasy. With a sweeping cast of characters whose powers are both awesome and heartachingly limited, the Dragon series is built around the touching relationship between a husband and wife separated by a flood of violence and chaos. Condemned to die for consorting with demons, dragonslayer Lord John Aversin sits in a dank prison cell and calculates the odds of escape, while smelling the smoke of the executioners’ pyres. In Winterlands, Jenny Waynest pays a heavy price for choosing to be human, mourning the loss of her husband, Lord John, and the dangers that engulf her family. But in a season of the Dragon Star, strange miracles are about to transpire. As a pitched battle between the Hellspawn and the human rages, Jenny and John will be reunited in a city under siege. And there, they will have one last chance to understand all that has happened to them and why, who their true enemies and true allies are, and most of all, for what magical purpose each has been chosen. A vast adventure and a powerful mystery teeming with demons and witches, gnomes and dragons, Dragonstar explores profound issues of faith, fate, and technology–while obscuring long held boundaries between good and evil, love and hate, what is human and what is fantastic. With this glorious finale to a breathtaking series, Barbara Hambly establishes herself as one of the most visionary and inventive storytellers in the field of fantasy fiction today.
Relics from another world and ancient pacts. It’s just another day at Camelot… Six years ago, the world Madeleine Greenbriar knew almost ended. As the Naturals come together on a day of remembrance, Arondight delivers a warning that only Madeleine can hear, but it comes too late. The vault under Camelot explodes, setting free a power that could remake their entire world. The Natural’s only hope for survival lies within Avalon, a realm locked away in space and time. Problem is, no one knows the way...except the Druid Merlin who left for another world eight hundred years ago. With Elijah’s help, Madeleine must travel through a hellish nightmare world to find the Druids…or watch the Earth burn. Demon Forged is the third novel in The Camelot Archive, an urban fantasy series set in the same alternate Arthurian world seen in The Arondight Codex. Danger, romance, and myth intertwine in this thrilling modern Arthurian adventure! Keywords: demons demon hunters paranormal magic mystery Arthurian legend king Arthur London Britain mythology UK England urban fantasy dark metaphysical action adventure series romance supernatural suspense mages pnr Camelot Edinburgh Scotland
Ambiguous Bodies draws from theories of the grotesque to examine many of the strange and extraordinary creatures and phenomena in the premodern Japanese tales called setsuwa. Grotesque representations in general typically direct our attention to unfinished and unrefined things; they are marked by an earthy sense of the body and an interest in the physical. Because they have many meanings, they can both sustain and undermine authority. This book aims to make sense of grotesque representations in setsuwa—animated detached body parts, unusual sexual encounters, demons and shape-shifting or otherwise wondrous animals—and, in a broader sense, to show what this type of critical focus can reveal about the mentality of Japanese people in the ancient, classical, and early medieval periods. It is the first study to place Japanese tales of this nature, which have received little critical attention in English, within a sophisticated theoretical framework. Li masterfully and rigorously focuses on these fascinating tales in the context of the historical periods in which they were created and compiled.
Collects Demon Days: X-Men (2021) #1, Demon Days: Mariko (2021) #1, Demon Days: Cursed Web (2021) #1, Demon Days: Rising Storm (2021) #1, Demon Days: Blood Feud (2022) #1, King in Black #4 (Demon Days Prelude), Elektra: Black, White & Blood (2021) #4 (Demon Days story). Acclaimed artist Peach Momoko reimagines the Marvel Universe! A wandering swordswoman with a psychic blade arrives at a village targeted by demons. One is black-and-white with a horrifying tongue, and another may be the strongest demon there is! Mariko Yashida hears mysterious voices and has strange dreams that feel real. Maybe her redheaded maid who dresses all in black might know more than she lets on? But as Mariko embarks on a wondrous journey, deadly creatures lurk in the woods - including a mysterious, blue-skinned woman and a giant with super-strength and claws! Enter a creative and mysterious new world of demons, monsters, mutants, and magic!
In Japanese culture, oni are ubiquitous supernatural creatures who play important roles in literature, lore, and folk belief. Characteristically ambiguous, they have been great and small, mischievous and dangerous, and ugly and beautiful over their long history. Here, author Noriko Reider presents seven oni stories from medieval Japan in full and translated for an English-speaking audience. Reider, concordant with many scholars of Japanese cultural studies, argues that to study oni is to study humanity. These tales are from an era in which many new oni stories appeared for the purpose of both entertainment and moral/religious edification and for which oni were particularly important, as they were perceived to be living entities. They reflect not only the worldview of medieval Japan but also themes that inform twenty-first-century Japanese pop and vernacular culture, including literature, manga, film, and anime. With each translation, Reider includes an introductory essay exploring the historical and cultural importance of the characters and oni manifestations within this period. Offering new insights into and interpretations of not only the stories therein but also the entire genre of Japanese ghost stories, Seven Demon Stories is a valuable companion to Reider’s 2010 volume Japanese Demon Lore. It will be of significant value to folklore scholars as well as students of Japanese culture.
Based on the author’s decipherment of prehistoric carvings and the application of mathematical measurements, The Gods’ Machines shows how “unknown” phenomena from Angkor Wat to Stonehenge to crop circles are actually powerhouses built by an advanced extraterrestrial civilization for tapping electromagnetic energy. The book traces the development of that civilization on Earth over 5,000 years, revealing how all these structures are aligned according to a universal formula: an angle of 135 degrees at which Earth’s energy has been tapped by the alien creators of these monuments. These fascinating theories not only explain our distant past, but also open the door to a future of power technology and space travel. Megalithic sites such as Newgrange and Stonehenge are constructed with quartz- and iron-rich stones with electrical conduction properties — minerals also found atop Aztec temple and inside crop circles. These stones, according to the author, served as dry cell batteries when heated and stressed, and supplied energy to the builders’ traveling vehicles. Most interestingly, the author has tested his theory on today’s crop circles. The Gods’ Machines is certain to stimulate debate among readers interested in alternative history, ancient civilization, and extraterrestrial intelligence.
For ages, the peoples of Neldorailin had been drawn to the Druid's Stone. Some, for the druids gathered there; some seeking healing, others, knowledge. Many stayed, and settlements were founded. And all the while, the energetic magical fields flowing beneath Neldorailin, was the essence that compelled them. As time passed, these shelters became villages, and the villages became a city. At the very heart of what was to become Waldheim, the Druid's Stone remained, and the sacred grove surrounding it. The Academy formed to protect the grove, and to harness the energies of the Ley lines, beneath. Children from miles around dreamed of coming to The Druid's Stone to learn the secrets of magic. Humans, elves, pixies, dwarves and even young dragons little more than mere hatchlings. For Forniel, it was much more than a dream. He had been abandoned upon the Academy's steps when but a wee babe, as the abomination born of Orc and Human parentage. Learning magic was his means of obtaining respect. Yet when his tutor flatly refused to advance him in the teachings of Demonology, Forniel decided to take the matter into his own hands. The others would stop teasing him for being different when he could command such awe-inspiring and deadly power. But in his zeal and fervour for power, Forniel makes a deadly mistake. A mistake that will imperil all of Neldorailin. The fast-paced short story prequel to Amanda Redhead's full-length novel, "Elven Dwarf", The Demon Summoning will propel readers into the heart of the Waldheim Magical Academy where the very nexus of Neldorailin's magical lifeblood flows through the Ley lanes and the lives of those individuals who harness and protect these energies.
