What if reading were a capital offense? "This series is right up there with Robin Hobb’s Elderling books." -Review on Fantasy Faction FB Group In the land of Oration, magic exists only when read aloud from rare books, and only a select few are born able to cast it. To maintain their power, the wealthy elite enslave all such people from birth and never teach them to read. But when a slave named Baztian secretly becomes literate, he'll start an uprising, whether he wants to or not... The first in an epic fantasy series with five books and growing! Fans of Sanderson, Weeks, Eddings, and Hobb take note! "Sanderson-esque." -Weatherwax Report “D. T. Kane is an amazing storyteller.” -A Maze of Words Buy now and read today!
“And so it was,” Baz concluded, “that I abandoned my people, mounted my dragon, and came to your lands.” Not even the flame of rebellion can melt the snows of the Icy Heights in winter. So, despite their resounding victory against the forces of Erstwhile, Baz and his rebels have spent the last four months holed up in Enigma City, waiting for the reprisal that is surely on its way from the rest of Oration come spring. But just as the thaw starts, the unthinkable happens. Enigma is attacked, and one who Baz holds dear is taken. Baz pursues the kidnappers, accompanied by Rox and Eromér the Book Dragon. Their chase takes them into the Karst, the mysterious wasteland beyond the eastern limits of Oration. There, Baz meets the natives and enlists their aid. The natives’ help isn’t free, though. The Ravagers, invasive barbarians who live at the borders of their territory, have a new leader, a terrifying figure known simply as the Placid Man, and Baz must agree to dispatch this villain in return for the natives' help. Sounds easy enough. After all, Baz has survived far worse and he has a dragon on his side. But the Placid Man is no ordinary foe, and when Baz learns his true identity, everything will change… "This series is right up there with Robin Hobb’s Elderling books." -Review of The Acktus Trials on the Fantasy Faction FB Group “D. T. Kane is an amazing storyteller.” -A Maze of Words
"Reading Books can get you killed." The series that reviewers have called "Sanderson-esque" and "Genius!" For the first time ever, get the first three parts of this new epic fantasy series in one place! In addition to three novels, the box set includes two, never-before-seen essays by the author about his inspiration for the series and also artwork depicting each of the three main characters! A free preview of Part IV is also included. Part I: The Acktus Trials In the land of Oration, magic is cast by reading aloud words of power from Spoken Books. Only a select few, the Speakers, are born with the ability to do so. But after a disaster nearly destroyed Oration, society grew to fear the Speakers' power and they were hunted and enslaved, never taught to read. Now they live in oppression, unable to use their magic unless a spell is first read aloud to them. Each year, young men and women from Oration's ruling Libraries compete in the Acktus Trials, a journey that takes them through the wilds of Oration to the ruined city of Tome. Once Oration's capital, it is now abandoned, though the Great Library at its center still holds a wealth of Spoken Books. As Speakers are no longer taught to read, they also cannot write, so new Spoken Books have not been created in hundreds of years. The discovery of a new Book is a coveted prize for any young noble. Baztian is a slave to one of Oration's poorer Libraries. When he is selected to accompany his master on the Actkus Trials, he thinks his life is over. The wilds are treacherous, his master incompetent, and their fellow competitors set on winning, whatever the means. But Baz also has a secret—one that could get him killed, but one that also makes him the most valuable of assets during the Trials. Baz can read, and after he saves his master from certain death, he strikes a deal—his secret kept safe in exchange for aiding his master in completing the Trials. But can Baz really help a young man who thinks of him as property? And even if he can, there is much he doesn't know, like the evil that lies in wait beneath the ruins of Tome. Part II: Declaimer's Discovery *Potential Spoilers Below* Baz and his master are called upon to suppress an uprising among the slaves of Fortune, Oration's wealthiest city. But after an attack separates Baz from the rest of his group, he's unwittingly caught up in the very rebellion his master is trying to stop. And as if things couldn't get any worse, Baz discovers that the most powerful man in Erstwhile might know his secret. A secret that could get him killed. Surrounded by enemies and friends he doesn't trust, can Baz survive and help the slaves of Fortune to freedom? Part III: Declaimer's Flight *Potential Spoilers Below* Baz and his friends are on the run, allies at a premium, as they search for the savior who will lead the slaves of Oration to freedom. When no one believes that Baz knows who that savior is, he finds his closest supporter is none other than his one-time master, a member of the ruling class against whom the rebels are fighting. When Baz returns to where his adventure—or is it a nightmare?—began, his path finally becomes clear. But even then, there are forces working to betray him, both external and in Baz's own head. Once more, he must face the dark terror beneath the ruined city of Tome, while simultaneously battling the trauma he suffered in the dungeons of Leamina Library. And that's all before the dragons show up. Will Baz persevere and find Oration's savior?
“How do you plan to get past the city walls?” Baz asked. “Easy," she replied. "We’ll fly.” Baz has found the fabled Declaimer’s Transcendence, the prophecy that promises to lead Oration’s slaves to freedom. But Baz and his companions are battered and on the run, danger at every turn and no aid in sight. Worse still, no one believes Baz when he says he knows where to find the prophesied savior. In an ironic twist of fate, Baz finds his closest ally is none other than his one-time master, a member of the ruling class against whom the rebels are fighting. When Baz returns to where his adventure—or is it a nightmare?—began, his path finally becomes clear. But even then, there are forces working to betray him, both external and in Baz’s own head. Once more, he must face the dark terror beneath the ruined city of Tome, while simultaneously battling the trauma he suffered in the dungeons of Leamina Library. And that’s all before the dragons show up. Will Baz persevere and find Oration’s savior? Find out in Part III of the Spoken Books Uprising, Declaimer’s Flight! “I’m hooked… Great world building on display, and such a cool concept for a story!” -Amazon Reviewer on The Acktus Trials, Part I of The Spoken Books Uprising “D. T. Kane gives us even more of everything we loved from the first book, and then some. I laughed, I cried, I could not put this one down.” -Amazon Reviewer on Declaimer’s Discovery, Part II of The Spoken Books Uprising
“What do you mean, he knows our secret?” Having survived the Acktus Trials and kept his secret safe—for now—Baz has returned to Erstwhile. But his rest is short lived when an unwelcome guest visits Torchsire Library, bearing news of a revolt amongst the Speakers in Fortune, Oration's wealthiest city. A special session of Oration's Congress has been called and Baz's master is selected to travel to Fortune and represent Erstwhile. Of course, Baz must go with him. Suddenly, Baz has an opportunity to fulfill his promise to the Keepers of Tome—search Fortune for the prophecy that promises to free the Speakers of Oration from slavery. But circumstances quickly turn dangerous when Baz and his companions are attacked on route to Fortune. Baz finds himself at the center of a rebellion he’s unsure he wants to join, but is equally unsure he can escape. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, Baz discovers that the most powerful man in Fortune not only holds a secret that could destroy all of Oration, but also knows Baz's own. Surrounded by enemies and friends he doesn't trust, can Baz survive, find the prophecy, and become the leader of an uprising?
“Get your coat, Rox. You’re going home.” Monsignor Scrivener. Dragon Rider. Orator. The titles bestowed on Baz sound as ridiculous to him as he suspects they do to everyone around him. But Tessa appointed him leader of the uprising, and Baz intends to keep those entrusted to him safe. Except, that’s proving exceedingly difficult. Erstwhile’s army has discovered a new weapon that renders spells useless; Baz’s sole advantage over his enemy’s much larger force—his one remaining dragon—is badly hurt; and Baz’s troops are exhausted. They’ll be overrun for sure before they reach Tome. But there is one chance: escape into the Icy Heights and head for the frozen city of Enigma. Meanwhile, Deliritous is struggling with his choice to return to his place at the top of society, opposing the rebels Baz is leading. When his aunt reveals a stunning secret, Del finally thinks he knows where his life is headed. But in the upper echelons of Oration, schemes run rampant as a fire in a Library, and Del’s never been one for scheming. As betrayal strikes both Baz and Del, their paths will once more cross. But they’ll both discover that war has a way of dividing loyalties that once seemed unquestionable. Will Baz find a way to save his rebellion from a premature demise? Will Deliritous finally decide who he truly wants to be? Find out in Declaimer’s Stand, Part IV of The Spoken Books Uprising! “I’m hooked… Great world building on display, and such a cool concept for a story!” -Reviewer on The Acktus Trials, Part I of The Spoken Books Uprising “You’ll be gripping your seat…” -Review on Declaimer’s Discovery, Part II of The Spoken Books Uprising
Control the Ink, Control the World Fresh off his alliance with the dragon hunters and defeat of Farston Leamina, Baz rushes back to Erstwhile with dire tidings for his brother—the Indomitable Army is on its way to crush the upstart government he’s established there. Of course, as soon as Baz arrives, things start to go south. Erstwhile remains in ruins from the Battle of the Book Dragons, and Tax seems to have spent more time plotting assassinations than building a new society. Then Baz is arrested. Life in Erstwhile hasn’t been easy since it was laid to waste by the Book Dragons. Before that, Annel was just an angry youth seeking retribution for the wrongs done to her by an uncaring society. Then Oges was killed and Baztian left her in charge of Erstwhile’s rebel underground. She hates Baztian for that—Annel had doubts aplenty before she had the lives of hundreds of people to worry over. Forget rebellion, it’s been difficult enough keeping everyone fed. Compounding matters are the scars of her past, which linger just below the surface and threaten to ruin everything. When the Conservators attack, Baz and Annel begrudgingly unite to give the rebellion a fighting chance. Their plan? An audacious heist, one they hope will net them the key to creating new Spoken Books. But their strategy holds dilemmas aplenty. Annel must face the man who ruined her childhood and still haunts her memories, while Baz is pitted against Leanna, the woman he loves and leader of his enemies. Return to the land of Oration and discover if Baz and Annel can overcome their demons and save Oration’s rebellion from annihilation!
The four-volume set LNCS 6946-6949 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 13th IFIP TC13 International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, INTERACT 2011, held in Lisbon, Portugal, in September 2011. The 46 papers included in the third volume are organized in topical sections on novel user interfaces and interaction techniques, paper 2.0, recommender systems, social media and privacy, social networks, sound and smell, touch interfaces, tabletops, ubiquitous and context-aware computing, UI modeling, and usability.
Medical informatics and electronic healthcare have many benefits to offer in terms of quality of life for patients, healthcare personnel, citizens and society in general. But evidence-based medicine needs quality information if it is to lead to quality of health and thus to quality of life. This book presents the full papers accepted for presentation at the MIE2012 conference, held in Pisa, Italy, in August 2012. The theme of the 2012 conference is ‘Quality of Life through Quality of Information’. As always, the conference provides a unique platform for the exchange of ideas and experiences among the actors and stakeholders of ICT supported healthcare. The book incorporates contributions related to the latest achievements in biomedical and health informatics in terms of major challenges such as interoperability, collaboration, coordination and patient-oriented healthcare at the most appropriate level of care. It also offers new perspectives for the future of biomedical and health Informatics, critical appraisal of strategies for user involvement, insights for design, deployment and the sustainable use of electronic health records, standards, social software, citizen centred e-health, and new challenges in rehabilitation and social care informatics. The topics presented are interdisciplinary in nature and will be of interest to a variety of professionals; physicians, nurses and other allied health providers, health informaticians, engineers, academics and representatives from industry and consultancy in the various fields.
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 13th Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, AIME 2011, held in Bled, Slovenia, in July 2011. The 42 revised full and short papers presented together with 2 invited talks were carefully reviewed and selected from 113 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on knowledge-based systems; data mining; special session on AI applications; probabilistic modeling and reasoning; terminologies and ontologies; temporal reasoning and temporal data mining; therapy planning, scheduling and guideline-based care; and natural language processing.
