The Freedom's launch may have been a disaster, but Mr. Lucas had still been there to keep the crew focused and tell them all what to do. Well one single botched mission had taken care of that, and now the others had voted to put Jason in charge.

Great. Now all he had to do was literally figure out how to save the world.

At least Lucas had left him with a vague idea of what to do next- find the Bettarians, the aliens who they already knew were at war with the Grath, and strike a deal with them to win back the Earth. If only Jason knew where to find them. The Bettarian's empire may be huge, but the universe was turning out to be one pretty infinite haystack.

And as simple as Lucas' plan sounded, it glossed over the one question that soon made it clear to Jason how much of a fool’s errand this entire mission really was. What could one ship full of refugees from a backwards planet possibly offer a vast and ancient alien empire in exchange for their assistance?

Especially when it turned out that empire had much bigger problems than the Grath.

A common misconception is that professors who use popular culture and fantasy in the classroom have abandoned the classics, yet in a variety of contexts--high school, college freshman composition, senior seminars, literature, computer science, philosophy and politics--fantasy materials can expand and enrich an established curriculum.

The new essays in this book combine analyses of popular television shows including Buffy the Vampire Slayer; such films as The Matrix, The Dark Knight and Twilight; Watchmen and other graphic novels; and video games with explanations of how best to use them in the classroom. With experience-based anecdotes and suggestions for curricula, this collection provides a valuable pedagogy of pop culture.

The Sagas of Icelanders are enduring stories from Viking-Age Iceland filled with love and romance, battles and feuds, tragedy and comedy.

Yet these tales are little read today, even by lovers of literature. The culture and history of the people depicted in the Sagas are often unfamiliar to the modern reader, though the audience for whom the tales were intended would have had an intimate understanding of the material.

This text introduces the modern reader to the daily lives and material culture of the Vikings. Topics covered include religion, housing, social customs, the settlement of disputes, and the early history of Iceland. Issues of dispute among scholars, such as the nature of settlement and the division of land, are addressed in the text.

Available in EPUB, HTML, MOBI, PDB and PDF formats.

After signing away his soul for fame, wealth, and women, an accountant for the mob goes missing, and a sexy demon hires private eye Mark Cain to find him. A short story.

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When Andi moves into her new house, she knows from the outset that it's different. One autumn night, she discovers how different it is when she wakes to find that her past, and the woman she left behind so long ago, aren't quite so far away after all. Will she succumb to her own fear of the unknown or will an old love be strong enough to protect her? A short story.

Ask Not What Your Country Could Do For you. Ask What It Could Do To You.

John Cruise — better known as the superpowered delta Patriot — only wanted to serve his country, which has suffered under martial law since the assassination of the First Lady back in 1963. For years, he did so as a member of Delta Prime, the federal paramilitary organization dedicated to keeping deltas and the rest of the population in line. Then, during the Bicentennial Battle, Chicago disappeared in a blinding flash of light, taking the world’s most powerful deltas with it, along with Patriot’s wife.

Today, in 1999, Patriot leads a group of rebel deltas known as the Defiance, all of whom are on the run from Delta Prime. He hopes to find a way to break scores of their imprisoned friends out of New Alcatraz, the only place on the planet strong enough to hold them all. But then, while rescuing college student Lisa Stanski from a pack of Primers, the unthinkable happens.

Patriot gets caught.

Now it’s up to the rest of the Defiance, including Lisa, to figure out how to break Patriot out of New Alcatraz before his old pal Ragnarok, now the leader of Delta Prime, has him executed without trial, under the direct orders of President John F. Kennedy himself. 

ACTION AND ADVENTURE, FROM PRE-HISTORIC TIMES TO MODERN DAY....

The latest entry in NUELOW Games' Robert E. Howard Collection series is something of a sampler. While the four classic pulp fiction tales featured in the book all take place in the Middle East or Asia, they show the variety in the types of stories that Howard wrote. While he could always be relied on for thunderous action, Howard wrote everything from fantasy, to historical fiction, to dark horror, and to outrageous comedy. In this book, you’ll get a taste of it all, against the dusty and exotic locales of the Middle East and Afghanistan, while moving through the ages from ancient times to the early 20th Century.

Included are the following short stories:

"The House of Arabu": A Greek mercenary in the service of a Sumerian king is targeted for death by the demoness Lilitu.

"Gates of Empire": A rogue on the run bumbles his way to becoming an instrument of Fate during the time of the Crusades.

"The Voice of El-Lil": A pair of explorers find danger and romance in a lost city. 

"The Fire of Asshurbanipal": An American adventurer and his Afghani friend encounter threats from both monsters and men while searching for a legendary treasure.

Don't miss Howard's other historical fictions
in the first Oriental Adventures collection, and The Deadly Sword of Cormac.

The United States has a rich haunted history not often recounted in school. Beyond the Liberty Bell and right under the presidential noses on Mount Rushmore exists a dark and sinister world, which harbors secret creatures, beings both malevolent and benevolent, that inhabit the nation--ghosts and monsters unwilling or unable to abandon the American landscape.

Hitchhike along on this transnational road trip with excursions to the most haunted American locations, including the home of Lizzie Borden, the Waverly Hills Sanatorium, and the Winchester Mystery House.

Close your eyes through Ohio, purported to be the most haunted state in the nation. Watch out for the Frozen Bodies in Lake Tahoe, the Werewolves rumored to roam a lone stretch of road in Wisconsin, and the Bell Witch of Tennessee. And don't venture too close to the colonial era cemetery in Leicester, Massachusetts, for as the story goes, the only way out is through Hell.

This exhaustive volume catalogs nearly three thousand demons in the mythologies and lore of virtually every ancient society and most religions.

From Aamon, the demon of life and reproduction with the head of a serpent and the body of a wolf in Christian demonology, to Zu, the half-man, half-bird personification of the southern wind and thunder clouds in Sumero-Akkadian mythology, entries offer descriptions of each demon's origins, appearance and cultural significance.

Also included are descriptions of the demonic and diabolical members making up the hierarchy of Hell and the numerous species of demons that, according to various folklores, mythologies, and religions, populate the earth and plague mankind. Very thoroughly indexed.

James Riggs lives a normal life with a mind-numbing job, an overbearing boss, and a demanding fiancée. Then he witnesses the murder of his best friend. Saved from the murderer by a strange man in a white suit, James is cast down a hole and into a world he always believed was a kid’s story. Wonderland.

But things have changed since Alice’s visit. The Knave of Hearts has seized the Heart throne, conquered all of Wonderland with his steam-powered technological marvels, and rules the land with an iron fist.

Aided by the Mad Hatter's daughter, James journeys to discover why he has been brought to Wonderland and how the tattoo on his arm could be the key to Wonderland’s salvation—or its destruction.

Edited by Lynn O'Dell (Red Adept Publishing).

NOTE: Download includes PDF, epub and mobi (Kindle) formats.

Although the idea that graphic narratives represent an important literary form is still debated in academic circles, in recent years comics scholarship has emerged into wider contexts.

This collection of new essays considers various literary approaches to graphic narrative and sequential art. The authors examine the politics of comic form and narrative, the ways in which graphic narrative and sequential art "cross over" into other forms and genres, and how these articulations challenge the ways we read and interpret texts.

By bringing literary theory to bear on graphic narrative and balancing readings of individual texts with larger ideas about comics scholarship as a whole, this work expands our understanding of the form itself and its engagement with political culture.

A novel of interstellar mayhem

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Dante Sonnier is a successful Hollywood agent. She is also a friend to the secret community of vampires living in Los Angeles, and occasionally she assists them when they have a problem that requires a human to handle it. The vampires are led by Voshki Kevorkian, a gorgeous, sexy female vampire, who has made it clear that she would like Dante to be her human. Dante, although attracted to Voshki, is wary of the possessiveness and jealousy involved in being a vampire’s chosen human lover and resists.

When the Children of Judas, a two-thousand-year-old sect of murderous, rebel vampires shunned by the main community, rise up under a new leader and threaten to topple Voshki’s leadership and expose the whole community, the vampires turn to Dante for help. Dante travels to a small town in upstate California where the Children seem to be active, in the company of Ellis Kovacs, another vampire sired by Voshki, and Voshki’s “right-hand woman.”

There, whilst investigating the Children and their leader Robin Shepherd, Dante succumbs to being seduced by the alluring Ellis. When Dante is kidnapped by the Children, Voshki decides it's time to take matters into her own hands.

Hell hath no fury like a vampire scorned.

This is the first in a brand-new series.

That notorious evening at Villa Diodati when Lord Byron challenged his contemporaries to write a ghost story, his summons brought forth a mad doctor intent on reanimation and a vampire drunk with bloodlust.

The night modern horror was born was notoriously dark and stormy, as were the lives of those who wrote the most fearsome--yet beloved--tales in literature, for those so gifted were also cursed.

Horrors, a graphic novel, reveals in gruesome detail how Mary Wollstonecraft, Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe and other masters of the genre were haunted by their monstrous creations.

These essays from various critical disciplines examine how comic books and graphic narratives move between various media, while merging youth and adult cultures and popular and high art.

The articles feature international perspectives on comics and graphic novels published in the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Portugal, Germany, Turkey, India, and Japan. Topics range from film adaptation, to journalism in comics, to the current manga boom.

A significant expansion of the critically acclaimed first edition, Classics Illustrated: A Cultural History, 2d ed., carries the story of  the Kanter family's series of comics-style adaptations of literary masterpieces from 1941 into the 21st century.

This book features additional material on the 70-year history of Classics Illustrated and the careers and contributions of such artists as Alex A. Blum, Lou Cameron, George Evans, Henry C. Kiefer, Gray Morrow, Rudolph Palais, and Louis Zansky. New chapters cover the recent Jack Lake and Papercutz revivals of the series, the evolution of Classics collecting, and the unsung role of William Kanter in advancing the fortunes of his father Albert's worldwide enterprise. Enhancing the lively account of the growth of "the World's Finest Juvenile Publication" are new interviews and correspondence with editor Helene Lecar, publicist Eleanor Lidofsky, artist Mort Kunstler, and the founder's grandson John "Buzz" Kanter. Detailed appendices provide artist attributions, issue contents and, for the principal Classics Illustrated-related series, a listing of each printing identified by month, year, and highest reorder number. New U.S., Canadian and British series have been added.

More than 300 illustrations--most of them new to this edition--include photographs of artists and production staff, comic-book covers and interiors, and a substantial number of original cover paintings and line drawings.

Stories in the Ether is a quarterly story telling anthology of fantasy, steampunk, and science fiction short stories from Nevermet Press.

This issue features 11 compelling short stories, including:

• The Gorgon’s Love, by Martin Shelby
• The Stars at Night, by JC Hemphill
• Big Heart, by David J. Fielding
• The Chase, by J. A. Gonzales
• A New Beginning, by Colin W. Campbell
• The Mechanical Turk, or All’s Well That Ends, by Tucker Cummings
• Shelled, by M. R. Williamson
• Exodus, by Eric Staggs
• The Emerald City, by Per Wiger
• The Occurrence of the Cavalry Horse, by Teel James Glenn
• Empyrean Skies, by David Gaither
• with artwork by Paul Hagwood

THIS IS THE eBook VERSION and includes multiple files for all eReaders such as .mobi (Kindle) and .ePUB optimized for iPads, iPhones, Nook, etc. A PDF version is available as well.

TAGS: fiction, horror, scifi, adventure, anthology, fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, victorian age 

This is a collection of newspapers from the PBM/PBEM wargames campaign game THE GLORY OF KINGS, presented here for your general amusement! They make for a good read and are a rich source of scenarios and background for a roleplaying game or wargame set in the glorious days of 18th century, the time of piracy, sieges, derring-do and subterfuge - oh, and honour!

This is the fifth set in the series, which runs to 127 pages, and covers the game year 1705.

More annual sets are likely to follow for purchase here!

“Paros could only venture a guess as to how many graves the forsaken burial ground in the little valley before him contained. North to south, it ran about a half mile and, from where he stood beside the wrought-iron fence that zigzagged along its eastern edge, it stretched about a quarter mile to the base of the hills that surrounded it. The rolling, broken ground of this unkempt area was heavily overgrown with grass, vines, copses of scrubby little oaks and brushy gray-green juniper, great clumps of flowers in every color, and probably every other sort of vegetation native to the island of Kos. Obelisks, statues of patron deities, and other stones marking the gravesites of families and individuals lay broken and tumbled amongst the rampant growth, and mausoleums of every size were interspersed throughout.

Paros did not know the extent to which this place had been looted over the century since it was last known to have been used but there were undoubtedly hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of graves that had not yet been pillaged. And they were not even the object of their quest, which was marked by the small, columned temple of black marble that he could see halfway up one of the hills at the other end of the cemetery. And there was no telling what else might be hidden within this wild, desolate place. ... “

Inspired by the works of classic swords-and-sorcery authors like Fritz Lieber, Jack Vance, and Robert E. Howard, Swords of Kos: Necropolis is the first entry in Skirmisher Publishing LLC’s new line of fantasy fiction. It is author Michael O. Varhola’s eleventh book and is illustrated with a series of beautiful images by veteran fantasy artist Amanda Kahl.

Swords of Kos: Necropolis follows the adventures of Paros, a streetwise rogue with a penchant for alchemy, Parthenia, a savage female Elf barbarian, and Selene, a priestess of the outlawed Titan moon goddess, as they brave the hazards of a long-abandoned cemetery and the catacombs that lie beneath it. Dangerous though the hazards and supernatural guardians of this place are, an even greater threat might be the Necropolis itself ...

Available in EPUB, HTML, MOBI, PDF and PDB formats.

Life and death action and intrigue aboard a military space vessel!

A startling command from the dreaded Praetan brings chaos into the tranquil lives of hermaphrodites Eulio and his lover Orosin. Using the tour of the Merculian National Dance Company where Eulio is a star as cover, they board the Wellington, a militaristic starship that values nothing they believe in. Someone is passing secrets about fleet movements and weaponry to the enemies in the Troia, but the efforts of the two Merculians to unmask the spy only stir up a toxic mix of hatred and violence. Who will have to die before the Praetan is satisfied? The Danger Dance is a futuristic space adventure with enough swashbuckling action and intrigue to keep even the most jaded science fiction addict enthralled.