Delve into the mind of Critical Role’s most charming villain in this original novel that chronicles Lucien’s early life and his fateful meeting with the Mighty Nein. Lucien has always been able to spin a bad situation to his advantage. From his childhood on the dangerous streets of Shadycreek Run to his years living off the grid and learning blood magic from the Claret Orders, the charismatic blood hunter will find a way to get the upper hand. When Lucien is on a job in the frozen wastelands of Eiselcross with his fellow mercenaries, a rough-and-tumble crew called the Tombtakers, fate leads him to a mysterious journal in the ruins of an ancient city. The book speaks of the Somnovem, nine beings who can grant Lucien power beyond imagining—if he is able to find them and free them from captivity. Intrigued by this opportunity, Lucien pores over the journal—but the more he reads, the stranger things become. The nine whisper to him in dreams and waking visions. Time slips away, along with Lucien’s grasp on reality. And tattoos of red eyes begin appearing on his skin. . . . With the ability to reshape the world within his grasp, Lucien ignores all warning signs. He has always bent fortune to his will, and nothing—not even death—will stop him now. Written by New York Times bestselling author Madeleine Roux, Critical Role: The Mighty Nein—The Nine Eyes of Lucien explores the meteoric rise and fall of one of Critical Role’s most notorious and tragic figures.

JADE CITY is a gripping Godfather-esque saga of intergenerational blood feuds, vicious politics, magic, and kungfu. The Kaul family is one of two crime syndicates that control the island of Kekon. It's the only place in the world that produces rare magical jade, which grants those with the right training and heritage superhuman abilities. The Green Bone clans of honorable jade-wearing warriors once protected the island from foreign invasion--but nowadays, in a bustling post-war metropolis full of fast cars and foreign money, Green Bone families like the Kauls are primarily involved in commerce, construction, and the everyday upkeep of the districts under their protection. When the simmering tension between the Kauls and their greatest rivals erupts into open violence in the streets, the outcome of this clan war will determine the fate of all Green Bones and the future of Kekon itself.

SACRAMENT is a 145K word M/M/M dark romance that follows Maël, a man who makes a deal to be the human familiar to a peevish vampire lord named Sebestyen. Besides dealing with Sebestyen’s demands, he also contends with his burgeoning feelings for Alain, his closest friend, all while faced with the looming threat of Sebestyen’s twin vampiric masters. Coming early 2025.

"What are you?" Lora whispers. "What are you?" The wolf echoes, stalking towards her until it is close enough that Lora has forgotten to be afraid. "What is anyone? It's not a polite question to ask." After a disastrous birthday ceremony and coming-of-age ritual gone wrong, Lora flees home, taking her new lycanthrope form for a test drive on the streets of Glenhurst, and hoping to prove her worth. When she answers a local job posting at random, Lora lands in the company of two other strangers: Nic and Art. Nic has sought redemption from his own past failings on his fiancé's family farm. When that security is threatened, he takes matters into his own hands, seeking out a connection from his sister's college days, who is rumored to have experience with magic blades and killing tyrants. Art longs for the past about as often as he longs to forget it, pouring his time into cooking, mutual aid efforts, bounty hunting gig work, and studying crosscosm theory (the idea of travel between worlds). This job will pay his rent, and, if he's lucky, not give him time to think about his trauma. The job? Enter the forest and eliminate the threat that's been causing townsfolk and travelers to go missing. But the woods are dark, and they have eaten adventurers before. When their pasts come back to haunt them, can the fledgling party survive?

In 'De helaasheid der dingen' keert de schrijver terug naar zijn geboortegrond in Reetveerdegem. We maken kennis met zijn vader, Pierre, die zijn paar uur oude zoontje in een postzak op zijn fiets langs alle kroegen van het dorp rijdt om hem aan zijn vrienden te tonen; zijn grootmoeder, wier nachtrust al te vaak verstoord wordt door de politie als die weer eens een van haar dronken zonen thuis komt afleveren: en niet te vergeten de werkloze nonkels Potrel, Witten en Zwaren, voor wie een wereldkampioenschap zuipen het hoogst haalbare is en die leven volgens het adagium 'God schiep de dag en wij slepen ons erdoorheen'.

“What if I told you that the feeling we call love is actually the feeling of metaphysical recognition, when your soul remembers someone from a previous life?” In the year 4 BCE, an ambitious courtier is called upon to seduce the young emperor—but quickly discovers they are both ruled by blood, sex and intrigue. In 1740, a lonely innkeeper agrees to help a mysterious visitor procure a rare medicine, only to unleash an otherworldly terror instead. And in present-day Los Angeles, a college student meets a beautiful stranger and cannot shake the feeling they’ve met before. Across these seemingly unrelated timelines woven together only by the twists and turns of fate, two men are reborn, lifetime after lifetime. Within the treacherous walls of an ancient palace and the boundless forests of the Asian wilderness to the heart-pounding cement floors of underground rave scenes, our lovers are inexplicably drawn to each other, constantly tested by the worlds around them. As their many lives intertwine, they begin to realize the power of their undying love—a power that transcends time itself…but one that might consume them both. An unpredictable roller coaster of a debut novel, The Emperor and the Endless Palace is a genre-bending romantasy that challenges everything we think we know about true love.

For a translation to do justice to the Quran and capture its elegance and vigor, it has to be accurate, smooth, eloquent, and accessible. Unlike most popular translations, The Clear Quran masterfully passes on all counts. Thousands of hours have been put into this work over the last few years to guarantee accuracy, clarity, eloquence, and flow. To achieve accuracy, the translator has made use of the greatest and most celebrated works of old and modern tafsir (Quran commentaries), and shared the work with several Imams in North America for feedback and insight. For clarity, every effort has been made to select easy to understand words and phrases that reflect the beauty, flow, and power of the original text. Along with informative footnotes and surah (chapter) introductions, verses have been grouped and titled based on their themes for a better understanding of the chapters, their main concepts, and internal coherence. Thanks to our dedicated team of scholars, editors, and proofreaders, we believe that what you are holding in your hands now is the finest translation of the Final Revelation. This translation has been officially approved by Al-Azhar (the most prestigious school of Islamic knowledge in the world) and endorsed by ISNA and the Canadian Council of Imams.

Salama Kassab was a pharmacy student when the cries for freedom broke out in Syria. She still had her parents and her big brother; she still had her home. She had a normal teenager’s life. Now Salama volunteers at a hospital in Homs, helping the wounded who flood through the doors daily. Secretly, though, she is desperate to find a way out of her beloved country before her sister-in-law, Layla, gives birth. So desperate, that she has manifested a physical embodiment of her fear in the form of her imagined companion, Khawf, who haunts her every move in an effort to keep her safe. But even with Khawf pressing her to leave, Salama is torn between her loyalty to her country and her conviction to survive. Salama must contend with bullets and bombs, military assaults, and her shifting sense of morality before she might finally breathe free. And when she crosses paths with the boy she was supposed to meet one fateful day, she starts to doubt her resolve in leaving home at all. Soon, Salama must learn to see the events around her for what they truly are—not a war, but a revolution—and decide how she, too, will cry for Syria’s freedom.

De wereld die zich uitstrekt tussen de Middellandse Zee en de Centraal-Aziatische steppes, kent van oudsher een rijke en bepalende geschiedenis. Dit was niet anders toen Arabieren in de zevende eeuw, Turken in de elfde eeuw en Mongolen in de dertiende eeuw hier eigen wereldrijken uitbouwden. Diverse dynamieken van rijks- en identiteitsvorming gingen telkens opnieuw in interactie met de almaar diepere islamitische kleurschakeringen van deze rijke geschiedenis van volkeren en gemeenschappen, en van stedelingen, boeren en nomaden. Een nieuwe geschiedenis van de islamitische wereld beschrijft twee grote historische golfbewegingen: een eerste van het zevende-eeuwse Arabië tot het tiende-eeuwse Irak, en een tweede van de elfde-eeuwse steppes in het noordoosten tot de achttiende-eeuwse mediterrane kusten. Telkens wordt er ruim aandacht besteed aan specifieke socio-culturele en politieke veranderingen, altijd met oog voor historische en globale verbanden en continuïteiten. Op basis van de recentste inzichten in het historisch onderzoek werd zo een geheel nieuwe geschiedenis van deze wereld neergeschreven. Traditionele narratieven die vertellen over uitzonderlijkheid, verstarring en verval, ruimen hier plaats voor meer complexe, omvattende en verbindende contexten. Dit boek is daarom aanbevolen lectuur voor al wie de historische gelaagdheid van de huidige wereld beter - en anders - wenst te begrijpen.