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The Bastard King (The Scepter of Mercy #1)
by Harry TurtledoveTwo rivals must unite to prevent a disgraced malevolent god from attaining a relic of extraordinary power in the first book of alternate history master Harry Turtledove's magnificent fantasy trilogy More than four centuries ago, the Scepter of Mercy was lost to the king of Avornis, and each subsequent liege has promised--and failed--to return the powerful talisman to its rightful home. Now, young Lanius, the only surviving son of King Mergus, rules, though he is considered illegitimate and must abide by the decisions of regents. Still, the legacy of the missing scepter ultimately belongs to him. But it is also coveted by the Banished One, an immortal exiled by the other gods, who invades the world of men through their dreams. Lanius, with no talent or heart for battle, must keep those in the sway of the malevolent deity from Avornis's borders. To this end, Lanius requires the help of Grus, a fearless and respected captain of the king's navy. But Grus has a far loftier destiny than his common birth would suggest--and the bastard king's brave, accomplished ally might well turn out to be his most dangerous adversary. Originally published under the pen name Dan Chernenko, The Bastard King is a magnificent foray into epic fantasy by the incomparable Harry Turtledove, the prolific and multi-award-winning master of alternate history science fiction. A tale of courage and destiny, it is alive with action, imagination, and humanity, and populated by richly complex, imperfect heroes and a villain as truly fiendish as any that has ever graced the fantasy genre.
Bastard King, The: Book One Scepter of Mercy
by Dan ChernenkoLost for more than five hundred years, the Scepter of Mercy lies beyond the reach of the kingdom of Avornis, in the lands corrupted by the Banished One. Cast from the heavens to an earthly exile, the Banished One seeks to use the scepter to reclaim his godhood. But the intertwined destiny of two men may interfere with his ascension… Lanius is the only son of King Mergus of Avornis. But he is the son of a seventh wife—and therefore illegitimate in the eyes of church and state. So after the king’s death, the nobles use young Lanius as their figurehead while they rule behind the scenes. Grus is a captain in the king’s navy, a man of common origins, as well as common sense. His is charged with guarding the border from Avornis’ enemies—including those who live in thrall of the Banished One. He’s watched his homeland weaken under incompetent rulers—and fears for the future as disturbing visions torment his dreams. Now, both Lanius and Grus must decide what’s best for the kingdom before the influence of the Banished One spreads to their people. And so begins the quest for the Scepter of Mercy… .
The Bastard Legion: Book 1 (The Bastard Legion)
by Gavin G. Smith'High octane SF adventure with Smith's trademark twist' Jamie Sawyer'An exceptional talent' Peter F HamiltonFour hundred years in the future, the most dangerous criminals are kept in suspended animation aboard prison ships and "rehabilitated" in a shared virtual reality environment. But Miska Corbin, a thief and hacker with a background in black ops, has stolen one of these ships, the Hangman's Daughter, and made it her own. Controlled by explosive collars and trained in virtual reality by the electronic ghost of a dead marine sergeant, the thieves, gangsters, murderers, and worse are transformed into Miska's own private indentured army: the Bastard Legion. Are the mercenaries just for fun and profit, or does Miska have a hidden purpose connected to her covert past?'Gloriously action-packed and often brutal military SF adventure . . . This series launch will keep readers turning pages, eager to see what bloody adventure awaits and how the legion develops into a force to be reckoned with' Publishers Weekly STARRED REVIEW
The Bastard Legion: Book 2
by Gavin G. Smith'High octane SF adventure with Smith's trademark twist' Jamie Sawyer, author of The Lazarus War'An exceptional talent' Peter F HamiltonIn FRIENDLY FIRE, the Bastard Legion are hired to pull off a daring power-armoured heist of propriety tech. A crime-ridden colony world holds the secret to a potential alien contact, and various groups of mercenaries have been hired to discover it. None of the rest of them have little bombs implanted in their heads, though, so the Bastards have an advantage when it comes to motivation. And Miska, their commander and kidnapper both, is still on the hunt for the people who killed her father. People who might still be among her convicts.Getting the tech will be hard. Getting off the planet, deadly.'a brutal kaleidoscope of imagination' Hannu Rajaniemi, author of The Quantum Thief
The Bastard Legion: Book 3 (The\bastard Legion Ser.)
by Gavin G. SmithDirty, gritty and action-packed adventure featuring the galaxy's deadliest mercenaries, THE BASTARD LEGIONMILITARY SCIENCE FICTION AT ITS BEST. 'High octane SF adventure with Smith's trademark twist' Jamie Sawyer, author of The Lazarus War It was the kind of dirty, violent work the Bastards were made for. Protect a bunch of colonists in the Epsilon Eridani system, whose moon had become a war zone as megacorp-backed mercenaries fought a brutal proxy war. Just the kind of fight the penal mercenary legion liked. But a hundred headless corpses are hard to explain, even for the Bastard Legion, and soon they are on the run, abandoned by their allies, and hunted by their most dangerous foe yet . . . but Miska's going to play them at her own game. The Bastard Legion: the galaxy's most dangerous criminals controlled by implanted explosives and trained by the electronic ghost of a dead marine. 'Gloriously action-packed and often brutal military SF adventure . . .' Publishers Weekly 'An exceptional talent' Peter F HamiltonA 'Dirty Dozen' or 'Suicide Squad' for lovers of 'Aliens', THE BASTARD LEGION series is a down and dirty military SF set in a world of mercenary actions and covert operations.
The Bastard Legion: Friendly Fire
by Gavin G. SmithFour hundred years in the future, the most dangerous criminals are kept in suspended animation aboard prison ships and "rehabilitated" in a shared virtual reality environment. But Miska Storrow, a thief and hacker with a background in black ops, has stolen one of these ships, the Hangman's Daughter, and made it her own. Controlled by explosive collars and trained in virtual reality by the electronic ghost of a dead marine sergeant, the thieves, gangsters, murderers, and worse are transformed into Miska's own private indentured army: the Bastard Legion. In FRIENDLY FIRE, the Bastard Legion are hired to pull off a daring power-armoured heist of propriety tech. Getting the tech will be hard. Getting off the planet, deadly.
The Bastard Legion: War Criminals
by Gavin G. SmithA 'Dirty Dozen' or 'Suicide Squad' for lovers of 'Aliens', THE BASTARD LEGION series is a down and dirty military SF set in a world of mercenary actions and covert operations. The Bastard Legion are back and in more trouble than ever! 'High octane SF adventure with Smith's trademark twist' Jamie Sawyer, author of The Lazarus War 'An exceptional talent' Peter F Hamilton
The Bastard of Istanbul (Bride Series)
by Elif ShafakLonglisted for the 2008 Orange Fiction Prize, Elif Shafak's The Bastard of Istanbul is a tale of an extraordinary family curse and clashing cultural identities in the mystical and mysterious city of Istanbul. One rainy afternoon in Istanbul, a woman walks into a doctor's surgery. 'I need to have an abortion', she announces. She is nineteen years old and unmarried. What happens that afternoon will change her life. Twenty years later, Asya Kazanci lives with her extended family in Istanbul. Due to a mysterious family curse, all the Kaznci men die in their early forties, so it is a house of women, among them Asya's beautiful, rebellious mother Zeliha, who runs a tattoo parlour; Banu, who has newly discovered herself as clairvoyant; and Feride, a hypochondriac obsessed with impending disaster. And when Asya's Armenian-American cousin Armanoush comes to stay, long hidden family secrets connected with Turkey's turbulent past begin to emerge. 'Wonderfully magical, incredible, breathtaking. . . will have you gasping with disbelief in the last few pages' Sunday Express'A beautiful book, the finest I have read about Turkey' Irish Times'Heartbreaking. . . the beauty of Islam pervades Shafak's book' VogueElif Shafak has emerged as one of the most distinctive voices in both English and Turkish contemporary literature; her novels, The Flea Palace, The Forty Rules of Love, The Gaze and Honour, are consistently at the top of bestseller lists across the globe. Elif Shafak's examination of national identity, The Happiness of Blond People is available as part of the Penguin Specials series - a digital only series of shorts designed with commuters in mind.
Bastard Out of Carolina: A Novel
by Dorothy Allison<P>The publication of Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out of Carolina was a landmark event. The novel's profound portrait of family dynamics in the rural South won the author a National Book Award nomination and launched her into the literary spotlight. Critics have likened Allison to William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, and Harper Lee, naming her the first writer of her generation to dramatize the lives and language of poor whites in the South. <P>Since its appearance, the novel has inspired an award-winning film and has been banned from libraries and classrooms, championed by fans, and defended by critics. <P>Greenville County, South Carolina, is a wild, lush place that is home to the Boatwright family-a tight-knit clan of rough-hewn, hard- drinking men who shoot up each other's trucks, and indomitable women who get married young and age too quickly. <P>At the heart of this story is Ruth Anne Boatwright, known simply as Bone, a bastard child who observes the world around her with a mercilessly keen perspective. When her stepfather Daddy Glen, "cold as death, mean as a snake," becomes increasingly more vicious toward her, Bone finds herself caught in a family triangle that tests the loyalty of her mother, Anney-and leads to a final, harrowing encounter from which there can be no turning back.
The Bastard Pleasure
by Sean Mcgrady"McGrady scrapes away at the surface truths that so many people so comfortably hide behind in order to justify their lifetimes of action and inaction, and gets at, if not definitive answers, definitive questions, that, once asked, cannot be ignored."--Louisiana State University Book Review The Bastard Pleasure is a dark novel. It concerns the destruction of identity, and the brutal way in which it is reclaimed - more plainly it is about terrorism, in all its mundane and incomprehensible forms, and self-determination.
Bastard Politics: Sovereignty and Violence (SUNY series in Contemporary French Thought)
by Nick MansfieldSovereignty is usually seen as either the assertion of national rights in the face of external challenge or the cruel license of unaccountable power. In philosophy, sovereignty has been presented as the earthly manifestation of a potentially limitless, preexisting power, usually belonging to God. This divine sovereignty provides a model and the authority for worldly sovereignty. Yet, divine sovereignty also threatens the human by imagining power as transcendent, unquestionable, and potentially infinite. This infinity makes sovereignty endlessly disruptive and thus potentially infinitely violent. Engaging the complexities of sovereignty through the canon of political philosophy from Hobbes to Foucault and Agamben, Bastard Politics argues that there is no escaping this ambiguity. Nick Mansfield draws on Bataille and Derrida to argue that politics is sovereignty in action. In order to deal with the political challenges of the climate change era—including the enactment of global justice, the future of democracy, and unpredictable surges in population movement—we must embrace the possibilities of human sovereignty while remaining mindful of its dangers.
The Bastard Prince (The Heirs of Saint Camber #3)
by Katherine KurtzA young king manipulated by evil hands becomes a champion of justice when a magical pretender to the throne challenges his sovereignty For six years, forces of evil and repression have ruled medieval Gwynedd after eliminating two rightful kings of the Haldane line. Keeping the current young liege, King Rhys Michael, weak with wine, the council of regents and its fanatical allies in the church have been virtually unstoppable in their quest to dominate and destroy the mystical Deryni who share their land. But now a credible threat has arisen: A Deryni claimant to the throne has taken up arms against the cruel oppressors of his magical race. With a mighty army at his command, Prince Marek—the bastard son of King Imre, Gwynedd&’s last Deryni ruler—has challenged the Haldane reign, and Rhys Michael&’s masters realize the young king must be roused from his stupor to confront the interloper. However, the young Haldane monarch is not the malleable, drunken puppet the regents imagine—and when his long-dormant arcane powers are awakened, Rhys Michael will put his own clandestine plans in motion to right the wrongs of recent history no matter what the cost. The fourth trilogy in Katherine Kurtz&’s magnificent chronicles of the Deryni concludes with awesome power in this stirring tale of war, faith, magic, and justice. Populated by a large cast of unforgettable characters, the thrilling history of an alternate medieval world unfolds in all its epic splendor and tragedy, strongly reaffirming Kurtz&’s well-deserved place among the finest storytellers and world-builders in all of fantasy fiction.
Bastard Prince: Henry VIII's Lost Son
by Beverley A MurphyIt took Henry VIII twenty-eight years, three wives, and a break with Rome before he secured a legitimate male heir. Yet he already had a son – the illegitimate Henry Fitzroy. Fitzroy was born in 1519 after the King’s affair with Elizabeth Blount. He was the only illegitimate offspring ever acknowledged by Henry VIII, and Cardinal Wolsey was even one of his godparents. So just how close did he come to being Henry IX?
Bastard Tongues: A Trailblazing Linguist Finds Clues to Our Common Humanity in the World's Lowliest Languages
by Derek BickertonWhy Do Isolated Creole Languages Tend to Have Similar Grammatical Structures?Bastard Tongues is an exciting, firsthand story of scientific discovery in an area of research close to the heart of what it means to be human—what language is, how it works, and how it passes from generation to generation, even where historical accidents have made normal transmission almost impossible. The story focuses on languages so low in the pecking order that many people don't regard them as languages at all—Creole languages spoken by descendants of slaves and indentured laborers in plantation colonies all over the world. The story is told by Derek Bickerton, who has spent more than thirty years researching these languages on four continents and developing a controversial theory that explains why they are so similar to one another. A published novelist, Bickerton (once described as "part scholar, part swashbuckling man of action") does not present his findings in the usual dry academic manner. Instead, you become a companion on his journey of discovery. You learn things as he learned them, share his disappointments and triumphs, explore the exotic locales where he worked, and meet the colorful characters he encountered along the way. The result is a unique blend of memoir, travelogue, history, and linguistics primer, appealing to anyone who has ever wondered how languages grow or what it's like to search the world for new knowledge.
Bastardizing The Bard: Appropriations Of Shakespeare’s Plays In Post-colonial India
by A Dissertation Presented by PARMTTA KAPADIAI have found that Indian productions and interpretation of Shakespeare engage in such mimicry, simultaneously asserting and disrupting colonial authority. Infusing the English texts with Indian concerns both challenges colonial authority and articulates post¬colonial realities. Indian appropriations of Shakespeare's drama are not new, post-colonial phenomena. During the colonial period, the plays were often used to explore cultural and political tensions. Today, Shakespeare's plays serve as vehicles to investigate the realities of post-colonial existence. Shakespeare productions, particularly those staged in English, best represent the multiple, ambiguous, hybrid, and hyphenated realities and identities of post- 1947 India. The cross-culturation that marks this growing genre situates Western, canonical texts within the dual institutions of Indian theater and literary criticism. Shakespeare has, in effect, become an Indian commodity.
Bastards: A Memoir
by Mary Anna King"A stirring, vividly told story of a young woman's quest to find the family she lost . . . an impressive debut." --Peter Balakian In the early 1980s, Mary Hall is a little girl growing up in poverty in Camden, New Jersey, with her older brother Jacob and parents who, in her words, were "great at making babies, but not so great at holding on to them." After her father leaves the family, she is raised among a commune of mothers in a low-income housing complex. Then, no longer able to care for the only daughter she has left at home, Mary's mother sends Mary away to Oklahoma to live with her maternal grandparents, who have also been raising her younger sister, Rebecca. When Mary is legally adopted by her grandparents, the result is a family story like no other. Because Mary was adopted by her grandparents, Mary's mother, Peggy, is legally her sister, while her brother, Jacob, is legally her nephew. Living in Oklahoma with her maternal grandfather, Mary gets a new name and a new life. But she's haunted by the past: by the baby girls she's sure will come looking for her someday, by the mother she left behind, by the father who left her. Mary is a college student when her sisters start to get back in touch. With each subsequent reunion, her family becomes closer to whole again. Moving, haunting, and at times wickedly funny, Bastards is about finding one's family and oneself.
Bastards: A Memoir
by Mary Anna King"Searing . . . explores how identity forms love, and love, identity. Written in engrossing, intimate prose, it makes us rethink how blood’s deep connections relate to the attachments of proximity."—Andrew Solomon, author of Far from the Tree In the early 1980s, Mary Hall is a little girl growing up in poverty in Camden, New Jersey, with her older brother Jacob and parents who, in her words, were "great at making babies, but not so great at holding on to them." After her father leaves the family, she is raised among a commune of mothers in a low-income housing complex. Then, no longer able to care for the only daughter she has left at home, Mary's mother sends Mary away to Oklahoma to live with her maternal grandparents, who have also been raising her younger sister, Rebecca. When Mary is legally adopted by her grandparents, the result is a family story like no other. Because Mary was adopted by her grandparents, Mary’s mother, Peggy, is legally her sister, while her brother, Jacob, is legally her nephew. Living in Oklahoma with her maternal grandfather, Mary gets a new name and a new life. But she's haunted by the past: by the baby girls she’s sure will come looking for her someday, by the mother she left behind, by the father who left her. Mary is a college student when her sisters start to get back in touch. With each subsequent reunion, her family becomes closer to whole again. Moving, haunting, and at times wickedly funny, Bastards is about finding one's family and oneself.
Bastards and Believers: Jewish Converts and Conversion from the Bible to the Present (Jewish Culture and Contexts)
by Theodor Dunkelgrün Paweł MaciejkoA formidable collection of studies on religious conversion and converts in Jewish historyTheodor Dunkelgrün and Pawel Maciejko observe that the term "conversion" is profoundly polysemous. It can refer to Jews who turn to religions other than Judaism and non-Jews who tie their fates to that of Jewish people. It can be used to talk about Christians becoming Muslim (or vice versa), Christians "born again," or premodern efforts to Christianize (or Islamize) indigenous populations of Asia, Africa, and the Americas. It can even describe how modern, secular people discover spiritual creeds and join religious communities.Viewing Jewish history from the perspective of conversion across a broad chronological and conceptual frame, Bastards and Believers highlights how the concepts of the convert and of conversion have histories of their own. The volume begins with Sara Japhet's study of conversion in the Hebrew Bible and ends with Netanel Fisher's essay on conversion to Judaism in contemporary Israel. In between, Andrew S. Jacobs writes about the allure of becoming an "other" in late Antiquity; Ephraim Kanarfogel considers Rabbinic attitudes and approaches toward conversion to Judaism in the Middles Ages; and Paola Tartakoff ponders the relationship between conversion and poverty in medieval Iberia. Three case studies, by Javier Castaño, Claude Stuczynski, and Anne Oravetz Albert, focus on different aspects of the experience of Spanish-Portuguese conversos. Michela Andreatta and Sarah Gracombe discuss conversion narratives; and Elliott Horowitz and Ellie Shainker analyze Eastern European converts' encounters with missionaries of different persuasions.Despite the differences between periods, contexts, and sources, two fundamental and mutually exclusive notions of human life thread the essays together: the conviction that one can choose one's destiny and the conviction that one cannot escapes one's past. The history of converts presented by Bastards and Believers speaks to the possibility, or impossibility, of changing one's life.Contributors: Michela Andreatta, Javier Castaño, Theodor Dunkelgrün, Netanel Fisher, Sarah Gracombe, Elliott Horowitz, Andrew S. Jacobs, Sara Japhet, Ephraim Kanarfogel, Pawel Maciejko, Anne Oravetz Albert, Ellie Shainker, Claude Stuczynski, Paola Tartakoff.
Bastards and Pretty Boys
by K. Z. SnowGood relationships, bad relationships. Old relationships, new relationships. K.Z. Snow has penned a contemporary tale of choices made and paths taken. This is a story about life and love, and the happiness to be found in both.Charles Larkin is finally happy with his life...for the most part. He's happy with his new summer getaway--a rustic cottage he just bought on a small Wisconsin lake. He's happy that his ex-wife, whom he divorced because he couldn't play straight anymore, has become one of his best friends. He's happy he can breathe again.It's only Kenneth, Charlie's boyfriend of five months, who makes this new life less than completely satisfying. Charlie feels they've never been quite right for each other, and Kenneth cements that conviction when he makes a disturbing confession. Charlie knows their time together is quickly coming to an end. Problem is, Kenneth doesn't know it. And he tends to be rather possessive.Planning to spend a quiet, relaxing two or three weeks at Cloud Lake--fixing up his place, reading, even attempting to overcome his fear of water--Charlie is less than thrilled to discover his next-door neighbor is one hell of a looker. He doesn't need that kind of distraction, especially since his issues with Kenneth haven't yet been resolved. But there's a ninety percent chance the neighbor is straight, has a wife or girlfriend, and could be leaving the next day. Charlie clings to those probabilities.Only, Booker isn't going anywhere, and he isn't that easily ignored. And neither is his unexpected, none-too-savory baggage. And neither, for that matter, is Charlie's. But when two people care enough about each other, they figure out how to help carry each other's baggage...or cast it aside.
The Bastard's Bargain (O'Malleys #6)
by Katee RobertMarried to the enemyWhen Keira O'Malley was a child, she used to picture her perfect wedding. The flowers. The dress. Her husband. But nothing could have prepared her for saying "I do" to Dmitri Romanov-cold, domineering, and always one step ahead of everyone else in the ever-shifting power plays of New York City. She agreed to his bargain to secure peace for her family, and she may want the bastard more than she'd ever admit, but she'll be damned if she'll make this marriage easy for him.Dmitri knows better than to underestimate Keira for one second. Molten desire smolders between them, a dangerous addiction neither can resist. But his enemies are already on the move, and he needs every ounce of his legendary focus and control to keep them alive. Keira could just be his secret weapon-if she doesn't bring him to his knees first.'A tension-filled plot full of deceit, betrayal, and sizzling love scenes will make it impossible for readers to set the book down' Publishers Weekly on Forbidden Promises
The Bastard's Bargain (The O'Malleys #6)
by Katee RobertThe New York Times bestselling author of Neon Gods delivers a "deliciously gritty, darkly romantic, drop-dead sexy and thoroughly engrossing" mafia romance. (USA Today, Happy Ever After)Married to the enemy.When Keira O'Malley was a child, she used to picture her perfect wedding. The flowers. The dress. Her husband. But nothing could have prepared her for saying "I do" to Dmitri Romanov-cold, domineering, and always one step ahead of everyone else in the ever-shifting power plays of New York City. She agreed to his bargain to secure peace for her family, and she may want the bastard more than she'd ever admit, but she'll be damned if she'll make this marriage easy for him.Dmitri knows better than to underestimate Keira for one second. Molten desire smolders between them, a dangerous addiction neither can resist. But his enemies are already on the move, and he needs every ounce of his legendary focus and control to keep them alive. Keira could just be his secret weapon-if she doesn't bring him to his knees first."A tension-filled plot full of deceit, betrayal, and sizzling love scenes will make it impossible for readers to set the book down." --Publishers Weekly on Forbidden Promises
The Bastards of Pizzofalcone (The Bastards of Pizzofalcone Series #1)
by Maurizio de GiovanniThe &“engrossing&” sequel to The Crocodile kicks off an Italian crime fiction series by the author of the bestselling Commissario Ricciardi novels (Publishers Weekly). They&’ve made a fresh start at the Pizzofalcone precinct of Naples. They fired every member of the investigative branch after they were found guilty of corruption. Now, there&’s a group of detectives, a new commissario, and a new superintendent. The new cops immediately find themselves investigating a high-profile murder that has the whole town on edge. Heading the investigation is Inspector Lojacono, known as &“the Chinaman,&” a cop with a checkered past who is currently riding a reputation as a crack investigator after having captured a serial killer known as &“The Crocodile.&” Lojacono&’s partner is Aragona, who wants to be known as &“Serpico,&” but the name doesn&’t stick. Luigi Palma, a.k.a. &“Gigi,&” is the commissario, Francesco Romano, known as &“Hulk,&” is the slightly self-deluded lieutenant. Lojacono, Aragona, Palma, and Romano are joined by a cast of cops portrayed by bestselling author Maurizio de Giovanni with depth and intimate knowledge of the close-knit world of police investigators. De Giovanni&’s award-winning and bestselling novels, all set in Naples, offer a brilliant vision of the criminal underworld and the lives of the cops in Europe&’s most fabled, atmospheric, dangerous, and lustful city. &“Colorful, fully drawn characters and several intriguing subplots help propel the plot to a satisfying resolution.&” —Publishers Weekly &“De Giovanni provides satisfyingly logical answers to every riddle . . . Despite the Neapolitan setting, the crew of mismatched cops may remind you of similar teams in Sweden, New York, or Hollywood. Not that there&’s anything wrong with that.&” —Kirkus Reviews
Bastards of Utopia: Living Radical Politics After Socialism (Framing the Global)
by Maple RazsaBastards of Utopia, the companion to a feature documentary film of the same name, explores the experiences and political imagination of young radical activists in the former Yugoslavia, participants in what they call alterglobalization or "globalization from below." Ethnographer Maple Razsa follows individual activists from the transnational protests against globalization of the early 2000s through the Occupy encampments. His portrayal of activism is both empathetic and unflinching—an engaged, elegant meditation on the struggle to re-imagine leftist politics and the power of a country's youth. More information on the film can be found at www.der.org/films/bastards-of-utopia.html.
The Bastard's Pearl
by Connie BaileyWhen Sheyn, a headstrong young aristocrat, disobeys his parents and travels to the far east, he passes through Kandaar, an isolated country of strange customs. He is abducted, transformed by a mysterious ritual, and sold to a barbarian king as a pleasure slave. When the king is killed by Kashyan the Bastard, dispossessed prince of Clan Savaan, Sheyn becomes Kashyan's possession. The Bastard expects Sheyn--now called Pearl--to behave as an obedient pleasure slave, but compliance is not in Sheyn's nature. Nor does Sheyn's ordeal stop at being held captive by people he considers savages. The Red Temple covets Sheyn as a living gateway to the demon realm and plans to use him to summon the God of Death. Kashyan loathes Sheyn, and Sheyn despises Kashyan, but when the Red Temple kidnaps Sheyn, honor compels Kashyan to rescue his slave, and he starts a war in the process. If they hope to stop the Red Monks from bringing hell to earth, Sheyn will have to accept Kashyan is more than an uncivilized brute, and Kashyan will have to admit there's more to his Pearl than a pretty, arrogant exterior.
The Bastard's Tale
by Margaret FrazerPart of the Sister Frevisse mystery series set in 15th-centruy England.