In Great Waters


Book Description

During a time of great upheaval, the citizens of Venice make a pact that will change the world. The landsmen of the city broker a treaty with a water-dwelling tribe of deepsmen, cementing the alliance through marriage. The mingling of the two races produces a fresh, peerless strain of royal blood. To protect their shores, other nations make their own partnerships with this new breed–and then, jealous of their power, ban any further unions between the two peoples. Dalliance with a deepswoman becomes punishable by death. Any “bastard” child must be destroyed. This is an Earth where the legends of the deep are true–where the people of the ocean are as real and as dangerous as the people of the land. This is the world of intrigue and betrayal that Kit Whitfield brings to life in an unforgettable alternate history: the tale of Anne, the youngest princess of a faltering England, struggling to survive in a troubled court, and Henry, a bastard abandoned on the shore to face his bewildering destiny, finding himself a pawn in a game he does not understand. Yet even a pawn may checkmate a king.




The Blood Confession


Book Description

Cursed at birth, the beautiful and ruthless young Erzebet becomes obsessed with achieving eternal youth and begins to bathe in the blood of virgin girls in order to preserve her beauty. Based on the life of the "Blood Countess," who lived in Hungary in the 1500s.




The Blood Confession


Book Description

Erzebet is young, beautiful, rich, and imprisoned in her castle, waiting to be sentenced for murder. In a brilliant fiction debut, Alisa M. Libby resurrects the real-life Erzebet Bathory, a seventeenth-century countess who believed that bathing in human blood would preserve her looks forever. The jailed countess tells her story from her birth, which was overshadowed by a bad omen, to her mother's mental deterioration, Erzebet's own love for a mysterious figure, and the crimes she committed in pursuit of eternal life. This gripping novel combines gothic horror and romance as it explores the connection between beauty and power.




Shadows Over Domanesth: The Enigma of the Diabolic Witch


Book Description

In the shadowy pages of "Shadows over Domanesth: The Enigma of the Diabolical Witch," you will be immersed in a dark corner of the Middle Ages. In the peaceful village of Domanesth, where shadows whisper secrets and mysteries lurk around every corner, an intriguing and perilous story unfolds. You will meet a cast of captivating characters, from Anna, the restaurant manager, to her sister Bárbara and her friend Dorina. As their everyday lives intertwine, strange events begin to disturb the tranquility of Domanesth. The enigma takes shape with the arrival of Ilona, a wise elder who possesses hidden knowledge about the town's past. In the shadows, Benedek and Dominik, the overseers and the town's watchman, keep a close watch. Even the church is not exempt from suspicion, as the priest Sándor senses the threat of an evil presence among his parishioners. Anna's husband, Olivér, is drawn into the battle against the witch and her sinister ally, the black wolf, as they seek to unravel the truth behind the dark events that threaten Domanesth. Each chapter of this immersive narrative will take you deeper into the plot, unveiling mysteries, secrets, and confrontations between light and darkness. Tension will mount as Domanesth prepares for an inevitable confrontation. The enduring question is whether the town will survive the shadows that threaten to engulf it, or if redemption and light will finally shine in this place besieged by the unknown.




An Embarrassment of Riches


Book Description

More than two decades strong, the Saint-Germain cycle is one of the most compelling works of dark fantasy and horror of our age. Historically accurate, often involving key events or figures from throughout world history, these deeply emotional novels have a devoted readership. Each novel is written as a stand-alone and they are not chronologically consecutive, so readers may enter the saga with any book and move backward or forward in time as they choose, from Pharaonic Egypt to Paris in the 1700s, from the fall of the Roman Empire to World War II Europe. In An Embarrassment of Riches, the vampire Count finds himself a virtual prisoner in the Court of Kunigunde in Bohemia in the 1200s. Rakoczy Ferncsi, as Saint-Germain is known, passes his days making jewels to delight Queen Kunigunde and trying not to become involved in the Court's intrigues. In this, the vampire fails. Handsome, apparently wealthy, and obviously unmarried, he soon finds himself being sexually blackmailed by Rozsa, an ambitious lady-in-waiting. If he does not satisfy her, she will denounce him to the priests and he'll be burned at the stake, resulting in his True Death. Despite his care, the vampire makes more than one enemy at the Bohemian Court, and by the end of An Embarrassment of Riches, the Count can see only one road to freedom...through death. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.




Evil Serial Killers


Book Description

Our fascination with serial killers is at once disturbing and understandable: disturbing because, according to society's mores, we should condemn the killers' crimes and avoid all thought of their horrific actions, but understandable because we are so fascinated by their motives. What leads them to behave in such perverted ways? And what makes them become killers who strike again and again? Charlotte Greig has selected fifty of the world's most infamous serial killers, ranging from Jack the Ripper to Ted Bundy. When compared, it is easy to see similar themes emerging: the loners, David Berkowitz and Anatoly Onoprienko, who both wrought revenge on a society which they felt had rejected them; those who kill purely for sexual thrills, like Albert Fish or John Christie; and occult practitioners like the Chicago Rippers and Richard Ramirez who were inspired by macabre rituals to take their dark fantasies into even darker realities. Whatever the personal stories that emerge from this lineup of twisted individuals, Evil Serial Killers is a compelling testament, and warning, of the potential of human behaviour for true horror and pure evil. Featuring: • Ted Bundy • Harold Shipman • Ed Gein • Jack the Ripper • Aileen Wuornos • John Muhammad • Charles Cullen • Belle Gunness • Joseph Paul Franklin




Masks and Shadows


Book Description

The year is 1779, and Carlo Morelli, the most renowned castrato singer in Europe, has been invited as an honored guest to Eszterháza Palace. With Carlo in Prince Nikolaus Esterházy's carriage, ride a Prussian spy and one of the most notorious alchemists in the Habsburg Empire. Already at Eszterháza is Charlotte von Steinbeck, the very proper sister of Prince Nikolaus's mistress. Charlotte has retreated to the countryside to mourn her husband's death. Now, she must overcome the ingrained rules of her society in order to uncover the dangerous secrets lurking within the palace's golden walls. Music, magic, and blackmail mingle in a plot to assassinate the Habsburg Emperor and Empress--a plot that can only be stopped if Carlo and Charlotte can see through the masks worn by everyone they meet. From the Trade Paperback edition.




PINK LOTUS


Book Description

A disaffected German comes of age and sets out on a lifelong journey to discover himself through sex, drugs and, ultimately, spirituality in Mitze’s novel. Walter Herzog was born in a small town outside of Frankfurt to an emotionally detached mother and a Nazi-sympathizing stepfather at the tail end of World War II. Teenage Walter and his pals come to school drunk and oversexed; eventually, they skip classes altogether to make out with girls and earn drinking money. Over the years, restless Walter finds himself loving numerous women. He gets drafted into the German military and relinquishes his service by claiming pacifism. Later, he discovers marijuana and finally settles with a beautiful girl, Hilde. But a stable relationship isn’t enough to stave off Walter’s mounting depression and intense desire to find meaning. When he and a friend visit the United States in the late 1960s, he falls in love with an unlikely place—Oklahoma City—where he encounters psychedelic drugs. He moves there with Hilde to open a restaurant, before returning to Frankfurt, addicted to psychedelics. One summer, while living with Hilde at his parents’ home in Germany, Walter has an epiphany: “People he knew or heard of had gone to the East…and seemed different when they returned.” So he and Hilde bus through Budapest, Athens, Turkey and the Middle East to India, where Walter marvels over “how people survived their daily struggle in apparent chaos under harsh conditions.” Later, on a depressive whim, he also visits the Far East, briefly living in a commune and practicing meditation to help him come to terms with his new life as a father and published author. The bulk of Walter’s life, roughly 50 years, is relayed largely through exposition, resulting in dry prose that rarely slows to capture the intense emotions of, for example, Walter’s first sexual encounter or his decision to visit India. Regardless, the book’s dozens of concise chapters, characters and exotic locales—not to mention Walter’s spontaneity—make for a profoundly engaging and unpredictable plot. In Walter, Mitze has created a counterculture-era Siddhartha, a nomadic soul who discovers unexpected meaning in home, friendship and rock ’n’ roll. A picaresque tale of personal conviction and compassion.




Soros


Book Description

A penniless émigré who made a fortune and became one of the great philanthropists of the twentieth century, George Soros has led a remarkable life. This biography brings forth his story in unprecedented depth, from his childhood as a Jew in occupied Budapest during World War II to his conquests on Wall Street and the establishment of his philanthropic Open Society foundations. Soros offers exclusive glimpses at an often misunderstood man, revealing a shy character whose own struggle to escape the Nazis left him with the adamant belief that people of the world are entitled to live without the fear of oppression. Enigmatic, contradictory, and inspiring, George Soros is one of the most intriguing and globally influential men of our time. In this accomplished biography, written with Soros’s cooperation, Michael T. Kaufman fully illuminates the man, his motivations, and his legacy.







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