Queen’s Man: Noxious Negotiations


Book Description

Aarvan and Rejeena find themselves awash in a maelstrom of deceit and vengeful malice as they seek to negotiate peace among the varied groups upon Kriiscon—despite hundreds of years of war and hatred, filled with loathsome acts of cruelty. Their success or failure will decide the ultimate destiny of the island. Treachery and betrayal abound, turning negotiations toxic. Innocents will be yanked into the melee—by chance or divine design? Aarvan must convey peaceful intent to Pyyke, leader of the Caana, an old man slowly dying with little to lose. Pyyke abhors everyone, and he will confront the great queen’s man with the most brutal, barbaric challenge of his life. Can Aarvan rise above the ghastly torment, debate with this horrid man to fulfill his function and survive? Rejeena, in her turn, slams head-first into reality. Her heart-niece commits a crime of passion directly in opposition to Rejeena’s new laws. Forced by dire circumstances, the new great queen must make a decision no human being should ever have to make. Will Rejeena and Aarvan, each facing personal devastation, pull together and create unity? Or will they be torn apart by merciless fate and the hatred of others?




Queen's Man: Karma


Book Description

LaHeeka, Ancient Conjurah, forewarns: Through choices of act and word, we send undulations into the great infinity residing beyond mortal understanding, which waves eventually flow back. Good begets good; evil begets evil. It is called Karma, and will destroy or reward. Karma takes no prisoners. Despite this ominous warning, Great Queen Tabarana forges ahead with arrogance and rudeness in her conference with powerful, intolerant Mainland rulers. Knowing she imperils the island of Kriiscon, Rejeena and Aarvan intervene to disrupt her perilous plans and avert disaster. Will they succeed, or will Karma intercede? Aarvan encounters destiny when he travels to Silicara to discover his mother’s fate. Is she alive or long dead? He must confront vile persons from his past, including the father who sold him like a shoat for slaughter. Will he emerge the winner, with a mother and happiness, or the loser, burdened with more misery? Meanwhile, Rejeena faces her own Karmic moment when she hears the tale of Ethan, Queen Dorothy’s man—an innocent man tortured even as he saves the quarter from a devastating drought. That tale of horror, and a voice she believes to be LaSheena, causes Rejeena’s mindset to reverse. Can she switch her island away from cruelty and slavery, leading to a better future for all? Or will forces of traditional evil crush her efforts?




Queen's Man: of Balance


Book Description

To avert a devastating war, Great Queen Rejeena must prove to male-centric Mainlanders enholdment has been abolished on Kriiscon. During the conference, the goddess LaSheena reveals to Rejeena a great truth, the answer to many enflaming hurdles dividing persons, communities, races, religions, and nations—possibly the answer to peace everywhere for all time. A simple concept, but how can she present it, thereby convincing others to believe, accept and utilize? Rejeena aborns a son. A Kriisconian Great Queen cannot keep a son; but Aarvan will not tolerate such rejection. Can queen and queen’s man find a solution to this predicament? Despite all Rejeena’s and Aarvan’s endeavors, Mainland warships, carrying thousands of soldiers armed with cannons and guns, attack Kriiscon to conquer, force upon the island their fanatic religion and intrusive culture. What can Kriiscon offer to combat such determined, superior forces? Simultaneously, the lifelong feud between Rejeena and Ishtabarra demands resolution, a battle to the death. Dare she indulge? After years of sacrifice and effort by Kriisconians—women, men and glaalets—to integrate as a peaceful island, how can Rejeena and Aarvan prevent it all shattering into a crushing, calamitous defeat?




Queen’S Man: Treachery


Book Description

The deceit and conspiracies against Queen Rejeena of the island of Kriiscon and her queens man, Aarvan, continue. She carries twin daughters, and their newfound, tentative peace is threatened from all sides. The great queen would wrest Aarvan from Rejeena and grant him to a spiteful queen. Rejeena must find a lawful way to derail their repulsive plot. Rejeenas trusted guard captain, Shabet, conspires with Ishtabarra, Rejeenas cousin and outlaw archenemy, to kidnap Aarvan. With him ousted, Shabet regains her power and status within the queens inner circle. Unwittingly, she also opens the path for Ishtabarra to slay Rejeena and usurp her queenship. Rejeena is forced into the role of chief negotiator during a trade conference with the most powerful leader from the mainland. But will her inexperienced diplomatic skills destroy Kriiscon or save the island from monetary plunder? Betrayed, captured, and imprisoned by women who would strip him of his status as queens man and use him for their lustful ends, Aarvan must escape to save Rejeena and their unborn daughters. He alone knows of a nefarious assassination scheme, which Shabet cannot counter. But can he escape and return in time?




The Politics of Religion in the Age of Mary, Queen of Scots


Book Description

Early modern historians have theorized about the nature of the new 'British' history for a generation. This study examines how British politics operated in practice during the age of Mary, Queen of Scots, and explains how the crises of the mid-sixteenth century moulded the future political shape of the British Isles. A central figure in these struggles was the fifth earl of Argyll, the most powerful magnate not only at the court of Queen Mary, his sister-in-law, but throughout the three kingdoms. His domination of the Western Highlands and Islands drew him into the complex politics of the north of Ireland, while his Protestant commitment involved him in Anglo-Scottish relations. His actions also helped determine the Protestant allegiance of the British mainland and the political and religious complexion of Ireland. Argyll's career therefore demonstrates both the possibilities and the limitations of British history throughout the early modern period.




Negotiating Masculinities in Late Imperial China


Book Description

Why did traditional Chinese literati so often identify themselves with women in their writing? What can this tell us about how they viewed themselves as men and how they understood masculinity? How did their attitudes in turn shape the martial heroes and other masculine models they constructed? Martin Huang attempts to answer these questions in this valuable work on manhood in late imperial China. He focuses on the ambivalent and often paradoxical role played by women and the feminine in the intricate negotiating process of male gender identity in late imperial cultural discourses. Two common strategies for constructing and negotiating masculinity were adopted in many of the works examined here.The first, what Huang calls the strategy of analogy, constructs masculinity in close association with the feminine; the second, the strategy of differentiation, defines it in sharp contrast to the feminine. In both cases women bear the burden as the defining "other." In this study,"feminine" is a rather broad concept denoting a wide range of gender phenomena associated with women, from the politically and socially destabilizing to the exemplary wives and daughters celebrated in Confucian chastity discourse.







Papers and Discussions


Book Description







The History of Scotland


Book Description