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“The Hyborian Age” is an essay by Robert E. Howard that forms the literary foundation of Conan the Barbarian’s world. Howard crafts a detailed "prehistory" of civilizations that rose, clashed, and fell in the Hyborian Age–an era rich with magic, ruthless rulers, and bloody conquests. From mystical kingdoms and mysterious continents to untamed hordes of barbarians, this essay reveals the background that became the setting for the legendary adventures of the most iconic hero in fantasy.

Neue Fälle für Daniel Becker, den Anwalt, dem die Monster vertrauen. Monsteranwalt Daniel Becker muss nicht nur einen kiffenden Jungdrachen, der sich unversehens in Seattles Zoo wiedergefunden hat, zur Freiheit verhelfen. Er soll auch einen pummeligen Liebesgott davor bewahren, zurück nach Italien abgeschoben zu werden. Doch plötzlich findet sich Daniel selbst als Angeklagter vor Gericht wieder. Zu seinem Glück – oder Unglück? – erhält Daniel unerwartet Unterstützung von einem Vampir.

Ihre Fantasie ist nichts im Vergleich zur Realität. Das muss Allie Andrews kurz vor ihrem zwanzigsten Geburtstag einsehen. Aus dem Nichts eröffnet sich ihr eine Welt, von der sie geglaubt hat, dass sie nur zwischen den Buchdeckeln ihrer Lieblingsromane existiert. Sie wird Teil einer berüchtigten Legende, und nur der mysteriöse Will scheint noch auf ihrer Seite zu stehen. Aber kann sie sich wirklich auf ihn einlassen - oder wird sie von ihrer Vergangenheit eingeholt?

Nora hält nicht sonderlich viel davon, sich in ihrem ruhigen Alltag stören zu lassen. Der wird jedoch komplett auf den Kopf gestellt, als während eines Schneesturms ein als Krampus verkleideter Mann in ihrem Stall Zuflucht sucht. Es sollte nur für eine Nacht sein, doch der Sturm hält an, sodass er erst einmal bei ihr festsitzt! Unweigerlich muss sie sich näher mit ihrem Gast befassen. Dabei zeigt sich, dass es gar kein Kostüm ist, der Krampus ist echt! Doch wie ist so etwas möglich? Ist er wirklich DER Krampus? Oder sieht er nur so aus? Wurde er verflucht? Und kann man den Fluch brechen?

Eine verlorene Prinzessin im Angesicht einer dunklen Prophezeihung. ... und ein Fremder, der sie um jeden Preis beschützen wird. Raven ist eine Waise, die sich trotz widrigem Start ins Leben bis zum College-Stipendium durchgekämpft hat. Ihr Alltag scheint geordnet, bis sie eines Abends auf dem Nachhauseweg aus heiterem Himmel angegriffen wird. Unbegreifliche Gestalten jenseits ihrer Vorstellungskraft stürzen sich auf sie; halb Mensch und doch geflügelte Bestie. Rettung kommt in Form eines Mannes, der innerhalb von Augenblicken die Angreifer zur Strecke bringt.

In einer alten Inuit-Sage heißt es: Wenn die Eisnächte anbrechen und ihre Dämonen entfesseln, dann wird es nur eine Auserwählte geben, die sie aufhalten kann! Eigentlich wollte Lucy MacAllister nur ein gemütliches Wochenende in einer kanadischen Waldhütte verbringen, doch als sich ein gewaltiger Schneesturm zusammenbraut, bleibt ihr nichts anderes übrig, als den Blizzard zwischen umgestürzten Bäumen und meterhohen Schneewehen auszusitzen. Das Letzte, womit sie rechnet, ist, dass jemand an ihre Tür klopft.

Car mechanic Mercy Thompson has always known there was something different about her, and not just the way she can make a VW engine sit up and beg. Mercy is a shapeshifter, a talent she inherited from her long-gone father. She's never known any others of her kind. Until now.

Five hundred years ago, Johannes Gutenberg discovered the art of libriomancy, allowing him to reach into books to create things from their pages. Libriomancer Isaac Vainio is part of Die Zwelf Portenre, better known as the Porters, the organization founded by Gutenberg to protect the world from magical threats. Isaac is called in to investigate the killing of a wendigo, along with Porter psychiatrist Nidhi Shah and their dryad bodyguard and lover, Lena Greenwood. But their plan could unleash a far darker evil....

But for Matthew Carver, it’s just a pit stop. Lazarus and his mysterious corporation have come up with a plan for Matt to rescue the fragment of his sister’s soul that languishes in the Devil’s grasp. But to do it, he’ll have to die—at least for a while. To pull off the most dangerous heist imaginable, Matt must find his way to the depths of the Underworld and back before his time truly runs out.

The Droods are all about control, making people do what they're told for the greater good. The Nightside is all about choice: good and bad and everything in between. The Droods want to make the world behave. The Nightside wants to party. They were never going to get along. For centuries, ancient Pacts have kept the Droods out of the Nightside, but now the Droods see the Nightside as a threat to the whole world. They march into the long night, in their armour, to put it under their control. All too soon, the two sides are at war.

The world Between is full of dangers, shadows, and reflections. Athelas knows the dangers, is one with the shadows—and has finally encountered a reflection that could be just a bit too much like himself for comfort. The house master has come back. Nobody will quite say who he is, or why he owns the house. And to Athelas's growing irritation, no one will talk about the oddly powerful influence the house master seems to have over Camellia.

She thought hiding her sixth sense would solve everything. She was very, very wrong. In a land divided by corruption and rebellion, Aini successfully manages her father’s altered candy lab alongside an apprentice, the mysterious, sexy Thane. But life goes from sweet to sour when the most nefarious clan in Scotland abducts her father. And the only way to rescue him is to risk using her sixth sense and stop fighting Fate.

When a criminal has magic too dangerous to merely lock up, we send them to a blackout prison. Hell would've been a better destination for this guy. As a lowly cop in the LVMPD's Rapid Response unit, I'm used to dealing with all kinds of dumpster-fire scenarios. But learning about the magic I shouldn't have while facing off against a psychopath who's worked me into his infernal plans for worldwide torment? That's decidedly outside my wheelhouse. I have to stop this devil from bringing hell to earth. But I'm petrified I'm going to help him pull it off instead.

The gods walk among us. And they just might steal your soul...or your heart. I thought I'd survived everything life could throw at me. All I wanted was to keep my distance from the criminals I work for and get my little brother out of the hell that is our mother's house. Then I died and woke up to four stunningly hot gods telling me I'm now a valkyrie. Sly, sharp Loki. Jovial but ferocious Thor. Dreamily compassionate Baldur. Grim and secretive Hod. They all have something to teach me. And around them, my walls start to crack. But the gods didn't summon me just for kicks.

Mercy Thompson’s world just got a whole lot bigger... A collection of all-new and previously published short stories featuring Mercy Thompson, “one of the best heroines in the urban fantasy genre today” (Fiction Vixen Book Reviews), and the characters she calls friends...

I'm Sam Quinn, the newly married werewolf book nerd owner of the Slaughtered Lamb Bookstore and Bar. Clive and I are on our honeymoon. Paris is lovely, but I can't shake the feeling I'm being watched. Even after we cross the English Channel to begin our search for Aldith—the woman who's been plotting against Clive since the beginning—the prickling unease persists. Clive and I are separated, rather forcefully, and I'm left to find my way alone in a foreign country, evading not only Aldith's large web of hench-vamps, but vicious fae creatures disloyal to their queen.

Kennedy Bennett comes from a long line of curse weavers. For centuries, her family has plied their trade in Unstable, Massachusetts, an unconventional small town that's welcomed paranormal practitioners since the dawn of spiritualism. Kennedy has recently struck out on her own, opening an antiques shop in Boston, where her specialty is uncursing and reselling hexed objects. Then Aiden Connolly walks into her life with an offer she really should refuse. The scion of a wealthy family of luck workers, Aiden has a scheme to get his hands on the most famous cursed object of all.

Alastair Stone has successfully finished the first of the three tasks he’s oathbound to complete for his powerful dragon ancestor. To his shock and surprise, the second turns out to be something he already wants to do: kill an old enemy who shouldn’t even be alive. Except Stone has no idea how to find his target, and the deadline he’s been given makes success by no means certain. Complicating matters, a new ally has a consulting job for him: figure out why somebody in the Changeling community is kidnapping young and seemingly unconnected children all over California.

Cori Munroe just wants to enjoy her life after her draft service has completed. The kids are delightful, her home life is good, but as always, trouble finds her. Rips between Earth and the realms are appearing, and she seems to be to the only mage who can easily close them.

My name is Quinn MacKenna, and magic doesn’t work on me. When I’m not getting roped into bar brawls in Boston, I’m usually acquiring - stealing is a form of acquisition, you know - dangerous magical artifacts to turn around and sell them to the highest bidders. But I prefer to be paid in favors, not money. Because favors are a hot commodity in the Land of the Fae. Favors are the only currency that will buy the answers I seek: Why magic doesn’t work on me, and who my real father is.