“Wow. C. E. Murphy is good. Court intrigue in an alternate Elizabethan-era fantasy world: realpolitik with the sex included.”–Kate Elliott, author of Crown of StarsIn a world where religion has ripped apart the old order, Belinda Primrose is the queen’s secret weapon. The unacknowledged daughter of Lorraine, the first queen to sit on the Au...more
Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time" sequence is one of the more ambitious current fantasy epics; its ninth volume Winter's Heart advances a conclusion by fundamentally changing the rules of its war between overwhelming evil and deeply crippled good. Rand Al-Thor, in some sense a doomed hero born again, continues to travel the world seeking allies--...more
"Community, Identity, Stability" is the motto of Aldous Huxley's utopian World State. Here everyone consumes daily grams of soma, to fight depression, babies are born in laboratories, and the most popular form of entertainment is a "Feelie," a movie that stimulates the senses of sight, hearing, and touch. Though there is no violence and everyone is...more
Seeking to destroy an evil force that threatens the planet Erna, warrior priest Damien Vryce renews a dangerous alliance with an immortal sorcerer known as the Hunter, and begins a treacherous quest to the eastern continent. Reprint.
The Coldfire trilogy tells a story of discovery and battle against evil on a planet where a force of nature exists that is capable of reshaping the world in response to psychic stimulus. This terrifying force, much like magic, has the power to prey upon the human mind, drawing forth a person's worst nightmare images or most treasured dreams and ind...more
More than a millennium after the human race forges an uneasy stalemate against the demonic human-psyche feeders known as the fae, a pain-hungry demon called Calesta declares war on all living beings. Reprint.
A guide to reading "Lord of the Flies" with a critical and appreciative mind. Includes background on the author's life and times, sample tests, term paper suggestions, and a reading list.