The dark forces of Drakfort have seized Valhadria—and it's up to the few students who remain free to retake it.But Drakfort's iron grip extends far beyond the floating islands of Valhadria. With the help of the Grand Council, the entire realm is now under their thumb. Basch and his friends need to tread carefully as they seek out the tools—the magics—that will turn the fight against Drakfort in their favor.Their search will take them to the strangest corner of the realm—the...

While still licking their wounds from Drakfort's brazen attempt on Valhadria Academy, Basch and his friends receive word of yet another attempt—but this time, it isn't on Valhadria.This time, Drakfort is threatening to seize the Grand Council. If they succeed, the whole realm will be turned against them, and Drakfort will have an army of dragon riders at their side. Basch and his friends have been summoned—and if they want to have any hope of victory over Drakfort and defeat the On...

As a journalist, Kevin Bloom had witnessed and reported on the rising tide of violence in post-Apartheid South Africa. But when his own cousin was killed in a vicious random attack, the questions he'd been asking about the troubling political and social changes in his country took on a sickeningly personal urgency. Suddenly, it felt as though this South Africa was no longer the place he'd grown up in or the place which felt like home. Still stunned by the loss, Bloom begins to trace the pa...

When Basch encountered an injured creature outside his town, he hadn't expected it to be a dragon. Nor had he expected its hunter to be a fire-wielding mage. But the very last thing he expected was to bond with this injured dragon and defeat the fire mage with his very own magic.Now, after learning that he is a mage bonded to the legendary Ur-Dragon, Basch ventures to the Valhadria Academy. Dragon riders are trained and cultivated within its walls, where danger comes from both the ...

Our world presents daily distractions that can easily displace Christ as the center of a man’s heart and life. The goal of the ESV Men’s Devotional Bible is to strengthen and encourage men through the life-giving Word of God and sound devotional content aimed at nurturing godliness.With 365 theologically rich and gospel-centered devotions drawn directly from the Bible, this all-new resource was created under the editorial oversight of Dr. Sam Storms with contributions from...

"[An] elegantly written mix of complex history, riveting memoir and damning exposé," from this award-winning Sierra Leonean author ( Publishers Weekly).As a child, Aminatta Forna was witness to the political upheaval and social unrest of post-colonial Africa. Forced to flee her home for exile in Britain, she was subject to the consequences of her dissident father's actions.After war had abated in Sierra Leone, Aminatta's father, Mohamed, returned t...

In September 2005 one of South Africa’s most eminent mining magnates and businessmen Brett Kebble was killed on a quiet suburban street in Johannesburg. The investigation into the case was a tipping point for democratic South Africa. The top-level investigation that followed exposed the corrupt relationship between the country’s Chief of Police and Interpol President Jackie Selebi and suave Mafioso Glenn Agliotti. A lawless Johannesburg underbelly was exposed – dominated by drug lords, ste...

An Afrikaner crime reporter returns home to face the evil and complex legacy of South African apartheid in " a witness-bearing act of the rarest courage" (Michael Kerr).Rian Malan's classic work of reportage, My Traitor's Heart is at once beautiful, horrifying, and profound in ways that earned him comparisons to Michael Herr and Ryszard Kapuściński, and inspired the London Times to call him "South Africa's Hunter S. Thompson." An ...

Is there one law for those at the top and a different one for those at the front line? This story describes how a young, dedicated and straight cop was driven from his career because he crossed the line. But with a degree of poetic justice in the end, those who persecuted him eventually faced their own career-defining dramas.This true crime short story is from "Australia's Queen of True Crime", Robin Bowles, who brings her many years experience investigating and writing on true cri...

Speaking Volumes Christian Book of the Year 2016Mary’s Meals is born from acts of love. If you put all those many acts of sacrifice together it creates a beautiful thing.Mary’s Meals tells the inspirational and compelling story of how a cripplingly shy Salmon farmer from Argyll, Scotland, became the international CEO of a global charity that now feeds over 800,000 children a day.In 1992, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow was enjoying a pint with his brother when he got an id...

Presenting the one and only Mr Paul Keating – at his straight-shooting, scumbag-calling, merciless best.Paul lets rip – on John Howard: “The little desiccated coconut is under pressure and he is attacking anything he can get his hands on.”On Peter Costello: “The thing about poor old Costello is he is all tip and no iceberg.”On John Hewson: “[His performance] is like being flogged with a warm lettuce.”On Andrew Peacock: “...what we have here is an intellectua...

Reflections on 21 years behind the microphone at one of Radio National's flagship programs, Late Night Live, the people and the places which made it the cutting edge radio it continues to be today.For 21 years Phillip Adams has been the witty, smooth and informed voice of Late Night Live on ABC Radio National. In the studio he bats questions to world leaders, thinkers, ideologues, crackpots and gurus. But what about the stories that don't make it to air? the ones about the guests wh...