Beside the Bard argues that Scottish poetry in the age of Burns reclaims not a single past, dominated and overwritten by the unitary national language of an elite ruling class, but a past that conceptualizes the Scottish nation in terms of local self-identification, linguistic multiplicity, cultural and religious difference, and transnational political and cultural affiliations. This fluid conception of the nation may accommodate a post-Union British self-identification, but it also recognizes the instrumental and historically contingent nature of “Britishness.” Whether male or female, loyalist or radical, literati or autodidacts, poets such as Alexander Wilson, Carolina Olyphant, Robert Tannahill, and John Lapraik, among others, adamantly refuse to imagine a single nation, British or otherwise, instead preferring an open, polyvocal field, on which they can stage new national and personal formations and fight new revolutions. In this sense, “Scotland” is a revolutionary category, always subject to creative destruction and reformation. Published by Bucknell University Press. Distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.

A warrior tempts a wicked goddess… Seamus Lochlann is always up for a good time—or a battle. At least that’s how it looks to his friends and family who count on his infectious humor and lethal sword arm. Fighting the war goddesses’ rogue warriors on the dark streets of East LA to defend his best friend puts him on the radar of the lustiest goddess in the Celtic pantheon. Maeve wants to spend him in her bed—and she’ll stop at nothing to enjoy the pleasures she expects from him. A talisman knows his fate… Fallon Graham can’t shake the premonitions. Flashing through her mind are stories with an up-close-and-personal view of the war goddess stealing the life force of a noble warrior who fights back again and again. Her heart breaks as she watches the warrior’s desperate struggles for his dignity and a chance to die honorably on the battlefield. Never in a million years would she have predicted that dream-warrior would walk right into her office and ask for a date. Together, they can change the story. A chance encounter at a mountain cabin seals their fate. The woman Seamus has searched for, the woman the gods determined to be his mate, is the only woman who’s ever turned him down. Fallon can’t believe she’s fated to the warrior Maeve has marked for herself. When the goddess strikes, they have a choice—succumb to the unholy power of the goddess or believe their love can tell a different story. romance and adventure fun, swoon-worthy supernatural romance, page turner fiction novel about fated mates, romantic plot line fantasy with warriors, strong female protagonist high action series, captivating must read fantasy, unique fiction novel about fated mates, exciting must read with fast paced fantasy action, fantastic alpha male character, strong smart heroine

No writer is more charismatic than Robert Burns and no biographer has captured his energy, brilliance and radicalism as well as Robert Crawford does in The Bard. To his international admirers Burns was a genius, a hero, a warm-hearted friend; yet to the mother of one of his lovers he was a wastrel, to a fellow poet he was 'sprung...from raking of dung', and to his political enemies a 'traitor'. Drawing on a surprising variety of untapped sources - from rediscovered poetry by Burns to manuscript journals, correspondence, interviews and oratory by his contemporaries - this new biography presents the remarkable life, loves and struggles of the great poet. With a poet's insight and a shrewd sense of human drama, Robert Crawford outlines how Burns combined a childhood steeped in the peasant song-culture of rural Scotland with a consummate linguistic artistry to become not only the world's most popular love poet but also the controversial master poet of modern democracy. Written with accessible élan and nuanced attention to Burns's poems and letters, The Bard is the story of an extraordinary man fighting to maintain a sly sense of integrity in the face of overwhelming pressures. This incisive, intelligent biography startlingly demonstrates why the life and work of Scotland's greatest poet still compels the attention of the world a quarter of a millennium after his birth.

Still in tears Nedgwar stood and returned to look over the wall of the palace. Look and learn Derisius. All of Phalcobands kingdom is my children. Some day they will all be your children and you must care for each of them. When one of my children rejoices, I rejoice with him. When one of my children grieves, I grieve also and you will grieve. Nedgwar wept and Derisius returned to inside the palace. How can a young man be responsible for an entire kingdom? If something happens to his father, then Derisius must become Drota of Phalcoband and follow the ancient traditions of the Falcon and keep the wicked away from his throne.

The discovery of a sword that had been lost for generations confirms that the Gods are readying for war once again. The sword holds the secrets to powers thought lost forever.

This groundbreaking, five-volume series offers a comprehensive, fully illustrated history of Egypt and Western Asia (the Levant, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Iran), from the emergence of complex states to the conquest of Alexander the Great. Written by a diverse, international team of leading scholars whose expertise brings to life the people, places, and times of the remote past, the volumes in this series focus firmly on the political and social histories of the states and communities of the ancient Near East. Individual chapters present the key textual and material sources underpinning the historical reconstruction, paying particular attention to the most recent archaeological finds and their impact on our historical understanding of the periods surveyed. The second volume covers broadly the first half of the second millennium BC or in archaeological terms, the Middle Bronze Age. Eleven chapters present the history of the Near East, beginning with the First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom Egypt and the Mesopotamian kingdoms of Ur (Third Dynasty), Isin and Larsa. The complex mosaic of competing states that arose between the Eastern Mediterranean, the Anatolian highlands and the Zagros mountains of Iran are all treated, culminating in an examination of the kingdom of Babylon founded by Hammurabi and maintained by his successors. Beyond the narrative history of each region considered, the volume treats a wide range of critical topics, including the absolute chronology; state formation and disintegration; the role of kingship, cult practice and material culture in the creation and maintenance of social hierarchies; and long-distance trade-both terrestrial and maritime-as a vital factor in the creation of social, political and economic networks that bridged deserts, oceans, and mountain ranges, binding together the extraordinarily diverse peoples and polities of Sub-Saharan Africa, the Near East, and Central Asia.

"Dugas credits the reemergence of Shakespeare's plays and his rise to fame in the 1700s to economic factors surrounding the theater business including the acquisition and adaptation of Shakespeare's plays by the Tonson publishing firm, which marketed collector's editions of his work, spurring a price war and rousing public interest"--Provided by publisher.

An army gathers determined to destroy the Mother Tree. The Trio are planning a second, larger attack and Terran knows they will have to stop it before it reaches the walls of Gneiss Glenn. But without the help of his friends and only low level elves to muster a defense, the chances of success are slim. The settlement’s only hope is the legend of the Crystal Bard, a powerful elven warrior who uses their voice to rain destruction upon their enemies. But there hasn’t been a Crystal Bard in hundreds of years, and even if Terran did have the perfect pitch required, his troubled past haunts him. As Terran and the Rock Leaf elves run out of options, he must find a way to overcome his stage fright, or the Trio and the hidden force behind them, will destroy the Mother Tree and his shot at reuniting with his friends forever. KEYWORDS: contemporary fantasy, coming of age, fae, complete series, bestselling, urban fantasy, action adventure, academy, new adult, university, dark fantasy, family, young adult, YA fantasy, wizard, mage, witch, dragon, supernatural, supernatural suspense, fantasy series, fantasy series for adults, paranormal mystery, magical worlds, modern fantasy, occult, paranormal, enemies to friends, legend, folk tale, elite, dark magic, thrilling, college, hero, power, privilege, hundred halls, thomas k. carpenter, forbidden magic, strong female lead, orphans, alternate worlds, class differences, badass women, binge read, loners and outcasts, found family, enemies to lovers, sword, spellbinding, magical heist, sprawling series, assassins, spies, diplomacy, rune spells, demonology, shape changing, soul magic, arcane, divination, harry potter, magicians, hundred halls, multi-series, epic adventure, animal companion, fantastic families, magical academies, litrpg, gamelit SIMILAR AUTHORS: Aleron Kong, Travis Bagwell, Dakota Krout, Xander Boyce, Apollos Thorne, Shirtaloon, Shemer Kuznits, Ernest Cline, Carrie Summers, Kyle Kirrin, Kit Falbo, Ravens Dagger, Troy Osgood