From The Dragons of Autumn: May became June, which became July, which became August, and I didn’t see Ghost … although I left him something every day, something which was always gone when I returned, at least at first. By September, however, he’d stopped taking what I left him completely—nor would he appear when called—and I began to worry. That would have been about the time I started getting serious with Jenny—holding hands at the indoor skating rink, kissing for the first time in the balcony at The Muppet Movie—as well as my first growth spurt, all in the legs, which made me feel gangly and insecure but also made me taller than Jen, which I liked, and which she liked, too. It was also around the time the murders started happening, and what become known as the Comet’s Tail Mangler—at first just in the local paper but soon the national ones as well and finally the NBC Nightly News—started making waves across the country. Nor was that the only national news story to touch me; for my parents’ missing flight was back in the spotlight also—primarily because the business tycoon who had resumed the search (after the Coast Guard and Federal Aviation Administration abandoned it) had now given up, too. For Shad and my grandma, it was case closed—again. For me, it was the beginning of a season of denial that would last clear through September and into the school year; a season in which I became more convinced than ever that my parents were still alive. “Denial can be a powerful thing,” my mother had once said (I believe it was in the context of someone’s rumored drug and/or alcohol addiction), but for me, in that fear-addled fall of 1979, it became something more; something akin to an obsession or even a psychosis; something which rendered me deaf, dumb, and blind—to the reports of wreckage having been spotted by a private flight out of Honolulu in the wee hours of Christmas morning; to the reports of the victims of the Mangler having been mauled as if by an animal— mauled, and partially eaten. Indeed, I had even begun looking forward to introducing them to Jenny (when they were finally picked up from Gilligan’s Island, which is how I imaged their circumstances), had even selected a date: New Years, 1980—the day the call would come. The day the news would be announced that survivors had been found and that they were in good health; the day we would drive to the airport in Grandma’s black GTO and watch my parents descend the steps like soldiers returning from Vietnam, their faces tanned from the South Pacific, their necks adorned with leis. In the end, however, the New Year brought news of a different sort—though news that struck home regardless—for the latest victim of the Mangler turned out to be Stuart Dalton himself: decorated veteran, local hero (for his service in Vietnam), and a close, personal friend of our parents—so close that we were invited to his funeral; where I ended up in line behind his widow for the viewing of the casket, a casket which had been draped with a veil to prevent scrutiny of the body. Even now, some forty years later, it would be difficult to describe what I felt that day, as Song Li offered her final words and her husband lay hidden beneath the gauze and the reality of what had occurred—what had been occurring, ever since the death of the convict—came crashing down; as Song said goodbye to her “darling Stuart” and I said hello to reality (for the first time in months, possibly even since my parents had disappeared), and knew, though the thought of it tore me down the middle, what had to be done. If, that was, I could even find the portal. If, that was … I could find my friend.

This Dungeons & Dragons-inspired fantasy adventure is the first installment in the beloved Dragonlance Chronicles Once merely creatures of legend, the dragons have returned to Krynn. But with their arrival comes the departure of the old gods—and all healing magic. As war threatens to engulf the land, lifelong friends reunite for an adventure that will change their lives and shape their world forever . . . When Tanis, Sturm, Caramon, Raistlin, Flint, and Tasslehoff see a woman use a blue crystal staff to heal a villager, they wonder if it's a sign the gods have not abandoned them after all. Fueled by this glimmer of hope, the Companions band together to uncover the truth behind the gods' absence—though they aren't the only ones with an interest in the staff. The Seekers want the artifact for their own ends, believing it will help them replace the gods and overtake the continent of Ansalon. Now, the Companions must assume the unlikely roles of heroes if they hope to prevent the staff from falling into the hands of darkness. Dragons of Autumn Twilight is the first book in the Dragonlance Chronicles.

Role-playing game historian Ben Riggs unveils the secret history of TSR— the company that unleashed imaginations with Dungeons & Dragons, was driven into ruin by disastrous management decisions, and then saved by their bitterest rival. "Ben Riggs manages to walk the fine line between historical accuracy and fun about as well as anyone and SLAYING THE DRAGON is equal parts historical accuracy and entertainment. It was an essential read for me while directing and producing the Official D&D documentary but I’d recommend it to anyone regardless of the subject material. It’s a wild and fun ride through the turbulent history of one the most influential brands in our lifetime." - JOE MANGANIELLO Co-created by wargame enthusiasts Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, the original Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game released by TSR (Tactical Studies Rules) in 1974 created a radical new medium: the role-playing game. For the next two decades, TSR rocketed to success, producing multiple editions of D&D, numerous settings for the game, magazines, video games, New York Times bestselling novels by Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, and R. A. Salvatore, and even a TV show! But by 1997, a series of ruinous choices and failed projects brought TSR to the edge of doom—only to be saved by their fiercest competitor, Wizards of the Coast, the company behind the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering. Unearthed from Ben Riggs’s own adventurous campaign of in-depth research, interviews with major players, and acquisitions of secret documents, Slaying the Dragon reveals the true story of the rise and fall of TSR. Go behind the scenes of their Lake Geneva headquarters where innovative artists and writers redefined the sword and sorcery genre, managers and executives sabotaged their own success by alienating their top talent, ignoring their customer fanbase, accruing a mountain of debt, and agreeing to deals which, by the end, made them into a publishing company unable to publish so much as a postcard. As epic and fantastic as the adventures TSR published, Slaying the Dragon is the legendary tale of the rise and fall of the company that created the role-playing game world.

The Father of Dragons has returned to the world and all hell is breaking loose. A group of vrykos is running loose, threatening to spread plague through Seattle. A shadow dragon has his sights set on destroying the Wild Hunt. And in the midst of the chaos, Ember’s facing a major decision brought on by a twist in her status with the Queen of Dark Fae. But when the shadow dragon attacks her friend Viktor and drags the half-ogre into the world of the dead, Ember must set aside her personal drama and journey to the Phantom Kingdom to rescue him. Will she be able to save Viktor before it’s too late? Or will she lose her own soul to the armies of the dead? Keywords: Fae, Gods and Goddesses, Demigods, witches, vampires, romance, urban fantasy, fantasy, magic, shapeshifters, faerie, Fae, fairy, weres, coyote shifter, stag shifter, ghosts, dragons, psychic, elemental magic, wolf shifters, strong women, kickass heroine, steamy, gargoyle, cats, mystery, demigod romance, fae romance, steamy, dwarves, amazons, elementals, mythic fantasy, surprising allies, other realms, changes in life, challenging foes, fantastic friendships, Pacific North West, spells, magical creatures, Celtic, Norse, Finnish, mythology

In a world of magic, dragons, and spirits of power, sixteen-year-old Claire serves as the feared and hated heir to a crumbling throne. In the dark of the night, a sinister force takes her mother, the queen that protects her people. Claire must travel untamed lands armed only with the very powers that her own people fear and a temperamental little brother who carries his own scars. They must face ancient threats to find the queen their people desperately need to survive. Can she return her mother to the throne? Will her people wither without a powerful ruler?

The bloodline of a god lives on... Two women, both unaware of their true heritage, and both with Magic within them, learn to control their gifts and use them for good, as they fight against those who threaten the lands of Ayrenia. The sequel to Bloodline brings two new strong heroines, Autumn Storm and Tessa Oak, to follow in the footsteps of Braelyn. What will they have to sacrifice to keep their world safe?

For some men, walking the path of their destiny may take two thousand years. But for others, it may only be a journey of a single night. In the third book of the Age of Dragons series, the journey continues through the fantastical world of beloved fantasy, where dragons are real, and dreams—and nightmares—come true. On a September evening in 1931, John and Jack, two of the Caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica, discover a plea for help on an ancient medieval parchment—which is not only addressed to them, but seems to have been written by their friend, Hugo Dyson. Before they can discover the origin of this strange book, Hugo walks through a door in time and vanishes into the past. And just like that, the world begins to change. The only hope to restore the proper order of things lies in a forgotten island at the edge of the Archipelago, where a time travel device left by Jules Verne must be used to race through history. But even if all of the legendary Caretakers from past and present are able to answer the oldest mystery in the world and save Hugo, there may be darker forces gathering against them with a greater crisis at hand. The last stones are falling from the Keep of Time, and an old enemy in a new form has acquired a terrible weapon: the Spear of Destiny, which can be used to command the shadows of anything it touches—even the Dragons. The Shadow King, combined with forces of a new enemy, may be unstoppable now. The only hope is Rose Dyson, the Grail Child. She may be the only one to assist the companions on their desperate quest and find the only weapon capable of defeating their enemies.

The empire is on the brink of a collapse... But can the resistance convince the people of Kaeldroga it is time to march… or will they miss their opportunity… Devarius knows time is fleeting, and the resistance needs to make their move. He sends the heroes of the resistance to all corners of the land to unite everyone together under one banner to face the empire in a last battle. When he arrives in the capital, no one listens to him. He finds himself imprisoned. Meanwhile, his sister across the country is facing a political showdown to convince a well-meaning duke of the corruption of the emperor… a corruption that has betrayed the duke’s family in time’s past. The fate of all Kaeldroga lies in Devarius’s hands. Will they be able to overcome the empire, or will they fall to another hundred years of tyranny under the emperor’s rule? If you love Eragon, Dragonriders of Pern, Ezaara, Dragon Blood, Dragon Gate, and every other brilliant dragonrider epic out there, you'll love Dragonia: Fall of the Dragons because... well, dragons. And wyverns, drakes, wyrms, and amphipteres! Get it Now!

Fun, humour, battles, sentient dragons, betrayal, heroism, a little romance, more dragons - what more could you ask for? Eleanor is a serious, intelligent teenager with a slightly bonkers mother. She is also a Time Strider and a Dragon Slayer. When the time tracks align, Catherine - the Time Interpreter shows Eleanor the route to her destiny where she must leave childhood and comforts behind and fight for the survival of strangers who exist in a time loop. The Man Betrayer has taught the higher dragons to speak. No longer individual menaces, the creatures communicate, plot and join with more sadistic allies. When the she-devil - Maligna Satana, teams up with Brute Festeral - giant bull dragon and Doom Bringer of the Cold Lands, it seems that the Dragon Slayers who have so far protected Moreth will be defeated. Eleanor has unreliable help from the mathmagicians - otherwise known as Enquates - creatures who exist in each other's mind spaces. In the course of her heroic adventure, Eleanor finds a clue to her own identity, past and future.

Dragons. Every dragon piece I’ve written to date, is in this collection—and some can only be found in this collection. Whether they’re burning towns or bringing down starships, offering shelter or indulging in politics of the state, there’s a dragon present. Sometimes it’s in the background and sometimes it’s right up front where dragons belong, but it’s there. If you love dragons as much as I do, then this collection is created with you in mind.