Three women. Three blazing stories of violent resistance. Three complicated paths to justice. Brittany Smith, a young Alabama woman, killed a man she said raped her in her home, but was denied a self-defense claim. Angoori Dahariya led a gang in Uttar Pradesh, India, dedicated to avenging victims of domestic abuse. Cicek Mustafa Zibo fought in a thousands-strong all-female militia that battled ISIS in Syria. Each woman has been criticised for their actions by those who believe that violence is never the answer; yet each has transmuted a story of pain into a story of power. In this intimate, shocking and rigorous investigation, award-winning journalist Elizabeth Flock examines the lives of three women who chose to use lethal force to gain power, safety, and freedom when the institutions meant to protect them - government, police, courts - utterly failed to do so. In luminous prose, Flock asks searching questions about cultures in which violence seems like the only means of survival, where deeply ingrained ideas about masculinity have helped breed the unsafe conditions that women face. Can women's acts of vengeance help to create lasting change in misogynistic and paternalistic systems, or will they ultimately hurt their cause? The novelistic accounts of these three women offer profound insights into the quest for understanding what a society where women have real power might look like. --------------------------- 'These stories of women's vengeance are both harrowing and thrilling . . . This gripping, inflaming book, itself an act of fury, shows how revenge can transmute into politics or be crushed by it' Larissa MacFarquhar, author of Strangers Drowning 'The Furies is a glorious excavation of women’s rage . . . These three women will fill you with hope, despair, and yes, fury' Rachel Louise Snyder, author of No Visible Bruises

A man wanders trying to escape the furies that torment him about the sins of his past.

An unidentified object crashes from the sky into an Arizona canyon, releasing anthrax spores and leaving innocent victims in its wake. Investigators are shocked by what they find in the rubble: a swastika. They call upon former spy and World War II–era weapons expert Lewis Sharp for help. Could this be a biochemical weapon designed by the Nazis half a century ago—or is it an elaborate hoax? Sharp is convinced that it's the real McCoy and he warns that two more killing machines are still out there, primed and ready to strike... The attacker has left a cryptic note hinting at an another attack. Now, it's up to Sharp to piece together a sixty-year-old mystery—one that spans from a convent in Hitler's Germany to Hollywood, the Executive Branch to shadowy third-world governments. Sharp and his colleagues have just five days left to stop the weapon from unleashing mass destruction—and leading the world to the brink of a whole new kind of war...

This first book-length critical examination of the life and work of Marjorie Bowen (1885-1952) reveals a major English writer whose prodigious output included stories of history, romance, and the supernatural. As Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Michael Dirda writes in his Foreword, Bowen may be "the finest British woman writer of the uncanny of the last century," a view that echoes the high regard of cultural historian Edward Wagenknecht, who called her "a literary phenomenon," one whose best work places her alongside such contemporaries as Edith Wharton and Daphne du Maurier. Publicly acclaimed--known only by a series of pseudonyms (including "Marjorie Bowen")--but privately inscrutable, she was and is a mysterious and complex character. Drawing for the first time upon archival resources and the cooperation of the Bowen Estate, this book reveals a woman who saw herself as a rationalist and serious historian, but also as a mystic and "dark enchantress of dread." Above all, through a lifetime of domestic storms and creative ecstasy, Bowen worked tirelessly as both a professional writer and a consummate artist, always seeking, as she once confessed, "to find beauty in dark places."

"Fast, furious, sexy, and unique, David Angsten's NIGHT OF THE FURIES turns a tour of the Greek Isles into a gripping story of ancient history and bloody retribution. This book demands to be read in one sitting." —James Rollins, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Oracle Two brothers and a beautiful archaeologist exploring ancient mysteries in the Greek Isles get swept into a deadly maelstrom of Bacchanalian horror.... It was the greatest secret of the ancient world, held under penalty of death. It lasted over millennia. A procession of thousands pouring out from Athens to gather on the plains of Eleusis. The giants of empires all took part---Socrates, Plato, Pericles, Augustus, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius. A hallucinogenic elixir was poured. Secret, sacred objects revealed. In the great dark Hall of Initiation, an awe-inspiring transformation took place, a profound experience of death and rebirth.... Such was the celebrated pagan rite known as the Eleusinian Mysteries. Midnight. Three figures descend a perilous cliff to the ancient site of the Oracle of Delphi. Jack Duran has joined his older brother, Dan, to perform an unusual---and unauthorized---experiment. With the help of Dan's girlfriend, the brilliant young archaeologist Phoebe Auerbach, the trio will put the famous Oracle to the test. Breathing fumes in the ruins of the Oracle's temple, Phoebe falls into a trance of possession and succumbs to a terrifying vision, a foreboding premonition of horrors to come---and a clue to the secret of the Mysteries. The clue leads Jack and Dan to a magnificent yacht crossing the Aegean. Soon they're plunged into a mind-blowing orgy with a bevy of irresistibly seductive young women. But the unrestrained erotic frenzy ends in a grisly killing. And Dan disappears Now a fugitive on a mysterious island, Jack must enlist Phoebe's help to uncover the islanders' hidden past---and face the diabolical vengeance of the Furies. A heart-racing adventure thriller, Night of the Furies is a dark and exhilarating journey into contemporary Dionysian madness and horror. Praise for Dark Gold: "I sat down with Angsten's thriller in the afternoon, and I was still reading at 2 a.m. Dark Gold builds to a frantic and explosive climax." --Royce Buckingham, author of Demon Keeper "Take another look at this book's cover. What's hidden inside . . . will make your eyes widen." --David Morrell, New York Times bestselling author of Creepers "An alliterative, luridly readable pastiche of Crichton, Lovecraft, Jules Verne, and Robinson Crusoe." --Entertainment Weekly "Thrills and chills...sunken gold, black magic, sea monsters, a beautiful Brazilian in a bikini---what more could you want from a summer thriller?" --Kirkus Reviews (starred) "You've got yourself a page-turner that will take readers back to the days when a good book meant you stayed up all night under the covers with a flashlight. . . . Screenwriter Angsten's tall tale is for grown-up boys who lust for swashbuckling literary adventure set in tropical climes. Extra batteries for that flashlight are recommended." --Publishers Weekly

A naked man is found dead. It would seem to be a simple case of drowing. But what are the whiplash marks on the man's back. Foul play is suspect in this mystery. But it is no mystery to Terry. He has been the victim of the Furies and now seeks revenge. The three women plan one final act of vengence before the net closes in on them.

Furies surge. Secrets threaten destruction. Can they unite to quell the storm? As a shapeshifter, Stalker carries secrets that strain the edges of concealment. Her pack stands at a precipice, their unity threatened not only by external enemies but by the consequences of Stalker's concealed alliances. As her personal life threatens to splinter the pack, an impending onslaught of Furies demands their unwavering unity. Fights-Eyes-Open, their Alpha, grapples with the monumental task of rallying rival packs, putting centuries-old feuds aside to face the oncoming tempest. As he stands at the forefront of the fight, Eyes must confront a harsh reality: is he leading his pack towards victory, or into a hopeless battle? Beneath the looming threat of war, Stalker, Eyes, and their pack must navigate an intricate web of deceit to unmask the malignant cultist stoking the city's chaos. With the sinister Spiral Hand orchestrating the march towards the world's end, every second is precious. In this dire hour, Stalker's unique abilities and the enigma of her parents' untimely deaths may be their only hope. But salvation lies not only in unearthing the truth but in securing the trust of her divided pack. In this climactic finale, will unity prevail over anarchy, or will their world dissolve into death and destruction? 'Rise of the Furies' is a riveting dark urban fantasy thriller that will challenge everything you thought you knew and keep you guessing till the end. Time is running out. Everything they've fought for hangs in the balance. When chaos reigns, will unity be their salvation? Unravel the mystery in 'Rise of the Furies' today! If you were gripped by the intricate plots and ensemble cast of 'The Walking Dead', the supernatural struggles in 'Supernatural', or the high-stakes tension of 'Breaking Bad', then 'Rise of the Furies', the exhilarating conclusion to the Shifters of Caerton Series, is a must-read for you.

In 88 B.C., it seems as if the entire ancient world is at war. In the west, the Italian states are rebelling against Rome; in the east, Mithridates is marching through and conquering the Roman Asian provinces. Even in the relatively calm Alexandria, a coup has brought a new Pharaoh to power and chaos to the streets. The young Gordianus has been waiting out the chaos in Alexandria, with Bethesda, when he gets a cryptic message from his former tutor and friend, Antipater. Now in Ephesus, as part of Mithridates' entourage, Antipater seems to think that his life is in imminent danger. To rescue him, Gordianus concocts a daring, even foolhardy, scheme to go "behind enemy lines" and bring Antipater to safety. But there are powerful, and deadly forces, at work here, which have their own plans for Gordianus. Not entirely sure whether he's a player or a pawn, Gordianus must unravel the mystery behind the message if he's to save himself and the people he holds most dear.

An award-winning classicist turns to Greek tragedies for the wisdom to understand the damage caused by suicide and help those who are contemplating suicide themselves In Sophocles’ tragedy Oedipus the Tyrant, a messenger arrives to report that Jocasta, queen of Thebes, has killed herself. To prepare listeners for this terrible news, he announces, “The tragedies that hurt the most are those that sufferers have chosen for themselves.” Edith Hall, whose own life and psyche have been shaped by such loss—her mother’s grandfather, mother, and first cousin all took their own lives—traces the philosophical arguments on suicide, from Plato and Aristotle to David Hume and Albert Camus. In this deeply personal story, Hall explores the psychological damage that suicide inflicts across generations, relating it to the ancient Greek idea of a family curse. She draws parallels between characters from Greek tragedy and her own relatives, including her great-grandfather, whose life and death bore similar motivations to Sophocles’ Ajax: both men were overwhelmed by shame and humiliation. Hall, haunted by her own periodic suicidal urges, shows how plays by Sophocles and other Greek dramatists helped her work through the loss of her grandmother and namesake Edith and understand her relationship with her own mother. The wisdom and solace found in the ancient tragedies, she argues, can help one choose survival over painful adversity and offer comfort to those who are tragically bereaved.