An instant cult classic upon first publication, Suzette Haden Elgin's Native Tongue trilogy has earned wide critical acclaim, shocking and captivating a loyal readership among science fiction and women's literature audiences alike. Sequel to the enormously popular Native Tongue, The Judas Rosecontinues Elgin's gripping vision of a frightening, male-dominated world where the women of Earth are virtually enslaved. Once again, this group of women-and the nonviolent yet transformative power of language-is called upon to challenge Earth's violent, patriarchal order. Their revolutionary tool is Laadan-a secret women's language created to free them from men's control and make resistance possible for all women. In The Judas Rose, the time has come to take Laadan from underground and spread its revolutionary power to women everywhere-in part, through a group of nuns inside the Roman Catholic Church. But when a handful of horrified priests uncover the women's sabotage they move to stamp it out with an undercover female agent of their own.

Literary critics and scholars have written extensively on the demise of the "utopian spirit" in the modern novel. What has often been overlooked is the emergence of a new hybrid subgenre, particularly in science fiction and fantasy, which incorporates utopian strategies within the dystopian narrative, particularly in the feminist dystopias of the 1980s and 1990s. The author names this new subgenre "transgressive utopian dystopias." Suzette Haden Elgin's Native Tongue trilogy, Suzy McKee Charna's Holdfast series, and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale are thoroughly analyzed within the context of this this new subgenre of "transgressive utopian dystopias." Analysis focuses particularly on how these works cover the interrelated categories of gender, race and class, along with their relationship to classic literary dualism and the dystopian narrative. Without completely dissolving the dualistic order, the feminist dystopias studied here contest the notions of unambiguity and authenticity that are generally part of the canon.

In this fascinating historical and cultural biography, writer and broadcaster Peter Stanford deconstructs that most vilified of Bible characters: Judas Iscariot, who famously betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Beginning with the gospel accounts, Peter explores two thousand years of cultural and theological history to investigate how the very name Judas came to be synonymous with betrayal and, ultimately, human evil. But as Peter points out, there has long been a counter-current of thought that suggests that Judas might in fact have been victim of a terrible injustice: central to Jesus' mission was his death and resurrection, and for there to have been a death, there had to be a betrayal. This thankless role fell to Judas; should we in fact be grateful to him for his role in the divine drama of salvation? 'You'll have to decide,' as Bob Dylan sang in the sixties, 'Whether Judas Iscariot had God on his side'. An essential but doomed character in the Passion narrative, and thus the entire story of Christianity, Judas and the betrayal he symbolises continue to play out in much larger cultural histories, speaking as he does to our deepest fears about friendship, betrayal and the problem of evil. Judas: the ultimate traitor, or the ultimate scapegoat? This is a compelling portrait of Christianity's most troubling and mysterious character.

Sara walked right into a dangerous trap. And what made it even worse was the fact that her friend, Diane Tregower, had coldly, calculatingly sent her into it. Sara Fortune had needed a holiday away from London and Diane had offered her Raven's Mill, her house in a desolate part of Cornwall. Now here she was menaced by a man ruthlessly determined to seek revenge on her friend and who wouldn't believe that Sara was not Diane. Somehow she had to convince this man of her identity—this man who terrified, yet fascinated her!

The author of The Black Flower “re-creates [a] seminal moment in American history with prose that is vivid, unflinching, and often incantatory” (TheWashington Post Book World). A Washington Post Book World Best Book of the Year and Winner of the Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction Cass Wakefield left the bloodshed of the Civil War behind him twenty years ago and intends to live out the rest of his quiet days in his hometown in Mississippi. But when a childhood friend asks him to travel with her to Tennessee, he has no choice but to go along. Alison Sansing has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and wants to recover the bodies of her brother and father before she dies. Cass fought alongside Alison’s loved ones in the disastrous Battle of Franklin and helped to bury them where they fell. Joined by two of his former comrades-in-arms, Cass guides Alison through the heart of the still-devastated South. Along the way, memories of the war emerge with overwhelming vividness, thrusting Cass back into the terror and exhilaration of the battlefield. At their journey’s end, the group faces a painful reckoning between a past that refuses to die and a present still waiting to be born. “A beautifully wrought novel that deserves a wide audience,” The Judas Field is the “eloquent and fearless” final chapter in a Civil War trilogy that began with The Black Flower and The Year of Jubilo (Los Angeles Times).

It is three days before Christmas, and two young girls have disappeared from the local academy. This hasn’t happened for fifteen years, since Rouge Kendall’s twin sister was murdered. The killer was found, but now Rouge, twenty-five and a policeman, is forced to wonder: Was he really the one? Also wondering is a former classmate named Ali Cray, a forensic psychologist with scars of her own. The pattern is the same, she says: a child called out to meet a friend. The friend is the bait, the Judas child, and is quickly killed. But the primary victim lives longer...until Christmas Day. Rouge doesn’t want to hear this. He’s spent the last fifteen years trying to avoid the memories: drinking alone, lying low, washing out of school and a promising first career. Now he might abandon law enforcement too—but something won’t let him, not yet. A little girl has haunted his dreams all these years—and he has three days finally to put her to rest.

An imaginative and sprawling epic fantasy reimagining of the Mongol Empire's invasion of Persia, following the lives and treacherous journeys of four key figures in the heart of war. 1260, Persia: Due to the efforts of the great Genghis Khan, the Mongol Empire covers a vast portion of the known world. In the shadow of his grandfather, Hulagu Khan, ruler of the Ilkhanate, is determined to create a single empire that covers the entire world. His method? Violence. His youngest son, Temujin Khan, struggles to find his place in his father’s bloody rule. After another failure, Temujin is given one last chance to prove himself to Hulagu, who is sure there is a great warrior buried deep inside. But there’s something else rippling under the surface… something far more powerful and dangerous than they could ever imagine… Reduced to the position of one of Hulagu’s many wives, the famed Blue Princess Kokochin is the last of her tribe. Alone and forgotten in a foreign land, Kokochin is unwilling to spend her days seeking out trivial pursuits. Seeking purpose, she finds herself wandering down a path that grants her more power than a wife of the Khan may be allowed. Kaivon, the Persian rebel who despises the Mongols for the massacre of his people, thirsts for revenge. However, he knows alone he cannot destroy the empire. When given the opportunity to train under the tutelage of Hulagu, Kaivon must put aside his feelings and risk his life for a chance to destroy the empire that aims to conquer the world. Family and war collide in this thrilling and bloody reimagining of the Mongol Empire’s invasion of Persia. File Under: Fantasy [ A Conqueror's choice | Flickering light | Rebellion sparks | Stolen Survival ]

Every antique dealer is a bit of a detective, following clues to find the trophies that pay the rent, but when Lovejoy takes on the job of tracking down a pair of duelling pistols so rare that he's not even sure actually exist, he needs all the instincts of a detective to pick his way through an unsolved crime. Along the way, he becomes convinced that the weapons do exist but that they have fallen into the hands of a vile murderer. Locating the ancient weapons seems like the least of his problems when Lovejoy then finds himself fighting for his life in a duel to the death!