In the ancient Greek city-state of Plataea, teenage warriors trained in the ways of the battlefield long before they reached the age of eighteen. They also trained in the vicious, no-holds-barred form of unarmed combat called pankration. Similar to today's Ultimate Fighting and MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), this extreme style of man-on-man battle was featured in the original Olympic games.And sometimes, those pankration techniques were used not just for glory on the battlefield or in t...

The Peloponnesian War has begun. An army of merciless Spartan invaders have arrived at the gates of Plataea, bent on obliterating the independent city-state and its inhabitants. Plataea's oldest allies, the Athenians, are spread too thin in their own campaigns to send help. Cut off and alone, the Plataeans have dug in behind their high walls for the coming attack, while the tyrannical Spartans prepare to lay siege.On a rugged mountain road, a young Plataean warrior named Nikias ride...

In 431 B.C., Ancient Greece experienced its own "Pearl Harbor"—a treacherous sneak attack that would mark the start of the bloody war between the democracy of Athens and the tyranny of Sparta. Caught between these superpowers, the independent city-state of Plataea became the arena where their battle for control of all of Greece would begin.In Plataea, the young Greek warrior Nikias dreams of glory in the Olympic games as he trains for the pankration—the no-holds-barred ulti...

In The Wisdom of the Shire , Noble Smith sheds a light on the life-changing ideas tucked away inside the classic works of J. R. R. Tolkien and his most beloved creation—the stouthearted Hobbits.How can simple pleasures such as gardening, taking long walks, and eating delicious meals with friends make you significantly happier? Why is the act of giving presents on your birthday instead of getting them such a revolutionary idea? What should you do w...

The action-packed finale of the trilogy set during the epic war that tore apart ancient Greece from the award-winning author of Spartans at the Gates.Nikias of Plataea has survived battle, shipwreck, and torture. But now the young warrior must face his greatest challenge: leading the people of his city-state on a desperate exodus to Athens while being hunted down by the largest Spartan expeditionary force in history.From the burning forests of the le...

The charmingly eccentric Otto Draxinger appears to be your typical pipe-smoking Oxford professor, doing his best to preserve his sanity while his beloved former students are being slaughtered at the Western Front. But the American expatriate has diagnosed himself with the newly coined term “schizophrenia.” And he believes the nightmarish waking visions he’s been experiencing are caused by the psychological trauma of the catastrophe that is The Great War.But after a chance encounter...

In 431 BC, ancient Greece experienced its own "Pearl Harbor"—a treacherous sneak attack that would mark the start of the bloody war between the democracy of Athens and the tyranny of Sparta. Caught between these superpowers, the independent city-state of Plataea became the arena where their battle for control of all of Greece would begin.In Plataea, the young Greek warrior Nikias dreams of glory in the Olympic games as he trains for the pankration—the no-holds-barred ultimate fight...

The Peloponnesian War has begun. An army of merciless Spartan invaders have arrived at the gates of Plataea, bent on obliterating the city and its inhabitants. Plataea's oldest allies, the Athenians, are spread too thin in their own campaigns to send help. Cut off and alone, the Plataeans dig in behind their high walls for the coming siege, while the ruthless Spartans gather outside.On a rugged mountain road, a young Plataean warrior named Nikias rides to Athens on an urgent quest....

In The Wisdom of the Shire, Noble Smith sheds light on the life-changing ideas tucked away inside the classic works of J. R. R. Tolkien and his most beloved creation—the stouthearted Hobbits.Drawing on The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and other tales of Middle-earth, Smith shows how a snug hobbit-hole is actually just a state of mind and how even the smallest person can have the valor of a Rider of Rohan. He explores subjects dear to a halfling's heart,...

A twisted tale of love lost, alluring demons, idiotic servants, beautiful ladies, magicians, spells, pirates, and duels, Stolen from Gypsies has been called a comedic tour de force comparable to Shakespeare. The unusual hero is British nobleman Ambrogio Smythe, a rich but comical hypochondriac. Obsessed by childhood memories of Gypsies, the frail but determined Ambrogio leaves his ancestral estate in Warwickshire and makes his way to Italy during the Napoleonic Wars. Happily maroo...

Arimnestos of Plataea has already lived through several lifetimes' worth of adventure, from being a rich man's slave in Ephesus to winning glory at the battle of Marathon against the might of the Persian Empire. But the gods - and the Persians - aren't finished with him yet. As an experienced sea captain - his enemies might say pirate - he has a part to play in the final epic confrontation of the Long War between the Greeks and Persians, the Battle of Salamis. It is a battle where many deb...

The ultimate historical adventure novel: the life of Alexander the Great in a single, epic volume.To many he was a god. To others he was a monster. The truth is even more extraordinary.As a boy, Alexander dreamed of matching the heroic feats of Achilles. At eighteen he led the Macedonian cavalry to a stunning victory against the Greeks. By twenty-five he had crushed the Persians in three monumental battles and was the master of the greatest empire the world...