Absolutism in Renaissance Milan shows how authority above the law, once the preserve of pope and emperor, was claimed by the ruling Milanese dynasties, the Visconti and the Sforza, and why this privilege was finally abandoned by Francesco II Sforza (d. 1535), the last duke. As new rulers, the Visconti and the Sforza had had to impose their regime by rewarding supporters at the expense of opponents. That process required absolute power, also known as 'plenitude of power', meaning t...

In the vibrant heart of Miami, a city where wealth and beauty collide, Shane Williams – a billionaire CEO with a playboy reputation – encounters a woman who makes his heart beat in ways money can't buy. Lara, strong-willed and fiercely independent, has been battling the demons of her past, paying off a debt she didn't ask for with a resolve as unyielding as the ocean waves.When their paths cross at a lavish wedding, Shane sees Lara, not as the collateral she's been made to feel lik...

Sarah Beauhall has more on her plate than most twenty-somethings: day job as a blacksmith, night job as a props manager for low-budget movies, and her free time is spent fighting in a medieval re-enactment group.The lead actor breaks Sarah's favorite one-of-a-kind sword, and to avoid reshooting scenes, Sarah agrees to repair the blade. One of the extras, who claims to be a dwarf, offers to help. And that's when things start to get weird. Could the sword really be magic, as the "dwar...

Black Like That is a collection of poems about my experience as a Black woman in America. It reviews what I have learned from living in this skin, on this land, and all the ancestry that has followed me to keep me covered. It is an invitation to my folk to find themselves in these stories and for those who cannot ascribe to these identities, I invite you to consider another perspective. Black Like That in all of its iterations is an offering from all the voices in mine that had no space to...

1950s Morocco: murder, magic and divided loyalties...Hamou Badi is born in a mountain village with the magical signs of the zouhry on his hands. The zouhry is a figure of legend, capable of finding all manner of treasure. But instead of finding treasure, young Hamou finds a body.Haunted by this unsolved murder, Hamou goes on to train as a police officer in Casablanca. Yet the city is trapped in a nationalist uprising, and Hamou is soon torn...

The New York Times bestsellerJane Yellowrock is a shape-shifting skinwalker who always takes care of her own—no matter the cost....When Evan Trueblood blows into town looking for his wife, Molly, he’s convinced that she came to see her best friend, Jane. But it seems like the witch made it to New Orleans and then disappeared without a trace.Jane is ready to do whatever it takes to find her friend. ...

Three stories from New York Times bestselling author Faith Hunter, starring shapeshifting skinwalker Jane Yellowrock.In Snafu, a young Jane shows up for her internship with a securities firm. But before she even gets her foot in the door, she’s accosted by two street toughs and is forced to draw on her new-found Beast-magic to defend herself…In Black Water, Jane encounters a dire situation involving an escaped prisoner and endange...

2018 World Fantasy Award winner“The best book I’ve read in a long time.”—Brandon Sanderson, author of MistbornWhere is Wendy? Leading a labor strike against the Lost Boys, of course. In Jane Yolen’s first full collection in more than ten years discover new and uncollected tales of beloved characters, literary legends, and much more.A Scottish academic unearths ancient evil in a fishing village. Edgar Allan Poe’s young bride is beguil...

"I've lived a completely ordinary life, so much that I don't know how to write a transgender or queer or Appalachian story, because I don't feel like I've lived one. ... Though, in searching for ways to write myself in my stories, maybe I can find power in this ordinariness."Raised in southeast Ohio, Stacy Jane Grover would not describe her upbringing as "Appalachian." Appalachia existed farther afield—more rural, more country than the landscape of her hometown.Grover retur...

'She has many rare and charming qualities, but Sobriety is not one of them.'A selection of Austen's dark and hilarious early writings - featuring murder, drunkenness, perjury, theft, poisoning, women breaking out of prison, men forging wills and babies biting off their mothers' fingers...Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around th...

Rachel Lovik has a long day at the work conference, her heels killing her feet, and she has to watch her new young black intern being hit on by a young blonde executive assistant. It's not a fun day for her but she carries on, meeting various possible future clients and partners for her company.During lunch, she runs into another woman, a female executive at a larger specialized healthcare firm that's looking to work with the government. She hits it off almost immediately and is to...

'Of what a mistake were you guilty in marrying a Man of his age! - just old enough to be formal, ungovernable and to have the Gout - too old to be agreable, and too young to die.'The scheming and unscrupulous Lady Susan is unlike any Austen heroine you've met in this fascinating early novella.One of 46 new books in the bestselling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range an...