How did the ancient Greeks and Romans envision the end of the world?What is the long-term future of the human race? Will the world always remain as it is or will it undergo a catastrophic change? What role do the gods, human morality, and the forces of nature play in bringing about the end of the world? In Apocalypse and Golden Age, Christopher Star reveals the answers that Greek and Roman authors gave to these questions.The first large-scale inves...

After centuries of neglect there is renewed interest in the life and works of Lucius Annaeus Seneca (or Seneca the Younger, c 4 BCE-65 CE). At one time an advisor at court to Nero, Seneca and his political career came to ruin when he was implicated in a later plot to kill the capricious and matricidal emperor, and compelled to commit suicide. Discredited through collusion, or at least association, with a notorious and tyrannical regime, Seneca's ideas were for a time also considered deriva...

Christopher Star uncovers significant points of contact between Seneca and Petronius, two important Roman writers long thought to be antagonists.In The Empire of the Self, Christopher Star studies the question of how political reality affects the concepts of body, soul, and self. Star argues that during the early Roman Empire the establishment of autocracy and the development of a universal ideal of individual autonomy were mutually enhancing phenomena. Th...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Luke Skywalker and Lando Calrissian return in this essential novel set between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.The Empire is dead. Nearly two decades after the Battle of Endor, the tattered remnants of Palpatine’s forces have fled to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. But for the heroes of the New Republic, danger and loss are ever-present companions, even in this newly forged era of peace.Jed...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • After Revenge of the Sith, a newly forged Darth Vader hunts for the secrets of life and death under the watchful eye of Emperor Palpatine.In the wake of Emperor Palpatine’s rise to power, the true nature of his most sinister enforcer remains a mystery. Darth Vader is a dominant yet illusive figure: the shadow cast by a malignant Imperial regime, unknowable to even its top officials. But even as his humanity gives way to myth, Vader re...

She dreamed of life on new worlds. Now she has awakened a nightmare.To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is a masterful, epic science fiction novel from Christopher Paolini, the Sunday Times bestselling author of Eragon and the Inheritance Cycle.Winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Science Fiction NovelDuring a routine survey of an uncolonized planet, Kira Navárez finds an alien relic. ...

**Now a New York Times and USA Today bestseller!Winner of Best Science Fiction in the 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards!To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is a brand new epic novel from #1** New York Times bestselling author of Eragon, Christopher Paolini.Kira Navárez dreamed of life on new worlds.Now she's awakened a nightmare.During a routin...

An Earth explorer in search of something new and strange in the up and out ends up traveling through space with a small god over millennia.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

“A large, lavishly inventive novel . . . an American descendant of The Arabian Nights . . . erudite and artful entertainment.”—The New York Times Book ReviewAt a Manhattan planetarium in 1965, ten-year-old Enzo is whisked away from his young adoptive aunt, Mala. His abductor turns out to be a blood relative: his great-uncle Junius Samax, a wealthy former gambler who lives in a converted Las Vegas hotel surrounded by a priceless art collection and a host of...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • After Revenge of the Sith, a newly forged Darth Vader hunts for the secrets of life and death under the watchful eye of Emperor Palpatine.In the wake of Emperor Palpatine’s rise to power, the true nature of his most sinister enforcer remains a mystery. Darth Vader is a dominant yet illusive figure: the shadow cast by a malignant Imperial regime, unknowable to even its top officials. But even as his humanity gives way to myth, Vader re...

Ein Meister des Bösen hat keine Schwächen. Ein Roman aus der frühen Zeit von Darth Vader.Auf der vulkanischen Welt Mustafar vollzieht Anakin Skywalker, der nun Darth Vader genannt wird, ein dunkles Ritual. Dabei wird ihm ein Einblick in das grenzenlose Potenzial der Macht gewährt. Vader ist entschlossen, diesem Weg zu folgen, selbst wenn er sich dafür den Befehlen des Imperators widersetzen muss. Doch er erkennt zu spät, dass jenseits der Dunkelheit kein Licht wart...

Mythology meets sleep stories for adults.Echoes of Ancient Gods Among the Stars is a calming collection of myth-inspired short stories designed for evening reading, relaxation, and restful sleep.In these atmospheric night meditations, ancient gods no longer rule the heavens. Instead, they linger as echoes — softened presences woven into twilight, silence, and the slow rhythm of night.This collection includes reflective retellings of: