For all those who journey to J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth, here is the complete guide to its lands, legends, histories, languages, and people. The Complete Tolkien Companion explains, translates, and links every single reference - names, dates, places, facts, famous weapons, even food and drink - to be found in Tolkien's world, which includes not only The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings but also The Simarillion and many other posthumously published wor...

"A burst of delight on every page!"Mignon Fogarty, host of the Grammar Girl podcastDid you know that an "astronaut" is literally a "star sailor," that a thesaurus is, in fact, a "treasuretrove" of words, and that someone who is "sinister" is actually just "left-handed"?Have you ever wondered why English isn't considered a Romance language if 60% of ourwords are Latin-derived?Did Shakespeare really...

**The extraordinary history of the epic rivalry between the ancient world’s two great superpowers.“Magnificent.” —Spectator**The Roman Empire was like no other. Stretching from the north of Britain to the Sahara, and from the Atlantic coast to the Euphrates, it imposed peace and prosperity on an unprecedented scale. Its only true rival lay in the east, where the Parthian and then Persian empires ruled over great cities and the trade routes to mysterious lands beyon...

Now in one volume: three novels in the "epic tale mixing fantasy and SF . . . full of action, splendid scenes of magic and engaging secondary characters" ( Publishers Weekly).StormwardenA young girl, her brother, and a Firelord's descendant are caught up in the rescue of the Stormwarden Anskiere—and the unbinding of the demons that could destroy all of humanity.Keeper of the KeysAs...

An ex-Spitfire pilot is dragged into a race against a shadowy government agency to unlock the secrets of the lost empire of Atlantis...In post-war 1952, the good guys are supposed to have won. But not everything is as it seems when ex-Spitfire pilot Captain Samantha Moxley is dragged into a fight against the shadowy US government agency she used to work for. Now, with former Nazis and otherworldly monsters on her trail, Captain Moxley is forced into protecting her ...

The New York Times bestselling author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor uses the same skills to teach how to access accurate information in a rapidly changing 24/7 news cycle and become better readers, thinkers, and consumers of media.We live in an information age, but it is increasingly difficult to know which information to trust. Fake news is rampant in mass media, stoked by foreign powers wishing to disrupt a democratic society. We ne...

From the big bang to black holes, this fast-paced illustrated tour of time and space for the astro-curious unlocks the science of the stars to reveal fascinating theories, surprising discoveries, and ongoing mysteries in modern astronomy and astrophysics.Before the big bang, time, space, and matter didn't exist. In the 14 billion years since, scientists have pointed their telescopes upward, peering outward in space and backward in time, developing and refining theo...

Experience "a bold and daring experiment in fantasy storytelling" with the first three books in the bestselling Thieves' World® series ( Fantasy-Faction ).Created by the New York Times–bestselling author of the Myth series, as well as the Phule's Company series, Thieves' World® brings together classic fantasy's finest authors to flesh out the shared world with their own unforgettable characters and epic worldbuild...

From a Grand Master of Science Fiction and Fantasy, the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning sword and sorcery series.Long before George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones became a worldwide phenomenon, Fritz Leiber ruled the literary universe of sword and sorcery. This novel and two short story collections chronicle the adventures of Leiber's endearing and groundbreaking antiheroes: the barbarian Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, a former wizard's apprentice—featuring the...

"Ackroyd, as always, is well worth the read." —Kirkus, starred reviewDominion, the fifth volume of Peter Ackroyd’s masterful History of England, begins in 1815 as national glory following the Battle of Waterloo gives way to a post-war depression and ends with the death of Queen Victoria in January 1901.Spanning the end of the Regency, Ackroyd takes readers from the accession of the profligate George IV whose government was steered by Lord ...

Fairy tales retold—with a twist—from "some of our best storytellers" including Neil Gaiman, Gahan Wilson, Tanith Lee, and others ( The Washington Post).In this "no holds barred . . . nightmarish . . . provocative" collection, bestselling and award-winning fantasy masters put a dark, disturbing, and erotic spin on your favorite bedtime stories—and give you something entirely new to trouble your dreams ( The New York Times Book Review).A boy...

**"Plutarch regularly shows that great leaders transcend their own purely material interests and petty, personal vanities. Noble ideals actually do matter, in government as in life." —Michael Dirda, Washington PostA brilliant new translation of five of history’s greatest lives from Plutarch, the inventor of biography.**Pompey, Caesar, Cicero, Brutus, Antony: the names resonate across thousands of years. Major figures in the civil wars that brutally ended the Roman ...