Blood Redeemer

The true battle is only beginning. Michael of Apollonia returns in Blood Redemer, Book 2 of the "Of Blood and Magic" series. 20 years have passed since Michael, one of the original seven vampires created in the time of the Pharaohs, waged war against the ancient vampires to end their evil and regain his humanity. Only Calandra, the most evil of the vampires, escaped into hiding. Michael went to Earth to sleep until her return. Now Calandra has returned to rebuild her legions, and the Glen discovers someone has stolen the vial of blood Michael left behind to awaken him. Somehow the Glen must withstand attacks from within and without, while seeking a means to awaken Michael, without making him an even greater danger than Calandra. Truths will be revealed, lies exposed and Redemption may be only a dream.

Discover the story of Astorath. one of the Blood Angels' most fascinating characters! Following the Devastation of Baal and the arrival of the Primarch Roboute Guilliman’s Indomitus Crusade, Commander Dante of the Blood Angels has been appointed Lord Regent of all Imperium Nihilus. Working with the successor chapters of the Blood Angels, Dante commands that the area around the Red Scar be scouted in preparation for reconquest. The Red Wings’ sweep has led them to the foetid world of Dulcis, dangerously near to the Cicatrix Maledictum itself. Decimated by the tyranids during the war for Baal and only lightly reinforced by Primaris Space Marines, the Red Wings Chapter are in no position to deal with the events that unfold there. Strange psychic phenomenon and a deadly xenos enemy threaten the great hope of all the Chapters of the Blood – that the flaw in Sanguinius’ geneseed has at last been tamed. Drawn by the Black Rage to Dulcis, Astorath the Grim, Lord High Chaplain and Redeemer of the Lost, comes to aid the Red Wings. But what he discovers there will shake the Chapters of the Blood to their very core.

The culmination of years of fieldwork in southern Malawi, River of Blood reconstructs the beginnings of the Mbona martyr cult, follows its history to the present day, and reveals the fascinating intersections of an indigenous belief system with European Christianity. In the cult of Mbona, the central African mythology of the snake that is beheaded to make the rains come has been combined with a more spiritual interpretation: the snake has been transformed into a human martyr and redeemer. According to the cult, the rainmaker Mbona was tracked down by his enemies; they cut off his head, and his blood formed the River of Blood. Mbona returned as a storm wind and asked that a shrine be dedicated in his name. J. Matthew Schoffeleers recounts how the Portuguese presence in Zambezia in the period 1590-1622 led to more than three decades of internecine warfare and caused the people of southern Malawi tremendous suffering. In response to this political oppression and social upheaval, Schoffeleers shows, the people looked to Mbona, their "black Jesus," for redemption. Beyond reconstructing the cult's genesis, Schoffeleers traces its recent history, particularly in political context. He provides texts of seven cult myths from different historical periods in both Chimang'anja and English. His analysis presents the Mbona myth as a continuous social construction and deconstruction. Emphasizing the impact of political and spiritual oppression on the cult, he distinguishes between the differing versions of the myth preserved by the aristocracy and by the commonalty and demonstrates how these disparate views unite to preserve historical information. In so doing, he shows that cults serve as valuable repositories for historical information.