Northern Wrath

"Packs a punch worthy of the Thunderer himself. It rocks!" -- Joanne Harris, author of The Gospel of Loki "Holdt wows in her Norse mythology inspired debut an electrifying adventure" -- Publishers Weekly, starred review A dead man, walking between the worlds, foresees the end of the gods. A survivor searching for a weapon releases a demon from fiery Muspelheim. A village is slaughtered by Christians, and revenge must be taken. The bonds between the gods and Midgard are weakening. It is up to Hilda, Ragnar, their tribesmen Einer and Finn, the chief's wife Siv and Tyra, her adopted daughter, to fight to save the old ways from dying out, and to save their gods in the process. Following in the steps of Neil Gaiman & Joanne Harris, the author expertly weaves Norse myths and compelling characters into this fierce, magical epic fantasy.

Book three of the acclaimed, bestselling epic fantasy Renshai Chronicles—discover the intricate Renshai universe, infused with Norse mythology, tangled intrigue, and cataclysmic magical battles. The mortal kingdoms are caught up in a shared catastrophe, cursed with sterility by the magic of the dark elves. Still, what elves have caused they may perhaps put right. Humanity’s last hope hinges on a magical talisman—the Pica Stone. One of only nine solid objects ever created by magic, the Pica Stone was shattered in the days of the last Wizards. But when Captain, oldest of the elves, joins with his fellow light elves to work a spell to draw together all the scattered pieces of this legendary gem, eight shards remain missing, lost on worlds throughout the planes of existence. The elves spell-shift a party of questers to each of these worlds to find the shards. Among the chosen are the Renshai warrior Kevral, her husband Ra-khir the knight, and Tae, a newly made prince and former thief. Each world offers unique challenges, but with the extinction of the human race as the price of failure, there can be no turning back....

For three hundred years, the country of Skavia has lived under the rule of the Armloth Empire, the dominant power in Aestar. Though centuries have passed, resentment still lingers in the heart of many Skavians. They clamor for freedom, for independence once more. They may soon get their wish, for unseen forces prowl in the shadow of the Armloth Empire, their motives unknown but their determination to see the mighty empire fall is without rival. War is brewing, lines are being drawn, and the world holds its breath. Meanwhile, in these troubling times, a group of bandits ply their less than honest trade out in the Skavian wilderness. They prey on all who enters their hunting grounds, unconcerned about matters of states or nationalism, and motivated purely by their lust for riches. None more so than Wulfrik, the leader of this band of misfits. A man of avarice and selfishness, with no ties to anyone but himself, he was destined for a life on the run from the law. But destiny has a funny way of ensnaring even the most unwilling of victims, and this lowly bandit will soon fi nd himself swept up in events far beyond what he has ever imagined.

With the Great War over, the Renshai have won back the Fields of Wrath. As the survivors limp homeward, Tae Kahn--Subikahn's father--fears that a far larger and fiercer wave of enemy soldiers is headed toward them. One Kjempemagiska and an army of their man-sized servants nearly defeated the entire Continent. This time, Tae is certain the ranks will include hundreds of these strong, magical, island-dwelling giants. The only hope for the peoples of the Continent is to regather their war-weary troops and convince the few magical beings of their own world to assist them. It becomes a race against time as Tae, his friends, and his family struggle to convince the Continental generals of the danger; attempt to turn reluctant, antagonistic mages and elves into allies; spy on the giant Kjempemagiska sorcerors; and seek some means to defeat an enemy powerful beyond contemplation.

The final book in Mickey Zucker Reichert’s acclaimed, bestselling epic fantasy Renshai Trilogy—an intricate world of Norse mythology, slashing swordplay, and devastating sorcery. Colbey’s duties in the world of mortals were seemingly done—the Renshai were safely established in a community of their own, and Sterrane was ruling peacefully in the kingdom of Bearn. Now Colbey must face the Seven Tasks of Wizardry and learn whether he is truly the new Western Wizard, keeper of neutrality. But Colbey is about to discover that there is an Eighth Task far more dangerous not only to himself, but to the worlds of humans and gods alike. And even if he survives to take on that eighth challenge, there are those among the gods, Wizards, and mortalkind ready to make loyal allies into weapons to use against Colbey. For with Ragnarok looming over all the worlds, both those sworn to law and those promised to chaos will unite to stop the Wizard-warrior by any means—though their very actions against Colbey may become the catalyst for mutual destruction.

This provocative study proves the existence of a de facto Confederate policy of giving no quarter to captured black combatants during the Civil War—killing them instead of treating them as prisoners of war. Rather than looking at the massacres as a series of discrete and random events, this work examines each as part of a ruthless but standard practice. Author George S. Burkhardt details a fascinating case that the Confederates followed a consistent pattern of murder against the black soldiers who served in Northern armies after Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation. He shows subsequent retaliation by black soldiers and further escalation by the Confederates, including the execution of some captured white Federal soldiers, those proscribed as cavalry raiders, foragers, or house-burners, and even some captured in traditional battles. Further disproving the notion of Confederates as victims who were merely trying to defend their homes, Burkhardt explores the motivations behind the soldiers’ actions and shows the Confederates’ rage at the sight of former slaves—still considered property, not men—fighting them as equals on the battlefield. Burkhardt’s narrative approach recovers important dimensions of the war that until now have not been fully explored by historians, effectively describing the systemic pattern that pushed the conflict toward a black flag, take-no-prisoners struggle.

During six months in 1862, William Jefferson Whatley and his wife, Nancy Falkaday Watkins Whatley, exchanged a series of letters that vividly demonstrate the quickly changing roles of women whose husbands left home to fight in the Civil War. When William Whatley enlisted with the Confederate Army in 1862, he left his young wife Nancy in charge of their cotton farm in East Texas, near the village of Caledonia in Rusk County. In letters to her husband, Nancy describes in elaborate detail how she dealt with and felt about her new role, which thrust her into an array of unfamiliar duties, including dealing with increasingly unruly slaves, overseeing the harvest of the cotton crop, and negotiating business transactions with unscrupulous neighbors. At the same time, she carried on her traditional family duties and tended to their four young children during frequent epidemics of measles and diphtheria. Stationed hundreds of miles away, her husband could only offer her advice, sympathy, and shared frustration. In An East Texas Family’s Civil War, the Whatleys’ great-grandson, John T. Whatley, transcribes and annotates these letters for the first time. Notable for their descriptions of the unraveling of the local slave labor system and accounts of rural southern life, Nancy’s letters offer a rare window on the hardships faced by women on the home front taking on unprecedented responsibilities and filling unfamiliar roles.