Epic Classics

The Trojan War is over, and Odysseus, the cunning King of Ithaca, sets out for home, his wife Penelope, and his son, Telemachus. It proves a long, 10-year journey, fraught with dangers.

Wallie Smith had been dying on another world when the Goddess transferred his mind to the body of the barbarian swordsman Shonsu. Then She gave him the great, magical Sapphire Sword of Chioxin and sent him on a mission. All he had to do was to lead the arrogant band of swordsmen to destroy the sorcerers and their Fire God. Now Wallie discovered that he'd already tried it - and been hopelessly defeated.

Twice upon a time, Prince Rupert and Princess Julia saved the Forest Kingdom. They have earned the right to live happily ever after. But there' s a blue moon on the rise... Hawk and Fisher, famous for their years of keeping the peace in Haven, are really quite happy being legends. They gave up the hero business when they decided they'd grown too old for it. Now they run the Hero Academy, training young hopefuls to be heroes. Legends never die, but it seems they cannot retire, either.

Here is Old Man's War author John Scalzi's sendup of the heroic fantasy genre, now a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story.

Situada l'any 2941 de la Tercera Edat del Sol, la història del hòbbit Bilbo arrenca amb la recerca d´un tresor. Fins ara la vida del protagonista ha estat molt tranquil·la i rutinària, però tot canvia quan el mag Gàndalf el recluta perquè sigui el tretzè membre de la companyia de Thorin, una colla de nans originaris d'Èrebor, d'un quant temps ençà a l'exili des que una bèstia temible els va foragitar de casa seva.

After the death of his mentor, an apprentice wizard must fight to escape a world he doesn’t understand. When the wizard Jaldis heard the cry from beyond the Void, telling of a world where magic was dead and begging for his aid, he and his apprentice, Rhion, went to help. Crossing the Void takes all of their strength, and when Rhion awakes on the other side, he learns that the task is beyond them. Jaldis is dead, and the portal home gone with him. Now he is trapped in a place called Earth, in a nation beset from all sides by its enemies. The men who called him here need a wizard to save them, and though Rhion is but a novice, he will have to do.

Once, it was said, Wensha had been a city of witches, summoning and controlling demons for their evil magic. But in nearby Tandieras, Kaltha claimed to have found their lost book of spells to perform only white magic. When Sun Wolf arrived, he discovered increasing signs of evil magic and demon-controlling spells. And he realized, too late, that a new swarm of demons was trying to lure him to his death....

Ever since the slaughter of the witches, the Fae—who should be shielding their long-lost cousins from danger—have ignored the needs of the rest of the world. And shadows are again gathering in the eastern villages—dark, potent shadows that threaten the lives of every witch, woman, and Fae. Only three Fae can stand against the growing madness and help prevent more bloodshed—the Bard, the Muse, and the Gatherer of Souls.

Like the tentacles of an octopus, the railroad in California reached out across the state, grasping everything of value in the state. Based on the bloody Mussel Slough Tragedy - a conflict between wheat farmers and the Southern Pacific Railroad - The Octopus is a stunning novel chronicling the twilight of the frontier West. A depiction of the tensions between the railroad, the ranchers, and the ranchers’ League. The book emphasizes the control of “forces” - such as the power of railroad monopolies - over individuals.

This 1872 sequel to Lewis Carroll's beloved Alice's Adventures in Wonderland finds the inquisitive heroine in a fantastic land where everything is reversed. Looking-glass land, a topsy-turvy world lurking just behind the mirror over Alice's mantel, is a fantastic realm of live chessmen, madcap kings and queens, strange mythological creatures, talking flowers and puddings, and rude insects.

After a century of imprisonment, demons have broken free of the wardstones surrounding the Worldwound. As fiends flood south into civilized lands, Count Varian Jeggare and his hellspawn bodyguard, Radovan, must search through the ruins of a fallen nation for the blasphemous text that opened the gate to the Abyss in the first place - and which might hold the key to closing it. In order to succeed, however, the heroes will need to join forces with pious crusaders, barbaric local warriors, and even one of the legendary god callers.

The power and the beauty of The Iliad resound again across 2,700 years in Stephen Mitchell's exciting new translation, as if the lifeblood of its heroes Achilles and Patroclus, Hector and Priam flowed in every word. And we are there with them amid the horror and ecstasy of war, carried along by a poetry that lifts even the most devastating human events into the realm of the beautiful.

When reading and writing are the most important things in the world. Jevick, the pepper merchant's son, has been raised on stories of Olondria, a distant land where books are as common as they are rare in his home - but which his mother calls the Ghost Country. When his father dies and Jevick takes his place on the yearly selling trip to Olondria, Jevick's life is as close to perfect as he can imagine. Just as he revels in Olondria's Rabelaisian Feast of Birds, he is pulled drastically off course and becomes haunted by the ghost of an illiterate young girl.

Paradise (Paradiso) is the third canticle of Dante Alighieri's world-renowned narrative poem describing the poet's journey through the realms of the afterlife. Here Dante is guided by his beloved Beatrice through the nine celestial regions of Paradise, leading to the last, Empyrean Heaven, the dwelling place of God and the angels.

Outwardly, Jovan is the lifelong friend of the Chancellor’s charming, irresponsible Heir. Quiet. Forgettable. In secret, he's a master of poisons and chemicals, trained to protect the Chancellor’s family from treachery. When the Chancellor succumbs to an unknown poison and an army lays siege to the city, Jovan and his sister Kalina must protect the Heir and save their city-state. But treachery lurks in every corner, and the ancient spirits of the land are rising...and angry.

In the deep forests of Kyonin, elves live secretively among their own kind, far from the prying eyes of other races. Few of impure blood are allowed beyond the nation's borders, and thus it's a great honor for the half-elven Count Varian Jeggare and his hellspawn bodyguard, Radovan, to be allowed inside. Yet all is not well in the elven kingdom: Demons stir in its depths, and an intricate web of politics seems destined to catch the two travelers in its snares.

As Evan focuses on rebuilding Hatra, he discovers the project, and the city, are much bigger than he first thought. And things are lurking in the shadowed ruins. Then a phoenix princess comes flying out of the desert, and she begs Evan to save her people from deadly creatures that have pursued them relentlessly. Evan’s not one to turn down a beautiful princess, and besides, there is treasure to be found in the desert. Maybe it’s time to start his own dragon hoard...

Almost before the last echoes of the famous guns have died away, the three Navarone heroes are parachuted into war-torn Yugoslavia to rescue a division of partisans and fulfil a secret mission, so deadly that it must be hidden even from their own allies.

Pizza, coffee, and a library full of unplayed games. That's the plan, or at least it was supposed to be. Instead, an average gamer finds himself seemingly transported into the world of his favorite game. While some might appreciate that, it's quickly apparent that he isn't in some sort of virtual reality experiment, all of his downloaded mods are active, and the world is likely set to its highest difficulty with permadeath enabled.

Here are the most exciting and essential parts of two historic, epic poems: the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey". The ancient words of Homer find a new home in today's world - spoken aloud, just as Homer intended. Translated by Stanley Lombardo.