Epic Classics

The poem "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman first appeared in his 1855 volume Leaves of Grass. "Song of Myself" is written in Whitman’s signature free verse style. The "I" of the narrator should not be confused with the person of the historical Walt Whitman, as the first-person persona is portrayed as having transcended the conventional boundaries of self. Most critics consider "Song of Myself" as the core of Whitman’s poetic vision, and it remains one of the most acclaimed of all American poems.

Parzival is a medieval epic poem written by the knight-poet Wolfram von Eschenbach. It is divided into 16 books, each composed of several 30-line stanzas of rhyming couplets. Regarded as one of the literary masterpieces of the Middle Ages, the romantic poem commonly dated to the early part of the 13th century. The verse narrative focuses on the Arthurian hero Parzival and his long quest for the Holy Grail after his initial failure to achieve it.

Of the two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer, The Odyssey serves to some extent as a sequel to The Iliad. The poem describes the journey home of Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, after the fall of Troy. In the Greek sources, the Trojan War lasted 10 years, and Odysseus spent 10 more years on the return journey due to the hostility of Poseidon, the god of earth and sea. Odysseus' fantastical adventures include a period of captivity on Calypso’s island, a visit to the lethargic lotus eaters, an encounter with a one-eyed Cyclops, and more.

Warren Parish is literally about to go to hell and back to protect his daughter, but first, he must save her from an even closer danger - heaven. The council of angels has decreed Iliana must be brought to Eden to be made a seraph - an angel frozen as a child. And though it means Warren can finally be with her, she will never grow up. She will never access her power. And she will never have the life he sacrificed everything to give her. Time is running out. He has until her first birthday to bring her to Eden. If not, the guardians will be sent for her.

Merlin’s final words haunt the Sentinel’s dreams. Kellan’s eidetic memory replays them with perfect clarity each night since he breached the guff and withdrew three human souls. Now, more than a year later, both he and his Soulborn wife are visited by an entity who channeled Universal power to enter our world from another. This Emissary of Destruction provides the young Sentinel with a gift of unimaginable power and a dire warning. This combination sets Kellan on a journey which takes him to the land of Fae. There he must gain support from the Fairy King and Queen.

Danny is finally headed back home to Diadem to see his family and settle some old wrongs. The men of Diadem have been sacrificing their own potentials for the sake of the country for long enough, and Danny has the perfect solution.

Edric wanted to build something great, a safe haven for players and awakened NPCs to thrive in peace. With his fellow rulers, Faye, Claudia, and Rayna, they feel they are on the cusp of something grand and inspiring. When trolls are found murdered on Eloran streets and the dead walk at night, the city soon realizes there is something darker taking place in the supposedly peaceful kingdom. With the delicate political balance in jeopardy and war threatening all of Lukken, Edric and his fellow rulers must come together to discover these secret threats before it is too late.

Armon Ellington died on Earth and was transported to Terra, a world governed by rules eerily similar to the RPG games he loved. In addition to finding a way to become more powerful, he also found the friends and family he’d always longed for. Unfortunately, he also discovered the pain of losing them. Now, Armon finally has the information he’s been searching for. He knows where the kidnapped kobolds that the Imperare took are. A city deep in the heart of the Imperare Empire and a place renowned for its gladiatorial arenas.

Kalinda has brought peace to the Tarachand Empire, at least for now. Bhutas no longer need to hide their gifts. The last of the rebels have been banished. And Prince Ashwin is set to take over as rajah. But for Kalinda, this came at a great loss. Her childhood home. Her best friend. The love of her life. Deven is still trapped in the Void, though he is able to find his way to Kalinda each night. He has been lucky so far—mortals are not meant to last in the Void for long, and Deven has lasted longer than most. But when he doesn’t visit one night, Kalinda knows that his luck has run out.

Six years after The Half-Drowned King, Ragnvald Eysteinsson is now king of Sogn, but fighting battles for King Harald keeps him away from home, as he confronts treachery and navigates a political landscape that grows more dangerous. Ragnvald’s sister Svanhild has found the adventure she craves at the side of the rebel explorer Solvi Hunthiofsson, though not without a cost. She longs for a home where her quiet son can grow strong, and a place where she can put down roots, even as Solvi’s ambition draws him back to Norway’s battles again and keeps her divided from her brother.

The Waking Land, announced the arrival of a brilliant new talent in epic fantasy. Now, with The Memory of Fire, Bates expertly deepens her tale, spinning glittering threads of magic and intrigue into a vibrant tapestry of adventure, betrayal, and romance. Thanks to the magic of Elanna Valtai and the Paladisan noble, Jahan Korakides, the lands once controlled by the empire of Paladis have won their independence. But as Elanna exhausts her powers restoring the ravaged land, news that the emperor is readying an invasion spurs Jahan on a desperate mission to establish peace.

Kellan Thorne loves the Christmas season. He plans a well-deserved rest consisting of parties and watching Christmas classics. However, fate has different plans for Kellan and his Soulborn who find themselves swept up with gods, goddesses, and mantles of immense power. As the eternal battle between order and chaos continues to play out, Kellan quickly finds himself at odds with forces beyond both his understanding and ability to control. To safeguard all those he holds dear, Kellan must breach a celestial treasury sealed shut at the dawn of creation and pull forth a wizard's soul.

It's never been easy to be a hero. When Beowulf arrives at Hrothgar's hall, he discovers that the hall is beset by Grendel, an evil creature that kills and pillages with impunity. Beowulf, in heroic fashion, bests Grendel in combat, then follows Grendel back to his lair to finish the job.

The oldest long poem in Old English, written about AD 1,000, Beowulf tells the story of a great warrior of southern Scandinavia, in both youth and maturity. The monster Grendel terrorizes the Scyldings of Hrothgar's Danish Kingdom until Beowulf defeats him. As a result, he has to face her enraged mother. Beowulf dies after a battle against a fierce dragon.

Het leven van de jonge boerenzoon Eragon verandert van de ene dag op de andere als hij op een jacht in de wouden van de onherbergzame Rug een raadselachtige blauwe steen vindt. Aanvankelijk is Eragon blij met de vondst, maar tot zijn grote teleurstelling wil geen van de handelaren die jaarlijks door de Vallei van Palencar trekken de steen van hem kopen. Dan geeft de steen zijn geheim prijs en is Eragon getuige van de geboorte van een drakenjong. Tussen Eragon en de draak, Saphira, ontstaat een hechte band. Maar de vondst van de steen is niet onopgemerkt gebleven.

Published in English for the first time, and the only Arabic epic named for a woman, The Tale of Princess Fatima recounts the thrilling adventures of a legendary medieval warrior universally known throughout the Middle East and long overdue to join world literature's pantheon of female heroes.

Not since Terry Goodkind unsheathed the Sword of Truth has there been such an epic tale of heroism and magic that so captures the imagination as this monumental new work by a master storyteller. In The Fifth Sorceress, Robert Newcomb conjures a time and place wrought with exquisite detail, characters vividly drawn and deeply felt, and a history rich in glory and horror, splendor and secrets.

After his father’s untimely death, Nicholas Nickleby is charged with supporting his mother and sister as he finds his way in the world. Broke, Nickleby goes to his maleficent uncle Ralph for help. The ruthless and resentful businessman appeases his nephew with a thankless position at a grim orphans’ home. Nickleby is swiftly conspired against, and the young man is forced to leave his family and London behind. Accompanied by colorful eccentrics and a rogues’ gallery of villains, Nickleby is tested at every turn on his journey home and to self-discovery.

Out of the mixture of Latin and Germanic paganism and the Christianity of the Early Middle Ages has sprung one of the world's supremely great pieces of literature. J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, delivered a famous lecture to the British Academy in 1936 in which he maintained that Beowulf was a poem all of a piece, and not (as had been suggested) a jumble of fragments for pedantic scholars to paw over.

Napoleon has England on edge. For the cunning and conniving Becky Sharp, it’s an opportunity to take advantage of the chaos and improve her lowly station. Her friend Amelia Sedley, a blue-blood pawn, affords Becky entrée into the moneyed class. As the guileless Amelia pines for a rakish soldier, the ruthless Becky climbs upward, setting the stage for a domestic battlefield of greed, ambition, deception, and dizzying reversals of love and fortune.