Soulless

Valvermont was once the home of war veteran Gwenael Chabod, who has now been appointed commandant over the city's garrisons. His lover, Orin, a venerable priest of orc descent, is by his side when a man is transformed into a soulless creature before Gwenael's very eyes. Shortly afterwards, a young woman is killed. The only eyewitness is the thief Jaleel. His report uncovers horrors - and puts his own life in danger. Alongside his new friends and allies, Gwenael hunts the dark spirit that has taken over Valvermont, unaware of how close the darkness already is to him. And the whole time, Jaleel is by his side, evoking the most contradictory feelings in him.

Since the 1960s, there have been two schools of thought on the origins and nature of black consciousness: the adaptive-vitality school and the pathological-pathogenic school. The latter argues that in its divergences from white American norms and values, black American consciousness is nothing more than a pathological form of and reaction to American consciousness, rather than a dual (both African and American) counter hegemonic opposing 'identity-in-differential' (the term is Gayatri Spivak's) to the American one. Proponents of the adaptive-vitality school argue that the divergences are not pathologies but African 'institutional transformations' preserved on the American landscape. The purpose of this work is to understand black consciousness by working out the theoretical and methodological problems from which these two divergent schools are constructed, in order to arrive at a more sociohistorical, rather than racial, understanding of black consciousness. Using a variant of structuration theory to account for the sociohistorical development of black consciousness formation within the American social structure, author Paul Mocombe concludes that black American life is dual and pathological only in relation to a particular interpretive community, the black bourgeoisie or liberal middle class.

Legends of the Forbidden City Winter-Age Chronicles Crystal Rose Trilogy Book Three Crystal Rose You've never heard of the Bergrof Islands. The islands, which its people refer to as the Three Sisters, are located east of Boston. It's not on maps, it's not in encyclopedias. Independent of the United States, these three islands are one of the largest oil sources of the United States. These Islands, which could be reached by ferries and seaplanes, had a prestigious College, and Beatrice Hallburn was the most popular girl of this College. She had a rich family, a good education, a handsome and popular boyfriend. Everyone liked her, loved her, wanted to be like her. Miss Hallburn was safe and at peace. But everything was changing; people were going crazy, brutally attacking each other. Airports were closing, the United States Army was conducting operations somewhere every day, and government officials and insightful people were beginning to get nervous. These were, in fact, portents of a great storm, but almost no one, like Beatrice, cared about those. Almost none of them were prepared for what could happen to them. Bergrof was far enough from those events. Beatrice believed that nothing would change and that her carefree, beautiful life would always go like this. But over time, everything will change, she will realize that nothing is as it seems. It happens to all of us, usually with small events, we start to notice it. Someone's death, accidents, stormy love affairs... Beatrice, unfortunately, was not so lucky. The threshold for change that came to her was a nuclear bomb that exploded in New York. Their communications with the World have been cut off. All they could learn was that after this attack, infected people attacked their victims in droves and tore them apart… As Beatrice tried to survive in the reformed world, she would also rediscover herself and her feelings. The Crystal Rose Trilogy novels are a part of the Legends of the Forbidden City cosmos and the events in the books happen in the Winter-Age era. The story in this trilogy is in line with the other books of the same cosmos and era.

Chosen for advanced training by the god of war himself, Vardak is considered a paragon amongst his people, the Scorpion Men. Yet his position and training come with a cost: He must serve the whims of the god, with no questions asked. Only days after his training is complete, he is sent far away from his desert homeland in order to act as the protector of the Fire Maiden’s mortal daughter, Janna. Janna has been tasked with the recovery of a magical relic known as The Moon’s Eye, but she has little worldly experience to guide her. The Immortals deem the relic’s recovery imperative, for it alone can combat the rise of the Soulless—those sworn to the fallen, nameless god of death. The Soulless are ruthless and powerful, and eager to wage war upon the land in order to appease the god they serve. Though Vardak is skilled in battle, he must lead Janna through several perilous areas in order to reach the relic she seeks, pushing his abilities to the limit. Unbeknownst to the pair, the Soulless raise an army and begin their conquest, leaving a path of destruction in their wake. Will they secure The Moon’s Eye before all is lost, or will the relic itself prove to be their undoing?

The line between good and evil blurs even further as secrets from the past are finally revealed. Cameron, Samuel, and Malcolm survived the zombie trap that Chim set for them, but they paid a terrible price. Their goal is to reach Outpost Alanstown to confront Chim and Marius before the soulless ones take over the territory. Then an encounter with a group of bloodthirsty soulless ones separates the group sending each of them on their own treacherous journey to the rendezvous point. In Outpost Alanstown, Chim retrieves Marius from the edges of madness. Chim needs Marius to complete his plan, and Marius finds himself in the difficult position of having to help Chim in order to help himself. What no one knows is that someone has been behind the scenes this whole time pulling the strings like a skilled puppet master, and that person is someone they never expected to hear from again. Before they can find each other again, Cameron and Samuel must travel into the past to the time known only as ‘Before’ to uncover their true destinies. The journey to the final battle is coming, but who will be left standing at the end is still a mystery. Length: 41,000 words The complete Twisted Souls series is available now: The Soul Ripper (Twisted Souls #1) Twisted Souls (Twisted Souls #2) Soul Cycle (Twisted Souls #3) A Soul to Settle (Twisted Souls #4) Keywords: zombie military, zombie horror, zombie books, zombies history, zombie fiction, zombie apocalypse series, zombie invasion, zombie apocalypse, zombie fiction, horror demons, zombie origins

After being brutally attacked, Catherine Wilcox must discover her own inner strength and courage as she struggles to piece her life back together. She finds herself falling in love with the emergency room physician who treats her, but soon realizes the attack has left her so emotionally scarred that she must turn away the only man who truly loves her. And at a time when she feels her life is finally beginning to heal, Catherine must then face the devastation of learning that her dearest friend has terminal cancer. In A Soul Less Broken we follow Catherine as she discovers the depth of true friendship, the healing power of love, and the stamina of the human spirit. About the Author Helen Laibach lives in Southern California with her husband of twenty years and their youngest daughter. Along with being an avid reader and talented nature photographer, Helen enjoys writing contemporary women's fiction. All her novels will have messages of hope, self-discovery, and empowerment. And while the characters will go through their fair share of loss, heartbreak, betrayal, and even danger, this author promises that each book will have an ending that satisfies. Her debut novel, A Soul Less Broken, is no exception.