Southern Gods

Recent World War II veteran Bull Ingram is working as muscle when a Memphis DJ hires him to find Ramblin' John Hastur. The mysterious blues man's dark, driving music—broadcast at ever-shifting frequencies by a phantom radio station—is said to make living men insane and dead men rise. Disturbed and enraged by the bootleg recording the DJ plays for him, Ingram follows Hastur's trail into the strange, uncivilized backwoods of Arkansas, where he hears rumors the musician has sold his soul to the Devil. But as Ingram closes in on Hastur and those who have crossed his path, he'll learn there are forces much more malevolent than the Devil and reckonings more painful than Hell... In a masterful debut of Lovecraftian horror and Southern gothic menace, John Hornor Jacobs reveals the fragility of free will, the dangerous power of sacrifice, and the insidious strength of blood.

Recent World War II veteran Bull Ingram is working as muscle when a Memphis DJ hires him to find Ramblin' John Hastur. The mysterious blues man's dark, driving music—broadcast at ever-shifting frequencies by a phantom radio station—is said to make living men insane and dead men rise. Disturbed and enraged by the bootleg recording the DJ plays for him, Ingram follows Hastur's trail into the strange, uncivilized backwoods of Arkansas, where he hears rumors the musician has sold his soul to the Devil. But as Ingram closes in on Hastur and those who have crossed his path, he'll learn there are forces much more malevolent than the Devil and reckonings more painful than Hell… In a masterful debut of Lovecraftian horror and Southern gothic menace, John Hornor Jacobs reveals the fragility of free will, the dangerous power of sacrifice, and the insidious strength of blood.

In the Tournament of the Gods fantasy series, three mortals--a resurrected mage, a spoiled princess, and a man from a war-torn nation--are chosen to compete in a tournament for the ultimate prize of ascending to godhood. But a darker force schemes in the background to kill them all and destroy the world before they can stop it. For the first time, readers can get all four books in the Tournament of the Gods series--Gathering of the Chosen, Betrayal of the Chosen, Invasion of the Chosen, and Ascension of the Chosen--in one convenient package for one low price! KEYWORDS: epic fantasy adventure series, epic fantasy dragons, epic fantasy magic, epic fantasy sword and sorcery, sword and sorcery adult fantasy, sword and sorcery series, sword and sorcery series magic

For the first time ever, get all four books in the "Mages of Martir" sword and sorcery series--The Mage's Grave, The Mage's Limits, The Mage's Sea, and The Mage's Ghost--in one convenient package! In the Mages of Martir series, follow Darek Takren, a mage at the prestigious North Academy school of magic, and Durima, a minor spirit who works for the gods, as they clash with the evil entity known as Uron, who seeks to destroy all of Martir, and his various allies. At 50% of the price of buying all four books individually, it's a great deal for any fantasy fan. Also includes the Mages of Martir short story What Sharks Hide From, available in ebook format for the first time ever. This short story follows Archmage Yorak and her pupil Auratus as they investigate a mysterious occurrence near their school, but soon find themselves in the fight for their lives against a ruthless foe. This collection also includes the first chapter of Timothy L. Cerepaka's upcoming novel, Gathering of the Chosen! KEYWORDS: Epic Fantasy, Swords and Sorcery, Epic Fantasy Mystery, Swords and Sorcery Magic, Epic Fantasy Swords and Sorcery Adventure, Fantasy Magic School, Mage, Fantasy Gods, Fantasy Deities, Fantasy Collection, Fantasy Omnibus

Remains of Ritual, Steven M. Friedson’s second book on musical experience in African ritual, focuses on the Brekete/Gorovodu religion of the Ewe people. Friedson presents a multifaceted understanding of religious practice through a historical and ethnographic study of one of the dominant ritual sites on the southern coast of Ghana: a medicine shrine whose origins lie in the northern region of the country. Each chapter of this fascinating book considers a different aspect of ritual life, demonstrating throughout that none of them can be conceived of separately from their musicality—in the Brekete world, music functions as ritual and ritual as music. Dance and possession, chanted calls to prayer, animal sacrifice, the sounds and movements of wake keeping, the play of the drums all come under Friedson’s careful scrutiny, as does his own position and experience within this ritual-dominated society.

A Good Morning America Book Club Pick! • A bighearted novel with technicolor characters, plenty of Texas swagger, and a powder keg of a plot in which marriages struggle, rivalries flare, and secrets explode, all with a clever wink toward classical mythology. For fans of Madeline Miller's Circe: "The Iliad meets Friday Night Lights in this muscular, captivating debut" (Oprah Daily). The Briscoe family is once again the talk of their small town when March returns to East Texas two years after he was caught having an affair with his brother's wife. His mother, June, hardly welcomes him back with open arms. Her husband's own past affairs have made her tired of being the long-suffering spouse. Is it, perhaps, time for a change? Within days of March's arrival, someone is dead, marriages are upended, and even the strongest of alliances are shattered. In the end, the ties that hold them together might be exactly what drag them all down. An expansive tour de force, Olympus, Texas cleverly weaves elements of classical mythology into a thoroughly modern family saga, rich in drama and psychological complexity. After all, at some point, don't we all wonder: What good is this destructive force we call love?

Ancient religions are definitely complex systems of gods, which resist our understanding. Divine names provide fundamental keys to gain access to the multiples ways gods were conceived, characterized, and organized. Among the names given to the gods many of them refer to spaces: cities, landscapes, sanctuaries, houses, cosmic elements. They reflect mental maps which need to be explored in order to gain new knowledge on both the structure of the pantheons and the human agency in the cultic dimension. By considering the intersection between naming and mapping, this book opens up new perspectives on how tradition and innovation, appropriation and creation play a role in the making of polytheistic and monotheistic religions. Far from being confined to sanctuaries, in fact, gods dwell in human environments in multiple ways. They move into imaginary spaces and explore the cosmos. By proposing a new and interdiciplinary angle of approach, which involves texts, images, spatial and archeaeological data, this book sheds light on ritual practices and representations of gods in the whole Mediterranean, from Italy to Mesopotamia, from Greece to North Africa and Egypt. Names and spaces enable to better define, differentiate, and connect gods.

The overlapping worlds of gods and men collide in the concluding volume of an epic fantasy trilogy set in cold harsh arctic lands. In the Northlands of Davvieana, power rests in the hands of the High Priest of the Order of Believers. But his earthly supremacy is contested. Those few Piijkij that remain continue to honor the oath of the Brethren of Hunters: protect the Olmmoš people from danger. This time, however, it is not the immortal Jápmemeahttun who represent a threat to human freedom, but their own kind. Against insurmountable odds, this small band of dedicated men will use any and all means open to them to bring down the man who betrayed them all. The struggles of men, however, mean little to the immortals beyond the vail in the Song of All. Vanquished, facing a doomed existence, any hope for a future slowly slips away as the best efforts of Dárja and Marnej prove inadequate. When they both fail to safeguard those closest to them, the bond between these two unlikely allies, forged by necessity and emboldened by a tentative passion, may not be enough to overcome the secrets and lies that have shadowed their lives. When betrayal and shame guide the future, the outcome can be treacherous. For both humans and immortals to find their way forward, they must seek out those who offer an unprecedented vision over a quest for power.