Engelska

In the Tale of The Fall of Gondolin are two of the greatest powers in the world. There is Morgoth of the uttermost evil, unseen in this story but ruling over a vast military power from his fortress of Angband. Deeply opposed to Morgoth is Ulmo, second in might only to Manwë, chief of the Valar. Central to this enmity of the gods is the city of Gondolin, beautiful but undiscoverable. It was built and peopled by Noldorin Elves who, when they dwelt in Valinor, the land of the gods, rebelled against their rule and fled to Middle-earth. Turgon King of Gondolin is hated and feared above all his enemies by Morgoth, who seeks in vain to discover the marvellously hidden city, while the gods in Valinor in heated debate largely refuse to intervene in support of Ulmo's desires and designs. Into this world comes Tuor, cousin of Túrin, the instrument of Ulmo's designs. Guided unseen by him Tuor sets out from the land of his birth on the fearful journey to Gondolin, and in one of the most arresting moments in the history of Middle-earth the sea-god himself appears to him, rising out of the ocean in the midst of a storm. In Gondolin he becomes great; he is wedded to Idril, Turgon's daughter, and their son is Eärendel, whose birth and profound importance in days to come is foreseen by Ulmo. At last comes the terrible ending. Morgoth learns through an act of supreme treachery all that he needs to mount a devastating attack on the city, with Balrogs and dragons and numberless Orcs. After a minutely observed account of the fall of Gondolin, the tale ends with the escape of Tuor and Idril, with the child Eärendel, looking back from a cleft in the mountains as they flee southward, at the blazing wreckage of their city. They were journeying into a new story, the Tale of Eärendel, which Tolkien never wrote, but which is sketched out in this book from other sources. Following his presentation of Beren and Lúthien Christopher Tolkien has used the same 'history in sequence' mode in the writing of this edition of The Fall of Gondolin. In the words of J.R.R. Tolkien, it was 'the first real story of this imaginary world' and, together with Beren and Lúthien and The Children of Húrin, he regarded it as one of the three 'Great Tales' of the Elder Days.

The tale of Beren and Lúthien was, or became, an essential element in the evolution of The Silmarillion, the myths and legends of the First Age of the World conceived by J.R.R. Tolkien. Returning from France and the battle of the Somme at the end of 1916, he wrote the tale in the following year. Essential to the story, and never changed, is the fate that shadowed the love of Beren and Lúthien: for Beren was a mortal man, but Lúthien was an immortal Elf. Her father, a great Elvish lord, in deep opposition to Beren, imposed on him an impossible task that he must perform before he might wed Lúthien. This is the kernel of the legend; and it leads to the supremely heroic attempt of Beren and Lúthien together to rob the greatest of all evil beings, Melkor, called Morgoth, the Black Enemy, of a Silmaril. In this book Christopher Tolkien has attempted to extract the story of Beren and Lúthien from the comprehensive work in which it was embedded; but that story was itself changing as it developed new associations within the larger history. To show something of the process whereby this legend of Middle-earth evolved over the years, he has told the story in his father's own words by giving, first, its original form, and then passages in prose and verse from later texts that illustrate the narrative as it changed. Presented together for the first time, they reveal aspects of the story, both in event and in narrative immediacy, that were afterwards lost.

Deborah Harkness first introduced the world to Diana Bishop, an Oxford scholar and witch, and vampire geneticist Matthew de Clermont in A Discovery of Witches. Drawn to each other despite long-standing taboos, these two otherworldly beings found themselves at the center of a battle for a lost, enchanted manuscript known as Ashmole 782. Since then, they have fallen in love, traveled to Elizabethan England, dissolved the Covenant between the three species, and awoken the dark powers within Diana’s family line. Now, Diana and Matthew receive a formal demand from the Congregation: They must test the magic of their seven-year-old twins, Pip and Rebecca. Concerned with their safety and desperate to avoid the same fate that led her parents to spellbind her, Diana decides to forge a different path for her family’s future and answers a message from a great-aunt she never knew existed, Gwyneth Proctor, whose invitation simply reads: It’s time you came home, Diana. On the hallowed ground of Ravenswood, the Proctor family home, and under the tutelage of Gwyneth, a talented witch grounded in higher magic, a new era begins for Diana: a confrontation with her family’s dark past and a reckoning for her own desire for even greater power—if she can let go, finally, of her fear of wielding it. In this stunning new novel, grand in scope, Deborah Harkness deepens the beloved world of All Souls with powerful new magic and long-hidden secrets, and the path Diana finds at Ravenswood leads to the most consequential moments yet in this cherished series.

A lone astronaut. An impossible mission. An ally he never imagined. Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission - and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company. His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it's up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery-and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species. And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he's got to do it all alone. Or does he?

A man awakes in a clearing in what appears to be medieval England with no memory of who he is, where he came from, or why he is there. Chased by a group from his own time, his sole hope for survival lies in regaining his missing memories, making allies among the locals, and perhaps even trusting in their superstitious boasts. His only help from the "real world" should have been a guidebook entitled <i>The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England</i>, except his copy exploded during transit. The few fragments he managed to save provide clues to his situation, but can he figure them out in time to survive?<br/><br/> ******<br/><br/><b>Praise for Brandon Sanderson</b><br/><br/> "Epic in every sense." -<b><i>The Guardian</i></b> on <i>The Way of Kings</i><br/><br/> "Brandon Sanderson's reputation is finally as big as his novels." -<b><i>The New York Times</i></b> on <i>Words of Radiance</i><br/><br/> "If you're a fan of fantasy and haven't read the Mistborn trilogy yet, you have no excuses." -<b><i>Forbes</i></b> on <i>Mistborn</i><br/><br/> "A fresh view of how a world can grow, building new dimensions into the best of the old. Sanderson continues to show that he is one of the best authors in the genre." -<b><i>Library Journal</i></b> (starred review) on <i>The Alloy of Law</i><br/><br/> "Sanderson's fresh ideas on the source and employment of magic are both arresting and original [...] Think brisk. Think fun. Enjoy." -<b><i>Kirkus</i></b>, on <i>The Alloy of Law</i><br/><br/> "Mystery, magic, romance, political wrangling, religious conflict, fights for equality, sharp writing and wonderful, robust characters...Sanderson is a writer to watch." -<b><i>Publishers Weekly</i></b>, starred review, on <i>Elantris</i>

While a moon hurtles toward certain destruction, taking with it a Weyland-Yutani bioweapons lab, talks on a nearby colony could lead to all-out war among the colonies. HYGIEIA-AN OUTER RIM COLONY-IS DOOMED The moon on which it was built hurtles toward an inevitable collision with the dead planet Hephaestus. The clock is ticking, yet when a distress signal arrives from a Weyland-Yutani biowarfare outpost, a desperate plan is launched to evacuate the trapped scientists. Meanwhile, across the galaxy a mysterious black substance rains down on Earth settlements, creating hideous monsters from indigenous creatures... and from human beings. Terran governments point the accusingfinger at one another.Thus on LV-846-a United Americas colony-high-level talks convene to address the galaxy-wide hostilities, but there's a plot brewing among the participants. One which could plunge the colonies into all-out war. The only hope for peace may lie with the deadliest ally imaginable... BONUS FEATURE An exclusive new role playing game scenario based on the massively popular, award-winning Alien RPG from Free League Publishing!

<b>Welcome back to Glimmer Falls!<br/></b><br/>Calladia Cunnington knows she's rough around the edges and her hot temper can get<br/>the best of her. So when she stops a demon attack one night, she's horrified to realize the man she saved is none other than the cold-hearted Astaroth.<br/><br/>Astaroth is a legendary member of the demon high council - or at least he was. Suffering from amnesia after being stripped of his immortality and banished to the mortal plane, Astaroth doesn't know why a demon named Moloch is after him, nor why the angry, hot-in-a-terrifying-way witch hates him so much.<br/><br/>Calladia grudgingly agrees to help Astaroth find the witch who might be able to restore his memory, vowing that once Astaroth is cured, she'll kick his ass. But the more time she spends with the snarky yet utterly charming demon, the more she realizes she likes this new, improved Astaroth... and maybe she doesn't want him to recover his memories after all.<br/><br/>Praise for Sarah Hawley<br/><br/>'Whimsically sexy, charmingly romantic, and magically hilarious' <i>Ali Hazelwood</i><br/><br/>'Reading this book is like standing in the bright heart of magic. I laughed, I swooned, I sighed dreamily, often on the same page. It truly was a sparkling delight, and I can't wait to see what spell Hawley weaves for us next!' India Holton, bestselling author of <i>THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEWOMEN WITCHES</i><br/><br/>'If GOOD OMENS were a small-town, enemies-to-lovers romcom. It's bright, bubbly, sexy, funny, and glorious.' Vivien Jackson