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Caillean, the young priestess fated to become Lady of Avalon, who rescues and raises the orphaned Gawen—heir to a mystic and dangerous royal line...Dierna, who must use all her strength, wisdom, and love to guide Avalon through treacherous political waters and veil the island from a hostile world...Viviane, Lady of the Lake and keeper of the Grail, destined for true greatness as she prepares Avalon for the coming of a legendary king...
Bestselling author Marion Zimmer Bradley brings the mesmerizing world of myth and magic, romance and history, brilliantly to life in this novel of epic grandeur worthy of fantasy’s finest storyteller.
In a Britain struggling to survive Roman invasion, Eilan is the daughter of a Druidic warleader, gifted with visions and marked by fate to become a priestess of the Forest House.
But fate also led Eilan to Gaius, a soldier of mixed blood, son of the Romans sent to subdue the native British. For Gaius, Eilan felt forbidden love, and her terrible secret will haunt her even as she is anointed as the new High Priestess. With mighty enemies poised to destroy the magic the Forest House shelters, Eilan must trust in the power of the great Goddess to lead her through the treacherous labyrinth of her destiny.
Take The Forest House Quiz!
From the introduction: Effective use of the runes requires both the old wisdom and the new. The student must not only consciously study the meanings ascribed to the runes by earlier scholars, but must internalize them.
Today, the best-known application of rune lore is divination: chips or stones marked with the runes are drawn, cast, or laid out in patterns like tarot cards. In Taking Up the Runes, Paxson delves into the ancient historical meaning of each rune and explains their contemporary uses and meanings. We discover that the real power of runes comes from inside ourselves when we find the wisdom and power within each symbol and internalize them.
Taking Up the Runes is the ultimate workbook for using the runes on a psychic, spiritual, and magical level. Learn how to make your own rune set and how to use the runes in guided meditations and song.
Epic in its sweep and peopled by the remarkable women who have always inhabited Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley?s Ravens of Avalon expands the legendary saga that has enchanted millions of readers over the years and is sure to please Bradley?s loyal readership and anyone who loves wonderfully told stories of history, myth, and fantasy.
Regis Hastur was the heir to the most powerful domain on Darkover. When his grandfather died, he would inherit the title Hastur of Hastur, Regent of Darkover—king in everything but name. But ironically, this mantle was the last thing Regis had ever wanted. For he dreamed of a different kind of life—a life with the freedom to live and love like an ordinary man, without the expectations and responsibilities of his position.
Yet even Regis recognized Darkover’s desperate need for strong, rational leadership—leadership only he had been trained to provide. But now that his time was at hand, was Regis willing to make the personal sacrifices necessary to lead his world? Or would he turn away from his destiny and finally make his real dreams come true? For on his grandfather’s deathbed Regis learns that he has a brother—an older half-brother who could finally relieve Regis of the burden of title he had never wanted…. Would Regis finally let himself be free to be the man he had always dreamed of being?
After generations of struggle to protect the unique native culture of Darkover from the ambitions of the ruthless Terran Federation, the Terrans have finally been forced to abandon Darkover due to interstellar civil war.
As Lew Alton—returned home to the world of his birth after decades spent in exile as the Darkovan representative to the Terran Senate—wrestles with the dark shadows from his past, his daughter Marguerida’s psychic Gifts warn her of impending danger. But danger to whom? Her husband Mikhail, as powerful head of the Hastur Doman is her most obvious worry, for many would stand to gain from his demise.
Meanwhile, unknown to Marguerida, her son, Domenic, searches for his place in a world of shifting loyalties, torn by love for two very different women, and troubled by his destiny as the heir to Hastur.
But while Darkover’s powerful rulers face their personal demons, desperate refugees flood the streets of Thendara, Darkover’s capital city, for in the mountains an ancient menace is once again on the rise—a power against which neither sword nor the psychic sorcery of Darkover can prevail.
Set during the lawless Ages of Chaos, when the ruling families of the Seven Domains of Darkover ruthlessly inbred their psychic offspring to gain powerful and fearsome talents, two young women are born with "wild" psychic gifts. These stories—Stormqueen! and Hawkmistress!, one tragic and one triumphant—combine to give the reader a vivid and poignant picture of a devastating time period in the history of this fantastic world.
Stormqueen!
During the lawless Ages of Chaos, when the ruling families of Darkover ruthlessly inbred their laran-gifted offspring to gain powerful talents, a baby was born to the lord of Aldaran. This child, born on a dark and thunder-filled night, was possessed of a terrifying and uncontrolled talent: Dorilys, heiress to her father’s domain, could unwittingly call forth lightning, even while still a fretful child. Fearful for his daughter’s life and the safety of his domain, Lord Aldaran sent to a tower for help. But even the powers of a trained monitor and a Hastur lord might not be enough to save this painfully afflicted and deadly young woman.
Hawkmistress!
Romilly was an independent tomboy from a noble family, contrary to the social demands of Darkovan women. That was bad enough, but when Romilly’s father arranged her marriage to a nobleman she found repulsive, she rebelled. Disguising herself as a boy, she fled into the deep forests. Living off the land was not nearly as difficult for Romilly as for most people, for she possessed a rare and highly-treasured gift—telepathic communication with hawk and horse. But Romilly soon discovered her newfound freedom was far from complete. Pulled into the maelstrom of a civil war, could Romilly find her true role in life without sacrificing her ideals?
From the Paperback edition.
Nominated for a Hugo Award, and described as “Bradley’s best [Darkover] novel” by Lous, THE HERITAGE OF HASTUR is a brilliant epic of the pivotal events in the love-hate relationship between the Terran worlds and the semi-alien off-spring of the forgotten colonists who peopled Darkover. This is the complex and compelling tale of the early life of Regis Hastur, Darkover’s greatest monarch. But HERITAGE also spins the terrifying and heartbreaking story of those who sought to control the deadly Sharra Matrix and tells how Lew Alton met and lost his greatest love, Marjorie Scott. This is the unforgettable showdown between these Darkovan lords who would bargain away their world for the glories of Terran science and those who would preserve the special matrix powers that are at once the prize and burden of Darkover.
Sharra’s Exile:
The most dangerous magical implement on all of Darkover was the infamous, legendary Sharra Matrix. Embodying the image of a chained woman wreathed in flames, it was the last remaining weapon of the Ages of Chaos—an era of uncontrolled laran warfare which had almost destroyed all life on Darkover. The Sharra Matrix had been exiled offworld to one of the far-flung planets of the Terran Empire, in the protective custody of one who had suffered gravely from its use: Comyn Lord Lew Alton.
But when Lew was called back to Darkover to contend for his rights, he had no choice but to bring this dangerous matrix back with him, and once the Sharra Matrix was black, her flaming image spread far and wide, setting motion events which would change the lands, the seven Domains, and the entire future forever.
Far in Darkover's past, the Ages of Chaos were a time of constant warfare, when immensely powerful psychic weapons ravaged the land and slaughtered entire armies. Perhaps none was more dangerous and unpredictable than the mental Gift to sense--and control--thunderstorms. When the realm of Aldaran and their Scathfell cousins came to blows, that Gift turned the tide of battle, and Aldaran prevailed.
A generation later, the heir to Scathfell, Gwynn, has grown up in the shadow of that conflict, his life shaped by the loss of his entire family. Now he plots his revenge for his family’s humiliating defeat by seeking to marry a woman who carries the storm control Gift, so that his sons will be able to wield the terrible power of storms against Aldaran.
Since childhood, Kyria has been able to sense approaching storms. She had never expected to marry a rich man; independent and athletic, she defied tradition by donning her brother’s castoff clothing and trapping small game to keep her family from starvation. When Gwynn’s emissary arrives with a marriage proposal that will secure her family’s financial future, she agrees. Along with her younger sister as her companion, she sets out for Scathfell, where she will be formally wed.
During their passage through rugged mountains, a blizzard drives them to seek shelter in a traveler’s hut, where they meet Edric, the young heir to Aldaran.
Edric has inherited the storm control, but he has never dared to use it. His whole life, he has been warned against the consequences, not just to his enemies but to everyone he loves. Now, disguised as an ordinary traveler, he journeys home after years of study, disciplining himself to control his powers.
When he meets Kyria, he senses the presence of the same storm power, but unschooled and dormant. They know each other only as Edric and Kyria--for under shelter truth, all identities are concealed--and are drawn to one another.
Thus begins the saga of two kingdoms, divided by bitter history and present-day suspicions, one armed with devastating power and the other determined to overcome it, no matter what the price. Can their love and resourcefulness overcome even the overwhelming power of a Thunderlord?
On one side stand the Priests of the White Robe, guardians of powerful natural forces which could threaten the world if misused. Ranged against them are the Black Robes, sorcerers who secretly practice their dark arts in the labyrinthine caves beneath the very Temple of Light. Caught between are Domaris and Deoris, daughters of the Archpriest Talkannon, trapped in a web of deadly sorcery¾the same forbidden sorcery that could bring about
The Fall of Atlantis
Previously published separately as Web of Light and Web of Darkness.
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Court life for Prince Gareth Elhalyn, grandson of the legendary Regis Hastur, has become unbearable. In a desperate attempt to escape, Gareth appeals to his powerful grandmother, Linnea, and with her blessing, disguises himself and travels to the barbarous, warlike Dry Towns where no one will recognize a prince. In the Dry Towns, Gareth overhears rumors of deadly, illegal Terran blasters and stumbles upon a terrible reality no one could have suspected.
Meanwhile, Linnea has never ceased to search for her lost daughter, Kierestelli, whom she and Regis were forced to send into hiding with the native chieri. Almost by chance, Linnea reconnects along the telepathic relays with Kierestelli, now called Silvana of Nevarsin Tower. Silvana, convinced that her parents abandoned her, rejects her mother’s overture and returns to her hidden home among the chieri. But the chieri once roamed the stars themselves, and they have no forgotten the terror of warfare in space—lessons that they pass on to Silvana.
Unknown to the ruling Comyn, danger now fills the skies above Darkover, and Silvana holds half the key to protecting their world. Gareth holds the other half, if he can only stay alive long enough to discover where that key is....
Of the three royal siblings who made up the Petals of the Living Trillium, only Lady Haramis survives nine hundred years after the events that nearly devastated their realm. But the Archimage is old and ill, and a successor must be found if Ruwenda is to remain safe and protected. In Princess Mikayla, Haramis recognizes the ideal candidate. However, the impulsive teenager must be carefully schooled in the magic arts—and the headstrong youth isn’t certain she even wants the responsibility, especially if it means abandoning her one true love. But time is running out—for Haramis and for the kingdom. And with disaster looming, the fate of Mikayla’s endangered homeland may soon fall heavily on the shoulders of a young, only half-trained rebel, ready or not.
Revisiting the magnificent world she created with fellow fantasy luminaries Julian May and Andre Norton in Black Trillium, the remarkable Marion Zimmer Bradley joins coauthor Elisabeth Waters to gaze into the far future of the World of the Three Moons. Lady of the Trillium is an enthralling, unforgettable tale of destiny, duty, magic, love, and the seemingly unbridgeable chasm between old and young.
Artor, a fosterling of unknown parentage. The promised High King.
While King Julian searches for his lost son, a growing army of fanatics led by the charismatic Mother Mahalial is conquering land after land, and its final destination is the golden land of Westria. The only person that can sense Phoenix's plight is Sombra, and her attempt to rescue him may decide the fate of the kingdom.
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The leader of that cult, Toller Hasloch, becomes one of Colin's greatest enemies. Working behind the scenes for the next thirty years, Hasloch subtly manipulates politics and the economy to turn America away from the Light. Colin, busy saving lives and teaching the next generation of psychic warriors, realizes almost too late how Hasloch has warped America's promise.
Now, Colin MacLaren is the only one who can face Hasloch and the hellhounds the younger man has unleashed. He must fight on, while the fate of America, and perhaps all mankind, hangs in the balance.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Wycherly Musgrave is the perfect drunken, ne'er-do-well youngest brother. Beneath his lighthearted manner, however, lies . . . something dark. Now, afraid that in a drunken blackout he may have murdered a young woman, Wycherly has fled the family estate to try to dry out and see if he can remember what happened that terrible night.
Wycherly finds himself strangely attracted to Sinah, a famous actress whose ability to read minds and project exactly what people want to see has made her a star. Sinah fears her own identity is drowning under the characters she's played. Above these people looms a ruined sanitarium, a vortex of evil psychic powers. And both Wycherly and Sinah are ripe for possession.
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The truth may never be known . . . one dark, climactic night thirty years ago, Blackburn's most powerful ritual went horribly awry, leaving his flock shattered and one woman dead. Blackburn himself vanished.
Now the scattered remains of Blackburn's followers have rallied around a new leader, the charismatic Justin Pilgrim. Hearing this, Thorne Blackburn's daughter, Truth, returns to the site of her mother's death and father's disappearance.
Truth has many unanswered questions. Where are her long-lost half-siblings? Was her mother's death accident or murder? Is Pilgrim a charlatan, or are his claimed powers real? If he completes Thorn's ritual, will someone else die?
The answers will lead Truth to deeply powerful truth of her own, one that will change her life forever.
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Winter Musgrave's past is largely blank, her memories missing or tissue-thin. She seem to be possessed--objects shatter when she passes, the corpses of animal appear on her doorstep. And she has the terrible feeling that something horrible happened in her empty past--results of which are now haunting her with unbridled fury.
Seeking help, Winter turns to Truth Jourdemayne and learns that the key to unlocking her lost memories lies within herself--and in the magickal circle of friends in college. But the circle was broken long ago. Winter must reconstruct it is she is to save her life.
Not just the story of a woman's search for her missing past, Witchlight is a powerful novel of contemporary fantasy that pulls readers in and hold them until the final page. Anyone who loves good contemporary fiction will devour Witchlight.
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Peace has long reigned in Ruwenda thanks to the magical protection of the Archimage Binah. The realm’s devoted guardian is aging, however, and her magic is weakening. When the kingdom’s triplet princesses were still infants, Binah gave each of them the mystical power of the Black Trillium. But the unthinkable occurs too soon, and Ruwenda is overrun by the ravaging armies of neighboring Labornok before the sisters, Haramis, Kadiya, and Anigel, have time to learn how to use their great gift.
Forced to flee, the young princesses must follow their separate destinies through a dangerous and unfamiliar world of Oddlings and enemies—for only the combined power of three magical talismans can help them defeat the malevolent sorcerer who has brought chaos and death to their once-idyllic home. But it will take new kinds of strength and wisdom to confront the great evil that has descended on the World of the Three Moons.
Marion Zimmer Bradley, Julian May, and Andre Norton, three of the most honored names in fantasy fiction, have joined forces to create an extraordinary world and culture in the first book of the remarkable Saga of the Trillium, a breathtaking tale of duty, peril, love, and magic.
A darkness born and bred for revenge shadows the nation. But one hope shines -- the Defender of Britannia.
For a darkness is emanating from high places -- and it threatens to devastate a realm.
WHAT’S HE DOING IN THERE? by Fritz Leiber
THE MARCHING MORONS, by C.M. Kornbluth
GHOST, by Darrell Schweitzer
DEATH WISH, by Robert Sheckley
THE WAVERIES, by Fredric Brown
ADAM AND NO EVE, by Alfred Bester
FOXY LADY, by Lawrence Watt-Evans
THIN EDGE, by Randall Garrett
COMPANDROID, by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
POSTMARK GANYMEDE, by Robert Silverberg
KEEP OUT, by Fredric Brown
THE HATE DISEASE, by Murray Leinster
UNIVERSAL DONOR, by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
THE GREEN BERET, by Tom Purdom
MR. SPACESHIP, by Philip K. Dick
BRKNK'S BOUNTY, by Jerry Sohl
THE BATTLE OF LITTLE BIG SCIENCE, by Pamela Rentz
THE EGO MACHINE, by Henry Kuttner
THE MAN FROM TIME, by Frank Belknap Long
THE SENSITIVE MAN, by Poul Anderson
REVOLUTION, by Mack Reynolds
THE THING IN THE ATTIC, by James Blish
KNOTWORK, by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
THE DUELING MACHINE, by Ben Bova and Myron R. Lewis
THE PLANET SAVERS, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
And don't forget to check out all the other volumes in the "Wildside Megapack" series! Search on "Wildside Megapack" in the ebook store to see the complete list...covering adventure stories, military, fantasy, ghost stories, and more!
In the three novels which comprise THE SAGA OF THE RENUNCIATES, Marion Zimmer Bradley tells the masterful tale of two valiant women who face and try to break the invisible chains of custom, convention, habit and expectation with which society binds women, and women bind themselves.
Magdalen Lorne is a Terran woman born and reared on Darkover. She thinks herself the perfect Terran undercover Intelligence agent, and disguises herself as a Free Amazon to enable her to fulfill a mission to free a Terran man from kidnappers. But when she herself is captured by a band of real Renunciates, she discovers they have a harsh punishment for any pretenders: she must swear the Oath of the Free Amazons, relinquish her former life, and become a Renunciate in reality.
Jaelle has been raised in the harsh patriarchal environment of the Dry Towns. Her mother Mellora is a Comyn woman who has been kidnapped in order to breed laran-gifted offspring for her barbarian "husband." But when a desperate, pregnant Mellora dies in childbirth following a daring escape aided by a band of Renunciates, the still young Jaelle is adopted into the Guild, and becomes the Free Amazon Jaelle n'ha Mellora, a woman who has never known kindness from a man.
Together Magda, now known as Margali n'ha Tsabet, and her Guild-sister Jaelle will follow a twisting course neither could have predicted. A course which will lead them to question every aspect of themselves and of their two so-different societies. And one which will eventually set them on a life-threatening journey not only to the frozen ends of the physical world, but to the perilous limits of the spiritual overworld as well.
To Save a World includes The World Wreckers and the Planet Savers, plus the short story "The Waterfall."
The Planet Savers:
Originally published in Amazing Stories in December 1958, The Planet Savers was the very firs Darkover novel to see print. It was here readers were first introduced to the now legendary world of Cottman IV, at a time when the Terrans are desperately seeking a cure to a disease of epidemic proportions that threatens the lives of Terrans and Darkovans alike.
For every forty-eight years, Trailmen’s fever, a childhood illness among this native and venerable race, becomes pandemic, decimating the human population of this rustic planet. Now, one brave Terran doctor must join a Darkovan expedition into the wild mountainous terrain of the Trailmen in a desperate attempt to create a vaccine and eradicate this terrible plague once and for all.
The World Wreckers:
Planetary Investments Unlimited—that was the company’s official name, but unofficially it was known as Worldwreckers, Inc. For a fee, its agent would infiltrate any world unwilling to give up its independence, and do enough damage that the natives would be forced to allow Terran investors to step in and salvage their planet. And now, once again, its agents were at work.
In the 78 years since the planet Cottman IV—called Darkover by its natives—was rediscovered by the Terran Empire, all efforts to colonize and industrialize this exotic world had failed.
And the person in charge of Worldwreckers, Inc.—a centuries-old being who appeared to be a woman—had decided to take on this particular assignment herself. After all, she had special insight into this world, for long ago—lifetimes ago—she had called Darkover home….
Here Paxson explores all aspects of trance possession, including:how to prepare for possessory trancehow to enter and exit trance possession safely—and what to do if things get too heavyconnecting with Saints and Spirits, including those found in Afro-Diasporic religions
A practical book of particular interest to witches and pagans, each chapter includes two to five exercises that will assist you in your personal experiences with possession.
In The Way of the Oracle, bestselling author, scholar, and priestess Diana L. Paxson offers a broad overview of the traditions of famous oracles in history: from the pythia at Delphi, the son of Beor, the Irish druidess, and the Greenland völva, to today’s modern seers who are resurrecting ancient skills to serve their communities.
Paxson identifies the core elements of prophetic practice, her belief in probability rather than predestination, and offers exercises and examples to demonstrate how anyone can be trained to do oracle work. Her methods focus on trance skills and improving communication between one’s unconscious and conscious mind to encourage selfknowledge and decision making.
The Way of the Oracle introduces the practice of oracle work to a wider audience, and shows how exploring the potential of other minds can expand our own.
In related supplements we have compiled lists of variant poetry, variant films, of the major book services and publishing houses where these books can be obtained, and of the homosexual press.
The titles in the major portion of the Checklist are listed in a single comprehensive index by author. Information includes date published, number of reprints and publisher’s name. Brief reviews are included of most titles. An effort has been made in each case to distinguish whether the work under discussion is a novel about lesbianism, whether the variant content has been included mostly for shock effect, or whether (as in some excellent modern novels) homosexual characters appear incidentally to the other main themes of action in the book.
In such a comprehensive listing, reviews must of necessity be brief. For further discussion of many of the titles listed here, with excellent and complete critical analysis of their variant content, the serious student or collector is earnestly urged to invest in the definitive and major work on the subject:
FOSTER, Jeannette Howard; Sex Variant Women in Literature. N. Y. Vantage Press, 1956.
Although now officially out of print, this book can occasionally be obtained second hand, and copies will soon be offered for sale through the Daughters of Bilitis publication, THE LADDER. (See appendix.) We have made no effort to give more than cursory reviews of titles which are discussed at length in Dr. Foster’s work. However, since the publication of the Foster book, many new novels of lesbianism have been published, and the diligent search of many collectors, working with the Checklist editors, has brought many old ones to light.
We have tried to review in some detail the novels which were omitted from Dr. Foster’s work, and to strive for completeness, even at the expense of discriminatory judgment about the excellence or otherwise of the works included. Therefore this Checklist includes many works whose lesbian content was too slight, too subtle—or too “trashy”—to have come within the scope of the scholarly studies of Dr. Foster or the running column, Lesbiana, conducted by junior editor Gene Damon in the pages of THE LADDER.
It is our further contention that many novels dealing with male homosexuality come also within the province of the serious collector of lesbiana. We make, however, no claim for completeness for novels which fall within the homosexual, rather than the lesbian province. In general, the male titles included in this list—clearly defined, in each case, by the sign (m)—have been included because they were of special interest to the editors and therefore are presumably of interest to other collectors of lesbiana.
For those who wish a complete list of works dealing with male homosexuality, we suggest the comprehensive bibliography compiled by Noel I. Garde, discussed in the Appendix of Related Publications. Mr. Garde has indexed virtually every homosexual work from antiquity to the latest paperback shocker, and has also performed the mighty task of separating them into categories ... a task from which the Checklist editors have shrunk, though we have made some attempt at classification in our reviews and by awarding a plus sign to books of exceptional value.
Destiny lies in the clashing of magic steel. The hope of all Britain rests in the hands of the warrior sons.
Now with Enemy of God, Cornwell's magical re-creation continues. Having defeated the last holdouts of civil war in southern Britain, Arthur has secured Mordred's throne. But he must still face raging conflicts between the old ways and the new, as well as foes more powerful and more dangerous--because they pose as friends.
Brilliantly written and peopled with the familiar faces of legend along with new ones, Enemy of God is an immensely powerful continuation of a modern classic.