The Ottoman Empire and its conflicts provide one of the longest continuous narratives in military history. The Ottomans were never overthrown by a foreign power, and no usurper succeeded in taking the throne. This volume covers the rise of the Ottomans, and their early years of fighting for a foothold across the Bosphorous, before exploring the main campaigns and the part played by such elite troops as the Janissaries and the Sipahis. At its height under Suleyman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Empire became the most powerful state in the world - a multinational, multilingual empire that stretched from Vienna to the upper Arab peninsula.
A towering multi-volume fantasy, The Pearl, is launched by Eric Van Lustbader in The Ring of Five Dragons. Lustbader, one of the most famous and popular writers of the last three decades, returns to the fantasy genre with his most ambitious work yet.
The Kundalan people have suffered for a century under the viciously oppressive, technologically-superior V'ornn invaders, and they can't understand why their goddess Miina hasn't saved them. In the resulting crisis of faith, Kundalan religion falls under the control of evil forces from within who pretend to have no magic of their own and forbid the teaching of traditional sorcery. The V'ornn's mysterious leaders, the Gyrgon, search for the lost Ring of Five Dragons, the key to the door of the fabled Kundalan Storehouse, and perhaps to Kundalan sorcery as well.
Misused, the ring could trigger annihilation for V'ornn and Kundalan alike. Now, from among the oppressed, the hero of prophecy must arise, the Dar Sala-at, who alone can wield the sorcerous power to save the world.
Thus begins a huge epic, rooted in the conflict between spiritual and technological civilizations, that confronts difficult moral and cultural questions in a manner reminscent of Frank Herbert's Dune.
A dark wind is blowing into Jerusalem's Lot, Maine, in the guise of antique furniture dealers R.T. Straker and Kurt Barlow. Novelist Benjamin Mears has returned to the village near Portland to exorcise his childhood demons. Immediately, townspeople begin suffering from strange flu symptoms, or disappearing altogether. Mears and local high school teacher Matt Burke understand the peril the town faces. Soon they're joined by an artist, a doctor, an alcoholic priest, and an 11-year old boy, forming a modern-day team of vampire hunters.
Six feet under This summer, the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning Six Feet Under concludes its five-season run on The Movie Network with 12 new episodes. Created and executive produced by the Oscar-winning writer of American Beauty TORRENT-LINKS
