Ambitious and contemporary, this groundbreaking collection offers new short fiction by exciting, fresh talents and established authors from around the world. Covering a myriad of topics--love, sex, death, war, crime, and the environment--each tale boasts a unique perspective and voice, with settings that move from India to New York to Cyberspace. With vibrant characters--including drug smugglers, call-center workers, and tourists--each of the 26 stories tackles personal and social issues in funny, poignant, and often dark ways.

A Sunday Times Book of the Year 'Justin Hill's Shieldwall . . . superbly evoked the wordplay of the period's poetry as it unfolds a compelling story of Earl Godwin's battles against the Norse' The year is 1016 and England burns while the Viking armies blockade the great city of London. King Ethelred lies dying and the England he knew dies with him; the warring kingdoms of Mercia, Wessex and Northymbria tremble on the brink of great change. One man lives to bear witness to the upheaval: Godwin, barely out of boyhood and destined to become one of his country's great warriors. When Ethelred's son Edmund takes the throne, determined to succeed where his father failed, he plucks Godwin from domestic peace to be right-hand man in his loyal shield wall. Godwin must traverse the meadows, wintry forests and fogbound marshes of Saxon England, raising armies of monks, ploughmen and shepherds against the Viking invader. With epic courage and ferocity, Godwin and Edmund repel the butchering Danes in three great battles. But an old enemy, the treacherous Earl Eadric, dogs Godwin's footsteps, and as the final battle approaches, around the valiant English the trap begins to close.

A Times Book of the Year 'A literary, intelligent read from a masterful storyteller' In 1035, a young fifteen year old Viking is dragged wounded from the battle. Left for dead, for the next twenty years his adventures lead him over mountains, down the length of Russia and ultimately to Constantinople and the Holy City of Jerusalem. Drawn into political intrigue he will be the lover of Empresses, the murderer of an emperor; he will hold the balance of power in the Byzantine Empire in his hands, and then give it all up for a Russian princess and the chance to return home and lead his own people, where he must fight the demons of his past, his family and his countrymen in a long and bitter war for revenge and power. Told in his own voice, this is the astonishing true story of the most famous warrior in all Christendom: Harald Hardrada, the last Viking.

Volume 2 of a 2-volume elementary introduction to Abstract Algebra. This textbook introduces the basic notions of group theory by a thorough treatment of important examples, including complex numbers, modular arithmetic, symmetries, and permutations. Also included are applications to communications, cryptography, and coding theory.

This textbook introduces the basic notions of group theory by a thorough treatment of important examples, including complex numbers, modular arithmetic, symmetries, and permutations. Practical examples to cryptography and coding theory are also included.