From the author of The Fool's Tale and I, Iago comes a disarmingly charming and warm-hearted "romcom" about a woman, her dog, and the man who has to prove that he is good enough for both of them. Sara Renault fired Rory O'Connor from his part-time job at a Boston art museum, and in response, Rory-an Irish actor secretly nursing a crush on his beautiful boss-threw caution to the wind, leaned over, and kissed her. Now Sara and Rory are madly in love. When Rory's visa runs out on the cusp of his big Hollywood break, Sara insists that he marry her to get a green card. In a matter of weeks they've gone from being friendly work colleagues to a live-in couple, and it's all grand ...except for Sara's dog, Cody, who had been a gift from Sara's sociopath ex-boyfriend. Sara's over-attachment to her dog is the only thing she and Rory fight about. When Rory scores both his green card and the lead role in an upcoming TV pilot, he and Sara (and Cody) prepare to move to Los Angeles. But just before their departure, Cody is kidnapped by Sara's ex-and it is entirely Rory's fault. Sara is furious and broken-hearted. Desperate to get back into Sara's good graces, Rory takes off and tracks Cody and the dog-napper to North Carolina. Can Rory rescue Cody and convince Sara that they belong together-with Cody-as a family? First they'll need to survive a madcap adventure that takes them all across the heartland of America. Stepdog is a refreshing and hilarious romantic comedy that asks: How far would you go for the one you love?

Everyone knows the legend of Lady Godiva - the woman who (in)famously rode naked on horseback through Coventry to relieve her people from unfair taxation. But why would a lady of the court take it all off and risk everything, including husband, home and well-being?

You think you know how the world works? Think again. 21st Century America Magic has faded from the minds of mankind, until an encounter between Melisande Stokes, linguistics expert at Harvard, and Tristan Lyons, shadowy agent of government, leads to the uncovering of a distant past. After translating a series of ancient texts, Melisande and Tristan discover the connection between science, magic and time travel and so the Department of Diachronic Operations - D.O.D.O. - is hastily brought into existence. Its mission: to develop a device that will send their agents back to the past, where they can stop magic from disappearing and alter the course of history. But when you interfere with the past, there's no telling what you might find in your future... Written with genius and complexity, this vividly realised novel will make you believe the impossible, and question the very foundations of the modern world.

This riveting second installment in Stephenson and company's epic tale focuses on the aftermath of the world-shattering Mongolian invasion of 1241 and the difficult paths undertaken by its most resilient survivors. The Shield Brethren, an order of warrior monks, search for a way to overthrow the horde, even as the invaders take its members hostage. Forced to fight in the Mongols' Circus of Swords, Haakon must prove his mettle or lose his life in the ring. His bravery may impress the enemy, but freedom remains a distant dream. Father Rodrigo receives a prophecy from God and believes it's his mission to deliver the message to Rome. Though a peaceful man, he resigns himself to take up arms in the name of his Lord. Joining his fight to save Christendom are the hunter Ferenc, orphan Ocyrhoe, healer Raphael, and alchemist Yasper, each searching for his place in history. Deftly blending fact and fantasy, The Mongoliad: Book Two captures the indomitable will to survive against immense odds.

The first novel to be released in The Foreworld Saga, The Mongoliad: Book One, is an epic-within-an-epic, taking place in 13th century. In it, a small band of warriors and mystics raise their swords to save Europe from a bloodthirsty Mongol invasion. Inspired by their leader (an elder of an order of warrior monks), they embark on a perilous journey and uncover the history of hidden knowledge and conflict among powerful secret societies that had been shaping world events for millennia. But the saga reaches the modern world via a circuitous route. In the late 19th century, Sir Richard F. Burton, an expert on exotic languages and historical swordsmanship, is approached by a mysterious group of English martial arts aficionados about translating a collection of long-lost manuscripts. Burton dies before his work is finished, and his efforts were thought lost until recently rediscovered by a team of amateur archaeologists in the ruins of a mansion in Trieste, Italy. From this collection of arcana, the incredible tale of The Mongoliad was recreated. Full of high adventure, unforgettable characters, and unflinching battle scenes, The Mongoliad ignites a dangerous quest where willpower and blades are tested and the scope of world-building is redefined. A note on this edition: The Mongoliad began as a social media experiment, combining serial story-telling with a unique level of interaction between authors and audience during the creative process. Since its original iteration, The Mongoliad has been restructured, edited, and rewritten under the supervision of its authors to create a more cohesive reading experience and will be published as a trilogy of novels. This edition is the definitive edition and is the authors' preferred text.

In this brilliant sequel to The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.--an enthralling, history-bending adventure traversing time and space, fact and fiction, magic and science co-written with #1 New York Times bestselling author Neal Stephenson--a daring young time traveler must return to Jacobean England to save the modern world. This fast-paced sequel to the New York Times bestselling near-future adventure The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. picks up where the original left off, as Tristan Lyons, Mel Stokes, and their fellow outcasts from the Department of Diachronic Operations (D.O.D.O.) fight to stop the powerful Irish witch Grainne from using time travel to reverse the evolution of all modern technology. Chief amongst Grainne's plots: to encrypt cataclysmic spells into Shakespeare's "cursed" play, Macbeth. When her fellow rogue agents fall victim to Grainne's schemes, Melisande Stokes is forced to send Tristan's untested, wayward sister Robin back in time to 1606 London, where Edmund Tilney, the king's Master of Revels, controls all staged performances in London. And now Grainne controls Tilney. While Robin poses as an apprentice in Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Mel travels to the ancient Roman Empire and, with the help of double-agent Chira in Renaissance Florence, untangles the knotted threads of history while the diabolical Grainne jumps from timeline to timeline, always staying frustratingly one stop ahead--or is it behind? Historical objects disappear, cities literally rise and fall, and nothing less than the fate of humanity is at stake. As Grainne sows chaos across time and space, the ragtag team of ex-D.O.D.O. agents must fix the past--in order to save the future. Critically acclaimed author Nicole Galland brings her deep knowledge of history and signature wit to this gripping romantic adventure.

The fast-paced sequel to the near-future adventure The Rise and Fall of D.O.DO. In this history-bending adventure, the ragtag team of ex-D.O.D.O. agents must traverse time and space to stop the powerful Irish witch Grainne from reversing the evolution of all modern technology. From Jacobean England to the ancient Roman Empire, Mel Stokes and her fellow outcasts must untangle the knotted threads of history while the diabolical Grainne jumps from timeline to timeline, always staying one step ahead - or is it behind? Historical objects disappear, cities literally rise and fall, and nothing less than the fate of humanity is at stake. Will they be able to fix the past-in order to save the future?

From Nicole Galland, acclaimed author of The Fool's Tale, comes a marvelous evocation of a distant time and place . . . and a breathtaking reexamination of one of literature's classic villains

From earliest childhood, the precocious boy called Iago had inconvenient tendencies toward honesty--a failing that made him an embarrassment to his family and an outcast in the corrupt culture of glittering Renaissance Venice. Embracing military life as an antidote to the frippery of Venetian society, Iago won the love of the beautiful Emilia and the regard of Venice's revered General Othello. After years of abuse and rejection, Iago was poised to achieve everything he had ever fought for and dreamed of . . .

But a cascade of unexpected deceptions propels him on a catastrophic quest for righteous vengeance, contorting his moral compass until he has betrayed his closest friends and family, and sealed his own fate as one of the most notorious villains of all time.

Inspired by William Shakespeare's classic tragedy Othello--a timeless tale of friendship and treachery, love and jealousy--Galland's I, Iago sheds fascinating new light on a complex soul, and on the conditions and fateful events that helped to create a monster.

In Venice, 1202, tens of thousands of crusaders set sail for Jerusalem to liberate the great city from Muslim rule. Among them is a British vagabond grudgingly taken under the wing of a pious knight who believes that the mission is truly blessed by God. Before leaving, the vagabond rescues a woman pretending to be an Arab princess, hoping that under the protection of his benefactor knight, he can smuggle the young woman back to the Holy Land. However, this 'holy' campaign sinks into tragic moral turpitude - first in an attack on the Adriatic port city of Zara, and ultimately in the fall of the seat of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople.

A lively, captivating novel, set in the medieval Holy Roman Empire, that combines the historical detail of Dorothy Dunnett's the "Lymond Chronicles" with the spellbinding narrative of "The Other Boleyn Girl". In the summer of 1199, Willem, a naive, poor young nobleman, is summoned to the magnificent court of Konrad, the Holy Roman Emperor, whose realm spans much of Europe. Willem's champion and waggish guide to courtly life is the irrepressible but mysterious minstrel Jouglet, a longtime admirer of Willem's sister Lienor. The model of chivalry, Willem wins great honors for his knightly prowess, but soon learns that gossip, secrets, and lies are what really fuel courtly life and that he himself is the unwitting pawn in an elaborate scheme.

This book targets readers of historical and literary fiction. It is perfect for reading groups. It has been reviewed in Welsh publications, on Welsh regional radio, and in pb round-ups in national and regional newspapers. "An entertaining saga adeptly weaving together political intrigue and deceit, love that both unifies and divides, loyalty that teeters on treason, and the desire for freedom" Wales, 1198, a time of treachery, passion, and uncertainty. King Maelgwyn of Cadwallon, known as "Noble," struggles to protect his small kingdom from foes outside and within his borders. Pressured into a marriage of political convenience, he takes as his bride the young, headstrong Isabel Mortimer, niece of his powerful English nemesis. Through strength of character, Isabel wins her husband's grudging respect, but finds the Welsh court backward and barbaric. Before long, however, Gwirion and Isabel's mutual animosity is abruptly transformed, and the king finds himself as threatened by loved ones as by the enemies who menace his crown.