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SUMMARY:
Decades ago, Inspector Robert DeClercq suffered a tragedy when his young daughter was kidnapped and killed after he was unable to save her. Only now, with a young girl named Katt in his life, can he put his demons to rest. Until DeClercq's Special X Team receives a shrunken head, heralding the return of the Headhunter -- a psychopath who left a trail of headless bodies in his wake eleven years earlier -- or is it a copycat killer? While the team seeks the answer, Katt is kidnapped, luring DeClercq away from his comrades into a deadly web of revenge!

Sultana is a Saudi Arabian princess, a woman born to fabulous, uncountable wealth. She has four mansions on three continents, her own private jet, glittering jewels, designer dresses galore. But in reality she lives in a gilded cage. She has no freedom, no vote, no control over her own life, no value but as a bearer of sons. Hidden behind her black floor-length veil, she is a prisoner, jailed by her father, her husband, her sons, and her country. Sultana is a member of the Saudi royal family, closely related to the king. For the sake of her daughters, she has decided to take the risk of speaking out about the life of women in her country, regardless of their rank. She must hide her identity for fear that the religious leaders in her country would call for her death to punish her honesty. Only a woman in her position could possibly hope to escape from being revealed and punished, despite her cloak of anonymity. She tells of her own life, from her turbulent childhood to her arranged marriage - a happy one until her husband decided to displace her by taking a second wife - and of the lives of her sisters, her friends, and her servants. Although they share affection, confidences and an easy camaraderie within the confines of the women's quarters, they also share a history of appalling oppressions, everyday occurrences that in any other culture would be seen as shocking human rights violations: thirteen-year-old girls forced to marry men five times their age, young women killed by drowning, stoning, or isolation in the "woman's room," a padded, windowless cell where women are confined with neither light nor conversation until death claims them. Servants are forced into sexual servitude and severely beaten if they attempt escape. By speaking out, Sultana risks bringing the wrath of the Saudi establishment upon her head and the heads of her children. In the barren, hopeless wasteland that is the life of Saudi women today, free speech is punishable by death.

A short story explaining the first Christmas tree.<

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Review

Praise for Canticle:

"The Psalms of Isaak is a superb series. Scholes' has all the story elements of epic fantasy in place: memorable characters living in a vibrantly complex world of magic and ancient history, with plot twists and revelations sprung at just the right moments. More than that, his storytelling verve and craftsmanship makes his pages sing. He's written scenes of apocalypse and steaming metal men and invisible assassins that I won't be forgetting any time soon. Really good stuff."--David Anthony Durham, bestselling author of *Acacia

"Not only is Scholes a capable world builder, he ably handles the tough task of keeping the series momentum going, intensifying the mystery so deftly that even if readers can't foresee where the story's going, it's clear that the author knows exactly what he's doing."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on Canticle

"Ken Scholes has already made the leap from good to great...if you thought Lamentation was impressive, then just wait until you get hold of Canticle."--Fantasy Book Critic

"Scholes adds new layers of mystery and intrigue while fleshing out the compelling characters of one of speculative fiction's most spellbinding new sagas."--Booklist on Canticle*

Product Description

Nothing is as it seems to be.

The ancient past is not dead. The hand of the Wizard Kings still reaches out to challenge the Androfrancine Order, to control the magick and technology that they sought to understand and claim for their own.

Nebios, the boy who watched the destruction of the city of Windwir, now runs the vast deserts of the world, far from his beloved Marsh Queen. He is being hunted by strange women warriors, while his dreams are invaded by warnings from his dead father.

Jin Li Tam, queen of the Ninefold Forest, guards her son as best she can against both murderous threats, and the usurper queen and her evangelists. They bring a message: Jakob is the child of promise of their Gospel, and the Crimson Empress is on her way.

And in hidden places, the remnants of the Androfrancine order formulate their response to the song pouring out of a silver crescent that was found in the wastes.

A suspenseful, mysterious, passionate, paranormal adventure that traverses centuries and continents while sweeping through the emotions of first love and heartache A sensitive coming of age story<

Product Description

Italy 1252. Inquisition. Accusation. Fear.  Torture. The guilty and the innocent dying for sins real  and imagined in the flames of the burning stake.  Neilsville, 1978. Peter Blasam has come to this  sleepy desert town to teach its youth, and finds a  mystery of mounting horror. Something is happening  to the young girls of St. Francis Xavier High  School -- something evil. In bloodlet and terror a  suicide contagion has swept the two... while a dark  order of its holy men enacts a secret medieval  ritual. Is hysteria manipulating these innocent children  into violent self-destruction? Or has supernatural  force, a thirteenth-century madness, returned  to... Punish The Sinners.

From the Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

Italy 1252. Inquisition. Accusation. Fear. Torture. The guilty and the innocent dying for sins real and imagined in the flames of the burning stake. Neilsville, 1978. Peter Blasam has come to this sleepy desert town to teach its youth, and finds a mystery of mounting horror. Something is happening to the young girls of St. Francis Xavier High School -- something evil. In bloodlet and terror a suicide contagion has swept the two... while a dark order of its holy men enacts a secret medieval ritual. Is hysteria manipulating these innocent children into violent self-destruction? Or has supernatural force, a thirteenth-century madness, returned to... Punish The Sinners.

The Queen’s Blade faces a challenge for his title of Master of the Dance during Jondar’s last days, as two armies converge on the doomed city. The young Queen Minna-Satu prepares to make the ultimate sacrifice and save her kingdom by placing the daughter of the Cotti King on the Jashimari throne. The Princess’ life is in danger, and Blade seeks a painless death as his enemy approaches…<

A fallen kingdom, a captured queen, and an assassin who could save them both… His queen is the enemy king’s prisoner, but the Queen’s Blade refuses to serve his foe. Unless he slays those who plot against her, however, she will die. Cotti Princes will taste the assassin's blade to ensure her safety and win his freedom, but powerful men plot his demise and that of the infant queen.<

Fifteen years have passed since Blade vanished, and plotting Cotti princes threaten the peace of the three kingdoms again. Only the Queen’s Blade can save the child Queen, but he must take up the office he scorns and become a sacred Knight of the Veil. However, a bargain with Shamsara sends him into the desert on a seemingly impossible quest that will bring him a mighty reward... if he succeeds.<

He is destined to change the fate of three kingdoms... Born during a midwinter blizzard, under a Death Moon, the boy who will become a legend comes into the world in a river of blood, dead. His father names him Conash: Dead Son. His innocent act will bring Jashimari to the brink of defeat and condemn him to a lifetime of pain and sorrow… Thus begins the legend of the Queen’s Blade.<

A dangerously unpredictable and angry, pitiless and cold-hearted young assassin stalks the streets of Jondar. He is the Master of the Dance, able to achieve apparently impossible assassinations, unseen. Many would like to kill him, and some try, but Blade seems to lead a charmed life. He has a destiny to fulfil, and only a lowly harlot and her familiar know what he truly is: God Touched.<