Showing results by author "Glen Cook" in All Categories

Across the mountains called the Dragon's Teeth, beyond the chill reach of the Werewind and the fires of the world's beginning, above the walls of the castle Fangdred, stands Windtower. From this lonely keep the Star Rider calls forth the war that even wizards dread, fought for a woman's hundred-lifetime love. A woman called Nepanthe, princess to the Stormkings…

For over 40 years, Glen Cook has been among the most well-known, influential, and widely respected authors in science fiction and fantasy. Through classic series such as The Black Company, Garrett P.I., the Dread Empire, Starfishers, Darkwar, and more, his gritty, down-to-earth style left an indelible impression on his listeners around the world, forever shifting the genre landscape and carving out his place as a pioneering icon.

As Soldiers Live opens, Croaker is military dictator of all the Taglias, and no Black Company member has died in battle for four years. Croaker figures it can't last. He's right. For, of course, many of the Company's old adversaries are still around. Narayan Singh and his adopted daughter - actually the offspring of Croaker and the Lady - hope to bring about the apocalyptic Year of the Skulls. Other old enemies like Shadowcatcher, Longshadow, and Howler are also ready to do the Company harm.

The tale again comes to us from the pen of Murgen, Annalist and Standard Bearer of the Black Company. Led by the wily commander, Croaker, and the Lady, the Company is working for the Taglian government, but neither the Company nor the Taglians are overflowing with trust for each other. Arrayed against both is a similarly tenuous alliance of sorcerers, including the diabolical Soulcatcher, the psychotic Howler, and a four-year-old child who may be the most powerful of all.

A young boy's dreams of glory and war turn into a bitter nightmare as his father's kingdom is overrun by an invading army. Lost and alone in the woods, he finds an ancient sword that promises him the ability to claim his vengeance. As he begins to take that vengeance, he comes to realize the price that the sword will demand of him. Enemies soon become allies and strange bedfellows abound as the prophesies of an age swirl into chaos.

Once a mighty kingdom reigned - now all is chaos and darkness! In the vast reaches of the desert, a young heretic escapes certain death and embarks on a mission of madness and glory. He is El Murid - the Disciple - who vows to bring order, prosperity and righteousness to the desert people of Hammad al Nakir. But among the warriors, rebellion seethes as they plot to execute the justice of the desert on their evil leader. For after four long centuries, a sorcerer appears among them - a savior destined to build a new Empire from the blood of their enemies!

Defeated by the Lady and cast from this world, all that was left of him was a foul trace of lingering evil. But the graveyard that was once the Barrowland contains more secrets than dead. All who would possess the power of the Dominator are drawn to the spike. A foolhardy band of thieves is the first to reach it, and a rapacious and malign spirit is unleashed on an unwary world. The forces gather, sides are drawn, and mortal men can only die as the Dark Lords battle for domination.

The soldiers of the Black Company don’t ask questions, they get paid. But being “The Lady’s favored” is attracting the wrong kind of attention and has put a target on their backs, and the Company’s historian, Croaker, has the biggest target of all. The one person who was taken into The Lady’s Tower and returned unchanged has earned the special interest of the court of sorcerers known as The Ten Who Were Taken. Now, he and the company are being asked to seek the aid of their newest member, Mischievous Rain.

For four thousand years, the Guardships have ruled Canon Space - immortal ships with an immortal crew, dealing swiftly and harshly with any mercantile houses or alien races that threaten the status quo.But now the House Tregesser has an edge: a force from outside Canon Space offers them the resources to throw off Guardship rule.

The holy wars had begun, his family was slaughtered by bandits. He was abandoned to die in the desert - but he survived, with the help of his god, and became El Murid, the Disciple. Against him rides Haroun ben Yousif, High Prince of sorcery. Their war will soak the desert with magic, and with blood.

The Fortress on the edge of the galaxy was called Stars' End, a planet built for death, but by who? It lay on the outermost arm of the Milky Way, silent, cloaked in mystery, self-contained and controlled, tantalizingly close to the harvesting Starfishers. If they could gain control of that arsenal, the Starfishers would never need to fear the Confederation's navy or the forces of the human-like Sangaree. But intelligent life everywhere now needs the might of Stars' End--and the knowhow of agents Storm and BenRabi.

Passage at Arms tells the intimate, detailed and harrowing story of a climber crew and its captain during a critical juncture of the war. Cook combines speculative technology with a canny and realistic portrait of men at war and the stresses they face in combat. Passage at Arms is one of the classic novels of military science fiction.

It has ended. It begins again. In Kavelin, Lady Nepanthe's new life with the wizard Varthlokkur is disturbed by visions of her lost son, while King Bragi Ragnarson and Michael Trebilcock scheme to help the exiled Princess Mist re-usurp her throne - under their thumb. In Shinsan, a pig-farmer's son takes command of Eastern Army, while Lord Kuo faces plots in his council and a suicide attack of two million Matayangans on his border.

Two hundred years after nuclear and chemical weapons have nearly annihilated the global population, the last of mankind struggles on in isolated communities. Law and order is carried out by the Political Office, black-clad police who rule through fear and violence, commanding the world's survivors how to think, how to act, and when to obey the call to the Gathering: the ritual massing for war against an unknown and unseen enemy. Now the call has come, and all nations must pay tribute.

May 1975, St. Louis: In a snow-swept street, a cop finds the body of a man who died 50 years ago. It's still warm. July 1866, Lidice, Bohemia: A teenage girl calmly watches her parents die as another being takes control of her body. August 2058, Prague: Three political rebels flee in to the past, taking with them a terrible secret. As past, present, and future collide, one man holds the key to the puzzle. And if he doesn't fit it together, the world he knows will fall to pieces. It's just a matter of time....

At long last, the conclusion to Glen Cook's Dread Empire saga has arrived! King Bragi Ragnarson is a prisoner, shamed, nameless, and held captive by Lord Shih-kaa and the Empress Mist at the heart of the Dread Empire. Far away in Kavelin, Bragia's queen and what remains of his army seek to find and free their king, hampered by the loss or desertion of their best and brightest warriors. Kavelina's spymaster, Michael Trebilcock, is missing in action, as is loyal soldier Aral Dantice.

Rejecting the advice of the wizard Varthlokkur and spymaster Michael Trebilcock, King Bragi Ragnorson of Kavelin joins Chatelain Mist's coup against the Dread Empire. Ragnorson dangles the fate of his nation in the jaws of his foes, refusing to see that his one true enemy may be himself.

Depuis des siècles, les souvenirs de la Compagnie noire sont consignés dans les présentes annales. La troupe se loue au plus offrant, et les batailles qu'elle a livrées ont déjà rempli maints volumes. Jamais pourtant elle n'aura traversé de période aussi trouble. Entrée au service de la Dame et de ses sorciers, la Compagnie participe à l'une des plus sanglantes campagnes de son histoire. Les combats incessants, la magie noire qui empuantit l'air.

Réduite à une poignées d'hommes, la Compagnie noire a définitivement changé de camp. Sa nouvelle tâche est de protéger la Rose Blanche, seule capable de vaincre la Dame et ses forces du mal. Mais cette ultime confrontation doit avoir lieu lors du passage de la grande comète... et cette échéance est encore lointaine. Réfugiés dans la plaine de la Peur, un lieu cauchemardesque peuplé d'étranges créatures, les soldats de la dernière des compagnies franches de Khatovar s'apprêtent à subir le plus long siège de leur histoire.

Nous sommes la dernière des compagnies franches de Khatovar. Nos traditions et nos souvenirs ne vivent que dans les présentes annales et nous sommes les seuls à porter notre deuil. Tous les hommes naissent condamnés, disent les sages. Ils tètent le sein de la mort. Son souffle apaise toutes les âmes. Nous avons connu une ville autrefois dédiée à son culte, si vieille qu'elle avait perdu le souvenir de cette consécration. Or il lui fallut affronter une menace plus immédiate : un spectre de jadis qui cherchait à revenir chez les vivants depuis une éminence surplombant la ville.