Showing results by author "Merlin" in All Categories

Brought to you by Penguin. The million-copy bestseller that will transform your understanding of our planet and life itself. *WINNER OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY BOOK PRIZE 2021* *WINNER OF THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE FOR CONSERVATION WRTITING 2021* *SHORTLISTED FOR THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE 2021* *SHORTLISTED...

How did the shift from matriarchy to patriarchy come about? In fascinating detail, Merlin Stone tells us the story of the Goddess who reigned supreme in the Near and Middle East. Under her reign, societal roles differed markedly from those in patriarchal Judeo-Christian cultures: women bought and sold property, traded in the marketplace, and inherited title and land from their mothers.

Having been a camp counselor for the last three summers, I can handle most situations that come my way courtesy of rowdy children. This year shouldn't be any different, even with a new counselor who's everyone's type and too good to be true. But even so, Kayde Lane is nothing I can't deal with. Until I stumble upon him at night with an ax and sinister intentions towards the campers we're meant to protect.

I'm careful not to show my face, so why do I feel like I'm being watched when the camera turns off? No one should know who I am or be able to find me, but they do—and things quickly spiral out of control. The two unhinged men who fill my cam chat with all the deplorable things they want to do to me are closer than I think. To them, I'm just a pretty little tease. Their obsession turns into something so much more than I bargained for. I should have run away when they found me because now it's too late for me to be anything except theirs.

Ghosts and spectres, the eerie and the occult. Why is contemporary culture so preoccupied by the supernatural, so captivated by the revenants of an earlier age, so haunted? The concept of Hauntology has evolved since first emerging in the 1990s and has now entered the cultural mainstream as a shorthand for our new-found obsession with the recent past. But where does this term come from and what exactly does it mean? 

I should force myself to forget both of them exist, not crave for them to find me again. Yet as soon as my plane touches down in St. Augustine three days before the start of the spring semester, my sweetest nightmares are waiting for me, reminding me of all of the reasons I can't stop thinking about why I let myself fall prey to their affections in the first place..

As a horror blogger and content creator, I made a name for myself by diving headfirst into haunted houses, cursed films, and urban legends. Fear? I don't even believe in it. But that was before his comment. A single message on my latest video: "I bet I could scare you, but there should be a prize involved." Now the haunted attractions feel a little too real. Shadows move where they shouldn't. And I can't shake the feeling that someone's watching me—even in the dark safety of my own room. My mysterious new follower doesn't play by the rules. He doesn't just want to scare me. He wants me.

When a snowstorm hits days before Christmas and I'm the only one at the house, I'm quickly informed that I'll be spending Christmas alone, with only my dog for company. That's before things take a turn for the worse. I never would have come if I'd known they'd be here. Fletcher and Boone, my stepbrothers, were never the family I'd hoped for. They're the reason I ran away, the ghosts that haunt my sleep. I was promised they'd be too busy to come to the cabin this year, but someone broke that promise.

After surviving a miserable week with my family, I needed something to lift my spirits. My two best friends thought a late-night movie binge—one of those stupid, loud ones we used to have as teenagers—was the answer. Reluctantly, they talk me into revisiting our old prank call habit. After all, what could possibly go wrong? It's all fun… until it isn't. It's all harmless… until it isn't.

When our protagonist, Andrei, discovers that his girlfriend has cheated on him, he finds himself with an unexpected choice to make: a quick death or a new life in another world he knows absolutely nothing about. Andrei chooses life and sets off alongside his pet, a ginger cat with a limp, for a primeval world fraught with danger. The trouble is...who is whose pet becomes entirely unclear; the man's consciousness is split between both creatures, and the little cat gets a far greater share of intelligence and wit than his hulking master. 

Includes Class-A Threat, Apostle of the Sleeping Gods, The Destroying Plague, and Resistance.

Scyth and the followers of the Sleeping Gods have lost the Holy War. The new gods, who call themselves the True Gods, celebrate, unaware that the Sleepers have one more temple left. But how long until they find out? After all, Scyth's enemy Mogwai, once the strongest player on the planet, knows about Kharinza. The Supreme Legate of the Destroying Plague thirsts for vengeance and is eager to regain his former positions, becoming stronger every day, while Scyth, deprived of his invulnerability, has lost his former advantages.

After returning to Cali Bottom and the wider world of Disgardium, Alex realizes that the Demonic Games were a vacation compared to the problems he now faces. He has to help the beta players stuck in the Nether and decide what to do with his friends who "betrayed" him; identify a real traitor and prepare for the citizenship tests; and reach the Inferno to obtain Coals of Hellflame and destroy the Nucleus, whose legates, now free, have gained new powers thanks to the pantheon of dark gods who have joined the Destroying Plague. 

Alex Sheppard flies to the Demonic Games, hoping that he and his friends Malik and Tissa can do the impossible and achieve victory. Almost 400 players are invited to the Games, the best of the best from all walks of Dis. Champions of the arena and the battlefields, gryphon races and pet battles; the very best craftspeople and grand masters of their professions.... All of them await the arrival of Scyth the Class-A Threat, who must now prove his worth without his divine abilities to help him. 

Under the protection of Nergal the Radiant, the Alliance's armies march confidently toward Tiamat's temple. Scyth's old tricks are no longer working. The Legate of the Destroying Plague and his friends have a difficult choice to make: bow to the wishes of the Snowstorm corporation and complete the quest of the Nucleus, surrender to the preventers, or retreat in the battle for Tiamat's temple to win the war? 

I need my manor, I need my family ring, I need my Family, and I need your motorbike . . . My body grows stronger, my spirit levels up, and my old skills haven't gone anywhere. Finally, people I can trust are gathering around me. Mighty enemies? Sure, they exist too. But not for much longer.

I am Monster Slayer Fifth Class, Baron Alexander Galaxius. I'm still a baron with no barony, lands or family ring. Just like my past life, this one hasn't given me anything on a silver platter. I'll have to use my own strength to create the world I need. Once more . . .

Family manor-check! First Family Sword-present! Pets-a whole menagerie! Enemies-more and more! Friends-some, thank the Code! Money-oops . . . I need more gold! And a Family Guard! And a housekeeper! And a gardener, and . . . Hey, wasn't this world supposed to be my vacation?

It seems Irkutsk Oblast is getting a little too crowded for our hero. Yes, he has found his home here, for now deprived of caring feminine hands. Yes, nearby is the Epicenter, a perfect training ground. But the trouble is, the young baron has begun to draw attention from the powers that be, who plan to use Galaxius and his capabilities for their own—not always humane—ends . . .As our refined aristocrat of a hero would say: "Screw it, good luck to 'em!"

A serialized fiction podcast of uncanny tales.In a modern Britain haunted by its own history, Harker’s Variations follows two reluctant guardians navigating strange encounters with miskept relics, supernatural hungers, and faith that refuses to stay buried. Haunted bookshops, submerged archives, and dangerous rituals surface in ordinary streets, cafés, and cathedrals, revealing how old faiths continue to shape the present in ways both subtle and volatile.These stories explore what happens when sacred things are handled without care—and what it costs to keep them without letting them ...