DavidNiallWilson

A group of women, the jin-shei sisterhood, form a uniquely powerful circle that transcends class and social custom. They are bound together by a declaration of loyalty that transcends all other vows, even those with the gods, by their own secret language, passed from mother to daughter, by the knowledge that some of them will have to pay the ultimate sacrifice to enable others to fulfill their destiny.

The sisterhood we meet run from the Emperor's sister to the street-beggar, from the trainee warrior in the Emperor's Guard to the apprentice healer, from the artist to the traveller-girl, herself an illegitimate daughter of an emperor and seen as a threat to the throne. And as one of them becomes Dragon Empress, her determination to hold power against the sages of the temple, against the marauding forces from other kingdoms, drags the sisterhood into a dangerous world of court intrigue, plot and counterplot, and brings them into conflict with each other from which only the one who remains true to all the vows she made at the very beginning to the dying Princess Empress can rescue them.

An amazing and unusual book, based on some historical fact, full of drama, adventure and conflict like a Shakespearean history play, it's a novel about kinship and a society of women, of mysticism, jealousy, fate, destiny, all set in the wonderful, swirling background of Syai, a fantasy kingdom inspired by Imperial China.

FOLLOWING A MAJOR PANDEMIC, THE COUNTRY IS IN RUINS. WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER IS A HELLZONE KNOWN AS THE DEADLANDS.

Here, bioengineered Corpse Worms rain from the blood-streaked sky, reanimating the dead. And here, atomic weapons have created legions of mutants, primeval monsters, and wild chaotic weather patterns.

Enter: John Slaughter. Hardcore outlaw biker. Blood member of the Devil's Disciples. A very wanted man. Captured by the army, the feds want him to lead a gang of his old bikers across the Mississippi and into the nuclear wastes of the Deadlands.

His objective: Snatch a high-level biologist who is being held at an old NORAD fortress by a paramilitary terrorist group. It will mean a raid into territory swarming with the living dead, mutations, and sects of psychotic survivalists... not to mention the Cannibal Corpse motorcycle club, blood enemies of the Devil's Disciples.

His incentive: his brother is being held at a federal prison back east on charges of sedition. If Slaughter does not bring back the biologist, his brother will be executed.

The drawback: An ancient, diabolic evil has claimed the Deadlands and is in league with Cannibal Corpse. And unless Slaughter can stop it, it will pick its teeth with the last bones of the human race.

What's that sound coming from the walls?

Who is the mysterious stranger chasing a bounty hunter across a Wild West terrain?

Why is a famous boxer so scared before the biggest fight of his career?

Why is a man suddenly finding bits of his body are vanishing?

And why are two others so frightened of Christmas?

Find out in another clutch of stories by award-winning and # 1 bestselling author Paul Kane (Hooded Man, Sherlock Holmes and the Servants of Hell, Before, Tempting Fate), including one of his PL Kane crime mysteries, a brand new modern Carnacki adventure and an early bonus tale only just uncovered. With an introduction by award-winning author and screenwriter Philip Fracassi (Gothic, Boys in the Valley), cover photography from Michael Marshall Smith (The Straw Men, The Intruders), plus the script and audio download for Bounty, this book is bound to set you on the right?or should that be wrong??road.