Jason M Hardy

BESET ON ALL SIDES... It is a time of trials for the Marik-Stewart Commonwealth. Besieged by enemies, their once-mighty forces are struggling to simply survive-as is their leader... Anson Marik is at his wit's end. His Lyran enemies-aided by the warriors of Clan Wolf-are pressing on the borders of the Commonwealth. His chief tactician wishes to resign in the middle of chaos. And his abilities as a leader are failing him-he finds himself unable to summon the legendary rage that focuses his mind-and the loss could not have come at a worse time. For his allied enemies are on the move, taking the Commonwealth apart planet by planet, forcing Marik to pull his forces back in a fighting retreat. And if Anson Marik cannot gather his strength to stop the invasion, his people will be doomed...

POISON COMES IN MANY FORMS... Exarch Damien Redburn has called for the election of his replacement. Paladins assemble from all corners of the Republic, and those vying to be the next Exarch are creating a lively nomination process. But machinations behind the scenes threaten to turn the election into a bloodbath. Paladins Heather GioAvanti and Jonah Levin are both conducting investigations into suspicious activities swirling around the edges of this high-level gathering, including a suspected assassination at the highest level of Republic government. The leads they uncover repeatedly intersect, and it becomes clear that more than one group intends to disrupt the election. Through political influence, assassination, or rebellion, each of these cabals ultimately seeks to place its own man or woman in the Exarch's seat-and whoever controls the Exarch controls the Republic. But Damien Redburn will not allow his successor to be a puppet, and is more than willing to throw a few 'Mechs and a secret agent or two into the mix to get the result he wants-even if what he wants may be a surprise to everyone else...

"All of them," Terrin said. "Oh. Oh, of course. We know all of the prophecies will be fulfilled eventually, but in the near future, which ones are most likely ..." "All of them," Terrin said again. Lloyd Hsu, a young adept in a beleaguered church, sees these words as an ending. An end to his church's decades of waiting. An end to oppression, an end to desperation. The conflict he and his fellow church members have been waiting for is here, and they have prophecies assuring them it will end in their favor. Victory over the nation keeping a stranglehold on them is in their reach-if they are bold enough to grab it. The questions for Lloyd and the rest of the church, though, are what beginnings will follow this ending, and whether the future is all they believe it to be. A fast-moving fantasy novel set in a near-future North America altered by magic, The Last Prophecies examines the persistence of faith and the stubborn desire to believe in times of disaster. Set in a new world where the two largest organizations of wizards in existence fight for control and the loyalty of their people, the book tells of church members, resistance fighters, and the hidden powers of the world who are pushed into cataclysmic action.