Alex Ness

Pirates & Crusaders, ahoy Hoist your banners, unsheathe your blades, kiss your crosses, and search for booty across the seas and the sands More of the age of steel than shot and no fantastical elements, this is a lineup of the strongest of swashbuckling historical adventures. Gritty, dangerous, and bloody tales of the past, realistic without being nihilistic. The anthology kicks off with a rousing foreword by swashbuckling and sword-and-sorcery guru Howard Andrew Jones. This is followed by 3 sections of adventure: 7 tales each of pirates and crusaders, and 3 tales combining the two. Sections contain stories by current bestselling authors, up-and-coming authors, and classic tales from 1910. Epic verse and song round out each section of historical action. There's never been anything like this. It's a massive tome of piratical and crusading adventure you'll be delighted to read Includes: Daniel Amatiello, Jennifer Rachel Baumer, Eadwine Brown, W. D. Clifton, Hermann Contractus of Reichenau, Commander E. Hamilton Currey, R. N., David R. Downing, Jeff Draper, Teel James Glenn, Juleigh Howard-Hobson, Howard Andrew Jones, L. E. L., Kate Martin, KT Morley, Alex Ness, Henry Ram, Daniel R. Robichaud, J. Stewart, Kate Dickinson Sweetser, Keith Taylor, Carl Walmsley, and C. L. Werner.

Exceptional existence is not a promise, but death is certain. How do we address the only question that matters, what do we do in life to make it worth while.

A collection of poetry focusing upon the era of history known as the Viking Age.

Each human life is, or ought to be filled with great memories. But life is not so kind. What do you do to create a life, and purpose, and of value?

** 2016 Elgin Award Nominee ** Normal human life takes place in a world very unlike S dhe and T r na n g. This magical place is where faeries dwell, the Wild Hunt goes on, and bodies never age. Alex Ness takes the reader into The Gray with poems about life and death, and love.

"To paraphrase the famous words of the Three Great Shoguns of Japan: 'Little Bird - if you do not read this book, you will miss something good in the wind.' In these stories and excerpts Alex and Josh show their deep interest in samurai, and approach the subject with the respect and sophistication due to the twofold Way of the pen and the sword." -Sean Michael Wilson, author of manga versions of The Book of Five Rings and The 47 Ronin "Stories as sharp as a samurai blade."-Chris Bradford author of the Young Samurai and Bodyguard series Samurai commonly describes a warrior in Japan who serves a lord, using combat skills and living by the code of Bushido. But not everyone followed the code so directly, nor was every samurai so bold and courageous. So while the truth is somewhere between the idealized icon of fidelity and bravery, and bullies with swords, this work features the samurai who lived by their code. Inspired by the great and legendary samurai themselves, this work of original short stories and poetry is meant to evoke, however briefly, life from the viewpoint of the samurai.

King Arthur is one of the greatest legends of all time. The story of Arthur is a complex, and has been written by numerous writers for different purposes over a dozen centuries. To some, King Arthur was a mythic figure, never having lived, created to establish a line of descent. To others, King Arthur was a composite of numerous men who'd fought against the Saxon wave of immigration and invasion. They assert that Arthur was made from portions of each man, conflated and inflated in achievements, and given a name to cap off the semi-fictional figure. And finally to some, Arthur, King of the Britons, was a historical personage, having lived in a dark age of record keeping, but who in fact inspired the stories, and is remembered for deeds which, if they are lost to history in detail and clarity, nonetheless existed, and happened. This incredible work contains vivid poetry about King Arthur, his life, his loves, his foes, his wars, and his legend. Also included are stunning black-and-white illustrations and a short story speculating of the mysterious death of King Arthur.