Steven Brust – författare

Born over a century ago, Agyar was once a frivolous young man, before he found immortality in a woman's blood-red lips. Now he roams from woman to woman and decade to decade, finding himself at last in an Ohio college town, where he must choose between the seductions of salvation and of destruction.

It is 1849. Across Europe, the high tide of revolution has crested, leaving recrimination and betrayal in its wake. From the high councils of Prussia to the corridors of Parliament, the powers-that-be breathe sighs of relief. But the powers-that-be are hardly unified among themselves. Far from it...On the south coast of England, London man-about-town James Cobham comes to himself in a country inn, with no idea how he got there. Corresponding with his brother, he discovers himself to have been presumed drowned in a boating accident. Together they decide that he should stay put for the moment, while they investigate what may have transpired. For James Cobham is a wanted man - wanted by conspiring factions of the government and the Chartists alike, and also targeted by a magical conspiracy inside his own family. And so the adventure begins...Leading the reader through every corner of mid-nineteenth - century Britain, from the parlours of the elite to the dens of the underclass.Not since Wilkie Collins or Arthur Conan Doyle has there been such a profusion of guns, sword fights, family intrigues, women disguised as men, occult societies, philosophical discussions, and of course, passionate romance.

House Jhereg, Dragaera's organized crime syndicate, is still hunting Vlad Taltos. There's a big price on his head in Draegara City. Then he hears disturbing news. Aliera - long-time friend, sometime ally - has been arrested by the Empire on a charge of practicing elder sorcery, a capital crime. It doesn't make sense. Everybody knows Aliera's been dabbling in elder sorcery for ages. Why is the Empire down on her now? Why aren't her powerful friends - Morrolan, Sethra, the Empress Zerika - coming to her rescue? And most to the point, why has she refused to do anything about her own defence? It would be idiotic of Vlad to jump into this situation. He's a former Jhereg who betrayed his House. He's an Easterner - small, weak, short-lived. He's being searched for by the most remorseless killers in the world. Naturally, that's exactly why he's going to get completely involved...

The first seven of "Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos" novels have long been in print from Ace Books in a set of three trade paperback omnibuses. Now Tor, publisher of the series from book eight on, continues the series of omnibuses by putting Dragon and Issola into print in that format. In "Dragon", Vlad finds himself in the last place any self-respecting assassin wants to be: the army. Worse, he's in the middle of an apocalyptic battle between two sorcerous armies, and everyone expects him to perform a role that they won't explain. Vlad may kill people for a living, but this is ridiculous. All he's got to rely on are his wits...and a smart-mouthed winged lizard. In "Issola", Vlad's aristocratic friends Morrolan and Aliera have disappeared, and according to the eldritch (but affable) Sethra Lavode, they may be in the hands of the Jenoine - the mysterious beings who made the world of the Dragaera Empire and its surroundings, and who may have come from somewhere else. Oh, well, what's life without the occasional cosmic battle with beings who control time and space?

In Spring 2011, Tor put the next two "Vlad" books, "Dragon" and "Issola", into print as a trade paperback entitled "The Book of Dragon". Now we continue with the next two, collecting the "New York Times"-bestselling "Dzur" and "Jhegaala" into "The Book of Dzur". In "Dzur", Vlad is back in the great city of Adrilankha, with a price on his head. The rackets he used to run are now under the control of the mysterious "Left Hand of the Jhereg" - a cabal of women who report to no man. His ex-wife needs his help. His old enemies aren't sure whether they want to kill him, or talk to him and then kill him. A goddess appears to be playing tricks with his memory. And the Great Weapon he's carrying appears to have plans of its own...In "Jhegaala", Vlad decides to hide out among his relatives in faraway Fenario, in a papermaking town called Burz. At first it's not such a bad place, though the mill reeks to high heaven. But the longer he stays there, the stranger it becomes. Then a grisly murder takes place. And in its wake, far from Dragaera, without his usual organization working for him, Vlad has to do his sleuthing amidst an alien people...his own.

Once, Vlad Taltos knew his trade: he killed people for a living. That skill got him his foothold in House Jhereg, running the rackets for a chunk of urban Adrilankha. Later, things happened that left Vlad a changed man, on the run from the Jhereg and frequently involved in the affairs of Dragonlords, Empresses, and even Jenoine. Far more involved than the average human. Meanwhile, in the very distant past, one of the gods fashioned an artefact - a silver figurine of a tiassa, a winged pantherlike animal. To Devera the Wanderer, it's a pretty toy to play with. To Vlad, it's a handy prop for a con he's running. To the Empire, it's a tool to be used against the Jenoine. And to the Jhereg, it's a trap to kill Vlad. As it happens, however, the silver tiassa has its own agenda.

Years ago, Vlad Taltos came from the East to make his way as a human amidst the impossibly tall, fantastically long lived natives of the Dragaeran Empire. He joined the Jhereg, one of the seventeen Dragaeran Houses that handles the Empire's vices: gambling, rackets, organized crime. He became a professional assassin. He was good at it. But that was then, before Vlad and the Jhereg became mortal enemies. For years, Vlad has run from one end of the Empire to the other, avoiding the Jhereg assassins who pursue him. Now, finally, he's back in the imperial capital where his family and friends are. He means to stay there this time. Whatever happens. And whatever it takes.

Vlad Taltos is in love. With a former assassin who may just be better than he is at the Game. Women like this don’t come along every day and no way is he passing up a sure bet.So a wedding is being planned. Along with a shady deal gone wrong and a dead man who owes Vlad money. Setting up the first and trying to deal with the second is bad enough. And then bigger powers decide that Vlad is the perfect patsy to shake the power structure of the kingdom.More's the pity that his soul is sent walkabout to do it.How might Vlad get his soul back and have any shot at a happy ending? Well, there’s the tale…

Another Opening…Another Cataclysm?Vlad Taltos is on the run. Again. This time from one of the most powerful forces in his world, the Left Hand, who are intent on ending his very lucrative career. Permanently.He finds a hidey-hole in a theatre where the players are putting on a show that was banned centuries ago…and is trying to be shut down by the House that once literally killed to keep it from being played.Vlad will take on a number of roles to save his own skin. And the skins of those he loves.And along the way, he might find a part that was tailor-made for him.One that he might not want…but was always his destiny.

Another Opening…Another Cataclysm?Vlad Taltos is on the run. Again. This time from one of the most powerful forces in his world, the Left Hand, who are intent on ending his very lucrative career. Permanently.He finds a hidey-hole in a theatre where the players are putting on a show that was banned centuries ago…and is trying to be shut down by the House that once literally killed to keep it from being played.Vlad will take on a number of roles to save his own skin. And the skins of those he loves.And along the way, he might find a part that was tailor-made for him.One that he might not want…but was always his destiny.

Meanwhile, for years, Vlad’s path has been repeatedly crossed by Devera, a small Dragaeran girl of indeterminate powers who turns up at the oddest moments in his life.Now Devera has appeared again - to lead Vlad into a mysterious, seemingly empty manor overlooking the Great Sea. Inside this structure are corridors that double back on themselves, rooms that look out over other worlds, and - just maybe - answers to some of Vlad’s long-asked questions about his world and his place in it. If only Devera can be persuaded to stop disappearing in the middle of his conversations with her...Full of swordplay, peril, and swashbuckling flair, Vallista is a treat for longtime fans of this popular fantasy series, a deep dive into the mysteries of Dragaera and all within it.

Originally published in 1984, Steven Brust's To Reign in Hell is a retelling of Satan's revolt against Heaven with much more sympathy for Lucifer and his allies.Heaven is threatened by the reemergence of a cataclysmic event, a wave of energy that can destroy life and result in the loss of many angels. In preparation for this Fourth Wave, the angel Yaweh consults the angel Satan. A plan to build Earth, a new and larger Heaven that would be equipped to withstand the disaster is constructed. Satan questions the plan because doing so will sacrifice the lives of other angels, much like the Fourth Wave itself threatens to do. Charged with convincing their fellow angels to lay down their lives, Satan has reservations about their right to ask for such a sacrifice. This doubt, and the questioning of ethics, opens the door for a devious figure to manipulate Satan, developing a heavenly war.This re-examination of Paradise Lost calls morality and villainy into question through the lens of epic fantasy is a prescient early classic with an enduring legacy and a formative text of the genre.With an introduction by the late, great Roger Zelazny, author of Lord of Light and Nine Princes in Amber.

Natural Law Today: The Present State of the Perennial Philosophy explains and defends various aspects of traditional natural law ethical theory, which is rooted in a broad understanding of human nature. Some of the issues touched upon include the relation of natural law to speculative reason and human ends (teleology), the relationship between natural law and natural theology, the so-called naturalistic fallacy (deriving “ought” from “is”), and the scope of natural knowledge of the precepts of the natural law, as well as possible limits on it. It also takes up certain historical and contemporary questions, such as the various stances of Protestant thinkers toward natural law, the place of natural law in contemporary U.S. legal thought, and the relationship between natural law and liberal political thought more generally. It brings together a number of the leading exponents of a more traditional or classical form of natural law thought, who claim to root their arguments within the broader philosophy of Thomas Aquinas more deeply than other major representatives of the natural law tradition today.

Natural Law Today: The Present State of the Perennial Philosophy explains and defends various aspects of traditional natural law ethical theory, which is rooted in a broad understanding of human nature. Some of the issues touched upon include the relation of natural law to speculative reason and human ends (teleology), the relationship between natural law and natural theology, the so-called naturalistic fallacy (deriving “ought” from “is”), and the scope of natural knowledge of the precepts of the natural law, as well as possible limits on it. It also takes up certain historical and contemporary questions, such as the various stances of Protestant thinkers toward natural law, the place of natural law in contemporary U.S. legal thought, and the relationship between natural law and liberal political thought more generally. It brings together a number of the leading exponents of a more traditional or classical form of natural law thought, who claim to root their arguments within the broader philosophy of Thomas Aquinas more deeply than other major representatives of the natural law tradition today.