Shawna Thomas – författare

Selia has run her family''s tavern since she was fifteen and can hunt and fight the equal of any man. When she rescues a badly wounded man and nurses him back to health, she has no idea she''s about to change not only her life, but also the destinies of two peoples…The battered warrior is Svistra—a race of bloodthirsty savages determined to destroy her homeland. Or so the stories claim. Jaden reveals a different truth: how his ancestors were driven into the barren northern mountains. Now they are strong and war parties are pushing south wanting their land back.The son of a Svistra Commander, Jaden is looking for a way to bring peace to both humans and Svistrans. He tries to ignore his growing passion for Selia, but when she is captured he has to decide what he would be willing to sacrifice to save the woman he loves…105,000 words

Book one of the Triune StonesAfter her grandfather's death, Sara inherits an ancient pendant and a near-impossible quest master the mysterious pendant's source of magic. Driven to do so, she must find the other two stones of power, long considered lost, while preventing an unknown enemy from finding her first. Unprepared and alone, she travels to where the keepers of the stones, the Siobani, were last seen. Along the way she meets Tobar, leader of the nomadic Heleini tribe. As Sara wrestles with feelings for this intriguing man, she is also invigorated with her grandfather's passion to find the ancient Siobani race. After a rival tribe kidnaps Tobar's son and heir, Sara must harness the stone's healing magic to unite the tribes and save the boy. But as the dark power stalking her gains ground, will she continue on her quest to reach the Siobani or risk everything to save the warring tribes from eliminating each other?99,000 words

Book two of The Triune StonesSara, now known as Ilythra, the Wanderer of legend, continues north on her quest to find the Siobani, who hold the secrets of the magic stone around her neck. The stone's magic leads her to help a trader in search of his brother. The hunt takes her into a land in the grip of an alchemical conspiracy. Lord Bredych of Greton has already schemed to control Ilythra's stone once and weaves a web of scent, magic and manipulation to bring her to him. With Bredych's fragrances intoxicating her and the song of his stone in her ears, Ilythra begins to forget her quest. The trader catches wind of Ilythra's danger and rushes to her aid. With Ilythra's mind muddled and the forces of an entire nation bent on controlling her stone, it will take an unthinkable act of sacrifice for her to continue her search for the Siobani. Sequel to Journey of Awakening. 115,000 words

Book three of The Triune StonesIlythra the Wanderer has escaped brainwashing by the merciless sorcerer Bredych, but she's far from safe. As Bredych seizes power in the kingdom of Greton, Ilythra staggers north with a magic stone he covets, fleeing his murderous trackers. There in the mist, she finds the Siobani and the final Triune Stone. Ilythra's quest won't be complete until she recovers the stone still in Bredych's possession and uses it to mend the wounds of the world. Though the Siobani are reluctant to leave their long seclusion, Ilythra convinces them that the time to reunite the stones has come. With Ilythra wielding the power of her stone, the Siobani have a fighting chance. But Greton's walls are thick. Bredych's spells are insidious. His army is well trained. And even with new magic she's learned from the Siobani to help her, pulling down the puppeteer of Greton will be Ilythra's hardest battle yet. 94,000 words

Book four of The Triune StonesTo fulfill her destiny as the Wanderer of legend, Ilythra needs to find the last of the Triune Stones. But its music has gone silent, its owner, the dark sorcerer Bredych, nowhere to be seen except in her dreams. Dreams that are getting ever more frequent, and more troubling. Unrest is sweeping the land, and Ilythra's allies are paying the price as Bredych subsumes more and more kingdoms to his will. Armed with only her sword and her friends stoic elderborn Arien and passionate warrior-prince Ryliann she sets out to win her people back and train them to fight for themselves. Her cause is clear, but her feelings for the two completely different yet equally admirable men, less so. With the fate of both humanity and elderborn on the line, how can she dare choose love over her destiny?Find out how it all began in Journey of Awakening. 97,000 words

ISRR, the "International Symposium on Robotics Research", is one of robotics pioneering Symposia, which has established over the past two decades some of the field's most fundamental and lasting contributions. This book presents the results of the eighteenth edition of "Robotics Research" ISRR17, offering a collection of a broad range of topics in robotics. This symposium took place in Puerto Varas, Chile from December 11th to December 14th, 2017. The content of the contributions provides a wide coverage of the current state of robotics research, the advances and challenges in its theoretical foundation and technology basis, and the developments in its traditional and new emerging areas of applications. The diversity, novelty, and span of the work unfolding in these areas reveal the field's increased maturity and expanded scope and define the state of the art of robotics and its future direction.