Conor Kostick

On New Earth, a world based on a video role-playing game, fourteen-year-old Erik pursuades his friends to aid him in some unusual gambits in order to save Erik's father from exile and safeguard the futures of each of their families.

Epic

As the Dark Queen and controller of Saga sets out to enslave the people of New Earth, Ghost and his street hacker airboard gang of friends must find a way to stop her before the world they have always known is gone forever.

Saga

Everyone in the virtual universe of Edda is made of pixels-except Penelope. While her body is kept alive in a hospital bed, her avatar runs free, able to go anywhere and do anything, including create deadly weapons for Edda's ruler, her guardian, Lord Scanthax. When Scanthax decides he wants to invade another virtual world, Erik/Cindella from Epic and Ghost from Saga become part of the story-and soon the virtual universes are alive with fighting, alight with bombs, and brought together by three teenagers who want peace and understanding. This is the third and final book in Conor Kostick's trilogy.

Edda

After surviving a horrific accident, Liam discovers he has the ability to move to parallel universes, a place where he always succeeds, but he soon finds out that his success comes with a steep price.

Move

The First Crusade (1096-1099) was an extraordinary undertaking, the repercussions of which have reached down to the present day. This book re-examines the sources to provide a detailed analysis of the various social classes that participated in the expedition, and the tensions between them.

The Social Structure of the First Crusade

This book pays tribute to Professor Christine Meek with nineteen essays that present the latest research in the evolution of Italian society towards the Renaissance Which also provide fascinating and original studies of the actions of medieval women - in battle, as political leaders and as leaders of religious communities.

Essays in Honour of Christine Meek

Medieval Italy, Medieval and Early Modern Women

Everything comes with a price ... What if you could live in a universe where you were always the winner? Pushed to his limits by a horrific accident, Liam discovers he has an amazing ability: he can ‘move’ to parallel universes where things always turn out just the way he wants. But every time he moves the fabric of the metaverse begins to tear. And something evil begins to find its way in ... A gripping fantasy adventure story of the battle between a teenage boy and a terrible demon. It is also the deeper tale of how Liam changes, emerging from the final crisis a much wiser person than the boy for whom the ability to swap universes made the world his toy. A thrilling roller-coaster ride from an award-winning author.

A multinational games company recruit Tom, a smart, streetwise Dublin teenager, to get a team together and come to San Francisco to immerse themselves in a massive fantasy world, to eliminate an AI dragon that has gone rogue and is preventing the release of the game.

The Dragon's Revenge

Edda is a 'virtual' world ruled by the electronic intelligence of Lord Scanthax. Penelope is a teenager ensnared in Edda. Can she uncover the truth about her human past and gain her freedom? And are there other humans still 'out there'? A fast-moving fantasy from the author of internationally acclaimed Epic and Saga. Edda has all the exciting elements of avatars, mythical beings, magic, and cataclysmic battles, but also challenges the older reader to think deeply about humanity and power. 'A captivating page-turner.' School Library Journal, starred review of Epic, Conor Kostick's first novel.

Chris Jones

Klaus Oschema

Die Reihe 'Das Mittelalter. Perspektiven mediävistischer Forschung. Beihefte' bietet ein interdisziplinäres Forum für hochwertige, thematisch fokussierte Sammel- und Konferenzbände und mediävistische Monographien. Sie ergänzt die Zeitschrift 'Das Mittelalter. Perspektiven mediävistischer Forschung' des Mediävistenverbandes und richtet sich thematisch an alle im Verband vertretenen Disziplinen von der Byzantinistik und Latinistik über die neusprachlichen Philologien und die Geschichtswissenschaften bis hin zur Theologie. Kriterien für die Aufnahme in die Reihe sind wissenschaftliche Relevanz, methodische Solidität und innovative Fragestellungen. Der Internationalität der Forschung wird unter anderem auch dadurch Rechnung getragen, dass die Publikationen außer in Deutsch auch in Englisch erscheinen können. Leitlinie eines jeden Bandes ist die Interdisziplinarität im Sinne einer Überwindung der traditionellen Grenzen zwischen den Disziplinen wie auch nationaler Zuschnitte.

How Medieval Studies Contribute to Improving our Understanding of the Present

Making the Medieval Relevant

The crusades are often seen as epitomising a period when hostility between Christian West and the Muslim Near East reached an all time high. As this edited volume reveals, however, the era was one which saw both conflict and cohabitation. Tackling such questions as whether medicinal and architectural innovations came to Europe as a direct result of the Crusades, and why and how peace treaties and intermarriages were formed between the different cultures, this distinguished group of contributors reveal how the Holy Wars led on the one hand to a reinforcement of the beliefs and identities of each side, but on the other to a growing level of cultural exchange and interaction. This volume breaks new ground in not only exploring the conflict between the Christian and the Muslim worlds, but also the impact of this conflict on the cultural evolution of European and Near Eastern thought and practices. Utilising the latest scholarship and original studies of the sources, this survey sheds new light on the cultural realities of East-West relations and marks a new departure for studies of the crusades. Contributors include John France, Yehoshua Frenkel, Chris Wright, Natasha Hodgson, A.V. Murray, Sini Kangas, Léan Ní Chléirigh, Susan Edgington, Jürgen Krüger, Yvonne Friedman and Bernard Hamilton.

Cultural Histories

The Crusades and the Near East

The coming of the Normans to Ireland from 1169 is a pivotal moment in the country’s history. It is a period full of bloodthirsty battles, both between armies and individuals. With colourful personalities and sharp political twists and turns, Strongbow’s story is a fascinating one. Combining the writing style of an award-winning novelist with expert scholarship, historian Conor Kostick has written a powerful and absorbing account of the stormy affairs of an extraordinary era.

The Norman Invasion of Ireland

Strongbow

"Great read, very thought provoking and occasionally funny." PGRFrom the award-winning author of the international best-seller, Epic.These are the tales of Eternal Voyager. Tales from a distant future in which all life is virtual. Everyone in the Metaverse takes for granted the ability to teleport; to change shape; to create entire planets for their playgrounds and to make backup copies of themselves, so they cannot permanently die. And what do these people who live beyond the conventional universe do with their powers? Mostly they party.What happens when a hedonistic society that has never known the use of money invents the concept? At first, a lot more work gets done. But very quickly, the race to gain Kudos develops a dark side.Eternal Voyager is one of the first to opt out of the scramble for Kudos. But can he restore the metaverse to it's former, fun-loving, days?

Kudos

When scholars discuss the medieval past, the temptation is to become immersed there, to deepen our appreciation of the nuances of the medieval sources through debate about their meaning. But the past informs the present in a myriad of ways and medievalists can, and should, use their research to address the concerns and interests of contemporary society. This volume presents a number of carefully commissioned essays that demonstrate the fertility and originality of recent work in Medieval Studies. Above all, they have been selected for relevance. Most contributors are in the earlier stages of their careers and their approaches clearly reflect how interdisciplinary methodologies applied to Medieval Studies have potential repercussions and value far beyond the boundaries of the Middles Ages. These chapters are powerful demonstrations of the value of medieval research to our own times, both in terms of providing answers to some of the specific questions facing humanity today and in terms of much broader considerations. Taken together, the research presented here also provides readers with confidence in the fact that Medieval Studies cannot be neglected without a great loss to the understanding of what it means to be human.

Conor Kostick

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