Bellona is a city at the dead center of the United States. Something has happened there… The population has fled. Madmen and criminals wander the streets. Strange portents appear in the cloud-covered sky. Into this disaster zone comes a young man — poet, lover, and adventurer — known only as the Kid. Tackling questions of race, gender, and sexuality, Dhalgren is a literary marvel and groundbreaking work of American magical realism. Text is full. The unclosed ending sentence can be read as leading into the unopened opening sentence, turning the novel into an enigmatic circle

Magiere has earned a reputation as the most formidable vampire slayer in the land. Villagers far and wide welcome her with both awe and disdain, grateful to her for ridding their towns of the undead menace, but finding themselves made poorer for their salvation. Magiere has always known she’s dealing with simple folk who only wish to have their superstitions silenced, and she’s never seen anything wrong with exploiting them for profit. Now, tired of the game, Magiere and her partner, the half-elf Leesil, are ready to hang up their weapons and settle down in a place they can finally call home. But their newfound peace will not last. For Magiere has come to the attention of a trio of powerful and dangerous vampires who recognize her true identity-and who fear the birthright that flows through her veins. And they will stop at nothing to keep Magiere from fulfilling her destiny…

Aurian hat bittere Niederlagen hinnehmen müssen: Es ist ihr nicht gelungen, das Flammenschwert zu meistern, ihre einzige Waffe gegen die Mächte der Finsternis. Zudem hat sie die unberechenbaren Phaerie aus ihrer Gefangenschaft befreit. Die Folgen dieser Tat sind unabsehbar. Viele Fährnisse lauern noch auf Aurian, bevor sie Dhiammara, die Stadt der Drachen, erreicht, wo sich ihr Schicksal und das der ganzen Welt entscheidet

At the end of “Sword of Flame,” the evil Mage Eliseth disappears through a rift in time with Aurian’s lover, Anvar, and the captured Harp of Winds. Accompanied only by a handful of companions, Aurian follows—only to find herself thrown ten years into the future by the unpredictable rift. And the world in which she finds herself is one which has been dominated by the evil Eliseth for all the years of her absence, and is therefore corrupt and almost unrecognizable. Anvar’s body is now in Eliseth’s control while his soul has been imprisoned in a crystal prison—and without the help of his mastery over the Harp of Winds, Aurian finds her powers severely diminished. Moreover, the Sword of Flame, which she has gained at the end of the eponymously-named book, is still not under her control, for she cannot bear to make the sacrifice that will bind it to her: spilling the life-blood of a loved one with its virgin steel. And somehow, she and her companions must overcome these monstrous odds to reunite Anvar’s spirit with his body, win the Sword, and defeat the evil Mages at last