Most people know the story of Joseph and Mary, but what about the others who came to the manger? What are their stories? What gifts did they bear? At the Manger: The Stories of Those Who Were There is a collection of fictional tales that captures the spirit of charity and humility the birth of Christ is meant to teach. These stores share the gentle reminder that giving is an act of love and ennobles us most when it is a gift of self."Rarely has [the Christmas story] been done as well as in Orullian's beautifully written anthology . . . Here we are asked to conjecture how ordinary people might have responded to Yeshua's birth—and by extension, how we would respond."— Publisher's Weekly"Orullian creatively and imaginatively paints fictional portraits of various Bethlehem citizens to create a larger of Bethlehem and the power of love."— CRA Marketplace"An enchanting retelling of the Christmas story from the perspective of various people who visited the babe in the manger."— The...

"In a culture where ritualized torture is used to teach its people strength through long-suffering, a foreign sufferer unintentionally teaches them something stronger . . . something gentler."At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

From ancient myths to future battlefields, from youthful games to a confession booth, from morality plays to women of the evening, from the old west to an intergalactic saloon, Beats of Seven is an eclectic collection of Peter Orullian's short fiction that moves from note to note with the unpredictable delight of a great jazz tune.

Nicholas Santori has had troubling dreams all his life. With the anniversary of his daughter's death, those dreams have gotten worse, threatening the stability of his family and perhaps his own safety. After receiving cryptic messages about his dreams from his clairvoyant son, Nicholas seeks help from an eccentric hypnotherapist. During regression Nicholas learns that in a former life he was a girl named Victoria Page, that she was murdered, and that her case was never truly solved. Believing he can end his nightmares if he can solve Victoria's murder, he finds retired detective Colin Murphy, and together, they hope to solve the cold case, while someone is desperately trying to stop them.Orullian deftly weaves the two sides of this interconnected story across the twentieth century. From nightmares, to zeppelins, to train heists, to mafia hits, to heartfelt conversations about loss, Orullian's propulsive imagining of Dream Theater's critically acclaimed album Metropolis...

Two men. One old. One young. Both possess a gift. A gift of music with the power to change things. Even destroy. The younger is called back to his homeland. To war. The other embarks on an inward journey into his past, as he sets to repair a broken viola. An instrument with meaning to him. A resonant kind. The music each man will make will have an absolute quality. And it will change them both.

After the death of his wife, Robert Mallen finds the only way to cope is to crawl into a mindless routine. As empty years go by, he finds he is not really living anymore, until a revolutionary new procedure offers him the chance to offload the routines and trivialities of life, freeing his mind to explore deeper questions and ideas. And what he finds in his deep-mind may either save him ... or drive him mad.

In wartime, what price honor, when the odds are against you, the enemy is remorseless, and it is the eleventh hour? A Sheason who lives to help his people faces a terrible choice on the battlefield when all defenses have failed and the only choice seems to be to do the one thing that separates him from his most hated adversary.

BASED ON THE HIT ALBUM BY PROGRESSIVE METAL GIANTS DREAM THEATERIn a not so distant future, our world has returned to the ugliness of feudalism. Only this time, those in power control the servant class with the very thing that once inspired men to rise up and take back their lives—music. But it is not the music of old. That music is forgotten. No, this new music is engineered entirely by machines. This music suppresses that part of humanity which might be inspired. This music suppresses hope.But what is old will be made new again.In the village of Ravenskill lives a young man, Gabriel, who comes with a gift of power. A gift of music. As a human expression.Gabriel's brother, Arhys, leads a rebel militia that is trying to liberate the people. And he believes Gabriel's gift is the key; a key he hopes will help him keep a promise he made his wife on her deathbed.But the emperor and his son have different plans—to maintain control. Those...

A mother considers the unthinkable to stop a war. A husband may lose everything to watch over a world. A scrivener learns the terrible risk in the words she's translating. The power of many sacrificing as one. These and more are the stories collected in this volume. Stories of people. Stories of war and sacrifice and friendship. They help weave the rich fabric of Orullian's epic fantasy series, The Vault of Heaven, deepening the resonance of the world he's created.

The gods who created this world have abandoned it. In their mercy, however, they chained the rogue god—and the monstrous creatures he created to plague mortalkind—in the vast and inhospitable wasteland of the Bourne. The magical Veil that contains them has protected humankind for millennia and the monsters are little more than tales told to frighten children. But the Veil has become weak and creatures of Nightmare have come through. To fight them, the races of men must form a great alliance to try and stop the creatures. But there is dissent. One king won't answer the call, his pride blinding him even to the poison in his own court. Another would see Convocation fail for his own political advantage. And still others believe Convocation is not enough. Some turn to the talents of the Sheason, who can shape the very essence of the world to their will. But their order is divided, on the brink of collapse. Tahn Junell remembers friends who despaired in a...

Some heroes don't carry blades or go to war. Some heroes are fathers desperately trying not to fail their sons. At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

Peter Orullian's epic fantasy debut The Unremembered has been critically acclaimed, earning starred reviews and glowing praise. But now it gets even better. In anticipation of the second volume in Orullian's epic series, and for one of the few times in our publishing history, we at Tor are choosing to relaunch a title with an author's definitive edition. In addition to stunning updates to the original text, we're also including an exclusive short story set in the world of Vault of Heaven as well as a sneak preview of the sequel, Trial of Intentions, and a glossary to the universe. The gods who created this world have abandoned it. In their mercy however, they sealed the rogue god-and the monstrous creatures he created to plague mortal kind-in the vast and inhospitable wasteland of the Bourne. The magical Veil that protected humankind for millennia has become weak and creatures of nightmare have now come through. Those who stand against evil know that only...