Christopher Mitchell

The Mortal Blade

Lostwell - a dying world of volcanos, earthquakes, endless wastes and wild dragons. For Corthie and Aila, Lostwell is a stepping stone to the home of the Holdfasts, and for Blackrose and Maddie it is the way to Dragon Eyre. But for Belinda, Lostwell means something else - the land where she once ruled as Queen. Within the sanctuary of the Falls of Iron, the exiles from the city of Pella and Tara make their plans, but unknown to them, on Implacatus, the home of the Gods, a task force is being assembled - their mission, to find and secure the source of Salve, the miracle material that grants everlasting youth to the gods. Sable Holdfast works alone. Tasked with finding a Quadrant, the former assassin is trying to redeem herself. Can she stop the gods of Implacatus from finding the world of Maddie and Aila, and help Corthie get home, or will she succumb to the old temptations...

Falls of Iron

Would you kill for your sister? High Mage Shella has a choice to make. When her sister decides she wants to be Queen at any cost, should she help her? Or stop her? Feeling restless in the claustrophobic and over-crowded metropolis of her birth, Shella is drawn to the power of her sister's voice as she assembles thousands of their people, calling upon them to gather their possessions and follow her in a Great Migration. Her sister plans to lead them over the border into the Rahain Republic, whose unconquered army has just returned from victorious campaigns abroad. There, she intends to settle and crown herself Queen. Shella's mage powers have only ever been used for the good of her homeland. Now, in the service of her sister, is she prepared to use their darker side? For Shella knows that if she cannot control her powers... ...they will consume all that she loves.

The Queen's Executioner

The Return of the God-Queen. A year and a half has passed since the murder of Princess Yendra by her brother Montieth. With the Prince in jail, the City of the Aurelians has been at peace. Only one thing can disturb the tranquility of the City - the former all-powerful God-Queen. Hiding in Port Sanders under an alias, the former tyrant craves a life of luxury and quiet; but when the rest of the City discovers her identity, she realises that she has nowhere to hide...

Red City

For six months, the lands of the massacred Scythe tribe have lain empty and desolate; then, one crisp winter's morning, the red sky crackles and forty thousand survivors of the Lostwell Catastrophe appear, along with a dozen dragons, and one Holdfast... While King Daniel struggles to reform the City, Queen Emily dreams of recapturing the lost town of Jezra on the Western Bank. When the Lostwell Exiles arrive, she realises that she may have found the only force capable of transforming her dreams into a reality. Lurking in the dark shadows of his palace in Dalrig, Montieth, the powerful God-Prince, conspires against the mortal government, as he plots to seize control of the City's last remaining reserves of salve, whatever the cost.

City of Salve

Following his victory at the Falls of Iron, the champion Corthie Holdfast starts to believe he has a destiny. He is the chosen one, the hero who will defeat the Ascendants, and end their tyrannical rule of Lostwell. As the Black Dragon tries to assemble an army from the wild and outlaw dragons of the Catacombs, the Gods of Implacatus plan their revenge, sending two Ascendants to regain control of Lostwell. Their mission - to find the fabled Sextant, and to destroy the Holdfasts forever.

Paths of Fire

A Champion in chains, a Demigod in hiding and a Dragon betrayed. The new Prince of Tara rules the City of the Eternal Siege and nothing will get in his way - all must kneel before him or die. But what is power without the woman he desires? For three hundred years, the Prince has longed for Aila, wanting her as his bride. Now that the City is in his hands, he will do anything to possess her, even if it means plunging the City into a new Civil War. Beneath the Great Walls, the heart of the black dragon is filled with despair. Back in chains with no hope of freedom, she longs for death. Her only reason to live is her rider - but is Maddie enough?

The Dragon's Blade

The Prince's Blade

The Holdfasts of Lostwell are scattered. Sable, injured by Belinda, hides among the wild dragons of the Catacombs, while they plot to drive her and Maddie out. Taken by the former God-Queen of Tara, Kelsey faces a life in captivity, alongside Aila; while Corthie lies sick and broken - his dreams of destiny in tatters, his hopes in ruins. All that stands between the Ascendants and victory is Belinda, who faces her own struggles as she attempts to keep her resistance a secret. Battling her fears, only she has the power to free the land where once she was queen.

Gates of Ruin

The nightmare has begun... but where is the Black Dragon? After a thousand years, the Eternal Enemy has breached the Great Walls, devastating great swathes of the City. Thousands lie dead, while the survivors huddle behind the old and decaying walls of the inner defences. With the greenhides on one side, and the corrupt and cruel regime of the ruling Gods on the other, the people of the City await their end. All that stands in the way is a disgraced Champion, a tortured God and two Mortals from a forgotten legend...

It is conventional wisdom among scholars, policymakers, and other observers that crises are one of the primary drivers of European integration. However, while many crises have indeed spurred deeper integration, there is also no shortage of crises that failed to produce meaningful deepening, or even led to disintegration. The literature on European integration has to date failed to develop a theory to identify ex ante which crises are most likely to produce integrating reform. Crises and Integration in European Banking Union addresses that gap, building a theory of how the combination of crisis severity and origin indicates whether a crisis will produce deep reform, modest reform, or a persistence of the pre-crisis status quo. Mitchell does so by examining the relative impact of a series of crises on the centralization of European financial regulation in the 21st century, including the 2007-09 Banking Crisis, 2010-14 Debt Crisis, the Brexit shock, and the 2020-21 COVID-19 Pandemic. It thus also makes an important contribution to the literature on European financial regulation and the steps needed to complete a European banking and capital markets union. The volume not only addresses a significant theoretical gap, but also provides a foundation for policymaking in response to future crises by building a framework to identify which challenges are most likely to provide an opportunity for deeper integration.

To Build or To Burn

Crises and Integration in European Banking Union

A city ruled by Gods, a mortal champion, a misfit girl and a disobedient dragon... Stolen from his home, Corthie Holdfast has arrived in the City of the Eternal Siege as a new Champion. He must fight alongside the Blades, whose lives are dedicated to the defence of the City against the hordes of monstrous Greenhides; or die at the hands of the Gods who rule. Maddie Jackdaw, a young Blade, faces her last chance. Thrown out of every unit defending the City, either she takes on a new role, or she will be sent to the Rats, a company of misfits given the perilous tasks beyond the Great Walls. Her new role, if she takes it, will bring her face to face with her deepest fears, for beneath the walls, in a secret and hidden lair, lies a dragon, imprisoned and waiting...

It's time for someone to pay. Keira lies shackled and alone, surrounded by soldiers while the smoke rises from the poisoned ruins of the city she was forced to destroy. Condemned as a war criminal by the King of the Holdings and reviled by the rest of the world, she is a prize weapon - a tool in the hands of her Rahain captors. But no more. Keira knows she must escape... ...or die trying. Killop has escaped the dungeons of the Rahain and fled into the mountains. All he desires is to begin his search for Daphne, but his people are crying out for a leader to free them from their chains of servitude. Can he ignore their pleas and leave Rahain to look for the woman he loves? Or will he stay, and lead his people in their fight for freedom before they are destroyed? He cannot do both... ...and time is running out.

The Severed City

Graeme L. Hammer

Neville Nicholls

Climate variability has major impacts in many parts of the world, including Australia. Developments in understanding of the El Niño - Southern Oscillation Phenomenon have introduced some skill in seasonal to inter-annual climate forecasting. Can this skill be harnessed to advantage? Or do we just continue to observe these impacts? How does a decision-maker managing an agricultural or natural ecosystem modify decisions in response to a skillful, but imprecise, seasonal climate forecast? Using Australian experience as a basis, this book focuses on these questions in pursuing means to better manage climate risks. The state of the science in climate forecasting is reviewed before considering detailed examples of applications to: farm scale agricultural decisions (such as management of cropping and grazing systems); regional and national scale agricultural decisions (such as commodity trading and government policy); and natural systems (such as water resources, pests and diseases, and natural fauna). Many of the examples highlight the participatory and inter-disciplinary approach required among decision-makers, resource systems scientists/analysts, and climate scientists to bring about the effective applications. The experiences discussed provide valuable insights beyond the geographical and disciplinary focus of this book. The book is ideally suited to professionals and postgraduate students in ecology, agricultural climatology, environmental planning, and climate science.

Applications of Seasonal Climate Forecasting in Agricultural and Natural Ecosystems

Onward to Dragon Eyre. Blackrose, mightiest of dragons, has returned to her world, and found it torn apart by civil war and a brutal occupation. For two decades, the elite Banner armies of Implacatus have struggled to subdue the homeland of the dragons - a world of island chains set amid a sparkling ocean, where the navy battle pirates for control of the lawless seas. As Blackrose and Maddie's return heralds the beginning of a new uprising, the dragon queen must make new allies, as well as find a way to tame the reckless and powerful witch, Sable Holdfast, and her dragon Badblood.

Christopher Mitchell

About

Books

Join the club