Sovereign is a magical shield that gains awareness in a wizard's laboratory, imbued with consciousness but without any knowledge of who or what it is. Given to a warlord seeking power over the chaotic northern lands, the shield struggles to come to grips with its existence, tormented by scraps of memory from what feels like a past life. Sovereign becomes a tool in the struggles for power between the northern warbands, but that struggle draws the attention of the powerful lords of the south, who send their best—the notorious mercenary band, Valen's Wolves—to investigate. With warlords, mercenaries, and wizards all interested in the fate of the shield, will anyone finally uncover its secret?

Dalevan Wolvren leads an interesting life. He gave up the power and wealth of a noble title to serve as the mercenary leader of one of the north’s most famed free companies, Dale’s Wolves. Having just completed the capture of a notorious bandit chief from a nigh-impenetrable mountain stronghold, Lord Wolf decides it’s time for a rest for him and his men. But a clash with his sponsor ends badly and soon the hunters find themselves the hunted. The Wolves must find a way to escape the wrath of one of the most powerful lords of the north while at the same time trying to solve the mystery of a deadly magical weapon that can turn allies into enemies. “Soul of the Sword” is a prequel to the 2011 novel “Wizard’s Shield.”

Valen Wolvren has done well for himself. At twenty-five he has everything he wants: wealth, love, and the prestige of leading one of the most famous mercenary companies on the continent. That prestige is only likely to grow as Valen’s Wolves return from the North having defeated a notorious warlord and the wizard behind his bid for power. But Valen’s life is about to become much more complicated. The young mercenary lord is about to find out that magic, especially the corrupting potency of soul magic practiced by the late wizard Marzul, can remain deadly and strike out from beyond the grave. To finish the job of defeating this foe Valen must travel to the one place where he swore he would never return—his home city of Nal Vedaris. There he learns that fame and skill alone are not enough to overcome an artifact with the power to turn friend against friend and sow chaos and destruction in its wake.

“Tales of the Soul Weapons” is a collection of novella-length stories about a mercenary company tasked with tracking down a deadly collection of quasi-intelligent magical artifacts. This book expands the story begun in my novels “Wizard’s Shield,” “Soul of the Sword,” and “Wizard’s Stone.” When the Wolves encounter a basilisk on the road to Evachor, Surah is transformed into a living statue. Desperate to find a magical cure before the effects become permanent, Valen Wolvren and the other Wolves travel to the library of Havenstone, where a handful of monks preserve ancient lore. But there is something strange going on at the library, and the Wolves find themselves fighting for more than the life of their friend in “The Unexpected Urn.” “A Wolf Is Born” tells the story of how Surah came to join the Wolves. Still new to the role of leader, Valen has been tasked with infiltrating a gang of brigands that has been terrorizing travelers and settlers in the vast Greenwyld Forest. But he finds that there is more going on than just simple raiding. A powerful magic is rising within the depths of the wood, one that even Valen’s skills and wits and the talents of Tarnas the Mighty might not be able to overcome. Ianos and Urch have traveled to the monastery at Nal Suriyas for some rest and relaxation after a year of hunting soul weapons. Urch isn’t looking forward to the boredom of a week spent among soul priests, but when the boy finds a dead body in the abandoned sewers under the monastery both he and Ianos are thrust into the center of “The Monastery Mystery.”

To her uncle and the other people of her village Violetta Usken is still just a child. She lacks the power to do anything to stop the bandits who come every year to take what they want and hurt those who dare to resist. But this year she has decided that something needs to be done. The stories told in her village suggest that the ancient and solitary dwarf who lives on the mountain has magical powers. Violetta's uncle denies that the stories are true, but surely there must be a reason why the village elders forbid anyone from going up the mountain? With nothing left to lose, one girl tries to seek out a savior for her suffering people. But the old man on the mountain holds his own secrets, hiding a truth even more dangerous than the problems of one troubled village.