Most of the time the Moontide Bridge lies deep below the sea, but every 12 years the tides sink and the bridge is revealed, its gates open for trade. The Magi are hell-bent on ruling this new world, and for the last two Moontides they have led armies across the bridge on 'crusades' of conquest. Now the third Moontide is almost here and, this time, the people of the East are ready for a fight ...but it is three seemingly ordinary people that will decide the fate of the world.About the AuthorDavid Hair is an award-winning writer with two YA fiction series, the Aotearoa (set in New Zealand), and The Return of Ravana (based upon the Indian epic The Ramayana). Mage's Blood, his first work of adult fantasy, is the first in his brand- new quartet. He was raised in New Zealand, and after living in Britain and India and travelling the world, he now lives in Wellington, New Zealand.

Desperate for the next Game of Thrones?  Pick up Empress of the Fall for your full-on fix of epic fantasy.The Emperor is dead - long live the Empress! Emperor Constant is dead and his rivals are scrabbling for power - but any misstep could plunge the land, already devastated by the shocking outcome of the Third Crusade, into a calamitous civil war.The Imperial throne is not the only one in jeopardy. Two brothers, imprisoned veterans of the Crusades, finally return home to find their father's kingdom being plundered - but the price of regaining their birthright will have far-reaching implications for the entire empire.In the East, Sultan Salim, peacemaker and visionary ruler, faces his greatest challenge as his people demand an invasion of the West in retribution for the Rondian CrusadesAnd lurking in the darkness, orchestrating both the power struggles and the inevitable conflicts, is a shadowy group threatening to destroy civilisation itself.Once more, Urte stands on the brink of cataclysm.

It is a year since Matiu Douglas and his friends slew Puarata, the tohunga makutu, and nine months since they rescued the taniwha in Lake Waikaremoana. Life has settled into a normal routine, although Mat is training every school holidays in Taupo, with Aethlyn Jones, refining his magical and martial skills. He is also in mental contact with Ngatoro-i-rangi. The legendary tohunga is imprisoned somewhere in Aotearoa, the Ghost World, where war continues among the warlocks who served Puarata. It has become a covert war, of bitter intrigue and chilling murders, as they seek the elusive power Puarata used to gain pre-eminence - Te Iho - The Heart. The first of the warlocks to find Te Iho will assume Puarata′s bloody korowai and dominate Aotearoa. They are closing in. Mat′s next visit to Taupo will see him drawn once more into the fray. When Jones is attacked and a fellow protege kidnapped, Mat finds himself...

For four teenagers, the Ramayana is not just a tale. It is their fate! In every life they have ever lived, Vikram, Amanjit, Rasita and Deepika have been persecuted and killed by Ravindra, who aspires to the throne of Ravana the Demon-King. Now Rasita is a captive of Ravindra, and demonic beings thought to be mythical are rallying to him. His triumph seems inevitable. Vikram and Amanjit must rescue her. This time, failure is not an option. This time, if Ravindra wins, it will be forever. But slowly, pieces are falling into place. Why are they reliving the Ramayana? Who was Ravana? Where is the real Lanka? Age-old mysteries are uncovered and forgotten powers regained, as the quest to end the tyranny of Ravindra moves towards a finale that is as startling as it is electrifying.

Matiu Douglas's father, Tama, is a defence lawyer, a job that has cost him the love of his wife. Mat is used to his father's job creating stress, but when Tama takes on a high-profile case in magical Aotearoa - the defence of Donna Kyle and her father, Asher Grieve - family tensions run high. Then Asher and Donna escape, and Mat and his friends find themselves drawn into a man-hunt, the consequences of which are deadly. In lawless Russell, the 'Hell-hole of the Pacific', strange alliances will be forged, deadly rivalries emerge, and death will stalk the Ghost Worlds.

Matiu Douglas has a bone tiki he stole from a tangi. His father′s important new client wants it. Badly. And he has some very nasty friends. When Mat is forced to flee for his life, an unexpected meeting with a girl called Pania sets his world spinning. Suddenly he′s running through the bush with a girl-clown, a dog who is way too human, and a long-dead warrior. Fearful creatures from legend are rising up around him, and Mat faces a terrifying ordeal. And there is nowhere left to hide . . . not even in another world. A breathtaking adventure set in two parallel New Zealands, from exciting new author David Hair.

They say the past is another country. Some people can go there.It hasn't been an easy time for Matiu Douglas, magical adept. One of his friends is now a ghost, his enemies have stolen the Treaty of Waitangi, he can't date the girl he really likes and he keeps getting unwanted marriage proposals from a dangerous, centuries-old tohunga's daughter.But when his best friend, Riki, is snatched into the ghost-world of Aotearoa during a school trip, Mat has to put all his other worries aside and act fast.For Riki vanished at Parihaka, scene of one of the darkest acts from New Zealand's colonial past, and in Aotearoa such places are deadly dangerous.

David Hair's stunning first book established a new genre we have chosen to call Maori Gothic - weaving together elements of fantasy, horror and Maori and Celtic mythology for young readers who enjoy the imaginative leaps and thrills of speculative fiction. The mix works brilliantly; THE BONE TIKI not only appealed to younger readers, but was enjoyed by an adult audience as well.THE TANIWHA'S TEAR continues the story, which will be completed in a third novel - THE LOST TOHUNGA. When Puarata, a tohunga makutu or black magician, seeks to capture and manipulate the soul of Wiri, a young warrior, he fails to account for a threat that will come many years later, when a boy is born who combines the strengths of two ancient mythologies - Maori and Celtic. Matiu Douglas faces and defeats him in the first novel, but the forces unleashed by Puarata survive his destruction and once again Mat and Wiri must battle them across time and between the parallel worlds of modern New Zealand...