The studies in this volume are revised versions of a selection from the papers presented at the Fourth International Conference on Historical Linguistics, held at Stanford University on 26-30 March 1979. Papers at this conference, and in this volume, treat aspects of all current topics in historical linguistics, including topics that are only recently considered relevant, such as acquisition, structure, and language use.

The third book of the Saga Of The Rah series finds beautiful boy-god, Rah, in Babylon, amongst the enemies of his master, Rush The Assassin. Rah, approaching the city on horseback, is taken into the Palace by Princess Ephtheta herself when her caravan discovers him just outside the gates, having fled his master once again. Delighted by his cat-like beauty, Princess Ephtheta adopts Rah, a new addition to her collection of exotic pets, and keeps him a secret from her father until a message from the Assassin himself demands his return. "Your darkest nightmare has yet to be dreamt. For I will...

A grieving widow, obsessed with death, unwittingly calls an ancient vampire to her door. Valarie Rossetti was still grieving the death of her soldier husband when the vampire came to offer her an end to her suffering. Now she is dead and her problems are just beginning. The vampire's bite brings her incredible strength and vitality, but also ushers in her descent to eternal damnation. Still able to work by day she takes a job with the Suffern County Probation Department, but her appetite for innocent blood demands that she kill her only living link to her cherished mortal past, Jack Howell,...

"I think there's something wrong with me." My sister has lost the roundness in her face that has plagued her so since our trip to Sweden to visit our mother's birthplace. And she hardly takes up the little space between my chest of drawers and her side of our closet. She seems disturbed, in need of my sympathy, which I am quick to give though I have only two ugly dresses in that closet, her hand-me-downs, while her side is crammed with pretty little skirts, cashmere turtlenecks and buttoned-down blouses from Plain & Fancy. Esther is and always will be the favorite, and that's okay with me....