The first book in Fred Hoffman's epic series "Empires for the Taking" transports the charismatic St. Brendan, a legendary sixth century Irish monk, Thomas, his youthful novice-biographer and a ship's crew of adventurers from the squalor and religious turmoil of Celtic Ireland to the sacrificial altars of a Toltec jungle. When St. Patrick, father of the Roman Church in Ireland, founded monasteries in the Emerald Isles, he solved the need for young recruits by turning to the Druidic priesthood. The admix of the two faiths created a unique blend of ideas and set off bells of alarm in the Church of Rome. Brendan, a man of mystery and a student of the forbidden teachings of the world beyond Rome fears a coming age of intellectual darkness and seeks a Promised Land of freedom. Druidic powers, devastating coca intoxication and the coronation of Brendan as the white Toltec god Quetzalcoatl open the four book series. Tales of rebellions in sixth century China, grand ocean journeys and battles, the mysterious Silk Road and the coming Dark Age of learning and religious persecutions follow in the next three books, Resurrection of a Demon, Dragons in Silk and Race the Darkness. These final three novels in the series are soon to be released.