Albert Camus (1913-60) grew up in a working-class neighbourhood in Algiers. He studied philosophy at the University of Algiers, and became a journalist. His most important works include The Outsider, The Myth of Sisyphus, The Plague and The Fall. After the occupation of France by the Germans in 1941, Camus became one of the intellectual leaders of the Resistance movement. He was killed in a road accident, and his last unfinished novel, The First Man, appeared posthumously.

Albert Camus

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Stephen Hawking

'His clarity, wit and determination are evident, his understand and good humour moving' New Scientist 
 
My Brief History recounts Stephen Hawking’s improbable journey, from his post-war London boyhood to his years of international acclaim and celebrity. Lavishly illustrated with rarely seen photographs, this concise, witty and candid account introduces readers to a Hawking rarely glimpsed in previous books: the inquisitive schoolboy whose classmates nicknamed him ‘Einstein’; the jokester who once placed a bet with a colleague over the existence of a black hole; and the young husband and father struggling to gain a foothold in the world of academia. 
 
Writing with characteristic humility and humour, Hawking opens up about the challenges that confronted him following his diagnosis of motor neurone disease aged twenty-one. Tracing his development as a thinker, he explains how the prospect of an early death urged him onwards through numerous intellectual breakthroughs, and talks about the genesis of his masterpiece A Brief History of Time – one of the iconic books of the twentieth century. 
 
Clear-eyed, intimate and wise, My Brief History opens a window for the rest of us into Hawking’s personal cosmos. 
 
'Read it for the personal nuggets . . . but above all, it's worth reading for its message of hope' Mail on Sunday

My Brief History

Terry Darlington

'WE COULD BORE OURSELVES TO DEATH, DRINK OURSELVES TO DEATH, OR HAVE A BIT OF AN ADVENTURE...' 
 
When they retired Terry and Monica Darlington decided to sail their canal narrowboat across the Channel and down to the Mediterranean, together with their whippet Jim. They took advice from experts, who said they would die, together with their whippet Jim. 
 
On the Phyllis May you dive through six-foot waves in the Channel, are swept down the terrible Rhône, and fight for your life in a storm among the flamingos of the Camargue. 
You meet the French nobody meets - poets, captains, historians, drunks, bargees, men with guns, scholars, madmen - they all want to know the people on the painted boat and their narrow dog. 
You visit the France nobody knows - the backwaters of Flanders, the canals beneath Paris, the heavenly Yonne, the lost Burgundy Canal, the islands of the Saône, and the forbidden ways to the Mediterranean. 
 
Aliens, dicks, trolls, vandals, gongoozlers, killer fish and the walking dead all stand between our three innocents and their goal - many-towered Carcassonne.

Narrow Dog To Carcassonne

Paul Witcover

Tempus Rerum Imperator: Time, Emperor of All Things 
 
1758. England is embroiled in a globe-spanning conflict that stretches from her North American colonies to Europe and beyond. Across the Channel, the French prepare for an invasion — an invasion rumored to be led by none other than Bonnie Prince Charlie. It seems the map of Europe is about to be redrawn. Yet behind these dramatic scenes, another war is raging - a war that will determine not just the fate of nations but of humanity itself... 
 
Daniel Quare is a journeyman in an ancient guild, The Worshipful Company of Clockmakers. He is also a Regulator, part of an elite network within the guild devoted to searching out and claiming for England's exclusive use any horological innovation that could give them an upperhand, whether in business or in war. 
 
Just such a mission has brought Quare to the London townhouse of eccentric collector, Lord Wichcote. He seeks a pocket watch rumoured to possess seemingly impossible properties that are more to do with magic than with any science familiar to Quare or to his superiors. And the strange 
timepiece has attracted the attention of others as well: the mysterious masked thief known only as Grimalkin, and a deadly French spy who stop at nothing to bring the prize back to his masters. Soon Quare finds himself on a dangerous trail of intrigue and murder that leads far from the world he knows into an otherwhere of dragons and demigods, in which nothing is as it seems . . . time least of all.

The Emperor of all Things

James Wilde

Bridging the gap between 'Game of Thrones' and Bernard Cornwell comes the second chapter in James Wilde's epic adventure of betrayal, battle and bloodshed . . . 
 
It is AD 367, and Roman Britain has fallen to the vast barbarian horde which has invaded from the north. Towns burn, the land is ravaged and the few survivors flee. The army of Rome - once the most effective fighting force in the world - has been broken, its spirit lost and its remaining troops shattered. 
 
Yet for all the darkness, there is hope. And it rests with one man. His name is Lucanus who they call the Wolf. He is a warrior, and he wears the ancient crown of the great war leader, Pendragon, and he wields a sword bestowed upon him by the druids. With a small band of trusted followers, Lucanus ventures south to Londinium where he hopes to bring together an army and make a defiant stand against the invader. 
 
But within the walls of that great city there are others waiting on his arrival - hidden enemies who want more than anything to possess the great secret that has been entrusted to his care. To seize it would give them power beyond imagining. To protect it will require bravery and sacrifice beyond measure. And to lose it would mean the end of everything worth fighting for. 
 
Before Camelot. Before Excalibur. Before all you know of King Arthur. Here is the beginning of that legend . . .

Dark Age

(Dark Age Book 2)

Steven Pressfield

A dazzling and profoundly moving tale of love and war, honour and revenge from Steven Pressfield, author of the Sunday Times Bestseller Gates of Fire. 
 
"Beyond the best battle scenes I've ever read - brutal, bloody and thoroughly gripping" -- DIANA GABALDON 
 
"Steven Pressfield...makes the distant past seem real and immediate. This is historical fiction elevated to the status of myth." -- DANIEL SILVA 
 
"Pressfield writes with a quality and style akin to classical legend...a joy to read" -- JOHN WHITBOURN 
 
"A gripping, un-put downable read!" -- ***** Reader review 
 
"Great reading. Thrilling, exciting and then some." -- ***** Reader review 
 
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TO THEM HONOUR AND LOYALTY WERE EVERYTHING... 
 
1250 BC: Theseus, king of Athens and slayer of the Minotaur, set sail on a journey that brought him to the land of 'tal Kyrte', the 'Free People', a nation of fiercely proud and passionate warrior women whom the Greeks called 'Amazons'. 
 
Lovers and fighters they owed allegiance to no man and distrusted the Greeks with their boastful talk of cities and civilization. When their illustrious war queen Antiope fell in love with Theseus and fled to Athens with the king and his followers, so denying her people, the Amazon tribes were outraged. Seeking revenge, they raised a vast army and marched on Athens. 
 
History tells us they could not win, but for a brief and glorious moment, the Amazons held the Attic world in thrall before vanishing into the immortal realms of myth and legend.

Last Of The Amazons

A superbly evocative, exciting and moving historical tale that brings the past expertly to life

Bridging the gap between 'Game of Thrones' and Bernard Cornwell comes the third and final chapter in James Wilde's epic adventure of betrayal, battle and bloodshed . . . 
 
AD 375 - The Dark Age is drawing near . . . 
As Rome's legions abandon their forts, chaos grows on the fringes of Britannia. In the far west, the shattered forces of the House of Pendragon huddle together in order to protect the royal heir – their one beacon of hope. 
 
For Lucanus, their great war leader, is missing, presumed dead. And the people are abandoning them. For in this time of crisis, a challenger has arisen, a False King with an army swollen by a horde of bloody-thirsty barbarians desperate for vengeance. 
 
One slim hope remains for Lucanus’ band of warrior-allies, the Grim Wolves. Guided by the druid, Myrrdin, they go in search of a great treasure – a vessel that is supposedly a gift from the gods. Success will mean a war unlike any other, a battle between two kings for a legacy that will echo down the centuries. And should they fail? Well, then all is lost . . . 
 
This is the shattering conclusion to James Wilde’s rousing reimagining of the myth of King Arthur . . .

The Bear King

Laurell K Hamilton

I am Princess Meredith NicEssus. Legal name Meredith Gentry, because Princess looks so pretentious on a driver's license. I was the first faerie princess born on American soil, but I wouldn’t be the only one for much longer... 
 
Merry Gentry, ex-private detective, now full-time princess, knew she was descended from fertility goddesses, but when she learned she was about to have triplets, she began to understand what that might mean. Infertility has plagued the high ranks of faerie for centuries. Now nobles of the both courts of faerie are coming to woo Merry and her men at their home in exile in the Western Lands of Los Angeles, because they will do anything to have offspring of their own. 
 
Taranis, King of Light and Illusion, is a more dangerous problem. He tried to seduce Merry, and failing that, raped her. He's using the human courts to sue for visitation rights, claiming that one of the children is his. And though Merry knows she was already pregnant when he took her, she can't prove it. 
To save herself and her babies from Taranis Merry will use the most dangerous powers in all of faerie: a god of death, a warrior known as the Darkness, The Killing Frost, and a king of nightmares. They are her lovers, and her dearest loves, and they will face down the might of the high courts of faerie - while trying to contain the war, to keep it from spreading to those innocent humans who are in very real danger of becoming collateral damage...

A Shiver of Light

(Merry Gentry 9)

Richelle Mead

Georgina Kincaid has formidable powers. Immortality, seduction, shape-shifting into any human form she desires, walking in heels that would cripple mere mortals - all child's play to a succubus like her. 
Helping to plan her ex-boyfriend's wedding is a different story. Georgina isn't sure which is worse - that Seth is marrying another woman, or that Georgina has to run all over Seattle trying on bridesmaid dresses. Still, there are distractions. Georgina's roommate, Roman, is cluttering her apartment with sexual tension. Then there's Simone, the new succubus in town, who's intent on corrupting Seth. 
But the real danger lies in the mysterious force that's visiting her thoughts, trying to draw her into a dark, otherworldly realm. Sooner or later, Georgina knows she'll be too weak to resist. And when that happens, she'll discover who she can trust, who she can't...and that Hell is far from the worst place to spend eternity.

Succubus Shadows

Urban Fantasy

Rosie Hewlett

You know her name, you know her story. Just not the right one... 
 
Within the depths of the Underworld the formidable snake-haired Gorgon has finally had enough. Tired of being eternally and unjustly brandished a villain, Medusa has found the courage to face her tragic past and speak out. Determined to expose the centuries of lies surrounding her name, Medusa gives unparalleled insight into her cursed life, from her earliest memories and abandonment at birth, right through to her tragic and untimely death at the hands of the hero Perseus. Through telling her story, Medusa finally reveals the lost truth behind antiquity’s most infamous monster. 
 
Medusa breathes new life into an ancient story and echoes the battle that women throughout millennia have continued to wage – the opportunity to simply be heard.

Medusa

When it comes to jobs in hell, being a succubus seems pretty glamorous. A girl can be anything she wants, the wardrobe is killer, and mortal men will do anything just for a touch. Granted, they can often pay with their souls, but why get technical? 
 
But Seattle succubus Georgina Kincaid's life is far less exotic. Her boss is a middle-management demon with a thing for John Cusack movies. Her immortal best friends haven't stopped teasing her about the time she shape-shifted into the Demon Goddess getup complete with whip and wings. And she can't have a decent date without the sucking away part of the guy's life. At least there's her day job at a local bookstore - free books; all the white chocolate mochas she can drink; and easy access to bestselling, sexy writer, Seth Mortensen, aka He Whom She Would Give Anything to Touch but Can't. 
 
But dreaming about Seth will have to wait. Something wicked is at work in Seattle's demon underground. And for once, all of her hot charms and drop-dead one-liners won't help because Georgina's about to discover there are some creatures out there that both heaven and hell want to deny...

Succubus Blues

Some days, a girl just can't catch a break... 
 
...especially when the girl in question is Georgina Kincaid, a shape-shifting succubus who gets her energy from seducing men. First there's her relationship with gorgeous bestselling writer Seth Mortensen, which is unsatisfying on a number of levels. It's not just that they can't have sex in case Georgina inadvertently kills him (generally a turn-off for most guys). Lately, even spending time together is a challenge. Seth's obsessed with finishing his latest novel, and Georgina's under demonic orders to mentor the new (and surprisingly inept) succubus on the block. 
 
Then there are the dreams. Someone, or something, is preying on Georgina at night, draining her energy, and supplying eerie visions of her future. Georgina seeks answers from Dante, a dream interpreter with ties to the underworld, but his flirtatious charm only leaves her more confused-especially as the situation with Seth reaches crisis point. Now Georgina faces a double challenge-rein in her out-of-control love life, and go toe-to-toe with an enemy capable of wreaking serious havoc among mankind. Otherwise, Georgina, and the entire mortal world, may never sleep easy again...

Succubus Dreams

Robert Winston

Compared to the famously fecund rabbit, for whom a single act of coitus has a 90% chance of creating a litter of up to 12 rabbits, humans are very infertile animals. Here in the UK, the average chance of conception is about 18% per month. And in 98% of cases, successful conception leads only to the birth of a single infant. It is unsurprising then that huge efforts have been made to increase our fertility. 
 
In vitro fertilisation, first attempted one hundred years ago, has now become big business. Market forces, combined with the desperation of many couples to fulfil their biological imperative, have pushed doctors and scientists closer to the boundaries of what is desirable or ethical. And as we are increasingly able to access and control the embryo, the opportunities of altering human genetics to eradicate disease, but also to change human characteristics, becomes a real, and to some, frightening possibility. 
 
A Child Against All Odds is a ground-breaking book for Robert Winston as it falls squarely in his area of expertise. It combines his work at Hammersmith Hospital as one of the country's leading fertility specialists, with a hard-hitting, sometimes humorous, often controversial look at the scientific, social and ethical background of man's struggle to discover and control the secrets of reproduction. Drawing on personal and professional experience, it is the definitive account of modern reproductive technology from a practitioner who has spent his professional life at the forefront of this most fascinating and emotive area of science.

A Child Against All Odds

One fateful night in Sparta, a young slave girl encounters a mysterious, grey-eyed princess. Melantho and Penelope, though from different worlds, are instantly connected. But betrayal soon tears them apart. 
 
Years later, on Ithaca's rocky shores, Melantho is sent to serve Princess Penelope and her new husband, Prince Odysseus. Hardened by slavery, Melantho vows to stay distant from Penelope. Yet, the undeniable pull between them proves stronger than ever. 
 
As war ignites Greece, Odysseus and Ithaca's men are called away and, in their absence, Melantho finds a new world opening up before her – one where women rule, where family can be found, and where love is finally given the space to bloom. 
 
But all wars eventually end and as Troy falls, Penelope and Melantho must face the King’s return and decide how far they will go to protect what matters most to them.

Sweetbitter Song

Sarah Ash

Gavril Nagarian, Lord Drakhaon of Azhkendir, is believed dead - perished in the heat of battle. Yet he still lives, and is entrusted with a sacred mission: to rescue the aged Magus, who has been kidnapped and in whose possession are the five priceless rubies that compose the fabled Tears of Artamon. Ancient law decrees that whoever possesses the stones has the power to impose his will over the Empire of New Rossiya. But the task exacts a cost. The drakhaoul that destroyed his forebears has penetrated Gavril's psyche and is gaining power over his soul. As these dark forces seek immortality inside him, so Gavril must feed on the blood of innocents - or die. 
Toppled by the loss of the Tears of Artamon, Emperor Eugene of Tielen is tormented by his own daemon, but he must defend his lands against King Enguerrand of Francia who claims ownership of the Tears. Yet both men share a common goal: to destroy Gavril Nagarian and the Drakhaoul that lives within him once and for all. 
Ingenious and unforgettable, Children of the Serpent Gate delivers a thrilling conclusion to the epic trials of a man of honour in a world in chaos - one that can only be laid to rest by an Emperor's Tears.

Children Of The Serpent Gate

Dennis Lehane

Boston private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro's relationship has hit the skids - their long-standing professional commitment and growing romance have disintegrated due to seemingly irreparable personal differences. But despite these problems, Prayers for Rain brings them together again to close down a predator whose modus operandi seems to put him beyond the law. This killer's insidious murder weapon is within his victims' minds: no smoking gun, no bloody knife, just merciless manipulation until despair drives his targets to kill themselves. 
 
As Patrick and Angie attempt to identify and save his next victim, this sinister force turns on them and thus begins a dangerous battle of wits: a tormenting, life-threatening game of psychological warfare in which simple survival seems a mixed blessing - because not even the winner will emerge unscathed.

Prayers For Rain

Janet Gleeson

The life of Harriet Spencer, Countess of Bessborough, was one of both respectability and high scandal. The aristocracy of the eighteenth century were the A-list celebrities of the day; their lives, loves, fashions and misfortunes avidly reported in the press. They dominated the political world as well as the social, and Harriet was at the very heart of this powerful clique. She was born into the wealth and privilege of the Spencer family - and was the great-great-great-aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales. Following in the train of her sister, the charismatic Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, Harriet became one of the most glamorous and influential women of the Regency age. 
 
At a time when marriage was an aristocratic woman's only career choice, Harriet made an excellent match, to Frederick, Viscount Duncannon. But the marriage proved unhappy and Harriet soon embarked on a series of illicit affairs, including one with the charismatic playwright Richard Sheridan. In Naples she met and fell in love with the handsome young aristocrat Lord Granville Leveson Gower, a man twelve years her junior. And so began the affair that became the last, untold story of enduring love in the Regency period, an open secret within just a tiny circle. It only ended when Granville married her niece, Georgiana's daughter, taking into his care the two illegitimate children he had by Harriet. 
 
Harriet's was a life intertwined with public scandal, royal intrigue and high political drama. She was petted and spoiled by Marie Antoinette; she witnessed the French Revolution and George III's madness. She successfully dodged the Prince Regent's amorous advances; quarrelled bitterly with Byron, when her daughter Caroline Lamb embarked on a scandalous affair with him; and travelled through war-torn Europe during the rise and fall of Napoleon. She survived her sister Georgiana by twenty years, living to see the Battle of Waterloo and the coronation of George IV. An Aristocratic Affair opens a window on aristocratic life at its most intimate, and brings one of the Regency period's most colourful characters vividly to life.

An Aristocratic Affair

"Pendragon has all the hallmarks of a traditional historical adventure story . . . However, there is also intellectual heft to this story, with its themes of myth-making and the nature of power." Antonia Senior THE TIMES 
 
Here is the beginning of a legend. Long before Camelot rose, a hundred years before the myth of King Arthur was half-formed, at the start of the Red Century, the world was slipping into a Dark Age… 
 
It is AD 367. In a frozen forest beyond Hadrian’s Wall, six scouts of the Roman army are found murdered. For Lucanus, known as the Wolf and leader of elite unit called the Arcani, this chilling ritual killing is a sign of a greater threat. 
 
But to the Wolf the far north is a foreign land, a place where daemons and witches and the old gods live on. Only when the child of a friend is snatched will he venture alone into this treacherous world - a territory ruled over by a barbarian horde - in order to bring the boy back home. What he finds there beyond the wall will echo down the years. 
 
A secret game with hidden factions is unfolding in the shadows: cabals from the edge of Empire to the eternal city of Rome itself, from the great pagan monument of Stonehenge to the warrior kingdoms of Gaul will go to any length to find and possess what is believed to be a source of great power, signified by the mark of the Dragon. 
 
A soldier and a thief, a cut-throat, courtesan and a druid, even the Emperor Valentinian himself - each of these has a part to play in the beginnings of this legend…the rise of the House of Pendragon.

Pendragon

A Novel of the Dark Age

Georgina Kincaid's job sucks. Literally. 
 
Love hurts, and no one knows it better than Georgina Kincaid. If she so much as kisses her new boyfriend, she'll drain his life force. Georgina is a succubus-a demon who draws her power from other men's pleasure. Admittedly, the shapeshifting and immortality perks are terrific, and yes, Georgina did choose to join the ranks of hell centuries ago. But it seems completely unfair that a she-demon whose purpose is seduction can't get hot and heavy with the one mortal who knows and accepts her for who she is. 
 
It's not just her personal life that's in chaos. Doug, Georgina's co-worker at a local bookstore, has been exhibiting bizarre behavior, and Georgina suspects that something far more demonic than double espressos is at work. She could use help finding out, but Bastien, an irresistibly charming incubus and her best immortal friend, is preoccupied in the suburbs with corrupting an ultra-conservative talk radio star-and giving Georgina some highly distracting come-hither vibes. Georgina is going to have to work solo on this one-and fast because soon, Doug's life won't be the only one on the line...

Succubus Nights

Ian C Esslemont

Fantastic world-building meets spellbinding storytelling in this must-read fan-favourite from Esslemont. Ideal for fans of Steven Erikson, David Gemmell and Brandon Sanderson. 
 
'Esslemont's best yet' - FANTASYBOOK REVIEW 
 
'The Malazan franchise is fighting fit in the hand of its co-creator' - SFX 
 
'His best novel so far.' - ***** Reader Review 
 
'Just gets better and better with each book. Love it.' - ***** Reader Review 
 
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A BITTER WILDERNESS. A BITTER CONFLICT. 
 
On the continent of Jacuruku, the Thaumaturgs have mounted another expedition into the neighbouring wild jungle. Yet this is no normal wilderness. It is called Himatan, half of the spirit-realm and half of the physical, ruled by a powerful entity who some name the Queen of Witches and some a goddess: the ancient Ardata. 
 
Saeng grew up knowing only the rule of the magus Thaumaturgs - but it was the voices from that land's forgotten past that she listened to. And when her rulers launch their invasion of this jungle, those voices send her and her brother on a desperate mission. 
 
To the south, the desert tribes are united by the arrival of a foreign warleader, a veteran commander in battered ashen mail men call the Grey Ghost. This warrior leads these tribes on a raid unlike any other, deep into the heart of Thaumaturg lands. 
 
While word comes to K'azz, and mercenary company the Crimson Guard, of a contract in Jacuruku. 
 
And their employer? Could it be the goddess herself... 
 
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Further praise for Esslemont's Malazan series: 
'Everything you expect of a Malazan story, being both epic and relevant... nail-biting and anything but obvious.' - SFF WORLD 
'Terrific... impossible to put down and highly recommended for all fans of The Malazan Book of the Fallen.' - FANTASY HOTLIST 
'Hugely promising... a contained, concise romp that's also dense with fan-pleasing information... an entertaining romp.' - DEATHRAY 
'Maybe I'm prejudiced since I love the Malazan books so much, but I had a blast reading Night of Knives... I highly recommend it to anyone.' - FANTASY BOOKCRITIC 
'Esslemont handles action and brooding atmosphere equally well.' - STARBURST 
'Extremely readable... All credit to Esslemont and Erikson. They have created a wonderfully energetic world that is just crying out for adventures.' - ETERNAL NIGHT

Blood and Bone

(Malazan Empire: 5): an ingenious and imaginative fantasy. More than murder lurks in this untameable wilderness

Georgina Kincaid has had an eternity to figure out the opposite sex, but sometimes they still surprise her. Take Seth Mortensen. The man has risked his soul to become Georgina's boyfriend. Still, with Lucifer for a boss, Georgina can't just hang up her killer heels and settle down to domestic bliss. In fact, she's being forced to transfer operations...to Las Vegas. 
 
The City of Sin is a dream gig for a succubus, but Georgina's allies are suspicious. Why are the powers-that-be so eager to get her away from Seattle - and from Seth? Georgina is one of Hell's most valuable assets, but if there's any way out of the succubus business she plans to take it - no matter how much roadkill she leaves behind. She just hopes the casualties won't include the one man she's risking everything for...

Succubus Revealed

At seventy-five, Terry and Monica Darlington had done everything they could think of doing, including starting a business and becoming athletes and running a literary society.Lately they had become boating adventurers and Terry a bestselling writer. But in their Midlands canal town in November, life was looking dull and short on surprises. 
Then their famous canal boat was destroyed by fire. Within a few days they had bought a new one and soon headed north in the Phyllis May 2 – to Liverpool, Lancaster, the Pennines and Wigan Pier. Terry recorded the journey, and alongside it the story of his life and his marriage and his dog Jim, with his broken ear like a flat cap, and Monica’s dog Jess, known with heartbreaking reason as the Flying Catastrophe. 
Funny, affecting and beautifully told, this is a story that brims with incident and excitement, and is full of the famous and fascinating people the Darlingtons have met - a story of an adventurous life well lived.

Narrow Dog to Wigan Pier

Seth Grahame-Smith

It's one of the most iconic vignettes in history: three men on camels, arriving at a manger, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. An impossibly bright star is suspended in the vast desert sky above. It's a moment of serenity and grace. A holy night... 
But what do we really know about the Three Kings of the Nativity? The Bible says little about this enigmatic trio. Not even their names are mentioned. The historical record is vague at best. How doe know that they were three kings from the East? What if they were petty, murderous thieves - led by a mercurial individual called Balthazar - on the run, escaping through Judea under cover of night who stumble upon the famous manger, its newborn child and his earthly parents? Here, the brilliant and slightly warped mind behind Pride and Prejudice and Zombies takes a little mystery, plays fast and loose with a bit of history to weave an epic tale. It's an adventure that will see these thieves fight the last magical creatures of the Old Testament, cross paths with historical figures such as Pontius Pilate and John the Baptist, and deliver the family - as the Bible tells us - to the safety of Egypt. 
Indeed, this may just be the greatest story never told...

Unholy Night

Alberto Villoldo

Combining elements of Andrew Weil's SPONTANEOUS HEALING and Carolyn Myss's ANATOMY OF THE SPIRIT with a concept all its own, Alberto Villoldo's remarkable book, Shaman, Healer, Sage demonstrates the healing power of energy medicine - a tradition practised in the Americas for more than 5,000 years - which is finally being recognized today by the medical establishment. 
 
As he explores such subjects as the Luminous Energy Field that surrounds our bodies, Villoldo shows us how, by learning to see and influence the imprints of disease on this aura of energy, we can discover not only how to heal ourselves and others, but prevent illness as well. Here too, he explores the subject of life beyond death, navigating this unseen world with the knowledge of a scientist and the wisdom of a shamanic healer. 
 
Classically trained as a medical anthropologist and a foremost teacher of the shamanic techniques of the Inkas, among whose descendants he has studied for more than twenty-five years, Villoldo weaves together a host of illuminating stories and exercises to provide an accessible, practical, and revolutionary programme of healing.

Shaman, Healer, Sage

Three hundred years ago, a charismatic young gambler and man-about-town with a natural gift for mathematics fled London for the Contintent. His name was John Law and he had a good reason to go, having killed a man in a duel. 
 
Living off his lucrative winnings at the gaming tables of Europe, Law became increasingly fascinated by the nature of finance and journeyed to the impoverished , famine-stricken France of Louis XIV with an extraordinary idea. At the time when wealth was stored and exchanged as gold and silver coin - and there was rarely enough to fund the extravagance of kings, let alone trade - Law realised that the overriding problem was lack of available money. He reasoned that if this could be lent in the form of paper, properly backed by assets, then it could be lend repeatedly and credit used to multiply the opportunities for the making of money. 
 
Such a radical notion meant Law faced opposition from powerful vested interests. His persistence paid off in 1716 when, with royal backing, he established the first French bank to issue paper money. He also created a trading company which made its shareholders rich beyond their wildest dreams: so much so that the new term 'millionaire' was coined to describe them. 
 
What follows is the stuff of epic drama: a tale of fortunes won and lost, of paupers made rich and lords losing all. And in telling this enthralling tragi-comic story, Janet Gleeson brings to life two fascinating characters who together would change the way the world worked: the inscrutable John Law, and mercurial money itself.

The Moneymaker

Mark Obmascik

Each year, hundreds of people set out across North America determined to set a new record in a spectacularly competitive event. Is it tennis? Golf? Racing? Poker perhaps? No, it's bird-watching, and a contest known as the Big Year - a grand, gruelling, expensive (and occasionally vicious) 365-day marathon to identify the most species. 
THE BIG YEAR is the rollicking chronicle of the 275,000-mile odyssey of three unlikely adventurers who take their bird-watching so seriously it nearly kills them. From Texas in pursuit of the Rufus-capped Warbler to British Columbia in search of Xantus' Hummingbird, these obsessive enthusiasts brave roasting deserts, storm-tossed oceans, infested swamps and disgruntled lions (not to mention some of the lumpiest hotel mattresses known to man) as they vie to become North America's number one bird-watcher in what would prove to be the biggest Big Year of them all... 
This captivating tour of human and avian nature, of courage and deceit, of passion and paranoia reveals the extremes to which Man will go to pursue his dreams, to conquer and to categorize...

The Big Year

Georgina Kincaid has been a bad, bad succubus...which should be a good thing. But she's in a foul mood after breaking up with her boyfriend Seth and has been so wicked that über-demon Jerome decides to 'outsource' Georgina to a rival - and have her spy for him in the process. 
 
Then Jerome is kidnapped, and all immortals under his control mysteriously lose their powers. With her life-sucking ability gone, Georgina finds herself caught up in a sinister plot. 
 
Is she the only one who can stop all Hell breaking loose?

Succubus Heat

David Tremayne

Generations are familiar with the haunting black and white television footage of Donald Campbell somersaulting to his death in his famous Bluebird boat on Coniston Water in January, 1967. It has become an iconic image of the decade. His towering achievements, and the drama of his passing, are thus part of the national psyche. 
 
But what of the man himself? 
 
The son of the legendary Sir Malcolm Campbell who was famous for being the ultimate record-breaker of the inter-war years - he broke the land speed record nine times and the water speed record four times with his Bluebird cars and boats - Donald Campbell was born to speed. He was outgoing and flamboyant, yet carefully orchestrated the image he presented to the world. Some saw him as a playboy adventurer; others, such as the radio producer on the twenty-first anniversary of his death, as a reckless daredevil with a death wish. He was known to take solace in extra-marital dalliances, and was obsessed with spiritualism. And in his final years, battered by a 360-mph accident while attempting the land record on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, and his prolonged and anti-climactic subsequent effort on the treacherous Lake Eyre in Australia, Campbell appeared a haggard and often frightened man. He had become trapped on his record-breaker's treadmill as he continually sought to prove himself to his illustrious father, in whose long shadow he felt forever trapped. 
 
DONALD CAMPBELL: THE MAN BEHIND THE MASK paints a fascinating portrait of an intense, complex, superstitious yet abnormally brave man who was driven not only by the desire to prove that he was worthy of the mantle of his father, but also by his fervent and unswerving desire to keep Britain at the forefront of international speed endeavour. This book generates a unique insight into how his desperate fear of failure finally lured him into taking one risk too many.

Donald Campbell

The Man Behind The Mask

Sarah Gristwood

Few women's lives have described such an arc as that of Mary Robinson. She began her career as an actress, became a royal mistress and possible blackmailer, and ended it just two decades later as a Romantic poet and early feminist thinker of note. She was painted by Gainsborough and Reynolds, and satirized by political cartoonists. 
 
Born in Bristol in 1758, she married at 15. But Mary had barely made her curtsey to society before discovering that Robinson was little better than a conman. She went with him to debtors' prison, where she wrote her first book of verse. Encouraged by Sheridan and Garrick, who admired her beauty, she went on the stage, where she was seen by the 17-year-old Prince of Wales, and they embarked on a widely satirized liaison. Mary had made her mark in fashionable Georgian society and this, over the next two momentous decades, was where she contrived to stay. 
 
This vivid and accessible biography explores Georgian England during a period of extreme political, social and cultural upheaval through the life of this remarkable woman.

Bird Of Paradise

The Colourful Career of the First Mrs Robinson

Rupert Morgan

On a planet remarkably similar to our own, in the voraciously capitalist United States of Atlantis, the most powerful (i.e. richest) man in the world is media and IT tycoon John Lockes, who made his fortune by copyrighting the Return Key on computer keyboards. But Lockes is also a philanthropist and has, through his company Infologix, devised a scheme that will effectively end all crime: tiny transmitters will be 'implanted' into convicted felons, allowing them to be tracked at all times by satellite. Once this 'Rectag' technology is in place, all that remains is to launch the satellite. 
 But Lockes is an elusive figure, a man of many secrets and many guises. And the man who perhaps knows him best is embittered investigative journo-turned-tabloid hack Macauley Connor. Realizing he's reached rock bottom when he's sent to investigate a farmer who claims his chickens have been abducted by aliens, he readily accepts a commission to write a warts-'n'-all biography of Lockes. 
 Meanwhile, a beautiful astronaut and an Infologix employee fall in love in orbit, a presidential candidate discovers he will stop at nothing to get elected and a bank heist goes horribly, and hysterically, wrong when two rival gangs hit the same place at the same time. 
 Wicked, anarchic, outrageous and ebullient, Let There Be Lite is a first novel that takes some unerringly accurate swipes at - amongst other things - American politics, presidential elections, spin doctors, tabloid journalism, software billionaires, the fashion industry, fast food and food fads, chat shows (here hosted by the utterly asinine Lola Colaco) and the very nature of celebrity. 
 
Imagine Gary Larson's cartoons in novel form or The Fast Show on speed and you've some idea of what sort of glorious anarchy to expect within the covers of Let There Be Lite... 
 
'Rupert Morgan's satire of modern life is brilliant. He is like Ben Elton at his wittiest but minus the worthiness: although he makes salient points about our time, taking swipes at democracy, big business, justice and celebrity - you don't feel as if they are being rammed down your throat. His writing is fast and his characterization superb...Definitely one to watch' 
The Express 
 
'Satire which takes you up to the edge of libellous - and gets away with it...Nothing is spared by Rupert Morgan's blistering pen: neither love, family, democracy, race relations, politics, nor journalism. Atlanta is a place where logic is dangerously inverted and morality a dangerously old-fashioned concept. As a story it rattles along with the pace of a thriller. As an inventive swipe at the Establishment, it will make you laugh while you wince' 
Daily Mail 
 
'Bittersweet, laugh-out-loud funny, and all too true' FAY WELDON 
 
'Outstanding...Fans of Kurt Vonnegut and Douglas Adams will adore this dazzling satire on the digital age, but it is startlingly original from its side-splitting first lines to the thoughtful conclusion...Packed with fresh comic touches' amazon.co.uk 
 
'Rupert Morgan's irrepressible wit sees humour wherever he looks. The plot unfolds like a firework display, one explosion after another, each one more outrageous than the one before...The pace of the performance builds up into a grand finale that leaves you gasping and wide-eyed. This is a first novel by someone who has perfected his craft. The interweavings of plot and character are skilfully executed. But above all it is so good to be made to laugh - really laugh. This is one of those books, like Louis de Berniere's, which will have your friends and family furiously demanding to see what you are reading that makes you so roar with laughter' 
Oxford Times 
 
'Amusing and inventive' PETER ACKROYD 
 
'You must read Rupert Morgan's outstanding Let There Be Lite...It's fast-moving and hilarious...Kurt Vonnegut and Douglas Adams will be spitting feathers' 
Esquire 
 
'At its best when taking pot-shots at a wide variety of modern ills - fast food, tabloid media, downsizing, soap-opera politics...One of Morgan's nicer inventions is a computer program that boils down complex texts to their essentials. Its treatment of the Old Testament renders it down to: "Because I say so, that's why"' 
Independent 
 
'The match of the madder moments of John Irving or Tom Sharpe...this is a promisingly entertaining "lite" read' The Times 
 
'A really brilliant first novel, he is obviously a major talent' PRUNELLA SCALES

Let There Be Lite

Elizabeth McGregor

Sometimes the only way forward is to go back. 
 
Ten years have passed since David Mortimer last saw Anna Russell. Their love affair abruptly ended when Anna disappeared. 
 
Drifting through life ever since, David has never married, and is devoted only to his scientific work and to the book he has always meant to write, the story of the extraordinary plant explorer in China, Ernest Wilson. 
 
But David's isolation is about to change. He receives news that Anna has been seriously injured in an accident. More devastating still is the revelation that he has a daughter, Rachel, whom he has never seen. Both mother and daughter now urgently need his help - and more than one danger is threatening them. 
 
This is a story of two journeys, separated by time and place, but with the same goal. To find a way through the mountains, and to bring back something of infinite beauty that might otherwise have been lost forever.

A Way Through The Mountains

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