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For the first time, Jane beheld King Henry VIII of England.He was broad chested and strong voiced, jewelled and befurred, a powerfully dominant presence… Lady-in-waiting Jane Sweetwater’s resistance to the legendary attractions of Henry VIII may have saved her pretty neck, but her reward is a forced and unhappy marriage to a much older man.Jane’s only consolation is that she still lives upon her beloved Exmoor, the bleak yet beautiful land that cradles Allerbrook House, her family home. Though London may be distant from Exmoor, the religious and political turmoil of the Tudor court are never far away.When Jane is forced to choose, will she remain faithful to the crown of England? Or will family ties bring down the house of Allerbrook?From the glittering danger of the Tudor court to the bleak moors
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You are now a discard. We have no further use for you in play. You are free to walk the Bounds, but it will be against the rules for you to enter play in any world. If you succeed in returning Home, then you may enter play again in the normal manner.When Jamie unwittingly discovers the scary, dark-cloaked Them playing games with human’s lives, he is cast out to the boundaries of the worlds. Only then does he discover that there are a vast number of parallel worlds, all linked by the bounds, and these sinister creatures are using them all as a massive gamesboard.Clinging to Their promise that if he can get Home he is free, he becomes the unwilling Random Factor in an endless game of chance.Irresistible Diana Wynne Jones fantasy adventure, featuring an insect-loving shapeshifter, an apprentice demon hunter and a whole host of exotic characters clinging to the hope that one day they will return Home.
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One of Ray Bradbury’s classic poetry collections, available in ebook for the first time.A poetry collection from a master of fantasy celebrates the familiar and unusual in verses dealing with subjects from Ty Cobb to dinosaurs and strawberry shortcake to the Vatican.It includes many of Bradbury's best verses, including «They Have Not Seen the Stars,» «This Attic Where the Meadow Greens,» «There Are No Ghosts in Catholic Spain,» «Farewell Summer,» «Once the Years Were Numerous and the Funerals Few,» "Doing Is Being, «We Are The Reliquaries of Lost Time,» and others.
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One of Ray Bradbury’s classic stories – available in ebook for the first time.On Halloween night, eight trick-or-treaters gather at the haunted house by the edge of town, ready for adventure. But when Something whisks their friend Pip away, only one man – the sinister Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud – can help the boys find him.A classic tale of horror and adventure from the master of storytelling, Ray Bradbury.
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The first book in a brand new trilogy from the author of Prospero’s Children.Bartlemy Goodman, is one of the Gifted. An albino of Greek parentage, he was born in Byzantium amidst the decline of the Roman Empire. He now resides at Thornyhill house, England, with his dog, Hoover.One warm evening, a young homeless woman holding a baby turns up on Bartlemy's doorstep, and sensing destiny at work, he lets them stay. Annie and her son Nathan thrive in the small community of Thornyhill, but when more strangers arrive in the village, sinister happenings begin to occur.
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Book twelve of the celebrated Deverry series, an epic fantasy rooted in Celtic mythology that intricately interweaves human and elven history over several hundred years.The powerful dweomermaster Nevyn has been reincarnated, but young Neb knows nothing of his previous life. Orphaned following a cholera epidemic, Neb and his younger brother arrive at the desolate farm of their last living relative and soon learn that a worse plague lurks beyond the western border of Deverry.The savage Horsekin tribes, spurred on by their new goddess, Alshandra, are raiding the villages and taking slaves as the first step in their plans to destroy both the nomadic Westfolk and the Deverrian farmers. Neb finds love and danger as he and his soulmate Branna are drawn inexorably into a war for the survival of the kingdom itself.Although they have powerful allies in the Westfolk dweomermasters Dallandra and Salamander, they are also facing mighty enemies, enemies that they have fought before in the past lives that they no longer remember…Intricately interweaving human and elvish history over several hundred years, Katharine Kerr's enthralling and moving tale of extraordinary characters living their many lives through exceptional times is epic fantasy on truly a grand scale.
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A rich and evocative tale set in a mythic 15th century Britain, to rival the work of Bernard Cornwell.
In the peaceful village of Nether Norton life goes on as it has for centuries in the Realm. On Loaf Day, as the villagers celebrate gathering in the first of their harvest, Will looks back fondly on the two years since he and his sweetheart Willow circled the fire together, especially the year since their daughter Bethe was born. But despite his good fortune, a feeling of unease is stirring inside him. When he sees an unnatural storm raging on the horizon he knows that his past is coming back to haunt him.
Four years ago Will succeeded in cracking the Doomstone in the vault of the Chapter House at Verlamion to bring a bloody battle to its end. It seemed then that the lust for war in men's hearts had been calmed forever. But now Will is no longer certain his success was quite so absolute, and he calls on his old friend and mentor Gwydion, a wizard of deep knowledge and power once called 'Merlyn', for advice. Gwydion suspects his old enemy, the sorcerer Maskull, has escaped from the prison he was banished to when Will cracked the Doomstone. Now Maskull is once again working to hasten a devastating war between King Hal and Duke Richard of Ebor, with the help of the battlestones that litter the landscape inciting hatred in all who draw near.
Only Will, whom Gwydion believes to be an incarnation of King Arthur, has the skill to break the power of the battlestones. When Will last left Nether Norton he was an unworldly youth of thirteen. Now he is a husband and father, he has a lot more to lose. But he has a whole Realm to save.
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C.S. Lewis’s famous inspirational work on the nature of love.‘The Four Loves’ divides love into four categories: Affection, Friendship, Eros and Charity. The first three are loves which come naturally to the human race. Charity, however, the Gift-love of God, is divine in its source and expression, and without the sweetening grace of this supernatural love, the natural loves become distorted and even dangerous.
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Fay Weldon’s first novel, a sharp and witty parable of the way people see themselves.For several weeks, Esther Sussman had lived in a sordid flat in Earls Court. During the day she read science fiction novels. In the evenings she watched television. And she ate, and ate, and drank, and ate. She had not felt so secure since she spent her days in a pram. It had been her husband’s idea that they should go on a diet. Together they would fight middle-age flab and feel young again. It was the diet that had made Esther leave home. The lack of food had made her see things very clearly and she had looked at her life – the daily dusting, sweeping, cooking, washing-up – and found it all pointless. She had not felt strong enough for marriage, and so she escaped.From the fastness of her Earls Court retreat Esther starts to recount the events leading up to her revelation to her friend Phyllis. ‘I suppose you really do believe your happiness is consequent upon your size?’ she asks. Phyllis does; Esther does not and triumphantly sets out to prove her point.
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A chilling ghost story from award-winning novelist, Ann Pilling.Sam, Floss, and their foster brother, Magnus, spend their holidays with cousin M. at The Abbey. On their first night, Magnus hears a woman crying and when he goes to investigate he discovers that the sixteenth-century portrait of Lady Alice Neale, hung in the Great Hall, is now just an empty frame. Magnus shares his secret with the others and soon they are drawn into a web of family mystery and murder.Ann Pilling has written a mystery novel of subtle twist and movement; fascinating historical detail entwined with a familial story which will tug at the heart-strings.
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Perfect for fans of Memoirs of a Geisha and Empress Orchid – ‘The Embers of Heaven’ is a magical epic, with delightful characters, an intriguing scenario and a real feeling of place and history. It has a wonderful combination of character, romantic lives, and spiritual quest, set against a credible historical background.In ‘The Secrets of Jin-Shei,’ eight women pledge themselves as sisters in the name of jin-shei, the unbreakable bond, the promise that lasts a lifetime. This sisterhood shapes their lives, their country and their world. ‘The Embers of Heaven’ begins four hundred years later. In eighteenth-century Syai, and its capital city of Linh-an, things have changed beyond recognition.On the face of it, women are more equal than they have ever been. But the men run the machines, the factories, and the technology. Women have lost the ability to weave their fates and influence the course of events. The foundation of an empire once rested on jin-shei and its customs. It connected women from every walk of life and formed a bond that empowered every woman who swore the oath. The advancement of printing, the developments of technology and the changes in society seem to have improved the daily lives of the underclass, but women have been stripped of this sacred pact.Amais is heir to her poet-ancestress's manuscripts and journals. The journals are all in jin-ashu, the women's tongue, taught sketchily to Amais by her mother. Amais has the clear vision of an outsider looking in. Combined with her deep and instinctive bond to her ancestors and her culture, she determines to reinvent the Women's Country and bring the jin-shei back. But just as her crusade begins, she and her family are caught up in the whirlwind of the Golden Rising – a people's revolution that is fated to destroy much that was once valuable, gracious and beautiful.
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English fantasy at its best, The Dragon-Charmer follows the exciting debut from Jan Siegel, Prospero’s Children.Twelve years have passed since the traumatic events that took place in Prospero’s Children, and it seems that Fern Capel has almost succeeded in putting aside the memory of that magical, terrifying summer, when she fought a witch, fell in love, and made a deal with a demon. More tellingly, she has denied the ancient heritage that will allow her mastery of the Gift.But the past is about to catch up with her. Fern is soon to marry the academic and media personality, Marcus Greig – some twenty years her senior – and he has decided that they should hold the wedding at the Capels’ summer home in Yarrowdale. When Fern returns to the house with her best friend, Gaynor, ancient forces are awoken once more, and Fern will find that she is once again forced to choose between love and destiny.The Dragon-Charmer continues the lyrical, richly atmospheric and enthralling tale begun in Prospero’s Children. Spellbinding in its depiction of places both familiar and strange, of characters both magical and sinister, it is classic English fantasy at its finest.
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A collections of anecdotes, reviews and essays, written with the humour and warmth one associates with Brian Aldiss.In this fascinating collection of essays, one of the world’s pre-eminent SF writers explores a wide range of SF and fantasy writers and writings.The contents include a letter to Salvador Dali, Mary Shelley and Frankenstein, the work of Philip K. Dick, Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, James Blish, Culture: Is it worth losing your balls for?and the differences between US and UK fantasy.
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One of Ray Bradbury’s classic short story collections, available in ebook for the first time.In a ghost town hotel in a burning desert three old men await the January rains – and are visited by a strange musician. A family of colonists on Mars are homesick for Earth. Terrified, they begin to notice that each is undergoing a subtle transformation. A man seeks the forgotten scent of sarsaparilla in his attic – and passes through a window into the lost land of his boyhood. The Day It Rained Forever includes many of Ray Bradbury's most celebrated stories.
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A hilarious adventure about a fantasy world in danger of destruction from that most vile of threats… tourism .Winner of the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature in 1999.A humorous fantasy from Diana Wynne Jones. In a world next door to ours, the tourist industry is devastating the population by its desire to experience all the fantasy clichés – Dark Lords, impoverished villages, dragons etc.The Head of the University resolves to shut the tours down; the only problem being the ruthless tour-master – and his all-powerful demons. To save them all, the incompetent wizard Derk is appointed as Dark Lord in the hope that he will ruin the tours, and sure enough proceeds to fail at everything due to his general uselessness. But can failing at everything lead to a win this time?
