Showing results by narrator "Ralph Lister" in All Categories

A thriller of a war that never was - of survival in an impossible city - of surreal cataclysm. In The Last Days of New Paris, China Miéville entwines true historical events and people with his daring, uniquely imaginative brand of fiction, reconfiguring history and art into something new. It's 1941. In the chaos of wartime Marseille, American engineer and occult disciple Jack Parsons stumbles onto a clandestine anti-Nazi group, including surrealist theorist André Breton.

The Club is a blistering, timely, and gripping novel set at Cambridge University, centering around an all-male dining club for the most privileged and wealthy young men at Cambridge and following an outsider who exposes the dark secrets of this group, the Pitt Club.

On his way to return Shira to her home in Shinkya, Pol Cissert is called upon to solve two mysteries. His reward is something he has no desire for, but he must put that aside while he travels to the exotic and dangerous country of Shira's birth. He finds that deadly politics badgers him every step along his journey.

Meet Gerald. Gerald is a griffin - a creature with the body of a lion and the head of an eagle. According to the Code of the Griffins, that means he should be: 1. Brave and fierce in all situations! 2. A guardian of a great treasure! 3. Completely and totally hidden from the human realm! But what if a Griffin isn't brave or fierce? What if he's never found a great treasure (or any treasure, for that matter)? What if he feels like such an embarrassment that the only thing left to do is run away?

My character has been shaped by two opposing forces; the pressure to conform to social norms, and the pressure to be true to myself. To be honest with you, these forces have really torn me apart. They've pulled me one way and then the other. At times, they've left me questioning my entire existence. But please don't think that I'm angry or morose. I'm not. Because through adversity comes knowledge. I've suffered, it's true. But I've learned from my pain. I've become a better person.

Rebels of Gor Book 33 of the Gorean Saga John Norman takes you on a journey to “World’s End,” a set of once-unknown islands far west of the continental mainland. Lying across vast, turbulent Thassa, these mysterious islands were reached for the first time during the historic voyage of the ship of Tersites. Now this remote locale has been chosen by two warring, technologically advanced species - the bestial, imperialistic, predatory Kurii, and the retiring, secretive Priest-Kings, the “gods of Gor." On this all-too-real “gaming board," a roll of the dice will determine the fortunes and fate of Gor - and perhaps that of Earth.

As a veteran of the Royal Navy and longtime police officer, Colin Butcher was no stranger to dangerous situations and challenges. Colin left the force to start his own private detective agency, specializing in helping reunite people with their lost pets. He soon knew he needed a partner. When Colin first met Molly, his friends doubted that she would be up for the job. While Colin was battle-tested after a long and varied career, Molly was young and inexperienced. Not only that but she had a reputation for bad behavior.

For 500 years the Saxons ruled England, crushing the ancient powers. But a wave of change approaches. Across the Channel in Normandy, William is born-the bastard son of a duke and a magical woman of Druid descent. As he grows to manhood, William's battle skills earn him respect, but his temper and disregard for his innate magical abilities hold him back. He needs a teacher, whether he wants one or not, and finds one in the beautiful French noblewoman Mathilda.

The year is 1191. The place is the Holy Land, where the knights of Christ are embroiled in a war with the armies of Islam. The prize is the holy city of Jerusalem. Led by Richard the Lionheart, the armies of the West are conducting a Crusade against the sultan Saladin. In Cyprus, the king's mother, Eleanor, has struck a devil's bargain to grant Richard victory at any cost. Only Sinan the sorcerer knows that victory will cost the king his immortal soul.

Self-designated gods and masters of the elements and mayhem. These are they: the Star-Children. Before them the world splits and groans, and nations collapse. There can be no stopping an all-out-war. The Golden Agony’s maniacal plans are set. Anti-life prepares to cleanse Lenova. Not even the unity of millions can stop Mal’Bal. Not gods, nor kings, nor necromancy. But perhaps there is one last chance. There is a plan. It is desperate and dependent upon Finn SunRider finding the Splinter of Nullification.

September 17, 1944: 30,000 airborne soldiers prepare to drop 64 miles behind enemy lines into Nazi-occupied Holland; tens of thousands of ground troops race down Hell’s Highway in tanks and armored cars, trucks, and half-tracks to link up with them. The goal - to secure eight bridges across the Rhine and end the war by Christmas. Ten days later, over 15,000 of these soldiers have died, and 6,000 have been taken prisoner.

"Earthlight" was first published in the August 1951 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories. It was later expanded into the novel of the same name. Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) is regarded as one of the most-influential science fiction writers of all time. He was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Andrew and Lavinia Riley are on their honeymoon at an African game lodge when they meet a Texan trophy hunter. Andrew, a journalist, senses a timely story about lion hunting and engages a local guide to learn how the lions are tracked in this remote borderland of North Tanzania. Andrew finds lions, but his inquiries draw him into a different type of danger altogether - with local tribesmen. Soon his only hope for survival lies in an unexpected source.

Two years ago, the Piper family fled Fenton House after their dream of a new life turned into an unspeakable nightmare. The house has stood empty ever since, given a wide berth by everyone except ghost hunters and occult fanatics. Now something is trying to lure the Pipers back to Fenton House. But is that “something” a malevolent supernatural entity? Or is there a more earthly explanation? Whatever the truth, Adam and Ella Piper are about to discover that their family’s future is inextricably bound up with the last place they ever wanted to see again.

Several thousand years from now, advanced humanoids known as the Makers will implant clockwork devices into our heads. At the cost of a certain amount of agency, these devices will permit us to move unhindered through time and space, and to live complacent, well-regulated lives. However, when one of these devices goes awry, a "clockwork man" appears accidentally in the 1920s, at a cricket match in a small English village. Comical yet mind-blowing hijinks ensue.

The Nihlosians and Xanthians have united to thwart the dead God’s prophecy, but as tempers flare or pride prickles, the alliance hangs by a thread. Meanwhile, the political situation in Nihlos grows worse every day. Two Council members have been assassinated, some are in open rebellion, and many blame the Empress herself for all of it. Amidst this chaos, Llaweh commands Ahmed to enter Nihlos alone and place himself at the mercy of the Meite sorcerers. But they too are torn apart by civil war and have fled their city. For now, they can’t help.

Poldon Fairfield, a 14-year-old prince, has no desire to rule - his poor health has convinced him that he will not live long enough to sit on any throne. Matters take a turn for the worse when his father, the King of North Salvan, decides his oldest will rule the country where Pol's mother is first in the line of succession followed by Pol, her only child. Pol learns he has developed a talent for magic, and that may do him more harm than good as he must struggle to survive among his siblings, who have now turned lethally hostile.

William Gunn wants nothing more than a quiet life. After returning home from the Napoleonic wars, he accepts a position on the Duke of Devonshire’s idyllic estate. Destiny, however, intervenes when his young daughter, Sarah, falls prey to a mysterious sickness, and Gunn must strike out once more into the unknown and search for an unusual cure - the black orchid, a plant found only in the forbidding Amazon rainforest, where the last man who saw it went insane.

The stories in Black Vodka, by acclaimed author Deborah Levy, are perfectly formed worlds unto themselves, written in elegant yet economical prose. She is a master of the short story, exploring loneliness and belonging; violence and tenderness; the ephemeral and the solid; the grotesque and the beautiful; love and infidelity; and fluid identities national, cultural, and personal.

With his health failing, Pol Cissert takes refuge in a monastery dedicated to magic, healing, and swordsmanship. As a disinherited prince, he thinks his troubles are behind him, so he can concentrate on learning magic and getting his body repaired. He soon finds that his sanctuary isn't the protection he hoped for.