Showing titles in Literature & Fiction

The Expeditionary Force saga continues with Gateway from epic sci-fi writer Craig Alanson and narrated by none other than R.C. Bray.

The City of Inventions, Pallass, is a fascinating place. Filled with all kinds of oddballs from the named-rank [Alchemist], Saliss of Lights, to Grimalkin the [Sinew Magus], a drunken Dwarven master [Blacksmith], to Chaldion, to... Wyverns? Erin Solstice is on a break from her inn. Not for long; she's returning with more Skills, but she has changed. She will return with her usual chaos and wonder, but always differently. Now, there are flames and... a garden?

Cradle isn’t over yet. Lindon’s journey may have ended, but there are still more tales to tell. The stories in this collection will show you the world after Cradle, those left behind, and even some legends from long ago. Witness the first Uncrowned King tournament. Visit the Monarchs and their voyages in the lands beyond. Get to know the Abidan in their homes, and meet the people of new worlds as they cross paths with familiar faces. And, of course, check in on some old friends.

Negotiating for peace is not an option when the System is in control. It can only be purchased through blood and steel. No one is spared from the winds of war.

November 12, 1944. This house holds on to souls for a lifetime. I thought I had given it to my husband when I vowed to love him until the end of time. I lied. Nothing could have prepared me for the day my phantom appeared outside my window. He was terrifying, yet hypnotizing, and I couldn’t deny my intrigue. I never intended to fall into a whirlwind romance with my stalker. Especially because he’s so much more than that. A criminal. A mobster. The man who offers me solace from the monster in Parsons Manor. There are many that haunt these halls, yet it’s only my husband I fear.

In 1984, Derek Reilly was just another teenage nerd growing up in middle England. But his love of D&D caused him to fall afoul of the Laundry, a government agency tasked with suppressing supernatural threats. It turns out that sometimes ninth level wizard spells drawn on the back of your maths textbook can look suspiciously like actual magic...

Two little girls stand with their heads bowed in my living room. I’m told they’re my granddaughters. Daisy is nine, and Alice seven. Daisy is the spitting image of her mother. This is the first time I’ve met them since my daughter and I fell out after she married that waste of space, Vince. They’ve come to live with me because their mother — my daughter — was murdered. In her own home while they slept close by. I think Vince killed her. But the police can’t prove it. I’ve always known he was no good. He treated my daughter like dirt. I said he’d cheat on her — but she wouldn’t listen.

After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty. Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust. Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves—her dragons, her family, her home, and him.

Verity Beresford is worried about her husband. Oliver didn’t come home last night so of course Verity goes straight to Judith Potts, Marlow’s resident amateur sleuth, for help. Oliver, founder of the Marlow Amateur Dramatic Society, had hired The Marlow Belle, a private pleasure cruiser, for an exclusive party with the MADS committee but no one remembers seeing him disembark. And then Oliver’s body washes up on the Thames with two bullet holes in him – it’s time for the Marlow Murder Club to leap into action.

The ninth floor. Nine armies, each led by rich and powerful aliens from across the galaxy. Each team has one objective: to capture and hold the castle at the very center of the battlefield. Strategy, alliances, pitched battles, and, of course, betrayal ... It all makes for great fun and even greater television. After all, none of these powerful aliens really die when they’re playing war. Except this time. This time, winner takes all. Those who fall, stay in the ground.

A winter sunrise over the great plains of Russia is no cause for celebration. The temperature barely rises above zero, and the guards at Penal Colony IK22 are determined to take their misery out on the prisoners—chief among them, one Zoya Zakharova. Once a master spy for Russian foreign intelligence, then the partner and lover of the Gray Man, she has information the Kremlin wants, and they don't care what they have to do to get it.

The 28th installment in the UK's Bestselling Horror Series.

Branded traitor since the Heresy, the motives and actions of the Alpha Legion have always been shrouded in mystery. Alpha Legionnaire Occam the Untrue leads his warband out of its hunting grounds in the Maelstrom on an epic quest for salvation, not just for himself, but for his whole Legion. With the forces of the Inquisition snapping at their heels, Occam and his followers must use all their guile and considerable martial prowess as they make their way to the cold heart of the galaxy, to a confrontation that no one, least of all Occam himself, could have foreseen.

Vincent regrets his actions. He's hurt someone he loves. And he's not sure he can make it right.

A gripping psychological thriller that tracks Hannah Herbst, a facial expression expert, as she becomes entangled in a disturbing web of murder, deception, and moral ambiguity. This nail-biter begins when Hannah wakes up in a motel room with no memory of how she got there, only to discover that she's being accused of murdering her own family. Not only that: there’s a video of her confessing to these murders. As she uses her professional expertise to prove her innocence, she uncovers a sinister plot involving someone very close to her.

Arthur Leywin's quest for the power he knows only as Fate becomes even more pressing as his most dangerous foes gain a terrible new power. When the war between the dragons of Epheotus and the basilisks of Alacrya erupts across Dicathen, the people Arthur cares about most find themselves trapped in a clash of deities. The only way to master Fate and protect them, though, is to place them directly in harm's way in the ultimate gambit.

Thanks to overwhelming might, a cadre of violent animals, and a weaponized fish or two, Tropica has wiped Gormona's royal forces from the map. Now at the helm of his own Church, Fischer finally has some time to relax. But life in Tropica is much like fishing from a rocky shore: it's only a matter of time before you hook a snag.

Set in 1920s London, this is the inspiring story of Kate Goss' struggle against poverty, hunger and cruel family secrets. Her mother died in a fall, her father has vanished without trace, and now her aunt and cousins treat her viciously. In a freezing, vermin-infested garret, factory girl Kate has only her own brave spirit and dreams of finding her father to keep her going. She has barely enough money to feed herself, or to pay the rent. The factory where she works begins to lay off people and it isn't long before she has fallen into the hands of the violent local money-lender.

I may be a total princess, but I’m not looking for a prince. Or even my usual type of wealthy, overly-groomed playboy. I’m done with smooth. I want a bit of rough. A real man, with a real job. One who’s good with his hands and not afraid to get them dirty. Someone exactly like the foreman on the new community project my team’s volunteering on.

Nico 'Junior' Trocci knows Lauren Marchetti is off limits. She is sweetness and laughter, whereas Junior exists in a world of violence and depravity. Men like him don't get to have women like her. It's why he pushed her away back in high school and has kept his distance ever since. But when Junior looks Lauren up online, he discovers the shy, bookish girl he remembers is gone. In her place is a strikingly beautiful woman whose social media is filled with scantily clad pictures of herself and a connection to a nearby play club.

This is a story from the The Happy Prince and Other Stories collection.

He’s the perfect man. He says he loves you. You think he might even be made for you. Before long he’s moved into your house – and into your heart. And then he leaves for days at a time. You don’t know where he’s gone or who he’s with. And you realise - if you looked back - you’d say to yourself: DON’T LET HIM IN.

The 29th installment in the UK's Bestselling Horror Series.

My fiancé brought me tea and scrambled eggs in bed that morning, and we snuggled together, talking about buying our rings, and about our perfect wedding next year. Then we headed into town. He held my hand and gazed at the ring I liked best, a smile spreading slowly over his face. Then a glass of bubbly to celebrate. I felt flushed, excited and ready for the rest of my life with the man I loved. We race to get on the train home. It screams to a halt and I run towards its open doors. Made it. I think he’s right behind me — but when I turn around, he’s gone.

John Moffat stars as the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in seven more BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations. The stories in this volume are: Evil Under the Sun, Sad Cypress, Murder in Mesopotamia, Lord Edgware Dies, Halloween Party, Murder on the Links and Five Little Pigs. Based on the original novels by Agatha Christie, these superb adaptations feature a cast of outstanding actors playing an array of likely suspects.

Loren soon finds herself caught in a new storm of trouble when the Terran Imperator blackmails her into working for him. There's only one problem: he expects her to use her magic, and she doesn't seem to have any of it left. To keep Darien and the other Devils safe, she agrees to everything the imperator asks of her. But the secrets she is forced to keep from Darien and her involvement with the imperator's son threaten to drive her away from Darien in ways she might never recover from…

In this collection you'll hear Stephen Fry narrating Great Expectations, Scrooge's ghostly journey narrated by Jason Isaacs, Juliet Stevenson leading us through The Old Curiosity Shop, and many more award-winning narrators bringing Dickens' words to life. Also included here is a short introduction to Dickens' life and works from Dr Pete Orford, an internationally renowned Dickens expert and the Course Director for the Charles Dickens Studies MA at the University of Buckingham.

The brand new novel from number one bestselling author Bob Mortimer.

Inside the beleaguered city of Rome in 1944, the Contessa Giovanna Landini is a member of the band of Escape Line activists known as ‘The Choir’. Their mission is to smuggle refugees to safety and help Allied soldiers, all under the nose of Gestapo boss Paul Hauptmann. During a ferocious morning air raid a mysterious parachutist lands in Rome and disappears into the backstreets. Is he an ally or an imposter? His fate will come to put the whole Escape Line at risk.

After going to hell and back, Alex Roth has gained knowledge about the Traveller, Thameland’s cycle, and the hidden priests that serve Uldar’s will. Anticipating his identity being discovered sooner or later, he plans to make himself so famous and indispensable to Generasi that the priests would not even have a prayer of dragging him into the war’s frontlines. With newfound power, he and his companions seek to prove themselves once more in the Games of Roal, all the while Alex expands his business empire, grows stronger and researches his foes.

A Lord takes what he wants. But like anything else, even he can get greedy and betray his oath. That’s where Carnage comes in. A Spade brother runs their prison for those who have wronged their society. It just so happens to be where the Lords have sent me.

It’s an ordinary Monday. Until everything changes forever. At 2:44 PM, a mysterious crack appears in the sky. Anyone unfortunate enough to look up is immediately struck blind. What’s worse, their mind is wiped clean, replaced with a vicious urge to kill anyone within reach. Mark is at work when it happens. Fighting not to fall asleep, the boring department meeting suddenly turns into a bloodbath when people are drawn to the windows to look up at the sky.

I was so excited to welcome Anastasia Drummond to our pretty little street. But the moment I meet her, my heart stops. Because I know those ice-cold eyes. She looks like my husband’s ex-wife. The one who went missing. The one declared dead over a decade ago.

Tegan is eight months pregnant, alone, and desperately wants to put her crumbling life in the rearview mirror. So she hits the road, planning to stay with her brother until she can figure out her next move. But she doesn't realize she's heading straight into a blizzard. She never arrives at her destination. Stranded in rural Maine with a dead car and broken ankle, Tegan worries she's made a terrible mistake. Then a miracle occurs: she is rescued by a couple who offers her a room in their warm cabin until the snow clears. But something isn't right.

Broadcaster, writer, philanthroper and one of the first public figures to suggest high-visibility clothing for people manning temporary car parks, the public Alan Partridge is a cherished institution. But what of the unseen Alan? For the first time, this famously private man welcomes us into his home and audibly deshrouds himself for a fascinating series of podcasts.