But he soon learns that rats in suits are even worse. What do you do when rats invade your barn? Kill them or negotiate? Mason finds out the hard way that force does not always work! An allegory of war and violence? A statement on the arms race? Neal Asher’s work takes Orwell’s Animal Farm into a grimly humorous future where evolution is outrunning humanity. You may never trust a rat again! “I’ve never read anything like MASON’S RATS before … it’s sharp, funny and highly inventive. There’s more fun in this one slim volume than in many a full-length novel!” – Stephen Gallagher

    

    When he is hired by a Hollywood studio to write a musical based on the meeting of Byron and Shelley in Geneva, he leaves England and finds new love in Rome, only to be haunted by his past.

    But tonight, as dusk falls, there is a sense of something special in the air. An inn packed with revellers, shepherds sprawled on the grass, animals in their stables: everything will be changed when a bright star bearing news arrives in the sky. Carol Ann Duffy’s evocative new poem will transport you to Bethlehem, capturing the sights, the sounds and the atmosphere of this ancient and magical place.

    For Russell, the only thing worse than failing to reach sanctuary is the failure to protect his family in this dangerous post-EMP world.The Final StandPrepare and survive.When an EMP cripples the nation's power grid, lawlessness erupts across the country. Fighting against the chaos, Detective Mike Thorton must rescue his family from the city and bring them to his sister's cabin in the mountains.

    intelligence agencies wracked by internal power struggles and paralyzed by bureaucracy, the president has been forced to establish his own clandestine group--Covert-One. It's activated only as a last resort, when the threat is on a global scale and time is running out.THE UTOPIA EXPERIMENTWhen Dresner Industries unveils the Merge, a device that is destined to revolutionize the world and make the personal computer and smartphone obsolete, Covert-One operative Colonel Jon Smith is assigned to assess its military potential. He discovers that enhanced vision, real-time battlefield displays, unbreakable security, and near-perfect marksmanship are only the beginning of a technology that will change the face of warfare forever--and one that must be kept out of the hands of America's enemies at all costs.Meanwhile, in the mountains of Afghanistan, CIA operative Randi Russell encounters an entire village of murdered Afghans--all equipped with enhanced Merge technology that even the Agency didn't know existed. As Smith and Russell delve into the circumstances surrounding the Afghans' deaths, they're quickly blocked by someone who seems to have access to the highest levels of the military--a person that even the president knows nothing about.Is the Merge really as secure as its creator claims? And what secrets about its development is the Pentagon so desperate to hide? Smith and Russell are determined to learn the truth. But they may pay for it with their lives . . .

    Joining together with a wizard, a druid, a necromancer, and a crusader, Morbed has arrived at a remote island to track down an elusive vagabond andreclaim valuable items pilfered from the city of Westmarch.But there is something loose on the island, something that has killed and is very close to killing again. In order to leave the island alive, Morbed will be forced to confront not only the terrifying creature that stalks the forests, but the darkest corners of his own spirit as well.

    His honour weighs him down at court where a true man does what he will, not what he must … and a dead enemy is a thing of beauty.The old gods have no power in the south, Stark’s family is split and there is treachery at court. Worse, the vengeance-mad heir of the deposed Dragon King has grown to maturity in exile in the Free Cities. He claims the Iron Throne.

    After creating her latest masterpiece, Ellie's entire world is flipped upside down. What caused her to paint the bloodied stranger? Ellie didn’t know, but days later a woman of the painting’s exact likeness is found dead. Obsessed with finding answers, Ellie quickly becomes the next target of a mysterious killer hunting artists throughout the city of Northampton, Massachusetts. The Secret Letter A mysterious chain letter is only the beginning to an inescapable nightmare. Homicide Detective Michael Dobson has seen many things in his long years on the force, but nothing can prepare him for a series of murders linked through the same mysterious chain letter mailed to the victims before their untimely demise. The answers lie in the victims’ pasts, leading Dobson and his rookie partner on a serpentine quest through the dark recesses of vengeance and betrayal. Can he stop the killer in time, or will a brutal fate await all who have made the killer’s list?

    This outstanding five-volume set brings Rawlins to life and takes the listener into the intricate soul of a singular man. The earthy voice of actor Paul Winfield is the perfect match for the street smart, world weary Rawlins. The set includes:A Red Death—Rawlins is forced to cut a deal with the FBI to get a corrupt, racist IRS agent off his back. However, Easy finds himself a prime suspect.Devil in a Blue Dress—It seems simple enough...there’s good money if Easy can find Daphne Monet, a blond beauty known to frequent jazz clubs, but the case is much more than it appears to be. A White Butterfly—The serial killing of three black bar girls doesn’t cause a stir until a white coed is similarly killed. The L.A.P.D. calls on Rawlins to go to places they can’t. Black Betty—Easy hunts for a sensuous woman who leaves a trail of murder and mayhem in her wake, and is plunged into the depths of America’s racial dilemmas and the mysteries of human character.A Little Yellow Dog—Easy takes a nice quiet job. Unfortunately, a teacher, two corpses, suspicious police, and a little yellow dog ring the bell on his peaceful existence.

    Chaos rules the final days of the Forerunner empire. The Flood—a horrifying, shape-changing, and unstoppable parasite—has arrived in force, aided by unexpected allies, and internal strife has desperately weakened Forerunner defenses. Facing the imminent collapse of their civilization, the Forerunners known as the Ur-Didact and the Librarian reveal what they know about the relationship between the long-vanished race of the Precursors and the Flood. While the Precursors created many technological species, including those of the Forerunners and humanity itself, the roots of the Flood may be found in an act of enormous barbarity, carried out beyond our galaxy ten million years before. Because of that savagery, a greater evil looms. Only the Ur-Didact and the Librarian—husband and wife pushed into desperate conflict—hold the keys to a solution. As they face the consequences of a mythic tragedy, one of them must now commit the greatest atrocity of all time—a shocking act designed to prevent an insane abomination from dominating the entire galaxy…

    Being a teenager can be tough – and that’s even before you add all the werewolves, vampires, and paranormal goings-on that complicate Nick Gautier’s life. But when the world is in jeopardy, Nick has to take charge if he wants to keep his friends, and himself, safe from harm…and somehow find the time to do his homework too…InfinityAt fourteen, Nick Gautier thinks he knows everything about the world around him.. . .until he is sucked into the realm of the Dark-Hunters: immortal demon slayers who risk everything to save humanity. InvincibleNick wakes up to find himself enslaved to a world of shapeshifters and demons out to claim his soul. But more than that, he's being groomed by the darkest of powers and if he doesn't learn how to raise the dead by the end of the week, he will become one of them...InfamousNick is on the brink of becoming either the greatest hero mankind has ever known, or he'll be the one who ends the world. With enemies new and old gathering forces, he will have to call on every part of himself to fight or he'll lose everyone he cares about.

    Through ‘A Rustic Mind’ I aim to provide a thoughtful take on such actions and incidents. Poetic in its expression, these words will strike a chord which is not only deep but relatable on many levels.