Sweeping us back to the enigmatic and elusive land of his best-selling Shogun, he weaves an extraordinary tale of Japan, now newly open to gai-jin - foreigners - and teeming with contradictions as the ancient and the modern meet in a clash of cultures, of nations, of generations. It is 1862, and in Japan's Foreign Settlement of Yokohama, reverberations from an explosive act of violence will forever alter - and connect - the lives of the major characters. Malcolm Struan, at twenty, is heir to the title of tai-pan of the most powerful and bitterly contested English trading company in the Orient, the Noble House. Malcolm's fate, and that of his family's legacy, become inextricably intertwined with that of a beautiful young French woman, Angelique Richaud. Desired by many, loved purely and passionately by Malcolm, Angelique will hold the future of the Noble House in her hands. Intricately interwoven into the story of the struggle for control of the Noble House is a powerful parallel story of the Land of the Gods, Japan, a country ripped apart by greed, idealism, and terrorism as groups of young xenophobic revolutionaries, ronin, attempt to seize the Shogunate and expel the hated gai-jin from Japan. One man, Lord Toranaga Yoshi, a direct descendant of the first Toranaga Shogun, attempts not only to protect the Shogunate, but to usher it, and Japan, into the modern age. Amid the brutality and heroism, the betrayals and the stunning romance, a multilayered, complex story unfolds. Here the dark and erotic world of the pleasure houses - the Ladies of the Willow World, spies, and terrorists - meets the world of pageantry and power - monarchs and diplomats. And here East meets West in an inevitable collision of two equally powerful cultures as James Clavell creates a vibrant and authentic

    Hamilton’s acclaimed novels—Mindstar Rising and A Quantum Murder—set in a near-future so real it seems ripped from tomorrow’s headlines In Mindstar Rising, Greg Mandel, gifted—or cursed—with biotechnology that makes him a living lie detector, is hired to investigate corporate espionage by Event Horizon, a powerful company about to introduce a technology that will solve the energy problems of a world decimated by global warming.Set two years later, A Quantum Murder once again teams Mandel with Event Horizon and its beautiful young owner, Julia Evans, in a locked-room mystery that combines the ingenuity of an Agatha Christie novel with cutting-edge speculative brilliance.Read together, these novels take on fresh depth and complexity, underscoring the magnitude of Peter F. Hamilton’s creative talent.

    Even more exciting, each of these stories will spin off into a series of its own. Maggie Shayne’s CHRISTMAS BLUESA true believer returns the music to a lonesome drifter’s soul.Miranda’s Shayne’s FINDING CHRISTMASA small-town coffee shop owner melts a humbug hero’s wounded heart.River Shayne’s A HERO FOR HANNAHCan a woman in grave danger learn to trust one more time?Jessica Lewis’s THE SOLDIER’S CHRISTMAS BABYA lonely serviceman comes home for a holiday he’ll never forget.Grab a cup of eggnog, curl up near the tree, and fall in love with the holidays all over again!

    Welcome to the Age of The Crusades, when knights did their duty to God and Kingdom, and found adventure and romance when that duty was done. This set contains TWO thousand pages of Medieval Pageantry - purchase this limited edition set or read for free in KINDLE UNLIMITED! The Third Crusade was a time of death and disease, of bigotry and horrific conditions, but there were men who rose above the devastation and destruction, men who were moral and powerful, and seeking something greater than themselves. Welcome to the stories of such men, without hate or prejudice, and the women who love them. This set contains: Scorpion: (A de Wolfe Pack novel) A former Crusader and assassin returns to England to find an unexpected - and forbidden - love. The Crusader: A modern-day Sleeping Beauty tale with a sinister twist. Kingdom Come: The knight from The Crusader returns to Medieval times to battle King John and save his lady. The Legend: A Crusader accidentally kills and his unwanted bride must help him find his worth again. Shield of Kronos: A Crusader finds politics and passion upon his return to England. This limited edition bundle is a must-have for your library. Enjoy the excitement and passion of these highly rated, full-length romances.

    Each area has its own team – and rivalry means supporters never mix. Until a Dimwell fan falls for a Dolly Sisters girl.And now an ancient bequest means the wizards of Unseen University must win a football match, without using magic.Luckily they’re coached by the mysterious Mr Nutt (and no one knows anything much about Mr Nutt, not even Mr Nutt, which worries him, too).As the match approaches, four lives are entangled and changed forever. Because the thing about football – the important thing about football – is that it is not just about football.As all children know, the way you get into a fantasy world is by accident… You go into the wardrobe, looking for somewhere to hide and – bingo. And that’s how Stephen Briggs found Discworld.In 1990, he wrote to ask Terry if he could stage Wyrd Sisters. That was the first time anyone, anywhere in the world, had dramatised Terry’s work. He had no idea it would go any further than one play (possibly two). But it did. So far, he has now adapted, staged and published twenty-two plays.He and Terry also worked together to produce the original Discworld Maps and Diaries, Nanny Ogg's Cookbook, The Discworld Companion (now called Turtle Recall

    Menace turns to fear when layers of secrets and mistrust are peeled back to reveal a darkness deeper and more terrifying than anything the young visitor could ever have imagined. Duty and love of her wheelchair-bound grandmother compel Rue Dunwitty to travel from her new home in San Francisco back to the quiet little Texas town where she was raised.For Rue, arriving in Amethyst evokes the cozy comfort of returning to a safe haven where everyone knows her name and nothing ever seems to change. Then, in the window of the local grocery store, she sees a sign with a picture of a teenage girl and the question, "Have you seen Dawn?" Rue's bittersweet nostalgia is abruptly replaced by a growing sense of dread.Dawn is the daughter of a single mother who recently moved to town. When Rue encounters Dawn's twin brother, she is disconcerted by his precocious, brooding intensity. Also unnerving is the change that seems to have come over Rue's old friends. Have they simply grown apart, or is there something more sinister at play?Then, late at night, Rue sees a strange light in the field outside her grandmother's house, moving across the abandoned farm that once had been home to her father, from whom she is now estranged.In short order, Rue finds herself confounded by a series of disturbing discoveries -- about the husband of her best friend from high school days; about the intentions of the town's handsome deputy sheriff; about her father, who moved away fromAmethyst years ago but may have secretly returned; about her brother, who lives in Austin, but who seems to have taken a leave from both his job and his marriage; and about her boyfriend from San Francisco, who suddenly shows up in town and who seems not to be a stranger there.Atmospheric and grippingly suspenseful, "Have You Seen Dawn?" is a thrilling novel of brooding menace, devious twists, and startling surprises.

    A mage cop on his first assignment learns the world isn't as black and white as hopedA jump mage and a starship with matching needs turn out to be a magnet for troubleDigging in 1940s New York City awakens a monster--and brings in the elite of the FaeThe protected heir of an interstellar dictatorship is called to a battle no one expected him to fightAn explosive collection of four novellas from science fiction and fantasy author Glynn Stewart, spanning his ONSET, Starship's Mage, Changeling Blood and Exile universes, including two brand new urban fantasy novellas.  Includes:ONSET: Murder by MagicStarship's Mage: Episode 1Fae, Flames and FedorasAshen Stars

    He must cope with an elite band of sorcerers, whose magical tactics are not easily thwarted. These Ogre Titans--led by their inner circle, the Black Talon--emerge as his greatest rivals. Golgren's obsession to resurrect the glorious past of the ogre race will engulf humans and elves, but may ultimately be decided by a deadly, capricious god.

    Untreated, they fester and grow into the diseases of fear, uncertainty and hopelessness. Unaided, the law is blinded by bureaucracy and bound to a justice bent toward the protection even of the criminal. The face of a kinder and gentler nation is destroyed, carved into a harlequin's mask; a grim skull. And the wielders of the scythe laugh, secure in the knowledge that their crimes will go without punishment.They are wrong. In the urban jungle, there is one who stands alone and apart; one who lives not for the law, but only to see justice done. The Punisher reaps a different harvest.Once, he was Frank Castle, loving husband and father. A tour in Vietnam had shown him what war was. Part of him died there, but a precious part stayed alive, determined to return to the family he loved, and the peace and freedom that was his America. Part of him held on to live, until his family died in a hail of mob gunfire, victims of the wrong place and wrong time.Daily, criminals greedily cut their portions from the souls of the weak and weary, the foolish and the frightened. One man senses how the guilty feed like parasites on the heart of the American Dream. One man hears when evil laughs at the law. One man sees clearly that the most powerful criminals have placed themselves above the law. One man has become their judge, their jury.One man has become their Punisher.

    But not until Dexter Shaw dies in a mysterious explosion does Bravo discover the enormity of his father's hidden life as a high-ranking member of the Order of Gnostic Observatines, a sect founded by followers of St. Francis of Assisi and believed to have been wiped out centuries ago. For more than eight hundred years, the Order has preserved an ancient cache of documents, including a long-lost Testament attributed to Christ that could shake Christianity to its foundations. Dexter Shaw was the latest Keeper of the Testament--and Bravo is his chosen successor.Before Dexter died, he hid the cache where only Bravo could find it. Now Bravo, an accomplished medieval scholar and cryptanalyst, must follow the esoteric clues his father left behind. His companion in this quest is Jenny Logan, a driven young woman with secrets of her own. Jenny is a Guardian, assigned by the Order to protect Bravo, or so she claims. Bravo soon learns that he can trust no one where the Testament is concerned, perhaps not even Jenny . . .Another secret society, the Knights of St. Clement, originally founded and sponsored by the Papacy, has been after the Order's precious cache since the time of the Crusades. The Knights, agents and assassins, will stop at nothing to obtain the treasure. Bravo has become both a target and a pawn in an ongoing war far larger and more deadly than any he could have imagined.

    The grandson of Thomas H, Huxley (Darwin's famous defender), he was born in England and educated at Eton and Oxford. He traveled widely in his youth and lived in Italy for a while in the 1920s. He began his literary career with poetry and critical essays, then turned to novels. Having been born just too late to participate in World War I, he was able, in his early works, such as CROME YELLOW (1921), ANTIC HAY (1923), THOSE BARREN LEAVES (1925), and POINT COUNTER POINT (1928), to perfectly capture a sense of purposeless aftermath which resonated strongly in British society at the time. A satirical strain already evident manifested itself spectacularly in BRAVE NEW WORLD (1932), after which much of his work began to show a fantastic or speculative cast, including AFTER MANY A SUMMER DIES THE SWAN (about immortality, 1939), TIMES MUST HAVE A STOP (1944), and APE AND ESSENCE (a dystopia, 1948). ISLAND, his last work, published in 1962, is a utopia. Late in life he developed an increasing disdain for Western society and an interest in Eastern mysticism and in the possibilities of psychedelic drugs, which he described in THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION (1954). MORTAL COILS is a short-story collection from Huxley's early period, including one of his most popular stories, "The Gioconda Smile."

    Don't let anyone tell you different.My name is Shyla Crowe, and I'm in hock to a demon I never met. My father started me off early, robbing magical antiquities from rich bastards. Thieving was the family business, and business was humming.Until my father got himself dragged to the pits of Hell. Now the only thing staving off his eternal torment is a monthly cash delivery to my new devil employer.Fortunately, not all hellions are evil, and thanks to an old family grimoire, I have the power to summon them. So I'm flush with enemies, sure, but I also have a few friends, like a furry know-it-all gremlin and my staunch gargoyle familiar.Summoning, like thieving, is about tools, technique, and team, and I've got them in spades. So it's only a matter of time until I work my father free.It's a good plan until the discovery of an ancient relic uncovers a sinister plot, rigged from the start. Turns out, I'm not fighting for my freedom... I'm fighting for my destiny.

    Asia has shut its borders to keep the threats at bay, and some with power and influence have already abandoned Earth. Now an escape route a century in the making – the Nomad mission – finally offers hope to a small town and a secret research centre hidden in a rural American backwater.Shrouded in lies and concealed even from the research centre's staff, Nomad is about to fulfil its long-dead founder's vision of preserving the best of humanity to forge a new future.But who decides who's worthy?The mission is now in the hands of a unique AI called Solomon, and an encounter with a band of military veterans reshapes his plans for mankind's future after the arrival of a scientist with a grudge threatens the whole mission.

    Includes: Night Manager, Tailor of Panama, and Our GameNight ManagerEnter the new world of post Cold War espionage. Penetrate the secret world of ruthless arms dealers and drug smugglers who have risen to unthinkable power and wealth. The sinister master of them all is an untouchable Englishman named Roper. Slipping into this maze of peril is a former British soldier, Jonathan Pine, who knows Roper well enough to hate him more than any man on earth. Now Personal vengeance is only part of why Pine is willing to help the men at Whitehall try to bring Roper down....A Main Selection of the Book-of-the-Month ClubOur GameWith the Cold War fought and won, British spymaster Tim Cranmer accepts early retirement to rural England and a new life with his alluring young mistress Emma. But when both Emma and Cranmer's star double agent and lifelong rival, Larry Pettifer, disappear, Cranmer is suddenly on the run, searching for his brilliant protégé, desperately eluding his former colleagues, in a frantic journey across Europe and into the lawless, battered landscapes of Moscow and southern Russia, to save whatever of his life he has left....Tailor of PanamaLe Carre's Panama is a Casablanca without heroes, a hotbed of drugs, laundered money and corruption. It is also the country which on December 31, 1999, will gain full control of the Panama Canal. Seldom has the weight of politics descended so heavily on such a tiny and unprepared nation. And seldom has the hidden eye of the British Intelligence selected such an unlikely champion as Harry Pendel - a charmer, a dreamer, an evader, a fabulist and presiding genius to the house of Pendel & Braithwaite Co. Limitada, Tailors to Royalty, formerly of London and presently of Panama City. Yet there is a logic to the spies' choice, for everybody who is anybody in Cental America passes through Pendel's doors. He dresses politicos and crooks and conmen. His fitting room hears more confidences than the priest's confessional. And when Harry Pendel doesn't hear things as such - well, he hears them anyway, by other means. In a thrilling, hilarious AudioBook, le Carre once again effortlessly expands the borders of the spy story to bring us a magnificent entertainment straight out of the pages of tomorrow's history.

    And what the young gunslinger sees brings him the darkest of nightmares.