The King Arthur Trilogy

The King Arthur Trilogy

Rosemary Sutcliff

Fiction / Children's Books / Memoir

‘Traitor! Now is your death-time upon you!’ You may think you know all about King Arthur, the young boy who plucked the sword from the stone. You’ve probably heard stories about Merlin's magic powers and the Knights of the round table…these are the stories we learn at school. But they are just the beginning. Here are tales of human sacrifice, dragons, sword fights to the death, noble quests, tragedy and great courage: this the real world of King Arthur. Are you brave enough to enter? Includes exclusive material: In the Backstory you can test your knowledge of the legends and find out which Knight of the Round Table you most resemble. Vintage Children’s Classics is a twenty-first century classics list aimed at 8-12 year olds and the adults in their lives. Discover timeless favourites from The Jungle Book and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to modern classics such as The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
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Where You Once Belonged

Where You Once Belonged

Kent Haruf

Fiction / Literary Fiction / Contemporary

The red Cadillac pulled down Main Street and sat by the tavern for hours, unnoticed. Then Ralph Bird of the Men's Store recognized the driver as Jack Burdette and bolted to the sheriff's office. The prodigal son of Holt, Colorado, had returned--and he was far from welcome. In Where You Once Belonged, acclaimed novelist Kent Haruf tells of a small-town hero who is dealt an enviable hand--and cheats with all of the cards. In prose as lean and supple as a spring switch, Haruf describes a high school football star who wins the heart of the loveliest girl in the county and the admiration of men twice his age. Fun-loving, independent, Burdette engages in the occasional prank. But when he turns into a man, his high jinks turn into crimes--with unspeakable consequences. Now, eight years later, Burdette has returned to commit his greatest trespass of all. And the  people of Holt may not be able to stop him. Deftly plotted, defiantly honest, Where You Once Belonged sings the song of a wounded prairie community in a narrative with the earmarks of a modern American classic.
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A Natural History of the Senses

A Natural History of the Senses

Diane Ackerman

Literature & Nonfiction / Science / Poetry

Diane Ackerman's lusciously written grand tour of the realm of the senses includes conversations with an iceberg in Antarctica and a professional nose in New York, along with dissertations on kisses and tattoos, sadistic cuisine and the music played by the planet Earth. "Delightful . . . gives the reader the richest possible feeling of the worlds the senses take in."--The New York Times. (Literature--Classics & Contemporary)
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Outnumbering the Dead

Outnumbering the Dead

Frederik Pohl

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Several centuries in the future, human society has reached a state of near-utopia. All communicable diseases have been eradicated and people live affluent, fulfilled lives. Lukewarm fusion provides almost limitless energy supplies, making space travel, even travel to far-distant stars, cheap and easy. And people have time for such pleasure cruises now, for a simple pre-birth operation ensures the body will not age. Other than fatal accidents, there’s every reason to expect to live forever. Perfect—except perfection somehow never includes everyone, and Rafiel’s perfect world is marred by the fact that he is aging and he will die. In a peaceful world of ten trillion immortals, what is it that gives life meaning?
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Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos

Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos

H. P. Lovecraft

H. P. Lovecraft

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."--H. P. LOVECRAFT, "Supernatural Horror in Literature"Howard Phillips Lovecraft forever changed the face of horror, fantasy, and science fiction with a remarkable series of stories as influential as the works of Poe, Tolkien, and Edgar Rice Burroughs. His chilling mythology established a gateway between the known universe and an ancient dimension of otherworldly terror, whose unspeakable denizens and monstrous landscapes--dread Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, the Plateau of Leng, the Mountains of Madness--have earned him a permanent place in the history of the macabre. In Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, a pantheon of horror and fantasy's finest authors pay tribute to the master of the macabre with a collection of original stories set in the fearsome Lovecraft tradition: ̧ The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft: The slumbering monster-gods return to the world of mortals. ̧ Notebook Found in a Deserted House by Robert Bloch: A lone farmboy chronicles his last stand against a hungering backwoods evil. ̧ Cold Print by Ramsey Campbell: An avid reader of forbidden books finds a treasure trove of deadly volumes--available for a bloodcurdling price. ̧ The Freshman by Philip José Farmer: A student of the black arts receives an education in horror at notorious Miskatonic University.PLUS EIGHTEEN MORE SPINE-TINGLING TALES!From the Trade Paperback edition.
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The Devil's Arithmetic

The Devil's Arithmetic

Jane Yolen

Children's / Literature & Fiction / Young Adult

"A triumphantly moving book." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review Hannah dreads going to her family's Passover Seder—she's tired of hearing her relatives talk about the past. But when she opens the front door to symbolically welcome the prophet Elijah, she's transported to a Polish village in the year 1942. Why is she there, and who is this "Chaya" that everyone seems to think she is? Just as she begins to unravel the mystery, Nazi soldiers come to take everyone in the village away. And only Hannah knows the unspeakable horrors that await. A critically acclaimed novel from multi-award-winning author Jane Yolen. "[Yolen] adds much to understanding the effects of the Holocaust, which will reverberate throughout history, today and tomorrow." —SLJ, starred review "Readers will come away with a sense of tragic history that both disturbs and compels." —Booklist Winner of the National Jewish...
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The Lady and the Lion

The Lady and the Lion

Kay Hooper

Mystery & Thrillers / Romance

The Mysterious Spellbinder... At first she was only a voice in the darkness before dawn, but soon Keith Donovan was haunted, obsessed by the woman who'd listened to his cynical, desperate murmurings, and shared secrets of her own troubled heart. He'd never expected her to be so impossibly lovely, nor did Erin Prentice imagine that her powerful, anonymous companion of the night could fill her with recklessness...and sweep her into his dangerous quest for revenge. Something beyond reason bound her to this man, whose ruthless passion overwhelmed her in a tidal wave of primitive demand that thrilled and terrified her. Keith was her destiny, her crossroads -- and Erin knew she had no choice but to welcome the fire that flared between them, even if he could never promise her always. But when he was forced to choose between love and rage, between tomorrow and yesterday, would the untamed spirit that first drew her to him find the courage to surrender his grief?
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The Stone Dogs

The Stone Dogs

S. M. Stirling

Science Fiction / Fantasy / Alternate History

The Stone Dogs is the third of four books of S.M. Stirling's alternate history series, The Domination. During the cold war between the Alliance and the Domination, Frederic and Marya work for the OSS as spies and assassins. During the Draka conquest of India, Marya Lefarge is taken prisoner. She becomes a serf to Yolande Ingolfsson, who after torturing her repeatedly with a neural weapon, forces her to become a "brooder" (i.e. a surrogate mother) for her offspring, Gwendolyn. Yolande also swears vengeance on Fred Lefarge after he kills her lover, Myfanwy Venders, during the Indian Incident. As both superpowers expand into space, they prepare different doomsday weapons. The Alliance's weapon is a computer virus ("comp plague") secretly planted in Draka military computers by spies; the Draka's is a biological virus called the Stone Dogs that causes infected personnel to go insane. Yolande discovers Marya, who has contacted the OSS, planting the comp-plague and allows her to escape with knowledge of the Stone Dogs. This forces her uncle, Archon Eric von Shrakenberg, to use the weapon prematurely. The Draka win the resulting conflict; however, their incomplete victory leads to Eric negotiating an arrangement whereupon the Alliance is allowed to launch its generation ship "The New America" and the remaining Alliance survivors in space are granted limited Draka citizenship.
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The expediter

The expediter

Brian J. Clarke

Brian J. Clarke

SUMMARY: Humans and the alien Phuili had finally achieved a shaky alliance after discovering the technological relics of a long-vanished race, allowing them to travel to hitherto unreachable worlds. But on one such world, their shared dreams turned into nightmares when they encountered the Silvers, a berserker race sworn to destroy all other life forms in the universe!
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Doctor Who: Remembrance of the Daleks

Doctor Who: Remembrance of the Daleks

Ben Aaronovitch

Science Fiction & Fantasy / Mystery & Thrillers

With unfinished business to attend to, the Seventh Doctor returns to where it all began: Coal Hill School in London in 1963. Last time he was here, the Doctor left something behind - a powerful Time Lord artefact that could unlock the secrets of time travel. Can the Doctor retrieve it before two rival factions of Daleks track it down? And even if he can, how will the Doctor prevent the whole of London becoming a war zone as the Daleks meet in explosive confrontation? An adventure featuring the Seventh Doctor as played by Sylvester McCoy and his companion Ace
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