A working father whose life no longer feels like his own discovers the transforming powers of great (and downright terrible) literature in this laugh-out-loud memoir Andy Miller had a job he quite liked a family he loved & no time at all for reading Or so he kept telling himself But no matter how busy or tired he was something kept niggling at him Books Books he'd always wanted to read Books he'd said he'd read when he hadn't Books that whispered the promise of escape from the 644 to London & so with the turn of a page began a year of reading that was to transform Andy's life completely This book is Andy's inspirational & very funny account of his expedition through literature classic cult & everything in-between Crack the spine of your unread Middlemarch' discover what The Da Vinci Code' & Moby-Dick' have in common (everything surprisingly) & knock yourself out with a new-found enthusiasm for Tolstoy Douglas Adams & The Epic of Gilgamesh' The Year of Reading Dangerously' is a reader's odyssey & it begins with opening this book ...

By the author of The Handmaid's Tale & Alias Grace The sun brightens in the east reddening the blue-grey haze that marks the distant ocean The vultures roosting on the hydro poles fan out their wings to dry them the air smells faintly of burning The waterless flood
- a man-made plague
- has ended the world But two young women have survived Ren a young dancer trapped where she worked in an upmarket sex club (the cleanest dirty girls in town); & Toby who watches & waits from her rooftop garden Is anyone else out there?

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An addictive blend of magic & murder noir a Gareth L Powell BSFA award-winning author of Ack-Ack Macaque Agent " Sully" Sullivan is one of the top cops in the Imperial Bureau of Investigation A veteran witch of the British Empire who isn't afraid to use her magical skills to crack a case But Sully might need more than a good education & raw power to stop the string of grisly murders that have been springing up across the American Colonies Every one of them marked by the same chilling calling card a warning in the form of a legion of voices screaming out through the killers' mouths " It IS t He YEAr o F the KNife" Sully's investigation will drag her away from the comforts of home in New Amsterdam the beautiful but useless hyacinth macaw that used to be her boss & the loving arms of her undead girlfriend in a thrilling race against time demonic forces & a shadowy conspiracy that will do anything to keep its hold on power & ensure that Sully takes their secrets to her grave as soon as possible GD Penman's imaginative The Year of the Knifeis a fun fast-paced urban fantasy mystery with an engaging set of characters most notably Agent Sully of the Imperial Bureau of Investigation ...

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2015'A brilliant & beautiful novel' Kamila Shamsie Guardian' The Grapes of Wrath for the 21st century' Washington Post The Year of the Runaways tells of the bold dreams & daily struggles of an unlikely family thrown together by circumstance Thirteen young men live in a house in Sheffield each in flight from India & in desperate search of a new life Tarlochan a former rickshaw driver will say nothing about his past in Bihar; & Avtar has a secret that binds him to protect the chaotic Randeep Randeep in turn has a visa-wife in a flat on the other side of town a clever devout woman whose cupboards are full of her husband's clothes in case the immigration men surprise her with a call Sweeping between India & England & between childhood & the present day Sunjeev Sahota's generous unforgettable novel is
- as with Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance
- a story of dignity in the face of adversity & the ultimate triumph of the human spirit

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The brilliantly heartwarming & life-affirming new novel from Number 1 bestselling author Cathy Kelly 400 pages Kelly Cathy ...

Take a journey into darkness Visit places where one might expect to find the dark
- in a house where love was shared & lost a milky-white
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This incomparable annual compilation of the best short fiction & novellas features an unmatched variety of the quietly weird the merely eerie high fantasy modern Lovecraftian horror nightmarish near-future scenarios the darkly humorous the supernatural & the monstrously mundane from the brightest new talent legendary authors like Joe R Lansdale Tanith Lee & Gene Wolfe & bestsellers such as Holly Black Neil Gaiman & Sarah Langan

Includes:: a 36000 word novella by George RR Martin set in his A Song of Fire & Ice universe

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Darkness surrounds us We can find darkness anywhere in a strange green stone etched with mysterious symbols; at a small town's annual picnic; in a ghostly house that is easy to enter but not so easy to leave; behind the dumpster in the alley where a harpy lives; in The Nowhere a place where car keys toys people disappear to; among Polar explorers; & most definitely within ourselves Darkness flies from mysterious crates; surrounds children whose nightlights have vanished; & flickers between us at the movie theater Darkness crawls from the past & is waiting in our future; & there's always a chance that Halloween really is a door opening directly into endless shadow Welcome to the dark You may never want to leave This inaugural volume of the year's best dark fantasy & horror features more than 500 pages of dark tales from some of today's finest writers of the fantastique Chosen from a variety of sources these stories are as eclectic & varied as the genre itself ...

The darkness creeps upon us & we shudder or it suddenly startles & we scream There need be no monsters for us to be terrified in the dark but if there are they are just as often human & supernatural Join us in this outstanding annual exploration of the year's best dark fiction that

Includes:: stories of quiet fear the utterly fantastic the weirdly surreal atmospheric noir mysterious hauntings seductive nightmares & frighteningly plausible futures Featuring thirty-five tales from masterful authors & talented new writers sure to make you reconsider walking in the shadows alone

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The Year&s Best Military & Adventure SF series continues! Selected from the top print & online markets these stories represent the best in modern military sf space opera & adventure sf Tales of brave military men & women thrilling derring-do & edge-of-your-seat suspense Selected from the top markets both print & digital The Year’s Best Military & Adventure SF Volume 3 offers up the cream of the crop in short science fiction today Stories to get your blood racing your heart pounding & your fingers turning the pages Stories to challenge provoke thrill & entertain Stories that prove the new Golden Age is now! Plus you be the judge! INTERACTIVE READER VOTING One story from this anthology will be chosen via proctored online voting for The Best Military & Adventure Science Fiction Reader&s Choice Award presented at Dragon Con in Summer 2017 ...