When a passenger check-in desk at Terminal Two Heathrow Airport shot up through the roof engulfed in a ball of orange flame the usual people tried to claim responsibility. First the IRA then the PLO & the Gas Board. Even British Nuclear Fuels rushed out a statement to the effect that the situation was completely under control that it was a one in a million chance that there was hardly any radioactive leakage at all & that the site of the explosion would make a nice location for a day out with the kids & a picnic before finally having to admit that it wasnt actually anything to do with them at all. No rational cause could be found for the explosion
- it was simply designated an act of God. But thinks Dirk Gently which God? & why? What God would be hanging around Terminal Two of Heathrow Airport trying to catch the 15:37 to Oslo?
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Packed with straightforward information The Long Distance Cyclists Handbook details the preparation & equipment needed to take a novice from the challenge of a 50-mile charity ride to gearing up & comfortably covering 66 km in a weekend randonnee. It also tackles marathon events such as 12-hour time trials & the ultimate test
- the 3000-mile Race Across America. Fully updated this is essential reading for anyone contemplating a cycling holiday or any challenge that takes you outside your usual comfort zone. It brings you the most up-to-date information on training technique nutrition health & travel & combines the latest in sports science research with many years of experience cycling beyond the horizon.
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It's 1916: the Western Front. Private Percy Blakeney wakes up. He is lying on fresh spring grass. He can hear birdsong & the wind in the leaves in the trees. Where have the mud blood & blasted landscape of No Man's Land gone? 2015: Madison Wisconsin. Cop Monica Jansson is exploring the burned-out home of a reclusive
- some said mad others dangerous
- scientist when she finds a curious gadget
- a box containing some wiring a three-way switch & a...potato. It is the prototype of an invention that will change the way Mankind views his world for ever. & that's an understatement if ever there was one... The Long Earth" is the first novel in an exciting new collaboration between the creator of Discworld Terry Pratchett & the acclaimed SF writer Stephen Baxter."


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1916: the Western Front. Private Percy Blakeney wakes up. He is lying on fresh spring grass. He can hear birdsong & the wind in the leaves in the trees. Where has the mud blood & blasted landscape of No Mans Land gone? 2015: Madison Wisconsin. Cop Monica Jansson is exploring the burned-out home of a reclusive
- some said mad others dangerous
- scientist when she finds a curious gadget: a box containing some wiring a three-way switch & a...potato. It is the prototype of an invention that will change the way mankind views his world for ever. & thats an understatement if ever there was one... The Long Earth" is the first novel in an exciting new collaboration between the creator of " Discworld" Terry Pratchett & the acclaimed SF writer Stephen Baxter."

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1916: the Western Front. Private Percy Blakeney wakes up. He is lying on fresh spring grass. He can hear birdsong & the wind in the leaves in the trees. Where has the mud blood & blasted landscape of No Man's Land gone? 2015: Madison Wisconsin. Cop Monica Jansson is exploring the burned-out home of a reclusive (some said mad others dangerous) scientist when she finds a curious gadget
- a box containing some wiring a three-way switch & a.. .potato. It is the prototype of an invention that will change the way Mankind views his world for ever. & that is an understatement if ever there was one...
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After his adventures under sun-drenched Neapolitan skies in Cosi Fan Tutti Aurelio Zen finds himself back in Rome sneezing in a damp wine cellar & being given another unorthodox assignment: to release the jailed scion of an important wine-growing family who is accused of a brutal murder. Zen travels north to an Italy as outwardly serene as Naples was manic. Amid the quiet fields autumnal skies & crumbling farmhouses of Piedmont Zen must try to penetrate a traditional culture in which family & soil are inextricably linked. Here secrets can last for generations & have a finish as long & lingering as that of a good Barbaresco. Zen must also face up to mysteries from his own past as well as grapple with the greed envy hatred & love that are the human components of any landscape. ...

The Long Good-bye is a classic novel by Raymond Chandler the master of hard-boiled crime. Down-&-out drunk Terry Lennox has a problem: his millionaire wife is dead & he needs to get out of LA fast. So he turns to his only friend in the world: Philip Marlowe Private Investigator. He's willing to help a man down on his luck but later Lennox commits suicide in Mexico & things start to turn nasty. Marlowe finds himself drawn into a sordid crowd of adulterers & alcoholics in LA's Idle Valley where the rich are suffering one big suntanned hangover. Marlowe is sure Lennox didn't kill his wife but how many more stiffs will turn up before he gets to the truth? Anything Chandler writes about grips the mind from the first sentence". (Daily Telegraph). " One of the greatest crime writers who set standards others still try to attain". (Sunday Times). " Chandler is an original stylist creator of a character as immortal as Sherlock Holmes". (Anthony Burgess). Best-known as the creator of the original private eye Philip Marlowe Raymond Chandler was born in Chicago in 1888 & died in 1959. Many of his books have been adapted for the screen & he is widely regarded as one of the very greatest writers of detective fiction. His books include The Big Sleep The Little Sister Farewell My Lovely The Long Good-bye The Lady in the Lake Playback Killer in the Rain The High Window & Trouble is My Business." ...

It all started in 1964 when two friends gave up promising medical careers to embark upon a journey which few hardened truckers would have considered. In so doing they were solely responsible for creating the first long haul overland route across Europe & deep into the Middle East to Kabul. The men had started the ' Middle East Run' was to become a phenomenon in the road haulage industry an image which it still holds today. This book is about the company founded by one of those men from its fledgling days as Asian Transport to the thriving Astran Cargo Services Ltd that it is today. In this book Ashley Coghill documents the complete history of the company to date with the focus predominantly on the early days when the men were fighting for something & revelling in the adventure. These early long haul drivers would think nothing of a 10 000 mile round trip to Iran or the Arabian Gulf & being stranded at 6 000 feet on a mountain pass with temperatures below -40 was just all in a day's work. Ashley Coghill has an immense enthusiasm for his subject & has given his research total dedication. He has also tracked down past & present employees to gather first hand information which he has illustrated with over 300 carefully selected images. The end result is a detailed comprehensive & fascinating account of an extraordinary company. ...

1902: London Society is in a frenzy of anticipation for the coronation of the new king Edward VII. The Earl & Countess of Dilberne are caught up in the lavish preparations yet Lady Isobel still has ample time to fret. Her sixteen-year-old niece Adela tragically orphaned has run off with a troupe of fake spiritualists; her plain yet clever daughter Rosina is threatening to elope to Australia
- of all places
- & her new daughter-in-law is pregnant with a potential heir yet still completely untrained in the particular ways of the English aristocracy. With her trademark joie de vivre Fay Weldon once again draws her readers into the lives & loves of the aristocratic Dilberne family as they embrace not only a new century but a new generation
- a generation with somewhat radical views...


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