In the words of Alexander Mc Call Smith: You feel the rocking of the train you hear the sound of its wheels on the rails; you are in the world rather than suspended somewhere above it. & sometimes there are conversations to be had which is what the overarching story in this collection is all about. It is a simple device: people brought together entertain one another with tales of what happened to them on trains. It takes place on a journey I frequently make myself & know well the journey between Edinburgh & London. It is best read on a train preferably that one. ...

This is an up-to-date photographic survey of the eight surviving railways of the Isl&. The oldest of these had its beginnings in 1823 the youngest is hardly out of its infancy. The photographic journey is accompanied by informative captions supported by a short historical text describing each of the railways. Detailed maps & a complete index complement this title making it one of interest to railway enthusiasts across the world as well as many of the visitors to the Isle of Man who want a lasting souvenir of their journey on one or more of the heritage railways. ...

Transport features of the Isle of Man is the collective title for a series of books presenting a photographic record of various modes of transport to from & in the Isle of Man as recorded by a number of writers living on the island & seen from an island perspective. This is the first book to be produced in the series & it documents in pictures the twilight years of the operation of the Isle of Man Railway under the original company which had started running in 1873. The author of the book is perhaps best known for his photographs of shipping rather than railways although he has been taking photographs of the island's railways for over 50 years. Here he presents some unusual photographs of the steam railway taken in the late 1950s up to the time that the railway was leased to an independent operator in 1967. The period between then & modern times will be the subject of two further publications in the series. ...

' An unremitting powerhouse of a novel that marks the arrival of a major new talent. Trainspotting is a loosely knotted string of jagged dislocated tales that lay bare the hearts of darkness of the junkies wide-boys & psychos who ride in the down escalator of opportunity in the nation's capital. Loud with laughter in the dark this novel is the real Mc Coy. If you haven't heard of Irvine Welsh before-don't worry you will' The Herald ...

After a surveillance mission in Sevastopol goes badly wrong Stratton finds himself doing penance at MI16 the governments clandestine organisation that creates weapons equipment for special forces & the secret service. But Sevastopol has started something. In the North Sea a team of hijackers take over the giant Morpheus oil platform. They are demanding two billion dollars. Inside twenty-four hours. Or the bodies will start falling. With the SBS overstretched & its surveillance team locked down there is only one option: Stratton & a team of unproven operatives from MI16. Stratton knows he has to redeem himself & he also has his own agenda. One of the men on the rig is an old friend. & Stratton intends to save him. But one of Strattons team is not what they appear to be. A traitor. With a deadly agenda of their own. & Morpheus is just the beginning. This is the incendiary sixth thriller in the Stratton series by the UKs leading ex-SF professional. ...

From Rory Clements winner of the Ellis Peters Historical Fiction Award comes TRAITOR the fourth in his acclaimed John Shakespeare Elizabethan mystery series. ' Does for Elizabeth's reign what CJ Sansom does for Henry VIII's' Sunday Times The Elizabethan navy has a secret weapon: an optical instrument so powerful it gives England unassailable superiority at sea. Spain will stop at nothing to steal it & seize the two men who understand its secrets
- William Ivory the ' Queen's Eye' & the magician Dr Dee. With a second Armada threatened intelligencer John Shakespeare is sent north to escort Dr Dee to safety. But he finds Dee's host the Earl of Derby dying in agony apparently poisoned. Who wants him dead & why? What lies behind the lynching of a recusant priest & how is the mysterious & beautiful Lady Eliska involved? While Shakespeare attempts to untangle a plot that points to treachery at the very highest reaches of government he also faces serious accusations far closer to home. With so much at stake must he choose between family & his duty to Queen & country?
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On their way to a feast hosted by the de Courtenays Sir Baldwin Furnshill Keeper of the Kings Peace & Bailiff Simon Puttock find the murdered corpse of Sir Gilbert a Knight Templar & old comrade of Baldwins. The situation is confounded when a decapitated body is found & Baldwin & Simons suspicions that the two deaths are linked seem to be justified when Baldwin himself is attacked. Baldwin & Simon find themselves caught up in a baffling investigation in which the participators will stop at nothing to achieve their sinister aims... ...

Events are building to a climax in Sachaka as Lorkin returns from his exile with the Traitor rebels. The Traitor Queen has given Lorkin the huge task of brokering an alliance between his people & the Traitors. Lorkin has also had to become a feared black magician in order to harness the power of an entirely new kind of gemstone magic. This knowledge could transform the Guild of Magicians
- or make Lorkin an outcast forever. The Traitor Queen is the triumphant conclusion to the Traitor Spy Trilogy which began with The Ambassador's Mission & continued with The Rogue.
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Conrad de Lancey has seen enough of evil: the shadow of fear on the faces of innocents; the roar of tanks through empty streets; the sudden lull before the slaughter begins. Franco's bloody insurrection taught this Englishman all about hell. Arriving in his mother's country the now Nazi Germany Conrad is sick at heart. Even Berlin
- infamous haven of decadence & vice
- salutes fascism. Himmler's black-shirted troops rule the city & every German arm bears a Swastika. But does every German heart belong to Hitler? When Conrad is arrested by the Gestapo on suspicion of spying he is rescued by Theo an old friend from university now a lieutenant of the Wehrmacht. Together they are drawn into a world of danger & deceit of plots paranoia & intrigue where the brave few are united by a single ambition: to free the fatherland from the Fuhrer.

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