The detail is stunning & the likeness to the real life Royal Marine Sniper is amazing. The figure features realistic desert ...

Patrick O' Brian's Aubrey-Maturin tales are widely acknowledged to be the greatest series of historical novels ever written. H.M.S. Surprise follows the variable fortunes of Captain Jack Aubrey's career in Nelson's navy as he attempts to hold his ground against admirals colleagues & the enemy accepting a mission to convey a British ambassador to the East Indies. The voyage takes him & his friend Stephen Maturin to the strange sights & smells of the Indian sub-continent & through the archipelago of spice islands where the French have a near-overwhelming superiority. Rarely has a novel managed to convey more vividly the fragility of a sailing ship in a wild sea. Rarely has a historical novelist combined action & lyricism of style in the way that O' Brian does. His superb sense of place brilliant characterisation & a vigour & joy of writing lift O' Brian above any but the most exalted of comparisons. ...

H.P. Lovecraft fused supernatural horror with visionary science fiction; this volume collects together all of these writings. This is an exquisitely designed edition that features a silk-ribbon bookmark distinctive gilt edging & marbled endpapers. This is the perfect gift for book lovers & an artful addition to any home library. In the 1920s & 30s H.P. Lovecraft pioneered a new type of fiction that fused elements of supernatural horror with the concepts of visionary science fiction. Lovecrafts tales of cosmic horror revolutionised modern horror fiction & earned him the reputation of the most influential American writer of weird tales since Edgar Allan Poe. H.P. Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction" collects for the first time in a single volume all of Lovecrafts groundbreaking fictions. The book is exquisitely designed with bonded-leather bindings distinctive gilt edging & an attractive silk-ribbon bookmark. Decorative durable & collectible the " Leatherbound Classics" series offers hours of pleasure to readers young & old & is an indispensable cornerstone for any home library." ...

The conflict between the old world & the new...between responsibility & freedom...between duty & love... Princess Christianna happier in jeans & a sweatshirt than in the formal life of European royalty leaves university to travel to East Africa as a volunteer for the Red Cross. Determined to make a difference she plunges into the dusty bustling life of an international relief camp & is anxious to keep her identity a secret from her fellow aid workers. Dr Parker Williams who works alongside Christianna & shares her dedication to healing has no idea who she is
- but as violence approaches & invades the camp & the pressures of her royal life beckon her home her struggle for freedom takes an extraordinary turn. By a simple twist of fate in one shocking moment Christiannas life is changed for ever
- in ways she could never have foreseen.

...

The Juice-Net cafe is hosting a short film contest based around the theme of heroes & everyone wants to enter. While Rikki & Cleo are roped in to doing a film about Emmas mum Zane & Lewis hit the waters around Mako Island to film Zane windsurfing. Meanwhile Rikki isnt convinced that Emmas film idea will win them the prize so she sneaks off to make a film of her own featuring some impressive underwater footage of sharks. But when Zane falls off his windsurfer right in the middle of Mako Islands shark breeding ground its Rikki who finds herself being called a heroine when she has to help rescue him! ...

Habibi" based on a Middle Eastern fable tells the story of Dodola who escapes being sold into slavery & rescues an abandoned baby she names Zam. They live in isolation in an old boat in the desert. As they age their relationship shifts from mother & son to brother & sister & eventually lovers. In the meantime however Dodola is forced to prostitute herself to desert traders in order to provide for Zam. When he seeks an alternative means of income Dodola is captured by the Sultan & Zam is forced into a quest to try & rescue her. At heart Habibi is like Blankets a profound love story but it also functions as a parable about the environment & the state of the world. Set in the place where Christianity & Islam began it explores the fundamental connection between these religions & also the relationship between the first & the third world & the increasingly important battle for the earths resources. Ambitious but always deeply felt " Habibi" is a beautifully drawn & moving graphic novel that will get a huge amount of attention." ...

Auden often said that metre & rhyme led him down unexpected paths to thoughts he wouldnt otherwise have had & in this respect versification & fornication are not so different. Benjamin Britten sailing uncomfortably close to the wind with his new opera Death in Venice" seeks advice from his former collaborator & friend W H Auden. During this imagined meeting their first for twenty-five years they are observed & interrupted by amongst others their future biographer & a young man from the local bus station. You are a rent boy. I am a poet. Over the wall lives the Dean of Christ Church. We all have our parts to play. Alan Bennetts new play is as much about the theatre as it is about poetry or music. It looks at the unsettling desires of two difficult men & at the ethics of biography. It reflects on growing old on creativity & inspiration & on persisting when all passions spent: ultimately on the habit of art. In the end said Auden art is small beer. The really serious things in life are earning ones living & loving ones neighbour." ...

Habitats both small & large form fascinating topics for children to study & enjoy. From the micro-habitats in the backgarden to the deserts & jungles around the planet children find studying the animals plants structures & conservation of habitats a rewarding & enlightening experience. There are numerous opportunities to cover this topic using a cross-curricular approach & also lots of chances for large whole-school projects covering a day or even a week. Themes in this book are as follows: Plants the producers of food (factors that help them survive in a habitat & form the scaffolding for it); Minibeasts the major types (earthworm snail slug insect beetle butterfly moth flies ant spiders centipedes & millipedes); Plants as habitats (what lives on them
- especially trees); Herbivores (from habitats around the world); Carnivores (from habitats around the world); Food chains (from habitats around the world); Decomposers (plus concept of ecosystem); Habitat conservation; & World sustainability (Conserving the world habitat).
...

Fay Weldons new novel takes us inside the lives of an aristocratic household in the last three months of the nineteenth century. Its a time of riot & confusion social upheaval war abroad & shortage of money. Tea gowns are still laced with diamonds; there are still nine courses at dinner but bankruptcy looms for the Dilbernes. Whilst the Earl gambler & man about town must seek a new post in government; his wife Lady Isobels solution is to marry off their son Arthur to a wealthy heiress & without delay. But how? Its the end of the season & choices are few. Theres Minnie OBrien from Chigaco
- rich enough but daughter of a stockyard baron & with a vulgar mother & dubious past. Hardly suitable.. .! Fay Weldon tells this tale of restraint & desire manners & morals with wit & sympathy
- if no small measure of mischief
- as young Minnie & Arthur thrown together by their parents strive to determine their own destiny.


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HACCP: A Practical Approach 3rd edition has been updated to include the current best practice & new developments in HACCP application since the last edition was published in 1998. This book is intended to be a compendium of up-to-date thinking & best practice approaches to the development implementation & maintenance of HACCP programs for food safety management. Introductory chapters set the scene & update the reader on developments on HACCP over the last 15 years. The preliminary stages of HACCP including preparation & planning & system design are covered first followed by a consideration of food safety hazards & their control. Prerequisite program coverage has been significantly expanded in this new edition reflecting its development as a key support system for HACCP. The HACCP plan development & verification & maintenance chapters have also been substantially updated to reflect current practice & a new chapter on application within the food supply chain has been added. Appendices provide a new set of case studies of practical HACCP application plus two new case studies looking at lessons learned through food safety incident investigation. Pathogen profiles have also been updated by experts to provide an up-to-date summary of pathogen growth & survival characteristics that will be useful to HACCP teams. The book is written both for those who are developing HACCP systems for the first time & for those who need to update refresh & strengthen their existing systems. New materials & new tools to assist the HACCP team have been provided & the current situation on issues that are still undergoing international debate such as operational prerequisite programs. All tools such as decision trees & record-keeping formats are provided to be of assistance & are not obligatory to successful HACCP. Readers are guided to choose those that are relevant to their situations & which they find are helpful in their HACCP endeavors. ...