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Search Results for: is-that-what-people-do

Showing 1-22 of 22 results for is-that-what-people-do

The Cockatrice Boys

The Cockatrice Boys

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Joan Aiken

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£7.99
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ebook
“What does a cockatrice enjoy most for dinner? Anyone it can find.”

So the alarmed inhabitants of England discover when a plague of monsters–known as cockatrices–invade their country and begin gobbling them up. They must be stopped! A plucky band of survivors dubbed the Cockatrice Corps–including youngsters Dakin and Sauna–decide to fight back. But how?

A rollicking adventure filled with breathtaking twists and turns, The Cockatrice Boys is Joan Aiken at her comic best.

But there is also a powerful message in her only full length Sci- Fi (or even Cli-Fi!) YA novel as Joan Aiken imagines the result of human folly, in an earlier version of global warming, with the hole created in the ozone layer becoming a channel for evil to arrive on earth as an invasion of monstrous creatures.

Joan Aiken believed in the power of the imagination, and using stories to prepare us for our future.
In The Cockatrice Boys she wrote:

“People need stories…to remind them that reality is not only what we can see or smell or touch. Reality is in as many layers as the globe we live on itself, going inwards to a central core of red-hot mystery, and outwards to unguessable space. People’s minds need detaching, every now and then, from the plain necessities of daily life. People need to be reminded of these other dimensions above us and below us. Stories do that.”

“Besides being a daringly original, funny, scary, and morally instructive book, it also contains one of the strongest statements of the purpose of fantasy stories and fairy tales . . . This book was excellent, I highly recommend it . . . buy it now!” Mugglenet.com


“Readers will be reminded of Alice in Wonderland . . . and the movie trilogy Star WarsSchool Library Journal

“This one is a real page-turner – as usual for Aiken – and sometimes really quite sinister, with a lot of gallows humour. It’s suitable for all adults and most children… just as creepy as anything by M.R. James” Amazon Reviewer

“Like all Aiken’s best work, there is a deeply scary, nightmare thread running through this book, which makes it thrilling and involving for older readers and adults …but the monsters are especially entertaining – drawn from Lewis Carroll, ancient mythology, and even Monty Python, they are scary and funny at the same time. A brilliant book” Amazon Reviewer
The Haunting of Lamb House

The Haunting of Lamb House

Contributors

Joan Aiken

Price and format

Price
£7.99
Format
ebook
“LAMB HOUSE is in Rye, an ancient town of East Sussex, England. It is very much a real place, even a famous one, yet The Haunting of Lamb House is as elusive to review as it must have been to write. It is safe to say that no one but Joan Aiken could have written it, not only because she was born in Rye and has the town in her bones as it were, but also because she has the power — shown in her other books — of evoking strange, often eerie events of the past and making other times, places and people vividly alive. This book goes further: She has taken the real history of Lamb House and interwoven happenings that are purely imaginary, working so skillfully that even those who have lived there can hardly tell which is which!”

So wrote novelist Rumer Godden, who also lived in Lamb House. She went on:

“For those who do not sense such things, The Haunting of Lamb House is a most skillful and intriguing interweaving of fact and fiction; to those who do, it is a memorable evocation. In either case it is a little masterpiece.”

Lamb House in Joan Aiken’s birth town of Rye in Sussex is said to be haunted. This is her story of what might have happened to cause the haunting: using the imagined diary of an earlier Mayor of Rye, Toby Lamb, whose father built the handsome Georgian house, and later episodes that might have occurred during the occupancy of two of its famous literary tenants – Henry James and E.F. Benson.

Joan Aiken was born in another haunted house owned by her father Conrad Aiken: Jeake’s House, just around the corner in Mermaid Street, Rye, which she also wrote about in Return to Harken House.

“Joan Aiken has written a clever book, kindling a whole world of feeling out of small macabre details, presenting to the senses a series of apprehensions of reality which seem to touch a completeness beyond themselves. An impressive achievement; I shivered as I admired” Robert Nye, The Guardian

“Joan Aiken’s artful web of truth and fancy is divided into three histories of haunting – the first employs Aiken’s considerable skill in a vivid evocative rendering of the old town of Rye when the house was built…followed by the twenty years of Henry James’ residence. The end is worth waiting for…where E.F.Benson encounters hideous apparitions and even an exorcism in the last enthralling twenty pages” Miranda Seymour, T.L.S.

“Aiken has conjured up a deliciously scary ghost story…her mastery of style serves her well in the creation of three separate voices. Those familiar with Henry James’s writing especially The Turn of The Screwwill derive special enjoyment from this novel, but there are shivers enough for any reader willing to acknowledge the possibility of ghosts and the reality of evil” U.S. Library Journal

“In three interlocking ghost stories this veteran British novelist places a fictional haunting within the history of a real house, and displays a masterly way with several contrasting narrative styles, sympathetically evoking some ghostly presences…the wayward spirit of the house and the growing number of literary presences which gradually take possession” Publisher’s Weekly
Gamma Product

Gamma Product

Contributors

Denis Hughes, Ray Barry

Price and format

Price
£3.99
Format
ebook
When scientist Jim Marshal disappears from work, leaving only a mysterious letter saying that his research assistant Deidre will know what has happened, Deidre and Jim’s distraught wife Beryl try to find where he has gone.

Their search flings them across space and into the power of sinister aliens – a beam that can transport them to another planet. These powerful aliens have collected people from Earth, and are studying them, putting them through strange experiments. Is it just scientific curiosity, or are there darker designs behind it? And, stranded on an alien planet, is there anything Deidre, Beryl and Jim can do?

GAMMA PRODUCT is one of Denis Hughes’ works under his many pseudonyms. It has been out of print in the UK for decades and is now available for the first time as an eBook!
Mount Misery

Mount Misery

Contributors

Angelo Peluso

Price and format

Price
£4.99
Format
ebook
There are new residents in the Long Island Sound . . . and they have a taste for flesh.

The first time the creatures tasted human blood, their savagery went undetected.

Thus begins Mount Misery, a terrific horror tale by writer Angelo Peluso. Located on the Long Island Sound, random attacks by unknown creatures are terrorizing local residents. The question: Who is going to do something about it?

Marine biologist Katie DiNardo and ichthyologist Nick Tanner have seen the damage caused by their mystery creatures but are at a complete loss as to the attacking species. All they know is that they need to get to the bottom of this . . . and fast. While they continue to do their research, people are dropping like flies, and if they don’t figure out what’s going on, there’s no saying what this destructive species will do next.

In a similar style to Jaws, Mount Misery is a spectacular suspense novel that grips you from the first page and doesn’t let its teeth out! Fans of horror will rejoice with Mount Misery, and readers will enjoy the throwback style that made this genre what it is today.
Darkening Skies

Darkening Skies

Contributors

Juliet McKenna

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Price
£4.99
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ebook
Captain Corrain is hailed as a hero but he knows all such praise would turn to anger if certain people knew what had really happened. The wizard who supposedly saved him and his comrades has merely claimed the island of the corsair’s for his own. No one knows what this enigmatic newcomer intends to do next. Corrain has good reason to fear the worst, as he confides in Lady Zurenne of Halferan. He knows he can trust her now that still more perilous secrets bind the two of them together. This disastrous turn of events cannot be concealed from Hadrumal’s powerful mages. The Chief Mage Planir’s leadership is now openly questioned. Surely he will enforce his authority by crushing this upstart? But the Aldabreshin warlords act first. The warlords are watching the ominous skies as a once in a lifetime conjunction of the stars approaches. Will the warlords be content to drive this solitary wizard out of the Archipelago or has the time come for them to destroy all magic?
Supermind

Supermind

Contributors

Randall Garrett, Laurence M. Janifer

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Price
£2.99
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ebook
Malone lives in a world where psionic powers such as telepathy and teleportation exist. Malone must cope with them as well as an FBI Director who leaves Malone continually confused about what situation he is being asked to handle and what he is expected to do about it.

Supermind has Malone investigating a series of incidents in which people make mistakes – sometimes minor, and sometimes major – that lead to disasters. It looks like a secret cabal of psis may be behind events, influencing the behavior of those involved. Are they? And if so, why? Malone must find out if it kills him – which is a very real possibility.
Necroscope®: The Möbius Murders

Necroscope®: The Möbius Murders

Contributors

Brian Lumley

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£2.99
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ebook
Harry Keough, aka the Necroscope, has always considered himself a master of the Mobius Continuum – a dimension existing parallel to all space and time and his personal instantaneous gateway to anywhere in the multiverse. But this is hardly overweening conceit on Harry’s part, for to his knowledge he is not unique; two other intelligences, with powers similar to his, do indeed exist. One such is the long-dead August Ferdinand Mobius himself, the German astronomer, mathematician, and discoverer of the eponymous Mobius Strip which led him to explore, posthumously, his previously conjectural Continuum; and the other is Harry’s son, who has not only inherited his father’s mathematical skill but also the metaphysical talent by means of which the Necroscope converses with dead people in their graves!

Picture Harry’s confusion, then, on returning home via the Mobius Continuum from an adventure in Las Vegas, as he witnesses however briefly a flailing figure hurtling conscious but uncontrolled through the endless midnight of the Continuum. Who could this be – how can it be? – that a helpless, silently protesting other is rushing meteor-like across the Continuum’s Stygian vault? Moreover, if he hasn’t arrived here voluntarily, then what vile murderer has sent his victim on this monstrous journey to the end of life itself? For Harry is sure that this is neither his son’s nor Professor Mobius’ doing.

Who and where is he, this Mobius murderer? It is a mystery that only the Necroscope can ever hope to solve – but at what risk to his own life?
Unearthly Neighbors

Unearthly Neighbors

Contributors

Chad Oliver

Price and format

Price
£2.99
Format
ebook
Monte Stewart was an extremely intelligent, somewhat contentious anthropologist with a sense of humor and a nonconformist approach to life. As an expert in his field, he was chosen to approach the first apparently human-like form of life ever to be encountered on another planet.

Here was the chance he had been waiting for all his life – an opportunity to make contact, to investigate, to ascertain the facts about an altogether new man-like species, with the added knowledge that the peace of the worlds depended upon the establishment of friendly relations.

But Stewart and his team of experts couldn’t get to first base. They tried for weeks – then vicious unreasoned tragedy struck their camp.

What had gone wrong?

Who were these ‘people’?

Why had they attacked the humans?

Stewart had failed in his mission; but for his own peace of mind he had to discover the answers, and he had to do it alone.
Undersea Quest

Undersea Quest

Contributors

Frederik Pohl, Jack Williamson

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Price
£2.99
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ebook
A missing relative…

Something of value was buried beneath the underwater dome city of Marinia…something that had already cost one man’s life, caused another man’s kidnapping and gravely affected still another man’s future.

Expelled from the Sub-Sea Academy on trumped-up charges, Jim Eden wasn’t about to wait around to prove his innocence. As soon as he leaned that his uncle mysteriously disappeared while mining uranium at the bottom of hazardous Eden Deep, Jim knew what he had to do…and that he had to do it fast.

So he headed for the vast dome city – location of the great mining colony at the bottom of the sea – to pick up any clues to his uncle’s disappearance. But once he had entered the undersea metropolis, the wrong people had his number…and they were determined that Jim would sink forever without a trace.
The So Blue Marble

The So Blue Marble

Contributors

Dorothy B. Hughes

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Price
£18.99
Format
Paperback
Superb Art Deco suspense set in the glamorous world of high society New York from ‘An author with a flair for terror’ The New Yorker

‘If you wake up in the night screaming with terror, don’t say we didn’t warn you’ New York Times

Once the dashing, top-hatted twins, Danny and David, who share nice college boy laughs, have the marble, they will do to Griselda what they have done to the others.

Her estranged husband, Con, is a thousand miles away, and can’t save her.

A bloody trail has wound around the so blue marble: years of theft, torture, violence; whispers of secret riches, gold, diamonds, rubies as big as the moon. Soon it would be Griselda’s turn.

But Griselda believes that nothing ever happens to nice people, and that there is no reason to feel nervous at night, not even in the heart of New York, and knowing what she does about the marble . . .
Date with Death

Date with Death

Contributors

Dell Shannon

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£4.99
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ebook
‘My favourite American crime-writer’ New York Herald Tribune

Ronnie and Ruth, a young couple engaged to be married, are shot dead. Someone hated their guts so bad he reloaded and pumped nine shots into their car.

Maddox was stymied. Why should anyone kill two nice, respectable young people? Who was the funny man playing practical jokes all over the neighbourhood? And what was the band of American Nazis doing with an arsenal of deadly weapons?
Brain World

Brain World

Contributors

Mack Reynolds

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£4.99
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ebook
MILK RUN.

That’s what they told Ronny Bronston this job would be. “Just like a vacation,” his boss had said. All he and the giant Dorn Horsten would have to do is visit the planet Einstein and see if there was any reason not to admit them to United Planets.

The planet was a paradise, where the people had bred themselves for intelligence and beauty, where everyone was completely free. Free, sometimes, to get into more trouble than they could handle.

Only Ronny could get them out of that trouble; and that’s how he wound up on Dawnworld, in a gladiator’s arena!
The Last Astronaut

The Last Astronaut

Contributors

Lionel Fanthorpe, Patricia Fanthorpe, Pel Torro

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£2.99
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ebook
Alex was a pioneer. Like all pioneers he had problems. He had more problems than most; when things start to go wrong in space they go wrong in a big way. One by one the perils of the void took their toll of his companions. Alex was alone, alone with a vision, the vision of a town, home.

Only thoughts of home kept him alive. He remembered trees, houses, shops, churches, peoples…above all people. At last he reached earth…or perhaps it wasn’t earth? Things had changed unbelievably. Perhaps he had changed. How long had he been away? How far had he drifted? There was a sinister possibility that this wasn’t home at all. If the things that looked like people weren’t people but aliens, what was he to do?

Alex was a realist. He knew what space could do to a man’s mind. He was disinclined to trust the evidence of his own senses. A mine that has had far more than it can take can produce from very peculiar perceptions…
The Return of Zeus

The Return of Zeus

Contributors

Lionel Fanthorpe, Patricia Fanthorpe, John E. Muller

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£2.99
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ebook
Man has often wondered about the birth of his world. Our remote ancestors told strange tales of parental deities who gave birth to planets, and people.

Primitive religious thought regarded inanimate Nature as teeming with terrifying psychic life. It is a trend which persists in the dark recesses of the modern mind. There is reason for this persistence . . .

Were the ancients entirely wrong?

Science has unlocked many mysteries that terrified our forebears, but there are others which remain just as enigmatically sealed as before.

What strange astrological influences do the dark stars exert as they speed through the heavens on their evil courses? Like a cosmic combination lock their tuning unleashes timeless forces of evil.

The Pantheon of Old Gods rides again to bring hideous terror to the 20th century.
The Slayer and the Slain

The Slayer and the Slain

Contributors

Helen McCloy

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£7.99
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ebook
Harry Vaughan’s uncle has just passed away, providing the young man with a colossal fortune. Giving up his job, Harry goes back to his roots – and to Celia, the woman he loves.

But Harry Vaughan has lost part of his memory. He feels himself ten years older, suffers from headaches, meets people who know him but whom he doesn’t remember. When Celia’s husband is killed it becomes clear that someone is following Vaughan’s life. But who is this shadow and what do they want?

‘A real psychiatric shocker’ The Tablet
The Hour of the Thin Ox

The Hour of the Thin Ox

Contributors

Colin Greenland

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£2.99
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ebook
The barbarians are coming and what do they bring? A vivid, turbulent novel following the fates of two very different people in a land that is not their own drawn together at The Hour Of The Thin Ox

In tranquil, prosperous Bryland, a young heiress learns of a new engine of war which will bring terrible change in its wake. In the distant, arrogant nation of Escaly, the elderly Imperial Geometer is sent upon an unexpected and frightening mission. In the dark, feverish jungles of Belanesi, a strange half-human people wait for a season of rain and the call of a mysterious piper. At the Hour of the Thin Ox three cultures collide, with violent and paradoxical consequences.
The Hero of Downways

The Hero of Downways

Contributors

Michael G. Coney

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£2.99
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ebook
Once there was a Hero who confronted the dreaded Daggertooth and slew it. Unfortunately he was also slain by it – but the legend persisted. If it could be done once, then another Hero could be raised to do it again. Because the Daggertooth was dangerous to hibernating humanity. All people – all that anyone knew of – lived far underground in tunnels built for safety and hibernation. The Daggertooth was a mass killer – more so even than the hideous Oddlies, the outcasts of the darker tunnels.

So this is the story of John-A, the “vatkid” who was trained to be a second Hero. And the story of “trukid” Shirl who taught John-A what to do. And Threesum, the Oddlies’ leader, who scoffed at heroes. And the Elders who frowned at all the risky goings-on. This is the story of a mighty strange world and a mighty strange future…
The Silicon Dagger

The Silicon Dagger

Contributors

Jack Williamson

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£2.99
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ebook
In McAdam City, Kentucky, people are fed up with big government interfering with their lives, telling them what they can’t do, sticking its nose into their private business, trying to keep them from protecting their legitimate interests from Uncle Sam.
When an invisible barrier is put up to protect McAdam City, everything changes. This “silicone shell” is impervious to anything the army can throw against it. People are dying for the cause of personal freedom in this small Kentucky town, but they’ve finally found a way to fight big government with a digital technology greater than anything in the government’s vast arsenal.
Can one small town declare its independence from the United States?
With the silicone dagger poised at the throat of the republic, just maybe…
Depression or Bust

Depression or Bust

Contributors

Mack Reynolds

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£4.99
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ebook
Son,” the president said. “What in the name of Moses is going on in this country?”
Weigand, his pipe clenched tightly between his teeth, said “Mr. President, it’s a Depression.”
“A Depression?”
“Yes, sir.”
What is a Depression?”
“Well sir, I’ve been reading up on it. We haven’t had one since 1939. Before our time, of course. What usually happens is that businesses fold, millions of people lose their jobs and go on relief-“
“All right, I think I get the idea. But how do you get rid of them?”
Weigand had been afraid he was going to ask that. “That’s a good question…
Salvage Rites: And Other Stories

Salvage Rites: And Other Stories

Contributors

Ian Watson

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£2.99
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ebook
Ian Watson’s latest collection shows the same range and apparently inexhaustible fund of ideas that have characterized all his previous books. No other contemporary figure in SF is so prolific or inventive a writer of short stories. In the title story we immediately encounter a phantasmagoric vision of a society increasingly dependent on recycling its usable material; other brilliant inventions include a planet inhabited by lemur-like aliens who bafflingly produce marvellously finished stone carvings without apparently having the tools to do so (‘The Moon and Michelangelo’); people fighting their way through the various levels of what appears to be a real-life version of a computer adventure game (‘Jewels in an Angel’s Wing’); and a zoo in which are caged the extensions into our universe of four-dimensional hyberbeings (‘Hyperzoo’). And that is only the beginning: there are fifteen stories in all, each one a state-of-the-art example of short science fiction at its finest.
To Outrun Doomsday

To Outrun Doomsday

Contributors

Kenneth Bulmer

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£4.99
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ebook
The planet Kerim must have been Utopia – once. All its inhabitants had to do when they wanted something was to pray out loud for it – and what they wanted would materialise before their eyes. But by the time Jack Waley crashed on it, its best days had long been gone – and its future was strictly limited.

Which was typical Jack Waley luck. He had bungled and blundered his way across the space lanes, messing up everything he tried and being castaway on Kerim looked like the end of the line.

For Kerim’s people were now bands of confused savages and its cities crumbling ruins. And this time Waley knew that he’d have to change a whole world’s luck if he wanted to save his own neck one more time.
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