The six volumes in the Black Wings series, from which these "Best of" tales are selected, stand as a monument to H. P. Lovecraft's incalculable and unassailable influence on contemporary weird fiction, and so the time seemed right for a retrospective volume that exhibits the choicest items from the series. The task of selection was not a simple or straightforward one, for every tale in the series had some claim to be chosen; let it then be said that this volume does not contain necessarily...

H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937), the pioneering writer of weird fiction, has himself become an icon in popular culture. Stories, novels, and other works featuring the gaunt, lantern-jawed gentleman from Providence, Rhode Island, have proliferated. These works have been triggered by the incredible amount of knowledge we have on the writer—his family, his friends, his idiosyncrasies and eccentricities—as found in his thousands of surviving letters.This anthology takes the figure of Lovec...

Together in one volume, THE ELDER ICE and BROKEN MEATS, the first two books of The Harry Stubbs AdventuresTHE ELDER ICEA classic 1920s science fiction novella — with a 2015 twist. Ex-boxer Harry Stubbs is on the trail of a mysterious legacy in South London. A polar explorer has died, leaving huge debts and hints of a priceless find. Harry's informants seem to be talking in riddles, he finds that isn't the only one on the trail — and what he's looking for is as lethal as it ...

"For someone interested in practical present day robotics it’s a treasure trove. A book-sized Top Trumps rove across the technical domain, with each section containing a photo of the precise robot, an overview of its main components and some context for its aims and purposes." - Electronics WeeklyRobots exist all around us. They populate our factories, assist our surgeons and have become an integral part of our armed forces. But they are not just working behind the scenes – impress...

London, 1928: To the outside world, the Norwood Widows Society is a benevolent self-help group giving aid to the needy. Its secrecy and whispers of occult leanings hint at something darker. Harry Stubbs, heavyweight boxer turned paranormal investigator, is on the case.There is an unexplained death to examine, a German doctor carrying out very unorthodox procedures, mysterious radio messages, and a puzzling story left by a sixteenth-century alchemist. The members of the Society's Co...

London, 1928: To the outside world, the Norwood Widows Society is a benevolent self-help group giving aid to the needy. Its secrecy and whispers of occult leanings hint at something darker. Harry Stubbs, heavyweight boxer turned paranormal investigator, is on the case.There is an unexplained death to examine, a German doctor carrying out very unorthodox procedures, mysterious radio messages, and a puzzling story left by a sixteenth-century alchemist. The members of the Society’s Co...

Predicting how the business world might evolve is itself a multi-million-dollar business. Plenty of gurus, academics and snake-oil salesmen will tell you all about the future for a price. What the experts overlook is that the future is already here.Chances are the products and services of tomorrow are available now to a very limited clientele at a top-secret research institute near you. Throughout history, war and its threat have driven innovation and the uptake of new technology f...

The fifth book in the phenomenally successful Thursday Next series, from Number One bestselling author Jasper Fforde.'Ingenious - I'll watch Jasper Fforde nervously' Terry Pratchett on The Eyre AffairFourteen years after she pegged out at 1988 SuperHoop, Thursday Next is grappling with a recalcitrant new apprentice, the death of Sherlock Holmes and the inexplicable departure of comedy from the once-hilarious Thomas Hardy n...

‘It looks like he died from injuries sustained during a fall...'Bestselling author Jasper Fforde begins an effervescent new series. 'It's Easter in Reading - a bad time for eggs - and no one can remember the last sunny day. Humpty Dumpty, well-known nursery favourite, large egg, ex-convict and former millionaire philanthropist is found shattered beneath a wall in a shabby area of town.Following the pathologist's careful reconstruction of Humpty's shell, Detective Inspe...

A collectible gift for all P. D. James fans to stand alongside her bestselling The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories: six previously uncollected stories from the beloved "Queen of Crime"—swift, cunning murder mysteries from throughout her extraordinary career.Put your feet up and enjoy a good read! Longtime P. D. James fans will devour these short tales of criminality and deception, each one a pleasure, evocative and engrossing. Including several stories ...

From Lovecraft to Borges to Gaiman, a century of intrepid literary experimentation has created a corpus of dark and strange stories that transcend all known genre boundaries. Together these stories form The Weird, and its practitioners include some of the greatest names in twentieth and twenty-first century literature.Exotic and esoteric, The Weird plunges you into dark domains and brings you face to face with surreal monstrosities. You won't find any elves or wiz...

A classic Agatha Christie short story, featuring Miss Marple, from the collection Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories.At a meeting of the Tuesday Night Club, attorney Mr. Petherick relates an incident involving the late Simon Clode, a wealthy client. Obsessed by his granddaughter’s death, Clode turned to spiritualist Eurydice Spragg to contact her in the afterlife, and then decided to write a new will leaving Eurydice as the benefactor and excluding hi...