It is forty years since the death of Mervyn Peake (1911-68), the author of the much-loved Gormenghast novels. To mark the anniversary this first comprehensive edition of Peake's poetry is published. It includes every black-and-white illustration he made for his verse, together with many previously unpublished drawings. Of the more than 230 poems in the collection, over 80 are printed for the first time. Robert Maslen's detailed work on the manuscripts reveals the poems as a dazzling link b...

'Nonsense', wrote Mervyn Peake, 'can take you by the hand and lead you nowhere. It's magic.' Peake (1911-68) is one of the great English nonsense poets, in the tradition of Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear. His verses lead the reader into places where cause is cut free of effect and language takes on a giddy life of its own. Malicious bowler hats threaten their owners, a cake is chased across an ocean by a rakish knife, aunts become flatfish or live on sphagnum moss. Fully annotated, with a d...

Published to coincide with the celebration of this beloved poet's centenary, this volume contains all the poems and illustrations previously published in Mervyn Peake's much-loved Book of Nonsense in addition to 40 unpublished works discovered in manuscripts and various uncollected sources. Accompanied by newfound drawings by Peake as well as the nonsense verses from his novels, this record will delight his fans and win over new ones.

Published to mark the 40th anniversary of his death, this comprehensive edition of the poetry of Mervyn Peake includes pieces that touch on some of the most significant historical moments of the 20th century. His celebrated works range from the unemployment epidemic in pre-war Britain to the horrors of the blitz and the concentration camp at Bergen–Belsen, with each serving to anchor the fantasy world of his celebrated Gormenghast books. Black and white illustrations, drafted by the author...

Comedy was at the centre of a critical storm that raged throughout the early modern period. Shakespeare's plays made capital of this controversy. In them he deliberately invokes the case against comedy made by the Elizabethan theatre haters. They are filled with jokes that go too far, laughter that hurts its victims, wordplay that turns to swordplay and aggressive acts of comic revenge. Through a detailed study which considers tragedies and histories as well as comedies, Maslen contends th...

In his novels, poetry, and memoirs, Booker Prize winner Michael Ondaatje moves from the blasted landscape of Billy the Kid in 1880s New Mexico to the New Orleans jazz world of the legendary Buddy Bolden at the turn of the century, from his native Sri Lanka to the African desert of World War II. Compassionate, lyrical, spellbinding, the work he has created unfolds with mystery and eloquence and enlarges our literature.Included in Vintage Ondaatjeare portions of the ...

Enter the world of Gormenghast...the vast crumbling castle to which the seventy-seventh Earl, Titus Groan, is Lord and heir. Gothic labyrinth of roofs and turrets, cloisters and corridors, stairwells and dungeons, it is also the cobwebbed kingdom of Byzantine government and age-old rituals, a world primed to implode beneath the weight of centuries of intrigue, treachery, manipulation and murder.Gormenghast is more than a sequel to Titus Groan - it is an enrichment...

Winner of the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, China Miéville's astonishing Embassytown is an intelligent and immersive exploration of language in an alien world.Embassytown: a city of contradictions on the outskirts of the universe.Avice is an immerser, a traveller on the immer, the sea of space and time below the everyday, now returned to her birth planet. Here on Arieka, humans are not the only intelligent life, and Avice has a rare bond with the nati...

The first book of The Eternal Champion trilogy.Erekose is the Eternal Champion: pulled by the tides of chance through a thousand worlds and ages. In his lonely search for peace and justice all he can trust are his own courage and enduring passion. Across magical landscapes, fantastic worlds without end, he strides - eternal hero, eternal warrior, eternal lover - forever defying destiny and lifting his brave sword against the cruel, cold logic of the Multiverse...

In the year 1689, a cabal of Barbary galley slaves -- including one Jack Shaftoe, aka King of the Vagabonds, aka Half-Cocked Jack -- devises a daring plan to win freedom and fortune. A great adventure ensues -- a perilous race for an enormous prize of silver ... nay, gold ... nay, legendary gold.In Europe, the exquisite and resourceful Eliza, Countess de la Zeur, is stripped of her immense personal fortune by France's most dashing privateer. Penniless and at risk from those who des...

**NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE AGATHA AWARD FOR BEST HISTORICAL NOVEL • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST MYSTERIES OF THE YEAR BY THE SEATTLE TIMESLaurie R. King’s novels of suspense featuring Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, are critically acclaimed and beloved by readers for the author’s adept interplay of history and adventure. Now the intrepid duo is finally trying to take a little time for themselves—only to be swept up in a baffling case ...

Folklore and Legends: The book features stories that reflect the values, beliefs, and worldview of Native American cultures. These tales often involve supernatural beings, gods, heroes, and moral lessons.Cultural Insights: Through the stories, readers gain an understanding of the natural and spiritual world as perceived by the different tribes. Themes often include creation myths, animal spirits, and the relationships between humans and nature.Illustrations: The book may include illustrati...