The story of a communist Scotland'Reid in Braid' is a series of short stories taking a look at a world where the UK was on the losing side of the Great War and dissolved; leading to an independent Scotland almost a century before it became a serious possibility. That independent Scotland eventually fell to socialist revolution in the lead up to an alternate second world war, and remains an isolationist one-party state for the rest of the century. Each of the shorts takes place at a...

You're sitting around the campfire; it's dark, the moon is high in the sky, the wind is whistling through the trees, and the sense of isolation is pervasive. You hear a twig snap in the darkness, everyone is tense. What's the story you tell your friends to terrify them? What's in the dark, stalking the camp: an ax murderer, a werewolf, or something so far beyond our mortal understanding that just the sight of it will drive each of us insane?

What will the end of the world be like?Plague or nuclear fire? Asteroids or floods?Divine wrath or people meddling with what should have been left alone?The apocalypse may come in the future, but what apocalypses might have occurred if history had played out differently? What if nukes had flown during the Cuban Missile Crisis? What if an asteroid had been on a collision course with Earth before the first person could set foot on the Moon? What if humanity destroyed it...

Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Hitler?What if, in the summer of 1940, Nazi Germany had invaded the United Kingdom? Nearly eighty years on, images of swastikas on Whitehall still resonate and horrify in the popular imagination.But what would that invasion look like, even if it were doomed to fail? What sacrifices would occupation mean for the people of Britain, and what might be the lasting cultural effects of collaboration?In this collection of stories, the au...

In "The Scottish Reformation," Alexander F. Mitchell offers a comprehensive examination of the religious transformation that swept through Scotland in the sixteenth century, marked by the emergence of Protestantism and the decline of Catholic hegemony. Mitchell meticulously investigates the complex interplay between political, social, and theological factors that contributed to this pivotal historical moment. His engaging prose and scholarly rigor provide readers with an in-depth understan...

**From the Thurber Prize-winning author of What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker comes a pioneering collection of Black humor from some of the most acclaimed writers and performers at work today“Crackling, hilarious. . . . You won’t want to miss it.” —People“Completely absorbing.”—Amy Sedaris**A critic explores the paradox of finding community in “the dozens” while grieving. A violent town ritual causes an all-too-familiar moral panic. An email t...

The first part of a spine-tingling 3-part Odd Thomas novella, exclusively in ebook. Includes a preview of the next thrilling novel in Dean Koontz’s acclaimed Odd Thomas series: Odd Apocalypse. Small-town guy meets big-time evil…THERE’S ROOM AT THE INN, BUT YOU MIGHT NOT GET OUT…Odd Thomas and Annamaria need a break from the road. Nestled on a lonely stretch along the Pacific Coast, the warm lights of Harmony Corner welcome them in. The quaint roadside outpost offers everyth...

In the new millennium, what secrets lay beyond the far reaches of the universe? What mysteries belie the truths we once held to be self evident? The world of science fiction has long been a porthole into the realities of tomorrow, blurring the line between life and art. Now, in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Ninth Annual Collection the very best SF authors explore ideas of a new world. This venerable collection brings together short stories from award winning authors and ...

Recommended for viewing on a tablet.From one of our finest historians, a magisterial account of the most terrible event in history – World War II.The horror of World War II touched the lives of millions across the globe. Few could find the words to describe it, only that the carnage they experienced resembled ‘all hell let loose’.The eminent historian Max Hastings here encapsulates life through war for the ordinary people involved –soldiers, sailors and airmen; Brit...

The great echoing phrases of the King James Bible that have boomed through the English-speaking mind for 400 years - an eye for an eye . . . eat, drink and be merry . . . . death, where is thy sting? . . . man shall not live by bread alone - are largely the work of a man whose genius for words matches Shakespeare. But William Tyndale, the young Gloucestershire tutor who wrote them, paid for them with his life. He was persecuted, exiled and eventually burned at the stake.Book of Fir...

Two friends. One campervan. And plenty of whisky.This is the hilarious true story of a Scottish adventure like no other.With a foreword by Diana Gabaldon.When Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish hit the road, they are not following a script. They are chasing adventure. Armed with a campervan, a shared history and plenty of curiosity, they set out to explore the Scotland that lies beyond the clichés.What follows is a fas...

There are many ways to be a heroine.Princess and swordswoman, lawyer and motorcyclist, scholar and barbarian: there are many ways to be a heroine. In this anthology, seventeen authors find new ways to pair one weapon-wielding woman and one whose strengths lie in softer skills.“Which is more powerful, the warrior or the gentlewoman?” these stories ask. And the answer is inevitably, “Both, working together!”Herein, you’ll find duels and smugglers, dan...