No one sees clearer than an individual whose life is hanging by the finger tips on the edge of an abyss. Probing the furthest reaches of human daring and endurance, here are 28 of the great first-hand accounts of extreme mountaineering, from legendary names. Written by the bestselling author of Meadowland and The Running Hare, Featuring: ·Heinrich Harrer - first conqueror of the notorious Eigerwand. ·Robert Bates - the classic account of the ill-fated American 1953 expedition to K2. ·Maurice Herzog - his unstoppable ascent of Annapurna at the cost of frostbite. ·Walter Bonatti - tragedy on the Central Pillar of Freney on Mont Blanc. ·George Leigh Mallory - surviving an avalanche on the 1922 Everest expedition. ·René Desmaison - his epic story of 14 days stuck on The Grandes Jorasses in winter. ·Jon Krakauer - recalling his solo ascent of The Devil's Thumb in Alaska. The price of the summit is often measured in human suffering, yet for those who succeed the rewards can be incalculable. Nerve-wracking and unputdownable.

A gripping collection which offers for the first time a chronological overview of the popular contemporary sub-genre of body horror, from Edgar Allan Poe to Christopher Fowler, with contributions from leading horror writers, including Stephen King, George Langelaan and Neil Gaiman. The collection includes the stories behind seminal body horror movies, John Carpenter's The Thing, David Cronenberg's The Fly and Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator.

Into the eye of danger with the men who put the 'special' in special forces The once shadowy activities of special forces have grown into an increasingly exposed element of 21st century warfare and anti-terrorist activity. Here, in one giant unputdownable volume, are 30 of the most dangerous special operations of modern times. Drawn from the flashpoints of the world, and above all Iraq and Afghanistan, these first-hand and reported accounts of missions by the SAS, Delta Force, Green Beret, Commandos and other forces will leave you on the edge of your seat. The accounts include: Blackhawk Down - the US Delta forces debacle in Mogadishu, Somalia, 1993 British Special forces fight Al Qaeda at close quarters in Afghanistan 2003 Task Force Raider - US Special forces teams track down Saddam Hussein, 2003 The British 'Blackhawk Down' - Paras shoot their way out of trouble in Majar, Iraq 2003 The capture of insurgent leader Chemical Evil Fat Mama, Fallujah, November 2003

Dieselpunk: an emerging retro-futuristic sub-genre, similar to steampunk, based on the era between the First World War and the start of the Atomic Age, merging elements of noir, pulp, and the past with today’s technology . . . and sometimes a dash of the occult. Award-winning editor Wallace presents a cutting-edge collection of twenty-five vibrant stories that explore the possibilities of history while sweeping readers into high-powered hydrocarbon-fuelled adventures. Join us in an era when engines were huge, fuel was cheap and plentiful, and steel and chrome blended with the grit and grease of modern machines. Praise for The Mammoth Book of Steampunk: 'World Fantasy Award-winning editor Wallace has compiled an outstanding anthology . . . sure to satisfy even the most jaded steampunk fans and engage newcomers and skeptics. Each story exemplifies steampunk’s knack for critiquing both the past and the present, in a superb anthology that demands rereading.' Publishers Weekly

Updated and expanded edition of the fullest ever collective investigation into Jack the Ripper and the Whitechapel Murders. This volume collects not just all the key factual evidence but also 20 different arguments as to the identity of Jack the Ripper, such as that advanced by Patricia Cornwell. Contributions are from the world's leading Ripperologists, including William Beadle, Melvyn Fairclough, Martin Fido, Shirley Harrison, James Tully and Colin Wilson. The identity of Jack the Ripper has plagued professional historians, criminologists, writers and amateur enthusiasts. The many suspects include Montague John Druitt, Walter Sickert, Aaron Kosminski, Michael Ostrog, William Henry Bury, Dr Tumblety and James Maybrick. The only certainty is that Ripperologist have not found an invididual on whom they can all agree. The essays are supported by a detailed chronology, extensive bibliography and filmography.

The Mammoth Book of Madonna offers a one-of-a-kind look at the Queen of Pop's phenomenally successful career, just in time for the 30th anniversary of her first major tour, The Virgin Tour. Unlike other biographies, this book will not focus on the scandals about botox and boy toys, but instead include reviews, interviews, commentary, and Madonna's own reflections that highlight her incredible success. Including a specially designed cover and beautiful, full-color photography throughout, this must-have volume will shed new light on Madonna's videos, books, tours, fashion, and charity work for her millions of fans around the world.

The original, unforgettable and thought-provoking new novel by award-winning author Chris Flynn that will change how readers understand the world. Narrated by a 13,000-year-old extinct mammoth, this is the (mostly) true story of how a collection of prehistoric creatures came to be on sale at a natural history auction in New York in 2007. By tracing how and when these fossils were unearthed, Mammoth leads us on a funny and fascinating journey from the Pleistocene epoch to nineteenth-century America and beyond, revealing how ideas about science and religion have shaped our world. With our planet on the brink of calamitous climate change, Mammoth scrutinises humanity's role in the destruction of the natural world while also offering a message of hope.

An engrossing A-Z of over 60 gory years of slasher and splatter movies, from Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later to Lucio Fulci's Zombie Flesh Eaters. Here you will find the low-down on over 250 movies with entries from 23 different countries. The index, which includes every movie mentioned in the A-Z and accompanying notes, runs to 540 movies. The book includes the list of video nasties which the UK government attempted to ban.

Thin places ... Where worlds crash against each other, rippling soft spots through reality. Ancient portals through which the darkest nightmares seep, spreading uncertainty and doubt. These places haunt us, and from them shadows edge ... A figure from the past, lying in a field ... The unlikely three, bound by their quest ... A high-rise apartment, where creatures crawl ... The drive in the storm, through blurring edges ... The brother, hiding from his sins ... 15 tales of numinous horror from some of the genre's most exciting voices ... A major new anthology, edited by Simon Strantzas.

This thought-provoking collection not only takes us into the past and the future, but also explores what might happen if we attempt to manipulate time to our own advantage. These stories show what happen once you start to meddle with time and the paradoxes that might arise. It also raises questions about whether we understand time, and how we perceive it. Once we move outside the present day, can we ever return or do we move into an alternate world? What happens if our meddling with Nature leads to time flowing backwards, or slowing down or stopping all together? Or if we get trapped in a constant loop from which we can never escape. Is the past and future immutable or will we ever be able to escape the inevitable? These are just some of the questions that are raised in these challenging, exciting and sometimes amusing stories by Kage Baker, Simon Clark, Fritz Leiber, Christopher Priest, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Robert Silverberg, Michael Swanwick, John Varley and many others.