A chilling Warhammer Horror novel set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Do you dare cross the threshold of The Oubliette? With the death of Ruprekt Matkosen, his daughter Ashielle is now the Lord Governor of Ceocan. Her father’s murderers still lurk in the shadows, threatening not only her rule but every mortal soul under her protection. Even her own people cannot be trusted: any one of them may be part of the poisonous plot to destroy her family. Deep beneath the palace, locked away from all human contact, Ashielle finds a weapon unlike any other: a monster, more adept at hunting in the darkness than any assassin. Allying with such a horror is surely blasphemy. But with doom lurking around every corner, Ashielle is forced to revive an ancient pact with the beast. But she soon discovers that her family’s mortal enemies are not the only evil that hungers to consume her.

In his introduction to this, Richards' debut collection, Tomaz Salamun writes "It is inscrutable how Peter Richards produces this religious magma and bathes himself and us in it. How he restores internal time to the work of art."

The Quantum Thief is a Kirkus Reviews Best of 2011 Science Fiction & Fantasy title. One of Library Journal's Best SF/Fantasy Books of 2011 Jean le Flambeur is a post-human criminal, mind burglar, confidence artist, and trickster. His origins are shrouded in mystery, but his exploits are known throughout the Heterarchy- from breaking into the vast Zeusbrains of the Inner System to stealing rare Earth antiques from the aristocrats of Mars. Now he's confined inside the Dilemma Prison, where every day he has to get up and kill himself before his other self can kill him. Rescued by the mysterious Mieli and her flirtatious spacecraft, Jean is taken to the Oubliette, the Moving City of Mars, where time is currency, memories are treasures, and a moon-turnedsingularity lights the night. What Mieli offers is the chance to win back his freedom and the powers of his old self-in exchange for finishing the one heist he never quite managed. As Jean undertakes a series of capers on behalf of Mieli and her mysterious masters, elsewhere in the Oubliette investigator Isidore Beautrelet is called in to investigate the murder of a chocolatier, and finds himself on the trail of an arch-criminal, a man named le Flambeur.... Hannu Rajaniemi's The Quantum Thief is a crazy joyride through the solar system several centuries hence, a world of marching cities, ubiquitous public-key encryption, people communicating by sharing memories, and a race of hyper-advanced humans who originated as MMORPG guild members. But for all its wonders, it is also a story powered by very human motives of betrayal, revenge, and jealousy. It is a stunning debut. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Throughout the ages, the power of belief has waned for certain subjects. Forgotten, they disappear from our world. But where do they go? What do they do when they get there? Oubliette is the story of these forgotten beings and fell powers. Uncover a twisted world where all myths are true. Come to grips with immortality and eternity. Find something to fight for. Explore predatory libraries, man-eating forests, lakes of mercury, black-market magic markets, and eons of forgotten labyrinths. Transform from a serf to a dragon. Color Hardcover version.

The Quantum Thief sequel is “stupefyingly entertaining, like a heist movie for post-singularity, AI-boosted string theoreticians from beyond spacetime” (Charles Stross). “The good thing is, no one will ever die again. The bad thing is, everyone will want to.” A physicist receives a mysterious paper. The ideas in it are far, far ahead of current thinking and quite, quite terrifying. In a city of “fast ones,” shadow players, and jinni, two sisters contemplate a revolution. And on the edges of reality a thief, helped by a sardonic ship, is trying to break into a Schrödinger box for his patron. In the box is his freedom. Or not. Jean de Flambeur is back. And he’s running out of time. In Hannu Rajaniemi’s sparkling follow-up to the critically acclaimed international sensation The Quantum Thief, he returns to his awe-inspiring vision of the universe . . . and we discover what the future held for Earth. “Stories within stories, mind-boggling scientific extrapolations, and flamboyant characters mark the author as a rising star of the genre.” —Library Journal “Rajaniemi’s witty language and charmingly wry hero will make the read well worth the effort for the first installment’s fans.” —Publishers Weekly “Fans of the author’s popular debut novel, which mixed hard science with wild fantasy, will probably be lining up for this follow-up, which resolves some of the questions posed in The Quantum Thief but, on the other hand, asks several more, for which there are, as yet, no answers.” —Booklist

Veronica knows the monsters aren't "just in her head", but no one listens to the headstrong ten-year-old as they tie her to a hospital bed every night.Years later, after being dumped by her business-partner/boyfriend, Veronica finds herself on the verge of bankruptcy. Then a late-night call promises the perfect solution--a job opportunity decorating a castle in France. Will Veronica risk what little she has left to chase a fairy tale?When the shadowy things that once terrorized her return, Veronica must decide how much she'll sacrifice for them, for her sanity, and for her life.Oubliette--A Forgotten Little Place consists of interwoven stories with paranormal twists. The fates of past victims of the oubliette are revealed as our hero obliviously renovates a castle in France.This epic adventure spans nearly two millennia. You'll be transported to an ancient Pagan ritual, Roman-ruled Gaul, the bloody Inquisition of the Knights Templar, France as it's ravaged by the Black Death, the duplicitous Reformation, the Paris Catacombs, and the gory French Revolution, while you unravel Oubliette's cryptic layers.Vanta M. Black was inspired to write Oubliette after learning about the real oubliette at Leap Castle, the famed most-haunted castle in Ireland. She traveled there, as well as to châteaux in France, and to the Paris Underground, for research.Real paranormal accounts of elemental spirits, ghosts, sorcery and demons, plus actual historical events and legends, all feed into this masterfully-crafted narrative. Additionally, Black's own encounters with entities known as "shadow people", serve as the novel?s foundation. Oubliette delivers blow after blow of mystery, horror, and suspense. This thriller seeps into your soul and doesn't let go. In the end, as you're begging for mercy, you'll also be begging for more.

"A modern-day classic."—Ron Charles, Washington Post “A spectacular invention.”—The New York Times "Compulsively readable."—NPR Things do not bode well for Father Julius. . . A street preacher decked out in denim robes and running shoes, Julius is a source of inspiration for a community that knows nothing of his scandalous origins. But when a nearby mental hospital releases its patients to run amok in his neighborhood, his trusted if bedraggled flock turns expectantly to Julius to find out what’s going on. Amid the descending chaos, Julius encounters a hospital escapee who babbles prophecies of doom, and the growing palpable sense of impending danger intensifies . . . as does the feeling that everyone may be relying on a street preacher just a little too much. Still, Julius decides he must confront the forces that threaten his congregation—including the peculiar followers of a religious cult, the mysterious men and women dressed all in red seen fleetingly amid the bedlam, and an enigmatic smoking figure who seems to know what’s going to happen just before it does. The Revisionaries is a wildly imaginative, masterfully rendered, and suspenseful tale that conjures the bold outlandish stylishness of Thomas Pynchon, Margaret Atwood, and Alan Moore—while being unlike anything that’s come before.

A first collection by an award-winning writer features characters at relationship crossroads in such stories as "Lizard Man," in which two men race to save a sick alligator; and "The End of Aaron," in which a girl helps her boyfriend face his greatest fears.

Castles are among the most mysterious buildings on earth. Their grimly silent stones are signposts to a past filled with high adventure, grim tragedies, and glorious victories. Ghosts, hauntings, and other paranormal phenomena are frequently reported from castles. Do strange paranormal powers lurk among their ancient ruins? The World’s Most Mysterious Castles takes you on a journey through hidden chambers and subterranean tunnels of castles all over the world. Their walls served the sinister needs of spies, traitors, and assassins. Do the spirits of attackers and defenders who died in long-forgotten sieges still linger where they fell? Screams of unbearable pain and despair were muffled within their deepest, darkest torture dungeons. Do they echo there still?

‘Bizarre Laws and Curious Customs of the UK' is a fascinating book, well assembled and written by Monty Lord. Most of us have had occasion to come across some ancient ruling that is still in the statute book and find laughable. Many of these were never made law and take their place in the category of myth and legend. Monty Lord not only brings many new strange laws to our notice but also clarifies what is law and what is just custom, myth or legend. This is an enjoyable and fascinating book that can be read for a number of reasons. It is a useful reference book, an enjoyable bedside dip-in book or just a book to be enjoyed as any other.’ - William Roache, OBE - Actor, 'Ken Barlow' in Coronation Street In the UK, we have some bizarre laws that have littered the statute books of our sceptred isle throughout history. Not all of them have been repealed over the centuries. Some of them made perfect sense at the time they were introduced but seen through modern eyes, now appear archaic and draconian. Despite the great efforts of the Law Commission in England and Wales to review and recommend reforms for many of these outdated laws, there are centuries of law that must be painstakingly gone through. As well as some bizarre laws, the UK also has its fair share of curious customs and time-honoured traditions that have been observed for centuries. On the surface, many appear to be nothing more than theatrical pomp and pageantry. However, they are all born from strong rationale. The UK parliament seems to have had a particular penchant for passing laws related to fish and animals, indecency and passing sentences with some humiliating public punishments. This book is a highly entertaining read for anyone who enjoys learning about the more bizarre applications of UK law throughout the centuries, along with some rather macabre consequences along the way. Have you ever heard a bizarre law and thought, that can’t possibly be true? Is it genuine? Was it ever in existence or just an urban myth that became so embellished over time? There are surprisingly, a great many laws still in existence on the statute books today, that would make your jaw drop. Whilst bizarre as these laws may now seem to us, it begs the question, are we in fact, unknowingly breaking these laws on a regular basis? For example… Is it illegal to imagine the abolition of the monarchy? Is it illegal to refuse to assist a police constable? Did courts squash people into submission? Was cricket against the law? Was Dr. Frankenstein ever real? …all these questions and more will be answered in this Volume 3 of a 3 volume series by Monty Lord. Reading this book, you may be inclined to laugh heartily, let out a sorrowful cry or recoil in abject horror at some of the more gruesome sentences passed for breaking these weird laws. With over 300 bizarre but nevertheless true, laws and customs, you can use this book to satisfy your curiosity about what our ancestors had to contend with over the years, or perhaps as a reference guide for trivia quizzes.