Showing results by publisher "Orion" in Science Fiction & Fantasy

Skilgannon the Damned had vanished from the pages of history. Following the terrible triumph at Perapolis, the General had taken the legendary Swords of Night and Day and ridden from the lands of Naashan. No one knew where he had gone, and the assassins sent by the Witch Queen could find no trace of his passing. Three years later, as a mob intent on murder gathers outside a distant monastery, they are faced by a single unarmed priest. In a few terrifying seconds their world is changed for ever, and word spreads across the lands of the East.

Even in death, Skilgannon the Damned's name lives on. Now, as an ancient evil threatens to flood the Drenai heartlands in a tide of blood, he returns.... A thousand years after they fell in battle, two heroes - Druss and Skilgannon - are revered throughout the war-torn lands of the Drenai, where men and women live in abject fear of the dark sorceress known as the Eternal.... But what if the soul of one such hero could be called back from the void, his bones housed again in flesh?

The final story of Waylander, available in audio for the first time. Thousands of years ago, the city of Kuan Hador - a place steeped in evil - was defeated by a vast army of mystic warriors, the enemy banished beyond the gateway between worlds. Now, in the Duchy of Kydor, 2,000 miles from the lands of the Drenai, icy mists begin to form around the ruins of Kuan Hador. Awesome beasts stalk the hills and forests. The spells are fading, the days of blood drawing nearer.

For centuries the tribes of the Nadir have suffered under the despotic tyranny of their Gothir overlords. Disunited and distrustful of one another, the tribes await the coming of a Messianic warlord, who will unite them against the oppressors. Into this swirling, chaotic landscape come three men who will change the fate of the continent.

Darkness falls on the Great Green, and the Ancient World is fiercely divided. On the killing fields outside the golden city of Troy, forces loyal to the Mykene King mass. Among them is Odysseus, fabled storyteller and reluctant ally to the Mykene, who knows that he must soon face his former friends in deadly combat. Within the city, the Trojan king waits. Ailing and bitter, his hope is pinned on two heroes: his favourite son Hektor, and the dread Helikaon who will wreak terrible vengeance for the death of his wife at Mykene hands.

The prophecy was clear. Upon the death of three kings, the world will be plunged into chaos, and all the cast-out demons of history will return to bring blood and horror to the world. Two of the kings are dead. The third, about to be born, is hunted by the Demon Riders of the Krayakin, Lords of the Undead. All the terrifying forces of evil range against a pregnant queen at bay in a haunted forest. But she is not alone. Three warriors stand with her, the last remnants of the once proud Drenai army.

The Great Bear will descend from the skies and with his paw lash at the ocean. He will devour all the works of Man. Then he will sleep for 10,000 years, and the breath of his sleep will be death. The prophecy had come true. The world spun. Tidal waves lashed the planet, and a new ice age dawned. The few survivors of a once-great empire struggled to rebuild. Then two moons appeared in the skies, unleashing a terrible evil that threatened not only the new empire but the survival of the world itself.

Three lives will change the destiny of nations. Helikaon, the young prince of Dardania, haunted by a scarred and traumatic childhood. The priestess Andromache, whose fiery spirit and fierce independence threatens the might of kings. And the legendary warrior Argurios, cloaked in loneliness and driven only by thoughts of revenge. In Troy they find a city torn apart by destructive rivalries - a maelstrom of jealousy, deceit and murderous treachery.

The peaceful Eldarin were the last of three ancient races. The mystical Oltor, healers and poets, had fallen before the dread power of the cruel and sadistic Daroth. Yet in one awesome night, the invincible Daroth had vanished from the face of the earth. Gone were their cities, their armies, their terror. The Great Northern Desert was their only legacy. Not a trace remained for a thousand years....

The war of Troy is looming, and all the kings of the Great Green are gathering, friends and enemies, each with their own dark plans of conquest and plunder. Into this maelstrom of treachery and deceit come three travellers; Piria, a runaway priestess nursing a terrible secret, Kalliades, a warrior with a legendary sword, and Banokles who will carve his own legend in the battles to come.

Vianne Rocher has settled down. Lansquenet-sous-Tannes, the place that once rejected her, has finally become her home. With Rosette, her 'special' child, she runs her chocolate shop in the square, talks to her friends on the river, is part of the community. Even Reynaud, the priest, has become a friend. But when old Narcisse, the florist, dies, leaving a parcel of land to Rosette and a written confession to Reynaud, the life of the sleepy village is once more thrown into disarray....

In Victorian England, Viola is an amateur photographer struggling with the grief of her father's death and the sterile atmosphere of her marriage to her childhood friend, Jonah. When she discovers a talent for capturing ghostly images on camera, Viola comes to the attention of a spirit medium, and a powerful attraction between the two women is sparked....

This is the story of the first human being born on Mars: Rose Fuller, who saw a better future than the one that came to pass. And Dylan Ward, a woman raised in the vast wilderness of the frontier, who will find her way back to it. It's a story about a man who went missing, and the man who wants to find out what he knew. It's a story about what makes us human - and how we might live once we leave our home. The story of the first murder on Mars.

The squabbling Norse gods and goddesses of Runemarks are back! And there's a feisty new heroine on the scene: Maggie, a girl the same age as Maddy but brought up a world apart - literally in World's End, the focus of the Order in which Maddy was raised. Now the Order is destroyed, Chaos is filling the vacuum left behind...and is breaching the everyday world. Six hundred miles apart, two girls both bear on their skin a runemark: a symbol of the Old Days....

Imagine a world where.... Everything you ate was monitored by the government. Every step you took was counted. Your children were weighed every day at school. Neighbours reported on neighbours and no one was safe from judgement. Sugar was illegal, and baking was a crime. Imagine if that world was here.... What would you do? Toe the line or fight for your freedom....

A Pocketful of Crows balances youth and age, wisdom and passion, and draws on nature and folklore to weave a stunning modern mythology around a nameless wild girl. Only love could draw her into the world of named, tamed things. And it seems only revenge will be powerful enough to let her escape. This is a stunning and original modern fairy tale.

Dracula. A name of horror, depravity and the darkest sensuality. Yet the real Dracula was just as alluring, just as terrifying, his story not of a monster but of a man - and a contradiction. For the one they called 'The Devil's Son' was both tyrant and lawgiver, crusader and mass slaughterer, torturer and hero, lover and murderer. His tale is told by those who knew him best. The only woman he ever loved, who he must sacrifice. His closest comrade and traitor.

Let's face it, none of us deserve to be saved. None of us are wiser, smarter, stronger or prettier than all those we watch die. Whatever criteria Down uses, how worthy we are doesn't come into it. Since escaping London's inferno, Mary and Dalip have fought monsters and won - though in the magical world of Down, the most frightening monsters come from within.

There's a city far away.... My parents often spoke of it as if it had always been there and always would be. I had seen it in paintings, I had read of it in stories, the richest, most powerful place on earth...the centre of everything. It drew people from every corner of the empire and beyond, hungry for wealth and power, or in some case, more wealth and more power. They were dazzled by its brightness. And like moths drawn to a candle...many were burnt alive by its fire.... Tumanbay.

Tumanbay: Once the most magnificent city on Earth - now the dark heart of an empire that lies in ruins. Occupied by the fanatical forces of the mysterious cult of Maya, corpses hang from the gallows, and citizens are flogged for next to nothing. Barakat, leader of the Inquisition, leads the purge. Gregor, former spymaster to the Sultan, lives in fear. Madu, heir to the throne, is opiated and installed as a puppet ruler. And Qulan, the great general, rots in prison. But the history of Tumanbay shows that those who can rise to power can just as easily fall.