Showing results by narrator "John Banks" in All Categories

Crime-fighting duo Tilly and Poe solve a mystery from inside a pantomime horse in a short story that first appeared in the Halloween anthology Afraid of the Shadows.

Poe and Tilly are having breakfast, wondering how to spend the rest of their holiday, when their presence is requested at a Cumbrian airfield. An airfield that, during the 2001 foot-and-mouth crisis, was known as the killing field.

Heed now three tales of the Champions of the Eternal War.... 'The Calculus of Battle' by David Guymer. As the defenders of Varasine battle a tyranid invasion, Warleader Kardan Stronos and the Iron Hands come to their aid, measuring the Chapter's cold logic and strategy against the cost in human lives. 'The Embrace of Pain' by Ian St Martin. When blademaster Lucius the Eternal is challenged by a champion of the Death Guard, he accepts without hesitation...but could a daemonhost of Nurgle, or the voices inside his own head, be the undoing of his Slaaneshi curse?

The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Adapted by Richard Dinnick. Young Dr. Mortimer ventures from Devonshire to Baker Street with news of the death of his friend, Sir Charles Baskerville. Can it really be that the grisly legend of the hound of the Baskervilles might have something to do with the case? Holmes will have none of it, but even he must accept that dark forces are at work. Dark forces that, it seems, Dr. Watson must face alone...afoot!

Matt Richter may be dead, but he'll still crack ths case. His mean streets are the city of the dead, the shadowy realm known as Nekropolis. This place has always been ruled by the vampire overlords. Now they're plotting to destroy the city. Over my dead body. Tim Waggoner is a novelist and college professor.

George Simling has grown up in the city-state of Illyria, an enclave of logic and reason founded as a refuge from the Reaction, a wave of religious fundamentalism that swept away the nations of the 21st century. Yet to George, Illyria's militant rationalism is as close-minded and stifling as the faith-based superstition that dominates the world outside its walls. For George has fallen in love with Lucy. A prostitute. A robot. She might be a machine, but the semblance of life is perfect. And beneath her good looks and real human skin, her seductive, sultry, sluttish software is simmering on the edge of consciousness. To the city authorities robot sentience is a malfunction, curable by periodically erasing and resetting silicon minds. Simple maintenance, no real problem, it’s only a machine. But it’s a problem for George, he knows that Lucy is something more.

Whilst on a murder-mystery evening in deepest darkest Northumberland, Poe manages to annoy everyone whilst simultaneously solving a mystery - what happened to a five-carat red diamond called the Red Moon of Coonowrin.

Three underhive fugitives shelter around a fire in the midst of a storm. They must be safe here, for the only one who could track them is Gor Half-Horn. And he's a myth, isn't he? Kaya, Gull and Vaughn are on the run. After a job gone wrong, the trio of hive-scum have a price on their head and aren't welcome in any reputable settlement. As they shelter from a hive-storm in an abandoned hab-unit in the deep sump, they're sure they're safe from any who might be seeking them. They are wrong. Gor Half-Horn is coming for them, and none escape the abhuman bounty hunter once he has their scent....

A global pandemic forces Poe and Tilly to self-isolate together. Things don't go well. They're bickering and on the verge of falling out until Poe finds an old case file: a locked-room mystery he's been mulling over for years. Step forward, Tilly Bradshaw.

Mondo Bizzarro sees Tilly drag Poe to Durham to meet her favourite fantasy author, Aldridge Fowler, but when they arrive, he's already dead - killed by his own hand. Despite the overwhelming evidence though, Poe suspects the bookshop staff might be hiding a terrible secret.

Poe and Tilly are on an HR course in Wales when a murder is committed in their hotel. But, maybe not everything is as it seems.

A collection of fabulous tales of genies, heroes, flying carpets and fantastic voyages, The Arabian Nights has enchanted generations of children and adults. Forged in the Islamic Golden Age, it was brought to Europe in the 18th Century, where it became an instant sensation. Included here are seven full-cast dramatisations, starring Carolyn Backhouse as Shahrazad and Derek Jacobi as the King, as well as a bonus edition of In Our Time exploring the story behind the tales.

Long ago, the Katophranes of the city of Shadespire dared to defy their god. But in the Realm of Death, the ruler of the underworlds does not permit treachery, for Nagash rules all. To punish their attempts to cheat death, Nagash cursed Shadespire to an eternal halflife. Now, centuries later, brave warriors enter the shattered remains of the Mirrored City in search of secrets and riches...and for other, darker purposes.

Salvor Lermentov, Astra Militarum officer turned would-be freedom fighter, languishes in a dark cell deep within an Inquisition fortress. Captured for the crime of treachery, he is sure of his innocence - for did he not aid a servant of the Inquisition in preventing a grievous threat to Terra itself? As he and Inquisitor Crowl match wits in an interrogation, Lermentov outlines his reasons for deserting - but Inquisitor Crowl knows darker truths about the Imperium of Man, and with them in mind, can he possibly allow this traitor to live?

Dead Man's Fingers sees Poe, Tilly and Edgar, Poe's English springer spaniel, enjoying a picnic at a nature reserve. When Edgar chases a rabbit, and Poe and Tilly chase after Edgar, they stumble upon a twenty-year-old mystery, a mystery that couldn't be solved until now.

Even as the Imperium faces the renegade Legions of the Warmaster, the ruling Council of Terra is becoming paralysed from within by petty bureaucracy. Fabricator General Kane has seen his fellow Mechanicum adepts dismissed again and again by the High Lords - with his traitorous predecessor Kelbor-Hal still at large on the Red Planet, the political status of the tech-priesthood remains ambiguous. New alliances must be forged from the old if Mars and Terra are to survive the final battle.

In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war. But war is waged in many ways. From the dark places where 10,000-year-old psychic warriors interrogate living machines from a time before man, to a treacherous assassination plot that could bring an end to a centuries-old legacy of honour, to relic hunters who want to wrest secrets from a plague-ridden traitor or cross swords with a sinister Chaplain of the Dark Angels.

The Victorian era is remembered for many things, but one of the fondest is the wide and varied array of short, ghostly, suspenseful tales...often enjoyed around the fireside at Christmastime. In this new anthology, John Banks performs 12 of the very best, all written by incredibly talented but oft-times overlooked or forgotten authors. Once you tire of Dickens and James, these are the true masters of short-form suspense.

Contains books three and four of Descendants of the Fall. Age of Gods: Pursued by the inhuman Tangata, Lukys flees on foot through the wilderness. He and his companions make for the ocean, a stolen ship their only hope - but even that may prove fleeting. For should they reach the island of Perfugia, a war is brewing between the kingdoms of humanity. Dreams of Fury: On the distant shores of Perfugia, Lukys and Sophia have finally found sanctuary - and an unexpected power left by their ancestors. But their refuge cannot last.

Oakharrow has been conquered—for now. But Aelthena has never given up easily. Fleeing her city, she goes to the jarls of Baegard, seeking their aid to take back her home. But politics are at play, and Ha-Sypt is on the move. Only one can wear the Iron Circle and lead Baegard's armies. In determining who will wear the crown, Aelthena must make a choice: do what is best for her nation, or for herself.