Showing results by narrator "Christopher Kay" in All Categories

You can find everything you've ever dreamed of in the strange, old magical shop known as Old Harry's Place. The problem is, not all dreams are kind. Gideon Sable–legendary master thief, conman and well-dressed rogue–and his partner in crime, Annie Anybody, don’t want to be shopkeepers. But when the enigmatic Harry decides to retire, he blackmails the pair into taking the store on.

Some say bad luck comes in threes. And if you’re a bandit, bank robber, or bloodthirsty killer, that bad luck comes in the form of three hard justice-seekers known as the Jackals. Each of the Jackals has his own path to follow: Former Texas Ranger Matt McCulloch is trying to protect a young Commanche from scalphunters.

Billy Hopkins lived happily in a tenement home in Manchester with his large Catholic family. When war came, Billy was evacuated to Blackpool, where he was starved so his rations could feed his landlady's children. On his return to Manchester, cruel blows were dealt to his family, but nothing could destroy Billy's fighting spirit. Nostalgic, sad and funny, Our Kid recalls an upbringing and an environment now vanished.

When Vampire Hunter D entered the town of Sedoc, it was in search of answers to the meaning of a dying vampire's last words: "Find Muma." But when he meets Mia, the daughter of the local fortuneteller, he learns the mists emanating from a smoking crater on the outskirts of Sedoc have reanimated thousands of corpses, compelling them to crawl from their graves and hurl themselves into the smoking chasm.

It's 1945 and Billy Hopkins is off to London to train as a teacher. Billy survives two years in the Big City, and returns to take up a teaching job in Manchester on £300 a year! The catch is his first class, Senior Four, who bitterly resent the raising of the school-leaving age and are all set to take it out on their teacher. Luckily, Billy has some tricks of his own up his sleeve. And he's about to fall in love with the beautiful Laura. But is she, as his dad says, "too good for the likes of us"?

Venice is a beautiful and mysterious city. Lucifer's Shadow combines two stories in the city, set centuries apart from one another, and both involving the shady but seductive characters of Venice. The stories involve an anonymous manuscript for a violin concerto, and run parallel, interweaving to lead listeners into a stunning double twisted ending.

All of America knows what happened in Sanctuary - a boy lost his footing at a party and a town went mad with grief. But not everyone believes it. Now Detective Maggie Knight is forced before a congressional hearing, following a revival of persecution that hasn't been seen since Salem. Exiled witch Sarah Fenn and her daughter Harper fled, seeking refuge. Instead, they find hope carried on whispers of a dangerous magic and a centuries-old legend promising power.

It starts as a happy reunion between Preacher and his fellow trappers in a peaceful Indian village. But it ends swiftly in death and destruction when a rival tribe attacks the village, slaughters some of Preacher’s Crow and mountain man friends, and carries off the women and children as prisoners. Preacher was off hunting when it happened. Now he’s teaming up with old friend Lorenzo and half-breed Tall Dog, to get the prisoners back—and get revenge. But the road to justice is paved with some very dark omens. And the trail leads to the baddest place on God’s good earth.

He calls himself The King. Once a respected professor, he was ruined by scandal. Now, he rules his own “country”—an area of western territory where an army of outlaws enforce his laws. Any town he claims as his own must pay “taxes,” collected from bank, stagecoach, and train robberies. When he learns that President Rutherford B. Hayes and General William Tecumseh Sherman are venturing into the far west on a tour of the nation, The King devises a plan to kidnap America’s leaders and expand his empire.

In a future of near-instantaneous global travel, of abundant provision for the needs of all, a future in which no one living can remember an actual war, a long era of stability threatens to come to an abrupt end. For known only to a few, the leaders of the great Hives, nations without fixed location, have long conspired to keep the world stable, at the cost of just a little blood. A few secret murders, mathematically planned. So that no faction can ever dominate, and the balance holds. And yet the balance is beginning to give way.

In a future of near-instantaneous global travel, of abundant provision for the needs of all, a future in which no one living can remember an actual war, a long era of stability threatens to come to an abrupt end. For known only to a few, the leaders of the great Hives, nations without fixed location, have long conspired to keep the world stable, at the cost of just a little blood. A few secret murders, mathematically planned. So that no faction can ever dominate, and the balance holds. And yet the balance is beginning to give way.

Nylan, the only man among the matriarchal band of “angels” marooned on the high plateau of Candar. Forced to seek a life elsewhere, Nylan descends into a world of warring kingdoms and strange magics in search of a peaceful life with his wife and infant son. His talents, however, make him a valuable weapon - and so the war between chaos and order begins anew.

It's 1950, and when Laura and Billy Hopkins return to Manchester from their honeymoon, they're in seventh heaven. But the euphoria gradually evaporates and they settle into a penny-pinching existence. When Billy spots an advertisement for education officers in Kenya, it sounds like the answer to a prayer, despite worries about the Mau Mau rebellion and dangerous creatures. After much debate, the Hopkins set off to Nairobi and start on the biggest adventure of their lives.

Sophia awakes in her new apartment. She is glad to be there, glad to have broken free of the quiet suffocation of her parental home, and glad finally to have struck out on her own. And good fortune has brought her to this curious building - The Coralena - tucked away in the only part of the city that had survived the ravages of the last war. She is leaving her troubled past behind and life seems full of possibility. She awakes, full of these promises and sees, written in the morning condensation of the inside window, one word - rage.

In David Lodge's last novel, Thinks..., the novelist Henry James was invisibly present in quotation and allusion. In Author, Author he is centre stage, sometimes literally. The story begins in December 1915, with the dying author surrounded by his relatives and servants, most of whom have private anxieties of their own, then loops back to the 1880s, to chart the course of Henry's 'middle years', focusing particularly on his friendship with the genial Punch artist and illustrator, George Du Maurier.

Five Caper Court is changing. The law chambers are expanding with a new group of tenants. And fresh from yet another scandal, the outrageous partner Leo Davis has decided it's time to settle down. He is selling his Belgravia pad and moving to the country with his young son. And he's going to marry the lovely Camilla. Or is he? As the City steams in the sweltering August sun, temptation begins to ensnare the inhabitants of Five Caper Court. The question is, who will fall and who will resist?

It's June 1897, and Kate is celebrating her 11th birthday on the day of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Kate's joy is short-lived, as tragedy strikes, threatening her family with the loss of all they hold dear. Before long, they are evicted from their home in Ancoats, Manchester, and with no wages coming in and a mother unable to cope, Kate has to grow up fast. Her deepest desire is to keep her brothers and sisters together.

Nylan, the only man among the matriarchal band of “angels” marooned on the high plateau of Candar. Forced to seek a life elsewhere, Nylan descends into a world of warring kingdoms and strange magics in search of a peaceful life with his wife and infant son. His talents, however, make him a valuable weapon—and so the war between chaos and order begins anew.