Showing results by author "Chaz Brenchley" in All Categories

In his new collection, Bitter Waters, Brenchley has assembled stories queer and weird: a man with morbidly sensitive hearing sets sail to chart dangerous rocks called the Silences; a ship's chandler from among his shadowed stock gives an old friend a compass that guides through Hell rather than point north; a eunuch and his dwarf lover leave the Sultan's harem to visit the baths of a city poisoned by magic; a youth who climbed the echelons of power thanks to his looks and guile finds being on the losing side of war has forced his to return to his sordid, early life.

All the stories in this book either fed into or grew out of the year I spent as crimewriter-in-residence on the St. Peter's Riverside Sculpture Project in Sunderland, 1993-94. At the time it seemed as though it had to be one of the strangest jobs in the country; retrospect assures me that I was too cautious in my judgment, and it was in fact the strangest job in the known universe.

The city of Maras-Sund has stood for more than 20 years - two lands joined together by a magical bridge the Marasai used to conquer the Sundain. But the man known as Issel has magic of his own - an ability to manipulate water - which he will use to free his people. He finds an ally in Jendre, the daughter of a general in Maras's army and a woman with her own vendetta against the regime. Her sister is held captive along with others whose life essences power the magical bridge between her land and Sund.

In the city known as Maras-Sund, an uneasy peace threatens to unravel between two cultures. And a young man and woman will find their own destinies: one determined to hold on to power and supremacy, the other struggling for survival - and freedom.

Three English girls migrate to London's Refuge, a haven for troubled teenagers, to escape problems at home, only to find that they are trapped in a nightmare from which there is no escape.

They call it Paradise - an inner-city danger zone, starved of resources, starved of hope; run-down housing, run-down lives. Then a miracle happens. A dying boy is healed by the touch of a charismatic young man. And that's only the beginning. Richard brings light into the darkest places.

The author plots 24 hours in the lives of a group of disparate characters drawn together in a few hours of terrifying carnage.

In this psychological suspense novel, an ex-cop who has just resigned from the police force is drawn back into a nightmarish race against time to find the killer who murdered his friend. The only clue he finds leads to a senior man in the local branch of the Samaritans.

At 24, Steph Anderson has been two years a widow. Her husband, Tom, was the second victim of a brutal serial murderer terrorizing Newcastle upon Tyne in northern England. The Sherpas, a self-help organization for the bereaved, introduce Steph to Alice Armstrong, a frail elderly woman whose twin brother was violently killed in the kitchen of the remote country cottage they shared. Working to restore the garden Alice's brother loved, Steph discovers renewed life and purpose.

When Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to sell a house, he little expects the horrors that await. As the guest and prisoner of the sinister Count Dracula, Jonathan is plunged into a terrifying world of ancient evil and unbearable fear. Back in England Jonathan’s wife, Mina, is concerned about her friend, Lucy, who is mysteriously ill and growing weaker by the day. Can Lucy’s friends save her from the worst horror of all, or are they all doomed to a similar fate?

A dragon's tears; Gilgamesh returned; lovers in space; gin, beer, blood; passion and heartbreak; wild legends, gritty truths - and one truly plucky realtor - you'll find all this and more in Eastlick and Other Stories. Shannon Page's kaleidoscopic collection of marvelous tales meanders from post-apocalyptic Cyprus, medieval Venice, and the Age of Legends, to the far reaches of outer space - and inner space too.

When Benedict left home, it was maybe the first time he'd stood up to his family. It was also meant to be the last. "No contact," he said. "I'm disinvesting." In all honesty, they weren't sorry to see him go. Ben had never had their talent, never had the family spark. When you run a city - especially the way the Macallans ran theirs - the last thing you need is a reluctant passenger.

Ben’s back - and this time he means business. Family business...Benedict Macallan, protagonist of Dead of Light and wonder-worker malgr lui, has travelled the length and breadth of Europe and still discovered no family like his own. Maybe Macallan blood really is a biological sport, a freak of evolution. What Ben does discover is that he can’t escape his birthright. He can run to the sun and hide among strangers, but he can’t hide his powers from himself, and when a friend asks for help he has to use them.

Rotten Row is the worst place we've made. Humankind can travel to the stars - but only those content to be flung as a data stream through space, flitting from male to female, dark to fair, one random discard body to the next. Those who go are the Upshot, rare individuals subject to their own rigid laws. And then there's Rotten Row. Outcasts in breach of all codes, in Rotten Row people design their own bodies and sell them on for re-use after. Outlandish bodies: furred and feathered, winged and hooved and worse.

Jonathan wakes up in hospital and is told he has been involved in a car crash. He doesn't remember the last three months, and the doctors say he's only been there three days. He also doesn't remember the woman by his bedside who says she is his wife, but she has the pictures that seem to prove it.

There's a serial killer on the loose in London - but the victims are anything but random. The brother of one of the victims is determined to discover the truth and enlists the help of a local man, known as 'Skip'. Together they explore London's seedy underworld to find missing Alfie - but when there's a killer on the loose, can anyone be trusted?

An excellent retelling of this classic Conan doyle Adventure. True to the original in plot, character, themes and style, this is an excellent introduction to Arthur Conan Doyle's timeless story.'Dinosaurs are most certainly not extinct. I have seen them.'An incredible claim by the eccentric Professor Challenger leads to an expedition deep into the Amazon, where an unlikely group of men find themselves on a journey into unknown dangers. Will they have the skills, strength, intelligence and good fortune to survive?

Rowan Coffey is 19 when he leaves university, a bright-burning boy come home to hide after the cruel, casual murder of a friend. Rowan had no alibi; exhausted after weeks of being under suspicion, he's looking for shelter, what's warm, familiar, and safe. But what he finds is chill. And danger. And death....