Showing results by narrator "Simon Brooks" in All Categories

During the European Renaissance, an age marked equally by revolutionary thought and constant warfare, it was armies, rather than philosophers, who shaped the modern European nation state. "Mobile cities" of mercenaries and other paid soldiers - made up of astonishingly diverse aggregations of ethnicities and nationalities - marched across the land, looting and savaging enemy territories. In the 15th century, Poland hired German, Spanish, Bohemian, Hungarian, and Scottish soldiers.

Manhattan’s most eligible bachelor, Kyle Hunter, is a Marine Corps vet, the son of a US senator and the prodigal heir of American corporate royalty. He’s rich, smart, and a notorious flirt. Kyle Hunter is also in love with his best friend. So why did he tell Manny they could never see each other again? Manny Tescadero isn’t about to be hurt twice. He’s lost a lot and if there’s one thing he learned in Afghanistan, it’s to defend yourself and those who need you at all costs.

A hapenny should live a simple life, but two years ago Maewyn Bridgepost discovered her magick and saved her village from a troll invasion. Now as an official Protector of the Wedge, Maewyn shares in the responsibility of keeping its residents safe. When her mentor, the wizard Callum, leads a Great Expedition, Maewyn joins, knowing that to be the best protector she can be, she must be familiar with what the world holds beyond her tiny village.

Deep within Crik Wood is a village in which every person has a unique ability called a "Talent". The mayor can talk to insects, a girl can disappear in a cloud of smoke, and a young boy called Jack has a living shadow. One thunderous night, Jack discovers the horrifying secret buried at the heart of his village. Thrown into an adventure filled with danger and discovery, Jack is faced with the question: "What would you do if your closest friend was your greatest enemy?" For Jack, that someone is his shadow.

Henry VIII was not born to be king. His birth was treated as an insignificant event and his early years were not filled with the kingly tutorship that his elder brother, Arthur, experienced. Popular myth states that as the second son he was destined to be the Archbishop of Canterbury! At his birth his father was not fully secure on the throne of England. This was a throne that had a habit of changing hands on an alarmingly regular basis, normally with foul means involved.

Richard the Lionheart remains one of England's most famous kings. His statue stands proudly outside the Houses of Parliament, yet who was Richard? Was there more to him than we see depicted in modern media - the great, missing king from the Robin Hood films who was always having his throne threated by his younger brother John! Or was Richard not worthy of the legend that seems to have been built up around his name?

Where do you run when a world is out to get you? AIs, Forged beings, superheroes, angels, and worlds that change in the blink of an eye - here is a richly imagined tale of ordinary redemption in an extraordinary world from one of the most provocative writers working today... Francine is a young runaway looking to find a definition of love she can trust. In Sankhara, she finds a palace where rooms are made of bone, flowers, and the hearts of heroes. She finds a scientist mapping the territory of the human mind. She finds a boyfriend.

What if everything you believe in suddenly turned its back on you? Set in a cattle car on a train bound for a death camp during the Holocaust, A Faithful Man chronicles the journey of Gershon, poet and religious Jew, who knows all too well what awaits him. As the train trudges closer and closer to its destination, Gershon’s prayers turn into soliloquies against a seemingly indifferent God, while the antagonistic Angel of Death licks his chops and tries to convince the poet that life is but a joke played on the living. Despite his disillusionment, Gershon must fight to keep his faith from dissolving in the face of unspeakable horror.

In which Sir Arthur Conan Doyle hires Mr Sherlock Holmes to investigate crop circles, and Dr Watson demonstrates to Mr Holmes the usefulness of astronomy.

As the littlest Hapenny, a race of little people, Maewyn Bridgepost spends her days from breakfast to midnight nibble scrubbing the hearth, slopping the pigs, and cooking for her guardian, Gelbane, who never spares a kind word. As if life as a servant isn't bad enough, Mae learns that Gelbane is a troll - and Hapennies are a troll delicacy!