Showing results by narrator "David Pickering" in All Categories

It is difficult to say when the Immersion happened. There is little doubt as to where it began. It was in a village. Despite an impoverished life, the village held a community rich in the love of life and each other. Some would say these conditions are the essence of an Immersion. Mik and his friends are at that age when the future looks infinite in all its possibilities. Life in the Village has never seemed so good. This year they attend the county fair as adults. But there is a world outside that cares little for the country people and their yearly celebrations of life together.

The Maze is a pathway between worlds and times. Its Masters know the secret but decline to interfere. Its Guardians at different levels prevent invasion of one world by the inhabitants of another. But the alien hive-creatures called Chulpex mean to find their way past the Guardians to colonize a new world, and one ordinary, untrained Earthman is catapulted into wild adventure in his determination to stop them.

This bundle of books takes you to every corner of Greek mythology. It ranges from gods to drama. It covers legendary heroes like Heracles and Oedipus, and it sheds light on the dark side of the epic saga of these made-up creatures, gods, and historical men and women.

As we explore the ancient deities from Greece (also copied and somewhat altered by the Romans), we can find many fascinating stories and dramatic characteristics in them. Aside from looking at gods like Mercury and Hades, we will also look at stories that involve Eros (or Cupid), Psyche (the origin of a lot of our words in the dictionary), and the infamous and seductive nymphs and satyrs.

In The Boy King’s Tale, two entwined love stories, young and old, lead to betrayal, murder and the near overthrow of a kingdom in this epic story of son and bride, mother and lover, in the extraordinary true story adventure of the earliest days of one of England’s most revered kings, Edward III.

Avram Davidson was widely regarded as one of the most outstanding authors of short fantasy fiction in our time. This collection comprises his distinctive historical fantasies - tales of strange Mitteleurpoas, of magic in Victorian England, and on the American frontier. Here are "The Lineaments of Gratified Desire", "Traveller from an Antique Land", and "What Strange Stars and Skies"; here are dragons, cameras, and "The Singular Incident of the Dog on the Beach".

The Phoenix and the Mirror: or, The Enigmatic Speculum by Avram Davidson is a fantasy novel that tells the story of a sorcerer named Vergil Magus. This sorcerer was named for Virgil (or Publius Vergilius Maro), poet and author of The Aeneid. In an introduction to The Phoenix and the Mirror, Davidson claims that during the Dark Ages, people tended to forget that Virgil was a poet and instead believed he was a sorcerer. The Phoenix and the Mirror was the first book in which Davidson attempted to retell the legend of this mysterious sorcerer.

In 19th-century Paris, Justin Trotter, an immigrant from England, is making his way as a book translator while paying for his blind twin sister’s care. One evening, Marc Noël, Justin’s well-to-do friend and fellow thespian, invites him to a masquerade party at an abandoned schoolhouse. Justin hopes this will be an opportunity to get to know Marc’s lovely though sharp-tongued sister Francine.

Eleven-year-old Vincent van Gogh discovers a curious new world through a tunnel on the moor. A mysterious white rabbit introduces Vincent to Alice, and their quest begins - defeat the dreaded Jabberwock before it consumes all of Wonderland. A slithy tove, an ill-tempered caterpillar, and the Cheshire cat meet them along the path as their adventures take them through fields dancing with flowers, tangled forests, and looking-glass pools.

The history of Ukraine is a fascinating story of how cultures, political systems, religions, and power have met, intersected, morphed, and expanded. The region was relatively sparsely populated for much of ancient history, a wilderness of rivers, forests, and steppes, but that does not detract from the rich historical development of the region.

The Late Bronze Age Near East (c. 1500-1200 BCE) was a time and place where great kingdoms and empires vied for land and influence, playing high stakes diplomatic games, trading, and occasionally going to war with each other in the process. The Egyptians, Hittites, Babylonians, Assyrians, and several smaller Canaanite kingdoms were all part of this system, which was one of the first true “global” systems in world history and also one of the most materially prosperous eras in antiquity.

The history of Ukraine is a fascinating story of how cultures, political systems, religions, and power have met, intersected, morphed, and expanded. The region was relatively sparsely populated for much of ancient history, a wilderness of rivers, forests, and steppes, but that does not detract from the rich historical development of the region. This geographical formation has influenced some of the country’s key historical developments, as well as the location of its major settlements.

In this audiobook, many of the creatures and deities from Greek myths will be laid out, including their roles, powers, responsibilities, relationships, and background. You will have a perfect image of the basics of Greek mythology, and you will understand the interaction between the gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus.

Are you thinking of becoming a wedding photographer? There’s a lot to learn! From starting the day in the right mind-set, to getting to know the wedding guests, to taking photos of the first dance and the disco shots of the end, this is my tried-and-tested formula for getting better wedding shots.

Featuring Steve Carell and Amy Morton, Sin is a contemporary morality play about a helicopter traffic reporter who is trying to keep herself above life's messiness. Her soon-to-be-ex-husband is a charming alcoholic, her roommate is a glutton, she's trapped daily in a helicopter with an envious coworker, and her blind dates are disasters. It takes her dying brother to make her see that pride is the deadliest of sins, and it takes an Act of God to bring her back down to Earth.

Logicide! Heretic! Everyone knows cats can't talk. Everyone except Niclas, a halfwit slum boy who's just landed a new job as a talking cat's man-servant. But this is Laburnum and the age of Rationalism. Here, the Academy's Inquisition takes illogical happenings very seriously. Locking people up, throwing away keys, that sort of thing. And it's not just the Crimson Men Niclas and his new master have to worry about. A man with no name has come to the capital in search of the Black Science - they call him Witchhunter.

Jon-Joras had come to Earth simply to oversee arrangements for a dragon hunt to amuse the king. These hunts were as much pageantry as sport - the dragons, brought to Earth centuries before as pets of an alien race, were powerful but slow-witted....

Ten years ago, the Starsingers - tyrannical magicians who draw their power from the stars - suffered a brutal defeat at the hands of an ancient order of magic-resistant peacekeepers. Their rebellion quelled, their magic controlled, the five families of starlight magicians have been forced to live in a fragile truce with the starless commoners...until now. When an assassin begins killing Starsingers, the defiant peacekeepers are blamed, for who else could slay a magician? As another war approaches, Ezai and Ahryn form an unlikely alliance.

The redemption of the Erimocan Manaar had been incomplete. They had sought vindication, from any connections they had to the Reaping, through the eradication of the evil that they had failed to contain. But the true redemption of the Erimocans would never exist without a return to balance. The Immersion at the Windbeck County Fair was only the beginning of a struggle for that balance.

Ten years in the service of Kublai Kahn...Marco, Niccolo, and Maffeo Polo have seen magic and miracles, and accumulated riches beyond their dreaming. But now all they want is to return to their beloved Venice. Alas - as the only Westerners in the glittering Mongol court, they are high favourites with the Khan of Khans. And before he will allow them to leave, they must undertake one strange, final quest.