Showing results by narrator "Napoleon Ryan" in All Categories

Firmly rooted in modern archaeological discoveries about Bronze Age cultures, The Shattered Horse paints a vivid picture of a decaying golden age seen through the eyes of the survivors of Trojan War. At the center of the story is Prince Astyanax: heir to the Trojan kingdom, marked for death as a child by the Greek conquerors, escaping, perhaps by divine intervention, and doomed, perhaps, to repeat history.

The man known as Falconer was born the bastard son of a whore, served the royal court as a predator trainer, and warred against the infidel Saracens as a conscripted soldier in the Holy Land. But it wasn't until he found himself in the arms of a creature called Pythia that he found his destiny - as a vampire.

To prevent the escalating possibility of the Russian mob getting its hands on the main ingredient to build an atomic bomb, British agent Charlie Muffin is sent to Moscow, where he must go undercover as an arms trader to infiltrate leading Russian Mafia families.

Why Shakespeare? What explains our continued fascination with his poems and plays? In Living with Shakespeare, Susannah Carson invites 40 actors, directors, scholars, and writers to reflect on why his work is still such a vital part of our culture.

Gruffydd ap Cynan is missing, his army scattered. Twelve long years have passed since the king was taken prisoner and his people think him long dead. In the dirty shadows of Chester Castle, a beaten prisoner looks up from the squalor of the street. Dressed in rags, mocked and pelted with filth, he seems a broken man. Yet deep inside, the desire for freedom burns like the hottest furnace.

1135 AD. Wales is a broken land. Many of its true-born rulers are in hiding, or married into noble English families. But, though low and dim, a flame of vengeance still burns... In the southern kingdom of Deheubarth, Gerald of Windsor governs. Firm but fair, he commands the respect of those he reigns over, and the love of Nesta, his wife. But then treachery strikes from the heart of the English ranks and peace and stability are quickly forgotten.

In A Genius for Deception, Nicholas Rankin offers a lively and comprehensive history of how Britain bluffed, tricked, and spied its way to victory in two world wars. As Rankin shows, a coherent program of strategic deception emerged in World War I, resting on the pillars of camouflage, propaganda, secret intelligence, and special forces. All forms of deception found an avid sponsor in Winston Churchill, who carried his enthusiasm for deceiving the enemy into World War II.

Charlie Muffin is back at rock bottom. The ex-spy has had a rough few years since British intelligence first turned on him and forced him to go into hiding. He’s drinking again, forgetting things - getting soft. He hasn’t even noticed the tap on his phone. Though Charlie doesn’t know it yet, the walls are closing in again. He takes a job for his only friend, Rupert Willoughby, who sends Charlie to Rome to check the security system for some valuable jewels. Charlie has chosen the wrong time to visit the Eternal City. There’s a mole in the British embassy there, and the agents of the East and West are homing in fast.

In the autumn of 1940, four children meet on a train. Behind them is London, under heavy aerial attack; ahead of them is a ship bound for the safe shores of Canada. Arthur has promised his mother not to let his little brother, Philip, out of his sight. Pippa and Dora are on their own: polar opposites, brought together by the adventure of a lifetime. But disaster strikes mid-Atlantic, and in the chaos one of the children makes a choice that will determine the course of their lives forever.

After rescuing Pythia, the creature who turned him into a vampire, Aleric follows her back to the land of the Saracens. There, they must raise an army, for Aleric's lost love, Enora, has become the Queen of the Wastelands. Aided by her minions and her legions of wolves, she has begun the quest to call the Dark Madonna from beyond the Veil into the world of man. To stop the end of all, Aleric must become what he was destined to be - the Messiah of the Damned - and lead the undead in a final battle against the Mother of Darkness.

Fergus Fletcher is a hit man. For five thousand pounds, he'll kill anyone you want. For seven, he'll frame someone else. Pretending to kill someone is a first, but Alex Pennan has stolen from the mob and needs to fake his own death. Fergus is looking for love. So is Sam Ireland, a private investigator and part-time bike messenger. But she's got her hands on a very important package and is in a world of trouble with the mob. Joe Pepper, pillar of society and corrupt gangland fixer, will stop at nothing to intercept the package and protect his reputation.

1081. William's bloody conquest is over and Britain is under Norman rule. But one bastion of resistance remains: Wales. A divided land where brother fights brother and kings battle for power. The English use this to further their own ends, and while one king is tempted by an offer he cannot resist, the others wage war over long-forgotten feuds.

It could be the most sensational defection of all time. The head of the Russian KGB’s cipher section comes with every code, every plot, every secret. But his most startling disclosure of all is that the Russians are planning a shocking assassination. But the defector doesn’t know who. Or where. Or how. Or when. All Charlie knows is that he must stop the murder from happening - without being marked for death himself.

They call Charlie Muffin a traitor. He has been on the run ever since the blow-up in Berlin, when British intelligence declared him obsolete and tried to kill him. Charlie outsmarted them then, and he has done so ever since, staying one step ahead by forgoing any semblance of an even halfway normal life. Now he is alone in Hong Kong and his only protector and friend, Rupert Willoughby, is a hemisphere away. Now Rupert is in trouble. He has invested £6 million in a massive new ocean liner but the ship is destroyed by arsonists, burning completely down in a Hong Kong harbor.

Making his way from the Polish border in the west, through the capital city and the heart of the 2014 revolution, to the eastern frontline near the Russian border, seasoned war reporter Tim Judah brings a rare glimpse of the reality behind the headlines. Along the way he talks to the people living through the conflict - mothers, soldiers, businessmen, poets, politicians - whose memories of a contested past shape their attitudes, allegiances, and hopes for the future.

Obesity has hit epidemic levels. In the developed, and much of the developing world, it is now 'normal' to be overweight with a BMI of 25 or more. And the global population is getting fatter all the time as a powerful mix of cheap foods, social behaviours, and commercial pressures drives us to the biscuit tin again and again and again. But this is not the worst of it....

Charlie Muffin has come back to England. The ex-spy, a veteran of 25 years’ service to the Crown, was last seen in Berlin, where an attempt on his life by his own organization led to international embarrassment. They had expected Charlie—a disheveled, middle-aged survivor of every double cross in the book—to die easily. Instead, he disappeared.

Fifteen years ago, Sam Becker's sister was killed, a tragedy that haunts him to this day - particularly as his best friend, Marcus, was jailed for her murder. Driving home from the bittersweet celebration of what would have been her thirtieth birthday, Sam is confronted with a terrifying scene, and has just moments to try to save four lives. In the aftermath of this chilling drama, he is hailed as a hero by the press - but to the investigating police, things do not add up.

In this fresh and provocative view of a seven-million-year evolutionary journey, Finlayson demonstrates the radical implications for the interpretation of fossils and technologies and shows that understanding humans within an ecological context provides insights into the emergence and spread of Homo sapiens worldwide.

After a trumped-up trial, Charlie Muffin lands in jail for treason - ready to learn the secrets of his fellow inmate, a convicted British traitor. Nobody expected KGB agents to stage a prison break to free their man. Charlie faces another choice: go to Moscow to complete his assignment or face 40 long years in prison. It doesn’t take him long to decide. Charlie doesn’t have the full picture, of course, which is the way of espionage. But Charlie doesn’t regret his Iron Curtain escape, as it leads him to Natalia Fedova, the KGB interrogator assigned to determine if his defection is genuine or staged.