When four of Shamus Frazer's supernatural tales appeared in two anthologies in 1965, editor Charles Birkin hailed him as a 'welcome newcomer'. Yet this 'newcomer' had, in the mid-1930s, been acclaimed as a master of satirical irony, and a natural successor to Evelyn Waugh. In the intervening thirty years, Frazer had been a teacher in England, a Marine serving in Europe during the Second World War, and a lecturer in Singapore, where he wrote several school texts, one of which, THE CROCODILE DIES TWICE, has become a standard text. Although Frazer turned to the supernatural tale late in his career, his flair for the genre was clearly recognised by the praise his stories received. Five of his weird tales were published before his death in 1966, but the author had completed a further five; and he had intended to publish all ten stories together in a single volume, WHERE HUMAN PATHWAYS END.
Ash-Tree Press is proud to make this collection available for the first time. In his introduction, Richard Dalby looks at the varied career of Shamus Frazer, while the author's widow, Joan Neale Frazer, provides a glimpse of the colourful private life of the writer. In these ten tales and one poem set where human pathways end, the dead and the un-dead meet in settings both domestic and fantastic, where the weird and horrific are never far away, and where the human protagonists find - often to their cost - that they have no place. Views: 59
Pern: a beautiful world colonized by humans, terrorized by the deadly spores called Thread, and defended by magnificent flying dragons. Anne McCaffrey's bestselling tales of this planet have yielded a multitude of unforgettable characters. And now, after years of urging by devoted readers, one of the most popular denizens of Pern takes center stage in a novel that chronicles his extraordinary life. Along with the dragonriders, perhaps none are so revered on Pern as the harpers, whose songs record history, warn of the coming of Thread, and prepare Pern's people for the future. And no one is more influential than the Masterharper of Pern. The son of renowned composer Petiron and gifted singer Merelan, Robinton is a prodigy from birth and enjoys a special rapport with the telepathic dragons. But it is a time when Thread has not been a threat for centuries, the harpers have fallen into disfavor, and one despotic man is plotting to take over Pern. In this climate of unrest, Robinton will come into his own… driven by his belief in music, in the dragons, and in the salvation of his beloved Pern. Views: 59
Earl Derr Biggers classic detective Charlie Chan returns, in this short novel originally published in 1974 in Charlie Chan Mystery Magazine. Here, Chan -- on vacation in Paris -- finds himself helping the French police investigate murder at an international chess tournament. This is a collector's hardcover edition in dust jacket. Views: 59
Late one Friday night in a well to do neighborhood, four teenagers are playing a game, but some games should not be played. Views: 59
He may be a Confederate turned-bounty-hunter with a predilection for trouble, but Lou Prophet knows you never overstay your welcome in a town that wants you dead. Now, all because a young fool with a lousy poker hand couldn't hold his temper, Prophet has a bloodthirsty posse aiming to pump him full of lead for murdering the son of prominent cattleman Gerard Loomis.Unfortunately, before he has the chance to hightail it out of the Dakota Badlands, Prophet is shot and left for dead. Saved by a woman rancher named Layla Carr, who hides him out at her ranch, Prophet realizes he must find a way to finish this fight before Loomis finds a way to even the score ... Views: 59
A man from the past...Greta Rodgers doesn't want to go to her twentieth high school reunion. Until the chance to meet an old high school crush changes her mind. Unfortunately, the reunion doesn't go as she'd hoped. Her crush introduces her to his wife, people laugh at her outdated clothes, then she gets mugged.But the night takes a turn for the better when a handsome stranger comes to her rescue. A man who isn't really a stranger at all. Views: 59
From the author of The Covenant of the Flame and The Fifth Profession. Brendan Buchanan is an undercover intelligence operative who has impersonated more than 200 people in the last eight years. But now his multi-personality occupation threatens to destroy him.From Publishers WeeklyThe creator of Rambo and author of the bestselling The Fifth Profession has not lost his touch; this is a thrill-a-minute adventure novel. During his career as an undercover Army Special Operations agent, Brendan Buchanan has taken on more than 200 assumed identities. But when his cover is blown on a drug sting in Mexico, he is forced back on the identity he knows the least--his own. Buchanan receives a desperate SOS from Juana Mendez, the operative who posed years before as his wife. Determined to save her, Buchanan travels across the U.S. and ultimately back to Mexico accompanied by fearless, sexy Washington Post reporter Holly McCoy, who knows a lot about covert operations and is planning a feature on Buchanan. During their travels, they uncover a bizarre tale of a missing opera diva, her billionaire industrialist lover and his plot to destroy ancient Mayan ruins in order to exploit the world's greatest untapped oilfield. With all the action of a James Bond adventure and just a dash of the melancholy of John le Carre, this is a terrific suspense thriller, but it will probably be even more satisfying on the silver screen where the novel's lack of emotional or intellectual resonance will be subsumed in the highly kinetic adventure. Major ad/promo; movie rights to Universal; BOMC alternate. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Kirkus ReviewsAnother bloated action-thriller from Morrell (The Covenant of the Flame, 1991, etc.), who once wrote lean and mean but now enfolds his still-clever ideas in overblown, often bombastic plots. Here, he takes a nifty notion--a top-secret agent losing his own identity amidst his many false personae--and goes nearly nowhere with it, fast. During the past eight years, Brendan Buchanan has been scores of men, playing each with the skill of a de Niro. His newest role is that of Ed Potter, renegade ex-DEA agent; his goal, to take down a pair of vile twin Mexican drug-dealers. But while meeting the twins in Canc£n, Buchanan/Potter is spotted by Bob Bailey, an oil worker who knew him as ``Jim Crawford'' when the two were held hostage by Iraqi forces. Bailey's approach forces Buchanan to kill the dealers, leading to the spy's arrest, torture, and a head wound that exacerbates his growing confusion about his many roles. Bribed out of jail, Buchanan flees to the US only to be targeted for blackmail by Bailey, working with a sexy reporter; moreover, Buchanan is warned by his superiors that this time he'll get no new i.d.: He's out of the field. But after Bailey is killed by Buchanan's superiors, the agent is back in action when he gets a postcard from an old partner asking for help. Linking up with--and bedding--the reporter, Buchanan follows a twisty trail that leads him to the Mexican jungle, a billionaire's bloody oil conspiracy, and a fatal re-creation of an ancient Mayan gladiatorial game. Meanwhile, the insubordinate agent's superiors have marked him for death.... Morrell squanders his ace--his spy's acting skills (compare Jack Higgins's similar but more cleverly played premise in Eye of the Storm, 1992)--and too often substitutes noisy action for suspense. But the vile villains, gorgeous women, and manly doings, however silly, may still mollify the author's many fans. (First printing of 100,000) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. Views: 59
Lost In Paradise: Ellen thought she'd hit bottom when her lover left her and the authorities in Jamaica closed her gallery and seized her paintings. She hoped to start a new life and career in Boca Raton, Florida. But there she finds that her mother is in the throes of Alzheimer's and her powerful attorney brother is squeezing her small inheritance dry. When she tries to fight back, she strays into the web of one of the nastiest villains to step out of a cellblock. With death and humiliation staring her in the face and no one to help her, Ellen has to call upon resources she's never tapped before to save herself and her mother. Views: 59
