The Prodigal Troll PDF Download

Author: Charles Finlay
Publisher: Pyr
ISBN: 161592616X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 407

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Book Description
The Prodigal Troll is a tale of a human child raised by a band of mythological creatures that is both hysterical and moving. When Lord Gruethrist's castle is laid under siege by an invading baron, he sends a trusted knight and nursemaid off with his infant son. Their escape across a wilderness landscape populated by fantastic creatures and torn by war takes unexpected turns until the baby is finally adopted by a mother troll grieving for her own lost child. Christened "Maggot" by a hostile stepfather, the human boy grows up amid the crude but democratic trolls until he leaves the band to rediscover the world of humankind. But the world of man is a complex and capricious place. Maggot must master its strange ways if he is to survive... let alone win the heart and hand of the Lady Portia. Finlay's society of trolls are unlike any you've ever read before, and his matriarchal medieval world, pitted as they are against an analog of Native American tribesmen, provides a rich setting for many poignant social and political insights. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Author: Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317044266
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 640

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Book Description
From vampires and demons to ghosts and zombies, interest in monsters in literature, film, and popular culture has never been stronger. This concise Encyclopedia provides scholars and students with a comprehensive and authoritative A-Z of monsters throughout the ages. It is the first major reference book on monsters for the scholarly market. Over 200 entries written by experts in the field are accompanied by an overview introduction by the editor. Generic entries such as 'ghost' and 'vampire' are cross-listed with important specific manifestations of that monster. In addition to monsters appearing in English-language literature and film, the Encyclopedia also includes significant monsters in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Russian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, African and Middle Eastern traditions. Alphabetically organized, the entries each feature suggestions for further reading. The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters is an invaluable resource for all students and scholars and an essential addition to library reference shelves.

Author: John Meaney
Publisher: Pyr
ISBN: 1591028051
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 581

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Book Description
Nulapeiron: a world isolated for twelve centuries. Its billions of inhabitants occupy subterranean strata, ruled by a trained aristocracy of lords and ladies whose power base is upheld by oracles. But revolution has touched all of its many cultures – failing in its intent, yet changing everything. Now Lord Tom Corcorigan – the commoner-turned-noble who renounced his power; the poet, logosopher, and holder of the key to understanding the myriad wonders of mu-space; the legendary one-armed warrior, former revolutionary, and would-be peacemaker – lies fatally wounded. His survival is dependent on his meeting with a mysterious seer whose spacetime-warping talents transcend the merely Oracular. It is a confrontation that will result in bitter tragedy and loss. Can the woman he loves be truly dead, or can quantum mysteries lie beyond the grave? Turning his back on a society sliding once more into anarchy and chaos, a disillusioned and despairing Tom wanders this strange, stratified world in search of meaning, love, and his own salvation. But it seems Nulapeiron is threatened by a vast, insidious, and terrifying enemy whose origins may lie beyond their world, beyond their understanding. And now is the time for legends to be reborn. Sequel to the acclaimed Paradox and the second book in the Nulapeiron Sequence, Context is a thrilling, daring and complex novel that confirms John Meaney as one of British science fiction’s most original and exciting practitioners.

Author: John Meaney
Publisher: Pyr
ISBN: 1591028124
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 549

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Book Description
The war against The Blight is over, and the subterranean realms of Nulapeiron have a chance for peace. But Tom Corcorigan, revolutionary and war hero, newly married and longing for the quiet life, knows that a greater force threatens his world: the planet-consuming Anomaly, which has absorbed billions of humans and alien beings into itself. Tom's association with the disembodied Eemur's Head, the flensed and bloody remains of a powerful Seer, changes him into something more than a poverty-stricken Lord. The spacetime-warping science of Seers and Oracles penetrates the heart of reality, bringing new enemies and allies into Tom's life. And his "story crystal," a gift from a mysterious mu-space Pilot, reveals more of the Pilots' history and true nature, and the existence of their home in a universe no ordinary human being can experience: the strange, shifting, living fractal city that is Labyrinth. Soon the Anomaly, an evil far more powerful than its offspring Blight, rips into the world, decimating the human realms. Among the free humans who survive in the floating terraformer spheres of Nulapeiron's skies, only the forces commanded by Tom Corcorigan have a chance against this omnipotent invader. For only a Warlord who is no longer human, who is willing to sacrifice everything, can deliver humanity from darkness. Resolution concludes the trilogy of Nulapeiron tales featuring Tom Corcorigan, bringing the story to a triumphant climax and revealing the devastating secret of the Oracles' creation.

Author: Gardner Dozois
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN: 1429985372
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 689

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Book Description
The thirty stories in this collection imaginatively take us far across the universe, into the very core of our beings, to the realm of the gods, and the moment just after now. Included here are the works of masters of the form and of bright new talents, including: Paolo Bacigalupi, Stephen Baxter, Elizabeth Bear, Aliete de Bodard, James L. Cambias, Greg Egan, Charles Coleman Finlay, James Alan Gardner, Dominic Green, Daryl Gregory, Gwyneth Jones, Ted Kosmatka, Mary Robinette Kowal, Nancy Kress, Jay Lake, Paul McAuley, Ian McDonald, Maureen McHugh, Sarah Monette, Garth Nix, Hannu Rajaniemi, Robert Reed, Alastair Reynolds, Mary Rosenblum, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Geoff Ryman, Karl Schroeder, Gord Sellar, and Michael Swanwick. Supplementing the stories are the editor's insightful summation of the year's events and a lengthy list of honorable mentions, making this book both a valuable resource and the single best place in the universe to find stories that stir the imagination, and the heart.

Author: Ian McDonald
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1591028116
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 658

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Book Description
As Mother India approaches her centenary, nine people are going about their business — a gangster, a cop, his wife, a politician, a stand-up comic, a set designer, a journalist, a scientist, and a dropout. And so is Aj — the waif, the mind-reader, the prophet — when she one day finds a man who wants to stay hidden. In the next few weeks, they will all be swept together to decide the fate of the nation. River of Gods teems with the life of a country choked with peoples and cultures — one and a half billion people, twelve semi-independent nations, nine million gods. Ian McDonald has written the great Indian novel of the new millennium, in which a war is fought, a love betrayed, a message from a different world decoded, as the great river Ganges flows on.

Author: Sean Williams
Publisher: Pyr
ISBN: 1591027977
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 577

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Book Description
Private detective Jonah McEwen is wanted for murder. Someone has been killing women who resemble Marylin Blaylock, his former colleague and ex-lover. The latest grisly discovery is right on his doorstep. He is the obvious suspect. The problem? He has been in a coma for three years - a coma he has no memory of entering. And there's worse to come. Using matter transporter technology, or "d-mat," a serial killer know only as the Twinmaker has been brutally torturing and killing perfect facsimiles of his victims and leaving the originals alive. As legal arguments rage about whether this even constitutes murder, Jonah finds himself in the awkward position of defending his innocence when his own exact copy might actually be guilty. Set in a time where the lines between human and machine are increasingly blurred, The Resurrected Man explores the future of terrorism, law enforcement, and globe-spanning conspiracies. A perfect blend of suspense and science fiction, the novel follows the complexities of Jonah and Marylin's relationship and their quest to find the killer before he strikes again, as well as unravelling the tensions between Jonah and his father - a man who has been dead for three years but who might yet hold the key to everything... Nominated for the Aurealis Award and winner of the Ditmar Award, The Resurrected Man was hailed as a "tour de force" in Australia, the author's home country, and described as "compulsively readable" by Locus.

Author: Gardner Dozois
Publisher: Baen Publishing Enterprises
ISBN: 1625793448
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 382

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Book Description
Thirteen tales dealing with the struggle of scientists toward truth in spite of opposition from religious and political forces arrayed against them. Authors include: George R.R. Martin Arthur C. Clarke Robert Silverberg Ursula K. Le Guin Keith Roberts Edgar Pangborn Chris Lawson Brendan DuBois James Alan Gardner Paul Park James Tiptree, Jr. Mike Resnick Greg Egan At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

Author: John Meaney
Publisher: Pyr
ISBN: 1591027950
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 545

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Book Description
Centuries of self-imposed isolation have transformed Nulapeiron into a world unlike any other - a world of vast subterranean cities maintained by extraordinary organic technologies. For the majority of its peoples, however such wonders have little meaning. Denied their democratic rights and restricted to the impoverished lower levels, they are subjected to the brutal law of the Logic Lords and the Oracles, supra-human beings whose ability to truecast the future maintains the status quo. But all this is about to change. In a crowded marketplace a mysterious, beautiful woman is brutally cut down by a militia squad's graser fire. Amongst the horrified onlookers is young Tom Corcorigan. He recognizes her. Only the previous day she had presented him with a small, seemingly insignificant info-crystal. And only now, as the fire in the dying stranger's obsidian eyes fades, does he comprehend who - or what - she really was: a figure from legend, one of the fabled Pilots. What Tom has still to discover is that his crystal holds the key to understanding mu-space, and so to freedom itself. He doesn't know it yet, but he has been given a destiny to fulfill - nothing less than the rewriting of his future, and that of his world... Spectacularly staged, thrillingly written and set in a visionary future, Paradox places John Meaney at the forefront of science fiction in this new century.

Author: John Joseph Adams
Publisher: Start Publishing LLC
ISBN: 1597802468
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 649

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Book Description
The Living Dead 2 has more of what zombie fans hunger for — more scares, more action, more... brains! Experience the indispensable series that defines the very best in zombie literature with original stories by Kelley Armstrong, Karina Sumner-Smith, Carrie Ryan, Jamie Lackey, Genevieve Valentine, Brian Keene, Simon R. Green, David Wellington, David Barr Kirtley, Matt London, Joe McKinney, Walter Greatshell, Bob Fingerman, S. G. Browne, Jonathan Maberry, Mira Grant, Marc Paoletti, cherie priest, Robert Kirkman, Max Brooks, David Moody, Sarah Langan, Steven Gould, and John Skipp & Cody Goodfellow. In addition to these original stories, The Living Dead 2 features 18 additional reprint zombie stories. All this adds up to a Landmark volume that helps define what zombie godfather John Skipp calls "The New Zombie Literature."