It all begins with a hot air balloon trip and three bottles of champagne. Allan and Julius are ready for some spectacular views, but they're not expecting to land in the sea and be rescued by a North Korean ship carrying contraband uranium. Soon Allan and Julius are at the center of a complex diplomatic crisis.
Beginning in the Sudan and London of 1884 and played out against the shambolic end of the Empire, an Honourable Man draws on the lives of two real men: Charles Gordon, a heroic, hubristic, career army man whose refusal to obey orders helped bring down the Gladstone government, and W T Stead, editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, the father of tabloid journalism. Their story is intercut with the tale of a poor, working woman in London.
The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets and stars faced destruction. Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade. Deep within a fabled labyrinth a Planet of the Dead proscribed to mortals, lay a fugitive Mind. Both the Culture and the Idirans sought it. It was the fate of Horza, the Changer, and his motley crew of unpredictable mercenaries, human and machine, actually to find it, and with it their own destruction.
When you play with fire, everyone gets burned . . . Joe Weeks is new to the Grange Estate. Tolerant, doesn't mind a bit of weed, doesn't try to pull other men's women. Live and let live is his motto . . . Eddie Quinn is the hardest man on the estate. Everyone knows that it's a bad idea to cross him, or his pit bull. But everyone also knows he's honest, as drug dealers go. Joe's pleased when Eddie offers him a job. But then he meets Katya. A prostitute. A slave. And desperate to escape from Eddie.
Rome, AD 68. Vespasian is tasked with the impossible: should he quell the revolt in Judaea, as the emperor Nero has instructed? If his conquest succeeds, he risks becoming the sole object of the emperor's jealousy. If he fails, then his punishment will be severe. But Nero has committed suicide. Sabinus, Vespasian's brother, is caught between the warring factions of Aulus Vitellius, a cruel opportunist, and the noble Marcus Salvius Otho, who finds himself severely outnumbered. Seeing no aid on the horizon, Sabinus must rely on wit to ensure the safety of his family. With a contested throne, now may finally be Vespasian's time - to ascend, to conquer, and to take control of Rome itself.
As the city rebuilds from the onslaught of sorcery that nearly destroyed it, the great Houses of Paris still contest one another for control over the capital. Those caught between new fears and old hatreds must find strength -- or fall prey to a magic that seeks to bind all to its will.
Many years ago, Johnny Conroy was forced into a shotgun wedding with a Manchester gangster's daughter. He's never even begun to love her, but can't leave without being killed by her vicious father. He turns out to be a success in the car-theft business, with a used car lot that provides both cover and a way to fence the cars. But now the best thing in his life - his daughter Angel - is sixteen and history seems to be repeating itself when she falls for one of his employees.
Marcus Salvius Magnus, leader of the South Quirinal Crossroads Brotherhood, has long dominated his part of Rome's criminal underworld. From rival gangs and unpaid debts to rigged chariot races and blood feuds -- if you have a problem, Magnus is the man to solve it. But while Magnus inhabits the underbelly of the city, his patron, Gaius Vespasius Pollo, moves in a different circle. As a senator, he needs men like Magnus to do his dirty work.
When Harry Whittaker, much loved star of stage and screen, dies suddenly of a heart attack, he finds himself still in this world. Trapped in a bizarre afterlife, he struggles to free himself. Meanwhile, his estranged son Richard is also trying to escape -- from his failing cafe, his dotty mother and the wrong girlfriend. Perhaps what they all need is a guardian angel
Rome, AD 63. Vespasian has been ordered to a far-flung empire in Africa to free two hundred Roman citizens who have been enslaved by a desert kingdom. But when Vespasian reaches the city, he discovers tensions spilling over into bloody chaos. Battling thirst and exhaustion, Vespasian must help the Romans escape, their only route to survival a desperate race across a barren desert with a hoard of heavily armed rebels at their backs. Meanwhile, back in Rome, Rome's elite fear for their lives as Emperor Nero's extravagance goes unchecked. Can anyone stop the Emperor before Rome devours itself? And if Nero is to be toppled, who will be the one to put his head in the lion's mouth?
Alexander the Great's sudden and unexpected death has left the largest, most formidable empire the world has ever seen leaderless. As the fight to take control descends into ruthless scheming and bloody battles, no one is safe. As wars on land and sea are lost and won, and promises are made only to be broken, long-buried secrets come to light in the quest for the true circumstances surrounding Alexander's death. Was he murdered? Could he have been sowing the seeds of discord deliberately, through his refusal to name an heir? And who will eventually ascend to power at the helm of the empire - if it manages to survive that long? Can one champion vanquish all...?
Mia and Michelle couldn't look more alike or act more differently. Mia is now a model on the edge of fame. Michelle is only interested in the man who’s fallen in love with her. When Mia's success goes wrong, it’s Michelle who has to try to save her sister’s career. That's something Mia will never, ever forgive…
