Sea Fiction

In the aftermath of Gettysburg, the 35th Regiment of the Union Army were pulled through a time warp, leaving them stranded in a strange alien world. Now it's time for exploration - and to discover a way to survive.

1793 and Europe is ablaze with war. Thomas Paine Kydd, a young wig-maker from Guildford, is seized by the press gang to be a part of the crew of the 98-gun line-of-battle ship Duke William. The ship sails immediately and Kydd has to learn the harsh realities of shipboard life fast. Despite all that he goes through in danger of tempest and battle he comes to admire the skills and courage of the seamen - taking up the challenge himself to become a true sailor.

With its sophisticated world-building and characterization, A Sea of Shields is an epic tale of friends and lovers, of rivals and suitors, of knights and dragons, of intrigues and political machinations, of coming of age, of broken hearts, of deception, ambition, and betrayal. It is a tale of honor and courage, of fate and destiny, of sorcery. It is a fantasy that brings us into a world we will never forget, and which will appeal to all ages and genders.

Maggie Adair’s first year as a teacher at Downey House was a surprising success. After making the leap from an inner-city school in Glasgow, she’s learned to appreciate the mellower pace of the girls’ boarding school by the sea. Now engaged to her longtime boyfriend, sweet and steady Stan, Maggie’s just got to stop thinking about David McDonald, her colleague at the boys’ school down the road. Well, hasn’t she? Can Maggie take a leaf out of the Well Behaved Teacher’s exercise book and stick to her plan for a small but elegant wedding and settled life of matrimony?

When the CIA needed a fall guy, Dugan was the one it betrayed. Forsaken by those he’d trusted and with nowhere to turn, he’s made it his mission to stop the miscreants who ruined his life before they can destroy anyone else’s. From human-trafficking rings and remorseless hit men to byzantine plots to alter the world order, Dugan must outwit those chartered with terminating him while battling overwhelming odds.

In the third installment of his acclaimed anthology series, master of crime fiction Lawrence Block has gathered together the best talent from popular fiction to produce an anthology of short stories based on masterpieces of American art. Among the star-studded lineup of writers you'll find Jerome Charyn, Jane Hamilton, Christa Faust, John Sandford, Sara Paretsky, Walter Mosley, Charles Ardai, Barry Malzberg, and Janice Eidus.

With war looming, Emelin's plan is simple: break the Mother's bindings while her more diplomacy-minded friends persuade the rest of the world to join their rebellion. Unfortunately, their would-be allies are far too concerned about Em's exact connection to the feared and hated Silent Death. They might risk their lives for the world's only unbound mage, but they'll never fight for a fae prince's puppet. Forced to hide the explosive secret of their love, Em and Creon journey to the plague-cursed continent to learn more about the bindings.

The novel that launched the astonishing career of one of the 20th century's greatest writers of action and suspense - an acclaimed classic of heroism and the sea in World War II. The story of men who rose to heroism, and then to something greater, HMS Ulysses takes its place alongside The Caine Mutiny and The Cruel Sea as one of the classic novels of the navy at war. It is the compelling story of Convoy FR77 to Murmansk - a voyage that pushes men to the limits of human endurance.

January 1801, and Captain Alan Lewrie, RN, known as "St. Alan the Liberator" for freeing (stealing!) a dozen black slaves on Jamaica to man his frigate years before, is at last being brought to trial for it, with his life on the line. At the same time, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, and Prussia are forming a League of Armed Neutrality, to Napoleon Bonaparte's delight, to deny Great Britain their vital exports, even if it means war. England will need all her experienced sea dogs, but...even Alan Lewrie?

Returning to England after the dramatic capture of Martinique, Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Bolitho attains an all too brief respite from war and politics. But the shadow of a new conflict already darkens the horizon. The old enemy, France, forges an uneasy alliance with America - threatening the safety of British trade routes. Although ordered immediately to the Indian Ocean, Bolitho’s thoughts are of his own - and the Navy’s - past. Both Nelson and Collingwood died in their country’s service.

Student glass magician Opal Cowan's newfound ability to steal a magician's powers makes her too powerful. Ordered to house arrest by the Council, Opal dares defy them, traveling to the Moon Clan's lands in search of Ulrick, the man she thinks she loves. Thinks because another man - now her prisoner - claims Ulrick's desire for blood magic has eclipsed his passion for her.

The second half of the special summer test finds the students duking it out aboard a luxurious cruise ship. Divided into 12 groups patterned after the signs of the Zodiac, all four classes are faced with a devilishly difficult test of their thinking skills. They may have survived the island, but they're not out of hot water yet!

Robbed of his wife and ousted from his huge shipping empire, Nick Berg is hell-bent on vengeance. It is the sea which gives him his opportunity. When his arch-rival's luxury liner is trapped in the tempestuous Antarctic, Nick stakes all to pit his powerful salvage tug, the Warlock, in a desperate race against time and the elements....

It is 1943 and Captain Mike Blackwood, Royal Marine Commando, is a survivor. Young, toughened, and tried in the hellish crucible of Burma, he labours beneath the weight of tradition and the burden of his own self-doubt. For him, the horizon is not the lip of the trench seen by men of the Corps in the previous war, but the ramp of a landing craft smashing down into the sea, and the fire of the enemy on a Sicilian beach.

Neridia Small just wants to fit in - but that's hard when you stand six foot six in your bare feet. Isolated and lonely in her remote cottage on the shores of Loch Ness, she dreams of finding a man who'll look past her size and see the real her. A nice, normal man.... John Doe is a sea dragon knight from Atlantis. He reluctantly took human form in order to carry out a perilous quest. Though John has found unexpected friendship as part of a unique all-shifter firefighting team, his heart will always lie under the ocean...until the night he rescues Neridia.

Ea has always felt like an outsider. As a spinner dolphin who has recently come of age, she's now expected to join in the elaborate rituals that unite her pod. But Ea suffers from a type of deafness that prevents her from mastering the art of spinning. When catastrophe befalls her family, and Ea knows she is partly to blame, she decides to make the ultimate sacrifice and leave the pod.

Sir Oliver Tessilian, a Cornish nobleman, is abandoned or betrayed by everyone he ever loved. He is framed for murder, affronted and shunned by his fiancee and sold into slavery by his half-brother.

Desperate to join the expedition searching for her mother and the other missing Botanists, Daisy and her friends abandon the safety of magical Mallowmarsh. Facing danger on the high seas, they find themselves pursued across the waves by ruthless Grim Reapers. But they will need help to defeat these dangerous enemies. Their greatest hope: to find the legendary Iffenwild, a mysterious city hidden beyond the sea and lost to time. New discoveries await, and a strange botanical magic stirs beneath the waves.

It is 1910 and Maia, tragically orphaned at 13, has been sent from England to start a new life with distant relatives in Manaus, hundreds of miles up the Amazon. She is accompanied by an eccentric and mysterious governess who has secret reasons of her own for making the journey. Both soon discover an exotic world bursting with new experiences in this highly colourful, joyous, and award-winning adventure.

With a little determination and a lot of charm, Rosa Capoletti took a run-down pizza joint and turned it into an award-winning restaurant, voted the “best place to propose” three years in a row. For Rosa, though, there has been no real romance since her teenaged love affair with Alexander Montgomery ended without explanation a decade ago. But guess who’s just come back to town? Reunited at the beach house where they first fell in love, Rosa and Alexander discover that the secrets of the past are not what they seem.