War Action Historical Fiction

While many people have heard of the battle at Rorke’s Drift, (featured in the film Zulu), and the one at Isandlwana that preceded it, few outside of South Africa know of an earlier and equally bloody conflict. Under a tyrannical king, the Zulu nation defended its territory with ruthless efficiency against white settlers. Only a naïve English vicar, with his family and some translators, are permitted to live in the king’s capital. It is into this cleric’s household that Thomas Flashman finds himself, as a most reluctant guest.

The Battle of the Lost Eagle saved Hadrian's Wall, but the new Roman governor of Britannia must stamp out the rebellion of the northern tribes or risk losing the province. Rampaging south with sword and flame under the command of their murderous chieftain Calgus, they have stretched his forces to the limit. For Marcus - now simply Centurion Corvus of the 1st Tungrian cohort - the campaign has become doubly dangerous.

The master of military historical fiction turns his discerning eye to the Korean War in this riveting new novel, which tells the dramatic story of the Americans and the Chinese who squared off in one of the deadliest campaigns in the annals of combat: the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, also known as Frozen Chosin.

Sigurd Haraldarson has proven himself a great Viking warrior and a dangerous enemy. He has gone a long way towards avenging the murder of his family. And yet his vengeance is not complete. The oath breaker King Gorm - who betrayed Sigurd’s father - still lives, and, so long as the king draws breath, the scales remain unbalanced. But Sigurd and his wolf pack of warriors are not at full strength, and to confront the king now would mean death.

Welcome to James Keane – card sharp and ladies’ man – and one of the finest soldiers of Wellington’s army. Keane – hot-tempered, a maverick, never quite accepted by his fellow officers – is in trouble for killing his man in a duel: An activity forbidden by Wellington. To avoid court martial, he takes on an unwelcome assignment: to form an ill-assorted bunch of reprobates into an elite unit capable of operating behind the lines. A nineteenth-century Dirty Dozen.

After gaining valuable experience as an aide to Governor Lord Horatio Hornblower, William Brewer is rewarded with a posting as first lieutenant on the frigate HMS Defiant, bound for American waters. Early in their travels, it seems as though Brewer’s greatest challenge will be evading the wrath of a tyrannical captain who has taken an active dislike to him. But when a hurricane sweeps away the captain, the young lieutenant is forced to assume command of the damaged ship, and a crew suffering from low morale.

In the concluding novel of his epic Civil War tetralogy, Jeff Shaara tells the dramatic story of the final eight months of battle from multiple perspectives: the commanders in their tents making plans for total victory, as well as the ordinary foot soldiers and cavalrymen who carried out their orders until the last alarm sounded. The Civil War did not end quietly. It climaxed in a storm of fury that lay waste to everything in its path. The Fateful Lightning brings to life those final brutal, bloody months of fighting with you-are-there immediacy.

The United States is ready to make a triumphant return to the moon, striking out boldly into the solar system in an attempt to regain the confidence of the heady days of the Apollo program. But a shocking discovery at Shackleton Crater brings the first Prometheus mission to an abrupt halt. Remote robots have uncovered human skeletal remains - and forensic analysis at NASA reveals the corpse to be over 700 million years old.

Now that Pauline Esmeralda Simone-Thierry von Cant has been rescued from Castle Cant by her half-sister and former maidservant, Lucy, the real adventure begins. For there are forces that want to tear Pauline and Lucy apart. In their land, a war rages over chewing gum.

It's the spring of 1862. The Confederate Army in the West teeters on the brink of collapse following the catastrophic loss of Fort Donelson. Commanding general Albert Sidney Johnston is forced to pull up stakes, abandon the critical city of Nashville, and rally his troops in defense of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. Hot on Johnston's trail are two of the Union's best generals: the relentless Ulysses Grant, fresh off his career-making victory at Fort Donelson, and Don Carlos Buell.

It is summer 1943. Two of the Allies’ most important plans are at grave risk: Operation Overlord’s invasion of France and the Manhattan Project’s race to build the atomic bomb. A furious President Roosevelt turns to OSS spy chief Wild Bill Donovan — and Donovan turns to Dick Canidy and his teams behind enemy lines. They’ve certainly got their work cut out for them....

Rome, AD 41. Caligula has been assassinated and the Praetorian Guard have proclaimed Claudius Emperor – but his position is precarious. His three freedmen, Narcissus, Pallas and Callistus, must find a way to manufacture a quick victory – but how? Pallas has the answer: retrieve the Eagle of the Seventeenth, lost nearly 40 years before. Who but Vespasian could lead a dangerous mission into the gloomy forests of Germania?

As England falls under a blanket of peace with the restoration of Charles II, in distant Jamaica all is not well. Though there is peace with Spain, there is no peace "beyond the line". It seems that the West Indies have become the private estate of the King of Spain. But Ned Yorke, Admiral of the Brethren and leader of the Buccaneers will not kowtow to the new Governor in Jamaica who is bent on weakening the Island’s defences and destroying its currency. The Buccaneers must not remain idle.

Charles II returns from exile bringing with him unease to the Spanish Main. In this vivid description of seventeenth-century buccaneers, Ned Yorke, the leader and hero of the swashbuckling band are depended upon for the defense of Jamaica, fighting with captured Spanish guns. Daring raids on the Spanish seem inevitable, as Yorke sets out on the high seas to distant adventures on behalf of the King and his own honor.

The Hundred Years War still rages on and the French army thirsts for Thomas Blackstone's blood. Blackstone battles to strengthen Edwards III's claim to the throne and confronts the might of the French army. But, when his friend turns assassin, Blackstone is faced with an impossible choice: to save the English prince or sacrifice his son. Will he abandon his sworn oath to protect the future King of England? Or will he protect his family at the cost of the nation?

Poitiers was in the past, but it changed the life of Sir John Hawkwood, for he gained his spurs and that was another step on his journey. Once he realised that he had more ambition than just to serve the king of England, he joined forces with Albert Sterz and formed a company of mercenaries who hired out their swords. Fighting for the king of England against Burgundy, they gained a reputation which made others both fear and hate them in equal measure.

The Black Death! England has won the war with France, but the disease which rampages through the land takes both rich and poor, warrior and worker. John Hawkwood and his two companions spend the winter in the north. It is in the spring that he begins to mould his company into a fighting force, and he serves the Baron Mortimer on the Welsh Border. There his men learn to fight as one, and John Hawkwood begins the change from archer to man at arms.

1812. Arriving back in England after his successes in the Adriatic, Captain Sir Thomas Kydd is bestowed with honours. In London, he's greeted by the Prince Regent, who, despite Kydd's protestations that he's happy with his present command, insists he be given a bigger ship - HMS Thunderer, a 74-gun ship of the line. But she's old, and being part of a standing fleet, Kydd's chances of further fame and distinction are slim indeed.

Quartered in a crumbling Portuguese fort, Richard Sharpe and his men are attacked by an elite French unit, led by an old enemy of Sharpe’s, and suffer heavy losses. The army’s high command blame Sharpe for the disaster and his military career seems to be ruined. His only hope is to redeem himself on the battlefield. So with his honour at stake, against an overwhelming number of French troops, Sharpe leads his men to battle in the narrow streets of Fuentes de Oñoro.

A modern master of the historical novel, Jeff Shaara has painted brilliant depictions of the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and World War I. Now, The Rising Tide begins a staggering work of fiction bound to be a new generation’s most poignant chronicle of World War II.