Orion Books

Gully Foyle, Mechanic's Mate 3rd Class. EDUCATION: none SKILLS: none MERITS: none RECOMMENDATIONS: none That's the official verdict on Gully Foyle, unskilled space crewman. But right now he is the only survivor on his drifting, wrecked spaceship, and when another space vessel, the Vorga, ignores his distress flares and sails by, Gully becomes obsessed with revenge. He endures 170 days alone in deep space before finding refuge on the Sargasso Asteroid and returning to Earth to track down the crew and owners of the Vorga. But, as he works out his murderous grudge, Gully Foyle also uncovers a secret of momentous proportions...

Max Frei, and the LABYRINTHS OF ECHO series, is a multi-million copy selling Russian literary sensation appearing in English for the first time. Intriguing, original, remarkable and wry... THE LABYRINTHS OF ECHO is a piece of absolute enchantment. «Splash a bit of enchantment into my glass»... there is no better phrase to describe the state that a reader may find themselves in when exposed to this strong, absolutely legal, literary narcotic which goes by the name of Max Frei.' — Stolichniye Novosti If it weren't for bad luck, Max Frei wouldn't have any luck at all. A self-described twenty-something classic loser', an insomniac, hardened smoker, a glutton and a loafer, there's nothing much going for Max Frei... at least not until he arrives in the magical city of Echo. Summoned to the city by the head of the Department of Absolute Order, Sir Juffin Halli, Max's dreams are becoming a reality. But as with all dreams-come-true its not quite the reality Max expected; he's about to become a secret agent, tasked to solve extravagant, impossible crimes with nothing but his wits and a handful of unexplained magical abilities to recommend him. Max is going to be thrown into the fray — and he can't even have a cigarette first...

Ignatius Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things. He woke up the next morning with one hell of a hangover, a raging headache ...and a pair of horns growing from his temples. Once, Ig lived the life of the blessed: born into privilege, the second son of a renowned American musician, and the younger brother of a rising late-night TV star, Ig had security and wealth and a place in his community. Ig had it all, and more — he had the love of Merrin Williams, a love founded on shared daydreams, mutual daring, and unlikely midsummer magic. Then beautiful, vivacious Merrin was gone — raped and murdered, under inexplicable circumstances — with Ig the only suspect. He was never tried for the crime, but in the court of public opinion, Ig was and always would be guilty. Now Ig is possessed with a terrible new power — with just a touch he can see peoples' darkest desires — to go with his terrible new look, and he means to use it to find the man who killed Merrin and destroyed his life. Being good and praying for the best got him nowhere. It's time for a little revenge; it's time the devil had his due.

It starts with a trip to a local amusement park. David Harwood is hoping a carefree day will help dispel his wife Jan's recent depression that has led to frightening thoughts of suicide. Instead, a day of fun with their son Ethan turns into a nightmare. When Jan disappears from the park, David's worst fears seem to have come true. But when he goes to the police to report her missing, the facts start to indicate something very different. The park's records show that only two tickets were purchased, and CCTV shows no evidence that Jan ever entered the park at all. Suddenly David's story starts to look suspicious — and the police to wonder if Jan's already dead, murdered by her husband. To prove his innocence and keep his son from being taken away from him, David is going to have to dig deep into the past and come face to face with a terrible childhood tragedy — but by doing that he could risk destroying everything precious to him...

With the Rolling Stones, Keith Richards created the riffs, the lyrics and the songs that roused the world, and over four decades he lived the original rock and roll life: taking the chances he wanted, speaking his mind, and making it all work in a way that no one before him had ever done. Now, at last, the man himself tells us the story of life in the crossfire hurricane. And what a life. Listening obsessively to Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters records as a child in post-war Kent. Learning guitar and forming a band with Mick Jagger and Brian Jones. The Rolling Stones' first fame and success as a bad-boy band. The notorious Redlands drug bust and subsequent series of confrontations with a nervous establishment that led to his enduring image as outlaw and folk hero. Creating immortal riffs such as the ones in 'Jumping Jack Flash' and 'Street Fighting Man' and 'Honky Tonk Women'. Falling in love with Anita Pallenberg and the death of Brian Jones. Tax exile in France, wildfire tours of the US, 'Exile on Main Street' and 'Some Girls'. Ever increasing fame, isolation and addiction. Falling in love with Patti Hansen. Estrangement from Mick Jagger and subsequent reconciliation. Solo albums and performances with his band the Xpensive Winos. Marriage, family and the road that goes on for ever. In a voice that is uniquely and intimately his own, with the disarming honesty that has always been his trademark, Keith Richards brings us the essential life story of our times.

Change is in the air in a shabby apartment in the 19th arrondissment in Paris. One unremarkable day Madame Lefevre invites Feliks to call her Sandrine. As his indomitable landlady's manners have been as unvarying as her dresses for the last 36 years, this feels significant to Feliks. And it is. As the face of Europe transforms beyond recognition Feliks's own life teeters on the edge of change. All it takes is one uncharacteristic decision and suddenly an unstoppable chain of life-changing events is set in motion. Feliks does not embrace change — in fact, it makes him most uncomfortable. But as he's reunited with a brother that he hasn't seen since his childhood and comes face-to-face with the love he let slip through his fingers, Feliks has to face up to the possibility that the convictions he has based his life upon were nothing but smoke and mirrors. Soon his carefully constructed world is tumbling round his ears and Feliks wonders: is there such a thing as a second chance for someone like him?

From the moment Judi Dench appeared as a teenager in the York Mystery Plays it was clear that acting would be her career. Trained at London's Central School of Speech and Drama it was her performance in her twenties as Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's memorable Old Vic production that turned her into a star. In the theatre since she has played every classic role from Titania to Cleopatra. She first became a household name via television, thanks initially to a sitcom, A FINE ROMANCE, in which she played alongside the actor Michael Williams, whom she married in 1971. She has since made nine series of another sitcom, AS TIME GOES BY (with Geoffrey Palmer), as well as plays and classic serials such as CRANFORD. In the cinema her films have ranged from LADIES IN LAVENDER (opposite Maggie Smith) through NOTES ON A SCANDAL with Cate Blanchett to SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, in which she played Queen Elizabeth, a role which gained her a Hollywood Oscar. But it is her role as 'M' in six James Bond films that has gained her worldwide recognition. This book is, however, much more than a career record. Her marriage to Michael Williams, their daughter, and her impish sense of humour contribute vividly to her account of more than half a century as Britain's best-loved actress.

'Having sifted through everything I have heard about the tiger and his wife, I can tell you that this much is fact: in April of 1941, without declaration or warning, the German bombs started falling over the city and did not stop for three days. The tiger did not know that they were bombs...' A tiger escapes from the local zoo, padding through the ruined streets and onwards, to a ridge above the Balkan village of Galina. His nocturnal visits hold the villagers in a terrified thrall. But for one boy, the tiger is a thing of magic — Shere Khan awoken from the pages of The Jungle Book. Natalia is the granddaughter of that boy. Now a doctor, she is visiting orphanages after another war has devastated the Balkans. On this journey, she receives word of her beloved grandfather's death, far from their home, in circumstances shrouded in mystery. From fragments of stories her grandfather told her as a child, Natalia realises he may have died searching for 'the deathless man', a vagabond who was said to be immortal. Struggling to understand why a man of science would undertake such a quest, she stumbles upon a clue that will lead her to a tattered copy of The Jungle Book, and then to the extraordinary story of the tiger's wife.

These are the stories our ancestors told to explain how the world began; or they are the legends of half-remembered heroes and people whose lives were changed by magic. Brilliantly retold in the sparkling and inspirational words of the multiple award-winning and much-loved children's author, Geraldine McCaughrean, the tales will delight and entertain readers of all ages. Together, ROBIN HOOD AND THE GOLDEN ARROW AND A WORLD OF OTHER STORIES with its two companion volumes, KING ARTHUR AND A WORLD OF OTHER STORIES and GEORGE AND THE DRAGON AND A WORLD OF OTHER STORIES, make a wonderful gift collection of classic tales from around the world — many of them unavailable anywhere else.

The Granville Midsummer Ball is always an affair to remember. The who's who of Irish society gather at Carrickcross House — the rural family estate — for a night of revelry. But this year's soiree is extra-special: matriarch Honoria is announcing her grandson Rossa's engagement to Ashling Morrison. Ashling has been swept off her feet. Tall, dark and handsome, Rossa's the perfect catch, but is he too good to be true? Why is Honoria so keen to make Ashling — stepdaughter of her life-long enemy Coppelia — part of the Granville clan? Can Rossa's brother Carrick hold on to his position as rightful heir? And will ruthless Coppelia have her way? With the promise of distinguished company, drinking, dancing and murder... who could possibly refuse this invitation? Repondez s'il vous plait.

MILDRED PIERCE is the story of a determined and ambitious woman who, after her feckless husband abandons her, builds a successful business through hard work and sacrifice in order to ensure the future of her pampered and selfish daughter. But she isn't prepared for the intrigues and devastating betrayals of those closest to her.

At the family home in Louisiana, FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast is laying to rest his wife's possessions — a job he's been putting off since her tragic death twelve years ago. But whilst examining her property, he makes a startling discovery — one that leads him to believe Helen's death was not accidental... With the help of his trusted friend Lieutenant Vincent D'Agosta, Pendergast embarks on a quest to uncover the mystery of his wife's final days. It's a journey that takes him deep into the dark heart of her past, to a hidden obsession and top-secret information that some people would do anything to protect. But as the hunt for Helen's murderer ventures into the Bayou, Pendergast find himself faced with a killer question: just who was the woman he married?

Learn body language that will boost your performance in every business context: Clinch that deal or interview Give the perfect presentation Decipher and use international body language Understand eye contact Clarify confusing gender signals From negotiating the office party to the best way to arrange your office furniture, BODY LANGUAGE IN THE WORK PLACE will help you to identify and correct the body language that's letting you down.

Keisha Ceylon is a psychic. At least, that's what she passes herself off as. The truth is, Keisha's real powers have more to do with separating troubled families from their money than actually seeing into the netherworld. Keisha watches the news for stories of missing family members. She gives it a few days, then moves in, tells these families she's had a vision, that she may have some clue to where these missing people are. And by the way, she charges for this service, and likes to see the money up front. Keisha's latest mark is a man whose wife disappeared a week ago. She's seen him on TV, pleading for his wife to come home, or, if she's been abducted, pleading with whoever took her to let her go. Keisha knows a payoff when she sees one. So she pays a visit to our troubled husband, tells him her vision. Trouble is, her vision just happens to be close enough to the truth that it leaves this man rattled. And it may very well leave Keisha dead.

THE SOOKIE STACKHOUSE COMPANION is a unique guide to Sookie Stackhouse and her dark fantasy southern-Gothic world, as well as an in-depth look at the award-winning HBO series TRUE BLOOD. The book will feature a brand-new Sookie story and Charlaine's own map of Bon Temps, never before published, with every place of interest in the town, including Merlotte's bar and Sookie's home. Other treats include: * An introduction by Charlaine about the impact Sookie Stackhouse has had on her writing career, and the influence on the genre at large * A large section on the award-winning HBO series TRUE BLOOD * Detailed summaries of each novel and entries on every important character, event and setting in the series, in Sookie's voice. * An overview of Sookie's world, including information on the vampires, shapeshifter wereanimal, and fairie factions * Interviews with Charlaine Harris and Alan Ball * A selection of favourite Bon Temps recipes.

SNOBS Edith Lavery, the attractive only child of a middle-class accountant, leaves behind her dull job when she manages to bag one of the most eligible bachelors in town. But is life amongst the aristocracy really all that it seems...? PAST IMPERFECT Damian Baxter is very, very rich. But he has one concern: who should inherit his fortune. A letter from an ex-girlfriend suggests Damian may have fathered a child, but the letter is anonymous. Finding the truth will not be easy — and the only man who can help is Damian's sworn enemy...

My name is Peter Grant and until January I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (and as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit — we do paperwork so real coppers don't have to — and finding a way to climb into the panties of the outrageously perky WPC Leslie May. Then one night, in pursuance of a murder inquiry, I tried to take a witness statement from someone who was dead but disturbingly voluable, and that brought me to the attention of Inspector Nightingale, the last wizard in England. Now I'm a Detective Constable and a trainee wizard, the first apprentice in fifty years, and my world has become somewhat more complicated: nests of vampires in Purley, negotiating a truce between the warring god and goddess of the Thames, and digging up graves in Covent Garden... and there's something festering at the heart of the city I love, a malicious vengeful spirit that takes ordinary Londoners and twists them into grotesque mannequins to act out its drama of violence and despair. The spirit of riot and rebellion has awakened in the city, and it's falling to me to bring order out of chaos — or die trying.

Life is looking up for Saffy. She has a great job, a gorgeous flat in the most desirable part of Dublin and — after six years — it looks like her boyfriend, Greg, is going to propose. Greg (just voted the 9th most eligible man in Ireland) is on a high, too — he's about to swap his part as a heart-throb in an Irish soap for a break in Hollywood. His best mate Conor wakes up every morning with Jess, the most beautiful woman on the planet but, even after seven years and two kids, she won't marry him. He spends his days teaching teenagers and his nights writing the book he hopes will change everything, including Jess's mind. But their happy endings are playing hard to get. It seems everyone's keeping secrets — one night stands, heartbreak, grief and loss are all in the mix. It's going to take some tough questions and even tougher answers before anyone's being honest — even with themselves.

I was my dad's vinyl-wallah: I changed his records while he lounged around drinking tea, and that's how I know my Argo from my Tempo. And it's why, when Dr Walid called me to the morgue to listen to a corpse, I recognised the tune it was playing. Something violently supernatural had happened to the victim, strong enough to leave its imprint like a wax cylinder recording. Cyrus Wilkinson, part-time jazz saxophonist and full-time accountant, had apparently dropped dead of a heart attack just after finishing a gig in a Soho jazz club. He wasn't the first. No one was going to let me exhume corpses to see if they were playing my tune, so it was back to old-fashioned legwork, starting in Soho, the heart of the scene. I didn't trust the lovely Simone, Cyrus' ex-lover, professional jazz kitten and as inviting as a Rubens' portrait, but I needed her help: there were monsters stalking Soho, creatures feeding off that special gift that separates the great musician from someone who can raise a decent tune. What they take is beauty. What they leave behind is sickness, failure and broken lives. And as I hunted them, my investigation got tangled up in another story: a brilliant trumpet player, Richard 'Lord' Grant — my father — who managed to destroy his own career, twice. That's the thing about policing: most of the time you're doing it to maintain public order. Occasionally you're doing it for justice. And maybe once in a career, you're doing it for revenge.

They were looking for a miracle cure... Sara Lowell and Michael Silverman. The ideal celebrity couple, darlings of the media. She's TV's most popular journalist. He's New York's hottest basketball star. Their lives would soon be shattered by the most deadly illness of modern times. Dr. Harvey Riker. His clinic has found the miracle cure that millions seek. One-by-one his patients are getting well. One-by-one they are targeted by a serial killer more fatal than their disease. Rev. Earnest Sanders. His ultra-conservative Holy Crusade Church saw the disease as God's vengeance on a lustful, sin-ridden generation of the damned. And God's will could not be denied. Lieutenant Bernstein. His true desires make him a perfect choice to track the killer — or a perfect victim.

Pink Floyd's THE WALL is one of the most iconic and imaginative albums in the history of rock music, endlessly discussed and dissected. It is loosely based on the life and experiences of Roger Waters and the stage performances and film were created in close collaboration with Gerald Scarfe. Scarfe and Waters worked together on the new version of the stage show. Gerald retains all the imagery and from this massive archive the book includes hundreds of photographs of the creation, staging and filming of The Wall as well as the live stage performances. In addition, Roger Waters allowed us to reproduce all the interviews and texts associated with the production of the album, the stage performances and the film. This is the authorised, definitive book of THE WALL.

These are the stories our ancestors told to explain how the world began; or they are the legends of half-remembered heroes and people whose lives were changed by magic. Brilliantly retold in the sparkling and inspirational words of the multiple award-winning and much-loved children's author, Geraldine McCaughrean, the tales will delight and entertain readers of all ages. Together, KING ARTHUR AND A WORLD OF OTHER STORIES with its two companion volumes, ROBIN HOOD AND THE GOLDEN ARROW AND A WORLD OF OTHER STORIES and GEORGE AND THE DRAGON AND A WORLD OF OTHER STORIES, make a wonderful gift collection of classic tales from around the world — many of them unavailable anywhere else.

Four new stories in which Horrid Henry terrorizes his classmates at a school sleepover in the museum; plays with Perfect Peter and tricks him into handing over all his money; gets out of writing his own story for Miss Battle-Axe by adapting one of Peter's; and meets the Nudie Foodie, a celebrity chef, who comes to the school to improve school dinners. No more burgers! No more chips!

First published in 1973, Frank Herbert's vivid imagination and brilliant view of nature and ecology have never been more evident than in this classic of science fiction. America is a police state, and it is about to be threatened by the most hellish enemy in the world: insects. When the Agency discovered that Dr Hellstroms Project 40 was a cover for a secret laboratory, a special team of agents was immediately dispatched to discover its true purpose and its weaknesses — it could not be allowed to continue. What they discovered was a nightmare more horrific and hideous than even their paranoid government minds could devise.