Tom Hood was born on the 19th January 1835 at Lake House, Leytonstone just outside of London, the son of the famed poet Thomas Hood.Hood was educated at University College School and Louth Grammar School before attending Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1853 to study for a career in the Church. Despite passing all of his exams he never graduated.Hood began writing at Oxford and first published soon after his arrival there. Much of his work is humourous or for children (which hi...

Almost always when we think of Ghost Stories, we first think of those written by the Victorians.When you consider the depth of literary talent available over the extraordinary length of Queen Victoria’s reign, allied to the fascination with their all things spiritual on ‘the other side’, then perhaps it’s simply right place, right time.Whatever the reasons given or proffered the reality and known facts are that if you want a really good ghost story to bring that edge of chi...

In a place where no stars appear in the night sky, a group of strangers whose ancestries reach back to an earlier apocalyptic disaster are brought together to track down a resurrected corpse that might hold the key to the End of the World. Described by science fiction legend Jack Dann as "one of the strangest and most interesting visions to come out of the modern horror/fantasy genres," acclaimed author Robert Hood's Fragments of a Broken Land: Valarl Undead is an epic tale of greed, dying...

Mike Crowe doesn't believe in ghosts, but it seems there's one ghost that believes in him. Can he escape the attention of a psychopath long enough to help her?A not-exactly legal PI, Crowe is blackmailed into tracking down a serial killer known as The Scavenger. At the same time, he finds himself increasingly plagued by visions - and eventually visitations - of a young girl he failed to save from being murdered a decade before.Are these things connected?Crowe must scav...

In 1797 an extraordinary visionary died, leaving behind a grieving husband, a two-year-old daughter, and a newborn. The woman was Mary Wollstonecraft, her daughter Fanny Imlay, and her baby Mary Godwin, who, through many trials and tribulations, grew up to become the remarkable Mary Shelley, creator of one of the most important books in literature: Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus. While many books have examined both women's lives, their remarkable similarities, their passi...

From The Waste Land - stories inspired by T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" Plaintive ghosts, deep space, medieval castles, rising seas, parched deserts, abandoned villages…Inspired by its powerful themes—still highly resonant in an era looking for hope—nineteen original tales mark the centenary of Eliot's poem. From the Waste Land brings together decorated writers and new voices in fantasy; ghost tales, horror, dystopia and science fiction. With a blend of the grotesque and the sublime, the p...

Mountains have long held an appeal for people around the world. This book focusses on the diversity of perspectives, interaction and role of tourism within these areas. Providing a vital update to the current literature, it considers the interdisciplinary context of communities, the creation of mountain tourism experiences and the impacts tourism has on these environments. Including authors from Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America, the development, planning and governance issues are als...

Poetry. A form of words that seems so elegantly simple in one verse and so cleverly complex in another. Each poet has a particular style, an individual and unique way with words and yet each of us seems to recognise the path and destination of where the verses lead, even if sometimes the full comprehension may be a little beyond us.Through the centuries every culture has produced verse to symbolize and to describe everything from everyday life, natural wonders, the human condition ...

The War of the Spider Queen begins here.While their whole world is changing around them, four dark elves struggle against different enemies. Yet their paths will lead them all to the most terrifying discovery in the long history of the drow and set them on a quest to save not only Menzoberranzan but the entire dark elf race from Dissolution...

New races of man had evolved, new species of beast; science had vanished and magic had arisen to dominate the twilight of our world as it dominated the earth's morning. The Dying Earth is Jack Vance's finest work - a stunning evocation of a world peopled by wizards, witches, demons, monsters, dashing princes and forlorn maidens. A bejewelled gallery of strange and wonderful beings in the eminent tradition of Tolkien and William Morris.Jack Vance's preferred title for this collectio...

Where there is light, there must always be shadow… The fourth volume in Janny Wurts’s spectacular epic fantasy.The schism began with two half-brothers empowered to subdue a Mistwraith. In revenge it cursed them to a life of perpetual conflict. Each believes absolutely in his cause, and loathes the other for opposing it…Lysaer, Prince of the Light – a charismatic leader sworn to set humanity free from sorcerous oppression. He claims divine power to safeguard his people from ...

The latest title from popular Forgotten Realms® author Richard Lee Byers.The dead are restless in the magic-rich realm of Thay, and an evil necromancer begins to gather them to his cause--a cause that will change the face of Faerûn forever.From the Paperback edition.