Investigator Vissarion Lom has been summoned to the capital in order to catch a terrorist -- and ordered to report directly to the head of the secret police. A totalitarian state, worn down by an endless war, must be seen to crush home-grown insurgents with an iron fist. But Lom discovers Mirgorod to be more corrupted than he imagined: a murky world of secret police and revolutionaries, cabaret clubs and doomed artists. Lom has been chosen because he is an outsider, not involved in the struggle for power within the party. And because of the sliver of angel stone implanted in his head.
Collected for the first time in an omnibus edition, the internationally acclaimed Wolfhound Century trilogy is a perfect blend of fantasy, myth, science fiction and political thriller. Higgins's visionary fantasy trilogy describes a city gripped by fear, controlled by a totalitarian state reminiscent of Stalinist Russia. Worn down by an endless war, the city of Mirgorod is a murky world of secret police and revolutionaries, cabaret clubs and doomed artists -- as well as golems, giants, and a vast, menacing Angel. Read the complete story of investigator Vissarion Lom in this omnibus edition containing all three books in the trilogy: Wolfhound Century, Truth and Fear, and Radiant State.
Investigator Lom returns to Mirgorod and finds the city in the throes of a crisis. The war against the Archipelago is not going well. Enemy divisions are massing outside the city, air raids are a daily occurrence and the citizens are being conscripted into the desperate defense of the city. But Lom has other concerns. The police are after him, the mystery of the otherworldly Pollandore remains and the vast Angel is moving, turning all of nature against the city. But will the horrors of war overtake all their plans?
Russia’s foremost modernist master in a major new translation Osip Mandelstam has become an almost mythical figure of modern Russian poetry, his work treasured all over the world for its lyrical beauty and innovative, revolutionary engagement with the dark times of the Stalinist era. While he was exiled in the city of Voronezh, the black earth region of Russia, his work, as Joseph Brodsky wrote, developed into “a poetry of high velocity and exposed nerves, becoming more a song than ever before, not a bardlike but a birdlike song … something like a goldfinch tremolo.” Peter France—who has been brilliantly translating Mandelstam’s work for decades—draws heavily from Mandelstam’s later poetry written in Voronezh, while also including poems across the whole arc of the poet’s tragically short life, from his early, symbolist work to the haunting elegies of old Petersburg to his defiant “Stalin poem.” A selection of Mandelstam’s prose irradiates the poetry with warmth and insight as he thinks back on his Petersburg childhood and contemplates his Jewish heritage, the sunlit qualities of Hellenism, Dante’s Tuscany, and the centrality of poetry in society.
Over a continent and three centuries, American livestock owners destroyed wolves to protect the beasts that supplied them with food, clothing, mobility, and wealth. The brutality of the campaign soon exceeded wolves’ misdeeds. Wolves menaced property, not people, but storytellers often depicted the animals as ravenous threats to human safety. Subjects of nightmares and legends, wolves fell prey not only to Americans’ thirst for land and resources but also to their deeper anxieties about the untamed frontier. Now Americans study and protect wolves and jail hunters who shoot them without authorization. Wolves have become the poster beasts of the great American wilderness, and the federal government has paid millions of dollars to reintroduce them to scenic habitats like Yellowstone National Park. Why did Americans hate wolves for centuries? And, given the ferocity of this loathing, why are Americans now so protective of the animals? In this ambitious history of wolves in America—and of the humans who have hated and then loved them—Jon Coleman investigates a fraught relationship between two species and uncovers striking similarities, deadly differences, and, all too frequently, tragic misunderstanding.
England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe oppose him. The quest for the king’s freedom destroys his advisor, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey, and leaves a power vacuum and a deadlock. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell. The son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a bully and a charmer, Cromwell has broken all the rules of a rigid society in his rise to power. Narrowly escaping personal disaster—the loss of his young family and of Wolsey, his beloved patron—he picks his way deftly through a court where “man is wolf to man.” Pitting himself against parliament, the political establishment and the papacy, he is prepared to reshape England to his own and Henry’s desires. In inimitable style, Hilary Mantel presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change, where individuals fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage. Wolf Hall re-creates an era when the personal and political are separated by a hair’s breadth, where success brings unlimited power, but a single failure means death.
"The Irish Wolfhound, the biggest of all dog breeds, has an ancient history, dating back some 3,000 years. These giant-sized hounds were used for hunting wolf, deer and wild boar, and they were even used in battle to pull men off horseback. However, by the 19th Century numbers had dwindled, and following the Irish Famine of 1845, the breed almost died out. Fortunately, a revival took place, and today the Irish Wolfhound has a strong, enthusiastic following worldwide. This is the most comprehensive book to date on the Irish Wolfhound - indeed, it is one of the most impressive books ever published on a single breed. The Irish Wolfhound is traced through its checkered history to its emergence as an impressive show dog and a lovable, gentle companion. Extensive coverage is given to choosing and rearing a Wolfhound puppy, with particular emphasis on diet and exercise during the vital growing period. The Breed Standard is analyzed in detail, and there is expert guidance on training the Wolfhound for the show ring. Using her extensive experience, the author gives invaluable advice on breeding Wolfhounds, and there is a complete section on genetics, health care and breed associated conditions. Illustrated with more than 200 top-quality color photographs showing the breed in all aspects, this is essential reading for all Wolfhound enthusiasts."--Amazon.com
For readers of Cormac McCarthy and Justin Cronin, this is the story of one family's battle for survival in a world where evil has already won. As they fight their way across a dying land, Shay and Cass will do anything to keep their daughter, Hope, alive. The family faces unimaginable dangers as they try to stay together, and stay alive, long enough to reach safety. But when the heart of a dragon starts to beat in Hope's chest, they fear they'll lose her to a battle they can't possibly help her win . . . Critically acclaimed author Peter Higgins has written a richly evocative post-apocalyptic fantasy novel about how, even in the darkest of times, we have so much to lose.
