George Mann - Free Library Land Online - LGBT

The Albion Initiative

Mon, 31 Oct 2022 17:17:00 +0200

George Mann's Newbury & Hobbes steampunk mystery series concludes in this thrilling final volume as our Victorian special agent heroes discover a grand plot to that threatens the state of the world.

The time has finally come.

Queen Victoria has given the order for her agents to move against the Secret Service — to eliminate the fledgling organisation with extreme prejudice. Caught in the middle of the conflict, Newbury, Veronica and Bainbridge are forced to face up to the truth: that the Queen no longer represents the best interests of the Empire. Now rogue and in league with the Queen's enemies, they must enact the "Albion Initiative": a desperate plan to break Prince Edward out of Bedlam and install him on the throne in the Queen's stead. But with the Queen's executioner and his army on their trail, as well as a possible traitor in their midst, can they do enough to stop the malign tyrant from destroying everything they once swore to...

The Battle of Jedha

Mon, 20 Mar 2023 20:20:37 +0200

After the events of The High Republic: Convergence, the Jedi travel to Jedha in this full script for the Star Wars audio original The Battle of Jedha.

Jedha. The worn streets of this ancient world serve as a confluence for the galaxy. Visited by all, yet owned by none. Here, the Jedi are but one creed among many worshipping and studying the Force. From the Guardians of the Whills to the Path of the Open Hand, countless beings come to learn, and to share, in peace.

As all of Jedha prepares for its Festival of Balance, the galaxy still reels from the violence on Eiram and E’ronoh. But after foiling a plot to escalate the war between the two planets, the Jedi believe that a lasting peace may be within reach. Master Creighton Sun and Jedi Knight Aida Forte arrive on Jedha with delegations from both planets to formally end the “Forever War.” The Jedi hope that the harmony of Jedha’s many factions,...

The Revenant Express - (Newbury and Hobbes 5)

Fri, 15 Nov 2019 16:27:26 +0200

The grand adventure continues in George Mann's Newbury & Hobbes steampunk mystery series, as a Victorian special agent races across a continent to save his beloved's life on board The Revenant Express. Sir Maurice Newbury is bereft as his trusty assistant Veronica Hobbes lies dying with a wounded heart. Newbury and Veronica's sister Amelia must take a sleeper train across Europe to St. Petersberg to claim a clockwork heart that Newbury has commissioned from Faberge to save Veronica from a life trapped in limbo. No sooner do they take off then sinister goings-on start to plague the train, and it is discovered that an old villain, thought dead, is also on board and seeking revenge. Can Newbury and Amelia defeat him and get the clockwork organ back to the Fixer in time to save Veronica? And can they do so without Newbury going so far into the dark side of occult magic that he can never return? Meanwhile, Sir Charles Bainbridge is the only one of their team left in London to struggle with a case involving a series of horrific crimes. Someone is kidnapping prominent men and infecting them with the Revenant plague, leaving them chained in various locations around the city. But why? It's a rousing chase to save both London and Veronica. Will these brave detectives be up to the task? **

Awakenings

Sat, 17 Dec 2022 13:50:51 +0200

Inquisitor Astor Sabbathiel has a problem: she's been dead for nearly a hundred years... or so everyone believes.The last thing she remembers is being shot at point-blank range just as a roiling warp storm engulfed the Calaphrax Cluster. Now, she finds herself awakening on a distant Ecclesiarchy stronghold and indebted to a magos called Metik, who has brought her back from the brink of death.Shortly after her resurrection, Sabbathiel is called to an audience on the planet Hulth by a high-ranking inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus, Heldren, who informs her that after being lost for so long, the members of her former conclave no longer trust her. Forced to undertake a mission to prove herself worthy and true, Sabbathiel soon discovers a secret agenda beginning to unfold – one that contains a burgeoning threat to the Imperium that only she can avert. Trying to assemble the fragments of the past to make sense of the mysteries of the present, Sabbathiel will need to act fast and...

The Eye of Darkness

Mon, 30 Jan 2023 09:16:55 +0200

One year after the tragic events of The Fallen Star, the Jedi fight to break the Nihil’s control over the galaxy.

The galaxy is divided. Following the shocking destruction of Starlight Beacon, the Nihil have established an impenetrable barrier called the Stormwall around part of the Outer Rim, where Marchion Ro rules and his followers wreak havoc at his every whim. Jedi trapped behind enemy lines, including Avar Kriss, must fight to help the worlds being pillaged by the Nihil while staying one step ahead of the marauders and their Nameless terrors.

Outside the Nihil’s so-called Occlusion Zone, Elzar Mann, Bell Zettifar, and the other Jedi work alongside the Republic to reach the worlds that have been cut off from the rest of the galaxy. But every attempt to breach the Stormwall has failed, and even communication across the barrier is impossible. The failures and losses weigh heavily upon both Elzar and Bell as they search...

Quest for the Hidden City

Fri, 09 Dec 2022 15:01:03 +0200

The New York Times best-selling series continues.... For light and life! A fun and action-packed middle grade adventure set in the world of the High Republic, 150 years before the storytelling of Phase I. Meet hyperspace prospectors, bold explorers, Jedi peacekeepers and more! Don't miss these other adventures of Star Wars: The High Republic! A Test of Courage by Justina Ireland, Race to Crashpoint Tower by Daniel José Older, and Mission to Disaster by Justina Ireland.

The Immorality Engine

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:01:28 +0300

On the surface, life is going well for Victorian special agent Sir Maurice Newbury, who has brilliantly solved several nigh-impossible cases for Queen Victoria with his indomitable assistant, Miss Veronica Hobbes, by his side. But these facts haven’t stopped Newbury from succumbing increasingly frequently to his dire flirtation with the lure of opium. His addiction is fueled in part by his ill-gotten knowledge of Veronica’s secret relationship with the queen, which Newbury fears must be some kind of betrayal. Veronica, consumed by worry and care for her prophetic but physically fragile sister Amelia, has no idea that she is a catalyst for Newbury’s steadily worsening condition.

Veronica and Newbury’s dear friend Bainbridge, the Chief Investigator at Scotland Yard, tries to cover for him as much as possible, but when the body of a well known criminal turns up, Bainbridge and Veronica track Newbury down in an opium den and drag him out to help them with the case. The body is clearly, irrefutably, that of the man in question, but shortly after his body is brought to the morgue, a crime is discovered that bears all the dead man’s hallmarks. Bainbridge and Veronica fear someone is committing copycat crimes, but Newbury is not sure. Somehow, the details are too perfect for it to be the work of a copycat. But how can a dead man commit a crime?

Review

Praise for The Affinity Bridge:

“Mann turns out a riveting page-turner that mixes the society of manners in turn-of-the-century London with a gritty and brutal murder mystery. And in the midst of all this, automatons clank about, zombies lurk in the night and dirigibles float majestically in the sky—until they crash and burn….Will leave readers clamoring for the next book.”
--AM New York

“A science fantasy novel that should appeal to lovers of both genres. One of the biggest surprises of the year, and I can’t recommend the book enough.”
*--Fantasy Book Critic

“Steampunk is making a comeback, and with this novel Mann is leading the charge…. An engaging melodrama that rattles along at a breakneck pace.”
--The Guardian*

About the Author

George Mann edited the Solaris Book of New Science Fiction anthology series and is the author of a number of fiction and nonfiction books, including The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. The first two Newbury & Hobbes Investigations, The Affinity Bridge and The Osiris Ritual, were his first novels.

Dark Legends

Tue, 18 Aug 2020 20:41:15 +0300

Read on if you dare! This unique in-world collection hallows the spooky tales and ghost stories that would have kept young Luke and Leia up at night. Created by George Mann and Grant Griffin—the same team behind the stunning Star Wars: Myths & Fables—these seven frightful fables have been carefully woven from the expansive fabric that is the Star Wars galaxy (including the thrilling landscape from Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland and Disney World), and beautifully painted in a lush illustrative style that feels intergalactic yet innately archetypal and timeless.

The Severed Man

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 15:46:27 +0200

What links a clutch of sinister murders in Victorian London, an angel appearing in a Staffordshire village in the 1920s and a small boy running loose around the capital in 1950? When Honoré and Emily encounter a man who appears to have been cut out of time, they think they have the answer. But soon enough they discover that the mystery is only just beginning and that nightmares can turn into reality. Part mystery, part detective story, part dark fantasy, part science fiction...original adventures in time and space.

The Executioner's Heart

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 13:01:26 +0300

In Executioner's Heart--the fourth Newbury & Hobbes steampunk mystery from George Mann--the detectives are up against the most frightening villainess England has yet seen.

It’s normal for Charles Bainbridge, Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard, to be called to the scene of a crime, but this is the third murder in quick succession where the victim’s chest has been cracked open and their heart torn out. Bainbridge suspects there’s a symbolic reason for the stolen hearts, so he sends for supernatural specialist Sir Maurice Newbury and his determined assistant, Miss Veronica Hobbes.

Unfortunately, neither of them are in much shape to take the case. Veronica has been hunting for some way to alleviate the mysterious forces that have been hounding her family of late, and Newbury has been retained by a private client: Edward, Prince of Wales, who's concerned that his mother, the Queen of England, is losing her grip on the nation.

However, the two detectives pull together long enough to determine that the killings may be the work of a mercenary known as the Executioner. French, uncannily beautiful, her flesh covered in tattoos and inlaid with precious metals, the Executioner is famed throughout Europe, with legends going back for hundreds of years. Something is keeping her in a form of living stasis, but her heart is damaged, leaving her an emotionless shell, inexplicably driven to collect her victims’ hearts as trophies.

Who is the Executioner targeting, and who hired her? Why has Veronica stopped trusting Bainbridge? What does the Prince of Wales really want? These are just some of the mysteries that Newbury and Hobbes will confront on the way to unearthing the secret of the Executioner’s Heart.

Review

For The Affinity Bridge

“A riveting page-turner that mixes the society of manners in turn-of-the-century London with a gritty and brutal murder mystery. In the midst of all this, automatons clank about, zombies lurk in the night, and dirigibles float majestically in the sky—until they crash and burn.... Will leave readers clamoring for the next book.”
—AM New York

“Steampunk is making a comeback, and with this novel Mann is leading the charge…. An engaging melodrama that rattles along at a breakneck pace.”
—The Guardian

About the Author

GEORGE MANN is the author of the Newbury & Hobbes Investigations, beginning with The Affinity Bridge, and other works of fiction including Ghosts of Manhattan and official Doctor Who tie-in material. He edited the Solaris Book of New Science Fiction anthology series and The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.

The Revenant Express

Sun, 23 Jun 2019 17:51:26 +0300

Sir Maurice Newbury is bereft as his trusty assistant Veronica Hobbes lies dying with a wounded heart. Newbury and Veronica's sister Amelia must take a sleeper train across Europe to St. Petersburg to claim a clockwork heart that Newbury has commissioned from Fabergé to save Veronica from a life trapped in limbo.

No sooner do they take off then sinister goings-on start to plague the train, and it is discovered that a mysterious cultist is also on board, determined to recover a precious artefact. Can Newbury and Amelia defeat him before he carries out his terrible revenge?

But as Newbury and Amelia hurtle towards the only thing that can save Veronica, they uncover a terrible secret that could threaten the lives of everyone on board. A secret linked to Veronica's past...

Dalek

Mon, 25 Dec 2017 19:32:01 +0200

Dalek is the never-before-told history of the Doctor's most dangerous enemies, the famous 'Outer Space Robot People' of the planet Skaro - from their genesis in the thousand-year conflict between Thals and Kaleds, to their survival of the Time War and (as foreseen by the Time Lords) their conquest of the universe. Along the way, the authors also reveal all-new stories about these legendary creatures - terrifying near-mythical adventures, startling visual recreations of never-before-seen conflicts, and more. Each of them helps shed new light on what has become the most feared alien race in the universe.
With full-colour illustrations, concept art, cutaways, diagrams, comic strips and more, Dalek is a dramatic retelling of the ascent of the 'supreme race', and the story of the mysteries that lurk in unexplored corners of the universe. It is the ultimate celebration of all things Dalek.

Inferno!, Volume 4

Mon, 23 Dec 2019 19:30:44 +0200

The fourth volume of the all-action Warhammer anthology collection showcases some of the best new fiction from across Games Workshop's many universes. From the vast, unexplored wilds of the Mortal Realms to the unforgiving hive world of Necromunda, through to the sprawling warzones of the 41st Millennium, heroes battle for glory, for honour or simply for survival...In this volume, you'll discover another tale from the gathered patrons of the Brazen Claw, that explores how the storm that traps them is deadlier than they could ever have guessed. You'll also discover the terrors that an abandoned Ecclesiarchy outpost holds for Inquisitor Sabbathiel, and go deep into the Realm of Death with intrepid aelven treasure hunter Shevanya Arclis as she seeks to plunder a wizard's hoard of artefacts. Find all this and more in Inferno! Volume 4!

Wychwood--Hallowdene

Mon, 16 Nov 1992 15:58:55 +0200

Former London journalist Elspeth Reeves is trying to carve a new life for herself in the sleepy Oxfordshire countryside, until she's sent to cover the excavation of a notorious local witch's grave. Three hundred years ago, her name mixed up with murder and black magic, Agnes Levett was hanged and then buried under an immense stone, to prevent her spirit from ever rising again. Elspeth investigates, but soon finds there is far more to the old tale than meets the eye, as the surrounding area is rocked by a series of mysterious and brutal murders, all of people somehow connected with the dig. She and her childhood friend DS Peter Shaw race to uncover the truth, but secrets lain buried for centuries are not easily discovered.