Tor Seal of the Worm Чайковски Адриан

Heirs of the Blade is the seventh book in the critically acclaimed epic fantasy series Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky • The greatest foe is the enemy within • Tynisa is on the run, but she cannot escape the demons of her own mind. Amidst the fragmenting provinces of the Dragonfly Commonweal, her past will at last catch up with her. Her father's ghost is hunting her down • At the same time, the Wasp Empire seeks to conquer the city of Khanaphes, the fallen jewel of the ancient world. Whilst Empress Seda's soldiers seek only conquest and prestige, she sees herself as the heir to all the old powers of history, and has her eyes on a far greater prize

Blood of the Mantis is the third novel in Adrian Tchaikovsky's richly imagined Shadows of the Apt series, following Dragonfly Falling. Stenwold must rally his allies for battle against the Empire, even as it seeks a dangerous artifact of enormous power • A dread ritual casts a deadly shadow • Achaeos the seer has finally tracked down the stolen Shadow Box. But he has only days before this magical artefact will be lost to him forever. Meanwhile, the Empire's dread forces are mustering for their next great offensive. Stenwold and his followers have only a short time to gather allies, before the enemy's soldiers march again - to conquer everything in their path. If Stenwold cannot hold them back, the hated black and gold flag will fly over every city in the Lowlands before the year's end

War Master's Gate is the ninth book in the critically acclaimed epic fantasy series Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky • A city makes its last stand • The Empire's mighty imperial armies are marching on Collegium once more. They've learnt from past failures and this time their Empress will brook no weakness. Stenwold Maker's aviators still dominate the skies, but their rule will soon be over. For the Empire has developed a terrifying aerial weapon to level the battlefield • Yet victory may be decided elsewhere. In an ancient forest, where Mantis clans pursue their own civil war, Empress Seda is seeking a lost power from the old world. Cheerwell Maker knows she must stop her rival at any cost, but their conflict could awaken something far deadlier

The first in the Echoes of the Fall series, The Tiger and the Wolf is an epic fantasy novel by Adrian Tchaikovsky, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award and British Fantasy Award for Best Novel • In the bleak northern crown of the world, war is coming • Maniye's father is the Wolf clan's chieftain, but she's an outcast. Her mother was queen of the Tiger and these tribes have been enemies for generations. Maniye also hides a deadly secret. All can shift into their clan's animal form, but Maniye can take on tiger and wolf shapes. She refuses to disown half her soul so escapes, rescuing a prisoner of the Wolf clan in the process. The killer Broken Axe is set on their trail to drag them back for retribution • The Wolf chieftain plots to rule the north, and controlling his daughter is crucial to his schemes

The Bear and the Serpent is the second book in Adrian Tchaikovsky's epic fantasy trilogy, Echoes of the Fall, following The Tiger and the Wolf • As the south is in turmoil, an old terror emerges in the north… • Maniye, child of both Wolf and Tiger clans, has been named Champion of her people. But they're unsure if she's an asset - or a threat. To buy time, she joins Prince Tecuman's warband of outcasts and heads south, to help him gain his crown. She wants to discover her true place in the world, but instead heads into the jaws of a fierce new conflict • Civil war threatens as Tecuman and his twin sister battle for the throne, for only one can rule. Yet whoever triumphs will carry a heavy burden, as a great doom has been foreseen that will fall across their whole world

The unmaking of the world has begun • From the depths of the darkest myths, the soulless Plague People have returned. Their pale-walled camps obliterate villages, just as the terror they bring with them destroys minds. In their wake, nothing is left of the true people: not their places, not their ways. The Plague People will remake the world as though they had never been • The heroes and leaders of the true people – Maniye, Loud Thunder, Hesprec and Asman – will each fight the Plague People in their own ways. They will seek allies, gather armies and lead the charge. But a thousand swords or ten thousand spears will not suffice to turn back this enemy. The end is at hand for everything the true people know

Salute the Dark is the fourth book in the critically acclaimed epic fantasy series Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky, winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award. As spymaster Stenworld makes a stand in his home city, others must chose where their loyalties lie • All must face the end of days • The mighty Wasp armies are on the march. And with war imminent, spymaster Stenwold must finally separate allies from false friends. He knows the Empire won't stop until its flag hangs over Collegium, Stenwold's home city. Tisamon the Weaponsmaster favours a more direct strategy - facing the Wasp Emperor himself, with a blade in his hand. He'd be abandoning both friends and family to do so. Yet is he driven by honour, or being manipulated by something far more sinister? • With the Shadow Box in his possession at last, Uctebri can begin his dark ritual

Shadow of the Scorpion is a standalone prequel to Neal Asher’s explosive Agent Cormac series • Some secrets are too hard to bear • Following the human vs prador war, Ian Cormac signs up with Earth Central Security. He’s sent out to restore order on worlds devastated by alien bombardment. But he learns humanity can be far more dangerous – even those closest to him • Amidst the tragic ruins left by wartime atrocities, Cormac discovers in himself the cold capacity for violence. It’s a quality that’ll make him one of Earth’s top agents. Haunted by childhood memories of a sinister scorpion-shaped war drone, and the burden of losses he doesn’t remember, he’ll discover some hard truths. These will set him on a course of vengeance, where he’ll have to use all his hard-won skills just to stay alive

The Sea Watch is the sixth book in the critically acclaimed epic fantasy series Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky • Danger lurks beneath dark waters • A shadow is falling over Collegium. Despite the tenuous peace, Stenwold Maker knows that the Empire will return for his city. Even as he tries to prepare for the resurgence of the black and gold army, a hidden threat is working against his people. Ships that sail from Collegium's harbour are being attacked, sunk by pirates. Some just go missing • Lulled by the spread of lies and false promises, Stenwold's allies are falling away. He faces betrayal on every side, and the Empire is just waiting for the first sign of weakness to strike. But they are not the only power that has its eyes on Collegium

The Air War is the eighth book in the critically acclaimed epic fantasy series Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky • An empress demands her birthright • All is in turmoil as the world moves towards war. In Solarno, spies eye one another and ready their knives - while the people of Myna watch troops gather at its borders. Emotions run high as old fears reawaken. And in Collegium students argue politics, too late to turn the tide • At the heart of the Empire, new pilots complete their secretive training, generals are recalled to service and armies are readied to march. Their Empress, heir to two worlds, intends to claim her birthright. For nothing - either within the Empire or beyond it - will stand in her way

The Scarab Path is the fifth book in the critically acclaimed epic fantasy series Shadows of the Apt by Adrian Tchaikovsky • Ancient powers are waking • The war with the Wasp Empire has ended in a bitter stalemate, and Collegium has nothing to show for it but wounded veterans. Cheerwell Maker finds herself broken in ways no doctor can mend, haunted by ghosts of the past. Meanwhile, the powerful Wasp Empress is regaining control over those imperial cities that refused to bow to her. But she draws her power from something more sinister than armies and war machines • Only her consort, the former spymaster Thalric, knows the truth. As assassins seek to end him, he finds his life and his loyalties under threat once again. And in an ancient city beyond the desert, a terrible secret stirs beneath its stones

'The Boy-scouts mistook my signal, and have killed the postman. I've had very little practice in this sort of thing, you see' • The British short story tradition is probably the richest, most varied and historically extensive in the world. This new anthology celebrates the full diversity and energy of its writers, subjects and tones, from the story's origins with Defoe, Swift and Fielding, to the 'golden age' of the fin de siecle and Edwardian period, ending with the First World War. Including the most famous authors as well as some magnificent, little-known stories never republished since their first appearance in magazines and periodicals, these stories are by turns topical and playful, ghostly and theatrical, rumbustious and sublime • Edited with an introduction by Philip Hensher