John Blackburn

Darren Harris-Fain

"The story has a nightmarish excitement and maintains a brilliant pace . . . the best of its kind this season." - "Detroit News" "[S]pine-chilling . . . a far-reaching plot linking the horror camps of the Nazis, the frozen wastes of Russia and the work of British Secret Intelligence. . . . [T]his is 'must' reading for horror fans." - "Calgary Herald" "I began to read: and then read and read and read." - John Creasey, "Books of the Month" "Good, insomniac science-fiction." - "Listener" With a plot featuring Cold War intrigue, Nazi mad scientists, and a pandemic that threatens to destroy humanity by mutating people into fungoid monsters, it is not hard to see why "A Scent of New-Mown Hay" (1958) became a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic and an instant science-fiction classic. After a British ship's crew and a remote Russian village are wiped out in mysterious and horrible fashion, General Charles Kirk of British Foreign Intelligence sets out to investigate. As the plague spreads to England, Kirk's frantic search leads him from the desolate tundra of Russia to the ruins of a Nazi camp, the site of unthinkable wartime atrocities. But who is responsible? Is it a Soviet experiment gone horribly wrong, the work of a depraved madman, or something else entirely? And can it be stopped? In this, his first and still best-known novel, the prolific John Blackburn (1923-1993) introduced the formula he was to employ so successfully in his career, seamlessly blending mystery, horror, and science fiction to create a thrilling bestseller that readers found impossible to put down. This edition, the first in more than thirty years, includes a new introduction by Prof. Darren Harris-Fain and a reproduction of the scarce original jacket art by Peter Curl.

A Scent of New-Mown Hay

Essays on British writers of fantasy and science fiction discuss the changing attitudes towards this genre, including serious consideration by critics. Covers the publication of science fiction in comic books, limited productions of publications by fan presses, the difference between British and American science fiction, the birth of the New Wave, and the revival of horror fiction as a distinct genre.

British Fantasy and Science-fiction Writers Since 1960

The acclaimed international bestseller in a fresh new jacket.Axis has fled to Talon Spike, the home of the Icarii, where he must learn to wield his Enchanter powers to fulfil the Prophecy. Somehow he must lead the Icarii and the Avar back into Achar, defeat his half-brother, Borneheld, and reunite the former kingdom of Tencendor under his rule.Meanwhile, Gorgrael waits impatiently for winter, to continue his destructive drive into the heart of Achar.Douglass skilfully moves her characters through this fantastic world where family ties can be deadly and love does not always conquer all.'.Sara Douglass makes her mark with this vivid, gritty saga brimming with treachery, action, bravery, and dark magic' - Elizabeth Haydon, author of Destiny.'This is storytelling at its best, with fast-paced action, gritty realism, powerful characters, magic and romance' - Romantic Times.'Epic storytelling on a par with Terry Goodkind and Robert Jordan' - Library Journal.

Marta Salek

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