David C. Smith

Call of Shadows

"This Will Be a Quick War" Twenty years ago, Hanlin and Thorem fought side by side as mercenaries in the Border Wars, hired by rich landowners and the settled business interests to push the western frontier farther into lands held by the westlings-the kirangee, the People, who have lived there for untold generations. Now the business interests intend to encroach still farther on the territory held by the People. Hired by the wealthy Lady Sil of Tidon to assist in this enterprise, Thorem cannot convince Hanlin to join him on another campaign. Following the earlier battles, Hanlin had gone to live with the kirangee, learned some of their ways, married a kirangia woman-and has no interest in making war against them again. But Hanlin's and Thorem's destinies will nevertheless become entangled once more as both are drawn back to the frontier that saw their earlier glories-and failures. David C. Smith, recognized for a career spent writing sword-and-sorcery and weird fiction, here offers an insightful, often brutal modern novel that vividly brings to life the ferocious wills and dark hearts of the skilled mercenaries and the redoubtable kirangee. The People will raise the sorcery of their ancestors to defend their land at all costs, but Lady Sil will not be deterred, for as Thorem tells his old friend, "As mothers breed sons, the sons breed war."

Sometime Lofty Towers

Hither Came REH...From a single, stifling room in a small sagebrush town in central Texas, hunched over a manual typewriter, Robert E. Howard created memorable characters, exotic worlds, and glorious pulp adventures. In this new biography, Howard is firmly established as an important figure in American literature.

A Literary Biography

Robert E. Howard

This collection of H.G. Wells's correspondence draws on over 50 archives and libraries worldwide, including the papers of Wells's daughter by Amber Reeves. The book contains over 2,000 letters, and while a few are business – to publishers, agents and secretaries – the majority are much more personal. Wells's private correspondence extends from letters to President Franklin Roosevelt and Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and A.J. Balfour, to persons such as ‘Mark Benney’, who wrote novels based on his life in the slums and his time in prison. There is correspondence too with his many female friends and lovers, among them Rebecca West, Eileen Power, Gertrude Stein, Marie Stopes, Lilah MacCarthy and Dorothy Richardson. For example, a letter from Moura Budberg, with whom Wells had a long-standing affair, which announces that she is pregnant by him and about to have an abortion, reveals how an advocate of birth control is himself caught out. Wells also enjoyed correspondence with the press, particularly during the two World Wars, and with various BBC officials and people who worked on his films. Some of his letters on the controversies of free love, socialism, birth control, the Fabian Society, and the nature of the curriculum of the new London University in the 1890s are included. Interspersed chronologically with Wells's letters is a small selection of about 40 letters to Wells, where letters from him are not extant. Among these are letters from Ray Lankester, Joseph Conrad, C.G. Jung, Trotsky, Hedy Gatternigg (the woman who attempted suicide in Wells's flat), and J.C. Smuts. The letters are arranged in these periods: Volume 1 1878–1900; Volume 2 1901–1912; Volume 3 1913–1930; and Volume 4 1930–1946. H.G. Wells's works include The Time Machine (1895), The Invisible Man (1897), The War of the Worlds (1898), The History of Mr Polly (1910), and A Short History of the World (1922).

The Correspondence of H.G. Wells: Volumes 1–4

Volume 2 1904–1918

The Correspondence of H.G. Wells

Volume 1 1880–1903

Volume 4 1935–1946

The Mystery of the Bright Star A hundred years ago, when women were fighting for the right to vote and Hollywood barely existed, Chicago was the center of filmmaking--bustling with movie studios, movie stars, and millionaires. The Windy City produced more motion pictures and had more stars than anyplace else in the world. The brightest star of the era was Catherine Farr, beautiful, intelligent, and beloved by millions. Then she vanished. In March 1920, the Bright Star of the movies boarded a train and never got off. Was she murdered? The prime suspect was her lover, movie director Toby Swanney. But she had angered many people because of her outspoken beliefs. Or perhaps she simply left everything behind to live life on her terms, like so many of the independent women in her films. A hundred years later, her great-great-nephew, a young screenwriter in Hollywood, returns to the small town where Catherine Farr was born to investigate the mystery. As Elliott Farr pieces together the clues of what happened, he rediscovers the rich history of the early movies--the explosion of talent, the remarkable personalities, and the excitement of creating a new art form for the twentieth century--while uncovering what actually happened to the Bright Star of the early movies. "David C. Smith takes a long-forgotten piece of American cinema history and creates a mesmerizing story filled with unique characters. Like the movies of long ago, Bright Star is great entertainment." --Michael F. Blake, Author and Two-Time Emmy Award Winner

Bright Star

Byline: Murder Cordell Burgess is the writer Jack Mathis has been waiting for--a genius who crafts fiction of gripping intensity and powerful insights. But the young Chicago book editor doesn't even know Burgess's name. The mysterious author lives in a rural farmhouse far from the skyscrapers of the North Loop, mailing in his stories anonymously. When Jack decides to dig a little deeper, he doesn't like what he finds. Burgess is a serial killer. Committing brutal murders inspires him to write his extraordinary fiction. He feels that he has found a kindred spirit in Jack and puts in motion a series of events to lure his unsuspecting editor into a creative partnership, one from which Jack--and those closest to him--may not emerge alive. How far will Jack go in his desire to own the next Cordell Burgess story...and the next one...and the one after that...? "The most frightening novel I've read this year!" Chris Rickert / Rickert & Beagle Books

A Novel

Dark Muse

Fascinating Tales from a Forgotten Era of Fantasy Fiction A resurrected sorcerer grants the wishes of the desperate men who have returned him to life-but in ways none of them anticipates. A prince makes a bargain with a barbarian criminal to travel into a lost world of violence and sorcery to save the life of a woman who may already be dead. Marauders who attack a city devoted to a great goddess suffer her strange curse when she answers the pleas of her dying priestess. The last survivors of an ancient continent confront evil at every step as they march beneath skies of endless darkness to reach the haven they hope will lead them to safety. These tales and a dozen more by fantasy and adventure author David C. Smith appear in this unique collection. Out of print for more than 40 years, these stories were first published in the days of limited-circulation fanzines-the only avenue for new work created by the generation of writers who grew up in the shadow of the pulp magazines. The paperback reprints of those pulp stories in the late 1960s and early 1970s encouraged an entire generation of young writers to enlarge on that tradition of popular American storytelling. Now they are in print once more for a new generation of fantasy fiction enthusiasts.

Tales of Attluma

Joe Bonadonna

Waters of Darkness

Richard L. Tierney

Nightmares come vividly to life for a man who awakens from his dreams to find his room savagely destroyed and an eerie voice beckoning him back to the small town where his parents died violently

Demon Night

For the past five hundred years, the human Kingdom of Paks has been forged upon the ruins of a magical age of Magi. Bishop Kaiser is thrust onto the throne following the horrific murder of his parents. After years of its own wars, the Kingdom returns to peace, until a near fatal attack changes Bishop in a way that nobody can understand or explain. Bishop’s new and aggressive persona sends the kingdom into turmoil and reignites war between the sects. The young Prince Farren finds himself caught between the love for his brother, and war. Farren is quickly forced out of his rambunctious, adolescent ways and struggles to gain strength to save his friends. The danger is far greater than everyone realizes, and it will take help from some very unexpected sources for Farren and Commander Coal Lucer to avert war, and worse; the coming of a new and dark age. Just as it was beginning to be thought of as legend, magic starts to flow once again in the land of Paks.

Earth and Shadow

The Legend of Paks

Judy Barrett Litoff

Barbara Woodall Taylor

Charles E. Taylor

During World War II, the millions of letters American servicemen exchanged with their wives and sweethearts were a lifeline, a vital way of sustaining morale on both fronts. Intimate and poignant, Miss You offers a rich selection from the correspondence of one such couple, revealing their longings, affection, hopes, and fears and affording a privileged look at how ordinary people lived through the upheavals of the last century's greatest conflict.

The World War II Letters of Barbara Wooddall Taylor and Charles E. Taylor

Miss You

Experiences of uniformed women in every branch of the service during World War II include eyewitness accounts of battles and recollection of caring for the wounded

Peter Cakebread

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