Showing results for "Earth" in Literature & Fiction

J.W. Wells seemed to be a respectable establishment, but the company now paying Paul Carpenter's salary is in fact a deeply sinister organisation with a mighty peculiar management team. Paul thought he was getting the hang of it (particularly when he fell head over heels for his colleague Sophie), but death is never far away when you work at J.W. Wells, unlike the stapler - that's always going AWOL. Our love-struck hero is about to discover that custard is definitely in the eye of the beholder. And that it really stings.

'I wish I was half as critically respected as Garth Marenghi, even if I currently trounce him sales-wise (for now)' RICHARD OSMAN 'I bought all three novels of the TerrorTome trilogy in a bargain slipcase edition and have read two of them already. Albeit in the wrong order' DERMOT O'LEARY...

When the world was supposed to end everyone did things they never normally would…none more so than Siobhan, who wakes up on her floor, hungover, dumped by her no-good boyfriend and with a strange man in her bed…who turns out to be more than a little bit dead.

In this reissue of her debut collection, Madeline Cash, the author of Lost Lambs, skewers our late-stage-Capitalist reality into a strange, but ultimately life-affirming collage of stories. Life is absurd, so is Earth Angel. A biblical plague rains sentient frogs, a childless millennial throws a...

Brought to you by Penguin. THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB PICK From the winner of a National Book Award and author of The Good Lord Bird, soon to be a TV series starring Ethan Hawke The year is 1969. In a housing project in south Brooklyn, a shambling old church deacon...

Earthlings: beware! Do you know who your enemies are? Your neighbor? Your boss? Your butcher? Your wife? Only the Voltarians know for sure. They’ve successfully infiltrated our little world - and it may never be the same. They walk among us. They work among us. And they’re making themselves right at home, prepping the planet for a power play unlike any you've ever seen before.

Roll up! Roll Up! You have never seen anything like it in your life. The last thing Raymond expected when he went down to his allotment was to be abducted by a flying starfish from Uranus. But these things happen and when he learns that he is being sold as a delicacy in a Venusian auction, he is grateful to be rescued by the travelling circus. But this is not your everyday circus, this is Professor Merlin’s Greatest Show off Earth, with ancient exotic performers who travel between the inhabited worlds in a Victorian steamship.

Gabriel Delling might call himself a professional con artist, but when walking superstitions start trying to bite his face off, his charm is shockingly unhelpful. It turns out living nightmares almost never appreciate a good joke. Together with a succubus who insists on constantly saving his life, Gabe desperately tries to survive a new reality that suddenly features demons, legends, and a giant locust named Dale - all of whom pretty much hate his guts. And when an ancient horror comes hunting for a spirit locked in his head, Gabe finds himself faced with the excruciating choice between death...or becoming some kind of freaking hero.

Penniless and downtrodden at the loss of his wife and one of his daughters, Samuel Clemens turned to writing. The short stories and essays in Letters from the Earth find Clemens—under the pseudonym of Mark Twain—at perhaps his most quizzical and questioning state ever. Written as diary entries, Twain penned a series of letters from the point of view of a dejected angel on Earth who observes the many curious natures of man. These pieces, gathered by Twain's literary executor, feature sharp takes on the inconsistencies of Christianity and farcical criticisms of American life.

It's back to a new school term for the kids. Their mums - Gemma and Becky - are breathing a huge sigh of relief and reaching for the gin bottle. Except for the fact that Becky appears to be accidentally a little bit pregnant.... But that's not the first shock for the parents in the playground. Over the summer, part of their beloved Redcoats Primary has burned down. The school needs to raise thousands of pounds to stay open - and Gemma and Becky have been forced on to the fund-raising committee (just to add to the millions of messages from their online parent groups).

They’re here. They’ve arrived. And they’re all eyes. The Voltarian scouting party - illegal aliens extraordinaire - on a top-secret expedition led by one Jettero Heller, Royal Officer of the Fleet. His mission: rescue the planet from pollution - and make it safe for the upcoming invasion. His problem: The planet may not want to be saved - and the invasion may just be a trick.

The end is near! The Voltarian terrorists have won! Earth is history! But don’t believe everything you read. Or hear. Or see. Because the road to victory is paved with bad intentions - and lies, betrayal, and deception are all in play. Who are the players in this treacherous game? Countess Krak: Victim of a spectacular kidnapping, she is bound for a distant dungeon where she faces a venomous fate.... Royal Officer Jettero Heller: Convinced the Countess is dead, and overcome by grief, he is holed up in a Connecticut roadhouse - and standing square in an assassin’s crosshairs....

Ijon Tichy is the only human who knows for sure whether the self-programming robots on the moon are plotting a terrestrial invasion. But a highly focused ray severs his corpus collosum. Now his left brain can’t remember the secret and his uncooperative right brain won’t tell. Tichy struggles for control of the lost memory and of his own two warring sides.

Voltarian Royal Officer Jettero Heller will go to any length to protect his beloved Countess Krak. He’ll race up the Eastern Seaboard pursued by the entire Coast Guard. He'll smash boats, he’ll set off bombs, he’ll fight off every paternity suit that comes his way. But Apparatus Officer Soltan Gris is just as determined to put the Countess out of commission - for good - and he’s found the perfect hit man for the job. Well, almost perfect. This particular Torpedo has one little kink. He takes a bit of an unhealthy interest in his victims...after he kills them.

Voltarian Royal Officer Jettero Heller has heart, nerve, and a quick mind on his side. His archenemy, Soltan Gris, has cunning, ruthlessness, and a devious plan on his. But what neither of them has is money - and without that they may as well pack up and go back to Voltar. Because as every earthling knows - no pay, no play. Heller’s solution is a weekend in Atlantic City, where he puts a new spin on gambling. He's got a foolproof system, guaranteeing that he’ll win every bet he makes.

In Villainy Victorious The Death Battalion from the planet Voltar is sent by Apparatus Chief Lombar Hisst, who refuses to give up his maniacal plan to take over the throne from Emperor Cling the Lofty. Caught up in a power-crazed frenzy, Hisst holds the fate of the world and the entire Voltar Confederacy in his greedy, grasping hands. Can Fleet Combat Engineer Jettero Heller, the beautiful Countess Krak, and the dying Emperor survive?

Terry Pratchett joins up with a leading folklorist to reveal the legends, myths and customs of Discworld, together with helpful hints from Planet Earth. Most of us grew up having always known when to touch wood or cross our fingers, and what happens when a princess kisses a frog or a boy pulls a...

When Irene Ostendorf fires her rifle, the shot sends an out-of-town cyclist tumbling and her new pastor, J.W. "Dent" Denton, into the thorniest dilemma of his already complicated ministerial career. How can he earn the goodwill of the townsfolk, support the eccentric old shooter, and offer help to the injured young man, all at the same time? The more Dent tries to do the right thing, the further he stumbles into a minefield of small-town secrets that everyone—especially the president of the local Last Man Club—seems hell-bent on preserving.

Radical environmentalist Roscoe Alolo has been abducted. As ransom, his kidnappers demand that the village of Golden Springs cancel its gala Earth Day celebration. Whiz sociologist Huck Carp, who idolizes Alolo, vows to solve the case, and unexpectedly teams up with a hermit calling himself Johnny Appleseed.

The Earth is my Ant Farm, The Creational School gave it to me but I'm a bit bored with it now. A bigger boy threw a rock at it in the classroom and wiped out all my dinosaurs, I liked them. Now I'm stuck with the ants and they like to multiply. I have a favourite Ant, his name is Derek. This is about him, he likes to travel. He doesn't know how but I will tell him one day.