The historical fiction debut from former soldier, BBC defence correspondent and MP, Patrick Mercer, is a thrilling military action set during the Crimean War. 1854. War is imminent as the Western powers quarrel with Russia over fragments of the crumbling Ottoman empire. Wanting to prove himself to a father who will not let him forget about his own self-proclaimed military glories, Officer Tony Morgan is keen to set sail. Meanwhile, the Morgan's chambermaid, Mary, whom Tony loves but cannot marry, has wedded another officer in his company and will be accompanying the regiment to the front as a nurse. Arriving at Sebastapol in the Crimea, the company's first engagement with the Russians fill the company with a short-lived confidence. Morgan is eager to show himself a worthy leader, but in the face of several bloody engagements which decimate the company, he finds himself shaken to the core by the brutality of war. He also has to quell potential mutiny against the cowardly subaltern Carmichael, whose first instincts are always to save his own skin. His romantic longings for Mary are revived after her husband is severely injured and she nevertheless proves herself a noble and brave addition to the company. Facing dire conflict on the battlefield and off, within his company and within himself, Morgan is going to be tested to the limits... In his fiction debut, Mercer's twenty years of military service is all there on the page. His mastery of both the broad sweep and the finer details of military engagement is superb and bound to make an impact with military action fans. His characterisation of the regiment is wholly persuasive and he nails soldier psychology, slang and the interactions up and down the chain of command with deceptive ease. This is probably the closest any of us will get to being in a battle.

Warrior and combat medic, Titus Cervianus, must lead a legion and quell the uprisings in Egypt in a new Roman adventure from Simon Turney. Titus Cervianus is no ordinary soldier. And the Twenty Second is no ordinary legion... Egypt. 25 BC. A former surgeon from the city of Ancyra, Titus Cervianus is now a capsarius - a combat medic. He is a pragmatist, a scientist - and deeply unpopular with his legion, the Twenty Second Deiotariana. The Twenty Second have been sent to deal with uprisings in Egypt. Founded as the private army of one of Rome's most devoted allies, their ways are not the same as the other legions', which sets them apart and causes friction with their fellow soldiers. Marching into the unknown, Cervianus will find unexpected allies: a local cavalryman and a troublesome lunatic. Both will be of critical importance as the young medic marches through the searing sands of the south, finding forbidden temples, hidden assassins, and worst of all, the warrior queen of Kush... Reviewers on The Capsarius: 'Brings a whole new dimension to the genre... Recommended' Historical Novel Society 'A blistering epic brimming with tension, mystery and adventure!' Gordon Doherty Reviews for Simon Turney: 'A page turner from beginning to end... A damn fine read' Ben Kane 'First-rate Roman fiction' Matthew Harffy

The doctors and nurses who worked in the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH) during the Korean War were well trained, dedicated, and pushed to the brink. And they were young - too young to be doing what they had to do. As Richard Hooker writes in the Foreword, 'A few flipped their lids, but most of them just raised hell, in a variety of ways and degrees.' Meet the true-life heroes and lunatics who fought in the Korean War, and experience the martini-laced mornings, marathon hi-jinks, sexual escapades, and that perfectly corrupt football game that every fan of the movie will remember. It's also a story of hard work and skill in the face of enormous pressure and odds. Here is where it all began - the novel that made MASH a legend.

'A carefully crafted, totally engaging epic family drama' Yorkshire Post 'Delightful' Daily Mail Da said the Pearson family came out of the sand. He said they were born out of the red clarty sand that stuck to the soles of boots and the hems of frocks. You couldn't just brush the sand away, you had to beat your clothes with the palm of your hand like you were smacking them for being naughty. You had to bang your boots against the doorstep and find a knife to gouge away the sand that clung to the heels and round the stitching. Ellen has a unique view of the world but living in a tiny town in the north-east of England, in a world on the cusp of war, no one has time for an orphaned girl who seems a little odd. When she is taken in to look after a rich, elderly widow things seem to be get better, despite musty curtains and an aging employer completely out of touch with the world. But pregnancy out of wedlock spoils all this, and Ellen is unable to cope. How will Jack, her son, survive - alone in the world as his mother was? Can they eventually find their way back to each other? The Colours is a sweeping novel of how we can lose ourselves, and our loved ones, for fans of Kate Atkinson and Virginia Baily.

*SHARPE'S ASSASSIN, the brand new novel in the global bestselling series, is available to buy now* Portugal, 1811 Captain Richard Sharpe's renegade ways leave him discarded by his regiment and waging a war against a private Portuguese enemy - one fought through the burning, pillaged streets of Coimbra. Forced to retreat across treacherous terrain, the British army prepare vast defences at the Lines of Torres Vedras - their greatest secret and their last hope of stopping the French reaching Lisbon. And risking everything to re-join his regiment, and lead the army into battle once more, is Sharpe . . . 'A master storyteller' DAILY TELEGRAPH

Brothers. Emperors. Deadly enemies... An unputdownable novel of intrigue and combat in Rome.Emperor Severus is on his deathbed. His sons Geta and Caracalla, feuding in Britannia, are readying for a devastating power struggle. Silus, now a centurion in the Arcani, the secretive network of spies and killers, is thrown into the maelstrom. Back in Rome, plots breed in the stinking alleys. Everyone might be an enemy. Everyone a traitor. As an Imperial Assassin, Silus' loyalty will be tested to breaking point. And with the Empire starting to buckle under the strain, Silus must ask what matters: Rome or his own damned soul? From thundering races at the Circus Maximus to death in the Imperial palaces, this is a powerful and unputdownable novel that will transport to you Ancient Rome, perfect for fans of Ben Kane, Simon Scarrow and Conn Iggulden.

Action packed adventure from The New York Times bestseller Dale Brown Charged with rebuilding America's long-range attack force devastated in Edge of Battle, Special Adviser to the President Lt. Gen. Patrick McLanahan shocks everyone by proposing to build a force of spaceplanes, able to attack any target on the globe within minutes. The project is led by test pilot Captain Hunter Noble. Just then, Iran's theocratic regime falls victim to a swift military coup that reveals its immense military power to the world. The new self-appointed Iranian president, General Buzhazi wants to normalize relations between Israel and the United States. Buzhazi appeals to the world for help in hunting down terrorists, he argues that only he has the resources to stop radical fundamentalist Islam, and the world responds favourably. Hunter Noble secretly launches several reconnaissance satellites over Iran to monitor Buzhazi's powerful forces. Soon the satellites reveal Buzhazi's real plan, planting thousands of Iranian Pasdaran special-ops troops throughout the oil-rich Kurdish region of northern Iraq. The U.S. tries to re-establish a strong military presence in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Peninsula, but Iran has the upper hand now, and the U.S. government realizes it is in danger of losing control of the entire Middle East. But Hunter Noble is already working up a plan to strike back, showing the real power of the spaceplane force.

Ultimate soldier. Ultimate mission. But will the SAS be able to find an IRA sniper, before he finds them...? 1989, South Armagh: cheering mobs stand over the body of a British soldier. He is the ninth to have been killed by the so-called Border Fox, an IRA sniper whose activities have helped make this area of the United Kingdom the most feared killing ground in Western Europe. The British government is determined to break the tightly-knit South Armagh Brigade of the IRA before more lives are lost. The SAS men of Ulster Troop are the best in the world at surveillance, unsurpassed in counter-insurgency techniques. And now, once again, they are going to have to prove it. Their hunt for the Border Fox and the terrorists of South Armagh will be a murderous, little-publicized war in which every encounter, whether in or out of uniform, is potentially a battle to the death.

Written by a team of leading international scholars, The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and War illuminates the ways Shakespeare's works provide a rich and imaginative resource for thinking about the topic of war. Contributors explore the multiplicity of conflicting perspectives his dramas offer: war depicted from chivalric, masculine, nationalistic, and imperial perspectives; war depicted as a source of great excitement and as a theater of honor; war depicted from realistic or skeptical perspectives that expose the butchery, suffering, illness, famine, degradation, and havoc it causes. The essays in this volume examine the representations and rhetoric of war throughout Shakespeare's plays, as well as the modern history of the war plays on stage, in film, and in propaganda. This book offers fresh perspectives on Shakespeare's multifaceted representations of the complexities of early modern warfare, while at the same time illuminating why his perspectives on war and its consequences continue to matter now and in the future.

A HEART-RENDING TALE OF TWO GIRLS GROWING UP IN WAR-TORN BAGHDAD

Baghdad, 1991. The Gulf War is raging. Two girls, hiding in an air raid shelter, tell stories to keep the fear and the darkness at bay, and a deep friendship is born. But as the bombs continue to fall and friends begin to flee the country, the girls must face the fact that their lives will never be the same again.

This poignant debut novel reveals just what it's like to grow up in a city that is slowly disappearing in front of your eyes, and how in the toughest times, children can build up the greatest resilience.

Warrior and combat medic of the Twenty Second Legion, Titus Cervianus, must fight the armies of the fabled Warrior Queen in this blistering new Roman adventure from Simon Turney. Egypt, 25 BC. Titus Cervianus is no ordinary soldier. And the Twenty Second is no ordinary legion. Formed from the personal guard of a conquered king, the Twenty Second's ways are strange to soldiers of the Empire - yet the legion has proved itself in the blistering heat of the desert. Cervianus and his comrades march into the unknown as he and the Twenty Second Legion contend with the armies of the Bellatrix: the Warrior Queen of Kush. The Kushites and the Egyptians are united against the Roman presence in their lands - but there are complex political and military forces at work. Deep in the deserts, Cervianus and his comrades must brace themselves for a furious onslaught as they take on the might of the Bellatrix. Reviews for Simon Turney's Legion XXII series 'If you want gritty and utterly authentic edge of the seat Roman action, you should be reading Simon Turney.' Anthony Riches 'Brings a whole new dimension to the genre... Recommended.' Historical Novel Society 'A blistering desert epic, brimming with tension, mystery and adventure!' Gordon Doherty Reviews for Simon Turney 'A page turner from beginning to end... A damn fine read.' Ben Kane 'First-rate Roman fiction.' Matthew Harffy

'IF YOU LIKE SCIENCE FICTION YOU WILL LOVE THIS. . . A ROLLICKING GOOD READ' Scotsman on Beyond the Hallowed Sky 'MACLEOD'S BEST BOOK TO DATE' SFX on Beyond the Hallowed Sky THE FERMI ARE AWAKE. With the invention of faster-than-light travel there is nowhere that humanity cannot go. New worlds are discovered, but with them come new dangers. At the heart of the discovery is the Fermi, mysterious beings that have survived on alien worlds for longer than humanity has existed. But now the Fermi are awakening, and they do not seem pleased to find humans in their midst. But for Lakshmi Nayak and the crew of the Fighting Chance, danger is a lot closer to home. Their search for answers will take them to places, and worlds, they never expected. Science fiction legend Ken MacLeod returns with book two in the Lightspeed trilogy, a gripping tale of first contact and dark conspiracies set among the stars. Praise for Ken MacLeod: 'An exceptional blend of international politics, hard science, and first contact' Michael Mammay, author of the Planetside series on Beyond the Hallowed Sky 'MacLeod is up there with Banks and Hamilton as one of the British sci-fi authors you absolutely have to read' SFX 'Prose as sleek and fast as the technology it describes. . . watch this man go global' Peter F. Hamilton on Star Fraction 'Ken MacLeod has an enviable track record of extrapolating from current trends to produce mind-bending novels of ideas' Guardian Also by Ken MacLeod: Lightspeed Beyond the Hallowed Sky Fall Revolution The Star Fraction The Stone Canal The Cassini Division The Sky Road Engines of Light Cosmonaut Keep Dark Light Engine City Corporation Wars Trilogy Dissidence Insurgence Emergence Novels The Human Front Newton's Wake Learning the World The Execution Channel The Restoration Game Intrusion Descent

Before the movie, this is the novel that gave life to Hawkeye Pierce, Trapper John, Hot Lips Houlihan, Frank Burns, Radar O'Reilly, and the rest of the gang that made the 4077th MASH like no other place in Korea or on earth.

The doctors who worked in the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH) during the Korean War were well trained but, like most soldiers sent to fight a war, too young for the job. In the words of the author, "a few flipped their lids, but most of them just raised hell, in a variety of ways and degrees."

For fans of the movie and the series alike, here is the original version of that perfectly corrupt football game, those martini-laced mornings and sexual escapades, and that unforgettable foray into assisted if incompleted suicide--all as funny and poignant now as they were before they became a part of America's culture and heart.

From the bestselling author of The White Donkey, a heartbreaking and visceral graphic novel set against the stark beauty of Afghanistan's mountain villages that examines prejudice and the military remnants of colonialism. In this hotly anticipatednew work from Maximilian Uriarte, creator of the popular Terminal Lance comics and The White Donkey, tells a thrillingly cinematic (Publishers Weekly) story of the personal cost of war and the power of human connection. Lapis Lazuli is a rich blue semiprecious gemstone found deep in the Sar-i-sang mountains of Afghanistan's Badakhshan province. For thousands of years it has sustained the nearby mining villages, whose inhabitants lived peacefully in the mountainous landscape--until the Taliban, known in the region as the Horsemen, came to seek the riches stored deep beneath the earth. Taliban rule has turned the stone into a conflict mineral, as they steal and sell it for their own gain. At the behest of the fledgling Afghan government, seeking to wrest back control of the province, United States Marines are sent into the mountains. A platoon led by their eager and naive commander, First Lieutenant Roberts, and a stoic, fierce squad leader, Sergeant King, must overcome barriers of language and culture in this remote region to win the locals' trust, and their freedom from Taliban rule. Along the way, they must also wrestle with their demons--and face unimaginably difficult choices. A sweeping yet intimate story about brutality, kindness, and the remnants of colonialism, Battle Born: Lapis Lazuli is an epic saga from the voice of a new generation of military veterans.

'Compelling, disturbing, entertaining, this is a bloody riot from start to finish. In every good sense' Theodore Brun, author of A Burning Sea Conflict flares once more in Saxony...March, AD 773. Bjarki Bloodhand is now Fire Born - a legendary berserker inhabited by the ferocious spirit of a bear in battle. Yet he has sworn never again to allow that sacred rage to possess him, lest he for ever lose himself in the madness like his father. Tor Hildarsdottir yearns to save pagan Saxony from the grip of the Christian Franks, who now occupy half the region. But she also has serious problems closer to home with her fast-growing pet bear cub, Garm, and, worse, she seems to be falling in love. Widukind, new lord of the Saxons, is on a mission to reconquer the lands of his fathers from the Franks. He will stop at nothing to win the hearts of the men and women of the North, and bind them to his cause. But will they follow the Saxon Wolf in an unwinnable war? And will Bjarki join them? The epic second novel in the Fire Born saga, perfect for fans of Bernard Cornwell, Giles Kristian, and Matthew Harffy. Praise for The Saxon Wolf 'Donald has spun another terrific yarn, skilfully interweaving heart-thumping action sequences with a compelling plot... his writing is original and completely convincing. The Saxon Wolf is another step forward and a step up in the Fire Born series. Compelling, disturbing, entertaining, this is a bloody riot from start to finish. In every good sense' Theodore Brun, author of A Burning Sea Praise for The Last Berserker, Volume One in the Fire Born series'Donald has taken the legendary berserkers, those frothing-at-the-mouth shield-biters, and made them human, which once again proves that Donald is a writer not only at the top of his game, but of the game ... It is a wonderful, rich and violent brew. I welcome Angus Donald to the shield wall of Viking fiction like a thirsty man welcomes a mead-brother to the feast ... A tale worthy of the skalds' Giles Kristian, author of the Raven series 'With The Last Berserker, Donald has given us the first cut of some serious Dark Age beef. By turns heart-racing, intriguing, and touching, this is not a book for the faint-hearted - I can't wait for more' Theodore Brun, author of A Burning Sea 'The Last Berserker strikes with the thundering power of Thor's hammer... rich with the earthy depth, historical detail, intrigue, violence and adventure that we expect from Donald. But it is Bjarki and Tor that make The Last Berserker stand out... Donald's masterful creations will live on in the imagination long after the final page' Matthew Harffy, author of the Bernicia Chronicles 'A wonderful, blood-soaked tale of redemption and revenge, set amidst the eighth century clash of civilisations between Pagan Vikings and Christian Franks, by a master of the genre' Saul David, author of Zulu Hart 'Loved this tale of a berserker facing up against the tidal wave of Charlemagne's expansion. Great characters, brilliantly paced and explosive, gritty battle-scenes. Highly recommended' John Gwynne, author of Malice 'Well researched detail and stunning battle scenes make The Last Berserker a white knuckle ride. A thrilling, up-all-night read' C. R. May, author of The Day of the Wolf 'I loved it. Bjarki and Tor are great characters, instantly relatable. The depth of the immersion in their world and their values gives the book authenticity and weight' Cecelia Holland, author of The Soul Thief