Seeking the truth behind Xiao Xingchen's death, Wei Wuxian uses the dangerous power of "Empathy" to gaze into the past. He discovers that years ago, the newly blinded Xiao Xingchen journeyed to the remote countryside, where he and a girl named A-Qing became inseparable. Unfortunately, the peace they found together did not last--everything changed after they saved a mortally wounded man. That man was Xue Yang, a villain who used charm to hide his bitterly cold heart. Weaving a web of lies and deceit, Xue Yang joined their quiet life while secretly scheming for a bloody encounter between old friends and foes!

'If you've never read it, now is the moment. This translation will show that you don't read War and Peace, you live it' The Times Tolstoy's enthralling epic depicts Russia's war with Napoleon and its effects on the lives of those caught up in the conflict. He creates some of the most vital and involving characters in literature as he follows the rise and fall of families in St Petersburg and Moscow who are linked by their personal and political relationships. His heroes are the thoughtful yet impulsive Pierre Bezukhov, his ambitious friend, Prince Andrei, and the woman who becomes indispensable to both of them, the enchanting Natasha Rostov. 'It is simply the greatest novel ever written. All human life is in it. If I were told there was time to read only a single book, this would be it' Andrew Marr VINTAGE CLASSICS RUSSIAN SERIES - sumptuous editions of the greatest books to come out of Russia during the most tumultuous period in its history.

Mega-City One - a nightmarish enclosure located along the Eastern Seaboard of North America. Only the Judges - powerful law enforcers supporting the despotic Justice Department - can stop total anarchy running rife on the crime-ridden streets. Toughest of them all is Judge Dredd - he is the law and these are his stories... After a pack of vicious Dune Sharks attack Mega-City One, Judge Dredd sets out into the Cursed Earth with a group of cadets, intent on finding where the alien fish fiends have come from, so he can wipe them out once and for all! Meanwhile in another classic adventure from the pages of the Judge Dredd Megazine, Dredd teams up with the celebrity freelance exorcist, Devlin Waugh, to battle Kigishu the evil sorcerer on the plains of Pan-Africa...

Nu-Earth, a battle-ravaged world forever scarred by an ongoing war between the Nort and Souther armies. The poison atmosphere makes it hostile to all who fight there, with the exception of one person - the Rogue Trooper.A biologically-engineered war machine, Rogue Trooper is searching for the traitor General responsible for the deaths of his clone brothers. Together with his three 'dead' bio-chipped comrades, Gunner, Bagman and Helm, he won't stop until he has succeeded in his personal mission of revenge!

Three irresistible short stories by the global phenomenon Ali Hazelwood, now available together in paperback for the first time, with an exclusive bonus chapter.

Mara, Sadie, and Hannah are friends first, scientists always. Though their fields of study might take them to different corners of the world, they can all agree on this universal truth: when it comes to love and science, opposites attract, and rivals make you burn....

Under One Roof
An environmental engineer discovers that scientists should never cohabitate when she finds herself stuck with the roommate from hell - a detestable big-oil lawyer who won't leave the thermostat alone.

Stuck with You
A civil engineer and her nemesis take their rivalry - and love - to the next level when they get stuck in a New York elevator.

Below Zero
A NASA aerospace engineer's frozen heart melts as she lies injured and stranded at a remote Arctic research station and the only person willing to undertake the dangerous rescue mission is her longtime rival.

Talk of the Town by award-winning writer Fred Khumalo comprises short stories he wrote over many years. In this vibrant collection Khumalo explores identity and belonging through tales about African foreign nationals in South Africa, xenophobia, South Africans abroad, exiled comrades during apartheid, and past and current township life. At times hilarious and at times gut-wrenching, this is a collection that will move you.

The long-awaited first short story-collection by the author of the cult sensation Convenience Store Woman, tales of weird love, heartfelt friendships, and the unsettling nature of human existenceWith Life Ceremony, the incomparable Sayaka Murata is back with her first collection of short stories ever to be translated into English. In Japan, Murata is particularly admired for her short stories, which are sometimes sweet, sometimes shocking, and always imbued with an otherworldly imagination and uncanniness.In these twelve stories, Murata mixes an unusual cocktail of humor and horror to portray both the loners and outcasts as well as turning the norms and traditions of society on their head to better question them. Whether the stories take place in modern-day Japan, the future, or an alternate reality is left to the reader's interpretation, as the characters often seem strange in their normality in a frighteningly abnormal world. In "A First-Rate Material," Nana and Naoki are happily engaged, but Naoki can't stand the conventional use of deceased people's bodies for clothing, accessories, and furniture, and a disagreement around this threatens to derail their perfect wedding day. "Lovers on the Breeze" is told from the perspective of a curtain in a child's bedroom that jealously watches the young girl Naoko as she has her first kiss with a boy from her class and does its best to stop her. "Eating the City" explores the strange norms around food and foraging, while "Hatchling" closes the collection with an extraordinary depiction of the fractured personality of someone who tries too hard to fit in.In these strange and wonderful stories of family and friendship, sex and intimacy, belonging and individuality, Murata asks above all what it means to be a human in our world and offers answers that surprise and linger.

A romantic retelling of a classic fairy tale about a beautiful herbalist and a lovestruck prince. Shirayuki is an herbalist famous for her naturally bright-red hair, and the prince of Tanbarun wants her all to himself! The prince from the neighboring kingdom, Zen, rescues her from her plight, and thus begins their love story. Shirayuki and Zen are enjoying some rare time off up in Lilias when they spot Obi out and about with an unfamiliar woman. Their curiosity sparked, they decide to play detective and trail Obi! Meanwhile, Mitsuhide and Kiki arrive in Lilias themselves, where Kiki plans to make a full report on how she proposed to Mitsuhide and got rejected!

Voyager Classics - timeless masterworks of science fiction and fantasy. A beautiful clothbound edition of the internationally acclaimed Fahrenheit 451 - a masterwork of twentieth-century literature. Over 1 million copies sold in the UK. The terrifyingly prophetic novel of a post-literate future. Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, is ready to track down those dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books. The classic dystopian novel of a post-literate future, Fahrenheit 451 stands alongside Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World as a prophetic account of Western civilization's enslavement by the media, drugs and conformity. Bradbury's powerful and poetic prose combines with uncanny insight into the potential of technology to create a novel which, decades on from first publication, still has the power to dazzle and shock.

To gain the power he needs to save his friend from a cursed spirit, Yuji Itadori swallows a piece of a demon, only to find himself caught in the midst of a horrific war of the supernatural! In a world where cursed spirits feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryomen Sukuna have been lost and scattered about. Should any demon consume Sukuna's body parts, the power they gain could destroy the world as we know it. Fortunately, there exists a mysterious school of jujutsu sorcerers who exist to protect the precarious existence of the living from the supernatural! Yuji Itadori and his classmates are fighting two of the three reincarnated Cursed Womb: Death Paintings brothers. Meanwhile, Megumi Fushiguro loses consciousness after finally defeating a special grade curse that possessed a Sukuna finger! Whoever wins the fight between Itadori and the brothers will be the one to secure the prized finger!

Stories do not have to be long. In the space of a couple of sentences - or even a page or two - we can see the human heart exposed in a way that is more powerful than in a novel. In Tiny Tales Alexander McCall Smith explores romance, ambition, kindness and happiness in thirty short stories that range in length from the short to the tiny. The settings are as diverse as the characters - Scotland, England, Australia, the United States - combining to create a rich and always surprising selection. An Australian pope?. A persuasive cosmetic surgeon? The world's laziest cat. A group of students living together and getting romantically entangled? All human and animal life is here - in miniature.

Midoriya inherits the superpower of the world's greatest hero, but greatness won't come easy. What would the world be like if 80 percent of the population manifested superpowers called "Quirks"? Heroes and villains would be battling it out everywhere! Being a hero would mean learning to use your power, but where would you go to study? The Hero Academy of course! But what would you do if you were one of the 20 percent who were born Quirkless? The Hassaikai crime gang, led by the young boss Chisaki, has been working on a plan to distribute a Quirk-destroying drug. The key to this evil scheme is the young girl Eri, held prisoner in Chisaki's hideout. Nighteye asks other heroes to form a team to launch a rescue attempt-and the students of Class 1-A are going into the lion's den with them! But Nighteye, who can see the future, refuses to look at the fates of anyone going on the mission...

Mega-City One is at the mercy of a terrible act of retribution, thirty years in the making. The Chaos Bug has been released and a weakened Justice Department are finding it increasingly difficult to remain in control. As Judge Dredd searches for the perpetrators of this heinous act, another fearsome faction is added to the fray...Fear, Fire and Mortis - the Dark Judges! This stunning conclusion to the latest Mega-epic, written by John Wagner (Button Man, Strontium Dog) and featuring the art of Henry Flint (Zombo), Colin MacNeil (Insurrection), Leigh Gallagher (Defoe) and Ben Willsher (Lenny Zero), ensures that nothing in Dredd's world will ever be the same again!

An honest policeman, Sergeant Wigan, escorts a drunk man home one night to keep him out of trouble and, seeing his fine book collection, slowly falls in to the gentle art of book collecting. Just as the friendship is blossoming, the policeman's book-collecting friend is murdered. To solve the mystery of why the victim was killed, and which of his rare books was taken, Wigan dives into the world of 'runners' and book collectors, where avid agents will gladly cut you for a first edition and then offer you a lift home afterwards. This adventurous mystery, which combines exuberant characters with a wonderfully realised depiction of the second-hand book market, is sure to delight bibliophiles and classic crime enthusiasts alike.

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. Clarissa Dalloway is a woman of high-society - vivacious, hospitable and sociable on the surface, yet underneath troubled and dissatisfied with her life in post-war Britain. This disillusionment is an emotion that bubbles under the surface of all of Woolf's characters in Mrs Dalloway. Centred around one day in June where Clarissa is preparing for and holding a party, her interior monologue mingles with those of the other central characters in a stream of consciousness, entwining, yet never actually overriding the pervading sense of isolation that haunts each person. One of Virginia Woolf's most accomplished novels, Mrs Dalloway is widely regarded as one of the most revolutionary works of the 20th century in its style and the themes that it tackles. The sense that Clarissa has married the wrong person, her past love for another female friend and the death of an intended party guest all serve to amplify this stultifying existence.

J.R.R. Tolkien's writings on the Second Age of Middle-earth, collected for the first time in one volume. J.R.R. Tolkien famously described the Second Age of Middle-earth as a 'dark age, and not very much of its history is (or need be) told'. And for many years readers would need to be content with the tantalizing glimpses of it found within the pages of The Lord of the Rings and its appendices, including the forging of the Rings of Power, the building of the Barad-dur and the rise of Sauron. It was not until Christopher Tolkien published The Silmarillion after his father's death that a fuller story could be told. Although much of the book's content concerned the First Age of Middle-earth, there were at its close two key works that revealed the tumultuous events concerning the rise and fall of the island of Numenor. Raised out of the Great Sea and gifted to the Men of Middle-earth as a reward for aiding the angelic Valar and the Elves in the defeat and capture of the Dark Lord Morgoth, the kingdom became a seat of influence and wealth; but as the Numenoreans' power increased, the seed of their downfall would inevitably be sown, culminating in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. Even greater insight into the Second Age would be revealed in subsequent publications, first in Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth, then expanded upon in Christopher Tolkien's magisterial twelve-volume The History of Middle-earth, in which he presented and discussed a wealth of further tales written by his father, many in draft form. Now, adhering to the timeline of 'The Tale of Years' in the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, editor Brian Sibley has assembled into one comprehensive volume a new chronicle of the Second Age of Middle-earth, told substantially in the words of J.R.R. Tolkien from the various published texts, with new pencil illustrations by the doyen of Tolkien art, Alan Lee.

In Pianos and Flowers we are invited to glimpse a world long departed. In these stories, inspired by long-lost photographs, the lives of the people in the frame are imagined and then explored, layer by layer. Three sisters brought up in Penang, caught in the tide of war. A group of small boys in a Glasgow slum - their childhood blighted by poverty, their adult lives taking very different paths. A young woman's search for love in the unlikely realm of Egyptian antiquities. And through all of these photographs, and all of these stories, there runs the same refrain: the possibilities of love, of friendship, of happiness lie before us.

Staal Burger – baasspeurder en minnaar van formaat – is altyd onberispelik geklee in 'n aandpak, met 'n swart strikdassie lyk asof dit op sy haelwit hemp geverf is. Nie ’n haartjie is uit sy plek uit nie, en sy bruingebrande gesig verraai ’n gesonde buitelewe. Suid-Afrika se 007? Watwou! Hy's dapperder as 007! In hierdie tweede bundel met Staal Burger-stories hanteer die superheld verskeie netelige sake: bedreiging van die nasionale sport, ’n prima donna wat vals sing, verlee doedies en diamante wat dodelik is. ’n Bonus in hierdie bundel is ander stories uit Fanus se pen, oor babas en bikini’s, die man met die motors en Vader Jors.

The less-than-innocents abroad in these short novels are Americans in Europe, involved in what turn out to be pleasure tours of hell: shocking, bewildering trips that change forever their ideas about history, reality, politics, sex -- their entire lives.

In the title novella, a third-rate American playwright named Landau attends a literary conference in Prague, where an organized group excursion to a former concentration camp degenerates into a battle of wills and an exercise in egomania and public humiliation. Nina, the heroine of the second novella, "Three Pigs in Five Days," is sent to Paris to write an article for her lover's travel journal -- a dizzying, erotic pilgrimage that forces her to see how sex has distorted her view of the world.

Using clear, simple steps, How to Draw Manga gives soon-to-be manga artists the basic techniques to get started, and the confidence needed to progress to more challenging manga illustrations.

Featuring 37 how-to-draw components, from important basics such as eyes, heads, hands, body shapes and poses, to fully realized manga characters, including mecha robots, martial arts fighters, snow spirits, anthros, cyborgs, hybrids and more. How to Draw Manga will give artists everything they need to develop their own amazing manga skills.

From the professional manga studio that created the bestselling Curiously Cute Manga: A Colouring Book (over 75,000 copies sold in the English language), How to Draw Manga features similarly stunning and authentic manga artworks. The book features an emphasis on action-led Shonen manga, but includes cute Chibi character entries, too.

Collateral Damage Studios, a Singapore-based illustration studio specializing in manga art, has recently been featured in ImagineFX magazine – the world’s number one magazine for digital artists.