'There is no doubt that [Quartered Safe Out Here] is one of the great personal memoirs of the Second World War' John Keegan Life and death in Nine Section, a small group of hard-bitten and (to modern eyes) possibly eccentric Cumbrian borderers with whom the author, then nineteen, served in the last great land campaign of World War II, when the 17th Black Cat Division captured a vital strongpoint deep in Japanese territory, held it against counter-attack and spearheaded the final assault in which the Japanese armies were, to quote General Slim, "torn apart".

When Flashman was inveigled into a game of pontoon with Disraeli and Lord George Bentinck, he was making an unconscious choice about his own future – would it lie in the House of Commons or in the West African slave trade? Was there, for that matter, very much difference? For one thing was certain, that Flashman would bring to his third great adventure all the qualities which had earned him fame and honour in the First Afghan War and brought him through his deadly power struggle with Bismark: Qualities like charm, cowardice, quickness of thought, treachery, lechery, and above all, fleetness of foot.

"The Flashman books bristle with action…and they are very, very funny."
THE TIMES

"George MacDonald Fraser is going great guns, and happy thought he still has some 50 years of the rascal's misdeeds to regale us with."
DAILY TELEGRAPH

Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman in his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world. As the Light Brigade prepare to charge the Russian guns at Balaclava, Flashman assumes his characteristic battle position: sabre rattling, teeth chattering, bowels rumbling in terror and about to bolt.

Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman in his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world. In his raunchiest romp yet, Flashman mines new depths of roguish behaviour as a secret agent extraordinaire and is thrust headfirst into the middle of the Indian Mutiny.

A game of cards leads Flashman from the jungle death-house of Dahomey to the slave state of Mississippi as he dabbles in the slave trade in Volume III of the "Flashman Papers". When Flashman was inveigled into a game of pontoon with Disraeli and Lord George Bentinck, he was making an unconscious choice about his own future - would it lie in the House of Commons or the West African slave trade? Was there, for that matter, very much difference? Once again Flashman's charm, cowardice, treachery, lechery and fleetness of foot see the lovable rogue triumph by the skin of his chattering teeth.

In Volume II of the Flashman Papers, Flashman tangles with femme fatale Lola Montez and the dastardly Otto Von Bismarck in a battle of wits which will decide the destiny of a continent. Did Flashman's adventures in the Duchy of Strackenz provide the inspiration for The Prisoner of Zenda? The similarities are certainly there as Flash Harry becomes embroiled in a desperate succession of escapes, disguises, amours and (when unavoidable) hand-to-hand combats in an epic adventure that takes him from the gaming-halls of London to the dungeons and throne-rooms of Europe. And for once Flashman's talents for deceit and treachery are matched by those of Otto von Bismarck and the beautiful but deadly Lola Montez.

Harry Flashman: the unrepentant bully of Tom Brown's schooldays, now with a Victoria Cross, has three main talents - horsemanship, facility with foreign languages and fornication. A reluctant military hero, Flashman plays a key part in most of the defining military campaigns of the 19th century, despite trying his utmost to escape them all. Many have marvelled at General Napier's daring 1868 expedition through the treacherous peaks and bottomless chasms of Abyssinia to rescue a small group of British citizens held captive by the mad tyrant Emperor Theodore. But the vital role of Sir Harry Flashman, V.C., in the success of this campaign has hitherto gone unrecorded. Flashman's undeserved reputation for heroism renders him the British Army's candidate of choice when it comes to skulking behind enemy lines in Ali Baba attire. After all, who but the great amorist could contemplate navigating a land populated by hostile tribes and the loveliest (and most savage) women in Africa, from leather-clad nymphs with a penchant for torture to a voluptuous barbarian queen with a reputation for throwing disobliging guests to her pet lions?

George MacDonald Fraser's famous Flashman series appears for the first time in audio book with an exciting new series style, ready to please his legions of old fans and attract armies of new ones. The Flashman Papers 1839-1842 Volume One Flashman, soldier, duellist, lover, imposter, coward, cad and hero, triumphs in this first instalment of The Flashman Papers. His adventures as the reluctant secret agent in Afghanistan and his entry into the exclusive company of Lord Cardigan's Hussars culminate in his foulest hour -- his part in the historic disaster of the Retreat from Kabul. This is the story of a blackguard who enjoyed villainy for its own sake. Shameless, exciting and funny, Flashman's deplorable odyssey is observed with the cynical eye of a scoundrel who was honest only in reporting what he saw. He makes all other black sheep look respectable grey.

When Flashman, the most decorated poltroon of the Victorian age, accepted an invitation from his old enemy, Tom Brown of Rugby, to join in a friendly cricket match, he little knew that he was letting himself in for the most desperate game of his scandalous career – a deadly struggle that would see him scampering from the hallowed wicket of Lord's to the jungle lairs of Borneo pirates, from a Newgate hanging to the torture-pits of Madagascar, from Chinatown dens to slavery in the palace of a mad black queen. If he had known what lay ahead, Flashman would never have taken up cricket seriously.

"In his own field Fraser is the best-informed novelist writing today"
GLASGOW HERALD

"Mr Fraser’s narrative drive and critical affection for makers and shakers of dominions are whole-hearted pleasures”
THE TIMES

Flashman, soldier, duellist, lover, imposter, coward, cad, and hero, triumphs in this first
installment of The Flashman Papers. His adventures as the reluctant secret agent in
Afghanistan and his entry into the exclusive company of Lord Cardigan's Hussars culminate in
his foulest hour- his part in the historic disaster of the Retreat from Kabul.

This is the story of a blackguard who enjoyed villainy for its own sake. Shameless, exciting,
and funny, Flashman's deplorable odyssey is observed with the cynical eyeof a scoundrel
who was honest only in reporting what he saw. He makes all other black sheep look
respectably grey.

"If ever there was a time when I felt that watcher-of-the-skies-when-a-new-planet stuff, it
was when I read the first 'Flashman."'
P.G. WOODHOUSE

"Not only are the 'Flashman' books extremely funny, but they give meticulous care
and authenticity. You can between the guffaws, learn from them."
WASHINGTON POST

"Mr Fraser is a skillful and meticulous writer, twice as good as Buchan, and twenty times
better than Fleming."
AUBERON WAUGH,'Evening Standard'

In the spirit of Flashman and in the inimitable George MacDonald Fraser style comes a rousing story of prize fighting in the 19th century. Reissued in a stunning new package, Black Ajax will attract a new generation of fans. When Captain Buck Flashman sees the black boxer catch a fly in mid-flight he realizes that he is in the presence of speed such as the prize ring has never seen. Tom Molineaux may be crude and untutored, but if 'Mad Buck' knows anything (and like his notorious son, the archcad Harry Flashman, he has an unerring eye for the main chance), this ex-slave from America is a Champion in the making, on whose broad shoulders the ambitious Captain can climb to sporting and social fame. Under his patronage, the 'Black Ajax' is carried on a popular tide of sporting fever to his great dream: to fight the invincible, undefeated Champion of England, the great Tom Cribb. The story of Molineaux and his eventual battles with Cribb is told through a series of superbly original and individual voices - colourful, powerful and funny. Together they create a magnificent picture of Regency England and a portrait of a flawed hero who surmounted the barriers of ignorance, poverty and race hatred to bring the prize ring a lustre it had never known before, and may never again.

Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman in his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world. Who better to undertake a perilous mission into deepest Abyssinia, to rescue Britons held hostage by a mad emperor? When it comes to skulking in Ali Baba disguise or seducing barbarian monarchs, nobody does it better than Harry Flashman.

Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman on his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world. A hasty retreat from the boudoir would normally suffice when caught with a wanton young wife. But when her husband turns out to be a high court judge, a change of continents is called for, as Flashman sets off to America again.

Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman in his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world. An international mission calls for unflinching bravery in the bedroom . . . Caught between an opium-selling vicar's wife, an Amazonian bandit queen looking for her next husband and the Chinese Emperor's ravishing concubine, Harry Flashman is busier than ever.

With the mighty Sikh Khalsa, the finest army ever seen in Asia, poised to invade India and sweep Britannia’s ill-guarded empire into the sea, every able-bodied man was needed to defend the frontier – and one at least had his answer ready when the Call of Duty came: ‘I’ll swim in blood first!’ Alas, though, for poor Flashy, there was no avoiding the terrors of secret service in the debauched and intrigue-ridden Court of the Punjab, the attentions of its beautiful nymphomaniac Maharani (not that he minded that, really), the horrors of its torture chambers or the baleful influence of the Mountain of Light.

Coward, scoundrel, lover and cheat, but there is no better man to go into the jungle with. Join Flashman in his adventures as he survives fearful ordeals and outlandish perils across the four corners of the world. A mission calls for a master of disguise, deceit and treachery: there's only one man for the job. When a legendary femme fatale delivers him into the clutches of the dastardly Otto von Bismarck, Flashman will need all the cunning and seductive charm he can muster to escape this plot.

George MacDonald Fraser was renowned for his legendary Flashman series featuring the incorrigible knave Harry Flashman, a soldier in the British army. After Fraser's death, his children discovered an unpublished first novel locked away in his study: Captain in Calico. In this lively stand-alone, Fraser introduces the real-life antihero Captain John Rackham. Called Calico Jack, he was the first to fly the skull and crossbones on a black flag, an illustrious eighteenth-century pirate who marauded the perilous Caribbean seas. One tranquil evening in the Bahamas, Calico Jack, wanted on counts of piracy, makes a surprise appearance at the governor's residence and asks for a pardon for his men. When Jack last set sail from the Bahamas two years prior, he left behind a beautiful fiancee he hopes to win back. A deal is brokered, but what the governor does not reveal is that while Jack was off looting the Spaniards, his beloved has become betrothed to a new man--the governor himself. Jack discovers he has been deceived and, in a fury, publicly threatens the governor, then locks swords with a notorious Frenchman outside a pub. All seems lost until a buxom Irishwoman, Anne Bonney, comes to his rescue and sets about planning one of the most audacious lootings the Caribbean has ever seen.

From the author of the ever-popular Flashman novels, a collection of film-world reminiscences and trenchant thoughts on Cool Britannia, New Labour and other abominations. George MacDonald Fraser has been a newspaperman, soldier, novelist (Flashman), and screenwriter. In a career spanning thirty years and encompassing films such as Octopussy and The Three Musketeers he worked with some of the Hollywood greats (Steve McQueen, Schwarzenegger, Fellini, Burt Lancaster, Charlton Heston). Here his reminiscences of those years are interspersed with an 'Angry Old Man's' view of Britain today, featuring blistering attacks on New Labour, Brussels and Cool Britannia.

Repackaged to tie-in with hardback publication of 'The Reavers' and to appeal to a new generation of George MacDonald Fraser fans, 'The Pyrates' is a swashbuckling romp of a novel. The Pyrates is all the swashbucklers that ever were, rolled into one great Technicoloured pantomime - tall ships and desert islands, impossibly gallant adventurers and glamorous heroines, buried treasure and Black Spots, devilish Dons and ghastly dungeons, plots, duels, escapes, savage rituals, tender romance and steaming passion, all to the accompaniment of ringing steel, thunderous broadsides, sweeping film music, and the sound of cursing extras falling in the water and exchanging period dialogue. Even Hollywood buccaneers were never like this.

Repackaged to tie-in with hardback publication of 'The Reavers' and to appeal to a new generation of George MacDonald Fraser fans, 'Mr American' is a swashbuckling romp of a novel. Mark Franklin came from the American West to Edwardian England with two long-barrelled .44s in his baggage and a fortune in silver in the bank. Where he had got it and what he was looking for no one could guess, although they wondered - at Scotland Yard, in City offices, in the glittering theatreland of the West End, in the highest circles of Society (even King Edward was puzzled) and in the humble pub at Castle Lancing. Tall dark and dangerous, soft spoken and alone, with London at his feet and a dark shadow in his past, he was a mystery to all of them, rustics and royalty, squires and suffragettes, the women who loved him and the men who feared and hated him. He came from a far frontier in another world, yet he was by no means a stranger... even old General Flashman, who knew men and mischief better than most, never guessed the whole truth about "Mr American".

For the first time in four years comes a new book in George MacDonald Fraser's long-running series chronicling the adventures of Sir Harry Paget Flashman. Eleventh in the series, Flashman and the Tiger features not one, but three stories of international intrigue that find the fictional Flashman thrown headlong into historical events around the world.

This time out Flashman is thwarting an attempted assassination of Austria's Emperor Franz Josef ("The Road to Charing Cross"); getting to the bottom of the Tranby Croft gaming scandal–and the Prince of Wales' involvement in it ("The Subtleties of Baccarat"); and, in the title story, impacting the Zulu war while hunting down a longtime enemy. At once meticulously faithful to fact and wildly fanciful, Flashman and the Tiger is an educational romp through the annals of history; thirty years after he began the series, Fraser is at the top of his game.

One of literature's most delightful rakes is back in another tale of rollicking adventure and tantalizing seduction. The plucky Flashman's latest escapades are sure to entertain devotees as well as attract new aficionados.

Three films about the border lands between England and Scotland. In 'Debateable Lands: In Search of the Border Reivers', George MacDonald Fraser and Eric Robson go in search of the Border Reivers, a group of 16th century murderers, arsonists, kidnappers and all-round scoundrels who populated the Scottish Borders. Hadrian's Wall is the most famous frontier of the Roman empire - and is also probably one of the most misunderstood archaeological monuments in Britain. In the four-part ITV series 'Edge of Empire: A Journey Along Hadrian's Wall', Eric Robson travels along 73 miles of the Wall, uncovering pointers to over 2500 years of history as he goes. 8000 years of turbulent border history are brought to life in the ITV series 'The Borders' presented by Alistair Moffat, which looks at the battles and bloodshed that have taken place on the much-disputed soil that lies between Northern England and Southern Scotland.

It is 1860, and while China seethes through the bloodiest civil war in history and the British and French armies hack their way to the heart of the Forbidden City, Flash Harry hoodwinks them all.