Back to Blog
A spy among friends by ben macintyre5/24/2023 Born in a wealthy family with a famous father, his upbringing was no different than most boys of his class, forced into emotional hardening and lacking in parental supervision. Philby’s formative years didn’t contain any events which might have overtly pushed him over the edge to become a traitor. One of the most prolific spies in the history of the practice, he was an MI6 agent who spent just over three decades spying on his own kind for his handlers in the Soviet Union. To those interested in the subject, the name is well-known to the point of being legendary, and there has never been a shortage of studies on his biography. Relatively little might be known about the spies of today, but over the years many of those from the past have emerged with their stories, and arguably few present as fascinating a case as Kim Philby, whose life is explored in Ben Macintyre‘s A Spy Among Friends. The Crucial Connections in A Spy Among Friendsīen Macintyre Offers Perspective on Kim PhilbyĮspionage between powerful countries doesn’t elicit the same interest from the public as it did during the years of the Cold War, slipping into the realm of shadows and clever technology as it ought to. Ben Macintyre Offers Perspective on Kim Philby.
0 Comments
Read More
Back to Blog
Full circle fantastic four5/24/2023 The ensuing adventure is suitably thrilling, full of the same derring-do and crazy comic book science that defined the Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four run. Ross uses the pair’s seminal 1966 story “This Man… This Monster” as a jumping-off point for his own tale, pitting Reed Richards, Sue Storm Richards, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm against an inter-dimensional baddie with ties to their past. Written and illustrated by fan-favourite artist Alex Ross, Fantastic Four: Full Circle is the first instalment in publisher Abram’s Marvel Arts line and picks up pretty much where Stan and Jack left off. We’ll never know for sure, however, chances are it would’ve looked a lot like Fantastic Four: Full Circle. In the decades since, fans have often speculated where Lee and Kirby would’ve taken the comic book series next, had their partnership not ended. Fantastic Four creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s legendary run on the title ended in 1970 after Kirby left Marvel Comics for rival DC.
Back to Blog
The white book by han kang5/24/2023 Its snow-crystals of prose settle into an eerily moving sequence of meditations on destruction, bereavement and rebirth. The baby girl had “a face as white as a crescent-moon rice cake”.įrom these dual dimensions of grief and memory, one personal and one historical, Han Kang, a South Korean writer, has fashioned a winter book made up of beautiful, tantalising fragments. During this spell of exile, she recalls the sibling she never met: her mother’s first child, who died “less than two hours into life”. To be published in America by Hogarth in 2019.Ī WOMAN wanders through the snowbound streets of a European city that, in the second world war, suffered such wholesale obliteration that “the white glow of stone ruins” stretched “as far as the eye could see”.
Back to Blog
The icewind dale trilogy5/24/2023 The ‘rime’ part of it, it’s a play on words, but it also hints at the frigid cold and frost that covers everything in this part of the world. And she has long been associated with Icewind Dale and people of the North both fear and revere her. “Some would call her a god who basically embodies winter’s wrath and cruelty. “The Frostmaiden is a powerful, powerful entity,” said Chris Perkins, D&D’s principal narrative designer, during a preview event on Monday. In Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden, it’s up to players to uncover the mystery of this endless winter and, ultimately, confront the woman herself. The hook for Dungeons & Dragons’ next published adventure is clear and concise: A dark and ominous season has come to the far northern region of the Forgotten Realms, and it’s sticking around much longer than anticipated.
Back to Blog
Emmet Dalton by Sean Boyne5/24/2023 Dalton was the first Senate Clerk, and he became a pioneer of the Irish film world, founding Ardmore film studios and establishing the Irish film industry. In this expansive biography, author Sean Boyne vividly portrays Emmet Dalton's experiences and the vital role he played in the politics and wars that created the independent Irish state. He then masterminded and led the audacious seaborne landings and successful recapture of Cork City and 'Munster Republic' from Anti-Treaty forces, yet was ultimately traumatized when Collins died in his arms at Beal na Blath. In the civil war that followed, Dalton oversaw the bombardment of the Four Courts, personally manning an 18-pounder artillery gun. Soon after befriending Collins and becoming his close confidante, Dalton accompanied Collins to the Treaty talks in London in 1921. A decorated hero of the Battle of the Somme, Dalton returned from World War I with the rank of Captain and transferred his military expertise to the now rampant IRA, serving as Director of Training and greatly impressing Michael Collins with his extraordinary daring and nerve. This is the first-ever biography of Emmet Dalton - an American-born Dubliner, Home Ruler, and later Republican - whose extraordinary military career as a British officer, Irish Republican Army (IRA) leader, and General in the Free State army brought him from Flanders to Beal na Blath.
Back to Blog
Boxers & saints boxed set5/24/2023 Boxers & Saints is one of the most ambitious graphic novels First Second has ever published. As the Boxer Rebellion gains momentum, Vibiana must decide whether to abandon her Christian friends or to commit herself fully to Christianity. A girl whose village has no place for her is taken in by Christian missionaries and finds, for the first time, a home with them. But in the second volume, Yang lays out the opposite side of the conflict. Against all odds, their grass-roots rebellion is successful. Little Bao, inspired by visions of the Chinese gods, joins a violent uprising against the Western interlopers. The first is of Little Bao, a Chinese peasant boy whose village is abused and plundered by Westerners claiming the role of missionaries. In two volumes, Boxers & Saints tells two parallel stories. The Boxers & Saints Boxed Set from Gene Luen Yang, one of the greatest comics storytellers alive, brings all his formidable talents to bear in this astonishing work.
Back to Blog
The unbroken cl clark summary5/24/2023 They will have signed bookplates to match The Faithless! Portal Bookstore (York, UK) : Not local to me but a great supporter and a great shop that focuses on not just queer books but SFF. They also ship internationally! (They also have a consistent stack of signed The Unbrokens. If you like, you can request specific personalizations in the notes field. If you pre-order from them, I’ll go sign the book personally before they ship it out to you. Gay’s the Word (London, UK) : My local and one of my favorite places. If you have already submitted, go ahead and make sure you’ve given permission to use your address for GDPR reasons. You still have time to preorder The Faithless at your store of choice and enter your receipt in this form here if you want to get access to the secret digital art and the sticker pack (as long as supplies and postage money last).
Back to Blog
Mutts comic books5/23/2023 It is revealed in a 2011 Valentine's Day strip that Earl was adopted by Ozzie from a shelter. He loves to eat both human food and his own dog food. Earl spends much of his free time with Mooch, either inside or wandering around town visiting other animals. Earl often howls in loneliness when Ozzie is away from home. They love spending time together and taking frequent walks. Both animals frequently express themselves through thought balloons when their owners are present.Įarl is an innocent black and white Jack Russell terrier who lives with his human companion Ozzie, a bachelor. The friendship of Mooch and Earl focuses on the differences between cats and dogs as human companions and as friends with each other: Earl is friendly, loves the company of his human companion, and likes to play outside Mooch is often indifferent to his human companions, except when being fed, and prefers to stay inside or is often seen with Earl, his best friend.
Back to Blog
Candyfreak5/23/2023 By turns ecstatic, comic, and bittersweet, Candyfreak is the story of how Steve Almond grew up on candy-and how, for better and worse, candy has grown up, too. Part candy porn, part candy polemic, part social history, part confession, Candyfreak explores the role candy plays in our lives as both source of pleasure and escape from pain. Today's precious few regional candy makers mount daily battles against corporate greed, paranoia, and that good old American compulsion: crushing the little guy. Visiting the candy factories that produce the Twin Bing, the Idaho Spud, the Goo Goo Cluster, the Valomilk, and a dozen other quirky bars, Almond finds that the world of candy is no longer a sweet haven. 'There are people who make more candy in a day than we make in a year,' Marty Palmer said in a 2004 interview with the Sioux City Journal. Almond believed that the Twin Bing was one of the last great regional candy bars and something to be cherished. There, he found an industry ruled by huge conglomerates, where the little guys, the last remaining link to the glorious boom years of the candy bar in America, struggle to survive. In his book Candyfreak, Steve Almond devoted an entire chapter to the Twin Bing. In fact, he was so obsessed by the inexplicable disappearance of these bars-where'd they go?-that he embarked on a nationwide journey to uncover the truth about the candy business. The Marathon, an inimitable rope of caramel covered in chocolate. Perhaps you remember the whipped splendor of the Choco-Lite, or the luscious Caravelle bar, or maybe the sublime and perfectly balanced Hershey's Cookies 'n Mint.
Back to Blog
Sweetest scoundrel by elizabeth hoyt5/23/2023 There's no denying the smoldering fire between them-and trying to put it out would be the greatest folly of all. But the harder she tries to manage the stubborn rake, the harder it is to ignore his seductive charm and raw magnetism. In spite of her lack of theatrical experience-and her fiery clashes with Asa-Eve is determined to turn Harte's Folly into a smashing success. He's not about to let an aristocratic woman boss him around. As the garden's larger-than-life owner, he's already dealing with self-centered sopranos and temperamental tenors. But when she agrees to control the purse strings of London's premier pleasure garden, Harte's Folly, she finds herself butting heads with an infuriating scoundrel who can't be controlled.īawdy and bold, Asa Makepeace doesn't have time for a penny-pinching prude like Eve. Prim, proper, and thrifty, Eve Dinwoody is all business when it comes to protecting her brother's investment. |