Book Haul

This month’s haul is a mix of audio books and print books, with a couple that I’ve been promised are being sent out but haven’t yet reached me … so I’m counting them anyway.

There’s a few spooky books, so I’m hoping to get somewhat in the spirit of Halloween. But, considering horror is a genre I tend to read a fair bit of anyway, It’s just a regular month for me!

The Book I’m looking forward to trying the most is ‘Elements of Horror: Earth’. Red Cape Publishing have done four anthologies with the horror stories within based on the element on the cover (earth, air, water and fire). I’ve been meaning to try it for ages and October seems like the perfect time to give them a whirl.

Physical/E-Books:

A twenty-story-tall metallic figure appears in the middle of Regent’s Park. The caretakers at London Zoo notice it first at around 4am. The figure, or robot, bears a great resemblance to the UN robot known as Themis . . .

Who made Themis?

It’s been ten years since Themis – a giant alien metal robot – was revealed to the world by Dr Rose Franklin. It now stands at the heart of the Earth Defense Corps – in case the makers of Themis return to claim it.

Why did they leave it here?

Rose and her team are still seeking answers to Themis’s origins when a second and even bigger robot appears in London’s Regent’s Park. A military response backfires, reducing half the city to bare earth.

And what if they come back?

As more robots appear across the world, Rose knows it’s a race against time to discover where they’ve come from, what they want and – most importantly – how to stop them . . .

Title: Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel

Genre: Science Fiction

Publisher: Penguin

Series: Themis Files #2

Format: Kindle

We always thought the biggest threat to humanity would come from the outside.

We were wrong.

Brilliant scientist Rose Franklin has devoted her adult life to solving the mystery she accidentally stumbled upon as a child: a huge metal hand buried beneath the ground outside Deadwood, South Dakota.

The discovery set in motion a cataclysmic chain of events with geopolitical ramifications.

Rose and the Earth Defence Corps raced to master the enigmatic technology, as giant robots suddenly descended on Earth’s most populous cities, killing one hundred million people in the process. Though Rose and her team were able to fend off the attack, their victory was short-lived. The mysterious invaders retreated, disappearing from the shattered planet . . . but they took the scientist and her crew with them.

Now, after nearly ten years on another world, Rose returns to find a devastating new war – this time between humans. It appears the aliens left behind their titanic death machines so humankind will obliterate itself.

Rose is determined to find a solution, whatever it takes. But will she become a pawn in a doomsday game no one can win?

Title: Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel

Genre: Science Fiction

Publisher: Penguin

Series: Themis Files #3

Format: Kindle

Elements of Horror Book One: Earth, is the first in a series of four horror anthologies based on the Elements. Within these pages you will find a variety of stories from some of the best independent horror writers on the scene today, including Theresa Jacobs, R.C. Rumple, David F. Gray, and many more. Fall into sinkholes, brave the tales of witchcraft, grotesque creatures, and demons, and feel the terror of explorations gone wrong.

Title: Elements of Horror by various authors

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Red Cape Publishing

Series: Elements of Horror #1

Format: Kindle

Carrot has moved into the Wonder Museum –  an eclectic collection of taxidermy, shrunken heads, and Mystery Junk owned by her Uncle Earl. For Carrot, it’s not creepy at all: she grew up with it. What’s creepy is the corridor behind one of the museum walls. There’s just no space for a corridor there – or the concrete bunker, or the strange islands beyond the bunker’s doors, or the unseen things  in the willow trees.

Carrot has stumbled into a horrifying world, and They are watching her. Strewn among the islands are the remains of Their meals – and Their experiments. And even if she manages to make it home, she can’t stop calling Them after her…

Title: The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

Genre: Horror

Publisher: Titan Books

Format: Paperback

Malachi Dakwaa has survived civil war but he’s now mute, after his tongue was cut out. Disengaged from his world, he’s performing mind-numbing work in a factory when he gets an extraordinary job offer. In exchange for six months as a warden on a top-secret organ-farming project, Frasier Pharmaceuticals will graft a new tongue for him.

Far out to sea, Malachi finds himself among warlords and mass murderers like the kind who ruined him. But are the prisoners as evil as Frasier says? Do they deserve their fate?

As doubt starts to grow, Malachi s own memories rise until he is faced with a terrible choice about his healing. Should he remain silent and let the prisoners suffer, or risk his life to set them free?

Title: The Book of Malachi by T. C. Farren

Genre: Science Fiction/Horror

Publisher: Titan Books

Format: Paperback

During a business visit to Count Dracula’s castle in Transylvania, a young English solicitor finds himself at the center of a series of horrifying incidents. Jonathan Harker is attacked by three phantom women, observes the Count’s transformation from human to bat form, and discovers puncture wounds on his own neck that seem to have been made by teeth. Harker returns home upon his escape from Dracula’s grim fortress, but a friend’s strange malady — involving sleepwalking, inexplicable blood loss, and mysterious throat wounds — initiates a frantic vampire hunt.

Title: Dracula by Bram Stoker

Genre: Horror

Format: Kindle

Audio Books:

Gotrek and Felix: unsung heroes of the Empire or nothing more than common thieves and murderers? The truth perhaps lies somewhere in between and depends entirely upon whom you ask….

After fleeing the authorities in the Imperial city of Altdorf, Felix Jaeger swears a drunken oath to dour dwarf Gotrek Gurnisson to record his death saga. In the cold light of day, Felix’s worst fears are confirmed as he learns that Gotrek is a Trollslayer – a dwarf doomed to seek out a heroic death in battle to atone for an unknown personal disgrace. Their travels throw them into a string of extraordinary adventures as Felix tries to survive his companion’s destiny.

Title: Trollslayer by William King

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: The Black Library

A gripping tale of espionage and murder in Elizabethan London.

London, 1590. Queen Elizabeth I’s control over her kingdom is wavering. Amidst a tumultuous backdrop of Spanish plotters, Catholic heretics and foreign wars threatening the country’s fragile stability, the body of a small boy is found in the City of London, with strange marks that no one can explain.

When idealistic physician Nicholas Shelby finds another body displaying the same marks only days later, he becomes convinced that a killer is at work, preying on the weak and destitute of London.

Determined to find out who is behind these terrible murders, Nicholas is joined in his investigations by Bianca, a mysterious tavern keeper. As more bodies are discovered, the pair find themselves caught in the middle of a sinister plot. With the killer still at large, and Bianca in terrible danger, Nicholas’s choice seems impossible – to save Bianca, or save himself….

Title: The Angel’s Mark by S. W. Perry

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Bolinda Publishing