New Releases by Christopher Priest

Obwohl seine Heimat Wakanda und sogar sein Thron von innenpolitischen Unruhen bedroht sind, verfolgt T''Challa einen Kindsmörder bis nach New York. Dort legen sich Black Panther und seine Leibgardistinnen mit Gangstern, Wakandas Geheimpolizei und sogar dem Teufel an. Der US-Regierungsbeamte Ross, der T''Challa zugewiesen ist, kann da nur noch Staunen...

In this volume, you will encounter tales of ghosts, haunted houses, witchcraft, vampirism, lycanthropy, and sea monsters. Stories of cruelty and vengeance, of a body that refuses to be cremated, a deranged performer with one last shocking show, a frozen corpse that may not be dead. With stories ranging from frightening to horrific to weird to darkly funny, by a lineup of authors that includes both masters of horror fiction and award-winning literary greats, this is a horror anthology like no other. Spanning two hundred years of horror, this new collection features seventeen macabre gems, including two original tales and many others that have never or seldom been reprinted, by: Charles Birkin • John Blackburn • Michael Blumlein • Mary Cholmondeley • Hugh Fleetwood • Stephen Gregory • Gerald Kersh • Francis King • M. G. Lewis • Florence Marryat • Richard Marsh • Michael McDowell • Christopher Priest • Forrest Reid • Bernard Taylor • Hugh Walpole ''The things were there and they were hiding in the slime; waiting ... waiting to clutch and claw and savage’ - AUNTY GREEN by John Blackburn ‘The sound that came from her throat, a small, pleading cry of terror, was cut off before she’d hardly had a chance to utter it’ - OUT OF SORTS by Bernard Taylor ‘The words filled her with an indescribable fear, and she turned to run; but her way was blocked by a figure, gigantic in statureu200b – and its monstrous shape moved towards her, and she knew it was the incarnation of evil itself ’ - THE TERROR ON TOBIT by Charles Birkin

A composer’s tour of a mysterious chain of islands reveals startling truths in this “brilliant, meditative fantasy” by the multiple award-winning author of The Prestige (Barnes & Noble) Alesandro Sussken is a composer living in Glaund, a fascist state constantly at war with another equally faceless opponent. His brother is sent off to fight; his family is destroyed by grief. Occasionally Alesandro catches glimpses of islands in the far distance from the shore, and they feed into the music he composes. But all knowledge of the other islands is forbidden by the military junta, until he is unexpectedly sent on a cultural tour. And what he discovers on his journey will change his perceptions of his home, his music, and the ways of the islands themselves. Bringing him answers where he could not have foreseen them. A rich and involving tale playing with the lot of the creative mind, the rigors of living under war and the nature of time itself, this is multi award-winning, master storyteller Christopher Priest at his absolute best.

The most demanded return in comics is finally here! The original Quantum and?Woody are back! Legendary creators Christopher Priest (Black Panther) and M.D.?Bright (Iron Man) return to one of the most acclaimed series of the modern era! Whatever happened to the world?s worst superhero team? Twenty years past their prime, the unlikely crime-fighting duo known as Quantum and Woody (not a couple) have long since parted ways?until a middle-aged Quantum suddenly reappears with a brand-new teenage partner. Now Woody is out to break up the all-new, all different Quantum and Woody and put an end to Quantum?s recklessness?just as Quantum takes on a life-or-death personal mission for national security. Can these former friends set aside their differences?and their age?and their numerous health difficulties?to join forces one last time without driving each other crazy? Collecting?Q2: THE RETURN OF QUANTUM AND WOODY #1?5?in trade paperback as a perfect companion to the?QUANTUM AND WOODY BY PRIEST & BRIGHT?collections!

When a young Victorian couple inadvertently tamper with Sir William Reynolds''s latest invention, a time-space machine, they find themselves flung not only into the future but also across the void of space. Now, trapped on an alien world with a landscape of weird vegetation and overseen by giant, long-legged machines operated by gruesome octopus-like creatures, they must find a way to survive. And when they learn that the monsters are plotting an invasion of Earth, can they find a way to return home and save the planet? Written as a tribute to H.G. Wells and drawing on elements of his celebrated novels "The Time Machine" and "The War of the Worlds," Christopher Priest''s "The Space Machine" (1976) is a thrilling adventure that ranks among his most enjoyable works. "This is an astonishing change of pace for Mr. Priest, and one which extends his powers in ways which reveal him as one of the best and most persuasive young British writers." - "The Times" (London) "First rate ... science fiction at its best!" - "Los Angeles Herald-Examiner" "A novel that is unusual for its kind, a science fiction story with recognizable characters and a sense of style, atmosphere and humour. Imaginative and full of amusing curiosities." - "Sunday Express"

DC''s next wave of 80-Page Giants begins with this one-shot tying into the "Chain Lightning" storyline and featuring a story of THE KINGDOM''s Kid Flash! Explore the many ages of The Flash as 13-year-old Wally West gets some help from the Golden Age Flash as he foils some crafty collectibles crooks; Kid Flash helps his fellow Teen Titans battle an aging epidemic and Wally attempts to juggle his new responsibilities as The Flash. Plus, Flash teams with Captain Cold and the Golden Glider.

The western democracies are disintegrating, scarred by violence and gripped with fear of terrorist attacks. Trying to find solutions to today''s problems, Julia Stretton and other specialists at the Wessex Project have created a virtual reality projection of a utopian future where all current issues have been resolved - how did they achieve it? But on entering Wessex, they lose all memory of their ''real'' lives outside, and as they move back and forth the lines between dream and reality become obscured. When Julia''s ex-lover, the sadistic Paul Mason, joins the project, he has a sinister plan to take the Wessex projection to a new and terrifying level . . . Christopher Priest''s fifth novel, A Dream of Wessex (1977), is a classic of science fiction that will keep readers guessing until the startling, mind-bending conclusion. Priest''s novels The Space Machine, The Affirmation, and The Separation are also available from Valancourt. ''[An] excellent and intriguing novel ... the characters and their emotions are real, the concepts fascinating, and the sense of foreboding almost unbearable.'' - Library Journal ''This fine novel about time-unravellers has hallucinatory powers ... Priest is a novelist of real distinction.'' - The Times (London) ''Christopher Priest is one of our most gifted young writers of science fiction. I recommend A Dream of Wessex. I can best convey its quality by saying that I think not only H.G. Wells but Thomas Hardy himself would have enjoyed and approved of it.'' - John Fowles, author of The Magus ''It is a strange novel, technically very assured in its shifts of time and handling of place-in-time, sketching in the edges of the dream with considerable vividness. A fine, exciting novel - SF if you want a label, but an enrichment not only of the sub-genre, but the whole genre too.'' - The Guardian

The Martian Manhunter faces the difficult choice of whom to cut from the team when its ranks suddenly include Triumph, Gypsy, the Ray, Despero, Mystek, Impulse and Damage„seven of the most impetuous heroes in the DC Universe.

This is it, folks! From the legendary creative team of Christopher Priest (Black Panther, Deadpool) and M.D. Bright (Green Lantern, Iron Man), itÕs the third volume of Quantum and WoodyÕs groundbreaking original series, collected in trade paperback for the very first time! An old enemy returned. An old friend dead at his hands. Once forced to be partners by the life changing accident that gave them their powers or dissipate forever if they didnÕt ÒklangÓ their control bands together every 24 hours, Quantum and Woody now have an even more important reason to work together: payback. Suited up and armed to the teeth, theyÕre taking the war onto international arms dealer Terrence MagnumÕs home turf. They aim to make him pay for the murder of Taylor 88, and to prove theyÕre the last things anyone ever thought they could beÉ Heroes. Collecting QUANTUM AND WOODY (1997) #14Ð21, and #32 along with rarely seen materials from QUANTUM AND WOODY: MAGNUM FORCE TP.

It all ends here! Legendary creators Christopher Priest (Black Panther) and MD Bright (Iron Man) deliver the final chapter for a comic book milestone more than a decade in the making! Quantum. Woody. The other Quantum has disappeared. The other Woody has been revealed. Heroes, enemies, frenemies, and armies of vicious mercenaries descend on one luxurious ballroom during a black-tie affair?they all want the secret young Woody guards, and nothing will stop them from taking it. As the bullets fly and the champagne flows, can Quantum save the life of his young ward? And just whose side is the slippery Woody finally on??

"Priest writes extraordinarily well . . . his best novel to date . . . an atmosphere of increasingly oppressive menace." - Francis King, The Spectator "An original and haunting novel." - London Times "A brilliant and sustained novel of imaginative power." - Vector Peter Sinclair, a 29-year-old Londoner, is reeling after losing his father, his girlfriend, his job and his flat. Taking refuge in a friend''s rural cottage, he tries to make sense of things and figure out where his life began to go wrong by writing an autobiography. But it is possible that none of this is true ... Peter Sinclair is a 31-year-old native of the city of Jethra in Faiandland who has just won the grand prize in a lottery: a trip to the Dream Archipelago, a neverending series of idyllic islands, where he will undergo a medical procedure that gives him immortality. Because the process also results in total amnesia, Peter must first set down all the details of his life in a manuscript in order to recover the memories afterwards. But it is also possible that none of this is true ... As the two narratives intersect and intertwine, the reader must decide what is real and what is not in this brilliant literary mindgame from Christopher Priest, the award-winning author of The Prestige and The Separation.

The most demanded return in comics is finally here! The original Quantum and Woody are back! Legendary creators Christopher Priest and M.D. Bright return to one of the most acclaimed series of the modern era for an all-new mini-series event! Whatever happened to the world?s worst superhero team? Twenty years past their prime, the unlikely crime-fighting duo known as Quantum and Woody (not a couple) have long since parted ways?until a middle-aged Quantum suddenly reappears with a brand-new teenage partner. Now Woody is out to break up the all-new, all-different Quantum and Woody and put an end to Quantum?s recklessness?just as Quantum takes on a life-or-death personal mission for national security. Can these former friends set aside their differences?and their age?and their numerous health difficulties?to join forces one last time without driving each other crazy?

The seminal series by Christopher Priest and M.D. Bright collected in its entirety for the very first time ? with more than 50 pages of extras and bonus material! Sometimes the best friends make the worst partners. Once inseparable, childhood friends Eric Henderson and Woody Van Chelton haven?t seen each other in years. Reunited by the mysterious deaths of their research scientist fathers, the unlikely duo find themselves stuck together all over again when a catastrophic lab accident transforms their bodies into pure energy ? energy that will completely dissipate if they don?t ?klang!? their control bands together every 24 hours! Now, armed with an array of high tech gadgets?and two horribly mismatched personalities?and a goat for a sidekick?this pair of misfits has has decided to set the world straight as the world?s worst superhero team, Quantum and Woody?if they can manage to quit fighting each other first. Now, for the first time in one complete volume, discover the defining masterwork of legendary creators Christopher Priest (Black Panther, Deadpool) and M.D. Bright (Green Lantern, Iron Man) as the complete, classic Quantum and Woody gets the deluxe oversized omnibus treatment! Collecting QUANTUM AND WOODY (1997) #0, 1?21 and #32, THE GOAT: H.A.E.D.U.S. #1, and X-O MANOWAR (1996) #16 (guest-starring Quantum and Woody), as well as the original backup stories from the QUANTUM AND WOODY trade paperback collections, and the never-before-collected story ?Thunk,? along with rarely seen sketches, character designs and process art from inside the Valiant vaults!

Deep in the Advanced Technique Concentration, Wentik created a mind-altering drug. Suddenly he is transported to the jungles of Brazil in the 22nd century and a world devastated by nuclear war and poison gas. Only South America survived but even here ''The Disturbances'' create havoc. Can Wentik find a way back? For himself? And all of humanity? Christopher Priest is a genre-leading author of SFF fiction. His novel, THE PRESTIGE, won a number of awards and was adapted into a critically acclaimed, Oscar-nominated film directed by Christopher Nolan (TENET, INCEPTION) starring Hugh Jackman (THE GREATEST SHOWMAN, X-MEN), Christian Bale (THE BIG SHORT, BATMAN BEGINS), Michael Caine (THE ITALIAN JOB) and Scarlett Johansson (MARRIAGE STORY, THE AVENGERS).

Discover the islands of the Dream Archipelago—where reality is both illusory and magical—in this “masterful . . . endlessly compelling” literary sci-fi novel for fans of Haruki Murakami and David Mitchell (Locus). The Dream Archipelago is a vast network of islands. The names of the islands are different depending on who you talk to. Their very locations seem to twist and shift. Some islands have been sculpted into vast musical instruments, others are home to lethal creatures, others the playground for high society. Hot winds blow across the archipelago and a war fought between two distant continents is played out across its waters. Styled as an untrustworthy but enticing travel guide to the archipelago, The Islanders is a tale of murder, artistic rivalry, and literary trickery; a Chinese puzzle of a novel where nothing is quite what it seems; a narrative that pulls you in and plays an elegant game, just as its unreliable narrator does the same . . . “ . . . easily one of the richest and most rewarding novels that Priest has written to date.” —Los Angeles Review of Books

This is the story of Sally Gunnell''s progress from modest origins in Essex to becoming 400-metre hurdles world-record holder, Olympic champion and world champion. It describes the combination of talent, commitment, hard work and desire to win that have enabled her to succeed.

Quantum and Woody take on a high profile mission to save America''s political elite from terrorists. It''s exactly what Eric has always dreamed of?but is it all too good to be true?

British-born Teresa Simons returns to England after the death of her husband, an FBI agent, who was killed by an out-of-control gunman while on assignment in Texas. A shocking coincidence has drawn her to the run-down south coast town of Bulverton, where a gunman''s massacre has haunting similarities to the murders in Texas. Desperate to unravel the mystery, Teresa turns to the virtual reality world of Extreme Experience, ExEx, now commercially available since she trained on it in the US. The best and worst of human experience can be found in ExEx, and in the extremes of violence Teresa finds that past and present combine ... Christopher Priest is a genre-leading author of SFF fiction. His novel, THE PRESTIGE, won a number of awards and was adapted into a critically acclaimed, Oscar-nominated film directed by Christopher Nolan (TENET, INCEPTION) starring Hugh Jackman (THE GREATEST SHOWMAN, X-MEN), Christian Bale (THE BIG SHORT, BATMAN BEGINS), Michael Caine (THE ITALIAN JOB) and Scarlett Johansson (MARRIAGE STORY, THE AVENGERS).

In a world at war, the Dream Archipelago is a neutral zone, and therefore an alluring prospect to the young men on both sides of the conflict. In this interlinked collection of short stories and novellas, Christopher Priest explores war, relationships and forms of reality. Each tale is a truimph of quiet, steady craftsmanship, a model of ingenious design and subtle implication, and as a group they further enrich each other by interlocking cleverly, symmetrically and sometimes sinisterly.

Featured in Science Fiction: The Best 100 Novels Winner of the British Science Fiction Award Nominated for the Hugo Award The “devilishly entertaining” masterpiece of hard science fiction, set in a city moving through a strange, dystopian world—from the multi-award-winning author of The Prestige (Time Out New York) The city is winched along tracks through a devastated land full of hostile tribes. Rails must be freshly laid ahead of the city and carefully removed in its wake. Rivers and mountains present nearly insurmountable challenges to the ingenuity of the city’s engineers. But if the city does not move, it will fall farther and farther behind the “optimum” into the crushing gravitational field that has transformed life on Earth. The only alternative to progress is death. The secret directorate that governs the city makes sure that its inhabitants know nothing of this. Raised in common in crèches, nurtured on synthetic food, prevented above all from venturing outside the closed circuit of the city, they are carefully sheltered from the dire necessities that have come to define human existence. And yet the city is in crisis. The people are growing restive, the population is dwindling, and the rulers know that, for all their efforts, slowly but surely the city is slipping ever farther behind the optimum. Helward Mann is a member of the city’s elite. Better than anyone, he knows how tenuous is the city’s continued existence. But the world—he is about to discover—is infinitely stranger than the strange world he believes he knows so well.

The winner of the 1995 World Fantasy Award

THE SEPARATION is the story of twin brothers. Rowers in the 1936 Olympics, they meet Rudolf Hess, Hitler''s deputy; one joins the RAF, and captains a Wellington; he is shot down after a bombing raid on Hamburg and becomes Churchill''s aide-de-camp; his twin brother, a pacifist, works with the Red Cross, rescuing bombing victims in London. But this is not a straightforward story of the Second World War: this is an alternate history: the two brothers - both called J.L. Sawyer - live their lives in alternate versions of reality. In one, the Second World War ends as we imagine it did; in the other, thanks to efforts of an eminent team of negotiators headed by Hess, the war ends in 1941. THE SEPARATION is an emotionally riveting story of how ordinary people can make a difference; it''s a savage critique of Winston Churchill, the man credited as the saviour of Britain and the Western World, and it''s a story of how one perceives and shapes the past.

Christopher Priest is one of Britain''s outstanding novelists. Earthlight are proud to present the first of two omnibuses, featuring his SF novels THE SPACE MACHINE and A DREAM OF WESSEX each of which shows a very different side of England. THE SPACE MACHINE is both homage to H.G. Wells and wonderful imaginative fiction. It was praised by THE TIMES as ''compulsively readable...a mutation between THE TIME MACHINE and THE WAR OF THE WORLDS.'' In A DREAM OF WESSEX, the author conjures up an alternative reality where his characters find both peace and fulfilment, until a disruptive force arrives.

The Ray runs afoul of Mystek, a metahuman who can manipulate quark energy.