One Purple Hope And Three More Stories

George Orwell set out ‘to make political writing into an art’, and to a wide extent this aim shaped the future of English literature – his descriptions of authoritarian regimes helped to form a new vocabulary that is fundamental to understanding totalitarianism. While 1984 and Animal Farm are amongst the most popular classic novels in the English language, this new series of Orwell’s essays seeks to bring a wider selection of his writing on politics and literature to a new readership. In Why I Write, the first in the Orwell’s Essays series, Orwell describes his journey to becoming a writer, and his movement from writing poems to short stories to the essays, fiction and non-fiction we remember him for. He also discusses what he sees as the ‘four great motives for writing’ – ‘sheer egoism’, ‘aesthetic enthusiasm’, ‘historical impulse’ and ‘political purpose’ – and considers the importance of keeping these in balance. Why I Write is a unique opportunity to look into Orwell’s mind, and it grants the reader an entirely different vantage point from which to consider the rest of the great writer’s oeuvre. 'A writer who can – and must – be rediscovered with every age.' — Irish Times

From a John W. Campbell Award–winning author: The original trilogy chronicling the military science fiction adventures of Nicholas Seafort. In a “splendid homage to the grand tradition of the old seafarer’s tale,” the Seafort Saga tells the story of an intergalactic captain’s journey through the galaxy (Roger MacBride Allen). Now, the first three installments of this epic series are available in one volume. Midshipman’s Hope: The year is 2194. Seventeen-year-old Nicholas Seafort is a fresh recruit with the United Nations Naval Service, serving as midshipman onboard the UNS Hibernia. En route to the colony of Hope Nation, the ship answers a distress call—only to lose the senior command staff in a daring rescue attempt. The chain of command has elevated Seafort into a leadership role he never anticipated. Surrounded by resentful and potentially mutinous officers, Seafort earns his stripes throughout Hibernia’s voyage, but his real trial awaits at Hope Nation with a startling revelation for humanity. Challenger’s Hope: Capt. Nicholas Seafort was in command of the UNS Challenger until he was assigned to Adm. Geoffrey Tremaine’s task force. Removed from his flagship, Seafort has been given the smaller UNS Portia, transporting colonists to the world of Detour. But an alien attack devastates both ships, leaving dozens of crewmen and passengers dead. Only UNS Challenger is in good enough condition to bring the survivors home—provided Seafort can regain and retain his captaincy. Prisoner’s Hope: Nicholas Seafort’s disastrous mission as captain of the UNS Challenger cost him nearly everything. The aliens responsible for decimating the United Nations Naval fleet are still a threat to the colony world of Hope Nation, whose inhabitants feel abandoned as the navy returns to Earth. To save the colonists, Seafort will have to sacrifice everything he has left and commit an act of high treason that could result in his death sentence.

Mayhem and Matrimony It’s the special day Emma and Joe have been waiting for. It’s a day that Darcy’s been stressing out over for months. She’s no wedding planner but that hasn’t stopped her from doing all she can to make this day perfect. Despite their mother’s frustration that the new caterer has decided to open shop a few blocks away from their mother’s café. Despite the fact that their parents are divorced and their father has moved on and now has a baby with a much younger women. Despite the fact that someone tried to strangle Darcy at the reception and even more importantly that the new caterer—who’s not exactly ugly—had saved her from the assault. Why can’t there be a simple wedding without chaos and mayhem in Cape Hope? Message on the Tide Who’d think an innocent early morning walk on the beach would yield a sealed bottle with a mysterious set of letters from decades ago? Certainly not Darcy Harmon, but that’s exactly what she’s come across. And leave it to her sister Emma, the family’s resident amateur sleuth to try to take the mystery away from Darcy. Well, Darcy’s having none of it. It’s her mystery to solve and she’s not sharing it. At least, not until someone tries to take her life. Twice. Now, she’s suddenly open to having some help to find answers to the questions spawned by the mysterious messages in the letters that washed in on the tide. View to a Crime Darcy’s got an interview with a local paper. Cool, right? Well, maybe not. Why’s she got reservations about doing the interview when anyone she tells about it encourages her to jump at the chance. So, Darcy jumped. Only she finds her remote interview over Zoom comes to an untimely end when her interviewer is attacked. Luckily, Darcy manages to extricate herself from the situation unscathed because the attacker doesn’t know who the witness to the crime was. Until he does. Now Darcy’s in a race to find out who the perpetrator is before he can find her.

American Fiction Awards Finalist - Mystery/Humor PenCraft Awards Winner for Literary Excellence (Mystery) "Boswell continues his genre-defying series in this ambitious adventure…" –Publishers' Weekly ***This box set includes the first three mystery novels in the Simon Grave Mystery series by Len Boswell. Book #6, Simon Grave and the Wrath of Grapes, is now available! A Grave Misunderstanding (Book 1) Murder has come once more to the seaside town of Crab Cove, testing the mettle of "almost handsome" Detective Simon Grave and his "nearly invisible" partner, Sergeant Barry Blunt, who investigate a locked-room mystery with a significant twist: the prime suspects are in the locked room, not the victim, a logic-defying situation that challenges the team at every turn. As if murder weren't enough, they must also investigate the simultaneous disappearance of The MacGuffin Trophy from that same locked room, the studio of artist Whitney Waters, famous for her stylized paintings of red herrings. Who is/are the killer(s)? How did he/she/they get out of the locked room with the trophy, kill the victim, and return unnoticed by others in the room? These and other questions, including the limits of logic and the meaning of life, are posed and perhaps even answered in this quirky, near-future mystery. Yes, there are robots. Simon Grave and the Curious Incident of the Cat in the Daytime (Book 2) Murder rocks the seaside town of Crab Cove, but to solve the crime, Detective Simon Grave must first deal with the curious incident of the cat in the daytime. Murder has come yet again to the seaside town of Crab Cove, testing the mettle of Detective Simon Grave, his "almost invisible" partner, Sergeant Barry Blunt, and his new assistant, Charlize, a simdroid (an android lookalike of a famous person) who fancies herself a match for Sherlock Holmes, in the simulated body of Charlize Theron. When a body is discovered on a deserted beach, alongside a deactivated Betty White simdroid, the game is afoot. Grave must not only deal with the murder, but also come to grips with a deadly prognosis for his retired detective father. The murder and his father's illness take them on a tour of local cemeteries, including a new graveyard that features multiscreen videos celebrating the lives of the deceased. They soon discover that the only way to solve the murder is to first deal with the curious incident of the cat in the daytime. Simon Grave and the Drone of the Basque Orvilles (Book 3) A demon hound haunts Crab Cove, taking its victims as they come. When a mutilated corpse is found in the marshes, Detective Simon Grave rises to the challenge. Everything points to the hound, but it is quickly apparent that the body has been stabbed repeatedly, in a way that suggests serial killer Chester Clink also may be involved. Or maybe not. Grave and his team, including his partner, Sergeant Barry Blunt, and androids Charlize and Smithers, who fancy themselves as Sherlock Holmes and Watson, follow clues that lead them from drone manufacturing plants, to the labyrinthine caves along the shore, to the abode of a strange Scotsman who plays his bagpipes on a bluff above the crime scene. As always in Crab Cove, one killing leads to another, further pressuring Grave to solve the mystery—fast. The year is 2053. Time to... Release the hounds! (And the drones.)