The Apparition Phase

Some ghosts never leave us. SHORTLISTED FOR THE MCKITTERICK PRIZE 2021 'A wild rural gothic with some slick plotting . . . the perfect novel for our phantom present' Guardian 'Outstanding . . . ideal for fans of Andrew Michael Hurley' Metro _________________ Twins Tim and Abi have always been different from their peers, spending their evenings in the attic of their parents' suburban house, poring over reports of the unexplained. Obsessed with photographs of ghostly apparitions, they decide to fake their own, and use it to frighten a girl at school. But what was only supposed to be a harmless prank sets in motion a deadly and terrifying chain of events that neither of them could have predicted... _________________ 'Clear your diary, switch off your phone, and get lost in this atmospheric and madly gripping ghost story' Daily Mirror 'A nostalgic delight' Irish Independent 'Intriguing, atmospheric and utterly terrifying in parts' My Weekly

"A truly profound debut."—Buzzfeed "A time-bending suspense that's contemplative and fresh, evocative and gripping."—USA Today "Henry's story captivates, both as a romance and as an imaginative rethinking of time and space."—Publishers Weekly "This time-traveling, magical, and beautifully written love story definitely deserves a spot on your bookshelf."—Bustle Emily Henry's stunning debut novel is Friday Night Lights meets The Time Traveler's Wife and perfectly captures those bittersweet months after high school, when we dream not only of the future, but of all the roads and paths we've left untaken. Natalie's last summer in her small Kentucky hometown is off to a magical start . . . until she starts seeing the "wrong things." They're just momentary glimpses at first—her front door is red instead of its usual green, there’s a preschool where the garden store should be. But then her whole town disappears for hours, fading away into rolling hills and grazing buffalo, and Nat knows something isn't right. Then there are the visits from the kind but mysterious apparition she calls "Grandmother," who tells her, "You have three months to save him." The next night, under the stadium lights of the high school football field, she meets a beautiful boy named Beau, and it's as if time just stops and nothing exists. Nothing, except Natalie and Beau.

And A Dog called Fig is a study of how animals help writers deal with the challenges of the creative process, interspersing the authors own experience with stories of other famous writers and their dogs

Hugo and Shirley Jackson award-winning Peter Watts stands on the cutting edge of hard SF with his acclaimed novel, Blindsight Two months since the stars fell... Two months of silence, while a world held its breath. Now some half-derelict space probe, sparking fitfully past Neptune's orbit, hears a whisper from the edge of the solar system: a faint signal sweeping the cosmos like a lighthouse beam. Whatever's out there isn't talking to us. It's talking to some distant star, perhaps. Or perhaps to something closer, something en route. So who do you send to force introductions with unknown and unknowable alien intellect that doesn't wish to be met? You send a linguist with multiple personalities, her brain surgically partitioned into separate, sentient processing cores. You send a biologist so radically interfaced with machinery that he sees x-rays and tastes ultrasound. You send a pacifist warrior in the faint hope she won't be needed. You send a monster to command them all, an extinct hominid predator once called vampire, recalled from the grave with the voodoo of recombinant genetics and the blood of sociopaths. And you send a synthesist—an informational topologist with half his mind gone—as an interface between here and there. Pray they can be trusted with the fate of a world. They may be more alien than the thing they've been sent to find. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

"I see you You go about your life like nothing ever happened. You think you're safe now that it's done, like a problem that you've solved once and for all. You're wrong. I remember what you did. You might have killed me, but I'm not gone. I stayed behind and I won't go until you've paid." This book includes: * Your first opportunity to play mortals as characters with the Storytelling System * The mystery of the World of Darkness grows with five ghost stories to play around your gaming table * A great prequel to Vampire, Werewolf and Mage chronicles.

The idea for Dropped Threads: What We Aren't Told came up between Carol Shields and longtime friend Marjorie Anderson over lunch. It appeared that after decades of feminism, the “women's network” still wasn't able to prevent women being caught off-guard by life. There remained subjects women just didn't talk about, or felt they couldn't talk about. Holes existed in the fabric of women's discourse, and they needed examining. They asked thirty-four women to write about moments in life that had taken them by surprise or experiences that received too little discussion, and then they compiled these pieces into a book. It became an instant number one bestseller, a book clubs' favourite and a runaway success. Dropped Threads, says Anderson, "tapped into a powerful need to share personal stories about life's defining moments of surprise and silence." Readers recognized themselves in these honest and intimate stories; there was something universal in these deeply personal accounts. Other stories and suggestions poured in. Dropped Threads would clearly be an ongoing project. Like the first volume, Dropped Threads 2 features stories by well-known novelists and journalists such as Jane Urquhart, Susan Swan and Shelagh Rogers, but also many excellent new writers including teachers, mothers, a civil servant, a therapist. This triumphant follow-up received a starred first review in Quill and Quire magazine, which called it “compassionate and unflinching.” The book deals with such difficult topics as loss, depression, disease, widowhood, violence, and coming to terms with death. Several stories address some of the darker sides of motherhood: - A mother describes how, while sleep-deprived and in a miserable marriage, she is shocked to find infanticide crossing her mind. - Another woman recounts a memory of her alcoholic mother demanding the children prove their loyalty in a terrifying way. - A woman desperate for children refers to the bleak truth as: "Another Christmas of feeling barren." Narrating the fertility treatment she undergoes, the hopes dashed, she is amusing in retrospect and yet brutally honest. While they deal with loss and trauma, the pieces show the path to some kind of acceptance, showing the authors’ determination to learn from pain and pass on the wisdom gained. The volume also covers the rewards of learning to be a parent, choosing to remain single, or fitting in as a lesbian parent. It explores how women feel when something is missing in a friendship, how they experience discrimination, relationship challenges, and other emotions less easily defined but just as close to the bone: - Alison Wearing in “My Life as a Shadow” subtly describes allowing her personality to be subsumed by her boyfriend's. - Pamela Mala Sinha tells how, after suffering a brutal attack, she felt self-hatred and a longing for retribution. - Dana McNairn talks of her uncomfortable marriage to a man from a different social background: "I wanted to fit in with this strange, wondrous family who never raised their voices, never swore and never threw things at one another." Humour, a confiding tone, and beautiful writing elevate and enliven even the darkest stories. Details bring scenes vividly to life, so we feel we are in the room with Barbara Defago when the doctor tells her she has breast cancer, coolly dividing her life into a 'before and after.' Lucid, reflective and poignant, Dropped Threads 2 is for anyone interested in women's true stories.

'An eerie meditation on the shattering power of grief and the painful search for any kind of redemption.' – Will Maclean, author of The Apparition Phase 'A horror story with the horror drained out. What remains is the insoluble wreckage of the grief left behind. It is beautiful and deeply moving.' – Jac Jemc, author of The Grip of Ite Simon and Marie can't seem to have a baby. They decide to flee the city for an idyllic village, where things, they tell themselves, must be better. But their new home is gloomy, threatening, tinged with tragedy – things have not been the same since the factory closed down and the broadcast antenna was erected. In the trees, no birds are singing, and people have started disappearing.... The Country Will Bring Us No Peace is celebrated Québécois author Matthieu Simard's first work to be translated into English and published in the UK; a strange and poignant novella exploring grief and its aftermath.

"Borley Rectory was the house that gained infamy as "the most haunted house in England" after its ten-year-long paranormal investigation by the psychic researcher; Harry Price. Price dedicated his life to uncovering the truth behind the paranormal, leading him to become one of the most well-known psychical researchers of all time. It was his investigation into Borley Rectory which by far became the most famous case in Price's long career, eventually leading to the Victorian house being crowned the 'most haunted in England'. This book ... document[s] his ten-year investigation into exploring the nature of paranormal phenomena surrounding Borley Rectory. The rectory was attributed to classic poltergeist activity, wall-writing, mysterious fires and supernatural manifestations. Most notable of these is that of the figure of a nun, known for walking across the garden. Also appearing was a spectral carriage and team of horses driven by a headless coachman. It could be said that the story of Borley Rectory is as much a story of a haunted house and ghosts as it is about the living. Borley's saga includes sensationalist tabloid headlines, a scandalous affair and a captivating investigator whose discoveries are still questioned to this day"--Amazon.com.