The Bookman Histories

An omnibus edition of the most exciting steampunk series of recent years. Lizard Kings and swashbuckling pirates, secret government agencies and scuttling automata, tripods and airships. There’s never been a series with quite so much adventure crammed between two covers! File Under: Steampunk [ Alternate History! | Diabolical Anarchists! | Murder Most Foul | The End of Days ] From the Trade Paperback edition.

In a 19th century unlike our own, the shadowy assassin known as the Bookman moves unseen. His weapons are books; his enemies are many. And when Orphan, a young man with a mysterious past, loses his love to the sinister machinations of the Bookman, Orphan would stop at nothing to bring her back from the dead. In The Bookman, World Fantasy Award winner Lavie Tidhar writes a love letter to books, and to the serial literature of the Victorian era: full of hair-breadth escapes and derring-dos, pirates and automatons, assassins and poets, a world in which real life authors mingle freely with their fictional creations – and where nothing is quite as it seems. New 2016 edition includes the novelette “Murder in the Cathedral”. Discover, truthfully, what actually happened when Orphan visited Paris. File Under: Steampunk [Alternate Victorian London | Reptilian royalty | Diabolical anarchists | Extraordinary adventure!]

When Mycroft Holmes is murdered in London, it is up to retired shadow executive Smith to track down his killer - and stumble on the greatest conspiracy of his life. Strange forces are stirring into life around the globe, and in the shadow game of spies nothing is certain. Fresh from liberating a strange alien object in Abyssinia - which might just be the mythical Ark of the Covenant - young Lucy Westerna, Holmes' protégé, must follow her own path to the truth while, on the other side of the world, a young Harry Houdini must face his greatest feat of escape - death itself. As their paths converge the body count mounts up, the entire world is under threat, and in a foreboding castle in the mountains of Transylvania a mysterious old man weaves a spider's web of secrets and lies. Airship battles, Frankenstein monsters, alien tripods and death-defying acts: The Great Game is a cranked-up steampunk thriller in which nothing is certain - not even death. And furthermore... venture deeper into the Lost Files of the Bookman Histories, as Professor Tidhar explores the "Dynamics of an Asteroid"! File Under: Steampunk [ End Of Days | Only The Beginning | The Ark | Insane Thrills ]

CAN'T FIND A RATIONAL EXPLANATION TO A MYSTERY? CALL IN THE QUIET COUNCIL. The mysterious and glamorous Lady De Winter is one of their most valuable agents. A despicable murder inside a locked and bolted room on the Rue Morgue in Paris is just the start. This whirlwind adventure will take Milady to the highest and lowest parts of that great city - and cause her to question the very nature of reality itself. Extra! Extra! Read all about it – for the first time, also includes "Titanic", a short story from the Lost Files of the Bookman Histories. File Under: Steampunk [ Alternate History | Reptilian Royalty | Murder Most Foul | The World's Fair ]

The word "bibliophilia" indicates a love of books, both as texts to be read and objects to be cherished for their physical qualities. Throughout the history of Iberian print culture, bibliophiles have attempted to explain the psychological experiences of reading and collecting books, as well as the social and economic conditions of book production. Bibliophiles, Murderous Bookmen, and Mad Librarians analyses Spanish bibliophiles who catalogue, organize, and archive books, as well as the publishers, artists, and writers who create them. Robert Richmond Ellis examines how books are represented in modern Spanish writing and how Spanish bibliophiles reflect on the role of books in their lives and in the histories and cultures of modern Spain. Through the combined approaches of literary studies, book history, and the book arts, Ellis argues that two strains of Spanish bibliophilia coalesce in the modern period: one that envisions books as a means of achieving personal fulfilment, and another that engages with politics and uses books to affirm linguistic, cultural, and regional and national identities.

Denver cop-turned-bookdealer Cliff Janeway is lured by an enterprising fellow ex-policeman into going to Seattle to bring back a fugitive wanted for assault, burglary, and the possible theft of a priceless edition of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven." The bail jumper turns out to be a vulnerable young woman calling herself Eleanor Rigby, who is also a gifted book finder. Janeway is intrigued by the woman -- and by the deadly history surrounding the rare volume. Hunted by people willing to kill for the antique tome, a terrified Eleanor escapes and disappears. To find her -- and save her -- Janeway must unravel the secrets of the book's past and its mysterious maker, for only then can he stop the hand of death from turning another page....

A mysterious portrait ignites an antiquarian bookseller's search for his lost love. Guaranteed to capture the hearts of everyone who truly loves books and literature - in particular the golden age of Shakespeare, Jonson and Marlowe - The Bookman's Tale is a sparkling novel and an engrossing exploration of one of literature's most tantalizing mysteries. After the death of his wife, Peter Byerly, a young antiquarian bookseller, relocates from the States to the English countryside, where he hopes to rediscover the joys of life through his passion for collecting and restoring rare books. But when he opens an eighteenth-century study on Shakespeare forgeries, he is shocked to find a Victorian portrait strikingly similar to his wife tumble out of its pages, and becomes obsessed with tracking down its origins. As he follows the trail back to the nineteenth century and then to Shakespeare's time, Peter learns the truth about his own past and unearths a book that might prove that Shakespeare was indeed the author of all his plays.

Praise for The Violent Century “The Violent Century is a very sophisticated blend of fantasy and real life. Of flawed superheroes engaging with key events in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Lavie Tidhar is a veteran of seamlessly weaving an intriguing blend of fiction into world changing historical events.” —Strange Alliances “The Violent Centuryis a wonderfully constructed, crafted work that bears a great emotional weight even as it raises more intellectual questions. It’s the kind of work that lingers in the mind long after the reading.” —Fantasy Literature “Heart, a sly sense of humour, great action set-pieces and a range of fascinating supporting players.” —Newtown Review of Books “A brilliantly etched phantasmagoric reconfiguring of that most sizzling of eras—the twilight 20th . . . a torrid tour de force.” —James Ellroy, author of L.A. Confidential and Blood’s a Rover “A brilliant novel of ideas.” — B&N Book Blog “The Violent Century is admirably plotted and well paced, with an atmosphere of menace throughout, I’m puzzled as to why this wasn’t on any award shortlist for its year.” —Jack Deighton, author of A Son of the Rock “Like Watchmen on crack.” —io9 “If Nietzche had written an X-Men storyline whilst high on mescaline, it might have read something like The Violent Century.” —Adam Roberts, author of Jack Glass “Pack your bags and go home; the superhero genre is now completed . . . if John le Carre wrote a superhero novel about the Cold War, it might be this good.” —Charles Stross, author of Neptune’s Brood: A Space Opera “The Violent Century is a brilliant story of superheroes and spies and secret histories. It stands with Alan Moore’s Watchmen as an examination of the myths that we made in the 20th Century and the ways they still haunt us now. it’s as dramatic and vital as the best comic books and as beautifully written and evocative as any literary novel today. Read it. You’ll see.” — Christopher Farnsworth, author of Blood Oath and Flashmob “An alternative history tour-de-force. Epic, intense and authentic. Lavie Tidhar reboots the 20th century with spies and superheroes battling for mastery—and the results are electric.” —Tom Harper, author of The Lost Temple “A stunning masterpiece” —The Independent “Tidhar synthesises the geeky and the political in a vision of world events that breaks new superhero ground.” —The Guardian “It’s hard, but not impossible as Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Mike Carey and others have shown, to create a morally complex, artistically ambitious story based on characters whose origins are not that far removed from the simplicity of Superman, Spiderman, and their ilk. Tidhar has succeeded brilliantly in this task.” —LA Review of Books “A sophisticated, moving and gripping take on 20th century conflicts and our capacity for love and hate, honour and betrayal.” —The Daily Mail “A love story and meditation on heroism, this is an elegiac espionage adventure that demands a second reading.” —Metro “Could keep anyone, regardless of the types of stories they regularly enjoy, interested and engaged. Tidhar has created a book that oozes excellence in both characterisation and storytelling.” —The Huffington Post [STARRED REVIEW]"This study in heroism, love, revenge, and violence will be in demand by lovers of complex, intelligent sf and alternative history. Anyone who enjoys stories of people with supernatural abilities will thrive reading Tidhar’s world.” —Library Journal “A terrifically told tale of heroism and enduring friendship that captures our imaginations from the very first page.” —Booklist “If you love Philip K. Dick, Lavie Tidhar should be your new favorite writer . . . an unforgettable read.” —The Jewish Standard “He’s dealing with the grandest schemes on the largest of backdrops in time and place, and this level of awe-inspiring craft places him firmly within the highest tier of writers working today, no longer an emerging writer, but a master.” —British Fantasy Society “Intense and evocative.” —SFX “Gripping, imaginative and moving.” —Sci Fi Now “The sort of thing Quentin Tarantino did as bloody wish-fulfillment in Inglourious Basterds, multiplied by several orders of magnitude.” —Locus “This is a novel that can break your heart and then, ever so subtly, include a cameo by Stan Lee. Tidhar clearly knows as much about supermen of all kinds as he does about the circumstances that produce them.” —Strange Horizons “The Violent Century is an excellent novel that demonstrates, once again, the impressive versatility of its author.” —Interzone “A masterful example of alternate universe science fiction and can only add to its author’s rapidly growing reputation.”— The Los Angeles Review of Books “An original, engrossing fusion of noir-ish super-heroes and gritty espionage thriller . . . a fantastic novel” —Civilian Reader “Lavie Tidhar is no longer a rising star in the genre, but one burning bright.” —Staffer’s Book Review Praise for the Campbell Award and Neukom Literary-winning novel Central Station An NPR Best Book of 2016 An Amazon Featured Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Book A Tor.com Best Book of 2016 A Guardian Best SF & Fantasy Book of 2016 A Publishers Weekly Staff Pick A Kirkus Best Science Fiction and Fantasy pick British Science Fiction Award, shortlist Arthur C. Clarke Award, shortlist “It is just this side of a masterpiece — short, restrained, lush — and the truest joy of it is in the way Tidhar scatters brilliant ideas like pennies on the sidewalk.” —NPR Books [STARRED REVIEW] "Readers of all persuasions will be entranced.” —Publishers Weekly [STARRED REVIEW] “. . . a fascinating future glimpsed through the lens of a tight-knit community. Verdict: Tidhar (A Man Lies Dreaming; The Violent Century) changes genres with every outing, but his astounding talents guarantee something new and compelling no matter the story he tells.” —Library Journal, starred review "A sprawling hymn to the glory and mess of cultural diversity.” —Guardian ”Quietly enthralling and subtly ingenious.” —Asimov's Science Fiction “Beautiful, original, a shimmering tapestry of connections and images - I can't think of another SF novel quite like it. Lavie Tidhar is one of the most distinctive voices to enter the field in many years.” —Alastair Reynolds, author of the Revelation Space series “If you want to know what SF is going to look like in the next decade, this is it.” —Gardner Dozois, editor of the bestselling Year’s Best Science Fiction series “A dazzling tale of complicated politics and even more complicated souls. Beautiful.” —Ken Liu, author of The Paper Menagerie “Central Station is masterful: simultaneously spare and sweeping—a perfect combination of emotional sophistication and speculative vision. Tidhar always stuns me.” —Kij Johnson, author of At the Mouth of the River of Bees “ A unique marriage of Philip K. Dick, William Gibson, C. L. Moore, China Miéville, and Larry Niven with 50 degrees of compassion and the bizarre added. An irresistible cocktail.” —Maxim Jakubowski, author of the Sunday Times bestselling Vina Jackson novels Praise for Unholy Land “Lavie Tidhar does it again. A jewelled little box of miracles. Magnificent.” —Warren Ellis, author of Gun Machine “[STARRED REVIEW] Readers of all kinds, and particularly fans of detective stories and puzzles, will enjoy grappling with the numerous questions raised by this stellar work.” —Publishers Weekly “It’s precisely what we’ve come to expect of Tidhar, a writer who just keeps getting better.” —Angela Slatter, author of the World Fantasy Award-winning The Bitterwood Bible “There are SFF writers. There are good SFF writers. And there is Lavie Tidhar . . . Bold and witty and smoky, [Unholy Land] plays games and coquetries, makes dark dalliances and will leave you dazzled and delighted.” —Ian McDonald, author of Time Was and Luna: Wolf Moon "A genius, dreamlike fantasy for those who slip across might-have-been worlds.” —Saad Z. Hossain, author of Escape from Baghdad! “Unholy Land is a stunning achievement.” —The Speculative Shelf “Lavie Tidhar has given us a mystically charged, morally complex vision of Theodor Herzl’s famous Jewish state that might have been.” —James Morrow, author of The Last Witchfinder and Shambling Towards Hiroshima “Lavie Tidhar’s daring Unholy Land brilliantly showcases one of the foremost science fiction authors of our generation.” — Silvia Moreno-Garcia, World Fantasy Award-winning editor and author of Certain Dark Things “Unholy Land is probably better than Michael Chabon’s Yiddish Policeman’s Union.” —Bradley Horner, author of the Darkside Earther series