These characters exist outside their natural world, forced to adapt. As a white child in the Bahamas, then a foreigner in the US, and finally a gringo in Guatemala, I’m always the odd man out, wearing many different masks to fit in. Because of this background, my views have always clashed, and gave rise to some interesting conflicts that became my own books. Like these fantasy heroes, I had to stop trying to be something I wasn’t to fit in and instead embrace my own weirdness, rejection be damned. These books all push people to think empathetically, and I hope to carry on that tradition, opening the minds of others.
Written one hundred years ago, the original Conan stories brought alive a world so rich in culture and history that it is still badly imitated by hundreds of authors.
Besides great writing of action and suspense, Howard also presented theories about evolution and civilization and colorful prose with a very strong vocabulary that stimulated my young mind. Far from the brutish Conan to which we’ve become accustomed, the original was given to philosophical discussion that shows Howard had a remarkable intellect.
Conan the Cimmerian: the boy-thief who became a mercenary, who fought and loved his way across fabled lands to become King of Aquilonia. Neither supernatural fiends nore demonic sorcery could oppose the barbarian warrior as he wielded his mighty sword and dispatched his enemies to a bloody doom on the battlefields of the legendary Hyborian age. Collected together in one volume for the very first time, in chronological order, are Robert E. Howard's tales of the legendary hero, as fresh and atmospheric today as when they were first published in the pulp magazines of more than seventy years ago. Compiled…
Another great book, this one more than a hundred years old, has also been poorly adapted by modern writers. In its original form, it is a wonderful collection of short stories set in British colonial India, a colorful but savage world teaching very adult lessons to children.
The vivid writing explores the struggles of various characters who find themselves out of their depth, but who adapt and triumph against all odds. The stories not only fascinated me with India from a very young age, but also offered me examples of how to act as a white child growing up in the Bahamas.
Puffin Classics - the world's favourite stories - relaunched with exciting new covers.
The Jungle Book is a classic story of friendship between man and beast. Saved from the jaws of the evil tiger Shere Khan, young Mowgli is adopted by a wolf pack and taught the law of the jungle by lovable old Baloo the bear and Bhageera the panther. The adventures of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi the snake-fighting mongoose, little Toomai and the elephant's secret dance, and Kotick the white seal are all part of Mowgli's extraordinary journey with his animal friends.
Twelve-year-old supernatural sleuth Dotty Morgan becomes embroiled in an ancient conflict between rival Japanese factions, and the timing couldn't be worse. A new girl in town creates jealousy between Dotty and her girlfriend, and her mother invites a nightmare houseguest to stay with them. She must put the drama aside…
A brilliant portrayal of three-dimensional characters breathing new life into a familiar theme. It taught me valuable lessons about how to have empathy for others, even my enemies. Imagine someone arriving in your country after a journey of two thousand years, to avenge the lives lost when the Roman Empire invaded them.
Or worse, force you to atone for a colony of ants in their home, seventy years before your birth. Alien invasion is not a new concept, but Ender's struggle to stop it is. He is up against not just the alien civilization but the society that created him, the others like him who vie for the role, and his own dichotomy.
Orson Scott Card's science fiction classic Ender's Game is the winner of the 1985 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1986 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut―young Ender is the Wiggin drafted…
This one-of-a-kind comedy turned the sci-fi genre on its head. With outrageous ideas pitched in a fast-paced and verbose style, Douglas stole the hearts of many young readers.
I especially loved the long-winded explanations of ridiculous but compelling things, often written in Thurberesque run-on sentences that lead the reader on a wild goose chase of logic before coming together in tight little conclusions.
This box set contains all five parts of the' trilogy of five' so you can listen to the complete tales of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, Zaphod Bebblebrox and Marvin the Paranoid Android! Travel through space, time and parallel universes with the only guide you'll ever need, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Read by Stephen Fry, actor, director, author and popular audiobook reader, and Martin Freeman, who played Arthur Dent in film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He is well known as Tim in The Office.
The set also includes a bonus DVD Life, the Universe and…
Vanderough University prepares its graduates for life on Mars. Herbert Hoover Palminteri enrolls at VU with the hope of joining the Martian colony in 2044 as a member of its esteemed engineer corps. But then Herbert is tapped to join a notorious secret society: the Order of the Scepter and…
One of the lesser-known books by the acclaimed author of The Tarzan and the Princess of Mars books, this book is a more feasible adventure of a young man exploring an Asian jungle. He finds himself hopelessly lost at death’s door and nursed back to health by escaped slaves hiding from two rival kingdoms.
His survival against all odds and rise to power within those two kingdoms, isolated and oblivious to the modern world, as well as his conduct throughout, were inspiring examples to me as a young man of how to act. As unlikely as it sounds, it is one of the books to which I attribute my success in life.
Asia, vast continent of ancient civilizations and mysterious peoples, has many corners little known to the rest of the world. One such was the jungle-hidden heart of exotic Cambodia, where American explorer Gordon King stumbled upon a secret kingdom lost for a thousand years.
King faces danger, rescues a "jungle princess," and braces the perils of the lost city of Pnom Dhek. Great Stuff! One of ERB's less-known works, and a good one! Third Ace edition.
An entire nation is on the move, led by an alternate dimension Indian queen seeking asylum in Napoleonic France, unaware of the civil unrest seething in the capital. A banished lesser god seeks redemption through nefarious means. In the tunnels below, an ancient evil stirs. A group of mercenaries look to enlist in whatever campaign looks promising.
Meanwhile, above, a relentless, nameless enemy with an ancient grudge has pursued the people of Navarre from beyond the farthest star. Like locusts, they find them and devour the civilizations they've built and take up the chase once more, insatiable in their lust to destroy. All will converge in one week in an adventure that will question the nature of our gods, our multiverse, and our roles in it.
Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.
Constance is a wild, stubborn young girl growing up poor in a small industrial town in the late 1800's. Beneath her thread-worn exterior beats the heart of a dreamer and a wordsmith. But at age twelve, she’s orphaned. Running away to join the circus—like kids do in adventure books—seems like…
