Hugh Cook

Guest Gulkan has survived warlords, wizards, demons, and his own disastrous ambition - but nothing has prepared him for the forces now reshaping the world. As the Age of Darkness reaches its endgame, Guest is drawn into a struggle far larger than any empire he ever hoped to rule. "Guest Gulkan." The voice was deep, dark, cavernous. A voice of roiling stone and flensing steel. A voice of sulphurous flames and bone-grinding appetites. At the sound of it, Guest halted. His flaring nostrils endeavoured to gape still wider. His hair, that part of it which was not firmly matted to his skull by the dedicated accumulation of filth, endeavoured to stand on end. With eyes wild, with the agitated whip-crack intemperance of a highly-strung horse about to panic and bolt, Guest turned to face the demon. "You " said Guest, challenging the jade-green block of glowing stone. "Is it you?" "Who else?" said the voice. This time there was no mistaking the source of that voice. The jade-green monolith was speaking to him. Guest Gulkan was being directly addressed by a demon - by Icaria Scaria Iva-Italis, Keeper of the Inner Sanctum and Guardian Prime. "What do you want?" said Guest, trembling on the edge of a one-man stampede. "I want you," said the demon. "Come here " In the course of Guest Gulkan's eventful life, empires are won and lost. Driven by his unquenchable thirst for power, Guest encounters many people and events which are beyond his understanding. The son of a barbarian emperor must change his ways - for about him the whole world is changing. The Age of Darkness is coming to an end.

Asodo Hatch and Lupus Lon Oliver are the top cadets at the Combat College - fierce rivals and the two best hopes for the Stormforce of the Nexus. Only one of them can graduate as instructor, and their final examination will pit them against each other in a contest where hesitation means losing everything. Praise for The Worshippers and the Way "This is the book where Cook presses the big red button on his worldbuilding... The Worshippers and the Way takes off the brake and dials everything to eleven." - Adrian Tchaikovsky, Hugo-winning author of Children of Time "Enemy behind us," said the single-fighter. So Hatch slammed the fighter into a wrenching turn, a turn so savage he had to tighten his stomach muscles to keep himself from passing out. And there was his enemy. In his sights. The enemy for real? Or a drone? Hatch hesitated, just for a moment, and a moment was far too long. Asodo Hatch and Lupus Lon Oliver had already established themselves as the best of the best at the Combat College, which was designed to produce Startroopers for the Stormforce of the Nexus. In just under a year, they would face the terminal examinations that would decide which one of them attained the lucrative position of instructor. There was only one instructor's position. And to win it, one would have to defeat the other in combat within the illusion tanks...

The acclaimed The Walrus and the Warwolf returns to print - Hugh Cook's most beloved novel of pirates, monsters, wizards, and wildly unpredictable adventure. "Of Hugh Cook's extraordinary, underrated, bizarre and hysterical decology, The Walrus & the Warwolf has long been a... reader favourite... The whole series urgently needs rediscovery." - China Mi ville The king drank some more blood. A little dripped from his lips to his leather trousers. "You're right," said King Tor. "Those were but boyish pranks. So I'll let you off lightly. We'll have you birched in public today. You spend tonight buried to the neck in the public dungheap. Toward morning, we'll put you on a boat. Three leagues from shore, you'll be thrown overboard. That is my justice " Drake knew he had got a good deal. What he didn't know was that this was only the start of a long journey which would take him far from his home and his love - and that he would have to endure far worse before either could be regained.

The second novel in Hugh Cook's acclaimed ten-book epic, The Chronicles of an Age of Darkness - the sequel to The Wizards and the Warriors. Togura Poulaan never wanted to be a hero - but when two rival factions drag him into a war of wizards, wordsmiths, and political schemers, he has no choice. To save the woman he loves, he must unlock the odex: a magical treasure whose key has been hidden. "Thanks to the wizard of Drum," said the Brother, "we know where to find these boxes. The nearest is in the bottom of a green bottle in Prince Comedo's Castle Vaunting in Estar. A monster protects the bottle from those who would acquire it." "Charming," murmured Togura. Besides, if he did not find the index, the key to the magical treasure chest known as the odex, he would never be able to claim his love from its mysterious depths. Also previously published as The Questing Hero and The Hero's Return.

The Chronicles of an Age of Darkness, the legendary ten-book epic fantasy series by cult author Hugh Cook, returns to print with Book One: The Wizards and the Warriors. Praise for The Wizards and the Warriors "One of the great triumphs of fantasy fiction - ahead of its time and absolutely deserving a fresh visit." - Adrian Tchaikovsky, Hugo-winning author of Children of Time "A genuine work of genius on multiple levels." - Adrian Tchaikovsky "Witty... Cook views magicians as their world's equivalent of none-too-responsible nuclear physicists." - Publishers Weekly "I ask all of you here today to join with me in pledging yourself to a common cause " said Miphon. Elkor Alish laughed, harshly: "A common cause? Between wizards and the Rovac? Forget it " And yet it had to be. Though Alish never accepted the alliance, his fellow warrior Morgan Hearst joined forces with Miphon and the other wizards. The only alternative was the utter destruction of their world. Also previously published as Wizard War.

The final days of Justina Thrug's rule were shaped not by politics or war, but by the will of a being far more powerful. The Hermit Crab, a being with powers at least equal to those of any wizard or sorcerer, dwelt on a small island in the harbour of Untunchilamon's capital city. The Crab took exception to the violent political disputes which had disturbed the peace of its domicile; to restore the peace, the Crab commanded Justina and Varazchavardan to declare a truce and resolve their differences. This they did. Had they disobeyed, they would have been turned inside out by a wrathful Crab, therefore the matter of their compliance is scarcely a mystery. This is the true history of the final days of the rule of Justina Thrug upon the island of Untunchilamon, and it is the only such history which is worth the price of the fooskin upon which it is written. And remember: your historian was there.

Chegory Guy never asked to save an island - but when a catastrophic energy drain sweeps across Untunchilamon, he becomes the one person who must uncover its cause. Shabble. In appearance, a miniature sun, though coloration tends to be changeable and idiosyncratic. In voice eccentric, speaking at will in any of the accents heard ever on Untunchilamon, even those unplaceable foreign accents otherwise voiced only by the conjuror Odolo. In behaviour feckless, for Shabble has scant regard for consequences. That is Shabble. While Shabble is still hanging there in the air, a massive energy drain affects all of Injiltaprajura. Lights darken. Fires go out. Candles die. Then, to Shabble's horror, Shabble feels Something trying to seize Shabble's own energy. Shabble squeals in fright and flees down the nearest drainpipe. The drainpipe (naturally) leads Downstairs. Downstairs There is horror down there, and Shabble fears it greatly. Yet the alternative is death. What has caused this massive energy drain? It is left to Chegory Guy, an Ebrell Islander, to find out. This is unfortunate as his chief skills are as a knifefighter and a rock-gardener. And yet it is he who finally holds the future of the entire, equatorial island of Untunchilamon in his hands.

Sarazin dreams of power - and believes his moment has finally come. As they neared Selzirk, regret gave way to excitement. Soon Sean Kelebes Sarazin, who would one day win himself the name Watashi, would be in the city where he would have at last a chance of real power. Powerful foes would oppose his rise to the rule of the Harvest Plains, but at least he was guaranteed support from his mother. For surely Farfalla would approve of his ambition once she learnt of it. Surely she would not want power to die out of the family with her death. Surely not. In the event, acquiring power proved rather more complicated than Sarazin had imagined. His comfortable life as a hostage in the cool and shady city of Voice had left him ill-prepared for a life of war, intrigue and wizardry. Yet that was what awaited him.

A fast-moving fantasy novel, a no-holds-barred novel written on an adult level, about the war on terror. In the city state of Oolong Morblock, where a certain proportion of the people have a natural ability to cause themselves to explode, in effect making them potential suicide bombers, Ibrahim Chess tries to find the middle road: to steer a course of moderation and sanity in a world which is going mad, and where the civil peace is threatened by the increasingly intolerant fanaticism of the conflict between the minority group to which Ibrahim belongs, the astrals, and the city state's dominant group, the norms. Note: this book contains some disturbing scenes. If you do not find something in this book to disturb you then you are a seriously disturbed person. Are you a person of exquisite good taste? Then, sorry, but you are disqualified as a reader. This book pretty much takes the attitude that boundaries (especially boundaries of taste) are there to be breached. You have been warned!

This is a wide-ranging collection of modern free verse poems by the author of the fantasy series "Chronicles of an Age of Darkness." The 141 poems touch on topics as diverse and various as school life, city life, nature, war, death, cancer, pregnancy, breastfeeding and atomic war. Highlights of the collection include a praise poem for Saddam Hussein called "Saddam is Guilty," and "Lumberjacked Cities", about the slaughter of the civilian populations of Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Short stories of varying lengths. Over 600 pages. SF, fantasy, horror, aberration and weirdness. Time travel, virtual reality, cloning. Murder in various modes of brutality. Sex, rape, necrophilia. SANTA CLAUS SEX CRIMINAL: a look at the pedophile. Torture. Vomit. The transcosmic environment of the moid. Life after death. Complications involving a demon. A story including a serial killer. Murdered by a ghost. High quality literary fiction to mainline to your mind.

Togura Poulaan, a questing hero whether he liked it or not, is precipitated into a series of adventures in a world which includes dragons, sea serpents, war, wild tribes and the wizard Hostaja Sken-Pitilkin, lord of the island of Drum. A fast-paced fantasy novel published in the USA as two volumes, THE QUESTING HERO and THE HERO'S RETURN.

A murder mystery with fantasy elements set in the land of Nizon, where people eat with scissors rather than with chopsticks. Fantasy in a modern environment complete with computers and cellphones. Business manager Ken Udamana, a husband and a father of two, believes that someone is planning to murder him and takes a shot at find out who. This novel contains some violence and touches on the subject of an adulterous relationship.