Robert Ryan

Bright swords. Dark sorcery. A city stalked by enemies. Brand, though descended from chieftains, wanders the land of Alithoras with no possessions save the clothes he wears and his oft-needed sword. But the blade belonged to his forefathers, and he yearns to prove himself worthy of a long line of heroes. Drawn to Red Cardoroth, he discovers that the city earned its name for good reason. Enemies without plot its downfall. Traitors within conspire toward its destruction. All about him swirls a cesspool of mistrust, betrayal and shadow-hidden sorcery. Yet he meets the wizard Aranloth and finds that loyalty, trust and courage vie against the dark forces of the world. He swears to serve the king. But the king is under constant threat, and swords and spells alone will not save him. Nothing will. But that does not stop Brand. He gives no quarter to the schemes of men, is not cowed by sorcery, and will not yield . . . even to fate. A Spell of Swords is a group of short stories that form a prequel to the Durlindrath epic fantasy series.

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Men hunt him. Magic stalks him. A hero's heart drives him. Lanrik's enemies will stop at nothing to get his legendary sword. He'll do anything to keep them from it - until they poison Erlissa and give him an unthinkable choice. In their hands, the sword will wreak mayhem upon the land. But without the cure they offer in exchange, the girl he loves will die. Cornered, he fights back with a daring plan. It offers hope to save Erlissa, and a chance to prevent chaos, but at a price few would pay. He begins a quest to challenge fate itself, for it will lead him to the tombs of the Letharn - the very place where Erlissa foretold his death.

The inspiration behind BBC One's thrilling new drama, The Great Train Robbery. Sunday Times bestseller Robert Ryan brings the most ambitious heist of the twentieth century to gripping and vivid life.1963: an unarmed gang led by the dapper Bruce Reynolds holds up a Royal Mail train at a remote bridge in Buckinghamshire, escaping with millions. The group lay low in a nearby farm but, panicked by the police closing in they clear out, leaving behind numerous fingerprints. Outraged by the gang's audacity and under political pressure for quick arrests, the police move into top gear. As huge quantities of money start to turn up in forests and phone boxes, dumped by nervous middlemen, Scotland Yard begin to track down the robbers, one by one...

Bestselling author Robert Ryan brings one of the greatest epic journeys of all time to life in this captivating story of Captain Scott's last Antarctic expedition. January 18, 1912: Captain Robert Falcon Scott's expedition reaches the South Pole. Just a few weeks later, trapped in one of the worst blizzards Antarctica has ever known, Scott and his four companions perish in subzero temperatures. How did the icy conditions overwhelm Scott, Captain Oates and their party on the fateful return journey? The story of Scott and Oates, their incredible journey and their tragic final days, combines ambition, national pride and the kind of bravery and dignity most men can only dream of.

1915: While the war in Europe escalates, a young intelligence officer named Thomas Edward Lawrence is in Cairo, awaiting his chance for action. His superiors, however, have consigned him to the Map Room at GCHQ. But there's more to Lieutenant Lawrence than meets the eye. A man of immense energy, he runs a network of agents across the Levant. Lawrence is convinced that an Arab revolt is the only way to remove the Ottoman presence, and leave a free, self-governed Arabia. Soon alarming reports reach him of trouble in Persia, orchestrated by infamous German agent Wilhelm Wassmuss. Intent on taking down Wassmuss, Lawrence assembles a small group and travels to Persia. Little does he know that his actions will bring about a resolution that might just save the lives of millions of men in the trenches of Europe.

Laura McGill is determined to track down her missing sister, but is in danger of getting caught up in a country on the brink of the Cold War. She is waiting on a street corner in Piccadilly, London, with a Colt .32 in her handbag. Laura is desperate to find out what happened to her sister Diana. Both were Special Operation Executive spies during World War Two. One night in 1944, Diana was flown into occupied France but never returned. Could she still be alive? James Hadley Webb, the man who sent Diana on her final mission, is now a spy in Berlin. Despite attempts to stop her, Laura travels to Germany to confront him and soon becomes caught in the crossfire of a bloody turf war fought between the East and the West for control of the city...

1948: INDO-CHINA. Lee Crane is an American pilot flying transport planes across South-East Asia for the highest bidder. He'll fly anywhere, carry anything, if the money is right. But his experiences during World War Two still haunt him, and when he meets a woman from the past, memories of a time when his innocence was shattered threaten to ground him. 1941: BURMA. Crane is a young and carefree pilot flying fighter planes for the notorious Flying Tigers against the Japanese. He's one of the best pilots in the air. But when he falls for the charms of a beautiful Anglo-Indian girl, she has a devastating effect on him. As the war ignites across the region, Crane is separated from her, and, caught up in a world of death and corruption, he desperately needs to return to find his lover, no matter what the cost...

In 1964, a young Australian girl, Linda Carr, is trying to track down the wreckage of the Liberator bomber in which her father died when it crashed in northern Italy in 1944 during World War Two. She employs the help of motorcycle TT racer Jack Kirby, a man who has his own inner demons to combat. He was a Mosquito fighter pilot during the war and experienced at first hand the astonishing courage of the Italian partisans in the face of Nazi brutality. Jack is keen to find one of the partisans, a woman with a past as dark as the secrets she still holds close to her heart. What Jack and Linda discover in their journey deep into an uncharted Italian mountain region is more dangerous and life-changing than they could ever have imagined.

The city of Seattle burned down in 1889. When it was rebuilt, much of the old city remained, buried beneath the modern streets. Nobody really knows what's down there any more... Now a suspected psycho and the eight-year-old girl he has taken hostage during a bungled heist are about to find out, when they crash through the floor of an abandoned warehouse into a street no one has walked down for a hundred years. Pursued by an ex-Vietnam Tunnel Rat brought in by the Seattle PD - a man with one or two mental problems of his own - Hilton Badcock has no choice but to drag young Ali further into the underground maze in search of a way out. But the deeper they go into this strange, secret world, the weirder and more dangerous things get...

For gamblers and fun-seekers, Atlantic City is a place to chase your dreams. But for taxi driver Ed Behr, it's where his personal nightmare is all too real. He is haunted by violent flashbacks to his time in prison and sustained only by his obsession with finding Honey, the girl who promised him everything. Then he recognises one of the old gang from the days before the bad things happened that got them all sent down. Except for Billy Moon, that is, who went on to bigger and better things while they were left to rot. And now Ed has a plan that's going to reunite the gang, make enough dough, and sort out Billy Moon once and for all. Maybe even get Honey back too. That's if he doesn't get them all killed first...

Jim Barry is a family man and proud of it. He's already begun educating his five-year-old son Tommy on the finer points of ball games. But when a tragic accident at a kids' practice session leaves another boy dead, the bereaved father decides to seek his own special brand of restitution. Unless Jim and his wife Belle hand over Tommy as a replacement, Stefan Sebastyen swears he will kill them all. And pretty soon they realise that this is a guy who's more than capable of keeping his word. With their backs to the wall, it's Belle who comes up with a desperate plan to save her family...

In 1938, Ulrike Walter, a beautiful young German musician, is engaged to be married to Erich Hinkel, a member of the Hitler Youth. But when she meets Inspector Cameron Ross, a Scotland Yard policeman, whose father is a colonel in British Intelligence, her life will be changed for ever. When war is declared, Ulrike flees Germany for the safety of England but is instead cruelly imprisoned as an enemy alien. Her only hope of rescue is Cameron, who, despite his better judgement, is falling in love with her. Then Erich is captured by the British and incarcerated in a prisoner of war camp in England. He faces interrogation by Cameron Ross, the one man who stands between him and Ulrike, the woman who means more to Erich than life itself...

Paris, 1945. A manhunt is raging across the liberated city. Airey Neave, head of Room 900, the ultra-secret M19 department, is desperate to track down Harry Cole. Harry is a rogue. He's an East End charmer and as sharp as a switchblade. But traitor? He did break a few rules and hearts along the way... but that was before he met French nurse Odile. Together they are the best clandestine operatives in northern France, heroes of the Resistance, rounding up downed pilots and ferrying them to safety. The beautiful Odile nurtures Harry's talents for the greater good. His mistake is to try and make a little money on the side. And when he gets in the way of M19, Airey Neave has a very good reason to want him silenced...

In the flamboyant Twenties, Englishman William Grover-Williams and Frenchman Robert Benoist were fierce rivals racing their elegant Bugattis on the glittering European race circuits. Not only is the World Championship in their sights, but they have both fallen for the sensuous charms of the extravagantly beautiful Eve Aubicq. But when war breaks out, everything changes. Paris is in the iron-grip of German occupation and Robert and William join the Special Operations Executive to help the French Resistance undermine the brutal occupying regime. Their missions involve utmost courage and daring in the face of the horrors of war. Based on a true story of British covert activity and the French Resistance during the Second World War, this is a gripping novel of heroism, self-sacrifice, love and betrayal.

A source of medical, legal and regulatory information on the toxicology of human exposure to metals and chemicals, this two-volume set is designed to be the first resource professionals turn to when formulating an opinion and develping a programme. It is annually updated to provide the latest information on over 150 chemical agents in a standard format, called the TDR profile. Each profile contains the common source of exposure, toxicology, clinical manifestations, appropriate biological and medical monitoring tests, and applicable federal and state regulations.